Although we have met to-day as strangers, we find that
the unity of thought and purpose that has characterized
our work the past year has made us friends. The history
of our circle is necessarily brief because of the short
time it has been in existence. When we first organized
in the fall of ’82, a part of us supposed we were
entering the society temporarily and did not expect to
matriculate and become regular members of the mystic
tie, but we only met a few times till we perceived the
advantages we were deriving from the association, one
with another, and saw the necessity of a permanent
organization. Now there are ten of us enrolled as
students of the “University of the C. L. S. C.” We
pursued the course with a great deal of enthusiasm and
delight, and if it were possible, each study seemed
more interesting than the preceding. With a great deal
of reluctance we laid aside geology and Greek history
for astronomy and English history, but we soon saw we
were susceptible of inspiration from the latter as well
as the former. Our circle, except two, is composed of
married ladies. As housewives we feel that the course
has been very beneficial—it has relieved the monotony
and tedium of housekeeping because it has given us
something ennobling to think of—it has also given us
a taste for something else than the last novel and
the latest piece of gossip in the daily papers. We
feel as though we could adopt the sentiment of Plato.
A friend who observed that he seemed as desirous to
learn himself as to teach others, asked him how long he
expected to remain a student? Plato replied, “As long
as I am not ashamed to grow wiser and better.”
* * * * *
TEMPERANCE and labor are the two best physicians of man; labor
sharpens the appetite, and temperance prevents him from indulging to
excess.—_Rousseau._