In the year 1895 another movement was begun at Chautauqua, which like the W. C. T. U. has swept over the entire continent and wrought mightily for the public welfare. At a Kindergarten Mothers' Meeting during the session, Mrs. Theodore W. Birney of Georgia, gave an address urging a National Congress of Mothers, and her appeal awakened a prompt response. Many of those who had listened to her carried her message to their own home-towns; Mrs. Birney at women's clubs and gatherings gave her plea over and over; and when the General Federation of Women's clubs held its convention in her native State of Georgia she presented the proposition to the members. From that convention in 1896, a call was issued for a National Congress of Mothers, to be held in the National Capital. Mrs. Birney gave a year of tireless and wise preparation for the meeting, which began on February 17, 1897. She was called to be President of the National Congress, with Miss Mary Louisa Butler as Organizing Secretary. The work was aided by the wide-reaching influence and liberal gifts of Mrs. Phebe A. Hearst, who has been rightly called the Lady Bountiful of the movement. Out of this National Congress grew the holding of State-congresses in every part of the country and the organization of local branches in almost every city. The Congress of Mothers now has its central office in Washington, D. C. It is divided into twenty-five departments of work--such as Americanization, Child Hygiene, Child Labor, Education, Mothers' Circles, Thrift, and many others, each having its chairman and plan of effective work. Out of a meeting at Chautauqua, in 1895, has grown a nation-wide movement in aid of mothers and teachers. [Illustration: Arts and Crafts Building] [Illustration: Miller Bell Tower]