Mrs. Vanderpool's very first cautious inquiries by way of the back
stairs brought gratifying response--for did not all black Washington
know well of the work in sculpture done by Mrs. Samuel Stillings, _nee_
Wynn? Mrs. Vanderpool remembered Mrs. Stillings perfectly, and she
walked, that evening, through unobtrusive thoroughfares and called on
Mrs. Stillings. Had Mrs. Stillings heard of the new art movement? Did
she intend to exhibit? Mrs. Stillings did not intend to exhibit as she
was sure she would not be welcome. She had had a bust accepted by the
Corcoran Art Gallery once, and when they found she was colored they
returned it. But if she were especially invited? That would make a
difference, although even then the line would be drawn somehow.
"Would it not be worth a fight?" suggested Mrs. Vanderpool with a little
heightening of color in her pale cheek.
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Stillings, as she brought out some specimens of her
work.
Mrs. Vanderpool was both ashamed and grateful. With money and leisure
Mrs. Stillings had been able to get in New York and Boston the training
she had been denied in Washington on account of her color. The things
she exhibited really had merit and one curiously original group appealed
to Mrs. Vanderpool tremendously.
"Send it," she counseled with strangely contradictory feelings of
enthusiasm, and added: "Enter it under the name of Wynn.
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