Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-28
BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

The charm of having 8 neighbor is that he lives where you can get al him, next door or across the way, or around the corner, or down the street You meet him in the morning when you run for the train. You slip into a seat beside him at night when you
 come home Sometimes in the even. ing you slip an arm into his and go
 walking and talking under the trees
 on the way to the post office, or you often sit by his fire and as often he sits by yours, and together you dis cuss the affairs of the village.
 A never-ending source of interest is afforded by the canvassing of the slight probability that you and he and others may one day combine to awaken conscience in the particular corporation that professes to serve you and really picks your pocket. Wheth- CT this happens to be gas monopoly. water board, street car system, or whatever else, is of no consequence You will never vanquish that resource ful fee. But it is slight alleviation of suffering to fancy that eventually you may succeed Your neighbor re- lates his experience, you relate yours, and the mutual disclosures do good to both. Misery loves company. in sucl phases as this.
 If your wife has no near neigkbors,
 nobody to gossip with, nobody with
 whom to exchange dress patterns and cook receipts, nobody from whom to : borrow cupful of sugar or spoon full of lard in time of need. and mo- body to chat with in the gloaming . she is badly of. There is danger of her drifting into melancholy from : sheer loneliness. A woman with no neighbors is pitiably forlorn, unless
 she has whole houseful of children.
 
 The fundamental basis, the deep root of the club idea is contained in the one word, fellowship.
 Men and women have clubs, and enjoy them, because clubs epitomize
 the spirit of reciprocity which is the essence of neighborliness. man goes to his club, that he may drop his cares, forget his business perplexities and put new set of faculties at work A woman who is rusting out and losing her freshness in a routine of neces- sary, but monotonous duties, is bright ened up and made younger by het
 mornings or afternoons spent in tho pleasant intercourse of her particular club. The disadvantage of most clubs in r village life is that they segregate men 2 and women; the men go to theirs
 apart, and the women to theirs. The ideal club is one in which husbands and wives meet together, informally at each others houses, having light re- treatments and little organization
 the minimum of expense, and an utter
 absence of red tape. If a half-dozen
 families whose incomes approximate
 the same amount, and who are on a similar social plane, combine to form
 6 neighborhood club, they can have
 enjoyable times in their meetings. and
 they will be bound by ties of friend ship almost invisible, but strong as
 silken cords.
 To make such club success, there must be some occasion for its exist
 ence. This occasion is sometimes found in a diversion such as cards, or an intellectual game. such as chess, , or it may be found in music, which l has a subtle way of uniting those who ] love it.
 When frankly the object of a club | is mental improvement, and the mem bers make out a programme for study, and pursue 1t through the successive
 months of autumn or winter, there Is great profit in the end Possibly Tn the first week or two or three, only a i slight improvement may be discerned.
 but as time goes on all are aware of
 that keen delight which is the crown
 ing joy of a students life, in school
 or college. The people in the neigh
 borhood study club have left school days behind them. and they sometimes
 find 1t a little hard to help the chill
 dren with the home work that goes on around the evening lamp. Unused i tools grow dull. It is only because ! we let our memories and our reasoning i powers lie dormant that they refuse ' to do for us what once they did. Up : to old age people might retain great 1 freshness and vigor of thought, and [ the gift of assimilation, If only they kept on taking in stores.
 i A club for neighborhood study may ! choose it's own subject This may be, ! for instance. the Social Life of An cisnt Rome. or the Social Life of Eng
 land Under the Stuarts. or the Struggle
 tor Religious Liberty in the Fifteenth
 Century, or the Italian Renaissance, | or 1t may be some aspect of natural
 science. Nature study has a fascina- ] ton that quite equals historical study.
 What is imperative is that something
 be selected which can be pursued i'm psrsonalIy without awakening parti-
 san sentiments. or arousing those ve
 hement passions that belong 10 issuss ! of the hour Yet. at times. a neigh
 borhood study club cannot do much
 better than take up some branch ol I eivIcs. look into good government. and enlarge It's knowledge of what is go ing cn in the country and the world t .- 1-- Ts L. - e -rfSa ~son onaru