The work carried on at the Home Culture Club in Northampton under the auspices of Mr. George W. Cable and the immediate direction of Miss Adeline Moffat is nevertheless in some degree dependent upon the students of Smith College, and should therefore be of peculiar interest to them. The basis of all work at the club house is the small class,-small enough to allow the leader free scope in dealing with individual needs. The majority of the leaders have always been college girls. The work required of them is not exacting; it takes but one hour a week, and so far as possible they are urged to consult their own tastes in selecting classes. The choice is large, ranging from spelling to English Literature. This work is not charity, it is mutually helpful, the leader is benefited no less than the class. Not only is there well recognized mental gain from the mere effort of self-expression; the horizon is likewise broadened by the active realization of the essential oneness of each individual with his kind. The whole work of the Home Culture Club hinges on the idea of fellowship. It is impossible to show in a few words more than one side of this work. But simply to mention the classes in dressmaking and gymnastics, the Saturday evening receptions, and the flower garden competitions, is enough to convince those interested that the work is being conducted on the broadest possible lines. Any more definite information will be gladly given by the General Secretary, Miss Moffat, or by the secretary of the College Chapter. All interested will be cordially welcomed at the club house and their services warmly appreciated. There is especial need for teachers of music, both ALICE E. EGBERT, 1902. vocal and instrumental. Owing to the kind consent of Miss Lyon and the Library Committee, to whom we would express our thanks, the Missionary Library has been placed in one of the upstairs alcoves of the College Library. There are some of us who read even amid the multiplicity of college events. The books in the Missionary Library are there to be looked over, taken out, and read. Dr. Lawrence's "Modern Missions in the East," "The Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima," "Chinese Characteristics," and "Village Life in China,' need no recommendation. The Missionary Library is now in a central place and is ready for personal investigation. ALICE DURYEE, 1901. In connection with the S. C. A. C. W. work one must keep in mind the Students' Exchange. Its purpose is the mutual benefit of those who wish to do work to help pay their college expenses and of those who have work to be done. Sewing, painting, reading aloud, and dusting are some of the many kinds of work to be had. Office hours are held in the new gymnasium in Dr. Brewster's office on Thursday and Saturday mornings from nine to ten, and applications may be made there. The house address is 30 Washburn. This department will be of great value if the students will keep it in mind. MARY R. HOWE, 1902. Extract from a letter of Dr. Meyers, dated Amoy, Sept. 13th. My stock of Smith blue prints has had two nice additions this summer. You don't know how I enjoy them all and how interested every one else is in seeing them too, especially Dr. Paton, an English girl who came out just ahead of me. She came to see me one afternoon and was so pleased with my room. "It's so like a home room," she said, and then I went around showing her what a share of its hominess was due to a certain Smith box. Before long I'm hoping to have a picture taken of it to show you. During the summer it is too hot to do much photography for the gelatine has a most objectionable way of melting. Just now I (and every one else, for that matter, who owns a camera) want to get some good shots at the Chinese soldiers who are all about. They are most unsoldierly looking according to our idea. For instance, I saw some on Sunday who were resting in the shade of a big banyan. There were four of them and all their guns were leaning up against the tree trunk. Two of the men were awake and sitting on a bench, but whether the other two were awake or not I couldn't tell. At any rate they were stretched out at full length most comfortably on a mat. They are such a contrast to the Japanese marines who have been here too. These little men have a natty uniform and stand up straight with their guns in hand. I suppose you have wondered whether the present troubles in China are at all threatening Amoy. It seems as though they would all blow over as far as one can tell at present. But then all summer long we have been living in the most absurd alternations of hope and fear,-hope that we could stay ou here peacefully, and fear that we should be obliged to leave unceremoniously for Japan in a gunboat. Most of us packed the most valuable of our possessions together with a very few clothes and necessaries into a small compass so that we could grab them and run at short notice. And there they have stayed and here we stay, too, and now I hope very much we shall not have to go at all. To-day is a day that was set-according to rumor-for a general massacre of all foreigners, but it has been as peaceful as other days. Probably the rumor was unfounded, but perhaps the Chinese really meant it but do not dare to attempt any violence because of the warships in the harbor. There are seven of them just now - four Japanese, one American, one English, one French - and we feel very well protected. We did have a Russian gunboat and a German, but they have gone. That was just after our latest scare when the Japanese claimed that the Chinese burned one of their temples and landed marines on Amoy island and on Kolongsu. As the Japanese are very much hated here we did not know what the excitement among the Chinese would amount to, but it came to nothing. In my next letter I hope to be able to tell you of my beginning work. A very small beginning it will be at first,-only a clinic a week for the women. But I assure you it seems large enough to me, for how I shall talk to them and understand what they say to me I'm sure I can not tell. But I have offers of help and I suppose I shall survive it. The College Clef Club held its first meeting Tuesday evening, October the twenty-third. Dr. Blodgett explained the purpose of the organization and suggested in general the plans for this year. It is the object of the club to do, in an informal way, work which none of the actual music courses cover. The membership, therefore, is not confined to those who are studying music, but is open to all who are interested in it. The program for the meetings of this term includes a talk by Dr. Blodgett on Student Life in Germany Twenty-five Years Ago, a Students' Recital, and for the last meeting before Golf The first round of the third inter-class golf tournament was played on the Warner Meadow Golf Links, October 17, when the two upper and the two under classes played against each other. According to the general custom, the teams were composed of the four best players from each class, and the result was decided by the aggregate number of holes won by each side. In the first round, the seniors won from the juniors, and the first class from the second class, making the following scores: The final round was played October 20, when the seniors won from the first class, making the following score:- On Monday evening, November 5, at an open meeting of the Philosophical Society, Dr. Perry gave a very interesting lecture on the "Moral Value of Freedom." Owing to an omission, the Monthly neglected to state in the October number that the last three articles in the Literary Department, "An Undergraduate View of Smith College Ideals," the poem, "To Smith College," and the story, "One College Success," comprised the students' contribution to the Quarter-Centenary exercises. On Tuesday, October 30, the Adamowski String Quartette gave a concert in Assembly Hall, which was free to all members of the college. At the meeting of Telescopium, held on Wednesday, October 10, the following officers were elected :-Vice-President and Chairman of Executive Committee, Nona Burnett Mills 1901; Secretary and Treasurer, Edith Lilian Claflin 1902; third member of Executive Committee, Antoinette PutnamCramer 1901. On Thursday evening, October 11, at an open meeting of the Biological Society, Professor Emerson gave a lecture on Alaska. He spoke of his travels in this country and illustrated his lecture by interesting stereopticon views. The class of nineteen hundred and one wishes to announce that the senior play for this year will be Tennyson's "Foresters." No doubt some surprise will be felt at the decision of the senior class to depart from Shakespeare; but it has seemed inexpedient to allow the precedent for giving Shakespeare's plays to become too deeply rooted in the college. Further, the best Shakespearian comedies have already been presented by preceding classes, those that are left being either impossible for women to present or unworthy of the large amount of time usually spent here on Senior Dramatics. "The Foresters," which meets with the faculty's approval, seems to combine many advantages, having a great variety of characters and scenes, a large cast and beautiful scenic effects, while the lines are certainly worth the study that the actors must put upon them. The play has therefore seemed to the class its best choice and one that will prove interesting and delightful to its Commencement guests. Nov. Dec. ELLEN T. EMERSON, President of the Class of 1901. CALENDAR 15, Biological Society. Concert. In a Persian Garden. 17, Alpha Society. 19, Philosophical Society. 20, Colloquium. 21, Albright House Dance. 23, Société Française. 29, Thanksgiving. 1, Phi Kappa Psi Society. 3, Philosophical Society. 5, Tyler House Dramatics. 7, Société Française. 8, Alpha Society. 12, Dewey, Hatfield, and Haven House Dance. |