The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1902-10-23
Woman's Club Holds an Interesting
Meeting at the Club Rooms on
Wednesday Afternoon.
THE RESTORATION IN ENGLAND.
Mrs. f. w. Bowen Presents an Interesting
Study Of the Time of the Merry Mon
arch of the English People.

The Woman's Club Of Kenosha held
its second meeting of the new season
at the club rooms in the Gilbert M.
Simmons library "wednesday after
noon, and with this meeting the ladies
again took up the fascinating study of
English history (which proved SO pop
u1ar in the work of the club during the
past season.
The subject for the day was "The
Restoration ins England, and the es-
sayist was Mrs. F. w. Bowen. In a
short paper Mrs. Bowen took up the
consideration of the most interesting
feature of Puritan and Revolutionary
England. In the period which opened
when the thirty Thousand veterans of
the old Puritan army drew up at
B1ackheath to witness with pomp and
splendor the return of Charles II, the
remaining representative of the Stuart
house, to the time when that Jolly
monarch died in an epileptic fit with a
Romanist priest absolving him from
his SINS" Mrs. Bowen found many
things of rare interest. In her paper
she touched only the most interesting
points in the life and history of Charles
and the England which he made.
She showed that at the time of the
death of Cromwell the people were
tired of Puritan rule, and while they
welcomed the removal of the restraint
which had so long bound them, they
were not yet ready for that upbridled
vice which appeared throughout Eng
land as a result of the Stuart restora-
ton No page in the history of Eng
land is so black with the crime of vice
and immor ality.
Mrs. Bowen showed that Charles
was indeed a merry Monarch" and
that he carried his beliefs to such an
extent that hes became one with the
herd of gamesters and followers of the
nightly debauch. The essayist drew
strong picture of the unbr;dled evils
of the King and the great effect they
had on the moral and political life Of
the English people. She touched on
the marriage of the King to Catherine,
of BraganZa, and his long squabbles
with the French and Dutch Kings,
which were largely the outgrowth Of
this marriage.
She showed how the religions of
England had been corrupted by the
evil influences of the King and how
the religions which had been frowned
upon by Cromwell and his sturdy body
of Puritans, had easily found foot
hold on English soil with the restor-
alton of the Stuart house. The in
suits heaped upon the head of John
Milton, the blind poet, the sitting of
ali that was good in the Nation, the
Popish plot, the rise of the two parties,
the Petitioners and the Abhorrers,
and the final desertion of his church
by the King, formed interesting points
in the short discussion.
The whole of the sentiment of the
paper was summed up in that little
gem of an epitaph which some of the
favorite courtiers of Charles wrote on
his tomb after his unlamented death
IN the following WORDS:
"Here lies our Sovereign Lord, the King,
Whose word no man relies on;
Who never said foolish thing,
And never did wise one"
Following the paper an interesting
discussion was led by Mrs. F. H.
Blackman, ia which the Popish plot,
the social conditions of the restor-
alton, Catherine of Braganza, and the
Duke of Monmouth were discussed at
length, as the most interesting topics
of the reign of Charles II.
The afternoon closed with the usual
cup of tea. The next meeting of the
club will be held on the afternoon of
Wednesday, November 4. The sub
ject of the afternoon will be "Forest-
ry," and the essayist will be Mrs.
F7ro G. IN m 0nc