Michelangelo was the most distinguished sculptor of the modern world, the most brilliant representative of the Italian Renaissance. Show the a.s.sistance Lorenzo the Magnificent gave art at this time. Notice Michelangelo"s earlier work; speak of the curious way in which he, a sculptor, was compelled to paint the frescoes in the Sistine chapel; then how he became an architect, a builder of fortifications, a sculptor again, and finally the architect of St. Peter"s. Show pictures of his best-known statues, and also of the frescoes.
Mrs. Browning is our best known and loved English woman poet. Her life is inseparable from that of her poet-husband, yet it has great individuality. Have papers on her early life, her marriage, her life in Florence and her work. Read from the "Sonnets from the Portuguese,"
addressed to her husband, from "Aurora Leigh" and from her shorter poems.
Howells is considered the most distinguished of our modern American prose writers, the leader of the realistic school which has so largely influenced recent work. He has written much besides his novels, but they are perhaps best known. Notice his ability to portray character; the delightful ease and naturalness of his style and his humor and truth in character drawing. Read from "The Rise of Silas Lapham," and "A Modern Instance." Read also from his sketches of travel.
VIII--APRIL
Study Hans Christian Andersen, Murillo, Wordsworth and Charlotte Bronte, whose birthdays come in this month.
Andersen"s life is full of a simple interest, and a sketch of it may be followed by many readings from his books, especially from "A Picture-Book Without Pictures," "Tales for Children," and "The Ice Maiden." Notice that most of his work was ill.u.s.trated from incidents from his own experience, which makes it natural.
Murillo, the Spanish painter, the friend of Velasquez, painted in three different styles, but he used only two cla.s.ses of subjects; papers may work out this suggestion and ill.u.s.trate it from his well-known pictures.
Show copies of the "a.s.sumption of the Virgin," his best-known religious work, and of others of the same style. Notice the beauty and charm of his children.
Wordsworth should certainly have more than one meeting given to him.
Write of his quiet country life, of his wife and sister Dorothy; of his many friends; show his different styles of verse and read poems from each; read also his best-known sonnets.
Charlotte Bronte is one of the unusual English women writers. Write of her home life on the moors with her talented family, her work, especially "Jane Eyre," so full of striking romance, and her early death. Read several scenes from "Jane Eyre."
IX--MAY
Dante, Andubon, Browning and Brahms belong to May.
Dante"s story, his life in Florence, his love for Beatrice, his military service, his exile and death all need plenty of time to study. His fame as a poet is unrivaled in its power and beauty of language. Have sketches of his life, his times and his work, and read what critics have said of it. Read also from translations of the "Vita Nuova" and the "Divina Commedia," in their translations. (See Longfellow"s.)
The work of our own Audubon is better known to-day than when he was living. His life story is most romantic; read this, and show what he accomplished. Have shown some copies of his famous pictures of birds.
Compare him with other naturalists.
Robert Browning did what no other poet has done; when he was twenty years old he found the theme for his life work, the development of the human soul; this is the key to his verse.
Read of his life in England and in Italy; speak of his friendships; study his philosophy; discuss his versification; show his different styles of work; have many ill.u.s.trative readings. Compare him with other poets. Have some of his songs sung which are set to music; read also "Pippa Pa.s.ses."
X--JUNE
Now come the birthdays of the musicians, Gounod and Schumann, and also of the patriot Nathan Hale, the teacher Thomas Arnold, and the novelist Thomas Hardy.
Hale is one of those men of whom we are always learning more. Have papers on his early life, his years at Yale, the events which led to his capture and his execution; show a picture of the statue in the City Hall Park of New York. Compare him with Andre. Give selections from different writers showing their estimate of him.
Thomas Arnold is the ideal for all teachers, and so an excellent subject for a meeting. Tell of his home; of Rugby as he found it; of his ideas for the school and for the individual boys; mention some of the great men he trained; read from "Tom Brown at Rugby" and show pictures of the school.
Hardy is one of the great Victorian novelists, a writer of somber, realistic and pessimistic stories of great power. Read of Wess.e.x and its moors and wind-swept fells in the "Return of the Native." Notice the homely humor in all his books. Read from his most artistic work, "Far from the Madding Crowd," and from "Tess of the D"Urbervilles," his most dramatic. Compare him with other writers of the day. Discuss his philosophy.
CHAPTER XX
PROGRAMS FROM CLUBS
I
A Virginia club has studied this group of painters:
_Italian Artists_: Raphael, t.i.tian, Correggio.
_Flemish Artists_: Van Eyck, Rubens, Van Dyck.
_Dutch Artists_: Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Ruysdael.
_Spanish Artists_: Velasquez, Murillo, Fortuny.
_German Artists_: Durer, Holbein, Hoffman.
_French Artists_: Rosa Bonheur, Corot, Millet.
_English and American Artists_: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Millais, Sargent.
The Girls" Club of Upper Montclair, New Jersey, was started several years ago as a department of the Woman"s Club. Its membership includes girls in the grade below the high school and the girls who have left school and have not gone to college or into business. The attendance has grown so that one winter there was only one meeting when the number did not reach a hundred.
The meetings are held every Monday afternoon at three-thirty and some well-known speaker gives a short talk. Sometimes a musical is given.
After the lecture there is dancing for a half hour and light refreshments are served by the girls.
The club has two unique features: first, it has no officers, but is managed by a committee of five ladies, all mothers of high school students. The girls are willing to help at all times, but those who know girls realize that most clubs are "officered" to death. Another unique feature is that there are no dues. There are many minor expenses, such as printing and traveling expenses of the guests, and the first three years the Woman"s Club met these, but later the Girls" Club became self-supporting. One afternoon entertainment was given for the children and one evening entertainment for the "grown-ups," making enough to pay all the yearly expenses and present the Woman"s Club twenty-five dollars as a gift for their building fund.
The club now has started a prize compet.i.tion in bread-, cake- and dressmaking, offering a first prize of five dollars and a second prize of two dollars and fifty cents.
A club that is doing practical work is following this varied program:
_Roll call_: Kitchen appliances and conveniences.
_Paper_: Household accounts. Are they essential?
_Paper_: System in household work, and economy of time.
_Demonstration_: Sandwiches and canapes.
_Roll call_: Helpful suggestions for housework.
_Paper_: Fireless cookers and their usefulness.