River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1897-04-15
The Tuesday Club.

women whose faces, serene or ex-
pectant. were cheerfully set toward
meeting of the Tuesday club. And
if you CHANGED to pass the house of
meeting after these had entered and
comfortably taken in hand the theme
of the afternoon, you would see,
perhaps, on the front steps, several
tiers of rubbers neatly arranged in
pairs and 'lined up with the precision
of regular soldiers. This of itself is
evidence enough that the company is
composed exclusively Of women. For
il men were in attendance, these
rubbers, to say nothing of their added
bulk, would be so incontinently kick
ed about and jun bled up, that every
man on preparing to go home must
perforce dig over the whole heap to
find a fit, like a schoolgirl looking for
a suitable valentine. And YOU would
see, besides, through the parlor
windows, row of feminine shoulders
and bcad-gear, arranged somewhat
after the pattern of the enchanted
round table of king Arthur. But
this much, if you were man, is about
all that would be disclosed TO you.
Having passed the picket line of
rubbeIs, however, by some means or
other, and the barricade of feminine
sbouldeTs-than which nothing SO
causes the heart of brave man To
quail-let us boldly demand a full
account of the doings of the Tuesday
Club, whose programs have appeared,
from week to week, in the columns
of the JOURNAL.
Every year then, since the organiza-
tion of the club, and at about this
season Of the year, a committee OF
three, known as the Program Com
mittee, sits in close session and care
fully lays out detailed plan Of work
under o single general head, covering
a years time and comprising twenty
six afternoons. For every afternoon
one or more membe are named as
leaders: and the leader usually enter
tains the club at her home. This
having been arranged under general
supervision, the details of an after
noon are left to the discretion of the
leader, and vary with her individuality
or resources. In this way a distinct
tone is given each program; music
and readings are often introduced
and refreshments are sometimes
served.
The club had its origin nearly sever
years ago, and as women's clubs
usually do, in parlor. It's inception
may be said to date from the middl,
of September 1890, when Mrs. Emery
while calling on Mrs. Weld, unfoldeC
to her the plan of a literary circle
which, if successful, should be called
the Tuesday club. As result of this
conversation, meeting was held il
early October at Mrs. Emery's, an(
the club, with an expedition born o
genuine zeal and the realization o
long felt want, was promptly organ
| lied and christened.
Since that time, the city-with The
exception, of course, of the Junction
Mill, the Brick Kiln, the big flood
and few other trifling disasters-ha
been uniformly prosperous. But the
club may not be responsible for this
prosperity: / shouldn't like to claim
| too much for it. Indeed, it is not,
believe, an insurance company. Blu
before l am through you will agree
with me, take it, that the idea is ;
good one.
A wide field of subjects, ranging in
deed, from the hieroglyphs of ancient
Egypt to the present young duke and
duchess of Marlborough, have come
before the yiyifying eye of the society
In 1S90-'9l the studies were exclusively
of Egyption art and history. A dry
subject, you will say, and inodorous a:
| the sands OF the desert. But wait
for when you have taken from hi:
fiinty sarcophagus the mummy OF
Rameres III, Invested him of bis
graYe-clothes, and clad him in purple
and fine linen; put into him the
breath OF a conquering monarch and
set him to building temples and
martialing armies and even rioting
by night, as only the kings old lotus.
blooming Nile seemed to know how to
riot, you have a theme that is not,
after all, so uninteresting.
Greece was next taken up for study,
and though her attitude at that time
was hardly so aggressively heroic as il
has since become, the club found in
this little country, that has always
nestled so snugly in the lap Of the
Hgean, much Of interest, much of
inspiration. In 1929 it was natural
of course, that the Worlds Colum bian
Exposition should receive attention
Not the White City alone, with its
dazzling variety By day, and its phan-
tasmal glori 5 coloring the high
heavens by night, but the including
idea Of the Fair. Thus it was. that
Colum bus came to be treated of, and
along with him the various nations Of
the earth, who in one way or another,
sought to outvie their neighbors in
making the exposition what we all
found it to be-a fairyland of foun-
tains and white palaces.
After that, the history and litera-
ture of Germany were discussed, with
much emphasis given the masterful
German operas and the unrivalled
musicians Dante in Italian litera-
ture-the only figure, by the way, in
all the long professional of modern
men of letters, who can stand shoulder
to shoulder with Shakespea.e-aud
Savanarola in religion, were two of
the many themes under the head Of
studies in Italy which concerned the
club in 1S95'96.
The programs OF the past year have
been devoted to English history and
literature from the beginning of
the modern age to the eighteenth
century. Such subjects as Henry VIII
in History and Drama, The Quaker
in England and The Augustan age of
English letters, are among those
which the papers. from time to time,