144 THREE KINGDOMS. 



a single family unite for joint study and research. Chap- 

 ters of this sort are especially desirable, and prove al- 

 most uniformly permanent. Chapters of another sort 

 are found in schools. There are many teachers able and 

 willing to give their strength and time, beyond the ex- 

 acting requirements of their contracts, to the encour- 

 agement and assistance of their pupils. Under the fos- 

 tering care of such men and women, the happiest results 

 have been accomplished. Not the least important re- 

 sult is seen in the pleasant personal relations thus es- 

 tablished between teacher and pupil. Chapters of a third 

 kind are organized and conducted entirely by young 

 persons. A company of girls or boys meet together and 

 decide to form a branch of the A. A. They elect their 

 officers, draft their rules and by-Jaws, engage their 

 rooms, draft their cabinets, make their collections, prose- 

 cute their studies; and, if I needed to awaken interest 

 or arouse enthusiasm, I should have only to show what 

 our g'irls and boys have done even when unaided and 

 alone. They have made lists of the flowers that 

 grow about them, and of the birds that fly over their 

 heads. They have published papers, started museums, 

 founded libraries. In doing this they have mastered 

 the laws of parliamentary debate; have learned to ob- 

 serve with accuracy, to write with fluency, to speak 

 with power; and, after working thus for a few years, 

 many of them have pushed themselves into schools and 

 colleges and laboratories of the highest grade, and are 

 now completing their self -appointed preparation for 

 lives of commanding intelligence and cheerful service. 

 Finally I will mention chapters of adults. In increas- 

 ing numbers men and women of mature years, feeling 

 the need of that scientific training which the schools 

 of their childhood failed to give, are organizing societies. 



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