d such as Shakespeare, Don Quixote, Mallory and
Bunyan? Does much reading of stories vitiate their taste for better
literature?

This program will be more delightful if songs about children are
interspersed; Eugene Field's verses set to music by De Koven are
admirable.

IV--MURAL PAINTING

In preparing this program look up in advance plenty of illustrations
from historical books on art and architecture, magazines of art, and
prints and photographs of famous examples, such as the Sistine Chapel.

The first paper will of course deal with the earliest form of mural
painting, found in Egypt, Assyria, and Greece. Describe these, and
notice the colors used by the Greeks.

The second paper should speak of the wonderful paintings in churches, of
altar pieces, and the decorations in fresco of walls and ceilings;
select from the many examples of churches in Italy. Then the guild halls
of the middle ages should be mentioned, and the curious work on bridges
and elsewhere in Germany. The third paper should speak of the
extraordinary interest to-day in mural painting; note that of the Houses
of Parliament and other places abroad; show pictures of the work of
Abbey and Sargent in the Boston Public Library, and of Blashfield and La
Farge in the Congressional Library at Washington and elsewhere, and the
excellent mural paintings on our public buildings, court houses and
capitols, and some public schools in New York.

Discuss: The Cost of Mural Paintings To-day: Are They Worth While?

V--THE ART OF CONVERSATION

This subject opens a whole literary field and will be found delightful
to expand into several meetings. A roll-call might be answered with
famous _bons mots_ from some of the men and women to be studied. Sidney
Smith, Charles Lamb and others have left many.

The first paper might be on famous conversationalists; mention Johnson,
Horace Walpole, Macauley, Fanny Burney, Samuel Rogers, Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu and Sidney Smith, among many others.

The second would follow with some account of famous salons, especially
those of France at the time of Recamier; see Sainte-Beuve's essays on
this theme. What of corresponding salons elsewhere?

A third paper would speak informally of conversation to-day; is it
becoming a lost art? Do we consider it seriously?

This paper will lead naturally to a discussion on these and similar
themes: What of our home table talk? Should children be taught to
converse rather than to chat