The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1896-12-16
a Wednesdays Daily
D -FOUR O'CLOCK CLUB.

IMPROVEMENT is the order of the
day; it is the herald of advance
ment and those who avail them
selves of opportunities afforded
education and enlightenment are
SO much in the lend of others and
ebter equipped for the maintenance
their proud superiority. When so
uch time and such an int1nlty OF
nergy are devoted to merely physi-
developnent-ngai which, how
en-, we would be understood to say
othing, save as it threatens to be-
me excessive; when the bicycle not
aly rules the road but dominates the
ety character of hundreds of thous-
nds, it is gratifying to turn aside
nd,note the quiet, unobtrusive Ell
orts of a devoted few in quest of the
fofits and the pleasures of mind-cul-
re.
There is a little society established
our midst doing helpful work
tmong themselves, broadening their
1ssatal horizon, strengthening the
| faculties of reason and of thought,
encouraging study and research,
raising the standard of taste and cul.
tivating the fertile field of mind and
brain. The Four O'Clock Club,
started among some congenial spirits
in Point Peasants little world OF
| wOmanhood, about four years ago, was
organized to promote intellectual
enjoyment and afford its members the
advantage of enlightened intercourse
! in the domains of Thought and en-
Quiry not readily accessible, except
| through such IL medium as it aimed
to provide. From the outset it was II
success and has flourished to this day,
although restricted in its mem6er-
| ship The first officers of the club
for the session 1923, We're as follows
President, Miss Barbee; Vice-Presi-
dent, Miss Gilmore; Secretary, MISS
Simpson; Assistant Secretary, Miss
N. Gilmore; Treasurer, Miss l.; Nc
| ICulloch; Chaplain, Miss a. Gibbons
That those enrolled upon the first
\ list of membership appreciate and en-
| 10Y the advantages of the association
is attested by the facts that only one
or two of those originally included in
the accomplished cot erie hav seeded,
and that all the rest have continued
ever since to contribute more or less
literally to the "feast of reason and
| the flow of soul,n making up the
menus of these intellectual gather
ings. The members of the -Four
O'Clock Club, as Mt present consti
| tuted, are:
Miss Ida Armstrong, Miss Cornelia
Campbell, Miss Carrie NJ. Gilmore,
Miss Nellie B. Gilmore, Miss Augusta
F.. Howard, Miss G.. Josephine How
ard, Miss Charlotte McCulloch,, Miss
Lew McCulloch, Miss Mary McCul-
loch, Miss Alice Neale, Miss NJ. Mar
garet Simpson and Miss Kate b..
Stribling. OF these twelve ladies all
have occupied one or other of its
honorary Offices, and the present in
| cumbentS are:
President, Miss NJ. Margaret Simp-
son; Yice-President, Miss Cornelia
Campbell; Secretaries, Miss Charlotte
McUulloch, Miss nellie B. Gilmore;
Treasurer, Miss Kate B. Stribling.
Miss Kate b. Stribling has dis
charged the onerous duties of the
treasurership with such signal dis
tinction and success that she has
4 found a fitting reward in her election
| for life to the occupation of that re-
sponsible office.
| We have before us the calendar for
the meetings of the club during the
winter of 180G-O7, and an examination
| of it is interesting as illustrating the
methods of the organization in the
attainment of the ends in view.
This season the immediate subject of
study is "France,n and that wide and
varied field has been systematically
and completely covered in all direct
ions. History and biography (an-
cient and moderm, literature, the
drama, manners, customs and COS
| tunes, art and music all come in
for their fair share of attention and
the result of following the course
| must be an acquaintance, delight
fully intimate with LA Belle France"
| from all aspects and under all condi-
tions.
AT the present writing the course of
study has reached the romantic and
momentous age of the Maid of Or
leans, which it has attained after
evenings devoted with appropriate
economy to ancient Gnul, prior and
subsequent to the Roman subjuga-
ton, the Merovingian and the Carlo
vingian periods and the Crusader
times. Excellent taste and Judgment
have been exercised in the selection
of epochs; in the manner of advanc-
ing from one point of attraction to
another, and then in the grouping
about them of subjects of allied and
| kindred interest Thus, next Thurs
day the Fourteenth Century, which
comprises the reigns of the kings
the immediate subject of inquiry, and
will afford opportunities for papers
on such themes as the gorgeous field
of the cloth of gold, and the educa-
tion and social status of the women
of the time. This will be followed by
an evening devoted to the Reforma-
ton, and at once the imagination is
fired by the expectation of essays
dealing with the Huguenots, the mas
sacre of st. Bartholomew Day, and
Catherine de Medicis, as associated
with this fateful epoch. There will
be bool1-talk, having as it's main
subject Conan Doyle's novel THE
| Refugees while DoniZetti's master
piece, "Gli Ugonotti," will be drawn
upon for musical variation of the
sombre seriousness of the afternoons
entertainment. Then we reach the
period from Henry of Navarro, to
that of Louis Xiii; after that the
Augustan eras of Richlieu and the
French Academy, of Corneille, Moliere,
Racine, Fenelon and La Fontaine,
with the necessary incursions to the
famous salons of de Sevigne and de
Maintenon, luxurious Versailles, the
Hotel Ramboullet, the brilliant court
of Louis Quatorze. This fascinating
period will occupy the attention of
the club for the three successive after
moons. Next come the glittering times
of Louis Quinze and unhappy Marie
Antoinnette, and Voltaire, Rousseau,
Diderot and the Encyclopedias, sue
ceeded by the awful Revolution and