The following outline of the chief undertakings planned by the Phillips Brooks House Association, the Christian Association, and the St. Paul's Catholic Club is given for the information of the new students and other members of the University who are interested in Phillips Brooks House and its work. The plans of the St. Paul's society were announced several days ago.
Phillips Brooks House Association.
Besides maintaining the office and its equipment in Phillips Brooks House, and performing such practical services as typewriting and bookkeeping for all of the constituent societies, the chief object of the Phillips Brooks House Association for the remainder of the year will be the management of the various kinds of social service.
In order to carry on more effectively the philanthropic work done by students at settlement houses the Corporation Committee in charge of Phillips Brooks House has arranged to have Mr. C. W. Birtwell '81, Secretary of the Children's Aid Society of Boston, at Brooks House Tuesday and Friday afternoons from 1.30 to 3 o'clock, for consultation with any men who might wish to see him in regard to beginning settlement work. Thus far calls have been received for volunteers to manage boys' clubs at Hale House, Children's House, North Bennet street, Industrial School, and at several churches; to teach elementary subjects at the Breadwinner's College in Boston and the Dudley street Neighborhood House; to visit the poor for the Cambridge Associated Charities; and to manage Children's Home Libraries in Boston. Several of these places have already been filled; but there are still a considerable number of vacancies. Men who volunteered for this form of social service work are requested to see Mr. Birtwell as soon as possible. A committee, of which F. S. Montgomery '08 is chairman, will have charge of filling subsequent calls.
The entertainment troupes committee, of which N. C. Nash, Jr., '07, is chairman, has offered the services of the troupes to over a hundred philanthropic institutions in greater Boston, and several applications have already been received. It is planned this year more carefully to restrict the entertainments, which consist usually of readings, musical numbers, and sleight of hand tricks, to those institutions that cannot afford to pay for any entertainment, and where, therefore, there would otherwise be no such diversion. Such institutions are usually homes for incurables, hospitals, sailors' havens, and poor houses. Men who have ability to entertain and are willing to do this work should send their names to the chairman of the committee, Claverly 34.
The committee on clothing and books collections, in charge of C. Woodman '07, will canvass the University once during the fall and once in the spring for all clothings, books, and magazines, which men may wish to give for philanthropic use. The clothing will be distributed to Tuskegee Institute, the Associated Charities of Boston and Cambridge, and similar institutions; the magazines will be placed in sailors' reading rooms; and the text-books will be reserved for the loan Text Book Library, which has been begun in Brooks House. Reference books are greatly needed for this collection.
As last year, the association will arrange a series of Sunday afternoon gatherings for men who stay in Cambridge over the week-end. Talks and readings will be arranged, and music and refreshments will be provided.
Christian Association.
The chief work planned by the Christian Association is the organization and conduct of the devotional and Bible study meetings. Each week two devotional meetings will be held, a University meeting to which upperclassmen and men in the graduate schools are invited, and a Freshman meeting. These will be short meetings, consisting of a general discussion of some practical ethical or religious question, closely related to college life. The meetings will be led by undergraduates. The first University meeting will be held in Brooks parlor tomorrow evening at 7 o'clock and will be led by W. H. Keeling '07; the first Freshman meeting, which will be held at the same time in the Shepard Room will be led by J. M. Groves '05. H. Channing '08 is chairman of the committee in charge of this department.
The dormitory classes for the study of the Bible and the discussion of religious and moral questions, which were successful last year, will be organized within a week or two. Most of these classes will follow outline courses, eight weeks in duration, on "The Life and Teaching of Christ." The outlines were prepared by Professors E. C. Moore and W. W. Fenn. Copies if these courses may be obtained at Brooks House at 15 cents each.
The association is arranging a course of lectures on social problems by members of the Faculty and by men who have had actual experience in social service work. The opening meeting of this course will be held next Monday evening in Phillips Brooks House, when Mr. Sidney E. Peixotto, who has been an active boys' club organizer in San Francisco, will speak on "Fifteen Years' experience with Boys." The remaining lectures which are being arranged by S. R. Harlow '08, will be announced later.
This year, as heretofore, the Christian Association will raise, by subscription, the salary of E. C. Carter '00, who was the first graduate secretary of Phillips Brooks House, in 1900-1902, and who is now the national secretary of the Young Men's Christian Associations in India, Burmah, and Ceylon, where he has accomplished much in various different ways.
St. Paul's Catholic Club.
The program of the Catholic Club which has been arranged for the year includes two series of conferences and a number of smoke talks. Each series of conferences will consist of three meetings, which will be held in Phillips Brooks House at 7.30 o'clock on the evenings named below. The first series will be given by H. S. Carruth, as follows:
October 29.-"Europe on the Eve of the Protestant Revolution."
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