If any group of women need a club it is the women on farms and ranches and in little villages, whose lives are monotonous, who have no lectures or concerts to attend and few magazines or new books to read. They, above all the rest of us, need intellectual stimulus. And their question may be answered with a positive affirmative: Yes; it is perfectly possible to have a club, one doing excellent work, with no library at hand. Many examples of what can be done might be given, but one will stand for them all: In a singularly isolated spot in New England a club was began ten years ago with a handful of farmers' wives and daughters living within an area of a dozen miles. They used what material they had at hand; they added to it; they studied simple things at first, and later took up more difficult subjects; and then they did practical work for their community. To-day that club is made up of many well-read women of all ages who have acquired what may truly be called a liberal education, and the whole neighborhood has been raised and enlightened by what they have done for it in a hundred ways. And they had nothing more to begin with than any group of women has under similar conditions. Any woman who feels the need of a club can start one, and once started it will grow of its own volition and justify its existence.
II—HOW TO START A RURAL CLUB
Let us suppose that some country woman decides to start a club. She is not quite sure what steps to take, but she invites some of her neighbors to meet with her and talk it over. Probably they will agree to begin very simply, merely meeting once a week or so and reading aloud—feeling their way to other things. This is the right sort of a beginning, for in a very short time they will have gained sufficient confidence in themselves to plan something better. At this point some one may suggest that at the next meeting each woman shall bring in a written list of the books she owns. When this is done it will probably be found that there are many good ones to use. There will probably be a set of Dickens, volumes of Longfellow, Tennyson, and Whittier, a few biographies, including one of General Grant, a book or two of travel and scattered volumes of all kinds, novels, histories, and school books, and possibly an encyclopedia.
This list has great possibilities for club study, especially if there is the encyclopedia, so essential for reference. With a very small membership fee, perhaps five cents a month, one new book may be bought every three months; with ten club members this can be done.
When the club is fairly going it may decide to select Dickens's novels to study, as a sort of popular beginning; a simple plan of work would be as follows:
Divide the club into committees of two, and to each give one novel to read and thoroughly master. Meanwhile the president may study the life of Dickens. If she has no book to use she should write to the State Librarian and try to secure a traveling library with this and other needed books in it; or at least she may get, if not a library, one or two volumes, sent by mail. At the first regular meeting she should give a sketch of Dickens's life and show any pictures of the author in the book. She should also try to find in an English history pictures of Canterbury, London, and other places associated with his life, and Westminster Abbey, where he is buried.
By the next meeting the first committee should be ready to give an afternoon program on one novel, say "David Copperfield." One member may tell the story of the book, mentioning the various characters; another may take these up in part and describe them. Then there should be readings, not only by these two members but by others to whom they have been given, illustrating the main points of the story. After the meeting the book should be loaned to some one who will read it and pass it on to the rest. And so with each novel in turn. There should be a discussion at each meeting, and members should tell why they admire or dislike this character or that, and what great moral lesson Dickens points out in each book, and so on. Such a study might well occupy an entire year and be extremely interesting.
Or suppose the club decided to study Longfellow's poems. Again the first meeting is to be on the life of the poet; the second will take up the first of the group of American poems, "Hiawatha," and have it read aloud; the discussion following may be on the types of Indians drawn by Longfellow and inquire: Are they true to life? The next meeting will be on "Miles Standish," with a paper or talk on the Puritans in England and America, and a description of the first winter in the colony.
The third meeting will take "Evangeline," with a paper on the Acadians. Later should come other poems of our own country, on slavery, and on village life, with readings from these, and from "The Wayside Inn." Later still, his translations should be read and discussed, and his little dramas. The season should close with an afternoon in which each club member should read her favorite poem. If clubs can buy one book it will be found delightful at this point to read aloud "A Sister to Evangeline," by Chas. G. D. Roberts (The Page Company).
Or, if the autobiography of General Grant were to be studied, a committee should go over the table of contents and divide it up into several parts; his early life; his experiences at West Point; the years between that and the Civil War; the great campaigns and battles in which he took part, and the great men on both sides with whom he came in contact, especially Lincoln and Lee; his Presidency; his trip around the world; his business venture, its ending; the writing of his book; his death and burial. All of these points should be illustrated with pictures where that is possible, and each meeting should have a discussion on the period presented. The one copy of the book must of course be loaned in turn to the different committees, but each one is not to read it all but only the part assigned, so there would be plenty of time for preparation. Such a study would open many different topics, especially those bearing on the war and on Grant's trip, and would be of a definitely educational nature.