The list of professional members reveals a surprisingly large number of names of women. It will be remembered that Mr. Ward, that figure of virility personified, cordially invited women sculptors to become members of the Society, and to join in the deliberations of the council-table. Chesterton, in his story of Victorian literature, has emphasized the importance of women writers in the development of the English novel. In our country, the importance of women engaged in sculpture as a gainful occupation has steadily increased during the past half-century. “Enter the race,” said Mr. Ward, “asking no odds!” Commissions for statues were once given to women, it must be confessed, out of what Dr. Johnson might call “Pure ignorance, Madam.” How otherwise can we explain the spectacle of our chivalrous Congressmen entrusting to a girl of fifteen the making of a statue of Lincoln? It is indeed said that “all the great sculptors of the period submitted models, but that the committee, after careful study, decided that the model of the little Ream girl surpassed all others.” The child surely had genius; she had the further advantage of quiet half-hours of study of Lincoln from life. But to-day,--well, it isn’t supposed to be done! Thanks to the National Sculpture Society, such competitions are at present generally conducted with even-handed justice. Nowadays, women who receive really important sculptural commissions are expected to deserve them out of the fullness of experience. In 1911, I was unwise enough to write, apropos of the monumental equestrian statue, that this field was for man’s working, and that it would not in the near future offer any very large _place aux dames_. But it chanced that the fifth centenary of Jeanne d’Arc fell due soon after, and Miss Hyatt, paying no attention to my grotesque observation, began work on her equestrian statue of the Maid. Rarely has any such statue been studied with as fine a vision of the relative claims of art and archæology. In 1915, Miss Hyatt’s work was unveiled on Riverside Drive. It is one of the best-loved monuments in the city of New York; and from the day of its unveiling, I have forsworn prophecy. Otherwise, I might be tempted to add that at present, given the tradition of apprenticeship still keeping its last stronghold in some of the studios, and given the ease with which assistance may be obtained for the ruder manual labor, there is no reason why women may not be trained to solve with success the usual sculptural problems. “Because they are conscientious, and because they have imagination,” were the reasons given by a sculptor who employed women assistants.