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CHAPTER XIX
Special Programs on Great Men and Women

Often a club finds it best to break into its ordinary routine of work by having a special program. The birthday of a great writer, artist or musician offers a good subject for such a meeting, and the following programs are arranged to suggest such names with a brief outline of work on each.

Some clubs may like to select from the names given two or more for each month and so arrange a program for an entire year. In this case it is a good plan to take alternate writers, musicians and artists, giving a day to each one.

I – SEPTEMBER

History, music and literature may be represented by the life and work of Queen Elizabeth, General Lafayette, Dvorak, and our own Eugene Field, who were all born in September.

Divide the age of Elizabeth into several topics: the Court and the Queen's favorites; discoverers; wars; Mary, Queen of Scots; and the great literary men of the time, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Spenser, and others. Have readings on all these.

The story of Lafayette begins with the American Revolution; then the Revolution in France and the part he played in it. Follow his career and friendships, and the relations between France and America. Close with a sketch of Lafayette's visit here after the war, and read a description of it. (See the Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris.)

A good musical program can be arranged by having first a paper on the composer, Dvorak, with comparisons of his work and that of his contemporaries, and then several selections played from his compositions.

Last, the life and work of Eugene Field will be found delightful. Have a paper on his home life, his whimsical personality, his friends; read from his prose, and have some of his verses sung. Compare his poems with Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verse."

II – OCTOBER

In this month art, drama and music are offered, in the works of Sir Christopher Wren, Sheridan and Verdi.

In art Wren was a prominent figure in his century. Living when London was being rebuilt after the great fire, he stamped his genius on no less than fifty churches, and built St. Paul's, his own great monument. He was called a "rare and early prodigy of universal science." His friendships are among the most interesting points to be studied.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan wrote the "Rivals" and "The School for Scandal," two plays which stand unequaled for humor and clever satire. Read of their presentation, and of Sheridan as manager and theater owner. Turn from this to his career as a parliamentarian and read his speech at the trial of Warren Hastings, which marked him as one of our most brilliant orators. Notice his death in poverty and his burial in Westminster Abbey. Read from his plays.

Verdi wrote "Ernani," "La Traviata," "Riggoletto" and "Aïda." Speak of his long and interesting life, and his remarkable work. Note that his influence over others was of unusual force. Have a musical program from his operas.

III – NOVEMBER

Martin Luther, Schiller, Oliver Goldsmith and George Eliot all have birthdays to remember at this time.

Luther was the greatest of the Protestant Reformers, and has left his mark not only on Germany but on the whole world. Read of his early peasant life, his education, his career as priest and teacher. Then notice his trip to Rome and its results, and follow him through his struggles with Emperor and Pope. Discuss his work as a whole. Read from his Letters.

Schiller, the great German dramatist and poet, is honored and beloved both in his native land and elsewhere. Give the story of his struggles with poverty in exile, his love affairs, his professorship, his marriage and invalidism. Notice especially his friendship with Goethe. Read from his ballads, but especially from his dramas, "Die Jungfrau" and "Wilhelm Tell."

Oliver Goldsmith, the eccentric genius, poet, essayist, dramatist and novelist, should have special study, for he is a unique figure. Mention his school days, his vagabond pilgrimage through Europe, his work as a struggling hack writer; his remarkable friendships; read from "The Deserted Village," "The Vicar of Wakefield," and "She Stoops to Conquer."

The life and work of George Eliot are familiar to most club women, yet they are always a delightful study. Papers may tell of her home life and training as a free-thinker; of her translations, her marriage and its social consequences, and her work as writer. Read from "Scenes from Clerical Life," and from "Adam Bede." Discuss her philosophy, her moral purposes, her humor, her realism; have several readings from both prose and poetry.

IV – DECEMBER

The special meeting should be on the subject of the Christmas Birthday. Describe the Christmas customs in mediæval times, and read of the Yule log, the waits, the boar's head, and other customs, and show pictures of baronial halls. Have following papers on Christmas in various lands; one paper may be on the Christmas Spirit. Read from Christmas stories, and have carols sung.

V – JANUARY

There are four famous birthdays in January, those of Joan of Arc, Mozart, Molière, and Tennyson, illustrating history, music, drama and poetry.

Of late so much has been written of Joan of Arc that there is an abundance of material on her. Give a sketch of her personality, and show what she did. Read also appreciations from different writers. Show pictures of some of the statues of her, and, if possible, one of the picture by Bastien Lepage, called "Joan of Arc Listening to the Voices," in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Mozart was a child prodigy at six years and maintained his ability through a long life. Hampered, like most musicians, with poverty, he still had many friends, wrote excellent music, played at various courts and enjoyed a career full of interest, if not always of success. He died in poverty, and no one knows where he is buried. Show a copy of the well-known picture of him playing at court.

Molière, the great French dramatist, presents a study which should fill more than one meeting. Speak of his early life as a strolling player, his failure as a tragedian and his success in comedy. Sketch the stage of the period. Have scenes read from (translations of) "Tartuffe," "Le Misanthrope," and other plays. Compare him with other dramatists. (See his life by Chatfield-Taylor.)

Tennyson, the representative poet of the Victorian age, gives opportunity for a charming meeting. Sketch his calm, delightful life; show his interest in science and all modern ideas. Read from his ballads; his other short poems; his longer poems, especially "In Memoriam," the "Idylls of the King" and the "Dream of Fair Women," and compare them. If possible, sing some of his verses, many of which are set to music.

VI – FEBRUARY

Among many birthdays of famous men and women four may be chosen: those of Madame de Sévigné, Charles Lamb, Dickens and Mendelssohn.

Madame de Sévigné lived at a time when there were many conspicuous people at the court of Louis XIV, and she was the friend of them all; Turenne and Condé, however, may be especially noticed. Her fame rests on her Letters, which she wrote to her daughter with no idea any one else would ever see them. They have slight pretension to literary quality, yet they are among the classics of French literature. Have several selections from them read, illustrating the times and the court life.

Charles Lamb and his friends will make the subject of more than a single meeting. Give his life as a Blue Coat Boy and his early friendship with Coleridge at school. Speak of him as a clerk in the East India House, with his evenings at the Cat and Salutation. Tell of his family troubles and of his sister Mary; then of his literary career, his life in the Temple, his friendships with the Lake Poets and others. Notice the peculiar gentle charm which is associated with him. Read from his essays; give "Dream Children" as a whole.

Charles Dickens is a name to conjure with. Sketch his early life; read from many of his books, and point out his humor, pathos, tragedy, comedy, and realism; show his love of caricature and its place in his methods. He is called to-day The Prince of Story Tellers by well-known critics. Have each club member bring in and read her favorite passage from his books.

Mendelssohn stands alone among musicians, for he was born to a comfortable lot in life, was successful in whatever he undertook, happy in his home and renowned abroad. His relations with his sister, his position at the German courts, his various trips to England and what he accomplished there will furnish topics for papers. If he seldom touched the deeper side of life, yet what he gave was always good of its kind. Illustrate this program with many selections from both his instrumental and vocal music.

VII – MARCH

Michelangelo, and in later times Mrs. Browning, and our own William Dean Howells, were born in March.

Michelangelo was the most distinguished sculptor of the modern world, the most brilliant representative of the Italian Renaissance. Show the assistance Lorenzo the Magnificent gave art at this time. Notice Michelangelo's earlier work; speak of the curious way in which he, a sculptor, was compelled to paint the frescoes in the Sistine chapel; then how he became an architect, a builder of fortifications, a sculptor again, and finally the architect of St. Peter's. Show pictures of his best-known statues, and also of the frescoes.

Mrs. Browning is our best known and loved English woman poet. Her life is inseparable from that of her poet-husband, yet it has great individuality. Have papers on her early life, her marriage, her life in Florence and her work. Read from the "Sonnets from the Portuguese," addressed to her husband, from "Aurora Leigh" and from her shorter poems.

Howells is considered the most distinguished of our modern American prose writers, the leader of the realistic school which has so largely influenced recent work. He has written much besides his novels, but they are perhaps best known. Notice his ability to portray character; the delightful ease and naturalness of his style and his humor and truth in character drawing. Read from "The Rise of Silas Lapham," and "A Modern Instance." Read also from his sketches of travel.

VIII – APRIL

Study Hans Christian Andersen, Murillo, Wordsworth and Charlotte Brontë, whose birthdays come in this month.

Andersen's life is full of a simple interest, and a sketch of it may be followed by many readings from his books, especially from "A Picture-Book Without Pictures," "Tales for Children," and "The Ice Maiden." Notice that most of his work was illustrated from incidents from his own experience, which makes it natural.

Murillo, the Spanish painter, the friend of Velasquez, painted in three different styles, but he used only two classes of subjects; papers may work out this suggestion and illustrate it from his well-known pictures. Show copies of the "Assumption of the Virgin," his best-known religious work, and of others of the same style. Notice the beauty and charm of his children.

Wordsworth should certainly have more than one meeting given to him. Write of his quiet country life, of his wife and sister Dorothy; of his many friends; show his different styles of verse and read poems from each; read also his best-known sonnets.

Charlotte Brontë is one of the unusual English women writers. Write of her home life on the moors with her talented family, her work, especially "Jane Eyre," so full of striking romance, and her early death. Read several scenes from "Jane Eyre."

IX – MAY

Dante, Andubon, Browning and Brahms belong to May.

Dante's story, his life in Florence, his love for Beatrice, his military service, his exile and death all need plenty of time to study. His fame as a poet is unrivaled in its power and beauty of language. Have sketches of his life, his times and his work, and read what critics have said of it. Read also from translations of the "Vita Nuova" and the "Divina Commedia," in their translations. (See Longfellow's.)

The work of our own Audubon is better known to-day than when he was living. His life story is most romantic; read this, and show what he accomplished. Have shown some copies of his famous pictures of birds. Compare him with other naturalists.

Robert Browning did what no other poet has done; when he was twenty years old he found the theme for his life work, the development of the human soul; this is the key to his verse.

Read of his life in England and in Italy; speak of his friendships; study his philosophy; discuss his versification; show his different styles of work; have many illustrative readings. Compare him with other poets. Have some of his songs sung which are set to music; read also "Pippa Passes."

X – JUNE

Now come the birthdays of the musicians, Gounod and Schumann, and also of the patriot Nathan Hale, the teacher Thomas Arnold, and the novelist Thomas Hardy.

Hale is one of those men of whom we are always learning more. Have papers on his early life, his years at Yale, the events which led to his capture and his execution; show a picture of the statue in the City Hall Park of New York. Compare him with André. Give selections from different writers showing their estimate of him.

Thomas Arnold is the ideal for all teachers, and so an excellent subject for a meeting. Tell of his home; of Rugby as he found it; of his ideas for the school and for the individual boys; mention some of the great men he trained; read from "Tom Brown at Rugby" and show pictures of the school.

Hardy is one of the great Victorian novelists, a writer of somber, realistic and pessimistic stories of great power. Read of Wessex and its moors and wind-swept fells in the "Return of the Native." Notice the homely humor in all his books. Read from his most artistic work, "Far from the Madding Crowd," and from "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," his most dramatic. Compare him with other writers of the day. Discuss his philosophy.

CHAPTER XX
Programs from Clubs

I

A Virginia club has studied this group of painters:

Italian Artists: Raphael, Titian, Correggio.

Flemish Artists: Van Eyck, Rubens, Van Dyck.

Dutch Artists: Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Ruysdael.

Spanish Artists: Velasquez, Murillo, Fortuny.

German Artists: Dürer, Holbein, Hoffman.

French Artists: Rosa Bonheur, Corot, Millet.

English and American Artists: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Millais, Sargent.

The Girls' Club of Upper Montclair, New Jersey, was started several years ago as a department of the Woman's Club. Its membership includes girls in the grade below the high school and the girls who have left school and have not gone to college or into business. The attendance has grown so that one winter there was only one meeting when the number did not reach a hundred.

The meetings are held every Monday afternoon at three-thirty and some well-known speaker gives a short talk. Sometimes a musical is given. After the lecture there is dancing for a half hour and light refreshments are served by the girls.

The club has two unique features: first, it has no officers, but is managed by a committee of five ladies, all mothers of high school students. The girls are willing to help at all times, but those who know girls realize that most clubs are "officered" to death. Another unique feature is that there are no dues. There are many minor expenses, such as printing and traveling expenses of the guests, and the first three years the Woman's Club met these, but later the Girls' Club became self-supporting. One afternoon entertainment was given for the children and one evening entertainment for the "grown-ups," making enough to pay all the yearly expenses and present the Woman's Club twenty-five dollars as a gift for their building fund.

The club now has started a prize competition in bread-, cake- and dressmaking, offering a first prize of five dollars and a second prize of two dollars and fifty cents.

A club that is doing practical work is following this varied program:

Roll call: Kitchen appliances and conveniences.

Paper: Household accounts. Are they essential?

Paper: System in household work, and economy of time.

Demonstration: Sandwiches and canapés.

Roll call: Helpful suggestions for housework.

Paper: Fireless cookers and their usefulness.

Demonstration: The fireless cooker.

Roll call: Waste; what is it?

Paper: The household waste.

Paper: Fuel and fuel economy.

Demonstration: Paper-bag cookery.

Roll call: Emergency luncheon menus.

Paper: Modern problems in the home. The servant problem.

Paper: The seamstress problem.

Paper: The nurse, or the hospital?

Paper: The guest.

Demonstration: How to shape croquettes and seal molds.

Roll call: Supper ideas.

Paper: A balanced dietary.

Paper: Suitable combinations of foods.

Paper: Food values.

Demonstration: Supper dishes.

Roll call: Ways of serving fruit.

Paper: Soups and soup-making.

Paper: Planning the menu for a formal luncheon.

Demonstration: Laying the luncheon table.

Roll call: A chafing-dish menu.

Paper: Planning the meals so as to reduce cost.

Paper: The chafing dish; is it practical?

Demonstration: A chafing-dish luncheon.

Roll call: Where shall we market?

Paper: Marketing and the cheaper cuts of meat.

Paper: The old market and the new.

Discussion: Is it more economical to buy bread or make it, for a small family?

Demonstration: A luncheon costing twenty cents per capita.

Roll call: Breakfast dishes.

Paper: The adjustment of home duties to social requirements.

Discussion: Fats; lard, butter, butterine, etc.

Demonstration: Cakes made with different shortenings.

Roll call: How shall we replenish the preserve closet in winter?

Paper: Sweeping made easy.

Paper: Labor-saving devices.

Demonstration: New labor-saving devices.

A teachers' club in the West has an excellent travel and study program based upon books of current interest.

Roll call: Current Events. Paper: "Through the Heart of Patagonia."

Roll call: Unique Customs of Countries. Paper: "Changing China."

Roll call: Quotations from Doctor Grenfell. Paper: "The Possibilities of Labrador."

Roll call: Persian Epigrams. Paper: "Modern Persia."

Roll call: Anecdotes of Famous People. Paper: "The Passing of Korea."

Roll call: Conundrums. Paper: "Tripoli the Mysterious."

Roll Call: Selections from Spring Poems. Paper: "Turkey and the Turks."

Roll call: Epigrams. Paper: "The Balkan States."

One of the most interesting clubs in New England has a membership of farmers' wives and daughters, scattered around for ten miles. It has astonishingly clever programs, prepared with few library helps. Each program is clearly written on a small folder, adorned with a Perry picture bearing on the subject of the day. One program was:

Our Friend the Horse. Music; Current Events; paper, "Horses, Past and Present"; reading, "The Council of Horse," by Gay; reading, "The Blood Horse," by Barry Cornwall; reading, "The Leap of Roushan Beg," by Longfellow; paper, "Some of the Horses in Bookland"; reading, "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix," by Browning.

Another meeting, a social one, had for its subject:

Tea. Paper, "Tea Culture"; "Tea in literature"; reading, "The Boston Tea Party," by Holmes; reading from "Cranford," The Tea Party; toasts, presented by members, drunk in tea.

A program for the year on Domestic Science begins each month with a roll call, answered by Helpful Hints. Here is one meeting:

Roll call: Helpful Hints on Vegetables and Soups.

Paper: Furnishing a Dining-room.

Paper: Furnishing a Bedroom.

Discussion of certain recipes (read aloud).

Practical demonstration.

Another meeting was even more interesting:

Roll call: Helpful Hints for the Kitchen.

Paper: The Evolution of the Modern House.

Paper: The Woman Who Cleaned Atlanta.

Notes on Meats and Deep-fat Frying, by members.

Discussion: Made-over Dishes.

Practical demonstration.

Discussion: Use of butter substitutes.

A charming yearbook has come from Flatbush, Long Island:

The Ocean. Importance of the Ocean; Life in the Deep; Sea Animals; Whales and Whaling; Turtles and Tortoise Shell; Sharks, Sword Fish, Sea Serpents; Modes of Fishing in Various Countries; The Sponge; Pearls and Pearl Diving; Sea Gardens, Sea Weeds and Mosses; Shells; Superstitions and Folklore; Coral; Birds of the Sea; Phenomena of the Ocean; Influence of the Sea on Poetry and Music; Marine Painting; Deep Sea Explorations; Evolution of Sea Craft; Famous Navigators; Pirates; History of the Battleship; Naval Heroes; Polar Explorations; The Life Saving Service; Light-houses and Beacons; Roll Call, answered by Fish Stories.

A new idea from Tacoma, Washington, is a Query Club. The members write on slips of paper the questions they wish answered and the president gives the slips to a committee of three to prepare the answers for the next meeting of the club.

A club in the West doing practical work reports:

It has the promise of a city market.

It has made a study of the state pure-food laws.

It has personally inspected dairies and ice cream factories, and studied the state laws of weights and measures, and had lectures on them.

It has had a weights and measures exhibition at the state fair, and is working on a new weights and measures law.

It has written to the Secretary of Agriculture for valuable bulletins on household economics, to be distributed among the women of the state.

A club in Illinois which has addresses before it made by "ministers, doctors and school superintendents," as well as papers by members, has studied these topics:

Pure Food; Juvenile Courts; Industrial Homes; The School as a Home; The Home as a School-Maker; Books by Age and Temperament; The Psychology of Success and Failure; Environments: natural, civic, esthetic and ethical; The Psychology of Occupation and Dress; Playgrounds, Games and Systematic Recreations; Woman's Place in Civic Improvement; The Conservation of Health; and, What the People Have a Right to Expect of the High School. Other clubs will find these may easily be expanded into many interesting sub-topics, and many of them may be used as suggestions for practical work in the home town or city of the club.

A Kentucky woman's club, meeting fortnightly all the year round, has for its current subject Rome and Italy. The meetings open with a roll call, followed by from two to four papers, sometimes varied with readings, music and discussions. For the responses at the roll call such themes are suggested as: Something about Italy; An ancient Roman and something about him; Quotations from Shakespeare's "Coriolanus"; Something About statuary you have seen; Quotations from Marcus Aurelius; Quotations from or about Petrarch; Quotations from "Romola."

The themes for papers are; Italy in Roman Times; Legends; The Eternal City; The Romans; The Republic; Early Literature; Early Art; Michelangelo; Italian Opera; Statesmen; Master Minds; Philosophy; Naples; Growth of Ecclesiastical Power; Dante; Humanism; Italian Art; Italian Musicians; The Renaissance; 1492 and Its Triumph; A Battlefield for Aliens (modern Italy, 1530-1796); Patriots; Sicily; Modern Romans. One meeting is given to an annual reception.

A club of three hundred members in the East is divided into standing committees, each member being on as many as she chooses. They are: Literature, music and drama, art, science, sociology, home and social relations, education, and hospitality.

One year this program was presented:

Education. Address: The function of story-telling in modern education, with illustrative stories.

Music and Drama. Address by an actor-manager: Behind the scenes; Music.

Art. Address: Japanese arrangement of flowers; Music.

Home and Social Relations. Society; Early colonial life; Southern society; Intellectual society; Society to-day (four papers).

Sociology. Two addresses: The Probation Court, and, the Children's Court, both by officers.

Literature. Address: Lincoln and the people; Music.

Science. Address with lantern slides: The wild birds and how to attract them.

A club in Pennsylvania prefaces its year book with these ten commandments:

1. Thou shalt have no other clubs before this one.

2. Thou shalt not worship any false thing.

3. Remember thy club engagement.