Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 30

More money is given away to-day than ever before in the history of the world. It is called "the era of magnificent giving." Two hundred million dollars is spent in benevolence yearly in the United States alone, and it is estimated that in ten or fifteen years from two to four billions will be given annually. Old methods are pa.s.sing away, and new ones taking their place. The subject of modern giving is one of immense importance.

Clubs should introduce the study with a resume of benevolences in the past; gifts to hospitals, asylums, colleges, libraries, art galleries, museums, missions and other inst.i.tutions; then take up more recent giving to such things as model tenements, homes for tubercular, settlements, inst.i.tutional churches, homes for working women, the Mills hotels, trade and technical schools, homes for convalescents, seaside homes for children, pensions for professors; modern schools for the blind, the crippled, the orphan, teaching self support. Notice that the trend of giving to-day is toward prevention of suffering as well as its cure.

Great gifts to-day are largely in favor of science. Note the great medical research laboratories in New York, and what they already accomplished; also the endowment for individuals on special lines in which they show marked ability. Study what is being done by legislatures in establis.h.i.+ng laws about bequests, their trustees.h.i.+p, and time limitations, and the new theory that no gift should be bestowed without the possibility of change, since in twenty years conditions alter. What of making and breaking wills? of funds left for inst.i.tutions which may not be always needed? of protection to society through state boards, etc.?

Read the article on Giving in _The Survey_, December 28, 1912, which discusses the various phases of modern giving.

IX--MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY LIFE

Clubs may divide this subject into two heads, and have several programs on each.

1. The farmer. After years of obscurity, the life of the farmer has suddenly become of immense importance to society. To-day the Bureau of Agriculture and other forces are rapidly changing its future. State fairs, granges, courses of instruction for men and women in school-houses, and "farmer's bulletins" give instruction; experiment stations deal with such difficulties as weeds, soils, drainage, and pests, and teach scientifically about cattle, poultry, bee keeping, crops, and the dairy. Public and high schools, colleges and universities have courses in agriculture, which teach beside the ordinary farm work, forestry, how to have good roads, how to take up unusual work.

The telephone, the automobile and the parcel post all bring the farmer nearer town. Speak also of the Commission on Country Life, and its work; of abandoned farms; of the farmer's wife, and her problems; of the farmer's sons and daughters, and their future. How can life be made more easy and attractive on a farm?

2. Country Homes. Notice the extraordinary growth of the country home for all the year, instead of for summer only. What are its difficulties and what its advantages? Read of large estates, and describe some in the Adirondacks, in the vicinity of Boston, New York, in the South, and West; ill.u.s.trate with pictures from magazines. Have a paper on Gardens, and describe some; read from the many books on this subject. Take up landscape gardening, and discuss its possibilities. What of country sports? of golf, tennis, hunting, motoring, etc.? of bungalows, camps, seash.o.r.e cottages, etc.? of country lanes, of game preserves, forest parks and the like. Speak of the enormous literature on country life.

X--SOCIAL SERVICE

Social service is of distinctly modern growth. It is the intelligent understanding of the needs of to-day and of the best way to meet them.

Clubs should study it under some or all of these heads:

Read of the Schools of Philanthropy, where modern methods of relief are taught, and the workers are trained for service in some branch; and the American Inst.i.tute of Social Service, the object of which is the gathering and disseminating of information on all social thought and service. The latter publishes monthly a pamphlet on present day problems which is excellent for reference.

Discuss welfare work, the care of employers for employees; what has been done? the ventilation of work rooms; safe machinery; pensions, insurance, hospital, savings bank, care of sick at home, food, etc.

Settlements; their origin and history; what can neighborliness do for the poor? Read of the work of Toynbee Hall and Hull House.

The Juvenile Courts; their origin and work. The Big Brother and Big Sister movement.

Work for the defective; for paupers; insane; consumptives; idle.

Prisons, and modern prison reform.

For children; creches; free kindergartens; seaside homes; floating hospitals; pure milk and ice.

Relief of congestion in cities; parks and playgrounds; recreation piers.

Legal Aid societies and help for the aliens; legislation on women's and children's labor.

The Charity Organization societies; nursing of poor; relief of want.

Education; moving pictures; music; open-air Christmas trees; free beaches, etc.

For references see The Gospel of the Kingdom, published by the American Inst.i.tute of Social Service, and _The Survey_.

CHAPTER XXI

THE STUDY OF CHILDHOOD

I--THE BABY

1. _The Baby's Welcome to the Home_--The mother's antic.i.p.ation; the brothers' and sisters' antic.i.p.ation; the intelligent mother: study of modern methods.

2. _The Baby's Environment_--The wardrobe; the hygienic nursery; the atmosphere of cheerfulness.

3. _The Baby's Physical Development_--The handicapped child (nerves, temper, defects); food; sleep; the out-of-door sleeping-room; the child and the doctor.

4. _Reading_ from The Luxury of Children, by Martin.

_Books to Consult_--Oppenheim: The Development of the Child. S. H. Rowe: The Physical Nature of the Child and How to Study It.

Begin the discussion of the day with a paper on the Modern Science of Eugenics: How Far is It Practical? Have a Talk on the Spoiled Baby, over-fed, over-amused, over-indulged; contrast with one on The Normal Baby. Close with readings or recitations on Babyhood, poems from Eugene Field, Stevenson, and others.

II--SCHOOL

1. _The Kindergarten_--Its value to manners. Is it a good preparation for later work?

2. _The Public School_--Training children to regular habits of study.

Dealing with individual difficulties. Desk-mates. Moral influence of child on child.

3. _Parent and Teacher_--Relations of interest and friends.h.i.+p. Mutual suggestions. The backward child.

4. _The School and Health_--Sanitation of the school. Danger of contagion (the individual drinking-cup, etc.). Watchfulness over sight and hearing. The out-of-doors school.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Herbert Spencer: Education. Luther Burbank: Training of the Human Plant. J. Mark Baldwin: Mental Development in the Child and the Race. G. Stanley Hall: Aspects of Child Life and Education. Irving King: Psychology of Child Development.

The school life of the child should be discussed from the standpoint of both parent and teacher. The watchful care over the child's morals is an important topic. The child's home work, how much should be done; and at what hours, is a subject for discussion. The school dress of little girls, the tidiness of both boys and girls, school lunches, the plays of the noon-hour, are all suggestive. Beautifying the school-room with pictures, casts and flowers may well be considered.

III--PLAY AND PLAYMATES

1. _The Place of Play in Child Life_--The development of body and mind in infancy, childhood, and youth. Intelligent direction of play by parents and teachers. Cultivation of originality.

2. _Outdoor Play_--The building instinct: the sand-pile, miniature houses, practical play-houses, camps. Plays of imagination: Indians, pirates, hunters. Athletic games.

3. _Indoor Play_--Contests of intelligence and skill. Group games: anagrams, twenty questions, etc. Manual and educational plays.

4. _Playmates_--The parents' control. Ethics of play: honesty, courage, honor, etc. Moral and social training of play.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Karl Groos: Play in Man. Newell: Games of American Children. Gomme: Children's Singing Games. Leland: Playground Technique and Playcraft.