Our literature sometimes seems to be of small consequence as compared with that of older countries, but as a nation we have been occupied with establishing ourselves in our territory, and have had little time to give to what may be called the adornments of life.
In our Colonial Period we had a few outstanding historical books like Bradford"s History of the Plymouth Plantation,--Judge Samuel Sewall"s Diary, and Cotton Mather"s Magnalia. Then, also, we had Jonathan Edwards" great philosophical work on The Freedom of the Will.
In Revolutionary days Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, Thomas Paine his essays, John Woolman his Journal, and the first American novelist appeared, Charles Brockden Brown.
Our literature really began with the New-Yorkers, Irving, Cooper, and Bryant. Then came the New England group, Emerson, Th.o.r.eau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, and the historians, Prescott, Motley, and Parkman, to which list the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe should be added. In the South we had Edgar Allan Poe, Simms, Lanier, and later Cable and Page. The Western country has given us Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and Riley. Realism has its representatives in fiction in Howells, James, and Mary Wilkins Freeman, and in poetry in Walt Whitman.
To-day we have nature writers, including John Burroughs and Stewart Edward White. We have such essayists as William Winter, Henry Van d.y.k.e, Agnes Repplier, and Samuel Crothers. We have the poets John Vance Cheney, James Whitcomb Riley, Madison Cawein, Anna Branch and Josephine Preston Peabody. We have the historical writers McMaster, James Schouler, James Ford Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Cabot Lodge. And among the novelists may be mentioned Winston Churchill, Margaret Deland, Robert Grant, S. Weir Mitch.e.l.l, Edith Wharton, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Ellen Glasgow, F. Hopkinson Smith, Hamlin Garland, Robert Herrick, Jack London, and Booth Tarkington.
In early days our painters were Gilbert Stuart, Copley, and Benjamin West; in later years, Inness, Whistler, La Farge, Abbey, and Sargent.
Our sculptors have been Powers, Crawford, Saint-Gaudens, French, Borglum, MacMonnies, and Potter.
In music we have had MacDowell, Chadwick, Nevin, and Parker; in architecture, Upjohn, Richardson, Stanford White, the Hunts, and Carrere.
For a general survey of our country, read Bryce"s American Commonwealth.
CHAPTER IV
THE HOME
I--THE DWELLING-HOUSE
1. _The House Desirable_--Where to live; city or country; the most economical kind of house; necessities and luxuries.
2. _The House Comfortable_--Heat, water, ventilation, sunshine.
3. _The House Beautiful_--The exterior, type of house, harmony with surroundings, color; lawns, gardens, trees and shrubbery; the vegetable garden and the drying-ground; out-buildings.
4. _General Discussion_--Living where we do, how can we improve our houses and their surroundings?
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Isabel Bevier: The House: Its Plan, Decoration and Care. W. M. Johnson: Inside of One Hundred Homes. S. Parsons, Jr.: How to Plan the Home Grounds. L. C. Corbett: Beautifying the Home Grounds.
(U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Farmers" Bulletin 105. 1904.)
Discuss the transformation of old houses; the modernization of the farmhouse, with porches added, the parlor opened, the bedrooms made attractive, and heat and a water-supply provided. The village home; its limitations and possibilities; the advantage of simple lines rather than cheap and ugly scrollwork and ornate verandas. The city home; the bas.e.m.e.nt dining-room and kitchen. The modern flat; its advantages and inconveniences. Modern building-materials, concrete, shingles, cobblestones; the use of stains. In preparation for this meeting, ask each member to bring in a sketch of the ground-plan of what represents to her an ideal dwelling-house.
II--FURNISHING THE HOUSE
1. _Intelligent Furnishing_--Consistency of style throughout. The value of various styles. How to combine the old with the new. Costly ugliness.
2. _The Study of Special Needs_--Rooms of the family as a whole: the dining-room, the library, living-rooms. The guest-room. The boys"
bedrooms and den. The room for the grown daughter. Nursery and playroom.
3. _Household Conveniences_--The kitchen as a workshop. (The equipment for cooking: gas, oil, coal, electricity.) New kinds of utensils (bread and cake mixers, fireless cookers, etc.). The attractive kitchen.
4. _Art in the Home_--Wall decoration (study of colors). Floor coverings (carpets, rugs, use of hard woods). Draperies, pictures (choice of subjects, artistic grouping and hanging of pictures). Bric-a-brac (selection and artistic arrangement). The beauty of simplicity in the home.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Lillie Hamilton French: Homes and Their Decoration.
Same author: The Home Dignified. Mitch.e.l.l: The Fireless Cookery Book.
Reading list on home decoration and furnishing: N. Y. State Library Bulletin. Bibliog. Vol. I, No. 20. Albany 1899.
Discuss the charm of the colonial style of furnishing; ill.u.s.trate by cuts in the catalogues of large furniture-makers and dealers of four-post beds, Chippendale chairs and tables, Sheraton desks, etc. Take up the value of cretonnes in bedrooms and living-rooms. Have a practical talk on making over old things, dyeing carpets, simplifying the outlines of cheaply made furniture and staining it. Close with an informal discussion on The Kitchen Comfortable.
III--DOMESTIC ECONOMY
1. _The Housekeeper_--Her training for her profession. Schools of domestic economy. Lectures. Books and magazines. Practical experience.
The training of our daughters.
2. _The Table_--The family income and cost of food. Economy and waste.
Entertaining. An attractive table for those of small means.
3. _Individual Needs_--Food for the growing child; for the invalid; for the dyspeptic. The diet of the laboring man and of the professional man.
School luncheons.
4. _The Weekly Program_--The old housekeeping and the new. The problem of the laundry. The household mending. Sweeping and dusting. Baking and cleaning. The mistress" personal supervision.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Ravenhill and Schiff: Household Administration.
Herrick: Housekeeping Made Easy. Campbell: Household Economics. Benton: Living on a Little.
The abundance of material for this meeting will make discussion easy.
Take up as additional topics: How shall we have an abundant table under present conditions? Is vegetarianism wise? Can entertaining be done economically? Does it pay to spend time on the esthetic side of cooking and serving? Are weekly menus a help? Close with a paper or talk on the Importance of Simplicity in All Branches of Housekeeping.
IV--SERVANTS
1. _The Problem as a Whole_--Reasons for the change in the present situation as compared with the past: shop and factory labor, education, social advancement.
2. _The Problem as Seen by the Mistress_--The rise in the scale of wages. Increased demand for short hours. Constant desire of servants to change. Independence of spirit.
3. _The Problem as seen by the Maid_--Her comfort; the sleeping and sitting rooms. Her leisure; afternoons and evenings out. Her society; callers. Her wages. Growing tendency to specialization of work. Uniforms and caps.
4. _Possible Solutions_--The American girl, the foreigner, the negro, and the j.a.panese as servants. The working housekeeper. The visiting servant. The eight-hour day. Cooperative housekeeping. The servantless apartment.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Salmon: Domestic Service. Terrill: Household Management. Addams: Democracy and Social Ethics. Herrick: The Expert Maid Servant.
For this meeting the chairman can arrange in advance for the brief presentation of personal experiences, each limited to three minutes.
Other interesting and valuable topics might be: The Relations between Employers and Employed; Employment Offices and Their Regulation; The Ethics of References; Advertising and Answering Advertis.e.m.e.nts for Servants; What Shall We do for Sick and Elderly Servants?
V--FINANCING THE HOME
1. _The Income_--The husband"s share. The wife"s share. The children"s share. Special expenditures: the doctor and the dentist, church, benevolences, etc. Discussion of the proper division of the income.