In connection with our Chautauqua Circle here, Corning, N. Y., we have two German classes in a flourishing condition; both classes were organized and are now being instructed by Miss S. K. Payne, one of the Chautauqua (1882) graduates. The classes in reality form one of Prof. Worman’s German Circles, and are in a measure under his direction, but Miss Payne is our leader, and she fills that position with gratifying success. She leads us not only in our efforts to acquire the language, but she devises so many little plans calculated to stimulate the endeavors of her scholars and invest the meetings with more than usual interest. We meet once a week at her home for recitation and German conversation, and much of the dry, hard rind of the German grammar is smoothed away by the pleasant nature of our meetings. We intersperse our work occasionally with delightful little entertainments at which nothing but German speech or German songs are tolerated. Quite recently we had a German picnic or tea-party, and still more recently we celebrated the Emperor William’s birthday, not because we were particularly fond of the Emperor William, but because he furnished such a purely German topic. We were favored with a German speech from our teacher, we had German recitations and essays, German songs and German toasts, and when we adjourned to the dining-room, we were invited to a repast not so strictly German, but one which the German king himself might have relished. The entertainment which these little tea-parties afford is as instructive as it is amusing, and if other German circles have not already inaugurated similar affairs, we advise them to take steps in this direction at once. Such occasions promote new ideas, teach new words, and give one confidence to express his or her thoughts in German. We subjoin the program of our last entertainment:
1. Ein Lied—“Heil dir im Siegerkranz.”2. AnredeFraulein Payne3. Ein Lied—“Der Tannenbaum.”4. Gedicht—“Er ist da!”Fraulein Saunders5. Ein Solo—“Des Mädchens Klage”Fraulein Tinslar6. Aufsatz—“Kaiser Wilhelm als Jüngling”Fraulein Ferenbaugh7. Duett—“Freut euch des Lebens”Die Fraulein Payne und Tinslar8. Gedicht—“Unserer Sieben”Fraulein Patch9. Lorelei—Ein Lied.10. Aufsatz—“Kaiser Wilhelm als ein Mann”Fraulein Tinslar11. Ein Lied—“Treue Liebe.”12. Aufsatz—“Kaiser Wilhelm als ein Soldat”Herr Marx13. Ein Lied—“Die Wacht am Rhein.”14. Gedicht—“Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland”Fraulein Schmidt15. Ein Lied—“Kriegers’ Morgenlied.”16. Auslesung—“Georg Washington und sein kleinesHandbeil” auch “eine Erzählung seiner Tugend”Herr Hungerford17. Ein Lied—“Lebe wohl.”
16. Auslesung—“Georg Washington und sein kleinesHandbeil” auch “eine Erzählung seiner Tugend”
Thosewho, without being thoroughly acquainted with our real character, think ill of us, do us no wrong; it is not we whom they attack, but the phantom of their own imagination.—La Bruyère.
Thosewho, without being thoroughly acquainted with our real character, think ill of us, do us no wrong; it is not we whom they attack, but the phantom of their own imagination.—La Bruyère.