The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-02-27
woMAN's CLUB
open Meeting Saturday Afternoon by
Literary Departments.

l Heoiury department OF the
Woman's Club gave their opening
meeting Saturday afternoon at the
High school building and the program
was one of the best and most enter
tanning that the ladies have yet pre-
sented in any department. The at
tendance was very good, the assembly
room being well filed.
After the opening preliminaries
and reading of portion of the new
year book of the state federation of
Woman's Clubs by Miss Beulah
Bennett the afternoon was turned
over to the department of the literary
organization with Mae ]. Evans pre-
siding.
A vocal solo "Crossing the Barr
was sung by Mrs. Harry Cammack
and was well received. The lady was
called to repeat part of the effort.
"Hebrew poetry" was the subject
of paper presented by Miss Leoni
McMillen. 1t was entertaining and in
structive and was given the most
careful attention. 1t was exhaustive
and showed careful and thorough re-
search and study. The lady was
generally complimented upon the ex.
ce,lence of her work.
Miss Mary G. Chawner read a
paper on "Emerson's View of Ma
ture" which was as entertaining az
the preceding numbero of the program
had been. Certainly If the work of
the literary department of the local
woman's club is productive of such
efforts as were heard Saturday after
noon it should receive the undivided
support OF every member ofthe club.
Mrs. Verne Hamilton was on the
program for whistliDg solo but was
unable to appear on account of ILL
ness. Her place was filled by Miss
Lillian Hughes who played piano
solo, The Butterfly" in a way that
pleased all.
The climax of the afternoons
program was in the Burlesque play
or Shakesperian sketch, THE Shake
speare Wooing.
The work was we'll taken and the
sketch cleverly done by the ladies Of
the cast. Considerable study had
been necessary to place the piece up
to so high standard of excellence
as was seen. 1t was pleasant sur
prise for all who saw the play. Re-
hearsals have been in progress some
few weeks and considerable talk of
the event has been heard but the
ladies were not expecting the pretty
work that was presented. Consider
able ability was shown by several of
the cast and much credit is deserved
by those who made the play pos
sibility.
The cast of characters was as fol-
lows:
Romeo, gentleman doomed to be
loved not wisely but too well, Lucille
Ryan.
Lancelot Gobo, preverse disdain-
full lad, Jessie Reid.
Lady Macbeth, a widow who
takes advantage of leap year and
woos Romeo, Miss Laura Graves.
Ophelia, a fair maid loved of Romeo,
Miss Hattie Douglas.
The three wierd sisters, friends of
Lady Macbeth, Mrs. Christie, Maud
Bomar and Miss Van Guilder.
Special costuming was imported
for the occasion and the genuine
Shakesperian air was thus incorpor-
ated into the work and added greatly
to the setting of the sketch.
1t would be difficult to say who did
the best with their particular
lines. The sketch was a mix up of
Shakesperian characters and lines
intended by the author to be the
heighth of the ridiculous. The char
acter was so cast as to be required to
carry out the part in the play where
he or she originally belonged. The
mix up, especially to one who has
has been student of Shakespeare,
was certainly mirth provoking.
Romeo had some hard work TO do
but did it in way that pleased
everyone. The same may be said of
Ophelia. Here was hard part but
she did the character very cleverly.
Lancelot Gobo was good, very good
and so was the Widow Macbeth. The
three sisters about the caldron of
fate made that scene about as wierd
as any three witches ever seen on the
local stage. The ladies who had
place in the cast are being generally
congratulated upon the success of
the piece. They said their lines and
walked the boards" with freedom
that would have done credit to a
professional and all have reason to
be proud of the success achieved.