Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-10-26
LITERARY SOCIETIES.

How to Organize and Conduct Them in
 Small Communities.
 Let no neighborhood of women com plain that they have not opportunities for self-culture. Why, my dear sisters, you need not live in New York in order to belong to Sorosisi Have Sorosis of your own. Suppose there are seven of you who like to read. Organize. Have B president, a vice president, secre- tary and treasurer to take care of the dues. However, do not make member ship expensive. With seven members you can have three papers read at each meeting, and the president can always in some way contribute to the interest of the occasion. This will bring each member on duty at every alternate meeting. Let your club meet once month or fortnightly. If there are only three women who live at con- venient distances, let them not be dis couraged, but if they have mu tual love for literature and aspire to some thing above the idle chit-chat of neigh borhood gossip they can form a union which will be the means of mental growth and intellectual self-conf- dence.
 
 ary club which includes just seven the mystic number. Every formality of parliamentary rule is observed at their meeting. They always rise to their feet in making motions, and pre- serve the utmost dignity in the most trivial proceeding. They mean busi- ness, and care not for the smiles of the casual observer. After they dispose of less interesting matters, they proceed to the literary part of the programme, and then a visitor who has been dis posed to smile will remain to respect fully admire. Their plan is to have three papers treating in different ways the same subject. One of the papers is a story, one treats of the subject from historical standpoint, the third may be biographical or critical. These ladies so surprise each other with their ability to write well that they become at every meeting warmer friends. They have two officers whom I did not mention; namely, critics. You will readily per ccive that there are more offices than members of the club, and, as one witti- ly remarked it is an organization where the office seeks the woman.
 If the club be so small as to number only three or four, it might meet more frequently and have one paper read at a meeting, after which there should be a conversation, for which all had pre- pared themselves
 Only little reflection will prove to any woman the great advantage of literary club such as we have described Very many women from country homes spend a few years at boarding school, and on returning do not continue their habits of study This is a deplorable mistake. The best antidote to gossip is thoughtful reading, which gives mate rial for kind thoughts and good conver- satiOn.
 The office of critic is not enviable, but there must be good fellowship, which warrants no undue sensitive ness. You will probably find that la dies sufficiently well educated to write a faultless essay will, in conversation, use slang and other inelegancies. Cor rect speech, like good manners, is most pleasing when it seems spontaneous To insure this, constant practice is es- scntiaL An illiterate but original woman once said: Religion is like an old silver spoon; the more it is used the brighter it gets" The same may be said of every grace and accomplish ment. Therefore, bright women, or ganize a society not for gossip. Farm and Preside.