CLASS OF 1900. The snap shot of 1900's pine tree at Chautauqua was taken last summer by the Secretary, Miss Ricker It shows the progress made by this hopeful class emblem, since it was planted in St Paul's Grove at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the C. L. S. C. in 1903. The 1900's, as the last class to graduate in the Nineteenth Century, have always felt a peculiar responsibility for closing up the century's record in the most creditable fashion and it is fitting that their sturdy little pine should have lived up to what was expected of it. A NEW BROWNING COURSE. Mr. Percy H. Boynton of the University of Chicago has prepared for Chautauqua students a study pamphlet of ten lessons on the poetry of Robert Browning. The scheme of study includes Dramatic Romances, Pippa Passes, In a Balcony, Saul, Men and Women, Dramatic Personæ, Dramatic Idyls, Strafford, and Colombe's Birthday. Many readers who have made their first acquaintance with Browning this year may enjoy taking up this special course during the summer months enlarging their knowledge of the poet and incidentally adding seals to their diplomas. The fee for the pamphlet is $1.00 which covers also the review questions and seal. It may be secured from the C. L. S. C. office at Chautauqua. A MODERN ATLAS. A thoroughly modern atlas with clear and reliable maps is an important part of the equipment of every good library. In the September CHAUTAUQUAN we recommended as a serviceable publication the Globe Hand Atlas by J. G. Bartholomew, costing one dollar. This it seems is no longer available in this country, and after careful inspection of many publications the International Students' Atlas, also edited by Mr. Bartholomew ($2.00, Charles Scribners' Sons), is recommended for the following reasons: I. It is essentially a modern atlas containing 106 physical, political and statistical maps showing distribution of races, religions, density of population, characteristics of vegetation, etc., compiled from British and foreign surveys and the latest results of international research. 2. Each country with the exception of the United States is treated very fully. The color scheme and the quality of the printing are superior, making the maps admirably clear and effective. The limited space given to the United States is not a serious defect since cheap maps of this country are easily available. 3. The quarto form insures good sized maps while the publishers have succeeded in making a volume much more compact and convenient to handle than the ordinary quarto publication. C. L. S. C. MEMORIAL DAYS FOR MAY. ADDISON DAY-May I. SPECIAL SUNDAY-May, second INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY-May 18. C..L. S. C. MOTTOES. "We study the Word and the Works of God." OUTLINE OF REQUIRED READING FOR JUNE. FIRST WEEK. IN THE CHAUTAUQUAN: English Men of Fame: Gladstone. A Reading Journey in English Counties: Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. SUGGESTIONS FOR CLOSING PROGRAM FOR THE YEAR. Some of the circles may feel impelled to try presenting a play as their closing literary effort for the year. Mrs. Gaskell's "Cranford" lends itself particularly well to dramatization and will help to familiarize people with the scenes of this famous classic. An excellent arrangement of the story in three_acts can be secured from Walter H. Baker & Co., 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Mass., for twenty-five cents. The Southwestern Counties of England have been very fruitful in types which have appealed to the novelist. A program of studies of such types could be made very attractive. Blackmore's "Lorna Doone" presents contrasting_types of lawless adventurers and the sturdy honest citizens of North Devon. Charles Kingsley's "Westward Ho!" sketches in bold strokes the Devonshire sailors who were the country's bulwark in the days of the Armada. Eden Phillpott's "Children of the Mist" portrays the hard struggle of the peasantry on the rough Dartmoor plateau. Walter Besant's "Armorel of Lyonesse" lets one into the isolated, lonely life of the Scilly Islands. Thomas Hardy's "The Trumpet Major" gives a picture of life on the South Coast of England during the times of the dreaded Napoleonic Invasion. To make such a program effective the story should be presented only in the briefest outline and then the skill of each writer or speaker be devoted to making the typical characters selected stand out vividly in relation to their environment. THE TRAVEL CLUB. Map Review of Somerset. Paper: Beau Nash and Bath (see Goldsmith's Life of Beau Nash). Roll Call: Incidents in the lives of Wordsworth and Coleridge associated with Somerset. Book Review: Lorna Doone with reading of selections. Oral Reports: On article in New England Magazine for July, 1904, entitled "In the Country of Lorna Doone," W. H. Rideing; The Battle of Sedgemoor (see Lorna Doone, also Micah Clarke by Conan Doyle). Readings: Selections from "An Arthurian Journey," Atlantic Monthly, June, 1890, referring to Glastonbury, also from Tennyson's Passing of Arthur. Discussion: Wells Cathedral-its history and architectural peculiarities (see The Century Magazine, 18:724, article by Mrs. Schuyler Van Rennselaer). TWENTY-EIGHTH PROGRAM. Map Review of Devonshire and Cornwall. Roll Call: Quotations from Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho descriptive of the men of Devon. Book Review: Children of the Mist. Eden Phillpotts (Dartmoor). Discussion: Exeter Cathedral (see Baedeker, Bell's Cathedral Series and Exeter by E. A. Freeman, also THE CHAUTAUQUAN, 28:115, Nov., 1898). Paper: Wesley and the Cornish Miners (see lives of Wesley and numerous magazine articles). Oral Reports: On article entitled "Deep Mines of Cornwall,” McClure's Magazine, 13:184 (June, 1899); “An Arthurian Journey" (see above), selections relating to Tintagel. Book Review: Armorel of Lyonesse. Walter Besant (see Library Shelf). Reading: "A Romance of Clovelly," Kate Douglas Wiggin (see The Library Shelf and The Cosmopolitan for July, 1895), also The Delectable Duchy by A. T. Quiller-Couch. ANSWERS TO SEARCH QUESTIONS ON MAY READINGS. I. An English Clergyman at the time of the Civil War, later became Chaplain to Charles II. He wrote a history of the University of Cambridge and also one entitled "Worthies of England." 2. His most famous book was "Holy Living and Holy Dying." 3. Age of Pope-early 18th century. 4. A noted English non-conformist, Chaplain in Cromwell's Army, and later Chaplain to Charles I but withdrew from the Church of England on the passage of the Act of Uniformity. He was fined for non-payment and was imprisoned for libelling the established church. Wrote "The Saint's Everlasting Rest." 5. Digest of a census of England in Norman French made by William the Conqueror in 1086. There were also local Domesday Books. 6. A British King whose capital was Camulodunum (Colchester). Resisted the Romans for about nine years, and was sent captive to Rome. Claudius granted life to him and his family. 7. Tennyson and Cowper have both made her the subject of poems, and a tragedy, "Bonduca," was written on her by Fletcher. 8. One of the Knights who figure in the Faery Queen. NEWS FROM READERS AND CIRCLES. "You are all aware," said Pendragon, as he referred to a file of correspondence on the table, "that letters have been sent out to the circles which you represent, and to others also whose delegates are not here today in order to get the benefit of their experience with the course of reading, and their suggestions for future plans. You've no idea what an interesting collection of opinions your responses make! Every mail brings a few and it often happens that at least two of the letters in a given mail present exactly opposite points of view. Our Circles show distinct individualities and this budget of opinions revealing in most cases intelligent thought as well as frank expression is most welcome." "Our difficulty in answering the questions," remarked the delegate from Freeport, New York, "was really to unite on a series of opinions. I suspect it is because our circle is made up of such positive characters. They give great zest to our meetings. We have for instance, one persistent and undismayed advocate of a Baconian Shakespeare; then there is our practical minded member who is always reminded of what he saw in today's Sun and so gives a delightfully modern twist to our discussions. Professor Sherman's views on Shakespeare have been submitted to searching criticism? by at least one of the feminine portion of our Circle and you would certainly have enjoyed the intensity of our discussion of Darwin'monkeys, bah,' etc. We enjoy ourselves hugely and shall carry out your suggestion concerning our guide through Oxford. We want to express here our appreciation and enjoyment of the excellent course." "It's hard to tell," said the next speaker, who represented the circle at Fostoria, Ohio, "whether we most enjoy the historical or the literary side of the course. One of our most amusing meetings was held in November when we impersonated the British Cabinet. We got a copy of the Review of Reviews for January, 1906, as suggested in THE CHAUTAUQUAN programs. The astute gentlemen there portrayed may have suffered a slight loss of their manly attributes in our presentation, for we are all of the feminine persuasion, but they made an impression I assure you and we find ourselves following their fortunes now with quite a different feeling toward them. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman stood staunchly for his views on the French Alliance; Sir Edward Grey revealed in the midst of a grave discussion his latent British love of sport; Mr. Richard B. Haldane set forth his war policy in no uncertain terms; Mr. James Bryce very happily blended a sort of native Scotch flavor with his official Irish interests and Mr. David-Lloyd George quite brought down the house with his ideas on how the Board of Trade should be conducted. I mustn't take too much time but just mention that we had a memorable evening on Browning with readings of Abt Bogler, Andrea del Sarto, and Saul. We worked enthusiastically over Wordsworth, reading many of his poems and finding especial pleasure in the trip to the Lake District." "Without giving an extended report," said the delegate from Upper Sandusky, Ohio, "I should like to say that we have kept up our readings promptly and greatly appreciated the poet's calendars in the Round Table. We have read all the poems of Wordsworth, Tennyson and Browning which were suggested, so you see we have tested the writings of these poets for ourselves and though we necessarily forget much, each one of us I think has felt richer for new points of view gained in this way." "What you say of the great poets reminds me," said Pendragon, "of a new book of essays which has fallen in my way and which I find very ensnaring. The author, Mr. Arthur C. Benson, is Fellow of Magdalene College at Cambridge and a son of the late Archbishop of Canterbury. The book is called 'From a College Window' and it is one of those delightfully suggestive volumes that one never picks up without finding in it some bit of philosophy which it is good to reflect upon. Let me quote a few sentences from his chapter on 'Books:' "As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow. In this mood reading becomes less and less a searching for instructive and impressive facts, and more and more a quest after wisdom and truth and emotion. More and more I feel the impenetrability of the mystery that surrounds us; the phenomena of nature, the discoveries of science, instead of raising the veil, seem only to make the problem more complex but there still remains, inside, so to speak of these astonishing facts, a whole range of intimate personal phenomena of emotion, of relationship of mental or spiritual conceptions. One desires to know what pure and wise and high hearted natures have made of the problem. . . Those who read in such a spirit will tend to resort more and more to large and wise and beautiful books, to press the sweetness out of the old familiar thoughts, to look more for warmth and loftiness of feeling than for elaborate and artful expression. They realize that it is through wisdom and force and nobility that books retain their hold upon the hearts of men, and not by briskness and color and epigram.' "I fancy," Pendragon continued, "that this mellow point of view will be especially appreciated by the next Circle which we are to hear from-the 'Columbia' of Santa Clara, California." "I rather like your characterization of 'mellow,'" laughed the delegate from |