Four Girls at Chautauqua

"Four Girls at Chautauqua" by Pansy is a story about four young women in the late 1800s, spotlighting the standards of the era. Ruth Erskine, Eurie Mitchell, Flossy Shipley, and Marion Wilbur go to the Chautauqua Assembly together for two weeks for education and cultural experiences. The book shows their personalities and conversations while discussing friendship, and the growth of character. Also covered is the contrast between what society says and what a person wants, plus religiousness versus having fun. The girls are introduced at their houses, and show different traits and stories that explain why they go to Chautauqua. Eurie is full of life and ready for adventure, while Ruth is a thinker who asks if the trip is worthwhile. How they talk to each shows how they are as friends, with Eurie pushing the others to go even though they don't know why or how they will pay for it. The beginning references how others will judge them and sets up the girls going to find themselves in a bright and complicated place. As they get ready for the trip, the book sets the scene for happy and serious times where their goals and what the culture wants from them meet.