  [We request the president or secretary of every local circle to send us reports of your work, or ask the circle to elect a member to write up your method of conducting the circle, together with reports of lectures, concerts, entertainments, etc.—Editor The Chautauquan, Meadville, Pa.] Vermont (Bennington).—Our circle is doing much better work this year than it did last year. Some of the members did not complete the readings last year, but they are going on with this year’s course. Massachusetts (Brocton).—We have twenty-five members, sixteen of whom are regular members of the C. L. S. C. We meet monthly and our method of work thus far has been the preparation and reading of essays on the subjects of the required reading, followed by discussions. The most of us are enthusiastic Chautauquans and we look for large results from our winter’s work. Although there have been members of the C. L. S. C. here since its organization in 1878, this is the first effort that has ever been made to form a local circle. Massachusetts (Hopkinton).—We have a circle of thirty members who do whatever is assigned to them, and a committee of five who arrange for the meetings which occur in two weeks. Massachusetts (Walpole).—Our circle numbers nineteen members. Mr. S. E. Baily, principal of the High School is president. The meetings are held every alternate week at the secretary’s house. At each meeting the president drills us on our work for the past fortnight. New York (Albany).—Our Albany circle was organized in 1880, with a membership of five. Since then we have been steadily growing, and our list of regular members now numbers fifty. During the first year we met at the homes of the members, but since then we have met in the Assembly room of the old Capitol. We vary in the method of conducting our meetings, which are held monthly. Two or three subjects are generally assigned, and essays are prepared and read, followed by a general discussion. Then, again, the evening will be devoted to one subject. Century arches and our question-box are interesting features. We have had several fine lectures from our own and neighboring clergymen and scientific men. Dr. Vincent gave a new impetus to the work by a lecture, delivered in one of our churches a year ago. New York (Spencerport).—The first meeting of the Spencerport circle for the year 1882-3, was held September 12. The meeting was more especially for the purpose of showing to the public the aim of the C. L. S. C., the work which had been accomplished by the Spencerport circle during the past year, and the work which was laid out for them to do during the coming year; and as the public were invited to attend the meeting, the purpose was not in vain. There were nearly one hundred present, exclusive of the members of the circle, and the program was excellent and entertaining; a very pleasant feature of which was a description of the Chautauqua Assembly, and graduating exercises of the Class of ’82, by Mrs. James Hickcok, she being a member of that class. Subsequently another meeting was held, at which the officers for the ensuing year were elected, and arrangements made for the work of the year. Quite a number of new members have been admitted, and the number has increased from a membership of nine regular and nine local members of last year, to sixteen regular and sixteen local members for this year. The meetings are held every alternate Saturday afternoon, at three o’clock. The program consists of essays on the lives and works of various authors, and reading selections from their writings, taking one author at each meeting; after which the questions in The Chautauquan are asked and answered, with the privilege of discussing points in the subjects treated. The authors already treated upon have been Tennyson, O. W. Holmes, Irving, and Bryant. At the first regular meeting after the election of officers, the ex-president of the circle, Mrs. H. H. Hartwell, was presented with a very fine cabinet photograph album, by the members of the circle, as a token of their esteem, and the well wishes of the entire circle go with her to her new home in Albion, Michigan. The meetings are very well attended, and the interest is increasing. Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh).—The following remarks were made in response to a toast, “The Chautauqua Idea the unchained Prometheus,” proposed at the banquet of the C. L. S. C. alumni of Pittsburgh, Pa., January 25, by Dr. J. J. Covert: “It is written in ancient story that one ambitious Prometheus once ridiculed the gods, and deceived even Jupiter himself. As a punishment to himself and the rest of mankind, Jupiter took fire away from the earth. But the stealthy and ambitious Prometheus, by the aid of the beautiful Minerva (you see no great thing could be done without woman), climbed the heavens and stole fire from the chariot of the sun, which he brought down to earth again. This so enraged the Olympian god that he ordered Prometheus chained to a Caucasian rock for thirty thousand years, while every day a vulture was to come and dine upon his liver. The mighty Hercules slew the hateful vulture, rent the granite rock, broke the galling chains that bound his limbs, and the unchained hero rises from his granite bed of ages, the pride of all the earth and the envy of the gods. Prometheus chained was ignorance and superstition enthroned; with limbs unfettered he is literature and knowledge sown broadcast in all the land. How fitting a figure then, the language of the toast, ‘The Chautauqua Idea the unchained Prometheus.’ The selfish gods of fortune doomed the Promethean masses to cruel and hopeless bonds of ignorance and illiteracy forever. From age to age the hateful vulture of fate fed upon the imperishable and irrepressible liver of aspiration, until the mighty hero Vincent Hercules arose, and heard the crying want, and armed with giant weapons forged by the Vulcan Miller, smote the granite rock, severed the galling chains, slew the greedy vulture, and set the prisoner free, opening wide the golden gates that guard the perennial groves and Pierian springs of Academia, where ambitious thousands have entered—are entering still; giving to renewed thought the wings of the morning, freighted with literature, art and science, that it may ‘circle’ the earth with the gilded, jeweled, mystic C. L. S. C. opportunities. See that beautiful, shadowy, Academian grove yonder, nestling in the fond embracing arms of that silvery lake! What a fitting home and dwelling place for our unchained hero, and all the muses of the ages! Chapels, temples, palaces, amphitheaters, obelisks, and pyramids spring up as by Herculean power. Here Phidias, and Homer, and Plato, and Demosthenes, and Xenophon, and Raphael, and Angelo, have their dwelling-place. Surely this is where our unchained hero and his attendant muses dwell, and hither his disciples love to make their pilgrimage. Look out upon the shimmering lake in the brightness of the early dewy morn, and listen to the music of the rippling waves as they break upon the pebbly shore, surpassing far the mystic notes of Memnon’s shaft at early dawn of day. But now ’tis night, and stars are looking down and sparkling like jewels on the bosom of the placid lake. Sloops, and yachts, and steamers large, and smaller craft of every name and form, fly swiftly round with colors high and blazing lights; music of bands and ringing bells commingle with ten thousand happy voices in the glad acclaim, and highest heaven hears the Pennsylvania (Sunbury).—The circle has been in existence since October, 1880, and at present has a membership of twenty, all ladies. Our method of conducting meetings this year is very simple. We meet once a week, on Saturday afternoons. Questions on the lesson assigned are previously written out by the president and numbered. They are then distributed among the members and answered as they are called off. There is a great deal of free and easy discussion of the topic on hand. Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).—West Philadelphia has a thriving local circle of fifteen ladies. We are officered with a president and secretary, and meet weekly at the homes of the members. A teacher is appointed for each subject under consideration; for instance, next week we have a teacher to hear the astronomy, and another to hear the Russian history. These teachers are very thorough in their questionings; we are obliged to study our lessons well, or be mortified by a failure. Last year, while studying chemistry, we had a lecture (with experiments) by Prof. English. This year we gave a Christmas entertainment and invited our friends. The exercises consisted of a little drama, readings, music and an essay on Chautauqua, read by one of our members who visited Chautauqua last summer. At every meeting, in addition to the regular work, we have quotations from different authors, or else readings of an amusing as well as instructive character, and often we close our meetings with what we call Chautauqua games. Thus we combine solid work with entertainment and mirth, and consider ourselves hard-working enthusiastic Chautauquans. District of Columbia (Georgetown).—The first circle of the Chautauqua Literary Society in this city was organized in the fall of 1880, by eight colored young ladies who are employed as teachers in the public schools. This circle now numbers more than thirty members. The meetings of this circle are held on Saturday evenings at the residence of each member alternately. The Chautauqua Literary Course is becoming quite popular among the colored people throughout the country, and especially in this city. A circle has been organized at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. Louisiana (New Orleans).—We, the “Longfellow” circle, are still alive, though probably we are about the only circle in the country that has progressed backward in point of numbers. A year ago we had sixteen members, now we have only half that number, owing to departures from the city. Those who remain are still faithful and true. We understand that there are several other parties in New Orleans who are pursuing the course outside of any local circle. We meet every Thursday evening at the residence of Mr. D. L. Mitchel. The meetings are generally well attended and very enjoyable. We have essays on various subjects connected with the reading, and take the questions and answers as published in The Chautauquan, with a general conversation on the reading for the week. Milton’s day was celebrated in an appropriate manner, there being a good essay on the life and works of Milton by the secretary, with selected readings from his writings by other members of the circle. Byron’s memorial day (an innovation of our own) we celebrated with appropriate exercises on the 25th of January. The president read a splendid essay entitled, “Byron, the Man and the Poet.” Selections from the writings of Byron were also read. Ohio (Wooster).—Our class meets bi-monthly; the lesson assigned at a previous meeting is recited topically and catechetically, under the direction of an instructor selected from the class at a previous meeting. The assignment of the lesson is made with a view to accepting the suggestions and appointments of the subject as formulated in The Chautauquan. We have had no lectures, concerts, or public social entertainments, but we observe now and then memorial days. Our members are very much interested in the Chautauqua Idea. Kind fellowship distinguishes all our meetings. We have twenty-three members, of whom two are graduates of 1882, three are enrolled in the class of 1883, and eighteen are pursuing the course as local members, each of whom we think will ultimately enter the lists and capture the prize of a full course. Ohio (Norwalk).—October 21, Prof. Sherwin, of Chautauqua fame, spent an hour in conversation with the circle. Up to date, no one has been on the program more than once, and the list is little more than half exhausted; Dr. Vincent would say “divide the class,” but this has its objections in the choice of leaders, and he is personally responsible for inventing a circle that will not break, and which needs only that the leaders say “write,” and they write. Among other things we have the universal favor of the press. Among our members we have one judge and five other lawyers, one doctor, the mayor and three insurance agents, and so feel reasonably provided against the worst that may come. It would be unsatisfactory to us to close this report without sending our compliments and congratulations to the authors whose works we have read. Timayenis’s History has character and originality, and is read with interest. If there is in store for us a romance, let it be another volume of “Preparatory Greek Course,” never in any case omitting the Wilkinson. While he is a most companionable writer his pages are everywhere abundant in practical common sense. There is but one expression from this and other circles that we meet, and that is, that we have found a most pleasing author and an interesting book. Ohio (Van Wert).—The local circle of Van Wert, Ohio, was organized in September last and soon included fifty members, which we think very creditable for a town of four thousand people. It was started through the influence of a “reading circle” that was organized on the first of April, including about seventy members, which has continued with unabated interest, not receiving any check, as some anticipated, from the work of the Chautauqua course. The reading circle is maintained by one of our pastors, who found there was a large number of educated young people in the community who evidently needed active mental employment, after their course of study in high school, college and university. They were invited to meet on a certain evening at a private residence to consider the subject of forming a reading circle. A program of exercises had been arranged consisting of select readings and music, the selections not to occupy more than about ten minutes each. Indiana (Rushville).—This circle numbers fifteen regular members. Three are reading in private, and six are local members of the C. L. S. C. We use the question system in conducting our semi-monthly meetings. Three memorial days have been celebrated during the current year, with appropriate exercises. Indiana (La Fayette).—The “Vincent” local circle, consisting of fifty members, has entered upon its second year. We have a committee on program, who arrange the work one month in advance; also a committee on music. We meet the first and third Monday evenings of each month. The meeting is opened with Scripture reading and prayer. The minutes of the previous meeting are read, after which the program is followed out, consisting usually of a number of short essays on the subjects we are studying, interspersed with excellent music. Our meetings are well attended, and considerable enthusiasm is exhibited on the part of most of our members. Bryant’s and Milton’s Days have been appropriately observed, and we have arranged for the observance of Longfellow’s Day. Illinois (Arcola).—This is the first year of the local circle in Arcola. It is composed of four married ladies—mothers—all graduates of the “Bryant Class” of ’82. Notwithstanding our limited number we are very devoted and enthusiastic. We have a president and secretary and meet every Friday afternoon. We take our turns in acting as teacher. After the questions in The Chautauquan are disposed of, each member is expected to ask not less than two questions on difficult or important points in some portion of our readings, then we review and discuss, informally, all the exercises of the day. We have decided to make “Greek History” a specialty. After we organized we secured a “local habitation” and adopted for a name “The Periclesian Class” in honor of our favorite Greek hero. We are all highly pleased with the C. L. S. C. and we intend as a class and as individuals to use every effort to help make it a still greater success. Illinois (Peoria).—The circle in this place was organized the latter part of December, 1882, and now numbers fifty-seven regular and seven local members, with accessions at every meeting. We have an average attendance of about fifty-two. The meetings are held in the parlor of the Young Men’s Christian Association. The committee on program sends each member of the class a day or two before each meeting a postal card containing a written question on the required reading, which the recipient is expected to be prepared to answer in a few words not occupying more than a minute or two. The social intermission is generally occupied in discussing the books read by members of the C. L. S. C. The rest of the evening’s exercises is under the control of the committee on program, and is varied from evening to evening. We had at the last meeting, and will have at the next, what we call a sentiment roll. The roll of the circle is called and each person, as his or her name is called, responds with a short sentiment selected to suit the taste of the person selecting. This seems as if it would prove a very interesting exercise. Commencing, as we did, late in the season, we postponed our “Geology” until the pleasant weather of next summer. Our committee have secured the services of one of the best geologists in the State for instructing us in that study. He expects to begin by taking as many of the circle as can go with him to visit mines and quarries in the neighborhood and select specimens. We will then, under his guidance, study first the specimens and the places where they were found, and then the books and charts. We find the sending out of the postal cards with questions a good plan. It notifies the members of the meeting, and makes them feel that something in particular is expected of them. It is the effort of the committee to divide the labor as evenly as possible among all the members of the circle, and the postal card questions being sent, one to each member, compels each to say something during the evening and enables the most backward to do so by being prepared. The cards not being sent out until the day before the meeting, the required reading is all done before the card is received, so that every article is read with the thought that the question may be on that particular subject. By each one being prepared in this way to speak as concisely as possible, a great deal can be said in a short time, and the evening’s exercises close promptly at the time appointed, notwithstanding the large attendance. The members of the circle seem to be very much pleased indeed with the C. L. S. C. In our list of members we have preachers, 4; lawyers, 3; merchants, 3; insurance, 3; stenographers, 2; clerks, 5; druggists, 1; grain commission, 2; printers, 1; physicians, 1; general secretary Y. M. C. A. etc., of men, 29; ladies, 15; of Presbyterians, 12; Congregationalists, 16; Christians, 1; Reformed Episcopal, 1; Methodists, 3; Baptists, 3; not professing religion, 8. Michigan (Quincy).—The local circle in Quincy ushered in its second year with a “boom.” We feel as though we had jumped from babyhood into long dresses. Our ten enthusiastic members of last year have been reinforced by twenty more—among the best talent of the town—of different denominations. While our circle of last year was composed only of ladies, this year we are fortified by three gentlemen. The lesson is announced each week by the president appointing teachers for the different branches and those to prepare essays, etc. The minister and his wife are faithful workers, teaching history, Grecian and Russian; taking the text-book and going through the lesson thoroughly by topic; treating the philosophy of history; applying it to our time, Government and people; discussing questions with the class and having them recite in concert important points. Another leads in “Geology.” At the last meeting we were highly entertained and profited by the review of Packard; each chapter was given to different members, who were “strictly forbidden to bring in any hard names.” All were surprised and delighted to find how much beauty and desirable information each essay contained without them. We are having a series of valuable papers on “Art and Architecture,” by our able president, beginning with the earliest records and continuing through the golden period of Greece down to the present time. Also interesting papers on the “History of Literature,” by Miss Paton, preceptress of the High School, giving a vivid picture of the beginning and progress of thought, introducing to us characters and their works whose influence has been stamped on each successive age—lights that never go out. We have a series of lessons on mineralogy, with blackboard Michigan (Muskegon).—I thought while reading the “Round-Table” in The Chautauquan for February, that our circle must be such an one as would meet Dr. Vincent’s ideas of what one ought to be. I am sure we do not care for what each other may think, or, rather, we do not stop to think about that. We just speak right out, “grammar or no grammar.” There are at present six members in our circle, all married ladies with home cares, our ages ranging from twenty-five to forty-five. Three of us expect to receive diplomas this year. Two of the others started with us, but were unable to keep up. We are making a specialty of English history, and at each meeting the three members of the graduating class are expected to bring in short papers on that subject. We each take the reign of a certain king or queen and write something of their characters, and also note the most remarkable events connected with their reigns. Muskegon has another circle, composed of five ladies, which was organized last fall. Every month we join with them in reviewing the month’s work. Some member is appointed from one or the other circle to act as teacher and prepare questions for the review. Our meetings are very informal. We have no rules or regulations, laws or by-laws. Each one is a law unto herself. Wisconsin (Sheboygan).—We have twelve regular and ten local members. We hold our meetings every Monday evening, and find them both entertaining and profitable. Each member is requested to bring not less than three and not more than six questions upon the week’s reading, questions either for information or for examination. These questions are then put into a hat and each member draws his question; of course there is more or less discussion upon most of the questions and once in a while the president finds it necessary to call the meeting to order. In addition we are sometimes entertained by essays upon different subjects. One evening one of the ladies gave a delightful paper on “The Domestic Life of the Greeks;” another paper was upon “Coal;” and still another upon “Scandinavian Mythology.” Occasionally we have singing and recitations, making the evenings so helpful and enjoyable that all look forward to them with much pleasure. Wisconsin (Berlin).—Our society was organized in 1872, and named “Friends in Council, No. 3.” We are one of nine societies now bearing that name. In 1879, by a vote of the members, we adopted the C. L. S. C. course of study, fifteen of our number becoming regular members. We have received an addition of eight local members. We take sixteen copies of The Chautauquan, which we consider of almost inestimable value in the prosecution of our work. We aim to make our meetings, which are held semi-monthly, as interesting as possible to local members, and therefore we select such subjects from the regular course as are most pleasing to all. There is quite surprising unanimity of taste among us, and history, literature, and art have had the preference for regular society work. We agree with the author of the “Preparatory Greek Course in English” in thinking that “man is a part of nature, and language the noblest outward attribute of man.” So we delight to “study man in the monuments he has left behind him from the distant ages, of his life and activity on the earth.” The other branches are by no means neglected, but are studied at home or in smaller neighborhood gatherings. As a part of society work, the Text-Books—some of them perfect gems—are carefully studied, and then as carefully reviewed. The questions and answers in The Chautauquan are always used in meetings, and an additional list of questions is prepared by our committee of instruction, for our use. We are sufficiently informal in our proceedings to admit of considerable conversation. As we belong to the Class of 1883, we were not quite satisfied with the amount of “Timayenis” required of us, and at our first meeting in September, 1882 (this society never takes a vacation), we commenced at the beginning of the “History of Greece,” taking “Grecian Literature”—from the “Ancient Literature” which we studied last year—along with it. We have two or more carefully prepared papers at each meeting. Some of the topics were “Grecian Mythology,” “The Temple Gods of the Greeks,” “The Trojan War,” “The Eleusinian Mysteries,” “The Greek Drama and Dramatists,” “Greek Leaders in the Persian Wars,” etc. We have just completed the history and literature of ancient Greece, and that fascinating book, “The Preparatory Greek Course,” and though we would gladly go on with the modern history of that famous land, we bid a reluctant farewell to its classic shores and turn our attention for a while to the “Middle Kingdom.” For several years previous to our adoption of the C. L. S. C. course, we had a series of lectures during the winter, by some of the best talent that could be procured in the West. Since then, partly because we have been such diligent students that we could not afford the time for the necessary arrangements, and partly because the subjects of such speakers as we could obtain were not in the line of our work, we have had no entertainments of any kind. The success, financially and otherwise, of lectures, etc., depends somewhat upon local conditions, which have not appeared favorable. This society, like all the others bearing our name, consists entirely of ladies, but we rejoice in the sympathy and approval of all the gentlemen who are connected with us by family ties, some of them participating in the required reading in the home. Nevada (Carlin).—We have six members. Our president is the instructor. A motion prevailed at a recent meeting, “That the members should form themselves into a committee to go out and solicit new members.” Montana Territory (Clancy).—Seeing in The Chautauquan letters from nearly every State in the Union, and from some of the Territories, and not wishing to have Montana behind, I thought I would write a few lines as a representative of the C. L. S. C. in this Territory. I only know of one circle here though there may be many more. That is in a mining camp of about four hundred and fifty inhabitants. The circle has about ten members. My husband and I, living on a ranch some distance from a town, form a circle, if two can form one, of our own. This is our first year of work and I can assure you we derive a great deal of pleasure as well as profit from the readings. We commenced reading the day after we were married, and have read almost daily ever since, until we are now ahead of the C. L. S. C., though we did not begin until the last of October. Our interest in the books has taken us over the work faster than required; possibly it would be better for memory if we did not go so fast. I read all The Chautauquan, and think there is no part in which I am more interested than that of the correspondents. Oregon (Portland).—We have organized out here in the far West, in this beautiful and prosperous city, a local club of ten enthusiastic Chautauquans. We have the honor, as well as the pleasure, of being the first organization of the kind in the State. Already the influence of those few is beginning to be felt in different circles of society throughout the city, so that ere another Chautauqua year commences we expect not only to see our own numbers greatly increased but also several new clubs. We are reading the full C. L. S. C. course. We meet every Monday evening at the residence of some one of the members. Our plan of program adopted is as follows: After disposing of minutes of previous meeting and all miscellaneous business, attention is turned to the lesson, which is taken up in turn by each member, topics having been assigned by the president one week previous, on which they are all expected to be specially prepared on their several parts with questions to bring out the leading and most important points, so that each in turn becomes teacher. We are highly delighted with this systematic course of instruction, and our interest increases with each meeting. California (Moro).—Six of the eight regular members and four local members are working away at the C. L. S. C. course. We are very much interested in the studies. Some who thought the “Greek History” and “Preparatory Greek Course” would be unprofitable, have found them otherwise. The questions in The Chautauquan are used with free conversation upon “Astronomy” and all other works in the course. decorative line
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