Title: Woman's Club Work and Programs; Or, First Aid to Club Women
Adapter: Caroline French Benton
Release date: July 26, 2010 [eBook #33265]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
scanned images of public domain material from the Internet
Archive.
Copyright, 1913
By Dana Estes & Company
Thanks are due the editors of the Woman's Home Companion for permission to use the articles in book form which first appeared in that magazine.
Caroline French Benton.
The time has long since passed when a special plea is needed for the existence of women's clubs, for actual demonstration has proved their worth to the individual and to society. Multitudes of women on farms, on remote ranches, in little villages, in great cities, have felt their impetus to a broader and more useful life. They have instructed those of limited education; they have given a wider horizon to those hemmed in by circumstance; they have trained the timid to speak, and, of late years, they have prepared the way for women of leisure and influence to take up what is called "the larger housekeeping," the bettering of social and civic conditions.
But many women to-day still feel a certain timidity[Pg 12] about venturing to start a club, and an inability to make out a consistent line of study. They have a lingering idea that it is all difficult, and that only the expert may try to handle these things. So for these women here are the simple, fundamental things about club work, which any one can follow.
If you would like to organize a club, begin by making out a list of ten or a dozen of your neighbors and friends, those whose interests are much like your own, and tell them that you think it would be pleasant to have some sort of a little circle for reading, or study, or social companionship. Probably they will all have something to say about this, and various ideas will be advanced as to the sort of club which is most desirable. Then, after it is talked over, you, as the one who suggested the meeting, will call the women to order and ask some one to nominate and second a temporary chairman, and, after she is elected, a temporary secretary.
When these two have taken their seats and the secretary is ready to begin taking notes, the chairman will appoint several committees, with perhaps two members on each.
The first will be the Nominating committee, to[Pg 13] present to the club the names of candidates for the offices of president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer.
The second will be on a Constitution, which is to draw up very simple rules to guide the club, telling of its aims, the number of officers and how they are to be elected, the dues, the time and place of meeting, and whatever else is thought necessary.
The third committee will be on Name; it will prepare a list of titles to be chosen from.
The fourth committee will be on Program. This will offer possible lines of work.
These committees will be sufficient to begin with. The chairman can then tell when and where the next meeting will be held and declare this one adjourned.
At the second meeting the same chairman as before will take her place and call for the reading of the minutes of the last meeting. When these are read and accepted, she will ask for the report of the Nominating committee, and when it is presented, the officers will be voted for, either viva voce, or by ballot, as the club prefers.
The new president and secretary will then take their chairs, and the business of hearing the reports of the other committees will go on. When a[Pg 14] name for the club has been chosen, the constitution read and voted upon article by article, and the program planned, the president will name different chairmen to take charge of several following meetings; then this first regular meeting may adjourn, feeling that the club is successfully launched.
From this point the work should go on smoothly. The president will find her part of it much easier, however, if she will get a little book, called the Woman's Manual of Parliamentary Law, to which she can refer when any point of order comes up with which she is not familiar.
Once a club is started, the great question is, What shall we study? And of course the field is limited only by the tastes, the education of the members, and the number of books to which the club can have access. If there is a good public library, they may choose almost any literary subject. If there is none, the next thing is to find out if a travelling library can be had from the state librarian, and whether enough books can be borrowed to cover the whole subject thoroughly. If members can have neither of these helps, then the contents of individual libraries must be discussed, and a subject must be selected which needs[Pg 15] few books to work with. It is to be noted that a good general reference book will be found most useful, even if a practical subject is finally decided upon.
One of the great dangers a new club has to face is the ambitious tendency to begin with some abstruse, difficult subject rather than with a simple one. The Literature of India, or the Philosophy of the Greeks may be tempting, but even with all the reference books in the world such subjects are a mistake for beginners. Something should be selected which is interesting to every one, not too far away from their every day reading, not too utterly unfamiliar. A country club may like a season on Bird Study. A village club may find Town Improvement full of suggestions. A city club can study some American Authors, or the Public Schools.
If all these things still seem too difficult to begin with, then at least an Embroidery Club may be founded as the very simplest foundation possible, the members to come each week with their fancy work and listen to one member who reads aloud something entertaining. This may do for a first season, and the second, a study subject may be taken up.[Pg 16]
Sometimes where there is no library at hand, a Magazine Club makes a good preliminary step to larger things. Members tell a chairman what magazines they take, and agree to have them at the home of the chairman one day each week or fortnight. She will look them over and divide the contents into several parts, travel, biography, essays, stories, poetry, and so on. Then she will portion out among the members parts of the programs; one meeting may be on travel only, a second on essays, a third on poetry, three or four members reading selections from articles on these. Or, the programs may be varied by combining two or more subjects. This, too, makes a good training for a serious study in a second year, especially if a discussion of the subjects becomes a regular part of each meeting.
Clubs which have gone beyond these two early stages of development, or which have never been compelled to pass through them, may begin work with some literary topic. A Year of Biography, covering the lives of great men and women of America or England, is a good first subject, with plenty of material. The writings of Emerson, Hawthorne, Poe and others of the same period, is another. Or, the novels of one or two great[Pg 17] writers, George Eliot, Thackeray and Dickens, are always delightful, especially with readings from their novels.
Often clubs will find it a good plan to alternate some study subject one month with a miscellaneous topic the next, by way of variety. Current topics, too, are well worthy constant study, and these can be used as a sort of prelude to any regular program.
Musical clubs are usually limited to a few members, except in cities, but this is by no means necessary, for numbers of women love to listen to good music who can neither play nor sing, and perhaps they can contribute their share of work by writing or speaking of the lives of the composers.
Clubs interested in practical themes may take up civic questions, municipal reforms, or children's courts, or cleaning up their town, or studying factories, or labor laws. There is an excellent magazine called The Survey which deals with all these topics, and suggests many more on the same lines.
Chairmen sometimes find real difficulty in making out club programs, puzzled how to divide a subject into its best points, and subdivide each of these general topics into others, for individual papers.[Pg 18]
One of the best plans is always to look up any subject in the encyclopedia, first of all. It is surprising how much help one can get there, for history, art, literature, politics and everything else can be found. Then next, the public library is to be consulted, its card catalogue looked over, and the books drawn out, or at least glanced through for suggestions. Magazines sooner or later seem to have articles on everything, and the library will offer also books of reference to these. In case the subject is historical, a good high school history may be consulted, for in the table of contents the main divisions are all clearly given. A chairman can write down the outlines of all she gleans from these varied sources and then select from them the general lines of study and fill these in.
Sometimes when there is no library at hand, a school teacher can help one out with suggestions, or perhaps a minister may have books on the subject selected. Or, by writing directly to the state librarian books may be borrowed of him. Clubs which have a small yearly fee sometimes buy a book or so a year and keep them as a nucleus of a library.
As to writing club papers, there personality[Pg 19] comes in, and education and training, and these give a certain individuality of method of treating a subject. But even here members can follow out certain definite directions.
Suppose, to make the matter concrete, that some one wishes to write a paper on Ruskin, and does not know exactly how to go to work; here is a general plan:
First, of course, she should read something on his life,—a book, an article in a magazine, or anything she can get, and the more she can read the better paper she will write. Next she should divide her subject into its parts; in this case there might be three: Ruskin's life; his work; his influence.
The first topic would cover his home, his early education, the influence of his mother, and his gradual growth into his place in the world.
The second would take up what he did; his travels, his interest in painting, architecture, economics and sociology; his friends, his controversy with Whistler and its outcome, his contact with Oxford, and the books he wrote.
The third would be a resumé of what Ruskin actually accomplished; of the value of his work to society, and his influence on social problems; and[Pg 20] the question would be raised, Are his views considered sound to-day?
Such a paper, illustrated by brief readings, would be of a certain value, for it would be clear, concise, and full of matter which would probably be fresh to many club members; and any subject may be treated in the same general way; one has only to choose one on which plenty of material can be found, then read everything to be had on it, make out an outline of three or four topics covering the whole and take these up one by one, illustrating with anecdotes, quotations and the estimates of others, and the paper is sure to be interesting. What should never be done is to write a paper without making an outline; the result of that is vagueness and repetition.
The value of a discussion after a paper cannot be over-estimated. One joins a club not so much to acquire information, because that can be done by reading books at home, but rather to learn to express oneself readily and intelligently. This is why in planning a club it is best to emphasize the two points; first, that members must talk over the subjects at the close of each meeting, speaking briefly and always to the point; and second, that papers should not be too long, or too heavy,[Pg 21] but full of matter, interesting, and above all, suggestive.
Debates are always of value to club women, for as we know too well, they are not naturally logical; debating soon shows one how easy it is to think in a hazy, indefinite way, and how difficult to say clearly and concisely what is to be said.
It will be necessary, of course, to learn the accepted methods of debating, and know how to present the points of the argument progressively and with a climax, as well as to anticipate the points likely to be made by the opponent. Each side must also be limited as to time.
As to the subject of a debate, it is a safe rule to choose the concrete rather than the abstract, a large subject rather than a limited one, and one of general interest. There should also be two well defined sides, rather than something accepted by everybody. Such things as the views of some writer on socialism, or the permanency of the work of a well-known novelist or poet, or political, but not partizan, questions are always acceptable.
To make club work successful year after year it should be remembered that a club is not a[Pg 22] university; that it should not be scholastic, but full of human interests. Tastes of members vary, and so the subjects selected should be attractive, fresh, and stimulating. In a large club there may be committees on different subjects, art, civics, child study and the like, each one a little club in itself, meeting weekly, and the whole club can gather once a month and the committees in turn present a program on their special subjects, and so every member be satisfied. As years go by it will be found that members grow to like subjects other than those they began with, and more general work will be taken up.
Last of all, to have a successful club it is essential that there should be no members who are mere listeners. Each woman actually has something to contribute, if only in a very quiet way, and a good chairman of a program can find out what this is; the little talent may take shape in a paper, or a talk, or a part in a discussion, or some music, or only a quotation or a reading. But a club is worth just as much to a member as she puts into it, and no more. Any woman who is not willing to do something in the way of real work should drop out and give some one else the place which she occupies but does not fill.[Pg 23]
Two methods are followed in the programs offered to clubs in this book. First, a year's work is divided up into ten meetings with four or five papers suggested for each meeting with readings and bibliography. Second, the year's work is again divided into ten meetings, but it is left to clubs to choose from the material furnished how many papers shall be written and what their titles shall be. The material offered in either case is sufficient for twenty meetings or more; indeed, in some cases, one theme might be expanded for the work of several years.[Pg 24]
1. First Paper (Introductory): Beginning of English Drama—Origin in the miracle-plays. Influence of the Renaissance. Change in the form of the drama through foreign influences.
2. Ben Jonson—Story of his life; character of his plays; his devotion to the classics.
3. Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Ford, and Webster.
4. Shakespeare—Story of his life; how his plays were made; his imagination, wit, and tenderness; his supremacy.
5. The Theater in the Time of Elizabeth—Scenery, seating arrangements, costumes, absence of women actors; famous theaters.
Readings from—Jonson's Every Man in His Humour. Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle. Shakespeare—History: Henry V. Comedy: As You Like It. Tragedy:[Pg 25] Macbeth. Fancy: Midsummer Night's Dream. Sentiment: Romeo and Juliet.
Books to Consult—Taine: History of English Literature: Book II., Chapter II. Hamilton Mabie: Shakespeare. The Mermaid Series of Dramatists.
In addition to these papers have short readings from Kenilworth, and Miss Strickland's Queens of England, giving a clear idea of Elizabeth. Read also from Jonson's Sad Shepherd, the Masque of Oberon and the Masque of Queens. Give a sketch of the modern reproduction of an old miracle-play, called Everyman, with a selection. Close with Shakespeare's estimate of Jonson, and Jonson's estimate of Shakespeare, and show photographs of Shakespeare, his birthplace, Anne Hathaway's cottage, the Avon, the parish church.
1. Beaumarchais—Story of his life. Characteristics. Readings from The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. The modern operas founded on these.
2. Molière—His humble origin, rise and relation to the court. His matrimonial unhappiness[Pg 26] and estimate of women. Readings from Les Précieuses Ridicules, Tartuffe and Sganarelle. Quotations from modern estimates of Molière.
3. English Comedy under the Restoration—Effect on the drama of the return of the Stuarts. Estimates of the following writers and quotations from the plays mentioned: Sir George Etheredge: She Wou'd if She Cou'd. William Congreve: The Double Dealer. William Wycherley: The Plain Dealer. Sir John Vanbrugh: The Relapse, which is said to have created the fop as a type. George Farquhar: The Beaux' Stratagem.
4. Comedy under the Georges—Goldsmith and Sheridan. Birth of both in Ireland, and its effect on their lives and work as dramatists. Modernness. Readings from The Good-Natured Man and She Stoops to Conquer. Readings from The Rivals and The School for Scandal. Readings from Irving's Life of Goldsmith. Description of his grave by the Temple Church, London.
Books to Consult—Van Laun's History of French Literature. Translations by Van Laun and Curtis Hidden Page. Lives of Molière by Chatfield-Taylor and Brander Matthews. The Mermaid Library (for the Restoration Dramatists).[Pg 27]
Between the September and the October programs there might be an informal morning meeting, at which the novel by Chatfield-Taylor, Fame's Pathway, of which Molière is the hero, might be read in whole or in part. It gives a vivid description of the stage of that time. In reading The School for Scandal, The Rivals and She Stoops to Conquer, arrange to have the parts taken by several of the club and have a rehearsal to insure a smooth rendering of these bright plays. An additional paper for this program might be on Jeremy Collier's famous attack on the stage, and its purifying effect.
1. Early Nineteenth-Century Dramatic Criticism—Charles Lamb's selections from the early English dramatists. His great love of the stage, and his essays describing plays and actors of his time. Essays of Hazlitt and of Leigh Hunt upon the stage.
2. Sheridan Knowles—Readings from Virginius. Bulwer-Lytton—Readings from The Lady of Lyons and Richelieu.
3. Tom Taylor—Readings from Our American[Pg 28] Cousin and The Ticket of Leave Man. Robertson—Readings from Society and Caste. Boucicault—Readings from London Assurance; Louis XI.; and The Colleen Bawn.
4. Irving and Terry—As exponents of Shakespeare. Their personalities. Irving as a manager. His magnificent stage-settings.
Books to Consult—Brander Matthews: Development of the Drama. C. M. Gayley: Representative English Comedies. H. A. Clapp: Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic.
The immense improvement in the art of staging plays in this period is an excellent topic for one paper. The famous actors also may be studied: John Kemble, Edmund Kean, Macready, and Helen Martin (Lady Faucit), for the earlier years; the Bancrofts, the Kendals, and Beerbohm Tree, for the later. Sothern's great success as Lord Dundreary, Macready's visit to the United States during the Civil War, and the popularity of Irving and Terry are worthy of consideration. Particular mention may be made of plays other than Shakespearean, in which Irving and Terry appeared: The Bells, The Lyons Mail, Faust, and Tennyson's Becket. Read from Terry's recently published biography. The history of Drury[Pg 29] Lane and Covent Garden theaters deserves a special paper.
1. Lessing—The dulness of the German theater up to the middle of the eighteenth century. Paralysis of genius by the Thirty Years' War. Lessing's dramatic criticism. Readings from Minna von Barnhelm, and Nathan the Wise. Translations in Bohn's Library.
2. Goethe—His life-story, his writings, his influence. German admiration for Shakespeare largely due to Goethe. Description of life at Weimar. Goethe's first play: Goetz von Berlichingen. Readings from Egmont, Iphigenia, and Tasso. Bohn's Library.
3. Schiller—Relation to Goethe. Comparison of their styles. Readings from The Robbers, Wallenstein, Wilhelm Tell, Maria Stuart, Die Jungfrau von Orleans. Bohn's Library.
4. Later German Drama—Grillparzer. Paul Heise. Hauptmann: reading from The Sunken Bell. Sudermann: readings from Dame Care, and The Joy of Living. What was the effect of Ibsen on the German drama?
Books to Consult—Witkowski: German[Pg 30] Drama of the Nineteenth Century. Huneker: Iconoclasts. Kuno Francke: German Ideals of To-day. Whitman: Teuton Studies.
Goethe has been called the idol of the German people, and the major part of this program may well be devoted to him. Carlyle's essay on Goethe is a famous piece of writing, and the life by Lewes is as interesting as a novel (see the Everyman's Library). Follow the third paper with a reading from J. G. Robertson's Schiller after a Century. A closing talk might point out the sentimental character of the early German dramas as contrasted with the realism of those of to-day. Reference should also be made to the symbolic plays.
1. The Romantic Drama—Victor Hugo. The romantic revival in all European literature. Influence of Scott's novels. Story of Hugo's life. Early struggles. His first play; politics and exile. Characteristics of his style. Readings from Le Roi s'amuse, Hernani, and Ruy Blas.
2. Experiments in the Drama—Augier: Attempt to revive the classic drama: the story of Charlotte Corday, and reading from the play.[Pg 31] Scribe: Improved construction of the play; reading from Valérie.
3. The Drama at Its Height—Dumas fils. Comparison of the father and the son in literature. The son's ambition to reform society through the stage. The first problem plays. Description of La Dame aux Camélias. Sardou: Versatility of subjects. Skilful construction of plot. Tendency to the sensational and the gruesome. Reading from Patric.
4. The Drama To-day—Becque: Theory of evolution applied to society; Les Corbeaux. Brieux: Satire, realism; Blanchette, Les Trois Filles de M. Dupont. Rostand: Romantic and literary; readings from Cyrano de Bergerac, L'Aiglon, and Chantecler. Bernstein: Relation of the modern Jew to the stage; politics and the drama in Paris; Le Voleur, Samson.
Books to Consult—A. Filon: The Modern French Drama. Brander Matthews: French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century. Matthew Arnold: Essay on the French Play in London.
If possible, have an additional paper on some of the interesting French actors: Coquelin, Mounet-Sully, Rejane, and Bernhardt. Another and briefer paper may discuss French dramatic[Pg 32] criticism, easily the most brilliant of our time in the whole world of letters. Sarcey, Claretie, Doumic, and Legouvé are among these well-known names. Have some one speak of the Comédie Française and its influence on French drama.
1. Pinero—His early style as shown in The Profligate, The Amazons, and Trelawny of the Wells. The important change in his methods revealed in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, and His House in Order. The problem play in English.
2. Henry Arthur Jones—Study of The Silver King, Saints and Sinners, The Middleman, The Liars, and The Masquerader. Comparison of Pinero and Jones.
3. Grundy, Wilde, and Carton—Sidney Grundy: A Fool's Paradise, A White Lie, The Greatest of These. Discussion of the question of the use of the stage as a pulpit. Oscar Wilde: Readings from Lady Windermere's Fan, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Discuss the place of satire in human life. R. C. Carton: Lord and Lady Algy. Discuss the question whether comedy at its best may not be the ideal play.[Pg 33]
4. Current Playwrights—Stephen Phillips: the literary playwright; contrast the prose and the poetic drama; the author's dignity and grace; reading from Paolo and Francesca. Barrie: the modern Scotch school of writers; Barrie's humor; readings from Peter Pan, Alice Sit-by-the-Fire, and What Every Woman Knows. W. S. Maugham: plays planned to succeed; lightness and wit; quantity of product; readings from Jack Straw, and Lady Frederick. John Galsworthy: the stage as a censor of morals; spread of socialist theories; quotations from Strife, and Justice; effect of latter on court processes in England.
Books to Consult—E. E. Hale, Jr.: Dramatists of To-day. W. Archer: English Dramatists of To-day. W. Nicholson: The Struggle for a Free Stage in London.
Mention the many plays written rather for pure literary purposes than to be acted. Notice those especially of Tennyson, Browning, Swinburne, and Stephen Phillips. An important factor in the English stage is the censor, who must pass judgment on all plays before they are acted. Mark the effect of this in excluding many French plays from England. Note the relation between[Pg 34] the modern English novel and the drama as illustrated in The Prisoner of Zenda, The Little Minister, The Seats of the Mighty, Vanity Fair (called Becky Sharp as a play), The Eternal City, The Garden of Allah, etc.
1. His Life—Hard youth. Connection with the theater. Struggle to gain a hearing. Publication of Brand. His pension and financial independence. Life in Rome. Life in Germany. Change from poetry to prose. His friendships. His death and public funeral.
2. His Temperament and Its Influence on His Writings—Realism, originality, revolt against conventions, individualism, pessimism, irony. Views of woman. Is Ibsen critic or prophet?
3. Influence of Ibsen on Modern Drama—His technical skill, daring, problem plays. Are Ibsen's themes suited to the stage and the average audience? Should the theater preach or amuse, or both?
4. Study of Three Plays—Peer Gynt, The Pillars of Society, A Doll's House. Analysis of plot, description of chief characters, and readings.
5. Study of Three Plays—Ghosts, The Wild[Pg 35] Duck, Hedda Gabler. Analysis of plot, description of chief characters, and readings.
Books to Consult—Brandes: Henrik Ibsen. Gosse: Ibsen. Bernard Shaw: Quintessence of Ibsenism. Moses: Ibsen, the Man and His Plays.
Ibsen takes a place to-day with the philosophers as well as the dramatists. In fact, the most interesting aspect of his work is his relation to social thinking and the revolt against conventions. It would be interesting to compare views on the points suggested. In what differing ways do Ibsen's plays affect the club members?
1. Life of Bernard Shaw—Dublin. London. Beginning of serial novel-writing. Fabian Society. Help of William Archer. First play: Widowers' Houses. The Philanderers. Mrs. Warren's Profession (rejected by the censor).
2. Shaw's Successful Plays—Arms and the Man. (Mansfield's rendition. Musical version: The Chocolate Soldier.) Candida. You Never Can Tell. The Devil's Disciple. Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Man and Superman. Showing up of Blanco Posnet. Fanny's First Play.[Pg 36]
3. Bernard Shaw's Qualities—His mannerisms and style. His attitude toward social conventions. His socialism. His attitude toward religion.
4. William Butler Yeats—Dublin. Encouragement from Oscar Wilde. Stories and verse. Plays: Land of Heart's Desire; Diarmind and Grania; Cathleen in Houlihan. Influence of Blake, Shelley, and Maeterlinck.
5. Synge—Riders to the Sea. Well of the Saints. Playboy of the Western World.
Books to Consult—E. E. Hale, Jr.: Dramatists of To-day. G. K. Chesterton: Bernard Shaw. H. S. Krans; Wm. Butler Yeats and the Irish School. J. M. Synge: Works (4 vols. Dublin, 1910).
A supplementary paper may be written on the question, Has Shaw a positive message of any importance, or is he merely a negative critic? In addition there may be selections from his plays, showing his wit and clever satire. The amusing comedy, You Never Can Tell, may be read, the parts being taken by members of the club. Notice also the appearance in America of the Irish Players under the management of Lady Gregory.[Pg 37]
1. Life—Early life in Ghent. Paris, 1887. Influence of Villiers de l'Isle Adam. First publishing and fame through Mirbeau's article in Figaro. Translation of Ruysbroeck and his influence on Maeterlinck. His marriage.
2. Essays—The Treasure of the Humble. The Life of the Bee. The Buried Temple. The Double Garden. Death.
3. Plays—The Blind. Pelléas and Mélisande. Aglavaine and Sélysette. Monna Vanna. Joyzelle. The Blue Bird. Analysis of these plays and readings from them.
4. His Place in Literature—What is the meaning of his mysticism and his symbolism? What is his position with regard to religion? Is his optimism philosophically justifiable? Compare Maeterlinck with Bernard Shaw as to difference in spirit and method.
Books to Consult—Edward Thomas: Maeterlinck. Arthur Symons: The Symbolist Movement. E. E. Hale, Jr.: Dramatists of To-day.
Maeterlinck's château is especially interesting: a medieval structure with a great court. It was here that one of his leading plays was given[Pg 38] first, before a large company of his friends, with Madame Maeterlinck in the part of the heroine. No scenery was used, but the action took place in different rooms and in the court. Reference to this may be found in some of the magazines of the time.
1. William Dunlap (1798-1815), "Father of American Drama"—His numerous plays. Influence of Kotzebue. Study with Benjamin West.
2. Campbell, Howard, and DeMille—Bartley Campbell (1843-1888): Matrimony, Siberia. Bronson Howard ("Dean of the American Drama"): Young Mrs. Winthrop, The Henrietta, Shenandoah. H. C. DeMille (1850-1893): Lord Chumley, The Charity Ball.
3. Gillette, Belasco, and Klein—William Gillette: The Private Secretary, Secret Service, Too Much Johnson, Sherlock Holmes. David Belasco: His training for the stage. Early melodrama. Stage scenery and effects. Miss Helyett, The Heart of Maryland, Du Barry, The Girl of the Golden West. Charles Klein: The Music Master, The Lion and the Mouse, The Third Degree.
4. Fitch, Thomas, and Moody—Clyde Fitch:[Pg 39] Brief Biography. Beau Brummel, The Liar, Nathan Hale, Captain Jinks, The Blue Mouse, The City. Compare Fitch's skill and ethical standards with those of Thomas. Augustus Thomas: Alabama, Arizona, The Harvest Moon, As a Man Thinks. William Vaughan Moody: The college professor as playwright. The Great Divide, The Faith Healer.
Books to Consult—W. J. Moses: The American Dramatist. Norman Hapgood: The Stage in America. Walter P. Eaton: The American Stage of To-day. W. D. Adams: Dictionary of the Drama. 2 vols. (English and American).
After this program have a discussion on the question: Are women responsible for the character of the modern drama? Take up also women's theater clubs, designed to pass judgment on new plays. Does the weight of their expressed opinion influence the management? On the whole, are the morals of the drama improving?[Pg 40]
In studying American history it is best to disregard the natural divisions of decades and centuries and take it up by periods; programs on these may cover as many meetings as necessary. The books suggested from time to time may be read at home, or aloud in some of the meetings. One good reference book which all members can use is John Fiske's History of the United States for Schools. It has maps, questions, and other helps. The first period is that of
Begin with the stories of the voyages of the Norsemen across the sea. Are these considered historically true to-day? Follow with the three voyages of Columbus, what he accomplished and where he failed. Americus Vespucius and the Cabots come next, and the subject of the Spanish explorations in the South, particularly in Florida.
Ponce de Léon, Coronado, and De Soto are[Pg 41] all fascinating topics for brief talks. The Huguenots made one settlement in Florida of peculiar interest, and this is written of in a novel called Flamingo Feather, by Munroe.
The period ends with the discovery by the French of the Canadian country and the establishment of the fisheries in Newfoundland.
Read Francis Parkman on Champlain and the wonderful stories of the Jesuit missionaries on the St. Lawrence and the lakes.
1. The London Company is responsible for the settling of both the South and the North. Begin with the study of Virginia, the history of Sir Walter Raleigh and John Smith. Then give plenty of time to these important topics: The founding of Jamestown, the different governors and their policies, the Indians and their relations to the colonists, the beginning of slavery, the raising of tobacco, and the coming from England of indentured servants. Read Mary Johnston's To Have and To Hold, which gives an excellent picture of the times.
Note the changes in the colony when Charles I. came to the throne and the cavaliers came over,[Pg 42] bringing something of luxury with them. In closing the period mention Bacon's rebellion. Read from John Esten Cooke's Virginia: a History of the People, and also White Aprons, by Maud Wilder Goodwin.
2. The northern branch of the great English trading company was called the Plymouth Company. Of the many sea captains who came over to explore and sometimes to try and settle, Bartholomew Gosnold accomplished the most; he found Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, and made a short-lived colony. John Smith came also, and gave the country the name of New England.
At this point take up the subject of the Puritans in England, and what brought them to America. Read of the Speedwell and the Mayflower, the voyage of the latter and the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. Have a paper on the first winter with its hardships, and other papers on the great men of the colony, Governor Carver, Governor Bradford, John Winthrop, William Brewster, and Miles Standish. Study the topic of the founding of churches and schools, the relations with the Indians, and the establishment of new settlements, through Massachusetts and beyond. Read[Pg 43] S. G. Fisher's Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, Mrs. Austen's Standish of Standish, and Longfellow's Miles Standish.
The religious difficulties of the times deserve special notice, because of their results; read the stories of Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker. The work of John Eliot for the Indians should not be forgotten, nor the rise and spread of witchcraft; on this last read Ye Little Salem Maid, by Hopkins. Close the period with King Philip's War, and notice how many colonies now existed.
3. The Dutch of the early seventeenth century were among the most famous navigators of the world, and the East India Company, founded by them, sent out ships all over the seas. One of these, the little Half Moon, commanded by an Englishman in their employ, Henry Hudson, sailed all along the northern coast, and up the Hudson River as far as Albany. Others followed him; the New Netherlands Company was organized for trading in furs, and little settlements were made by them. In 1626 Peter Minuit, the Governor, bought Manhattan Island from the Indians for less then twenty-five dollars in beads and ribbons, and founded New Amsterdam.[Pg 44]
From the beginning this colony prospered. Peter Stuyvesant was its most famous figure, but the whole history of the life of the patroons is well worth reading. The colony passed into the hands of the English, and was renamed New York, but the people remained Dutch for many years. Irving's History of New York and Amelia Barr's Bow of Orange Ribbon give a good idea of the time.
4. The founding of New Jersey and Maryland come next in order, and the struggles between Catholics, Puritans, Episcopalians, and Quakers for supremacy, with the work of Lord Baltimore and Calvert, and the intervention of Oliver Cromwell.
The story of the peaceful founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn follows in 1681, and this, with the settling of the Carolinas and Georgia, may be taken up rather briefly. The coming of Germans, Scotch Highlanders, and Scotch-Irish to these southern colonies is to be mentioned. The war between England and Spain affected the relations between the Spanish settlers of Florida and the English of Georgia, and led to trouble. Under Governor Oglethorpe the power of Spain in America was overthrown.[Pg 45]
The subject of the opening up of the Mississippi Valley should be studied by itself. The story of La Salle is as interesting as any novel; read Parkman's La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West.
This began in Canada under the famous Governor Frontenac, who came down to conquer New York, and extended throughout the North, the middle colonies, and the Mississippi Valley. There might easily be a set of at least three meetings on this theme. The massacres of the Indians, especially that at Deerfield; the siege of Quebec; the capture of Louisburg; the taking of Fort Duquesne by men under George Washington; the coming of Braddock, and his campaign; the transportation of the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the South; the history of Sir William Johnson and the Indians; the fortifications of Fort William Henry and Ticonderoga; the struggle of Wolfe and Montcalm at Quebec, and the final overthrow of French power in our country should all be studied, for the importance of this period of our history cannot be over-estimated. Read Parkman's histories: Frontenac and New France Under[Pg 46] Louis XIV.; a Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm and Wolfe; and the Conspiracy of Pontiac. Some of Cooper's novels are also good, Leather Stocking Tales especially; and Thackeray's Virginians may be read in part.
The entire history of the war must of course be gone over, but how thoroughly will depend on the individual club. At least the causes which led to it, the great men who guided the nation at the time, and the results should be made familiar.
Read first of England at the time; of George III. and his ministers; of their attitude toward the colonies; of the restrictions of manufacture and trading; of the revenue laws and taxation without representation. Note the influence of such men as Burke, Pitt, and others.
Take up the patriots in America: Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Lee of Virginia, John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, among others. Show pictures of the Old South Meeting House and Faneuil Hall of Boston; read Paul Revere's Ride, and a description of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Note the establishment of a Continental congress and[Pg 47] army, and speak of the fitness of George Washington as the leader of the American forces.
Read the Declaration of Independence; follow with the struggle for the control of the Hudson, which occupied the whole of the first year of the war and more, and includes the battles about New York, with their retreats and victories; then study the invasion of Canada, the attempt on the South, the British plan of three Northern armies simultaneously; the use of Indian allies; the surrender of Burgoyne; the movements of the fleets; the treason of Arnold; the surrender of Cornwallis.
Other topics for papers or talks may be: Valley Forge; André and Hale; the recent discovery of the treachery of Charles Lee; the story of Paul Jones; the aid of the French under Lafayette; the character of the great generals on both sides; how the news of the final success of America was received in England. Read The American Revolution, by Lecky, and H. C. Lodge's Story of the Revolution; also, The Tory Lover, by Jewett (about Paul Jones), and Ford's Janice Meredith.
of our history naturally succeeds the Revolution, when our Government was in the making. Read[Pg 48] of the leaders of the time: Washington, Jefferson, Marshall, Madison, Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. Have parts of the Constitution read, and study the different aspects of our Government: the way we choose our President; the houses of Congress and the Senate; our judiciary. Read the story of Washington's inauguration.
Additional topics are: Shay's rebellion; paper money; the Northwest Territory; and the home life of the times. Take up the early presidents in order, with the events of each term. The tariff, the war with the Barbary pirates, the rise of newspapers, the Louisiana Territory, and the decrees of France and England about neutral ships are all important.
Read of the Embargo Act and the refusal of England to repeal her decree; also of the acts of Napoleon at the time. The battles of the war that followed were nearly all at sea, and are full of exciting interest, from the victory of the Constitution, after only half an hour's fighting, to the very end; one of the most famous is the Battle of Lake Erie, when Perry sent the historic message, "I have met the enemy, and they are ours."[Pg 49] Read of the invasion of Canada and the Battle of New Orleans, and close the study with the Treaty of 1814. A story called Midshipman Paulding, by Molly Elliot Seawell, gives a good sketch of the time, and Roosevelt's Naval War of 1812 is excellent for reference.
From this point on for several decades, the country slowly increased her territory, her manufactures, her school system, her trade at home and abroad. Steam was introduced on boats and railways, and wealth and comforts grew. Florida was bought for five millions, the Monroe Doctrine exploited, and several States added to the Union. Slavery gradually increased in the South, and the cotton-gin was introduced in the North to weave the raw product there. The Missouri Compromise was one of the great national issues of the day, and Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun were the leaders in politics. There was a great commercial panic which led to the settling of our banking laws; the first telegraphic message was sent; Mormonism was first heard of, and became important.
The war with Mexico, which began in 1848,[Pg 50] gave us a great additional territory. Abolition sentiment rose. The period closed with the discovery of gold in California. Read Bret Harte's books, Theodore Winthrop's John Brent, for a study of Mormonism, and Parkman's Oregon Trail.
The various difficulties which led to the great conflict should be studied in detail in a good history of the times. Among others were: The Fugitive Slave Law, the Underground Railway, Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the debates of Lincoln and Douglas, the Dred Scott decision, and the story of John Brown's raid.
It will be necessary to have a good reference-book with maps of the campaigns. Perhaps the best book is Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, written by the great generals, published by The Century Company. Divide the war into the four years of its continuance, following this condensed outline:
1861—Attack on Fort Sumter; call for troops by Lincoln; Battle of Bull Run; The Trent Affair.
1862—The Merrimac and Monitor; Battle[Pg 51] of Shiloh; Farragut and the Battle of New Orleans; Seven Days' Battles before Richmond; Second Battle of Bull Run; Antietam; Fredericksburg.
1863—January first, the Emancipation Proclamation; Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; surrender of Vicksburg; Chickamauga; Chattanooga.
1864—Grant's advance on Lee; Battle of the Wilderness; Sherman's Atlanta campaign; siege of Petersburg; the Alabama sunk by the Kearsarge; Battle of Mobile Bay; fall of Atlanta; Sheridan in the Shenandoah; Sherman's March to the Sea; Battle of Nashville.
1865—Battle of Five Forks; Richmond evacuated; surrender of Lee; Lincoln assassinated; surrender of Johnston; capture of Jefferson Davis; review of Northern army in Washington.
Take up the condition of the South immediately after the war. Have papers on the purchase of Alaska, our increase in population, the crossing of the continent by the railway, and the war with the Indians in which Custer was killed. Mention the administrations as before, and close the period with the war with Spain, and describe our new possessions.[Pg 52]
The various subjects to be studied under this topic stand out conspicuously: our material wealth; our cities; our manufactures; our coalfields, forests, watercourses, and other resources; our public schools and universities; our vocational schools and schools for the defective; the education of the negro, the Indian, the mountain white; our railway systems; telegraph, telephone, and wireless communication; our scientific discoveries; conservation; our art galleries, museums, theaters, orchestras. Close with discussions of our chief national problems: immigration, labor, and woman suffrage.
This period should have one program on the physical character of our country; its great natural beauties in the Yosemite, the Sierras, the Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon in the West; the mountains of the East and South; Niagara, the Hudson, the Mississippi, and our seacoast.
Our literature sometimes seems to be of small consequence as compared with that of older countries,[Pg 53] but as a nation we have been occupied with establishing ourselves in our territory, and have had little time to give to what may be called the adornments of life.
In our Colonial Period we had a few outstanding historical books like Bradford's History of the Plymouth Plantation,—Judge Samuel Sewall's Diary, and Cotton Mather's Magnalia. Then, also, we had Jonathan Edwards' great philosophical work on The Freedom of the Will.
In Revolutionary days Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, Thomas Paine his essays, John Woolman his Journal, and the first American novelist appeared, Charles Brockden Brown.
Our literature really began with the New-Yorkers, Irving, Cooper, and Bryant. Then came the New England group, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, and the historians, Prescott, Motley, and Parkman, to which list the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe should be added. In the South we had Edgar Allan Poe, Simms, Lanier, and later Cable and Page. The Western country has given us Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and Riley. Realism has its representatives in fiction in Howells, James, and[Pg 54] Mary Wilkins Freeman, and in poetry in Walt Whitman.
To-day we have nature writers, including John Burroughs and Stewart Edward White. We have such essayists as William Winter, Henry Van Dyke, Agnes Repplier, and Samuel Crothers. We have the poets John Vance Cheney, James Whitcomb Riley, Madison Cawein, Anna Branch and Josephine Preston Peabody. We have the historical writers McMaster, James Schouler, James Ford Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Cabot Lodge. And among the novelists may be mentioned Winston Churchill, Margaret Deland, Robert Grant, S. Weir Mitchell, Edith Wharton, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Ellen Glasgow, F. Hopkinson Smith, Hamlin Garland, Robert Herrick, Jack London, and Booth Tarkington.
In early days our painters were Gilbert Stuart, Copley, and Benjamin West; in later years, Inness, Whistler, La Farge, Abbey, and Sargent. Our sculptors have been Powers, Crawford, Saint-Gaudens, French, Borglum, MacMonnies, and Potter.
In music we have had MacDowell, Chadwick, Nevin, and Parker; in architecture, Upjohn,[Pg 55] Richardson, Stanford White, the Hunts, and Carrère.
For a general survey of our country, read Bryce's American Commonwealth.[Pg 56]
1. The House Desirable—Where to live; city or country; the most economical kind of house; necessities and luxuries.
2. The House Comfortable—Heat, water, ventilation, sunshine.
3. The House Beautiful—The exterior, type of house, harmony with surroundings, color; lawns, gardens, trees and shrubbery; the vegetable garden and the drying-ground; out-buildings.
4. General Discussion—Living where we do, how can we improve our houses and their surroundings?
Books to Consult—Isabel Bevier: The House: Its Plan, Decoration and Care. W. M. Johnson: Inside of One Hundred Homes. S. Parsons, Jr.: How to Plan the Home Grounds. L. C. Corbett: Beautifying the Home Grounds. (U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 105. 1904.)[Pg 57]
Discuss the transformation of old houses; the modernization of the farmhouse, with porches added, the parlor opened, the bedrooms made attractive, and heat and a water-supply provided. The village home; its limitations and possibilities; the advantage of simple lines rather than cheap and ugly scrollwork and ornate verandas. The city home; the basement dining-room and kitchen. The modern flat; its advantages and inconveniences. Modern building-materials, concrete, shingles, cobblestones; the use of stains. In preparation for this meeting, ask each member to bring in a sketch of the ground-plan of what represents to her an ideal dwelling-house.
1. Intelligent Furnishing—Consistency of style throughout. The value of various styles. How to combine the old with the new. Costly ugliness.
2. The Study of Special Needs—Rooms of the family as a whole: the dining-room, the library, living-rooms. The guest-room. The boys' bedrooms and den. The room for the grown daughter. Nursery and playroom.
3. Household Conveniences—The kitchen as a[Pg 58] workshop. (The equipment for cooking: gas, oil, coal, electricity.) New kinds of utensils (bread and cake mixers, fireless cookers, etc.). The attractive kitchen.
4. Art in the Home—Wall decoration (study of colors). Floor coverings (carpets, rugs, use of hard woods). Draperies, pictures (choice of subjects, artistic grouping and hanging of pictures). Bric-à-brac (selection and artistic arrangement). The beauty of simplicity in the home.
Books to Consult—Lillie Hamilton French: Homes and Their Decoration. Same author: The Home Dignified. Mitchell: The Fireless Cookery Book. Reading list on home decoration and furnishing: N. Y. State Library Bulletin. Bibliog. Vol. I, No. 20. Albany 1899.
Discuss the charm of the colonial style of furnishing; illustrate by cuts in the catalogues of large furniture-makers and dealers of four-post beds, Chippendale chairs and tables, Sheraton desks, etc. Take up the value of cretonnes in bedrooms and living-rooms. Have a practical talk on making over old things, dyeing carpets, simplifying the outlines of cheaply made furniture and staining it. Close with an informal discussion on The Kitchen Comfortable.[Pg 59]
1. The Housekeeper—Her training for her profession. Schools of domestic economy. Lectures. Books and magazines. Practical experience. The training of our daughters.
2. The Table—The family income and cost of food. Economy and waste. Entertaining. An attractive table for those of small means.
3. Individual Needs—Food for the growing child; for the invalid; for the dyspeptic. The diet of the laboring man and of the professional man. School luncheons.
4. The Weekly Program—The old housekeeping and the new. The problem of the laundry. The household mending. Sweeping and dusting. Baking and cleaning. The mistress' personal supervision.
Books to Consult—Ravenhill and Schiff: Household Administration. Herrick: Housekeeping Made Easy. Campbell: Household Economics. Benton: Living on a Little.
The abundance of material for this meeting will make discussion easy. Take up as additional topics: How shall we have an abundant table under present conditions? Is vegetarianism wise?[Pg 60] Can entertaining be done economically? Does it pay to spend time on the esthetic side of cooking and serving? Are weekly menus a help? Close with a paper or talk on the Importance of Simplicity in All Branches of Housekeeping.
1. The Problem as a Whole—Reasons for the change in the present situation as compared with the past: shop and factory labor, education, social advancement.
2. The Problem as Seen by the Mistress—The rise in the scale of wages. Increased demand for short hours. Constant desire of servants to change. Independence of spirit.
3. The Problem as seen by the Maid—Her comfort; the sleeping and sitting rooms. Her leisure; afternoons and evenings out. Her society; callers. Her wages. Growing tendency to specialization of work. Uniforms and caps.
4. Possible Solutions—The American girl, the foreigner, the negro, and the Japanese as servants. The working housekeeper. The visiting servant. The eight-hour day. Coöperative housekeeping. The servantless apartment.
Books to Consult—Salmon: Domestic Service.[Pg 61] Terrill: Household Management. Addams: Democracy and Social Ethics. Herrick: The Expert Maid Servant.
For this meeting the chairman can arrange in advance for the brief presentation of personal experiences, each limited to three minutes.
Other interesting and valuable topics might be: The Relations between Employers and Employed; Employment Offices and Their Regulation; The Ethics of References; Advertising and Answering Advertisements for Servants; What Shall We do for Sick and Elderly Servants?
1. The Income—The husband's share. The wife's share. The children's share. Special expenditures: the doctor and the dentist, church, benevolences, etc. Discussion of the proper division of the income.
2. Family Expenses—Renting or owning a home. The cost of living: food, fuel, service, etc. Dressing the family. Education: private or public schools.
3. Necessities and Luxuries—The comfortable home. The place of recreation. Books, music, and travel. The college education. The[Pg 62] use and the abuse of luxury; the automobile, the theater, dress.
4. Savings—Proportion of savings to expenditures. Ways and means of saving. The savings-bank, life insurance, investments.
Books to Consult—Haskins: How to Keep Household Accounts. Curtis: The Making of the Housewife. Babcock: Household Hints. Hewitt: How to live on a Small Income.
A discussion can be planned for this meeting on the comparison of men and women as economists. A brief talk may be given on The Change in the Scale of Living To-day, and another on Is a Return to the Simple Life Possible? The training of children in the use of money should also be taken up, and the meeting can close with a consideration of the question, Is a College Education a Necessity or a Luxury?
1. The Home Circle—Planning the home life. Delightful meal-hours. Evening amusements: music, games, reading aloud. The happy Sunday.
2. Neighbors—Who is my neighbor? The spirit of neighborliness. The ethics of borrowing. Helpfulness in the community.[Pg 63]
3. Hospitality—The fair exchange. Social life for all ages. The open house and the small income. Simple entertaining.
4. Social Organizations—The grange, the lodge, the club. Church societies: men's leagues, women's aid societies, boys' brigades, guilds for girls. The woman's club: intensive and extensive work.
Books to Consult—Gilman: The Home, Its Work and Influence. Modern Home Life: edited by Edward Everett Hale. Hall: Handbook of Hospitality. Abbott: The Home Builder. Holt: The Successful Hostess.
Emphasize in these papers the beauty and charm of a simple, free hospitality as distinguished from formal and costly entertaining. The welcoming of a child's playmates after school should be considered, the opening of the doors to the young people of the neighborhood, the planning of afternoon parties for elderly women, the bringing together of congenial groups of people, the drawing in of strangers, and the spirit of cordiality in church life.
1. For the Children—Simple amusements: candy-making, hide-and-seek, and other old-fashioned[Pg 64] games. Value of an attic. Tenting in the back yard. Gardening. Children's parties.
2. For the Young People—Small group games: checkers, card-games, chess, etc. Games of mental skill: twenty questions, guessing contests, writing of topical poems and jingles. The billiard-room in the house. Social advantages of the chafing-dish. Young people's dances.
3. For Adults—Reading aloud. Home carpentry. Entertaining: cards, music, dinners, etc.
4. For Everybody—Charades. Tableaux. Plays. The home orchestra. College songs. Discussion: What are the best books for family reading aloud?
Books to Consult—Mrs. Hamilton Mott: Home Games and Parties. Bancroft: Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium. Benson: Book of Indoor Games for Young People of All Ages. Hoyle's Games (many editions).
The great point to be emphasized in this meeting is that parents should deliberately make a place in the home life for amusements, from childhood up. Discuss: In how many ways can parents and children share their pleasures, and[Pg 65] how may the spirit of mutual enjoyment be fostered?
1. Travel—Should we see our own country before going abroad? Preparations for travel. Advantage of reading in advance about places to be visited. How to travel with children. Travel as an education.
2. In the Country—On the farm. In the camp. Among the mountains. By the sea. Comparison of experiences by members of the club.
3. Vacation and Study—Is it a good plan to combine the two? Summer schools. Chautauquas so called. Conventions (religious, sociological, scientific, musical, pedagogical, etc.).
4. Vacations at Home—The opportunity of a delightful summer. The possibilities of the yard: tents, out-of-door meals, the arbor, the garden, etc. City roof-gardens for families. Trolley-rides. Trips and picnics.
Books to Consult—M. L. Pool: Vacation in a Buggy. F. H. Winterburn: Vacation Hints. Talfourd: Vacation Rambles and Thoughts (1845).
Discuss these questions: What proportion of one's income is properly spent in a vacation?[Pg 66] What is the influence of life in a summer hotel on parents and children? Is the rest from housekeeping and the change of life compensation for the drawbacks there? Is the enlarging of the social circle of one's grown children a duty? Saving versus travel.
1. The Children's Rooms—The nursery and its furnishings. Rooms for the older children: seclusion, comfort, individuality. The playroom and the workshop.
2. Children and Parents—The ideal relationship: parents as friends. When should discipline end and personal freedom begin? Children at table. The bedtime hour and how to make the most of it. The blessing of grandparents in the home.
3. Brothers and Sisters—Mutual interests: work and play together. Cultivation and maintenance of the ideal of friendship between brothers and sisters. The spirit of chivalry and the spirit of service.
4. Children and Servants—Overfamiliarity versus dignity in the relation. Respect for a servant's rights and belongings.[Pg 67]
5. The Children's Playtime—Team-work in the home. The family group: mutual interest of parents and children. Hospitality and entertaining for children.
Books to Consult—Ellen Key: The Century of the Child. E. S. Martin: The Luxury of Children. Gertrude Jekyll: Children and Gardens. S. D. and M. K. Gordon: Quiet Talks on Home Ideals.
One of the most delightful ways of making home interesting is to encourage the children to give little plays, illustrated poems and shadow pictures. Miss Alcott in Little Women gives the outline of one play which may be prepared easily, and there are others to be had.
1. Training in Work—The spirit of industry. Faithfulness to tasks. Making domestic duties interesting. Study of domestic economy for girls.
2. Training in Culture—Books, music, and pictures. Education in taste. Table-talk about things worth while. Outlook on the world's life.
3. Training in Character—The fundamental virtues: truth, honesty, fortitude, unselfishness. Teaching by reading, by counsel, and by example.[Pg 68]
4. Training in Citizenship and Social Usefulness—Discussing politics. The father's politics and the boy's. Active philanthropy. Committee meetings in the home, and their effect on the children.
5. Training in Idealism—The steady ideal. Heroes and hero-worship. Stories of bravery and unselfishness in the daily press. What sort of politician shall boys be taught to admire? Lives of devotion in science, medicine, social service, and missions. Discuss the question: Are our children being really prepared for a broad and useful life-work?
Books to Consult—Lyman Abbott: The Home Builder. Newell Dwight Hillis: The Home School. Theodore T. Munger: On the Threshold. Kate Upson Clark: Bringing up Boys.
A talk may follow the fifth paper of this meeting, taking up the subject: How best to utilize the home as a training school, and yet to keep it cheerful.[Pg 69]
The first meeting should be given up to a broad presentation of the whole subject of folk-lore, myths, legends, fairy stories, festivals and superstitions. One paper should present the universality of myths, the curious resemblances found among them in races far apart in time and place. A second paper may give the ways in which they have been preserved to us. The Egyptians as early as 2800 b. c. used the stories on monuments and in manuscripts. Herodotus and Livy speak of folk-tales; Æsop's Fables embody many of them. In the Middle Ages story and song preserved them; and later they were collected. Walter Scott was especially appreciative of their value; he called them "antiquities," and tried to interest people in them in several of his books.
A third paper should deal with the important[Pg 70] theories held by scholars as to the origin of myths. The Grimm brothers in Germany, and later Max Müller, held that the similarity of myths proved the common stock and language of all races; as divisions came the myths passed on from one country and race to many. Andrew Lang, however, has more recently developed a second theory, one held to-day by most scientists, that as all primitive people observe the same phenomena of nature, they invent much the same myths to explain them, as all pass through the same stages of culture.
Another paper might notice the growth in the spread of the study of myths and legends. Since Thorns in 1846 coined the phrase "folk-lore," societies have been formed in every civilized land to preserve the old stories, songs and traditions, and to study them scientifically. Immense value is placed to-day on their importance as throwing light on history, literature, religion, and language. One writer says that a full knowledge of the folk-lore of every nation would be synonymous with the history of human thought. On the general subject read G. L. Gomme's Folk-Lore as an Historical Science, Andrew Lang's Modern Mythology, and the valuable articles in[Pg 71] the encyclopedias. For readings from the stories of all nations, see a set of small handbooks published by Lippincott, called Folk-Lore and Legend.
In the earliest Western race, the Aryan, we find the simplest myths of creation and changing nature. They first invented the Sun God, riding in his fiery chariot, his glowing locks spreading out through the sky. The demons of darkness revolt against him, and must be overcome. The Rain God darkens the heavens, and the Dawn Maiden brings the light. From these first simple ideas grew a large mythology, full of beauty, and of the local color which we see in all national myths; these are warm and glowing. Read the translations of some of the stories and hymns. See Mrs. Poor's Sanskrit and Kindred Literatures, or Warner's Library of Universal Literature.
The mythology of the Greeks is the most beautiful, the most artistic, and the most perfectly developed of any that we have, and it repays careful study. The early myths are much like the Aryan; indeed some of the stories are practically[Pg 72] identical. The sun and moon, darkness, storm, spring and summer, the ocean and the sky were all personified. Phœbus Apollo in his chariot is the sun; Eros and Psyche are the coming and going of light and darkness; Demeter, the harvest, has a daughter Persephone who goes down to the underworld as seed, dies, and is revived as spring brings back life. Notice how from such first, simple ideas a whole complicated religious system developed, and how the original gods and goddesses became so many that earth, air, water, sky, and all nature were filled with them. See also the gradual decadence of the system, especially when the Romans adopted it. Compare the myths of light and darkness with those of other lands. Read from Stories of Old Greece, by Emma R. Frith, and H. M. Chadwick's The Heroic Age.
In this cold, northern land the same original myths developed as elsewhere but were altered by the environment. Here the legends are often terrible instead of beautiful. There are battles of hail and snow, great ice mountains to be surmounted, gloomy castles to be won. The spirits of storm, of thunder, of cold, all figure. Animals,[Pg 73] too, are conspicuous in the stories, especially bears, wolves and eagles. The gods were stern and awful, rather than lovable. But in spite of this, there were still some, like the goddess of spring, who had charm, and some stories which show a sense of humor. Read In the Days of the Giants, a Book of Norse Tales, by Abbie Farwell Brown. Here are stories from the Sagas and the Edda, the earliest literature of the North. See How Thor Went a-Fishing, The Lost Bell, The Three Dogs, and The Meal of Frothi.
The Persian and Arabian folk-lore is really one, and stands quite by itself. It is unusually rich in well developed stories, many well worth study. The original myths of light and darkness were typified under the names of Ormuzd and Ahriman. The Zend-Avesta embodied their religion and literature, and is full of beauty. Later, however, the early and simple mythology degenerated into something complicated and almost puerile. The legends, preserved for us in The Thousand and One Nights, are marked by Oriental splendor. Often the setting of a story will be in a palace with wonderful gardens and fountains. We read of[Pg 74] great merchants, gorgeous silks, jewels and ornaments; of money, horses and camels; of sheiks, caliphs, viziers, magicians, and genii. In every respect the stories differ from those of other lands. Read Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book.
The peoples of Brittany, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland have folk-tales full of a certain mysticism. They have few nature myths, such as belong to earlier races, but they have drawn from their own imagination stories of beauty and charm, which are distinctly poetic, both in substance and form. Their legends deal largely with fairies, wishing-stones, haunted glens, and changelings. There are water fairies, some with human souls, and dwarfs who have homes in caves, and live and work like human beings. The whole of their folk-tales are filled with these little creatures, benign or malicious, who are closely in touch with the real lives about them.
The superstitions of these countries in regard to the reappearance of the dead as ghosts or spirits of one kind or another, also enter largely[Pg 75] into the literature of the Celtic races. This subject, a very large one, may be taken up here, or later by itself.
There is a delightful book called Fairy and Folk-Lore of the Irish Peasantry, by W. B. Yeats, and another on the Fairy Legends of Ireland, by T. C. Crocker. Duncan Anderson has one on Scottish Folk-Lore, also. Read from any of these, and also a story in Little Classics called The Fairy Finder, by Samuel Lover.
There is much that is curious about the folk-lore of the Russians and kindred peoples. They have the old, original nature myths, with hero stories added. There is the same setting as in Scandinavian mythology, of cold and storm. There are epics in three cycles which embody some stories almost identical with those of the Greeks. There are, however, two striking differences between their legends and those of other countries: one is, that sorcery, witchcraft, spells, exorcisms and incantations abound; the other is that nearly all tales have folk-music accompanying them. Fairy stories are abundant and charming, and much like those of Norway and Sweden.[Pg 76] Read from Myths and Fairy Tales of Russia, by Jeremiah Curtin, and Russian Folk Tales by R. Nisbet Bain.
In many respects the folk-tales of Germany are more interesting than those of any other country. They do not deal with the great, simple myths, except as they have been transformed into certain fairy tales, but are centered largely on more recent stories. There are tales of the Middle Ages, of knights, besieged castles, huntsmen and hermits; there are Rhine legends, with princesses and giants; there are mining tales of dwarfs and goblins, and stories of water fairies and forest elves. Notice the resemblance to the stories of other lands in some of Grimm's fairy tales. See how closely Peter Klaus is like our own story of Rip Van Winkle. Read Stories of the Rhine Gold, by Anna A. Chapin, and the best known stories from Grimm, especially Rumpelztiltskin, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White and Rose Red.
All parts of England are rich in folk-tales, festival customs and legends, and various shires[Pg 77] have preserved in book form those which are peculiar to them. In rhymes and jingles, nicknames, proverbs, riddles and nursery tales we find traces of very early tradition. Frazer's Golden Bough speaks of May Day customs, Maypole dances, keeping St. John's Eve and Midsummer Day, as survivals of religious festivals of great importance. The hero stories, especially those of King Arthur and his knights, are unusually well developed and beautiful. English fairies are most human and charming. Shakespeare is rich in allusion to them; read on this point Shakespeare's Puck and His Folk Lore, by William Bell, and parts of Midsummer Night's Dream.
In Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book all the delightful old fairy stories are preserved; read Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Ridinghood, Cinderella, and Jack the Giant Killer. Notice how several of these stories are considered by some students as nature myths.
Read Kipling's Puck o' Pook's Hill, the modern fairy story, and contrast with those of older date.
The negroes of the South have a complex set of stories of their own, some with the mark of their[Pg 78] savage ancestors on them—as is shown in their fetishism, voodoo, magic and ghosts—and others which are full of a quaint humor. Most of the latter are in the form of animal stories, and have been gathered together by Joel Chandler Harris. Read from Nights with Uncle Remus, and see how each of the animals mentioned has its peculiar characteristic, and how the rabbit, who always represents the colored man, outwits the white man by his cunning. Clubs should make a point of reproducing some of the old negro folk songs.
The Indians have many myths and legends, which vary in different tribes and localities. The people of Alaska have legends quite unlike those of the Mission Indians of California or the Zuñi tribes of New Mexico. In the north, cold, devils, fighting and struggles with animals predominate; in the south there is more of the spirit of harvest, of festival and brightness.
The scenes of the legends in general are laid in wigwams and deal with feasts, love-making, and battles with enemies. There are also many legends about trees, bees, birds, and fish. The original myths of light and darkness, flood, and other phenomena also recur. Read Indian Story and[Pg 79] Song, by Alice C. Fletcher, and F. H. Cushing's Zuñi Folk Tales.
In addition to the topics suggested, clubs should study more briefly than these the tales of other lands. Japan has a delightful set of tales, turning largely on animals, flowers and spirits. Read Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan, by R. G. Smith. Follow with the legends of China and Corea, both collected, full of originality and interest, with heroes and nature myths. Hawaii has much local color in her folk-tales, for volcanic fire often appears. See Hawaiian Folk-Lore by T. G. Thrum.
The myths of Egypt have recently been collected and are quite unlike those of other lands. They are divided into three groups, one dealing with the earliest times when simple nature myths occur; the second, when Egypt developed, and stories of town and country appear; in the third the stories deal with strangers, ships and sailors. Crocodiles play an important part, and the atmosphere of heat is always noticeable.
In modern Europe the stories of Spain and Italy and also of Roumania are to be studied, the latter[Pg 80] in the collections made by Carmen Sylva, the queen. Add to these the subject of gipsy lore, from the book called Gipsy Folk-Tales, by F. H. Groome.
The subject of superstitions may follow the topics suggested, and ghosts, reappearances of all kinds, and haunted houses will prove a wide field.
Hero stories in all lands is also a delightful division of the general subject. The legends of Havelock the Dane, of Siegfried, of Roland, and Arthur put them in the class known as the "Fatal Children," or those whose innate greatness no earthly obstacle can withstand.
See Heroes of Myth, by Lillian L. Price and Chas. B. Gilbert.
One more important and curious topic is that of Were Wolves and Swan Maidens, as it is called, or the inhabiting of animal bodies by human souls, which is one of the constantly recurring legends in all lands. The rescuing of the imprisoned spirit has led to innumerable stories.
The myths concerning the ascent of souls to Heaven is most interesting, and the legends of the Milky Way and the Rainbow Bridge are poetic and lovely. The story of Jack and the[Pg 81] Bean Stalk is considered to belong to the general group.
If there is time, have one meeting on the subjects of dwarfs alone. Note the differences between black, brown, and white dwarfs, and trolls, elves, pixies, kobolds, brownies, and goblins. See how closely all are related to the life of man. Contrast their cleverness with the invariable stupidity of giants.
In addition to these topics clubs will find the folk-lore of the Australians, the islanders everywhere, and of savage races, full of interest. A book just published, called The Fetich Folk of West Africa, by R. H. Milligan, bears on the last point.
The subject of myths and legends will be found of far greater interest if each topic is illustrated by pictures. There are many fairy books for children for which artists have made beautiful drawings, and some especially lovely, in colors. In studying the Hero stories, get reproductions of famous pictures of the Rhine, legends, and look up Abbey's pictures of Arthur and his knights.
Clubs composed of mothers and teachers may take up the subject of telling fairy stories to children; which ones to tell and which to omit,[Pg 82] and how to tell them. Hero stories are always interesting to growing boys, and teachers can suggest to them which are the wisest to choose. Instead of reading stories and legends at every club meeting it is well to have them told by some one skilful in the art.
Clubs which wish to study the general subject of folk-lore in a serious way will find the topic of comparative religions most interesting and valuable; scholars are everywhere taking it up, and there are many books upon it, notably Frazer's Golden Bough, already suggested under another head.
The folk-lore of the ancient Hebrews can be either taken separately or as a part of this subject; the old hero myths of the Bible, of Samson especially, will be found delightful.[Pg 83]
1. Leaving New York—The docks, the harbor, description of the steamer; life on the ocean.
2. The Landing: Liverpool—The new docks; the art gallery.
3. On the Way to London—The Northwestern Railway; English railway-cars; English traveling companions; the countryside.
4. The First Stop: Rugby—English Inns; Thomas Arnold and Rugby School. Brief reading from Tom Brown's School Days.
5. Arriving in London—The London cab; the motor-bus; the London lodging-house; English and American comfort.
Books to Consult—John C. Van Dyke: The Opal Sea. Hare: Walks in London. E. V. Lucas: The Friendly Town. Hawthorne: English Note-Books. William Winter: Grey Days and Gold.
By stopping in Liverpool a few days, there[Pg 84] are several delightful side-trips possible: one to Chester, to see the cathedral, the Roman ruins, the famous walls, and the Rows; another to Hawarden, the home of Gladstone, and a third to Eaton Hall, the seat of the Duke of Westminster.
By going to London by the Midland, one passes through the Peak country; look up beautiful Haddon Hall and Chatsworth; read the Story of Dorothy Vernon and Scott's Peveril of the Peak. Going by the Great Northern, one can see the famous Five Dukeries, and pass through Sherwood Forest; read of the latter from Ivanhoe.
1. The Largest City in the World—Study of its map. Statistics. Modern improvements. Charities. Government (the county council; the Lord Mayor and aldermen).
2. The History of London—The ancient Britons and their pile dwellings. Coming of the Romans. The days of Alfred. Norman London. Under the Tudors. The Great Fire and the changes it made.
3. Survivals of Old London—Fragments of the Roman wall. The Hall of William Rufus.[Pg 85] The Tower and its church. The Abbey. Readings from The Spectator and Washington Irving's Sketch-Book, describing the Abbey. Coronations, including a brief description of that of George V.
4. Modern London—Buckingham Palace and its history. The Houses of Parliament and their decoration. Art galleries and museums and their most remarkable contents. St. Paul's. Westminster Cathedral. The homes of the nobility.
5. Literary Landmarks of London—Grub Street. The Cheshire Cheese and the Kit-Kat Club. Dickens's London. Residences of literary people.
Books to Consult—Hare: Walks in London. Besant: London (also his books about the several sections). Hutton: Literary Landmarks of London. Singleton: London as Seen and Described by Famous Writers. E. V. Lucas: The Friendly Town.
An attractive discussion may follow these topics on such themes as the modern housing problems of London, and the transportation of the city (trams, tubes, motor-buses). Compare the hotels and restaurants with those of New York. Shopping. Social settlements, especially Toynbee Hall. The fashionable residence district. London[Pg 86] Bridge by day and by night. The London pageant of 1911.
1. Canterbury—Description of the town. St. Martin's, the Mother Church of England. Monastery of St. Augustine. Architecture of the cathedral, and periods represented. Great events connected with its history. Story of Thomas à Becket.
2. Winchester, Salisbury, and Wells—The ancient town of Winchester and its place in English history. Caskets of the Danish kings. The glass. Graves of Jane Austen and Izaak Walton. Salisbury: the most symmetrical of the cathedrals. The cloister. Wells: the moated palace of the bishops; the vicar's close; the chapter-house staircase.
3. Ely and Peterborough—Ely: the fens. Story of King Canute. The military architecture. Peterborough: the screen of the west front; the painted wood ceiling; the grave of Queen Catharine of Aragon, and the former grave of Mary Queen of Scots.
4. Lincoln and Lichfield—Lincoln: the bishop's eye, and the dean's eye; site of the shrine of[Pg 87] Little Hugh of Lincoln; old houses around the close. Lichfield: symmetry; monuments of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Samuel Johnson, and Garrick. Johnson's connection with Lichfield. The Grammar-School.
5. York and Durham—York: the old city and its walls; the Five Sisters window; the military monuments; the famous chapter-house; the crypt; the horn of Ulphus. Durham: story of the monks of Lindisfarne and St. Cuthbert; the dun cow; the prince bishops; the Norman pillars; the Galilee, and the grave of The Venerable Bede; the knocker.
Books to Consult—Van Rensselaer: English Cathedrals. Pratt: Cathedral Churches of England. Singleton: Famous Cathedrals as Seen and Described by Great Writers.
If time permits, this program should occupy two meetings at least. To the great cathedrals given may be added the smaller ones, Chichester, Gloucester, Worcester, Chester, Exeter, Ripon and Carlisle. To the excursion to Wells add a side-trip to Glastonbury, the home of the Arthurian legends. At Winchester visit the Hospital of St. Cross and the famous school. At Canterbury read from David Copperfield.[Pg 88]
1. Oxford: the City—The Cherwell and the Isis. The castle. Carfax. The martyrs and their monument. The cathedral. Trips to Iffley, Blenheim, Woodstock, and Gaunt House.
2. Oxford: the Colleges—Origin and constitution of university. New College: William of Wykeham's Tower and Sir Joshua Reynolds's window; Christ Church: Cardinal Wolsey, the great bell, the hall and staircase; Magdalen College: the Founder's Tower, the deer park, Addison's Walk, the outdoor pulpit; Balliol College: John Balliol, King of Scotland, Wiclif, Jowett.
3. Oxford: in English History and Literature—The monks; the Empress Matilda; Charles I.; the Oxford Movement. Famous authors educated at Oxford: Ben Jonson, Sidney, Locke, Jeremy Taylor, Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, Swinburne, Pater. Books describing life in college at Oxford: Verdant Green, Hard Cash, Tom Brown at Oxford. Readings about Oxford from Matthew Arnold, Andrew Lang, and Bagehot.
4. Cambridge: the City and the Colleges—The round Norman church; the Cam and the Backs.[Pg 89] Pembroke College: Edmund Spenser's mulberry-tree; Queen's: the bridge; King's: Henry Seventh's chapel; Trinity: Wren's library, Milton manuscript; St. John's: the garden; Magdalen: the Pepys library; Emmanuel: the Puritans' college, John Harvard.
5. Cambridge and the Intellectual Life of England—Government and Science: Bacon, Newton, Harvey, Darwin, Thurlow, Palmerston. Letters: Ascham, Marlowe, Crashaw, Dryden, Gray, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Thackeray, Tennyson.
Books to Consult—Andrew Lang: Oxford. Edwards: Oxford Painted by John Fulleylove. Atkinson: Cambridge Described and Illustrated. Stubbs: The History of Cambridge.
Read especially the famous passage from the preface to Matthew Arnold's Essays in Criticism, concerning Oxford. Show a photograph of the beautiful memorial of Shelley and one of Holman Hunt's picture called, "The Light of the World." Tell of the Bodleian Library and the Sheldonian Theater. Read O. W. Holmes's account of the granting of degrees. Under Cambridge, notice King's College chapel and compare the ceiling with that of Henry Seventh's chapel in Westminster[Pg 90] Abbey, built at the same time. Give a brief paper on Girton and Newnham Colleges for women.
1. Introductory Paper—General description of Westmoreland and Cumberland Counties. The sixteen lakes, including Windermere, Ullswater, Coniston, and Derwentwater. History of the region.
2. Windermere and Its Neighborhood—Bowness and its church. The steamer trip. Elleray and Christopher North. Hawkshead and the Wordsworth Grammar-School. Coniston. Brantwood and Ruskin. The Duddon Valley.
3. Ambleside, Grasmere, and Keswick—Coaching. Dove's Nest. Fox How, the home of Thomas Arnold. Rydal Mount. Nab Cottage and Hartley Coleridge. Grasmere Church and Wordsworth grave and monument. Keswick and the home of Southey, Greta Hall. Crosthwaite Church and Southey's tomb. Derwentwater and the Friar's Crag. The Falls of Lodore.
4. The Lake School of Poets—Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge. Readings from Wordsworth's Excursion and his sonnets. Reading from Southey's Lodore.[Pg 91]
Books to Consult—Eric Robertson: Wordsworthshire. Rawnsley: Life and Nature at the English Lakes (also several other books by the same author). Knight: The English Lake District as Interpreted in the Poems of Wordsworth. A. G. Bradley (and Pennell): Highways and Byways in the Lake District. Palmer: The English Lakes.
If possible, have a talk on Dorothy Wordsworth and the home life of brother and sister. Mention some of their visitors, among them Charles Lamb, the friend of the three Lake Poets. Read Wordsworth's poem about his wife: "She was a Phantom of Delight." The connection of the Arnolds, Thomas and Matthew, with the lake country is full of interest, as well as that of Harriet Martineau. Refer also to Arthur Hugh Clough, who lived here for a time. The schools founded by Ruskin are worth study, where the plowboys learned to make beautiful pottery, and the farmers' daughters, embroidery.
1. Stratford on Avon—Shakespeare's birthplace; the signatures of famous people on the walls; the museum, the garden. The Grammar-School.[Pg 92] New Place and the Mulberry-Tree. The church and the tomb of Shakespeare, with its inscription. The river Avon.
2. Around Stratford—Shottery and the home of Ann Hathaway. Charlcote and the deer-park. The Elizabethan mansion and the church of Hampton Lucy.
3. Kenilworth—The famous revels prepared for Queen Elizabeth by the Earl of Leicester in 1574. Shakespeare's relation to the Queen and the court. Were any plays written at her suggestion? The present ruins of Kenilworth and Amy Robsart's tower.
4. Warwick—The castle and its treasures and history. Leycester Hospital. The Church of Saint Mary with the tomb of the great Earl of Leicester. Guy's Cliff.
Books to Consult—William Winter: Shakespeare's England. Goadby: The England of Shakespeare. Leyland: The Shakespeare Country Illustrated. Turner: Shakespeare's Land.
The country about Stratford is constantly referred to in the plays of Shakespeare. In Henry IV., The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merry Wives of Windsor there are numerous passages which touch it. The Forest of Arden is deserving[Pg 93] of a side-trip, and on the way travelers watch for the wild thyme, the primroses, the violets, and other flowers mentioned by Shakespeare. There may be a little tour to Coventry, the quaint old town associated with the story of Lady Godiva. Photographs for illustrating the Shakespeare country are abundant and beautiful, and are easily obtained.
1. Edinburgh—General appearance of the city. The old town and the new. The castle. Saint Giles's. The Knox house. Holyrood. The Tolbooth. The wynds. The Canongate. Grey Friars. The Scott monument. The university.
2. Through the Lakes and the Trossachs to Glasgow—Railway, steamer, and coach. Stirling: the castle, field of Bannockburn, the Wallace monument. The Trossachs. Loch Katrine and Ellen's Isle (see The Lady of the Lake). Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond. Glasgow: the cathedral, the university. The Clyde. Reading from The Lady of the Lake.
3. The Land of Burns—Ayr: the Auld Brig and the New Brig, Burns's cottage, the Brig o' Doon, Auld Alloway Kirk. The Burns monument.[Pg 94] Dumfries: Burns's house (where he died), his grave and monument. Reading of Tam o' Shanter.
4. Scott's Country—Abbotsford. Melrose. Dryburgh. Reading from Washington Irving's account of his visit to Abbotsford, and the account of Scott's funeral in Lockhart's Life of Scott.
Books to Consult—William Winter: Over the Border. Hunnewell: Lands of Scott. Crockett: In the Border Country. Crockett: The Scott Country. Sir H. E. Maxwell: The Story of the Tweed.
A day's coaching-trip from Edinburgh takes one to the beautiful little chapel of Roslin with its "'Prentice Pillar," and to Hawthornden, the glen where Drummond, the Elizabethan poet, lived. A second excursion may be made to the old university town of Saint Andrews, with its castle (a ruin) and the bottle dungeon, and also the famous golf-links. A trip may be taken to the seaside town of Newhaven, to see the fish-wives in their quaint costumes.
1. Perth and Aberdeen—Perth: St. John's Church. Site of the convent and the story of[Pg 95] The King's Tragedy (see Rossetti). Reading from Scott's Fair Maid of Perth. Balmoral: Reading from Queen Victoria's Journal in the Highlands. Aberdeen: History. The granite works. The Cathedral of St. Machar. The university (King's College). Bridge of Don (1320).
2. Oban—"The Charing Cross of the Highlands." The Island of Mull. Staffa ("Island of Pillars") and Fingal's Cave. Iona. St. Columba's church. Story of his life. Reading from Bede's Ecclesiastical History. The Celtic crosses.
3. The Caledonian Canal—Start from Oban. Glencoe and the story of its massacre. Ossian's cave. Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Great Britain). Invergarry Castle. Fall of Foyers.
4. Skye and the Islands—Reading from William Black's A Princess of Thule; also, from Scott's Pirate. The Orkney Islands. Sea fowl. Fisheries. The Shetland Islands. Story of Harold Haarfagr.
Books to Consult—James Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. R. B. Moncrieff: Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Archibald MacMillan: Iona. George Birkbeck Hill: Footsteps of Dr. Johnson.
Introduce in this program the ballads of the[Pg 96] Scottish Highlands, either read or sung. The origin of the tartans used by the different clans is interesting, especially if illustrated with colored reproductions. The unique Highland costume for men may be described or represented. The bagpipes should be noticed; their peculiar music and their historic use.
1. History—The Romans and their remains. Offa's Dyke. The Normans and their buildings. Griffith ap Rhyl. Llewlyn the Great. Owen Glendower's revolt. Origin of the Tudor kings in Wales. The story of the Princes of Wales.
2. The Country and the People—Wildness and grandeur. Llandudno, Llangollen, Bettws-y-Coed, Snowdon. Show photographs of the most famous places. The Celts and their languages. National customs of the Welsh: the eisteddfod.
3. Churches and Castles—Wrexham Church and the tomb of Elihu Yale. Valle Crucis Abbey. Truro. St. Asaph's Cathedral, the smallest in the kingdom, and the grave of Mrs. Hemans. Llandaff Cathedral. Cardiff Castle. Beaumaris. Hawarden Church, in the grounds of Gladstone's estate. Pembroke, the birthplace of Henry VII.[Pg 97] Bangor. Denbigh. Conway. Carnarvon, the birthplace of the first Prince of Wales. Harlech. Powys.
4. Literature—Giraldus Cambrensis. The Arthurian Legends. The Mabinogion. Celtic Folk-lore.
Books to Consult—E. Thomas and R. Fowler: Beautiful Wales. A. G. Bradley: Highways and Byways in Wales. W. J. Griffith: Short Analysis of Welsh History (Temple Primers). George Borrow: Wild Wales. J. B. John: The Mabinogion.
Welsh music should have some place in the program. Great choruses of singers have traveled in America, and may have been heard by some of the club members. The best-known song is the stirring March of the Men of Harlech. An interesting paper may be prepared on the relation existing between Tennyson's Idyls of the King and the Welsh legends.
1. The History—The Celts: their characteristics, customs, and folk-lore. The Irish kings. St. Columba and St. Patrick. The conquest. The question of home rule.[Pg 98]
2. Belfast, the City of the North—Differences between the people of the north and those of the south. Protestants and Catholics. Ship-building and the linen industry. Dimensions of some of the recently made ships. The Giant's Causeway.
3. Dublin—The government buildings. Phœnix Park and its history. The cathedral and Dean Swift. Excursions in the neighborhood.
4. Cork and the South—The city and its characteristics. The Gap of Dunloe. The Lakes of Killarney. Blarney Castle. Show photographs.
5. Irish Literature—Ancient. Readings from the publications of the Irish Text Society. Oratory. Sheridan, Burke, Grattan, O'Connell. Folk-tales and folk-songs. See volume x. of Morris's Irish Literature. Novels: Lover, Edgeworth, Lever, William Carleton. Readings. The New Irish Theater: Yeats, Synge, Lady Gregory.
Books to Consult—Mrs. Alice S. A. Green: Irish Nationality. J. P. Joyce: The Wonders of Ireland. W. C. O'Donnell: Around the Emerald Isles. F. Weitenkampf: The Irish Literary Revival.
To vary this program, illustrate with scenes[Pg 99] from Sheridan's School for Scandal, and The Rivals, in costume. Have Moore's ballads sung: Oft in the Stilly Night, Those Evening Bells, The Last Rose of Summer, and The Harp that Once Through Tara's Halls. Read from Lever's Charles O'Malley and from Burke's speech on the impeachment of Warren Hastings. Clever Irish stories and famous bulls might be given to close the hour.[Pg 100]
It is part of a liberal education to be more or less acquainted with the lives of our great composers and the operas they wrote; and the subject is quite as interesting and practical for the women remote from musical centers as for those near them. There are two books any club can own which are invaluable; one is called The Opera, by R. A. Streatfield, which gives a sketch of each composer and an estimate of his work; the other, Two Hundred Opera Plots, by Gladys Davidson tells the story of each opera. In addition to these (and of course whatever is to be found in a good encyclopedia) the score of any opera can be bought at a music store, and a pianist can illustrate a talk with leading airs; or, if practicable, one of the modern musical machines can reproduce the voices of famous singers in their great parts.[Pg 101]
The year's work should begin by one or more meetings on the Rise of Opera in Italy in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Three little operas were written, attempting to give the old Greek dramas in a musical setting. The first public performance of opera as we know it, however, was given by Peri, in Florence, with his Euridice, to honor the marriage of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV. of France; this was a sort of recitative, set to the music of a violin, a guitar, and harpsichord.
Peri was followed by Monteverde, but the latter's production of Orfeo far surpassed the former's work on the same theme. His orchestra had thirty-nine instruments, and the effect of the whole was to open a new world of music. At once opera-writing became the fashion, and in fifty years all great Italian cities had their schools of opera, and France had adopted the same ideas. The subjects of all were classical, allegorical, and pastoral, and to the recitative, alone, were added songs and arias, and the overture was developed. Some clubs might take for a year's work the subject of Italy of this period,[Pg 102] adding the study of art and literature to that of music. A good book to use is Morton Latham's Renaissance of Music.
At this point the history of opera divides, and three great composers are to be noted. Clubs should have a paper on each, the material drawn from the encyclopedia.
1. Lulli, though born in Italy, lived in Paris; he wrote twenty operas, all of which were splendidly produced. He used largely the form of recitative, but developed the overture, dividing it into a prelude, a fugue, and a dance.
2. Humphreys, an English composer, was sent by Charles II. to France to study; on his return he had for his pupil Henry Purcell, still considered the greatest musical genius England has produced. His Dido and Æneas is the first English opera.
3. The third great man of the time was Handel, who produced in Hamburg the opera Almira, a mixture of German and Italian ideas, but made beautiful by the charming dance music scattered through it. Later he wrote Rinaldo, and it was brought out with overwhelming success.
Clubs should give an entire meeting to Handel.[Pg 103] Many of his well-known oratorios have selections which are more familiar than any passages from his operas, however, notably the Messiah and Elijah.
After the death of Lulli the French school followed him with little originality until, in the eighteenth century, Rameau gave opera more rhythm and melody, and added to the orchestration. Then Gluck appeared, studying first in Italy, where opera had degenerated; he wrote Piramo e Tisbe, which failed; later he brought out Orfeo ed Euridice, which at once made him famous. The music is appropriate to the lofty and sad classical theme, but is relieved with exquisite reproductions of bird and water music. The whole is one of the great operas. The great song is Che farò senza Euridice.
Mozart, though a German by birth, was trained under Italian influence. His first opera was written when he was twelve years old, and given in his native town. His greatest work was Don Giovanni, though his last, The Magic Flute, is best known. But it was his influence over other musicians, like that of Rameau, which was even[Pg 104] more important than his own music. Mozart is one of the most delightful topics for club study. His charming personality, his friendships, and his life-story are full of interest.
Cherubini's work, at first cold and formal, developed into dignity and even grandeur. His finest opera is Médée, although his one light opera, The Water Carriers, is also well known.
Beethoven gave one famous opera to Germany at this time, his Fidelio. The music shows strongly the influence of Mozart, but it is original in form and beautiful in execution. The Fateful Moment is a good selection to give.
Weber, a German, was the first to turn from the conventional type of opera-writing to the romantic. To his solid foundation he added an exquisite, imaginative glow. After years of struggle he achieved success in his Der Freischütz. Oberon, his last work, full of fairylike and charming music, did not succeed. In fact, Weber's greatest accomplishment was the inspiration he gave others, like Mozart and Rameau. The overtures to both operas should be given.
Flotow, a German by birth, wrote distinctly[Pg 105] Italian music. His one well-known opera, Martha, still has a certain vogue, though it is remembered more for its tuneful airs than for any real merit. The Spinning-Wheel Song and the Last Rose of Summer are familiar.
Nicolai began his work by imitating Italian music, but later he became distinctly original and wrote a really excellent comic opera, the Merry Wives of Windsor, which stands in the first rank.
Schubert wrote many light operas of slight musical value, and Schumann one of more or less worth, called Genoveva.
Opera-writing now became so popular everywhere that it is necessary to take it up in its different homes, and to divide the work into that done in the earlier and later years. The first is:
Rossini, born at the end of the eighteenth century, knew little of technical methods, so he followed his native genius. His first great opera was Tancredi, and this was followed by others in a lighter vein, notably the Barber of Seville, bright and amusing, and later William Tell, his finest work, dignified and beautiful. The overture to the last is one of his familiar melodies.[Pg 106]
Donizetti, born in the same decade with Rossini, wrote sixty-five operas; one of the best-known is Lucia di Lammermoor, with its famous sextet. Lucrezia Borgia, probably his best work, is but seldom given to-day, but La Fille du Régiment, a gay, charming little opera, is often presented.
Bellini, who comes a few years later than the last two composers, wrote operas famous in their day. I Puritani, La Sonnambula, and Norma, are all well known. The solo, Hear Me, Norma, is especially familiar.
Meyerbeer, born in 1791, though of German birth, spent most of his life in Paris. He wrote many excellent operas, even though they were marred by sensationalism. Robert le Diable, L'Africaine, Les Huguenots, and Le Prophète have all been often given by great singers. Les Huguenots is considered Meyerbeer's best work, and the duet in the fourth act is of immense dramatic force.
In contrast with this composer stands Berlioz, born in 1803. His work is serious, with romantic and delicate touches. He wrote The Damnation of Faust and Benvenuto Cellini, but his great[Pg 107] opera is Les Troyens, though it is scarcely known to the public.
Halévy belongs with Meyerbeer, for one reflected the other. La Juive appeared before Les Huguenots, and the music of both has much in common.
Just at this time light opera, or opéra comique, found in Auber its greatest composer. He began to write late in life, and his last opera, The Dream of Love, was produced when he was eighty-eight. His music was full of gaiety and brightness. Fra Diavolo and Masaniello are familiar, and the part of Fenella in the latter has been taken by many famous dancers. Auber has many followers to-day, notably Offenbach, whose Tales of Hoffman is well known.
Richard Wagner, born in 1813, is by far the most imposing and most interesting of all writers of opera. His life and work deserve more than a passing paper, and clubs are urged to make an entire year's study of them. At twenty he wrote his first opera, Die Feen, rather a simple affair; this was distinctly in the Italian manner. Next he tried the French method, and wrote Rienzi,[Pg 108] with an excellent libretto but showy music. Later, in poverty in Paris, he wrote The Flying Dutchman, a picturesque piece of music with beautiful chorus work. After this came the first of his great operas, Tannhauser, the story of the struggle of a soul between good and evil. This contains two famous passages, the Pilgrims' Chorus and the exquisite song to the Evening Star. It is in this opera that there first appears Wagner's distinctive method, the use of the Leit-motif, or guiding-theme, which associates one strain or one set of instruments with one character. This idea had been slightly used by Gluck, but Wagner developed it.
Five years later came Lohengrin, not as strong a piece of work as its predecessor, though the prelude is acknowledged to be one of his most poetic conceptions. None of Wagner's work was successful, however; and after this point he relinquished the hope of popularity, and determined to write only what seemed to him great music. In this lofty spirit he planned Der Ring des Nibelungen. His subject was taken from the old Norse mythology, the myths altered to suit his purpose. The whole work is in five parts: the Ring, the Rheingold, the Walküre, Siegfried, and[Pg 109] the Twilight of the Gods. The plots of these should be read, and such music heard as can be obtained.
Then came Tristan and Isolde, called the Romeo and Juliet of music, and after it, strangely enough, followed a light opera, Die Meistersinger, at once a success; and last, what is considered his greatest work, Parsifal, which he called a Sacred Festival Drama rather than an opera. In this he returns to the theme he used in Lohengrin—the Holy Grail. The wonderful and touching mystical music must be heard to be appreciated. For years it has been given at Bayreuth, and musicians from all over the world have gathered to hear it. It is only of late that it has been produced elsewhere.
Wagner's life-work was to alter the whole course of modern opera and give it new dignity and power.
Gounod, born in 1818, is the greatest composer of French opera of modern times. His masterpiece is Faust, with its familiar Jewel Song; his second best work is Romeo and Juliet.
Thomas, the writer of Mignon, full of melody,[Pg 110] and Hamlet, with its brilliant and powerful music, is distinctly a follower of Gounod.
Bizet shows in his Carmen the influence of Wagner; the Toreador strain is its guiding-theme. His work was to raise light opera to almost the dignity of grand.
Saint-Saëns has one well-known work, Samson and Delilah, somewhat suggestive of oratorio.
Massenet, who died but lately, was full of originality. His operas, The Cid, Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame, Manon, and Thais, are all to be seen on the modern stage.
Charpentier in Louise has also struck an original note, and his orchestration is considered unique.
Debussy has written Pélleas and Mélisande, a new opera of great interest.
Delibes has one charming opera, Lakmé, founded on the love of a Hindu girl for an English officer.
Verdi, born in 1839 and dying only recently, is the master of the modern Italian composers. Ernani is typical of his first style, and was immensely popular. Later he wrote La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and Aida. When Verdi[Pg 111] was an old man he wrote Otello, called his greatest work. This was followed by Falstaff, full of bright fun.
Verdi's genius inspired many other musicians. Of them all Ponchielli owed him most; his best opera is La Gioconda.
Puccini, a living composer, also owes much to Verdi; his Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Madame Butterfly, and The Girl of the Golden West prove his great promise.
Mascagni is associated with one opera only, the Cavalleria Rusticana, with its intermezzo which gave it popularity. His later work is distinctly second rate.
Leoncavallo has followed Mascagni somewhat. His I Pagliacci is his best-known opera.
Almost all Germans follow Wagner to-day, but Goldmark in his Queen of Sheba shows independence, especially in his orchestration. Humperdinck's lovely Hansel and Gretel has given him a place of importance.
The Bohemian, Smetana, who wrote The Bartered Bride cleverly used his national airs, and[Pg 112] this and his other operas are typical of his country.
Glinka, born in 1808, founded the Russian school; his fine opera A Life for the Czar is well known.
Richard Strauss, a follower of Wagner, is the composer of Salome and Elektra; the music is rich and complicated, and his talent unquestioned.
In England, Balfe, born in 1808, wrote several operas, the best known the Bohemian Girl, with its familiar airs. Since his day there has been little serious work done, but light opera, notably Sullivan's Pinafore, the Mikado, and others have had great success.
In America we have Horatio Parker, with his recent Mona, a production full of originality, if one not yet popular; Reginald De Koven, who wrote the excellent Robin Hood, and Victor Herbert, the author of lighter works.
In addition to using this résumé of opera, clubs should make out programs on popular topics; or there may be one topic used to close each program.
Subsidizing the opera: shall this be done by the[Pg 113] state, as in Germany; or by individuals, as in New York?
Cheap opera: is it possible for us to-day? How is it managed in Germany and Italy? What is the expense of opera in New York, in great salaries, scenery, costumes, etc.?
Give an idea of some famous opera-houses in Paris, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Milan, Buenos Ayres, and elsewhere, illustrating with photographs. Tell of great opera-singers and their careers; mention Patti, Christine Nilsson, Calvé, the De Reszkes, Caruso, and others; have records of such voices, if possible. Discuss the opera music of to-day: Is it on the whole melodious, or is there a tendency to return to the old style recitative? Are the airs as marked as those of a decade ago?[Pg 114]
1. Italy: the Birthplace of Modern Painting—The influence of Byzantium; the intellectual awakening of Europe; the development of commerce.
2. The Early Painters—Cimabue, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Botticelli.
3. Art Patrons of the Renaissance—Lorenzo de' Medici; Leo X.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Father of Modern Painting—Story of his life; his versatility; the Last Supper; the Mona Lisa.
Reading from Walter Pater's Essay on the Renaissance.
Books to Consult—Luebke: History of Art. J. A. Symonds: The Renaissance in Italy. Vasari: Lives of the Painters.
A brief introductory paper might take up the influence of Roman classical literature and history on Italian art, and also the effect of Greek culture[Pg 115] after the Crusades. The childlike subjects and methods of the early painters are also of great interest, and what they took from Byzantine art, and how they were influenced by the study of anatomy. The luxury of the times and its demands for pictures and statues, the influence of the extravagance of court life, the Popes as art patrons, all can be discussed. One entire paper might be given to St. Peter's at Rome, and another to Da Vinci's great picture "Mona Lisa," and what art critics have said of it. See also Ruskin's estimates of the Primitives.
1. Life of Raphael—His family and his father's influence; change in his style through his instructors. His patrons, and what he did for them. His personal disposition, and its effect on his style.
2. Raphael as a Painter—Give the impressions of famous travelers, authors and art critics. Where his paintings are, their number, their subjects. The Madonna, his favorite subject. Various ways in which he treated it.
3. Michelangelo—The story of his life and training as a painter. Versatility (as architect, painter, sculptor and poet). Brief description of[Pg 116] his works and their location. Readings from his sonnets.
4. A Comparison of Raphael and Michelangelo—Their relations in life, their difference of temperament, and the contrast in the spirit of their work.
5. Titian—History of his personal experience. Description of his most famous paintings. His effect on the history of painting, as a colorist.
Books to Consult—Muentz: Raphael. C. C. Black: Michelangelo Buonarotti. Crowe and Cavalcaselle: Titian. C. C. Perkins: Raphael and Michelangelo.
This program should be liberally illustrated with photographs; if no others can be obtained, the Perry pictures will do excellently. Those who have been abroad may compare impressions of different painters, and especially of the various Madonnas painted by Raphael. Pictures of the exterior and interior of the Sistine Chapel and of Saint Peter's should be shown, with colored photographs of the frescoes on the walls and ceiling of the former.
1. Early Spanish Painters—Murillo: the artist of the church; his Madonnas. Ribera.[Pg 117]
2. Velazquez—The artist of the crown; influence on him of Herrera and Pacheco; peculiarly Spanish character; his patron, Philip IV.; the forty portraits of this king; visit of the painter to Italy; mythological and religious pictures; his Christ on the Cross.
3. Recent Spanish Painters—Goya: his portraits; story of his quarrel with the Duke of Wellington. Fortuny: influence upon him of Meissonier; small and motley figures. Zuloaga: resemblance of style to Goya. Sorolla y Bastida: painter of sunshine on figures; pictures in the Luxembourg and the Metropolitan Museum.
4. The Madrid Gallery—The greatest picture-gallery of the world; built for Charles III. Collections of Charles V., Philip II., and Philip IV. (2,000 pictures.) Its paintings by Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, Velazquez, Van Dyck, Rubens, and Teniers. Huge modern historical works like those at Versailles.
Books to Consult—Curtis: Velazquez and Murillo. Armstrong: Life of Velazquez. Stirling-Maxwell: Annals of the Artists of Spain. Temple: Modern Spanish Painting.
There were several great patrons of art in Spain, like Charles V. and Philip II. Read of[Pg 118] their relations to the painters and their work. Discuss the contribution of the Spanish painters to realism. How does Velazquez compare with Raphael? Analyze the peculiar contribution of Sorolla to modern painting.
1. Painters of Interiors—Metsu, Van Ostade, Jan Steen, Wouvermans. Note the humor and satire in the painters of genre; also, their minutely careful method.
2. Landscapes and Marines—Cuyp, Ruysdael, Van der Velde. Describe the characteristics of the Dutch landscape. Show pictures of cattle combined with landscape.
3. Figures—Hals, Van der Heist, Van Dyck, Rubens. Tell the story of Van Dyck and the English court, and describe his pictures of King Charles I. Note the huge canvases of Rubens, his high colors and his heavy figures. Mention the meeting of Rubens and Velazquez and its probable effect on the former. Notice the quantity of works attributed to Rubens (1,300 titles Smith's catalogue), and discuss the likelihood of his having produced all these without help.
4. Rembrandt—His history, style (light and[Pg 119] shade), and effect on painting. Describe the numerous portraits of himself and his wife. Note his work as an etcher. Description of the Night Watch.
Books to Consult—Crowe and Cavalcaselle: Early Flemish Paintings. Max Rooses: Dutch Painters of the Nineteenth Century. Malcolm Bell: Rembrandt van Rijn and His Work. E. Dillon: Rubens.
The Dutch school was the pioneer of modern landscape-painting; show its influence on Constable and other English artists. The Dutch were faithful illustrators of peasant and burgher life, and it is interesting to make a study of costume, furniture, and jewelry as shown by them. Take up the galleries of Amsterdam, The Hague, and Antwerp, and show photographs of Van Dyck's Crucifixion, and Rembrandt's Night Watch. At Haarlem there is a small gallery noted for its paintings by Franz Hals, particularly The Syndics. There is a small group of modern Dutch painters deserving of notice: Mauve, the two Marises, Mesdag, and Israels.
1. Poussin and Claude—Influence of Domenichino on Poussin. Relation to Cardinal Barberini.[Pg 120] Richelieu and Louis XIII. Influence of Poussin on landscape-painting. Claude's studies in Italy. Late success. Mythological and Scriptural subjects. The Liber Veritatis. Ruskin's estimate. Comparison with Turner in the National Gallery, London. Claude as an etcher. Hamerton's opinion of him.
2. Court Painters and Others—LeBrun. Patronage of Seguier. Work under Louis XIV. and Colbert at Fontainebleau, Versailles, and Sceaux. Watteau, peintre des Fêtes Galantes. Artificial pastoral scenes. Reading from Pater's A Court Painter. Chardin. Only painter of humble life of his time. Neglect then; appreciation now. Why this change in opinion? Fragonard. Relation to Chardin. Greuze. Names of some of his court beauties. Are they true to life?
3. David and Ingres—Inspiration of the antique in David. Historical subjects. Napoleon pictures. Compare Ingres with David.
4. Delaroche, Géricault, Delacroix—Delaroche's loyalty to classic traditions of painting. Pictures at Versailles. Géricault: His pictures of nature and especially animals. Delacroix: Connection of the romantic movement in painting[Pg 121] with that in literature. Effect of Delacroix's influence on modern painting.
Books to Consult—Sir Edmund Head: Handbook of the History of the Spanish and French Schools of Painting. Lady Dilke: French Painters of the Eighteenth Century. Staley: Watteau and His School. Turner and Baker: Stories of the French Artists.
Have a paper on The Influence of the French Revolution on French Art. Before that, that artificial and frivolous spirit characterized the work of the painters as it did the life of the court, for which they largely did their work. Note the many pictures illustrating the life of Napoleon, his battles, and his victories; Versailles is full of them. The enthusiasm of patriotism and the new national sense are shown in this reaction.
1. The Romanticists—Followers of Delacroix. Their principles. Dupré, Isabey, Jacque, Corot, Daubigny. Story of Corot's life. Coloration and style. Compare with Constable.
2. The Barbizon School—Description of life in the Forest of Fontainebleau. Millet. Country life. Poverty. Later appreciations. The Angelus.[Pg 122] Pictures in the United States. Rousseau. Diaz. Cazin.
3. The Impressionists—Manet, Monet, Degas, Raffaëlli.
4. Pictures of Genre—Describe what is meant. Discuss the relative merits of pictures that tell a story and those that merely give an impression. Meissonier, Cabanel, Baudry, Rosa Bonheur, Ziem, Bouguereau, Constant, Fromentin, Jules Breton. Pictures by these painters in the United States.
5. Painters of the Open Air—The appreciation of atmosphere in French painting. Lepage, Roll, Dagnan-Bouveret.
Books to Consult—Hourticq: Art in France. Theodore Child: Some Modern French Painters. J. C. VanDyke: Modern French Masters. D. Cady Eaton: Handbook of Modern French Painting. C. Sprague Smith: Barbizon Days.
The story of the life of the artist colony and their friends at Barbizon would make a delightful paper. Material of an interesting sort may be found in A Chronicle of Friendships, by Will H. Low. See also R. L. Stevenson. Among the great decorative artists of our time is Puvis de Chavannes. He has one well-known painting in[Pg 123] the Boston Public Library. Boutet de Monvel, the painter of children; Bonnat, the portrait-painter; and, among the younger artists, Sisley may be mentioned. Illustrate with photographs of a Corot landscape, Millet's Angelus, Meissonier's 1805, Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair, Jules Breton's Brittany Pardon, Lepage's Joan of Arc, and Dagnan-Bouveret's Madonna.
1. German School of the Reformation Period—Albrecht Dürer: Nuremberg. Court painter to Charles V. Lucas Cranach: Court painter to three Electors. Hans Holbein: Augsburg. Court painter to Henry VIII. Drawings at Windsor.
2. Munich School—Cornelius, the founder. Study in Rome. Brought to Munich by King Ludwig. Kaulbach (his cartoons), Piloty, Defregger, Lenbach, Carl Stuck, Plockhorst, and Gabriel Max, and the religious painters.
3. The Düsseldorf School—Schadow, the chief director. In Rome with Cornelius. Hübner, the two Achenbachs, Carl Müller, Meyer von Bremen. Pronounced sentimentalism.
4. The Berlin School—Ludwig Knaus, head[Pg 124] of the Academy; his Holy Family in the Metropolitan Museum. Menzel, Werner, Carl Becker.
5. Painters of To-day—Arnold von Böcklin. (Photographs.) Fritz von Uhde. (Photographs.) Realism and impressionism in Germany. Influence of French art on Germany of to-day.
Books to Consult—Atkinson: Schools of Modern Art in Germany. Radcliffe: Schools and Masters of Painting. K. Berlin: Contemporary German Art. Buxton and Poynter: German, Flemish, and Dutch Painting.
If there can be one more paper in this program, it should be on the critic Winckelmann and his classical influence. This was shown particularly in Raphael Mengs, in the eighteenth century, court painter to the King of Poland, and his pupil, Angelica Kauffmann. German art has been influenced greatly by those who have written about his philosophy, Lessing, Goethe, the Sehlegels, and others. Mention should be made of Kugler, Waagen, and Doctor Bode, to-day.
1. Lely and Kneller—Story of their lives. Their rank as artists. Lely's relation to the court[Pg 125] of Charles II. Kneller's to that of William and Mary. Similarity of the work of the two painters. The pictures of the Hampton Court beauties of the time.
2. Hogarth—Choice of subjects and manner of treatment. Influence of the Dutch school. Reasons for the great popularity of his work among the English. Historical value. Interest rather than beauty. Engravings. Pictures in the British Museum.
3. Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney—The portrait painters of the eighteenth century. Well-known pictures of women and children: the Duchess of Devonshire, Cherry Ripe, The Strawberry Girl, etc. Reynolds' school for painting. Readings from his Discourses.
4. Raeburn and Wilkie—Subjects from humble life. The sentimental story as a theme. Scottish emotionalism in art and in literature; Wilkie's Blind Man's Buff and The Blind Fiddler.
5. Constable—Great painter of English landscape. Intense sympathy with his subject. Appreciation of the artistic value of mists, clouds, and showers. Effect on modern French landscape painters. Great commercial value of Constable's[Pg 126] pictures to-day. Paintings in the National Gallery, at South Kensington and in the Metropolitan Museum.
6. Turner—Greatest English landscape painter. Strange story of his life. His eccentricities. Style of his painting. Comparison with Claude and Poussin. Unfortunate choice of pigments and consequent fading of his pictures. Readings from Ruskin's Modern Painters.
Books to Consult—Gleeson White: Master Painters of Britain. Spielmann: British Portrait Painting to the Closing of the XIX Century. Allan Cunningham: Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters and Sculptors. Horace Walpole: Anecdotes of Painting in England.
This program is so full that it may easily be divided between two meetings. Notice beside the artists mentioned those of less distinction: Sir Thomas Lawrence, the portrait painter belonging to the Reynolds school; Blake, the mystical and symbolical artist who influenced the later pre-Raphaelites; and Landseer, the painter of animals (who may be compared with Rosa Bonheur). Illustrate the paper with photographs as far as possible.[Pg 127]
1. The Pre-Raphaelites—Their origin and principles: sincerity and truth to nature. Holman Hunt: Light of the World; The Triumph of the Innocents. Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Ecce Ancilla Domini; Beata Beatrix. Photographs of these pictures may be shown, and those who have seen them may give their impression of them.
2. The Academicians—Sir Frederick Leighton, Sir J. E. Millais and his desertion of the Pre-Raphaelites, G. F. Watts, Sir Alma Tadema, Frank Dicksee, Sir E. J. Poynter, Sir Luke Fildes, Sir Hubert von Herkomer, Sir W. Q. Orchardson. In this connection there may be a reading from Herkomer's memoir.
3. The Independents—Sir E. Burne-Jones. Solomon J. Solomon. Maurice Grieffenhagen. Mortimer Menpes. J. Byam Shaw. The influence of French painting on England is interesting to trace.
Books to Consult—Ruskin: Modern Painters. Holman Hunt: History of Pre-Raphaelitism. Gleeson White: Master Painters of Britain.[Pg 128] Cosmo Monkhouse: British Contemporary Artists.
Ford Madox-Brown, who has not been mentioned in the program, should be mentioned if there is time. The articles in various current magazines by Ford Madox-Brown Hueffer, dealing with the men of the Pre-Raphaelite school, are full of incident and humor. The poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sister, Christina, should be noticed and several of them read. Rossetti's wife was the model for many Pre-Raphaelite pictures. She might be described and the story told of her death and the burial with her of her husband's poems, subsequently exhumed and published.
1. Early Painters—Copley, Gilbert Stuart, West, and Trumbull.
2. The Hudson River School—Kensett, Cropsey, Church, Bierstadt. Influence of Düsseldorf and Munich on these painters.
3. Whistler and La Farge—French influence on American painters. Whistler's portrait of his mother. Controversy with Ruskin. Story of the libel suit. Why is Whistler's appeal not more[Pg 129] popular? La Farge's picture of the Ascension of Christ. Japanese and oceanic sketches. Mural paintings in public buildings. La Farge as a colorist and decorator.
4. Sargent and Abbey—Sargent's style. Famous portraits. Decorations for Boston Library. Abbey's illustrations of Shakespeare. Story of the Holy Grail. Coronation picture of Edward VIII.
5. Characteristic Groups—Landscape: Inness, Troyon, Wyant. Marines: W. T. Richards, de Haas, Rehn. Figures (genre): Winslow Homer, Abbott H. Thayer, Geo. de Forest Brush. Portraits: Eastman Johnson, W. M. Chase, John Alexander, Cecilia Beaux.
Books to Consult—C. H. Caffin: American Masters of Painting. Samuel Isham: History of American Painting. J. W. McSpadden: Famous Painters in America. H. T. Tuckerman: Artist Life (1847).
Take up the consideration of the leading art galleries of America, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, and the Art Institute in Chicago; also the new galleries in Detroit, Buffalo, Dayton, and other cities. Notice[Pg 130] the famous mural paintings in State capitols, city halls, and the high schools of New York and those of the Congressional Library in Washington.[Pg 131]
This popular program is given for those clubs who wish something light and attractive for their year's work. The subject is taken up topically, and the leading writers only are given; to those names may be added as many more as are desired. To enlarge the field, add the names of women poets, essayists, and miscellaneous writers, and take Woman in American Literature for the subject. See R. P. Halleck's recent book on American Literature. Or use the one topic of Our Short-Story Writers, and have that cover as many meetings as programs are needed.
Jane G. Austin used the theme of Colonial days most successfully. She was saturated with the spirit of the time, and no one can read Standish of Standish, or Betty Alden without feeling[Pg 132] in sympathy with the Puritans, their romance and hardships. Read from either of these, or from David Alden's Daughter.
Maud Wilder Goodwin writes, in a delightfully breezy style, of life among the Colonial Cavaliers, and her White Aprons and The Head of a Hundred are fascinating; they follow well the books just suggested for the first meeting. Read from either of the two named.
Amelia E. Barr, though born in England, belongs among American writers. She has no less than sixty novels to her credit. Her theme has been largely of the early days in New York, and The Belle of Bowling Green, The Maid of Maiden Lane, and The Bow of Orange Ribbon are all excellent. Among her other books are Jan Vedder's Wife and The Black Shilling. Read from The Bow of Orange Ribbon.
Mary Johnston has covered a large historical field. Beginning in the early days of Virginia, she took the settling of Jamestown in Prisoners of Hope and To Have and To Hold; both these are of absorbing interest, and have remarkable pictures of the Indians of the time. Then comes Lewis Rand and the settling of the Northwest, and then The Long Roll, about our Civil War.[Pg 133] All her work is done in a careful painstaking way, and is distinctly dramatic. Read from To Have and To Hold.
Add to these the books of Mary Catherwood, about Canada, and those of Beulah Marie Dix, who has used the wars of Cromwell largely as her theme; both writers are among our best.
Bertha Runkle's The Helmet of Navarre may perhaps stand at the very head of our romantic novels, for its wonderfully vivid representation of life and adventure in Paris under her famous hero. It is all the more remarkable because it was the author's first book, and written when she was only a girl. Read the closing chapter.
Amélie Rives, now the Princess Troubetzkoy, has several romantic novels, notably The Quick or the Dead and A Brother to Dragons, both written in an intense, dramatic way; her Virginia of Virginia, while different, is no less fascinating. Her books have the setting of the South. Read from the last.
Molly Elliot Seawell has written a great number of books, all carefully done and of great variety of subjects. Her Sprightly Romance of Marsac,[Pg 134] which took a three-thousand-dollar prize and is as gay as its title indicates, has for its foils the more serious The House of Egremont and Midshipman Paulding. Read from the first.
Anna Katherine Green has many books about the detection of crime, with complicated plots. Her The Leavenworth Case is her best book; others are The Mill Mystery, Behind Closed Doors, and The Filigree Ball. Read from The Leavenworth Case.
The greatest problem novel ever written by a woman was Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Clubs should give at least one meeting to this book, studying the times, the character of the author and her training, as the causes which led to its writing; notice also the effect of the book upon the nation. It has passed into many other languages than ours, and has a world-wide fame.
Mrs. Stowe also wrote another book with a great theme, The Minister's Wooing, of early Colonial days and the power of Calvinism in the lives of the people. Read from both these books.[Pg 135]
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (Mrs. Ward) began her work at nineteen with The Gates Ajar, suggested by the sorrow of the Civil War; this had a phenomenal success. From that time on she wrote steadily, and each novel had a problem to present, set out with strong emotion. A Singular Life is one of her best, and The Story of Avis, Doctor Zay, and The Confessions of a Wife are all deeply interesting. Read from the first two.
Margaret Deland has taken up the problems of life in her books with sympathy, humor and a certain wise and tender philosophy. Her stories of Old Chester, its delightful people, with their strongly marked characteristics, and the rector, Dr. Lavendar, who is one of the most charming delineations ever drawn, are all known to-day to women readers. Her best novels follow the lines of her other stories, but there is a power in The Awakening of Helena Richie and in The Iron Woman not in the short stories. Read from Old Chester Tales.
Edith Wharton studied the problems of society in a great city in her The House of Mirth,[Pg 136] drawing a faithful if somewhat painful picture. The Fruit of the Tree and The Valley of Decision present other phases of social life. Her books are well planned and well written, with a noticeably subtle touch. Read from The House of Mirth.
Gertrude Atherton also writes of society's problems, but in quite another manner. The Aristocrats and Ancestors have a distinctly satiric flavor. In addition to these she has others in quite another vein, The Doomswoman, and The Conqueror notably.
John Oliver Hobbes (Mrs. Craigie) has some exquisite little books, read by few, perhaps, because of their peculiar style. She wrote The School for Saints, The Herb Moon, and The Flute of Pan. Her problems are rather involved and somewhat attenuated, but on the whole beautifully done. Read from The Herb Moon.
Ruth McEnery Stuart's early life was spent in Louisiana, and there she learned to know the plantation negro at first hand. No one has equaled her in her presentation of his character, with its dependence and childlike drollery. Her appreciation of his humor is no less marked[Pg 137] than of his unconscious pathos. Read from A Golden Wedding, Moriah's Mourning, and The River's Children. In Sonny, one of her loveliest books, she has taken a poor white as her hero.
Alice Hegan Rice made a large place for herself when she wrote Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. She found that unusual thing, a new setting for a story, and drew a unique heroine in Mrs. Wiggs. Read from this and its sequel, Lovey Mary.
Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Riggs) has several gay stories, a brief series about Penelope in England and Scotland, and A Cathedral Courtship, quite as amusing. Her Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is also full of bright sayings. In The Birds' Christmas Carol she mingles humor and pathos. Read from Penelope's Progress.
Myra Kelly found in a public school among the poor foreigners of New York's East Side material for her best book, Little Citizens. It is written with a keen appreciation of their amusing ways and sayings, and of sympathy with them. A chapter taken at random will prove delightful reading.
Carolyn Wells is well known as the author of the[Pg 138] wittiest of verses; but she has also some books no less attractive. A Matrimonial Bureau, At the Sign of the Sphinx, and The Gordon Elopement (collaborated) are filled with freakish situations and clever sayings. Read from the first.
In addition to these, clubs may read Anne Warner's The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, Margaret Cameron's The Involuntary Chaperon, and others; see also the humorist of several decades ago, Marietta Holley, and her books on Samantha Allen.
Mary Stewart Cutting has been a most successful writer of short stories about ordinary home life. She is marvelously true to facts, but puts them in a fresh and humorous way. Her Little Stories of Courtship and Little Stories of Married Life show us people we all know. Her longer stories, The Unforeseen and The Wayfarers, have the same good sense, the same bright way of treating difficulties. Choose selections from her first two books.
Ellen Olney Kirk writes in a quiet style of delightful people who lead uneventful lives. Her books are not new to-day, but they are always[Pg 139] interesting. Select from The Story of Margaret Kent or Marcia.
Alice Brown depicts home life in New England, but always introduces the element of the unusual, either in plot or characters. There is a certain strength about all she does. Read from Meadow-Grass or The Country Road.
Kathleen Norris has written a deeply moving story called Mother; it tells the story of a family of ordinary parents and children with marvelous fidelity to the commonplaceness of their lives, but it is a picture of tenderness and an appreciation of what a real mother is and does.
Margaret E. Sangster's Eastover Parish is a charming study from real life.
Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women is a masterpiece. No one has ever been able to write anything so fresh, so natural, and so wholesome. Her later books, especially Little Men and Old-Fashioned Girl, are rather in the same vein, though not the equal of Little Women. Read any favorite chapter.
Mary Mapes Dodge's greatest literary success was a book for boys, Hans Brinker, or the Silver[Pg 140] Skates, a fascinating story of Holland. It has been translated into five languages. Read the "race" from it.
Frances H. Burnett had written excellent books for grown people, like That Lass o' Lowries, and others, before her Little Lord Fauntleroy appeared and had instant popularity. Her other children's books were mostly fairy-tales and simple stories. Read from Fauntleroy.
Laura E. Richards has many books for girls, written with humor and much sensible suggestion, the latter well hidden. The Three Margarets, Margaret Montfort, and the Hildegarde stories are all attractive, but Captain January is most original; read from this.
Josephine Daskam Bacon writes amusingly of both children and parents. Her Memoirs of a Baby and When Caroline Was Growing are both worth reading.
Elizabeth Jordan has struck a new note in her stories of convent life. May Iverson, Her Book and its sequel are full of the absurdities of growing girls. Read any of the amusing chapters.
Clubs should make a special study of some of the older writers for girls, especially Sophie May,[Pg 141] Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, and Susan Coolidge. Notice also the excellent work of Annie Fellows Johnston, Kate Bosher, and Inez Haynes Gilmore, and read from their books.
Some of our women writers have used the people of one locality only, or at least principally; this group may be divided into two programs.
Helen Hunt Jackson, known best as a poet, or as the author of little essays, has one strong book, Ramona. It is notable not only for its plea for justice to the Indians, but also for its description of life in Southern California on remote ranches.
Constance Fenimore Woolson wrote largely of Florida, its everglades, its orange-groves, its pine barrens. Read from East Angels.
Mary Hallock Foote used the scene of the early mining-camps as her theme, and has vivid pictures of life and romance there. Read from The Led Horse Claim or The Chosen Valley.
Charles Egbert Craddock (Mary Murfree) has laid her plots in the Tennessee mountains. Her heroes are sturdy, uncouth, picturesque mountaineers,[Pg 142] and her books are noted for the descriptions of scenery. Read from The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountain or In the Clouds.
Grace E. King writes of the life of the Creoles in New Orleans. In her Balcony Stories and Monsieur Motte we have the fragrance and the languor of the South. Read a Balcony story.
Sarah Orne Jewett was one of the first to choose New England as her field of work. Her style is peculiarly delicate and refined. She wrote of the people with truth and sympathy, without a touch of satire. A White Heron and The Country of the Pointed Firs are among her beautiful stories; read from the latter.
Ellen Glasgow has laid the scenes of her stories in the South, largely in Virginia. Her themes are unusual and worked out in a broad, unhurried way. The Voice of the People, The Deliverance, The Battle-Ground, and Ancient Law are all worth reading. Select from The Deliverance.
Helen Martin in Tillie, A Mennonite Maid and Elsie Singmaster in several stories have both taken the quaint Pennsylvania Dutch to write of, with their remoteness of life from the world.[Pg 143]
Of late years, short stories, largely written by women, have crowded our magazines. It is impossible to choose more than a few for a program, but club-women may add to those suggested all their favorites, and bring in short stories to read at one meeting. In addition to the older writers, Rebecca Harding Davis, Harriet Prescott Spofford, and others, take the following:
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, though the author of several novels, is perhaps our greatest short-story writer. Her characters, especially those drawn from New England rural life, are reproduced with marvelous fidelity. She understands their foibles, their oddities, and writes of them with fidelity and humor. A New England Nun is called her best book; read any story from it.
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, the author of The Perfect Tribute as well as many stories of a lighter character, writes charmingly.
Margarita Spalding Gerry in The Toy Shop has something really unusual, both in theme and treatment.
Octave Thanet (Alice French) vivaciously represents plain people; her Missionary Sheriff and[Pg 144] Stories of a Western Town are well known; read from either.
Add to these names those already given under other heads for this outline: Sarah Orne Jewett, Alice Brown, and Mrs. Cutting.
As has already been suggested, the year's work may be expanded into a complete study of American women writers. If this is done, begin with those of early years: Lydia Maria Child and Margaret Fuller; add to them our essayists, Helen Hunt Jackson, Agnes Repplier, Vida Scudder; our poets, the Cary sisters, Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Larcom, Emily Dickinson, Edith Thomas, Celia Thaxter, May Riley Smith, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Emma Lazarus, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Josephine Preston Peabody, and Anna Branch, and our miscellaneous writers, who have written biography, essays, stories, and practical books: Alice Morse Earle, Marion Harland, Kate Upson Clark, Mary Heaton Vorse, and Margaret E. Sangster. Women journalists might also be an additional subject, and women editors, to cover the entire field of women in letters.[Pg 145]
1. The Value of Public Sentiment and Coöperation—Rise in values as a town improves; what an enthusiast can accomplish.
2. Our Water-Supply—Detailed description: water-system, wells, cisterns, etc.; quality of the supply; limitations, dangers, and possibility of improvement.
3. Our Sanitation—Detailed description: cesspools; garbage; disposal of sewage.
4. Our Yards, Our Streets, Our Parks, Our Public Buildings—Tree-planting; fences; city fountains.
Books to Consult—Patrick Geddes: City Development. C. M. Robinson: The Improvement of Towns and Cities. W. P. Mason: Water Supply (from the Sanitary Standpoint). Shade Trees: Their Care and Preservation (N. Y. State Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 256).[Pg 146]
The town water-supply has immense interest; study its relation to the disposal of sewage; the ice-supply, the use of filters, bottled water, and the like. Cleaning up and beautifying the back yards of a town, planting vines, removing unsightly buildings, making gardens and having window-boxes may be expanded into more than one paper. The village common, the drinking-fountains, the band-stand, the use of refuse-boxes in public places, may be discussed.
1. Existing Conditions—The various subjects of air, light, water-supply, sanitation and adequate fire-escapes may be brought up for careful consideration.
2. The Model Tenement—Plans, profit to the owner of tenement property, management, rules for tenants (cleanliness, promptness of payment), beautification of tenements (window-boxes, roof-gardens), playgrounds.
3. Model Cottage Homes—Possibility of acquiring ownership (building-and-loan associations, thrift clubs). Improving laboring-men's homes in villages. Yards for children.
4. The Garden Cities of England—Compare the[Pg 147] Sage Foundation proposals in America. Model towns (Pullman in this country, Essen in Germany, etc.).
Books to Consult—Gould: Housing of the Working People (U. S. Labor Dept.). Manning: Villages for Working Men and Working-Men's Homes. R. W. DeForest and others: The Tenement-House Problem. F. C. Moore: How To Build a Home.
Discuss the subject of the model towns. How satisfactory do the tenants find the system of leases and regulations? Show pictures of the Garden Cities of England and the model tenements of Berlin. Take up the merits of building-and-loan associations and buying homes on the instalment plan. Shall we employ an architect for the small home, or are published plans practical?
1. The Industrial Age—The introduction of labor-saving machinery in England in the eighteenth century. Enormous development in the present day. General effect on the laboring class.
2. The Factory System and Human Life—Overcrowding,[Pg 148] and lack of air and light. Unprotected machinery. Danger of fire. Inadequate fire-escapes and exits. Bad sanitation. The sweat-shop. Monotony of tasks and overlong hours of work. The labor of women. Child labor.
3. Model Conditions in Factory Life—The building: air, light, sanitation, space, protection. The eight-hour day: a living wage. Insurance against accident, old age, and death. The lunch-room. The factory doctor.
4. Local Ideals—Conferences with employees. The cultivation of social sentiment in the employing class. Beautifying the factory grounds. Associations among employees: recreation, social, mutual benefit. Holidays and Sundays. The children in factory homes.
Books to Consult—Clarke: Effects of the Factory System. Spahr: America's Working People. Wright: The Factory System as an Element in Social Life.
At this meeting there should be a presentation of the fine conditions existing in certain great manufactories and publishing-plants where the employers and the employed are working for the same high ends; pictures may be shown of gardens,[Pg 149] recreation-grounds, lunch-rooms and the like; abundant material may be found in various magazine articles. The question of old-age pensions should be discussed. A practical outcome of this meeting may be the appointing of a permanent committee to better local conditions.
1. The Place of the Public School in American Life—Beginning of the public school in colonial days. Relation of the school to citizenship. National sentiment. The flag and the school. The public school and the foreign child.
2. The Modern Curriculum—Multiplication of subjects (manual training, cooking, sewing, music, etc.). A discussion of the merits of the system: thoroughness versus variety.
3. The Ideal Public School—The model director. Women on school boards. The perfect school-house; light, air, sanitation, room. Beautifying the school within and without; pictures, casts, flowers, etc. The school doctor; contagious diseases, oversight of eyes, ears, throat, and teeth. Social service of the school: night-schools, lectures, recreations.
4. Parent and Teacher—Mutual acquaintance.[Pg 150] Conferences. Literary clubs. Is the public exhibition desirable?
5. School Sentiment—Interscholastic athletics and debates. The alumni association. The commencement exercises and annual banquet. The return of distinguished graduates.
Books to Consult—Dewey: The School and Society. Butler: The Meaning of Education. The International Educational Series. Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education.
A discussion may be planned on home work: How much shall be expected and arranged for by the parent? When is it best done? Emphasize the importance of having the parent closely in touch with the child's work, familiar with his reports, and constantly in conference with the teacher. Notice the importance of the work of the truant officer. If there is no gymnasium provided by the school, can the parents combine and make one? In a large city, can there be a roof-garden for recreation?
1. Necessity of Recreation—Change in our point of view: the old ideas contrasted with the[Pg 151] new. Read from the chapter on Recreation in Adeney's A Century's Progress in Religious Life and Thought. Recreation and morals. Substitutes for the social life of the corner grocery and the saloon.
2. Planning Recreations—Organizing a local committee. The grange, the lyceum, the town band or orchestra, motion pictures.
Discuss the disadvantage of unregulated amusements, and their improvement through intelligent control.
3. The Regular Program—Illustrated lectures, concerts, village-improvement meetings, athletic meets for men, the women's club.
4. Occasional Amusements—Loan exhibitions of pictures, antiques, etc., organ recitals, flower fêtes, amateur theatricals, excursions, neighborhood dances.
5. Ideals in Recreation—The ideal of democratic sociability. The ideal of culture. The ideal of healthful interest for young people. The ideal of clean amusement.
Books to Consult—Luther H. Gulick: Popular Recreation and Public Morality (Sage Foundation). Hartt: The People at Play. W. S. Jevons: Amusements of the People.[Pg 152]
This is one of the most important programs of the year, and deserves special preparation and study.
The modern tendency is to plan everywhere for clean, wholesome amusements for old and young, and the woman's club can coöperate with the mayor, school trustees, and intelligent men and women, to carry out their plans.
Discuss especially what has been done to provide a substitute for the attractions of the saloon; the dangers and the value of the moving-picture show, and how far there may be a public sentiment created for the regulation of these and other amusements.
1. Town versus Country for Children—Discussion of the advantages and the disadvantages of each. How to make the most of town life for children.
2. Outdoor Occupations—Gardens for children. Games. Athletics. Riding and walking parties, picnics, etc. Study of birds. Nature classes (butterflies, etc.).
3. Indoor Occupations—Classes in carpentry, weaving, and sewing. Musical classes, the children's[Pg 153] chorus, the children's orchestra. Pantomimes, plays, and dances.
4. Public Provision for Children—Museums for children. Public playgrounds. The children's room in the public library. Exhibitions of pictures for children. Illustrated lectures in the public school.
Books to Consult—G. Stanley Hall: Educational Problems. L. H. Gulick: Children of the Century. Mangold: Child Problems. Jekyll: Children and Gardens.
Women's clubs should definitely interest themselves in the children of the city or country, and do for them what is not done by the public. The value of playgrounds and gardens in cities, and of children's classes in sloyd or manual training in the country, cannot be over-estimated. Musical training is also valuable, not merely for its esthetic results; and children's choruses, with cantatas and oratorios, may be most interesting. Motion dances and national dances are easily taught, the latter especially in towns and cities where different nationalities are represented in the population.
1. Civic—The court-house: the proper architecture—simplicity and dignity. Improving an[Pg 154] old structure. The grounds. Decorations. The jail: what are the present local conditions? Is improvement possible? Modern ideas of imprisonment and the housing of prisoners.
2. Useful—The station: coöperation between the railway company and the citizens. Cleanliness, paint, sanitation, lawns, and flower-gardens. The water-works: decorative possibilities in the plant. Fountains and flower-beds.
3. Literary—The public library: the value of a lecture-hall. The local lyceum. Loan exhibitions. Reading-rooms: importance in the absence of a library. Making the place attractive.
4. Monumental—Improvement in public taste. Necessity of a committee to pass judgment on proposed memorials. Superfluous monuments. Statuary and tablets. The soldier's monument. The local historical society. The cemetery: the ideal location, ownership, and control. Trust funds for perpetual care. Beauty and ugliness in stones. Trees, lakes, flowers.
Books to Consult—Mawson: Civic Art. Bentley and Taylor: Practical Guide in the Preparation of Town Planning Schemes. Ravenscroft: Town Gardening. Penstone: Town Study.
Much can be done by a club toward improving[Pg 155] the condition of the local cemetery; perhaps even by moving it from a place too near the heart of town to a more attractive and proper site, planting trees and flowering shrubs, arranging to have grass and flowers cared for, straightening old monuments, and the like. A paper might deal with the question: How can women carry out their ideas without antagonizing the town council?
1. The Church Structure—A beautiful exterior: simplicity, good taste in material, outline and color. A beautiful interior: quiet decoration; window glass, good and bad; low-toned carpet and cushions.
2. Sunday Services—Dignity and reverence in their conduct. Importance of music. How shall good music be secured in a small neighborhood? The chorus choir. Vesper services.
3. The Sunday-School—Modern methods. The graded school. Prizes and exhibitions. Young people's work; relating this to the rest of the church-work.
4. Week-Day Appointments—Men's meetings: how to get the men to come. Civic value of men's church clubs. Women's meetings: the church[Pg 156] aid society, the missionary society. Young women's guilds. Clubs for girls and for boys. The Boy Scouts, etc.
5. The Minister's Home—Should the social life of the church center in the minister's home? Relation of the minister's wife to her husband's work. Church ownership of the minister's house; its care and improvement.
Books to Consult—C. A. Wight: Some Old Time Meeting Houses of the Connecticut Valley. K. L. Butterfield: The Country Church and the Rural Problem. W. M. Ede: Attitude of the Church to Some of the Social Problems of Town Life. Ramsay and Beel: Thousand and One Churches. E. C. Foster: The Boy and the Church.
The question of the use of the stereopticon and moving pictures in connection with the church should be taken up. Shall the Sunday-evening services be varied occasionally by a talk on the Holy Land, or famous paintings of Christ, or the Pilgrim's Progress, or the Passion Play at Oberammergau? The distribution of the church flowers after services may be an outcome of this meeting, and a club committee may be appointed to see that they are taken to the sick.[Pg 157]
1. Existing Local Charities—Their history, character, and condition. The poorhouse, free beds in hospitals, distributing agencies. Discussion: What can we do to improve local conditions?
2. Best Methods of Helping the Needy—Peril of indiscriminate giving. Self-respect in the poor. Place of the friendly visitor.
3. New Work—The day nursery, the kitchen garden, the flower-and-fruit committee, home for the aged, free employment bureau, work centers: the laundry and the wood-yard.
4. Organized Charity—Discuss the subject of waste through duplication. Gathering and distributing information. Coöperation between church and other societies.
Books to Consult—E. T. Devine: The Practice of Charity. E. T. Devine: Misery and Its Causes. W. H. Allen: Efficient Democracy.
In cities, one of the most valuable helps in charitable organizations is the constant meeting of the workers at informal gatherings, when the larger aspects of the subject are discussed and the various parts of the work are harmonized. The necessity that all should work sympathetically[Pg 158] together should be emphasized in a brief talk after this program.
1. The Town Beautiful—Description of what is being done in cities, and suggestions thus derived: Washington, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis. L'Enfant's plans for Washington, and their history. What Baron Haussmann did for Paris.
2. The Plan of the Town—Is the location of the best? Can the situation be changed in any way for the better? Plan an ideal town on the local site. Value of an outlook for the future.
3. Landmarks—Give a brief history of the town; and mention the chief incidents in it, and the names of the principal persons who shared in them. Suggestions as to public memorials, tablets, and monuments.
4. Specific Improvements—Removal of unsightly objects and buildings. Regulation of saloons. Improvement of unsanitary houses. Drainage of swamps and pools in the neighborhood. The surroundings of the railway station.
5. Organization—What committees are needed to help improve the town? How can such committees coöperate with similar men's committees[Pg 159] and with the public authorities? How can public sentiment be aroused? Value of an exhibition of plans for ideal towns.
Books to Consult—M. M. Penstone: Town Study. A. D. Webster: Town Planting. H. I. Triggs: Town Planting. Raymond Unwin: Town Planting in Practice.
This program should be of practical value to the local town, summing up the meetings that have preceded this, and presenting certain definite propositions for civic improvements. It might be well to invite some of the officials of the town to be present and offer suggestions. A committee should be appointed at the close to take up the specific plans adopted.[Pg 160]
No historical study could be of greater interest to clubs than that of Holland. The story of the rise of the Dutch Republic is more stirring than any romance. Her army was small, but unconquerable; her navy successfully fought the navies of far greater nations. Her commerce was unrivaled; her colonies were planted in unknown countries; her artists were the greatest of the world at the time. But, most of all, Holland was wonderful for her great struggle for liberty when liberty was unknown, and the effects of her victory were world-wide. The English and American revolutions were founded on hers.
Clubs can use for reference The Story of Holland, by James E. T. Rogers; Brave Little Holland, by W. E. Griffis; and Motley's stirring book, Rise of the Dutch Republic.[Pg 161]
The history of this part of the north began when Julius Cæsar came to Gaul. At the farthest point lay a huge morass covered with forests called Batavia, and one race living there, the Friesian, was noted for its independent, untamed character. Their law declared that "the race should be free as long as the wind blew out of the clouds," and this ancient saying has always been the rallying cry of Dutch patriotism.
At first under German dominion, the country became later a part of the Holy Roman Empire, and was ruled by a prince bishop. Later the Counts of Holland governed, and after the Crusades, when the feudal system was perfected, the great towns became practically independent. We read of magistrates, mayors, and aldermen. The population changed rapidly, commerce flourished, learning spread, and Holland became famous as the great cloth market of the world.
Close this period by noting two important points: First, that after the land had all been cleared and drained the people built dikes and forced the sea back, so gaining much arable land; second, that the great guilds of the time had much[Pg 162] to do with the future history of the country. They existed among artisans and manufacturers, and, in addition, the curious guilds of rhetoric gave theatrical exhibitions and had processions, the latter called Land Jewels, from their magnificence. Motley lays emphasis on the value of the guilds in keeping alive the sentiment of liberty.
In the fifteenth century, Philip the Good of Burgundy, by purchase, usurpation, and marriage dower, became the head of the Low Countries. The real rulers of the country were the stadtholders, and the great cities stood individually rather than unitedly. Read the story of the war against England under Philip; note the rise of the fisheries and their immense importance commercially, as well as the beginning of the Dutch navy in the fishing fleet. Read also in Brave Little Holland of the curious political parties called the "Cods" and the "Hooks." Notice the beginnings of the Reformation in other countries under Luther and Calvin, and have a paper on Erasmus of Holland; contrast his teachings with those of the other reformers. Read Henry Kingsley's novel, called Old Margaret, on this time, and also Scott's[Pg 163] Quentin Durward, and Mary of Burgundy, by G. P. R. James.
Passing rapidly through several intervening reigns, we come to that of Philip the Fair, whose momentous marriage with the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain brought the Netherlands into conflict with the greatest power in the world. Their son Charles, born in 1500, and called Count of Flanders, became King of Spain and then Emperor of Germany. He was hard, narrow-minded, selfish, and a religious bigot.
As soon as he realized the inroads Protestantism was making in Europe, he determined to put it down. He prohibited the reading of the Bible, just printed in Amsterdam, and established the Inquisition, which in Holland alone put to death over fifty thousand people. After fifty years of disastrous rule he abdicated in favor of his son Philip.
At the great ceremony which marked this event three famous persons took part: Charles himself; the Stadtholder of Holland, William, Prince of Orange, on whose arm Charles leaned; and[Pg 164] Philip the new sovereign, who inherited all his father's bigotry, and added a cruelty which exceeded it.
It was only a short time before William discovered that Philip had planned a massacre of all the Protestants of Holland; although himself a Catholic, he quietly returned home at once and gave warning of the danger; it was then that he obtained the title of William the Silent. The Dutch had received Philip in their country, but now, while pledging loyalty to him, they asked the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, which so angered the King that he left the country, vowing vengeance. Read from Motley the account of the memorable scene of the parting between Philip and William, and also his estimate of Philip.
Philip left behind him Margaret of Parma, his half-sister, as regent. Holland begged her to suspend the Inquisition. Have a paper on the banquet at which the petition was presented, and the founding there of the famous order of "The Beggars of Holland," who did such wonderful things on land and sea. Close the program with[Pg 165] a sketch of William, who now becomes one of the foremost men of history of any period.
Philip was determined to uproot Protestantism in Holland at all costs. He sent there the merciless Duke of Alva with more than ten thousand picked troops; he established himself at Antwerp, formed the terrible "Blood Council," pronounced sentence of death on all the people of the Netherlands, and summoned William to appear before him. Margaret withdrew from the country; William fled to Germany, and was outlawed; ten thousand Hollanders escaped to England. William, directing the war from Germany, placed his brother Louis at the head of the troops; a great battle, Heiliger Lee, followed, in which by a stratagem the Spanish were utterly defeated. Declaring himself a Protestant, William returned and took the field.
Read the story of Egmont and Hoorn and their fate in Motley and in Goethe's drama. Have selections from these novels bearing on the time: Lysbeth, by H. Rider Haggard, and Jan van Elselo, by G. and M. Coleridge.
Alva fought and defeated William at Geta[Pg 166] and dispersed his army. Believing victory his, he had a great statue of himself erected at Antwerp; but twenty-four vessels of the little new navy manned by the "Water Beggars" turned the tide against him, and at this point the great struggle really began.
Only the few leading events can be touched upon here, but clubs should take up the whole wonderful story of the conflict, in many respects the most interesting war of history.
The seven months' siege of Haarlem, with its heroic defense and final destruction, was followed by the siege of Alkmaar, when women and boys helped fight in the trenches; the dikes were cut and the Spaniards driven out by the sea.
The two sieges of Leyden followed, with their starvation and pestilence; and at last, when only a handful of people were left, the distant dikes were cut and the water slowly crept across the fields; then a great storm arose, and so swept in the sea that the Dutch navy could sail across the land to the city's relief. Alva left for Spain, and the new regent and commander, Requesens, came. Soon after the Dutch issued their Declaration of Independence, July 26, 1581, and later formed the United States of the Dutch Republic.[Pg 167]
Two other governors came to Holland, Don John of Austria and Alexander of Parma, but neither could bring the Dutch to submission. The siege of Antwerp followed, and soon after William was assassinated by a Spaniard. In despair Holland offered the sovereignty of the country first to France and then to England; both refused it, but Queen Elizabeth sent men and money. Sir Walter Raleigh, the Earl of Leicester, Miles Standish, Captain John Smith, and Sir Philip Sidney came, and the last lost his life on the battle-field.
Maurice, the son of William, now took command, and was called "the foremost soldier of Europe." It was not long till Spain, weary of forty years of struggle with an unconquerable people, signed a treaty of peace and virtually acknowledged Holland's independence.
Clubs should take up the whole story of the relations of Holland and England and observe how, three years later, when the Armada came, Holland helped England to meet it. Discuss the bearings of this great struggle for liberty on other nations: what was really won?
Read of the different sieges from Motley; notice also what he says of the work of the Inquisition[Pg 168] and its effect on the resistance of the people. Read George Ebers' The Burgomaster's Wife and Dumas' The Black Tulip. There are also two books written for boys by G. A. Henty which are worth looking over: one, By Pike and Dike, dealing with the siege of Haarlem, and the other, By England's Aid. Ruth Putnam's life of William the Silent should be read.
Holland, in spite of her terrible losses by death in battle, by starvation, and by torture, and the immense destruction of property, and the cost of carrying on the war, was yet left in a strong position. She was at once enriched by the coming of thousands of intelligent merchants and artisans from the south, flying from persecution, and her trade and colonies were uninjured. The great Bank of Amsterdam flourished, and had an interesting history. The curious event of the time was the "tulip mania," a wild speculation which was disastrous to the nation.
All over Europe religion and politics intermingled, and it was so in Holland. The country[Pg 169] as a whole followed the Calvinistic form of faith, and this led to internal difficulties. It was really a question whether Church and State should be united or separated. Maurice, Barneveldt, and Grotius were the leaders. Barneveldt, a truly able statesman, was beheaded; Grotius, the famous scholar, escaped from imprisonment to Paris. Complications arose from the coming of persecuted peoples; the Albigenses from France, the Waldenses from Italy, and the Anabaptists. In the end democracy won, religious liberty was assured, and Church and State were kept apart. At this point tell the story of the Pilgrim Fathers in Holland, and show how far ahead of the times Holland was in her religious position.
Both Holland and England had colonies in India and elsewhere, and now their trade conflicted. The antagonism thus roused was increased by the fact that the Dutch had given shelter to the Stuarts. The English forced on Holland a two-years' war which was entirely on the sea, and was led by four great admirals: Blake and Monk on the side of the English, and[Pg 170] Tromp and De Ruyter on the side of the Dutch. The story is full of interest; the result favored the Dutch.
The great political leader, John De Witt, came into prominence at this period; he was called "The Wisdom of Holland." He had the descendant of William the Silent educated, and later originated the plan of having him marry Mary, the daughter of the Duke of York, later James the Second of England, hoping so to weld the two countries together. De Witt's murder by the mob in 1672 is a blot on the country's honor.
The reins of the government were in the hands of the Stadtholder William, another prince of Orange; but, in spite of all efforts, war on account of the colonies broke out. A great naval battle occurred, and the English fleet was burned. Later, France, aided by England, invaded Holland, but again the dikes were cut and the foreigners driven away. Years of war followed, with different countries taking part, and with Spain, strangely enough, siding with Holland. In a battle in the Mediterranean, De Ruyter, the idol of his people, was killed.[Pg 171]
There was much talk at the time of making William king of the Netherlands, but just then England took up the project of having him marry Mary, as De Witt had planned, and this he did. He invaded England, was received gladly by the people, and was crowned joint sovereign with Mary in London. King James fled, and the new dynasty was established peacefully.
In 1747, when all Europe had been in turmoil, the whole seven provinces of the Netherlands, which had been loosely connected, united, and the stadtholder became the real ruler of his people; but dissensions arose, his powers were curtailed, and at last civil war broke out. The King of Prussia took part, and Amsterdam was besieged and capitulated. Later Napoleon came, and Holland was soon only one of his little kingdoms. Against him, at Waterloo, the Prince of Orange fought with the allies. After the victory the prince made a triumphal entry into The Hague, and took the title of Sovereign Prince. The republic, which had existed only in name for years, ended there, for presently he was crowned as King William I.[Pg 172]
Belgium united with Holland in a union which could not last, and a nine years' war followed, with one memorable event, when Lieutenant Van Speyk blew up his own ship with all on board, rather than surrender. Belgium and Holland separated. William I. was followed by William II. and William III., and the young Queen Wilhelmina, who is the daughter of the last king. She and her consort are the rulers to-day.
There is only one great university in Holland, that of Leyden, founded in commemoration of the great siege by William the Silent. Learned men from all over Europe flocked there at one time, and its students numbered two thousand. To-day there are only a few hundred, as in the other two smaller universities. But Leyden is still famous for its museums, among the richest in Europe.
Holland had some notable early printers, among them the Elzevirs, who stand in the first rank. She had two world-leaders in philosophy, Spinoza and Descartes, the latter belonging also to France. Erasmus was the most distinguished of modern[Pg 173] classical scholars, and Grotius founded the science of International Law. Jakob Cats is Holland's best-known poet, and Maarten Maartens is the great novelist.
The Dutch have stood foremost in science, especially medicine. They produced the first fine optical instruments, and they have been pioneers in navigation and floriculture.
In painting, Holland occupies a place of high distinction. Among the names of the great painters are those of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Gerard Douw, Teniers, Ruysdael, Jan Steen, Hobbema, and Cuyp; and in our own time, Ary Scheffer, Alma-Tadema, Israels, Mesdag, and Mauve.
Clubs would do well to take a year of study on the last general topic alone. The history of the men of science and philosophy and the analysis of the work of the painters are enough to fill easily many programs. Add to this the study of Holland as a country; its picturesque buildings in the cities; its canals, bridges, and boats; its windmills; its fishing towns and their quays and smacks; the great picture-galleries and museums; the market-places; the peasants there and in the villages, and their quaint costumes; the life of the court; the curious out-of-the-world places[Pg 174] on the islands and in what are called the "dead cities."
Illustrate programs on these subjects with pictures of all kinds, such as may be found in De Amicis' book, already suggested. See also G. H. Boughton's Sketching Rambles and Stevenson's An Inland Voyage. A clever little story of a trip on Holland's canals is The Chaperon, by C. N. and A. M. Williamson.[Pg 175]
This very practical subject for club study is here arranged under ten topics, but they may be divided into as many more. Numbers one, seven, and ten may be used separately—a year's work made out of each one.
Good books for general reference are: The Family House, by C. F. Osborne; The House, Its Plan, Decoration, and Care, by Isabel Bevier; and The House Beautiful, by W. C. Gannett. The American School of Economics of Chicago has some very useful books on its list on the building and furnishing of homes, and there are hundreds of magazine articles on these and kindred subjects.
Begin in the earliest times with the homes of the cave and lake dwellers, the reed and wattle huts of primitive man, and the tents of the nomads.[Pg 176] Notice how, as wandering groups settled, civilization advanced and houses of wood and stone were erected.
Follow with a study of the permanent and beautiful homes of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and show plans of the simple and harmonious interiors. Then contrast these with the dwellings of the Norsemen, the Goths, and other ruder nations, and see how, after they had conquered Rome, they carried back some ideas of comfort and beauty. A good encyclopedia will furnish references on these subjects.
Study the architecture of the Middle Ages, the great castles of Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and England, with pictures from histories and encyclopedias. Mention carvings and ornaments in stone and wood, used in these castles. Unless this topic is to be expanded into a study of architecture, it is better at this point to take up English houses alone. Note the time when half-timbering prevailed, shown still in many houses in Warwickshire and elsewhere. Take up the Tudor period, when red brick was largely the material used and leaded casement windows are seen. Carved furniture, panelled halls, and elaborate furniture were also common. The Georgian[Pg 177] and Victorian periods follow, and have a certain interest; and then we come to our own country.
Houses built in Colonial and Revolutionary times were suggested by English styles, and many were copies of existing houses. They were largely built of wood, and the lines were simple and artistic. The Old Manse at Concord, the Longfellow house at Cambridge, and well-known Southern mansions are suggestive of the general style. The Dutch houses of the day were often of stone, and were low, with deep roofs and porches and huge fireplaces.
Soon after 1800 the period of experimental architecture began, and has continued till of late, when we are slowly turning backward toward the reproduction of old styles again. Nondescript houses, constructed to please the passing fancy, have been the rule; mixed styles, inartistic lines, and scrollwork have disfigured them.
Show from magazines the new ideas; reproductions of old English homes, French chateaux, Tudor mansions; the combinations of brick, stone, and wood; the use of cement, stucco, and[Pg 178] stone. We have adopted foreign ideas, and are making them individual and valuable.
Have each member of the club bring in pictures and plans of modern houses of all kinds, those of the city, the village, the farm, from the cheapest to the most costly, and point out the new ideas and the old. A good idea is to have a contest of plan-drawing on easy lines, to give some practical knowledge of desirable points.
How shall one decide on a site for a new house? Embody these ideas in a paper: See that the character of the neighborhood is desirable; that the property in the vicinity is appreciating rather than depreciating. Note the relation of the trolleys or the railroad. Are they accessible, yet not too near for comfort? Is the condition of the street on which the house will face attractive, well kept, and shaded?
Is the lot in good condition?—not too full of stones, not so low that it will require filling, nor so high that it will need grading? Is it drained? Are city water and gas at hand? Is there shade? Is the outlook good? If in a country district, how near are the schools, the church, the markets?[Pg 179] What about the condition of the roads in winter?
Study of materials: Will stone, brick, wood, or cement be the best to use for this particular house, and will one alone or two materials combined be preferable? The use of local stone is often the best choice of all, and gives a beautiful and durable house. Cement must be fortified, or else have air-spaces. Cement or stucco combined with timbers is always artistic.
As to the plan of the house, a careful study is necessary. See the plans given in magazines and books, and make notes of what suits the family needs best. Discuss the question, Is an architect really necessary, or can a builder carry out a printed plan? Take up the placing of a house, and observe that if it does not stand four-square, but rather with the corners northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest, sunshine will come into every room at some hour of the day. Have a paper or talk on the sanitation of the country and village house especially, and of the necessity of overseering the plumbing intelligently. The heating and the conveniences of the house should be considered. Speak especially of the point that each house should not only be attractive and[Pg 180] convenient, but suited to the needs of the individual family; and here, not the architect, but the housekeeper and mother should assert herself.
What can be done to make over a city house that is unattractive? A paper can easily be written on this up-to-date theme, showing how a narrow brown-stone house with high front steps, a basement dining-room, and small rooms can be made over. The outside can be covered with brick or stucco, and perhaps blinds added. The steps can be removed, and an English entrance constructed directly from the street. The stairs can be turned around, making the hall much larger; the dining-room can be put up-stairs, with a dumb-waiter. The small rooms, perhaps dark, can be thrown together into one large living-room, and the windows enlarged. Wood floors can be laid, dark wall-papers replaced with light, and the whole will have a modern effect. Architects are specializing on this point.
What can be done to make over a village house? All the ugly scrollwork can be removed from the porch and windows, and any little pinnacles, or[Pg 181] perhaps a cupola from the roof. A wide, simple porch can replace the narrow one; the house can then be shingled all over, and stained, or painted in a quiet color. The small rooms may be thrown together, making large ones, and small doorways can be made wider. The floors may be laid in hard wood or Southern pine, or maybe painted or stained, and rugs may take the place of carpets. The hangings may be dyed, if they are too ornate; the old wall-paper may be replaced by something plain and quiet; the pictures may be rehung. A bathroom may be put in, if there is none. The kitchen may be made more convenient. The yard may be made attractive with trees and shrubs. Unsightly out-buildings may be removed; the fence may be improved. The porch may have vines and window-boxes, and be furnished for a living-room, with awnings, chairs, and a table.
What can be done to make over a farmhouse? First of all, the barns and out-buildings must be removed, or hidden behind screens of trees or evergreens, or at least painted or stained. The yard must be put in order, and shrubs and flowers set out. The house front door must be opened, and a porch, or attractive entrance built, with vines. Within, the front room should be arranged for[Pg 182] daily use, with the doorway widened, probably, and the windows opened and screened. The floor can be stained, and a pretty rag rug laid down; ugly furniture can be replaced with some of the simple, old-fashioned sort that is in keeping with the character of the house. A fireplace may possibly be opened, and the pictures rehung on freshly papered walls. The kitchen and dining-room may have more modern conveniences, and water may be piped in from the windmill or spring. The bedrooms may be made more airy, and perhaps a bathroom added.
Show pictures of made-over houses of these and other kinds, and emphasize the fact that much may be done with little outlay of money. Speak of the new ideas in house-furnishing and the return to what is suitable rather than what is merely costly or modern. Make the papers practical, and have club-members tell what they have seen accomplished.
This is one of the most fascinating subjects of the year. Begin by noting the kinds of houses needed for the mountains, the seashore, the inland plain or valley, and the camp, and their[Pg 183] delightful variety. The bungalow is the modern suggestion for any simple summer home, and it is capable of infinite change to suit its surroundings.
The forest camp is usually planned to have several plain bungalows rather than one, and they form a group, one for sleeping, one for dining, one for cooking. Note the need of fireplaces, of screened windows and doors, and provision for storing food. Show how bunks can take the place of beds, and the charm of an out-of-door dining-room.
Seashore cottages should be built so as to avoid dampness; for this reason stone or cement is not a good choice, but wood, with thin walls which dry quickly. Fireplaces are essential, and deep porches on the sheltered side of the house. There may be two stories to a bungalow of this kind, rather than one, and the inside may be ceiled with wood, and stained rather than plastered.
Inland cottages may be made of cobble or any native stone, or of wood, or cement, or a combination. There should be large, deep porches, to be used for living-rooms, and, if possible, out-of-door sleeping-porches. The house should be so placed as to command the best view, especially[Pg 184] of the sunsets. There should be beautiful gardens all about the house.
Show pictures of all these styles of cottage, and of the famous California bungalows, which are in every possible style and at all prices.
Close this subject with a brief talk or paper on Furnishing the Summer Home, mentioning that it should be done appropriately, not with left-over city furniture, but with the plainer kinds which suit the house. Speak of simple and attractive curtains and hangings, of the use of chintzes and cretonnes, of white-painted beds and chairs, of porch furniture. Notice also the labor-saving contrivances for summer kitchens. Have members tell of what they have seen and done in summer; close with a talk on the names of summer houses.
The remarkable multiplication of apartments in the last few years is noteworthy. Have their advantages and disadvantages presented, and question: What are the essentials of a good, livable apartment?
Suggest that the street should be accessible and as quiet as possible; the rooms not too small[Pg 185] nor too crowded; that there should be light and air in the sleeping-rooms; that a few good closets, a sanitary bathroom, a convenient kitchen, are all necessary, and a private hall is desirable.
Discuss the question: How does the furnishing of an apartment differ from that of a house? Present the suggestion that as the rooms are apt to be small there must not be too much furniture, and that what there is should be plain, and simply upholstered. The wall-paper should be rather light in color, and plain or self-figured; to have it all of one kind makes the apartment look larger than if several kinds were used. There should be few hangings, and light curtains. Note also these questions: How can spaces be saved in sleeping and other rooms? What about heating and ventilation? Is living in an apartment hygienic? Does it tend to foster or discourage neighborliness? Does one form the habit of moving, and is the sense of continuity of a permanent family home destroyed? Have a discussion arranged in advance on these and similar points.
This very practical subject may be expanded into several meetings, since it is distinctly educational.[Pg 186]
Floors—Carpets versus bare floors and rugs. What is the cost of hard wood, of Southern pine, of painted or stained floors? In the long run, are such floors and the necessary rugs more or less expensive than carpets? What sort of rugs are desirable beyond the Oriental? What are artistic, durable, harmonious in color and pattern? What can be done with old carpets?
Walls—The necessity of proper proportion should be emphasized; they should be neither too high nor too low for the size of the room. If they are wrong, what can be done? Show how papering can help the difficulty; too low ceilings call for a narrow striped paper without a frieze; a too high ceiling needs the calcimined ceiling carried down to a foot or more on the wall, with a narrow molding where it meets the paper.
Study the subject of wall-paper, and show illustrations. The dark paper absorbs the light. The gilt-medallioned paper is inartistic; hard, bright colors are tiring to live with. Chintz papers are suitable for bedrooms. Notice the value of self-toned papers, and of shades of tans and pale browns.
Hangings—Have a paper or talk here. Describe the ugliness of highly colored, fringed, two-toned,[Pg 187] draped portières, and of imitation lace curtains, such as Nottingham, and contrast with the beauty of simple, plain hangings and curtains of net or muslin of good styles. Show pictures from catalogues of good and bad hangings. Do not overlook the fact that if windows are too large or too small, too high or too low, their outline can be altered by their treatment. Present the possibilities of stenciling.
Furniture—This topic gives opportunity for a whole meeting. Get catalogues from dealers, and illustrate papers on different styles of furniture, English of several periods, French, German, Colonial, and the modern varieties of no period at all. Read from Furniture of Olden Times, by Alice C. Morse. Show how the plain lines of old mahogany are forever beautiful. Contrast such furniture with the showy, ornate, over-elaborate things we too often see to-day.
Make a point of the necessity of having few and simple chairs and tables in small rooms; of the advantage of low bookcases over high ones; the beauty of shaded lights over glaring white ones; of side lights and lamps as better than a central chandelier or hanging lamp.
Pictures should be of good subjects; copies of[Pg 188] great masters, and of beautiful scenery or cathedrals, can be had in photographs; they should be plainly framed, hung flat on the wall, and opposite the eye. Bric-à-brac should be quiet in color and line, rather than complex and pretentious; speak of the value of pottery, and, if possible, study a little of what is being done in arts and crafts in all lines.
A practical discussion may follow on, What shall we do with our ugly belongings? Let someone show how carpets can be dyed or made into rugs, furniture simplified by removing the cheap ornamentation and staining the whole, bookcases cut down, hangings made over.
Have illustrated papers or talks on these topics:
The Living-Room—How can it best be made beautiful and comfortable? What colors are best? what furniture? what pictures and ornaments? Where shall the writing-desk, the large table, the piano, stand? What of the floor, the curtains, the cushions? What is essential, and what can we do without?
The Dining-Room—Which side of the house is best to choose? What colors are suitable for the[Pg 189] walls? What wood for the furniture? What about a sideboard, glass-closet, pantry? How can we make over what we have?
The Bedrooms—Shall we use wood or metal beds? What of the floor? Are wall-papers desirable? What of the use of chintz and white paint? What curtains and hangings are best? What furniture can be home-made for the bedroom?
The Boy's Room—How can it be at once sensible and attractive? What sort of furniture will he like best, and what colors? Shall there be a place for "collections"?
The Girl's Room—How shall this be at once dainty and practical? What colors are suitable? If the room is small, how can the space be best utilized? Does a pretty bedroom tend to make a girl orderly?
From this point have brief papers on other rooms: the mother's room; the guest-room; the nursery; the playroom; the grandmother's room; the out-of-door sleeping-room; the hospital room; the sewing-room; the linen-closet; the attic; the cellar.
Close with a practical paper on that important room in the home, the kitchen. Show that it is a[Pg 190] workroom, to be furnished and used as such. Speak of the floor, the walls, and their finishing; the tables and chairs; the pantries; the sink; the range; suggest labor-saving utensils and contrivances, and use illustrations; notice that the kitchen must be attractive as well as practical. Have members give ideas on all the topics.
Prepare in advance a discussion on these subjects: How much care shall we put on our houses? Shall women give up all their time to keeping them clean and orderly? What can they do to save steps? How much can the children help? Shall boys be taught housework? What can be eliminated from the daily routine?
If desired, there might be a practical talk on the necessity of keeping paint in good condition, to protect the wood underneath; of the care of glass, silver, marble, brass, hard wood; of how to prevent moths and mice, and of how often carpets must come up. It is better, however, to take up the larger aspects of the question, using such suggestions for talks or papers as these: Has housekeeping lost some of its difficulties to-day?[Pg 191] What about modern appliances to avoid sweeping, and the like? Has house-cleaning lost its terrors? Can the average woman consider housekeeping as a profession? and if so, how and where can she best be trained? Compare the modern housekeeper with the one of half a century ago. Show how the trained housekeeper is a practical domestic economist. Discuss, Business-like Housekeeping; How shall we best train our daughters in it? If there is time, take up the servant question. Are our ideas changing on this subject? Present the new plans for specialists, with set hours, and the like.
This is one of the subjects which can be indefinitely expanded; indeed, a whole year's study might easily be put on it.
Begin with a study of historic gardens from the earliest times, and read Bacon's well-known essay. Then turn to the gardens of to-day, and begin with the description of what can be done in an apartment when one can have only window-boxes; take up the tiny plots behind city houses, and show what can be done there, with vines over the fences, climbing roses over a little arbor,[Pg 192] narrow beds by the edge of the grass; show pictures of what has been done, if possible.
The lawn and small yard of a suburban house can next be studied, and here a little ingenuity can be shown to accomplish a great deal. Speak of the use of bulbs; of little cold-frames; of raising grapes under glass in a small way, and of annuals, shrubs, vines, and roses.
The large gardens of our modern country houses deserve especial mention. Have as many pictures as possible of these. Notice the formal gardens, the Italian gardens, the sunken gardens, the rose gardens, the massed shrubs, the walls of brick and stone, covered with vines. The adjuncts of the gardens are often most beautiful also, the pergolas, the marble and terra-cotta vases and seats, the sun-dials, the fountains, the lily-ponds, and the vistas cut through the trees.
Old-fashioned and herb gardens, kitchen and market gardens, growing violets and roses to sell, and the raising of unusual seeds and plants are all topics of interest both theoretical and practical.[Pg 193]
1. Trees That Are Familiar to Us—Our home varieties: nut-trees, foliage-trees, evergreens, etc.; fruit-trees and their care.
2. Trees That Are Strange to Us—Mahogany and other Central and South American trees; teakwood; cedars of Lebanon; redwoods of California.
3. The Art of Forestry—Need of forestry; history of the movement; the United States Department.
4. The Tree in Sentiment and Literature—Famous trees (the Charter Oak, King Arthur's Oak, the Washington Elm, etc.); poetry about trees; Tennyson's trees; Shakespeare's trees.
Readings—W. C. Bryant: A Forest Hymn (in part). Longfellow: Evangeline (opening lines). Whittier: The Palm Tree.
Books to Consult—Julia E. Rogers: The Tree Book. What is Forestry? (U. S. Div. Forestry[Pg 194] Bulletin 5). G. Pinchot: A Primer of Forestry (U. S. Dept. Agri. Farmers' Bulletin 173, 358).
There are magazines which may easily be consulted for subjects for discussion on landscape-gardening, the grouping of shrubs and trees, and similar themes. There may be a valuable paper on Insects Which Destroy Our Trees, and How to Deal with Them; the Agricultural Department at Washington will gladly send pamphlets which will be of great use. There might also be a talk on The Lumberman and the Government, and another on The Paper Manufacturer and the Government, and a third on Forestry as a Profession for Young Men.
1. Geologic Ages Represented in the United States—Estimate of geologic time. Characteristics of the particular ages in this locality. Volcanic action and its effects, with local illustrations. Action of water.
2. A Geological History of the Local Region as Far as It Can Be Constructed.
3. Fossil Remains of Plants and Animals in the Neighborhood—Contents of local collections and museums described.[Pg 195]
4. Value of Local Rocks and Soils—Use of rocks for building, for roads, for chemical purposes. Analysis of soils and description of their best use in agriculture. Defects of local soils from the agricultural standpoint, and the remedy for them.
Books to Consult—Dana: Manual of Geology. Shaler: Outline of the Earth's History. U. S. Geological Survey. (Get local reports.)
Discuss the importance of interesting the school-children in the local geology. What excursions may they take in the vicinity for this purpose? The value of making collections for school or town use is also a suitable topic. Are there readable books on geology in the public library, and are they read? In preparation for this meeting the chairman may obtain literature from the Secretary of Agriculture in Washington, on soils, and what can be done to improve them.
1. The Distribution of Water on the Globe—Water in prehistoric times. Geological action. The Ice Age. The unceasing circulation of water: clouds, rain, streams, etc. The coloration of water (blue lakes, green seas, brown streams, etc.).
2. The Ocean—The open sea. Movement of[Pg 196] tides. Famous tides. The beach: sands, pebbles, shells, seaweeds, etc. The surf. Ocean traffic. Lighthouses and lightships.
3. Lakes—The great lakes of the United States. Differences between them. Their commerce. Small lakes. Great Salt Lake. Lakes in Maine, Wisconsin, Canada, the Adirondacks, etc. Ponds. Famous ponds (Walden, etc.).
4. Rivers—The Mississippi. The Hudson. Canal-boat life. Little rivers and their charm. The river as a highway. River-craft (canoes, etc.).
6. Relation of Water and Human Life—Water in hygiene. Famous springs. Irrigation and forestry. The revival of the canal as an instrument of commerce. Water in literature and art.
Books to Consult—Wright: The Ice Age in America. Reclus: The Ocean. Russell: The Rivers of North America. Fuertes: Water and Public Health.
A practical paper may be prepared on the Local Water-Supply and the Danger to Health from Well-Water and Impure Ice. Have a brief paper on the Suez and Panama Canals, with illustrations of the latter. Describe the systems of locks in the Sault Sainte Marie. Consider the subject of house-boats on rivers. Have readings[Pg 197] from Byron on the ocean; from Clough's Bothie (the idyll of swimming); from Van Dyke's Little Rivers, and from Thoreau's Walden.
1. Beetles (Coleoptera)—Great tropical beetles. Common local varieties: ladybugs, the potato-bug. Wood-beetles and their destructiveness.
2. Ants, Bees, and Wasps—Their life-history, habits, and products. Relation to man. Readings from Lubbock, McCook, and Maeterlinck.
3. Butterflies—Life-history and transformations. Gorgeous varieties of equatorial regions. Local varieties described.
4. A Practical Knowledge of Insect-Life—For the farmer: protecting crops, animals and trees. For the town resident: care of trees and plants. For the housewife: household pests, and how to deal with them: the moth, the cockroach, etc.
Books to Consult—Comstock: Manual for the Study of Insects. Buckley: Insect Life. Holland: The Butterfly Book. Osborn: Insects Affecting Domestic Animals.
This meeting may be made a very practical one. Begin with the life-story of the bee as helpful to mothers and teachers in explaining to children[Pg 198] the meaning of sex. Read from The Bee People, by Morley, to illustrate the point. Have a paper on The Danger of Contagion from the House-fly and the Mosquito; give preventives for these pests, the red ant, the moth-miller, and the bedbug.
1. Introductory Paper—The place of fish in the scale of life. Their structure and habits. Fossil fish. Peculiar fish: of the tropics, of the deep sea, of caves. Flying fish.
2. Local Fishes—Description of varieties and their habits. Stocking of local waters by the United States Fish Commission. Fish culture.
3. Commercial Fisheries—Whaling and its romance. Cod, mackerel, and herring. Reading from Kipling's Captains Courageous. Salmon-fishing on the Pacific coast. The Canneries. International laws about fishing.
4. Angling—The ethics of the sport. Methods of equipment: fly-fishing, trolling, chumming, etc. The literature of fishing. Read from Walton's Angler and Henry Van Dyke's Fisherman's Luck.
Books to Consult—Guenther: Introduction[Pg 199] to the Study of Fishes. Goode: American Fishes. Louis Rhead: Book of Fish and Fishing. Bullen: Denizens of the Deep.
A talk on Fish as Food might be introduced into this program, or a reading from Atwater's book entitled, The Chemical Composition and Nutritive Value of American Food and Fishes Invertebrates. In a farming community the value of fish as a fertilizer might well be considered. Fishing birds, kingfishers, gulls, pelicans, and cormorants, especially the trained cormorants of China, are of interest. The program might close with some stories, perhaps, of the old whaling days of Nantucket, or some from the book called, Fish Stories, by Holder and Jordan.
1. Local Wild Animals—Squirrels, rabbits, moles, hedgehogs, woodchucks, gophers, etc. Their habits. What they mean to the farmer.
2. Large Game in the United States—Deer, moose, elk, buffalo, mountain sheep, wildcats, bears. The preservation of wild animals. The Yellowstone Park. Private preserves in New England, etc.
3. Beasts of Prey—Lions, tigers, leopards,[Pg 200] jaguars, wolves, etc. Moving pictures of animals in a wild state. Skins and their value.
4. Monkeys—Varieties and description of them. Capacity for training. Discuss Garner's theory of a monkey language. What about the Darwinian theory?
5. Zoölogical Gardens, and Menageries—Le Jardin des Plantes. Amsterdam. Berlin (largest in the world). London (second largest). The Bronx Zoo in New York. Its architecture.
Books to Consult—Flome and Lydekker: The Study of Mammals. Elliot: Synopsis of the Mammals of North America. Romanes: Animal Intelligence. Roosevelt: The Wilderness Hunter, and African Game Trails.
If there is time, have an introductory paper on fossil wild animals, especially those of the Carboniferous Age, with pictures of such skeletons or reproductions of skeletons as those in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Give also a résumé of Huxley's essay on the horse. Close with a discussion of the psychology of animals. Do they think and reason? Refer to Darwin's Origin of Species and Descent of Man. Read from Maeterlinck's essay on the dog.[Pg 201]
1. Horses—Origin of the horse. Varieties in different countries: the Arabian horse, Norman draft-horses, the American trotting-horse, the broncho. Readings from Huxley's essay on The Horse, and Black Beauty.
2. Cattle—World-wide use and value. Sacred bulls of Egypt and cows of India. Famous breeds: Jerseys, Alderneys, Holsteins. Pure milk, and how to get it. Butter and cheese making. The world's beef-supply. Meat as a diet.
3. Swine—Comparison of surviving wild and domestic varieties. History of the use of pork as a food. Commercial uses of the several parts of the pig (skin, bristles, bones, etc.).
4. Sheep and Goats—Characteristics and varieties. Raising sheep or goats as a business: the best regions, and the best breeds of animals for commercial purposes. Conditions of success.
5. Dogs and Cats—Antiquity of their domestication. Varieties and their qualities. Dogs as pack-animals, as hunters, in police work, as pets. Readings from Agnes Repplier, The Household Sphinx, and Maeterlinck on the Dog.
Books to Consult—Olive Thorne Miller:[Pg 202] Our Home Pets. N. S. Shaler: Domesticated Animals. C. A. Shamel: Profitable Stock Raising. Théophile Gauthier: My Household of Pets.
One paper might be written on the horse in mythology and literature (Pegasus, Bucephalus, etc.); another on famous race-courses and racers. In farming communities take up the subject of horse-raising, sanitary barns, etc. A third paper may be on American packing-houses; a fourth on shepherds, ancient and modern, and stories of shepherd-dogs; a fifth on famous dogs. Illustrate the last with a reading from Rab and His Friends.
1. Birds of the Water and the Shore—The sea-gull, loon, wild geese and ducks. Herons, pelicans, curlew.
2. Birds of Prey—Eagles, vultures, hawks.
3. Birds as Game—Pheasants, pigeons, quail, grouse, wild turkeys.
4. Birds of the Night—Owls, night-hawks.
5. Birds and Insects—Woodpeckers, bee-eaters, swifts.
6. Birds of Song—The nightingale, the mocking-bird, thrushes, warblers.[Pg 203]
Books to Consult—Robert Ridgway: Manual of North American Birds. H. K. Job: How to Study Birds. Chapman: Bird Life. Beetham: Photography for Bird Lovers. Weed and Dearborn: Birds in Their Relation to Man.
If there is time, have these papers also: Birds' nests in the different climates; the coloring of birds' eggs; the plumage of birds and its use in millinery; bird songs; bird study with opera-glass and camera. Have several readings from Burroughs' Wake Robin, and Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller's Little Brothers of the Air.
1. The Study of Botany as a Recreation—Character of the local neighborhood. The humble plants and flowers: grasses, mosses, ferns, and water plants. The herbarium.
2. Wild Flowers of the Forest, the Swamp, the Mountain, and the Prairie.
3. Cultivated Flowers—House plants. The amateur greenhouse. Window boxes. Curious flowers and orchids.
4. Gardens and Gardening—Literature (Evelyn, etc.). Cultivation of annuals. Raising of[Pg 204] spring flowers. Flowers for market. Italian gardens.
Books to Consult—Gray: Botanical Text Book. Mrs. W. S. Dana: How to Know the Wild Flowers. Caroline A. Creevey: Flowers of Field, Hill and Swamp. H. L. Keller: Our Garden Flowers. Kerner: Flowers and Their Unbidden Guests.
The subject of gardens can be extended to cover an entire program. The literature of the subject has become very great, and many interesting and beautiful readings may be chosen from such books as Ruskin's Proserpina, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, and Mabel Osgood Wright's Garden of a Commuter's Wife. An entire paper might be given to the fascinating subject of sun-dials. Another might deal with the literature of the rose, or the relation of plants and insects, or the color of flowers (consult Grant Allen).
1. Shrubs—Flowering shrubs suited to the climate. What shrubs are best adapted for hedges locally? Do hedges pay? The grouping of shrubs on lawns, and the principles involved. Landscape-gardening[Pg 205] and its history and local application.
2. Vines—Ornamental and fruit-bearing varieties. The Japan ivy, English ivy, woodbine. Care of vines and covering in winter. The enemies of vines. Pasteur and what he did for France. The English sparrow. Arbors and their construction and style. Value of the quickly growing vines, honeysuckle, moon-vine, etc.
3. Ferns—Local varieties. Description of tropical ferns. Ferns in the house, and their care. The Boston, sword, and asparagus ferns. Ferneries and how to make and care for them. Fern balls.
4. Mosses and Lichens—Description of varieties. Remarkable mosses of the arctic and the tropic zones. Edible mosses. The reindeer and its modern propagation.
Books to Consult—W. C. McCollum: Vines and How to Grow Them. N. L. Marshall: Mosses and Lichens. W. I. Beecroft: Who's Who Among the Ferns. D. C. Eaton: Ferns of North America.
This meeting may be made practical by considering how to beautify unattractive houses and grounds by the use of vines and shrubs. Inartistic[Pg 206] verandas may be covered with Japanese ivy, unsightly fences taken down and replaced with hedges, and back yards concealed by screens of large shrubs. Photographs of transformed houses and yards may be shown.[Pg 207]
1. Story of His Life: in the Country—Love of the Scottish countryside; saturation with old legends as a child; interest in odd characters.
2. Story of His Life: in the City—Homes in Edinburgh; relation to the law; his personal friends; his connection with the Ballantynes and publishing; his marriage and family; the building of Abbotsford; the last years.
3. As a Poet—Influence of ballads; simplicity of form.
4. Readings from His Poetry—Lay of the Last Minstrel; Lady of the Lake.
5. As a Novelist—The anonymous Waverley; rapidity of production; historic scope of the novels.
6. Readings from His Novels—Guy Mannering (Meg Merrilies); Ivanhoe (the tourney); Heart of Midlothian (Effie Deans).[Pg 208]
Discussion—A comparison of Scott with later writers of historical novels.
Books to Consult—Lockhart: Life of Scott. R. H. Hutton: Scott (English Men of Letters Series). Washington Irving's account of his visit to Abbotsford.
Have a talk on Scott's romantic love-story and his later courtship and marriage. Give an account of his friendships, especially of that with Marjorie Fleming, and read from Dr. Brown's book about her life. Tell of the dogs Scott loved. Describe Abbotsford and Melrose; describe his death and the burial at Dryburgh; use as many photographs as can be obtained.
1. The Story of Jane Austen's Life—The county society; the material for her novels; her method of composition.
2. Emma and Mansfield Park—Analysis of the plots and the characters. Jane Austen's men and her women.
3. Jane Austen's Masterpiece: Pride and Prejudice—The story. The author's sense of humor. Readings: The ball; Mr. Collins' letter, etc.
4. The Place of Jane Austen in Modern English[Pg 209] Literature—The pioneer novelist of modern society. Her realism. Estimates by Howells and others.
Books to Consult—Life of Jane Austen, by her nephew, J. E. Austen Leigh. Letters, edited by Lord Brabourne. Life, by Oscar Fay Adams. Life, by Walter Pollock.
Miss Austen is a charming subject, with many points of interest. The family life at Steventon is one; her letter-writing is another; her meeting with Thackeray is a third. Read from her letters, her brief unfinished comedy, and her poem. Describe her burial-place in Winchester Cathedral.
1. The Story of her Life—The home on the moors at Haworth, father and brother, the three brilliant sisters; boarding-school life; Brussels; her literary career, marriage, death.
2. The Professor and Jane Eyre—The Professor: rejection by the publishers. Estimate of it to-day. Jane Eyre: realistic and dramatic qualities. England's disapproval.
3. Shirley and Villette—Shirley: First novel by a woman dealing with the industrial problem. Its realism. Character of Shirley contrasted[Pg 210] with that of Jane Eyre. Villette: Local color. Character of Madame Beck.
4. Her Personal Experience as Reflected in Her Novels—The moors, boarding-school experiences, life in Brussels, the manufacturing region of England.
Books to Consult—Mrs. Gaskell: Life of Charlotte Brontë. T. W. Reid: Life of Charlotte Brontë. Clement Shorter: Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle.
The life of the three remarkable sisters, known at the time as Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell, is full of deep interest. Illustrate the program with readings from Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Anne's Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Read a few of their verses also. Contrast Charlotte with Jane Austen. Close with several brief selections from Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte.
1. The Story of His Life—School days at the Charterhouse. Cambridge. Study of art abroad. The Constitutional. Newspaper work. His marriage and his daughters. His first novel. His lectures. The English Humorist, and later, The[Pg 211] Four Georges. Visits to America. Attempt at political life. Editor of Cornhill Magazine. Read Thackeray's Death, in Spare Hours, by Dr. John Brown.
2. Vanity Fair—The novel without a hero. Becky Sharp: intellect minus heart; Amelia Sedley: heart minus intellect. Interest of the historical setting. Read from the Duchess of Richmond's ball.
3. Henry Esmond, and The Virginians—Henry Esmond: its place as one of the few great novels. The historical setting. Character of Beatrix. Is the estimate of the Duke of Marlborough just? The Virginians: connection with Henry Esmond. Is the American color correct? Reading: scene between Beatrix and the Pretender.
4. Pendennis, and The Newcomes—Pendennis: London newspaper life. Compare the characters of Laura and Helen. The Newcomes: most popular of the novels. Theme: the unhappy marriage. The character of Colonel Newcome. Reading: the Charterhouse and the death of Colonel Newcome.
5. Thackeray's Place in the Literary World—His instant success as a novelist. His friendships among men of letters. His warmth of affection.[Pg 212] Discussion of his satire. His place as social preacher. Is Taine's estimate of him just?
Books to Consult—Biographical and Harry Furniss's editions of the novels (introductions). Melvill: Life of Thackeray. Merivale and Marzials: Life of Thackeray. Chesterton: Thackeray. Riding: Thackeray's London.
1. The Man and the Author—His early life of hardship and the material it furnished him. Reminiscences in David Copperfield. Newspaper life and Sketches by Boz. Origin of this name. The launching of Pickwick. Growing fame. Marriage. Trips to America. Dickens as actor and reader. Home at Gad's Hill. Grave in Westminster Abbey.
2. The Humor and Pathos of Dickens—Pickwick as a type of pure humor. The grotesque, illustrated by Quilp, Squeers, Uriah Heep. The farcical, as illustrated by Micawber, Pecksniff, and Sarah Gamp. Pathos in Tiny Tim, Paul Dombey, and Little Nell. Reading from Bardell vs. Pickwick, and the death of Little Nell (Old Curiosity Shop).
3. Dickens as a Humanitarian—Little Dorrit[Pg 213] and prison reform. Bleak House and the law's delay. Nicholas Nickleby and poor schools. Oliver Twist and youthful criminals.
4. His Greatest Novel: David Copperfield—Discuss the plot and the chief characters. Notice the individuality of the women: Mrs. Copperfield, Miss Murdstone, Betsy Trotwood, Peggotty, Little Emily, Dora, and Agnes.
Books to Consult—Forster: Life of Dickens. Letters of Charles Dickens. G. K. Chesterton: Charles Dickens. Gissing: Charles Dickens.
A paper comparing Dickens and Thackeray may be added to this program, for Dombey and Son, Dickens's sixth successful novel, appeared the same year as Vanity Fair, Thackeray's first. There might be a paper on The Names of Dickens's Characters, and Where He Got Them.
1. His Life—Son of the novelist Frances M. Trollope. Unhappy life at Winchester and Harrow. In the postal service. (See The Three Clerks for the examination of Charley Tudor—Trollope's own experience.) Post-office surveys in Ireland. Travels on post-office business. Material thus gathered. His forty novels. First[Pg 214] good novel, The Warden. The idea of it suggested while wandering about Salisbury Cathedral. Popularity and large earnings.
2. The Barsetshire Novels—Deal with upper middle class, especially clergymen and their families. Pictures of quiet country life. Realism. Evenness of tone. Favorite situation: the man who has compromised himself and is in danger of ruin. Description of the leading characters in these novels.
3. Four Novels—Give brief sketch of plot and description of the chief characters in Orley Farm, Phineas Finn, The Vicar of Bullhampton, and Can You Forgive Her? Readings from these books.
4. A Comparison of Trollope with Dickens and Thackeray—Their materials, plots, methods of treatment, and diverse styles. Their relative popularity and standing to-day. Influence of Thackeray on Trollope.
Books to Consult—Anthony Trollope: Autobiography. Cross: The Development of the English Novel. Saintsbury: English Literature of the Nineteenth Century.
One of the famous women in the books of this decade is Mrs. Proudie, the wife of the Bishop of[Pg 215] Barchester. Read a description of her, her methods of management, and the retribution which overtook her. The Rev. Mr. Slope is also a well-known character in connection with the Proudies.
1. Life—Birth and childhood. Fondness for medieval romances (compare Sir Walter Scott). Cambridge and the Chancellor's gold medal. Romantic adventures in the North. Unhappy marriage. Necessity the motive to work. Twelve novels in ten years. His plays. Parliament. Colonial secretaryship. The peerage. Westminster Abbey.
2. Novels—The novel of society: Pelham. The novel of adventure: Paul Clifford. The novel of crime: Eugene Aram. The novel of domestic life: My Novel. The novel of history: Last Days of Pompeii.
3. Plays—Lady of Lyons, Richelieu, Money. Analysis of plots, description of chief characters, and readings.
4. Critical Estimate of His Work and Place in Literature.
Books to Consult—Life of Bulwer Lytton, by his Son. Bulwer Lytton's Letters. T. H. S.[Pg 216] Escott: Edward Bulwer. Lewis Melville: Victorian Novelists. J. F. Molloy: Famous Plays.
Bulwer Lytton was a personage in society in his day. Contrast his life with that of his contemporaries, Thackeray and Disraeli. Compare Vanity Fair and Coningsby with Pelham. Distinguish between Bulwer Lytton and his son, who was viceroy of India and author of the once-popular Lucile. Explain why Bulwer Lytton's plays have more vitality than his novels.
1. The Story of Her Life—Materials for her novels in her early life. Evangelical training and later change in her religious views. Life with Lewes and his encouragement of her writing. Literary friendships. Marriage to Cross.
2. Scenes from Clerical Life, and Silas Marner—Story of the appearance of the Scenes and of her nom de plume. Reading from Silas Marner.
3. Adam Bede—Study of Retribution. Felix Holt—Study of labor. Readings.
4. Mill on the Floss—Study of family life. Middlemarch—Study of selfishness. Readings.
5. Romola—Study of historic Florence. Daniel Deronda—Study of the Jew. Readings.[Pg 217]
6. Comparison of George Eliot with Thackeray, Dickens, and Trollope—Her ethical quality as a writer.
Books to Consult—J. W. Cross: Life of George Eliot. Oscar Browning: Life of George Eliot. Mathilde Blind: George Eliot. C. S. Olcott: George Eliot: Scenes and People in Her Novels, illustrated from photographs. Also essays by Sir Leslie Stephen, E. H. A. Scherer, E. Dowden, R. H. Hutton, and Henry James.
No program on George Eliot would be complete without a brief presentation of her poetry. A scene may be read from the Spanish Gipsy, a selection from How Lisa Loved the King, and the whole of the beautiful short poem, Oh May I Join the Choir Invisible. A description of her grave in Highgate Cemetery in London, and its inscription, may conclude.
1. Story of His Life—Childhood and Edinburgh University. Travels on the Continent. Trip to America. First writing for publication. Story of his books. Samoa. Reading of passages from his letters.
2. Short Stories—His fantastic imagination.[Pg 218] Style and how he cultivated it. Readings from the New Arabian Nights. Analysis of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
3. Essays and Sketches—Variety of subject and versatility of treatment. Readings from Crabbed Age and Youth, John Knox and Women, and In the South Seas.
4. Scotch Adventures—Analysis and description of The Master of Ballantrae, Kidnapped, David Balfour, Weir of Hermiston. Reading from Kidnapped.
5. Varied Romances—Treasure Island, Prince Otto, The Black Arrow, The Wrecker, The Ebb Tide. Note the great variety of material. Reading from Treasure Island.
Books to Consult—Graham Balfour: Life of Robert Louis Stevenson. A. H. Japp: Robert Louis Stevenson. John Kelman: The Faith of Robert Louis Stevenson. Isobel Osbourne Strong: Robert Louis Stevenson.
A program on Stevenson should certainly mention his poems. Read from his A Child's Garden of Verse. Notice also his prayers, which have had large circulation and use in the religious world. There might be a paper on the varied appreciation of Stevenson by his biographers, noting especially[Pg 219] Henley. Show pictures of Stevenson, and especially of the bas-relief of him made by Saint-Gaudens for St. Giles's Cathedral in Edinburgh.
1. The Man—Story of his life and remarkable friendships. Peculiarities. His style and satire. Compare his prose with Browning's verse. Were they purposely obscure? Why is Meredith not more popular? His later days. Compare him with Dickens and Thackeray.
2. Richard Feverel, and Beauchamp's Career—Analysis of the plots and description of the chief characters. Have these books a moral? Discuss the novel as a teacher of morals. Readings.
3. The Egoist—Analysis of the plot and description of the chief character, Sir Willoughby Patterne. Is his refined and unconscious selfishness a common occurrence? Discuss the proper limits of egotism. Quotation of clever sayings.
4. Diana of the Crossways, One of Our Conquerors, The Shaving of Shagpat—Description in detail of these books, and their purposes. If possible, indicate any characters supposed to be from life.
Books to Consult—E. J. Bailey: The Novels[Pg 220] of George Meredith. Mrs. M. D. Henderson: George Meredith, Novelist, Poet, Reformer. R. Le Gallienne: George Meredith, Some Characteristics. J. W. Beach: The Comic Spirit on George Meredith.
Have a brief paper on George Meredith as a poet and the various estimates of his poetry by literary critics; read from some of the best-known poems. Indicate Meredith's relation to the Feminist Movement. Look up in the magazines published at the time of his death something about his manuscripts and how he disposed of them.[Pg 221]
There is at the present day a more than usually interesting group of writers in England. Their personality is delightful, and their point of view is eminently modern, full of the spirit of the times. The material for study must be gleaned largely from magazine articles, and by looking over the files of such publications as the Review of Reviews, the Literary Digest, the Outlook, and the Bookman, there will be found sketches of the lives and work of all those given here. In addition the New International Encyclopædia has biographical sketches, and Poole's Index and other reference books at a public library will direct to more material.
All programs on these authors should be arranged in four parts: first, the life of the author, as full as may be, with sketches of his experiences, his home circle, his friends, his methods of work; second, a criticism of his writing, his style, his mannerisms, the general trend of his ideas, and some[Pg 222] mention of his place among writers; third, readings from several of his books; and fourth, a discussion of his characters by the club members.
In place of one of these topics, some clubs may prefer a paper showing the change in the author's methods and style, based on a comparison of his earlier and later writings.
Thomas Hardy was born in Dorsetshire in 1840, and educated to be an architect. It was as a rebuilder of old churches that he became an antiquarian and then a student of rural types, since his work took him to country districts. His own county lives in his books under the name of Wessex, and the people he draws are taken from life. He has a sympathetic touch in dealing with their problems and peculiarities which comes from close contact and genuine affection.
His first novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, was followed by a second which won him popularity, Far from the Madding Crowd. This appeared anonymously as a serial, and at the time was attributed to George Eliot, because she was thought to be the only living author capable of writing it. The Return of the Native is perhaps[Pg 223] his most characteristic book, although in Jude the Obscure he shows a merciless character analysis. But in Tess of the D'Urbervilles he reaches the height of his power. It is a story of tragedy, expressing the doctrine that man must reap what he has sown. Read several chapters from Tess and discuss the story.
Hardy's short stories also are well known and a collection called Wessex Tales will be found excellent for selections for club reading. The Three Strangers is generally considered his best story. Notice the descriptions of scenery, the characteristics of the country people and their personalities. Does Hardy show a lack of humor? Is he a fatalist?
Maurice Hewlett was born in London in 1866, educated there, and admitted to the bar. It was in the midst of city life that he wrote his first novel, The Forest Lovers, which he has never excelled in beauty and charm. It is an exquisite, simple picture of life in the Middle Ages, with a lovely romance running through it. Critics tell us that of all his contemporaries he has best interpreted medieval thought and sentiment.[Pg 224]
Later he wrote other novels of the same period, notably Richard Yea-and-Nay, sometimes called an epic story, full of passion, war and poetry. It was with this book that fame came to Hewlett.
In The Queen's Quair we have a study of Mary, Queen of Scots, her court and the tragedy of her life. The Stooping Lady is laid in the Eighteenth Century, but the author shows the same peculiarity, that of making any time vividly real and preserving the atmosphere. This novel is full of imagination, yet terse and clear. Hewlett has also written some short stories of a delightful sort—Little Novels of Italy and The Madonna of the Peach Tree, quite unlike his longer books.
It is interesting to note that into all his writings the one idea is woven so skilfully as to be almost imperceptible—of the progress of the soul, either upward or downward. This key unlocks many of the puzzling passages, especially in Richard Yea-and-Nay. Clubs can follow out this suggestion in reading his books.
Read from the novels mentioned; note the strength of Jehan and the subtlety of Mary. Read also from his three delightful out-of-door stories of to-day, Half-Way House, Open Country,[Pg 225] and Rest Harrow. Compare the descriptions of scenery in England, Scotland, France and Italy.
Mrs. Humphry Ward, born of English parents in Tasmania in 1851, lived in Oxford and was educated in the Lake Country. The granddaughter of Thomas Arnold of Rugby, and the niece of Matthew Arnold, she inherited a strong moral sense which was increased by the atmosphere of her home, and grew up feeling that life was full of ethical problems. She married an Oxford tutor, moved to London, wrote reviews, translated Amiel's Journal into English, and then in 1888 wrote her first novel, Robert Elsmere, a brilliant presentation of the religious difficulties of a young clergyman, leading to his abandonment of orthodoxy. It attracted so much attention that Gladstone thought it worth his while to review it and combat its views.
She wrote later The History of David Grieve, contrasting the spiritual development of a brother and a sister. This is called her most vital book. Marcella, her most powerful book, deals with the problem of socialism in England. Then came Sir George Tressady, Eleanor, Lady Rose's Daughter,[Pg 226] Fenwick's Career, and others. Her later books, if more finished, lack the strength of her earlier.
Mrs. Ward has often been compared with George Eliot; clubs will find it interesting to note resemblances and differences and compare heroines and plots. Which of the two best concealed the moral purpose both used as the theme of their books? Read from several of Mrs. Ward's earlier volumes and also some selections from George Eliot's Adam Bede and Romola. Discuss the sense of humor shown by the two authors.
Hall Caine, though of Manx descent, was born in Cheshire in 1853, but he has always seemed less of an Englishman than a Manxman. His stories all have the atmosphere of the little Isle of Man, and his plots are laid there. Yet he lived in London as architect, journalist, novelist, and dramatist. There is much that is interesting about his life, especially the year that he spent with Rossetti.
His best books are The Shadow of a Crime, The Deemster, The Bondman, The Scapegoat, and The Christian. In all of them there is a definite somberness, a noticeable element of tragedy,[Pg 227] only slightly relieved by the lighter aspects of life. His novels deal with profound issues.
Clubs should notice the relations' of fathers and sons in the books mentioned. Discuss the problems presented; read the descriptions of Manx life among the people; compare the heroes. Read several of the dramatic chapters from The Scapegoat and The Deemster. Does the play The Christian show more strength than the novel of the same name?
In striking contrast with this last novelist is Stanley J. Weyman, the writer of fascinating historical novels which rank among the very first of their kind. Born in Shropshire in 1855 and educated at Oxford, he became first a lawyer and then a novelist. His Gentleman of France brought him immediately into prominence.
The scenes of most of his books are laid in France, either in the period of the Great Cardinal, or later in that of the Revolution. They are crowded with adventure, the plots are of absorbing interest and his characters are full of life and individuality. The times of which he writes are described with accurate fidelity, and his pictures[Pg 228] of the court, of campaigning, of travel, of village life, are romantic yet historically correct. Under the Red Robe, The Red Cockade, The Castle Inn, and The Abbess of Vlaye are all fascinating. Read from any one of these and then from a good history giving an idea of the same period, and note the precise study Weyman gave to his settings.
A paper might be prepared on Sir Walter Scott, Dumas, Hewlett and Weyman as historical novelists. The differences might be brought out by comparing the character of Richard Cœur de Lion in The Talisman and Richard Yea-and-Nay, and that of Richelieu in The Three Musketeers and Under the Red Robe.
James M. Barrie is a Scotchman, born in 1860 and educated at Edinburgh University. He knows thoroughly his own people. He does not write with any defined moral purpose, nor does he have any great events to record; but he has in an unusual degree the power to charm. His sympathetic insight, delightfully sly humor, play of fancy and light touch of pathos are all unique.
A Window in Thrums, describing the lives of[Pg 229] the weavers, so apart from the world yet so full of interest, Auld Licht Idylls, with its amusing difficulties of the old churches, and Margaret Ogilvy, the exquisite portrait of the author's mother, are unsurpassed in delicate beauty. In Sentimental Tommy, Tommy and Grizel, and The Little Minister there is more of plot and more also of a certain gaiety. The Little White Bird shows the fancy which comes out more strongly in the incomparable Peter Pan.
Read from as many of Barrie's books as possible, and then discuss his work as a playwright. Do his books lend themselves to the stage? Let those who have seen The Little Minister, The Admirable Crichton, Peter Pan and Little Mary describe them.
Horatio Gilbert Parker, now Sir Gilbert, is both English and Canadian. His career has been marked by a great variety of experience, as his books show. Born in Ontario in 1802, he became a teacher, then a curate, then an instructor in a deaf and dumb asylum, went to Australia for his health and there took up journalism and play-writing, returned to Canada and became a novelist.[Pg 230] Later he decided to live in England and went into Parliament. Many of his earlier novels are of Canadian life. When Valmond Came to Pontiac, The Seats of the Mighty, and The Right of Way are among the best of his early books. Later he wrote The Weavers, a strange mingling of East and West in the story of a Quaker in modern Egypt. His best recent novel is The Judgment House, having for its theme English society in the time of the Boer War. His versatility in turning from one scene to another, and from one type of character to another, is remarkable. Canada, Egypt, London, and Africa are all familiar ground to him, and trappers, Indians, Frenchmen of the seventeenth century, and men and women of to-day in cities are all equally well drawn. His early style was perhaps too diffuse, but his later stories are briefer and more direct. Read from The Seats of the Mighty and The Judgment House. Note his different types in his books and discuss them. Read also from the scenes in the different countries and see the local color.
Herbert G. Wells was born in Kent in 1866. He had a scientific training, and his first book was[Pg 231] a text book on biology. Later he became one of the staff of The Saturday Review and then combined science and literature in a series of romantic novels: His Time Machine, The Wheels of Chance and The War of the Worlds are all stories in which his scientific education was utilized. In 1906 he came to America to study social conditions and since then has written two books in quite another vein—Tono Bungay, a story of finance, and Marriage, a study of modern conditions of love and society.
His earlier work is marked by wild imagination; his later by swift analysis and warm sympathy. Compare the realistic description of village life in Part I. of Tono Bungay with that of the Five Towns in Arnold Bennett's Old Wives' Tale, mentioned later. Note Wells's socialistic leanings.
Read from The War of the Worlds and Marriage. Contrast the two styles; discuss the character of Marjorie in the latter; is she a possible woman?
William J. Locke, born of English parents in Barbadoes in 1803, was educated at Cambridge, where he took the highest honors in mathematics.[Pg 232] He became a teacher, and it was only after years of hated drudgery that he obtained a secretary's position and leisure to write. For long his novels were little known, though At the Gate of Samaria, The Derelicts, Idols, and The White Dove were all full of interest and promise. Then with The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne, called his greatest book, and The Beloved Vagabond, his most popular, he suddenly became famous. Septimus, Simon the Jester and The Glory of Clementina have followed one another rapidly, and Septimus has been dramatized.
Locke's style is so easy as to conceal its art. His plots are lightly constructed and many of his novels have unexpected endings. His men are much alike, but so delightful that no one would have them altered. Each has a certain chivalry, an ability to endure hardships, a lack of practical judgment, but a simple goodness that is irresistible. Their humor is charming, and their gentle philosophy convincing. Locke holds the theory that life should be accepted cheerfully; this is his dominant theme.
Clubs should read the amusing diatribe against teaching, and especially against teaching mathematics, in Marcus. Read also the first and last[Pg 233] chapters of the Vagabond and Clementina. Compare his women and his men.
Arnold Bennett, in many ways the most talked-of English author living, was born in Staffordshire in 1867 in a district known as "The Potteries," or "The Five Towns." Here are furnaces, collieries, manufactories and a people whose interests are made narrow and provincial by the restricted boundaries of their lives.
Bennett went to London, became a journalist, an essayist, an editor, a novelist, and a playwright. He lived for a time in Paris and traveled extensively, and he has made use of his varied experiences in his writings.
He has some remarkable books, long, careful, full of psychological problems. His Old Wives' Tale, Anna of the Five Towns and Clay-hanger all deal with the place and the people with which he was first familiar, and are graphic pictures of types. In Hilda Lessways he presents a study rather unlike those in his first books, and in Denry the Audacious and Buried Alive he has quite another manner and keener humor.
He is singularly direct and painstaking in his[Pg 234] work, a master of realism. For sheer observation, says one critic, he is unequaled. Of late he has visited America and made a close and remarkably sympathetic study of our country, our cities, our manners.
Take up Bennett also as a playwright, and note the good work he has done in this field; contrast his plays with his earlier books. Read from Hilda Lessways and from the graphic description of the siege of Paris in the Old Wives' Tale, and also a descriptive chapter from the Five Towns. Compare his realistic work with that of Henry James, and note the differences. Quote from his little essay, How to Live on Twenty-four Hours a Day.
Clubs which wish programs for more than ten meetings may take in addition to the authors already suggested these others:
De Morgan: read Joseph Vance, Alice for Short, and An Affair of Dishonor. Conan Doyle: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The White Company. Eden Phillpotts: Knock at a Venture, The Port-reeve, The Secret Woman. A. E. W. Mason: Four Feathers, The Truants, Courtship of Morrice. Robert Hichens: The Garden of Allah, The Dweller on the Threshold. Anthony Hope: The[Pg 235] Prisoner of Zenda, The Dolly Dialogues, Quisanté. Agnes and Egerton Castle: The Pride of Jennico, If Youth But Knew, The Secret Garden. E. F. Benson: The Challoners, An Act in a Backwater, The Luck of the Vails. May Sinclair: The Divine Fire, The Judgment of Eve. Mrs. Henry Dudeney: The Battle of the Weak, The Story of Susan.
Detailed criticisms and complete bibliographies of many novelists here mentioned may be found in Some English Story Tellers by F. T. Cooper (1912).[Pg 236]
1. The Story of His Life.
2. The Splendor of the Court—Compulsory residence of the nobles at Versailles; Louis's dislike and fear of Paris; effect politically of the segregation of the court.
3. The Great Ministers—Mazarin, Colbert, Louvois; relation of the king to them.
4. The Women of the Court—Louise de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon.
Books to Consult—Guizot: History of France. De Nolhac: Versailles. Heroes of the Nations Series: Louis XIV. A. Hassall: Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon. Lady Blennerhasset.
Study everything relating to Versailles, to which Louis moved the court; show pictures of the famous gardens, the fountain at play, the palace. Read a description of some fête: describe[Pg 237] the Grand Trianon and its social life. Show pictures of Louis.
1. Manners of the Time—Court etiquette. Excessive fondness of the king for it, and his strict insistence on it. Quote from the numerous memoirs of the time, descriptions of the palace ceremonial (Madame de Sévigné, Saint Simon, etc.).
2. Amusements of the Court—Receptions and functions. Fêtes. Hunting. Theatricals. Card games and gambling.
3. Women of the Court—The Queen, La Grande Mademoiselle, Madame de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon, Madame de Sévigné and her circle. Dress of the time.
4. Social Morals—Distinction between the morals of the court and those of the common people. Growing popular dissatisfaction, and its later tragic consequences.
Books to Consult—Hassall: Louis XIV. and the Zenith of the French Monarchy. Voltaire: The Age of Louis XIV. Guizot: History of France (Vol. IV., particularly the last chapter).[Pg 238]
A most interesting short paper might be prepared on the odd people of the time: Scarron; The Man in the Iron Mask; famous fortune-tellers. Show pictures of some of the court beauties, to illustrate the dress of the women of the period, and also a cut of Louis in his wig and high-heeled shoes, taken from any history of France.
1. The City—Area and population as compared with those of to-day. Show maps of both periods. Colbert: story of his life and his remaking of Paris. The destruction of the old walls and the beginning of the boulevards. Lenôtre and his landscape-gardening (the garden of the Tuileries). Laying out of the Places Vendôme, des Victoires, du Carrousel.
2. Public Buildings—The architects Perrault and Mansart and their work. Description of buildings erected under Louis: the Invalides, Bibliothèques du Roi and Mazarin, Académie, Gobelins, Comédie Française, etc. Gates: St. Denis, St. Martin, etc. Quai d'Orsay.
3. Churches of the Day—Val-de-Grâce and the birth of Louis. St. Roch: its erection and[Pg 239] later connection with French history. Nôtre Dame and its ceremonies. St. Denis and the royal tombs.
4. Great Events in Paris under Louis—Royal spectacles, executions, mobs.
Books to Consult—Larousse (under the word Paris, for those who read French). Hamerton: Paris in Old and Present Times. Hare: Walks in Paris. De Amicis: Studies in Paris.
The subject of the dwellings of the common people of this time deserves study: their bareness, absence of sanitation, water-supply, lack of conveniences and utensils. Also, the people's employments, food, dress, amusements, doctors and medicine and care of the sick and the relation of the priest to the family: christenings, weddings, and funerals. Material may be found in the histories, the encyclopædias (particularly Larousse), memoirs, the novels of Dumas, Dumas's Paris, etc.
1. The Foreign Relations of the Reign—Mazarin and the Peace of Westphalia. Death of Philip IV. of Spain and Louis's claim to the Netherlands. League with Charles II. of England. Discuss the[Pg 240] question whether Charles was in Louis's pay. Opposition from William III. of England.
2. Enlargement of Army and Navy—Harbors and ships of Brest, Toulon, etc. Constructive work of Louvois and Vauban. Their theories of war. Are they still held?
3. The Foreign Wars of Louis—Against Holland: Peace of Nymwegen. In the Palatinate: Peace of Ryswick. War of the Spanish Succession: Peace of Utrecht. Territories won and lost by Louis in these wars.
4. The Two Wars of the Fronde.
5. The Great Generals of Louis XIV.—Turenne, Condé, Luxembourg, Vendôme.
Books to Consult—Martin: History of France. Hassall: Louis XIV. and the Zenith of the French Monarchy. Mahon: History of the War of the Succession in Spain. Fitzpatrick: The Great Condé and the Period of the Fronde.
An interesting supplementary paper could be added to this program on The Art of Warfare in the Seventeenth Century; describe the formation of the army lines for battle; the equipment of the soldiers, the discipline, the tents, the commissariat, the cannon, swords, and other arms; the[Pg 241] pay of the soldiers; their manners and morals; the relation of the officers to the men. Some one battle may be described in detail to illustrate the methods employed on the field.
1. The Academy—Unofficial founding by Conrart in 1629. Official standing six years later. Relation of Richelieu to it. Its dictionary. Total effect of this distinguished society on French literature.
2. Romances of Chivalry—Give an account of Madame de Scudéry and a description of Clélie and the Grand Cyrus. Discuss also Honore d'Urfé and the Astrée. Note the probable influence of the English writer, Lyly.
3. Moralists—La Fontaine. Saint Evremond. La Rochefoucauld. La Bruyère.
4. Philosophers—Descartes. Pascal. Malebranche. Bayle. Readings from Pascal's Pensées. (Many translations.)
5. Great Preachers—Bossuet. Fenelon. Massillon. Bourdaloue. Readings from translations, especially the famous introduction to Massillon's funeral oration on Louis XIV.
Books to Consult—Brunctière: Manual of[Pg 242] French Literature. Dowden: History of French Literature. Van Laun: History of French Literature.
The material for this meeting is very great, especially on the biographical side. Interesting brief papers might be prepared on any of the names mentioned. Sainte-Beuve, considered by many to be the greatest of critics, has essays on all of the writers named, and readings from his Causeries de Lundi (translated now) would be delightful.
1. Corneille—Story of his life. Readings from the Cid, Horace, and Polyeucte. (Translation by Nokes.)
2. Racine—Relation to Port-Royal. Ode on the marriage of the king. Classical subjects. Esther and Athalie, his masterpiece, written at the request of Madame de Maintenon for her young ladies at St. Cyr. Readings from Andromaque, Phèdre, and Athalie. (Bohn's translation.)
3. Molière—Early life as a strolling player. Rescue of his company from failure by his own writings. Paris and the favor of the Duc d'Orleans.[Pg 243] Failure in tragedy; success in comedy. Taken up by the king. Royal fêtes. Limitations of this work. First characteristic play: L'Ecole des Femmes. Molière as the greatest of comedy-writers. Readings from Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope, Le Médecin Malgré Lui. Les Femmes Savantes. (Many translations. Curtis Hidden Page's is fine.)
Books to Consult—Guizot: Corneille and His Times. Trollope: Corneille and Racine. Hatton: Life of Molière. Brander Matthews: Great Plays (French and German), with notes. (Contains Le Cid, Horace, Polyeucte, and Tartuffe.)
As Molière is unquestionably the great dramatist of the period, devote the day largely to him. Read from Chatfield-Taylor's Pathway to Fame, which gives the dramatist's life as a strolling player. Describe one of the fêtes for which he wrote his little farces and ballets. Have a brief talk on the advance in stage-setting at this time, due to the unlimited sums Louis spent on his fêtes, and the employment of the greatest artists for the scenery. Compare this with the setting of the stage in Shakespeare's theater.[Pg 244]
1. Architecture—Mansart, Perrault, Lemercier. Some of the great public buildings built during this reign. Show photographs.
2. Painting—Lebrun (foundation of the Louvre collection). Lesueur, Mignard, Philippe de Champaigne, Largillière, Watteau. Portraits of the King.
3. Sculpture—Puget, Sarazin, Coysevox. Photographs of surviving examples.
4. Music—Founding of modern musical drama by Mazarin (Strozzi's opera-bouffe in the Louvre, in 1645). Cambert, L'Abbé Perrin, Lulli.
Books to Consult—Louis Hourticq: Art in France. R. G. Kingsley: History of French Art. Bourgeois: France under Louis XIV. W. H. Ward: Architecture of the Renaissance in France. Esther Singleton: French and English Furniture.
Louis was a wonderful art patron, and spent enormous sums upon artistic objects. He brought from Antwerp a group of three great engravers. He established the Beauvais and Gobelins manufactories of tapestry. Porcelain was made at Saint Cloud. Furniture was designed by Ballin[Pg 245] and Boule. Lenôtre led the world in the art of landscape-gardening.
1. The King's Personal Religion—Ecclesiastical and political rather than ethical. His devotions and his morals. Effect of Madame de Maintenon's influence in later years.
2. Two Great Prelates and Their Feud—Bossuet; his ability, temper, and commanding influence. Fenelon: story of his life; influence on the Duke of Burgundy; reading from Télémaque. The fundamental difference in the two men's conception of religion.
3. New Movements—Protestantism: suppression by the state. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Jansenism: Jansen and his book; its meaning. Demolition of the Abbey of Port-Royal. Quietism: Story of Madame Guyon and reading from her life (Upham's edition).
4. The King and the Jesuits—Origin of the order and its purposes. Edicts for and against the Jesuits, and reasons for them. Power and success of Pere LeTellier. Reading from Pascal's Provincial Letters.
Books to Consult—The Cambridge Modern[Pg 246] History: vol. v., chap. iv. Guizot: History of France: vol. iv., chap. xlvii. Jervis: History of the Church in France. Sainte-Beuve: Causeries du Lundi (many are translated).
As Louis seldom went to Paris, the chapel in the palace at Versailles became the scene of the most important ecclesiastical functions, and hence is of special interest. A description of its interior should be given, and photographs of it should be shown. A supplementary paper should take up Madame de Maintenon and her relation to the king and the Church. Lady Blennerhasset's book will be found of value in this connection.
1. The Convent—Its location, origin, and early history. Fashionable patronage and relaxation of the rules. Angélique Arnauld. The Paris House, now the Musée de Cluny.
2. Educational System—The lay brothers in the original house. Antoine Arnauld, the De Sacys, Nicole. Their text-books: grammars, geometry, logic. Place in the history of education.
3. The Jansenist Movement—Story of Jansen and his famous book. Notable people who were[Pg 247] influenced by it. How it made trouble for Port-Royal. Antagonism of the Jesuits, reason of it, development of the feud.
4. Suppression of the Institution—Reasons for the hostility of Louis XIV. Story of the dispersion of the nuns, described at length by Schimmelpenninck. Destruction of the beautiful buildings.
Books to Consult—Charles Beard: Port-Royal. Ethel Duncan Romanes: The Story of Port-Royal. Felix Cadet: Port-Royal Education. Sainte-Beuve: Port-Royal. (In French, not translated.)
Prepare a supplementary paper on the Puritan Spirit in Human Nature. This constantly reappears in history (see the Stoics), and is represented in France in this period by this Jansenist movement. An interesting paper might be written on Jacqueline Pascal, the sister of the great philosopher, and the celebrated episode of her healing, which had far-reaching consequences.
1. Cardinal de Retz—Story of his adventurous life: description of his appearance and personal characteristics. Relation to the Fronde. Richelieu's opinion of him and relation to him.[Pg 248]
2. The Duc de Saint-Simon—Personal history. Relation to the King and the court. Reason for writing: the servile tone of the memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau. Saint-Simon's independence and frankness of criticism. "The Tacitus of French History." Compare with Pepys. Read descriptions of court life and personal passages.
3. Madame de Sévigné—Story of her life and that of her daughter. Her education and relation to the great world. Style. Readings from her letters.
4. The Fashion of Memoir-Writing—People who wrote memoirs: Mademoiselle de Montpensier. Marquis de Dangeau. De la Porte (the King's valet de chambre). Duclos (Memoires secrets). De la Rochefoucauld. Brief biographies of these people.
Books to Consult—Duc de Saint-Simon: Memoirs. 3 vols. (Translated.) Letters of Madame de Sévigné. (Translated.) Emil Bourgeois: France under Louis XIV. G. F. Bradley: Great Days at Versailles. Imbert de Saint-Amand: The Court of Louis XIV.
Notice the striking change at this time from former dull and tedious historical writing to the brilliant and fascinating personal sketches of[Pg 249] people and events. Read descriptions of the King and the court from Saint-Simon and Saint-Amand. The engravers whom Louis brought from the Low Countries made portraits of many of the society people of the time; show reproductions, and describe the dress of the period.[Pg 250]
The study of this subject is a novel one for women's clubs, but it is of great interest. Women who desire an intelligent view of their own country should certainly take it up and understand what is being done to-day and what is planned for the future. Books to be read are: A First Book of Forestry, by F. Roth; A Primer of Forestry, by Gifford Pinchot; and The Forest and Practical Forestry, the Department of Agriculture.
All uncivilized nations ruthlessly cut off their forests for fuel and timber, both ignorant and indifferent to the result of the destruction. Where there are no trees, the water-supply dies away, the soil then becomes infertile, and the population is threatened with famine. China is practically denuded of trees, after unknown centuries of waste. India has numberless hillsides and plains once wooded, now bare and parched; and so of many other Oriental countries.[Pg 251]
Early in the sixteenth century there was a certain realization of the danger of neglect of trees; Sully, the great minister of France, suggested that some restrictions should be laid on cutting, and some study of forestry made by the government. Germany also followed the same course, and England, which began to feel the shortage of timber severely, practised more careful cutting and set out certain plantations. The great landowners everywhere cared for their timber in their private parks, and cut only when necessary. At the beginning of the eighteenth century planting was begun in Scotland and later in Ireland, and it is interesting to note that now the planted areas exceed the natural growth in these two countries. Foreign trees were also introduced at this time, and in many cases flourished even better than the natural growths.
Practically now every civilized country practises forestry in a greater or less degree. Germany has nine schools where it is taught, and there are four and a half billion acres under government[Pg 252] care. France is equally careful, and every forest is guarded, though its schools are not as many. England has a forest policy which calls for the planting of nine million acres, ten thousand each year. Russia has such enormous forests that as yet the care of her trees does not seem to her critically important, yet she too is beginning to conserve her resources. Italy has been almost stripped of her forests by neglect, but she is at last waking to her peril and beginning to foster what is left. In India an interesting work is being done by the English, who are establishing schools for the natives to teach forestry; this in time will make the country far more fertile than now. New Zealand, always progressive, has a well-planned system; Argentine, Hawaii, and Terra del Fuego practise the science.
Forestry was begun at home by one man, Jared Eliot of Salisbury, Connecticut, who in 1730 began to cut his trees systematically for charcoal furnaces. But unfortunately no one followed in his footsteps because our forests were so rich that it did not seem necessary; thirty-six per cent. of all our area is in trees. This fact has[Pg 253] made us reckless; whole hillsides have been constantly stripped by farmers for wood, or to make arable land. Great trees have been cut down when smaller ones would have done quite as well. Worst of all, the lumbermen of the Middle West and South have swept clean enormous areas of land, cutting down large and small pines alike, and leaving nothing but stumps.
Even more destructive have been the forest-fires which have sprung up through carelessness or drouth, and suffered to burn unhindered till they died out. As late as 1910 twenty-five million dollars' worth of natural timber was destroyed, partly in the Far West and partly in the East. Of late, too, certain insects have made havoc with large tracts, and hills have been left bare and brown where they have been.
In 1882 the Forestry Association was formed to correct existing evils, to care for standing timber, and to restock where that was necessary. There are now over six thousand members of the association, and a paper of great interest is published, called American Forestry, which gives practical suggestions. This association has accomplished[Pg 254] marvels in the few years of its existence. In 1899 there were thirty-six forest-reserves in the West. In addition, many States have their own reserves.
In addition to caring for existing trees, others now are planted. Some States have bounties for this purpose; others maintain nurseries where saplings are raised and set out; seeds are sown; foreign trees are introduced; in our public schools our children are instructed in the growth and care of trees, and many have Arbor Day, when trees are planted and exercises held to impress the children with the importance of the occasion.
There is a definite plan to have forestry taught in every State, and short courses have been added to the curriculum of the State universities. Yale and Cornell have forestry schools, and Harvard a forestry course. At Biltmore, North Carolina, there is an excellent school with exceptional forest advantages. Clubs can send for catalogues of these schools.[Pg 255]
Forestry does not aim to produce immediate commercial returns; indeed, from that standpoint the returns are slow; yet in the end these are greater than when the science is disregarded. Trees must be regarded as a crop to be cut only in small sections rather than as a whole. But the system once thoroughly established, the returns are steady and sure. Timber is cut exactly at the right time instead of at haphazard, and so is of the right size and age. Fuel is gathered from trees meant for that purpose, and timber for building purposes from trees meant for that alone.
In addition to the commercial results there are also others. Parks are set aside for recreation and beauty, and game is preserved rather than destroyed. Hillsides are renewed; winds are kept off; our watersheds are protected, and rivers and streams kept full, and the land fertile.
Add to this study program two more meetings. Have one on Famous Trees and Forests, naming among others: The Cedars of Lebanon, the historic King's Oak which sheltered Charles I.,[Pg 256] the Charter Oak, and others; note also the famous redwoods of California; the Burnham Beeches; the historic Sherwood Forest; the New Forest and Dean Forest of England; the Black Forest of Baden and the forests of the Vosges Mountains of France.
The last program of the year may be on the general subject of trees and forests in literature. Read or recite from such poems as: A Forest Hymn and the Planting of the Apple Tree, by William Cullen Bryant; Christmas in the Woods, by Harrison Weir; Forest Pictures, by Paul Hamilton Hayne; the Summer Woods, by William Henry Burleigh; The Primeval Forest, from Evangeline, by Longfellow; The Holly Tree, by Robert Southey, and The Trees and the Master, by Sidney Lanier. Read from The Quest of John Chapman, by Newell Dwight Hillis, and also from The Forest, by Stewart Edward White.[Pg 257]
1. Parentage, childhood, youth, and education. Description of Stratford (with photographs).
2. Shakespeare as an actor, manager, and playwright. His friends; his theater; his company.
3. His marriage.
4. His later years. Evidence from legal documents, etc.
5. Appreciation of Shakespeare by his contemporaries and successors.
Discuss Browning's House as an estimate of Shakespeare's relation to his own plays.
Books to Consult—William Winter: Shakespeare's England. Hamilton Mabie: Shakespeare. Sidney Lee: Life of Shakespeare.
Read of the school at Stratford which Shakespeare attended, and show a photograph. Have a selection from Irving's Sketch Book from Stratford on Avon. Tell of Shakespeare's[Pg 258] marriage, and have for a reading or recitation, Anne Hathaway. Show pictures of the town, the museum, the Shakespeare Theater, etc.
1. Richard II. and King John—Analysis of plots, leading characters and their traits. Readings from Richard II.: Act v., Scene 1. King John: Act iv., Scene 1 (beginning with Hubert's speech, "Heat me these irons hot").
2. Henry IV., Henry V., and Richard III.—Analysis of plots, characters, and traits, as above. Readings from Henry IV.: Part II., Act. iv., Scene 5 (in part). Henry V.: Act v., Scene 2 (dialogue between Henry and Katharine). Richard III.: first speech of Gloucester.
3. Henry VI., and Henry VIII.—Analysis of plots, characters and traits, as above. Readings from Henry VI.: Part I., Act iii., Scene 2 (conversation of Joan of Arc); also, Part III., Act ii., Scene 2. Henry VIII.: Act iii., Scene 2 (last part, Cromwell and Wolsey); also, Act v., Scene 5.
4. How Shakespeare Made His Historical Plays—Describe the use he made of Holinshed and older writers; the changes in plot and character[Pg 259] due to Shakespeare; the imaginary persons he introduced. Readings from Holinshed.
Books to Consult—Hamilton Mabie: William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man. W. Aldis Wright: The Cambridge Shakespeare (introductions and notes). Gollancz: The Temple Shakespeare (introductions and notes).
It will be interesting to take up the question how far these plays are historically true; also their value to the common people as a means of teaching them in a vivid way the history of their own country. How far were they calculated to stimulate patriotism by the glorification of England? Describe modern productions of these plays by Booth, Irving, Mansfield, Sothern, etc. Tell the story of the first production of Henry VIII., which caused the burning of the Globe Theater. (See Mabie's Shakespeare, page 383.)
1. Hamlet—The tragedy of the unbalanced mind. Source: Saxo-Grammaticus. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Discussion of Hamlet's madness. Read Act i., Scenes 4 and 5; Act iii., Scene 1, in part; Act v., Scene 2, latter part.[Pg 260]
2. King Lear—The tragedy of filial ingratitude. Source: Holinshed. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. The three daughters as types. Read Act ii., Scene 4, enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, etc.; Act iii., first four scenes; Act iv., Scene 7.
3. Macbeth—The tragedy of guilt. Source: Holinshed's Chronicles of Scotland. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Reading of the story of Macbeth from Holinshed. Shakespeare's use of the weird, illustrated by the witches. Feminine strength and masculine weakness shown in Lady Macbeth and her husband. Read Act i., Scene 3; Act v., Scene 1.
4. Othello—The tragedy of jealousy. Source: Cinthio's Hecatomithi. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Shakespeare and Italy; local color. Novelty of the Moor as hero. Read Act iii., Scene 3, in part; Act v., Scene 2.
5. Julius Cæsar—The tragedy of ambition. Source: North's Translation of Plutarch. Reading from this. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Admiration of Shakespeare for Cæsar, and frequent reference to him. Read whole of Act iii., also Act iv., Scene 1.[Pg 261]
Books to Consult—Wood: Hamlet from a Psychological Point of View. Brereton: Some Famous Hamlets. Hall Caine: Richard III. and Macbeth. W. W. Skeat: Shakespeare's Plutarch.
Although every great tragedian has attempted the famous parts in Shakespeare's tragedies, some have stood out conspicuously for their interpretations. Study Kemble, Kean, Macready, Booth, Barrett, Irving, and Mansfield; also, Mrs. Siddons, Helen Faucit, Charlotte Cushman and Ellen Terry. Illustrate, if possible, with portraits in character, such as Booth as Hamlet, Mansfield as Cæsar, and Terry as Ophelia.
1. The Taming of the Shrew—An Italian play. Source in an older English play. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Contrast between Katharine and Bianca. Read Act ii., Scene 1 (the dialogue between Katharine and Petruchio) and Act v., Scene 2.
2. Twelfth Night—Source: Bandello. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Imaginative setting of the play in Illyria. Shakespeare's sense of fun. Rude humor of the time. Read Act ii., Scene 3, latter part.[Pg 262]
3. The Merry Wives of Windsor—No definite source. Materials in Stratford life. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. A purely English play. The Falstaff of history compared with Shakespeare's representation of him. Falstaff here and elsewhere in Shakespeare. Note the possibility of the origin of this play in a request of Queen Elizabeth. Read Act iii., Scene 3.
4. The Comedy of Errors—Source: the Menæchmi of Plautus. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Read Act v., Scene 1 (from "enter a servant" on).
Books to Consult—Hudson: The Harvard Shakespeare (introductions and notes). Lang: Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. List of Songs by Shakespeare set to Music: the New Shakespeare Society.
1. Romeo and Juliet—Source: William Painter's Palace of Pleasure. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Essentially lyrical quality of this play. Compare Ophelia and Juliet. Read Act ii., Scene 2. Reading from A Study of Romeo in J. J. Chapman's Emerson and Other Essays.[Pg 263]
2. As You Like It—Source: Lodge's Rosalynde. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Note the part of Adam, which Shakespeare played himself. Compare Juliet and Rosalind. Read Act ii., Scene 4, and Act iii., Scene 2. Readings from Hamilton Mabie's In the Forest of Arden and William Winter's Old Shrines and Ivy.
3. The Merchant of Venice—Source: the Italian Tale, Il Pecorone. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Discuss the question, Who is the hero of the drama? Read from Act iii., Scene 2, and Act iv., Scene 1 (Portia's plea). Reading from Philipson's The Jew in English Fiction.
Books to Consult—Hiram Corson: Introduction to Shakespeare. Fleming: How to Study Shakespeare. Dowden: Transcripts and Studies (for Romeo and Juliet). Stopford Brooke: On Ten Plays of Shakespeare (for As You Like It). Introductions to the several plays by Brandes, R. G. White and Rolfe (popular).
The heroines of these plays are among the loveliest in Shakespeare. A special paper might be prepared on them, illustrating it with their famous speeches.[Pg 264]
1. Midsummer Night's Dream—Source: old tales (Petrarch, Ovid, Chaucer, etc.). Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. An early play, full of sprightly gaiety. Splendid metrical command. Influence on later literature and music (Faust, Oberon). Read Act iii., Scene 1. Also the Pyramus and Thisbe part.
2. Cymbeline—Source: Boccaccio and Holinshed. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Serene temper with tragic element. Fanciful geography. Read Act iv., Scene 2, through the song Fear No More.
3. Winter's Tale—Source: Greene's Pandosto and the Decameron of Boccaccio. Analysis of the plot and description of the chief characters. List of Warwickshire flowers mentioned (Act iv., Scene 3). Discuss the reason for the popularity of this play in Shakespeare's time and its neglect now. Read Act iv., Scene 3, in part.
4. The Tempest—Source: almost entirely Shakespeare's own; very slight dependence on materials. Analysis of the plot and description of the chief characters. Probably Shakespeare's[Pg 265] last play. Wreck of the Sea-Venture and description of Bermuda (see Mabie's Shakespeare). Note Shakespeare's desertion of reality for fancy at the close of his career. Read Act v., Scene 1.
Books to Consult—Hudson: The Life, Art, and Character of Shakespeare. Dowden: Shakespeare, His Mind and Art. The Arden Shakespeare: introductions by Chambers, Wyatt, Boas, etc. Editions of the plays by Rolfe, Brandes, and Hudson. Winter: Old Shrines and Ivy. Sherman: What is Shakespeare? (chapters on Cymbeline and Winter's Tale). W. B. Carpenter: Religious Spirit in the Poets (chapter on the Tempest).
As this is the last program in which Shakespeare's plays are taken up in detail, the important subject might be discussed of the relation of the plays to the author's own life and mental development. (See Dowden's book.) Special study should be made of the exquisite songs in which the last three plays are particularly rich. Hark, Hark, the Lark! and Fear No More, from Cymbeline, Jog On and When Daffodils Begin, from Winter's Tale, and Where the Bee Sucks, from the Tempest, should be sung or read.[Pg 266]
1. Venus and Adonis—Early experiment in narrative verse. The story founded on Ovid, with medieval alterations of the legend. Character of the theme acceptable to the Renaissance spirit, but impossible to-day. Correctness of the text.
2. The Rape of Lucrece—Story of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. Legend unaltered by the poet. Lucrece, the model of conjugal fidelity in the Middle Ages. Who was the Earl of Southampton, to whom the poem was dedicated? What did the other poets of Shakespeare's time think of these early poems?
3. Shorter Poems—A Lover's Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim, and The Phœnix and the Turtle. Shakespeare's part in the second and his indignation at the use of his name for the whole. The "unsolved enigma" of the last.
4. The Sonnets—The origin of the sonnet form in Italy. The plan of the series. Comparison of the collection with Wordsworth's sonnet sequences, Mrs. Browning's Sonnets, and Tennyson's In Memoriam. The problem of W. H. Read the Sonnets, 18, 22, 33, 116.
Books to Consult—W. J. Rolfe: Venus and[Pg 267] Adonis, and Other Poems. Sidney Lee: introductions to the several poems. Israel Gollanez: Shakespeare's Sonnets. Edward Dowden: Shakespeare's Sonnets. Parke Godwin: New Study of the Sonnets of Shakespeare.
The most interesting problem about the sonnets is whether or not they are a revelation of Shakespeare's own experience and views of life, or are wholly imaginative. On this point read from Wordsworth, Scorn Not the Sonnet, and Browning's House, in which the two poets take opposite views. For a full and most interesting discussion see Dowden's essay.
1. Introductory—Variety of characters and pronounced individuality. Different types represented. Not peculiar to his age, but timeless.
2. The Women of Intellect—Portia: the woman of wisdom and learning. Is she Shakespeare's highest female type? Beatrice: the fine lady, of wit and high spirits. Readings—Portia: the casket scene and the court scene from the Merchant of Venice. Beatrice: first and last scenes from Much Ado.
3. The Women of Sentiment—Juliet: woman[Pg 268] of the South; romantic and intense. Desdemona; woman of the North; modest, tender, self-restrained. Readings—Juliet: Act iii., Scenes 2 and 5, of Romeo and Juliet. Desdemona: Act iv., Scene 2, of Othello.
4. The Women of Imagination—Perdita: simplicity, dignity, and sweetness. Miranda: ethereal, unsophisticated, and ideal. Readings—Perdita: Act iv., Scene 4 (the shepherd's cottage), of the Winter's Tale. Miranda: Act i., Scene 2 (the island), of the Tempest.
5. The Women of History—Lady Macbeth: power of intellect, determination, devotion to her husband's career. Princess Katharine: charming and coquettish. Readings—Lady Macbeth: Act i., Scene 8, from Macbeth. Katharine: Act v., Scene 2 (beginning "Fair Katharine"), from Henry V.
6. Women of Various Types—Illustrative readings from As You Like It (Rosalind), Hamlet (Ophelia), King Lear (Cordelia), Taming of the Shrew (Katharine).
Books to Consult—E. Dowden: Transcripts and Studies. L. Lewes: Women of Shakespeare. Mrs. A. B. Jameson: Characteristics of Women. Wingate: Shakespeare's Heroines on the Stage.[Pg 269]
The club members could add interest to this meeting by recalling the famous actresses they may have seen, and comparing their presentations of Shakespeare's women. For example, Mary Anderson as Juliet, Ada Rehan as Katharine, Ellen Terry as Portia, Modjeska as Rosalind, and Julia Marlowe as Ophelia.
1. His Personality—How much education had Shakespeare? Did he reveal himself in his plays? What were his personal characteristics?
2. Characteristics of His Work—Did he plagiarize? If so, was he justified? Was his meaning always clear to himself? See Richard Grant White on this point. Is his broad humor defensible? Discuss Taine's criticism on this point.
3. Estimate of Shakespeare in His Own and Later Times—What did his contemporaries think of him? Why was he ignored in the later seventeenth century? Quote from great writers on Shakespeare: Coleridge, Goethe, Swinburne, etc.
4. The Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy—Origin: story of Delia Bacon's life. Is there a cipher in Shakespeare? Quotation of learned opinion on both sides.[Pg 270]
Books to Consult—Emerson: Essays. E. Dowden: Essays, Modern and Elizabethan. Arthur Gilman: Shakespeare's Morals. Ignatius Donnelly: The Great Cryptogram. Charlotte Carmichael Stopes: Bacon-Shakespeare Question Answered.
Have a talk on Shakespeare the historian. Is he trustworthy? Does he give an accurate account of events or only reproduce general color? Have a discussion on the character of Hamlet. Was he really mad? Did Shakespeare intend so to represent him, or to leave the matter in doubt? For those interested in such things, the subject of the early editions of Shakespeare, and their relation to one another, is one of great fascination. A description of the immensely costly collection recently presented to the Elizabethan Club at Yale might be given.
1. English—Garrick, Charles Kean, Siddons, Charles Kemble, Lady Faucit, Irving, Terry, Tree, Benson. Descriptions and anecdotes from Boswell's Johnson, Charles Lamb's Essays, Fanny Burney's Diary, and Ellen Terry's life.[Pg 271]
2. American—Forrest, the elder and younger Booth, Barrett, Ada Rehan, Mansfield, Sothern, and Marlowe.
3. The Theater at Stratford-on-Avon—Description of it with views. Story of some of the famous presentations given there. Differences between these and those of Shakespeare's own time.
4. Discussion of the Question of Stage Settings—Was that of Shakespeare's time better, with no scenery, and all the effect lying in the meaning of the lines; or is the method of to-day preferable with its elaborate, costly, and spectacular scenery and stage effects? Describe the change in stage ideas due to the invention of the electric light.
5. Description of Plays Seen—Brief statements by the club members of the Shakespearean representations they have witnessed, with an analysis of their impressions of plays and of actors.
Books to Consult—Sidney Lee: Shakespeare and the Modern Stage. Percy Fitzgerald: Shakespearean Representation: Its Laws and Limits. Percy Fitzgerald: Romance of the English Stage. C. E. L. Wingate: Shakespeare's Heroes on the Stage. Also, Heroines.
Prepare in advance of this meeting a screen with old play-bills and photographs of famous[Pg 272] actors, Forrest, Kean, Booth and others. Read from newspaper files the dramatic criticisms of the plays presented. Describe some of the famous theaters of America in past and present times. Close with a discussion of the personal attitude of the club members toward Shakespeare's plays as compared with those written to-day. Is there a Shakespearean affectation?[Pg 273]
In arranging a year's program from this outline, have several meetings on the older occupations of women before bringing the study down to present times, when the work becomes more varied. The first five topics may be made very interesting if there are readings from histories of the Middle Ages on the work of women at that time. Where possible, clubs should make trips to museums or libraries and examine work exhibited there.
Making clay pots for household use is one of the first things women did. They took ordinary earth, moulded it roughly, and baked it in their domestic fires until it would hold water and food. Such pots are found everywhere where there are ancient remains, among the lake dwellers in Switzerland, among Egyptians and Greeks, and[Pg 274] in the ruins in Mexico. Later, men took this work largely to themselves, and kept it until our own day, when women have begun to make beautiful pottery, glazed and decorated. Show pictures from catalogues of such potteries as the Rookwood and others, and mention also the good work that is done privately and fired in small kilns.
Begin the study of this delightful topic back in the earliest times, and show how step by step it advanced. Woolen and linen fabrics were made by the ancients, and dyed with vegetable colors, for clothing and for hangings. Notice the tapestries of later days, especially those first woven in Flanders and Arras, which were so valuable they were used only by royalty or in churches. Have a paper on tapestry made at home, in castles, and even in royal residences, by the household of women. Speak also of the work done in Colonial days by our grandmothers, of the linen sheets and blankets spun and woven, and of the beautiful blue-and-white coverlets of the period. Show some of the latter, if possible. Read from the book called Tapestry and Embroidery, by Cole.[Pg 275]
Almost as soon as skins were made into garments the art of decoration was discovered, and feathers and shells were sewed to them in patterns, and stitches taken with colored fibers, grasses, and shreds of wool. The primitive tribes of Indians, especially in South America, use exactly the same methods to-day. Embroidery was always distinctly women's work, men never sharing in it as they did in making pottery. In Egypt, Assyria, and among the Jews it became much more elaborate and artistic. Tyre and Sidon were noted for their beautiful work. Homer describes embroidered garments among the Greeks; Roman women wore showy colored borders on their skirts and scarfs.
In the early Middle Ages ecclesiastical embroidery, done largely in gold and silver threads, was known in Europe, and much exquisite work of the kind was done in the convents. Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, and her women made the famous Bayeux tapestry, which was really embroidery.
The embroidery of the Orient, especially that of China and India, is famous, though this is[Pg 276] not done exclusively by women. Mention the originality of the patterns used, the brilliance of the silk, and the permanence of the colors. Note also the lovely white embroidery done by the French and other nations.
This art grew out of that of embroidery, for the thin parts of the latter were cut out, leaving the effect of heavy, colored lace. A book was published in 1527, called The New and Subtile Book Concerning the Art and Science of Embroidery, Fringes, and Tapestries, as Well as Other Crafts Done with the Needle, and in this book there are patterns for lace. The Venetians first mastered the making of white lace with the needle, and produced heavy, effective designs. Under Louis XIV. delicate lace was made in France, especially that called Valençon. Pillow-lace made with bobbins was invented by a woman in Saxony about the middle of the sixteenth century.
Have papers on the laces peculiar to different countries, and show examples or pictures of them. English thread in white and black; Spanish silk, hand-run; Irish crochet; Valenciennes, and others.[Pg 277] See Palliser's History of Lace for description and illustrations. If possible, visit a museum which has a collection of laces; there is an excellent one in the Metropolitan, of New York. Study also the conditions under which the laces are made, the lives of lace-workers, and the prices received by them for their work.
Like the making of pottery, the weaving of baskets goes back to the very earliest times. Women soon learned how to twist together osiers or twigs and make them into receptacles for household use. As time went on, baskets became more beautiful and artistic, and all nations, but particularly those of the Orient, made them in delicate materials and lovely designs. Often savage peoples will be found who excel in basketry. Notice especially the baskets made by the North American Indian women, and see the book on Basketry, by G. W. James, which is full of illustrations.
Have club members make as many programs from the subjects following as they desire, and[Pg 278] illustrate them as far as possible with examples of the work. Take up also the schools where designing is taught, and tell what is done there. Note the growth of all designing work for women; bookbinding; jewelry-making; stenciling; making of furniture; bead-work; knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, and patchwork; rug-making; work in leather and wood; china-painting; work in plaster.
Clubs should have papers on each one of the following representative women, showing what they accomplished. In addition there might be a study of the women of to-day who are doing good work on similar lines. In astronomy, Caroline Herschel; in music, Fanny Mendelssohn; in philanthropy, Elizabeth Fry or Florence Nightingale; in painting, Rosa Bonheur or Elizabeth Thompson Butler; in sculpture, Harriet Hosmer; in education, Mary Lyon; in the lecture field, Mary A. Livermore; on the stage, Charlotte Cushman or Rachel; as poet, Mrs. Browning; as novelist, George Eliot.
Add to this list some names of women who are doctors, lawyers, ministers, editors, teachers, and[Pg 279] nurses. See Lives of Girls Who Became Famous Women, by Sarah K. Bolton.
Have one or more practical papers showing what women have done and can do in the field of every-day work. The Trained Mother might come first, and then Woman as Housekeeper. After that take her as teacher, governess, stenographer, saleswoman, dressmaker and milliner, caterer, landscape-gardener, architect, dairy-woman, real-estate dealer, house-decorator, and buyer. Follow with a paper or talk showing what can be done in unusual ways to earn one's living; keeping a tea-room, shopping, caring for children, mending, packing, preserving, and embroidering.
Close the year with a broad view of the whole subject. What about woman's work in general? Is it well done and well paid? What of factory work, domestic service, and work in shops? Under what conditions is such work done? What of the question of equal pay? What of the "living[Pg 280] wage"? What is being done for working girls? Do settlements, vacation homes, and the like meet their needs? Read Olive Schreiner's Woman and Labor.[Pg 281]
Sufficient material is given under each of the following ten heads for clubs to divide into two or more meetings.
The first Peace Society was founded in New York, in 1815. A second was organized six months later in Boston and the following year a third in London. The first International Peace Congress was held in 1843, in London. From that time till the present, many congresses have been held all over the world, and Peace Societies exist everywhere, forty in America alone.
The object of all societies is to so establish an orderly state of affairs that war shall be impossible. The consular and diplomatic services work along these lines, and advocate treaties between nations. The gradual reduction of standing armies and navies is also one of the aims of the movement.[Pg 282]
The Hague Tribunal was established in 1899, to adjust differences between nations who cannot settle them for themselves. Between that year and 1912 one hundred and sixty-seven such settlements were made.
The gift of $10,000,000 by Andrew Carnegie and the bestowal of the Nobel Prize have put the Peace Movement on so secure a financial basis that its future is assured.
Read the reports of the great Peace Conference in New York in 1907, and select readings from its addresses. See also Chittenden's book, Peace or War.
Clubs will find it worth while to preface this study with one meeting on War. Speak of the cost of standing armies and navies, of loss of life in great battles, of military schools, of compulsory military service. Discuss: Is war ever necessary?
1. The movement in the past. Briefly sketch the history of woman in early times, in the Middle Ages, and later, to the present. Notice that the modern movement may be said to have begun when in 1647 Mary Brent, the representative of Lord Baltimore, demanded a seat in the representative[Pg 283] body of Maryland. In the middle of the last century such women as Margaret Fuller, Lydia Maria Child, Lucretia B. Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Emma Willard, Mary Putman Jacobi and Elizabeth Cady Stanton became the leaders of the Woman's Rights party, and the first convention was held in New York state, in 1846. Give sketches of these and other women; tell of the demands they made, and the result of the convention. On what did the suffrage party base its claims?
2. The movement to-day. Have a paper or talk on the conditions in Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden and Norway, Finland, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and last, on England, called "The storm center."
What of our country? Which states have equal suffrage, and how does it work? What especial questions are of vital interest to women, and how will they be aided by the vote?
What of woman's physical and mental ability to handle political issues? What of such work as that of soldier, sailor, worker on roads, in sewers, on the police and fire boards?
What of her relation to her home if equal suffrage is granted?[Pg 284]
Name some of the women in England and America who are especially leaders in the movement, and tell of their position and work.
See books and magazine articles by Jane Addams, Ida Tarbell and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper. See also: The Modern Woman's Rights Movement, by Schirmacher.
Prohibition is an attempt to abolish the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors, except for purposes of industry, science, art and medicine. It declares that the capital now in the liquor traffic would, if invested in legitimate business, give employment to hundreds of thousands of men. It would promote commerce, protect labor, preserve health, conserve the interests of home and state. It would prevent cruelty, pauperism, disease and crime.
The movement for prohibition was merely local until 1851, when the Neal Dow law was passed, making Maine a prohibition state. The nation and state also combined at this time to prevent the sale of liquor to the Indians. At the close of the Civil War new conditions arose;[Pg 285] German beer was imported, and huge breweries and distilleries were built at home. Numerous states then took up the matter of prohibition, and many have had laws passed prohibiting manufacture and sale of all intoxicants, most of them repealed or declared unconstitutional.
In Ohio there was a remarkable movement called the Women's Crusade which is worthy of study. Mention some of the leaders; study also the careers of John B. Gough, and Frances Willard.
South Dakota was admitted to the Union as a prohibition state; Kansas and Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska have prohibition also, and some states have local option by counties or towns; cities in many parts of the country have it by precincts.
The history of the political Prohibition Party is a subject to be taken up by itself. Mention its prominent leaders, their methods and the results of the campaigns.
Discuss: Would enforced prohibition be beneficial to the state? Is local option a success? Is there open violation of the law in prohibition states? What of the legislative work of the Anti-Saloon League?[Pg 286]
The new day in medicine and surgery began, when, in 1846 ether was discovered, and chloroform a year later, and Warren, in the Massachusetts General Hospital, popularized them. All operations, however, were still attended with danger because of infection, till Pasteur discovered the dangerous bacteria and Lister invented sterilization. Then modern methods really began.
The field of possible operations at once widened; surgeons began to have better operating rooms, more scientific preparation of patients before operations and better dressings and care afterward. Not only antiseptic but aseptic treatment became known. New anesthetics, and local ones have been found; the use of oxygen and electricity have been beneficial; the X-ray has been discovered and put to practical use.
Great sums of money have been set aside for research work, and new serums have been found of enormous benefit to the public. Scientists are looking for the germs of many diseases, and for their antidotes.
Wonderful new operations are full of interest; note especially the transfusion of blood, and the[Pg 287] preservation of tissue and transplanting of living organs.
Have other papers on: the specialist as the supplanter of the general practitioner; the new relation between medicine and hygiene; the relation of the old family physician to his patients; the work of the Red Cross Society, and the widespread knowledge of first aid to the injured. What are the possibilities of the near future in medicine and surgery? What in research work?
Boards of Health in the state and community exist for the purpose of controlling and repressing agencies which would undermine the health of the people. Their work is far-reaching, but it may be grouped under the following heads:
1. The care of the water supply is among its most important functions; it must protect it from its source to the homes of the consumers, overseeing all sewers, cesspools and drainage. It must also see that the supply of ice is pure. It undertakes to care for all roads and sidewalks, and their proper lighting. It is responsible for the construction of buildings, as to safety, ventilation, plumbing and draining.[Pg 288]
2. It also insists on its notification of all disease and attends to quarantining and disinfecting; it vaccinates; it fights tuberculosis; it removes the sick to the proper place; it sees that the dead are properly handled; it keeps a record of vital statistics.
3. It has an oversight of food supplies; it insists that the milk is pure and carefully handled; it prevents the adulteration of foodstuffs and drugs; it stops the sale of stale or unwholesome foods; it demands clean slaughter houses; it sees that all dangerous animals are shut up or killed, and dead ones removed from the streets; it prohibits unpleasant odors, and smoke; it tries to do away with all public nuisances; it seeks to exterminate the mosquitoes.
These topics may be taken up as far as time allows. Discuss in closing such questions as: What does our local Board of Health do for us? Where does it fail? What can women's clubs do to make it more effective?
One of the most important of recent events is the establishing by the government of a Federal[Pg 289] Children's Bureau, for the expert study of the conditions of childhood, and suggestions for its betterment. This included among other things, the outlook over their education.
The new school-houses built both in city and country are finer than have existed before, and the ideas of education are widening daily. Clubs should take up some of the following subjects:
The health of school children; what is being done to improve it? Study the new sanitation and ventilation of school-houses; the disappearance of the common drinking cup; the doctor's care of eyes, teeth, throats, spines and ears; the supply of breakfasts to the under fed; the out-of-door schools for tubercular pupils; the training in cleanliness.
The vocational schools in thirty states, with manual training, domestic arts, industrial work and agriculture. Also vocational guidance in choosing a business; finding situations, etc. The schools for exceptional children, the foreigner, the backward, the crippled, the blind, the epileptic, the morally defective.
The Montessori system; is it successful? Compare with the kindergarten.[Pg 290]
The training in patriotism; saluting the flag; birthdays of great men, etc.
The graded country school of to-day; compare with "the little red school-house." School play grounds in city and country. Gymnasiums. Athletic fields. Close with a discussion: What is the standing of your local school? Do teacher and parent work together? Is the school board doing its best?
Municipal art, is art applied to cities. Its aim is to build up an entire city with a view to symmetry, beauty and utility.
An Art Commission is appointed when a city decides to become beautiful, and this draws up a far-reaching plan. Then all buildings put up must conform to this, and nothing can be done at haphazard. Slums must disappear, and model tenements take their place; streets must be cut through congested districts to relieve them; business blocks must not be over-high; inartistic public buildings and monuments must give way to others; parks must be opened, trees planted along the streets, and boulevards laid out. See what Chicago and[Pg 291] Minneapolis have accomplished in making themselves over.
Discuss foreign cities which are symmetrical, notably Paris and Berlin; speak of our own capital, Washington, D. C.; show pictures of well-lighted streets, of a good skyline; of superior paving. Show pictures also of objectionable street advertising; electric signs; alternate high and low buildings, ornate court-houses; ugly statues.
From the different magazines get illustrations of the "Garden Cities of England," and other beautiful towns. Notice what can be done with different building materials, and with vines and flower boxes on a city residence street.
Discuss the sky scraper; is it necessary? What of apartment houses? of elevated railroads? of disfiguring gas works, chimneys, manufactories? What can women's clubs do toward making the home city beautiful?
See C. M. Robinson's The Improvement of Towns and Cities.
More money is given away to-day than ever before in the history of the world. It is called[Pg 292] "the era of magnificent giving." Two hundred million dollars is spent in benevolence yearly in the United States alone, and it is estimated that in ten or fifteen years from two to four billions will be given annually. Old methods are passing away, and new ones taking their place. The subject of modern giving is one of immense importance.
Clubs should introduce the study with a résumé of benevolences in the past; gifts to hospitals, asylums, colleges, libraries, art galleries, museums, missions and other institutions; then take up more recent giving to such things as model tenements, homes for tubercular, settlements, institutional churches, homes for working women, the Mills hotels, trade and technical schools, homes for convalescents, seaside homes for children, pensions for professors; modern schools for the blind, the crippled, the orphan, teaching self support. Notice that the trend of giving to-day is toward prevention of suffering as well as its cure.
Great gifts to-day are largely in favor of science. Note the great medical research laboratories in New York, and what they already accomplished; also the endowment for individuals on special lines in which they show marked ability. Study[Pg 293] what is being done by legislatures in establishing laws about bequests, their trusteeship, and time limitations, and the new theory that no gift should be bestowed without the possibility of change, since in twenty years conditions alter. What of making and breaking wills? of funds left for institutions which may not be always needed? of protection to society through state boards, etc.?
Read the article on Giving in The Survey, December 28, 1912, which discusses the various phases of modern giving.
Clubs may divide this subject into two heads, and have several programs on each.
1. The farmer. After years of obscurity, the life of the farmer has suddenly become of immense importance to society. To-day the Bureau of Agriculture and other forces are rapidly changing its future. State fairs, granges, courses of instruction for men and women in school-houses, and "farmer's bulletins" give instruction; experiment stations deal with such difficulties as weeds, soils, drainage, and pests, and teach scientifically about cattle, poultry, bee keeping, crops, and the dairy. Public and high schools, colleges and[Pg 294] universities have courses in agriculture, which teach beside the ordinary farm work, forestry, how to have good roads, how to take up unusual work.
The telephone, the automobile and the parcel post all bring the farmer nearer town. Speak also of the Commission on Country Life, and its work; of abandoned farms; of the farmer's wife, and her problems; of the farmer's sons and daughters, and their future. How can life be made more easy and attractive on a farm?
2. Country Homes. Notice the extraordinary growth of the country home for all the year, instead of for summer only. What are its difficulties and what its advantages? Read of large estates, and describe some in the Adirondacks, in the vicinity of Boston, New York, in the South, and West; illustrate with pictures from magazines. Have a paper on Gardens, and describe some; read from the many books on this subject. Take up landscape gardening, and discuss its possibilities. What of country sports? of golf, tennis, hunting, motoring, etc.? of bungalows, camps, seashore cottages, etc.? of country lanes, of game preserves, forest parks and the like. Speak of the enormous literature on country life.[Pg 295]
Social service is of distinctly modern growth. It is the intelligent understanding of the needs of to-day and of the best way to meet them. Clubs should study it under some or all of these heads:
Read of the Schools of Philanthropy, where modern methods of relief are taught, and the workers are trained for service in some branch; and the American Institute of Social Service, the object of which is the gathering and disseminating of information on all social thought and service. The latter publishes monthly a pamphlet on present day problems which is excellent for reference.
Discuss welfare work, the care of employers for employees; what has been done? the ventilation of work rooms; safe machinery; pensions, insurance, hospital, savings bank, care of sick at home, food, etc.
Settlements; their origin and history; what can neighborliness do for the poor? Read of the work of Toynbee Hall and Hull House.
The Juvenile Courts; their origin and work. The Big Brother and Big Sister movement.[Pg 296]
Work for the defective; for paupers; insane; consumptives; idle.
Prisons, and modern prison reform.
For children; crêches; free kindergartens; seaside homes; floating hospitals; pure milk and ice.
Relief of congestion in cities; parks and playgrounds; recreation piers.
Legal Aid societies and help for the aliens; legislation on women's and children's labor.
The Charity Organization societies; nursing of poor; relief of want.
Education; moving pictures; music; open-air Christmas trees; free beaches, etc.
For references see The Gospel of the Kingdom, published by the American Institute of Social Service, and The Survey.[Pg 297]
1. The Baby's Welcome to the Home—The mother's anticipation; the brothers' and sisters' anticipation; the intelligent mother: study of modern methods.
2. The Baby's Environment—The wardrobe; the hygienic nursery; the atmosphere of cheerfulness.
3. The Baby's Physical Development—The handicapped child (nerves, temper, defects); food; sleep; the out-of-door sleeping-room; the child and the doctor.
4. Reading from The Luxury of Children, by Martin.
Books to Consult—Oppenheim: The Development of the Child. S. H. Rowe: The Physical Nature of the Child and How to Study It.
Begin the discussion of the day with a paper on the Modern Science of Eugenics: How Far is[Pg 298] It Practical? Have a Talk on the Spoiled Baby, over-fed, over-amused, over-indulged; contrast with one on The Normal Baby. Close with readings or recitations on Babyhood, poems from Eugene Field, Stevenson, and others.
1. The Kindergarten—Its value to manners. Is it a good preparation for later work?
2. The Public School—Training children to regular habits of study. Dealing with individual difficulties. Desk-mates. Moral influence of child on child.
3. Parent and Teacher—Relations of interest and friendship. Mutual suggestions. The backward child.
4. The School and Health—Sanitation of the school. Danger of contagion (the individual drinking-cup, etc.). Watchfulness over sight and hearing. The out-of-doors school.
Books to Consult—Herbert Spencer: Education. Luther Burbank: Training of the Human Plant. J. Mark Baldwin: Mental Development in the Child and the Race. G. Stanley Hall: Aspects of Child Life and Education. Irving King: Psychology of Child Development.[Pg 299]
The school life of the child should be discussed from the standpoint of both parent and teacher. The watchful care over the child's morals is an important topic. The child's home work, how much should be done; and at what hours, is a subject for discussion. The school dress of little girls, the tidiness of both boys and girls, school lunches, the plays of the noon-hour, are all suggestive. Beautifying the school-room with pictures, casts and flowers may well be considered.
1. The Place of Play in Child Life—The development of body and mind in infancy, childhood, and youth. Intelligent direction of play by parents and teachers. Cultivation of originality.
2. Outdoor Play—The building instinct: the sand-pile, miniature houses, practical play-houses, camps. Plays of imagination: Indians, pirates, hunters. Athletic games.
3. Indoor Play—Contests of intelligence and skill. Group games: anagrams, twenty questions, etc. Manual and educational plays.
4. Playmates—The parents' control. Ethics of play: honesty, courage, honor, etc. Moral and social training of play.[Pg 300]
Books to Consult—Karl Groos: Play in Man. Newell: Games of American Children. Gomme: Children's Singing Games. Leland: Playground Technique and Playcraft.
Discuss the value of letting boys and girls grow up together as playmates. Athletic games for girls is also a good topic to take up. Play-rooms for children, with suggestions for the decoration of walls, treatment of floors, and furnishings may be discussed. Sunday plays for small children will be found full of interest. The growth of the provision for play for city children is treated in many magazines of recent date, with illustrations of playgrounds, garden spots, roof-gardens and the like.
1. The Trained Parent—Preparation for parenthood. Character and knowledge. Discussion of helpful books.
2. The Normal Child—The faults to be expected: forgetfulness, lack of cleanliness, lack of promptness, temper, etc. How shall we deal with the ordinary faults?
3. Special Faults—Disobedience, obstinacy, lack of self-control, dishonesty, lying. Discrimination[Pg 301] as to seriousness. How far is imagination responsible for falsehood?
4. Punishments—Discuss the question: Is physical punishment ever allowable? Consider Abbott's theory of gentle measures. Fitting the punishment to the offense. The child's sense of justice. When are punishments outgrown?
Books to Consult—Jacob Abbott: Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young. E. H. Abbott: On the Training of Parents. G. Stanley Hall: Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene.
1. The Ideal of the Parent for the Child—Necessity of a definite plan in the parent's mind. Discussion of books that have helped.
2. Methods of Training—Story-telling and reading aloud. Books for the child. The value of hero-worship.
3. The Contagion of Character—Childhood's keen vision. Force of example versus reproof. The child as partner in the home work.
4. Special Training—Truthfulness. Chivalry and the spirit of honor. Purity. How shall the mystery of sex be taught to a child? Unselfishness.[Pg 302]
Books to Consult—Felix Adler: Moral Instruction of Children. C. C. Everett: Ethics for Young Folks. W. T. Harris: Moral Education in the Public Schools. Horace Bushnell: Views of Christian Nurture.
The department of child-study most discussed to-day is that of sex education, and club women should certainly take it up. Consider its necessity, the age at which instruction should begin, and the person who should give it, the teacher scientifically, or the parent at home.
1. Manners at Home—Table manners. How early should they be taught, and how? Self-control. Modesty. Consideration for servants and tradespeople. Courtesy to elders.
2. Manners to Playmates—Teasing and bullying. Must our boys fight? Should tale-bearing be encouraged? The spirit of honor and generosity. Courtesy between children.
3. Society Manners—Definite training in social conventions. The place of the dancing-school. The value of children's parties.
4. The Relation of Manners and Morals—Are American manners deteriorating? The teaching[Pg 303] of manners by historic stories. Sympathy, the foundation of courtesy. Self-restraint, the essence of manners and morals.
Books to Consult—Gow: Good Morals and Gentle Manners. Wiggin: Lessons on Manners. Dewey: How to Teach Manners in the School-room.
A talk may follow the first paper, pointing out that kind treatment of animals, especially of pets, tends to teach children gentleness, sympathy, and consideration. A little paper might take up the subject of the modern ideals of manners.
1. Reading—Direction by parents and librarians. To how much liberty in taste and choice is a child entitled? Lists of good books for children. Discussion: What good books can we suggest? What books shall we avoid: poorly written, over-sentimental, and with low ideals.
2. Gardening—The children's plot. Flowers and vegetables. Household rewards. Competition and prizes. The autumn exhibition. Children's books about gardening. Gardens for city children.[Pg 304]
3. Care of Fowls and Animals—Moral value: sense of responsibility, kindness, practical sense. Raising of fowls for market. Ownership of animals: the lamb, the colt, the calf, the pig.
4. Household Work—Value of the regular task in teaching system, order, and punctuality. Housework for boys: care of rooms, cooking, and kitchen work. For girls: the normal routine made attractive. Reading from Blessed Be Drudgery, by Gannett and Jones.
5. Handicraft—The children's workroom and its furnishing. Work in wood, metal, plaster, and leather. Drawing, painting, embroidery, etc.
6. Music—Should all children be taught to play and sing?
Books to Consult—Gertrude Jekyll: Children and Gardens. Holton and Kimball: Games, Seat Work, and Sense Training Exercises. R. K. Row: Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and Industries.
Prepare in advance a discussion on the subject of children's earning money. Should they be paid for doing daily household duties, or not? Does earning money tend to make boys mercenary? Take up also occupations for invalid children and[Pg 305] convalescents, and notice that handicraft is better than games for these.
1. Sources of Supply—Gifts, earnings, and prizes.
2. The Question of the Allowance—At what age should a child have an allowance? What should it cover? How much liberty should a child have in using it?
3. Lessons in the Use of Money—Spending. Saving. Giving.
4. Benevolent Tendencies—How to cultivate the spirit. How to divide the money given. The chief objects to which to give.
5. The Ethical View—Responsibility for property. Honesty in acquiring, wisdom in using, generosity in giving.
Books to Consult—C. B. Burrell: The Mother's Book. J. W. Jenks: Life Questions for High School Boys. Julia W. Dewey: Lessons on Morals.
This is considered a mercenary age, and a discussion may be prepared on such subjects as these: How shall we keep our boys from becoming either extravagant or mercenary? How may our[Pg 306] girls be taught to understand the value of money? What ought to be the relative emphasis on money in our home life?
1. The Beginning of Religious Training—Prayers for children to use. Telling Bible stories. The children's grace at table. Children's questions about God and heaven: how shall they be answered?
2. The Child and the Church—The Sunday-school kindergarten and primary class. Suitable hymns for children. Children's societies. At what age should a child begin to attend church service?
3. Sunday Hours at Home—Need of cheerfulness and common sense. Sunday occupations: Sunday books, Sunday toys and games. Dramatizing Old Testament stories. Sunday, the father's opportunity. The twilight hour of song.
4. The Age of Development—Intellectual expansion and doubt. How shall we deal with this phase? The time of critical decision. How much influence should the parent exert?
Books to Consult—George Albert Coe: Education in Religion and Morals. George[Pg 307] Hodges: Training of Children in Religion. Sir Oliver J. Lodge: Parent and Child. E. D. Starbuck: The Psychology of Religion. E. P. Saint John: Stories and Story Telling. Horace Bushnell: Christian Nurture.
The Sunday-night supper should have a large place in the life of the home. The children may prepare it alone or with slight assistance, and it will be found an excellent way of interesting them if they tire of the long afternoon. The subject of the memorizing of Scriptural passages and of hymns may be discussed, and personal experiences on this line may be given.
1. The New Movement and Its Breadth—Interest among physicians, teachers, clergymen, psychologists, and parents. Some reference to the vast literature, encyclopedias, etc. Discussion of helpful books.
2. Physical—Study of food values for the individual baby and the growing child. Fresh air and sleeping outdoors. The outdoor kindergarten. Sensible clothing. Gymnastics for deficiencies.
3. Mental—Care against overstimulation. Interesting diaries of development. Coöperation[Pg 308] between teacher and parent. Studying the child's individuality. Books for successive ages. Private versus public schools. What is an ideal education? Is it possible under ordinary conditions?
4. Moral and Religious—How are morals best taught? Books that help the parent and teacher. Individual problems (lying, etc.). Knowing our neighbors' children, their character and influence.
5. Practical Outcome—Mothers' clubs. Magazines of child culture. Increased place given to child life in the modern world. Are children too prominent in the home life?
Books to Consult—Mrs. M. F. Washburn: Study of Child Life. M. P. E. Groszmann: The Career of the Child. E. A. Kirkpatrick: Fundamentals of Child Study. W. B. Drummond: The Child, His Nature and Nurture.
The subject of mothers' congresses may be discussed: Are they practically helpful, or merely speculative? Present the topic of institutions for children, homes and asylums for orphans, for the blind, the crippled, the feeble-minded; also, children's courts and the Big Brother movement. Discuss at this meeting the question of adopting children.[Pg 309]
When clubs have serious subjects for their year's work, which require considerable reading and the writing of substantial papers, it gives variety to arrange the general program in such a way that a light program comes between two heavy ones; or at least to have every third meeting of quite different character from the rest.
Often clubs can invite a speaker from outside to take up most of the hour; a traveller, a settlement worker, a college professor, an actor, a journalist, a judge of a Children's Court, a student of bird life, all have something worth while to contribute. Perhaps a writer will read from his books; or a musician will sing or play, or an artist will tell of life in the ateliers of Paris or Rome. Even in a small town one can find some one who has a friend who will come and help in such ways, and there is no better way to rouse[Pg 310] interest in a club than to offer such meetings occasionally.
Where it is impossible to provide anything of this kind, it is still a good plan to have miscellaneous meetings from time to time; but there is always the danger that these will be spoiled by having them consist of odds and ends, a paper on one subject followed by another on something which has no relation to the first, and perhaps a third which is still further afield. It is best to have but one topic for each meeting, with music if possible, and a social hour afterwards.
One of the best ways to begin a miscellaneous program is to take up current events for ten minutes. It is possible to plan systematically for these, so that one member is responsible for a report on foreign affairs, wars or politics, or whatever is of national importance anywhere; another for great scientific discoveries or important inventions; a third, noteworthy music; a fourth, for the great book of the hour; a fifth, for anything of especial importance to women. No one should write these brief outlines, but merely give them informally. The material can be found by following the daily papers, or looking up articles in review magazines.[Pg 311]
Clubs which study a historical or literary subject often find it interesting to begin these miscellaneous programs with a roll-call, members answering to their names with quotations from the authors of the period, or from one author alone. There are books of quotation which give the best short lines for such recitations, and one gets a good, if brief idea of writers in this way.
As to the matter of miscellaneous programs, the subjects should not be too heavy and papers should not be too long or too seriously written. Popular themes, the books of some well-known author, the magazines of the day, a philanthropy, a brief study of a political figure, all work out easily. Above all, whatever theme is selected, there should be a discussion of the subject at the close of the meeting. Women do not speak easily and naturally impromptu, and it is an immensely valuable training to be obliged to present one's views clearly, concisely and to the point before even a small audience, and even a short experience of this kind in a club is of enormous assistance. If the subject of the discussion is announced in advance members may prepare themselves to take part.[Pg 312]
A very simple but most interesting program for one miscellaneous meeting may be prepared on this theme. Divide it into three parts, having the first paper on The Dress of Our Grandmothers; speak of its durability, its simplicity, its lack of change from one season to another; mention the bonnets, mitts, slippers, muffs and fans; illustrate with old prints or fashion plate or illustrations from books of about 1820 and 1830.
The second paper would then be on The Dress of Our Mothers. This will cover the periods of 1860, with its hoopskirts, its coalscuttle bonnets, its shawls, worked collars, and cameo pins; 1871 too, should be represented, with the tied back skirts, the small hats perched on chignons, the ridiculous sunshades. Read Miss Flora McFlimsey at this point.
The third paper would be on Our Own Dress, showing the extreme styles, short, with scanty skirts and huge hats. Speak briefly of the sudden change of styles and their causes, and the tendency to extravagance.
Discuss topics such as these: How far shall[Pg 313] we follow the dictates of fashion? How much of a woman's income should be spent for clothes? What of our daughters' dress?
It will add to the interest of this program if the three papers are read by members in the costumes of the times of which they speak, or if three or four tableaux are shown illustrating the papers. Have little ballads about dress sung if possible, the Old Grey Bonnet, the Owld Plaid Shawl, and Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be? among others.
Several programs might easily be made from this outline; one, on Peasant Dress, with illustrations from all countries; another on Colonial Dress; a third on Quaker Dress. By using the dress of all nations and all times, an entire year might be delightfully spent on the subject of Women's Costumes.
Clubs which prefer literary study will find this subject most interesting, and like the previous one, capable of expansion into many programs.
Begin with a roll-call, the responses being selections from Emerson's prose and verse.[Pg 314]
The first paper would be on his boyhood, his parents, his home life and education, his marriage, his ministry, his quiet life in Concord.
The second paper would take up the friends so closely associated with him, especially Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Thoreau, Longfellow and Whittier. The story of Brook Farm may come in here, or have a special paper by itself; close with his travels in England.
The last paper would be on Emerson's work as author and lecturer; of his place in his own day; of what Englishmen thought of him, especially Carlyle; of the influence of his essays on young men.
Have readings from prose and verse; read also from some estimates of him by great writers. See A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson, by James Eliot Cabot. Discuss, Is Emerson's place among philosophers what it was a generation ago? Does the modern idea of social service find encouragement in him? What was his attitude in regard to individualism?
This is one of the topics on which it would be interesting to have the club invite some speaker,[Pg 315] perhaps a librarian, to speak. She would probably take up some of the following topics. The effect of the public library for children of the poor, of their interest in it, their delight in the warm, charming reading-room, their growth in personal cleanliness as they learn to care for the books entrusted to them. Of what books children draw from a library; of the reading of history, of fairy stories, of poetry, of books of adventure. Definite and helpful suggestions will be given for children who have books at home, of what parents should give them to read, and how to interest them in good literature.
If no speaker can be had for the meeting, divide these topics into two or three papers, and have members write or speak on them.
Close with a discussion on these lines: What books have replaced the Rollo Books, Little Prudy, and the Elsie Books? What of giving children grown-up writers to read such as Shakespeare, Don Quixote, Mallory and Bunyan? Does much reading of stories vitiate their taste for better literature?
This program will be more delightful if songs about children are interspersed; Eugene Field's verses set to music by De Koven are admirable.[Pg 316]
In preparing this program look up in advance plenty of illustrations from historical books on art and architecture, magazines of art, and prints and photographs of famous examples, such as the Sistine Chapel.
The first paper will of course deal with the earliest form of mural painting, found in Egypt, Assyria, and Greece. Describe these, and notice the colors used by the Greeks.
The second paper should speak of the wonderful paintings in churches, of altar pieces, and the decorations in fresco of walls and ceilings; select from the many examples of churches in Italy. Then the guild halls of the middle ages should be mentioned, and the curious work on bridges and elsewhere in Germany. The third paper should speak of the extraordinary interest to-day in mural painting; note that of the Houses of Parliament and other places abroad; show pictures of the work of Abbey and Sargent in the Boston Public Library, and of Blashfield and La Farge in the Congressional Library at Washington and elsewhere, and the excellent mural paintings on our public buildings, court houses[Pg 317] and capitols, and some public schools in New York.
Discuss: The Cost of Mural Paintings To-day: Are They Worth While?
This subject opens a whole literary field and will be found delightful to expand into several meetings. A roll-call might be answered with famous bons mots from some of the men and women to be studied. Sidney Smith, Charles Lamb and others have left many.
The first paper might be on famous conversationalists; mention Johnson, Horace Walpole, Macauley, Fanny Burney, Samuel Rogers, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Sidney Smith, among many others.
The second would follow with some account of famous salons, especially those of France at the time of Récamier; see Sainte-Beuve's essays on this theme. What of corresponding salons elsewhere?
A third paper would speak informally of conversation to-day; is it becoming a lost art? Do we consider it seriously?
This paper will lead naturally to a discussion on[Pg 318] these and similar themes: What of our home table talk? Should children be taught to converse rather than to chatter? Shall we prepare ourselves in advance for conversations at dinners and other social occasions? What is the relation between a good conversationalist and a good listener?
When club members can not only write papers but also play and sing, this will be found a popular little program: Mendelssohn's famous grandfather; his father, interested in his son's genius; his early home life; his sister Fanny; the little Sunday morning concerts; his education, his versatility, his gay, affectionate nature.
The second paper may be on the early beginnings of his work as a composer; of his first opera; the overture to Midsummer Night's Dream, and the formation and work of his choir. Speak of his travels in England and on the continent, of his marriage; his call to Berlin by the king, and his operas and oratorios; the foundation of his music school; and last his death.
The third paper should discuss his position among musicians, his greatest work and its lasting[Pg 319] qualities. Discuss: Does Mendelssohn rank among the great musicians?
Between each two papers have played some of the Songs Without Words, and others of his best known compositions, and have some of his songs sung, or selections from his oratorios; or they may be given by using musical records. The Lark, I Would that My Love, and Had I the Wings of a Dove, are among the best.
This is another popular program, and one easily prepared and discussed. Divide it into two parts: first, the great universities, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia; their history; their opportunities; show pictures of each campus. Follow with a paper on the small college; its advantages; the state universities; college athletics; fraternities, dangers of college life; does college prepare for a business life?
Next take girls' colleges in the same general way; describe Bryn Mawr, Vassar, Wellesley and Smith; and show pictures of them. Have papers on, Is a college education essential for all girls? and What are its advantages over the boarding-school, and its disadvantages? and What[Pg 320] of athletics for girls? and Should their studies be those of men's colleges entirely?
Discuss these subjects, and add others: Does college life unfit a girl for life at home? Is a college girl likely to demand a career? Does she marry? Have some college songs sung: Fair Harvard, Old Nassau, Neath the Elms of Dear Old Yale, and others.
This is one of the subjects in line with the philanthropy of to-day, and will be found suggestive of social work for women's clubs.
The first paper might be on Orphan Asylums; the care of young children, their food, dress, education and personal oversight. What of adopting children from asylums? What of placing children in homes instead of asylums?
The second paper would take up: the defective children to be cared for in asylums. The blind, deaf, epileptic and idiots.
The third paper would be on the care of the aged; of almshouses, especially those of the county; are they sanitary, well cared for and cheerful? Are the old people well fed, clothed[Pg 321] and amused? Are husbands and wives separated?
The last paper might touch upon English almshouses on the cottage plan and contrast them with our own large institutions.
Discuss the near-by almshouses, and question what can be done to better conditions.
A group of three or at the most four books are quite enough for a miscellaneous program for one afternoon. They may be selected on one general theme, such as biography, or on several. The first book suggested here is a delightful life study, that of Robert E. Lee, Man and Soldier, by Thomas Nelson Page. Notice the clearness and beauty of the style, the appreciation of the man's character and work, and the well chosen descriptions of his associates. Read part of a chapter near the close of the book.
Second, have a paper on The Promised Land, by Mary Antin, one of the really great books of to-day. Tell the story of her life, reading here and there from her own words; show how she was handicapped and yet how she rose, and speak of the fact that such women bring inspiration to our shores.[Pg 322]
Third, take The Three Brontës, by May Sinclair, a book of fascinating interest. Briefly give a résumé of the family, and speak of the work of each sister; compare with Clement Shorter's The Brontës and Their Circle.
Or, for a program on several topics, have these three books for the papers: first, The Lady of the Decoration, by Frances Little. Give a review, with its story, the local color, the humor and pathos; read short selections.
Second, take Heretics, by Chesterton; here again, review his style, his mannerisms, and note his light touch; read briefly from two essays.
Third, take a collection of short stories, perhaps Jacobs' Dialstone Lane. Speak of his quaint dry humor, his sense of the incongruous, the similarity of his captain-heroes, and the absurdity of his plots. Read one story.
For a last program take the subject of Markets. If possible, illustrate some of these foreign markets mentioned, the pictures to be found in magazines.
Flower markets will make a first paper; notice those of Paris especially, near the Madelaine;[Pg 323] of Covent Garden, London. Note the smaller flower markets in connection with the ordinary markets of cities.
A second paper may discuss famous markets in our own land, notably the markets of New Orleans and other Southern cities; their picturesqueness; their value to the housewife. Are they hygienic?
Third, take up the larger aspects of the subject; our great meat markets in cities here and abroad; note the market at Smithfield, London, on Saturdays, and the old Fulton Market of New York, and others. What can be done to regulate our markets, and make them clean and wholesome? What have women done here of recent years to clean up the markets of the West? What of foreign markets, especially in Germany?
Discuss the practical aspects of the subjects. What of the relation of farmers to customers? Can the latter insist on cleanliness and fair trade? What has the pure food legislation done on those points?