, 1891-11-04
THE UNITY CLUB.
A PAPER ON THE LEARNING OF
FLORENCE BY JANET MOORE.
Club Work by Rev. N. HoagIand-
New Features to be Adopted
hv the Club.

f At meeting Of the Unity club il
Barnes hall, the secretary, as usual, Wa'
not present. Some time was spent in wait
ing for a programme to materialize, but
the conditions were not favorable. Finally
the president issued draft on the mem
ory Of the members present and an.
nounced as much Of the programme as
could be recollected on the spur of the
moment. Accordingly Miss Janet Moore
was called upon to read her paper on
The Learning of Florence" She pre-
faced the reading by mentioning the very
short time she had been given for prepara-
ton. But one would suppose that the pa
per read had been years in preparation and
it doubtless was, for it was a very pleasing
production. It showed something more
than mere industrious gathering of ma
terials, it showed an organic unity that was
unusually refreshing. The essayist de-
scribed Florence as one of the centers, if
not the center of European learning in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries under
the patronage of the Medicis. Michael
Angelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Calico and
Dante, Giotti Brunellesehi, and Sayonrola
are some of the bright stars of that pc
riod that still add lustre to the name of
Florence, and Of human progress. Ma
chiavelli represented learning without con
science and his name still stands for con
scienceless intellectuality. In Florence
the scholar was honored. 81 am a
scholar" was a password that secured
ready admittance where all else might fail.
Miss Moore's paper was highly ap-
preciated, as indicated by the applause
which followed.
Rev. N. Hoagland was then called as
the next person on the programme; but
he explained that he had too much respect
for the club to inhict on it such a paper as
he must have read, had he attempted to
prepare one in the brief time at his dis
posal, since the notice calling for it had
pbeen received. He expressed his willing
ness to read paper on club work and it
was called for and read.
The paper raised number Of questions
as to the real object Of the club, whether it
was for purposes of honest study or mere
coquetrY with it. If it was to consist in
little more than a study of the title of
books with a glance at the ephemeral lit
erature of the day, it should be frankly
avoWed. He pleaded with the club not to
commit intellectual suicide by cult1Yating
mental incidence. The deeper and the
broader the thought, the deeper and broad
er the life. But superficial reading is
mental dissipation. The mountain tower
ing minds are waiting to be our teachers
and our guides 1t may take some hard
climbing through forest-tangle and over
paths boulder strewn to be able to rise to
to their thought. but after the larger out
look is gained, the hours of toll Is forgot
ten in a moments blissful vision of I'M
dreamed beauty and magnificence. Ten
minutes is not much spent on street cor
ner. But ten minutes devoted each day to
"a study Of the literature represented by the
Unity club course of study would make one
SO familiar with the subject of each even
ing's programme that there would be no
question of its failing to interest and to lift
out of the wearing ruts and grooves, which
the person who thinks only Of shop or
kitchen is sure to get into and person
whose thought touches the sky is proof
against the weather or the markets. Only
those who drink deeply at the hidden
springs Of thought are ever suspected of
having discovered the fountain Of immor-
tai youth.
At the close of the paper Professor We
nen and Mr.. P. D, Moore discussed some
of the questions raised, and later on Law
yer George r. Stone made motion that
committee be appointed to consider the
expediency of adopting new features and
methods. Mr.. Stone, Mr.. Large and Miss
Moore were named for the committee. At
torney George II. Funk was elected assist
ant secretary. The next meeting of the
club-social science section-will, be at the
residence Of Mrs. MacLeay, on Water
street. N. HI.