Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 18

_Floors_--Carpets versus bare floors and rugs. What is the cost of hard wood, of Southern pine, of painted or stained floors? In the long run, are such floors and the necessary rugs more or less expensive than carpets? What sort of rugs are desirable beyond the Oriental? What are artistic, durable, harmonious in color and pattern? What can be done with old carpets?

_Walls_--The necessity of proper proportion should be emphasized; they should be neither too high nor too low for the size of the room. If they are wrong, what can be done? Show how papering can help the difficulty; too low ceilings call for a narrow striped paper without a frieze; a too high ceiling needs the calcimined ceiling carried down to a foot or more on the wall, with a narrow molding where it meets the paper.

Study the subject of wall-paper, and show ill.u.s.trations. The dark paper absorbs the light. The gilt-medallioned paper is inartistic; hard, bright colors are tiring to live with. Chintz papers are suitable for bedrooms. Notice the value of self-toned papers, and of shades of tans and pale browns.

_Hangings_--Have a paper or talk here. Describe the ugliness of highly colored, fringed, two-toned, draped portieres, and of imitation lace curtains, such as Nottingham, and contrast with the beauty of simple, plain hangings and curtains of net or muslin of good styles. Show pictures from catalogues of good and bad hangings. Do not overlook the fact that if windows are too large or too small, too high or too low, their outline can be altered by their treatment. Present the possibilities of stenciling.

_Furniture_--This topic gives opportunity for a whole meeting. Get catalogues from dealers, and ill.u.s.trate papers on different styles of furniture, English of several periods, French, German, Colonial, and the modern varieties of no period at all. Read from Furniture of Olden Times, by Alice C. Morse. Show how the plain lines of old mahogany are forever beautiful. Contrast such furniture with the showy, ornate, over-elaborate things we too often see to-day.

Make a point of the necessity of having few and simple chairs and tables in small rooms; of the advantage of low bookcases over high ones; the beauty of shaded lights over glaring white ones; of side lights and lamps as better than a central chandelier or hanging lamp.

Pictures should be of good subjects; copies of great masters, and of beautiful scenery or cathedrals, can be had in photographs; they should be plainly framed, hung flat on the wall, and opposite the eye.

Bric-a-brac should be quiet in color and line, rather than complex and pretentious; speak of the value of pottery, and, if possible, study a little of what is being done in arts and crafts in all lines.

A practical discussion may follow on, What shall we do with our ugly belongings? Let someone show how carpets can be dyed or made into rugs, furniture simplified by removing the cheap ornamentation and staining the whole, bookcases cut down, hangings made over.

VIII--SPECIAL ROOMS

Have ill.u.s.trated papers or talks on these topics:

_The Living-Room_--How can it best be made beautiful and comfortable?

What colors are best? what furniture? what pictures and ornaments? Where shall the writing-desk, the large table, the piano, stand? What of the floor, the curtains, the cushions? What is essential, and what can we do without?

_The Dining-Room_--Which side of the house is best to choose? What colors are suitable for the walls? What wood for the furniture? What about a sideboard, gla.s.s-closet, pantry? How can we make over what we have?

_The Bedrooms_--Shall we use wood or metal beds? What of the floor? Are wall-papers desirable? What of the use of chintz and white paint? What curtains and hangings are best? What furniture can be home-made for the bedroom?

_The Boy's Room_--How can it be at once sensible and attractive? What sort of furniture will he like best, and what colors? Shall there be a place for "collections"?

_The Girl's Room_--How shall this be at once dainty and practical? What colors are suitable? If the room is small, how can the s.p.a.ce be best utilized? Does a pretty bedroom tend to make a girl orderly?

From this point have brief papers on other rooms: the mother's room; the guest-room; the nursery; the playroom; the grandmother's room; the out-of-door sleeping-room; the hospital room; the sewing-room; the linen-closet; the attic; the cellar.

Close with a practical paper on that important room in the home, the kitchen. Show that it is a workroom, to be furnished and used as such.

Speak of the floor, the walls, and their finishing; the tables and chairs; the pantries; the sink; the range; suggest labor-saving utensils and contrivances, and use ill.u.s.trations; notice that the kitchen must be attractive as well as practical. Have members give ideas on all the topics.

IX--THE CARE OF THE HOUSE

Prepare in advance a discussion on these subjects: How much care shall we put on our houses? Shall women give up all their time to keeping them clean and orderly? What can they do to save steps? How much can the children help? Shall boys be taught housework? What can be eliminated from the daily routine?

If desired, there might be a practical talk on the necessity of keeping paint in good condition, to protect the wood underneath; of the care of gla.s.s, silver, marble, bra.s.s, hard wood; of how to prevent moths and mice, and of how often carpets must come up. It is better, however, to take up the larger aspects of the question, using such suggestions for talks or papers as these: Has housekeeping lost some of its difficulties to-day? What about modern appliances to avoid sweeping, and the like?

Has house-cleaning lost its terrors? Can the average woman consider housekeeping as a profession? and if so, how and where can she best be trained? Compare the modern housekeeper with the one of half a century ago. Show how the trained housekeeper is a practical domestic economist.

Discuss, Business-like Housekeeping; How shall we best train our daughters in it? If there is time, take up the servant question. Are our ideas changing on this subject? Present the new plans for specialists, with set hours, and the like.

X--GARDENS

This is one of the subjects which can be indefinitely expanded; indeed, a whole year's study might easily be put on it.

Begin with a study of historic gardens from the earliest times, and read Bacon's well-known essay. Then turn to the gardens of to-day, and begin with the description of what can be done in an apartment when one can have only window-boxes; take up the tiny plots behind city houses, and show what can be done there, with vines over the fences, climbing roses over a little arbor, narrow beds by the edge of the gra.s.s; show pictures of what has been done, if possible.

The lawn and small yard of a suburban house can next be studied, and here a little ingenuity can be shown to accomplish a great deal. Speak of the use of bulbs; of little cold-frames; of raising grapes under gla.s.s in a small way, and of annuals, shrubs, vines, and roses.

The large gardens of our modern country houses deserve especial mention.

Have as many pictures as possible of these. Notice the formal gardens, the Italian gardens, the sunken gardens, the rose gardens, the ma.s.sed shrubs, the walls of brick and stone, covered with vines. The adjuncts of the gardens are often most beautiful also, the pergolas, the marble and terra-cotta vases and seats, the sun-dials, the fountains, the lily-ponds, and the vistas cut through the trees.

Old-fashioned and herb gardens, kitchen and market gardens, growing violets and roses to sell, and the raising of unusual seeds and plants are all topics of interest both theoretical and practical.

CHAPTER XIII

NATURE

I--TREES

1. _Trees That Are Familiar to Us_--Our home varieties: nut-trees, foliage-trees, evergreens, etc.; fruit-trees and their care.

2. _Trees That Are Strange to Us_--Mahogany and other Central and South American trees; teakwood; cedars of Lebanon; redwoods of California.

3. _The Art of Forestry_--Need of forestry; history of the movement; the United States Department.

4. _The Tree in Sentiment and Literature_--Famous trees (the Charter Oak, King Arthur's Oak, the Washington Elm, etc.); poetry about trees; Tennyson's trees; Shakespeare's trees.

READINGS--W. C. Bryant: A Forest Hymn (in part). Longfellow: Evangeline (opening lines). Whittier: The Palm Tree.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Julia E. Rogers: The Tree Book. What is Forestry?

(U. S. Div. Forestry Bulletin 5). G. Pinchot: A Primer of Forestry (U. S. Dept. Agri. Farmers' Bulletin 173, 358).

There are magazines which may easily be consulted for subjects for discussion on landscape-gardening, the grouping of shrubs and trees, and similar themes. There may be a valuable paper on Insects Which Destroy Our Trees, and How to Deal with Them; the Agricultural Department at Washington will gladly send pamphlets which will be of great use. There might also be a talk on The Lumberman and the Government, and another on The Paper Manufacturer and the Government, and a third on Forestry as a Profession for Young Men.

II--LOCAL GEOLOGY

1. _Geologic Ages Represented in the United States_--Estimate of geologic time. Characteristics of the particular ages in this locality.

Volcanic action and its effects, with local ill.u.s.trations. Action of water.

2. _A Geological History of the Local Region as Far as It Can Be Constructed_.

3. _Fossil Remains of Plants and Animals in the Neighborhood_--Contents of local collections and museums described.

4. _Value of Local Rocks and Soils_--Use of rocks for building, for roads, for chemical purposes. a.n.a.lysis of soils and description of their best use in agriculture. Defects of local soils from the agricultural standpoint, and the remedy for them.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Dana: Manual of Geology. Shaler: Outline of the Earth's History. U. S. Geological Survey. (Get local reports.)