A lady holding a lucrative position in a Boston printing room writes: “All that the C. L. S. C. has done for me it is impossible to tell. It has helped me to become better acquainted with my Maker and his wonderful works; the history of nations and individuals; created a greater love for solid, instructive reading; better fitted me for teaching in the Sunday-school, and opened avenues for thought, study, and usefulness which, I trust, will make life more successful and useful.”
“Will you please advise me through the columns of The Chautauquan what book to procure to learn at home how to speak and write the English language grammatically?” An excellent practical teacher gives the following answer to the above question: “There is no book warranted to turn out good writers and speakers of the English Language. If the person desiring the information is a foreigner—a Frenchman or a German—we could better answer the question. If he is English, with what knowledge does he begin? If with little knowledge, he should use some elementary book, such as Swinton’s ‘Language Lessons,’ or better, Whitney’s ‘How to Speak and Write Correctly.’ If somewhat advanced, some one standard text-book of the English language, some grammar like Brown’s, would be helpful. But better would be the advice to read some masters of English. Read carefully and critically, and try to reproduce such essays as Irving’s, Hawthorne’s, and Longfellow’s. Johnson said, ‘Give days and nights to the study of Addison if you would attain a style familiar but not coarse, elegant but not ostentatious.’ Bunyan is said to have become master of English from the study of the Bible.”
[MEMORIAL DAYS AT CANTON, PA.]
On Friday evening, April 28, occurred the memorial exercises of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, in honor of Shakspere, Bryant, Milton, Addison and Longfellow. We have about twenty-five members in our circle, and a limited number of invitations to persons not members were issued, the greater part of whom attended.
The ladies labored hard all day in arranging the rooms, and, as if by magic, changed the appearance from a prayer-meeting room to one of the cosiest and most inviting places you have ever seen. The floors were handsomely carpeted, the walls hung with paintings, and the chairs and round tables grouped about the room in such manner as to give an air of informality that was truly delightful.
The program, as might be expected, was a choice one. Careful preparation, a familiarity with the subject, deep interest in the work, can be truthfully said of the efforts of each, and to write a detailed criticism would be supererogation. It is necessary to state, however, that in responding to the roll-call each member gave a quotation from one of the poets. The entire program was as follows: