Woman's Club Work and Programs First Aid to Club Women   By: Caroline French [Adapter] Benton

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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.

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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.