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: describethe 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).
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 andlater 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 thequestion 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; thepay 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 ofFrench 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.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.
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 Ballinand 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 ModernHistory: 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 wereinfluenced 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.
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'svalet 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 ofpeople 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.
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.
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 governmentcare. 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 hasmade 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, calledAmerican Forestry, which gives practical suggestions. This association has accomplishedmarvels 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.
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.,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.
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.Appreciationof 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'smarriage, 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 characterdue 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'slast play. Wreck of theSea-Ventureand 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.
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 andAdonis, 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: womanof 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.
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.
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.
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 famousactors, 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?
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, andin 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.
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 isnot 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.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, andillustrate 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, andnurses. 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 "livingwage"? What is being done for working girls? Do settlements, vacation homes, and the like meet their needs? Read Olive Schreiner's Woman and Labor.
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.
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 representativebody 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?
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;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?
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 thepreservation 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.
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 FederalChildren'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.
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 andMinneapolis 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"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. Studywhat 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 inThe 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 anduniversities 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.
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.