Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
scanned images of public domain material from the Internet
Archive.
WORK _and_ PROGRAMS
_for_ WOMENS' CLUBS
[Illustration]
_Caroline French Benton_
WOMAN'S CLUB WORK
AND PROGRAMS
Woman's Club Work
and Programs
or
First Aid to Club Women
BY
CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
Author of "A Little Cook Book," "Easy Entertaining,"
"Living on a Little," "Easy Meals," etc.
[Illustration]
BOSTON
DANA ESTES & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
_Copyright, 1913_
BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY
Thanks are due the editors of the _Woman's Home Companion_
for permission to use the articles in book form which first
appeared in that magazine.
CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 11
II. THE MODERN DRAMA 24
III. OUR OWN COUNTRY 40
IV. THE HOME 56
V. MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE 69
VI. A TRIP THROUGH THE BRITISH ISLES 83
VII. THE OPERA 100
VIII. THE WORLD'S GREAT PAINTERS 114
IX. TEN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS 131
X. TOWN IMPROVEMENT 145
XI. HOLLAND 160
XII. THE HOMELIKE HOUSE 175
XIII. NATURE 193
XIV. THE GREAT ENGLISH NOVELISTS 207
XV. ENGLISH NOVELISTS OF TO-DAY 221
XVI. THE GILDED AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 236
XVII. FORESTRY 250
XVIII. SHAKESPEARE 257
XIX. THE EMPLOYMENTS OF WOMEN 273
XX. IMPORTANT MOVEMENTS OF OUR TIMES 281
XXI. THE STUDY OF CHILDHOOD 297
XXII. MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS 309
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO BEGIN CLUB WORK
The time has long since passed when a special plea is needed for the
existence of women's clubs, for actual demonstration has proved their
worth to the individual and to society. Multitudes of women on farms, on
remote ranches, in little villages, in great cities, have felt their
impetus to a broader and more useful life. They have instructed those of
limited education; they have given a wider horizon to those hemmed in by
circumstance; they have trained the timid to speak, and, of late years,
they have prepared the way for women of leisure and influence to take up
what is called "the larger housekeeping," the bettering of social and
civic conditions.
But many women to-day still feel a certain timidity about venturing to
start a club, and an inability to make out a consistent line of study.
They have a lingering idea that it is all difficult, and that only the
expert may try to handle these things. So for these women here are the
simple, fundamental things about club work, which any one can follow.
If you would like to organize a club, begin by making out a list of ten
or a dozen of your neighbors and friends, those whose interests are much
like your own, and tell them that you think it would be pleasant to have
some sort of a little circle for reading, or study, or social
companionship. Probably they will all have something to say about this,
and various ideas will be advanced as to the sort of club which is most
desirable. Then, after it is talked over, you, as the one who suggested
the meeting, will call the women to order and ask some one to nominate
and second a temporary chairman, and, after she is elected, a temporary
secretary.
When these two have taken their seats and the secretary is ready to
begin taking notes, the chairman will appoint several committees, with
perhaps two members on each.
The first will be the Nominating committee, to present to the club the
names of candidates for the offices of president, vice-president,
secretary and treasurer.
The second will be on a Constitution, which is to draw up very simple
rules to guide the club, telling of its aims, the number of officers and
how they are to be elected, the dues, the time and place of meeting, and
whatever else is thought necessary.
The third committee will be on Name; it will prepare a list of titles to
be chosen from.
The fourth committee will be on Program. This will offer possible lines
of work.
These committees will be sufficient to begin with. The chairman can then
tell when and where the next meeting will be held and declare this one
adjourned.
At the second meeting the same chairman as before will take her place
and call for the reading of the minutes of the last meeting. When these
are read and accepted, she will ask for the report of the Nominating
committee, and when it is presented, the officers will be voted for,
either _viva_ voce, or by ballot, as the club prefers.
The new president and secretary will then take their chairs, and the
business of hearing the reports of the other committees will go on. When
a name for the club has been chosen, the constitution read and voted
upon article by article, and the program planned, the president will
name different chairmen to take charge of several following meetings;
then this first regular meeting may adjourn, feeling that the club is
successfully launched.
From this point the work should go on smoothly. The president will find
her part of it much easier, however, if she will get a little book,
called the Woman's Manual of Parliamentary Law, to which she can refer
when any point of order comes up with which she is not familiar.
Once a club is started, the great question is, What shall we study? And
of course the field is limited only by the tastes, the education of the
members, and the number of books to which the club can have access. If
there is a good public library, they may choose almost any literary
subject. If there is none, the next thing is to find out if a travelling
library can be had from the state librarian, and whether enough books
can be borrowed to cover the whole subject thoroughly. If members can
have neither of these helps, then the contents of individual libraries
must be discussed, and a subject must be selected which needs few books
to work with. It is to be noted that a good general reference book will
be found most useful, even if a practical subject is finally decided
upon.
One of the great dangers a new club has to face is the ambitious
tendency to begin with some abstruse, difficult subject rather than with
a simple one. The Literature of India, or the Philosophy of the Greeks
may be tempting, but even with all the reference books in the world such
subjects are a mistake for beginners. Something should be selected which
is interesting to every one, not too far away from their every day
reading, not too utterly unfamiliar. A country club may like a season on
Bird Study. A village club may find Town Improvement full of
suggestions. A city club can study some American Authors, or the Public
Schools.
If all these things still seem too difficult to begin with, then at
least an Embroidery Club may be founded as the very simplest foundation
possible, the members to come each week with their fancy work and listen
to one member who reads aloud something entertaining. This may do for a
first season, and the second, a study subject may be taken up.
Sometimes where there is no library at hand, a Magazine Club makes a
good preliminary step to larger things. Members tell a chairman what
magazines they take, and agree to have them at the home of the chairman
one day each week or fortnight. She will look them over and divide the
contents into several parts, travel, biography, essays, stories, poetry,
and so on. Then she will portion out among the members parts of the
programs; one meeting may be on travel only, a second on essays, a third
on poetry, three or four members reading selections from articles on
these. Or, the programs may be varied by combining two or more subjects.
This, too, makes a good training for a serious study in a second year,
especially if a discussion of the subjects becomes a regular part of
each meeting.
Clubs which have gone beyond these two early stages of development, or
which have never been compelled to pass through them, may begin work
with some literary topic. A Year of Biography, covering the lives of
great men and women of America or England, is a good first subject, with
plenty of material. The writings of Emerson, Hawthorne, Poe and others
of the same period, is another. Or, the novels of one or two great
writers, George Eliot, Thackeray and Dickens, are always delightful,
especially with readings from their novels.
Often clubs will find it a good plan to alternate some study subject one
month with a miscellaneous topic the next, by way of variety. Current
topics, too, are well worthy constant study, and these can be used as a
sort of prelude to any regular program.
Musical clubs are usually limited to a few members, except in cities,
but this is by no means necessary, for numbers of women love to listen
to good music who can neither play nor sing, and perhaps they can
contribute their share of work by writing or speaking of the lives of
the composers.
Clubs interested in practical themes may take up civic questions,
municipal reforms, or children's courts, or cleaning up their town, or
studying factories, or labor laws. There is an excellent magazine called
The Survey which deals with all these topics, and suggests many more on
the same lines.
Chairmen sometimes find real difficulty in making out club programs,
puzzled how to divide a subject into its best points, and subdivide each
of these general topics into others, for individual papers.
One of the best plans is always to look up any subject in the
encyclopedia, first of all. It is surprising how much help one can get
there, for history, art, literature, politics and everything else can be
found. Then next, the public library is to be consulted, its card
catalogue looked over, and the books drawn out, or at least glanced
through for suggestions. Magazines sooner or later seem to have articles
on everything, and the library will offer also books of reference to
these. In case the subject is historical, a good high school history may
be consulted, for in the table of contents the main divisions are all
clearly given. A chairman can write down the outlines of all she gleans
from these varied sources and then select from them the general lines of
study and fill these in.
Sometimes when there is no library at hand, a school teacher can help
one out with suggestions, or perhaps a minister may have books on the
subject selected. Or, by writing directly to the state librarian books
may be borrowed of him. Clubs which have a small yearly fee sometimes
buy a book or so a year and keep them as a nucleus of a library.
As to writing club papers, there personality comes in, and education
and training, and these give a certain individuality of method of
treating a subject. But even here members can follow out certain
definite directions.
Suppose, to make the matter concrete, that some one wishes to write a
paper on Ruskin, and does not know exactly how to go to work; here is a
general plan:
First, of course, she should read something on his life,--a book, an
article in a magazine, or anything she can get, and the more she can
read the better paper she will write. Next she should divide her subject
into its parts; in this case there might be three: Ruskin's life; his
work; his influence.
The first topic would cover his home, his early education, the influence
of his mother, and his gradual growth into his place in the world.
The second would take up what he did; his travels, his interest in
painting, architecture, economics and sociology; his friends, his
controversy with Whistler and its outcome, his contact with Oxford, and
the books he wrote.
The third would be a resume of what Ruskin actually accomplished; of the
value of his work to society, and his influence on social problems; and
the question would be raised, Are his views considered sound to-day?
Such a paper, illustrated by brief readings, would be of a certain
value, for it would be clear, concise, and full of matter which would
probably be fresh to many club members; and any subject may be treated
in the same general way; one has only to choose one on which plenty of
material can be found, then read everything to be had on it, make out an
outline of three or four topics covering the whole and take these up one
by one, illustrating with anecdotes, quotations and the estimates of
others, and the paper is sure to be interesting. What should never be
done is to write a paper without making an outline; the result of that
is vagueness and repetition.
The value of a discussion after a paper cannot be over-estimated. One
joins a club not so much to acquire information, because that can be
done by reading books at home, but rather to learn to express oneself
readily and intelligently. This is why in planning a club it is best to
emphasize the two points; first, that members must talk over the
subjects at the close of each meeting, speaking briefly and always to
the point; and second, that papers should not be too long, or too
heavy, but full of matter, interesting, and above all, suggestive.
Debates are always of value to club women, for as we know too well, they
are not naturally logical; debating soon shows one how easy it is to
think in a hazy, indefinite way, and how difficult to say clearly and
concisely what is to be said.
It will be necessary, of course, to learn the accepted methods of
debating, and know how to present the points of the argument
progressively and with a climax, as well as to anticipate the points
likely to be made by the opponent. Each side must also be limited as to
time.
As to the subject of a debate, it is a safe rule to choose the concrete
rather than the abstract, a large subject rather than a limited one, and
one of general interest. There should also be two well defined sides,
rather than something accepted by everybody. Such things as the views of
some writer on socialism, or the permanency of the work of a well-known
novelist or poet, or political, but not partizan, questions are always
acceptable.
To make club work successful year after year it should be remembered
that a club is not a university; that it should not be scholastic, but
full of human interests. Tastes of members vary, and so the subjects
selected should be attractive, fresh, and stimulating. In a large club
there may be committees on different subjects, art, civics, child study
and the like, each one a little club in itself, meeting weekly, and the
whole club can gather once a month and the committees in turn present a
program on their special subjects, and so every member be satisfied. As
years go by it will be found that members grow to like subjects other
than those they began with, and more general work will be taken up.
Last of all, to have a successful club it is essential that there should
be no members who are mere listeners. Each woman actually has something
to contribute, if only in a very quiet way, and a good chairman of a
program can find out what this is; the little talent may take shape in a
paper, or a talk, or a part in a discussion, or some music, or only a
quotation or a reading. But a club is worth just as much to a member as
she puts into it, and no more. Any woman who is not willing to do
something in the way of real work should drop out and give some one else
the place which she occupies but does not fill.
Two methods are followed in the programs offered to clubs in this book.
First, a year's work is divided up into ten meetings with four or five
papers suggested for each meeting with readings and bibliography.
Second, the year's work is again divided into ten meetings, but it is
left to clubs to choose from the material furnished how many papers
shall be written and what their titles shall be. The material offered in
either case is sufficient for twenty meetings or more; indeed, in some
cases, one theme might be expanded for the work of several years.
CHAPTER II
THE MODERN DRAMA
I--BEGINNING OF MODERN ENGLISH DRAMA--THE AGE OF ELIZABETH
1. _First Paper (Introductory): Beginning of English Drama_--Origin in
the miracle-plays. Influence of the Renaissance. Change in the form of
the drama through foreign influences.
2. _Ben Jonson_--Story of his life; character of his plays; his devotion
to the classics.
3. _Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Ford, and Webster_.
4. _Shakespeare_--Story of his life; how his plays were made; his
imagination, wit, and tenderness; his supremacy.
5. _The Theater in the Time of Elizabeth_--Scenery, seating
arrangements, costumes, absence of women actors; famous theaters.
READINGS FROM--Jonson's Every Man in His Humour. Beaumont and Fletcher's
Knight of the Burning Pestle. Shakespeare--History: Henry V. Comedy: As
You Like It. Tragedy: Macbeth. Fancy: Midsummer Night's Dream.
Sentiment: Romeo and Juliet.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Taine: History of English Literature: Book II.,
Chapter II. Hamilton Mabie: Shakespeare. The Mermaid Series of
Dramatists.
In addition to these papers have short readings from Kenilworth, and
Miss Strickland's Queens of England, giving a clear idea of Elizabeth.
Read also from Jonson's Sad Shepherd, the Masque of Oberon and the
Masque of Queens. Give a sketch of the modern reproduction of an old
miracle-play, called Everyman, with a selection. Close with
Shakespeare's estimate of Jonson, and Jonson's estimate of Shakespeare,
and show photographs of Shakespeare, his birthplace, Anne Hathaway's
cottage, the Avon, the parish church.
II--THE RISE OF MODERN COMEDY
1. _Beaumarchais_--Story of his life. Characteristics. Readings from The
Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. The modern operas founded
on these.
2. _Moliere_--His humble origin, rise and relation to the court. His
matrimonial unhappiness and estimate of women. Readings from Les
Precieuses Ridicules, Tartuffe and Sganarelle. Quotations from modern
estimates of Moliere.
3. _English Comedy under the Restoration_--Effect on the drama of the
return of the Stuarts. Estimates of the following writers and quotations
from the plays mentioned: Sir George Etheredge: She Wou'd if She Cou'd.
William Congreve: The Double Dealer. William Wycherley: The Plain
Dealer. Sir John Vanbrugh: The Relapse, which is said to have created
the fop as a type. George Farquhar: The Beaux' Stratagem.
4. _Comedy under the Georges_--Goldsmith and Sheridan. Birth of both in
Ireland, and its effect on their lives and work as dramatists.
Modernness. Readings from The Good-Natured Man and She Stoops to
Conquer. Readings from The Rivals and The School for Scandal. Readings
from Irving's Life of Goldsmith. Description of his grave by the Temple
Church, London.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Van Laun's History of French Literature. Translations
by Van Laun and Curtis Hidden Page. Lives of Moliere by Chatfield-Taylor
and Brander Matthews. The Mermaid Library (for the Restoration
Dramatists).
Between the September and the October programs there might be an
informal morning meeting, at which the novel by Chatfield-Taylor, Fame's
Pathway, of which Moliere is the hero, might be read in whole or in
part. It gives a vivid description of the stage of that time. In reading
The School for Scandal, The Rivals and She Stoops to Conquer, arrange to
have the parts taken by several of the club and have a rehearsal to
insure a smooth rendering of these bright plays. An additional paper for
this program might be on Jeremy Collier's famous attack on the stage,
and its purifying effect.
III--THE DRAMA IN ENGLAND; VICTORIAN PERIOD
1. _Early Nineteenth-Century Dramatic Criticism_--Charles Lamb's
selections from the early English dramatists. His great love of the
stage, and his essays describing plays and actors of his time. Essays of
Hazlitt and of Leigh Hunt upon the stage.
2. _Sheridan Knowles_--Readings from Virginius.
_Bulwer-Lytton_--Readings from The Lady of Lyons and Richelieu.
3. _Tom Taylor_--Readings from Our American Cousin and The Ticket
of Leave Man. _Robertson_--Readings from Society and Caste.
_Boucicault_--Readings from London Assurance; Louis XI.; and The Colleen
Bawn.
4. _Irving and Terry_--As exponents of Shakespeare. Their personalities.
Irving as a manager. His magnificent stage-settings.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Brander Matthews: Development of the Drama. C. M.
Gayley: Representative English Comedies. H. A. Clapp: Reminiscences of a
Dramatic Critic.
The immense improvement in the art of staging plays in this period is an
excellent topic for one paper. The famous actors also may be studied:
John Kemble, Edmund Kean, Macready, and Helen Martin (Lady Faucit), for
the earlier years; the Bancrofts, the Kendals, and Beerbohm Tree, for
the later. Sothern's great success as Lord Dundreary, Macready's visit
to the United States during the Civil War, and the popularity of Irving
and Terry are worthy of consideration. Particular mention may be made of
plays other than Shakespearean, in which Irving and Terry appeared: The
Bells, The Lyons Mail, Faust, and Tennyson's Becket. Read from Terry's
recently published biography. The history of Drury Lane and Covent
Garden theaters deserves a special paper.
IV--THE GERMAN DRAMA
1. _Lessing_--The dulness of the German theater up to the middle of the
eighteenth century. Paralysis of genius by the Thirty Years' War.
Lessing's dramatic criticism. Readings from Minna von Barnhelm, and
Nathan the Wise. Translations in Bohn's Library.
2. _Goethe_--His life-story, his writings, his influence. German
admiration for Shakespeare largely due to Goethe. Description of life at
Weimar. Goethe's first play: Goetz von Berlichingen. Readings from
Egmont, Iphigenia, and Tasso. Bohn's Library.
3. _Schiller_--Relation to Goethe. Comparison of their styles. Readings
from The Robbers, Wallenstein, Wilhelm Tell, Maria Stuart, Die Jungfrau
von Orleans. Bohn's Library.
4. _Later German Drama_--Grillparzer. Paul Heise. Hauptmann: reading
from The Sunken Bell. Sudermann: readings from Dame Care, and The Joy of
Living. What was the effect of Ibsen on the German drama?
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Witkowski: German Drama of the Nineteenth Century.
Huneker: Iconoclasts. Kuno Francke: German Ideals of To-day. Whitman:
Teuton Studies.
Goethe has been called the idol of the German people, and the major part
of this program may well be devoted to him. Carlyle's essay on Goethe is
a famous piece of writing, and the life by Lewes is as interesting as a
novel (see the Everyman's Library). Follow the third paper with a
reading from J. G. Robertson's Schiller after a Century. A closing talk
might point out the sentimental character of the early German dramas as
contrasted with the realism of those of to-day. Reference should also be
made to the symbolic plays.
V--FRENCH DRAMA
1. _The Romantic Drama_--Victor Hugo. The romantic revival in all
European literature. Influence of Scott's novels. Story of Hugo's life.
Early struggles. His first play; politics and exile. Characteristics of
his style. Readings from Le Roi s'amuse, Hernani, and Ruy Blas.
2. _Experiments in the Drama_--Augier: Attempt to revive the classic
drama: the story of Charlotte Corday, and reading from the play.
Scribe: Improved construction of the play; reading from Valerie.
3. _The Drama at Its Height_--Dumas fils. Comparison of the father and
the son in literature. The son's ambition to reform society through the
stage. The first problem plays. Description of La Dame aux Camelias.
Sardou: Versatility of subjects. Skilful construction of plot. Tendency
to the sensational and the gruesome. Reading from Patric.
4. _The Drama To-day_--Becque: Theory of evolution applied to society;
Les Corbeaux. Brieux: Satire, realism; Blanchette, Les Trois Filles de
M. Dupont. Rostand: Romantic and literary; readings from Cyrano de
Bergerac, L'Aiglon, and Chantecler. Bernstein: Relation of the modern
Jew to the stage; politics and the drama in Paris; Le Voleur, Samson.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--A. Filon: The Modern French Drama. Brander Matthews:
French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century. Matthew Arnold: Essay on
the French Play in London.
If possible, have an additional paper on some of the interesting French
actors: Coquelin, Mounet-Sully, Rejane, and Bernhardt. Another and
briefer paper may discuss French dramatic criticism, easily the most
brilliant of our time in the whole world of letters. Sarcey, Claretie,
Doumic, and Legouve are among these well-known names. Have some one
speak of the Comedie Francaise and its influence on French drama.
VI--ENGLISH DRAMA OF TO-DAY
1. _Pinero_--His early style as shown in The Profligate, The Amazons,
and Trelawny of the Wells. The important change in his methods revealed
in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, and His House in Order. The problem play
in English.
2. _Henry Arthur Jones_--Study of The Silver King, Saints and Sinners,
The Middleman, The Liars, and The Masquerader. Comparison of Pinero and
Jones.
3. _Grundy, Wilde, and Carton_--Sidney Grundy: A Fool's Paradise, A
White Lie, The Greatest of These. Discussion of the question of the use
of the stage as a pulpit. Oscar Wilde: Readings from Lady Windermere's
Fan, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Discuss the place of satire in
human life. R. C. Carton: Lord and Lady Algy. Discuss the question
whether comedy at its best may not be the ideal play.
4. _Current Playwrights_--Stephen Phillips: the literary playwright;
contrast the prose and the poetic drama; the author's dignity and grace;
reading from Paolo and Francesca. Barrie: the modern Scotch school of
writers; Barrie's humor; readings from Peter Pan, Alice Sit-by-the-Fire,
and What Every Woman Knows. W. S. Maugham: plays planned to succeed;
lightness and wit; quantity of product; readings from Jack Straw, and
Lady Frederick. John Galsworthy: the stage as a censor of morals; spread
of socialist theories; quotations from Strife, and Justice; effect of
latter on court processes in England.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--E. E. Hale, Jr.: Dramatists of To-day. W. Archer:
English Dramatists of To-day. W. Nicholson: The Struggle for a Free
Stage in London.
Mention the many plays written rather for pure literary purposes than to
be acted. Notice those especially of Tennyson, Browning, Swinburne, and
Stephen Phillips. An important factor in the English stage is the
censor, who must pass judgment on all plays before they are acted. Mark
the effect of this in excluding many French plays from England. Note the
relation between the modern English novel and the drama as illustrated
in The Prisoner of Zenda, The Little Minister, The Seats of the Mighty,
Vanity Fair (called Becky Sharp as a play), The Eternal City, The Garden
of Allah, etc.
VII--IBSEN
1. _His Life_--Hard youth. Connection with the theater. Struggle to gain
a hearing. Publication of Brand. His pension and financial independence.
Life in Rome. Life in Germany. Change from poetry to prose. His
friendships. His death and public funeral.
2. _His Temperament and Its Influence on His Writings_--Realism,
originality, revolt against conventions, individualism, pessimism,
irony. Views of woman. Is Ibsen critic or prophet?
3. _Influence of Ibsen on Modern Drama_--His technical skill, daring,
problem plays. Are Ibsen's themes suited to the stage and the average
audience? Should the theater preach or amuse, or both?
4. _Study of Three Plays_--Peer Gynt, The Pillars of Society, A Doll's
House. Analysis of plot, description of chief characters, and readings.
5. _Study of Three Plays_--Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler.
Analysis of plot, description of chief characters, and readings.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Brandes: Henrik Ibsen. Gosse: Ibsen. Bernard Shaw:
Quintessence of Ibsenism. Moses: Ibsen, the Man and His Plays.
Ibsen takes a place to-day with the philosophers as well as the
dramatists. In fact, the most interesting aspect of his work is his
relation to social thinking and the revolt against conventions. It would
be interesting to compare views on the points suggested. In what
differing ways do Ibsen's plays affect the club members?
VIII--BERNARD SHAW AND THE IRISH MOVEMENT
1. _Life of Bernard Shaw_--Dublin. London. Beginning of serial
novel-writing. Fabian Society. Help of William Archer. First play:
Widowers' Houses. The Philanderers. Mrs. Warren's Profession (rejected
by the censor).
2. _Shaw's Successful Plays_--Arms and the Man. (Mansfield's rendition.
Musical version: The Chocolate Soldier.) Candida. You Never Can Tell.
The Devil's Disciple. Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Man and Superman.
Showing up of Blanco Posnet. Fanny's First Play.
3. _Bernard Shaw's Qualities_--His mannerisms and style. His attitude
toward social conventions. His socialism. His attitude toward religion.
4. _William Butler Yeats_--Dublin. Encouragement from Oscar Wilde.
Stories and verse. Plays: Land of Heart's Desire; Diarmind and Grania;
Cathleen in Houlihan. Influence of Blake, Shelley, and Maeterlinck.
5. _Synge_--Riders to the Sea. Well of the Saints. Playboy of the
Western World.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--E. E. Hale, Jr.: Dramatists of To-day. G. K.
Chesterton: Bernard Shaw. H. S. Krans; Wm. Butler Yeats and the Irish
School. J. M. Synge: Works (4 vols. Dublin, 1910).
A supplementary paper may be written on the question, Has Shaw a
positive message of any importance, or is he merely a negative critic?
In addition there may be selections from his plays, showing his wit and
clever satire. The amusing comedy, You Never Can Tell, may be read, the
parts being taken by members of the club. Notice also the appearance in
America of the Irish Players under the management of Lady Gregory.
IX--MAETERLINCK
1. _Life_--Early life in Ghent. Paris, 1887. Influence of Villiers de
l'Isle Adam. First publishing and fame through Mirbeau's article in
Figaro. Translation of Ruysbroeck and his influence on Maeterlinck. His
marriage.
2. _Essays_--The Treasure of the Humble. The Life of the Bee. The Buried
Temple. The Double Garden. Death.
3. _Plays_--The Blind. Pelleas and Melisande. Aglavaine and Selysette.
Monna Vanna. Joyzelle. The Blue Bird. Analysis of these plays and
readings from them.
4. _His Place in Literature_--What is the meaning of his mysticism and
his symbolism? What is his position with regard to religion? Is his
optimism philosophically justifiable? Compare Maeterlinck with Bernard
Shaw as to difference in spirit and method.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Edward Thomas: Maeterlinck. Arthur Symons: The
Symbolist Movement. E. E. Hale, Jr.: Dramatists of To-day.
Maeterlinck's chateau is especially interesting: a medieval structure
with a great court. It was here that one of his leading plays was given
first, before a large company of his friends, with Madame Maeterlinck in
the part of the heroine. No scenery was used, but the action took place
in different rooms and in the court. Reference to this may be found in
some of the magazines of the time.
X--THE AMERICAN DRAMA
1. _William Dunlap (1798-1815), "Father of American Drama"_--His
numerous plays. Influence of Kotzebue. Study with Benjamin West.
2. _Campbell, Howard, and DeMille_--Bartley Campbell (1843-1888):
Matrimony, Siberia. Bronson Howard ("Dean of the American Drama"): Young
Mrs. Winthrop, The Henrietta, Shenandoah. H. C. DeMille (1850-1893):
Lord Chumley, The Charity Ball.
3. _Gillette, Belasco, and Klein_--William Gillette: The Private
Secretary, Secret Service, Too Much Johnson, Sherlock Holmes. David
Belasco: His training for the stage. Early melodrama. Stage scenery and
effects. Miss Helyett, The Heart of Maryland, Du Barry, The Girl of the
Golden West. Charles Klein: The Music Master, The Lion and the Mouse,
The Third Degree.
4. _Fitch, Thomas, and Moody_--Clyde Fitch: Brief Biography. Beau
Brummel, The Liar, Nathan Hale, Captain Jinks, The Blue Mouse, The City.
Compare Fitch's skill and ethical standards with those of Thomas.
Augustus Thomas: Alabama, Arizona, The Harvest Moon, As a Man Thinks.
William Vaughan Moody: The college professor as playwright. The Great
Divide, The Faith Healer.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--W. J. Moses: The American Dramatist. Norman Hapgood:
The Stage in America. Walter P. Eaton: The American Stage of To-day.
W. D. Adams: Dictionary of the Drama. 2 vols. (English and American).
After this program have a discussion on the question: Are women
responsible for the character of the modern drama? Take up also women's
theater clubs, designed to pass judgment on new plays. Does the weight
of their expressed opinion influence the management? On the whole, are
the morals of the drama improving?