Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 25

1. _The King's Personal Religion_--Ecclesiastical and political rather than ethical. His devotions and his morals. Effect of Madame de Maintenon's influence in later years.

2. _Two Great Prelates and Their Feud_--Bossuet; his ability, temper, and commanding influence. Fenelon: story of his life; influence on the Duke of Burgundy; reading from Telemaque. The fundamental difference in the two men's conception of religion.

3. _New Movements_--Protestantism: suppression by the state. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Jansenism: Jansen and his book; its meaning.

Demolition of the Abbey of Port-Royal. Quietism: Story of Madame Guyon and reading from her life (Upham's edition).

4. _The King and the Jesuits_--Origin of the order and its purposes.

Edicts for and against the Jesuits, and reasons for them. Power and success of Pere LeTellier. Reading from Pascal's Provincial Letters.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--The Cambridge Modern History: vol. v., chap. iv.

Guizot: History of France: vol. iv., chap. xlvii. Jervis: History of the Church in France. Sainte-Beuve: Causeries du Lundi (many are translated).

As Louis seldom went to Paris, the chapel in the palace at Versailles became the scene of the most important ecclesiastical functions, and hence is of special interest. A description of its interior should be given, and photographs of it should be shown. A supplementary paper should take up Madame de Maintenon and her relation to the king and the Church. Lady Blennerha.s.set's book will be found of value in this connection.

IX--THE STORY OF PORT-ROYAL

1. _The Convent_--Its location, origin, and early history. Fas.h.i.+onable patronage and relaxation of the rules. Angelique Arnauld. The Paris House, now the Musee de Cluny.

2. _Educational System_--The lay brothers in the original house. Antoine Arnauld, the De Sacys, Nicole. Their text-books: grammars, geometry, logic. Place in the history of education.

3. _The Jansenist Movement_--Story of Jansen and his famous book.

Notable people who were influenced by it. How it made trouble for Port-Royal. Antagonism of the Jesuits, reason of it, development of the feud.

4. _Suppression of the Inst.i.tution_--Reasons for the hostility of Louis XIV. Story of the dispersion of the nuns, described at length by Schimmelpenninck. Destruction of the beautiful buildings.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Charles Beard: Port-Royal. Ethel Duncan Romanes: The Story of Port-Royal. Felix Cadet: Port-Royal Education. Sainte-Beuve: Port-Royal. (In French, not translated.)

Prepare a supplementary paper on the Puritan Spirit in Human Nature.

This constantly reappears in history (see the Stoics), and is represented in France in this period by this Jansenist movement. An interesting paper might be written on Jacqueline Pascal, the sister of the great philosopher, and the celebrated episode of her healing, which had far-reaching consequences.

X--FAMOUS MEMOIRS OF THE TIME

1. _Cardinal de Retz_--Story of his adventurous life: description of his appearance and personal characteristics. Relation to the Fronde.

Richelieu's opinion of him and relation to him.

2. _The Duc de Saint-Simon_--Personal history. Relation to the King and the court. Reason for writing: the servile tone of the memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau. Saint-Simon's independence and frankness of criticism. "The Tacitus of French History." Compare with Pepys. Read descriptions of court life and personal pa.s.sages.

3. _Madame de Sevigne_--Story of her life and that of her daughter. Her education and relation to the great world. Style. Readings from her letters.

4. _The Fas.h.i.+on of Memoir-Writing_--People who wrote memoirs: Mademoiselle de Montpensier. Marquis de Dangeau. De la Porte (the King's _valet de chambre_). Duclos (Memoires secrets). De la Rochefoucauld.

Brief biographies of these people.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Duc de Saint-Simon: Memoirs. 3 vols. (Translated.) Letters of Madame de Sevigne. (Translated.) Emil Bourgeois: France under Louis XIV. G. F. Bradley: Great Days at Versailles. Imbert de Saint-Amand: The Court of Louis XIV.

Notice the striking change at this time from former dull and tedious historical writing to the brilliant and fascinating personal sketches of people and events. Read descriptions of the King and the court from Saint-Simon and Saint-Amand. The engravers whom Louis brought from the Low Countries made portraits of many of the society people of the time; show reproductions, and describe the dress of the period.

CHAPTER XVII

FORESTRY

The study of this subject is a novel one for women's clubs, but it is of great interest. Women who desire an intelligent view of their own country should certainly take it up and understand what is being done to-day and what is planned for the future. Books to be read are: A First Book of Forestry, by F. Roth; A Primer of Forestry, by Gifford Pinchot; and The Forest and Practical Forestry, the Department of Agriculture.

I--INTRODUCTORY

All uncivilized nations ruthlessly cut off their forests for fuel and timber, both ignorant and indifferent to the result of the destruction.

Where there are no trees, the water-supply dies away, the soil then becomes infertile, and the population is threatened with famine. China is practically denuded of trees, after unknown centuries of waste. India has numberless hillsides and plains once wooded, now bare and parched; and so of many other Oriental countries.

II--THE BEGINNINGS OF FORESTRY

Early in the sixteenth century there was a certain realization of the danger of neglect of trees; Sully, the great minister of France, suggested that some restrictions should be laid on cutting, and some study of forestry made by the government. Germany also followed the same course, and England, which began to feel the shortage of timber severely, practised more careful cutting and set out certain plantations. The great landowners everywhere cared for their timber in their private parks, and cut only when necessary. At the beginning of the eighteenth century planting was begun in Scotland and later in Ireland, and it is interesting to note that now the planted areas exceed the natural growth in these two countries. Foreign trees were also introduced at this time, and in many cases flourished even better than the natural growths.

III--PRESENT CONDITIONS ABROAD

Practically now every civilized country practises forestry in a greater or less degree. Germany has nine schools where it is taught, and there are four and a half billion acres under government care. France is equally careful, and every forest is guarded, though its schools are not as many. England has a forest policy which calls for the planting of nine million acres, ten thousand each year. Russia has such enormous forests that as yet the care of her trees does not seem to her critically important, yet she too is beginning to conserve her resources. Italy has been almost stripped of her forests by neglect, but she is at last waking to her peril and beginning to foster what is left.

In India an interesting work is being done by the English, who are establis.h.i.+ng schools for the natives to teach forestry; this in time will make the country far more fertile than now. New Zealand, always progressive, has a well-planned system; Argentine, Hawaii, and Terra del Fuego practise the science.

IV--THE PAST IN AMERICA

Forestry was begun at home by one man, Jared Eliot of Salisbury, Connecticut, who in 1730 began to cut his trees systematically for charcoal furnaces. But unfortunately no one followed in his footsteps because our forests were so rich that it did not seem necessary; thirty-six per cent. of all our area is in trees. This fact has made us reckless; whole hillsides have been constantly stripped by farmers for wood, or to make arable land. Great trees have been cut down when smaller ones would have done quite as well. Worst of all, the lumbermen of the Middle West and South have swept clean enormous areas of land, cutting down large and small pines alike, and leaving nothing but stumps.

Even more destructive have been the forest-fires which have sprung up through carelessness or drouth, and suffered to burn unhindered till they died out. As late as 1910 twenty-five million dollars' worth of natural timber was destroyed, partly in the Far West and partly in the East. Of late, too, certain insects have made havoc with large tracts, and hills have been left bare and brown where they have been.

V--CONSERVATION

In 1882 the Forestry a.s.sociation was formed to correct existing evils, to care for standing timber, and to restock where that was necessary.

There are now over six thousand members of the a.s.sociation, and a paper of great interest is published, called _American Forestry_, which gives practical suggestions. This a.s.sociation has accomplished marvels in the few years of its existence. In 1899 there were thirty-six forest-reserves in the West. In addition, many States have their own reserves.

VI--RENEWAL

In addition to caring for existing trees, others now are planted. Some States have bounties for this purpose; others maintain nurseries where saplings are raised and set out; seeds are sown; foreign trees are introduced; in our public schools our children are instructed in the growth and care of trees, and many have Arbor Day, when trees are planted and exercises held to impress the children with the importance of the occasion.

VII--SCHOOLS OF FORESTRY

There is a definite plan to have forestry taught in every State, and short courses have been added to the curriculum of the State universities. Yale and Cornell have forestry schools, and Harvard a forestry course. At Biltmore, North Carolina, there is an excellent school with exceptional forest advantages. Clubs can send for catalogues of these schools.