Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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6 THE AUGUSTA SEMINARY ANNUAL. Irish Character as Illustrated in Fiction ; The Gordon Riots ; The Laws Against Roman Catholics; The Punish- ment of Debtors, in Fact and in Fiction. Our review of Burke consisted in an out-line of the Speech, and illustrations of his style from the Speech — ar- ranged according to Minto ' s plan. In the first summing up, we found that a few of the advantages of studying Burke were the culture of high and pure literary taste with the at- tainment of useful and liberal knowledge. When Burke wa laid aside, his life and his position as an orator having been duly discussed, we took up Anthony and Clcopab a. Last year some of us had studied and loved The Merchant of Venice. The Roman, noble, cour- ageous, high, unmatchable, as he was, and his Ser- pent of old Nile, did not fascinate us as did Portia and her lovers; but the play afforded ample food for thought. After tw o or three weeks of careful study of the text, came the review — (we feel that our reviews are not pro- perly emphasized in the catalogue,) in this we studied the external and internal evidences fixing the date of the play ; endeavored to find how closely the poet followed his author- ity, North ' s Plutarch, and to see how he shed over the whole the light of his genius and poetry. Then we drew up an out-line of the play, and wrote short essays showing the poet ' s use of Narrative, and Historical Perspective, studied particularly some of the characters, and after show- ing how skilfully Shakespeare discriminates in the uses of thou and you, we regretfully put our Shakespeares away. Thus we have first studied the greatest philosopher, the greatest master of prose, and the greatest dramatist, a noble trio, whose works in themselves furnish an education. After this we took up the History of Literature at the period we left off last year, — the Age ushered in by Drj ' -den. Of Dry den ' s Works we studied Afac F ecknoe and some of The Hind and the Panther, and memorized St. Cecelia ' s Day and Alexa7ider ' s Feast. Then we studied Pope ' s Meruni s in Pape of the Lock, and thanks to Thacker- ay ' s charming English Hzmiorists our hearts softened to the little Wasp of Twickenham. Now we gave a good deal of time to reading Addison, learned to love Sir Roger, and to

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THE AUGUSTA SEMINARY ANNUAL. 6 LiterattJire Course, 1891. (Second Vear.) A COURSE OE LITERATURE in some Schools may mean a slight course of reading, the knowledge of a list of names of writers and their works, and a small ac- quaintance with Shakespeare, Milton, and a few other celeb- rities. The first week ' s experience at the A. F. S. proves that such is not the case here; and I think all who read of what we have done, or have tried to do, since last Septem- ber, will believe that our work is serious. Bacon first, was placed before us, and tried the mettle of every girl. Some found the contest was unequal and went back into the Junior class. Whoever has tried to understand ' ' The Advancemeyit of Leanmig , ' ' W sympathize with us in the terrors of our wrestle; by the help of various well known school girl devices for sharpening the wits, after several weeks of hard fighting, we triumphed, and felt ourselves conquering heroes. We turned wath lighter hearts to our next work, and began to feel a little confidence in our tested powers. We now studied Burke ' s Speech to the Electors of Bristol. Burke divides his subject into lour parts, taking up in turn the tour charges made against him: 1st. Neglect of his con- stituents. 2nd. His conduct in the affairs of the First Irish Trade Laws. 3rd. His opinion and mode of proceeding on Lord Beauchamp ' s Debtor ' s Bills. 4th. His votes on the late affairs with the Roman Catholics. This speech excitedin us a deep interest in the affairs of Ireland, in the laws against debtors, and the laws against the Roman Catholics. This awakened interest was further stimulated by the prepara- tion of essays on the following subjects, assigned to the different members of the class. Irish Legends and Superstitions ; St. Patrick and the Early Church ; Poetry Illustrating Irish Patriotism; The Irish Orators, Curran and Gratton; Home Rule in Ireland;

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THE AUGUSTA SEMINARY ANNUAL. 7 enjoy the wit and wisdom of the Spectator. The essay sub- jects at this time were to test our individual work. The Lovable Traits of Sir Roger de Coverley; The Moral Influ- ence of Addison; Addison ' s Wit; Addison ' s Successes; Ad- dison ' s Times as Shown in His Works, and Addison ' s Cato. Then we read Macaulay and Thackeray with ever increas- ing delight; Macaulay ' s great third chapter giving us a pic- ture of the State of Kngland at this time, and his Essays we read, when there might be any on the subjects we were study- ing. Some of us were able to read Hairy Esmojid and The Virghiians — as supplementary to the English Humorists in pictures o f the Age. It would require more space than I am allowed in this article to mention all the writers we studied carefully, and the essays we read; the w ork was varied by studying the lives, reviews, and works themselves of our authors, and an occasional essay showed how we had been working. We loved Scott dearly, and grew vexed with Carlyle, in true school girl fashion, because he said Scott was not a great man. But we forgave Carlyle a great deal when we read his sympathetic essay on Burns. But this is not our course, it is a mere suggestion of what we have done. The Victorian Age we have studied in McCarthy ' s History of Our Ozvn Times, enlarging on the writers of special note. The course of collateral reading we have been pursuing is very full, comprising some of the writings of all the authors we have studied; our favorite books of reference have been Carlyle, Lowell, Macaulay, Mrs. Oliphant, Shaw, Welsh, Ward and Taine; w hile the others we have used would swell the list to a formidable array. Each student at the end of the session has a pile of neat note books, numbered and indexed awaiting the review of Miss Wright ' s critical eye. While studying Shakespeare, we read a play a week, out of class — and then each one wrote impromptu compositions on a subject given from the play read. While studying the English Drama we read Addison s Cato, Marloioe ' s Dr. Faustus and Edward H . ; also the plays of Sheridan and Goldsmith. A unique feature in our course is the memorizing daily