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, headof 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 courtof 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'spictures 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.
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.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 morepopular? 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. Noticethe famous mural paintings in State capitols, city halls, and the high schools of New York and those of the Congressional Library in Washington.
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 feelingin 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.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,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.
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,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 markedthan 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 thewittiest 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 alwaysinteresting. 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 SilverSkates, 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,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,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.
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 andStories 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.
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).
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 theSage 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,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,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.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 thenew. 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.
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'schorus, 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 anold 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 improvingthe 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 churchaid 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.
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 sympatheticallytogether 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 committeesand 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.
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.
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 muchto 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'sQuentin 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; andPhilip 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 witha 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 Getaand 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.
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 Inquisitionand 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 countryas 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, andTromp 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.
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.
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 modernclassical 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 placeson 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.
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.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 Georgianand 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, andstone. 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?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 andconvenient, 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, orperhaps 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 fordaily 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 theirdelightful 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.