Since the late 1800’s, the Society had established groups for the ethical, intellectual and practical betterment of the St. Louis public.  These groups were operating at full steam during 1904.  The Self-Culture Hall Association had been formed by Sheldon to “encourage and foster efforts for self-improvement among wage-earners and their families.  Strict neutrality to be preserved on all subjects pertaining to politics or religion.” The halls were located at Carr Street, on South Ninth and at North Broadway.  They offered housekeeping, cooking, dressmaking, needlework, singing, literature, history, geography and gymnastics classes, as well as cultural excursions.  In 1904, wage earners at the South Side Self-Culture Hall heard lectures like “Interesting Facts About the Native Tribes under the Department of Anthropology at the Exposition” and “The Wonders of Electricity at the World’s Fair.” 

For women of the Society and the city, a Greek Ethics Club was available by voluntary subscription and had approximately 155 members.  This group was busy in 1904 with the examination of such works of literature as “Parsifal,” “Vanity Fair,” “The House of the Seven Gables,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” “Little Dorritt,” “Jane Eyre” and “Oliver Twist.” 

From the Political Science Club for Young Men established in 1892, the Men’s Philosophical Club evolved in 1900 at the Ethical Society.  On several Sunday mornings in 1904, this group studied Goethe’s “Faust” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet;” and heard from Professor A.O. Lovejoy of Washington University on the history of philosophy. 

Bible studies occupied the children in the Ethical Sunday School as well as studies on the duties of citizenship, duties to the home and duties to one’s self.  Biographies of eminent men were studied, as well as Examination of the Evolution of Beliefs About the Diety.  The children performed a cantata called “The Fairies” in April, along with a Shadow Pantomime and a play.

Along with writing and publishing such works as “Duties in the Home and Family,” which he sent to Jane Addams of Chicago’s Hull House for her reaction, Walter Sheldon gave a broad variety of lectures in 1904.  In commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of the philosopher’s death, Sheldon gave a lecture on Immanuel Kant in February of that year.  Other topics in 1904 included “Ethical Studies in Well-Known Bible Stories or Bible Characters;” “The Religious Standpoints of Some Great Men;” “Man and Woman and What They Ought to Be to Each Other;” “A Tribute to the Late Herbert Spencer;” “Contrasts in the Views of Life as Held by Hawthorne and Thackeray;” and “A Tribute to the Explorers of the Louisiana Purchase, Including the Leaders of the Great Lewis and Clarke Expedition.”  In addition there were Discourses on “The Interest of Civilization in the Past and the Future of Some of the Great Countries to Exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition: Japan, Russia, South American Republics, Italy, Germany and the British Empire.” 

Guest lecturers appeared, such as John Lovejoy Elliott, who spoke on “Facts and Fictions about the Slums” and “The Right and Wrong Way of Judging Great Men.”  Pamphlets of past lectures by Sheldon were printed and available for 5 cents apiece.  Some of these included “The New Woman,” “Ethics at the Dawn of the Modern World;” “The Good and Bad Side of Novel Reading;” and “Why Prosperity Does Not Always Bring Happiness.” 

Some of the most well-attended lectures were those pertaining to the World’s Fair.  From January through April of 1904 weekly morning and evening illustrated lectures were held, attracting 605 subscribers at $2.00 a head.  The lecture course was titled: HOW TO APPRECIATE THE COMING LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION.  In January and February the talks were “Plan and Scope of the Exposition as a Whole;” “The Buildings and Architecture of the Exposition;” “A Bird’s Eye View of the Grounds;” and “The Sculpture in Connection with the Buildings and Grounds of the Exposition.”  The March and April lectures were on the World’s Fair Architecture, Sculpture and Painting.  There was also a Symposium on the “Possible Educational Value of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition” in January; and in December a Symposium called “A Solemn Good-Bye to the Exposition.”  As this fairly brief overview of the Society in 1904 shows, the work and vision of Sheldon and the members of the Ethical Society were in sync with the hopes of the World’s Fair organizers that its “universal exposition” would, in the words of Martha Clevenger in her book, Indescribably Grand: Diaries and Letters from the 1904 World’s Fair, “represent for the inspection of the world the accomplishments of the nations of the world and of the races of man.”