Everywoman’s Magazine
VOL I. RICHMOND, VA., NOVEMBER, 1917 No. 12
TOILERS IN THE SUN
RICHMOND'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF WOMEN
I HE story of woman's work
in Richmond is a long
and varied one. Richmond
has grown, in compara-
ti.eiy a iew short years, from a quaint
Southern city into a bustling, busy,
cosmopolitan metropolis, and there is
much for woman to do. Its broad and
beautiful streets lie straight and fair
before the eye, with waving trees and
gaily flowered lawns, but there are
many dark and narrow lanes branching
from unfrequented paths. Along these
ways lie misery and suffering in
plenty. The women of Richmond have
gone nobly to battle against the squalor
and ignorance of poverty and disease.
They are the "Toilers in the Sun,” and
the harvest is rich.
Work and service to mankind go
hand in hand. The weaver at her loom
of life may not send the bright colors
of sunny days alone through warp and
woof. The bright colors would offend
our sight, were it not for the grey and
black threads which run in and out —
in and out, to give tone to the colorful¬
ness of the days of play.
If you turn the pages of history you
will find that women have always
toiled at one task or another, and the
woman who does not wish to broaden
and enrich her life by service is the ex¬
ception to-day.
In looking out over the wide fields
of service begun and sustained by wo¬
men in Richmond the difficulty lies not
in the telling but in the choice of a few
organizations out of so many. Rich¬
mond is built like ancient Rome, upon
seven hills, and the women of the pres¬
ent bear honorable record for much
that goes to make it a place of fair
abode.
By BRENT WITT
The writers of any land in any clime
mould its ideals, and the literary circle
in Richmond is a large one. Besides
at least three novelists of fame and
note, it lays claim to a round dozen suc¬
cessful short-story writers and at least
half as many poets and artists. The
Rt. Reverend D. J. O'Connell, Bishop
of Richmond, upon his return to this
country after a thirty years' sojourn in
Italy, said : "There is simply something
in the atmosphere here that breeds
authors."
And they are no mean writers. There
are sciibblers and story-writers and
reporters of importance almost too
numerous to speak of in a limited space
where one must discuss all phases of
woman’s work. Let four, at the most,
suffice to illustrate the quality of au¬
thorship in Richmond.
Cally Ryland is that rare and beau¬
tiful thing — a successful journalist.
She is to-day one of the best-known
newspaper women of the country and
her rise to fame has come with steady
advancement through the dozen years
she has served. Miss Ryland says that
she went into newspaper work because
she was interested in it and had “Noth¬
ing else to do." She learned to spell
by a newspaper and has written every¬
thing for it, from want ads. and regu¬
lar ads. to news stories, editorials,
woman's and children's pages. All this
embraces nearly everything that goes
to make up a newspaper, for she has
been everything but a printer's devil.
Most novelists have an output of one
novel every two years; Miss Ryland
writes in words every year the equiva¬
lent of two novels. She inaugurated
the Woman's Page on a Richmond
Miss Cally Ryland
newspaper and had the first real thing
of its kind in Virginia.
Perhaps Cally Ryland's most original
creations are "Aunt Jemimy's Maxims.”
These have appeared in the columns of
a local paper and have also been sold
all over the country in calendar form,
with old-fashioned recipes written in
charming dialect beneath them. Few
and far between are the writers who
can handle negro dialect. Many feel
called to do so and make a sad enough
bungle of it, but Miss Ryland's darkey
dialect is splendid, and her “Aunt
Jemimy” is one of the most realistic
figures in Richmond fiction.
She has written three books and a
child's story, "The Taming of Betty,”
besides a little play, "The Way Out,”
which was produced by the Giffen
Company, and her editorials on muni-
