If there is time, have one meeting on the subjects of dwarfs alone. Note the differences between black, brown, and white dwarfs, and trolls, elves, pixies, kobolds, brownies, and goblins. See how closely all are related to the life of man. Contrast their cleverness with the invariable stupidity of giants.
In addition to these topics clubs will find the folk-lore of the Australians, the islanders everywhere, and of savage races, full of interest. A book just published, called The Fetich Folk of West Africa, by R. H. Milligan, bears on the last point.
The subject of myths and legends will be found of far greater interest if each topic is ill.u.s.trated by pictures. There are many fairy books for children for which artists have made beautiful drawings, and some especially lovely, in colors. In studying the Hero stories, get reproductions of famous pictures of the Rhine, legends, and look up Abbey"s pictures of Arthur and his knights.
Clubs composed of mothers and teachers may take up the subject of telling fairy stories to children; which ones to tell and which to omit, and how to tell them. Hero stories are always interesting to growing boys, and teachers can suggest to them which are the wisest to choose. Instead of reading stories and legends at every club meeting it is well to have them told by some one skilful in the art.
Clubs which wish to study the general subject of folk-lore in a serious way will find the topic of comparative religions most interesting and valuable; scholars are everywhere taking it up, and there are many books upon it, notably Frazer"s Golden Bough, already suggested under another head.
The folk-lore of the ancient Hebrews can be either taken separately or as a part of this subject; the old hero myths of the Bible, of Samson especially, will be found delightful.
CHAPTER VI
A TRIP THROUGH THE BRITISH ISLES
I--NEW YORK TO LONDON
1. _Leaving New York_--The docks, the harbor, description of the steamer; life on the ocean.
2. _The Landing: Liverpool_--The new docks; the art gallery.
3. _On the Way to London_--The Northwestern Railway; English railway-cars; English traveling companions; the countryside.
4. _The First Stop: Rugby_--English Inns; Thomas Arnold and Rugby School. Brief reading from Tom Brown"s School Days.
5. _Arriving in London_--The London cab; the motor-bus; the London lodging-house; English and American comfort.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--John C. Van d.y.k.e: The Opal Sea. Hare: Walks in London.
E. V. Lucas: The Friendly Town. Hawthorne: English Note-Books. William Winter: Grey Days and Gold.
By stopping in Liverpool a few days, there are several delightful side-trips possible: one to Chester, to see the cathedral, the Roman ruins, the famous walls, and the Rows; another to Hawarden, the home of Gladstone, and a third to Eaton Hall, the seat of the Duke of Westminster.
By going to London by the Midland, one pa.s.ses through the Peak country; look up beautiful Haddon Hall and Chatsworth; read the Story of Dorothy Vernon and Scott"s Peveril of the Peak. Going by the Great Northern, one can see the famous Five Dukeries, and pa.s.s through Sherwood Forest; read of the latter from Ivanhoe.
II--LONDON
1. _The Largest City in the World_--Study of its map. Statistics. Modern improvements. Charities. Government (the county council; the Lord Mayor and aldermen).
2. _The History of London_--The ancient Britons and their pile dwellings. Coming of the Romans. The days of Alfred. Norman London.
Under the Tudors. The Great Fire and the changes it made.
3. _Survivals of Old London_--Fragments of the Roman wall. The Hall of William Rufus. The Tower and its church. The Abbey. Readings from The Spectator and Washington Irving"s Sketch-Book, describing the Abbey.
Coronations, including a brief description of that of George V.
4. _Modern London_--Buckingham Palace and its history. The Houses of Parliament and their decoration. Art galleries and museums and their most remarkable contents. St. Paul"s. Westminster Cathedral. The homes of the n.o.bility.
5. _Literary Landmarks of London_--Grub Street. The Cheshire Cheese and the Kit-Kat Club. d.i.c.kens"s London. Residences of literary people.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Hare: Walks in London. Besant: London (also his books about the several sections). Hutton: Literary Landmarks of London.
Singleton: London as Seen and Described by Famous Writers. E. V. Lucas: The Friendly Town.
An attractive discussion may follow these topics on such themes as the modern housing problems of London, and the transportation of the city (trams, tubes, motor-buses). Compare the hotels and restaurants with those of New York. Shopping. Social settlements, especially Toynbee Hall. The fashionable residence district. London Bridge by day and by night. The London pageant of 1911.
III--THE GREAT CATHEDRALS
1. _Canterbury_--Description of the town. St. Martin"s, the Mother Church of England. Monastery of St. Augustine. Architecture of the cathedral, and periods represented. Great events connected with its history. Story of Thomas a Becket.
2. _Winchester, Salisbury, and Wells_--The ancient town of Winchester and its place in English history. Caskets of the Danish kings. The gla.s.s. Graves of Jane Austen and Izaak Walton. Salisbury: the most symmetrical of the cathedrals. The cloister. Wells: the moated palace of the bishops; the vicar"s close; the chapter-house staircase.
3. _Ely and Peterborough_--Ely: the fens. Story of King Canute. The military architecture. Peterborough: the screen of the west front; the painted wood ceiling; the grave of Queen Catharine of Aragon, and the former grave of Mary Queen of Scots.
4. _Lincoln and Lichfield_--Lincoln: the bishop"s eye, and the dean"s eye; site of the shrine of Little Hugh of Lincoln; old houses around the close. Lichfield: symmetry; monuments of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Samuel Johnson, and Garrick. Johnson"s connection with Lichfield. The Grammar-School.
5. _York and Durham_--York: the old city and its walls; the Five Sisters window; the military monuments; the famous chapter-house; the crypt; the horn of Ulphus. Durham: story of the monks of Lindisfarne and St.
Cuthbert; the dun cow; the prince bishops; the Norman pillars; the Galilee, and the grave of The Venerable Bede; the knocker.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Van Rensselaer: English Cathedrals. Pratt: Cathedral Churches of England. Singleton: Famous Cathedrals as Seen and Described by Great Writers.
If time permits, this program should occupy two meetings at least. To the great cathedrals given may be added the smaller ones, Chichester, Gloucester, Worcester, Chester, Exeter, Ripon and Carlisle. To the excursion to Wells add a side-trip to Glas...o...b..ry, the home of the Arthurian legends. At Winchester visit the Hospital of St. Cross and the famous school. At Canterbury read from David Copperfield.
IV--OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE
1. _Oxford: the City_--The Cherwell and the Isis. The castle. Carfax.
The martyrs and their monument. The cathedral. Trips to Iffley, Blenheim, Woodstock, and Gaunt House.
2. _Oxford: the Colleges_--Origin and const.i.tution of university. New College: William of Wykeham"s Tower and Sir Joshua Reynolds"s window; Christ Church: Cardinal Wolsey, the great bell, the hall and staircase; Magdalen College: the Founder"s Tower, the deer park, Addison"s Walk, the outdoor pulpit; Balliol College: John Balliol, King of Scotland, Wiclif, Jowett.
3. _Oxford: in English History and Literature_--The monks; the Empress Matilda; Charles I.; the Oxford Movement. Famous authors educated at Oxford: Ben Jonson, Sidney, Locke, Jeremy Taylor, Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, Swinburne, Pater. Books describing life in college at Oxford: Verdant Green, Hard Cash, Tom Brown at Oxford. Readings about Oxford from Matthew Arnold, Andrew Lang, and Bagehot.
4. _Cambridge: the City and the Colleges_--The round Norman church; the Cam and the Backs. Pembroke College: Edmund Spenser"s mulberry-tree; Queen"s: the bridge; King"s: Henry Seventh"s chapel; Trinity: Wren"s library, Milton ma.n.u.script; St. John"s: the garden; Magdalen: the Pepys library; Emmanuel: the Puritans" college, John Harvard.
5. _Cambridge and the Intellectual Life of England_--Government and Science: Bacon, Newton, Harvey, Darwin, Thurlow, Palmerston. Letters: Ascham, Marlowe, Crashaw, Dryden, Gray, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Thackeray, Tennyson.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Andrew Lang: Oxford. Edwards: Oxford Painted by John Fulleylove. Atkinson: Cambridge Described and Ill.u.s.trated. Stubbs: The History of Cambridge.
Read especially the famous pa.s.sage from the preface to Matthew Arnold"s Essays in Criticism, concerning Oxford. Show a photograph of the beautiful memorial of Sh.e.l.ley and one of Holman Hunt"s picture called, "The Light of the World." Tell of the Bodleian Library and the Sheldonian Theater. Read O. W. Holmes"s account of the granting of degrees. Under Cambridge, notice King"s College chapel and compare the ceiling with that of Henry Seventh"s chapel in Westminster Abbey, built at the same time. Give a brief paper on Girton and Newnham Colleges for women.
V--THE LAKE COUNTRY
1. _Introductory Paper_--General description of Westmoreland and c.u.mberland Counties. The sixteen lakes, including Windermere, Ullswater, Coniston, and Derwent.w.a.ter. History of the region.