Add to these, papers on the expansion of England's colonies and their development; social and moral progress; the Reform Bill; the growth of democracy; the increase of industry through invention, and the great expansion in scientific fields, physics, biology, botany, medicine, and sociology.
The Victorian period is remarkable for its writers. Trace the development of the novel as shown in the works of Thackeray, Dickens, and George Eliot, with readings. The trend of poetry and the influence of Tennyson, Browning, and Swinburne may follow this, and then have the Pre-Raphaelite movement with its ideals of art and poetry, and a study of the Rossettis. The essayists must be noticed, especially Macaulay, Carlyle, Ruskin, and Pater, and the subject of painting and music studied with its various exponents.
VII—THE PRESENT
Last of all comes the study of England in our own time. Begin with papers on Edward VII and George V, and their ministers, especially noticing Lloyd-George and Asquith; speak of the Welsh Disestablishment Bill, the Education Bill, and the Ulster Question. Notice the English laws concerning women and children; speak also of suffrage. Close with the great war which began in 1914, its causes, leading men and principal events.
Have several meetings on the novelists, poets, playwrights, and artists of to-day. A special study might also be made of the cathedrals of England. See "The Cathedrals of England," by Mary J. Tabor (The Page Company).
CHAPTER XIII
Woman's Problems of Work
INTRODUCTORY
The outline given here may be amplified by taking up in the same general way the conditions of life of women in several representative countries, both the rich and poor, the workers and the women of leisure, closing the year with an outlook on the whole woman question of the world.