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 CNTCRTAINMCNTS 
 
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 CHURCH ENTERTAINMENTS 
 THE LADIES' AID SOCIETY 
 THE EPWORTH LEAGUE 
 THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 
 
 For ANY CHURCH SOCIETY which desires to 
 give clean and Christian-like entertainments, that are 
 new and unique, and which will attract the people... 
 
 A MOST VALUABLE BOOK 
 for those who have the social wel- 
 fare of the Church in charge 
 
 Bv GRACE LILLIAN HUNTER 
 
 Pdgg$l.00 
 
 DCS nolnes, l^wa 
 The Ladles TXkl Socierij Pubilsrilng Co. 
 
 1599 
 

 4*^ ^ or- 
 
 copyrighted in 1899 by 
 
 Grace Lillian Hunter 
 
 all rights rzserved 
 
 TWO ^v^r-iES RECElVt.D. 
 
 SECuuD COPY, 
 
 9 
 
 37' O0\»fi$>^ 
 
 
 !»■»■■ - 
 
PRErACE 
 
 THIS little book is designed especially for the 
 use of those Ghurch societies of whatever 
 r\ame, a part of whose duty it is to pro- 
 Vide for the social needs of their members 
 and friends. The socials and entertainments 
 herein described are designed not only to provide 
 for proper social demands, but also for the rais- 
 ing of money for Ghurch and benevolent purposes. 
 The Ladies' Aid Society or some similar society 
 in most churches is expected to contribute 
 liberally to the support of the Ghurch and more 
 particularly in making Ghurch improvements c>nd 
 keeping the same in good repair. 
 
 There has been a tendency in many Ghurch 
 societies to accept and use any entertainment 
 that Would draw the crowds, regardless of the 
 social and moral effect it might haVe on them. 
 The question has too often been "How many 
 dollars will it add to our treasury," instead of 
 "How much good will it do." No chur ch society 
 car\ afford to give any entertainm ent ti^.at is at 
 
 ail objectionable. The reason for the use of such 
 sensational and unwholesome entertainments has 
 been primarily from the lack of something better. 
 The social side of our nature must be pro- 
 vided for and the Ghurch, preacher or society that 
 neglects it neglects one of the "means of grace" 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 and one of the best methods for interesting out- 
 siders and bringing them within Ghurch in- 
 fluences. 
 
 in considering socials and entertainments to 
 be given by a church society we should ask; "is it 
 wholesome and elevating;" and then; "Is it enter- 
 taining.'' !n general, they should promote socia- 
 bility, mutual acquaintance and enjoyment. They 
 should stimulate the intellect. 
 
 On general principles it is not best to hold 
 either socials or entertainments in the Ghurch 
 auditorium. If your Ghurch has parlors these may 
 be used for social purposes, but generally speak- 
 ing, socials and entertainments should be given 
 in some public hall or In the home. 
 
 1 
 
...TABLE or CONTENTS... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Camera Exhibit 7 
 
 2. Suggestions for Kntertainments 8-9 
 
 3. The Husking Bee 9-11 
 
 4. Program of War >ongs 12-15 
 
 5. The School of Scandal 15-18 
 
 6. The Portrait Party 18-20 
 
 7. An Evening with Koiih 20-21 
 
 8. A Novel Entertainment 21-24 
 
 9. The County Fair. 24-27 
 
 10. A Mock Trial 27-31 
 
 11. Thoughts and Wheels 32-84 
 
 12. Hollow'een Parties b4-38 
 
 13. The Mum Social 88-40 
 
 14. The Lightning Drill 40-43 
 
 15. The Picture <^ame 43-45 
 
 16. The Graphaphone Social 45-47 
 
 17. The Home-Made Cook Book 47-51 
 
 18. An Evening with Scotch Song and Story 51-53 
 
 19. Millinery Sociable 54-58 
 
 20. Memorial Day 58-61 
 
 21. A Squash Social 61-63 
 
 22. Poem, "A Note of Warning" 64-66 
 
 23. Interesting and Money-Making Enterprise 67-69 
 
 24. The Preacher's Loan 70-71 
 
 25. War Program 72-73 
 
 26. Newspaper Social 74-78 
 
 27. Old Curiosity Shop 78-80 
 
 98. Grand Birthday Fete 81-83 
 
 The Ladies' Aid Society Journal 84 
 
J 
 
CAMERA EXHIBIT. 
 
 In every community there are women who, not only 
 have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of their cam- 
 eras, but have become exceedingly clever amateur 
 photographers. The surrounding scenery has lent 
 itself to their skill, unique characters have been taken 
 and interesting situations have been preserved. They 
 may have traveled, and, as they flitted from place to 
 place, added to their collection the famed places of 
 other cities and lands — portraits, interior views, his- 
 toric homes, bits of scenery, public buildings, noted 
 men and women, etc. It is remarkable how many 
 really interesting things one finds in such a collection. 
 These can be utilized for they make a most attractive 
 feature of a reception — as a well known society woman 
 has proven at a recent entertainment. Her work was 
 displayed in the dining room, which was decorated in 
 red and green. The walls were hung with red bunting 
 which proved an effective background for many of the 
 photographs. Others were arranged on the long table, 
 which was spread with damask, with a centerpiece of 
 lace over green silk, decorated with red roses and 
 lighted by numerous candles in tall candlesticks. The 
 lamps about the room all wore red shades. After 
 viewing the exhibits and having the interesting fea- 
 tures of special places explained, the guests were 
 invited to the library where refreshments were served. 
 
 If you have a clever amateur photographer in your 
 society you will find that the "Camera Exhibit" will 
 afford a delightful accessory to an evening's enter- 
 tainment. 
 
8 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 SUGGESTIONS TOR CNTERTAIN- 
 
 nCNTS. 
 
 There is no entertainment more pleasing and satis- 
 factory from every point of view than one given by 
 the children. It does not matter a great deal what 
 the nature of the entertainment may be or whether the 
 children are well trained or not. An entertainment by 
 the little tots will always draw well and be thought 
 eminently successful. Of course some entertainments 
 given by children are far superior to others, and there 
 may be all grades excepting bad. No children's enter- 
 tainment is ever a failure. They always attract a good 
 audience, and the larger the number of children who 
 can be introduced into the program, the larger the 
 audience will be. Each pretty little girl and bright 
 faced boy has a fond Mamma and an admiring Papa 
 as well as numerous Uncles and Aunts, Grandpa's, 
 Grandma's, Cousins, etc., etc., each and all of whom 
 are especially interested in at least one particular part 
 of that program. It doesn't matter a great deal if 
 Tommie does forget his piece and Susie jUmble her 
 words together. The very sight of those bright 
 faced children all dressed out in their Sunday best is 
 most refreshing and entertaining. And the man or 
 woman whose life will not be made a little more 
 sunshiny and happier and better by such an occasion 
 will bear watching to say the least. 
 
 God bless the boys and girls; they bring into our 
 lives many showers and plenty of trouble, but the 
 sunshine and love and happiness they bring outweigh 
 all else. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE 9 
 
 So do not forget, dear sisters, to enlist the aid of the 
 children occasionally for your entertainments. It will 
 be good training for them and remunerative for you. 
 
 It is always better of course to have the children 
 well trained, as it adds so much more to what in any 
 case will be an enjoyable program. If you have a 
 kindergarten in your town the teacher and pupils can 
 give many very pretty drills and games. 
 
 THE HUSKING BEE. 
 
 More and more as the years go by are the people 
 becoming interested in the old-fashioned things of 
 our grandmother's time. Looking back through the 
 mists that have gathered about the olden days and 
 softened all the hard lines, seeing only the pleasant 
 side of that life, and knowing nothing of its hard- 
 ship, its loneliness or its isolation, we have wished 
 that we might be as they were. And such a wish 
 is natural. Robert Burdette says that ever since 
 Adam's fifty-first birthday people have longed for 
 the good old times of fifty years ago. 
 
 In seeking for novel entertainment one cannot, 
 sometimes, do better than to go back to the old- 
 fashioned amusements of those early days, when 
 life was so terribly earnest that few were so frivol- 
 ous as to devote an evening wholly to amusement, 
 but must needs combine the work and play. The 
 husking bee was an event of considerable import- 
 ance in those earlier days when amusements were 
 scarce and people were bending every effort to 
 order their lives aright. 
 
10 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 To reproduce a husking bee, secure a large barn 
 or carriage house, with an ample barn floor. Let 
 your announcements or invitations be the old fash- 
 ioned wording and spelling. Old-fashioned cos- 
 tumes are worn, and *'Priscilla" and "Prudence" and 
 "Patience" and "Charity" of the later time, arrayed 
 in the gowns of their grandmothers, will turn the 
 heads of a later Miles Standish quite as effectively 
 as did the maidens of long ago, and they will look 
 prettier because quainter.. The barn floor, lighted 
 with lanterns swung here and there, banked on the 
 sides with mows of sweet-smelling hay, and over- 
 head the cob-webbed rafters shov/ing dim through 
 the pale light, will give a weird appearance to the 
 whole scene and make the old-fashioned costumes 
 look all the prettier. At the end of the floor arrange 
 a booth for each corner, from which to serve light 
 refreshments. These booths of cornstalks, sheaves 
 of grain, and golden rod, can be made very pretty. 
 Pumpkins, sheaves of grain, autumn leaves and 
 golden rod used in decoration will make a pleasing 
 effect. Rustic seats and easy chairs are arranged 
 for the older folks. On the barn floor heaps of 
 unhusked corn await the guests. The fiddler, 
 perched up on his box, and beating time vigorously 
 with his foot, plays while the guests are arriving 
 and at intervals during the evening. When all have 
 arrived the husking bee begins. Seated around the 
 different piles of corn, they bend to their work. 
 The new-old-fashioned girl may know how many 
 top coats belong in nature to an ear of corn, and 
 may be familiar with the peculiar twist of the wrist 
 which takes off those husky coverings with neatness 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 11 
 
 and dispatch, but she will make lots of fun as she is 
 getting her theories into practice. There will be 
 rivalry between the different groups, and the hunt 
 and finding of red ears will cause a great deal of 
 amusement. At a recent husking bee one man was 
 found with two red ears stuffed in his pocket before 
 the husking began, and after he was discovered ho 
 admitted that he had husked ten bushels of corn to 
 find them. During the husking one man found a 
 red ear, and started on a mission, but when he got 
 half way around a young lady discovered that his 
 red ear was not red at all, and she put a stop to 
 his mission. He wanted to know what he was to 
 do with the kisses he had gotten dishonestly, and 
 said he would not keep them, but would immedi- 
 ately give them back. This laudible ambition to 
 clear himself was frowned down, however. 
 
 After the husking was over, a program of music 
 and recitation was given, consisting of all old-fash- 
 ioned songs and stories of "ye olden tyme," some 
 one recited "The Husking Bee," "Country Court- 
 ship," and "When the Frost is in the Pumpkin." 
 "Grandma's Advice" made a pretty solo. The rest 
 of the evening was taken with old-fashioned games, 
 ending with "Money Musk." When the festivities 
 were over, the company repaired to the house, where 
 an old-fashioned supper was served. 
 
 Extra care must be taken in hanging the lanterns, 
 so that there will be no danger of an accident. A 
 fee of twenty-five cents should be charged for admis- 
 sion, and this to include light refreshments. It will 
 add to the pleasure if this entertainment is given in 
 the country and the townpeople given a hayrack ride. 
 
12 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 PROGRAM or WAR SONGS. 
 
 War songs and ballads have found their way into 
 the hearts of millions of people. They stir up 
 the fires of patriotism as nothing else can do. Many 
 a man of faltering courage has been nerved to heroic 
 action by the inspiring strains of martial music, 
 and many a man has gone to a soldier's death upheld 
 and comforted by the melody of a song which in- 
 spired his heroic service. Get Young America to 
 know and sing our national songs, and American 
 valor will ever command the admiration and respect 
 of the world. 
 
 No program will be more popular than a pro- 
 gram of war songs. Decorate the hall with flags 
 and bunting, and arrange in conspicuous places the 
 heroes of the past and present; Washington, Lincoln, 
 Grant, Joe Wheeler, Dewey, Hobson, and others. 
 These can be borrowed, or rented from the picture 
 dealer. The G. A. R. of the town will be glad to 
 loan muskets, swords, and flags. See that all the old 
 soldiers and the new have personal invitations and 
 urge them to be present. 
 
 The object of the program is not only to listen to 
 the singing of the war songs but to learn something 
 more of the songs themselves, their history, by whom 
 and under what circumstances they were written. 
 
 This will add interest to the songs, and give much 
 information that is not generally known. Let the 
 program proper begin by a general talk on "War 
 Songs" by the pastor. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 13 
 
 Before the first musical number on the program 
 is given some one gives a short history of the song. 
 
 "The Star Spangled Banner" was written by- 
 Francis Scott Key, who was a prisoner on the frigate 
 Surprise at the time of the attack on Fort McHenry. 
 He had no means of knowing during the long night 
 whether or not the fort had surrendered but by the 
 dim light of the September morn he saw that the 
 flag was still waving over the fort and in the exalta- 
 tion in finding that "the flag was still there" took an 
 old letter from his pocket and on the back of it wrote 
 the poem that still thrills every patriotic heart Give 
 the historical setting as fully as possible, tell where 
 Fort McHenry is, show the condition of the country 
 at the time, the anxiety that was felt, and picture as 
 vividly as you can the situation of the author at the 
 time of writing. The audience will then be able 
 to appreciate the song as never before. Following 
 the history of the song a quartette sings "The Star 
 Spangled Banner." 
 
 "Tenting on the old Camp Ground" was written 
 by Walter Kittredge in 1862. While in camp wait- 
 ing to go to the front he wrote both words and music 
 in a few minutes. With the home and dear ones 
 behind and the stern work of war ahead the heart of 
 the soldier boy sang the song that cheered and in- 
 spired thousands of his countrymen. Give as full a 
 description and picture as faithfully as you can the 
 surroundings in which the song was written before 
 it is sung. 
 
 "Just Before the Battle Mother," written by Geo. 
 F. Root, makes a very effective number to follow 
 "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground." "The Battle Cry 
 
14 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 of Freedom" is another of the many songs of that 
 prolific writer. An Iowa regiment of 800 men lost 
 more than half their number at the seige of Vicksburg, 
 but, nothing daunted, the brave men who were left 
 waved their torn and powder-stained flag, singing 
 "The Battle Cry of Freedom." One of the many 
 incidents that can be related. 
 
 "Yes we'll Rally Round the Flag Boys," another 
 song from the pen of Geo. F.. Root, was written when 
 he heard of Lincoln's call for troups. The famous 
 Lombard brothers took it up and soon it was on the 
 lips of every soldier in the land. 
 
 "The Vacant Chair," also by the same author, was 
 one of the most popular ballads during the civil war. 
 
 The famous camp fire song of the south,' "Mary- 
 land, My Maryland," by its true merit was carried 
 far beyond the southern lines. It was written by 
 James R. Randall, a young college professor, when 
 under intense excitement caused by the attack on 
 the Massachusetts troops as they passed through 
 Baltimore, his native city. He had no thought at 
 the time of the music; Miss Cary of Baltimore dis- 
 covered that the words would go to an old college 
 air. This song so dear to the heart of every Mary- 
 lander will be appreciated. 
 
 Henry C. Wood is best remembered as the author 
 of "Marching Through Georgia," which Brander 
 Mathews considers the best war song ever written. 
 Tell of its origin and something of the author. 
 
 "John Brown's Body" was the inspiration of Julia 
 Ward Howe's grand "Battle Hymn of the Republic." 
 Give a short history of each. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 15 
 
 Kipling's "Recessional" which critics declare 
 sounded the truest note of the Queen's Jubilee, is a 
 very effective number, and very appropriate. Give a 
 short account of the well known author. 
 
 "America," written by Dr. Samuel S. Smith, in 1832, 
 when he was a student at Andover, is the closing 
 number. It is sung by all, the quartette leading. 
 
 In addition to the above, short talks on "Dixie" 
 and "The Bonny Blue Flag" will be interesting. 
 
 The above are the barest suggestions of the talks 
 that are to precede the singing. Let the introduction 
 to the songs be as full as time will permit, and picture 
 the times and circumstances of writing as graphically 
 as possible. It will take considerable time and labor 
 to prepare the program but it will furnish a delight- 
 ful evening's enjoyment. A ladies quartette, and a 
 male quartette, alternating in giving the songs will 
 divide the work properly. 
 
 An admission fee is charged if you wish to make 
 it a money making entertainment. 
 
 THE SCHOOL Or SCANDAL. 
 
 In every community there are those whose chief 
 delight it is to pry into family closets and drag out 
 to the astonished gaze of the neighbors the family 
 skeleton. Busybodies, who find out the trials and 
 troubles, the shame and sadness of the home life, 
 and parade these shortcomings throughout the 
 neighborhood; who gloat over the weaknesses of 
 others, and seem never so happy as when picking to 
 
16 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 pieces the character of another; who revel in divorce 
 proceedings, and who smirch character, as white as 
 truth, by a shrug of the shoulders or by a rising in- 
 flection. These are found in every neighborhood. 
 They are to a community what the yellow news- 
 papers are to journalism. 
 
 Then there are those whose intentions are the 
 best, who would not knowingly say falsely one word 
 to hurt another, but who become unconscious in- 
 struments in the work of tearing down character 
 through the careless habit of passing stories along — 
 telling the news. 
 
 One is surprised at the growth of a bit of scandal. 
 Like a rolling snowball it gathers size and weight as 
 it goes. A reported story, after having been several 
 times told, is related as fact. 
 
 A game gives a practical illustration of this, and 
 while furnishing amusement, at the same time 
 teaches a valuable lesson. It is called the "School 
 of Scandal." The details of the game must be the 
 secret of the committee having charge. If all the 
 participants were on their guard, much of the pleas- 
 ure would be lost. 
 
 Fifteen or twenty of the guests are constituted 
 scandal mongers, the rest become audience. The 
 sheep are separated from the goats, the scandal 
 mongers going to another room. The leader having 
 charge of the game then explains to the balance of 
 the audience that she is going to demonstrate to 
 them, by a practical test, that it is impossible to tell 
 a thing just as one hears it, and also give them an 
 object lesson of how scandal starts and grows. 
 She reads to them a bit of c^ossip written on a 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 17 
 
 paper, and explains that it is to be read word for 
 word to the first scandal monger, repeated from 
 memory by her to the next one called in, and so on. 
 The first scandal monger is then called in, and the 
 bit of news read hurriedly but distinctly to her. 
 She calls in another and rapidly repeats it to her as 
 she remembers it, and so on, unt'l the story has 
 been told and retold to all the fifteen or twenty. 
 The story as the last one tells it is taken down in 
 writing just as repeated and compared with the 
 written copy as the story was first told. Hardly 
 ever do the two stories bear the slightest resem- 
 blance to each other, although each one told it "just 
 as it was told her." It is amusing to the audience 
 to note how unconsciously and with what perfect 
 sincerity and honesty the different scandal mongers 
 enlarge or modify the original story, until, what was 
 a mere rumor, becomes an asserted fact. 
 
 Take, for example, a test that was recently made 
 at a social gathering. The following was read from 
 a paper and passed along, as above described: "It 
 is reported that last Tuesday night Mr. Jones, the 
 Sunday School superintendent, was seen under the 
 window of Miss Smith, the organist, playing on the 
 guitar and singing love ballads. Mrs. Jones was at 
 home minding a sick baby, and thought that Mr. 
 Jones was kept away because of an important direct- 
 ors' meeting at the bank. Such conduct is shameful. 
 Mr. Jones should be drummed out of the commun- 
 ity." After passing down the list and each one 
 telling it "just as she heard it," the startling an- 
 nouncement was made by the last one repeating the 
 gossip, that "Mr. Smith, the organist, was seen one 
 
18 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 evening last week by the Sunday School superin- 
 tendent under the window of Mrs. Jones, the bank- 
 er's wife, singing love ballads. Mr. Jones was 
 attending an important meeting at the bank. The 
 whole community was indignant. Mr. Smith and 
 Mrs. Jones were drummed out of the neighbor- 
 hood." The festive Sunday School superintendent 
 was transformed into a banker, v/eighted down with 
 the cares of business, and a deeply wronged man; the 
 frivolous organist had dropped out of the story, and 
 an innocent member of the Smith fam'ly dragged 
 in; the patient and long-suffering Mrs. Jones was 
 made to appear as a disloyal wife ; and a new 
 Sunday School superintendent had appeared. Now 
 no one had consciously misrepresented any fact. 
 
 Do not make your story either too long or too 
 short; tell it plainly and do not repeat; and he care- 
 ful that your scheme is kept from the participants in 
 the game^ so that they will not put forth extraordi- 
 nary effort in telling precisely their story. 
 
 The game, if well carried out, will furnish much 
 amusement. It will prove a very attractive feature 
 of a literary program on "Building vs. Tearing Down 
 Character." 
 
 THE PORTRAIT PARTY. 
 
 This entertainment is easily arranged. Fifty or 
 more portraits arc cut from old numbers of magazines 
 and newspapers. These pictures are then mounted 
 on squares of card board, numbered and arranged 
 conveniently about the room. If the entertainment 
 is given in a hall the portraits may be fastened to a 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 19 
 
 wire strung along the length of the hall. Whether 
 in a hall or private house they should be so arranged 
 that the people will not have to crowd around them. 
 
 Each guest is provided with a card, with a space 
 left blank at the top for his or her name, and num- 
 bers down the side and blank spaces left for the 
 names of the pictures exhibited. To each of the 
 cards is attached a small lead pencil. 
 
 When all the guests have arrived the one having 
 the entertainment in charge explains that each one 
 without consulting another or getting help in any 
 way, is to write, on the cards furnished, the names 
 of the persons whose pictures are on exhibition; that 
 a certain time will be given to this; and that the one 
 having the most nearly correct list will receive a 
 prize. A consolation prize may also be given to the 
 one presenting the poorest paper. 
 
 The social committee will use judgment in select- 
 ing the portraits. If your company is made up of 
 cultured people, the portrait gallery could be made 
 up largely of people famous in special fields, while 
 if your guests were those whose reading was prin- 
 cipally confined to the newspapers, the persons rep- 
 resented should be those widely known. The- 
 pictures in the main should be those of living 
 celebrities, or those who have but recently died. 
 
 Every ten or fifteen minutes a halt should be 
 called, by tapping a bell, to listen to some piece of 
 music or reading. 
 
 When the allotted time has expired the cards 
 should be collected, and while the judges are pass- 
 ing upon the lists more music should be provided, 
 
20 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 or some other diversion introduced. Refreshments 
 may be served while the judges are out. 
 
 The following are some of the pictures that may 
 be easily secured and are generally known: Wm. 
 McKinley, Wm. J. Bryan, T. B. Read, Col. D. B. 
 Henderson, Chauncey Depew, Ambassador Choate, 
 Sir Julian Ponceforte, Admiral Dewey, Queen Vic- 
 toria, Queen Wilhelmina, Kaiser Wilhelm, Henri 
 Rochefort, Captain Dreyfus, Thomas Edison, Helen 
 Gould, Clara Barton, Jean de Reszke, Richard Mans- 
 field, Rudyard Kipling, Russel Sage, James Whit- 
 comb Riley, Sara Bernhardt, Grover Cleveland, Robt. 
 G. Ingersoll, Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. John Jacob 
 Astor, Mrs. Wm. McKinley, the governor of your 
 state and your congressman — it would be a compli- 
 ment to your local men, if any of them have recently 
 been in the papers, to add their pictures to the list. 
 
 The portrait party affords a good test of one's 
 general reading, and observation, for all the pictures 
 are of people who are, or have been recently, before 
 the public eye. 
 
 AN EVENING WITH NOAH. 
 
 The announcement of "An Evening with Noah" 
 will excite the curiosity of the people, and every 
 curious man or woman will help you advertise } our 
 social. If the social committee can keep the secret 
 no one's curiosity will be satisfied until the guests 
 assemble and find that "An Evening with Noah" 
 proves to be an evening with Noah Webster and 
 the spelling book. A short sketch of his life is given, 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 21 
 
 after which the company "choose up and spell 
 down" in real old-fashioned style. Two leaders are 
 selected and they take their places at opposite sides 
 of the room and choose sides in the old way. Only 
 one trial is given; when one misses he takes his seat. 
 Both old and young are chosen, and some of the 
 older folks will furnish surprises for the younger 
 students of to-day, for while they did not have the 
 advantages of the varied curriculums of our day, yet 
 they learned how to spell. "Consubstantiation," and 
 "phthisic" and "circumnavigation" and such words 
 will be old friends to them. 
 
 A great deal of fun can be gotten out of the old 
 fashioned "spelling down." It will furnish a pleas- 
 ing part of an evening's social. If many of the older 
 people take part use an old fashioned spelling book. 
 
 A NOVEL ENTCRTAINnENT. 
 
 I have heard of cases where a person had forgot- 
 ten his name; I have seen people in mad houses 
 who imagined they were some one else; but to be 
 perfectly sane and normal, and with clear memory, 
 and yet not to know who you are, is an experience 
 I had never before had until the other evening. 
 The hostess was a very clever woman, and we all 
 anticipated a good time. As we entered the room 
 a paper with a name written distinctly upon it was 
 pinned upon the back of each of us. Thereafter 
 each became the person whose name was pinned 
 upon his back, and each had that uncomfortable, 
 
22 ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 
 curiosity-wracking feeling of having lost his iden- 
 tity — each was in search of himself. The congress- 
 man's question, "Where am I at," expressed the 
 feelings of all of us. All knew the others' name, 
 but no one knew his own. Each was addressed as if 
 she were the real person whose name she bore (care 
 being taken not to reveal the actual name.) Much 
 deference was shown to ladies of rank, and as the 
 homage was being paid to them, their faces were a 
 study. Other guests were presented to the brave 
 and gallant Colonel, and the bewildered expression 
 on the Colonel's face spoke volumes. Whether he 
 won his rank charging up San Juan Hill, or Bunker 
 Hill, or Lookout Mountain, or opening up the Nile 
 or fighting the Chinese or the Indians, or was some 
 splendid peace Colonel on a governor's staff, he 
 did not know. He might have been a Chinaman, 
 or a Frenchman, or a Spaniard; but the guests knew 
 he was Colonel Roosevelt. The minisiter's wife 
 was much puzzled when the guests spoke of her 
 recent triumphs on the stage; she was Ellen Terry. 
 
 The minister was greeted with such questions as 
 these: "Do you feel your age?" "See a good 
 many improvements, don't you?" "How do you 
 like your clothes?" And the appealing look told 
 that he knew not that he was Adam. 
 
 The deacon was bombarded with such questions 
 as these: "You used to sleep out nights, did you 
 not, Colonel?" "Must have killed a number of men 
 in your time?" — and no wonder that the steady- 
 going and peace-loving deacon felt like resenting 
 these aspersions against his character. He was 
 Buffalo Bill (Colonel Cody). 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 23 
 
 "This gentleman is blind," was the remark made 
 to the astonished man, whose tag indicated that he 
 was Milton. 
 
 "This lady is remarkably well preserved," was the 
 shocking remark a young man made as he presented 
 his college chum to his beautiful young aunt, and 
 the crowd roared at her discomfiture. Her card 
 indicated that she was Lot's wife. 
 
 "Don't tell her any secrets; she is the greatest 
 gossip in the neighborhood," was the warning given 
 to the young man as he was presented to another 
 young lady, whose card said that she was Mrs. Grundy. 
 
 John Bull and Uncle Sam, Hobson, and a mount- 
 ain of a man who was labeled Cupid, made a great 
 deal of fun. Some of the other people represented 
 were Admiral Dewey, T. B. Reed, Wm. J. Bryan, 
 Capt. Dreyfus, Grover Cleveland, George Washing- 
 ton, Rameses II, Cleopatra, Ruth, Esther, Socrates, 
 Eve, Noah, Mary Ellen Lease, Josiah Allen's Wife 
 and Shakespeare. 
 
 So the evening went. Each one enjoying the 
 discomfiture of others, but getting no sympathy for 
 himself. No one was allowed to answer any direct 
 questions telling another's identity; the only way 
 one found out who he was, was from the conversa- 
 tions of others. The title of the person was used 
 in conversation, i. e., "Lady" or "Duchess," or "Col- 
 onel," or "General," but, of course, not the name. 
 There were no looking glasses in the room that 
 might reveal the name. 
 
 The evening was a most delightful one, full of 
 bright conversation, keenly interesting, and the 
 hours fairly flew. 
 
24 ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 
 This method of entertainment will make almost 
 an ideal one for any company except very young 
 people. 
 
 THE COUNTY TAIR. 
 
 One of the most profitable and at the same time 
 one of the most delightful entertainments that can be 
 given in the autumn is what we are pleased to call 
 '•The County Fair." In the late fall after "the frost 
 is on the pumpkin and the fodder's in the shock" is 
 the best time to hold the county fair. 
 
 A large hall should be selected and by the help 
 of a carpenter a few uprights can be made secure 
 from which to run wires for curtains to divide the 
 hall into booths. There should be a row of booths 
 on each side of the hall with the stage at the end. 
 Among the booths you will probably want, a candy 
 booth, a popcorn booth, a fruit booth, a lemonade 
 booth, an ice cream booth, a supper booth, several 
 booths for articles to sell and other booths that will 
 be suggested to you, 
 
 A director-general, the woman with the most time 
 and greatest ability in managing such affairs, should 
 be chosen; to assist her there should be a board of 
 managers, and from these should be detailed a man- 
 ager for each booth. These managers should then 
 meet and select their helpers. This should be done 
 at a meeting of all the managers so that the helpers 
 may be properly appointed and all taken. We 
 would suggest that so far as possible these booth 
 helpers be selected from among the young ladies of 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 25 
 
 your community and others who are your best enter- 
 tainers. 
 
 Do not limit yourself to your own church people 
 or society for helpers, get as many as possible to 
 work with you whether they belong to your church 
 or society or not. Each manager of a booth ought 
 to have from three to six helpers. It is the duty of 
 these helpers to popularize their particular booth, 
 make as many sales as possible and at the same time 
 entertain the visitors. 
 
 The director-general should call a meeting of all 
 the booth managers and helpers and impress upon 
 their minds the importance of strict attention to their 
 duties. The object of the county fair is to make money 
 and each one should have this constantly in mind. 
 
 The decoration of the hall and of the booths 
 ought to be very elaborate. The prevailing scheme 
 for all of the decorations must be the products of 
 the farm, and the leaves, bulbs, grasses and flowers 
 that grow wild. Each booth should be very care- 
 fully decorated with cornstalks, sheaves and heads 
 of wheat, oats, rye, barley, pumpkins, squashes, 
 pretty vines, forest leaves, or anything grown on 
 the farm or in the woods that will add beauty to 
 your booth. The director of each booth should 
 have charge of the decorations for her booth and 
 she should be assisted by her committee. There 
 ought to be a healthy rivalry as to who will have 
 the prettiest and most tastefully decorated booth. 
 Several of the booths may be entirely enclosed, 
 leaving little doorways for entrance and exit. 
 There are splendid opportunities for artistic decora- 
 tions, and if each manager decorates her own booth 
 
26 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 the natural rivalry will bring out the best results. 
 In many of the booths there should be small tables 
 and chairs so your guests may sit down while being 
 served. The size of each booth must be governed 
 by what it is to be used for. In the center of the 
 hall there ought to be scattered through the entire 
 length a number of chairs, settees, etc., so that any 
 person could sit when tired. However, the general 
 object is to have them rest in the booths. 
 
 Several cozy corners mi'ght be partitioned off by 
 curtains, the floor covered with rugs and the room 
 furnished with easy chairs. These would be delight- 
 ful corners for a nice rest and quiet conversation, or 
 for a tete-a-tete with a friend or friends away from 
 the crowd. A keeper of the door should be ap- 
 pointed for these places also, and a charge of five 
 or ten cents made for the use of the cozy corner. 
 
 If the ladies think it wise, donations may be 
 solicited in advance for the fair. Besides provis- 
 ions, there might be secured jellies, cakes, preserves 
 and jams, which, together with articles made by the 
 members themselves, can be sold during the fair. 
 
 We have given but a rough outline of the County 
 Fair. The details may be worked out as best suit 
 the societies and the conditions surrounding them. 
 The fair ought to be held every afternoon and even- 
 ing for three or four days. Carriages ought to be 
 at your disposal every afternoon in order that you 
 can bring out the aged and infirm and give them a 
 few hours of enjoyment. Keep constantly in mind 
 that, while the object of the fair is to earn money, 
 there will be many opportunities for doing good 
 and adding to the happiness of others. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 27 
 
 General entertainment ought to be provided for 
 each evening. From time to time order may be 
 obtained and a selection of music or a recitation 
 given. It would be well to provide for several 
 vocal and instrumental selections, as well as -other 
 entertainment for each evening. If you can obtain 
 one or more mandolin and guitar players it will 
 add greatly to the enjoyment. 
 
 Great care should be exercised in making the 
 booths that they be made substantial and not easily 
 thrown down. Special precaution should also be 
 observed in lighting the hall and the booths to 
 avoid all danger of fire. Impress upon the minds 
 of the young ladies their duties, so that they 
 will not spend their entire time in entertaining a 
 comparatively few. A great deal of tact may be 
 exercised by them in entertaining the people and 
 promoting the financial success of their respective 
 booths. They must not, however, run down one 
 another's booths. 
 
 A small charge of ten cents for adults and five 
 cents for children should be made at the door. This 
 entertainment can easily be made to clear from $I00 
 
 to $1,000. 
 
 A nOCK TRIAL. 
 
 A trial always interests a large number of per- 
 sons, as every one knows who has watched the 
 average audience in a court room. It is not so 
 much that people love to see justice dealt out with 
 a steady hand, as it is that something in human 
 
28 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 nature, which theologians call original sin, and evo- 
 lutionists trace to our fighting ancestors, that en- 
 thuses over a fight, be it a foot-ball game or a 
 contest of wits. 
 
 For the long winter evenings nothing will draw 
 better than a mock trial, if it is well worked up. 
 There are in every community prospective disciples 
 of Blackstone who will enter heartily into any 
 scheme that will test their power as lawyers. It 
 would be better to have regular lawyers to conduct 
 the case, but if none are available, the young men 
 should secure the advice and help of a lawyer 
 friend. Two lawyers on a side will be enough. 
 An able man will act as judge. It is not necessary 
 that the judge know any law; let him be sober, dig- 
 nified and owl-like. The object of the trial is not 
 to bring out fine points of law, or to dispense justice 
 with an even hand; it is to make fun. Nothing vul- 
 gar, undignified or disrespectful should be allowed. 
 
 What the case set for trial should be will be de- 
 termined from a knowledge of the people before 
 whom the trial is to take place. What would inter- 
 est one community might not another. 
 
 A breach of promise suit brought by a young 
 man against a young lady would prove interesting. 
 The young woman should be a very capable one, 
 clever at acting, thoroughly self-possessed and good 
 looking. She impersonates a dashing young widow. 
 
 The indictment against the young widow has 
 been returned, and she is charged with trifling with 
 the affections of a bachelor of the community. Suit 
 is instituted for damages. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 29 
 
 The court opens in regular form, the easels called 
 up, and the plaintiff and the defendant with their law- 
 yers take their places inside the rail. The defend- 
 ant's attorne3's attempt to have the case postponed, 
 but without success, and the work of impaneling the 
 jury begins. The plaintiff's attorneys aim to get old 
 maids and married women on the jury; the defend- 
 ant wants young, impressionable men over whom the 
 charm of beauty would have an effect. A great 
 deal of fun can be made in getting the jury by taking 
 off the average jurymen. Some such colloquy as this 
 will take place after the name, etc., has been given: 
 
 "Ever heard of this case?" 
 
 '•No." 
 
 "Have you any prejudice against matrimony?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Ever hear of such a thing as breach of promise ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Do you know anything about anything?" 
 
 "Don't know nothing?" 
 
 Both sides accept him as an ideal juror. Then 
 there will be the old maid who is anxious to get on 
 the jury because she thinks the widow ought to be 
 convicted. Various other relatives and friends will 
 be anxious to get on. The impaneling of the jury 
 will make lots of fun if it is well worked up, and 
 practiced. Finally a jury of ten young men and two 
 old maids (young ladies dressed as old maids) is 
 secured. The widow smiles upon the young men, who 
 immediately make up their minds to a verdict of 
 "not guilty;" the old maids frown and are equally as 
 decided, no matter what the evidence, to bring in a 
 verdict of "guilty." 
 
30 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 The taking of testimony is begun. The follow- 
 ing will serve as a substitute for the oath. "Close 
 your right eye. Do you willingly affirm that you 
 will maintain the same attitude towards Truth that 
 you would in a horse trade; that you will tell so 
 much or the truth as will help your side of the case, 
 believing that Truth is mighty and will prevail any- 
 way." The answer: "I so affirm." 
 
 The witness box is now the center of interest and 
 the witnesses should represent "types." The woman 
 who insists on telling about everything except what 
 she knows about the case, and declares, upon being 
 caught up by the attorneys that she is "just coming 
 to that;" the timid witness, the indignant witness and 
 the vindictive witness, all are represented. There is the 
 Irish witness, fresh from Cork, with his rich brogue. 
 When asked by the attorneys for his address, think- 
 ing that they mean for him to make an address, 
 get up, bows to the judge, the jury, and the audience 
 and says. "I did not know that I was to make an 
 addris to this assimbly, but since yez honor me, I 
 will spake to ye on the Silver Question" — and off he 
 starts with much enthusiasm and gesticulations. The 
 lawyers finally get him stopped and explain that 
 they want to know where he lives. The proper 
 question to start the Irishman off on his "speech" is 
 "you may now give your address." 
 
 During the taking of testimony everything favor- 
 able to the widow is indelibly impressed upon the 
 minds of the ten jurymen by her smile; the old 
 maids are frantic. When unfavorable testimony is 
 given the widow puts on an innocent, martyr-like 
 appealing look; the old maids are jubilant; the 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE 31 
 
 young men pay no heed to the testimony, but look 
 sympathetically toward the beautiful widow. 
 
 The young men of the jury are not the only ones 
 brought under the spell of the fair defendant; the 
 judge, too, after repeated efforts to be impartial, 
 finally succumbs to her witchery. 
 
 The evidence all in, the lawyers make their pleas. 
 Here is a chance for some clever work. The plain- 
 tiff uses all the arguments for his client that would 
 be used if his client were a woman; the defendant's 
 attorneys, knov/ing that the ten jurymen and the 
 judge are "all right," ignore the testimony, and 
 direct all their argument against the old maids, who 
 finally relent when appealed to as "young ladies." 
 During the argument the defendant keeps up her 
 acting, responding to varying moods as pictured by 
 the attorneys. The judge, although the testimony is 
 overwhelmingly in favor of the widow's conviction, 
 charges the jury to bring in a verdict for her acquit- 
 tal. This they do, and the costs of the case are 
 charged against the plaintiff. The widow, through 
 her attorneys, gives notice that she will commence 
 a suit for $25,000 damages against the plaintiff for 
 malicious prosecution, and court adjourns. 
 
 The impaneling of the jury, the testimony, the 
 lawyers' arguments and the judge's charge should be 
 carefully prepared, and the w^hole thing practiced 
 until it can be given well. We have merely sug- 
 gested what to do; to give the trial in full would be 
 beyond the limits of this little book. 
 
 Two evenings should be given to the trial; the 
 first evening taking up to the arguments of the law- 
 yers. A fifteen-cent admission fee is charged for 
 each evening. 
 
32 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 THOUGHTS AND WHEELS. 
 
 A man who would join an anarchist club if he 
 were compelled to walk fifteen miles in working, 
 will go as many miles over the golf links and tell 
 everybody he is having one of the best times imagin- 
 able; a boy who is just so tired he can't move, if there 
 are weeds to pull, will break amateur records going 
 towards the "old swimming hole;" the man who is 
 so utterly fagged out that he can't go into the next 
 room for his slippers, will go down to the club and 
 walk five miles around a billard table, part of the 
 time on one leg, with the other one on the table; and 
 the girl who would not think of running the risk of 
 overtaxing her energies by walking eight blocks 
 down town will cover fifteen miles on a dancing floor 
 and declare that "It is just too lovely for anything." 
 Human nature is peculiar. It makes lots of differ- 
 ence whether a thing is work or play, how much of 
 it one can do. If golf were work, there is not a 
 farmer's boy in the country whose constitution could 
 stand it; if the business man had to walk five miles 
 to prayer meeting he wouldn't, and his wife wouldn't 
 let him, thus wear himself out; and the father who 
 would insist that his daughter walk six miles on an 
 errand would be counted as cruel and inhuman. 
 
 So it is in raising money. The person who has 
 "a scheme to raise money" meets with twice as much 
 success as the person who has none. If you can 
 make it appear more like fun than work, you will 
 succeed from the start. That is why the "wheel" is 
 a good method for raising money. This is the plan: 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 33 
 
 One of your best workers is constituted the "hub" of 
 the wheel; ten other prominent workers are chosen 
 to act as "spokes"; and each spoke has the privilege 
 of appointing ten "sub-spokes." The amount of money 
 to be raised is then apportioned by the hub to the 
 spokes, and each spoke with the help of her sub- 
 spokes becomes responsible for that amount. If 
 $100 are to be raised each of the ten spokes takes 
 $io; if $500 each takes $^o. The sub-spokes need 
 not all be women unless your society is large. Young 
 men will do for sub-spokes. 
 
 Now, theoretically, it would be just as easy for one 
 hundred in your society to raise one dollar each and 
 turn it in to the treasurer as to raise it by the wheel 
 method; but, practically, half of them would not do 
 it. The wheel will create interest. There will be 
 good natured rivalry between the spokes; none will 
 want to fail. It is not work now; it is a kind of a 
 game and all want to win. 
 
 There are many ways for the spokes to earn their 
 money. The spoke may apportion the money to 
 the sub-spokes, and act as overseer, or can work 
 together as a company, give sociables or entertain- 
 ments, cater for some party, organize an excursion 
 or trolley party, get up a scheme of advertising, get 
 in a lecturer or musical company, or some other of 
 the many ways of earning money. Part of the 
 spokes should apportion the money for the sub- 
 spokes to raise, else socials and entertainments be 
 over-worked. The sub-spokes will find many novel 
 ways of earning money. Those who are skillful at 
 fancy work will do that. Some will knit slippers; 
 some will bake; some will sell books. Others will 
 
34 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 sell plants and flowers, or make shirtwaists, or econ- 
 omize in their personal expenditure. 
 
 It is a good plan at the beginning of the year to 
 set the mark of how much money your society can 
 raise and then assign to each spoke one month in 
 the year for socials and entertainments. She, know- 
 ing weeks beforehand that her division will be held 
 responsible for that month, will plan all the year 
 for it, and give something worth while. This plan, 
 too, will distribute the work. Try the wheel. 
 
 HOLLOWCEN PARTIES. 
 
 That All Hollow Even, or HoUow'een, is the time 
 when the spirits hold high revel upon earth no 
 orthodox believer in folk lore will deny. Some 
 cynical property owner, who on the morning of 
 November ist, finds the front gate on the front porch 
 and other evidences of spirit action, maiy declare that 
 the fairy that wrought there had taken possession 
 temporarily of a stout mischevious boy; he may 
 state further before he gets said gate back to its 
 place that had he been there at the time he would 
 have succeeded in exorcising the spirit by the lay- 
 ing on of hands. But the belief of the boastful 
 cynic will have no weight against the accredited 
 traditions of centuries that on that night witches, 
 fairies, elves, kelpies, and the like come into closer 
 communion with mortals than is their wont, and that 
 if sought by the proper charms will reveal many 
 things of the future. Especially does Cupid deign 
 to disclose what he has in store for anxious lovers. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 35 
 
 A Hollow'een Party will furnish the means of put- 
 ting to a test the methods of obtaining this much 
 desired information. 
 
 As spirits love not the glare of light but dwell 
 in the dark and dank places of earth, in the deep 
 dells of the forest, let your place of entertainment be 
 decorated in such manner as to invite these creatures 
 of the night and air. Decorate with green boughs, 
 autumn leaves and Jack-o-lanterns. The more of 
 these lanterns the better, for they, in proper arrange- 
 ment, will give the necessary weird and uncanny 
 appearance to the room. All know how Jack-o- 
 lanterns are made from pumpkins, with the insides 
 scooped out and incisions made for the eyes and the 
 nose and the mouth. These can be made to assume 
 various expressions by the manner of cutting the 
 eyes and the mouth. There is the vicious Jack-o- 
 lantern with fierce, gleaming teeth; the melancholy 
 one with mouth drawn down; the smiling one with 
 the ends of the lips pointed up; and the surprised one 
 with big, round eyes and round mouth. Dress up a 
 couple ot "dummies" with two smiling Jack-o-lanterns 
 for heads, and place them on each side of the walk 
 outside the door. Just on the inside of the entrance 
 is another dummy, dressed as a ghost, with a smiling 
 Jack-o-lantern for a head, so arranged that some one 
 may stand behind it and work the hands. A figure 
 dressed in ghostly attire tends the door. Each 
 guest is presented by the door tender to the Jack-o- 
 lantern. As they turn to greet him the voice from 
 behind says in a sepulchral voice "Glad to see you, 
 sir," and pushes out a hand formed of a glove filled 
 with wet sawdust, sand and ice for the guest to 
 
36 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 shake. The sensations as the guest takes the pre- 
 ferred hand can be better imagined than described. 
 Dropping the hand the guest turns to be meet with 
 the sight of another dummy dressed as a woman, 
 with a surprised Jack-o-lantern for a head. Going into 
 the room, lighted dimly with candles and the light 
 shining from the faces of the Jack-o-lanterns, one 
 sees various other shades wondering about. When 
 the guests have all arrived, these disappear and the 
 evening's festivities begin. Each one wants to try 
 all the charms that will help them read the future. 
 
 If you have two lovers and are not clear in your 
 mind which j^ou prefer, an apple seed named for 
 each is placed on the eyelids and the girl closes her 
 eyes with a snap. If one seed remains, that young 
 man is the favorite. Tradition supplies no remedy 
 when both fall down. For the young men an 
 equally reliable method of determining their fate 
 is the charm known as the "snap apple." It 
 is played in this manner : A number of apples 
 are marked to correspond with the names of young 
 ladies, and tossed into a tub of water. The young 
 person who tries the charm kneels beside the 
 tub and tries to catch one of the bobbing apples 
 with his teeth. If he succeeds, which is doubtful, 
 he will some day marry her whose name corresponds 
 to the mark on the apple. Another way for both 
 the lads and lassies to know what the fates have in 
 store for them is to "bob" for apples in the tub of 
 water. The fortunes are written on a paper and 
 pushed into an incision in the apple. 
 
 An especially quaint and time-honored observ- 
 ance is that of placing three deep dishes on a table 
 
- OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 37 
 
 and pouring clear water into one, clouded water 
 into the second, and leaving the third empty. A 
 person is blindfolded and led up to where the dishes 
 stand. The left hand is dipped in, and if by chance 
 it finds its way into the clear water, the future 
 spouse will be a bachelor or a maid. If the hand 
 dips into the clouded water, one's fate will be a 
 widower or a widow; while if into the empty dish, 
 it is absolutely certain that one's life will be spent 
 in single blessedness. To have the charm work 
 unfailingly it must be repeated three times, and 
 every time, of course, the arrangement of the dishes 
 must be changed. 
 
 A ceremony especially observed by young swains 
 rather than maidens, is the walking along a slender 
 but stout pole laid across two stools. A lighted 
 candle is at the one end of the pole and under it a 
 tub of water. The lover, carrying a candle in his 
 hand, must walk the pole and light his candle from 
 the one at the end of the pole. The possibility that 
 he will land in the tub of water adds zest to the 
 game. 
 
 There are many other charms, such as the par- 
 ing of an apple and throwing the peeling over your 
 left shoulder, and noting that it forms the initials of 
 your lover's name; the placing of three hazel nuts, 
 named after three favorites, on the hearth, and not- 
 ing that those which burst or jump will be faithless, 
 while those that burn or blaze will be forever true; 
 going down the stairs backwards and holding a 
 lighted candle above the head, and suddenly turning 
 on the last stair to see the face of your future hus- 
 band or wife, as the case may be. 
 
38 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 The games and charms will fill the evening full 
 until time for refreshments. Let the supper be an 
 old fashioned one, with plenty of pumpkin pie, 
 baked apples, doughnuts and nuts. After supper, 
 when the lights grow dim again, and the guests are 
 seated about on rugs and stools, the ghosts reappear 
 and recite weird and harrowing tales. A voice 
 comes from one of the most ferocious looking Jack- 
 o-lantern figures to tell some hair-lifting story of 
 mystery. When the Hallow 'een party is over each 
 guest will be more than ever convinced that the 
 spirits are abroad. 
 
 Of course the party is for the young people; the 
 older people, no doubt, will find their evening fully 
 taken up with answering door bells and watching 
 front gates. 
 
 The social committee will find that to entertain 
 on Hallow 'een will require much planning and a 
 great deal of work, but they will be repaid in the 
 enjoyment that such entertainment gives. Have 
 everything ready for the games and charms. Allow 
 nothing to drag, and see that all are entering into 
 the spirit of the occasion. Hallow 'een comes but 
 once a year. Keep up the quaint old traditions of 
 the night. 
 
 THE A\UA\ SOCIAL. 
 
 Have announced the Sunday preceding that: "The 
 young ladies of the congregation will entertain at 
 
 the church parlors on the following evening, 
 
 and promise all who come a quiet but enjoyable 
 time." The day before the evening distribute 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 39 
 
 circulars bearing the words "Mum — Come" with the 
 date of the sociable and the place. This will excite 
 the curiosity of the people, and curiosity once excited 
 insures a good attendance. When all have gathered, 
 strangers introduced, etc., the chairman of the social 
 committee, explains the nature of the evening's 
 entertainment. Something like the following may 
 be used by way of introduction: 
 
 "In the eastern part of Iowa surrounded by roll- 
 ing prairie, in the seclusion and loneliness of a quiet 
 farming community stands a monastery, known 
 locally, as the Silent Brotherhood. There is but one 
 other in the United States, located in Kentucky. 
 The monks have taken the vow of silence. Day 
 after day they work side by side busied with the cares 
 of the immense farm or the shop or the dairy. Yet 
 they hold no converse with their brothers, but per- 
 form their duties in silence; and were it not for the 
 cowled figures moving about one might think he had 
 come upon a veritable deserted village. Some of 
 our bachelor friends have insinuated, on occasion, that 
 such a religious organization would be impossible 
 among women. To convince these and other mem- 
 bers of the sterner sex how little they know about 
 women and how much easier it is for women to 
 remain silent than it is for men, a practical test has 
 been arranged called the Mum Social." She then 
 explains that there is a penalty for talking, a fine of 
 so much for every breach of the rule. Games are pro- 
 vided in which conversation is not necessary, panto- 
 mimes acted, tableaus, living pictures, instrumental 
 music, etc. These will do for a while. Of course the 
 silence will not long remain unbroken. Some either 
 
40 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 through force of habit or because they cannot longer 
 endure a speechless existence will talk; these are 
 promptly fined and once assessed themselves they 
 will do all in their power to bring others into the 
 clutches of the fine committee. Very few will be 
 able to resist the combined assaults of the silence 
 breakers and endure until the end. Of course the 
 social committee are allowed to talk and will use 
 their ingenuity, as at other socials, to get the people 
 to talk. No whispering is allowed, and is fined the 
 same as talking. A fine of ten or fifteen cents will be 
 penalty enough, and this with the extra charge for 
 light refreshments will make the treasurer feel that 
 the social has not been given in vain. 
 
 There will be more fun in the Mum Social than 
 you would at first think. Many amusing things will 
 happen, and various sign languages introduced all to 
 fail when at an unguarded moment one forgets 
 there is a fine and speaks. 
 
 THE LIGHTNING DRILL SOCIAL. 
 
 The whole evening is not taken up with the 
 Lightning Drill. That is only to be one of the 
 features, and to serve as a means of calling attention 
 to the social. People like something out of the 
 ordinary. But while it lasts the Lightning Drill is 
 intensely interesting and furnishes after it is over 
 no end of talk, as mistakes are discussed. Advertise 
 it well, as the Lightning Drill Social. Keep the 
 details a secret and get the people's curiosity excited. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 41 
 
 "It is a trained company that will go through mili- 
 tary maneuvers with lightning like rapidity or what 
 is it?" and the more such questions the ingenious 
 social committee can stimulate the larger the attend- 
 ance. 
 
 The night of the social have provided a lot of 
 lead pencils and paper, so that each guest may be 
 provided. Arrange the audience so that the min- 
 isters, the school teachers and the prominent church 
 people are on the front seats. Insist that all take 
 part. Distribute the paper and the pencils and ask 
 that the name of the holder be written at the top, 
 and the lines numbered from one to twenty-five. You 
 then explain that the Lightning Drill is to test their 
 quick wit, observation, and memory; that the questions 
 you are to give are those well known and easily 
 answered, when one has time to think, but that in 
 this drill the answers are to be put down immediately — 
 without stopping to think — that no mistakes are to be 
 corrected when once passed, no whispering, and that 
 there will be no repetition of the question. Let the 
 member who takes charge of this be an annimated 
 speaker and the audience will get some of her 
 enthusiasm, and keyed up for the drill, not taking 
 time to weigh the question and thinking only of the 
 answer they can be led into many ludicrous mistakes. 
 Of course there is no hint that any are catch ques- 
 tions. When all are ready the leader gives the 
 questions, allowing only time to write the answer until 
 the next is given, and filling in the time talking — 
 and remember that it is a lightning drill, and that 
 there is to be no time for meditation. Give the num- 
 ber of each question and insist that the answer, if any, 
 
42 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 be written opposite its number. The following are 
 the questions. 
 
 1. Who is president of the United States? 
 
 2. Name of England's Queen? 
 
 3. Name the two U. S. Senators from your state? 
 
 4. How many legs has a fly? 
 
 5. What was your mother's maiden name? 
 
 6. The color of your eyes? 
 
 7. Name the governor of your state? 
 
 8. Have you retid the Bible through? 
 
 9. Have you read the second chapter of Jude? 
 
 10. Have you read the second Epistle to the Collosians? 
 
 11. Who is speaker of the house? 
 
 12. How many counties in your state? 
 
 13. Who built the ark? 
 
 14. Who killed Cain? 
 
 15. Does a horse in rising get up in front or behind first? 
 
 16. Who swallowed the whale? 
 
 17. Does a cow in rising get up in front or behind first? 
 
 18. Name a prominent Englishman. 
 
 19. Name a prominent Erenchman, German, Irishman? 
 
 20. Name two women of the United States of national 
 reputation. 
 
 21. Is the Book of Enoch in the old or new Testament? 
 
 22. Which is heavier a pound of gold or a pound of 
 feathers. 
 
 23. How many books in the Old Testament? 
 
 24. How many in the New Testament? 
 
 25. Does a horse in bitting off grass push its mouth 
 away from, or toward its body. 
 
 As soon as the last question is answered, iinmedv- 
 ately the papers are passed to the end of the seat 
 and collected. They are then turned over to a com- 
 mittee who examine them. The drill over the com- 
 pany will have no trouble the rest of the evening for 
 something to talk about. 
 
 A g^reat deal of fun will be had when the examin- 
 ing committee makes their report. It should be 
 made by a good talker who can comment interestingly 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATUKE. 43 
 
 on the papers. It will probably be found that the 
 minister in a spirit of reckless haste has boldly 
 asserted that Jonah swallowed a whale; the school 
 teacher will be equally certain that Abel killed Cain; 
 and the Sunday School superintendent and other 
 prominent church men will declare that they have 
 read both the second chapter of Jude and the second 
 Epistle to the Collosians. Others will be equally 
 positive that the Book of Enoch will be found in the 
 Old Testament Canon; and the number who do not 
 know their mother's maiden name will be a surprise 
 to those who think Americans have gone daft on the 
 subject of ancestry. Bald headed men who have 
 been fighting flies off their dome of thought all sum- 
 mer will hazard the guess that a fly has at least a 
 dozen legs; and the number of farm bred men and 
 women who can not tell whether a cow gets up in 
 front or behind first will be a surprise. The chair- 
 man of the examining committee reads the most 
 ludicrous mistakes and by commenting wittily upon 
 them can make a great deal of fun. 
 
 Very few people can think accurately and rapidly, 
 and although Americans have an international reputa- 
 tion for quick thought and action yet very few will 
 go through the lightning drill without stumbling. 
 
 THE PICTURE GAA\E. 
 
 All social committees agree that the main thing 
 in the success of gatherings is to get the people 
 interested and doing something. A hostess who 
 chooses her company sometimes finds that it takes 
 
44 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 all her ingenuity to keep up a general interest in the 
 conversation, to keep out unpleasant topics, and to 
 prevent hobby riders from monopolizing the time. 
 How much more difficult it is for the social com- 
 mittee of the society, who have as guests **all sorts 
 and conditions of men," not to say anything about 
 the women, is only known to those who have filled 
 both positions. 
 
 How to draw out the bashful young man who 
 blushes much and says little; how to curb the 
 enthusiasm of the smart young man, who thinks he 
 is the object of universal coveteousness, talks much 
 and says little; how to repress the giddy young 
 thing whose tongue has a way of keeping about 
 four sentences ahead of her thinking; and how to 
 make the tired and reticent woman, who rarely gets 
 away from home and has little enjoyment in life, 
 forget for a time her household cares and herself in 
 an evening's enjoyment — are some of the problems 
 that every social committee has to solve. 
 
 One way of getting the people to circulating and 
 talking is the following: 
 
 Cut out of the papers and magazine advertise- 
 ments the pictures. If the paper is not very heavy, 
 paste them on thin card board and cut into several 
 pieces. These pieces are shaken up in a basket, and 
 on the evening of the social each guest is given a 
 picture, with instructions to find the other pieces 
 and restore the picture. Each picture is, of course, 
 cut into enough pieces so that the restoration is not 
 too easy a task. All the pieces must be out, too. 
 The ingenuity displayed by those who carve the 
 pictures will cause much amusement. Given the 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 45 
 
 right hind foot of a centaur, with instructions to 
 restore the animal, the guest may not deserve as 
 much credit as the scientist who restores a bird 
 which lived thousands of years ago and left no other 
 evidence of its ever having lived than a bird track 
 preserved in the rock, but he will go about his work 
 with as much enthusiasm as does the scientist. 
 
 There will be a great deal of fun in it. Two who 
 have found pieces to match will go together in quest 
 of other fragments. Each person will naturally 
 want to complete the picture before another finishes, 
 and this rivalry will stimulate the interest already 
 excited. The object of course is not so much the 
 restoration of the picture as getting the people to 
 move about and talk with others. And these 
 pictures furnish an excellent method of accomplish- 
 ing this. The balance of the evening will be much 
 more enjoyed when the ice is thus broken. 
 
 THE GRAPHAPHONE SOCIAL. 
 
 That the man who invented the graphaphone had 
 in mind the trials and tribulations a social committee 
 experiences in securing music for church socials is 
 not at all probable. Whether he did or not does not 
 alter the fact that the graphaphone can be made a 
 very helpful adjunct in the way of entertainment, 
 especially during the summer when musicians are 
 too tired or too listless to put forth extra effort. 
 
 The graphaphone, though no longer the novelty 
 it was a while ago, still excites the wonder and 
 
46 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 curiosity of people. Comparatively few have heard 
 it; still fewer have listened to it so often that they are 
 tired of it. The announcement of such a social will 
 therefore excite interest, and people will come 
 expecting something novel in the way of entertain- 
 ment. The whole evening is not necessarily taken 
 up with the graphaphone; it only need take the 
 place of musical numbers. The meeting is informal, 
 with the usual social and refreshments. 
 
 If no one in your society has a graphaphone, one 
 may be rented for the evening. Some one in town 
 will have one. Go over the selections previous to 
 the social and see if they are appropriate. The 
 graphaphone is not always a respectable member of 
 society. It does not always speak the language of 
 Canaan. At a recent graphaphone party the Sab- 
 bath School superintendent had rented a machine 
 without telling the dealer the kind of entertainment 
 it was expected to give. The things that grapha- 
 phone had to say were neither helpful nor edifying. 
 The crowd at the social was large. The minister 
 sat on the front seat beaming with delight; the boys 
 sat well up to the front, expectant. Feeling especi- 
 ally grateful, the minister opened the exercises with 
 prayer. The superintendent followed with a talk 
 on the invention, the inventor, and ended by cau- 
 tioning the small boys to be quiet and attentive. 
 The first number was turned on and proved, much 
 to the surprise of everybody, to be a song-and-dance 
 specialty by Bowery Pete and Maggie Murphy, in 
 which profanity, coarse jest and obscene language 
 predominated. The machine was grinding out rag- 
 time music, and Pete and Maggie evidently were 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 47 
 
 doing various high jinks. The minister gave a gasp 
 and settled down in his seat. The superintendent, 
 not knowing how to stop the thing, looked appeal- 
 ingly to the audience. Several visiting members of 
 the other church got up and went out, and finally 
 the minister bundled the wicked Maggie and Pete 
 under his arm, as they were singing, "There'll be a 
 Hot Time in the Old Town To-night," and carried 
 them out of the room. That ended the grapha- 
 phone social. Of course, the superintendent was 
 innocent, but a coldness sprang up between the 
 minister and that official. When you give your 
 social be sure and get an "expurgated edition" of 
 the graphaphone. 
 
 THE HOME MADE COOK BOOK. 
 
 Every community has a number of women, who, 
 like Riley's 'Lisabeth Ann, "can cook best things to 
 eat." Some are famous as general cooks, others are 
 noted for special dishes. Mrs. Brown's cake and 
 Mrs. Gray's salad and Mrs. Smith's coffee are known 
 the neighborhood over, and no one, however well 
 supplied with cook books, is able to discover the 
 secret of their success. And there never was another 
 and probably never will be, who could make such 
 cookies, such ginger bread and such pumpkin pies 
 "as mother used to make." And many a man, whose 
 wife is a graduate of a cooking school and knows 
 hygiene by the book; who knows the properties of 
 all food, just what he ought to eat for breakfast and 
 
i8 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 what for dinner, and just the hour and minute he 
 ought to eat it; who has studied her husband's 
 needs as a physician — many a man so blessed with a 
 scientific wife, has looked back with longing to his 
 boyhood days and sighed: 
 
 "Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight. 
 And make me a boy again, just for to-night." 
 
 Though his mother knew no chemistry and he 
 never dreamed of such a thing, yet she knew the 
 things that were good for a fellow to eat; and look- 
 ing back through the mists that gather about those 
 now glorious boyhood days, he is willing to declare 
 upon oath that all (nearly) the cooking lore, the 
 carefully treasured secrets of the grandmothers and 
 "mammies," from time immemorial, were known to 
 his mother, and that she wrought with magician's 
 skill the commonest things into such exquisite crea- 
 tions as filled all his soul with poetry; and he lays 
 flowers of rhetoric, in humble tribute, at the shrine 
 of one whom memory ever calls up to bless. 
 
 Your husband is not an isolated example. We 
 have the accumulated authority of many husbands, 
 who have insisted, on occasion, that what "mother" 
 did not know about cooking could be contained in a 
 very small book. It is equally certain that the 
 mothers of to-day, will be similarly shrined by the 
 next generation of husbands. It is a way the men 
 have. If the wives of today had the recipes for the 
 dishes that the mothers used to make, about which 
 the husbands now come nearer to talking in blank 
 verse than upon any other subject since the days of 
 courtship, and could occasionally provide in the old 
 fashioned way, and insist that the husbands partake 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 49 
 
 bountifully, it would no doubt dispel some of the 
 cherished illusions of youth. 
 
 Whether the mothers and grandmothers, with no 
 women's clubs to attend, were better cooks than 
 the wives and daughters of to-day is not our prov- 
 ince, now, to discuss. Certain it is that there were 
 then, as there are now, many " 'Lisabeth x\nns." 
 
 What a cook book it would make if all these 
 "best things" were gotten together and published, 
 not necessarily for a weapon for future wives to use 
 on future husbands, but for the purpose of preserv- 
 ing good recipes. That is what we propose. This 
 is the plan: Get each of the ladies to write her 
 recipe for that with which she has had her greatest 
 success, and sign her name to it. In this way you 
 will get fifty, a hundred or more recipes, each one 
 vouched for by a person you know. These are then 
 classified— i. e., recipes for cakes in one place, pud- 
 dings in another, etc. — and published. ..] 
 
 To cover the cost of printing the booklet, adver- 
 tisements are solicited. There will be no difficulty 
 in securing sufficient money in this way to cover the 
 cost of printing. If your society is in a city or a 
 larger town, something can be made on the adver- 
 tising alone. Decide upon the number of pages — 
 one recipe to a page, or if you have a large number, 
 two— you will have, and then submit it to the printer 
 for an estimate of the cost. You will then know how 
 much advertising you will have to secure. Make 
 the advertising rates high enough so that you will 
 not have to mar the appearance of the book by too 
 much space devoted to this. Local pride of the 
 merchants will respond to your efforts, and they will 
 
50 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 want to be represented in the "book written and 
 published at home." 
 
 These books are sold in the community for ten 
 or fifteen cents. Every sale is so much clear gain 
 for your treasury. 
 
 Where the community is not large, and the sale 
 of your book would be, necessarily, limited, you can 
 dispense with the cost of printing by having each 
 one write out her own recipe, in ink, sign it, and 
 duplicate this page as many times as the number of 
 books you expect to get out. The advertisements 
 can be copied in, in colored ink, by some one skilled 
 with the pen. All the cost you will have will be the 
 small outlay for paper and binding; or, better still, 
 buy blank books. 
 
 This will take considerable work, but will the 
 labor expended be any more than in the getting up 
 of a social or a supper? 
 
 The value of the book will be very much greater if 
 written, for you have each one's handwriting, and as 
 the years go by, and one by one the writers pass on, 
 you will prize, as a treasure, your home-made cook 
 book, not only for the worth of the recipes, but also 
 for the memories its pages recall. It will be an auto- 
 graph album worth keeping. One of the most 
 prized of a large number of Christmas gifts received 
 by a friend of ours, last year, was a book of this kind, 
 from her former home, written by friends she knew 
 and loved. 
 
 From ten to fifty dollars can be made in this way. 
 Do not allow a stranger to come in and carry out the 
 plan for you. A number of societies have been vic- 
 timized in this way. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 61 
 
 The idea is a clever one, easily carried out, and 
 your society will be interested in doing something 
 out of the ordinary. 
 
 AN EVENING WITH SCOTCH SONG 
 AND STORY. 
 
 No one reads the history of Scotland without form- 
 ing a deep admiration for Scottish character. To 
 have a keen appreciation of the glory of her past, 
 to love her poets and to sing her songs, is to have 
 attained the second highest honor possible to man. 
 The highest honor, a gift reserved only for choice 
 spirits, is to be born a Scot. 
 
 That little country has had a wonderful influence 
 upon the world's progress. There are no more fas- 
 cinating pages in history than the story of her strug- 
 gles for civil and religious liberty; her bards, with 
 wonderful necromancy, call the dead out of their 
 graves and make them play over again their stirring 
 drama; and, although commonly reported that the 
 height of a Scotchman's desire, in music, is to hear 
 twelve pipers playing twelve different tunes at the 
 same time, in a room twelve feet square, yet their 
 songs have touched the deepest springs of human 
 experience; and the Sweet Scottish ballads, with a 
 melody as peculiar and charming as is the Scotch 
 character, itself, have sung themselves into the heart 
 of the world. 
 
 The study of Scotland, her history, her literature 
 and her people, gives one a higher ideal of the dig- 
 nity of manhood; it warms the heart to more heroic 
 
62 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 service and makes one stand a little more nearly erect 
 as he faces the duties and difficulties of life. Little 
 wonder that the Scotchman is proud of his ancestry! 
 
 "An evening with Scotch Song and Story" will 
 make a delightful entertainment. The program may 
 be arranged as follows: 
 
 If you have a piper in the community let the pro- 
 gram be opened with a selection from the bagpipes. 
 A good plan is to have the piper in the anteroom or 
 outside, and play so that' the pipes can be but faintly 
 heard by the audience, the notes growing in volume 
 as he nears and bursting forth in all their melody as 
 he passes into the hall. The piper, arrayed in High- 
 land costume, will be enthusiastically received. It 
 makes a very pretty first number. 
 
 Song -"The Blue Bells of !?cotland." 
 
 Scotland— "It's Pliysical Features; Noted Scenery; The 
 Occupation of Her People;" will make an interesting theme. 
 
 Solo -"VVae's Nae tor Prince Charlie." 
 
 Recitation— "Auld Kobin Gray." 
 
 Paper— "J he Poets of Scotland." Every Scot is more or 
 less a poet, and the reason for it is said to be because the 
 Scotch people are saturated witli the sublime poetry of the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 Piano-" A Scotch Song Without Words." 
 
 Recitation- "For A' That, A' That." 
 
 Song— "Annie Laurie." 
 
 Paper— ".-'cottish Traits: Their Strong Common Sense; 
 Their Industry; Their Humor; 'Jheir Fidelity to Friends; 
 and Their Strong Religious Feeling." 
 
 Solo— "Caller Herrin." 
 
 Reading -Selections from "The Little Minister," "Beside 
 the Bonnie Briar Bush," or "Auld Lang Syne." The "Doctor 
 of the Old School" would be appropriate. 
 
 Song-"We'd Better Bide a Wee." 
 
 Recitation — "Dunkan Gray Cam' Here to Woo.* 
 
 Song— "Old Lang Syne," by the audience. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 63 
 
 If you have among your number those who have 
 traveled in Scotland, press them into service to tell 
 of their impressions and experience. Those, who 
 have lived there, will be glad to tell of the dear old 
 home land. The minister, especially if he is a Scotch- 
 man, will be an enthusiastic worker for the program. 
 
 The effect will be greatly heightened if those v/ho 
 sing the Scotch songs are arrayed in the Scotch cos- 
 tume. Have little girls, with dresses and shoulder 
 sashes in Scotch plaids, act as ushers. 
 
 A very pleasant feature may be added to the 
 program by the repetition of Scotch stories, a fund 
 of which may be had in any community, or from 
 books. These should be especially prepared and 
 assigned to one or more persons. There are Scotch- 
 men in every community; be sure that they all 
 attend. Have them tell of their childhood home — 
 a Scotch brogue is most delightful to the ear; get 
 those Scotchmen with the strongest brogue to take 
 part, if you can. 
 
 If refreshments are served they should be dis- 
 tinctively Scottish dishes. 
 
 No one can study the history of Scotland with- 
 out profit, and to know her literature is to become 
 familiar with some of the best things in print. "An 
 Evening with Scotch Song and Story" can be made 
 a delightful entertainment. 
 
54 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 niLLINCRY SOCIABLE. 
 
 In this up-and-doing world, the society that would 
 win and hold the attention of the young people must 
 present new and attractive entertainments. The old 
 fashioned social, which consisted of two hours of 
 standing about, because nothing was provided to do, 
 or boisterous romping in lieu of anything else, and a 
 desire to do something,' is "a story that has been 
 told" with sadness by many a declining society. 
 This is a novelty loving age, and people are on the 
 alert for something out of the ordinary. 
 
 The announcement of the ''millinery sociable" will 
 cause any amount of curiosity — and some foreboding. 
 Husbands and fathers whose purses have been made 
 thinner by recent contact with milliners' bills will 
 look startled, and vow enmity against any new mil- 
 linery schemes, but the fears of these can easily be 
 allayed by telling them that this sociable will be 
 mainly in the hands of the gentlemen of the congre- 
 gation, and many new and economical reforms will 
 be introduced. It is usually profitable, and always 
 interesting "to see ourselves as others see us," and 
 the fact that the gentlemen are to discuss that intri- 
 cate and baffling subject of millinery, will lend zest 
 to the evening's entertainment. The subject is not 
 baffling to men; it is very simple. A hood to keep 
 the head warm in winter, and a hat to keep off the 
 sun in summer, and there you are. 
 
 Let the program start with a paper describing the 
 different customs of different people in the matter of 
 head dress; the customs of the far East compared 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 55 
 
 with the West; the styles in different countries, Spain, 
 China, Japan, Holland, Italy, etc. ; and the styles in the 
 early days of our country compared with the hats 
 now worn. This will be an interesting paper and no 
 doubt will be very entertaining as the gentleman 
 tries to find the reason for the changes in style. 
 
 Have another, who is bright and witty, give a man's 
 view of millinery. Men never understand women — 
 although they think they do — and when it comes to 
 their foibles and fancies in hats and bonnets, they 
 stand in silent and worshipful awe. He can under- 
 stand perfectly, why trousers of last spring's pattern 
 do not answer for this spring's style, everybody must 
 sec that, but why a woman's hat that is just as good 
 as new, showing no evidences of wear at all, must be 
 discarded and another one bought that looks exactly 
 like the other one, is a deep and abiding mystery to 
 him. And he never hopes to solve it satisfactorily 
 to his wife, but he has a theory of his own, that all 
 milliners are hypnotists and once getting a woman 
 in their power, keep selling her the same things over 
 and over again, and charging him double prices for 
 them all the time; and secretly he holds a very poor 
 opinion of his wife's intelligence along this line, only 
 to find on coming home from church some day how 
 very much superior must be the mind that can remem- 
 ber more of the sermon than he can and tells, besides, 
 every woman who had a new hat there, how it differed 
 from her last one, and that too when all hats look as 
 much alike as two beans. It is always interesting 
 to get a man's view of millinery. 
 
 If there is an artist in the community, per- 
 suade him to give a talk on color, the different 
 
56 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 customs of different countries in the way of head 
 dress, from an artistic point ot view. This will be 
 interesting and instructive. 
 
 Have some one, who has been unfortunate enough, 
 at church or some other public gathering, to have 
 been placed behind a formation of hats, and after 
 wrenching his back, unjointing his neck and gone 
 through various other contortions in a vain and fruit- 
 less effort to see over or under or between the hats, 
 and catch a glimpse of the speaker, but was finally 
 compelled to give it up, settle down to contemplate 
 the wonderful "creations" which blocked his view 
 and wonder whether the women supposed he came 
 to church only to gaze at hats and bonnets — have 
 such an one give a paper advocating the removal of 
 hats at such public gatherings. It would better be 
 a paper, for if he talks, he may, as he warms up 
 with the subject, be led into violent and abusive 
 language. 
 
 Another talk, or paper, on wearing birds on hats 
 would make a lively theme. By sending to '^Our 
 Dumb Animals/' Boston, Mass., statistics will be 
 furnished as to the number of birds that are annually 
 sacrificed to adorn the hats of women. Picture the 
 Sabbath School teacher, with her hat decorated with 
 dead birds or pieces of birds, growing eloquent before 
 her class, over the watchful care of the All Father, 
 who notes even the fall of a sparrow — telling how 
 gloomy would be this old world with no voice of 
 song in wood or meadow, no bright plumaged bird 
 flitting hither and yon to delight the eye — and how 
 wicked it is to rob the nest of these feathered mes- 
 sengers of love and joy. 
 
 ^ 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 57 
 
 Of course all this is good natured criticism. Now 
 that the gentlemen have given expression to their 
 ideas on millinery, and suggested how simple, and 
 still how beautiful, too, this line of work would be if 
 only the same sane principles which characterize all 
 their doings would be brought into vogue, the chair- 
 man of the Ladies' Aid Society thanks the gentle- 
 men for the many helpful suggestions they have 
 given, tells them that the reason the women have 
 not made more progress in this work has been mainly 
 because they did not know how, and that now, the 
 gentlemen will be given opportunity to put into 
 practice the theories they have so eloquently ex- 
 pounded, etc. Here is where the gentlemen get their 
 surprise, and the ladies get even with them for all 
 the criticism that has been made. 
 
 One of the ladies has been previously appointed 
 Milliner, and each of the young ladies attending the 
 social has furnished her an untrimmed hat, together 
 with the trimmings. The gentlemen, of course, know 
 nothing about this last part of the program, and the 
 secret must be strictly guarded. The chairman of 
 the Ladies' Aid Society announces that the milliner 
 has untrimmed hats lor sale, and that each of the 
 gentlemen is to purchase from her one of the hats, 
 find out the donor of it, trim it himself, and take the 
 young lady to supper, she wearing the hat so trimmed 
 by him. This is great fun. Some of the "wonderful 
 creations of fancy" will not measure up to what Lodet, 
 the man milliner of Paris, would have approved, but 
 there will be found a great deal of originality dis- 
 played, and if the effect is not artistic, the ladies can 
 be assured that they will not be chagrined because 
 somebody has a "hat just like hers." 
 
58 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 The hats furnished the milliner are, of course, old 
 hats, and the trimmings may be as fantastic as you 
 want to make them. The idea is not to get an artistic 
 effect, but to make fun. The price of a hat is the 
 cost of two suppers. 
 
 A great deal of fun may be gotten out of this 
 sociable if it is only well managed. Be sure that the 
 program leading up to the social is a strong one, and 
 that the gentlemen are kept in ignorance ot the lat- 
 ter part of the evening's entertainment. 
 
 MEMORIAL DAY. 
 
 In most of the churches Memorial Day services 
 will be held, and Decoration Day will be observed. 
 Fitting it is that this is so. 
 
 It is a day of sadness and tears; of the stirring of 
 old memories; of seeing, as the evening shadows 
 gather, the shadowy forms of long ago loved ones, 
 whose faces ever remain youthful, for they went out 
 to die in Life's morning. It is a day for opening old 
 albums, and looking at old fashioned pictures of boys 
 scarcely grown, who went forth to do a man's part 
 in the stern work of war. 
 
 It is a day when you go off by yourself up to that 
 old room, to that old chest to get the soldier letters 
 and read them over again — letters that tell of camp, 
 and prison and weary marches; and as you read, the 
 old enthusiasm burns again and you are living the 
 days of long ago. It was but last night your boy 
 came home from the village meeting and told you 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 59 
 
 he had enlisted. What you suffered no one can know; 
 but you bravely tried to keep back the tears as you 
 bade him God speed on the morrow, and saw through 
 dimmed eyes the loved one march bravely away 
 under fluttering banners and keeping time to the 
 stern music of war. You see him yet as he steps out 
 of the ranks at the turn of the road to wave you a 
 last good bye; you read the cheery, buoyant, hope- 
 ful letters of the training camp; follow with pride the 
 early marches, and though you know that the Angel 
 of Death reaps fast and furiously in times of war, yet 
 believe that the good God will keep your boy for He 
 knows that you cannot spare him; you following him 
 through battle after battle, and thrill with pride be- 
 cause of his daring bravery — a captain now and 
 although you note the manly ring of his letters, you 
 see only the bonny boy who went away. How you 
 long and pray for the end of the cruel struggle, when 
 you can welcome home the victorious soldier! There 
 is an ominous note in the letter you are now reading. 
 It was written on the eve of the great battle. Stern 
 tasks were set for the morrow and many another boy, 
 like yours, had been busy about the camp fire with 
 pencil and paper, telling the home folks not to worry, 
 and as if in premonition of what was to come the 
 following day, talking about the home and the old 
 happy life, the neighbors and the familiar things, 
 trying not to think of the awful work that waited for 
 the dawn, but crowding in at the last with the "love 
 and remembrance" that if it was theirs to fall they 
 did not begrudge the life they had to give, and knew 
 that the sorrow of home would be sweetened by the 
 thought that they died for the flag. The breath 
 
60 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 comes quick as you read, and the gathering tears 
 fall as you take up the next letter. Tear-stained and 
 worn the letter, for it was the last; you had never 
 quite succeeded in reading it through except that 
 first day. The blinding tears shut out the sight. It 
 was written in a strange hand. "The great battle is 
 over, and victory won. Company I fought bravely 
 but suffered great loss, among the number was gal- 
 lant Captain B ." That is as far as you can 
 
 see, and your heart breaks again, as you reverently 
 put away again, in the old chest, along with a faded 
 uniform, those old letters; and all the loneliness and 
 sorrow of life comes over you afresh, — so long have 
 been the years, so many weary days and nights of 
 watching for mother, wife and lover; hearts hunger- 
 ing for the old words of endearment; weary ears 
 grown deaf in listening for familiar footsteps; aching 
 eyes now dimmed with watching for the familiar 
 form. And yet you know there will be a Home 
 Coming and in that brighter better country farther 
 on you will meet the soldier boy who waits for you — 
 but it will be your "Home Coming" and not his. The 
 mothers and the fathers have mostly gone on to the 
 Reunion. The wives and the sisters, brothers and lovers 
 are nearing the end of the journey, and the thinning 
 ranks of the Old Guard tell how many have gone on 
 with messages for the other camp. The roll is 
 nearly complete on the other side. 
 
 A new generation has come to sorrow and mourn 
 for the soldier dead of the later war. New homes 
 have been made desolate and many brave represent- 
 atives of a reunited people have gone to join the 
 Grand Army beyond. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 61 
 
 What more beautiful tribute to the soldiers than 
 telling again the story of their bravery and sacrifice, 
 and banking the graves of their dead with flowers. 
 
 A most interesting and appropriate program can 
 be made up for Memorial Day or evening. Follow 
 the suggestions in regard to decorations, music, 
 recitations, etc.. as given in our "War Program'* 
 entertainment found elsewhere in this book, 
 
 A SQUASH SOCIAL. 
 
 BY LANTA WILSON SMITH. 
 
 Though of humble name and homely suggestion, 
 this sociable is a very attractive and successful one. 
 It is best adapted to a Sunday School or young peo- 
 ple's society, as there is ample room for all to take 
 a part. 
 
 Some day in spring, every one who will assist in 
 the enterprise, is presented with six or eight squash 
 seeds. They should be of the same kind, that no 
 person may have advantage over another. The seeds 
 are planted with due care, and all through the sum- 
 mer months the question will often be heard, "How 
 are your squashes growing?" The children will vie 
 with each other to claim the largest production. 
 
 As fall approaches, plans must be made for a 
 grand social. All persons who will, may make fancy 
 articles, as far as possible carrying out the "squash" 
 idea. Pin cushions, twine boxes, tidies and ottomans 
 in the form of squashes; photograph frames of squash 
 seeds, gilded, etc.; pen wipers and needle books of 
 
62 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 green and orange felt, in the form of blossom and 
 leaf. Many things will be suggested when the plan is 
 once formed. 
 
 For refreshments, squash pie, sandwiches and 
 coffee, ice cream and gold cake. 
 
 The hall should be decorated with festoons of 
 squash vines, brightened by artificial blossoms made 
 of orange crepe paper. Jack-lanterns may stand 
 guard at the entrance. 
 
 The articles to be sold are arranged on decorated 
 tables, with waiters wearing orange and green caps 
 and fichus. A long table at the back of the platform 
 may hold the squashes which represent the industry 
 of the participants. In the center, place the largest, 
 marked, "The prize production of the occasion." 
 Around it may be grouped others of all sizes and 
 shapes. At the close of the sociable these are to be 
 sold at auction. A witty auctioneer will make a 
 great deal of sport out of the successes and failures 
 of the summer's work. As each squash is presented 
 for bids, its artistic beauty, shading of color, sym- 
 metry of form may be humorously described. The 
 very small ones may be sold "three for a nickle, or 
 three nickles for one," or disposed of in some laugh- 
 able way, so that not one may be left. 
 
 A literary program may be arranged, beginning 
 with a selection by the orchestra, "Squash Seed 
 Polka" (there is such a piece published). Song by 
 the Squash-Colored Quartette (waiters in costume). 
 Recitation, James VVhitcomb Riley's poem: 
 
 *' When the frost is on the pumpkin. 
 And the fodder's in the shock." 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 63 
 
 "How to Raise Squashes," by the owner of the prize 
 squash. "The Disappointments of Life," by the owner 
 of the smallest squash, etc. 
 
 Original poems and essays may form a feature of 
 the entertainment. If desired, the following verses 
 may be read: 
 
 A VENTURE IN SQUASH. 
 
 From an unknown country a package came 
 
 That bore a brilliant, botanical name. 
 It contained the seeds of a harvest past, 
 
 That were destined to see the light at last. 
 For out of enveloping, breathless gloom, 
 
 The seeds were all scattered to meet their doom. 
 Then some of the skeptical folks said: "Bosh! 
 
 Just think of a Sunday School raising squash!'* 
 
 But into the ground went the hap'ess seeds 
 
 To furnish some cash for our pressing needs. 
 Though late in the season, a hope remained 
 
 That some compensation might yet be gained. 
 They had started well, as the springtime waned, 
 
 But for many days, how it rained and rained! 
 Why, they almost needed a mackintosh 
 
 To cover each tiny, belated squash. 
 
 They grew and they flourished in flower and vine — ■ 
 
 At least, that's the way it happened with mine; 
 Though some, I have learned, concluded to die 
 
 Before they were lit to be baked into pie. 
 Perhaps 'twas the auction they feared — or, stay! 
 
 A hint of this rhyme may have reached them some day 
 I wish Mr. Billings, whose name is Josh, 
 
 Could write us a poem on raising squash. 
 
 We may build our castles and see them fall, 
 
 Yet hope for the future outlives them all. 
 Whatever we do, we must do our best, 
 
 And conquer our toil with a hearty zest. 
 Tonight we shall prove by the fruit we display 
 
 Thai where there's a will there is always a way. 
 You may iron, or cook, or scrub, or wash, 
 
 But we can make money by raising squash. 
 
Mt ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 A NOTE or WARNING. 
 
 One stormy day not long ago, 
 
 There came to me a tale of woe. 
 
 The patient ladies who for years 
 
 Had toiled 'mid many hopes and fears, 
 
 To meet each great or small demand 
 
 With smiling face and cash on hand, 
 
 Had lost their old-time hearty zest, 
 
 And sighed for just a-little rest. 
 
 They'd gone the list of suppers through, 
 
 From turliey, down to oyster stew. 
 
 The list of entertainments, too, 
 
 Afforded nothing really new. 
 
 Yet still they plead from day to day: 
 
 "Do think of aomethinq that will payl" 
 
 Their load was getting hard to bear. 
 
 They carried far too Icirge a share. 
 
 'Twas plain tliat heart and brain and hands 
 
 Were sorely taxed by these demands. 
 
 I wondered if some future day 
 
 We'd wake to find a better way. 
 
 In musing dreams there came to me 
 
 A vision of the 'yet to be.' 
 
 Full fifty years passed swift away, 
 And wotneti held unbounded sway 
 In court and hall, with brain and pen. 
 Domestic spheres were 'manned by men.' 
 She took the up-town trolley car 
 To plead a 'case' before the bar, 
 Or wait within lier oflice, cool. 
 He got the children off to school. 
 He found the missing hat or shoe. 
 He ordered lunch and dinner too. 
 And all the weight of household care 
 Down trodden men now had to bear. 
 Of course with all this daily work. 
 Some things the poor men tried to shirk. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 65 
 
 Church suppers and an annual fair, 
 
 They vowed were more than they could bear. 
 
 But ladies who could plead a case, 
 
 Or win a senatorial race, 
 
 Were not alarmed or ill at ease. 
 
 They simply said: "Just as you please; 
 
 But always in the past, you know. 
 
 Vast sums of cash were raised just so. 
 
 Some one must work to make things go, 
 
 And pay the debts you church-men owe. 
 
 To keep the parsonage up to times 
 
 Kequires a stack or so of dimes. 
 
 Our 7nothers thought church suppers paid, 
 
 Their zeal throws you far in the shade. 
 
 Go get your suppers — be content, 
 
 How else could one of you earn a cent?" 
 
 Then all those men with anxious mein 
 
 In solemn, tearful groups were seen. 
 
 They asked for cakes from door to door, 
 
 For pies and doughnuts by the score. 
 
 They set the table, white and fair. 
 
 With china, glass and silver rare. 
 
 They carved the turkey, bread and pies. 
 
 While perspiration dimmed their eyes. 
 
 They served while all the ladies ate, 
 
 Discussing grave affairs of state. 
 
 And when the fair-faced crowd had gone 
 
 They washed the dishes — every one — 
 
 And sighed behind the kitchen door 
 
 Eor gay and care-free days of yore. 
 
 When tired and faint they journeyed home. 
 
 Each wife said: "Well, I'm glad you've come 
 
 To keep this up your health will fail. 
 
 And these late hours will make you pale. 
 
 We ladies have resolved to-night 
 
 To help you out of this sad plight. 
 
 'Tis strange we never saw before 
 
 We pay our church bills o'er and o'er. 
 
 Of course the money comes from us, 
 
 And we're not apt to make a fuss. 
 
66 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 But when we pay a bill out twice, 
 It takes a rather generous slice. 
 To furnish all that cake and stuff, 
 Then buy it back is pretty rough. 
 Besides you men worked hard to-day, 
 There'll soon be doctor bills to pay. 
 The sum you all have earned to-night. 
 Your ardent toil would scarce requite. 
 Divide all church expenses fair 
 And give to each a proper share. 
 Hereafter we shall pay the bills, 
 And save you men a thousand ills." 
 It had been hard, those men confessed, 
 To see with what an eager zest 
 Their wives had held the pocket books 
 In spite of all their wistful looks. 
 But if their bills could all be paid, 
 With no more suppers in the trade, 
 Life still would hold some joy and bliss, 
 When wives were kind and true as this I 
 O, what were small domestic ills, 
 When she so sweetly paid the bills. 
 This lesson we may learn to-day:. 
 Accept a new and easy way. 
 In every burden let all share. 
 And drive away the clouds of care. 
 To him who holds the pocket book, 
 The 'better-half should safely look. 
 Just warn him of that coming day, 
 And he'll be glad the bills to pay. 
 
 — Lanta Wilson Smith. 
 
 [The above poem can be giveu with good effect at almost any 
 entertaiument.— Editor.] 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 67 
 
 INTERESTING AND MONEY MAKING 
 ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 If you are working to clear a church or parsonage 
 debt, or have set for yourself a certain definite sum 
 to be raised in a certain time, one of the best ways, 
 and one that is productive of many dollars is the 
 "How I Did It" social or entertainment, which is 
 described as follows: 
 
 Let arrangements be made for a preliminary 
 entertainment of any kind you may choose. If your 
 society gives suppers, you might arrange for a special 
 supper, and in announcing it you might say that at 
 the supper the ladies would divulge a plan by which 
 they expected to raise several hundred dollars to 
 apply on the church or parsonage debt. It would 
 be well, however, to impress upon the minds of 
 those you want to come that you will not attempt to 
 raise this money at the supper or entertainment you 
 are going to give, otherwise some of them might 
 think it economy to stay at home. 
 
 Have one of your brightest talking men or women 
 present the plan, telling how the money is to be 
 applied when received and that what you ask of them 
 is not to take the place of any larger amounts which 
 they are in duty bound to give to the church. That 
 what you ask is not to be a gift but simply an increase 
 by a new and unique plan on what you are going to 
 loan them. 
 
 Provide yourself with lOO nickels or as many 
 Tiorc or less as you think you can use to advantage. 
 Explain to your hearers that you are going to loan 
 
OT ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 each one who would accept it five cents and that 
 
 using this as a capital you desire them to earn dur- 
 ing the next three months other nickels and dimes 
 and quarters up to at least one dollar and more if 
 
 possible; that they could invest the capital as they 
 saw fit, in any way good business judgment would 
 warrant. Then you might suggest as many ways as 
 you can think of by which the nickle could be used 
 to multiply itself. Be sure to add that, on the 
 principle "a penny saved is a penny earned" it 
 would be permissible to add to the amount in this 
 way also. But impress upon them that it must be by 
 actual self-denial, or direct economy, for the express 
 purpose of increasing the profits on this nickle; then 
 follow this by stating a number of ways by which 
 small sums may be saved without particular hardship. 
 
 Announce that in three months you will hold the 
 "Dollar Social," at which a special entertainment 
 will be given and from quite a number will be heard 
 the story of "How I earned my dollar." 
 
 In giving out the money take the name of every 
 person to whom you loan a nickle. It might be well 
 also to designate at this time some of the persons 
 (selecting the best suited for this service) who would 
 be expected to tell "How they earned their dollar." 
 
 It would be wise at least once in the interval to 
 go over the list of those holding the nickels, appor- 
 tioning the names to different persons for the pur- 
 pose of refreshing their memory, if any have forgot- 
 ten. From time to time it might also be well to 
 make the announcement that it is now only two 
 months or one month until the "Great Dollar 
 Social." This will serve to keep the matter before 
 the people and will excite public curiosity 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 69 
 
 When the time has about lapsed you should then 
 
 announce that on a certain evening the dollar enter- 
 tainment and social would be held and in addition to 
 the other entertainment provided, a number of lead- 
 ing members v/ould tell their interesting experiences 
 while earning their dollar. Be sure that you make a 
 careful selection of those who are thus to speak. 
 See that they are the ones best fitted to give inter- 
 estingly and humorously their account. Provide 
 special music and one or two good recitations so that 
 the program can be diversified. Charge an admis- 
 sion fee at the door and have all bring the dollars 
 they have earned. Be sure to keep careful account 
 as the dollars are handed in and cancel the nickle 
 loans against that name. When the regular pro- 
 gram is ended the president of the Aid Society or 
 some representative should thank the audience for 
 their attendance and especially the dollar earners 
 for their interest and practical help. Tell them that 
 you appreciate their work and that you hope they 
 will always think that money invested with the 
 Ladies* Aid Society is a paying investment. 
 
 It would add considerably to the enjoyment of 
 the evening if the society would provide a light 
 lunch which might be passed around and which 
 would open the way for a short social. 
 
70 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 THE PREACHER'S LOAN. 
 
 A minister in one of the smaller cities of the west 
 wishing to increase the Sabbath school collections 
 and educate the children in the way of giving, tried 
 the experiment of loaning to each scholar a certain 
 sum of money, to be used in any legitimate way, as 
 capital, to make money. After the summer vacation 
 was over, an evening 'was given over to the "Chil- 
 dren's Harvest." Each one, as he brought in his 
 money, told how much he had gained and how he 
 had made it. The services were very interesting, 
 and the financiering of some of the boys augured 
 well for their future success in the business world. 
 None had put their money away in a napkin, and 
 the percentage of gain reached, sometimes, into 
 the thousands. Each seemed to have taken an 
 honest pride in his achievements, and told the 
 story of his little adventure into the business world 
 with enthusiasm. Some had raised poultry, others 
 sold papers and run errands. Some of the little fel- 
 lows, catching the spirit of the time, had "pooled" 
 their money and gone into the garden business. 
 The little girls had had a harder time to make 
 their money grow; some had grown flowers, others 
 had "helped mamma." So the story went and a 
 very interesting story it was, too, listening to the 
 shrewd little methods that had been used to increase 
 the amount to be turned in, and many a little fellow 
 had been trained in alertness and quickness of judg- 
 ment that will stand him in hand in future business 
 operations. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. Yl 
 
 Quite a character study it was, too, as one listened 
 and found cropping out here and there the peculiar- 
 ities that had distinguished their smaller dealings; 
 and as we looked on to the time when these boys 
 should be older grown, carrying with them into the 
 larger business of the world, the same traits that 
 marked their smaller success, we made our guesses 
 as to the ones who would succeed in the sterner work 
 of life. 
 
 The "preacher's loan" v/as a good thing. It estab- 
 lished between the minister and the boys, especially, 
 a feeling of fellowship that had not existed before, 
 and made them feel that the Loan and Investment 
 Company to which they belonged was of considerable 
 importance to the work of the church. It also kept 
 up interest in the school, during the hot summer 
 months, and gave the young people something to do 
 during the vacation period. 
 
 It is good practical training, too. Lads who have 
 been studying in the arithmetic that ten dimes make 
 one dollar, know just how much hustle and sweat 
 that dollar stands for when it is earned; and that is 
 an important lesson which the young people of to-day 
 are very slow in learning. 
 
72 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 A WAR PROG R A/A. 
 
 A war program is always in order and always 
 draws a crowd. There are many ways of arranging 
 such a program as the ingenuity of those having it 
 in charge can suggest and the ability of the people 
 they may command to fulfill the parts assigned. To 
 begin with, the decorations should be of flags, war 
 pictures, such as battle scenes, and if the program is 
 given from a platform a most appropriate decoration 
 is a stack of arms on either side. These may be ob- 
 tained of the G. A. R. society, whose members will, 
 no doubt, be glad to co-operate in any way for the 
 success of such a program. The music committee 
 should see that the music for such a program is of a 
 decidedly patriotic nature. It should consist of 
 several quartettes, solos, duets, etc., and the selection 
 made from among old songs, well understood by the 
 people. Such army songs as "Marching Through 
 Georgia," "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," etc., 
 are always well received. Care should be taken to 
 arrange the music so that it is especially appropriate 
 to that part of the entertainment immediately pre- 
 ceding it. 
 
 There should be several patriotic recitations by 
 the best local talent obtainable. The recitations 
 should be given by different individuals and different 
 classes — I mean that they should not all be given by 
 children nor all by grown people. 
 
 For another part of the program, have some old 
 soldier tell of his army experiences. Be sure to select 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 73 
 
 one who can talk. War stories have a wonderful fasci- 
 nation for every one and this part of the program will 
 be a very interesting one if it is properly handled and 
 the right man selected to do the talking. 
 
 If there is a soldier boy in your town or vicinity 
 who was under arms during the late Spanish- Ameri- 
 can war, get him, if possible, to relate some of his 
 experiences in camp and army life. Just now when 
 people are so thoroughly interested in our new pos- 
 sessions anything you can have in regard to them 
 will be appreciated. 
 
 Another very interesting feature, which may be 
 added, is a talk by some one on the subject, "Home 
 Scenes During the War." Some one who saw the 
 boys of '6i, when they left home for the front; there 
 can be pictured the parting scenes as the fathers and 
 husbands, brothers and lovers bade good-by to their 
 loved ones and tramped away to the war, many of 
 them never to return; the home coming scenes, of 
 the sick and wounded and the dead; the constant 
 and feverish anxiety for news from the front; the 
 annual decoration day, when the living pay homage 
 to the dead. This part of the program can be made 
 of intense interest if placed in the hands of a good 
 speaker. 
 
 If it is desired, a very laughable feature may be 
 added in the line of "The Prize Drill." Six or eight 
 young men, commanded by an officer, all of whom 
 must keep straight faces, can go through the manual 
 of arms, and marching as an "awkward squad" in a 
 most ludicrous way. The only caution necessary is 
 that the participants must be perfectly serious, and 
 care must be had not to overdo the part. 
 
74 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 THE NEWSPAPER SOCIAL. 
 
 One of the most enjoyable socials the writer has 
 ever attended is known as the newspaper social. 
 When our society gave this entertainment, we had a 
 very large attendance, a most enthusiastic and happy 
 evening's entertainment, and the satisfaction of know- 
 ing that all who attended were given an intellectual 
 stimulus that made them, better and broader in mind 
 and character for having been our guests. Another 
 most satisfactory resultwas the clearingof nearly $ioo^ 
 to apply on the parsonage debt, which our ladies have 
 undertaken to pay. 
 
 To begin with, we appointed a committee of three 
 to see the editors of the three papers published in our 
 town, explain what we were going to do, and secure 
 their co-operation. Editors are always willing to help 
 along a good cause, and this being a bit of "news- 
 paper enterprise," they became enthusiastic helpers 
 at once, and each in his next issue published an 
 article under big scare head-lines about "The New 
 Newspaper Coming to Town." Public curiosity was 
 aroused and further announcements were awaited with 
 much interest. The next article said that the paper 
 would be started and controlled by the ladies and that 
 the first number would be out "next Thursday 
 evening," and the public at large were invited to 
 come to the town hall and see the first number run 
 off. Then followed a partial description of what the 
 ladies intended to dp. 
 
 A special meeting of our society was called and 
 an extra effort made to secure a large attendance. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 75 
 
 The plan for the newspaper social was discussed and 
 decided upon as follows: Each lady attending was 
 requested to adopt some paper or journal different 
 from all the others and to represent that paper or 
 journal by making a costume of it. It was suggested 
 how this could be easily and quickly done by taking 
 a suitable old dress and sewing the newspapers onto 
 it. Each lady was left to her own originality and 
 taste in getting up her costume. 
 
 The entertainment proper was provided for as 
 follows: An editor-in-chief and department editors 
 were elected. The editor-in-chief was to have gen- 
 eral charge of the entertainment and to provide for 
 the editorials. The department editors were given 
 the following departments: The Home Department, 
 the Story Departmicnt, the Music Department, the 
 Puzzle Department, the Advertising Department, 
 and the Subscription Department. The duties de- 
 volving upon each were explained, refreshments of 
 coffee and sandwiches authorized and provided for, 
 and the meeting adjourned. 
 
 There was a little rivalry among the ladies in 
 regard to their costumes and the result in the way of 
 novel and artistic costumes was all that could be 
 desired. It is surprising what varied and pretty 
 effects can be produced with newspapers and jour- 
 nals, with the exercise of a bit of ingenuity and 
 originality. 
 
 The ladies came, each decked out in her chosen 
 paper, decorated with paper ribbons, paper ties and 
 paper flowers. Each guest on entering the hall 
 where our entertainment was given, was handed a 
 card on which was neatly written the names of the 
 
T6 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 editors and the subjects to be considered under each 
 department, and the request that the conversation 
 for the evening be exclusively in regard to the sub- 
 ject given and that no one would converse with the 
 same person on but one topic. 
 
 After the company had gathered, the editor-in-chief 
 announced that, because of his commanding pres- 
 ence and reach of voice, Judge So-and-so would act 
 as editor-in-chief. The judge in two or three minutes 
 brought out three or four editorial topics, giving on 
 each side a few sentences, to prepare for discussion. 
 One subject was, "The Philippine islands: shall we 
 annex them?" another, "Should women take an active 
 part in politics?" The other two subjects were purely 
 local. The judge, after proposing each editorial, 
 gave five minutes for their discussion; he then pro- 
 posed another editorial and requested them to talk 
 about that with a different party. After fifteen or 
 twenty minutes devoted to this department, the 
 editor-in-chief introduced the editor of the home 
 department, who gave a nice little talk on the news- 
 paper in the home; the necessity of providing the 
 best reading matter and the constant care to be 
 exercised in keeping out demoralizing reading mat- 
 ter. The topic for discussion by this department 
 was, "What five papers do you prefer to have in your 
 home?" After a discussion of five minutes the edi- 
 tor said that Miss Somebody had contributed a piece 
 of poetry to the home department and would now 
 give it. Master Goodboy also recited a contribution 
 he had made. The judge then presented the editor 
 of the music department, who introduced various 
 selections of music which she had provided. After 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 77 
 
 this came the story department. The editor of this 
 department had arranged with two good story-tellers, 
 who took turn about in telling stories. One told of 
 army experiences; the other of pioneer days in the 
 town. Then came the puzzle department. The 
 editor of this department proposed a number of con- 
 undrums, riddles and puzzles, which the guests were 
 permitted to write down on the backs of their pro- 
 grams. Then, after five minutes, the answers were 
 called for. 
 
 The judge then requested that the husbands find 
 .their wives and the others their sweethearts. After 
 the company were thus arranged, the judge an- 
 nounced that the subscription editor, with her assist- 
 ants, would pass among the company to collect for 
 the paper. He said the subscription price was 
 twenty-five cents for each grown person and ten 
 cents for each child. When this feature was finished 
 the advertising manager was introduced and after a 
 word or two about the value of advertising, intro- 
 duced various young ladies, each of whom gave an 
 advertisement for one of the local stores. By the 
 way, we were paid for these advertisements, nearly 
 $20. The refreshment committee (a large one) then 
 served the sandwiches and coffee. 
 
 The editor-in-chief, in the name of the society, 
 thanked the people for their presence and told them 
 how the money was to be spent; then bade them 
 good-night. 
 
 Everyone went home saying, "What a splendid 
 time we had!" And the best of it was that our 
 society was enriched by nearly $ioo, and the follow- 
 ing Sunday, in response to our invitation, a number 
 
78 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 of our friends who seldom or never attend church, 
 were out. 
 
 [The entertainment can be modified in various 
 ways, to suit. The writer has simply written on an 
 experience of her society that it might suggest, 
 rather than to be followed to the letter. — Editor.] 
 
 THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. 
 
 One of the most delightful and instructive enter- 
 tainments is that of the "Old Curiosity Shop." In 
 every community, among the older families, and 
 sometimes families not so old, there are various old 
 relics of former times, which have been treasured up 
 or hidden away in the garret covered with the dust 
 of years. Old pictures — pictures taken of people 
 now old or who have passed away— quaint old 
 daguerrotypes in queer old fashions of long ago; 
 old spinning wheels, those relics of our grandmama's 
 industry of the long ago; old snuffing scissors, warm- 
 ing pans, old straight-back chairs, old books, papers, 
 old oxen yokes. There are to be found in every 
 community hundreds of most interesting old relics 
 and souvenirs, and with many of them there goes a 
 story as interesting as any found in books. "The 
 Old Curiosity Shop" affords a most excellent 
 opportunity for getting out the old people and giv- 
 ing them a very happy evening or afternoon talking 
 over the days of "auld lang syne," and telling over 
 the stories suggested by the remembrances of other 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 79 
 
 days. The younger people will be interested, too,, 
 especially in the old spinning wheels and other 
 articles once in common use, but now superseded by 
 something better. The enjoyment may be added to 
 by the singing of old songs or hymns. 
 
 Our committee met with many agreeable surprises 
 when we made the round in search of "specimens" 
 for our curiosity shop. We went first to the oldest 
 inhabitants, and particularly those living in oldhouses. 
 In several places we went ourselves to the garret or 
 loft and soon we had a collection of old chairs, spin- 
 ning wheels and other old and more or less dilapidated 
 bric-a brae that would have made a curio dealer 
 decidedly envious. These were quickly loaned to 
 us as were also old pictures, and anything else odd 
 enough to be curious, including several specimens 
 of old poke bonnets and gentlemen's hats of forty 
 years ago. More valuable articles were also loaned 
 us when we assured the owners that everything 
 would be properly labeled and carefully guarded. 
 While gathering the various curiosities for our shop 
 we encouraged the owners to tell all about them, so 
 that we were loaded with a great deal of interesting 
 history and narratives. 
 
 Tables were provided. Everything was carefully 
 labeled, giving the owner's name, the age of the 
 article, and if possible a word or two in regard to its 
 history. A show case was provided for old letters, 
 documents and other things that could not be safely 
 handled, or were two valuable to permit of promis- 
 cuous handling. Each table, case or collection on 
 the wall had its keeper, whose business it was to look 
 out for her department, and tell the stories about 
 
80 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 the specimens. One grandmama was the center of 
 attraction, all the evening she had an old spinning 
 wheel, and was showing how the women used to spin; 
 stopping frequently to tell of ways of doing other 
 things now no longer practiced. 
 
 Our "Curiosity Shop" was carefully planned, and 
 worked up, and we not only all had a very enjoyable 
 time but learned much. The shop was open an after- 
 noon and evening, Supper was served. Admission 
 tickets were sold at 25 cents each, and an extra 
 charge was made for supper. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 81 
 
 OUR GRAND BIRTHDAY PETE. 
 
 We give herewith the program, as given by the 
 official members of one of Des Moines' leading 
 churches. The Ladies' Aid Society had been doing 
 considerable in the way of socials, concerts, etc., and 
 a prominent member thereof insinuated to various 
 male members of the official board that it was high 
 time they were doing something to help along the 
 fund being raised to pay off the church mortgage. 
 The grave and dignified gentlemen constituting the 
 board, were not to be outdone, and they immediately 
 got together and the following hand-bills were soon 
 scattered abroad: 
 
 GRAND BIRTHDAY FETE 
 
 IN HONOR OF EVERYBODY'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 The entertainment will be under the auspices of the grave and 
 venerable gentlemen who comprise the ofi&cial board of the church. 
 They will render the program, serve the refreshments and commit 
 any and all other acts necessary to secure to those present the most 
 enjoyable evening of their lives. 
 
 Among the program attractions which will be presented on 
 this memorable occasion, will be an Original Pome (written by 
 himself) by 
 
 DR, J, F, KENNELWORTH, 
 
82 ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 A Noration* 
 
 George Washington's Fourth of July, by that eloquent and 
 interesting spellbinder, 
 
 HON, SIDNEY ALEXANDER BOSTER 
 
 secegCTon * « jn$t mmt Qumzezze. 
 
 SpeakinI 
 
 By Little Billy Tenn, the Boy Wonder. 
 
 Little Billy is only "steen" years old, but he will on this 
 occasion give "The Charge of the Wonderful One Hoss Shay," 
 in two colors with variations, and containing 247 verses, more or 
 less, entirely from memory. For an encore he will recite (with 
 -one hand tied behind him) a few verses of that touchin' and ever 
 popular ballad, "Comin Through the Wheat." 
 
 SOLO by Signor Alphonso Robusto De Pump, 
 
 The Great Bare-of Tone. 
 
 He will sing this Solo entirely alone. 
 
 DUET « « « Will Lacey and L.Carpenter. 
 
 The whole to conclude with a grand ensemble de fumble, 
 called the OFFICIAL CHORUS, by the entire Board. 
 
 At the close of the program, Refreshments, wonderful as to 
 their variety and marvelous as to their filling qualities, will be 
 served by a coterie of "sweet young things" in costume— the 
 Official Board. 
 
OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 83 
 
 USHERS— M. L. Fudley and C. E. Conner. 
 DOORKEEPERS- G. A. Filler, F. M. Morrison. 
 
 ADMISSION— One Fenny for each year you have lived, 
 and if you don't wish you were a hundred after you hiVe 
 tasted the refreshments and listened to the program, a com- 
 mittee will labor further with you. 
 
 I 
 
Ch 
 
 Ladies' 
 Hid 
 
 Socictv 
 
 s^%-« 
 
 AN 
 
 EXCHANGE 
 
 OF 
 
 IDEAS 
 
 ALONG 
 
 THE 
 
 LINE 
 
 OF 
 
 PRACTICAL 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 WORK 
 
 AND 
 
 THE 
 
 WORK 
 
 OF 
 
 THE 
 
 LADIES' 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 SOCIETIES 
 
 IN 
 
 PARTICULAR. 
 
 \ 
 
 r 
 
 Devoted to the 
 Social JS^eeds 
 of the Cburcb. 
 
 NEW 
 AND 
 WHOLE- 
 SOME 
 SOCIALS 
 AND 
 
 ENTERTAIN- 
 MENTS 
 FOR 
 
 CHURCH 
 PURPOSES. 
 
 Subscfipticn prke, 
 $1.00 per 't^an 
 
 Addfess 
 THE 
 
 LADIFS' AID SOCIETY 
 PUBLISHING CO., 
 
 Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
OCT Q 1899 
 
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