Michigan advances with a goodly list of new circles this month. At Petoskey there are fourteen members formed into a circle. These friends have the invigorating influence of the Bay View summer Assembly to help their work.——At Hudson, a delightful company of thirty-five has formed the “Carleton” circle, the name being given, of course, in honor of the popular poet, Will M. Carleton, whose birthplace and early home were in Hudson. Round-Tables with genuine “at home” feeling, recitations, select readings, question box, queries, criticisms and quotations make the meetings full of life and variety. The program for an evening is always published in the local papers at least two weeks beforehand, and a report of each meeting is slipped in after each session, so that the people can not forget the existence of the C. L. S. C. At an early meeting our friends are going to take a trip to Naples and return.——Strong organizations have been formed at both Kalamazoo and Saugatuck. At the former place the “Burr Oak” circle has twenty members, and at the latter, a lovely town about two miles up the Kalamazoo River, the circle, though small, is growing. The use which they make of our columns seems to us very good. “The Chautauquan is our ‘guide and counselor,’ and though we do not follow closely its outline for local circles, yet we never prepare a program without its aid.”——In the land of the arbutus, at Traverse City, the “Arbutus” circle, of twenty members, has been organized. A pretty monogram has been designed for them, and it is to be printed upon the sermon paper which the members use for essays and reviews. These contributions are then to be bound in paper covers and filed. An interesting collection it will certainly make. The growth of our language has been furnishing this circle with some interesting topics.
The “Vincent” local circle of Lafayette, Ind., has entered upon its fourth year, with forty members, three of whom are C. L. S. C. graduates, but remain active in the work. The president, Prof. Craig, and vice president, Prof. Thompson, both of Purdue University, are thoroughly interested in the work. The program is prepared a month in advance. They are following the suggestions in The Chautauquan, largely. The success of their lecture course last winter left the society with funds sufficient to rent a room, centrally located, for the regular meetings. The vice president, a Professor of Art, recently presented the circle with a terra cotta medallion of Dr. Vincent, his own work. It has been handsomely framed and hung in their room.
From Sheldon, Ill., a friend writes: “We have a local circle of about twenty-five members and great interest is taken in the exercises. We usually follow your program. Not having started until after October 1st, and having been delayed in obtaining our books, has thrown us behind some, still we are making up lost ground better than expected.”——At Crete a circle has started off with twenty-six members—many of them young people, to whom the course has been just what they needed.——Abingdon also has a society of twenty-three members. Several readers have been there in past years, but not until now has there been a circle. The chemistry readings are furnishing an excellent opportunity for experiments, and the Abingdon circle are fortunate in having a college laboratory to resort to for experiments.
The circle of the Franklin Avenue M. E. Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been formed two years and has not reported until now to The Chautauquan. They have an interesting class of nineteen members, who are all very zealous in the work. The circle meets every Monday evening to review the week’s work, which they are studying after the plan laid out in The Chautauquan.
The circles of Minnesota, and, indeed, of the entire north-west, are requested to send a note to Mr. E. P. Penniman, St. Paul, Minn., stating whether they will coöperate in a plan for securing a C. L. S. C. day at either the Red Rock camp ground, Lake Minnetonka, or at White Bear Lake. The six circles of St. Paul, those of Minneapolis, Hudson, and Stillwater, have signified their willingness to help carry out this excellent idea. Such a day would be an event of greatest interest and value to the circles in that locality; it would arouse flagging enthusiasm, would give every one present a fund of new ideas, and would spread the plan of home reading in many homes where it is unknown.
We are very much pleased to hear from Bloomfield, Iowa, of a circle, organized in 1882, but which has not before been introduced to our circles. Since its organization its membership has increased from six to fifteen members. The memorial days are observed and much social life enjoyed by the circle which promises that at no late day there will be more than one organization of the C. L. S. C. in their city.
A late number of The Daily Register, of Mobile, Alabama, contains an essay on “The Character of Milton,” which was read before one of the circles of that city at a recent meeting. Had we space we should gladly reprint this excellent paper. Mobile has two societies reading the Chautauqua course, and we hope that we shall soon receive full reports from them.
A great deal of energy is displayed by the Desota, Missouri, circle. Few issues of the Jefferson Watchman come out without a notice of its meetings. A late number says: “The members of the C. L. S. C. are again busily engaged in their work after their holiday vacation. Two meetings have already been held in the new term, both of which were enjoyable and instructive, and the reading of ’85 is well under way. The number of members is about the same as last term, as none after becoming interested in the work seem to have the least inclination to drop out of the circle, but on the contrary become more and more interested and enthusiastic. The program for the next meeting will be found in another part of this paper.”
Kansas quite equals Missouri, however, in its enterprising readers. A letter from a reader at Wakarusa remarks of their circle: “We number but eight members, and are so scattered that our circuit embraces several miles, but having adopted the name ‘Olympian,’ we hope in time to carry off a double prize, one for intellectual attainments, the other for physical prowess exhibited in combat with Kansas mud. Though we have difficulties and discouragements even in our own little circle, we are yet resolute and enthusiastic. At present the Round-Table is the principal feature of our meetings.”——Quite as interesting is a live report from Wyandotte: “Although we have not been reported for nearly a year, our circle is not dead, but the interest is increasing, and we are doing better work than ever. Our membership numbers twenty-five, with twenty subscribers to The Chautauquan. In 1884 we held forty-seven meetings, and had an average attendance of twelve. With us, as with nearly all other circles, the great difficulty is to keep from having too much of a sameness in our programs. Thus far we have had good success by giving a committee charge of the literary work, which reports performers and programs a week in advance for regular meetings and three weeks for memorial meetings. We sometimes vary the exercises by devoting an entire evening to one subject. We endeavor to have all roll calls answered with quotations, and stimulate inquiry by having a question box, the contents of which are discussed at each meeting. We observe all memorial days, and they are a never failing source of interest. On Milton memorial the biography of Milton was given by the circle, each member taking up the history where the former one stopped. Each member read a favorite selection from the author, and the variety of selections indicated a variety of taste. We make good use of the Chautauqua songs, and find that the singing of them renders a meeting so much the more interesting, and there is, too, a bond of union in a stirring song. Our members have taken the liberty of naming this circle the ‘Pansy’ circle, as nearly all of us are members of the ‘Pansy’ class.”
We are sorry to “skip” the wide space between Kansas and California, and gladly stop at Nordhoff, Cal., where we find the “Ojai” circle, which was organized last October. Although they are only seven, they are all in earnest and full of the Chautauqua spirit. They meet once each month, at the homes of the members. They are all busy people, but are glad to make time for the C. L. S. C. reading, which they find adds a charm to busy lives. They hope to be able to persuade many of their friends to join them.