Chapter V

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James Lane Allen: Readings from "A Home of the Silent Brotherhood," "Two Gentlemen of Kentucky."

Richard Malcolm Johnston: Readings from "Dukesborough Tales."

The Poet of the South, Sidney Lanier: Selections from his biography, by his wife. Short poems: "Life and Song," "The Stirrup Cup," "A Song of the Future," "A Ballad of the Trees and the Master."

George W. Cable: Reading from "'Sieur George."

Ruth McEnery Stuart: Readings from "Sonny," "The Second Wooing of Salina Sue," "Thanksgiving on Crawfish Bayou."

The program may be interspersed by plantation songs: "Old Black Joe," "The Suwanee River," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Camptown Races" and others.

XVI--THE CHILD IN THE HOME

I. _Music_: Ballad.

II. _Talk or paper_: The child's right to a welcome.

III. _Discussion_ by three members:

(1) Squabbling and how to deal with it.

(2) Unselfishness.

(3) Equal rights for boys and girls.

IV. _Music_: Child songs.

V. _Paper_: The family evenings: Parents and children.

VI. _Discussion_:

(1) Reading aloud.

(2) Games and music.

VII. _Paper_: Parents as friends.

VIII. _Talk_, followed by general experiences.

XVII--MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

Commencement and Afterward.

The Relation of Parents to the Grown Daughter.

The Training for Housekeeping.

Friends and Entertaining.

Preparations for a Life-Work Away from Home.

The Married Daughter.

The Unmarried Middle-Aged Daughter.

A general discussion.

XVIII--CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

_Song_: "Noel," by Gounod.

_Reading_ from Dickens: the story of Scrooge's Christmas.

_Paper or talk_ on Curious Christmas Customs (in England, Germany, Sweden, etc.).

_Song_: "When from the East the Wise Men Came," by Bullard.

_Reading_ from "Sonny," by Ruth McEnery Stuart.

_Reading_ from Howells's "Christmas Every Day."

_Song_: "The Virgin's Lullaby," by Dudley Buck.

_Reading_: "George Washington Jones, A Christmas Gift That Went a-Begging," by Ruth McEnery Stuart.

_Song_: "Over the Hills of Bethlehem," by Neidlinger.

Interest will be added to this meeting, of course, by decorating the club rooms with Christmas greens and lighting with candles.

XIX--PROGRAM FOR A COLONIAL MEETING

Home Life in Virginia (paper or talk). Reading from "The Virginians," by Thackeray.

The Love Story of Washington.

Mt. Vernon; Martha Washington's Housekeeping. (Illustrated with pictures of Mt. Vernon.)

The First Inaugural Ball.

Lafayette's Return to America.

Brief items of interest given by members, of family traditions of these and other events.

Close with two patriotic songs: "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" or "America."

XX--KING ARTHUR AND THE ROUND TABLE

Paper or talk on The Origin of the Arthurian Legend.

Brief outline of the story of the Round Table.

Reading from Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal."

Reading from Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur."

The story of Glastonbury and Avalon; description of the abbey.

The legend of the Holy Thorn.

Readings from Howard Pyle's "Story of King Arthur and His Knights."

Reading from the "Idylls of the King;" "The Passing of Arthur."

The chairman in charge of the meeting may procure from her picture-dealer or from the nearest large city inexpensive prints of the Abbey paintings of the Holy Grail in the Boston Public Library, and these, mounted on large sheets of white paper, may be hung about the room.

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