One excellent program sent by an Ohio club is on a unique plan. There are seventeen members, and to each was given one current topic, on which she reported each month. Municipal Affairs, Magazines, Our State, Literature, Hygienics, Suffrage, Art, Domestic Science, Politics, Foreign News, Science, Agriculture, Education, Religion and Philanthropy, the Drama, and Famous Men were those selected. The year's program was wholly upon social and economic questions: The Dawning of Economic Consciousness; Economics in Relation to Citizenship; New Methods in Public Schools; Organized Charities; Cost of Living in Relation to Criminology; Prison Reform; The Tramp Question; United States Courts; History of Money; Panics; Municipal Ownership. There were several papers under each of these heads, and the whole seems most practical and interesting.
In contrast with this well-constructed program comes one from an Illinois club which shows a certain confusion. There are committees on Parliamentary Law, Domestic Science, Dramatic Art, Travel, Music and Physical Culture. Meetings are held weekly and, among others, these subjects have been presented: Our Local Pioneers; Mexico; Home Environment; Mother and Child; The American Colonies; Domestic Science with Demonstration; American Art; and Travel in Japan. This is by far too varied a program, and if only one main subject had been taken, say The American Colonies, members of the club would have found at the end of the year that they had gained more than they possibly could have from the casual treatment of so many.
A New York State club offers this unusual Musical Program. (The study meetings are illustrated by musical numbers, and between such meetings are others on the latest events in the musical world. A large chorus is also sustained by the club, which gives concerts at intervals.)
American Music. Our Favorites; Folk Songs and Indian Music; Women Musicians; Nevins and MacDowell; Operas; Ballads.
Foreign Music. German and Austrian Music; Great Britain's Music; Russian Music; Polish and Hungarian Music; Italian Music; French Music; Comparison of Foreign and American Music.
An Ohio club has an unusually good set of Current Topics, for study in connection with a year's program on Nature: