Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 5

2. _Family Expenses_--Renting or owning a home. The cost of living: food, fuel, service, etc. Dressing the family. Education: private or public schools.

3. _Necessities and Luxuries_--The comfortable home. The place of recreation. Books, music, and travel. The college education. The use and the abuse of luxury; the automobile, the theater, dress.

4. _Savings_--Proportion of savings to expenditures. Ways and means of saving. The savings-bank, life insurance, investments.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Haskins: How to Keep Household Accounts. Curtis: The Making of the Housewife. Babc.o.c.k: Household Hints. Hewitt: How to live on a Small Income.

A discussion can be planned for this meeting on the comparison of men and women as economists. A brief talk may be given on The Change in the Scale of Living To-day, and another on Is a Return to the Simple Life Possible? The training of children in the use of money should also be taken up, and the meeting can close with a consideration of the question, Is a College Education a Necessity or a Luxury?

VI--SOCIAL LIFE

1. _The Home Circle_--Planning the home life. Delightful meal-hours.

Evening amus.e.m.e.nts: music, games, reading aloud. The happy Sunday.

2. _Neighbors_--Who is my neighbor? The spirit of neighborliness. The ethics of borrowing. Helpfulness in the community.

3. _Hospitality_--The fair exchange. Social life for all ages. The open house and the small income. Simple entertaining.

4. _Social Organizations_--The grange, the lodge, the club. Church societies: men's leagues, women's aid societies, boys' brigades, guilds for girls. The woman's club: intensive and extensive work.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Gilman: The Home, Its Work and Influence. Modern Home Life: edited by Edward Everett Hale. Hall: Handbook of Hospitality.

Abbott: The Home Builder. Holt: The Successful Hostess.

Emphasize in these papers the beauty and charm of a simple, free hospitality as distinguished from formal and costly entertaining. The welcoming of a child's playmates after school should be considered, the opening of the doors to the young people of the neighborhood, the planning of afternoon parties for elderly women, the bringing together of congenial groups of people, the drawing in of strangers, and the spirit of cordiality in church life.

VII--RECREATION IN THE HOME

1. _For the Children_--Simple amus.e.m.e.nts: candy-making, hide-and-seek, and other old-fas.h.i.+oned games. Value of an attic. Tenting in the back yard. Gardening. Children's parties.

2. _For the Young People_--Small group games: checkers, card-games, chess, etc. Games of mental skill: twenty questions, guessing contests, writing of topical poems and jingles. The billiard-room in the house.

Social advantages of the chafing-dish. Young people's dances.

3. _For Adults_--Reading aloud. Home carpentry. Entertaining: cards, music, dinners, etc.

4. _For Everybody_--Charades. Tableaux. Plays. The home orchestra.

College songs. Discussion: What are the best books for family reading aloud?

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Mrs. Hamilton Mott: Home Games and Parties. Bancroft: Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium. Benson: Book of Indoor Games for Young People of All Ages. Hoyle's Games (many editions).

The great point to be emphasized in this meeting is that parents should deliberately make a place in the home life for amus.e.m.e.nts, from childhood up. Discuss: In how many ways can parents and children share their pleasures, and how may the spirit of mutual enjoyment be fostered?

VIII--VACATIONS

1. _Travel_--Should we see our own country before going abroad?

Preparations for travel. Advantage of reading in advance about places to be visited. How to travel with children. Travel as an education.

2. _In the Country_--On the farm. In the camp. Among the mountains. By the sea. Comparison of experiences by members of the club.

3. _Vacation and Study_--Is it a good plan to combine the two? Summer schools. Chautauquas so called. Conventions (religious, sociological, scientific, musical, pedagogical, etc.).

4. _Vacations at Home_--The opportunity of a delightful summer. The possibilities of the yard: tents, out-of-door meals, the arbor, the garden, etc. City roof-gardens for families. Trolley-rides. Trips and picnics.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--M. L. Pool: Vacation in a Buggy. F. H. Winterburn: Vacation Hints. Talfourd: Vacation Rambles and Thoughts (1845).

Discuss these questions: What proportion of one's income is properly spent in a vacation? What is the influence of life in a summer hotel on parents and children? Is the rest from housekeeping and the change of life compensation for the drawbacks there? Is the enlarging of the social circle of one's grown children a duty? Saving versus travel.

IX--CHILDREN IN THE HOME

1. _The Children's Rooms_--The nursery and its furnis.h.i.+ngs. Rooms for the older children: seclusion, comfort, individuality. The playroom and the workshop.

2. _Children and Parents_--The ideal relations.h.i.+p: parents as friends.

When should discipline end and personal freedom begin? Children at table. The bedtime hour and how to make the most of it. The blessing of grandparents in the home.

3. _Brothers and Sisters_--Mutual interests: work and play together.

Cultivation and maintenance of the ideal of friends.h.i.+p between brothers and sisters. The spirit of chivalry and the spirit of service.

4. _Children and Servants_--Overfamiliarity versus dignity in the relation. Respect for a servant's rights and belongings.

5. _The Children's Playtime_--Team-work in the home. The family group: mutual interest of parents and children. Hospitality and entertaining for children.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Ellen Key: The Century of the Child. E. S. Martin: The Luxury of Children. Gertrude Jekyll: Children and Gardens. S. D. and M. K. Gordon: Quiet Talks on Home Ideals.

One of the most delightful ways of making home interesting is to encourage the children to give little plays, ill.u.s.trated poems and shadow pictures. Miss Alcott in Little Women gives the outline of one play which may be prepared easily, and there are others to be had.

X--THE FAMILY AND TRAINING FOR LIFE

1. _Training in Work_--The spirit of industry. Faithfulness to tasks.

Making domestic duties interesting. Study of domestic economy for girls.

2. _Training in Culture_--Books, music, and pictures. Education in taste. Table-talk about things worth while. Outlook on the world's life.

3. _Training in Character_--The fundamental virtues: truth, honesty, fort.i.tude, unselfishness. Teaching by reading, by counsel, and by example.

4. _Training in Citizens.h.i.+p and Social Usefulness_--Discussing politics.

The father's politics and the boy's. Active philanthropy. Committee meetings in the home, and their effect on the children.

5. _Training in Idealism_--The steady ideal. Heroes and hero-wors.h.i.+p.

Stories of bravery and unselfishness in the daily press. What sort of politician shall boys be taught to admire? Lives of devotion in science, medicine, social service, and missions. Discuss the question: Are our children being really prepared for a broad and useful life-work?

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Lyman Abbott: The Home Builder. Newell Dwight Hillis: The Home School. Theodore T. Munger: On the Threshold. Kate Upson Clark: Bringing up Boys.

A talk may follow the fifth paper of this meeting, taking up the subject: How best to utilize the home as a training school, and yet to keep it cheerful.