2. _Birds of Prey_--Eagles, vultures, hawks.
3. _Birds as Game_--Pheasants, pigeons, quail, grouse, wild turkeys.
4. _Birds of the Night_--Owls, night-hawks.
5. _Birds and Insects_--Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, bee-eaters, swifts.
6. _Birds of Song_--The nightingale, the mocking-bird, thrushes, warblers.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Robert Ridgway: Manual of North American Birds. H. K.
Job: How to Study Birds. Chapman: Bird Life. Beetham: Photography for Bird Lovers. Weed and Dearborn: Birds in Their Relation to Man.
If there is time, have these papers also: Birds" nests in the different climates; the coloring of birds" eggs; the plumage of birds and its use in millinery; bird songs; bird study with opera-gla.s.s and camera. Have several readings from Burroughs" Wake Robin, and Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller"s Little Brothers of the Air.
IX--FLOWERS
1. _The Study of Botany as a Recreation_--Character of the local neighborhood. The humble plants and flowers: gra.s.ses, mosses, ferns, and water plants. The herbarium.
2. _Wild Flowers of the Forest, the Swamp, the Mountain, and the Prairie_.
3. _Cultivated Flowers_--House plants. The amateur greenhouse. Window boxes. Curious flowers and orchids.
4. _Gardens and Gardening_--Literature (Evelyn, etc.). Cultivation of annuals. Raising of spring flowers. Flowers for market. Italian gardens.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Gray: Botanical Text Book. Mrs. W. S. Dana: How to Know the Wild Flowers. Caroline A. Creevey: Flowers of Field, Hill and Swamp. H. L. Keller: Our Garden Flowers. Kerner: Flowers and Their Unbidden Guests.
The subject of gardens can be extended to cover an entire program. The literature of the subject has become very great, and many interesting and beautiful readings may be chosen from such books as Ruskin"s Proserpina, Elizabeth and Her German Garden, and Mabel Osgood Wright"s Garden of a Commuter"s Wife. An entire paper might be given to the fascinating subject of sun-dials. Another might deal with the literature of the rose, or the relation of plants and insects, or the color of flowers (consult Grant Allen).
X--SHRUBS, VINES, FERNS, MOSSES, LICHENS
1. _Shrubs_--Flowering shrubs suited to the climate. What shrubs are best adapted for hedges locally? Do hedges pay? The grouping of shrubs on lawns, and the principles involved. Landscape-gardening and its history and local application.
2. _Vines_--Ornamental and fruit-bearing varieties. The j.a.pan ivy, English ivy, woodbine. Care of vines and covering in winter. The enemies of vines. Pasteur and what he did for France. The English sparrow.
Arbors and their construction and style. Value of the quickly growing vines, honeysuckle, moon-vine, etc.
3. _Ferns_--Local varieties. Description of tropical ferns. Ferns in the house, and their care. The Boston, sword, and asparagus ferns. Ferneries and how to make and care for them. Fern b.a.l.l.s.
4. _Mosses and Lichens_--Description of varieties. Remarkable mosses of the arctic and the tropic zones. Edible mosses. The reindeer and its modern propagation.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--W. C. McCollum: Vines and How to Grow Them. N. L.
Marshall: Mosses and Lichens. W. I. Beecroft: Who"s Who Among the Ferns.
D. C. Eaton: Ferns of North America.
This meeting may be made practical by considering how to beautify unattractive houses and grounds by the use of vines and shrubs.
Inartistic verandas may be covered with j.a.panese ivy, unsightly fences taken down and replaced with hedges, and back yards concealed by screens of large shrubs. Photographs of transformed houses and yards may be shown.
CHAPTER XIV
THE GREAT ENGLISH NOVELISTS
I--SIR WALTER SCOTT
1. _Story of His Life: in the Country_--Love of the Scottish countryside; saturation with old legends as a child; interest in odd characters.
2. _Story of His Life: in the City_--Homes in Edinburgh; relation to the law; his personal friends; his connection with the Ballantynes and publishing; his marriage and family; the building of Abbotsford; the last years.
3. _As a Poet_--Influence of ballads; simplicity of form.
4. _Readings from His Poetry_--Lay of the Last Minstrel; Lady of the Lake.
5. _As a Novelist_--The anonymous Waverley; rapidity of production; historic scope of the novels.
6. _Readings from His Novels_--Guy Mannering (Meg Merrilies); Ivanhoe (the tourney); Heart of Midlothian (Effie Deans).
DISCUSSION--A comparison of Scott with later writers of historical novels.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Lockhart: Life of Scott. R. H. Hutton: Scott (English Men of Letters Series). Washington Irving"s account of his visit to Abbotsford.
Have a talk on Scott"s romantic love-story and his later courtship and marriage. Give an account of his friendships, especially of that with Marjorie Fleming, and read from Dr. Brown"s book about her life. Tell of the dogs Scott loved. Describe Abbotsford and Melrose; describe his death and the burial at Dryburgh; use as many photographs as can be obtained.
II--JANE AUSTEN
1. _The Story of Jane Austen"s Life_--The county society; the material for her novels; her method of composition.
2. _Emma and Mansfield Park_--a.n.a.lysis of the plots and the characters.
Jane Austen"s men and her women.
3. _Jane Austen"s Masterpiece: Pride and Prejudice_--The story. The author"s sense of humor. Readings: The ball; Mr. Collins" letter, etc.
4. _The Place of Jane Austen in Modern English Literature_--The pioneer novelist of modern society. Her realism. Estimates by Howells and others.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--Life of Jane Austen, by her nephew, J. E. Austen Leigh. Letters, edited by Lord Brabourne. Life, by Oscar Fay Adams.
Life, by Walter Pollock.
Miss Austen is a charming subject, with many points of interest. The family life at Steventon is one; her letter-writing is another; her meeting with Thackeray is a third. Read from her letters, her brief unfinished comedy, and her poem. Describe her burial-place in Winchester Cathedral.
III--CHARLOTTE BRONTe
1. _The Story of her Life_--The home on the moors at Haworth, father and brother, the three brilliant sisters; boarding-school life; Brussels; her literary career, marriage, death.