The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-03-30
THE WOMAN'S CLUB.
MRS. ABEVE WHITAKER READS A
VERY INTERESTING PAPER.
HISTORY OF THE HUGENoTs
IRE Paper Brought Out Very Delightful
Comparative Study of Calvin and Lu-
Their, and Conde and Colignv, by Mrs.
P. Fisher and Mrs. E. C, Theirs.

The Woman's club held their regular
! fortnightly meeting at their club rooms
Wednesday afternoon. 1t was an
nounced that Mrs. Fl. Redeker would
read paper on William Morris at the
next meeting; also that through the
kindness of Mrs. Wilmuth, who spoke
to the club on Spain not long ago, Miss
Starr, of Chicago, will assist in the
discussion and will have with her sew
eral books on William Morris and some
of his original manuscripts. 1t will be
an open meeting and each member of
the club will be at liberty to bring one
guest.
Mrs. Kimball gave brief report OF
her visit to the district federation of
clubs held at Beloit. The state feder-
alton of clubs has divided into ten
districts, corresponding to the Con
gressional districts, and presided over
by a vice president elected by the
president of the state federation.
There were thirty six clubs represented
of which Kenosha stands third. The
work of the federation consisted in
simply an interchange of ideas and
aims.
The essayist of the day, Mrs. Whit
taker, read a very interesting paper on
The Huguenots." The derivation of
the name is somewhat obscure, the
most probable being from corruption
of German word meaning " confeder-
ates." BY the invention of printing
knowledge became more widely diffus-
ed. Cheaper books made new readers
and the Catholic prelates became sur
prised and alarmed by the universal
demand among the people TO have the
Bible read to them at services and to
have it where they could read it them
| selves. 1t was the accidental sight of
a Bible that fixed Luther's purpose,
and he became possessed Of the idea to
translate it to his own language. At
| first Francis I aided the German re-
formers, but Rome and her supporters
knowing that power was on her side,
determined to crush the heretics, if not
| by persuasion, then by force. The
| inQuisition was revived and men of
rank and learning we're ruthlessly de-
stroyed, but in spite of prosecutions
Calvanism flourished, even in the royal
palace. For time both sides aOurished
and were happy, but Pope Plus ",
supported by Phillip Ii, started the
persecution anew. Charles X was
under the control of his mother Cath
crime, who tried to hold the balance
between the two parties. But the
Catholics became more eXasperated at
every concession granted the Huguenots
and the Huguenots, growing exultant,
often became intolerable, this led to
crisis, and the year 1862 is memorable
as being the most dOlOrOus in HuguenOt
history. On August "a, 1872, occurred
the massacre of st. Bartholomew, and
the cry, " Kill, kill" was echoed every
where. In Paris alone 5000 to 10000
persisted, while each province had it's
own St Bartholomew. After the first
stupor had passed, the Professionals
GOOh u II CSA Luo CbSnAh Will UuO OOCpOl0 o.
ton of despair. Many of the Huguenots
fled to Holland, England and America
In all these countries the influx of
sturdy men, skilled as artisans, created
new industries and improved those
already existing. In Charleston, S. c.,
there exists today the only HugenOt
church in this country.
The discussion was ably led by Miss
Robinson. Mrs. Draper spoke on
" Martyrs and Prosecutions" Mrs.
Fisher compared the characters and
methods of Calvin and Luther. While
Calvin was an aristocrat, Luther was a
peasant; while Luther was eloquent,
Calvin was logical; while Luther ap-
pealed to peoples hearts, Calvin ap
pealed to their minds; Luthers doc
trlnes was justification by faith, while
Calvin's was predestination. Miss Gill
discussed the fact that while in Ger
many and Switzerland the reform was
mainly among the peasants in France
it was among the aristocracy. Mrs. L.
NJ. Theirs closed the discussion by
speaking briefly concerning the leaders
Condo and Coligny.
The meeting was one of the most
interesting and instructive held for
some time.