The following are among the circles not yet reported in our column. I first give name of circle, then place and number of members: “Gradatim,” Kennebunk, Me., four; Bloomfield, Ind, seven; Niobrara, Neb., eight; “Master” (motto, “Labor is the price of mastery”), Ionia, Mich., eleven; “Peripatetics,” Chicago, Ill., twelve; “Magnolia,” Marianna, Fla., fourteen; “Philomathean,” Lancaster, N. Y., eighteen. The last named has by quotations, recitations, readings and essays celebrated the “memorial days.” For six months none but ladies composed the circle. They, however, so charmed three gentlemen that they sought admission and became enthusiastic students. The members of this circle so dislike the class name that they have refused to adopt it. They are among the others who express their enjoyment of the class reports in our ’88 column.
The circle at Hastings, Minnesota, twenty-three members, has instructed its secretary to write their objection to our name. Among other things is the following: “In The Chautauquan we read of one class talking of establishing a ‘Heliotrope Bed’ at Chautauqua, and another a ‘Pansy Bed.’ We might send a coop of ‘Plymouth Rocks,’ but we fear they might demolish the beds of flowers.” We have received encomiums of praise of the name. One from Mount Carmel, Connecticut, says: “Our name, like every other worthy thing, in spite of its ‘fowl’ associations, needs no defenders.” One from Toronto, Canada, writes: “I am satisfied with our name, for although it represents a speckled bird it will ‘crow’ a good deal when four years old.” Another from Marine, Ill., after thanking Chancellor Vincent for “How to Read Alone,” protests against a change of name or motto.—A member of our class, a boarder in a Young Women’s Christian Association of New Haven, Connecticut, writes: “I think as one takes up Chautauqua books he loses the relish for stories, e’en though written by good authors. What an opportunity for gaining knowledge of the highest order!”—“Angle” circle, North Groton, N. H., is bereaved in the loss of one of their earnest workers, Mrs. E. E. Merrill, a lady who read much and well, and yet in the five short months had become so fascinated with the C. L. S. C. that almost her last words were those of appreciation of the same.—The East Norwich, L. I., circle is likewise bereaved in the death of a devoted member, Miss Lizzie Franklin.—A class of unmarried ladies complains that they have not been noticed. If they will send us another letter, writing the name of their circle so we can decipher it, and also give the town, or city, and state in which they live, we will gracefully and gladly bow our recognition.
“Among the Indians: Osage Agency, Indian Territory.—Our circle consists of six members—five teachers and one bookkeeper. Although each lives a busy life, we have had weekly meetings, kept up with the required reading, and celebrated two authors’ days, Bryant’s and Longfellow’s. Surrounded as we are by Indians, who still wear blankets instead of citizen’s dress, and who are not far advanced in the arts of civilized life, we feel doubly thankful for the benefits arising from such a course of reading.”
In Bingham Cañon, Utah, a mining camp situated about twenty-eight miles southwest of Salt Lake City, the New West Education Commission has a school established. One of the teachers proposed taking the Chautauqua course alone, but, mentioning it to several, organized a circle of six. Of the name she writes: “I like it so much. My home is in Plymouth, Mass.”
Half of the members of “Carleton” circle, Hudson, Mich., live out of town from two to six miles, yet they are numbered among the most enthusiastic and faithful. They have had full programs at every meeting, and have observed all memorial days. They number thirty-seven, twelve being of our class. The ’88s wear on their hats a symbolical badge (a fac-simile, in brass, of the pedal extremity of a Plymouth Rock). They like the motto, but not the name.