The Complete Club Book for Women

Colonial Times. Reading, Colonial Heroes.

Territory Gained by the Revolution. Reading, "Paul Revere's Ride."

The Constitution. Reading, The Amendments.

The Louisiana Purchase and the Acquisition of Florida. Reading, The Department of Agriculture.

The Monroe Doctrine. Reading, The Pan-American Union.

The Annexation of Texas; the Mexican Cession. Reading, The Weather Bureau.

Settlement of the Oregon Boundary; The Gladsden Purchase. Reading, The Post Office Department.

The Alaska Purchase: Alaska of To-day. Reading, from Beach's Silver Horde.

Hawaii. Reading, The Smithsonian Institution.

Porto Rico. Reading, The Patent Office.

Cuba. Reading, The Interstate Commerce Commission.

The Philippines. Reading, Our Insular Possessions.

The Panama Canal. Reading, The Public Health.

Expansion. Reading, The White Man's Burden.

The Executive Department. Reading, The State Department.

The Judicial Department. Reading, The Civil Service Department.

The Legislative Department. Reading, Library of Congress.

The United States Army. Reading, The Treasury Department.

The United States Navy. Reading, The National Capital.

Discussion: Woman Suffrage.

PLEDGE OF TENNESSEE FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS

"WE PLEDGE OURSELVES to use our united strength to make better homes, better schools, better surroundings, better scholarship, and better lives; to work together for civic health and civic righteousness; to preserve our heritage – the forests, and the natural beauties of the land; to procure for our children an education which fits them for life – the training of the hand and the heart as well as the head; to protect the children not our own, who are deprived of the birthright of natural childhood; to obtain right conditions and proper safeguards for the women who toil."

CHAPTER XXII

Brief One Day Programs

I – SOCIAL SETTLEMENTS

Their Beginning and Growth; The Story of Toynbee Hall.

The Work for Women; Cooking and Sewing Classes.

The Work for Girls; Dancing Classes.

The Work for Men; Coffee and Reading Rooms; Men's Clubs for Discussion.

The Work for Children; Free Kindergartens; Fresh Air Work.

The Work for Babies; The Crèche; Good Milk; Ice.

Playgrounds in Cities.

Jane Addams and Hull House.

These topics will all promote discussion, and it is possible that personal experiences may be brought out which will be exceedingly interesting. Plenty of good material for papers will be found in magazine articles.

II – THE HIGH COST OF LIVING

I. The Problem Presented: Papers or talks on

(1) The increase in the price of food-stuffs.

(2) The increase in rents.

(3) Higher wages of servants.

(4) The more complex social life and greater demand for luxuries. Music.

II. The Problem Discussed:

(1) Possible reduction in the expense of food by simple living.

(2) The movement of city people to the country.

(3) Is the elimination of the servant possible?

(4) How far is woman responsible for the state of things, and what can she do to reduce social expenditure?

III – IRELAND

The beautiful country; the Lakes of Killarney; the northern coast; pictures. A brief résumé of Ireland's history; St. Columba; St. Patrick. Historic features; cathedrals and churches; the Round Towers. The Irish poet, Moore. Music: "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls;" "Those Evening Bells;" "The Last Rose of Summer;" "Oft in the Stilly Night." Brief sketches of some of Ireland's great men – Burke, Sheridan, O'Connell, Swift, Goldsmith, etc. Music: Moore's "Canadian Boat Song."

IV – ROBERT BURNS

Description and pictures of the village of Ayr; the House Where Burns Was Born; the Brig o' Doon.

Sketch of Burns's life.

Songs: "The Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon;" "My Heart's in the Highlands;" "Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad."

Reading from "Tam o' Shanter."

Reading of four short poems: "Highland Mary"; the "Mountain Daisy"; "Mary Morison," etc.

Reading from "The Cotter's Saturday Night."

Songs: "Comin' Through the Rye;" "John Anderson, My Jo, John;" "Auld Lang Syne."

V – WOMEN AND SOCIAL RELATIONS

Papers and talks on: Our Grandmothers' Ideas of Woman's Place and Our Own; Woman as a Wage-Earner; The Mother as a Business Woman; Music; The Conscience of the Woman Purchaser; Would Woman's Social Usefulness Be Increased by the Ballot? Music.

VI – THE MADONNA IN ART

Paper or talk on the earliest painters; crude representations on walls and canvas. Botticelli and his pictures; illustrate with photographs. Raphael; sketch of his life; his pictures; illustrate with well-known examples, such as the "Sistine Madonna" and the "Madonna of the Chair." The Madonnas of Murillo; "The Immaculate Conception." The modern Madonnas; pictures by Gabriel Max and others. The Madonnas of Burne-Jones and his school. Intersperse with suitable Christmas music.

VII – THE CITY OF LONDON

Papers: Its Early History. Remains of Oldest Buildings: Bits of the Roman Wall, St. Bartholomew's Church, St. Stephen's Hall, The Jerusalem Chamber, The Tower, with William the Conqueror's Church. Literary London: The City in Shakespeare; Johnston and the Clubs; Milton and Addison; Dickens's London. Famous Landmarks: Parliament Buildings, Westminster Abbey, The Churches, St. Paul's, The Tower, Grey Friars, The Royal Palaces, The Museums, The Art-Galleries, The Parks.

VIII – BIRDS

Song: "Hark, Hark, the Lark!"

Reading: From "Our Neighbors, the Birds," by Mabel Osgood Wright.

Reading or recitation: Shelley's "To a Sky-Lark."

Paper: "The Birds and the Milliner."

Reading: From "The Tragedies of the Nests," by John Burroughs.

Song: "Spring Hath Waked the Song-Bird," by Mendelssohn.

Reading: From "Bird Courtship," by John Burroughs.

Recitation: "The Robin Singing in the Rain," by Kate Upson Clark.

Song: "Swing, Robin, Swing."

For some of these readings others may be substituted if preferred. Here are a few suggestions, which can readily be amplified: "Baby Days" and "The Tricks and Manners of a Cat-Bird," by Olive Thorne Miller; "Bird Life and Its Romance," by John Lea, and numerous magazine articles which may be found in an "Index to Periodical Literature," contained in all public libraries.

Among the many poems appropriate to the occasion are: "O, Swallow, Swallow, Flying, Flying South," from Tennyson's "Princess" and Wordsworth's "To a Sky-Lark."

Some lovely songs are: "From Twig to Twig," by Rubinstein; "The Passage Birds' Farewell," by Mendelssohn, and "The Nightingale," by Schumann. Liza Lehman has also written some fascinating bird songs, including "The Wood Pigeon," "The Yellowhammer" and "The Owl."

A really valuable paper on "Bird Music" might be written; material for this will be found in any good reference library, for it is a subject which has interested several musicians. A delightful discussion could easily be arranged by the chairman of the day on "Personal Experiences with Birds," with brief talks by members on what they have actually observed in the way of nest building or feeding of young birds, or how they have tamed some bird.

IX – THE MODERN SCIENCE OF HOUSEHOLD SANITATION AND HYGIENE

Paper on Our Grandmothers' Ways (disregard of what is to-day considered as essential).

The Sanitary Nursery; carpets or rugs; cribs; ventilation; the preparation of foods for children; the care of milk; the baby's bottle; disinfection.

The Sanitary Kitchen; sinks and floor corners; mops and dish-cloths; refrigerators.

The Butcher and Grocer; pure food.

The Family Table; discussion on new ideas; vegetarianism; the use and abuse of cereals; how to meet the high cost of living sensibly.

X – THE PHYSICAL SIDE OF THE CHILD

Paper: A Child's Right to a Perfect Body.

Paper: The Child's Sleep. Arrangements for Perfect Sleep; Hours for Sleep.

Discussion: Shall the Baby Sleep Out of Doors?

Paper: The Child's Dress; Healthfulness; Simplicity; the Plague of Clothes.

Paper: The Child's Food. The Education of Mothers on This Line; the Milk-Supply in Town and Country.

Discussion: A Child's Health as Affected by Its Surroundings.

Paper or Talk: The City Child and the Country Child.

Should music be made a feature of these meetings, there are settings of Stevenson's, Eugene Field's and Riley's child verses which would be especially appropriate.

XI – AN AMERICAN POET AND HIS FRIENDS

Paper on Longfellow's Early Home and Life.

Talk: His Married Life; His Children.

Reading: The Children's Hour.

Paper on Longfellow as Harvard Professor.

Readings from His American Poems: "Hiawatha," "Evangeline," "Courtship of Miles Standish."

Paper: Foreign Honors; Westminster Abbey.

His Translations: Norwegian, "The Saga of King Olaf"; Swedish, "King Christian"; German, "The Happiest Land"; French, "A Quiet Life"; Spanish, "Coplas de Marigue."

Talk: At Mount Auburn.

XII – AN EDUCATIONAL MEETING

Paper or talk on Froebel and the Kindergarten. The Kindergarten in the Public School. The Sanitation of Our Public Schools. Discipline in the School. The Relations of Teacher and Parent. Beautifying the School-Building and Grounds.

The discussion might also be on such topics as Social Life Versus School Life; The Health of High-School Girls; Athletics and Study, etc.

The topic in the program of "Froebel and His Work" might be taken up by a trained kindergartner; perhaps the head of a high school might come in and speak on the Health of the High-School Girl, and some teacher interested in art might tell what could be done to beautify the school-building with pictures, plaster casts and growing plants, the grounds outside with trees and vines. By dividing the subject into Primary Schools and High Schools, and arranging the topics under each and adding to them, two programs could easily be made out of this one. Or, a meeting could be held, following this one, on college life, in its various aspects; college for girls; athletics; training for life in college and outside, and the relation of college boys and girls to their homes.

XIII – A MAGAZINE MEETING

Give to six members the names of four or five good magazines, and ask one to speak of some of the essays in them; another to take up the travel articles; a third the poetry; a fourth the popular science, and a fifth the short stories. Let each give a brief résumé of the one which seems best of all to the speaker, and have a sixth read some of the lighter and more humorous bits of prose and verse from the various magazines.

The chairman of the day might also prepare a short discussion by four of the members, each one speaking for two minutes at the close of the program on such subjects as "Do We Read Too Many Magazines?" "Do They Affect Our More Serious Reading?" "The Growth of the Short Story" and "Which Magazine Seems on the Whole the One Best Worth Taking in a Family, and Why?"

Some one might also speak on the subject of "What Each Magazine Seems to Stand For"; one perhaps has most literary quality, one bright fiction, and so on. A very clever talk might be given also, comparing the magazines now with those published thirty years and more ago, with some idea of the writers of that time and the general character of the articles.

XIV – PROGRAM FOR A THANKSGIVING MEETING

Business; reports of secretary and treasurer.

Paper or talk on The First Thanksgiving Day.

Reading from "Old Town Folks," by Harriet Beecher Stowe; Getting Ready for Thanksgiving.

Reading or recitation from "Miles Standish."

Paper or talk on The New England Meeting-House.

Personal reminiscences of childhood Thanksgiving Days.

Recitation from Whittier's "Thanksgiving Day."

If possible hang up a large picture of the "Return of the Mayflower," or other appropriate picture in the room.

XV – AN AFTERNOON WITH OUR SOUTHERN WRITERS

Thomas Nelson Page: Readings from "The Old South," Chapter I; "An Old Virginia Sunday;" "The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock," Chapter V.

James Lane Allen: Readings from "A Home of the Silent Brotherhood," "Two Gentlemen of Kentucky."

Richard Malcolm Johnston: Readings from "Dukesborough Tales."

The Poet of the South, Sidney Lanier: Selections from his biography, by his wife. Short poems: "Life and Song," "The Stirrup Cup," "A Song of the Future," "A Ballad of the Trees and the Master."

George W. Cable: Reading from "'Sieur George."

Ruth McEnery Stuart: Readings from "Sonny," "The Second Wooing of Salina Sue," "Thanksgiving on Crawfish Bayou."

The program may be interspersed by plantation songs: "Old Black Joe," "The Suwanee River," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Camptown Races" and others.

XVI – THE CHILD IN THE HOME

I. Music: Ballad.

II. Talk or paper: The child's right to a welcome.

III. Discussion by three members:

(1) Squabbling and how to deal with it.

(2) Unselfishness.

(3) Equal rights for boys and girls.

IV. Music: Child songs.

V. Paper: The family evenings: Parents and children.

VI. Discussion:

(1) Reading aloud.

(2) Games and music.

VII. Paper: Parents as friends.

VIII. Talk, followed by general experiences.

XVII – MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

Commencement and Afterward.

The Relation of Parents to the Grown Daughter.

The Training for Housekeeping.

Friends and Entertaining.

Preparations for a Life-Work Away from Home.

The Married Daughter.

The Unmarried Middle-Aged Daughter.

A general discussion.

XVIII – CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Song: "Noël," by Gounod.

Reading from Dickens: the story of Scrooge's Christmas.

Paper or talk on Curious Christmas Customs (in England, Germany, Sweden, etc.).

Song: "When from the East the Wise Men Came," by Bullard.

Reading from "Sonny," by Ruth McEnery Stuart.

Reading from Howells's "Christmas Every Day."

Song: "The Virgin's Lullaby," by Dudley Buck.

Reading: "George Washington Jones, A Christmas Gift That Went a-Begging," by Ruth McEnery Stuart.

Song: "Over the Hills of Bethlehem," by Neidlinger.

Interest will be added to this meeting, of course, by decorating the club rooms with Christmas greens and lighting with candles.

XIX – PROGRAM FOR A COLONIAL MEETING

Home Life in Virginia (paper or talk). Reading from "The Virginians," by Thackeray.

The Love Story of Washington.

Mt. Vernon; Martha Washington's Housekeeping. (Illustrated with pictures of Mt. Vernon.)

The First Inaugural Ball.

Lafayette's Return to America.

Brief items of interest given by members, of family traditions of these and other events.

Close with two patriotic songs: "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" or "America."

XX – KING ARTHUR AND THE ROUND TABLE

Paper or talk on The Origin of the Arthurian Legend.

Brief outline of the story of the Round Table.

Reading from Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal."

Reading from Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur."

The story of Glastonbury and Avalon; description of the abbey.

The legend of the Holy Thorn.

Readings from Howard Pyle's "Story of King Arthur and His Knights."

Reading from the "Idylls of the King;" "The Passing of Arthur."

The chairman in charge of the meeting may procure from her picture-dealer or from the nearest large city inexpensive prints of the Abbey paintings of the Holy Grail in the Boston Public Library, and these, mounted on large sheets of white paper, may be hung about the room.

CHAPTER XXIII

How to Make a Year Book

Many clubs find it difficult to make year books which shall be clear and comprehensive, and yet cover briefly the entire field they have selected. This is a simple plan:

After the club has agreed on a subject the committee appointed to draw up the year book should meet, bringing with them all available helps, books, maps, magazine articles and cuttings from papers.

With these before them, the committee must lay out in general the main topics for the club to study, dividing it into as many parts as there will be meetings during the year. (In some instances, as where a historical subject is chosen, the Table of Contents in some book of reference will be found helpful.)

Under each of the main divisions of the whole four or five subdivisions should then be made out, corresponding to the number of papers desired on a given day.

Last of all, either at the close of the work planned for each meeting, or at the end of the book, there should be given a list of reference books.

As an example of a year book, one is given here on the history of England, which will be found worked out in detail in Chapter XII of this book.

ENGLANDITHE COUNTRY AND ITS RACES

Papers, —

1. Geological and Prehistoric Britain; Relics of the Stone Age.

2. Physical Character of the Country, Scenery, Climate, Products.

3. The Druids and Their Remains; Stonehenge, etc.

4 The Celts; Divisions of the Race, folk lore, etc.

5. The Arthurian Legends.

Suggested Readings, —

Tennyson's "Idylls of the King."

Sir Thomas Malory.

IITHE ROMAN CONQUEST AND EARLY KINGDOMS

Papers, —

1. Julius Cæsar.

Invasion of England.

Roman remains in England.

Roman Roads as they are to-day.

Boadicea.

2. Early Saxon Kings.

Augustine's Conversion of Kent.

Columba at Iona.

Aidan at Holy Island.

Cædmon at Whitby.

Venerable Bede.

3. Alfred and the Danes.

Legends.

Dunstan.

The Danelaw.

Alfred's Reforms.

4. The Last Saxon Kings.

Edward the Confessor.

Harold.

Founding of Westminster Abbey.

(Have a paper on the Abbey if you wish.)

Suggested Readings, —

Death of Columba from Bede's Ecclesiastical History. (Bohn Library.)

Tacitus' "Agricola."

Bulwer's "Harold."

IIITHE NORMANS AND ANGEVINS

Papers, —

1. The Normans and the Conquest.

Normans on the Continent.

Domesday Book.

Bayeux Tapestry.

2. The Feudal System.

(See "Ivanhoe," opening chapter.)

Castles, Chivalry, Cathedrals, Cruelties.

3. The Struggle with the Papacy.

Anselm.

Thomas à Becket.

4. England and the Crusades.

5. The Great Charter.

Suggested Readings, —

Chas. Kingsley's "Hereward the Wake."

Scott's "Talisman."

Maurice Hewlett's "Richard Yea and Nay."

Read the story of the murder of Thomas à Becket from Dean Stanley's "Memorials of Canterbury." Have some one who has seen the Domesday Book and the Magna Charta describe them.

IVHENRY III AND THE FIRST TWO EDWARDS

Papers, —

1. The Universities and the Friars.

Roger Bacon.

2. The Guilds and Fairs.

3. The Jews in England.

Arrival, Special Laws, Famous Jews in English history.

4. The English Parliament.

Places where it has met.

Compare with our form of government.

Describe present buildings.

5. Wallace and Bruce.

Suggested Readings, —

Marlowe's "Edward II."

Jusserand's "Way-faring Life in the Middle Ages."

Jessopp's "Coming of the Friars."

Jane Porter's "Scottish Chiefs."

VEDWARD III

Papers, —

1. Edward and Scotland.

Death of Bruce, Balliol.

2. Edward and France.

Creçy, Calais, Poitiers.

3. The Black Prince.

The Black Death.

4. Wiclif.

Story of the English Bible. Lollardy.

5. Chancer.

Mediæval Romances.

The Troubadours.

Suggested Readings, —

Froissart's Chronicle.

Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

VIRICHARD II AND RICHARD III

Papers, —

1. The Peasants' Revolt.

Langland's "Piers Plowman."

2. Henry IV and Henry V.

Their characters, their Queens.

Agincourt.

3. Henry VI

The Wars of the Roses.

4. Joan of Arc.

5. Edward IV and Richard III.

"Warwick, the Kingmaker."

The Princes in the Tower.

Caxton.

Suggested Readings, —

Shakespeare's "Henry IV," "Henry V," "Henry VI," "Richard III."

Stevenson's "Black Arrow."

Rossetti's "The King's Tragedy."

De Quincey's "Joan of Arc."

VIITHE TUDORS

Papers, —

1. Henry VII.

Perkin Warbeck.

Sebastian Cabot.

Dean Colet.

Erasmus.

2. Henry VIII.

His Wives, Field of Cloth of Gold.

Quarrel with the Pope, More's "Utopia."

Tyndal's New Testament.

3. Edward VI.

Book of Common Prayer.

Boys' Schools in England.

4. Mary.

Philip of Spain.

Archbishop Cranmer.

Suggested Readings, —

More's "Utopia."

Shakespeare's "Henry VIII."

Scott's "Marmion."

Tennyson's "Queen Mary."

VIIIELIZABETH, THE GREATEST TUDOR

Papers, —

1. Lady Jane Grey, and Mary, Queen of Scots.

2. Foreign Relations.

The Armada, Holland.

3. The Stage.

Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ben Jonson.

4. Literature.

Lyly, Spenser, Bacon.

5. The Adventurers.

Raleigh, Drake, Frobisher, Sir Philip Sidney.

Suggested Readings, —

Chas. Kingsley's "Westward Ho!"

Scott's "Kenilworth."

Sidney's "Defense of Poesie."

Spenser's "Faërie Queene."

Bacon's Essays.

IXJAMES I AND CHARLES I

Papers, —

1. James I, The Man.

Birth, character, pedantry. The King James Version of the Bible.

2. The Gunpowder Plot.

3. England and the New World.

Landing of the Pilgrims.

Raleigh's Expeditions, etc.

4. Charles I.

Divine Right of Kings and Parliament.

Lane, Hampden, Pym.

5. Milton.

Suggested Readings, —

Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel."

Milton's "L'Allegro."

Hobbes' "Leviathan."

Longfellow's "Miles Standish."

XTHE COMMONWEALTH

Papers, —

1. Oliver Cromwell and Puritanism.

2. Ireland and Its Problems.

Home Rule.

3. Blake and the English Navy.

4. The Women of the Civil War.

(See Traill's "Social England," Vol. IV, p. 315.)

Suggested Readings, —

Carlyle's "Cromwell."

Evelyn's Diary.

Shorthouse's "John Inglesant."

Browning's "Strafford."

XITHE RESTORATION

Papers, —

1. Charles II.

Character, Continental Experiences.

General Monk, The Triple Alliance.

The Plague and the Fire.

2. Science.

Newton.

The Royal Society.

3. Literature and the Stage.

Milton's Epic.

Dryden.

Bunyan.

The Dramatists.

4. James II.

The Bloody Circuit.

Siege of Londonderry.

Coming of William of Orange.

The Battle of the Boyne.

Suggested Readings, —

Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress."

Pepys' Diary.

Evelyn's Diary.

Dryden's "Annus Mirabilis."

Defoe's "History of the Great Plague."

Scott's "Peveril of the Peak."

Blackmore's "Lorna Doone."

Conan Doyle's "Micah Clarke."

XIITHE REVOLUTION, AND EVENTS TO GEORGE III

Papers, —

1. William and Mary.

Bill of Rights.

Bank of England.

2. Anne.

Marlborough.

Politics in England.

Union of Scotland, Ireland and Wales with England.

The young Pretender.

The Pamphleteers.

3. George I and George II.

Sir Robert Walpole.

Jacobin plots.

South Sea Company.

Methodists.

Clive in India.

French and English in America.

4. Literature.

Addison and Steele.

Swift.

Defoe.

Johnson.

Suggested Readings, —

Thackeray's "Henry Esmond."

Scott's "Waverley."

Southey's "Battle of Blenheim."

Addison's "Sir Roger de Coverley."

Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe."

Johnson's "Rasselas."

XIIIGEORGE III

Papers, —

1. The Industrial Revolution.

Wedgewood, Hargreaves, Watt.