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Title: The Story of Chautauqua

Author: Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

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Most recently updated: January 6, 2021

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF
CHAUTAUQUA ***

The Story of Chautauqua

Lewis Miller (1878)

The Story of Chautauqua
By

Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, D.D.
Author of "The Story of the Bible," "Teacher Training
Lessons for the Sunday School," etc.

With 50 Illustrations

G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1921

Copyright, 1921
by
Jesse L. Hurlbut

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to the honoured memory
of the two Founders of Chautauqua

Lewis Miller
and
John Heyl Vincent

PREFACE
WHY AND WHEREFORE

An ancient writer—I forget his name—declared that in one of the city-
states of Greece there was the rule that when any citizen proposed a new
law or the repeal of an old one, he should come to the popular assembly
with a rope around his neck, and if his proposition failed of adoption, he
was to be immediately hanged. It is said that amendments to the
constitution of that state were rarely presented, and the people managed to
live under a few time-honored laws. It is possible that some such drastic
treatment may yet be meted out to authors—and perhaps to publishers—as
a last resort to check the flood of useless literature. To anticipate this
impending constitutional amendment, it is incumbent upon every writer of a
book to show that his work is needed by the world, and this I propose to do
in these prefatory pages.
Is Chautauqua great enough, original enough, sufficiently beneficial to
the world to have its history written? We will not accept the votes of the
thousands who beside the lake, in the Hall of Philosophy, or under the roof
of the amphitheater, have been inoculated with the Chautauqua spirit. We
will seek for the testimony of sane, intelligent, and thoughtful people, and
we will be guided in our conclusions by their opinions. Let us listen to the
words of the wise and then determine whether a book about Chautauqua
should be published. We have the utterances by word of mouth and the
written statements of public men, governors, senators, presidents; of
educators, professors, and college presidents; of preachers and ecclesiastics
in many churches; of speakers upon many platforms; of authors whose
works are read everywhere; and we present their testimonials as a sufficient
warrant for the preparation and publication of The Story of Chautauqua.
The Hon. George W. Atkinson, Governor of West Virginia, visited
Chautauqua in 1899, and in his Recognition Day address on "Modern
Educational Requirements" spoke as follows:

It (Chautauqua) is the common people's College, and its courses of
instruction are so admirably arranged that it somehow induces the toiling
millions to voluntarily grapple with all subjects and with all knowledge.
My Chautauqua courses have taught me that what we need most is only
so much knowledge as we can assimilate and organize into a basis for
action; for if more be given it may become injurious.
Chautauqua is doing more to nourish the intellects of the masses than
any other system of education extant; except the public schools of the
common country.
Here is the testimony of ex-Governor Adolph O. Eberhardt of
Minnesota:
If I had the choice of being the founder of any great movement the world
has ever known, I would choose the Chautauqua movement.
The Hon. William Jennings Bryan, from the point of view of a speaker
upon many Chautauqua platforms, wrote:
The privilege and opportunity of addressing from one to seven or eight
thousand of his fellow Americans in the Chautauqua frame of mind, in the
mood which almost as clearly asserts itself under the tent or amphitheater as
does reverence under the "dim, religious light"—this privilege and this
opportunity is one of the greatest that any patriotic American could ask. It
makes of him, if he knows it and can rise to its requirements, a potent
human factor in molding the mind of the nation.
Viscount James Bryce, Ambassador of Great Britain to the United States,
and author of The American Commonwealth, the most illuminating work
ever written on the American system of government, said, while visiting
Chautauqua:
I do not think any country in the world but America could produce such
gatherings as Chautauqua's.
Six presidents of the United States have thought it worth while to visit
Chautauqua, either before, or during, or after their term of office. These
were Grant, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft. Theodore

Roosevelt was at Chautauqua four times. He said on his last visit, in 1905,
"Chautauqua is the most American thing in America"; and also:
This Chautauqua has made the name Chautauqua a name of a multitude
of gatherings all over the Union, and there is probably no other educational
influence in the country quite so fraught with hope for the future of the
nation as this and the movement of which it is the archtype.
Let us see what some journalists and writers have said about
Chautauqua. Here is the opinion of Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of The
Outlook, and a leader of thought in our time:
Chautauqua has inspired the habit of reading with a purpose. It is really
not much use to read, except as an occasional recreation, unless the reading
inspires one to think his own thoughts, or at least make the writer's thoughts
his own. Reading without reflection, like eating without digestion, produces
dyspepsia. The influence and guidance of Chautauqua will long be needed
in America.
The religious influence of Chautauqua has been not less valuable.
Chautauqua has met the restless questioning of the age in the only way in
which it can be successfully met, by converting it into a serious seeking for
rest in truth.
Dr. Edwin E. Slosson, formerly professor in Columbia University, now
literary editor of the Independent, wrote in that paper:
If I were a cartoonist, I should symbolize Chautauqua by a tall Greek
goddess, a sylvan goddess with leaves in her hair—not vine leaves, but oak,
and tearing open the bars of a cage wherein had been confined a bird, say
an owl, labeled "Learning." For that is what Chautauqua has done for the
world—it has let learning loose.
From the American Review of Reviews, July, 1914:
The president of a large technical school is quoted as having said that ten
per cent. of the students in the institution over which he presides owe their
presence to Chautauqua influence. A talk on civic beauty or sanitation by an
expert from the Chautauqua platform often results in bringing these matters
to local attention for the first time.

Here is an extract from The World To-day:
Old-time politics is dead in the States of the Middle West. The torchlight
parade, the gasoline lamps, and the street orator draw but little attention.
The "Republican Rally" in the court-house and the "Democratic Barbecue"
in the grove have lost their potency. People turn to the Chautauquas to be
taught politics along with domestic science, hygiene, and child-welfare.
Mr. John Graham Brooks, lecturer on historical, political, and social
subjects, author of works widely circulated and highly esteemed, has given
courses of lectures at Chautauqua, and has expressed his estimate in these
words:
After close observation of the work at Chautauqua, and at other points in
the country where its affiliated work goes on, I can say with confidence that
it is among the most enlightening of our educational agencies in the United
States.
Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, while President of Union College in New York
State, gave this testimony:
Chautauqua has its own place in the educational world, a place as
honorable as it is distinctive; and those of us who are laboring in other
fields, by other methods, have only admiration and praise for the great work
which has made Chautauqua in the best sense a household word throughout
the land.
Mr. Edward Howard Griggs, who is in greater demand than almost any
other lecturer on literary and historical themes, in his Recognition Day
address, in 1904, on "Culture Through Vocation," said as follows:
The Chautauqua movement as conceived by its leaders is a great
movement for cultivating an avocation apart from the main business of life,
not only giving larger vision, better intellectual training, but giving more
earnest desire and greater ability to serve and grow through the vocation.
This from Dr. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of
Education:

Think of one hundred thousand persons of mature age following up a
well-selected course of reading for four years in science and literature,
kindling their torches at a central flame! Think of the millions of friends
and neighbors of this hundred thousand made to hear of the new ideas and
of the inspirations that result to the workers!
It is a part of the great missionary movement that began with
Christianity and moves onward with Christian civilization.
I congratulate all members of Chautauqua Reading Circles on their
connection with this great movement which has begun under such favorable
auspices and has spread so widely, is already world-historical, and is
destined to unfold so many new phases.
Prof. Albert S. Cook, of Yale University, wrote in The Forum:
As nearly as I can formulate it, the Chautauqua Idea is something like
this: A fraternal, enthusiastic, methodical, and sustained attempt to elevate,
enrich, and inspire the individual life in its entirety, by an appeal to the
curiosity, hopefulness, and ambition of those who would otherwise be
debarred from the greatest opportunities of culture and spiritual
advancement. To this end, all uplifting and stimulating forces, whether
secular or religious, are made to conspire in their impact upon the person
whose weal is sought. . . . Can we wonder that Chautauqua is a sacred and
blessed name to multitudes of Americans?
The late Principal A. M. Fairbairn, of Mansfield College, Oxford,
foremost among the thinkers of the last generation, gave many lectures at
Chautauqua, and expressed himself thus:
The C. L. S. C. movement seems to me the most admirable and efficient
organization for the direction of reading, and in the best sense for popular
instruction. To direct the reading for a period of years for so many
thousands is to affect not only their present culture, but to increase their
intellectual activity for the period of their natural lives, and thus, among
other things, greatly to add to the range of their enjoyment. It appears to me
that a system which can create such excellent results merits the most cordial
praise from all lovers of men.

Colonel Francis W. Parker, Superintendent of Schools, first at Quincy,
Mass., and later at Chicago, one of the leading educators of the land, gave
this testimony, after his visit to Chautauqua:
The New York Chautauqua—father and mother of all the other
Chautauquas in the country—is one of the great institutions founded in the
nineteenth century. It is essentially a school for the people.
Prof. Hjalmar H. Boyesen, of Columbia University, wrote:
Nowhere else have I had such a vivid sense of contact with what is really
and truly American. The national physiognomy was defined to me as never
before; and I saw that it was not only instinct with intelligence, earnestness,
and indefatigable aspiration, but that it revealed a strong affinity for all that
makes for righteousness and the elevation of the race. The confident
optimism regarding the future which this discovery fostered was not the
least boon I carried away with me from Chautauqua.
Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, President of Wellesley College, expressed
this opinion in a lecture at Chautauqua:
I could say nothing better than to say over and over again the great truths
Chautauqua has taught to everyone, that if you have a rounded, completed
education you have put yourselves in relation with all the past, with all the
great life of the present; you have reached on to the infinite hope of the
future.
I venture to say there is no man or woman educating himself or herself
through Chautauqua who will not feel more and more the opportunity of the
present moment in a present world.
The character of Chautauqua's training has been that she has made us
wiser than we were about things that last.
Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, author of In His Steps, a story of which three
million copies were sold, said:
During the past two years I have met nearly a million people from the
platform, and no audiences have impressed me as have the Chautauqua

people for earnestness, deep purpose, and an honest desire to face and work
out the great issues of American life.
This is from the Rev. Robert Stuart MacArthur, the eminent Baptist
preacher:
I regard the Chautauqua Idea as one of the most important ideas of the
hour. This idea, when properly utilized, gives us a "college at home." It is a
genuine inspiration toward culture, patriotism, and religion. The general
adoption of this course for a generation would give us a new America in all
that is noblest in culture and character.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale, of Boston, Chaplain of the United States
Senate, in his Tarry At Home Travels, wrote:
If you have not spent a week at Chautauqua, you do not know your own
country. There, and in no other place known to me, do you meet Baddeck
and Newfoundland and Florida and Tiajuara at the same table; and there
you are of one heart and one soul with the forty thousand people who will
drift in and out—people all of them who believe in God and their country.
More than a generation ago, the name of Joseph Cook was known
throughout the continent as a thinker, a writer, and a lecturer. This is what
he wrote of Chautauqua:
I keep Chautauqua in a fireside nook of my inmost affections and
prayers. God bless the Literary and Scientific Circle, which is so
marvelously successful already in spreading itself as a young vine over the
trellis-work of many lands! What rich clusters may ultimately hang on its
cosmopolitan branches! It is the glory of America that it believes that all
that anybody knows everybody should know.
Phillips Brooks, perhaps the greatest of American preachers, spoke as
follows in a lecture on "Literature and Life":
May we not believe—if the students of Chautauqua be indeed what we
have every right to expect that they will be, men and women thoroughly
and healthily alive through their perpetual contact with the facts of life—
that when they take the books which have the knowledge in them, like pure
water in silver urns, though they will not drink as deeply, they will drink

more healthily than many of those who in the deader and more artificial life
of college halls bring no such eager vitality to give value to their draught? If
I understand Chautauqua, this is what it means: It finds its value in the
vitality of its students. . . . It summons those who are alive with true human
hunger to come and learn of that great world of knowledge of which he who
knows the most knows such a very little, and feels more and more, with
every increase of his knowledge, how very little it is that he knows.
Julia Ward Howe, author of the song beginning "Mine eyes have seen
the glory," and honored throughout the land as one of the greatest among
the women of America, wrote as follows:
I am obliged for your kind invitation to be present at the celebration of
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Chautauqua Assembly. As I
cannot well allow myself this pleasure, I send you my hearty
congratulations in view of the honorable record of your association. May its
good work long continue, even until its leaven shall leaven the whole body
of our society.
The following letter was received by Dr. Vincent from one of the most
distinguished of the older poets:
April 29, 1882.
J. H. Vincent, D.D.,
Dear Friend: I have been watching the progress of the Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle inaugurated by thyself, and take some blame
to myself for not sooner expressing my satisfaction in regard to its objects
and working thus far. I wish it abundant success, and that its circles, like
those from the agitated center of the Lake, may widen out, until our entire
country shall feel their beneficent influences. I am very truly thy friend,
John G. Whittier.
After these endorsements, we may confidently affirm that a book on
Chautauqua, its story, its principles, and its influence in the world, is
warranted.
And now, a few words of explanation as to this particular book. The
tendency in preparing such a work is to make it documentary, the recital of

programs, speakers, and subjects. In order to lighten up the pages, I have
sought to tell the story of small things as well as great, the witty as well as
the wise words spoken, the record of by-play and repartee upon the
platform, in those days when Chautauqua speakers were a fraternity. In fact,
the title by which the body of workers was known among its members was
"the Gang." Some of these stories are worth preserving, and I have tried to
recall and retain them in these pages.
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut.
Feb. 1, 1921.

CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface vii
CHAPTER
I. —The Place 3
II. —The Founders 11
III. —Some Primal Principles 27
IV. —The Beginnings 38
V. —The Early Development 63
VI. —The National Centennial Year 72
VII. —A New Name and New Faces 93
VIII. —The Chautauqua Reading Circle 116
IX. —Chautauqua All the Year 141
X. —The School of Languages 160
XI. —Hotels, Headquarters, and Handshaking (1880) 172
XII. —Democracy and Aristocracy at Chautauqua (1881) 187
XIII. —The First Recognition Day (1882) 196
XIV.—Some Stories of the C. L. S. C. (1883, 1884) 209
XV. —The Chaplain's Leg and Other True Tales (1885-1888) 224
XVI.—A New Leaf in Luke's Gospel (1889-1892) 239
XVII. —Club Life at Chautauqua (1893-1896) 253
XVIII. —Rounding out the Old Century (1897-1900) 271
XIX.—Opening the New Century (1901-1904) 283
XX. —President Roosevelt at Chautauqua (1905-1908) 295
XXI.—The Pageant of the Past (1909-1912) 308
XXII. —War Clouds and War Drums (1913-1916) 321
XXIII. —War and Its Aftermath (1917-1920) 338
XXIV. —Chautauqua's Elder Daughters 361
XXV. —Younger Daughters of Chautauqua 385
Appendix 395
Index 421

ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Lewis Miller Facing title-page
John H. Vincent 4
Steamer in the Outlet 8
Old Business Block 16
Old Amphitheater 24
Old Auditorium 24
Old Guest House "The Ark" 32
Old Children's Temple 32
Lewis Miller Cottage 40
Bishop Vincent's Tent 40
Old Steamer "Jamestown" 50
Oriental House 50
Palestine Park 60
Tent Life 60
Spouting Tree 70
Rustic Bridge 76
Amphitheater Audience 84
Old Palace Hotel, etc. 92
Old Hall of Philosophy 100
The Golden Gate 100
Flower Girls (2 pictures) 116
Pioneer Hall 122
Old College Building 122
C.L.S.C. Alumni Hall 130
Chautauqua Book Store 140
Hall of the Christ 150
Hall of Philosophy, Entrance 150
Congregational House 160
Fenton Memorial 160

Baptist Headquarters and Mission House 170
Presbyterian Headquarters and Mission House 170
Methodist Headquarters 180
Disciples Headquarters 180
Unitarian Headquarters 190
Episcopal Chapel 190
Lutheran Headquarters 200
United Presbyterian Chapel 200
South Ravine 220
Muscallonge 220
Jacob Bolin Gymnasium 220
Athletic Club 230
Boys' Club Headed for Camp 230
Woman's Club House 240
Rustic Bridge 240
Post Office Building 250
Business and Administration 250
Golf Course 260
Sherwood Memorial 260
Traction Station 260
Arts and Crafts Building 270
Miller Bell Tower 270
South Gymnasium 280
A Corner of the Playground 290

The Story of Chautauqua

CHAPTER I
THE PLACE

John Heyl Vincent—a name that spells Chautauqua to millions—said:
"Chautauqua is a place, an idea, and a force." Let us first of all look at the
place, from which an idea went forth with a living force into the world.
The State of New York,
exclusive of Long Island, is
shaped somewhat like a
gigantic foot, the heel being at
Manhattan Island, the crown
at the St. Lawrence River, and
the toe at the point where
Pennsylvania touches upon
Lake Erie. Near this toe of
New York lies Lake
Chautauqua. It is eighteen
miles long besides the
romantic outlet of three miles,
winding its way through forest
primeval, and flowing into a
shallow stream, the Chadakoin
River, thence in succession
into the Allegheny, the Ohio,
the Mississippi, and finally
resting in the bosom of the
Gulf of Mexico. As we look at
it upon the map, or sail upon it
in the steamer, we perceive
that it is about three miles John H. Vincent (1876)
across at its widest points, and
moreover that it is in reality two lakes connected by a narrower channel,
almost separated by two or three peninsulas. The earliest extant map of the

lake, made by the way for General Washington soon after the Revolution
(now in the Congressional Library at Washington), represents two separate
lakes with a narrow stream between them. The lake receives no rivers or
large streams. It is fed by springs beneath, and by a few brooks flowing into
it. Consequently its water is remarkably pure, since none of the surrounding
settlements are permitted to send their sewage into it.
The surface of Lake Chautauqua is 1350 feet above the level of the
ocean; said to be the highest navigable water in the United States. This is
not strictly correct, for Lake Tahoe on the boundary between Nevada and
California is more than 6000 feet above sea-level. But Tahoe is navigated
only by motor-boats and small steamers; while Lake Chautauqua, having a
considerable town, Mayville, at its northern end, Jamestown, a flourishing
city at its outlet, and its shores fringed with villages, bears upon its bosom
many sizable steam-vessels.
It is remarkable that while Lake Erie falls into the St. Lawrence and
empties into the Atlantic at iceberg-mantled Labrador and Newfoundland,
Lake Chautauqua only seven miles distant, and of more than seven hundred
feet higher altitude, finds its resting place in the warm Gulf of Mexico.
Between these two lakes is the watershed for this part of the continent. An
old barn is pointed out, five miles from Lake Chautauqua, whereof it is said
that the rain falling on one side of its roof runs into Lake Erie and the St.
Lawrence, while the drops on the other side through a pebbly brook find
their way by Lake Chautauqua into the Mississippi.
Nobody knows, or will ever know, how this lake got its smooth-
sounding Indian name. Some tell us that the word means "the place of
mists"; others, "the place high up"; still others that its form, two lakes with
a passage between, gave it the name, "a bag tied in the middle," or "two
moccasins tied together." Mr. Obed Edson of Chautauqua County, who
made a thorough search among old records and traditions, which he
embodied in a series of articles in The Chautauquan in 1911-12, gives the
following as a possible origin. A party of Seneca Indians were fishing in the
lake and caught a large muskallonge. They laid it in their canoe, and going
ashore carried the canoe over the well-known portage to Lake Erie. To their
surprise, they found the big fish still alive, for it leaped from the boat into
the water, and escaped. Up to that time, it is said, no muskallonge had ever

been caught in that lake; but the eggs in that fish propagated their kind, until
it became abundant. In the Seneca language, ga-jah means fish; and ga-da-
quah is "taken out" or as some say, "leaped out." Thus Chautauqua means
"where the fish was taken out," or "the place of the leaping fish." The name
was smoothed out by the French explorers, who were the earliest white men
in this region, to "Tchadakoin," still perpetuated in the stream, Chadakoin,
connecting the lake with the Allegheny River. In an extant letter of George
Washington, dated 1788, the lake is called, "Jadaqua."
From the shore of Lake Erie, where Barcelona now stands, to the site of
Mayville at the head of Lake Chautauqua ran a well-marked and often-
followed Indian trail, over which canoes and furs were carried, connecting
the Great Lakes with the river-system of the mid-continent. If among the
red-faced warriors of those unknown ages there had arisen a Homer to sing
the story of his race, a rival to the Iliad and the Nibelungen might have
made these forests famous, for here was the borderland between that
remarkable Indian confederacy of central New York, the Iroquois or Five
Nations,—after the addition of the Tuscaroras, the Six Nations—those
fierce Assyrians of the Western Continent who barely failed in founding an
empire, and their antagonists the Hurons around Lake Erie. The two tribes
confronting each other were the Eries of the Huron family and the Senecas
of the Iroquois; and theirs was a life and death struggle. Victory was with
the Senecas, and tradition tells that the shores of Chautauqua Lake were
illuminated by the burning alive of a thousand Erie prisoners.
It is said that the first white man to launch his canoe on Lake
Chautauqua was Étienne Brule, a French voyageur. Five years before the
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, with a band of friendly Hurons he
came over the portage from Lake Erie, and sailed down from Mayville to
Jamestown, thence through the Chadakoin to the Allegheny and the Ohio,
showing to the French rulers in Canada that by this route lay the path to
empire over the continent.
Fifteen years later, in 1630, La Salle, the indomitable explorer and
warrior, passed over the portage and down the lake to the river below.
Fugitives from the French settlements in Nova Scotia, the Acadia of
Longfellow's Evangeline, also passed over the same trail and watercourses
in their search for a southern home under the French flag. In 1749, Captain

Bienville de Celoron led another company of pioneers, soldiers, sailors,
Indians, and a Jesuit priest over the same route, bearing with him inscribed
leaden plates to be buried in prominent places, as tokens of French
sovereignty over these forests and these waters. Being a Frenchman, and
therefore perhaps inclined to gayety, he might have been happy if he could
have foreseen that in a coming age, the most elaborate amusement park on
the border of Tchadakoin (as he spelled it on his leaden plates) would hand
down the name of Celoron to generations then unborn!

Steamer in the Outlet

In order to make the French domination of this important waterway sure,
Governor Duquesne of Canada sent across Lake Erie an expedition, landing
at Barcelona, to build a rough wagon-road over the portage to Lake
Chautauqua. Traces of this "old French road" may still be seen. Those
French surveyors and toilers little dreamed that in seven years their work
would become an English thoroughfare, and their empire in the new world
would be exploited by the descendants of the Puritan and Huguenot!

During the American Revolution, the Seneca tribe of Indians, who had
espoused the British side, established villages at Bemus and Griffiths points
on Lake Chautauqua; and a famous British regiment, "The King's Eighth,"
still on the rolls of the British army, passed down the lake, and encamped
for a time beside the Outlet within the present limits of Jamestown. Thus
the redskin, the voyageur, and the redcoat in turn dipped their paddles into
the placid waters of Lake Chautauqua. They all passed away, and the
American frontiersman took their place; he too was followed by the farmer
and the vinedresser. In the last half of the nineteenth century a thriving
town, Mayville, was growing at the northern end of the lake; the city of
Jamestown was rising at the end of the Outlet; while here and there along
the shores were villages and hamlets; roads, such as they were before the
automobile compelled their improvement, threaded the forests and fields. A
region situated on the direct line of travel between the east and the west,
and also having Buffalo on the north and Pittsburgh on the south, could not
long remain secluded. Soon the whistle of the locomotive began to wake the
echoes of the surrounding hills.
In its general direction the lake lies southeast and northwest, and its
widest part is about three miles south of Mayville. Here on its northwestern
shore a wide peninsula reaches forth into the water. At the point it is a level
plain, covered with stately trees; on the land side it rises in a series of
natural terraces marking the altitude and extent of the lake in prehistoric
ages; for the present Chautauqua Lake is only the shrunken hollow of a
vaster body in the geologic periods. In the early 'seventies of the last
century this peninsula was known as Fair Point; but in a few years, baptized
with a new name Chautauqua, it was destined to make the little lake
famous throughout the world and to entitle an important chapter in the
history of education.

CHAPTER II
THE FOUNDERS

Every idea which becomes a force in the world has its primal origin in a
living man or woman. It drops as a seed into one mind, grows up to
fruitage, and from one man is disseminated to a multitude. The Chautauqua
Idea became incarnate in two men, John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller,
and by their coördinated plans and labors made itself a mighty power. Let
us look at the lives of these two men, whose names are ever one in the
minds of intelligent Chautauquans.
John Heyl Vincent was of Huguenot ancestry. The family came from the
canton of Rochelle, a city which was the Protestant capital of France in the
period of the Reformation. From this vicinity Levi Vincent (born 1676), a
staunch Protestant, emigrated to America in the persecuting days of Louis
XIV., and settled first at New Rochelle, N. Y., later removed to New Jersey,
and died there in 1736. For several generations the family lived in New
Jersey; but at the time of John Heyl Vincent's birth on February 23, 1832,
his father, John Himrod Vincent, the great-great-grandson of the Huguenot
refugee, was dwelling at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Dr. Vincent used to say that
he began his ministry before he was six years old, preaching to the little
negroes around his home. The family moved during his early childhood to a
farm near Lewisburg, Pa., on Chillisquasque Creek, where at the age of
fifteen he taught in the public school.
When not much above sixteen he was licensed as a local preacher in the
Methodist Episcopal Church. He soon became a junior preacher on a four
weeks' circuit along the Lehigh River, which at that time seems to have
been in the bounds of the old Baltimore Conference. He rode his circuit on
horseback, with a pair of saddlebags behind him, and boarded 'round among
his parishioners. His saintly mother, of whose character and influence he
always spoke in the highest reverence, died at this time, and soon after he
went to visit relatives in Newark, N. J. There he served as an assistant in the
city mission, and at the same time studied in the Wesleyan Academy on

High Street. A fellow student, who became and continued through a long
life one of his most intimate friends, the Rev. George H. Whitney, said that
young Vincent differed from most of his classmates in his eager desire for
education, his appetite for book-knowledge leading him to read almost
every volume that came his way, and his visions, then supposed to be mere
dreams, of plans for the intellectual uplift of humanity. It was his keenest
sorrow that he could not realize his intense yearning for a course in college;
but perhaps his loss in youth became a nation's gain in his maturer years.
In 1853 he was received formally as a member "on trial" in the New
Jersey Conference, at that time embracing the entire State. His first charge
as pastor was at North Belleville, later known as Franklin, now Nutley,
where a handsome new church bears his name and commemorates his early
ministry. His second charge was at a small suburb of Newark, then called
Camptown, now the thriving borough of Irvington. His ministry from the
beginning had been marked by an interest in childhood and youth, and a
strong effort to strengthen the work of the Sunday School. At Camptown he
established a definite course of Bible teaching for teachers and young
people. Near the church he staked out a map of Palestine, marked its
mountains and streams, its localities and battlefields, and led his teachers
and older scholars on pilgrimages from Dan to Beersheba, pausing at each
of the sacred places while a member of the class told its story. The lessons
of that Palestine Class, taught on the peripatetic plan in the fifties, are still
in print, showing the requirements for each successive grade of Pilgrim,
Resident in Palestine, Dweller in Jerusalem, Explorer of other Bible Lands,
and after a final and searching examination, Templar, wearing a gold medal.
At each of his pastoral charges after this, he conducted his Palestine Class
and constructed his outdoor map of the Holy Land. May we not find here
the germ destined to grow into the Palestine Park of the Chautauqua
Assembly?
After four years in New Jersey young Vincent was transferred in 1857 to
Illinois, where in succession he had charge of four churches, beginning with
Joliet, where he met a young lady teacher, Miss Elizabeth Dusenbury, of
Portville, N. Y., who became his wife, and in the after years by her warm
heart, clear head, and wise judgment greatly contributed to her husband's
success. He was a year at Mount Morris, the seat of the Rock River
Conference Seminary, at which he studied while pastor in the community.

For two years, 1860 and '61, he was at Galena, and found in his
congregation a quiet ex-army officer, named Ulysses S. Grant, who
afterward said when introducing him to President Lincoln, "Dr. Vincent was
my pastor at Galena, Ill., and I do not think that I missed one of his sermons
while I lived there." Long after the Civil War days Bishop Vincent
expressed in some autobiographical notes his estimate of General Grant. He
wrote: "General Grant was one of the loveliest and most reverent of men.
He had a strong will under that army overcoat of his, but he was the soul of
honor and as reverent as he was brave." After two years at Rockford—two
years having been until 1864 the limit for a pastorate in American
Methodism—in 1865 he was appointed to Trinity Church, Chicago, then the
most important church of his denomination in that city.
Chicago opened the door of opportunity to a wider field. The pastor of
Trinity found in that city a group of young men, enthusiasts in the Sunday
School, and progressive in their aims. Dr. Vincent at once became a leader
among them and by their aid was able to introduce a Uniform Lesson in the
schools of the city. He established in 1865 a Sunday School Quarterly,
which in the following years became the Sunday School Teacher, in its
editorials and its lesson material setting a new standard for Sunday School
instruction. His abilities were soon recognized by the authorities in his
church, and he was called to New York to become first General Agent of the
Sunday School Union, the organization directing Methodist Episcopal
Sunday Schools throughout the world, and in 1868, secretary and editor. He
organized and set in circulation the Berean Uniform Lessons for his
denomination, an important link in the chain of events which in 1873 made
the Sunday School lessons uniform throughout America and the world. It is
the fashion now to depreciate the Uniform Lesson Plan as unpedagogic and
unpsychologic; but its inauguration was the greatest forward step ever taken
in the evolution of the Sunday School; for it instituted systematic study of
the Bible, and especially of the Old Testament; it brought to the service of
the teacher the ablest Bible scholars on both sides of the Atlantic; it enabled
the teachers of a school, a town, or a city to unite in the preparation of their
lessons. Chicago, New York, Brooklyn, Boston, and many other places soon
held study-classes of Sunday School teachers, of all grades, of a thousand
or more gathered on a week-day to listen to the lectures of great instructors.
The Plainfield (N. J.) Railroad Class was not the only group of Sunday

School workers who spent their hour on the train passing to and from
business in studying together their Sunday School lesson.

Old Business Block and Post-Office

Soon after Dr. Vincent assumed the charge of general Sunday School
work, having his office in New York, he took up his residence in Plainfield,
N. J., a suburban city which felt his influence and responded to it for twenty
years. Having led the way to one summit in his ideals, he saw other
mountain-heights beyond, and continually pointed his followers upward.
When he succeeded to the editorship of the Sunday School Journal, the
teachers' magazine of his church, he found a circulation of about five
thousand. With the Uniform Lesson, and his inspiring editorials, it speedily
rose to a hundred thousand, and a few years later to two hundred thousand
subscribers, while his lesson leaves and quarterlies went into the millions.
With voice—that wonderful, awakening, thrilling voice—and with a pen on
fire, he appealed everywhere for a training that should fit Sunday School
teachers for their great work. He established in many places the Normal
Class, and marked out a course of instruction for its students. This was the

step which led directly to the Chautauqua Assembly, which indeed made
some such institution a necessity.
The Normal Class proposed a weekly meeting of Sunday School
teachers or of young people seeking preparation for teaching, a definite
course of study, examinations at regular stages, and a diploma to those who
met its standards. Dr. Vincent conceived the plan of bringing together a
large body of teacher-students, who should spend at least a fortnight in
daily study, morning and afternoon, and thus accomplish more work than in
six months of weekly meetings. He aimed also to have lectures on inspiring
themes, with a spice of entertainment to impart variety. While this ideal was
rising before him and shaping in his mind, he found a kindred spirit, a
genius in invention, and a practical, wise business man whose name was
destined to stand beside his own in equal honor wherever and whenever
Chautauqua is named—Lewis Miller of Akron, Ohio, the first and until his
death in 1899 the only president of Chautauqua.
Lewis Miller was born on July 24, 1829, at Greentown, Ohio. He
received in his childhood the limited education in "the three R's—reading,
'riting and 'rithmetic," usual in the country school; and at the age of sixteen
was himself a school teacher. In 1849, twenty years old, he began work at
the plastering trade, but at the same time was attending school. He became a
partner in the manufacturing firm of Aultman, Ball and Co., which soon
became Aultman, Miller and Co., and was removed from Greentown to
Canton, Ohio. Here, about 1857, Mr. Miller invented and put into
successful operation the Buckeye Mower and Reaper, which made him
famous, and with other inventions brought to him a fortune. His home was
for many years, and until his death, at Akron. From his earliest years he was
interested in education, and especially in education through the Sunday
School. He became Sunday School Superintendent of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church in Akron, and made it more than most of the Sunday
Schools in that generation a school, and not merely a meeting for children.
He organized a graded system and required his pupils to pass from grade to
grade through the door of an examination in Bible knowledge. He was one
of the earliest Sunday School superintendents to organize a Normal Class
for the equipment and training of young people for teaching in his school.
At a certain stage in the promotions every young man and young woman
passed one year or two years in the Normal Grade; for which he arranged

the course until one was provided by Dr. Vincent after he became Secretary
of Sunday School work for the denomination in 1868; and in the planning
of that early normal course, Mr. Miller took an active part, for he met in
John H. Vincent one who, like himself, held inspiring ideals for the Sunday
School, and the two leaders were often in consultation. It was an epoch in
the history of the American Sunday School when Mr. Miller built the first
Sunday School hall in the land according to a plan originated by himself; its
architectural features being wrought out under his direction by his fellow-
townsman and friend, Mr. Jacob Snyder, an architect of distinction. In this
building, then unique but now followed by thousands of churches, there was
a domed central assembly hall, with rooms radiating from it in two stories,
capable of being open during the general exercises, but closed in the lesson
period so that each class could be alone with its teacher while studying.
Mr. Miller was also interested in secular education, was for years
president of the Board of Education in Akron, always aiming for higher
standards in teaching. He was also a trustee of Mount Union College in his
own State. Two men such as Vincent and Miller, both men of vision, both
leaders in education through the Sunday School, both aiming to make that
institution more efficient, would inevitably come together; and it was
fortunate that they were able to work hand in hand, each helping the other.
These two men had thoughts of gatherings of Sunday School workers,
not in conventions, to hear reports and listen to speeches, not to go for one-
day or two- or three-day institutes, but to spend weeks together in studying
the Bible and methods of Sunday School work. They talked over their
plans, and they found that while they had much in common in their
conception each one could supplement the other in some of the details. It
had been Dr. Vincent's purpose to hold his gathering of Sunday School
workers and Bible students within the walls of a large church, in some city
centrally located and easily reached by railroad. He suggested to Mr. Miller
that his new Sunday School building, with its many classrooms opening
into one large assembly hall, would be a suitable place for launching the
new enterprise.
One cannot help asking the question—what would have been the result
if Dr. Vincent's proposal had been accepted, and the first Sunday School
Assembly had been held in a city and a church? Surely the word

"Chautauqua" would never have appeared as the name of a new and mighty
movement in education. Moreover, it is almost certain that the movement
itself would never have arisen to prominence and to power. It is a
noteworthy fact that no Chautauqua Assembly has ever succeeded, though
often attempted, in or near a large city. One of the most striking and
drawing features of the Chautauqua movement has been its out-of-doors
and in-the-woods habitat. The two founders did not dream in those days of
decision that the fate of a great educational system was hanging in the
balance.
An inspiration came to Lewis Miller to hold the projected series of
meetings in a forest, and under the tents of a camp meeting. Camp meetings
had been held in the United States since 1799, when the first gathering of
this name took place in a grove on the banks of the Red River in Kentucky
led by two brothers McGee, one a Presbyterian, the other a Methodist. In
those years churches were few and far apart through the hamlets and
villages of the west and south. The camp meeting brought together great
gatherings of people who for a week or more listened to sermons, held
almost continuous prayer meetings, and called sinners to repentance. The
interest died down somewhat in the middle of the nineteenth century, but
following the Civil War, a wave of enthusiasm for camp meetings swept
over the land. In hundreds of groves, east and west, land was purchased or
leased, lots were sold, tents were pitched, and people by the thousand
gathered for soul-stirring services. In one of the oldest and most successful
of these camp meetings, that on Martha's Vineyard, tents had largely given
place to houses, and a city had arisen in the forest. This example had been
followed, and on many camp-meeting grounds houses of a primitive sort
straggled around the open circle where the preaching services were held.
Most of these buildings were mere sheds, destitute of architectural beauty,
and innocent even of paint on their walls of rough boards. Many of these
antique structures may still be seen at Chautauqua, survivals of the camp-
meeting period, in glaring contrast with the more modern summer homes
beside them.
At first Dr. Vincent did not take kindly to the thought of holding his
training classes and their accompaniments in any relationship to a camp
meeting or even upon a camp ground. He was not in sympathy with the type
of religious life manifested and promoted at these gatherings. The fact that

they dwelt too deeply in the realm of emotion and excitement, that they
stirred the feelings to the neglect of the reasoning and thinking faculties,
that the crowd called together on a camp-meeting ground would not
represent the sober, sane, thoughtful element of church life—all these
repelled Dr. Vincent from the camp meeting.
Mr. Miller had recently become one of the trustees of a camp meeting
held at Fair Point on Lake Chautauqua, and proposed that Dr. Vincent
should visit the place with him. Somewhat unwillingly, yet with an open
mind, Vincent rode with Miller by train to Lakewood near the foot of the
lake, and then in a small steamer sailed to Fair Point. A small boy was with
them, sitting in the prow of the boat, and as it touched the wharf he was the
first of its passengers to leap on the land—and in after years, George Edgar
Vincent, LL.D., was wont to claim that he, at the mature age of nine years,
was the original discoverer of Chautauqua!

Old Amphitheater Old Auditorium in Miller Park

It was in the summer of 1873, soon after the fourth session of the Erie
Conference Camp Meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church, that Dr.
Vincent came, saw, and was conquered. His normal class and its subsidiary

lectures and entertainments should be held under the beeches, oaks, and
maples shading the terraced slopes rising up from Lake Chautauqua.
A lady who had attended the camp meeting in 1871, its second session
upon the grounds at Fair Point, afterward wrote her first impressions of the
place. She said that the superintendent of the grounds, Mr. Pratt (from
whom an avenue at Chautauqua received its name some years afterward),
told her that until May, 1870, "the sound of an axe had not been heard in
those woods." This lady (Mrs. Kate P. Bruch) wrote:
Many of the trees were immense in size, and in all directions, from the
small space occupied by those who were tenting there, we could walk
through seas of nodding ferns; while everywhere through the forest was a
profusion of wild flowers, creeping vines, murmuring pine, beautiful
mosses and lichens. The lake itself delighted us with its lovely shores;
where either highly cultivated lands dotted with farmhouses, or stretches of
pine forest, met on all sides the cool, clear water that sparkled or danced in
the sunlight, or gave subdued but beautiful reflection of the moonlight. We
were especially charmed with the narrow, tortuous outlet of the lake—then
so closely resembling the streams of tropical climes. With the trees pressing
closely to the water's edge, covered with rich foliage, tangled vines clinging
and swaying from their branches; and luxuriant undergrowth, through
which the bright cardinal flowers were shining, it was not difficult to fancy
one's self far from our northern clime, sailing over water that never felt the
cold clasp of frost and snow.
The steamers winding their way through the romantic outlet were soon
to be laden with new throngs looking for the first time upon forest, farms,
and lake. Those ivy-covered and moss-grown terraces of Fair Point were
soon to be trodden by the feet of multitudes; and that camp-meeting stand
from which fervent appeals to repentance had sounded forth, to meet
responses of raptured shouts from saints, and cries for mercy from seekers,
was soon to become the arena for religious thought and aspiration of types
contrasted with those of the camp meeting of former years.

CHAPTER III
SOME PRIMAL PRINCIPLES

We have looked at the spot chosen for this new movement, and we have
become somewhat acquainted with its two leaders. Let us now look at its
foundations, and note the principles upon which it was based. We shall at
once perceive that the original plans of the Fair Point Assembly were very
narrow in comparison with those of Chautauqua to-day. Yet those aims were
of such a nature, like a Gothic Church, as would readily lend themselves to
enlargement on many sides, and only add to the unique beauty of the
structure.
In this chapter we are not undertaking to set forth the Chautauqua Idea,
as it is now realized—for everybody, everywhere, and in every department
of knowledge, inspired by a Christian faith. Whatever may have been in the
mind of either founder, this wide-reaching aim was not in those early days
made known. Both Miller and Vincent were interested in education, and
each of them felt his own lack of college training, but during the first three
or four years of Chautauqua's history all its aims were in the line of
religious education through the Sunday School. We are not to look for the
traits of its later development, in those primal days. Ours is the story of an
evolution, and not a philosophical treatise.
The first assembly on Chautauqua Lake was held under the sanction and
direction of the governing Sunday School Board of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, by resolution of the Board in New York at its meeting in October,
1873, in response to a request from the executive committee of the
Chautauqua Lake Camp Ground Association, and upon the recommendation
of Dr. Vincent, whose official title was Corresponding Secretary of the
Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Normal
Committee of the Union was charged with the oversight of the projected
meetings; Lewis Miller was appointed President, and John H. Vincent,
Superintendent of Instruction.

Although held upon a camp ground and inheriting some of the camp-
meeting opportunities, the gathering was planned to be unlike a camp
meeting in its essential features, and to reach a constituency outside that of
the camp ground. Its name was a new one, "The Assembly," and its sphere
was announced to be that of the Sunday School. There was to be a definite
and carefully prepared program of a distinctly educational cast, with no
opening for spontaneous, go-as-you-please meetings to be started at any
moment. This was arranged to keep a quietus on both the religious
enthusiast and the wandering Sunday School orator who expected to make a
speech on every occasion. On my first visit to Fair Point—which was not in
'74 but in '75—I found a prominent Sunday School talker from my own
State, grip-sack in hand, leaving the ground. He explained, "This is no place
for me. They have a cut-and-dried program, and a fellow can't get a word in
anywhere. I'm going home. Give me the convention where a man can speak
if he wants to."
In most of the camp meetings, but not in all, Sunday was the great day, a
picnic on a vast scale, bringing hundreds of stages, carryalls, and wagons
from all quarters, special excursion trains loaded with visitors, fleets of
boats on the lake or river, if the ground could be reached by water route. No
doubt some good was wrought. Under the spell of a stirring preacher some
were turned from sin to righteousness. But much harm was also done, in the
emptying of churches for miles around, the bringing together of a horde of
people intent on pleasure, and utter confusion taking the place of a sabbath-
quiet which should reign on a ground consecrated to worship. Against this
desecration of the holy day, Miller and Vincent set themselves firmly. As a
condition of accepting the invitation of the Camp Meeting Association to
hold the proposed Assembly at Fair Point, the gates were to be absolutely
closed against all visitors on Sunday; and notice was posted that no boats
would be allowed to land on that day at the Fair Point pier. In those early
days everybody came to Fair Point by boat. There was indeed a back-door
entrance on land for teams and foot passengers; but few entered through it.
In these modern days of electricity, now that the lake is girdled with trolley
lines, and a hundred automobiles stand parked outside the gates, the back
door has become the front door, and the steamboats are comparatively
forsaken.

In addition to the name Assembly, the exact order of exercises, and the
closed ground on Sunday, there was another startling departure from camp-
meeting usages—a gate fee. The overhead expenses of a camp meeting
were comparatively light. Those were not the days when famous evangelists
like Sam Jones and popular preachers such as DeWitt Talmage received two
hundred dollars for a Sunday sermon. Board and keep were the rewards of
the ministers, and the "keep" was a bunk in the preachers' tent. The needed
funds were raised by collections, which though nominally "voluntary" were
often obtained under high-pressure methods. But the Assembly, with well-
known lecturers, teachers of recognized ability, and the necessary nation-
wide advertising to awaken interest in a new movement would of necessity
be expensive. How should the requisite dollars by the thousand be raised?
The two heads of the Assembly resolved to dispense with the collections,
and have a gate fee for all comers. Fortunately the Fair Point grounds
readily lent themselves to this plan, for they were already surrounded on
three sides by a high picket-fence, and only the small boys knew where the
pickets were loose, and they didn't tell.
The Sunday closing and the entrance charge raised a storm of
indignation all around the lake. The steamboat owners—in those days there
were no steamer corporations; each boat big or little, was owned by its
captain—the steamboat owners saw plainly that Sunday would be a "lost
day" to them if the gates were closed; and the thousands of visitors to the
camp meeting who had squeezed out a dime, or even a penny, when the
basket went around, bitterly complained outside the gates at a quarter for
daily admission, half of what they had cheerfully handed over when the
annual circus came to town. During the first Assembly in 1874, the
gatekeepers needed all their patience and politeness to restrain some irate
visitors from coming to blows over the infringement of their right to free
entrance upon the Fair Point Camp Ground. There were holders of leases
upon lots who expected free entrance for themselves and their families—
and "family" was stretched to include visitors. Then there were the
preachers who could not comprehend why they should buy a ticket for
entrance to the holy ground! The financial and restrictive regulations were
left largely to Lewis Miller, who possessed the suaviter in modo so
graciously that many failed to realize underneath it the fortiter in re. Behind
that smiling countenance of the President of Chautauqua was an

uncommonly stiff backbone. Rules once fixed were kept in the teeth of
opposition from both sinners and saints.

The Old Guest House. "The Ark" Old Children's Temple

Let me anticipate some part of our story by saying that at the present
time there are from six to eight hundred all-the-year residents upon
Chautauqua grounds. Before the Assembly opens on July 1st, every family
must obtain season tickets to the public exercises for all except the very
youngest members and bedridden invalids. A lease upon Chautauqua
property does not entitle the holder to admission to the grounds. If he owns
an automobile, it must be parked outside, and cannot be brought through the
gates without the payment of an entrance fee, and an officer riding beside
the chauffeur to see that in Chautauqua's narrow streets and thronged walks
all care is taken against accident. The only exception to this rule is in favor
of physicians who are visiting patients within the enclosure.
The catholicity of the plans for the first Assembly must not be forgotten.
Both its founders were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and
loyal to its institutions. But they were also believers in and members of the
Holy Catholic Church, the true church of Christ on earth, wherein every

Christian body has a part. They had no thought to ignore the various
denominations, but aimed to make every follower of Christ at home. Upon
the program appeared the names of men eminent in all the churches; and it
was a felicitous thought to hold each week on one evening the prayer
meetings of the several churches, each by itself, also to plan on one
afternoon in different places on the ground, for denominational conferences
where the members of each church could freely discuss their own problems
and provide for their own interests. This custom established at the first
assembly has become one of the traditions of Chautauqua. Every
Wednesday evening, from seven to eight, is assigned for denominational
prayer meetings, and on the second Wednesday afternoon in August, two
hours are set apart for the Denominational Conferences. The author of this
volume knows something about one of those meetings; for year after year it
has brought him to his wit's end, to provide a program that will not be a
replica of the last one, and then sometimes, to persuade the conferences to
confer. But if a list were made of the noble names that have taken part in
these gatherings, it would show that the interdenominational plan of the
founders has been justified by the results. It is a great fact that for nearly
fifty years the loyal members of almost every church in the land have come
together at Chautauqua, all in absolute freedom to speak their minds, yet
with never the least friction or controversy. And this relation was not one of
an armed neutrality between bodies in danger of breaking out into open war.
It did not prevent a good-natured raillery on the Chautauqua platform
between speakers of different denominations. If anyone had a joke at the
expense of the Baptists or the Methodists or the Presbyterians, he never
hesitated to tell it before five thousand people, even with the immediate
prospect of being demolished by a retort from the other side.
A conversation that occurred at least ten years after the session of '74
belongs here logically, if not chronologically. A tall, long-coated minister
whose accent showed his nativity in the southern mountain-region said to
me, "I wish to inquire, sir, what is the doctrinal platform of this assembly."
"There is none, so far as I know," I answered. "You certainly do not mean,
sir," he responded, "that there is not an understanding as to the doctrines
allowed to be taught on this platform. Is there no statement in print of the
views that must or must not be expressed by the different speakers?" "I
never heard of any," I said, "and if there was such a statement I think that I

should know about it." "What, sir, is there to prevent any speaker from
attacking the doctrines of some other church, or even from speaking against
the fundamental doctrines of Christianity?" "Nothing in the world," I said,
"except that nobody at Chautauqua ever wishes to attack any other
Christian body. If anyone did such a thing, I don't believe that it would be
thought necessary to disown or even to answer him. But I am quite certain
that it would be his last appearance on the Chautauqua platform."
In this chapter I have sought to point out the foundation stones of
Chautauqua, as they were laid nearly half a century ago. Others were placed
later in the successive years; but these were the original principles, and
these have been maintained for more than a generation. Let us fix them in
memory by a restatement and an enumeration. First, Chautauqua, now an
institution for general and popular education, began in the department of
religion as taught in the Sunday School. Second, it was an out-of-doors
school, held in the forest, blazing the way and setting the pace of summer
schools in the open air throughout the nation and the world. Third, although
held upon a camp-meeting ground it was widely different in aim and
method, spirit and clientele from the old-fashioned camp meeting. Fourth, it
maintained the sanctity of the Sabbath, closed its gates, and frowned upon
every attempt to secularize or commercialize the holy day, or to make it a
day of pleasure. Fifth, the enterprise was supported, not by collections at its
services, or by contributions from patrons, but by a fee upon entrance from
every comer. Sixth, it was to represent not one branch of the church, but to
bring together all the churches in acquaintance and friendship, to promote,
not church union, but church unity. And seventh, let it be added that it was
to be in no sense a money-making institution. There were trustees but no
stockholders, and no dividends. If any funds remained after paying the
necessary expenses, they were to be used for improvement of the grounds
or the enlargement of the program. Upon these foundations Chautauqua has
stood and has grown to greatness.

CHAPTER IV
THE BEGINNINGS

But let us come to the opening session of the Assembly, destined to
greater fortune and fame than even its founders at that time dreamed. It was
named "The Sunday School Teachers' Assembly," for the wider field of
general education then lay only in the depths of one founder's mind. For the
sake of history, let us name the officers of this first Assembly. They were as
follows:
Chairman—Lewis Miller, Esq., of Akron, Ohio.
Department of Instruction—Rev. John H. Vincent, D.D., of New York.
Department of Entertainment—Rev. R. W. Scott, Mayville, N. Y.
Department of Supplies—J. E. Wesener, Esq., Akron, Ohio.
Department of Order—Rev. R. M. Warren, Fredonia, N. Y.
Department of Recreation—Rev. W. W. Wythe, M.D., Meadville, Pa.
Sanitary Department—J. C. Stubbs, M.D., Corry, Pa.
The property of the Camp Meeting Association, leased for the season to
the Assembly, embraced less than one fourth of the present dimensions of
Chautauqua, even without the golf course and other property outside the
gates. East and west it extended as it does now from the Point and the Pier
to the public highway. But on the north where Kellogg Memorial Hall now
stands was the boundary indicated by the present Scott Avenue, though at
that time unmarked. The site of Normal Hall and all north of it were outside
the fence. And on the south its boundary was the winding way of Palestine
Avenue. The ravine now covered by the Amphitheater was within the
bounds, but the site of the Hotel Athenæum was without the limit.
He who rambles around Chautauqua in our day sees a number of large,
well-kept hotels, and many inns and "cottages" inviting the visitor to
comfortable rooms and bountiful tables. But in those early days there was
not one hotel or boarding-house at Fair Point. Tents could be rented, and a
cottager might open a room for a guest, but it was forbidden to supply table

board for pay. Everybody,
except such as did their
own cooking, ate their
meals at the dining-hall,
which was a long
tabernacle of rough
unpainted boards, with a
leaky roof, and backless
benches where the feeders
sat around tables covered
with oilcloth. And as for
the meals—well, if there
was high thinking at
Chautauqua there was
certainly plain living.
Sometimes it rained, and
D.D.'s, LL.D.'s,
professors, and plain
people held up umbrellas
with one hand and tried to
cut tough steaks with the
Lewis Miller, Cottage and Tent other. But nobody
complained at the fare,
for the feast of reason and flow of soul made everybody forget burnt
potatoes and hard bread.
What is now Miller Park, the level ground and lovely grove at the foot of
the hill, was then the Auditorium, where stood a platform and desk
sheltered from sun on some days and rain on others. Before it was an array
of seats, lacking backs, instead of which the audience used their own
backbones. Perhaps two thousand people could find sitting-room under the
open sky, shaded by the noble trees. A sudden shower would shoot up a
thousand umbrellas. One speaker said that happening to look up from his
manuscript he perceived that an acre of toadstools had sprouted in a minute.
At the lower end of this park stood the tent wherein Dr. Vincent dwelt
during many seasons; at the upper end was the new cottage of the Miller
family with a tent frame beside it for guests. At this Auditorium all the great

lectures were given
for the first four
years of
Chautauqua history,
except when
continued rain
forbade. Then an
adjournment,
sometimes hasty,
was made to a large
tent up the hill,
known as the
Tabernacle.
One day, during
the second season
of the Assembly in
1875, Professor
Bishop Vincent's Tent-Cottage William F.
Sherwin, singer,
chorus leader, Bible
teacher, and wit of the first water, was conducting a meeting in the
Auditorium. The weather had been uncertain, an "open and shut day," and
people hardly knew whether to meet for Sherwin's service in the grove or in
the tent on the hill. Suddenly a tall form, well known at Chautauqua, came
tearing down the hill and up the steps of the platform, breathless, wild-eyed,
with mop of hair flying loose, bursting into the professor's address with the
words, "Professor Sherwin, I come as a committee of fifty to invite you to
bring your meeting up to the Tabernacle, safe from the weather, where a
large crowd is gathered!" "Well," responded Sherwin, "you may be a
committee of fifty, but you look like sixty!" And from that day ever after at
Chautauqua a highly respected gentleman from Washington, D.C., was
universally known as "the man who looks like sixty."
When we speak of Sherwin, inevitably we think of Frank Beard, the
cartoonist, whose jokes were as original as his pictures. He would draw in
presence of the audience a striking picture, seemingly serious, and then in a
few quick strokes transform it into something absurdly funny. For instance,

his "Moses in the Bulrushes" was a beautiful baby surrounded by waving
reeds. A sudden twist of the crayon, and lo, a wild bull was charging at the
basket and its baby. This was "The Bull Rushes." Beard was as gifted with
tongue as with pen, and in the comradeship of the Chautauqua platform he
and Sherwin were continually hurling jokes at each other. Oftentimes the
retort was so pat that one couldn't help an inward question whether the two
jesters had not arranged it in advance.
Frank Beard used to hold a question drawer occasionally. There was a
show of collecting questions from the audience, but those to be answered
had been prepared by Mr. Beard and his equally witty wife, and written on
paper easily recognized. One by one, these were taken out, read with great
dignity, and answered in a manner that kept the crowd in a roar. On one
occasion Professor Sherwin was presiding at Mr. Beard's question drawer—
for it was the rule that at every meeting there must be a chairman as well as
the speaker. The question was drawn out, "Will Mr. Beard please explain
the difference between a natural consequence and a miracle?" Mr. Beard did
explain thus: "This difficult question can be answered by a very simple
illustration. There is Professor Sherwin. If Professor Sherwin says to me,
'Mr. Beard, lend me five dollars,' and I should let him have it, that would be
a natural consequence. If Professor Sherwin should ever pay it back, that
would be a miracle!" It is needless to say that the opportunity soon arrived
for Mr. Sherwin to repay Mr. Beard for full value of debt with abundant
interest.
Mention has been made that at each address or public platform meeting a
chairman must be in charge. In the old camp-meeting days all the ministers
had been wont to sit on the platform behind the preacher; and some of them
could not reconcile themselves to Dr. Vincent's rule that only the chairman
and the speaker of the hour should occupy "the preachers' stand."
Notwithstanding repeated announcements, some clergymen continued to
invade the platform. The head of the Department of Order once pointed to a
well-known minister and said to the writer, "Four times I have told that man
—and a good man he is—that he must not take a seat on the platform."
Whoever casts his eyes on the platform of the Amphitheater may notice that
before every public service, the janitor places just the number of chairs
needed, and no more. This is one of the Chautauqua traditions, begun under
the Vincent régime.

Before we come to the more serious side of our story let us notice
another instance of the contrast between the camp meeting and Chautauqua.
A widely known Methodist came, bringing with him a box of revival song-
books, compiled by himself. He was a leader of a "praying band," and
accustomed to hold meetings where the enthusiasm was pumped up to a
high pitch. One Sunday at a certain hour he noticed that the Auditorium in
the grove was unoccupied; and gathering a group of friends with warm
hearts and strong voices, he mounted the platform and in stentorian tones
began a song from his own book. The sound brought people from all the
tents and cottages around, and soon his meeting was in full blast, with
increasing numbers responding to his ardent appeals. Word came to Dr.
Vincent who speedily marched into the arena. He walked upon the platform,
held up his hand in a gesture compelling silence, and calling upon the self-
appointed leader by name, said:
"This meeting is not on the program, nor appointed by the authorities,
and it cannot be held."
"What?" spoke up the praying-band commander. "Do you mean to say
that we can't have a service of song and prayer on these grounds?"
"Yes," replied Dr. Vincent, "I do mean it. No meeting of any kind can be
held without the order of the authorities. You should have come to me for
permission to hold this service."
The man was highly offended, gathered up his books, and left the
grounds on the next day. He would have departed at once, but it was
Sunday, and the gates were closed. Let it be said, however, that six months
later, when he had thought it over, he wrote to Dr. Vincent an ample
apology for his conduct and said that he had not realized the difference
between a camp meeting and a Sunday School Assembly. He ended by an
urgent request that Dr. Vincent should come to the camp ground at Round
Lake, of which he was president, should organize and conduct an assembly
to be an exact copy of Chautauqua in its program and speakers, with all the
resources of Round Lake at his command. His invitation was accepted. In
due time, with this man's loyal support, Dr. Vincent organized and set in
motion the Round Lake Assembly, upon the Chautauqua pattern, which
continues to this day, true to the ideals of the founder.

One unique institution on the Fair Point of those early days must not be
omitted—the Park of Palestine. Following the suggestion of Dr. Vincent's
church lawn model of the Holy Land, Dr. Wythe of Meadville, an adept in
other trades than physic and preaching, constructed just above the pier on
the lake shore a park one hundred and twenty feet long, and seventy-five
feet wide, shaped to represent in a general way the contour of the Holy
Land. It was necessary to make the elevations six times greater than
longitudinal measurements; and if one mountain is made six times as large
as it should be, some other hills less prominent in the landscape or less
important in the record must be omitted. The lake was taken to represent the
Mediterranean Sea, and on the Sea-Coast Plain were located the cities of the
Philistines, north of them Joppa and Cæsarea, and far beyond them on the
shore, Tyre and Sidon. The Mountain Region showed the famous places of
Israelite history from Beersheba to Dan, with the sacred mountains Olivet
and Zion, Ebal and Gerizim having Jacob's Well beside them, Gilboa with
its memories of Gideon's victory and King Saul's defeat, the mountain on
whose crown our Lord preached his sermon, and overtopping all, Hermon,
where he was transfigured. From two springs flowed little rills to represent
the sources of the River Jordan which wound its way down the valley,
through the two lakes, Merom and the Sea of Galilee, ending its course in
the Dead Sea. There were Jericho and the Brook Jabbok, the clustered
towns around the Galilean Sea, and at the foot of Mount Hermon, Cæsarea-
Philippi. Across the Jordan rose the Eastern Tableland, with its mountains
and valleys and brooks and cities even as far as Damascus.
As the Assembly was an experiment, and might be transferred later to
other parts of the country, the materials for this Palestine Park were
somewhat temporary. The mountains were made of stumps, fragments of
timber, filled in with sawdust from a Mayville mill, and covered with grassy
sods. But the park constructed from makeshift materials proved one of the
most attractive features of the encampment. Groups of Bible students might
be seen walking over it, notebooks in their hands, studying the sacred
places. A few would even pluck and preserve a spear of grass, carefully
enshrining it in an envelope duly marked. A report went abroad, indeed, that
soil from the Holy Land itself had been spread upon the park, constituting it
a sort of Campo Santo, but this claim was never endorsed by either its
architect or its originator. The park of Palestine still stands, having been

rebuilt several times, enlarged to a length of 350 feet, and now, as I write,
with another restoration promised.
One fact in this sacred geography must needs be stated, in the interests
of exact truth. In order to make use of the lake shore, north had to be in the
south, and east in the west. Chautauqua has always been under a despotic
though paternal government, and its visitors easily accommodate
themselves to its decrees. But the sun persists in its independence, rises
over Chautauqua's Mediterranean Sea where it should set, and continues its
sunset over the mountains of Gilead, where it should rise. Dr. Vincent and
Lewis Miller could bring to pass some remarkable, even seemingly
impossible, achievements, but they were not able to outdo Joshua, and not
only make the sun stand still, but set it moving in a direction opposite to its
natural course.
In one of his inimitable speeches, Frank Beard said that Palestine Park
had been made the model for all the beds on Fair Point. He slept, as he
asserted, on Palestine, with his head on Mount Hermon, his body
sometimes in the Jordan valley, at other times on the mountains of Ephraim;
and one night when it rained, he found his feet in the Dead Sea.
In the early days of Chautauqua a tree was standing near Palestine Park,
which invited the attention of every child, and many grown folks. It was
called "the spouting tree." Dr. Wythe found a tree with one branch bent over
near the ground and hollow. He placed a water-pipe in the branch and sent a
current of fresh water through it, so that the tree seemed to be pouring forth
water. At all times a troop of children might be seen around it. At least one
little girl made her father walk down every day to the wonder, to the neglect
of other walks on the Assembly ground. Afterward at home from an
extended tour, they asked her what was the most wonderful thing that she
had seen in her journey. They expected her to say, "Niagara Falls," but
without hesitation she answered, "The tree that spouted water at
Chautauqua." The standards of greatness in the eyes of childhood differ
from those of the grown-up folks.
The true Chautauqua, aided as it was by the features of mirth and
entertainment and repartee, was in the daily program followed diligently by
the assembled thousands. Here is in part the schedule, taken from the

printed report. It was opened on Tuesday evening, August 4, 1874, in the
out-of-doors auditorium, now Miller Park, beginning with a brief
responsive service of Scripture and song, prepared by Dr. Vincent.
Chautauqua clings to ancient customs; and that same service, word for
word, has been rendered every year on the first Tuesday evening in August,
at what is known as "Old First Night."

Old Steamer "Jamestown" Oriental House; Museum

Bishop Vincent afterward wrote of that memorable first meeting:
The stars were out, and looked down through trembling leaves upon a
goodly well-wrapped company, who sat in the grove, filled with wonder
and hope. No electric light brought platform and people face to face that
night. The old-fashioned pine fires on rude four-legged stands covered with
earth, burned with unsteady, flickering flame, now and then breaking into
brilliancy by the contact of a resinous stick of the rustic fireman, who knew
how to snuff candles and how to turn light on the crowd of campers-out.
The white tents around the enclosure were very beautiful in that evening
light.

At this formal opening on August 4, 1874, brief addresses were given by
Dr. Vincent and by a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, and a
Congregational pastor. This opening showed the broad brotherhood which
was to mark the history of Chautauqua.
On the next day, Wednesday, began what might be called the school
sessions of the Assembly. The fourteen days were divided into three terms.
Every morning at 8 o'clock a brief service of prayer and Bible reading
began the day in the auditorium, now Miller Park. At 8:15 during the first
term, August 4th-9th, a conference was held of Normal Class and Institute
conductors, at which reports were rendered of work done, courses of study,
and methods of work, and results obtained. In those days when training
classes for Sunday School teachers were almost unknown, this series of
conferences, attended by hundreds of workers, proved of infinite value, and
set in motion classes in many places. At 9 o'clock, section meetings were
held for superintendents and pastors, and teachers of the different grades,
from the primary class to the adult Bible class.
The Normal Class held its sessions during the second term, from August
10th-13th, and the third term, August 14th-18th. Four classes were held
simultaneously in different tents, with teachers changed each day. At these
classes most of the lessons were on the Bible—its Evidences, Books and
Authors, Geography, History, and Interpretation. The topics pertaining to
the teacher and the class were taken up in the different conferences. The
Normal Class was held to be the core and life of the Assembly, and
everybody was urged to attend its sessions. All whose names began with
letters from A to G were to attend regularly Tent A. Those with initials from
H to M were to go to Tent B, and so on through the alphabet, to the four
Normal Tents. But the students soon found their favorite teachers, would
watch for them, and follow them into their different tents. There was
another infraction of the program. The blackboard was a new feature in
Sunday School work, and not enough blackboards of good quality had been
secured. Some were too small, some were not black enough, and one was
painted with the lines for music. It is reported that some of the teachers
bribed the janitor to provide for their use the good boards. There is even the
tale that a Sunday School leader was seen stealing a blackboard and
replacing it in another's tent by an inferior one. We humbly trust that this
report was false.

That the Normal Class, the conferences, and the lectures on Sunday
School work were taken seriously is shown by the report of the written
examination, held on Monday, August 17th, the day before the Assembly
closed. More than two hundred people sat down in the Tabernacle on the
hill, each furnished with fifty questions on the Bible and the Sunday
School. Twenty or more dropped out, but at the end of the nearly five hours'
wrestling one hundred and eighty-four papers were handed in. Three of
these were marked absolutely perfect, those of the Rev. C. P. Hard, on his
way to India as a missionary, Mr. Caleb Sadler of Iowa, and the Rev.
Samuel McGerald of New York. Ninety-two were excellent, fifty more were
passed, making one hundred and forty-five accepted members of the
Normal Alumni Association; eighteen had their papers returned to be
rewritten after further study, and the lowest fourteen were consigned to the
wastebasket.
The Western Christian Advocate gave a picture of the first normal
examination at Chautauqua, which we republish.
The tent is a very large one, and was plentifully supplied with benches,
chairs, camp-stools, etc. The spectacle was very imposing. The ladies
seemed a little in the majority. There were two girls under fifteen, and one
boy in his fourteenth year. Each was provided with paper, and each wore a
more or less silent and thoughtful air. There was no shuffling, no
listlessness, no whispering. The conductor, with a big stump for his table,
occupied a somewhat central position, ready to respond to the call of any
uplifted hand. We stood just back of Dr. Vincent, with the scene in full view.
To our right, but a little on the outside of the tent, were Bishop Simpson and
Dr. Thomas M. Eddy, who remained only a few minutes, as the latter was
compelled to take the ten o'clock train for New York. On the same side, and
a little nearer to us, were groups of visitors, mostly from the country
adjacent, who gazed in rapt astonishment at the sight before them, not
daring to inquire the meaning of all this mute array of paper and pencil. A
little to our left was a lawyer of large experience and almost national fame,
who had removed his hat, collar, coat and cuffs; just by his side was an ex-
State senator; and a little further on was a boy from Iowa. He had
improvised for his table a small round log, and had gathered together for the
better resting of his knees, a good-sized pile of dry beech-leaves. This lad,
we learned, had been studying the Normal course during the last year; and

we further discovered that he succeeded in answering accurately all but ten
or twelve of the fifty questions, one of the to him insoluble and
incomprehensible being, "What is the relation of the church to the Sunday
School?" Nearly in front of the conductor were two veteran spectacled
sisters, who at no time whispered to each other, but kept up a strong
thinking and a frequent use of the pencil. Near these sat a mother and
daughter from Evanston, Illinois, silent and confident. On the outer row of
seats we observed three doctors of divinity, a theological student, the
president of an Ohio college, a gentleman connected with the internal
revenue, and a lady principal of a young ladies' seminary, all with their
thinking-caps admirably adjusted.
At the end of an hour and forty minutes a New York brother, who had
been especially active in sectional work, held up his hand in token of
success, and his paper was passed up to Dr. Vincent. Shortly afterward
another made a similar signal; but nearly all occupied over three hours in
the work. Over one half attained to seventy-five or eighty per cent.
Let it be remembered that no matter how long the student was compelled
to remain, even long past the dinner hour, he was not permitted to take a
recess for his midday meal. He must stay to the end, or give up his
examination.
The report of the Assembly shows twenty-two lectures on Sunday
School work, theory, and practice; sectional meetings—nine primary, six
intermediate, one senior, five of pastors and superintendents, eight normal
class and institute conductors' conferences; six Normal Classes in each of
the four tents—twenty-four in all; three teachers' meetings for preparation
of the Sunday School lesson; four Bible readings; three praise services; two
children's meetings; and six sermons. All the leading Protestant churches
were represented; and twenty-five States in the Union, besides Ontario,
Montreal, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Scotland, and India. Among the preachers
we find the names of Dr. H. Clay Trumbull, editor of the Sunday School
Times, John B. Gough, Bishops Simpson and Janes, Dr. James M. Buckley,
Dr. Charles F. Deems, Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, and four ministers who later
became bishops in the Methodist Episcopal Church:—Drs. H. W. Warren, J.
F. Hurst, E. O. Haven, and C. H. Fowler.

The two Sundays, August 9th and 16th, were golden days in the
calendar. An atmosphere of quiet and peace reigned throughout the grounds.
No steamboats made the air discordant around the pier; the gates were
closed and the steamers sailed by to more welcome stations; no excursion
trains brought curious and noisy throngs of sightseers. Tents and cottages
lay open while their dwellers worshiped under the trees of the Auditorium,
for no one was required to watch against thieves in the crowd. The world
was shut out, and a voice seemed to be saying, "Come ye yourselves apart
and rest awhile."
The day began with a Sunday School graded to embrace both young and
old. The riches of officers and teachers formed an embarrassment. For once,
nay twice (for there were two Sundays), a Superintendent had at call more
instructors than he could supply with classes. On each Sunday the
attendance at the school was fifteen hundred.
At the sunset hour each evening an "Eventide Conference" was held on
the lake side. The dying day, the peaceful surroundings, the calm sheet of
water, the mild air, combined to impart a tone of thoughtful, uplifting
meditation. I have heard old Chautauquans speak many times of the
inspiring spiritual atmosphere breathed in the very air of the first
Chautauqua.
Never before had been brought together for conference and for study so
many leaders in the Sunday School army, representing so large a variety of
branches in the church catholic. And it was not for a day or two days as in
conventions and institutes, but for a solid fortnight of steady work. The
Chautauqua of to-day is a widely reaching educational system, embracing
almost every department of knowledge. But it must not be forgotten that all
this wide realm has grown out of a school to awaken, instruct, and inspire
Sunday School workers. In their conception, however, the two famous
founders realized that all truth, even that looked upon as secular, is
subsidiary, even necessary for successful teaching of the word of God.
Hence with the courses of study and conferences upon practical details, we
find on the program, some literature and science, with the spice of
entertainment and amusement.

The conception of Dr. Vincent was not to locate the Assembly in one
place, but from time to time to hold similar meetings on many camp
grounds, wherever the opportunity arose. There is a suspicion that Lewis
Miller held his own secret purpose to make it so successful on Chautauqua
Lake as to insure its permanent location at Fair Point. That was a wise plan,
for with settlement in one place, buildings could be erected, and features
like Palestine Park could be increased and improved. Whether it was by a
suggestion or a common impulse, on the last day of the Assembly a meeting
was held and a unanimous appeal was presented to make Fair Point the
home of the Assembly. The trustees of the camp meeting shared in the
sentiment and offered to receive new members representing the Assembly
constituency. As a result, the officiary was reorganized, no longer as a camp
meeting but as an Assembly Board. For two years Fair Point was continued
as the name of the Post Office, although the title "Chautauqua Sunday
School Assembly" was adopted. But soon Fair Point became "Chautauqua"
on the list of the Post Office Department, and the old name lingers only in
the memory of old Chautauquans.
Before we leave that pioneer Chautauqua, we must recall some of its
aspects, which might be forgotten in these later days, at once amusing,
perplexing, and sometimes trying. More steamers, great and small, were
plying Chautauqua's waters than at the present under the steamboat
corporation system. Old Chautauquans will remember that ancient three-
decker, The Jamestown, with its pair of stern wheels, labeled respectively
"Vincent" and "Miller." Each steamer was captained by its owner; and there
was often a congestion of boats at the pier, especially after the arrival of an
excursion train. Those were not the days of standard time, eastern and
central, with watches set an hour fast or slow at certain well-known points.
Each boat followed its own standard of time, which might be New York
time, Buffalo or Pittsburgh time, forty minutes slower, or even Columbus or
Cincinnati time, slower still. Railroads crossing Ohio were required to run
on Columbus time. When you were selecting a steamer from the thirty
placards on the bulletin board at the Fair Point Post office, in order to meet
an Erie train at Lakewood, unless you noticed the time-standard, you might
find at the pier that your steamer had gone forty minutes before, or on
arriving at Lakewood learn that your boat was running on Cincinnati time,

and you were three quarters of an hour late for the train, for even on the
Erie of those days, trains were not always an hour behind time.
Nor was this variety of "time, times, and half-time" all the drawbacks.
When news came that an excursion train was due from Buffalo, every
steamboat on the lake would ignore its time-table and the needs of the
travelers; and all would be bunched at the Mayville dock and around it to
catch the passengers. Or it might be a similar but more tangled crowd of
boats in the Outlet at Jamestown to meet a special train from Pittsburgh.
Haven't I seen a bishop on the Fair Point pier, who must get the train at
Lakewood to meet his conference in Colorado, scanning the landscape with
not a boat in sight, all piled up three miles away?

Palestine Park, Looking North Tent-Life in 1875
Dead Sea in foreground: Mount Hermon in J. L. Hurlbut, J. A. Worden, Frank Beard, J.
distance L. Hughes

Nor were the arrangements for freight and baggage in those early years
any more systematic than those for transportation. Although Chautauqua
Lake is on the direct line of travel east and west, between New York and
Chicago, and north and south between Buffalo and Pittsburgh, Fair Point,

the seat of the Assembly, was not a railroad station. Luggage could be
checked only to Jamestown, Lakewood, or Mayville, and thence must be
sent by boat. Its destination might be indicated by a tag or a chalk mark, or
it might remain unmarked. Imagine a steamer deck piled high with trunks,
valises, bundles of blankets, furniture, tent equipment, and things
miscellaneous, stopping at a dozen points along the lake to have its cargo
assorted and put ashore—is it strange that some baggage was left at the
wrong place, and its owner wandered around looking vainly for his
property? One man remarked that the only way to be sure of your trunk was
to sit on it; but what if your trunk was on the top or at the bottom of a pile
ten feet high? Considering all the difficulties and discomforts of those early
days—travel, baggage, no hotels nor boarding houses, a crowded dining
hall with a hungry procession outside perhaps in the rain waiting for seats at
the tables, the food itself none of the best—it is surprising that some
thousands of people not only found the Assembly, but stayed to its
conclusion, were happy in it, lived in an enchanted land for a fortnight, and
resolved to return the very next year! More than this, they carried its
enthusiasm and its ideals home with them and in hundreds of places far
apart, the Sunday Schools began to assume a new and higher life. Some
time after this, but still early in Chautauqua's history, a prominent Sunday
School man expressed to the writer his opinion that "people who came
home from Chautauqua became either a mighty help or a mighty nuisance.
They brought with them more new ideas than could be put into operation in
ten years; and if they couldn't get them, one and all, adopted at once they
kicked and growled incessantly."
Before we leave the Assembly of 1874, we must not forget to name one
of its most powerful and far-reaching results—the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union. This assembly was held soon after the great crusade of
1874 in Ohio, when multitudes of women, holding prayer meetings on the
sidewalk in front of liquor saloons literally prayed thousands of them out of
existence. While the fire of the crusade was still burning, a number of
women held meetings at Chautauqua during the Assembly, and took counsel
together concerning the best measures to promote the temperance reform.
They united in a call signed by Mrs. Mattie McClellan Brown, Mrs. Jennie
Fowler Willing, Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, and others, for a convention
of women to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, November 17, 1874. At this

convention, sixteen States were represented, and the national Woman's
Christian Temperance Union was organized, an institution which did more
than any other to form public sentiment, to make State after State "dry," and
finally to establish nation-wide constitutional prohibition. It may not be
generally known that this mighty movement began at the first Chautauqua
Assembly.

CHAPTER V
THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Chautauqua was a lusty infant when it entered upon life in 1874, and it
began with a penetrating voice, heard afar. Like all normal babies (normal
seems to be the right word just here) it began to grow, and its progress in
the forty-seven years of its life thus far (1920) has been the growth of a
giant. Territorially, on Chautauqua Lake, it has enlarged at successive stages
from twenty acres to more than three hundred and thirty acres, impelled
partly by a demand of its increasing family for house-room, educational
facilities, and playgrounds, partly from the necessity of controlling its
surroundings to prevent occupation by undesirable neighbors. There has
been another vast expansion in the establishment of Chautauquas
elsewhere, until the continent is now dotted with them. A competent
authority informs the writer that within twelve months ten thousand
assemblies bearing the generic name Chautauqua have been held in the
United States and the Dominion of Canada. There has been a third growth
in the intellectual sweep of its plans. We have seen how it began as a system
of training for teachers in the Sunday School. We shall trace its
advancement into the wider field of general and universal education, a
school in every department and for everybody everywhere.
To at least one pilgrim the Assembly of 1875 was monumental, for it
marked an epoch in his life. That was the writer of this volume, who in that
year made his first visit to Chautauqua. (The general reader who has no
interest in personal reminiscences may omit this paragraph.) He traveled by
the Erie Railroad, and that evening for the first time in his life saw a berth
made up in a sleeping-car, and crawled into it. If in his dreams that night, a
vision could have flashed upon his inward eye of what that journey was to
bring to him in the coming years, he might have deemed it an Arabian
Night's dream. For that visit to Chautauqua, not suddenly but in the after
years, changed the entire course of his career. It sent him to Chautauqua
thus far for forty-six successive seasons, and perhaps may round him out in
a semi-centennial. It took him out of a parsonage, and made him an itinerant

on a continent-wide scale. It put him into Dr. Vincent's office as an
assistant, and later in his chair as his successor. It dropped him down
through the years at Chautauqua assemblies in almost half of the States of
this Union. On Tuesday morning, August 3, 1875, I left the train at
Jamestown, rode across the city, and embarked in a steamer for a voyage up
the lake. As we slowly wound our way through the Outlet—it was on the
old steamer Jamestown which was never an ocean-greyhound—I felt like
an explorer in some unknown river. Over the old pier at Fair Point was the
sign, "National S. S. Assembly," and beneath it I stepped ashore on what
seemed almost a holy ground, for my first walk was through Palestine Park.
On Friday, August 6th, I gave a normal lesson, the first in my life, with fear
and trembling. It was on "the city of Jerusalem," and I had practiced on the
map until I thought that I could draw it without a copy. But, alas, one of the
class must needs come to the blackboard and set my askew diagram in the
right relations. Twenty years afterward, at an assembly in Kansas, an old
lady spoke to me after a lesson, "I saw you teach your first lesson at
Chautauqua. You said that you had never taught a normal class before, and I
thought it was the solemn truth. You've improved since then!"
Some new features had been added to the grounds since the first
Assembly. Near Palestine Park was standing a fine model of modern
Jerusalem and its surrounding hills, so exact in its reproduction that one day
a bishop pointed out the identical building wherein he had lodged when
visiting the city—the same hostel, by the way, where this writer stayed
afterward in 1897, and from whose roof he took his first view of the holy
places. Near Palestine Park, an oriental house had been constructed, with
rooms in two stories around an open court. These rooms were filled with
oriental and archæological curiosities, making it a museum; and every day
Dr. A. O. Von Lennep, a Syrian by birth, stood on its roof and gave in
Arabic the Mohammedan call to prayer. I failed to observe, however, the
people at Chautauqua prostrating themselves at the summons. Indeed, some
of them actually mocked the make-believe muezzin before his face. On the
hill, near the Dining Hall, stood a sectional model of the great pyramid,
done in lath and plaster, as if sliced in two from the top downward, half of it
being shown, and the room inside of it indicated. Also there was a model of
the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, covered with its three curtains, and
containing within an altar, table, and candlestick. Daily lectures were given

before it by the Rev. J. S. Ostrander, wearing the miter, robe, and
breastplate of the high priest.
The evolution of the Chautauqua Idea made some progress at the second
Assembly. Instead of eight sessions of the Normal Class, two were held
daily. The program report says that fifty normal sessions were held;
regularly two each day, one at 8 o'clock in the morning on a Bible topic.
Breakfast must be rushed through at seven to brace up the students for their
class. Another was held at 3:30, on some subject pertaining to the pupil or
the teacher; with extra sessions in order to complete the specified course. A
class in Hebrew was held daily by Dr. S. M. Vail, and attended by forty
students. Dr. Vail had been for many years professor of Hebrew in the
earliest Methodist theological school, the Biblical Institute at Concord, New
Hampshire, which afterward became the School of Theology in Boston
University. Dr. Vail was an enthusiast in his love of Hebrew language and
literature. One who occupied a tent with him—all the workers of that
season were lodged in a row of little tents on Terrace Avenue, two in each
tent—averred that his trunk contained only a Hebrew Bible (he didn't need
a lexicon) and a clean shirt.
Besides the class in Hebrew, Madame Kriege of New York conducted a
class in kindergarten teaching, and Dr. Tourjee of Boston, W. F. Sherwin,
and C. C. Case held classes in singing. All these were supposedly for
Sunday School teachers, but they proved to be the thin end of the wedge
opening the way for the coming summer school.
Even more strongly than at the earlier session, the Normal Class, with a
systematic course of instruction in the Bible and Sunday School work, was
made the center of the program. It is significant of the importance assigned
to this department that for several years, no other meeting, great or small,
was permitted at the normal hours. The camp must either attend the classes
or stay in its tents.
At this session, Mrs. Frank Beard, noting the insistent announcement of
the Normal Classes, and the persistent urging that everybody attend them,
was moved to verse. As true poetry is precious, her effusion is here given:

To Chautauqua went
On pleasure bent
A youth and maiden fair.
Working in the convention
Was not their intention,
But to drive away dull care.
Along came John V——
And what did he see
But this lover and his lass.
Says he, "You must
Get up and dust
And go to the Normal Class."
The great event in the Assembly of '75 was the visit of General U. S.
Grant, then President of the United States on his second term. It was
brought about partly because of the long-time friendship of the General
with Dr. Vincent, dating back to the Galena pastorate of 1860 and '61, but
also through the influence and activity of the Rev. Dr. Theodore L. Flood,
who though a successful Methodist minister was also somewhat of a
politician. The President and his party came up from Jamestown on a
steamer-yacht, and at Fair Point were lodged in the tent beside the Lewis
Miller cottage. True to his rule while General and President, Grant made no
speech in public, not even when a handsomely bound Bagster Bible was
presented to him in behalf of the assembly. Those were the palmy days of
"Teachers' Bibles," with all sorts of helps and tables as appendices; and at
that time the Bagster and the American Tract Society were rivals for the
Sunday School constituency. Not to be outdone by their competitors, the
Tract Society's representative at Chautauqua also presented one of his
Bibles to the President. One can scarcely have too many Bibles, and the
General may have found use for both of them. He received them with a nod
but never a word. Yet those who met him at dinners and in social life said
that in private he was a delightful talker and by no means reticent. The tents
and cottages on the Chautauqua of those days were taxed to almost bursting
capacity to house the multitude over the Sunday of the President's visit. As
many more would have come on that day, if the rules concerning Sabbath
observance had been relaxed, as some had expected. But the authorities

were firm, the gates by lake and land were kept closed, and that Sunday was
like all other Sundays at Chautauqua.
At the close of the Assembly, the
normal examinations were given to
190 students; some left the tent in
terror after reading over the
questions, but 130 struggled to the
end and handed in their papers, of
which 123 were above the passing
grade. There were now two classes
of graduates, and the Chautauqua
Normal Alumni Association was
organized. Mr. Otis F. Presbrey of
Washington, D. C. (the man who on
a certain occasion "looked like
sixty"), was its first president. The
secretary chosen was the Rev. J. A.
Worden, a Presbyterian pastor at
Steubenville, Ohio, and one of the
normal teachers at Chautauqua;
who afterward, and for many years,
Spouting Tree and Oriental House
was general secretary and
superintendent of Sabbath School
work in the Presbyterian Church.
At the Assembly of 1875, a quiet, unassuming little lady was present,
who was already famous, and helped to increase the fame of Chautauqua.
This was Mrs. G. R. Alden, the wife of a Presbyterian pastor, but known
everywhere as "Pansy," whose story-books were in almost every Sunday
School library on the continent. She wrote a book, Four Girls at
Chautauqua, which ingeniously wove into the account of the actual events
of the season, including some of its rainy days—that was the year when it
rained more or less on fourteen of the seventeen days of the Assembly—her
four girls, so well imagined that they seemed real. Indeed when one read the
account of one's own speech at a children's meeting, he could not doubt that
the Flossie of the story who listened to it was a veritable flesh and blood
girl in the audience. The story became one of the most popular of the Pansy

books, brought Chautauqua to the attention of many thousands, and led
large numbers of people to Fair Point. Pansy has ever been a true friend of
Chautauqua, and has written several stories setting forth its attractions.

CHAPTER VI
THE NATIONAL CENTENNIAL YEAR

The founders of Chautauqua looked forward to its third session with
mingled interest and anxiety. It was the centennial year of American
Independence, and an exposition was opening in Philadelphia, far more
noteworthy in its buildings and exhibits than any previous effort in the
annals of the nation. The World's Fair in the Crystal Palace of New York, in
1855, the first attempt in America to hold an universal exposition, was a
pigmy compared with the immense display in the park of Philadelphia on
the centennial year. Could the multitudes from every State and from foreign
lands be attracted from Philadelphia five hundred miles to Chautauqua
Lake? Had the quest of the American people for new interests been satisfied
by two years at the Assembly? Would it be the wiser course in view of the
competition to hold merely a modest little gathering at Fair Point, or to
venture boldly upon greater endeavors than ever before; to enlarge the
program, to advertise more widely, and to compel attention to the new
movement? Anyone who knew the adventurous, aspiring nature of both
Miller and Vincent would unhesitatingly answer these questions.
The Assembly of 1876 was planned upon a larger scale than ever before.
The formal opening took place on Tuesday evening, August 1st, in the
forest-sheltered Auditorium, but two gatherings were held in advance and a
third after its conclusion, so that the entire program embraced twenty-four
days instead of seventeen.
The first meeting was the Scientific Conference, July 26th to 28th,
aiming both to present science from the Christian point of view, and
Christianity from the scientific point of view, showing the essential
harmony between them, without either subjecting conclusions of science to
church-authority or cutting up the Bible at the behest of the scientists. There
had been frequent battles between the theologians and the students of nature
and the "conflict of science and religion" had been strongly in evidence,
ever since the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. Most

pulpits had uttered their thunders against "Darwinism," even though some
of the pulpiteers had never read Darwin's book, nor could have understood
it if they had tried. And many professors who had never listened to a gospel
sermon, and rarely opened their Bibles, had launched lightnings at the camp
of the theologians. But here was something new; a company of scholars
including Dr. R. Ogden Doremus of New York, Professor A. S. Lattimore of
Rochester, Dr. Alexander Winchell of Michigan, and others of equal
standing, on the same platform with eminent preachers, and no restraint on
either side, each free to utter his convictions, and all certain that the
outcome would be peace and not war.
The writer of these pages was present at most of those lectures, and
remembers one instance showing that the province of science is in the past
and the present and not in the future. Dr. Doremus was giving some brilliant
experiments in the newer developments of electricity. Be it remembered
that it was the year 1876, and in the Centennial Exposition of that year there
was neither an automobile, a trolley-car, nor an electric light. He said, "I
will now show you that remarkable phenomenon—the electric light. Be
careful not to gaze at it too steadily, for it is apt to dazzle the beholder and
may injure the eyesight." Then as an arc-light of a crude sort flashed and
sputtered, and fell and rose again only to sputter and fall, the lecturer said,
"Of course, the electric light is only an interesting experiment, a sort of toy
to amuse spectators. Every effort to utilize it has failed, and always will fail.
The electric light in all probability will never be of any practical value."
Yet at that very time, Thomas A. Edison in Menlo Park, New Jersey, was
perfecting his incandescent light, and only three years later, 1879,
Chautauqua was illuminated throughout by electricity. When the scientist
turns prophet he becomes as fallible as the preacher who assumes to
prescribe limitations to scientific discovery. We live in an age of harmony
and mutual helpfulness between science and religion; and Chautauqua has
wrought mightily in bringing to pass the new day.
It is worthy of mention that Chautauqua holds a connecting link with
"the wizard of Llewellyn Park" and his electric light; for some years later
Mr. Edison married Miss Mina Miller, daughter of the Founder Lewis
Miller. The Miller family, Founder, sons, daughters, and grandchildren,
have maintained a deep interest in Chautauqua; and the Swiss Cottage at the

head of Miller Park has every year been occupied. Representatives of the
Miller family are always members of the Board of Trustees.
After the Scientific
Conference came a
Temperance Congress, on
July 29th and 30th. A new
star had arisen in the
firmament. Out of a little
meeting at Chautauqua in
1874, had grown the
Woman's Christian
Temperance Union,
already in 1876 organized
in every State and in pretty
nearly every town. Its
founders had chosen for
President of the Union a
young woman who
combined in one
personality the
consummate orator and
Rustic Bridge over Ravine
the wise executive, Miss
Frances Elizabeth Willard
of Evanston, Illinois, who resigned her post as Dean of the Woman's
Department of the Northwestern University to enter upon an arduous, a
lifelong and world-wide warfare to prohibit intoxicants, and as a means to
that end, to obtain the suffrage for women. Frances Willard died in 1898,
but if she could have lived until 1920 she would have seen both her aims
accomplished in the eighteenth and nineteenth amendments to the
Constitution of the United States; one forbidding the manufacture and sale
of all alcoholic liquors, the other opening the door of the voting-booth to
every woman in the land. In Statuary Hall, Washington, the only woman
standing in marble is Frances E. Willard (there will be others later), and her
figure is there among the statesmen and warriors of the nation's history, by
vote of the Legislature of the State of Illinois.

At every step in the progress of Chautauqua the two Founders held
frequent consultations. Both of them belonged to the progressive school of
thought, but on some details they differed, and woman's sphere was one of
their points of disagreement. Miller favored women on the Fair Point
platform, but Vincent was in doubt on the subject. Of course some gifted
women came as teachers of teachers in the primary department of the
Sunday School, but on the program their appearance was styled a
"Reception to Primary Teachers by Mrs. or Miss So-and-So." Dr. Vincent
knew Frances E. Willard, admired her, believed honestly that she was one
of the very small number of women called to speak in public, and he
consented to her coming to Chautauqua in the Temperance Congress of
1876. From the hour of her first appearance there was never after any doubt
as to her enthusiastic welcome at Chautauqua. No orator drew larger
audiences or bound them under a stronger spell by eloquent words than did
Frances Elizabeth Willard. Frances Willard was the first but by no means
the last woman to lecture on the Chautauqua platform. Mrs. Mary A.
Livermore soon followed her, and before many summers had passed, Dr.
Vincent was introducing to the Chautauqua constituency women as freely
as men, to speak on the questions of the time.
Another innovation began on this centennial season—The Chautauqua
Assembly Herald. For two years the Assembly had been dependent upon
reports by newspaper correspondents, who came to the ground as strangers,
with no share in the Chautauqua spirit, knowing very little of Chautauqua's
aims, and eager for striking paragraphs rather than accurate records. A
lecturer who is wise never reads the report of his speech in the current
newspapers; for he is apt to tear his hair in anguish at the tale of his
utterances. Chautauqua needed an organ, and Dr. Theodore L. Flood, from
the first a staunch friend of the movement, undertook to establish a daily
paper for the season. The first number of the Herald appeared on June 29,
1876, with Dr. Flood as editor, and Mr. Milton Bailey of Jamestown as
publisher. The opening number was published in advance of the Assembly
and sent to Chautauquans everywhere; but the regular issue began on July
29th with the Scientific Conference, and was continued daily (except
Sunday) until the close of the Assembly. Every morning sleepers (who
ought to have arisen earlier in time for morning prayers at 6:40) were
awakened by the shrill voices of boys calling out "Daily Assembly Herald!"

The Daily was a success from the start, for it contained accurate and
complete reports of the most important lectures, outlines of the Normal
lessons, and the items of information needed by everybody. All over the
land people who could not come to Chautauqua kept in touch with its life
through the Herald. More than one distinguished journalist began his
editorial career in the humble quarters of The Chautauqua Daily Assembly
Herald. For two seasons the Daily was printed in Mayville, though edited
on the ground. In 1878 a printing plant was established at the Assembly and
later became the Chautauqua Press. Almost a generation after its
establishment, its name was changed to The Chautauquan Daily, which
throughout the year is continued as The Chautauquan Weekly, with news of
the Chautauqua movement at home and abroad.
Visitors to Chautauqua in the centennial year beheld for the first time a
structure which won fame from its inhabitants if not from its architecture.
This was the Guest House, standing originally on the lake shore near the
site of the present Men's Club building; though nobody remembers it by its
official name, for it soon became known as "The Ark." No, gentle reader,
the report is without foundation that this was the original vessel in which
Noah traveled with his menagerie, and that after reposing on Mount Ararat
it went adrift on Lake Chautauqua. "The Ark" was built to provide a
comfortable home for the speakers and workers at the Assembly who for
two years had been lodged in tents, like the Israelites in the Wilderness. It
was a frame building of two stories, shingle-roofed, with external walls and
internal partitions of tent-cloth. Each room opened upon a balcony, the
stairs to the upper floor being on the outside and the entire front of each cell
a curtain, which under a strong wind was wont to break loose, regardless of
the condition of the people inside. After a few years a partition between two
rooms at one end was taken down, a chimney and fireplace built, and the
result was a living room where the arkites assembled around a fire and told
stories. Ah, those noctes ambrosianæ when Edward Everett Hale and
Charles Barnard and Sherwin and the Beards narrated yarns and cracked
jokes! Through the thin partitions of the bedrooms, every sneeze could be
heard. The building was soon dubbed Noah's Ark, then "Knowers' Ark,"
from the varied learning of its indwellers; and sometimes from the
reverberations sounding at night, "Snorers' Ark." Frank Beard was a little
deaf, and was wont to sit at these conversazioni in the parlor of the Ark with

his hand held like an ear-trumpet. Mrs. Beard used to say that whenever she
wished to hold a private conversation with him, they hired a boat and rowed
out at least a mile from the shore. When the Assembly enlarged its
boundaries by a purchase of land, the Ark was moved up to higher ground
in the forest near where the Normal Hall now stands, and there served
almost a generation of Chautauqua workers, until its frail materials were in
danger of collapse, and it was taken down. Less famous buildings have
been kept in memory by tablets and monuments; but it would require no
small slab of marble to contain the names of the famous men and women
who dwelt in that old Guest House; and what a book might have been made
if some Boswell had kept the record of its stories and sayings! After
spending two nights in the Ark, the Rev. Alfred Taylor's poetic muse was
aroused to sing of the place and its occupants after this fashion:
This structure of timber and muslin contained
Of preachers and teachers some two or three
score;
Of editors, parsons a dozen or more.
There were Methodists, Baptists, and
'Piscopals, too
And grave Presbyterians, a handful or two.
There were lawyers, and doctors and various
folks,
All full of their wisdom, and full of their
jokes.
There were writers of lessons, and makers of
songs,
And shrewd commentators with wonderful
tongues;
And all of these busy, industrious men
Found it hard to stop talking at just half-past
ten.
They talked, and they joked, and they kept
such a clatter
That neighboring folks wondered what was
the matter
But weary at last, they extinguished the light,

And went to their beds for the rest of the
night.
The formal opening of the Assembly in 1876 took place after the
Scientific and Temperance gatherings, on Tuesday evening, August 1st, in
the leaf-roofed Auditorium, but the benches were now provided with backs
for the comfort of the thousands. The platform had been enlarged to make
room for a choir, under the leadership in turn of W. F. Sherwin and Philip P.
Bliss, whose gospel songs are still sung around the world. Only a few
months later, that voice was hushed forever on earth, when the train bearing
the singer and his wife crashed through a broken bridge at Ashtabula, Ohio.
The record of that evening shows that fifteen speakers gave greetings,
supposedly five minutes in length, although occasionally the flow of
language overpassed the limit. Among the speakers we read the names of
Dr. Henry M. Sanders of New York, Mr. John D. Wattles of the Sunday
School Times, Dr. Henry W. Warren of Philadelphia, soon to become a
bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. C. F. Burr, the author of
Ecce Cœlum, a book of astronomy ministering to religion, famous in that
day, though almost forgotten in our time; Dr. Lyman Abbott, who came
before the audience holding up his pocket-Bible, with the words, "I am here
to-night, because here this book is held in honor," Dr. Warren Randolph, the
head of Sunday School work among the Baptist churches, and Mr. A. O.
Van Lennep, in Syrian costume and fez-cap. He made two speeches, one in
Arabic, the other in English.
Normal work for Sunday School teachers was kept well in the
foreground. The subjects of the course were divided into departments, each
under a director, who chose his assistants. Four simultaneous lessons were
given in the section tents, reviewed later in the day by the directors at a
meeting of all the classes in the pavilion. In addition, Dr. Vincent held four
public platform reviews, covering the entire course. The record states that
about five hundred students were present daily in the Normal department.
About one hundred undertook the final examinations for membership in the
Normal Alumni Association. The writer of these pages well remembers
those hours in the pavilion, for he was one of those examined, and Frank
Beard was another. The first question on the paper was, "What is your name
and address?" Mr. Beard remarked audibly, that he was glad he could
answer at least one of the questions. To dispel the doubts of our readers, we

remark that both of us passed, and were duly enrolled among the Normal
Alumni.

Amphitheater Audience
On the Lake By the Lake
Tennis Courts
In the Lake
Transcriber's Note: Clicking on this image will provide a
larger image for more detail.

The list of the lecturers and their subjects show that Bible study and
Bible teaching still stood at the fore. The program contained with many
others the following names: Dr. W. E. Knox on "The Old Testament
Severities," Dr. Lyman Abbott, "Bible Interpretation," Dr. R. K. Hargrove of
Tennessee, later a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
"Childhood and the Sunday School Work," Dr. George P. Hays, then
President of Washington and Jefferson College, "How to Reason," Frank
Beard, a caricature lecture with crayon on "Our School," showing types of
teachers and scholars, Dr. George W. Woodruff, a most entertaining lecture
on "Bright Days in Foreign Lands," Dr. A. J. Baird of Tennessee, "Going
Fishing with Peter," Rev. J. A. Worden, "What a Presbyterian Thinks of
John Wesley,"—a response to Rev. J. L. Hurlbut's lecture in 1875 on "What
a Methodist Thinks of John Knox,"—Prof. L. T. Townsend, "Paul's Cloak
Left at Troas"; also Dr. Richard Newton, M. C. Hazard, editor of the
National Sunday School Teacher, Rev. Thomas K. Beecher of Elmira, and
Bishop Jesse T. Peck. These are a few samples of the repast spread on the
lecture platform of the Assembly.
The Centennial of American Independence was duly commemorated on
Saturday, August 5th. Bishop Simpson had been engaged to deliver the
oration, but was kept at home by illness and the hour was filled with
addresses by different speakers, one of whom, Mr. W. Aver Duncan of
London, presented the congratulations of Old England to her daughter
across the sea. A children's centennial was held in the afternoon, at which
the writer of this story spoke, and Frank Beard drew funny pictures. We will
not tell, though we know, which of the two orators pleased the children
most. At the sunset hour an impressive Bible service was held on the shore
of the lake by Professor Sherwin, followed in the Auditorium by a concert
of slave-songs from "The North Carolinians," a troupe of negro college
students. Late in the evening came a gorgeous display on the lake, the
Illuminated Fleet. Every steam vessel plying Chautauqua waters marched in
line, led by the old three-decker Jamestown all hung with Chinese lanterns,
and making the sky brilliant with fireworks. A week later there was a
commemorative tree-planting on the little park in the angle between the
present Post Office building and the Colonnade. President Lewis Miller, Dr.
C. H. Payne, President of Ohio Wesleyan University, Drs. Vail and Strong,
teachers of Hebrew and Greek at the Assembly, Drs. O. H. Tiffany, T. K.

Beecher, Richard Newton, J. A. Worden, Beard and Sherwin, Dr. Wythe,
builder of Palestine Park and Director of Recreations at the Assembly, and
Prof. P. P. Bliss were some, but not all of those who planted trees. Afterward
each tree was marked by a sign bearing the name of its planter. These signs
were lost in the process of the years, and not all the trees are now living. I
think that I can identify the tree planted by Frank Beard, but am not sure of
any other in the little group remaining at the present time.
A noteworthy event at the Assembly of 1876 was the establishment of
the Children's Meeting as a daily feature. Meetings for the younger people
had been held from time to time in '74 and '75 but this year Frank Beard
suggested a regular "Children's Hour," and the meetings were at first
conducted by him, mingling religion and humor. Underneath his fun, Mr.
Beard had a serious soul. He read strong books, talked with his friends on
serious subjects, always sought to give at least one illustrated Bible reading
during the Assembly, and resented the popular expectation that he should be
merely the funny man on the program. He was assisted in his children's
meeting by the Rev. Bethuel T. Vincent, a brother of the Founder, who was
one of the most remarkable teachers of children and young people whom I
have ever known. He could arrange the facts of Bible knowledge in outline,
could present them in a striking manner, and drill them into the minds of the
boys and girls in an enduring way that few instructors could equal and none
surpass. Before many sessions, Mr. Vincent's lesson became the major
feature and Beard's pictures the entertainment of the meeting. The grown-
ups came to the meetings in such numbers as threatened to crowd out the
children, until the rule was made that adults must take the rear seats,—no
exception being made even for the row of ear-trumpets—leaving the front
to the little people. Following the custom of the Normal Class, an
examination in writing that would tax the brains of many ministers was held
at the close, limited to all below a certain age, and prizes were awarded to
the best papers presented. As after forty years I read the list of graduates in
those early classes, I find the names of men and women who have
distinguished themselves as ministers and missionaries in the churches.
Early in the Assembly season, on August 7, 1876, a momentous step was
taken in the appointment by the instructors and students of the Normal
Class, of a committee to prepare a course of study for the preparation of
Sunday School teachers. Eleven men, present at Chautauqua, representing

ten different denominations, were chosen as the committee, and their report
constituted the first attempt at a union normal course. Hitherto each church
had worked out its own independent course of study, and the lines laid
down were exceedingly divergent. This new course prescribed forty
lessons, a year's work divided between the study of the Bible, the Sunday
School, the pupil, and the principles of teaching. Comparing it with the
official course now adopted by the International Sunday School
Association, we find it for a year's study remarkably complete and adapted
to the teacher's needs. For years it stood as the basis of the teacher-training
work at Chautauqua, was followed in the preparation of text-books and
pursued by many classes in the United States and Canada.
The Centennial Year marked a note of progress in the music at the
Assembly. Up to this time scarcely any music had been attempted outside of
the church and Sunday School hymnals. This year the choir was larger than
before, perhaps as many as forty voices—think of that in contrast with the
three hundred now assembled in the choir-gallery of the Amphitheater!
Some anthems had been attempted, but no oratorios, and no songs of the
secular character. It was Professor C. C. Case who ventured with the
doubtful permission of Dr. Vincent to introduce at a concert some selections
from standard music outside the realm of religion. Nobody objected,
perhaps because nobody recognized the significance of the step taken; and
it was not long before the whole world of music was open to Chautauquans.
This writer remembers, however, that when at an evening lecture, Dr.
Vincent announced as a prelude "Invitation to the Dance," sung by a
quartette of ladies, he received next day a letter of protest against so
immoral a song at a religious gathering. If it had been sung without
announcement of its title, no one would have objected. On the following
evening, Dr. Vincent actually offered a mild apology for the title. Since that
time, the same title has been printed on the Chautauqua program, and the
song encored by five thousand people. Surely, "the world do move!"
Another step in the advancement of Chautauqua was the incorporation of
the Assembly. Up to this year, 1876, the old charter of the Erie Conference
Camp Meeting Association had constituted the legal organization. On April
28, 1876, new articles of incorporation were signed at Mayville, the county
seat, providing for twenty-four trustees of the Chautauqua Lake Sunday

School Assembly. In the charter the object was stated "to hold stated public
meetings from year to year upon the grounds at Fair Point in the County of
Chautauqua for the furtherance of Sunday School interests and any other
moral and religious purpose not inconsistent therewith." We note that the
old name Fair Point was still used to designate the place of the Assembly.
But it was for the last time; with the next year's program a new name will
appear.
One of the first acts of the new Board was to purchase a large addition to
the camp-meeting ground on its eastern border, and to lay out streets upon
it. This section included the campus and site of the buildings that now adorn
the College Hill. Some readers may inquire how the streets of the Assembly
received their names. During the Camp Meeting period, the streets were
named after Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church—Simpson Avenue,
Janes Avenue, Merrill Avenue, and so on. Under the Assembly régime a few
more bishops were thus remembered; the road winding around from
Palestine Park to the land-gate on the public highway was called Palestine
Avenue; Vincent Avenue ran straight up the hill past the old Dining Hall,
Miller Avenue parallel with it on the west; and other streets later were
named after prominent Chautauqua leaders. Wythe the first Secretary, Root,
the first Vice-President, Massey, a family from Canada making liberal
contributions, Miss Kimball, the efficient Executive Secretary of the
Reading Circle, and a few other names in Chautauqua's annals. The visitor
to the present-day Chautauqua smiles as he reads one of the earliest
enactments of the new Board, a resolution to instruct the Superintendent of
Grounds "to warn the person selling tobacco on the grounds that he is
engaged in an unlawful occupation." We hasten to add that this anti-tobacco
regulation is no longer in operation.

Old Palace Hotel Oriental Group Lake-Shore
The Ark Tent-Life Old Dining Hall
N. E. Kitchen Group of Workers Woodland Path

Transcriber's Note: Clicking on this image will provide a
larger image for more detail.

The reader of this chapter perceives that the centennial year marked
notable advancements at Chautauqua: a lengthened and broadened program,
the establishing of a newspaper, the beginning of the daily Children's

Meeting with a course of Bible study for the young, the organizing of a
definite course for the training of Sunday School teachers, the incorporation
of the Assembly with a full Board of Trustees, with the transfer of the
property from the former camp-meeting proprietorship, and a purchase of
ground doubling the extent of its territory. Chautauqua, only three years old
is already, in Scripture phrase, lengthening its cords and strengthening its
stakes.

CHAPTER VII
A NEW NAME AND NEW FACES

The fourth session of the Assembly opened in 1877 with a new name,
Chautauqua taking the place of old Fair Point. The former title had caused
some confusion. Fair Point was often misread "Fairport," and letters
wandered to distant places of similar names. There was a Chautauqua Lake
station on the Erie Railway, and a Chautauqua Point encampment across the
lake from Fair Point, but the name "Chautauqua" had not been appropriated,
and by vote of the trustees it was adopted; the government was requested to
change the name of the Post Office, and the railroads and steamboats to
place Chautauqua upon their announcements. Fair Point disappeared from
the record, and is now remembered only by the decreasing group of the
oldest Chautauquans.
Every season brings its own anxieties, and as the Assembly of 1877
drew near, a new fear came to the leaders of Chautauqua. A few will
remember, and others have heard, that in 1877 took place the most
extensive railway strike in the annals of the nation. The large station of the
Pennsylvania Railroad in Pittsburgh was burned by a mob, and for weeks at
a time, no trains ran either into or out of many important centers.
Fortunately the strike was adjusted and called off before the Assembly
opened, and on the first day four thousand people entered the gates, a far
greater number than at any former opening.
On that year the menace of denominational rivalry threatened to confront
Chautauqua. Across the lake, two miles from the Assembly, another point
reaches westward, facing the Assembly ground. This tract was purchased by
an enterprising company belonging to Baptist churches, and named Point
Chautauqua. Its founders disclaimed any intention of becoming competitors
with the Assembly. Their purpose, as announced, was to supply sites for
summer homes, especially to members and friends of their own
denomination. They began by building an expensive hotel at a time when
the Assembly was contented with small boarding houses; and they soon

followed the hotel with a large lecture-hall far more comfortable than either
the out-door auditorium or the tent-pavilion at Chautauqua. To attract
visitors they soon provided a program of speakers, with occasional
concerts. Thus on opposite shores of the lake two institutions were rising, in
danger of becoming rivals in the near future. Nor was Chautauqua Point the
only rival in prospect. A year or two later a tent was erected near Lakewood
for the holding of an assembly upon a "liberal" platform, where speakers of
more advanced views of religion and the Bible could obtain a hearing. This
gathering favored an open Sunday, and welcomed the steamers and railroad
excursions on the day when the gates of Chautauqua were kept tightly
closed. In those days the fear was expressed that Chautauqua Lake, instead
of being a center for Christians of every name might furnish sites for
separate conventions of different sects, and thus minister to dissension
rather than to fellowship.
But these fears proved to be groundless. The "liberal" convocation down
the lake held but one session, and left its promoters with debts to be paid.
The founders of the Baptist institution made the mistake of beginning on
too great a scale. The hotel and lecture-hall involved the corporation of
Point Chautauqua in heavy debt, they were sold, and the place became a
village, like other hamlets around the lake. The hotel was continued for
some years, and the lecture-hall became a dancing pavilion, tempting the
young people to cross the lake from Chautauqua where dancing was under a
strict taboo. Perhaps it was an advantage to the thousands at the Assembly
to find only two miles away a place where the rules were relaxed.
One story of a later season may be told in this connection, for it was
without doubt typical. There are staid fathers and mothers attending lectures
on sociology and civics in the Hall of Philosophy who could narrate similar
experiences if only they would. A youth and two young lasses went out at
the pier-gate for a sail across the lake. They landed at Point Chautauqua,
refreshed their constrained bodies by a good dance, and then sailed home
again. But it was late, the gate was closed, and it was of no avail to rattle
the portals, for the gate-keepers were asleep in their homes far up the hill.
The girls were somewhat alarmed, but the young man piloted them through
the forest over a well-worn path to a place where some pickets of the fence
were loose and could be shoved aside. They squeezed through and soon
were safely at their homes.

But their troubles were not over. Their tickets had been punched to go
out of the grounds, but not to come in again. Technically, in the eyes of the
Chautauqua government they were still outside the camp. This young man,
however, was not lacking in resources. He knew all the officials from His
Whiskers, the supreme chief of police, down the list. Making choice of one
gateman whose nature was somewhat social he called upon him in his box,
talked in a free and easy way, picked up his punch and began making holes
in paper and cards. When the gatekeeper's back was turned, he quickly
brought out the three tickets, punched them for coming into the grounds,
and then laid down the nippers. The girls, now officially within the grounds,
were grateful to their friend, and to manifest their regard wrought for him a
sofa-pillow which decorated his room in college.
Something should be said just here concerning the ticket-system of
Chautauqua. It was devised by the genius of Lewis Miller, to whom
invention was instinctive, and was improved to meet every possible attempt
at evasion. There were one-day tickets, good for only one admission, three-
day tickets, week-tickets, and season-tickets, all providing no admission on
Sundays. They were not transferable, and all except the one-day variety
bore the purchaser's name. Two or three times during the season officers
visited every house and every lecture and class, even stopping everybody
on the streets to see that no single-day tickets were kept for longer periods.
Provision was made for exchanging at the office short-stop tickets for the
longer time desired. If one wished to go outside the gate on an errand, or for
a sail on the lake, he must leave his ticket, unless he was known to the gate-
keeper, in order to prevent more than one person from using the same ticket.
When one left the Assembly for good, he gave up his ticket. Every ticket
had its number by which it could be identified if lost or found; and the
bulletin-board contained plenty of notices of lost tickets.
It is said that one careful visitor carried his ticket everywhere for a day
or two, at each lecture-hall and tent looking vainly for a window where it
might be shown. As it did not seem to be needed, he left it in his room, only
to find when he wished to take out a boat, that he must go home and get his
ticket. When the day arrived for him to leave Chautauqua, he placed his
ticket in the bottom of his trunk, as it would be needed no longer, intending
to take it home as a souvenir for his memory-book. But, alas, at the gate,
departing, he found that ticket an absolute necessity. Without it, apparently

he must stay forever inside the walls of Chautauqua. So once more he
overhauled his trunk, dug up his ticket from its lowest strata, and departed
in peace.
One departure
from camp-
meeting customs
at once wrought
a change in the
aspect of
Chautauqua and
greatly promoted
its growth. We
have noted the
fact that in the
earlier years no
householder or
tent-dweller was
to receive
boarders, and all
except those who
cooked at home
ate in a common
dining-hall. After
the third
Assembly, this
restriction was Old Hall of Philosophy
removed and
anyone could provide rooms and board upon paying a certain percentage of
receipts to the management. The visitors who came in 1877 missed, but not
in sorrow, the dingy old Dining-Hall, which had been torn down. But
everywhere boarding houses had sprung up as by magic, and cottages had
suddenly bulged out with new additions, while signs of "Rooms and Board"
greeted the visitants everywhere. In fact, so eager were the landlords for
their prey, that runners thronged the wharf to inform new arrivals of
desirable homes, and one met these agents even at the station in Mayville.
There was an announcement of the Palace Hotel, the abode of luxurious

aristocracy. The seeker
after its lordly
accommodations found
a frame building, tent-
covered and tent-
partitioned into small
rooms for guests. But
even this was an
improvement upon the
rows of cots in the big
second story of the old
lodging house, where
fifty people slept in one
room, sometimes with
the rain dripping upon
them through a leaky
roof. Year by year the
boarding cottages grew
in number, in size, and
in comfort. Fain would
we name some of these
hostelries, whose
patrons return to them
season after season, but
we dare not begin the The Golden Gate
catalogue, lest by an Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, Dr. J. H. Vincent, Lyman Abbott,
omission we should Bishop H. W. Warren
offend some beloved
landlady and her
guests. In a few years the Palace Hotel, half-house and half-tent, gave place
to the Hotel Athenæum, on the same site, whose wide balcony looks out
upon the lake, and whose tower has been a home for some choice spirits.
The writer knows this for he has dwelt beside them.
On the extreme southwestern limit of the old camp ground was a ravine,
unoccupied until 1877. On the slopes of this valley the declivity was cleared
and terraced, seats—this time with backs—were arranged upon its sides;

toward the lake it was somewhat banked up to form a place for the speakers'
platform. Over it was spread the tent, formerly known as "the pavilion,"
brought from the hill beside Vincent Avenue. This was the nucleus out of
which grew in after years the famous Chautauqua Amphitheater. At first it
was used only on rainy days, but after a year or two gradually took the
place of the out-of-doors Auditorium.
Near the book-store on the hill stands a small gothic, steep-roofed
building, now a flower-shop. It was built just before the Assembly of 1877
as a church for the benefit of those who lived through the year at
Chautauqua, numbering at that time about two hundred people. The old
chapel was the first permanent public building erected at Chautauqua and
still standing.
The program of '77 began with a council of Reform and Church
Congress, from Saturday, August 4th to Tuesday, August 7th. Anthony
Comstock, that fearless warrior in the cause of righteousness, whose face
showed the scars of conflict, who arrested more corrupters of youth, and
destroyed more vile books, papers, and pictures than any other social
worker, was one of the leading speakers. He reported at that time the arrest
of 257 dealers in obscene literature and the destruction of over twenty tons
of their publications. There is evil enough in this generation, but there
would have been more if Anthony Comstock had not lived in the last
generation. Another reformer of that epoch was Francis Murphy, who had
been a barkeeper, but became a worker for temperance. His blue ribbon
badge was worn by untold thousands of reformed drunkards. He had a
power almost marvelous of freeing men from the chain of appetite. I was
present once at a meeting in New York where from the platform I looked
upon a churchful of men, more than three hundred in number, whose faces
showed that the "pleasures of sin" are the merest mockery; and after his
address a multitude came forward to sign Mr. Murphy's pledge and put on
his blue ribbon. At Chautauqua Mr. Murphy made no appeal to victims of
the drink habit, for they were not there to hear him, but he did appeal, and
most powerfully, in their behalf, to the Christian assemblage before him.
Another figure on the platform was that of John B. Gough,—we do not call
him a voice, for not only his tongue, but face, hands, feet, even his coat-
tails, were eloquent. No words can do justice to this peerless orator in the

cause of reform. These were the three mighty men of the council, but the
report shows twice as many names almost as distinguished.
On the evening of Tuesday, August 7th, came the regular opening of the
Assembly proper, in the Auditorium on the Point. The report of attendance
was far above that of any former opening day. Dr. Vincent presided and
conducted the responsive service of former years—the same opening
sentences and songs used every year since the first Assembly in 1874. We
find fifteen names on the list of the speakers on that evening, representing
many churches, many States, and at least two lands outside our own.
Is another story of Frank Beard on that evening beneath the dignity of
history? When he came upon the platform, he found the chairs occupied,
and sat down among the alto singers, where he insisted on remaining
despite the expostulations of Mr. Sherwin. In the middle of the exercises,
the steamboat whistle at the pier gave an unusually raucous scream. Mr.
Sherwin came forward and told the audience that there was no cause for
alarm; the sound was merely Mr. Beard tuning his voice to sing alto. Two or
three speakers afterward incidentally referred to Mr. Beard as a singer, and
hoped that he might favor the congregation with a solo. One of the
speakers, an Englishman, prefaced his talk by singing an original song, set
to Chautauqua music. That he might see his verses, Mr. Sherwin took down
a locomotive headlight hanging on one of the trees, and held it by the side
of the singer. The Englishman, short and fat, and Sherwin with dignity
supporting the big lantern, formed a tableau. Immediately afterward Dr.
Vincent called on Mr. Beard to speak; and this was his opening, delivered in
his peculiar drawl.
"I was a good mind to sing a song instead of making a speech, but I was
sure that Professor Sherwin wouldn't hold the lantern for me to sing by. He
knows that he can't hold a candle to me, anyhow!"
With Professor Sherwin, in charge of the music in 1877, was associated
Philip Phillips, whose solos formed a prelude to many of the lectures. No
one who listened to that silvery yet sympathetic voice ever forgot it. It will
be remembered that President Lincoln in Washington, after hearing him
sing Your Mission, sent up to the platform his written request to have it
repeated before the close of the meeting. Mr. Phillips ever after cherished

that scrap of paper with the noblest name in the history of America. Another
musical event of the season of 1877 was the visit of the Young Apollo Club
of New York, one of the largest and finest boy-choirs in the country. They
gave three concerts at Chautauqua, which in the rank and rendering of their
music were a revelation to the listening multitudes.
While we are speaking of the music we must make mention of songs
written and composed especially for Chautauqua. In Dr. Vincent's many-
sided nature was a strain of poetry, although I do not know that he ever
wrote a verse. Yet he always looked at life and truth through poetic eyes.
Who otherwise would have thought of songs for Chautauqua, and called
upon a poet to write them? Dr. Vincent found in Miss Mary A. Lathbury
another poet who could compose fitting verses for the expression of the
Chautauqua spirit. If I remember rightly her first song was prepared for the
opening in 1875, the second Assembly, and as the earliest, it is given in full.
In it is a reference to some speakers at the first Assembly who went on a
journey to the Holy Land, and to one, the Rev. F. A. Goodwin, whose cornet
led the singing in 1874, who became a missionary in India.

A HYMN OF GREETING
The flush of morn, the setting suns
Have told their glories o'er and o'er
One rounded year, since, heart to heart
We stood with Jesus by the shore.

We heard his wondrous voice; we touched
His garment's hem with rev'rent hand,
Then at his word, went forth to preach
His coming Kingdom in the land.

And following him, some willing feet
The way to Emmaus have trod;
And some stand on the Orient plains,
And some—upon the mount of God!

While over all, and under all,
The Master's eye, the Master's arm,

Have led in paths we have not known,
Yet kept us from the touch of harm.

One year of golden days and deeds,
Of gracious growth, of service sweet;
And now beside the shore again
We gather at the Master's feet.

"Blest be the tie that binds," we sing;
Yet to the bending blue above
We look, beyond the face of friends,
To mark the coming of the Dove.

Descend upon us as we wait
With open heart—with open Word;
Breathe on us, mystic Paraclete
Breathe on us, Spirit of the Lord!
Another song of the second Assembly, and sung through the years since
at the services of the Chautauqua Circle, was written and set to music by
Miss Lucy J. Rider of Chicago, afterward Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer, one of
the founders of the Deaconess movement in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. It begins with the lines:
The winds are whispering to the trees,
The hill-tops catch the strain,
The forest lifts her leafy gates
To greet God's host again.
In the year of which we are writing, 1877, Mary A. Lathbury gave to
Chautauqua two songs which have become famous, and are to be found in
every hymnal published during the last generation. One is the Evening Song
of Praise, "Day is dying in the West," written to be sung at the even-tide
conferences beside the lake. The other, beginning, "Break thou the bread of
life," was the study song for the Normal Classes. Another, less widely
known abroad, but sung every year at Chautauqua is the Alumni Song,
"Join, O friends, in a memory song." These were a few of the many songs
written by Miss Lathbury at Dr. Vincent's request, and set to music by

Professor Sherwin. Originally composed for the Normal Class, then the
most prominent feature on the program, after the Chautauqua Circle arose
to greatness in 1878, they were adopted as the songs of that widespread
organization. For the C. L. S. C. a class song was written each year, until
the Chautauqua songs grew into a book. Not all of these class songs have
become popular, but quite a number are still sung at the Institution,
especially at class-meetings and in the Recognition Day services.
At the Assembly of 1877 the Normal Class still stood in the foreground.
Special courses of lessons were given to Primary Teachers, by Mrs. Emily
Huntington Miller, Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts, and the ever-popular "Pansy"—
Mrs. G. R. Alden. The record informs us that the average attendance at the
four normal tents was more than five hundred. Thorough reviews after the
course were held from time to time, and this year two competitive
examinations, one on August 14th for those unable to remain until the close,
but received examination on the entire course—fifty questions in number;
the other on Tuesday, August 21st with three hundred candidates for the
diploma.
From 1876 for a number of years it was the custom to hold an
anniversary service on one evening, for the Normal Alumni. The graduates
marched in procession, led by a band, a silken banner before each class, and
every member wearing a badge, to the Pavilion in the ravine and afterward
to its successor the Amphitheater, where Chautauqua songs were sung, and
an address given by an orator, the President of the Normal Alumni
introducing the speaker. It may have been in 1877, or maybe in a later year,
that John B. Gough was the orator of the evening; and he began his address
in this wise:
I don't know why I have been chosen to speak to the Alumni of
Chautauqua, unless it is because I am an Alumni myself, if that is the right
word for one of them. I am art alumni of Amherst College; M.A., Master of
Arts. I have a diploma, all in Latin. I can't read a word of it, and don't know
what it means, but those long Latin words look as if they must mean
something great. When I was made an alumni I sat on the platform of the
Commencement Day; the salutatorian—they told me that was his title—
came up and began to speak in Latin. He said something to the President,
and he bowed and smiled as if he understood it. He turned to the trustees,

and spoke to them and they looked as wise as they could. He said
something to the graduating class, and they seemed to enjoy it—all in Latin;
and I hadn't the remotest idea what it was all about. I kept saying to myself,
"I wish that he would speak just one word that I could understand." Finally,
the orator turned straight in my direction and said, "Ignoramus!" I smiled,
and bowed, just as the others had. There was one word that I could
understand, and it exactly fitted my case!
On the lecture platform of 1877, the outstanding figure was the massive
frame, the Jupiter-like head, and the resonant voice of Joseph Cook, one of
the foremost men of that generation in the reconciliation of science with
religion—if the twain ever needed a reconciliation. He gave six lectures,
listened to by vast audiences. The one most notable was that entitled, "Does
Death End All?" in which he assembled a host of evidences, outside of the
Scriptures, pointing to the soul's immortality. Joseph Cook is well-nigh
forgotten in this day, but in his generation he was an undoubted power as a
defender of the faith.
If we were to name the Rev. James M. Buckley, D.D., in the account of
each year when he spoke in the platform and the subjects of his addresses,
there would be room in our record for few other lecturers. He was present at
the opening session in 1874, and at almost every session afterward for more
than forty years,—aggressive in debate, instantaneous in repartee,
marvelous in memory of faces and facts, and ready to speak upon the
widest range of subjects. Every year, Dr. Buckley held a question-drawer,
and few were the queries that he could not answer; although in an
emergency he might dodge a difficulty by telling a story. For many years he
was the editor of the Christian Advocate in New York, known among
Methodists as the "Great Official"; and he made his paper the champion of
conservatism, for he was always ready to break a lance in behalf of
orthodox belief or the Methodist system. Another speaker this year was Dr.
P. S. Henson, a Baptist pastor successively in Philadelphia, in Chicago, and
in Boston, but by no means limited to one parish in his ministry. He spoke
under many titles, but most popularly on "Fools," and "The Golden Calf,"
and he knew how to mingle wisdom and wit in just proportions. Abundant
as were his resources in the pulpit and on the platform, some of us who sat
with him at the table or on a fallen tree in the forest, thought that he was
even richer and more delightful, as well as sagacious in his conversation.

Dr. Charles F. Deems, pastor of the Church of the Stranger in New York,
also came to Chautauqua for the first time this year. He was at home equally
in theology, in science, and on the questions of the day, with a remarkable
power of making truth seemingly abstruse simple to common people. I
recall a lecture on a scientific subject, at which he saw on the front seat two
boys, and he made it his business to address those boys and simplify his
message seemingly for them while in reality for his entire audience. But we
cannot even name the speakers who gave interest to the program of 1877.
One event of that season, however, must not be omitted, for it became
the origin of one noteworthy Chautauqua custom. Mr. S. L. Greene, from
Ontario, Canada, a deaf-mute, gave an address before a great audience in
the Auditorium under the trees. He spoke in the sign-language, telling
several stories from the gospels; and so striking were his silent symbols that
everyone could see the picture. We were especially struck with his vivid
representation of Christ stilling the tempest. As he closed, the audience of at
least two thousand burst into applause, clapping their hands. Dr. Vincent
came forward, and said, "The speaker is unable to hear your applause; let us
wave our handkerchiefs instead of clapping our hands."
In an instant the grove was transformed into a garden of white lilies
dancing under the leaves of the trees, or as some said, "into a snow-covered
field." The Superintendent of Instruction then and there adopted the
Chautauqua Salute of the waving handkerchiefs as a token of special honor.
It is sparingly given, only two or three times during the season, and never
except when called for by the head of Chautauqua in person.
At the annual commemoration on "Old First Night" the Chautauqua
salute is now given in a peculiar manner to the memory of Lewis Miller and
other leaders who are no longer among us. At the call of the President, the
handkerchiefs are slowly raised and held in absolute stillness for a moment;
then as silently lowered. The Chautauqua salute is one of the traditions
observed in minutest detail after the manner of the Founders.
Among the early issues of the Assembly Herald appear some verses
worthy of a place in our history.
THE CHAUTAUQUA SALUTE
By May M. Bisbee

Have you heard of a wonderful lily
That blooms in the fields of air?
With never a stem or a pale green leaf,
Spotless, and white, and fair?
Unnamed in the books of wise men,
Nor akin to the queenly rose;
But the white Chautauqua lily
Is the fairest flower that grows.

Never in quiet meadows,
By brookside cool and green,
In garden-plot, nor in forest glen,
This wonderful flower is seen.
It grows in goodly companies,
A theme for the poet's pen;
It loves not silence, nor cold nor dark,
But it blooms in the haunts of men.

The nation trails its great men
Of high and honored name,
With clapping of hands and roll of drums
And trump that sings of fame;
But a sweet and silent greeting
To the ones we love the best,
Are the white Chautauqua lilies
In our summer home of rest.

When the beautiful vesper service
Has died on the evening air,
And a thousand happy faces
Are raised at the close of prayer,
The voice of our well-loved leader
Rings out in its clear-toned might;
"We will give our salutation
To an honored guest to-night."

Then out of the speaking silence

The white wings rise to air,
Faintest of flutter and softest of sound,
Hail to the lilies rare!
Thousands and tens of thousands,
Swiftly the lilies grow,
Till the air is filled with the fluttering
flowers,
As the winter air with snow.

Hail to the fair white lilies!
Sweetest of salutations!
The love of a thousand hearts they bear
The greeting of the nations.
The fairest of earth-born flowers
Must wither by-and-by;
But the lilies that live in the hearts they hail
Will never, never die.

O cold blast, spare the lily-bed
That bears the wonderful flower!
Give largely, O sky, of summer sun,
Largely of summer shower,
Till the white flowers born in our summer
home
To earth's outermost rim be given;
And the lilies open their cups of snow
In the garden beds of heaven.
At the final meeting of the Assembly in 1877, on Monday evening,
August 20th, Dr. Vincent outlined some plans for the coming year,—a large
hotel to replace the tented walls of the Pavilion Palace, a new meeting-place
to be built with walls and roof over the natural amphitheater in the ravine,
some further courses of study, and many improvements to the grounds.
Then he added, "And I shall not be surprised if—well, I will not tell you—I
have another dream I will not give you." (A voice: "Let's have it.") "No, I
am going to hold that back, so you will want me to come next year. But I
believe that something higher and larger is just out yonder in the near

future. Next summer, if we all live, I will tell you about it." We shall see in
the coming chapter what that new development of Chautauqua was to be,—
the greatest in its history, and perhaps the greatest in the history of
education through the land.

CHAPTER VIII
THE CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLE

Flower Girls on Recognition Day

Flower Girls of 1894
Elizabeth Vincent and Paul Harper leading

Transcriber's Note: Clicking on this image will provide a
larger image for more detail.

The "dream" of which Dr. Vincent gave a hint at the close of the 1877
Assembly was destined to become a reality in 1878. That year marks a
golden milestone in the history of Chautauqua, for then was launched The
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, that goodly vessel which has
sailed around the world, has carried more than a half-million of passengers,
and has brought inspiration and intelligence to multitudes unnumbered. The
conception arose in its author's mind from the consciousness of his own
intellectual needs. He had longed, but vainly, for the privilege of higher
education in the college, but in his youth there were no Boards of Education
with endowments extending a helping hand to needy students. His school-
days ended in the academy, but not his education, for he was to the end of
his life a student, reading the best books, even when their subjects and style
demanded a trained mind. As one who knew him well and for more than a
generation, I may say without hesitation that John Heyl Vincent possessed

more knowledge and richer culture than nine out of ten men holding a
college diploma.
But his heart went out in sympathy toward others who like himself had
missed the opportunity of dwelling in college-cloisters, toward workers on
the farm, at the forge, in the store, in the office, in the kitchen, and in the
factory, whose longings were like his own. Many of these would read good
books and drink at "the Pierian Spring," if only they knew where to find the
fountain—in other words, if some intelligent, well-read person would direct
them, and place the best books in their way. Gradually it dawned upon his
mind that everyone has some margin of time, at least half an hour among
the twenty-four, which might be made useful under wise counsel to win
knowledge. He had not heard of that sentence spoken by the great President
of Harvard, that "ten minutes a day, for ten years of a life, with the right
books, will give any one an education." Indeed, that wise utterance came
after the Chautauqua Circle had been established and was already giving
guidance to many thousand people.
The conception came to Dr. Vincent of a course of reading, which might
become to the diligent a course of study, to include the principal subjects of
a college curriculum, all in the English language, omitting the mathematical
and technical departments of science; a course that would give to its careful
reader, not the mental discipline of four years in college, but something of
the college outlook upon life and letters. It was to embrace the histories of
the great nations that shaped the world—Israel, Greece, Rome, Great
Britain, and America,—with shorter sketches of other important lands; a
view over the literature of the ages, not in the original Greek, Latin, or
German, but as translated into our own tongue, presented in a manner to
give general understanding to the many, and also to awaken the aspiring
reader by pointing out the path to thorough knowledge. There are tens of
thousands who have studied the Bible only in the English version, yet could
pass a better examination upon its contents than many graduates of the
theological seminary. One might read such an account of Homer's Odyssey,
or Virgil's Æneid, or Dante's Paradiso, or Goethe's Faust, as would inspire
him to seek and study a complete translation of these masterpieces. Dr.
Edward Everett Hale, from the beginning one of the counselors of the
Chautauqua Course, said that it gives to its students "the language of the
time"; not a full detailed knowledge, but such a general view as enables him

to understand allusions and references, to be at home with the thinkers and
writers of the age.
The Chautauqua Circle was not planned for specialists, seeking full
knowledge upon one subject, but for general readers. Before it was
inaugurated there was already established in Boston the Society for the
Encouragement of Home Study. The student who desired aid through this
useful organization was expected to select some one department of
knowledge, and then a list of books or articles would be sent to him, with
suggestions, questions, and an examination. If historical, it would not be
history in general, but the history of one country, or one period in its annals.
It might be the American, or French, or English Revolution—very
thorough, but only for one seeking special knowledge. But the Chautauqua
plan contemplated a general round of knowledge—history, literature,
science, natural and social, art, and religion: and this broad conception was
one great secret of its success. A story which is typical was told the writer
of this volume as an absolute fact by one who claimed to know the persons
referred to. A young lady called upon her pastor with this request; "I wish
that you would tell me of some good books to read. I'm tired of reading
nothing but novels, and want to find some books that are worth while. Can't
you give me the names of some such books?"
The minister thought a moment, and then said slowly, "Well, what kind
of books do you want—religious books, for instance?"
"No," said the girl, "I do not know as I wish to read about religion. I get
that in the church and the Sunday School. But there must be some good
books of other kinds—can't you tell me of them?"
"What would you think of a course of reading in history?" asked the
pastor. Her face brightened somewhat, and she answered, "Why, I think that
I might like to read history. What would you recommend for me?"
The minister glanced at his own shelves, thought a moment, and then
said, "Well, I can't all at once name a course on such an important subject as
history. Come next Wednesday, and I'll have a list of good books for you."
She came, and he showed her a formidable catalogue of books, saying:

"I have done the best that I could do, but the list is longer than I had
expected. It includes eighty volumes. I wrote down one hundred and twenty
volumes at first, but cut it down to eighty, and it cannot be made shorter, not
by a single volume. In fact, it is not as complete as it should be. You will
begin with the greatest book of history in all literature—Gibbon's Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire, in nine volumes!"
The young lady was appalled, and never went through the first chapter
of Gibbon's mighty work. This was before the Chautauqua Home Reading
Course was evolved. After that had been launched any intelligent minister,
or helpful librarian, would simply have said to the enquirer, "Send for a
circular of the C. L. S. C.; that will give you exactly what you need."

Pioneer Hall: Class of 1882. C. L. S. C.

Old College Building

There comes to my own mind a vivid remembrance of that evening
when for the first time I heard those magic words—"The Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle." In the early spring of 1878, Dr. Vincent had
just returned from an official visit to Europe, and I was no longer at
Plainfield, five minutes' walk from his home, but by the revolution of the
itinerant wheel a pastor, thirty miles distant. A message came asking me to
spend an evening with him and talk over some new plans for Chautauqua.
Of course, I obeyed the call, for I always gained more than I gave in any
conversation with that fruitful mind. We sat in front of the fireplace in his
study, and I listened while for an hour he talked of a new organization
which he proposed to launch in the coming season, to be named The
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle; with a course of study to be
carried through four years, with forty minutes as each day's task, for nine or
ten months of each year, in the various branches of knowledge, analogous
to the four years of college study. He was so full of his theme and so
eloquent upon it that I could only listen to the outpouring utterances. The
general purpose was clear before him, but not the details of its operation.
Dr. Vincent's eyes were ever set upward toward the mountain-tops glorious
in the sunlight, and he did not always think of the thickets to be cut and the
path to be made from the lower plain to the summit. I could see some of the
difficulties in the way, some obstacles that must be overcome, and sagely
shook my head in doubt of the scheme. It was a radical departure from the

earlier ideals, for thus far everything on the Chautauqua program had been
along the line of Sunday School training, and this was a forsaking of the
well-trodden path for a new world of secular education. Why try to rival the
high schools and arouse the criticism of the colleges? How would the
regular constituency of Chautauqua feel at this innovation? No doubt under
the spell of his enthusiasm, some would join the proposed class in literature
and science—but how could science be studied by untrained people without
laboratories, or apparatus, or teachers? And after the spell of the
Chautauqua season would not the pledges be forgotten at home, and the
numbers in the home classes soon dwindle away to nothing?
Dr. Vincent asked me a question as we sat in the glow of the fireplace.
"How many do you think can be depended on to carry on such a course as is
proposed?"
"Oh, perhaps a hundred!" I answered. "People who want to read will find
books, and those who don't care for reading will soon tire of serious study."
The doctor sprang up from his chair and walked nervously across the
room. "I tell you, Mr. Hurlbut, the time will come when you will see a
thousand readers in the C. L. S. C."
I smiled, the smile of kindly unbelief! His impulse, his dream was noble,
to be sure, but so utterly impracticable. I tell this little tale to show how far
below the reality were the expectations of us both. Only a few years after
this conversation the enrolled members of the C. L. S. C. counted sixty
thousand readers pursuing the course at one time, with probably as many
more readers unregistered.
The opening evening of the Assembly was held on Tuesday evening,
August 6th. The vesper service beginning, "The Day goeth away, The
Shadows of evening are stretched out, Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in
Zion," etc., was read responsively in the Auditorium between the Miller
Cottage and the Vincent tent, then not far from the Point, when a sudden
shower fell and a general rush was made to the new Pavilion in the ravine
on the west. That was the last opening service attempted out-of-doors. Since
that evening, the Pavilion, soon to become the Amphitheater, has supplied
the stage for the speakers, sedate or humorous, short or long,—some of
them longer than the audience desired—on "Old First Night." A few

lectures were given from time to time in the old Auditorium, but after the
season of 1879 it was left for smaller meetings of couples in communion of
soul on the seats here and there under the trees.
The inauguration of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle took
place in the Pavilion on the afternoon of Saturday, August 10, 1878. On the
platform, then lower than most of the seats, were a telescope, a microscope,
a globe, some scientific apparatus, and a table filled with books, giving a
scholastic setting to the exercises. Dr. Vincent presided, and with him were
Bishop Randolph S. Foster of Boston, Dr. Henry W. Warren of Philadelphia,
himself two years afterward to become a bishop, Professor William C.
Wilkinson, whose pen in the following years wrote many books for the
readers of the C. L. S. C., Professor James Strong of wide learning, and
several other eminent men. The address of the day, unfolding the purpose
and plan of the Circle, was given by Dr. Vincent. Many of us who heard
him on that afternoon have thought since that this was the masterpiece of
his lifetime, and it might worthily be so, for it launched a movement in
education, the most influential and wide-reaching of any in the annals of the
nation.
I wish that it were possible to reprint that great address as reported in full
in the Assembly Herald, for never was the conception of Chautauqua at
home for nine months of the year more clearly set forth, but a few
quotations and outlines must suffice. He began by calling attention to four
classes of people. First, those who inherit from their ancestors wealth, ease,
and large intellectual opportunities, who find college doors opening almost
of their own accord before them. Second, there are those born under the
necessity of daily toil. For these the education of the public school is
provided; but it is limited and rarely appreciated. Children go to school to
get knowledge enough for bread-winning and no more. Third, there are
those who, born under necessity, struggle into opportunity, fight their way
up into power, and make themselves the intellectual heroes of their time.
Fourth, there are many born under necessity, who lack the vision at the
beginning, who enter upon a life of trade or labor which may bring them
success, but who gradually awake to realize how much they have lost,
without realizing that it is never too late to gain culture and that education
ends only with life. This is the class in every community which our new
organization aims to reach, to uplift, to inspire and stimulate. We propose to

give to these people in every walk of life, both the rich, the middle class,
and the poor—all in one class in their condition and their needs—the
college student's outlook upon the world of thought, by short studies in
literature and science, by the reading of books, by the preparation of
synopses of books read, by written reports of books read, and by
correspondence with experts in the several departments.
Here are some of the advantages of this organization: It will develop
higher and nobler tastes, increase mental power, exalt home-life, giving
authority and home-help in public school studies and organizing homes into
reading circles. It will counteract the influence of our modern pernicious
literature and sweeten and enrich the daily lives of poor and hard-working
people. It will bring the more cultivated people into contact with the less
scholarly, promote a true appreciation of science, and tend to increase the
spiritual life and power of the church. All knowledge becomes glorified in
the man whose heart is consecrated to God.
As I copy these words in the year 1920, more than forty years after they
were spoken and printed, with each sentence there rise to my mind
instances that have come to my own knowledge of every one of these
prophecies fulfilled. Chautauqua through its home-reading course has
accomplished far more than its founder even dreamed.
The speaker answered an objection to the plan of study based upon its
superficiality.
Superficial it is, and so is any college course of study. The boy who
stands at the close of his senior year, on Commencement Day, to receive his
parchment and whatever honors belong to him, who does not feel that his
whole course has been superficial, will not be likely to succeed in the after
struggle of life. But superficiality is better than absolute ignorance. It is
better for a man to take a general survey, to catch somewhere a point that
arrests him; for the man who never takes a survey never catches the point in
which dwell the possibilities of power for him. When you sow seed, it is not
the weight of the seed put into the soil that tells, it is the weight of the
harvest that comes after.
Here are some of the closing words of the address:

How glad I should be if I should find in the future years that more boys
and girls are going to our high schools and universities because of the
impulse received here at Chautauqua! And I say to you: with all your
getting, get understanding. Look through microscopes, but find God. Look
through telescopes, but find God. Look for Him revealed in the throbbing
life about you, in the palpitating stars above, in the marvelous records of the
earth beneath you, and in your own souls. Study the possibilities which God
unfolds, and make of yourself all that you can. The harder the struggle, the
brighter the crown. Have faith and holy purpose. Go on to know and to will,
to do and be. When outward circumstances discourage, trample the
circumstances under foot. Be master of circumstances, like the king that
God has called you to be. God give you such hearts, such toil, such
triumphs, and give you such masterhood as shall one day place you among
the kings and priests of a redeemed and purified universe!
After the applause following this address subsided, a poem was read,
written for the occasion by the ever-ready Mary A. Lathbury. It pictured the
modern Chautauqua as representing the old Jerusalem which pilgrims
sought for worship and inspiration. We can only quote its final stanzas:
The Life of God is shining
Upon her where she stands;
And leaf by leaf unfolding
Within her reverent hands,
The earth and seas and heavens
Disclose her secrets old,
And every force of Nature
Reveals its heart of gold!
Now knoweth she the answer
That ends the schoolmen's strife,—
That knowledge bears no blossom
Till quickened by the Life.

O holy, holy city!
The life of God with men!
Descending out of heaven
To ne'er ascend again.
O Light, O Life immortal!

One sea above, below!
If unto us be given
That blessed thing,—to know—
Hope's beatific vision,
And Faith's prophetic sight
Shall die before the fullness
Of that unclouded Light.
After the reading of the poem, Dr. Vincent said, "In the preparation for
this important occasion, I have consulted some of the most experienced and
practical educators of the country, and from a number of distinguished
gentlemen I have received letters relating to this movement."

C. L. S. C. Alumni Hall

We can only quote a sentence or two from a few of these letters.
Dr. Lyman Abbott wrote:
It seems to me if you can lay out such plans of study, particularly in the
departments of practical science, as will fit our boys and young men in the
mining, manufacturing, and agricultural districts to become, in a true

though not ambitious sense of the term, scientific and intelligent miners,
mechanics, and farmers, you will have done more to put down strikes and
labor riots than an army could; and more to solve the labor problem than
will be done by the Babel-builders of a hundred labor-reform conventions.
Professor Luther T. Townsend, of Boston University:
Your plan for the promotion of Christian culture in art, science, and
literature, among the masses of the American people, strikes me as one of
the grandest conceptions of the nineteenth century.
Dr. A. A. Hodge, of Princeton:
The scheme is a grand one, and only needs to insure its success that
efficient administration which has so eminently characterized all your
enterprises. History and nature are the spheres in which God exercises his
perfections, through which they are manifested to us. All human knowledge
should be comprehended in the one system of which Christ is the center,
and illuminated with the light of revelation.
Dr. Arthur Gilman:
Your fears of "superficiality" do not trouble me. For your course will
probably aim rather to direct the mind toward the way in which you wish it
to develop, than store it with the details of knowledge. You wish to awaken,
rather than cultivate.
Dr. Howard Crosby, of New York:
Your scheme to induce business men and others to pursue useful courses
of reading in science and history is worthy of all commendation. While we
cannot expect to make such persons scientists or scholars, we may expect
them to become appreciative of things scientific or scholarly, and to be able
to discriminate between the false and the true.
He added some valuable suggestions regarding the kind of books that
should be chosen; and the hope that the course, instead of becoming a
substitute for the college, might lead to the college.
Dr. Charles F. Deems, of New York, gave his heartiest approval of the
plan, and stated that he was holding in his own church classes in all the

departments named, and would enroll them under the Chautauqua system,
with examinations and the diploma at the completion of the course.
Dr. William F. Warren, President of Boston University, wrote a letter in
which he said:
You are aiming to secure that without which every system of education
is weak, and with which any is strong; namely, interested personal home
work the year round. And you seem to carry these home students to the
point where they can go alone, if they cannot have the help of the schools.
One of these letters must be given in full, notwithstanding its length. Dr.
Vincent introduced it with an account of his interview with its author, the
venerable William Cullen Bryant, the oldest of his group—the American
poets of the mid-century.
I wrote him afterward a long letter [said Dr. Vincent], defining the
scheme more fully. While in London a few weeks ago I received from him
the following letter, written with his own hand,—written but a few weeks
before his death. This letter has never been read in public and has never
been in print.
New York, May 18, 1878.
My dear Sir,
I cannot be present at the meeting called to organize the Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle, but I am glad that such a movement is on
foot, and wish it the fullest success. There is an attempt to make science, or
a knowledge of the laws of the material universe, an ally of the school
which denies a separate spiritual existence and a future life; in short, to
borrow of science weapons to be used against Christianity. The friends of
religion, therefore, confident that one truth never contradicts another, are
doing wisely when they seek to accustom the people at large to think and to
weigh evidence as well as to believe. By giving a portion of their time to a
vigorous training of the intellect, and a study of the best books, men gain
the power to deal satisfactorily with questions with which the mind might
otherwise have become bewildered. It is true that there is no branch of
human knowledge so important as that which teaches the duties that we
owe to God and to each other, and that there is no law of the universe,

sublime and wonderful as it may be, so worthy of being made fully known
as the law of love, which makes him who obeys it a blessing to his species,
and the universal observance of which would put an end to a large
proportion of the evils which affect mankind. Yet is a knowledge of the
results of science, and such of its processes as lie most open to the popular
mind, important for the purpose of showing the different spheres occupied
by science and religion, and preventing the inquirer from mistaking their
divergence from each other for opposition.
I perceive this important advantage in the proposed organization,
namely, that those who engage in it will mutually encourage each other. It
will give the members a common pursuit, which always begets a feeling of
brotherhood; they will have a common topic of conversation and
discussion, and the consequence will be, that many who, if they stood
alone, might soon grow weary of the studies which are recommended to
them, will be incited to perseverance by the interest which they see others
taking in them. It may happen in rare instances that a person of eminent
mental endowments, which otherwise might have remained uncultivated
and unknown, will be stimulated in this manner to diligence, and put forth
unexpected powers, and, passing rapidly beyond the rest, become greatly
distinguished, and take a place among the luminaries of the age.
I shall be interested to watch, during the little space of life that may yet
remain to me, the progress and results of the plan which has drawn from me
this letter.
I am, Sir,
Very truly yours,
W. C. Bryant.
The distinguished writer of this letter died only a month and four days
after writing it, on June 12, 1878, as the result of a sunstroke while he was
making an address at the unveiling of a statue in the Central Park. He was
in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
After some short addresses by men on the platform, Bishop Foster,
Professor Wilkinson, Dr. Strong, and others, Dr. Vincent announced as the
first book of the course, Green's Short History of the English People, and
invited all desirous of joining the C. L. S. C. to write their names and

addresses upon slips of paper and hand them to anyone on the platform. It
might have been supposed that a circular would be ready containing a
statement of the course for the first year, regulations and requirements of
the organization, the fee of membership, etc.; but in the enthusiasm of the
time those desirable requisites had been forgotten. Everybody looked
around for a slip of paper. Visiting cards were made useful, margins were
torn off newspapers, and there was an overwhelming rush toward the
platform to join the new circle. On that afternoon seven hundred names
were received and the number grew hourly until the close of the Assembly.
Nearly all the regular year-by-year visitors to Chautauqua became members
of this "Pioneer Class," as it was afterwards named; and to this day its
fellowship, after forty-two years, still continues one of the largest at its
annual gatherings in Pioneer Hall, the building which it erected as its home.
The book-store was crowded with applicants for Green's History, and the
few copies on hand, not more than half a dozen, were instantaneously
disposed of. An order was telegraphed to the Harper Brothers in New York
for fifty copies, on the next morning for fifty more, then for another
hundred, day after day the demand increasing. The Harpers were astounded
at the repeated calls, and telegraphed for particulars as to the reason why
everybody at an almost unknown place called Chautauqua had gone wild in
demand for this book. Their stock on hand was exhausted long before the
Assembly was ended, and most of the members of this "Class of 1882"
were compelled to wait a month or more for their books. Public libraries
were by no means numerous in those days while Andrew Carnegie was
making the millions to be spent later in establishing them, but wherever
they were, Green's Short History was drawn out, and a waiting list made for
it, to the amazement of librarians, who vainly proposed the substitution of
other standard English histories. Whoever could buy, borrow, or beg a copy
of Green, rejoiced—we hope that no Chautauquan, in his hunger for
literature, stole one, but we are not sure. People otherwise honest have been
known to retain borrowed umbrellas and books.
In the Class of 1882 eight thousand four hundred names were enrolled,
for the members brought home from Chautauqua the good news, and
families, neighbors, and friends everywhere sent in their applications. Later
we shall learn what proportion of these followed the course through the four
years and marched under the arches to their Recognition as graduates.

An addition had been made to the grounds on the west, and here Dr.
Vincent chose a square shaded by abundant beech-trees, as the center and
home of the C. L. S. C. He named it St. Paul's Grove, choosing the apostle
who represented the combination of the fervent heart and the cultured mind,
an ideal for all Chautauquans. Besides Dr. Vincent's address at this time,
another was given by Governor A. H. Colquitt of Georgia, President of the
International Sunday School Convention. The dedicatory prayer was
offered by Bishop Foster and an appropriate hymn written by Dr. Hyde of
Denver was sung by Professor Sherwin and his choir. St. Paul's Grove, and
its pillared temple soon to rise, will appear often in our story as one of the
sacred spots at Chautauqua.
We must not overlook the daily program during this epoch-making
season of 1878. There were the daily classes studying Greek and Hebrew
under Drs. Strong and Vail. There was a class in microscopy, with the
Misses Lattimore; there was the normal class with a full number of students
ending with the successful examination of more than one hundred and forty
new members of the Normal Alumni Association. The annual reunion of the
Normal Alumni was celebrated with the usual banners, procession, address,
the illuminated fleet and fireworks.
The lecture platform of 1878 stood at as high a level as ever. If any one
speaker bore off the honors of that year, it was Bishop Randolph S. Foster
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose lectures on "Beyond the Grave"
drew the largest audiences and aroused the deepest interest. They were
afterward published in a volume which attracted wide attention, and
brought some criticism from preachers of the conservative school. There
were even some who talked of an impeachment and trial, but they did not
venture to bring the greatest thinker and theologian in their church to the
bar. Other lecturers who made their mark were Dr. Robert M. Hatfield of
Chicago, President Charles H. Fowler, Dr. (soon after Bishop) John F.
Hurst, Dr. John Lord, the historian-lecturer, Dr. Joseph Cook, Professor
William North Rice, Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, with his entertaining lecture on
"Big Blunders," and Dr. Charles F. Deems on "The Superstitions of
Science."
One remarkable meeting was held on the afternoon of the opening day,
Tuesday, August 6th. In the Pavilion four men gave in turn the distinctive

doctrines and usages of their several churches. These were the Rev. Mr.
Seymour, Baptist, Rev. Mr. Williston, Congregationalist, Rev. Dr. Hatfield,
Methodist, and Rev. J. A. Worden, Presbyterian. Without attempt at
controversy or criticism each speaker named the principles for which his
branch of the Holy Catholic Church stood. There was the most cordial
feeling. Each listener believed as strongly as before in his own
denomination, but many felt a greater respect for the other branches of the
true vine. At the close all the congregation sang together,
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love.
A new building took its place upon the grounds, and speedily became the
center of many activities. It was called "The Children's Temple," built
through the generous gift of President Lewis Miller, in the general plan of
his Sunday School Hall at Akron, Ohio, a central assembly room with
folding doors opening or closing a number of classrooms around it. For
many years it was the home of the Children's Class, under Rev. B. T.
Vincent and Frank Beard, which grew to an attendance of three hundred
daily. They wore badges of membership, passed examinations upon a
systematic course, and received diplomas. Soon an Intermediate
Department became necessary for those who had completed the children's
course, and this also grew into a large body of members and graduates.

The Chautauqua Book-Store

A host of events on this great Chautauqua season of 1878 must be
omitted from this too long chapter in our story.

CHAPTER IX
CHAUTAUQUA ALL THE YEAR

During those early years the Chautauqua sessions were strenuous weeks
to both Miller and Vincent. Mr. Miller brought to Chautauqua for a number
of seasons his normal class of young people from the Akron Sunday School,
requiring them to attend the Chautauqua normal class and to take its
examination. He acted also as Superintendent of the Assembly Sunday
School, which was like organizing a new school of fifteen hundred
members every Sunday, on account of the constant coming and going of
students and teachers. But Mr. Miller's time and thoughts were so
constantly taken up with secular details, leasing lots, cutting down trees,
and setting up tents, settling disputes with lot holders and ticket holders,
and a thousand and one business matters great and small—especially after
successive purchases had more than doubled the territory of the Assembly,
—that he was able to take part in but few of its exercises. One out of many
perplexing situations may be taken as a specimen. In one purchase was
included a small tract on the lake-shore outside the original camp ground,
where some families from a distance had purchased holdings and built
small cottages, being independent both of the camp-meeting and the
Assembly. Some members of this colony claimed the right of way to go in
and out of the Assembly at all times, Sundays as well as week-days, to
attend lectures and classes without purchasing tickets. Others in the older
parts of the ground under camp-meeting leases declared themselves beyond
the jurisdiction of new rules made by the Assembly trustees. A strong party
appeared demanding that the lot owners as a body should elect the trustees,
—which meant that the future of a great and growing educational institution
should be shaped not by a carefully selected Board under the guidance of
two idealists,—one of whom was at the same time a practical businessman,
a rare combination,—but by a gathering of lot-holders, not all of them
intelligent, and the majority people who were keeping boarding-houses and
were more eager for dollars than for culture. I remember a conversation
with the proprietor of one of the largest boarding-houses who urged that the

grounds be left open, with no gate-fees or tickets; but instead a ticket-booth
at the entrance to each lecture-hall, so that people would be required to pay
only for such lectures and entertainments as they chose to attend! I could
name some Assemblies calling themselves Chautauquas, where this policy
was pursued; and almost invariably one season or at most two seasons
terminated their history.
Added to these and other perplexities was the ever-present question of
finance. The rapid growth of the movement caused a requirement of funds
far beyond the revenue of the Association. Its income came mainly from the
gate-fees, to which was added a small tax upon each lot, and the
concessions to store-keepers; for the prices obtained by the leasing of new
lots must be held as a sinking fund to pay off the mortgages incurred in
their purchase. There came also an imperative demand for a water-supply
through an aqueduct, a sewer-system, and other sanitary arrangements made
absolutely necessary by the increase of population. In those years Mr.
Miller's purse was constantly opened to meet pressing needs, and his credit
enabled the trustees to obtain loans and mortgages. But despite his
multitudinous cares and burdens, no one ever saw Mr. Miller harassed or
nervous. He was always unruffled, always pleasant, even smiling under the
most trying conditions. His head was always clear, his insight into the needs
not only of the time but of the future also was always sure, and his spinal
column was strong enough to stand firm against the heaviest pressure. He
knew instinctively when it was wise to conciliate, and when it was essential
to be positive. The present generation of Chautauquans can never realize
how great is their debt of gratitude to Lewis Miller. The inventor and
manufacturer of harvesting machines at Akron and Canton, Ohio, busy at
his desk for eleven months, found the Swiss Cottage beside Chautauqua
Lake by no means a place of rest during his brief vacation.
Nor were the burdens upon the other Founder lighter than those of his
associate. The two men talked and corresponded during the year regarding
the coming program, but the selection, engagement, and arrangement of the
speakers was mainly Dr. Vincent's part. At the same hour, often half a dozen
meetings would be held, and care must be taken not to have them in conflict
in their location and their speakers. Changes in the program must often be
made suddenly after a telegram from some lecturer that he could not arrive
on the morrow. New features must be introduced as the demand and the

opportunity arose,—the Baptists, or Methodists, or Congregationalists, or
Disciples desired a meeting, for which an hour and a place must be found.
The only one who kept the list of the diversified assemblages was Dr.
Vincent. He had no secretary in those days to sit at a desk in an office and
represent the Superintendent of Instruction. His tent at the foot of the
grounds was a stage whereon entrances and exits were constant. Moreover,
the audience was apt to measure the importance of a lecture by the presence
of Dr. Vincent as presiding officer or a substitute in his place introducing
the speaker. The Vincent temperament was less even and placid than the
Miller; and the Assembly of those early years generally closed with its
Superintendent in a worn-out physical condition.
And it must not be forgotten that Dr. Vincent like his Associate Founder
was a busy working man all the year. He was in charge of the Sunday
School work in a great church, supervising Sunday Schools in Buenos
Ayres, and Kiu-kiang, and Calcutta, as well as in Bangor and Seattle. At his
desk in New York and Plainfield he was the editor of nine periodicals, aided
by a small number of assistants. Several months of every year were spent in
a visitation of Methodist Conference setting forth the work, and stirring up
a greater interest in it. He was lecturing and preaching and taking part in
conventions and institutes everywhere in the land. Chautauqua was only
one of the many activities occupying his mind, his heart, and his time.
The Assembly of 1878, with the inauguration of the C. L. S. C., had been
especially exhausting to Dr. Vincent. Imagine, if you can, his feelings when
he found his desks in the office and the home piled high with letters
concerning the new movement for Chautauqua readings all the year. He was
simply overwhelmed by the demands, for everybody must have an
immediate answer. Walking out one day, he met one of the teachers of the
High School, told her of his difficulties, and asked her if she could suggest
anyone who might relieve him. She thought a moment, and then said:
"I think I know a girl of unusual ability who can help you—Miss Kate
Kimball, who was graduated from the High School last June, and I will
send her to you."
She came, a tall young lady, only eighteen years old, with a pair of
brown eyes peculiarly bright, and a manner retiring though self-possessed.

Dr. Vincent mentioned some of the help that he required, but looked
doubtfully at her, and said, "I am afraid that you are too young to undertake
this work."
She answered, "I would like to try it; but if you find that I am not equal
to it, I will not be offended to have it given to some other person. Let me
see if I can help you even a little."
That was the introduction of Miss Kate Fisher Kimball to the work and
care of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, of which she was the
Executive Secretary until her death in 1917. She was born in 1860, at
Orange, New Jersey, her father, Dr. Horace F. Kimball, being a dentist with
office in New York. Young as she was, she at once showed rare abilities in
administration. Under her vigorous and wise efforts, the C. L. S. C. was
soon reduced to a system, the members were classified, the course was
made orderly, circulars of various sorts were prepared and sent out to
answer as many kinds of questions, and the calls from all over the nation,
almost all over the world were met. Kate Kimball had a wonderful memory,
as well as a systematic mind. Dr. Vincent would tell her in one sentence the
answer to be sent to a letter, and twenty sentences in succession for twenty
letters. She made no note, but remembered each one; would write to each
correspondent a letter framed as it should be, with a clear statement, of just
the right length, never getting the wrong answer on her pen. And if six
months afterward, or six years, there came a letter requiring the same
answer, she did not need to ask for information, but could send the right
reply without consulting the letter-file. Thousands of correspondents who
may never have met her will remember that signature, "K. F. Kimball," for
they have been strengthened and inspired by letters signed with it.
I have heard more than one person say, "I want to go to Chautauqua, if it
is only to become acquainted with K. F. Kimball."
Let me transcribe a few sentences written by Mr. Frank Chapin Bray,
who as Editor of The Chautauquan Magazine, was for years in close
relation with Miss Kimball.
Many will always think of her as a kind of Chautauqua Mother Superior.
The details of the work of an Executive Secretary are not transcribable for
they were multifarious drudgeries year after year which defy analysis.

During thirty-five years she made them the means of transmitting a great
idea as a dynamic force vital to hundreds of thousands of men and women
the world around.
Next to the originating genius of John H. Vincent, the influence which
made the Chautauqua Home Reading Course one of the mightiest
educational forces of the nineteenth century was the tireless energy and the
executive ability of Kate F. Kimball.
About 1912 she was suddenly taken with an illness, not deemed serious
at the time, but later found to have been a slight paralytic shock. She was
given a year's vacation from office work and spent most of it in England
and on the continent. Some of her friends think that if she had absolutely
abstained from work, she might have recovered her health; but while in
England she visited nearly all its great cathedrals, and wrote a series of
articles for The Chautauquan on "An English Cathedral Journey," afterward
embodied in one of the best of the non-technical books on that subject. She
returned to her desk, but not in her former vigor. Year by year her powers of
thought and action declined, and she died June 17, 1917, in the fifty-seventh
year of her age, leaving after her not only a precious memory but an abiding
influence; for the plans initiated by her adaptive mind are still those
effective in the shaping of the Chautauqua Circle.

Hall of the Christ

Entrance to the Hall of Philosophy

The course of reading for the first year was as follows: Green's Short
History of the English People; with it the little hand-book by Dr. Vincent—
Chautauqua Text-Book No. 4, Outline of English History; an arrangement
by periods, enabling the reader to arrange the events in order; Chautauqua
Text-Book No. 5, Outline of Greek History; Professor Mahaffy's Old Greek
Life; Stopford Brooke's Primer of English Literature; Chautauqua Text-
Book No. 2, Studies of the Stars; Dr. H. W. Warren's Recreations in
Astronomy; J. Dorman Steele's Human Psychology; Dr. J. F. Hurst's,
Outlines of Bible History, and The Word of God Opened, by Rev. Bradford
K. Pierce. This included no less than eleven books, although four of them
were the small Chautauqua textbooks, Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 6. All that was
definitely required of the members was that they should sign a statement
that these books had been read; but through the year a series of sheets was
sent to each enrolled member, containing questions for examination, under
the title "Outline Memoranda," in order not to alarm the unschooled reader
by the terror of an examination. Moreover, the student was at liberty to
search his books, consult any other works, and obtain assistance from all
quarters in obtaining the answers to the questions. These questions were of
two kinds, one requiring thought on the part of the reader, and not
susceptible of answer at any given page of the book; such as: "Name the
five persons whom you consider the greatest in the history of England, and
the reasons for your choice," "Name what you regard as five of the most
important events in English history," etc. There were some other questions,
of which the answer might or might not be found in any books of the books
of the course, but questions to make the reader search and enquire; such as:
"What did King John say when he signed Magna Charta?" "With what
words did Oliver Cromwell dismiss the Long Parliament?" "What were the
last words of Admiral Nelson?" These questions brought difficulty, not only
to readers, but to school-teachers, pastors, and librarians, to whom they
were propounded by puzzled students. At one time I was reading of a
convention of librarians, where one of the subjects discussed was, how to
satisfy the hordes of Chautauquans everywhere, asking all sorts of curious
questions. The veterans of that premier class of 1882 still remember the
sheet of the Outline Memoranda prepared by Dr. Warren, on his book
Recreations in Astronomy. There may have been a member or two who
succeeded in answering them all, but their names do not appear on any
record.

Not all those, who in an hour of enthusiasm under the spell of Dr.
Vincent's address on that opening day, wrote their names as members of the
C. L. S. C. persevered to the bitter end and won the diploma. Of the 8400
enrolled in the first class, only 1850 were "recognized" as graduates in
1882. Some of the delinquents afterward took heart of grace, and finished
with later classes. But even those who fell out by the way gained
something, perhaps gained an enduring impulse toward good reading. We
frequently received word of those who had dropped the C. L. S. C. in order
to obtain a preparation for college. Dr. Edward Everett Hale used to tell of a
man whom he met on a railway train, who made a remark leading the
doctor to say, "You talk like a Chautauquan—are you a member of the C. L.
S. C.?" The man smiled and answered, "Well, I don't know whether I am or
not. My wife is: she read the whole course, and has her diploma framed. I
read only one book, and then gave up. But any institution that can lead a
man to read Green's Short History of the English People, has done
considerable for that man!"
As one by one the required books had been read by diligent members,
there came urgent requests from many for the names of other books, on
history, on sciences, and especially on the Bible. Dr. Vincent and his staff
were compelled to look for the best books on special courses,
supplementing the required course. By degrees almost a hundred of these
courses were arranged, and have been pursued by multitudes. The one who
read the regular course through four years was to receive a diploma; if he
answered the questions of very simple "Outline Memoranda," his diploma
was to bear one seal. If he took the stiffer "Outline Memoranda" described
above, his diploma was to receive an additional seal for each year's work.
Each special course was to have its own special seal. Any member who read
the Bible through while pursuing the course, would have a gold crown seal
upon his diploma. There were some elderly people who seemed to have
nothing in the world to do, but to read special courses, fill out the
memoranda, send for seals, and then demand another course on Crete or
Kamchatka, or the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, until Miss Kimball, her
helpers, and her literary friends were kept on the jump to find books on
these various subjects. Hanging on the walls of C. L. S. C. classrooms at
Chautauqua are diplomas illuminated with a hundred seals or more, sent to

the class headquarters as memorials of diligent readers who have passed
away.
The readers of these seal-courses become members of various "orders"
of different rank. Those whose diplomas show four seals belong to the
"Order of the White Seal," those who have seven seals, to the "League of
the Round Table," and if they have fourteen seals or more, the "Guild of the
Seven Seals." Each of these societies holds its annual reunion at
Chautauqua, wears its own badge, and marches behind its own banner in
the procession.
The reference to seals brings us to another feature of Chautauqua, and
especially of the C. L. S. C., which attracted universal attention and led
many thousands into the charmed circle,—those touches of poetry and
sentiment, which no one but Dr. Vincent could have originated. There were
the three mottoes of the C. L. S. C. always made prominent in its prospectus
and announcements, "We Study the Word and the Works of God"; "Let Us
Keep Our Heavenly Father in the Midst"; and "Never be Discouraged." The
second of these sentences was spoken by the venerable Hebraist, Dr.
Stephen H. Vail, as with tears upon his face he parted with Dr. Vincent, at
the session of 1877, a year before the announcement of the C. L. S. C.
There was for each class a name. The first class to take a name was that of
'84, established in 1880. They were continually calling for class-meetings
until Dr. Vincent in his announcements spoke of them as "those
irrepressible eighty-fours!" Whereupon they promptly adopted as their
name, "The Irrepressibles," and their example was followed by the other
classes. The class of 1882 took the name, "The Pioneers." Classes are
known as "The Vincent Class," "The Lewis Miller Class"—others are
named after Shakespeare, Tennyson, Sidney Lanier, etc. The class
graduating in 1892 commemorated the discovery of America four hundred
years before, by the name "Columbia." Then, too, each class has its own
flower, which its members seek to wear on the great days of the C. L. S. C.;
but only the Pioneer class of 1882 proudly bears before it in procession a
hatchet, and its members wear little hatchets as badges. Dr. Hale said that
the reason why the Pioneers carry hatchets is that "they axe the way!" Each
class has its own officers and trustees, and though all its members are never
assembled, and can never meet each other, they maintain a strong bond of
union through correspondence. There is the great silk banner of the

Chautauqua Circle leading the procession on Recognition Day, followed by
the classes from 1882 until the present, each class marching behind its
banner. In the early days, until the Chautauqua grounds became crowded,
there was an annual "Camp Fire," all the members in a great circle standing
around a great bonfire at night singing songs and listening to short
speeches. These are only a few of the social influences which make the C.
L. S. C. more than merely a list of readers. It is a brotherhood, a family
bound together by a common interest.
The opening day of the Chautauqua readings is October first. On that
day at noon, the members of the circle living at Chautauqua and others in
the adjacent towns meet at the Miller bell tower on the Point. As the clock
sounds out the hour of twelve all present grasp a long rope connected with
the bells and together pull it, over and over again, sounding forth the signal
that the Chautauqua year has begun. It is said that every true Chautauquan
the world over, from Mayville to Hong-Kong, can hear the sound of that
bell and at the summons open their books for the year's reading.
In one of the earlier years we received at the office a letter from the wife
of an army officer stationed among the Indians, and far from any settlement.
She wrote that she was a hundred and twenty-five miles from any other
white woman, and felt keenly her loneliness. But on the day when her
bundle of C. L. S. C. books arrived, she clasped it to her bosom and wept
tears of joy over it, for she felt that she was no longer alone, but one in a
great company who were reading the same books and thinking the same
thoughts and enjoying one fellowship.
In one of the early classes was a young lady who, soon after sending in
her name, sailed for South Africa to become a teacher in a girl's boarding-
school. One day in the following June, when it was in the depth of winter in
South Africa,—for in south latitude our seasons are reversed; they have a
saying at the Cape "as hot as Christmas"—she came to her classes arrayed
in her very best apparel. The girls looked at her in surprise and asked "Is
this your birthday?"
"No," she answered, "but it is the Commencement Day at Chautauqua in
America, and everybody dresses up on that day!"

The thousands of readers in the Chautauqua fellowship naturally
arranged themselves in two classes. About half of them were reading by
themselves, individuals, each by himself or herself,—mostly herself, for at
least three-fourths of the members were women, and their average age was
about thirty years. The other half were united in groups, "local circles," as
they were called. Some of these were community circles, people of one
village or town, irrespective of church relations; other circles were
connected with the churches. In those days before the Christian Endeavor
Society, the Epworth League, and other nation-wide organizations had
appropriated the interest of the young people, the Chautauqua Circle was
the literary society in many churches.
I recall the testimony of a Methodist minister of those days, given to me
when I met him at his conference in the Middle West.
When I was sent to my last church, I learned that there was a reading
circle among its members, and I heard the news with some dismay, for in
more than one place I had started a literary society and found that it was
necessary for me to supply all the thought and labor to keep it in operation,
to plan the course, to select people to write papers and persuade them to do
it, to be ready to fill vacancies on the program. And as soon as I stopped
supplying steam, the society was sure to come to a stand-still. But at this
church I found a Chautauqua Circle that was taking care of itself. Its
programs were provided, the members were reading a regular course and
making their reports; they presided in turn at the meetings, and I was not
called upon to take any part unless I desired it. Also in the prayer-meetings,
I could soon recognize the members of the Circle by a touch of intelligence
in their testimonies.
It is the opinion of the writer that if one could ascertain the history of the
woman's clubs that now cover the country, and ascertain their origin, it
would be found that nearly all of the older woman's clubs arose out of
Chautauqua Circles whose members, after completing the prescribed
course, took up civics or politics, or literature. It would be an interesting
study to ascertain how far the General Federation of Women's Clubs of
America was an outgrowth of the Chautauqua movement.

Congregational House

Fenton Memorial, Deaconess' House

CHAPTER X
THE SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES

The year 1879 marked an extension in more than one direction of
Chautauqua's plans and program. The season was lengthened to forty-three
days, more than double the length of the earlier sessions. On July 17th
began the classes in The Chautauqua Normal School of Languages, held in
a rough board-walled, white-washed building, which had formerly been
used as a lodging-house, but was no longer needed since cottages had
opened their doors to guests. This may be regarded as the formal opening of
the Chautauqua Summer Schools, although already classes had been held,
some of them three years, others four years, in Greek, Hebrew, and
kindergarten instruction. We will name the faculty of this year. Greek was
taught by a native of Greece, Dr. T. T. Timayenis, of New York; Latin by
Miss Emma M. Hall, of the Detroit High School, afterward a missionary-
teacher in Rome, Italy; Prof. J. H. Worman, of Brooklyn, N. Y., taught
German, never speaking one word of English in his classes, although a
fluent speaker and author in English. Prof. A. Lalande was the teacher of
the French language; Dr. Stephen M. Vail continued his classes in Hebrew,
and Dr. James Strong in Greek; Prof. Bernhard Maimon of Chicago, taught
Oriental languages; and Prof. A. S. Cook, then of Johns Hopkins, but soon
afterward of Yale, conducted a class in the study of Anglo-Saxon language
and literature. These studies were pursued from a fortnight before the
formal opening of the Assembly until its close, making courses of six
weeks, carried on in an intensive manner. Each professor pushed his
department as though it were the only one in the school, and his students
could scarcely find time to rest themselves by rowing on the lake or
walking in the woods with their classmates.
Allied to the School of Languages was the Teachers' Retreat, opening at
the same time but closing just before the Assembly proper. This was outside
the realm of Sunday School instruction, being intended for secular teachers
and presenting the principles and best methods of education. One of its
leaders was Prof. J. W. Dickinson, Secretary of the Massachusetts State

Board of Education, an enthusiast as well as a master. He had at his
command a fund of witticisms and stories, always in the direct line of his
teaching, which added not a little to the interest of his lectures. I was with
him at the table for a fortnight, and his juicy talk made even a tough steak
enjoyable. Associated with Dr. Dickinson were Prof. William F. Phelps of
Minnesota, Dr. Joseph Alden of the State Normal School, Albany, N. Y., and
Dr. John Hancock, President of the National Teachers' Association. In the
following year, 1880, the School of Languages and Teachers' Retreat were
united, and the Summer School program was again enlarged. Year by year
new departments were added, until Chautauqua became a summer
university, and such it continues to this day, offering more than two hundred
courses, taught by nearly one hundred and fifty instructors. Perhaps the
most popular courses have always been those in physical culture, pursued
by teachers in public and private schools, enabled by Chautauqua to make
their work in their home schools more efficient and extensive. One might
spend weeks at Chautauqua, attending the lectures and concerts in the
Amphitheater and the Hall, and enjoying the bathing and boating
opportunities of the Lake, yet never realizing that on College Hill, and
down at the Gymnasium, are nearly five thousand young men and young
women diligently seeking the higher education.
A third sideline during this season of 1879 was the Foreign Mission
Institute, held by missionary leaders of the Congregational, Methodist,
Presbyterian, and Baptist organizations, and addressed by missionaries at
home from many lands. Chautauqua was a pioneer in bringing together
representatives of different churches for conference upon their work of
winning the world to Christ. This series of missionary councils has been
continued without the omission of a year through all the history of
Chautauqua since 1879.
The Sixth Chautauqua Assembly opened on its regular evening, the first
Tuesday in August, 1879. The ravine which had been the seat of the
Pavilion and birthplace of the C. L. S. C. had been transformed into a great
auditorium of permanent materials and fairly comfortable seats for five
thousand people. It was a great advance upon any of the earlier meeting
places, and made it no longer necessary to carry one's umbrella to the
lectures. But a heavy rain on the extensive roof would make even the
largest-lunged orator inaudible, and the many wooden pillars supporting the

roof had a fashion of getting themselves between the speaker and the
hearers. Notwithstanding these minor drawbacks, it proved to be one of the
best audience-halls in the land for large assemblies, for its acoustic
properties were almost perfect. No speaker ever heard his words flung back
to him by an echo, and the orator who knew how to use his voice could be
heard almost equally well in every corner of the building. When Dr.
Buckley stood for the first time upon its platform, and looked at its
radiating and ascending seats, he said to Dr. Vincent, "This is a genuine
amphitheater." The name was adopted, and the Amphitheater became the
meeting place for all the popular lectures and the great Sunday services.
Many were the distinguished speakers, men and women, who stood upon its
platform, and as many singers whose voices enraptured throngs. At a
popular concert almost as many seemed to be standing, crowded under the
eaves, as were seated beneath the roof.
The old Amphitheater stood until 1897. In that year the building of the
Massey Memorial Organ made some changes necessary. The old building
was taken down, and a new Amphitheater arose in its place, having above it
a trussed roof and supported from the sides, and no pillars obstructing the
view. It has been said that the Chautauqua Amphitheater will seat ten
thousand people, but a careful computation shows that fifty-five hundred, or
at the utmost fifty-six hundred are its limit upon the benches, without chairs
in the aisles. But another thousand, or even fifteen hundred may sometimes
be seen standing back of its seats at a popular lecture or concert.
In the season of 1879, one of the leading speakers was an Englishman,
the Rev. W. O. Simpson of the Wesleyan Church, who had been for some
years a missionary in India. His graphic pictures of village life in that land
were a revelation, for Kipling and his followers had not yet thrown the light
of their genius upon the great peninsula and its people. Mr. Simpson was
over six feet in height and large in every way, in voice as well as in girth.
We all hoped to meet him yet many years at Chautauqua, for he seemed to
be abounding in health. But a few months later we learned of his sudden
death. In those years it was the Chautauqua custom to hold a memorial
service for men prominent in the class-room or on the platform, and it fell
to my lot to speak in 1880 upon the Rev. W. O. Simpson. I sent to England
for printed matter relating to his life, and among the appreciative articles
found one story which is worthy of remembrance.

When Mr. Simpson was a student of theology at the Wesleyan
Theological School, he chanced one day to read the announcement of a
lecture upon the Bible, and went to hear it. To his amazement he found
himself at an infidel meeting, listening to a virulent attack upon the Holy
Scriptures. In the middle of his lecture, the speaker said:

There are undoubtedly good things in the Bible, but anyone who is
familiar with the ancient writers of Greece, and especially those of India,
knows well, if he would tell the truth, that all the good things in the Bible
were stolen from earlier scholars and sages, and were originally better
spoken or written than by the so-called authors of the Bible, who took them
at second-hand. If anybody here is prepared to deny that statement, let him
stand up and say so!
Instantly this young student of theology stood up, six feet high, and at
that time in his life very slim in his figure. That he might be seen readily he
stood on the seat, and a fellow-student said that he loomed up apparently
ten feet high. He held a little red-covered book, and stretching his long arm
toward the speaker, said something like this:
I hold in my hand a copy of the New Testament, and I wish to say that in
this little book, only a quarter of the Bible, you will find a clearer light on
man's nature, and character, and destiny than may be read in all the ancient
books of the world taken together.
He paused, seized the little volume with both hands, tore it in two parts,
flung one part down to the floor, and still holding the rest of it, went on:
I have thrown aside one-half of this book, but this half contains the four
gospels of our Lord, which will tell more what man may be here and will be
hereafter than can be found in all the books of ancient Rome, or Greece, or
Chaldea, or India, or China.
Then he tore out three leaves from the fragment, flung all the rest on the
floor, and fluttering the torn pages, said:
These six pages contain Christ's Sermon on the Mount, setting forth a
higher standard of righteousness, a clearer view of God, and a better
knowledge of man's nature than all the other ancient books on earth. That is
my answer to the speaker!
And leaving the torn book on the floor, he walked out of the room.
Other speakers in the new Amphitheater in the summer of 1879 were Dr.
Henry W. Warren, in the next year a Bishop; Frank Beard, with his

caricatures and stories; Dr. C. H. Fowler, Dr. Joseph Cook, Bishop Foster,
Dr. Alexander A. Hodge, the Princeton theologian, Dr. John Lord, the
historian, Hon. J. W. Wendling of Kentucky, who brought brilliant oratory
to the service of Christianity in an eloquent lecture on "The Man of
Galilee"; Prof. J. W. Churchill, one of the finest readers of his time; Dr.
George Dana Boardman of Philadelphia; and Dr. Vincent himself, always
greeted by the largest audiences. Let us say, once for all, that Dr. Buckley
was a perennial visitor, with new lectures every year, and his ever-popular
answers to the question-drawer. If there was a problem which he could not
solve, he could always turn the tables on the questioner with a story or a
retort.
One event of 1879 not to be passed over was the dedication of the Hall
of Philosophy in St. Paul's Grove. Dr. Vincent suggested the plan of the
building, to be set apart for the uses of the C. L. S. C. and the interests of
general culture. As everybody who has been to Chautauqua knows, it was in
the form of a Greek temple, an open building surrounded by plain columns,
which may have resembled marble, but were made of wood. The dedication
was held on August 5th, and addresses were given by Dr. Vincent, Rev. W.
O. Simpson, and Dr. Ellinwood. There are thousands of Chautauquans,
some of them dwelling in distant lands, who are ready to declare that in all
the week, the most precious hour was that of the five o'clock Vesper Service
on Sunday afternoon, when the long rays of the setting sun fell upon the
assemblage, as they sang "Day is dying in the West," and they united in that
prayer of Thomas à Kempis, beginning, "In all things, O my soul, thou shalt
rest in the Lord always, for He is the everlasting rest of the saints."
In the fall and winter of 1891 this writer was the traveling companion of
Bishop Vincent in Europe. Every Sunday afternoon at five o'clock, whether
on the Atlantic, or in London, Lucerne, Florence, or Naples, we brought out
our copies of the vesper service and read it together, feeling that in spirit we
were within the columns of that Hall in the Grove.
This year, 1879, the second year of the C. L. S. C., brought to its
Founder a problem which threatened the ruin of the circle, but in its happy
solution proved to be a powerful element in its success. This was to be the
Roman Year of the course, and in the original conception the Pioneer Class
of 1882 would take up Roman history, while the new class of 1883 would

begin as its predecessor had begun, with English history. If this plan had
been carried out, as announced in the early circulars for that year's study,
then in every church and community two classes must be organized and
conducted with different readings. Another year would require three circles,
and still another four circles. Could members and leaders be found for four
separate clubs in one locality? Would not the circle break up into fragments
from the weight of the machinery needed to keep the wheel in motion? Just
then came the suggestion—made by President Lewis Miller, as Dr. Vincent
told me at the time—that both the classes should read the books together,
making the same course the second year for the Pioneers, and the first year's
reading of "the Vincents," as the members of '83 named themselves. In a
college there is a progression of studies, for one science must follow
another; but in the Chautauqua Circle, it makes no difference whether the
reader begins with the history of Greece or of Rome, or of England, or of
America. New members can enter any year and read with those already
reading. The Circle is a railroad train on a track with four stations. You can
board the train in England, America, or Greece or Rome, and when you
have gone the round and reached the station where you began, you have
completed the course and receive your certificate ornamented with all the
seals that you have won by additional reading and study. The present four-
year cycle of the C. L. S. C. consists of the English, American, Classical,
and Modern European years.

Baptist Headquarters and Mission House

Presbyterian Headquarters and Mission House

One more event of 1879 must not be forgotten. The Park of Palestine
had fallen into decrepitude. Some of its mountains had sunk down, and the
course of the River Jordan had become clogged up, so there was danger of a
lake at a spot where none was on the map, and of a dry bed below, long
after the Israelites had finished their crossing. Moreover, some mischievous
boys had mixed up its geography by moving a few of the cities. Bethel was
found where Kirjath-jearim should be; Joppa had been swept by the ice in
the breaking up of winter into the Mediterranean Sea, and Megiddo was
missing. The task of reconstructing the Park was given to Dr. W. H. Perrine
of Michigan, a scholar and an artist, who had traveled in the Holy Land, had
painted a panorama of it, and had constructed a model in plaster. He rebuilt
the Park from more permanent materials, and succeeded in making it more
accurate in some details, as well as more presentable in appearance. But
man-made mountains are by no means "the ever-lasting hills," and the Park
of Palestine needs to be made over at least once in ten years if it is to be
kept worthy of Chautauqua.

CHAPTER XI
HOTELS, HEADQUARTERS, AND HAND-SHAKING
(1880)

The seventh session of the Assembly opened in 1880 with another
addition to the Chautauqua territory. Fifty acres along the Lake shore had
been acquired, and the Assembly-ground was now three times as large as
that of the old Fair Point Camp Meeting.
This season saw also the foundation laid for a large hotel. It is worthy of
record that the Hotel Athenæum was built not by the Assembly Board, but
by a stock company of people friendly to the movement and willing to risk
considerable capital in its establishment. More than one promising
Assembly had already been wrecked and many more were destined to
bankruptcy by building large hotels before they were assured of guests to
fill them. It must be kept in mind that everywhere the Chautauqua
constituency was not, and is not now, the wealthy class who frequent
summer hotels and are willing to pay high prices for their entertainment. A
Chautauqua Assembly, whether in the east or the west, is mainly composed
of people possessing only moderate means, but eager for intellectual
culture. Whenever a Chautauqua has been established in connection with
the conventional summer hotel, either it has become bankrupt from lack of
patronage, or the hotel has swallowed up the Assembly. The Hotel
Athenæum at Chautauqua was not the property of the Assembly, and might
have failed—as many, perhaps most, of the summer hotels at watering-
places have failed once or more than once in their history—without
endangering the Assembly itself. The men who built the Athenæum, led by
Lewis Miller and his business partners, risked their money, and might have
lost it, for there were seasons when it paid no dividends to the stockholders,
and other seasons when the profits were small. Yet this hotel drew by
degrees an increasing number of visitors who were able and willing to
enjoy its advantages over those of the earlier cottage boarding houses, and it
led to better accommodations and a more liberal table in the cottages, until

now the Hotel Athenæum is only one of a number of really good houses of
entertainment at Chautauqua. It is given prominence in our story because it
was first in its field. By the way, the name "Hotel Athenæum" was given by
Dr. Vincent, who liked to impart a classical tone to buildings in an
educational institution.
The building was begun in 1880 and opened in the following year,
though even then not fully completed. It occupied the site of a three-story
edifice bearing the high-sounding name "Palace Hotel," a structure of tent-
cloth over a wooden frame, divided by muslin partitions, and three stories
in height. When rooms for the ever-increasing multitudes at Chautauqua
were few, the Palace Hotel was a blessing to many visitors. Some
distinguished men slept in those tented rooms, and inasmuch as a sheet
partition is not entirely sound-proof, their snores at night could be heard
almost as far as their speeches by day. Some there were in the early eighties
who shook their heads as the walls of the new hotel rose, and dreaded the
tide of worldliness which would follow; but the Hotel Athenæum has
become a genuine helper to the Chautauqua spirit, for its great parlor has
opened its doors to many receptions, and the witty after-dinner speeches at
banquets in its dining-hall would fill more than one volume.
Another building which deserves mention is the Congregational House,
opened in 1880; the first church headquarters established at Chautauqua.
We have seen how the denominations were recognized from the earliest
years, and meeting places provided for their prayer meetings and
conferences. The need was felt by a number of the larger churches of a
place where their members could find a welcome on arrival, could form an
acquaintance with fellow-members, could meet each other in social
gatherings and prayer meetings, and could promote the fraternal spirit. The
example of the Congregationalists was soon followed. The Presbyterian
headquarters, aided by a liberal donation of Mr. Elliott F. Shepard of New
York, was the earliest brick building on the ground, solid and substantial,
befitting the church which it represented. After a few years its size was
doubled to make a Mission House, where missionaries of that church, home
and foreign, could enjoy a vacation at Chautauqua. The Methodist House is
one of the largest, for its chapel is the home of the Community Church at
Chautauqua through the entire year, the church home of the resident
population of every denomination. The Disciples of Christ, or Christian

Church, purchased a large boarding-house, built before it a pillared porch,
giving it a noble frontage and furnishing rooms for guests in the upper
stories. The United Presbyterians built a chapel, serving also as a social
room. The Protestant Episcopalians also erected a chapel consecrated to
worship, but later established also a Church Home. The Unitarians
purchased and improved a property fronting on St. Paul's Grove. The
Baptists built a large headquarters on Clark Avenue, the street extending
from the Amphitheater to the Hall of Philosophy, and the Lutherans
obtained a large building near it. In all these Denominational Houses there
is an absence of clannish feeling. No church uses its headquarters as a
propaganda of its peculiar views; and in the receptions fellow Christians of
every branch are always welcome. When some eminent man comes to
Chautauqua, his church holds a reception in his honor, and everybody who
would like to take his hand flocks to the meeting at his church headquarters.
Speaking of receptions, I must tell of one wherein I was supposed to take a
leading part, but found myself left in the rear. Dr. Vincent announced that at
four o'clock, in the Hall of Philosophy, a reception would be given to Dr.
Edward Everett Hale. He said to me:
Now, Dr. Hurlbut, I place this reception in your hands to manage. Dr.
Hale comes from Boston and is accustomed to the formalities of the best
society. Be sure to have this reception held in the proper manner. Let the
Doctor stand in front of the platform, have ushers ready to introduce the
people, and let there be no indiscriminate handshaking.
I promised to see that everything should be done decently and in order,
and a few minutes before the hour appointed, walked over to the Hall. I was
amazed to see a crowd of people, all pressing toward the center, where the
tall form of Dr. Hale loomed above the throng, shaking hands apparently in
every direction. I rushed upon the scene and vainly endeavored to bring
about some semblance of order. The reception was a tumultuous, almost a
rough-and-tumble, affair, everybody reaching out for the guest in his own
way. It came about in this manner, as I learned.
Everybody at Chautauqua knows that the bell invariably rings five
minutes before the hour, giving notice that the exercises may begin
promptly on the stroke of the clock. But Dr. Hale did not know this, and
when the five-minute bell rang, he rose and said:

"The time for the meeting has come, but nobody seems to be in charge.
Let us begin the reception ourselves without waiting."
He stood up, and began shaking hands right and left, without waiting for
introduction, and when the four o'clock bell sounded, the reception was in
full sweep, everybody crowding around at once and grasping his hand.
Before the first throng had satisfied its desires, another stream poured in
and the general tumult continued until the five o'clock hour compelled an
adjournment, the Hall being required for another meeting.
At the close, Dr. Hale remarked to me, "I especially like the informality
of such gatherings here at Chautauqua. This has been one of the most
satisfactory receptions that I have ever attended!"
Chautauqua was already coming to the front as a convention-city. Its
central location between New York and Chicago, with ready transportation
north and south, its Amphitheater for great meetings, with numerous halls
and tents for smaller gatherings and committees, the constant improvement
in its lodging and commissary departments, its attractive program of
lectures and entertainments, and not the least, its romantic out-of-door life,
began to draw to the ground different organizations. The Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, led by Frances E. Willard, returned to its birthplace for
its sixth annual convention, and the National Educational Association
brought members from every State, presided over by Dr. J. Ormond Wilson.
This Association embraced educators of widely diverging views, and some
entertaining scraps occurred in its discussions. For example, the
kindergarten instruction at Chautauqua was under the direction of Madame
Kraus-Boelte, and her husband, a learned but rather obstinate German,
Professor Kraus. There was an Americanized kindergarten, whose
representative came, hired a cottage, and hung out her sign, but much to her
displeasure was not allowed to conduct classes. It would never answer to let
anybody hold classes unauthorized by the management, for who could tell
what educational heresies might enter through the gate? But this aggressive
lady paid her fee, joined the N. E. A., and in the kindergarten section
proceeded to exploit her "improvements" upon the Froebel system. This
aroused the ire of Professor Kraus, and in vigorous language he interrupted
her address, declaring, at first in English, then half in German as his anger
rose:

"Dat iss not kindergarten! Dere is but one kindergarten! You can call dat
whatever you please, but not kindergarten! You can call it joss-house, if you
choose, but you must not say dat mix-up is a kindergarten!"
The audience enjoyed the discussion all the more because of this
scramble between opposing schools.

Methodist Headquarters

Disciples (Christian Church) Headquarters

There was another, and more dignified, controversy on the Chautauqua
platform in 1880. On its program was the honored name of Washington
Gladden, of Columbus, Ohio, to speak upon the Standard Oil Company and
its misdeeds. A friend of Dr. Vincent, who was an officer of the Standard
Oil, said that it would only be fair to hear the other side, and proposed Mr.
George Gunton of New York as a speaker. So it came to pass that two able
men spoke on opposite sides of the mooted question. Each gave an address
and afterward had an opportunity of answering the other's arguments. So far
as I know, this was the first debate on public questions at Chautauqua, and
it was succeeded by many others. An effort is made to have the burning
questions of the time discussed by representative speakers. Some
exceedingly radical utterances on capital and labor have been made on the
Chautauqua platform, but it must not be inferred, because the audience
listened to them respectfully, or even applauded a particularly sharp
sentence, that Chautauqua was in accord with the speaker's sentiments.
On the list of speakers at this season may be read the following, a few
among many names: Prof. J. H. Gilmore of Rochester University gave a
series of brilliant lectures upon English literature. Ram Chandra Bose of

India gave several lectures, philosophic and popular. Dr. Sheldon Jackson of
Alaska thrilled a great audience with an appeal for that outlying but
unknown land of ours. Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President of Grant's first
administration, gave a great lecture on "Abraham Lincoln." Professor
Borden P. Bowne of Boston University made the deep things of philosophy
plain even to unphilosophic listeners. Other orators in the new
Amphitheater were Dr. Robert R. Meredith of Boston, Dr. J. O. Means of
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and Dr. W. W.
Keen of Philadelphia. The Fisk Jubilee Singers made their first visit this
year; and with the Northwestern Band and the Assembly Chorus, already
counted by the hundreds, under Professors Sherwin and Case, made music
one of the most popular features of the program.
This year was also notable for the first appearance of the Chautauquan
Magazine, containing a part of the required readings of the C. L. S. C. It
was launched and made successful by the financial, business, and editorial
ability of Dr. Flood, who ventured his capital boldly and won deserved
success. The ever-welcome "Pansy," Mrs. G. R. Alden, this season read a
new story, published soon afterward. With Mrs. Alden in those early years
was a serious small boy, ever at his mother's side, rarely entering into the
sports of childhood. If we could have looked forward a quarter-century, we
might have seen in him the coming Professor Raymond M. Alden of the
Leland Stanford faculty, one of the most eminent scholars and critics in the
Department of English Literature, and an authority quoted in all lands
where the English language is spoken or read.
A visitor came to Chautauqua at the session of 1880, whose presence
brought the place and the Assembly into notice throughout the nation.
General James A. Garfield was at that time the candidate of his party for
President of the United States. He came to Chautauqua on Saturday, August
7th, for a week-end rest in a strenuous campaign, expressing a wish not to
be called upon for any public address or reception. He worshiped with the
great congregation on Sunday morning, his entrance with a group of his
friends being received in respectful silence. In the afternoon he mentioned
to Dr. Vincent that he had heard of Palestine Park and would like to visit it.
As the lectures in the Park were generally given by me, I was detailed to
walk through the model and point out its localities. As we went out of Dr.
Vincent's tent a small company was standing around, waiting for a sight of

the candidate. They followed us, and as we walked on toward the Park,
people came flocking forth from every house and tent. By the time we
reached the Land of Palestine, it was well-nigh covered with the crowds,
extending from Dan to Beersheba. No former Palestine lecture of mine had
ever drawn together such a multitude! It became impossible to find the
cities covered by the multitudes. But I was somewhat surprised to perceive
that the General knew where at least the important localities belonged even
though they were not visible. He pointed out half a dozen of the cities
named in the Bible, and gave their names without hesitation or suggestion.
We desired to make a sort of pilgrimage through the land, but found an
army obstructing our journey.
On the next morning, as General Garfield was about to leave, Dr.
Vincent asked him, not to make a political speech, but to give in a few
words his impressions of Chautauqua. He consented, and standing upon a
stump, in the presence of a hastily assembled gathering, gave a ten-minute
address, of which the following is a part.
You are struggling with one of the two great problems of civilization.
The first one is a very old struggle: It is, how shall we get any leisure? That
is the problem of every hammer stroke, of every blow that labor has struck
since the foundation of the world. The fight for bread is the first great
primal fight, and it is so absorbing a struggle that until one conquers it
somewhat he can have no leisure whatever. So that we may divide the
whole struggle of the human race into two chapters; first, the fight to get
leisure; and then the second fight of civilization—what shall we do with our
leisure when we get it? And I take it that Chautauqua has assailed the
second problem. Now, leisure is a dreadfully bad thing unless it is well
used. A man with a fortune ready made and with leisure on his hands, is
likely to get sick of the world, sick of himself, tired of life, and become a
useless, wasted man. What shall you do with your leisure? I understand
Chautauqua is trying to answer that question and to open out fields of
thought, to open out energies, a largeness of mind, a culture in the better
senses, with the varnish scratched off. We are getting over the process of
painting our native woods and varnishing them. We are getting down to the
real grain, and finding whatever is best in it and truest in it. And if
Chautauqua is helping garnish our people with the native stuff that is in

them, rather than with the paint and varnish and gew-gaws of culture, they
are doing well.
As we looked upon that stately figure, the form of one born to command,
and listened to that mellow, ringing voice, no one dreamed that within a
year that frame would be laid low, that voice hushed, and that life fraught
with such promise ended by an assassin's bullet!
The Assembly of 1880 came to its close on August 19th, after a session
of thirty-eight days. Although the C. L. S. C. had come to the foreground
and held the center of the stage, the normal work and Bible study had not
been neglected. The teacher-training classes were now under the charge of
Dr. Richard S. Holmes and Rev. J. L. Hurlbut. The Children's Class was
maintained with a daily attendance approaching three hundred, the lessons
taught by Rev. B. T. Vincent and pictures drawn by Frank Beard; also Mr.
Vincent conducted an Intermediate Class in Bible Study. In all these classes
for older and younger students, more than two hundred and fifty passed the
examination and were enrolled as graduates.
On the last evening of the Assembly, after the closing exercises, there
was seen a weird, ghostly procession, in white raiment, emerging from the
Ark and parading solemnly through the grounds, pausing before the Miller
Cottage and the Vincent Tent for a mournful, melancholy musical strain.
This was the "ghost walk" of the guests in the Ark. Some eminent Doctors
of Divinity and Ph.D.'s were in that sheeted procession, led by Professors
Sherwin and Case, engineered, as such functions were apt to be, by Frank
and Helen Beard. The ghost walk grew into an annual march, until it was
succeeded by a more elaborate performance, of which the story will be told
later.

CHAPTER XII
DEMOCRACY AND ARISTOCRACY AT CHAUTAUQUA
(1881)

The eighth session opened on Thursday, July 7th, and continued forty-
seven days to August 22d. A glance over the program shows that among the
lecturers of that year was Signor Alessandro Gavazzi, the founder of the
Free Italian Church, whose lectures, spiced with his quaint accent, and
emphasized by expressive shoulders, head, glance of eye, held the interest
of his auditors from the opening sentence to the end. No verbal report,
however accurate, can portray the charm of this wonderful Italian. Professor
W. D. McClintock of the University of Chicago, gave a course on literature,
analytic, critical, and suggestive. Dr. William Hayes Ward, Dr. Daniel A.
Goodsell, afterward a Methodist Bishop, Professor Charles F. Richardson,
Dr. Edward Everett Hale, Dr. A. E. Dunning, Editor of The
Congregationalist; General O. O. Howard, who told war stories in a simple,
charming manner; Dr. Philip Schaff, one of the most learned yet most
simple-hearted scholars of the age; Dr. A. A. Willetts, with his many times
repeated, yet always welcome lecture on "Sunshine," were among the men
whose voices filled the Amphitheater during the season. The Fisk Jubilee
Singers were with us again and Signor Giuseppe Vitale made the birds sing
through his wonderful violin.
The success of the C. L. S. C., which was widening its area every month,
inspired Dr. Vincent to look for new fields to conquer. He established this
year the C. Y. F. R. U., initials standing for The Chautauqua Young Folks
Reading Union, which proposed to do for the boys and girls what the
Reading Circle was accomplishing for men and women. But it was found
after a few years of trial that the school-age seeks its own reading and is not
responsive to direction in literature on a vast scale, for the C. Y. F. R. U.
was not successful in winning the young readers.
Another scheme launched this year met with the same fate;—The
Chautauqua School of Theology. It was thought that many ministers who

had not received a theological education would avail themselves of an
opportunity to obtain it while in the pastorate. This was to be not a course of
reading, but of close study, under qualified instruction in each department,
with examinations, a diploma, and a degree. But it required more thorough
study and much larger fees than a mere course of reading, and those who
needed it most were often the poorest paid in their profession. It did not
receive the support needful for its success, it had no endowment, and after
an experiment extending through a number of years, it was reluctantly
abandoned. Some of us have believed that if the Chautauqua
Correspondence School of Theology could have found friends to give it
even a moderate endowment, it might have supplied an education needed
by a multitude of ministers.

Unitarian Headquarters

Episcopal Chapel

The Hotel Athenæum was opened in 1881 and speedily filled with
guests. It aided in bringing to Chautauqua a new constituency and also
spurred the cottage boarding-houses to improve their accommodations and
their fare. From the beginning the waiters and other helpers at the Hotel,
and also in the cottages, have been mostly young people seeking to obtain
higher education, and paying their way at Chautauqua by service. I
remember one morning finding a Hebrew book on my breakfast table. One
meets unaccustomed things at Chautauqua, but I was quite sure the menu
was not in that language. I called the attention of the young man who
brought in the breakfast to the book. He told me that he was studying
Hebrew with Dr. Harper, and from time to time we had some conversation
concerning his college work. Twenty years afterward I met a prominent
Methodist minister at a Conference, who said to me, "Don't you remember
me, Dr. Hurlbut? I used to wait on your table at Chautauqua and we talked
together about Hebrew." That minister was a member of several General
Conferences and some years ago was made one of the Bishops in his
church.

Mrs. Ida B. Cole, the Executive Secretary of the C. L. S. C., is
responsible for the following: A woman once said, "Chautauqua cured me
of being a snob, for I found that my waitress was a senior in a college, the
chambermaid had specialized in Greek, the porter taught languages in a
high school, and the bell-boy, to whom I had been giving nickel tips, was
the son of a wealthy family in my own State who wanted a job to prove his
prowess."
There are a few, however, who do not take kindly to the democratic life
of Chautauqua. I was seated at one of the hotel tables with a well-known
clergyman from England, whose sermons of a highly spiritual type are
widely read in America; and I remarked:
"Perhaps it may interest you to know that all the waiters in this hotel are
college-students."
"What do you mean?" he said, "surely no college student would demean
himself by such a servile occupation! But it may be a lark, just for fun."
"No," I answered, "they are men who are earning money to enable them
to go on with their college work, a common occurrence in summer hotels in
America."
Said this minister, "Well, I don't like it; and it would not be allowed in
my country. No man after it could hold up his head in an English University
or College. I don't enjoy being waited on by a man who considers himself
my social equal!"
Other eminent Englishmen did not agree with this clergyman. When I
mentioned this incident a year later to Principal Fairbairn of Oxford, he
expressed his hearty sympathy with the democracy shown at Chautauqua,
and said that whatever might be the ideas of class-distinction in English
colleges, they were unknown in Scotland, where some of the most
distinguished scholars rose from the humblest homes and regardless of their
poverty were respected and honored in their colleges.
Dr. Vincent, ever fertile in sentimental touches, added two features to the
usages of the C. L. S. C. One was the "Camp fire." In an open place a great
bonfire was prepared; all the members stood around in a circle, clasping
hands; the fire was kindled, and while the flames soared up and lit the faces

of the crowd, songs were sung and speeches were made. This service was
maintained annually until the ground at Chautauqua became too closely
occupied by cottages for a bonfire to be safe. It is noteworthy that on the
day after the camp fire, there was always a large enrollment of members for
the C. L. S. C. Of course, the camp fire was introduced at other Assemblies,
by this time becoming numerous, and it attracted not only spectators, but
students to the reading-course. At our first camp fire in the Ottawa
Assembly, Kansas, an old farmer from the country rushed up to Dr. Milner,
the President, and said:
"I don't know much about this ere circle you were talking about, but I'm
going to jine, and here's my fifty cents for membership and another for my
wife."
There were only twenty members around the fire that night, but on the
next day, there were forty or more on the registry at the Chautauqua tent.
The camp fire died down after a number of years, but the Vigil, also
introduced in 1881, became a permanent institution. In the days of chivalry,
when a youth was to receive the honor of knighthood, he spent his last night
in the chapel of the castle, watching beside his armor, to be worn for the
first time on the following day. Dr. Vincent called upon the members of the
Pioneer class of the C. L. S. C., destined to graduate on the following year,
to meet him in the Hall of Philosophy late on Sunday night, after the
conclusion of the evening service. All except members of the class were
requested not to come. The hall was dimly lighted, left almost in darkness.
They sang a few songs from memory, listened to a Psalm, and to an earnest,
deeply religious address, were led in prayer, and were dismissed, to go
home in silence through the empty avenues. After a few years the Vigil was
changed from a Sunday evening of the year before graduation to the Sunday
immediately preceding Recognition Day, for the reason that on the
graduation year, the attendance of any class is far greater than on the year
before. The Vigil is still one of the time-honored and highly appreciated
services of the season. Now, however, the Hall is no longer left in shadow,
for around it the Athenian Watch Fires lighten up St. Paul's Grove with their
flaring tongues. Generally more people are standing outside the pillars of
the Hall, watching the ceremonials, than are seated before the platform, for
none are permitted to enter except members of the class about to graduate.

I am not sure whether it was in this year, 1881, or the following that Dr.
Vincent inaugurated the Society of Christian Ethics. This was not an
organization with a roll of membership, dues, and duties, but simply a
meeting on Sunday afternoon in the Children's Temple, at which an address
on character was given, in the first years by Dr. Vincent. It was especially
for young people of the 'teen age. No one was admitted under the age of
twelve or over that of twenty. The young people were quite proud of having
Dr. Vincent all to themselves, and strongly resented the efforts of their
elders to obtain admittance. No person of adult years was allowed without a
card signed by Dr. Vincent. These addresses by the Founder, if they had
been taken down and preserved, would have formed a valuable book for
young people on the building up of true character. They were continued
during the years of Dr. Vincent's active association with Chautauqua and for
some time afterward; addresses being given by eminent men of the
Chautauqua program. But very few speakers could meet the needs of that
adolescent age. By degrees the attendance decreased and after some years
the meeting gave place to other interests.
The regular features of the season went on as in other years. The schools
were growing in students, in the number of instructors, and in the breadth of
their courses. The Sunday School Normal Department was still prominent,
and on August 17, 1881, one hundred and ninety diplomas were conferred
upon the adults, intermediates, and children who had passed the
examination.

CHAPTER XIII
THE FIRST RECOGNITION DAY
(1882)

The opening service of the ninth session was begun, as all the opening
sessions of previous years, in the out-of-doors Auditorium in front of the
Miller Cottage. But a sudden dash of rain came down and a hasty
adjournment was made to the new Amphitheater. From 1882 onward, "Old
First Night" has been observed in that building. A few lectures during the
season of '82 were given in the old Auditorium, but at the close of the
season the seats were removed, save a few left here and there under the
trees for social enjoyment; and the Auditorium was henceforth known as
Miller Park.
The crowning event of the 1882 season was the graduation of the first
class in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Taking into account
the fact that it was the first class, for which no advertising had been given
and no announcement made in advance, the number graduated at the end of
the four years was remarkably large, over eighteen hundred, of which eight
hundred received their diplomas at Chautauqua and a thousand more at their
homes, some in distant places. Years afterward I met a minister in a small
town in Texas who had seen the report of the inauguration of the C. L. S.
C., had read Dr. Vincent's address on that occasion, and joined the Class of
1882, its only member, as far as he knew, in his State. One member was a
teacher in South Africa, others were missionaries in India and China. Most
of the regular visitors to Chautauqua in those early days were members of
this class, so that even now, after nearly forty years, the Pioneer Class can
always muster at its annual gatherings a larger number of its members than
almost any other of the classes. For many years Mrs. B. T. Vincent was the
President of the Class, and strongly interested in its social and religious life.
She instituted at Chautauqua the "Quiet Hour," held every Saturday evening
during the Assembly season, at Pioneer Hall, by this class, a meeting for
conversation on subjects of culture and the Christian life. It is a touching

sight to look upon that group of old men and women, at their annual
farewell meeting, on the evening before the Recognition Day, standing in a
circle with joined hands, singing together their class song written for them
by Mary A. Lathbury, and then sounding forth their class yell:
Hear! Hear! Pioneers!
Height to height, fight for right,
Pioneers!
Who are you? Who are you?
We are the class of eighty-two!
Pioneers—Ah!
No college class was ever graduated with half the state and splendor of
ceremony that was observed on that first Recognition Day, in a ritual
prepared by Dr. Vincent, and observed to the letter every year since 1882.
He chose to call it not a Commencement, but a Recognition, the members
of the Circle being recognized on that day as having completed the course
and entitled to membership in the Society of the Hall in the Grove, the
Alumni Association of the C. L. S. C.
A procession was formed, its divisions meeting in different places. The
graduating class met before the Golden Gate at St. Paul's Grove, a gate
which is opened but once in the year and through which none may pass
except those who have completed the course of reading and study of the C.
L. S. C. Over the gate hung a silk flag which had been carried by the Rev.
Albert D. Vail of New York to many of the famous places in the world of
literature, art, and religion. It had been waved from the summit of the Great
Pyramid, of Mount Sinai in the Desert, and Mount Tabor in the Holy Land.
It had been laid in the Manger at Bethlehem, and in the traditional tomb of
Jesus in Holy Sepulcher Church. It had fluttered upon the Sea of Galilee,
upon Mount Lebanon, in the house where Paul was converted at Damascus,
and under the dome of St. Sophia in Constantinople. It had been at the
Acropolis and Mars' Hill in Athens, to Westminster Abbey, and to
Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford, to the graves of Walter Scott and Robert
Burns. Upon its stripes were inscribed the names of forty-eight places to
which that flag had been carried. The class stood before the Golden Gate,
still kept closed until the moment should come for it to be opened, and in
two sections the members read a responsive service from the Bible, having

wisdom and especially the highest wisdom of all, the knowledge of God, as
its subject.

Lutheran Headquarters

United Presbyterian Chapel

At the same time one section of the parade was meeting in Miller Park,
in front of the Lewis Miller Cottage. Another was at the tent where lived Dr.
Vincent, and still another division, the most interesting of all, on the hill, in
front of the Children's Temple. This was an array of fifty little girls in white

dresses, with wreaths in their hair and baskets of flowers in their hands. At
the signal, the procession moved from its different stations, and marched
past the Vincent Tent, led by the band and the flower girls, and including
every department of Chautauqua, officials, trustees, schools, and Sunday
School Normal Class. In the later years each class of graduates marched,
led by its banner, the Class of 1882, the Pioneers, bearing in front their
symbol, the hatchet. Before all was the great banner of the C. L. S. C.
presented to the Circle by Miss Jennie Miller, Lewis Miller's eldest
daughter, bearing upon one side a painting of the Hall of Philosophy and the
three mottoes of the Circle; on the other a silk handkerchief which had
accompanied the flag on its journey to the sacred places. The pole holding
up the banner was surmounted by a fragment of Plymouth Rock.
The march was to the Hall of Philosophy, where the orator, officers, and
guests occupied the platform, the little flower girls were grouped on
opposite sides of the path from the Golden Gate up to the Hall; the
graduating class still standing outside the entrance protected by the Guard
of the Gate. A messenger came from the Gate to announce that the class was
now prepared to enter, having fulfilled all of the conditions, and the order
was given, "Let the Golden Gate now be opened." The portals were swung
apart, and the class entered, passing under the historic flag and successively
under four arches dedicated respectively to Faith, Science, Literature, and
Art, while the little girls strewed flowers in their path. As they marched up
the hill they were greeted by Miss Lathbury's song:
THE SONG OF TO-DAY
Sing pæans over the Past!
We bury the dead years tenderly,
To find them again in eternity,
Safe in its circle vast.
Sing pæans over the Past!

Farewell, farewell to the Old!
Beneath the arches, and one by one,
From sun to shade, and from shade to sun,
We pass, and the years are told.
Farewell, farewell to the Old!

Arise and possess the land!
Not one shall fail in the march of life,
Not one shall fail in the hour of strife,
Who trusts in the Lord's right hand.
Arise and possess the land!

And hail, all hail to the New!
The future lies like a world new-born,
All steeped in sunshine and dews of morn,
And arched with a cloudless blue
All hail, all hail to the New!

All things, all things are yours!
The spoil of nations, the arts sublime
That arch the ages from oldest time,
The word that for aye endures—
All things, all things are yours!

The Lord shall sever the sea,
And open a way in the wilderness
To faith that follows, to feet that pass
Forth into the great TO BE
The Lord shall sever the sea!
The inspiring music of this inspiring hymn was composed, like most of
the best Chautauqua songs, by Prof. William F. Sherwin. The class entered,
and while taking their seats were welcomed in the strains of another
melody:
A song is thrilling through the trees,
And vibrant through the air,
Ten thousand hearts turn hitherward,
And greet us from afar.
And through the happy tide of song
That blends our hearts in one,
The voices of the absent flow
In tender undertone.
Chorus

Then bear along, O wings of song,
Our happy greeting glee,
From center to the golden verge,
Chautauqua to the sea.

Fair Wisdom builds her temple here,
Her seven-pillared dome;
Toward all lands she spreads her hands,
And greets her children home;
Not all may gather at her shrine
To sing of victories won;
Their names are graven on her walls—
God bless them every one! Chorus.

O happy circle, ever wide
And wider be thy sweep,
Till peace and knowledge fill the earth
As waters fill the deep;
Till hearts and homes are touched to life,
And happier heights are won;
Till that fair day, clasp hands, and say
God bless us, every one! Chorus.
Another responsive service followed, read in turn by the Superintendent
and the class, and then Dr. Vincent gave the formal Recognition in words
used at every similar service since that day:
Fellow-Students of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
Dearly Beloved:
You have finished the appointed and accepted course of reading; you
have been admitted to this sacred Grove; you have passed the arches
dedicated to Faith, Science, Literature, and Art; you have entered in due
form this Hall, the center of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
And now as Superintendent of Instruction,[1] with these my associates, the
counsellors of our Fraternity, I greet you; and hereby announce that you,
and your brethren and sisters absent from us to-day, who have completed
with you the prescribed course of reading, are accepted and approved

graduates of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and that you are
entitled to membership in the Society of the Hall in the Grove. "The Lord
bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be
gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee
peace."
After another song, the Marshal of the procession took charge, and the
order of march was renewed, the newly graduated class in the rear, followed
by the Superintendent, Counsellors, and officers. The company marched to
the Amphitheater, on the way the procession dividing and forming on both
sides of the street, while the officers and the graduating class passed
through the open files, thus bringing the graduating class at the head of the
line into the Amphitheater. Here more songs were sung and other
responsive readings were rendered before an audience that thronged the
building. The oration on the first graduation service was given by Dr. Henry
W. Warren, who had been elevated to the episcopate two years before. After
the oration a recess was taken, and in the afternoon the concluding service
was held and the diplomas were conferred upon the eight hundred graduates
present by the hand of Dr. Vincent.
In most college commencements that I have attended, the President takes
the diplomas at random from a table and hands them to the class as they
come, not giving to each graduate his own diploma, and afterward there is a
general looking up one another and sorting out the diplomas until at last
each one obtains his own. But Miss Kimball, the Secretary, devised a plan
by which all the diplomas were numbered and each graduate was furnished
with a card showing his number. These numbers were called out ten at a
time, and each graduate was able to receive his own (mostly her own)
diploma, while the audience heard the name upon it and the number of seals
it bore for special reading and study.
It should be mentioned that some members of the class arrived on the
ground too late to pass with their classmates through the Golden Gate and
under the arches. For their benefit the Gate was opened a second time
before the afternoon meeting, and a special Recognition service was held,
so that they might enjoy all the privileges of the class. This is another
custom continued every year, for always it is needed.

After a year or two it entered the facetious minds of Mr. and Mrs. Beard
to originate a comic travesty on the Recognition service, which was
presented on the evening after the formal exercises, when everybody was
weary and was ready to descend from the serious heights. This grew into
quite an institution and was continued for a number of years—a sort of
mock-commencement, making fun of the prominent figures and features of
the day. Almost as large an audience was wont to assemble for this evening
of mirth and jollity, as was seen at the stately service of the morning. This
in turn had its day and finally grew into the Chautauqua Circus, an amateur
performance which is still continued every year under one name or another.
We have given much space to the story of the first Recognition Day, as a
sample of the similar services held every year afterward, growing with the
growth of the C. L. S. C. But there were other events of '82 scarcely less
noteworthy. On that year a great organ was installed in the Amphitheater,
and its effect was soon seen in the enlargement of the choir and the
improvement in the music. We can mention only in the briefest manner
some of the speakers on the platform for that year: such as Dr. W. T. Harris
of Concord, Mass., afterward U. S. Commissioner of Education; Professor
William H. Niles of Boston; Mr. Wallace Bruce; Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage; Dr.
Wm. M. Blackburn of Cincinnati, the church historian; Dr. A. D. Vail of
New York, who told in an interesting manner the story of the banner and the
flag; Dr. Mark Hopkins, the great college President; Bishop R. S. Foster;
Anthony Comstock and John B. Gough, with others equally distinguished
whose names we must omit. One new name appeared upon the program of
this season which will be read often in the coming years, that of Mr. Leon
H. Vincent, the son of Rev. B. T. Vincent. He gave a course of lectures on
English literature, mingling biographical, social, and critical views of the
great writers, attracting large audiences. We shall find him among the
leading lights of Chautauqua in the successive chapters of our story.
An institution which began that year and has been perpetuated must not
be omitted—the Devotional Conference. Both of the Founders of
Chautauqua were strong in their purpose to hold the Christian religion ever
in the forefront at the Assembly. Various plans were tried during the early
years, but none seemed to reach the constituency of Chautauqua until Dr.
Benjamin M. Adams, at Dr. Vincent's request, began holding a daily service
of an hour. This attracted a large attendance and was continued for a

number of years, as long as Dr. Adams could conduct it. Afterward an
arrangement was made which has become permanent. Every season a series
of eminent clergymen are engaged, each to serve for one week as chaplain.
He preaches the Sunday morning sermon in the Amphitheater, and on the
following five days at ten o'clock conducts the Devotional Hour in the same
place, giving a series of discourses, Bible readings, or addresses. The
speaker of each week is a man of national or international fame. The
greatest preachers in the American pulpit have spoken at this service, and
the audience is surpassed in numbers only by the most popular lectures or
concerts. Many there are who deem this the most precious hour in the day.

FOOTNOTE:
[1] After Dr. Vincent's title was changed to "Chancellor of the Chautauqua
University" that form was used; and in his absence the President said instead "as
representing the Chancellor of the Chautauqua University."

CHAPTER XIV
SOME STORIES OF THE C. L. S. C.
(1883, 1884)

We must hasten our steps through the passing years at Chautauqua. Our
readers may take for granted that the regular departments were continued;
that the Summer Schools were adding new courses and calling new
professors; that the Normal Class for the training of Sunday School workers
was still held, no longer in the section-tents nor in the Children's Temple,
but under a large tent on an elevation where two years later was to stand the
Normal Hall, built for the class, but after some years transferred first to the
Musical Department, later to the Summer Schools and partitioned into
class-rooms. The Children's Class was still held by Dr. B. T. Vincent and
Professor Frank Beard, for our friend with the crayon was now in the
faculty of the School of Art in Syracuse University.
In 1883 the session was forty-five days long, from July 14th to August
27th. A new feature of the program was an "Ideal Foreign Tour through
Europe," with illustrated lectures on various cities by C. E. Bolton, and
"Tourists' Conferences" conducted by his wife, the cultured Mrs. Sarah K.
Bolton. Mrs. Emma P. Ewing of Chicago taught classes in the important art
of cookery. Professor Charles J. Little gave a course of lectures. Hon.
Albion W. Tourgee, residing at Mayville, who had achieved fame soon after
the Civil War by his story, A Fool's Errand, gave lectures in the
Amphitheater. Professor William C. Richards showed brilliant illustrations
in physical science. Dr. P. S. Henson entertained while he instructed;
President Julius H. Seelye, Dr. W. F. Mallalien, later a Bishop, President
Joseph Cummings of Northwestern University, Hon. Will Cumback of
Indiana, and many others, gave lectures.
A new instructor entered the School of Languages in 1883, in the person
of William Rainey Harper, then Professor in the Baptist School of Theology
at Morgan Park, Illinois, afterward to be the first President of the University
of Chicago. No man ever lived who could inspire a class with the

enthusiasm that he could awaken over the study of Hebrew, could lead his
students so far in that language in a six weeks' course, or could impart such
broad and sane views of the Biblical literature. From this year Dr. Harper
was one of the leaders at Chautauqua, and soon was advanced to the
principalship of the Summer Schools. In the after years, while Dr. Harper
was President of the University of Chicago, and holding classes all the year,
in summer as well as winter, he was wont to take the train every Friday
afternoon, in order to spend Saturday and Sunday at Chautauqua.
Chautauquans of those days will also remember the recitals by Professor
Robert L. Cumnock of Northwestern University, a reader who was a scholar
in the best literature.
The class of 1883, though not as large as its predecessor, the Pioneers,
was graduated with the same ceremonies, the address on Recognition Day
given by Dr. Lyman Abbott of New York, one of the Counsellors of the
Circle. Five years had now passed since the inauguration of this movement,
and from every quarter testimonials of its power and incidents showing its
influence were received. Let me mention a few of these which came under
my own notice.
I met a lady who mentioned that she and her husband were reading the
course together and they found the only available hour between six and
seven in the morning, before breakfast. For the study of the course they
both had risen at half past five for a year or more. One result of this early
morning reading was, she said, that at the breakfast table they told the
children stories of history and science, which she thought turned their
minds toward knowledge. Among the books was one on Human Physiology
—a book, which, by the way, I did not rate very highly and objected to as
being so elementary as to become almost juvenile; yet that book awakened
such an interest that the lady began to read more widely and deeply on the
subject, after a few months entered the Woman's Medical College in New
York, during her course took several prizes, and graduated with high
honors. It may have been that she foresaw what came, the failure of her
husband's health, so that of necessity she became the bread-winner for her
family. She was a successful physician, honored in the community, the
Chautauqua Circle having opened to her wider opportunities of knowledge
and usefulness.

Two college professors of high standing have told me that they were first
awakened to a desire and determination for higher education through their
early readings in the C. L. S. C.
One rather amusing yet suggestive incident came to my notice. Visiting a
city in the Middle West, I met a lady who told me that she belonged to a
club of young people who met weekly in a card party. One member told the
rest about the C. L. S. C. which she had joined and showed them the books,
whereupon they all sent in their names as members, and the card club was
transformed into a Chautauqua Reading Circle.
I was seated with Dr. Edward E. Hale at a C. L. S. C. banquet in New
England, when he pointed out a middle-aged gentleman at the head of one
of the tables and told me this story about him.
While a boy he came to his father and said, "I don't want to go to school
any longer, I want to go to work and earn my own living, and there's a place
in Boston that is open to me." "Well," said his father, "perhaps you would
better take the place, I've noticed that you are not paying much attention to
your studies of late. I'm very sorry for I have set my heart on giving you a
good education. You don't know now, but you'll find out later that the
difference between the man who gives orders and the man who takes them
is that generally one of the two men knows more than the other, and
knowledge brings a man up in the world." The boy went to Boston and took
a job in a big store, and he found that he was taking a good many orders
from those above him and giving none to others. He realized that for
success in life he needed an education. Ashamed to give up and go home,
he began to attend an evening school which some of us had established.
There I met him and was able to give him some encouragement and some
help. He became a well-read and, in the end, a successful business man. As
soon as he heard of the Chautauqua Circle, he began to read its books and
was made President of a local circle. That table is filled with the members
of his circle and he sits at the head of it.
I wish that I could write down a story as it was told me by Dr. Duryea, at
Chautauqua. It was of a man who sat at his table in the Hotel and was
always in a hurry, never finishing his meals in his haste to get to lectures
and classes. The Doctor got him to talking and he forgot to drink his coffee

while telling his story. He said that he kept a country store in a village in
Arkansas, where the young men used to come in the evenings and tell
stories together. He felt that he was leading a rather narrow life and needed
intelligence, but did not know where to obtain it. There were books enough
in the world, but how could he choose the right ones? A newspaper fell
under his notice containing some mention of the C. L. S. C.; he sent his fee
to the office, obtained the books for the year, and began to read in the
intervals of time between customers in his store. For retirement he fixed up
a desk and shelf of books in the rear of the shop. Some of his evening
callers said, "What have you got back there?" and he showed his books,
telling them of the C. L. S. C. A number of them at once decided to join,
and soon he found himself the conductor of a Chautauqua Circle with
twenty members. They fixed up a meeting place in a store-room in a garret
under the eaves, talked over the topics, and read papers. When the text-book
on electricity was before them, they made experiments with home-made
batteries and ran wires all around the room. The man said, "Those fellows
look to me to answer all sorts of questions, and I find that I am getting
beyond my depth. I have come to Chautauqua to fill up and I'm doing it.
But the difficulty is that too many things come at the same time; here's a
lecture on American authors and one on biology, and one on history, all at
once, and I never know which to attend. But Chautauqua is a great place,
isn't it?"
A servant in a family, while waiting at the table, heard the lady and her
daughters talking of the Circle which was being formed. The girl asked her
mistress if she would be permitted to join. With some hesitation, the lady
said, "Why, yes, if you really wish to read the books, you can be a member."
This serving-maid soon showed herself as the brightest scholar in the group,
far superior in her thirst for knowledge to her young mistresses. She was
encouraged and aided to seek a higher education, entered a Normal School,
and became a successful teacher.
One letter received at the office contained, in brief, the following: "I am
a working-man with six children and I work hard to keep them in school.
Since I found out about your Circle, I have begun to read, getting up early
in the morning to do it. I am trying hard to keep up, so that my boys will see
what father does—just as an example to them."

A letter from a night watchman said, "I read as I come on my rounds to
the lights, and think it over between times."
A steamboat captain on one of the western rivers wrote that he enjoyed
reading the books and found the recollection of their contents a great
benefit, "for when I stand on the deck at night I have something good to
think about; and you know that when one has not taken care of his thoughts
they will run away with him and he will think about things he ought not."
I was well acquainted with a gentleman and his wife, both of unspotted
character, but unfortunately living apart from some incompatibility. He was
accustomed to call upon her every fortnight, in a formal manner,
professedly to meet their children, and on one of his visits he mentioned
that he was beginning the C. L. S. C. readings. She was desirous of
knowing what those letters meant; he explained and gave her a circular of
information. She, too, joined the Circle, and next time at his call they spent
an evening pleasantly discussing the subjects of reading that both were
pursuing. From a fortnightly they dropped into a weekly interview, and after
a time spent nearly all their evenings together. One day I met them together,
and being aware of their former relations, I perhaps showed surprise. The
husband took me aside and said that they were now living together very
happily, thanks to the C. L. S. C. They had forgotten their differences in a
common object of interest.
In the early years of the C. L. S. C. one book of the course was on the
subject of practical Christianity. At one time, the religious book was The
Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, by Dr. Walker, a work widely read two
generations ago and regarded as a standard. We received at the office a
letter from a high-school teacher who said that he was an agnostic and did
not wish to read such a book—could he not read some scientific work by
Tyndall or Huxley in place of it? Miss Kimball referred his letter to me, and
I took it to Dr. Vincent. He considered the question, and then wrote in
substance this answer:
If you were a Unitarian, you could read a volume by James Martineau; if
you were a Roman Catholic, you could read one of many good Catholic
religious books; if you were a Jew you might take some book upon your
own religion. But you call yourself an agnostic, that is, one who does not

know God and has no religion, and therefore, to meet the requirements of
your course it will be necessary for you to read some candid, sane work on
the Christian religion; and such is Walker's "Plan of Salvation."
The letter closed with a friendly request that he would read the book
without a strong prejudice against it, and some hearty sympathetic
sentences which Dr. Vincent knew how to write. For a year we heard
nothing of the man; we concluded that he had been offended at the
requirement and had left the Circle. We were surprised when at last another
letter came from him stating that he had read the book, at first unwillingly,
but later with deep interest; also that association with believers in the Circle
had shown them, not as he had supposed, narrow and bigoted, but broad in
their views. He had seen in them a mystic something which he desired; he
had sought and found it. "To-day," he wrote, "I have united with the
Presbyterian Church, and this evening I led the Christian Endeavor
meeting."
Dr. Hale told of a man who had been formerly a pupil and youth in his
church, who was suffering from nervous prostration, and lay down in a
shack in an out-of-the-way place in Florida, almost ready to die. His eyes
were drawn to the orange-colored cover of a magazine which he had never
seen before, The Chautauquan. He opened it at random and began to read.
"Are you a child of God? Are you a partaker of the divine nature? If you
are, work with God! Don't give up working with God!" It seemed to him
like a voice from heaven. On that moment he said to himself, "I will not die,
but live!" He began to read the magazine and followed it by reading the
books to which the magazine made reference. They opened before him a
new field of thought and made of him a new man. He told this story to Dr.
Hale in his own church and said: "I am here because of that orange-covered
Chautauquan which I found lying under the bench in that old cabin."
It is possible, nay, it is certain, that the Chautauqua Circle, by being not a
church society, but a secular organization permeated by the Christian spirit,
has exercised an influence all the stronger to promote an intelligent, broad-
minded Christianity.

South Ravine,
Muscallonge
Near Children's Playground

Bathhouse and Jacob Bolin Gymnasium

Everyone active in Chautauqua work through a series of years could
narrate many stories like the above, and doubtless some more remarkable;
but I have given only a few out of many that could be recalled out of an
experience with the C. L. S. C. through more than forty years. As I have
looked upon the representatives of the graduating class in the Hall of
Philosophy, I have often wished that I might know some of the life-stories
of those who, often through difficulties unknown, have carried the course
through to completion.
An eminent minister wrote to me recently as follows:

At a place where I became pastor I found two sisters who were living in
dark seclusion, brooding in melancholia as the effect of a great sorrow.
They attended church, but took no part in our work, and none at all in
society. I did my best to comfort those young women and bring them out of
their monasticism. But it was all in vain. Their broken spirits revolted from
a religion of happiness. A few years after my pastorate was ended there, and
I was preaching elsewhere, I visited the town and was surprised to find both
those women among the most active women in the church, happy, gifted,
and universally esteemed. What had wrought the change? They chanced to
hear of the Chautauqua Reading Course and sent for the books and
magazines. They pursued the course, graduated, and visited Chautauqua. It
awakened their entire being and brought them into a new world. They were
literally born anew. I have witnessed wonderful changes in people, but
never any that was more thorough, real, and permanent than in those young
women.
Let us name also some of the leading events of the Assembly of 1884.
As the organ of the C. Y. F. R. U. Dr. Flood established The Youth's C. L. S.
C. Paper for boys and girls. It was an illustrated magazine, but only twelve
numbers were published, as the field for periodical literature for young
people was already well covered. "The Chautauqua Foreign Tour," a series
of illustrated lectures on the British Isles, was conducted this year by Rev.
Jesse Bowman Young, Professor H. H. Ragan, and Mr. George Makepeace
Towle. Music was abundant and varied this season, the choir being led by
Professors Sherwin and Case in turn; concerts by a remarkable quartet, the
Meigs Sisters; the delightful singers of southern plantation and revival
songs, the Tennesseans; the Yale College Glee Club; Miss Belle
McClintock, Mrs. J. C. Hull, Mr. E. O. Excell, and Miss Tuthill, soloists.
Dr. Charles J. Little gave a course of lectures on English literature; Dr.
Henson, Miss Susan Hayes Ward, Dr. J. W. Butler of Mexico, and Dr. S. S.
Smith of Minnesota were among the lecturers. We heard Ram Chandra
Bose and Dennis Osborne of India, and Sau Aubrah of Burmah, a most
interesting speaker on the customs of his country and his impressions of
ours. Principal Fairbairn of Oxford made the history of philosophy
interesting, and the Rev. A. J. Palmer of New York won instant fame by his
great war lecture, "Company D, the Die-no-more's," given on Grand Army
Day to a great concourse of old soldiers.

On Saturday, August 23d, a reception was given to the Governor of
Pennsylvania, Hon. Robert E. Pattison. Friday, August 15th, was observed
as the decennial anniversary of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. I
find on the program of that year a series of colloquies named "The Socratic
Academy," conducted by Dr. H. H. Moore. I know not what subjects they
discussed, nor how they discussed them, but I remember Dr. Moore as one
able to shed light on any subject that he chose to present. As I read the
program of any one of those years at Chautauqua, I realize how utterly
inadequate must be any sketch like the above to bring it before a reader.
By this time three classes of the C. L. S. C. had been graduated, '82, '83,
and '84. Four more classes were pursuing the course, so that C. L. S. C.
members present at Chautauqua might now be counted by the thousand.
There was a strong class-spirit. Each class had its name, its motto, its badge,
and its banner, and ribbon badges were fluttering everywhere. Every day
came announcements from the platform of class-meetings, and it was
sometimes difficult to provide for them all. During the season of 1884 two
classes united their interests, raised money, and purchased a small octagonal
building near the Hall of Philosophy. These were the classes of '83 and '85.
The movement for class headquarters was growing; all the other classes
began the raising of building funds, and those who looked into the future
saw all around St. Paul's Grove the prospect of small buildings rising. How
would the grounds appear when forty classes should have little headquarters
—a C. L. S. C. village? The plan began to be mooted of a Union Class
Building, to be realized later.

CHAPTER XV
THE CHAPLAIN'S LEG AND OTHER TRUE TALES
(1885-1888)

The twelfth year of the Assembly, 1885, opened with a preliminary
week, beginning July 7th, for the Teachers' Retreat and the School of
Languages, and closed with "After-week," making the entire session fifty-
three days long, ending on August 28th. But the official "opening" did not
take place until the traditional date, Tuesday, August 7th. For years, indeed
from the beginning, Dr. Vincent had set his heart on having a chime of bells
at Chautauqua. The practically minded trustees urged for some needed
improvement, and buildings for the growing schools, but the poetic
conception carried the day, and in 1885 the Meneely chime of ten bells was
heard at the opening in July. Some common souls in cottages around
complained of their frequency, awaking folks early in the morning and
breaking their naps in the afternoon, but to most their mellow music was a
welcome sound.
It has always been the rule that quiet must reign on the grounds after the
night bells at 10:00 P.M., and watchmen have been wont to knock at doors
where the rule was honored in the breach instead of the observance. A
parlor full of young people enjoying themselves does not always come to
silence in a minute. I remember one house near the Point where dwelt an
elderly lady with abundant gray hair but a young heart, and also with an
attractive daughter. That home was exceedingly popular among the younger
set, and their meetings—doubtless held for the discussion of serious
subjects, for the voices were sometimes loud—were often prolonged
beyond the time of the bells. One night an unusually imperative rap of the
watchman's stick on the front door startled the group. The door was opened
a little and the matron put forth her head with the words loudly spoken,
"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head!" whereupon the watchman departed
without a word.

In the revolution of the Chautauqua Circle, 1885 was known as the
Roman year, having as its major subject Latin history and literature. The
studies of the "Foreign Tour" in the Assembly program embraced lectures,
with illustrations on Italian cities and scenery. Dr. Vincent's fertile mind
conceived a plan to aid the students of the course, and incidentally to
advertise it, by a series of object-lessons. He divided Pratt Avenue, the path
leading up to the college on the hill, into sections corresponding by their
relative lengths to the periods of Roman history, and erected at the proper
points along the road, posts to commemorate the leading events, with dates
and names of the great men of the several periods. These milestones were
black, with inscriptions in white. As people passed by they would be
reminded of the leading facts in the story of the Eternal City. Often might
be seen members of the C. L. S. C., notebook in hand, storing their minds
with the dates and events in the annals of Rome. The coal-black pillars had
a somewhat sepulchral look and suggested a graveyard. One lady who was
a stranger at Chautauqua, and evidently not a member of the C. L. S. C.,
asked Dr. R. S. Holmes, one of the leading workers, "Can you tell me why
all these tombstones have been set up here. Surely all the men named on
them cannot be buried along this street!" The question was also asked if it
was proposed each year to set up a row of trophies on other streets for the
American year, the English year, the Greek year, and by degrees to turn all
Chautauqua into a memorial grove for great men and great deeds of all the
ages; but at the close of the season the monuments were gathered up and
carried away, leaving no successors.
The lecture platform of 1885 was as strong as ever. Dr. Charles F. Deems
of New York delivered the baccalaureate sermon on Sunday, August 16th,
an unique discourse on the short text, "One New Man" (Eph. 2:15), and the
Recognition Address on the following Wednesday was by Dr. E. E. Hale of
Boston. A special series of "Yale University Historical Lectures" was given
by Professor Arthur M. Wheeler. Bishop Cyrus D. Foss of the Methodist
Episcopal Church preached on Sunday, August 23d. Dr. John P. Newman
delivered a lecture on August 25th in memory of President U. S. Grant, of
whom he had been a friend and pastor. This year a young man made his first
appearance upon the Chautauqua platform, not yet as a lecturer, but
introducing speakers in felicitous sentences and presiding with the ease of
an experienced chairman. This was Mr. George Edgar Vincent, just

graduated from Yale University, from whom Chautauqua and the world in
general was to hear before many years.
In 1885, the institution received a new charter from the Legislature of
New York, giving it the name "Chautauqua University" and the power to
confer degrees. By vote of the Board, the title "Chancellor of the
Chautauqua University" was given to Dr. Vincent. It was hoped to establish
a college for study by correspondence, with reviews of the subjects taught
in the summer meeting. But the expense of a professional staff was great
and the number of students was not large enough to support it without an
endowment. The Chautauqua University might have won a place in the
world of education, if friends had been found to bestow upon it a liberal
endowment, but among the varied gifts of Dr. Vincent was not that peculiar
talent for raising money. The University did not prosper, and in 1898 the
Trustees voluntarily surrendered to the Regents of the University of the
State of New York the examination of candidates and the conferring of
degrees. Again the title was changed and the University became "The
Chautauqua System of Education."
The year 1886 ushered in some improvements. In place of the old wharf
stood a new pier building, three stories high, with stores on the upper
balcony, for the steamboat still brought most of the Chautauqua crowds and
at their arrival a throng was always present to greet them. Above the
building rose a tower, from which sounded forth over the lake and through
the Grove the melody of the Chautauqua chimes. On the hill was the new
Jewett House, given by Mrs. A. H. Jewett as a home for self-supporting
young women, teachers and others, while at Chautauqua.
The program of that year shows that a faculty of sixteen conducted the
work in the Chautauqua Teachers' Retreat, and fifteen others gave courses
in the School of Languages. Lessons in Harmony, Organ and Piano,
Drawing and Painting were also added. The Chautauqua School of Physical
Education was established under the direction of Dr. W. G. Anderson. All
these were signs that the system of summer schools at Chautauqua was
increasing its range of study, as well as growing in the number of its
students.

One of the lecturers at this season was Professor Caleb T. Winchester of
Wesleyan University. It was a privilege to listen to his scholarly yet
delightful account of a ramble in the English lake country, with estimates of
the literary lights who made that region famous. Dr. Wm. H. Milburn, the
blind chaplain of the United States Senate, Dr. Russell H. Conwell, with his
lecture of "Acres of Diamonds," Dr. Edward E. Hale and Mrs. Mary A.
Livermore also gave lectures. Dr. Hale read his story, In His Name; and at
the close of his reading came a general rush for his autograph. I happened to
be in charge of the platform, and tried to excuse the speaker from adding to
his burdens, but he declared his willingness to meet the demands of the
people and wrote in every album offered. In the crowd was a little girl,
shabbily dressed, who had no album, but brought a scrap of brown paper
which she had picked up. Dr. Hale looked at the torn fragment, then took
the copy of his story from which he had been reading, wrote on its fly-leaf
his name, and handed it to the little girl.

Athletic Club

Boys' Club Headed for Camp

Two lecturers from the South attracted attention. One was the Rev. J. W.
Lee, an able, broad-minded man; the other was the unique evangelist, Rev.
Sam P. Jones, whose utterances were sometimes eloquent, sometimes
jocose, sometimes shocking, but always interesting. Dr. Willis J. Beecher of
the Auburn Theological Seminary, Dr. John Hall of New York, and
President William F. Warren of Boston University were also among the
speakers.
Readings were given by Will M. Carleton, George W. Cable, and
General Lew Wallace, from their own writings. An immense crowd packed
the Amphitheater to hear General Wallace read from his Ben Hur the story
of the Chariot Race. But candor compels us to say that it was not very
thrillingly rendered. One who listened said, "He never got his horses off the
walk." Other readers were George Riddle of Boston and Professor R. L.
Cumnock of Northwestern University. This summer Mrs. Frank Beard
collected and conducted an Oriental Exhibition.
Almost every year Frank Beard was at Chautauqua, teaching a class in
art, making pictures in the children's class, giving one or two crayon
lectures, and occasionally on Sunday evenings an illustrated Bible reading.
As already intimated, that was the age when there was a craze for
autographs, and everybody carried around an autograph album, seeking
signatures from the celebrities. After a popular lecture a crowd hastened to
the platform and a hundred hands, each holding an album, would be
stretched out toward the speaker, demanding his autograph. Of course every
child, and nearly every grown-up, must have Frank Beard's autograph, and

with it a picture drawn by his hand. Frank said once in a religious meeting
that his idea of heaven was a place where there were no autograph albums.
Every year at Chautauqua is held a National Army Day, when the Civil
War veterans from near and far assemble, wear their G. A. R. uniforms and
badges, and listen to an address in the Amphitheater. One year, I think it
was 1886, but I am not sure, the orator was late in coming, and Mr. Beard,
himself a veteran of the war, was called upon to fill the vacancy. He told the
story of "The Chaplain's Leg," of which some incredulous people have
doubted the authenticity. As I remember it was somewhat as follows. He
would come forward, slapping his right leg, and saying:
That is a good leg, but it isn't mine. It belonged once to the chaplain of
our regiment; I was in a battle and happened to have a tree between myself
and the whole rebel army. There was a change in the front, and I started to
make a detour to another tree. Just in the middle of my march I ran against
the chaplain, who was also making a detour, and at that moment came along
a rebel shell, which took off one of his legs and also one of mine. We lay on
the ground only a minute or two, and then an ambulance took us and the
two legs on board. They carried us to the field hospital, and put on our legs,
which grew just as they should, so that after a few weeks I was dismissed as
cured. Well, I had been a long time, for me, without liquid refreshment, and
I knew that out in the woods near the camp was an extemporized bar, in the
shape of a board laid on two stumps of trees. I found it hard to walk in that
direction, and had to pull my right leg along; but I thought that it needed
only a little practice to be as good as ever. I got to the bar and ordered a
glass of something; it might have been ginger-pop or it might have been
something else. Just after it was poured out and before I could take hold of
it, that right leg of mine lifted itself up and kicked over the whole
contraption—glass, and jug, and bar, and then in spite of all I could do,
stumped me back to camp! And on the way I passed the chaplain who was
being dragged out to the bar, while I was being pulled away from it. Then I
knew what had happened in the hospital; they had put each leg on the
wrong man, and I must carry around the chaplain's leg as long as I lived.
The leg took me to church; at first it was pretty tough, but I got used to it.
That leg brought me to Chautauqua, and here I am to-day, brought by the
chaplain's leg. Some time ago I gave by request a lecture with pictures in
the Sing Sing prison, and there among the convicts sat my old friend the

chaplain, wearing a striped suit. What brought him there I can't imagine,
unless—well, I don't know what it was.
The Assembly of 1887 was fifty-eight days in length, from July 2d to
August 28th. The schools were still growing in the number of students and
enlarging their courses. Some of the new departments were the Arabic and
Assyrian languages, mathematics, chemistry, oratory and expression,
stenography, mineralogy, and geology. To house these classes and the army
of students, buildings were urgently needed, and this year a College
Building arose overlooking the lake. It stood until two years ago, when on
account of its dilapidation as well as its incongruity with the modern plans
of the schools, it was taken down.
During the season of 1887, the Fourth of July Address was given by
Hon. Roswell G. Horr, member of Congress from Michigan. Dr. Fairbairn
from Oxford was with us again, also the Rev. Mark Guy Pearse of England,
Dr. Charles J. Little, Dr. John A. Broadus of Louisville, one of those
scholars who know how to present great truths in a simple manner,
Chaplain McCabe, Dr. Charles R. Henderson, on social questions of the
time, and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. Rev. Sam P. Jones was also on the
platform for the second season. He gave his powerful sermon on
"Conscience" with not a sentence to provoke a smile, but a strong call to
righteousness. Another address, however, contained an application which
called forth a smile all over the audience. It was known that Dr. Vincent was
being strongly talked of as a candidate for Bishop in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and in the following May, 1888, he was elected to that
office. Dr. Vincent was presiding at Mr. Jones' lecture. In the address Jones
managed to bring in an allusion to bishops. Then turning halfway round
toward the chairman, he said, "Doctor Vincent, I shouldn't wonder if they
made you and me bishops before long. You see the thing's coming down."
The class graduating this year in the C. L. S. C. was the largest in the
history of the Circle. It included in its membership the Rev. G. R. Alden and
his wife, and was named in her honor, the Pansy class. At this time the
enrolled members of the C. L. S. C. were more than eighty thousand in
number.

The Assembly of 1888 opened on July 3d and closed on August 29th,
fifty-eight days in length. The summer school was now announced as the
College of Liberal Arts. I notice in the list of subjects taught: Old French,
Scandinavian languages and literature, Sanskrit, Zend and Gothic, Hebrew
and Semitic languages, and philology. It is not to be supposed that all of
these classes were overcrowded with students, but those in physical culture
and arts and crafts were very popular. The annual exhibition of the
gymnastic classes has been for years one of the most thronged events on the
program, and in anticipation the Amphitheater is filled long in advance of
the hour for beginning the exercises.
Among the lecturers of this season were Mrs. Alden, "Pansy," who read
a new story, The Hall in the Grove; Dr. William R. Harper, Dr. Frank W.
Gunsaulus, Dr. Joseph Cook, Dr. Talmage, Dr. Hale, General Russell A.
Alger, and George W. Bain. Dr. Phillips Brooks, giant in body and in soul,
preached one of his sermons, sweeping in swift utterances like a tidal wave.
One hardly dared draw a breath for fear of losing his mighty periods.
Bishop William Taylor of Africa, was also present, and thrilled his hearers,
yet in a calm, quiet manner, absolutely free from any oratorical display.
There was a charm in his address and the most critical hearers felt it, yet
could not analyze it. I met, not at Chautauqua but elsewhere, a lawyer who
admitted that he rarely attended church because he could not endure the dull
sermons; but after listening to Bishop Taylor, said that if he could hear that
man he would go to church twice, even three times, on a Sunday. And yet in
all his discourse there was not a rhetorical sentence nor a rounded period.
Mr. Leon H. Vincent was again at Chautauqua, with his literary lectures.
Either during this season or the one when he came next—for he was
generally present every alternate year—it became necessary to move Leon
Vincent's lectures from the Hall of Philosophy to the Amphitheater, on
account of the number who were eager to hear them. Among those who
gave readings were Mr. Charles F. Underhill of New York, Mr. George
Riddle, and Professor R. L. Cumnock.
The Methodists, both of the North and the South, have always formed a
large element in the Chautauqua constituency, partly because of their
number throughout the continent, but also because both the Founders of the
Assembly were members of that church. This year, 1888, the Methodist

House was opened, in the center of the ground, and at once became the
social rallying place of the denomination. Its chapel, connected with the
House, was built afterward by the all-year residents at Chautauqua as the
home of the community church, which is open to all and attended by all, the
only church having a resident pastor and holding services through the year,
nominally under the Methodist system, but practically undenominational.
In May, 1888, Dr. John H. Vincent, after twenty years in charge of the
Sunday School work as Secretary and Editor, was elected and consecrated a
Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. For some years his episcopal
residence was at Buffalo, within easy distance of Chautauqua, but his new
duties required him to travel even more widely than before, and he needed
an assistant to care for the work of the Assembly. Mr. George E. Vincent,
able son of distinguished father, was this year appointed Vice-Principal of
Instruction, and assumed a closer supervision of the program of
Chautauqua.
In this year, also, Dr. William Rainey Harper was made Principal of the
College of Liberal Arts, all the departments of the Summer School being
under his direction. Another name appears on the record of 1888, the name
of Alonzo A. Stagg, haloed in the estimate of young Chautauqua with a
glory even surpassing that of the two Founders. For Stagg, just graduated
from Yale, could curve a baseball more marvelously than any other man in
America. He was one of the instructors in the gymnasium, and organized a
team that played with most of the baseball clubs for miles around
Chautauqua, almost invariably winning the game. It was said that the
athletic field rivaled the Amphitheater in its crowds when Stagg played.

CHAPTER XVI
A NEW LEAF IN LUKE'S GOSPEL
(1889-1892)

The Assembly of 1889 opened on July 3d and continued fifty-five days,
to August 26th. Several new buildings had arisen since the last session. One
was the Anne M. Kellogg Memorial Hall, built by Mr. James H. Kellogg of
Rochester, New York, in honor of his mother. In it were rooms for
kindergarten, clay modeling, china painting, and a meeting place for the
Chautauqua W. C. T. U. It stood originally on the site of the present
Colonnade Building, the business block, and was moved to its present
location to make room for that building. Mr. Kellogg was an active worker
in the Sunday School movement and from the beginning a regular visitor at
Chautauqua. Another building of this year was the one formerly known as
the Administration Office, on Clark Avenue in front of the book-store and
the old Museum, now the Information Bureau and the School of
Expression. When the offices of the Institution were removed to the
Colonnade, the old Administration Building was given up to business, and it
is now known as a lunch-room. The School of Physical Culture, under Dr.
W. G. Anderson, had grown to such an extent that a new gymnasium had
become a necessity, and one had been erected on the lake-front. In the
newer part of the grounds many private cottages arose, of more tasteful
architecture than the older houses.

Chautauqua Woman's Club House Rustic Bridge

A notable event of this season was the visit of former President
Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. Among the lecturers of 1889 we find the
name of Mr. Donald G. Mitchell, whose Reveries of a Bachelor and Dream-
Life, published under the pseudonym of Ik Marvel, are recognized classics
in American literature. Other eminent men on the platform were Professor
Hjalmar H. Boyesen of Columbia University, Professor J. P. Mahaffy of
Dublin University, Dr. Lyman Abbott, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, Dr.
Washington Gladden, Dr. John Henry Barrows, Professor Frederick Starr,
who could make anthropology interesting to those who had never studied it,
Professor Herbert B. Adams, and Corporal Tanner, the U. S. Commissioner
of Pensions, a veteran who walked on two cork legs, but was able to stand
up and give a heart-warming address to the old soldiers. Dr. W. R. Harper,
who was teaching in the School of Theology, gave a course of lectures on
the Hebrew prophets. Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, one of the great preachers of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, delivered a sermon on one of the Sundays.
The South sent us an able lecturer in Richard Malcolm Johnson. The orator
on Recognition Day, of the Class of '89, was Dr. David Swing of Chicago,
who spoke on "The Beautiful and the Useful." Dr. Russell H. Conwell gave
some lectures, abundant in their illustrative stories.

I think that this was the year, but am not certain, when Dr. Conwell
preached one Sunday in the Amphitheater a sermon of remarkable
originality, listened to with the closest attention by his hearers, because he
kept them guessing as to his subject until he was more than half-way
through. He said in opening, "I will give my text at the end of the sermon, if
I don't forget it; but I will tell you my subject. I am going to speak of a man
whom our Lord called the Model Church Member." We all began
wondering who that man was, but nobody could recall him. He said that this
model man lived among the mountains, and spoke of the influence of
surroundings upon character; then that where he lived there were two
churches, one large, the other small, one aristocratic and popular, the other
of the lower classes, despised; and that this man was a member of the
church looked down upon; but these facts gave us no hint as to the model
man's identity. He puzzled us once more by saying that this was a business
man who had good credit, and we were still in the fog;—when did Jesus
ever talk about credit? Then he told in graphic manner, making it seem as if
it had happened the day before, the story of the Good Samaritan, and the
problem was solved. But he astonished us again by saying, "There was one
part of this story which for some reason St. Luke left out of his gospel, and
I am going to tell it now";—and of course everybody was eager to hear a
brand-new Bible story not found in the Scriptures. He told that this man
who had been robbed and beaten on the Jericho road, after his recovery at
the inn, went home to Jerusalem, met his family, and then took his two boys
up to the Temple to return thanks for his restoration. The service in all its
splendor was described. One boy said, "Father, see that priest waving a
censer! What a good man he must be!" But the man said, "My boy, don't
look at that hypocrite! That is the very priest who left me to die beside the
road!" After a few minutes, the younger boy said, "See that Levite blowing
a trumpet! He looks like a good man, doesn't he?" And the father said, "My
boys, that is the very Levite that passed me by when I was lying wounded!
Let us go away from this place." And then one of the boys said, "Let us find
the church of the Good Samaritan, and worship there." And Dr. Conwell
added, "My text is, 'Go thou and do likewise!'" No one who heard that
sermon, so full of surprises, could ever forget it.
The elocutionary readers who entertained us during that season were
Professor Cumnock, A. P. Burbank, George Riddle, George W. Cable,

reading his own stories, and Mr. Leland Powers of Boston, with his
rendering of David Copperfield, several other stories, and a play or two.
Without the aid of costume or "making up," it was wonderful how he could
change facial expression, and voice, and manner instantaneously with his
successive characters. We saw Mr. Micawber transformed in an instant into
Uriah Heep. From 1889, Mr. Powers was a frequent visitor, and his
rendering of novels and plays enraptured the throngs in the Amphitheater.
For many seasons he was wont to appear on alternate years. On Old First
Night, when the call was made for those present on the successive years,
while the regulars stood up and remained standing as each year was named,
it was interesting to watch the down-sittings and uprisings of Leland
Powers. But we shall hear his voice no more, for even while we are writing
the news of his death comes to us.
In this year, 1889, the musical classes were organized as the Chautauqua
School of Music, with instructors in all departments. Inasmuch as all people
do not enjoy the sound of a piano, practicing all day scales and exercises, a
place was found in the rear of the grounds for a village of small cottages,
some might call them "huts," each housing a piano for lessons and practice.
I am told that forty-eight pianos may be heard there all sending out music at
once, and each a different tune.
The year 1889 brought another man to Chautauqua who was well-
beloved and will be long remembered, the pianist and teacher, William H.
Sherwood, who showed himself a true Chautauquan by his willing, helpful
spirit, no less than by his power on the piano. When death stilled those
wondrous fingers, Mr. Sherwood's memory was honored by the Sherwood
Memorial Studios, dedicated in 1912.
When we realize that Chautauqua is a city of frame-buildings, packed
closely together on narrow streets, in the early years having exceedingly
inadequate protection against fires, we almost wonder that it has never been
overswept by a conflagration. From time to time there have been fires, most
of them a benefit in clearing away old shacks of the camp-meeting strata;
and one took place on a night during the season of 1889. It swept away a
row of small houses along the southwestern border of Miller Park, toward
the Land of Palestine. Their site was kept unoccupied, leaving a clear view
of the lake, except on one corner where a handsome building was erected,

the Arcade. While the main entrance to the grounds was at the Pier, this was
a prosperous place of business, but after the back door became the front
door, through the coming of the Chautauqua Traction Company, giving
railroad connection with the outside world, the business center of
Chautauqua shifted to streets up the hill.
The year 1890 came, bringing the seventeenth session of the Assembly.
This was the year when the Presbyterian House was opened, and also the C.
L. S. C. building, erected by Flood and Vincent, for Mr. George E. Vincent
was now a partner with Dr. Flood in publishing The Chautauquan
Magazine and the books of the C. L. S. C. Subsequently the business of
publication was assumed by the Institution, and the building has been for
many years the book-store, with rooms on the floor above for classes in the
School of Expression.
An announcement in the program of the College of Liberal Arts was that
a School of Journalism would be conducted by Hamilton Wright Mabie,
essayist, and one of the editors of The Outlook. Leon H. Vincent gave
another course of literary lectures. Dr. Henry L. Wayland of Philadelphia
was one of the speakers. John Habberton, author of the "best seller" some
years before, Helen's Babies, lectured, read, joined the C. L. S. C. Class of
1894, and was made its President. Dr. Francis E. Clark, father of the
Christian Endeavor Society, came and was greeted by a host of young
Endeavorers. Dr. Alexander McKenzie of Cambridge, Mass., preached a
great sermon. Mr. Robert J. Burdette, at that time an editor, but afterwards a
famous Baptist preacher, gave one of his wisely-witty lectures. The Hon.
John Jay, worthy son of one of New York's most distinguished families,
gave an address. Dr. Fairbairn of Oxford was again among us, with his deep
lectures, yet clear as the waters of Lake Tahoe. The orator on Recognition
Day was Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, whose term as President made
Wellesley great. Mr. Thomas Nelson Page gave readings from his own
stories of southern life before the Civil War. A young man appeared on the
platform for the first time, but not the last, who was destined to stand forth
in a few years as one of the foremost of Americans. This was Theodore
Roosevelt, whose lectures at Chautauqua were later expanded into the
volumes on The Winning of the West. Colonel Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, soldier and historian, also gave lectures.

At the opening of the season in 1891, the members of the Chautauqua
Circle counted more than a hundred thousand. Nine classes had been
graduated, another large class was to receive its diplomas during that
summer, and there were three undergraduate classes each of nearly twenty
thousand members, with another class as large in prospect. Only a small
section of each class could be present at Chautauqua, the vast majority of its
members being far away, some in distant lands. But among those who came
to the Assembly, the social spirit was strong. They loved to meet each other,
held social reunions and business meetings constantly. Each of the four
oldest classes, from '82 to '85, had its own building as headquarters, but all
the later classes were homeless and in need of homes. It was a great boon to
these classes when at last, in 1891, the C. L. S. C. Alumni Hall was
completed and opened. Its eight class-rooms were distributed by lot and
furnished by the gifts of the members. As new classes were organized year
after year, they were welcomed by the classes already occupying the rooms.
It was not many years before each room became the home of two classes,
then after eight years more of three classes, meeting on different days, but
united in the general reception on the evening before the Recognition Day.
Beside the eight class-rooms on the second floor of the Alumni Building
there is a large hall which is used before the Recognition Day by the
graduating class, and during the rest of the season by the new entering class.
In 1916, after the death of Miss Kate F. Kimball, Secretary of the C. L. S.
C, this hall was named "The Kimball Room." The Alumni Building with its
wide porches became at Chautauqua a social center for the members of the
Circle and many have been the friendships formed there. On this season of
1891 the United Presbyterian House was opened.
The section of the Summer Schools formerly known as The Teachers'
Retreat, but now beginning to be called "The School of Pedagogy," was this
year (1891) under the direction of that master-teacher and inspiring leader,
Colonel Francis W. Parker of Chicago. He gave several lectures on the
principles of teaching, but many besides the teachers listened to them with
equal interest and profit. One of these lectures was entitled, "The Artisan
and the Artist"; the artisan representing those in every vocation of life who
do their work by rule; the artist, those who pay little attention to regulations,
but teach, or preach, or design buildings, or paint pictures out of their
hearts; and these are the Pestalozzis, the Michael Angelos, the Beechers of

their several professions. We had a course of delightful essay-lectures in the
Hall of Philosophy by Miss Agnes Repplier. The Rabbi of the Temple
Emanuel in New York, Dr. Gustave Gottheil, gave some enlightening
lectures upon the principles of the Jewish faith. At that time a prominent
Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Edward McGlynn, was in rebellion against
the hierarchy of his church, and maintaining a vigorous controversy in
behalf of religious freedom. He had been dismissed from one of the largest
churches in New York, and with voice and pen was denouncing the Pope,
Cardinals, and Bishops. Father McGlynn came to Chautauqua and delivered
a powerful address in the Amphitheater, pouring forth a torrent of language,
shot as from a rapid-firing cannon. While at Chautauqua he was entertained
at a dinner in one of the cottages with a number of invited guests. From the
moment of meeting at the table, he began to talk in his forceful manner,
never stopping to take breath. Dr. Buckley was present and several times
opened his mouth but found no chance to interject a word, which was an
unusual state of affairs for one who generally led the conversation.

Post-Office Building

The Business and Administration Building

Another speaker who was heard with interest was Jacob A. Riis, with his
illustrated lecture on "How the Other Half Lives." Mr. Riis was only a
newspaper reporter, not occupying an editorial chair, but Theodore
Roosevelt spoke of him as "New York's most useful citizen." The cause of
woman suffrage and reform had a splendid showing this season, for Frances
E. Willard, Anna Howard Shaw, Susan B. Anthony, and Mary A. Livermore,
all spoke upon the Amphitheater platform. A visitor who made many friends
was Rev. Dr. Percival, headmaster of Rugby School. Julia Ward Howe gave
interesting reminiscences of Longfellow, Emerson, and other literary lights
whom she had known intimately. John Fiske, one of America's greatest
historians, gave a course of lectures on the discovery and settlement of this
continent. Another historian whom we heard was John Bach McMaster,
whose lectures were like a series of dissolving views, picture succeeding
picture, each showing the great events and the great men of their period. In
this year Dr. Horatio R. Palmer assumed charge of the musical department,
and for the first time waved his baton before the great chorus in the
Amphitheater gallery.

As everybody knows, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of
America was observed everywhere in 1892. Chautauqua commemorated it
in lectures on Columbus and his fellow-voyagers, and by a pageant
presenting scenes from the history. The Chautauqua class graduating that
year was named the Columbia Class, and as its members, several hundred
strong, marched in the procession, Chancellor Vincent was astonished to see
in the line his wife, wearing the graduating badge of cardinal ribbon. She
had read the course through four years and kept it a secret from him,
revealed for the first time at that Recognition service. The address on that
day was delivered by Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus on "The Ideal of Culture."
Among the chief speakers in 1892 we find the names of two Presidents
of Cornell University, Dr. Andrew D. White and Dr. James G. Schurman;
Dr. J. Monro Gibson, a London pastor and one of the Board of Counsel of
the C. L. S. C. was with us; also Ballington Booth, Henry Watterson, the
journalist, and President Merrill E. Gates of Amherst College. At this
session also the Girls' Club was organized and conducted by Miss Mary H.
Mather of Wilmington, Del.
In the announcements of this year, the title of Chautauqua University
was allowed to lapse, and in place of it appeared "The Chautauqua System
of Education."

CHAPTER XVII
CLUB LIFE AT CHAUTAUQUA
(1893-1896)

When the Chautauquans gathered for the twentieth Assembly on July 1,
1893, they found some changes had taken place. The old Amphitheater,
which had faithfully served its generation, but had fallen into decrepitude,
no longer lifted its forest of wooden pillars over the ravine. In its place
stood a new Amphitheater, more roomy and far more suitable to the needs
of the new day. It was covered by a trussed roof supported by steel columns
standing around the building, so that from every seat was an unobstructed
view of the platform. The choir-gallery was enlarged to provide seats for
five hundred. The platform was brought further into the hall, making room
for an orchestra. The seats were more comfortable, and could now hold
without crowding fifty-six hundred people. A few years later, the old organ
gave place to a greater and better one, the gift of the Massey family of
Toronto, a memorial of their father, the late Hart A. Massey, one of the early
Trustees of the Assembly. Under the choir-loft and on either side of the
organ, rooms were arranged for offices and classes in the Department of
Music.
During the previous season, 1892, a Men's Club had been organized and
had found temporary quarters. It now possessed a home on the shore of the
Lake, beside Palestine Park. In its rooms were games of various sorts,
cards, however, being still under the ban at Chautauqua.[2] Newspapers and
periodicals, shower-baths, and an out-of-door parlor on the roof, very
pleasant except on the days when the lake flies invaded it. The Men's Club
building had formerly been the power house of the electrical plant, but one
who had known it of old would scarcely recognize it as reconstructed,
enlarged, and decorated. To make a place for the dynamo of the electric
system, an encroachment had been made upon Palestine Park; a cave had
been dug under Mount Lebanon, and the dynamo installed within its walls.
The age of King Hiram of Tyre, who cut the cedars of Lebanon for

Solomon's Temple, and the age of Edison, inventor of the electric light,
were thus brought into incongruous juxtaposition. A chimney funnel on the
summit of Mount Lebanon, it must be confessed, seemed out of place, and
the Valley of Coele-Syria, between Lebanon and Hermon, was entirely
obliterated. Bible students might shake their heads disapprovingly, but even
sacred archæology must give way to the demands of civilization.
An improvement less obvious to the eye, but more essential to health,
was the installation of a complete sewer system. As the sewage is not
allowed to taint the water of the lake, it is carried by pipes to a disposal
plant at the lower end of the ground and chemically purified. The water
rendered as clear as crystal is then permitted to run into the lake, while the
sludge is pressed by machinery into cakes used as fertilizer. An artesian
well on high ground supplies pure water in abundance, with taps at
convenient places for families. Originally the water in use came from wells.
These were carefully tested by scientific experts, and most of them were
condemned, but a few were found to give forth pure water and are still in
use, though frequently and carefully tested. Near the Men's Club is a spring
of mineral water containing sulphur and iron. It has the approval of
chemists and physicians, and many drink it for its healthful effect.
One who looks over the programs of Chautauqua through successive
years will notice the number of the clubs for various classes and ages.
Largest of all is the Woman's Club, of which Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller
was the first President, succeeded by Mrs. B. T. Vincent, and carried on
under her leadership for many years. When on account of failing health
Mrs. Vincent felt compelled to resign her office, her place was taken by
Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker of Texas, who had been President of the General
Federation of Woman's Clubs in the United States. This Club includes more
than two thousand members, and its daily meeting in the Hall of Philosophy
brings together a throng, often too large for the building. In 1918 the Club
purchased a cottage fronting on the lake, near the Hotel Athenæum, as a
headquarters, a place for social gatherings and rest rooms for women.
Besides the Women's Clubs and the Men's Club, there are at least a
dozen other associations of people having tastes and interests bringing them
together. We will name the most important of these without regard to their
chronological order.

There is the Athletic Club for men and boys over sixteen, directing the
organized sports and providing all forms of out-of-door recreation. It has a
club house on the lake with bowling alleys and boat room, shower baths
and lockers, and a reading room.
The Golf Club has a nine-hole course, situated on the rising ground of
eighty acres opposite the traction station. The money has been contributed
for a Country Club House, soon to be built at the entrance. The donors, it is
understood, are Mr. Stephen J. Munger of Dallas, Texas, one of the
Trustees, his wife, and Mrs. Frank B. Wilcox of St. Petersburg, Florida, in
memory of her husband.
Chautauquans of some years' standing will remember the old croquet
ground, where now stands the Colonnade, and the group of solemn gray-
beards who used to frequent it and knock the balls through the big arches all
day. No matter what popular lecturer was speaking in the Amphitheater, the
passer-by would find that same serious company. I used to pass them while
going to my home and coming from it several times each day. On one
occasion I stopped and struck up an acquaintance with a tall old gentleman
who always wore a high hat and a long double-breasted coat. I learned that
he was the President of a Bank among the mountains of Pennsylvania, and
that he had come to Chautauqua suffering from nervous prostration, making
him utterly unable to do business and scarcely desiring to live. He passed
the croquet court, sat down, and was invited to play. He began and found
himself, for the first time in many months, actually interested in doing
something. He began to enjoy his meals and to sleep at night. All that
summer he played croquet, never listening to a lecture, and at the end of the
season went home almost well. From that time croquet became more than
his recreation, almost his business. He told me that there were others like
himself who found health and a new enjoyment of life in the game. When
the ground was needed for the new business block, the courts were removed
to the ravine on the other side of the grounds, near the gymnasium. About
that time croquet was developed into a more scientific game, a sort of
billiardized croquet, with walls from which a ball would rebound, and
arches a quarter of an inch—or is it only an eighth of an inch?—wider than
the ball. To find a name for the new game they struck off the first and last
letters, so that croquet became Roque, and in due time the Roque Club
arose, with a group of players who live and breathe and have their being for

this game. People come from far, and I am told, to attend its tournaments at
every season.
There is also a Quoit Club meeting on the ground near Higgins Hall,
beside the road leading up College Hill.
The Young Woman's Club is for those over fifteen years of age, while
the Girl's Club has its membership between eight and fifteen, meets in its
own Club House near the roque courts, and is enthusiastically sought by
those no longer little girls, yet not quite young women.
Wherever one walks around Chautauqua he is sure to see plenty of boys
in blue sweaters bearing on their bosoms the monogram in big letters C. B.
C, initials of the Chautauqua Boys' Club. They too have their headquarters
near the athletic field and find something doing there all day long.

Sherwood Memorial Studios

Traction Station

For the little ones, there is the kindergarten at Kellogg Hall, and out of
doors beside it the playground, where the tots make cities out of sand and
find other pleasures. And we must not forget the Children's Paradise, the

completely equipped playground in the ravine at the northwestern part of
the grounds. I remember hearing Jacob A. Riis, the father of the city
playgrounds, say in one of his lectures: "They tell me that the boys play ball
in the streets of New York and break windows when the ball goes out of the
way. Good! I hope they will break more windows until the city fixes up
playgrounds for them!" Jacob Riis lived long enough to see at Chautauqua
one of the finest playgrounds, and to find in it one of the happiest crowds of
children on the continent. One blessing for tired mothers at Chautauqua is
that their children are in safekeeping. They may be turned loose, for they
can't get outside the fence, and in the clubs and playgrounds they are under
the wisest and most friendly care.
There are Modern Language Clubs in French and Spanish, with
conversations, recitations, and songs in these languages. "No English
Spoken Here," might be written over their doors, although nearly all their
members elsewhere do their talking in the American patois. There was a
German Club, but it was suspended during the war, when German was an
unpopular language and has not yet been reëstablished.
The Music Club holds gatherings, in the Sherwood Music Studios on
College Hill.
There is a Press Club, composed of men and women who write books
and articles for publication. They hold social receptions for acquaintance
among wielders of the quill; perhaps it would be more accurate, though less
classic, to say, "pounders of the typewriter." Several times each season they
have an "Author's Night," when well-known writers, some of them famous,
read their own productions.
There is a Lawyers' Club, a Masonic Club, and a Grange Club, the latter
having its own building of Greek architecture; also a College Fraternity
Club of the wearers of sundry pins and keys.
The Bird and Tree Club has a large and representative membership of
those interested in identifying and protecting the fauna, flora, and bird life
of Chautauqua and its vicinity. On the Overlook, beyond the Athletic Field,
they have established a herbarium for the preservation of the different forms
of trees found on the ground.

We must group together, begging pardon of the members, many other
organizations, such as the W. C. T. U. All Americans know, some of them to
their cost, what those four letters stand for; the Y. W. C. A., which has
opened a Hospitality House of Welcome and Rest on Pratt Avenue; the
Daughters of the American Revolution, coming from every part of the land
for gatherings at Chautauqua; the Order of the Eastern Star, whose secrets
none but the initiated know; the College Men's Club, the College Women's
Club, the Ministers' Club, and there used to be, perhaps is still, an
Octogenarians' Club, whose members must swear to eighty years of life.
The King's Daughters and King's Sons meet weekly at the Pier Buildings,
and the Chautauqua Education Council, made up of Superintendents,
principals and teachers, holds two regular sessions each week. If there are
any more clubs, and their titles are sent to the author of this book, they will
appear in the new edition, after the first hundred thousand copies are
disposed of.
But we are forgetting the title of this chapter and must name some of
those who helped to make Chautauqua successful during the quadrennium
between '92 and '96. In 1893 Henry Drummond repeated at Chautauqua his
Lowell lectures in Boston on "The Ascent of Man." There were still some
old-fashioned "kiver to kiver" believers in the verbal inspiration of the
Bible who were alarmed to find an eminent Christian leader accept so fully
the conclusions of science; but the overwhelming sentiment of Chautauqua
was of rejoicing at his harmonizing the most evangelical religion with the
most advanced scholarship. Jane Addams gave some lectures on modern
problems of family and social life; Edward Eggleston, long before a leader
of the Sunday School Army, by turns preacher, story-writer (his Hoosier
School-Master marked an epoch in American literature, say the critics) and
historian, was with us once more after many years of absence. He said in an
introduction, "I am glad to be again among Sunday School workers, real
crazy people, for I believe that nobody can be a first-class Sunday School
man unless he has a little crack in his head on that subject." Frank G.
Carpenter, who had traveled in almost every land of earth, told us stories of
his experiences and observations; Kate Douglas Wiggin read charmingly
some of her own stories; Mr. John Temple Graves spoke in his fine rounded
periods on some topics of the time; Hon. Roswell G. Horr of Michigan
instructed while he entertained us. Dr. A. J. Palmer, who had thrilled the old

soldiers with his "Company D," now gave another lecture to them on
"Comrades." Besides these we heard on the platform Dr. Philip S. Moxom,
Professor George H. Palmer of Harvard, and his wife, Alice Freeman
Palmer; President Harper, Dr. Von Hoist; Dr. Conwell, and Dr. Joseph
Cook, returning to the platform with restored vigor after some years of
nervous breakdown. Miss Willard was with us again, and with her Lady
Henry Somerset of England, the head of the W. C. T. U. in that land.
In 1894 the Department of Elocution took a new title, "The School of
Expression," and enlarged its sphere under Professor S. H. Clark of the
University of Chicago, and Mrs. Emily M. Bishop. The program of the
years shows the school of Political Science to be remarkably strong, with
such teachers as Dr. Herman Von Holst, Herbert B. Adams of Johns
Hopkins, and another Dr. Adams of Yale. Professor Graham Taylor of
Chicago spoke on social questions, capital and labor. Hon. Theodore
Roosevelt, already rising to fame, was again on the platform. General James
A. Beaver, ex-governor of Pennsylvania; Professor Richard G. Moulton;
Hon. Carroll D. Wright, United States Commissioner of Labor; Mr.
Anthony Comstock, and Dr. E. E. Hale, Chautauqua's strong friend, were
some of the speakers. Dr. Hale, always original in his methods, said that he
had only thirty minutes to speak on "Poverty and Pauperism." He began by
saying, "I will stand on one side of this desk and speak fifteen minutes on
poverty." He showed in seven points that every one of us belonged to the
class named "poverty" and each one should help the others. Then he walked
over to the other side and gave seven points on "pauperism," for which
there were reasons but no excuses. Poverty was a blessing; most of the
world's greatest benefactors have been poor men; but pauperism is an
unmitigated evil and should be stamped out of existence. General O. O.
Howard, U. S. A., was again on the platform in 1894, also President
William H. Crawford of Allegheny College, whose lecture on "Savonarola"
made a deep impression. There was great interest to see and hear Miss
Helen Keller, the wonderful girl, blind, deaf, and dumb, who had learned to
speak without hearing a voice, and had been graduated from Radcliffe
College of Harvard University with the highest honor. Another of the
lecturers was Mr. Jahu DeWitt Miller, whose private talk was as good as his
public lectures, which is high praise. The Recognition Day address this year
was by Dr. E. E. Hale, on "The Education of a Prince," the prince being the

poorest child living in America. It is worth remembering that a photograph
of the procession on that day shows at the head of the flower-girl division—
which now included boys, although the girls were still in the majority—two
mites of children, one Paul Vincent Harper, son of President Harper, the
other Isabel Vincent, the daughter of Professor George E. Vincent. Those
same children are now Mr. and Mrs. Paul Vincent Harper of Chicago, still
walking together.
In 1895, the season extended through fifty-nine days, from June 29th to
August 26th. Two new buildings, besides many new cottages, were now
upon the ground. One was the Baptist headquarters on Clark Street, the
other Higgins Hall on College Hill, built by the gift of Governor Higgins of
New York State. In the Schools during this season strong emphasis was laid
on the Department of English, with such instructors as Professor C. T.
Winchester of Wesleyan, Professor A. S. Cook of Yale, Professor Sherman
of the University of Nebraska, and Professor Lewis of the University of
Chicago. The last named gentleman bore a striking resemblance to the
portraits of Shakespeare; so that as he walked around (habitually without a
hat on his head) everybody was struck with the likeness. I was told that
when he sat down at Shakespeare's traditional school-desk in Stratford, a
crowd gathered before the windows and the word was passed around
"Shakespeare has come to life again!"
Other speakers in 1895 were Professor Richard G. Moulton, Dr. Josiah
Strong, President G. Stanley Hall, Professor Francis G. Peabody of
Harvard, Major J. B. Pond, Dr. John Henry Barrows, Dr. Edward Everett
Hale, President Harper, Prof. John Fiske, Principal Fairbairn, and the
distinguished General of the Confederate Army, John B. Gordon, Senator
from Georgia. His lecture on "The Last Days of the Confederacy," was one
of the great occasions of the season, and it was noteworthy that many
veterans of the G. A. R. were among the loudest in their applause when
their foe of thirty years before came upon the platform. Another event of the
summer was the visit of Governor William McKinley of Ohio, a year before
his nomination and election to the Presidency. During this season also we
were entertained with readings by Professor S. H. Clark, Mr. Will M.
Carleton, and Miss Ida Benfey.

In the year 1895 another movement was begun at Chautauqua, which
like the W. C. T. U. has swept over the entire continent and wrought
mightily for the public welfare. At a Kindergarten Mothers' Meeting during
the session, Mrs. Theodore W. Birney of Georgia, gave an address urging a
National Congress of Mothers, and her appeal awakened a prompt response.
Many of those who had listened to her carried her message to their own
home-towns; Mrs. Birney at women's clubs and gatherings gave her plea
over and over; and when the General Federation of Women's clubs held its
convention in her native State of Georgia she presented the proposition to
the members. From that convention in 1896, a call was issued for a National
Congress of Mothers, to be held in the National Capital. Mrs. Birney gave a
year of tireless and wise preparation for the meeting, which began on
February 17, 1897. She was called to be President of the National Congress,
with Miss Mary Louisa Butler as Organizing Secretary. The work was aided
by the wide-reaching influence and liberal gifts of Mrs. Phebe A. Hearst,
who has been rightly called the Lady Bountiful of the movement. Out of
this National Congress grew the holding of State-congresses in every part of
the country and the organization of local branches in almost every city. The
Congress of Mothers now has its central office in Washington, D. C. It is
divided into twenty-five departments of work—such as Americanization,
Child Hygiene, Child Labor, Education, Mothers' Circles, Thrift, and many
others, each having its chairman and plan of effective work. Out of a
meeting at Chautauqua, in 1895, has grown a nation-wide movement in aid
of mothers and teachers.

Arts and Crafts Building

Miller Bell Tower

In 1896 the schools were again reorganized under Dr. Harper's
supervision. The School of Fine Arts and the New York Summer Institute
for Teachers were new departments, the latter under the direction of the

Regents of the New York State University. The School of Sacred Literature
was increased in its faculty, having among them President Harper, Professor
Shailer Mathews, and Professor D. A. McClenahan of the United
Presbyterian Theological School. Prominent among the lecturers this year
were Dr. George Adam Smith of Scotland, Dr. Gunsaulus, Rev. S. Parkes
Cadman, Dr. Booker T. Washington, Rev. Dr. George A. Gordon, Dr.
Charles F. Aked, then of England, but soon to become an American,
Professor F. G. Peabody, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, soon afterward the
President of Columbia University, and Dr. Russell H. Conwell. A lady
appeared on the platform whose experience had been unlike that of any
other woman in the land. This was Mrs. Robert E. Peary, who accompanied
her husband on one of his North Pole explorations and had a daughter born
within the polar circle—"The snow baby," as she was called. She gave a
lecture with stereopticon views descriptive of the life in the frozen North.
Another woman gave a lecture this year upon her travels in Equatorial
Africa, Miss Jessie T. Ackerman. President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard
University gave the oration on Recognition Day, his subject being
"America's Contribution to Civilization." In looking through the list of the
speakers on Recognition Day, I find the names of no less than ten college
presidents, and also that of the Hon. William T. Harris, United States
Commissioner of Education, who might be regarded as standing at the head
of the nation's educational system. The value of Chautauqua as a force in
education has been fully recognized by the highest authorities.

FOOTNOTE:
[2] From the Handbook of Information published by the Chautauqua
Institution (1918) we give the following extract. "The Chautauqua tradition
which taboos card playing and social dancing, and the rule which forbids the
sale or importation of alcoholic beverages, disclose the influence which
dominated the early life of the Assembly. As to card playing and dancing, the
tradition is preserved not because all agree in condemning these things in
themselves, but because they are deemed unsuitable to Chautauqua conditions
and even hostile to its life. It is believed that they would prove divisive and
distracting, and that they suggest a very different type of society from that which
Chautauqua seeks to set up for a few summer weeks. Chautauqua, therefore,
disapproves these diversions as not only unnecessary, but as involving
disintegrating influences. The fact that many who indulge in these amusements

at home express gratification that they are not permitted at Chautauqua is
significant."

CHAPTER XVIII
ROUNDING OUT THE OLD CENTURY
(1897-1900)

The Chautauqua session of 1897 was fifty-nine days long, from June
26th to August 23rd. This year the School of Domestic Science, directed by
Mrs. Emma P. Ewing, attracted attention. Almost as many ladies whose
cookery was accomplished by servants, as those who broiled their own
steaks and baked their own puddings, met in Mrs. Ewing's model kitchen,
learning to make bread, to prepare appetizing sauces and dressings, and to
learn how to serve tables with refinement. I remember hearing one lady
remark that until she had received Mrs. Ewing's instruction she had never
really known how to make good bread.
Among those who gave lectures in 1897, we find the names of Anna
Howard Shaw, Ballington and Maud Booth, Bishop (better known as
Chaplain) McCabe; quite a list of college presidents—Goucher of
Baltimore, Hyde of Bowdoin, Harper of Chicago, John Finley of New York,
and G. Stanley Hall of Clark; also Professor Graham Taylor, Mr. Percy
Alden of England, and Mr. Jacob Riis. A new reader of noble presence, rich
voice, and rare dramatic power, recited on the platform of the Amphitheater
and assisted in the School of Expression—Mrs. Bertha Kunz Baker, who
was to entertain us through many years. Professor Clark gave readings; Mr.
George W. Cable rendered a number of his own stories; Mrs. Jessie
Eldridge Southwick and Miss Katherine Oliver also gave recitals.
After Dr. Vincent's election as Bishop in 1888, he found it increasingly
difficult to supervise the ever-increasing work of Chautauqua. Often during
the Assembly season he would be compelled to hold conferences in the far
west, and one year in South America. In 1896, his episcopal residence was
changed from Buffalo to Topeka, Kansas, and in 1900 he was removed to
Zurich, Switzerland, to take charge of Methodist missions in Europe. More
and more he delegated the care of Chautauqua to his son, who, one of the
most popular of lecturers, was supreme in his ability as administrator. In

1898 Professor George E. Vincent was formally appointed Principal of
Instruction, and very soon every department of Chautauqua, both in its
lecture platform and its educational work, felt the touch of a master hand.
Some of us oldsters who had loved Chautauqua from its earliest years, had
felt anxious for its future as we saw one of its Founders called aside into
other fields, and the other failing in strength, although we knew not how
near was his earthly end. But we all had a sense of relief and confidence
that the future of Chautauqua was assured when we found "George" taking
his father's place as executive in the Department of Instruction. The Bishop
retained the title of Chancellor, however, as long as he lived.
In 1898 a new building was erected on College Hill—The Hall of
Pedagogy. The report of the season's work showed that attendance had
increased in the schools twenty-five per cent. over the last year, the advance
being distributed quite evenly among the departments. By this time nearly
all the universities and many of the colleges were holding summer schools,
yet Chautauqua, first in the field, was still leading in its membership. This
year Chautauqua received a visit from Lord Aberdeen, the Governor-
General of the Dominion of Canada, and his wife, the Countess. Americans
are apt to look for a freezing dignity on the part of the higher nobility, and
some were a little surprised to find the Governor-General and his Lady
unreservedly approachable, and unaffectedly democratic in manner.
Some of those who gave lectures in 1898 were Dr. Richard T. Ely of the
University of Wisconsin, President Thirkield of Atlanta, afterward Bishop,
Dr. Moulton, Miss Jane Addams, Hon. Murat Halstead, General John B.
Eaton, Mr. Leon H. Vincent, Bishop Daniel A. Goodsell, Dr. J. H. Barrows,
President of Oberlin, President Faunce of Brown, Dr. Robert McIntyre, also
to become a Bishop in due time, Dr. Charles E. Jefferson of New York, Dr.
Amory H. Bradford of Montclair, N. J., and Mr. John Kendrick Bangs. Mr.
Leland Powers was with us on his biennial visit, and recitals were also
rendered by Mr. C. F. Underhill, Mr. John Fox, Miss Isabel Garghill, Mr.
Will Carleton, and Miss Ida Benfey. Up to that date, the season of 1898 was
one of the most successful in Chautauqua history.
At this time, the Chautauquan Magazine, the organ of the C. L. S. C.,
and the Daily Assembly Herald, were taken over by the trustees, and the
Chautauqua Press was established as the publishing agency for the

periodicals and books of the C. L. S. C. Mr. Frank Chapin Bray was
appointed Editor. By birth and education he was a thorough Chautauquan,
having, as it were, grown up on the ground from early childhood and gone
through all the courses from the Children's Class to the C. L. S. C. As a
small boy he had sold the Assembly Herald; as a young man had written for
its columns, and he is not the only journalist who took these steps upward to
a literary career.
The season of 1899 opened with a cloud hanging over Chautauqua,
bringing sorrow to one family and deepest sympathy from many.
On February 17, 1899, Lewis Miller died in a hospital in New York
where he had been taken to undergo an operation from which he failed to
rally. He was seventy years of age and had given his whole heart and the
best of his life to Chautauqua. But for Lewis Miller there would have been
no Chautauqua, though there might have been an Assembly under some
other name. He had chosen the place, had urged the location, and in its
inception had aided in its plans, had supervised its business interests, and
had contributed generously to its needs. At the opening of the "Old First
Night" service in August, 1899, the white lilies bloomed in his honor, but
instead of being waved, were held in solemn stillness for a full minute, and
then slowly lowered, and this memorial has been observed on every "Old
First Night" since. The names of Lewis Miller and John H. Vincent stand
together in equal honor as the two Founders of Chautauqua. Next to these
Founders we remember on "Old First Night" two of the Vice-Presidents of
the Board of Trustees, the late Francis H. Root of Buffalo, and Clem.
Studebaker of South Bend, Indiana, both wise counsellors and generous
givers to Chautauqua.
During the session of 1899, Theodore Roosevelt was for the third time
the guest of Chautauqua. The war with Spain had come and gone; he had
been Colonel of the Rough Riders, and was now Governor of New York.
One of those Rough Riders was young Theodore Miller, the son of the
Founder of Chautauqua, and the only Yale student to lay down his life in
that campaign. His memory is preserved by the Miller Gate on the
University campus. Another Governor was with us that summer, Robert L.
Taylor of Tennessee. The two brothers Taylor were the heads respectively of
the two political parties in their State, were candidates opposed to each

other, stumped the State together, slept together every night, played the
violin together at their meetings, and then after the concert, made their
speeches against one another. The writer of these pages may claim a humble
part in their careers, for both of them as boys, and also an older brother,
were students under his teaching in 1864 and '65 in Pennington Seminary,
New Jersey. We could tell some stories about those three Taylor boys, but
we refrain. I think that the Republican Taylor, Alfred, is even now (1920)
the Governor of Tennessee, as his brother was its Democratic Governor in
1899.
Another visitor of about this date, though we are not certain of the
precise year, was Mr. Horace Fletcher, whose name is in the dictionary in
the word "Fletcherize," which means to count the chewing of each mouthful
thirty times before swallowing it. We have tried some steaks in the early
Chautauquan days when fifty chews would hardly make an impression. He
spoke on the platform, and the few who could hear him said that his talk
was not about dietetics, but foreign politics, though the two words are
somewhat alike and they may have misunderstood him. His fiftieth birthday
came while he was at Chautauqua, and he celebrated it by doing some
amazing stunts, double somersaults, etc., into the lake at the diving place. I
sat at the table next to his at the Athenæum and noticed that he ate very
slowly, but I could not count the chews on each mouthful. A lady at the
same table told me that Mr. Fletcher eschewed coffee but put seven lumps
of sugar in his tea, calmly observing that his "system needed sugar." I know
some young people who have the same opinion concerning their own
systems, if one may judge by the fate of a box of chocolates in their hands.
In this year the School of Religious Teaching was reorganized, the
Department of Sacred Literature being conducted by Chancellor Wallace of
Toronto, and that of Religious Pedagogy, by Dr. J. R. Street. We may as
well insert here the fact that for many years before, and during the seasons
since that year, Sunday School lessons were taught in the morning and a
lecture given at the Park of Palestine in the afternoon by the author of this
volume. The plan with the lessons has been to give every morning a
preview of a coming Sunday School topic, so that by the close of the season
all the lessons for six months to come have been taught, and at Palestine
Park to treat the geography of the land historically in a series of lectures.
Also, it should be remembered that every Sunday of the Chautauqua season,

from the first year, a Sunday School has been held in the morning, for all
ages from youngest to oldest, the grades being taught in different places on
the grounds by specialists in their several departments. For some years, if
one strayed on Sunday morning over Palestine Park, he might find a class
of boys seated on the hills around Nazareth listening to a lesson on the
boyhood of Jesus, and a group of girls looking down on the Sea of Galilee,
while a teacher was telling stories of the tempest stilled and the five
thousand fed.
Prominent upon the lecture platform in 1899 were Prof. C. T.
Winchester, Dr. Charles E. Jefferson, Prof. John Fiske, Prof. A. B. Hart,
Bishop C. B. Galloway of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
President Faunce, Dr. George Adam Smith, Dr. E. E. Hale, and Governor G.
W. Atkinson of West Virginia. Mr. John Kendrick Bangs was also on the
platform with readings.
The year 1900 rounded out a century, and one of its outstanding events
at Chautauqua was a course of lectures by Principal Fairbairn of Oxford on
"The Nineteenth Century." He asserted that in the ages to come, this
hundred years will be looked upon as perhaps the greatest of all the
centuries in the world's progress made during that period. He spoke in turn
upon the historical, the political, the inventive, the literary, the religious,
and the philosophic progress, giving without a written reminder names,
dates, facts, processes of thought in the widest range. Many regarded it as
one of the ablest and most enlightening series of addresses that they had
ever heard.

South Gymnasium

Among the new faces on the platform we saw Dr. Lincoln Hulley, the
new President of the John B. Stetson University of Florida, an exceedingly
interesting speaker and a charming personality. We heard also Mr. Edward
Howard Griggs in a series of lectures in the Amphitheater, and an
appreciative class also met him in the school. From 1900 until the present,
Mr. Griggs has given us biennial courses, and on "Old First Night" his tall
form rises and sits down as the record is made up for every alternate year.
No lecturer on thoughtful subjects has more engagements or brings together
larger audiences than Mr. Griggs. Dean Charles D. Williams of Trinity
Cathedral, and in a few years Bishop (Protestant Episcopal) of Detroit, an
independent thinker and powerful preacher, welcomed both on the platform
and in the pulpit many times since that appearance, his first among us. I
think also that Professor Bliss Perry of Harvard spoke for the first time this
season, also President Benjamin Ide Wheeler. Others who came as old
friends were Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, President Henry Churchill King, Dr.
Graham Taylor, Dr. Cadman, Mr. Edward Howard Griggs, Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, Miss Susan B. Anthony, and Miss Jane Addams. I must not
forget that this summer Mr. Francis Wilson was with us again, and gave a
lecture upon Eugene Field and his poetry, an appreciation inspired by
friendship as well as literary insight. On a former visit to Chautauqua
Francis Wilson not only joined the C. L. S. C., but formed a reading circle
in his dramatic company, directing their studies and holding their literary

meetings in railroad stations, in hotel parlors, and in the green rooms of
theaters, wherever they chanced to be when the meeting day arrived.
On August 7, 1900, the corner stone of the Hall of Christ, "Aula Christi,"
was laid. The address on that occasion was given by Bishop James M.
Thoburn of India. Bishop Vincent was now living overseas in Zurich,
Switzerland, and could not be present. The stone was laid by Principal
George E. Vincent and a telegram from his father was read. This Hall was
one of the creations of Bishop Vincent's poetic mind. He aimed to make it a
building not large, but beautiful, a sort of shrine, a chapel for meditation
and prayer, a place of quiet, spiritual fellowship, not of class teaching, but
of thoughtful addresses on themes directly relating to our Lord. Bishop
Vincent did not possess the genius for raising large sums of money for his
conceptions; he shrank from pressing them upon rich men. Another
projector would have ventured boldly, demanded contributions and obtained
them, to build the Hall at once; but Dr. Vincent was delicate in speaking of
it, though all knew his ardent desires for this ideal. The building grew
slowly as gifts were received. Begun in 1899, it was not dedicated until
1912. Although no thought of his own honor in this building was in the
Founder's mind, yet to many it stands as his monument at Chautauqua.
Most appropriately it is used as the center for the Department of Religious
Work, and daily lectures are given within its walls on Biblical themes.
As Dr. George Vincent was now an associate professor in the University
of Chicago, it became necessary for him to have some assistance in the
management of the Chautauqua program and platform. Mr. Scott Brown
was this year appointed General Director and Vice-Principal of Instruction.

CHAPTER XIX
OPENING THE NEW CENTURY
(1901-1904)

The season of 1901 was the longest of any thus far, sixty days, from July
1st to August 29th. In the schools Manual Training was introduced under
the direction of Mr. Henry J. Baker, also a school of Library Training under
the general guidance of Mr. Melvil Dewey, at that time New York State
Librarian, and soon after made one of the Chautauqua trustees. The resident
director of this school was at first Miss Mary E. Hazeltine of Jamestown;
later, and up to the present time, Miss Mary E. Downey, of the Utah State
Library. The growth of public libraries throughout the country has made this
school very popular among young women seeking the profession of
librarian.
Some voices new to Chautauqua were heard from the Amphitheater
platform in 1901, such as Dr. O. P. Gifford of the Baptist Church, Captain
Richmond Pearson Hobson, Mrs. L. Ormiston Chant of England, a
descendant of the great Edmund Burke, we were informed, and the
Governor of New York, Hon. Benjamin B. Odell. Mr. Joseph Jefferson,
whom all the world of that generation knew as "Rip Van Winkle," gave a
lecture showing the relations of the lecture platform and the stage. Rev.
John McNeill, whose speech showed that he came from the north of the
Tweed, preached a powerful and searching sermon. Dr. Robert Stuart
McArthur gave a lecture on "Mountain Peaks in Russian History." Dr. Hale,
President Crawford, Mr. Leland Powers, Dr. S. H. Clark, Dr. Moulton, and
Mr. George W. Bain were among the old Chautauqua favorites of that
season. As the C. L. S. C. Class of 1900 had taken the name "The
Nineteenth Century Class," the one graduating this year was entitled "The
Twentieth Century Class." The speaker on Recognition Day was Chancellor
E. Benjamin Andrews of the University of Nebraska, on the subject,
"Problems of Greater America."

The season of 1902 was noteworthy from a visit of Bishop Vincent. It
seems strange to read of a visit from the Founder of Chautauqua, but he was
at that time living in Zurich, Switzerland, holding Methodist conferences all
over Europe, in many languages through interpreters, and for several years
had been absent from Chautauqua. We of the older generation always
missed his presence, but to the younger troop of Chautauquans his was only
a revered name. The Vincent whom they knew, and packed the
Amphitheater to hear, was the Director George E. Vincent, the man at the
wheel of Chautauqua. This year the announcement was made that the
Chancellor was coming, and a royal welcome was prepared. A printed
account of this event reads as follows:
Arriving at Lakewood, the Bishop was met by members of his family,
and the Board of Trustees. After the welcome greetings, the party took a
special steamer for Chautauqua. At the Pier a fleet of craft of all
descriptions—launches, sail-boats, and row-boats—awaited the arrival of
the Bishop's steamer. As soon as it came within hailing distance, the larger
boats dipped colors and all the people waved handkerchiefs, the chimes at
the Point rang in a familiar tune, and as the steamer headed toward the Pier,
the Chautauqua choir, gathered in the balcony, sang the old Chautauqua
song, "Join, O friends, in a memory song."
As the boat came to the wharf, the bank and the Park of Palestine were a
mass of waving handkerchiefs. The Reception Committee, composed of
officials of the Institution, stood on the Pier, and back of them an immense
throng all eager to catch a glimpse of their beloved leader. Lines were
formed on either side of the walk, and as the Bishop passed between them
he was greeted with the salute of the white handkerchiefs. In Miller Park
were gathered the cottage owners, the Summer Schools, and the C. L. S. C.
classes, with their banners and emblems, and the various clubs and
children's classes. On the way to his cottage on Lake Avenue, the Bishop
was escorted by about two hundred and fifty members of the Boys' and
Girls' Clubs, whose sweet voices rang out clear and full in "Auld Lang
Syne." From the veranda of his tent cottage, the Bishop made an eloquent
address of appreciation, full of the joy of home-coming.
In 1904, Bishop Vincent was placed on the retired list, to dwell where he
chose, free from episcopal service. From that year until 1918, he passed a

portion of each summer at Chautauqua and took part in the program, but
without the responsibility of supervision. Most of the time he was happy in
his release, but there would come occasional hours when he longed to hold
the reins once more.
In this year, 1902, a new charter was received from the Legislature of
New York, giving a new title, "Chautauqua Institution." The Girls' Club and
the Unitarian House were built this season, also the Disciples' Headquarters
on Clark Avenue received its pillared portico. The Lutheran House was
established during this season.
Senator Mark Hanna of Ohio, who was looked upon as "the power
behind the throne" during the presidency of his friend, William McKinley,
spoke at Chautauqua in 1902, also Mrs. Pennybacker of Texas, Dr. A. E.
Dunning of Boston, editor of the Congregationalist, General John C. Black
of Pennsylvania, Dr. Earl Barnes, Prof. Charles Zeublin, Dr. W. F. Oldham
of India, afterward a Bishop, and the ever-welcome Frank Beard who had
been absent for a number of years.
Chautauqua has always believed in the open and free discussion of
vexed questions, and this year from August 4th to August 8th was held a
most interesting conference on "The Labor Movement." The introductory
address opening the subject was given by the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, U. S.
Commissioner of Labor. Supplementary lectures, followed by discussion,
were by President Harper on "The University and Industrial Education";
Mr. Frank P. Sargent, "Growth and Influence of Labor Organizations"; Mr.
John Mitchell, "The Joint Conference between Employer and Employee."
On both sides there was the frankest expression of opinion. I remember that
when one speaker was asked whether he was an actual worker or a
professional agitator, without a word he held out his hands that all might see
they were the hands of a working-man.
This year was notable in the Department of Music, by the entrance of
Mr. Alfred Hallam as Director. His whole-hearted, absolutely self-forgetting
labor, and his reach after the highest standards in his art, from 1902 to 1919,
made Mr. Hallam dear not only to his choir, but to all Chautauquans.
The year 1903 was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the C.
L. S. C. in 1878. That event in popular education was commemorated by a

great meeting in the Amphitheater and the laying of the corner stone of a
new Hall of Philosophy on the site of the old hall, which, being a wooden
building, was decaying. The Class of 1882 planted some ivy brought from
the Palatine Hill in Rome, other classes planted oak and pine trees. A sealed
box, containing portraits of the Founders and copies of Chautauqua
publications, was placed in the corner stone, which was then lowered into
place and made secure with mortar, the trowel being handled in turn by Dr.
George Vincent and Director Scott Brown. As the stone was put in place, a
cablegram was read from Bishop Vincent at Helsingfors, Finland
—"Remember the foundation is Christ." Vincent.
This year, 1903, the Arts and Crafts shops, which had been in various
places over the ground, were brought together by the director, Henry Turner
Bailey, making the Arts and Crafts Village, in later years to become the Arts
and Crafts Building. The Grange Building on Simpson Avenue was erected
and presented as headquarters for that order by Mr. Cyrus W. Jones of
Jamestown. This year, 1903, Dean Percy H. Boynton of the University of
Chicago was made Secretary of Instruction, and placed in full charge of the
Summer Schools, which by this time had grown to more than two thousand
students. A few years later he received the title of Principal and gave to the
summer schools his unremitting attention until 1917. To Dean Boynton's
careful choice of instructors and watchfulness over details of management
during those years the growth and success of the schools is largely due.
The Liquor Problem was the subject of the Conference on August 3-8,
1903. I find on the list of speakers and their subjects eight names to which
might be added five times as many who participated in the discussions.
Commander Frederick Booth-Tucker and his wife Emma Booth-Tucker,
told of "The Salvation Army and the Liquor Problem." Mr. Raymond
Robins, an eminent social worker of Chicago, spoke on "The Saloon and
the World of Graft, Vagrancy, and Municipal Correction," although it may
have been "municipal corruption," for I think he spoke on both subjects.
Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens told of the work of the W. C. T. U.; Prof. I. P.
Bishop showed "The Physiological Effects of Alcohol," Prof. Frederick
Starr, the anthropologist, gave an interesting account of "Stimulants among
Primitive Peoples." Other speakers were Rev. E. C. Dinwiddie, Mr.
Frederick H. Wines, and Mrs. John G. Woolley.

A Corner of the Playground

Another Conference was held August 10th to 15th on "The Mob," and
attracted the deepest interest. President William G. Frost of Berea College,
Kentucky, told of "The Mountain Feuds"; Mr. John Temple Graves spoke in
defense of lynching, and declared that the only solution of the negro
problem in the south would be the enforced deportation of the negro back to
Africa; but other Southerners present did not agree with him. Dean
Richmond Babbitt gave "A Study of the Lynch Law"; Mr. D. M. Parry
spoke on "The Mob Spirit in Organized Labor"; Mr. Thomas Kidd on "The
Labor Unions and the Mob Spirit." Chief Justice Charles B. Lore of
Delaware and Judge John Woodward gave "The Legal Aspects of the Mob
Spirit." No discussion at Chautauqua awakened such feeling, although it
was carried on with perfect courtesy by speakers on the opposing sides.
We can name only a few of the many lecturers in the regular program of
1903. One was Governor Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, soon to
attract attention as an insurgent in the United States Senate. Another was
Mr. George Willis Cooke, on social subjects. Mr. Hamlin Garland, the
story-writer, gave a lecture, also General John B. Gordon of Georgia, Dr.
Richard Burton, a course in literature; Hon. Wm. T. Harris, Dr. Moulton,
and the Rev. R. J. Campbell of London. The platform during the season was

fairly crowded, the speakers and concerts following in such close
succession.
In 1904, Bishop Vincent having been relieved from the cares of the
Episcopacy, went to live for a time in Indianapolis. He was now able to
come with more or less regularity to Chautauqua, and gave the opening
address of the season. The exercises of that year extended through sixty
days beginning June 30th and ending August 28th. We note that the School
of English included in its staff Prof. Richard G. Moulton and Edward
Howard Griggs. The work in Nature Study was enlarged to include courses
in Botany and Physiography. The courses for teachers embraced systematic
work in all the grades from the kindergarten to the college. This year the
new electric railway was opened from Jamestown to Chautauqua and
thence to Mayville and Westfield on Lake Erie. Bishop Vincent was a
passenger on the first car over the line. This improved means of
transportation enabled people to come by rail every hour to Chautauqua,
gave direct and speedy connection with the New York Central Railroad, and
resulted in making the principal entrance to the grounds no longer by water
but by land. Hence the crowds forsook the stores in the Pier Building and
the Arcade, and a new business center grew up on the hill.
This year the new Hall of Philosophy was opened, of the same general
plan as the old building, but with floor and pillars of concrete, a more
durable material. The building was also somewhat larger than its
predecessor and was in every way more convenient. In the concrete floor
are inserted tablets in honor of the classes that contributed toward the
building. The pillars also bear the names of their givers. The list of
exercises in the Hall during any Assembly season would of itself make a
long catalogue.
The Devotional Hour had now become a systematic order and called
together large congregations. It was not altogether the fame of the great
preachers, but also the strong religious atmosphere of the place that
gathered every day at ten o'clock for five mornings of each week a thousand
people for worship. How many churches could show a congregation as
large, not only on Sundays, when the service was attended by five thousand
people, but through the days of the week? Among the chaplains of this
season, each serving a week, were Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, Dr. Hugh Black,

Bishop Oldham, Dr. Daniel Dorchester of Pittsburgh, and the evangelist, Dr.
J. Wilbur Chapman.
The Conference of 1904 was from July 24th to 29th on the subject of
Missions, Home and Foreign. Among the speakers were Dr. Francis E.
Clark of the Christian Endeavor movement, recently returned from an all-
around the world visit to missions abroad, Dr. Frederick G. Stanley, Dr.
George M. Boynton, Dr. Homer Stuntz from the Philippines—afterward a
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church—Bishop Oldham, and Mr. J. L.
Joslin of India.
I remember hearing Dr. Stuntz tell of a native Filipino who came to him
soon after the American occupation of Manila, and after carefully closing
the door, and looking in closets to be sure that no one was in hearing,
carefully unrolled a package, showed a small Bible in the Spanish language,
and asked: "Would it be safe for me to be found reading this book? I have
kept it hidden for years, for my life would have been the penalty if it had
been seen." Dr. Stuntz led him to a window, pointed to the American flag
flying over the castle, and said; "Do you see that flag? As long as that flag
flutters over these islands, you can stand in the market place and read in as
loud a voice as you choose out of this book and you will be safe. Wherever
that flag flies, the Bible is an open book!"
Most of the men whom we have named gave lectures, as well as
participating in the conferences. Besides these, we saw on the platform the
massive form of William Howard Taft, then Secretary of War, after a few
years to be President of the United States; Mr. Griggs also gave a course of
lectures and taught classes in literature, and Prof. Frederick Starr was one of
the speakers. Dr. George Adam Smith of Scotland was also with us during
the season of 1904.
Some of the recitations this year were by Dr. S. H. Clark, Mrs. Bertha
Kunz Baker, Mrs. Emily M. Bishop, Miss Marie L. Shedlock, and Prof.
Henry L. Southwick.

CHAPTER XX
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT CHAUTAUQUA
(1905-1908)

The notable event in the Assembly of 1905 was the fourth visit of
Theodore Roosevelt. He was the President of the United States, not now by
succession, but by direct vote of the people, for his first term, after the death
of Mr. McKinley, had been completed. He had promised to maintain his
predecessor's policies during the period for which Mr. McKinley had been
elected, and through that term he had initiated no new movements. But his
pledge having been kept and his administration ratified by the popular vote,
Mr. Roosevelt was now free to bring forward his own plans. His address at
Chautauqua on August 11th, five months after his inauguration, was the
first public announcement of his principles and policies, and in its boldness,
its candor, and its originality was fairly startling. Mr. McKinley was a
cordial, but a reticent party leader. Everyone who talked with him was
charmed, but no one could recall any definite promise or statement that he
had made. Mr. Roosevelt was absolutely, unreservedly open; he would state
to anybody his opinion on every public question. Lyman Abbott once said,
"Mr. McKinley and Mr. Roosevelt were both great men and great
statesmen, but between the absolute reticence of the one and the absolutely
openness of the other, there is no half-way house."
The presidential party included his son Kermit, his nephew Paul
Roosevelt, his cousin Philip Roosevelt, Mr. Jacob A. Riis, and a number of
leading politicians, besides secret service men, and the inevitable troop of
newspaper reporters. They were met at Lakewood by Bishop Vincent, his
son the Principal, and representatives of the Chautauqua Board. A breakfast
was served to the party and to some invited guests in Higgins Hall. I sat
beside a prominent politician who said to me that on the train and boat he
was absolutely amazed at the knowledge of President Roosevelt upon every
subject, and his readiness to state his views upon even the deepest matters
of State. At the table I noticed Dr. James M. Buckley sitting beside the

President and in earnest conversation with him. As we passed out of the
Hall, I mentioned to Dr. Buckley what the public man had told me of Mr.
Roosevelt's outspoken candor, and Dr. Buckley said that the President had
answered every question in utter frankness, evidently having nothing to
conceal; and Dr. Buckley could ask searching questions.
The adage, "It sometimes rains at Chautauqua," was verified that day by
a steady downpour, which with the umbrellas lifted over the moving
procession made every avenue, seen from an upper balcony, look like an
endless serpent with a series of bulging black knobs on his back. No words
can express the jam of people in and around the Amphitheater and the
breathless interest with which all listened to the President's address, which
came like a revelation, with its outspoken utterances upon subjects hitherto
held as State secrets. He talked of our relations with nations abroad, and of
problems at home, the trusts, questions of capital and labor, and, indeed,
every subject under discussion at that time. A statesman once said,
"Language was invented to conceal thought," but that was certainly not the
use of language by one eminent American. As Mr. Roosevelt was leaving
the Amphitheater, he saw the Boys' Club standing together, on guard, and
he gave them a short, appreciative, practical speech.
Some of the speakers at the Assembly of 1905 were District Attorney
William Travers Jerome of New York, Governor Joseph W. Folk of
Missouri, the Hon. Robert Watchorn, Commissioner of Immigration,
President Charles Cuthbert Hall of the Union Theological Seminary of New
York, recently home from giving addresses in India and China under the
auspices of the Parliament of Religion, President Rush Rhees of the
University of Rochester, President Herbert Welch of Ohio Wesleyan, Dean
Charles D. Williams—on his next visit to be a Bishop—and Dr. Richard
Burton. Mrs. Bertha Kunz Baker, Dr. S. H. Clark, Mr. Leland Powers, and
others entertained us with readings and impersonations; but it should also
be said that the leading elocutionists at Chautauqua made it a large part of
their task to acquaint us with great literature, both in poetry, in prose, and
especially in the drama.
In 1905 the Colonnade Building was built and became the business
center of Chautauqua. During this season Mr. Scott Brown, the General
Director under Principal George E. Vincent, called into the service of the

Chautauqua Institution, as assistant, a young man to become in a few years
his successor, Mr. Arthur E. Bestor. Mr. Bestor also began lecturing upon
the platform in a course on "Studies in American Diplomacy."
In the report of the year 1906, I notice a custom that is mentioned for the
first time this year, though it may have been observed before. On the
opening night, June 28, signal fires were lighted at prominent points around
the lake, notifying the summer residents, whose cottages by this year were
girdling Lake Chautauqua, that the Assembly had now begun for another
season. This illumination has been followed every year since 1906, and
appropriately gives notice to every village between Mayville and
Jamestown that the light of Chautauqua has begun to shine.
The program of July we find as full as that of August. During the earlier
month were lectures and addresses by Professor F. Hyatt Smith on
"Eminent Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century"—Coleridge, Macaulay,
Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, and others; literary lectures by Leon H. Vincent,
who was now "Doctor of Letters," Mr. Henry Turner Bailey, head of the
Arts and Crafts, but lecturer on many subjects; Newell Dwight Hillis of
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn; Dr. W. J. Dawson, an English preacher and
author who had lately come to live in America, equally great in the pulpit
and in literature; Dr. S. C. Schmucker, one who could make a scientific
subject plain to the lay-mind; Dr. John T. McFarland, head of the Sunday
School work of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Mrs. Donald McLean,
President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and other
speakers.
During August a most interesting course of lectures was given by Mr.
John Graham Brooks on "America Viewed by Outside People"—showing
how the estimates of our country, especially by English writers, had arisen
from almost contemptuous criticism (much of it deserved, it must be
admitted) to high appreciation. Mr. Griggs gave a new course of literary
lectures. Bishop Vincent gave a lecture on Martin Luther. Prof. Cecil F.
Lavell spoke on historical subjects. Sir Chentung Lieng Chang, the
Ambassador from China, graduate of an American college, Amherst, I think
—was a visitor and spoke in excellent English. Prof. Edward A. Steiner, the
great authority on immigration, lectured on "Our Foreign Population," and
told a remarkable story of a journey that he had made through underground

Russia, visiting nearly a hundred revolutionary centers. Mr. Ernest
Thompson Seton talked on wild animals, to the enjoyment of both young
and old.
On Recognition Day of the C. L. S. C., August 15, 1906, the new Hall of
Philosophy was dedicated.
In 1907 Professor George E. Vincent was made President of the
Chautauqua Institution. His father retained the title of Chancellor, but the
active duties of the management were now entirely in the hands of the
President. In the following year, Mr. Arthur E. Bestor was advanced to the
place formerly held by Mr. Scott Brown, that of Senior Director in charge
of all business administrations and assisting President Vincent on the
educational side.
A man who made his mark deeply on Chautauqua came this year for the
first time, Mr. Henry Turner Bailey of the Arts and Crafts School. He could
not only teach, but could lecture on art or history in a most fascinating
manner, all the time drawing pictures on the blackboard with both hands at
once. Under his care the Arts and Crafts shops were assembled, grew into a
village, and later found their home in a series of fine buildings on College
Hill. He continued with us year after year until a new position in Cleveland,
Ohio, compelled him to sever relations with Chautauqua.
Two great conferences were held this summer. The first was on "The
Juvenile Problem," July 8th-13th. Speakers on the subject were Rev. W.
Byron Forbush on "The Knights of King Arthur," an order of which he was
the founder; Mr. W. R. George, on "The George Junior Republic"; Judge
Ben B. Lindsey of Denver on "The Juvenile Court." Mr. Melvil Dewey,
Rev. Crawford Jackson, Judge Willis Brown and Mr. E. B. DeGrott spoke
on "Public Playgrounds," "The Public Library," "The Child and the State,"
and kindred subjects.
The other conference was held July 29th to August 3d, on "The Social
Unrest." A few of the speakers and their topics were: Mr. John Graham
Brooks on "The Challenge of Socialism"; Mr. James Wadsworth, Jr.,
afterward U. S. Senator from New York, on "Politics"; Mr. R. R. Bowker on
"The Corporation"; Mr. Henry Clews on "Capital"; Mr. J. G. Phelps Stokes
and his wife, Rose Pastor Stokes, on "A Defense of Socialism"; Bishop

Henry C. Potter, "The Church"; Mr. Charles Stelzle, "The Church and the
Classes"; Miss Jane Addams on "The Settlement Movement."
On the regular lecture platform appeared Governor Charles E. Hughes of
New York, Mr. William Jennings Bryan who had just returned from a trip
around the world and spoke on "The Old World and Its Ways," President G.
Stanley Hall a series on "Five Non-Christian Religions," President George
E. Vincent on "Utopias," a series describing the ideals of men for the
community and the state from Plato's Republic to the Community of Robert
Dale Owen. Bishop Vincent also gave a lecture, the father and the son
speaking on different days from the same platform. My recollection is that
the Bishop spoke this summer on "Sidney Lanier and His Poetry," and
placed him high on the roll of American poets.
Another lecturer who pleased us all was the bright essayist, Samuel
McChord Crothers. His paper on "The Society for Polite Unlearning" was
heard by a crowd in the Hall of Philosophy. Most of the audience caught the
undertone of wisdom with the wit, but a few thought that it was only funny,
in which they were mistaken. Dr. Shailer Mathews, Dr. C. F. Aked, and
Bishop McDowell were among those who conducted the daily Devotional
Services.
Grand Army Day was a dramatic occasion in the fact that before an
audience of old Union soldiers, in their G. A. R. uniforms, the address was
given by Mrs. LaSalle Corbell Pickett, the widow of General George
Edward Pickett of the Confederate Army, who led the famous "Pickett's
Charge" in the battle of Gettysburg—an attack that stands in history beside
the "Charge of the Light Brigade," sung by Tennyson. Her story of that
great day, deciding the destiny of a continent, was listened to, not merely
with interest, but with outbreaking enthusiasm by an audience of Union
soldiers, who honored the memory of a soldier whom they looked upon less
as a foe than as a hero.
One little incident told by Mrs. Pickett we must make room for; in
substance it was this: On Lee's march through Pennsylvania, Pickett's
division passed a young girl who waved a United States flag, and then,
fastening it around her waist, cried, "Traitors! come and touch this flag if
you dare!" At this fierce challenge, a mingled stir of many voices went

through the long gray ranks and many a rifle shifted uneasily. General
Pickett rode in front of his men, and with true southern chivalry saluted her
flag. Then he turned and faced his men. The soldiers followed his example,
and as they passed by, every hat was swung aloft in honor of the girl and
her flag. The little maiden was so overcome by this generosity that she cried
out, "I wish I had a rebel flag; I'd wave that too!"
In October, 1907, the Colonnade Building, which had been standing only
two years, was wholly destroyed by fire, causing a loss of $100,000, with
an insurance of about $55,000. The indirect loss is not easy to estimate, for
it included the contents of the stores and the issues of the Magazine ready
for mailing, with much other printed matter of the Institution. This was the
fourth fire which had occurred during the thirty-four years of Chautauqua; a
remarkable record when one remembers how close together are many of the
houses, and all built of wood. Plans for rebuilding the Colonnade were
taken up immediately, also the beginning of a quadrangle of buildings for
the Arts and Crafts Department and the erection of a Post Office Building.
In 1908 the July program included the names of Professor J. E.
McFadyen of Knox College, Toronto, Principal James Robertson of
Scotland, and Dr. W. L. Watkinson of England; all these in the Department
of Religious Work, which was unusually strong that year. Dr. Watkinson
looked the least like an Englishman that could be imagined. Long and lank
and lean, he might have been taken for a Yankee of the Yankees, until he
began to speak. His oratory is indescribable, original thoughts expressed in
original language, with here and there a solemn witticism at which the
hearer wanted to laugh but hardly dared to. Bishop Vincent gave a lecture
on "An Old School House." Dr. H. W. Wiley, the food specialist and foe of
misbranded packages of food, gave an address. Norman Hapgood of
Collier's Magazine, Hon. Everett Colby of New Jersey, a leader in political
reform, Prof. Graham Taylor, a sociologist and social reformer, were among
the speakers.
In August of 1908, a notable English lady spoke on the Amphitheater
platform, Mrs. Philip Snowden, wife of a member of Parliament. It was said
that her husband owed his election to her power of public speaking, and
especially to her skill in answering "heckling" questions—a political
method quite common in England, though regarded as not quite proper in

America. In our country when one party holds a meeting, it is not
considered fair to interrupt the flow of oratory and disconcert the orator by
disagreeable questions from the other side; but in Great Britain every
political speaker must face such enquirers, and the one who put them to
little Mrs. Snowden generally got the worst of the encounter. Though slight
and seemingly fragile, speaking apparently without effort, every syllable of
her speeches on the question of woman's enfranchisement could be
distinctly heard from every seat in the Amphitheater. Other speakers in
August, 1908, were Lieut.-Governor Chanler of New York, Edward Howard
Griggs, Prof. Charles M. Cobern, an authority on Biblical archæology, Dr.
Leon H. Vincent in a course on "French Literary Celebrities," President J.
D. Moffatt of Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, Charles
Stelzle on social rights and wrongs, and George Riddle in some enjoyable
recitations. Percy Alden, M.P., spoke on "Social and Economic Questions"
in England and Charles F. Lavell gave a course on historical lectures. Dr. R.
S. MacArthur and Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman were among the preachers and
leaders of the Devotional Hour.
August 11, 1908, was Pennsylvania Day, with addresses in praise of the
Keystone State by Governor E. G. Stuart, Ex-Governor and General J. A.
Beaver, and others.

CHAPTER XXI
THE PAGEANT OF THE PAST
(1909-1912)

The thirty-sixth session of Chautauqua was epoch making in the
development of material resources. The blackened ruins of the burned
Colonnade Building were replaced by a new structure, the official
headquarters of the Institution, the business center, and on its upper floor a
rooming place for many employees in the offices. On the southern front of
the Plaza arose the new Post Office Building, with the village public library,
the presses and office of the Chautauqua Press. The first section of the
projected Arts and Crafts quadrangle was built, to the great joy of Mr.
Bailey, who had labored and almost fought for its construction. The Hall of
Pedagogy arose at one end of the grounds and the Athletic Club House at
the other. The Hall of the Christ was completed after many years of slow
growth, and the Commons, a boarding-place for students, was opened
through all the year for employees residing during the winter. As a venture,
with some questioning, the New York Symphony Orchestra was engaged
for a week of concerts, its leader being Walter Damrosch. Who would have
dreamed in 1909 that in 1920 the same orchestra would sound its harmonies
through six full weeks!
The keynote of the year, and indeed of Chautauqua through all its
history, was expressed in President George E. Vincent's utterance in his
annual report—that Chautauqua must "be kept in close and sympathetic
connection with the great currents of national life. It must be a center from
which the larger and more significant movements may gain strength and
intelligent support." The season this year opened on Friday, July 2d, with a
lecture by President Vincent on "Vocation and Culture."
To even name the speakers of the year and their subjects would
necessitate the enlargement of our book, and to omit any of them may bring
the author into peril of his life if he should meet any of those left out; but he
must face the prospect of a martyr's end, by naming only a few. President

Edwin Earle Sparks, of the Pennsylvania State College, gave a series of
lectures on American history; Prof. Archer B. Hulbert on "The Military
Conquest of the Alleghanies"; Prof. Stockton Axson on "Literary Leaders";
Dr. Andrew Sloan Draper, Superintendent of Education for New York State,
spoke, also Prof. George Albert Coe, Prof. Clyde W. Votaw, and Dr. Richard
M. Hodge—these four on subjects relating to education; Mr. Earl Barnes
gave a course of lectures, besides teaching in the schools; Booker T.
Washington, President Frank R. Sanders, Dr. P. S. Henson, Prof. Henry F.
Cope, Mr. Ernest Hamlin Abbott, of The Outlook, and many more were
with us in July, 1908.
In August we heard Prof. Richard Burton in a course of literary lectures;
Dr. George Adam Smith, Richard G. Moulton, and J. M. Thoburn, Jr., a
nephew of Bishop Thoburn, also Bishop Samuel Fallows of the Reformed
Episcopal Church, and the Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, a son of the Harvard
President. Mr. S. S. McClure gave an offhand conversational address on
"The Making of a Magazine," the story of his own experience.
The Devotional Hour was by this year firmly fixed in the Chautauqua
system. The Chaplain preached on Sunday morning, at the great
Amphitheater service, and at ten o'clock for five days following gave an
address on some religious topic. Among our chaplains during the season of
1908 were Dr. Charles E. Jefferson of New York, Prof. Herbert L. Willett of
the University of Chicago, President Herbert Welch, and Dr. R. H. Conwell.
The Recognition address to the graduating class of the C. L. S. C. was by
President Faunce of Brown University on "Ideals of Modern Education."
This year a course in Esperanto, the proposed world-language, was
conducted, and the second Esperanto Congress of America was held at
Chautauqua. Not having studied the language and being too busy to attend
the convention, the writer is unable to state whether the lectures were given
in that tongue or in English, the inferior language which Esperanto is
expected to displace. Probably two or three hundred years hence
Shakespeare's plays, Milton's poems, and Mark Twain's stories will be
known only in that language, English being a quarry for archæological
research with about as many students as Greek or Sanscrit has to-day.

An event of 1901 which attracted crowds from all Chautauqua County
and its surroundings was the historical pageant of scenes in the history of
Chautauqua Lake. It included scenes from the Indian Wars before the
Revolution, the French explorers, the British and American soldiers of the
Revolutionary period, and the settlement of the shores. This was followed
by the rendition of a play, The Little Father of the Wilderness, by Francis
Wilson and his company. The concerts of the preceding year by the New
York Symphony Orchestra, under Walter Damrosch, had been so successful
that the management brought them for a second visit in 1910.
One distinguished visitor in 1910 was the Right Honorable James Bryce,
Ambassador of Great Britain to our country. His lecture was on "History
and Politics." Dr. S. M. Crothers gave four lectures in his own inimitable
manner on "The One Hundred Worst Books." He proposed as an interesting
question, "Suppose that twenty centuries hence, when the English language
may be as dead as Latin and Greek are now, what authors in English
literature will be remembered?" Director Bestor found time in the midst of
his labors to give us a fine lecture on "Gladstone." Paul Vincent Harper, son
of President Harper, spoke on "Life in Palestine" after a visit to that land.
Dr. Griggs gave a course on "Social Progress." Distinguished visitors from
the old country were Sir William Ramsay, the highest authority in the
English-speaking world on the church in the New Testament age, and Lady
Ramsay. Both lectured, Lady Ramsay on "The Women of Turkey." Mrs.
Philip Snowden gave another course of lectures, maintaining fully her
popularity. She was strongly in favor of the suffrage for women but as
strongly opposed to the methods of the militant suffragettes. Another
speaker who attracted attention, although his views were not accepted by
the majority at Chautauqua, was the Secretary of the American Federation
of Labor, Mr. John B. Lennon. On the questions pertaining to trade unions
and collective bargaining, however, one who talked with the Chautauqua
constituency was surprised to find so large a number of progressive thinkers
taking the side of labor against capital.
The Chautauqua Devotional Hour was represented in the season of 1910
by Dr. Hugh Black, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, Dr. G. A. Johnston Ross, and
Charles D. Williams, who was now Bishop of Michigan.

It has been found that many are eager to enjoy the advantages of the
Summer Schools at Chautauqua who are unable to meet the expense. To aid
these, various gifts have been made from time to time. On old First Night in
1910 a system of fifty annual scholarships was established by setting apart
the offering of that evening for this purpose, and the fund has since been
increased from year to year.
In 1911, the Miller Bell Tower at the Point beside the Pier was dedicated.
For years the chime of Meneely bells had stood in the belfry of the old
building on the Pier. But the piles beneath it were becoming decayed and
the bells by their weight and their movement racked the old edifice. Their
removal was necessary and the Tower was built adjoining the wharf. A fine
clock presented by the Seth Thomas Clock Company, and the chimes, were
placed in the summit of the Tower which received the name "Lewis Miller
Bell Tower." These bells ring five minutes before the lecture hours, and at
certain times, morning, noon, and night, the chimes play familiar music.
After the night bell, which may be either at 10 or 10.30, silence is supposed
to reign throughout the grounds. One of the original peal of four bells,
afterward enlarged to form the chime of ten bells, is named the Bryant bell,
and is rung precisely at twelve o'clock noon on the first day of October as a
signal for beginning the readings of the Chautauqua Circle. The name is in
honor of William Cullen Bryant, in recognition of his interest in the C. L. S.
C.
During the season of 1911 a number of illustrated lectures were given by
Prof. R. W. Moore on "The Rhine"; by C. L. Harrington on "Aerial
Navigation,"—a lecture fully up to date at that time, surprising to many
who heard it and looked at the pictures. But that was before the great war,
and the same lecture would be hopelessly behind the times in 1921. Mr.
Henry Turner Bailey showed us "A Dozen Masterpieces of Painting," and
Mr. Jacob A. Riis, "The Making of an American," Dr. Henry R. Rose
exhibited "The Oberammergau Passion Play," and Dr. H. H. Powers,
"Venice." Both President George E. Vincent and Director Arthur E. Bestor
gave lectures; also Edmund Vance Cooke and Mr. Earl Barnes, Mr. Leland
Powers impersonated stories and plays as nobody else could. Mr. Frank A.
Vanderlip gave three lectures on "Banking," which proved far more
interesting than most of us had anticipated. Dr. H. H. Powers told in a series
of lectures the stories of five great cities, Athens, Rome, Florence, Paris,

and London. Dr. Gunsaulus gave a series of lectures on "Some of the Great
Plays of Shakespeare"; Prof. S. C. Schmucker, a series mingling science
with history on "American Students of Nature,—Audubon, Agassiz, Gray
and Thoreau." Dean George Hodges in the Department of Religion lectured
in a course on "Christian Social Betterment."
Among the chaplains of 1911 are the names of Bishop E. E. Hoss of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Dr. John T. Stone of Chicago, Dr.
Shailer Mathews, also of Chicago, Dr. C. F. Aked, then a pastor in San
Francisco, and Rev. Silvester Horne of England. The baccalaureate sermon
before the C. L. S. C. was this year given by the Chancellor, Bishop
Vincent.
For twenty-two years William H. Sherwood was head of the piano
department in the schools and untiring in his labors. He died in 1910, and in
1912 the Sherwood Memorial Studio on College Hill was opened and
dedicated to his memory. A hospital, long needed, was this year established,
named "The Lodge." The Department of Religious Work was reorganized,
made more prominent, and placed under the charge of Dean Shailer
Mathews as "Director of Religious Work." The headquarters of this
department were established in the Hall of Christ.
The Independence Day address was given by Director Bestor on "The
Old World and the New," the social, political, municipal, religious
conception on the two sides of the Atlantic. Two stories from his lectures
are worthy of being repeated. One was Theodore Roosevelt's retort when
accused of wanting to become a king. "A king! what is a king? Why, a kind
of perpetual Vice-President." The other was a conversation that Mr. Bestor
had with an Englishman whom he met in Berlin. He asked "What would
you do in England if the royal line should develop a William II. or a
Roosevelt?" The Englishman answered, "Impossible! A man with any real
political initiative is not to be thought of in the English kingship!"
For the first time, partisan political addresses were given on the
Chautauqua platform. This was the year, it will be remembered, when Mr.
Taft had been renominated by the regular Republican Convention, Mr.
Roosevelt by the bolting Progressives, and Woodrow Wilson by the
Democrats. It was decided to allow each of the parties to be represented.

Attorney-General Wickersham spoke in behalf of the Republicans. Mr.
Eugene W. Chafin, the candidate of the Prohibition Party, addressed a
crowded Amphitheater, and seemed to give everybody great enjoyment
from the constant laughter and applause. He said after the election that if
everybody who applauded and cheered his speeches had voted for him, he
would have been President!
But the great audience assembled, packing the Amphitheater to its
utmost corner, with a great ring of people standing around it, to hear
William Jennings Bryan. On account of an afternoon lecture in Ohio, he
sent word that he could not arrive until 8.45 in the evening, and it was nine
when at last he stood on the platform. But he held the crowd in rapt
attention to the end of his plea in behalf of the Democratic Party and its
candidate, who was indebted to Mr. Bryan more than to any other worker
for his nomination and, as the result showed, for his election. I am not
certain who spoke in behalf of Mr. Roosevelt, but think that it was Mr.
William H. Prendergast, Comptroller of New York City.
Among the lecturers of 1912 we heard the Baroness Von Suttner, who
had taken the Nobel Peace Prize by her book Lay Down Your Arms. She
gave a strong plea for arbitration between nations, to take the place of war.
There was also a lecture by David Starr Jordan, President of Leland
Stanford University, on "The Case Against War," showing conclusively that
the day of wars was past and that the financial interrelations of nations
would make a great war impossible. How little we dreamed of the war-
cloud within two years to drench the whole world in blood! There was,
indeed, one warning voice at this Assembly, that of Mr. H. H. Powers, in his
clear-sighted lecture on "International Problems in Europe." He did not
predict war, but he showed from what causes a great war might arise. There
was a debate on Woman Suffrage. Mrs. Ida Husted Harper gave several
lectures in its behalf, and Miss Alice Hill Chittenden on "The Case Against
Suffrage." Professor Scott Nearing gave a course of lectures on social
questions, showing powerfully the evils of the time, and setting forth his
view of the remedy,—a socialistic reorganization of the State and of society
in general. Some conservative people who heard Scott Nearing lecture,
regarded him as a firebrand, in danger of burning up the national temple,
but those who met him in social life were compelled to yield to the charm
of his personal attractiveness. Dr. Leon H. Vincent gave a course of lectures

on "Contemporary English Novelists." He began in the Hall of Philosophy,
but was compelled to move into the Amphitheater. Mr. Charles D. Coburn
of the Coburn Players gave a careful, critical address, summing up fairly the
good and evil, on "The Drama and the Present Day Theater."
The Daily Devotional Service in the Amphitheater, and the addresses on
"The Awakened Church," in the Hall of Christ, one at nine o'clock, the other
at ten, drew large congregations. It could not be said that Chautauqua was
losing interest in religion, Canon H. J. Cody of Toronto gave a series of
talks on "Bible Portraits of Persons we Know: 1, The Average Man; 2, The
Man in the Street; 3, The Man who Misapplies the Past; 4, The Man who is
Dying of Things"; Prof. Francis S. Peabody of Harvard a series on
"Christian Life in the Modern World." Bishop McDowell (Methodist)
conducted the Hour for a week to the great spiritual uplift of the large
audience. Dr. Shailer Mathews gave an interesting series on "The
Conversations of Jesus," Dr. James A. Francis a course on "Evangelism."
Realizing how many worthy names I have omitted, I close regretfully the
record of Chautauqua in 1912.

CHAPTER XXII
WAR CLOUDS AND WAR DRUMS
(1913-1916)

There have been visitors at Chautauqua who, listening to some of the
lecturers and their radical expressions, were alarmed and inclined to believe
that the woods were full of cranks, faultfinders of the general social order,
wild agitators, and revolutionary reformers bent on reorganizing the world.
Chautauqua has always favored the freest discussion of all subjects and has
admitted to its platform spokesmen upon all the questions of the time and
from every point of view, even some unpopular men airing their unpopular
ideas, confident that in the conflict of opinions the right will triumph. In
1913 the living question under discussion was Socialism; what it means, its
positive aims and the arguments both for and against it. Here are the names
of some speakers on that controverted subject. Professor Scott Nearing,
perhaps the most radical of any, spoke on "Social Sanity," although his
conception of sanity was looked upon by many as absolutely insane. Mr. J.
W. Bengough explained and advocated "The Single Tax" and almost
converted some of us to his doctrine. Mrs. Rose Pastor Stokes, a most
winsome speaker, without opinion as to her views, told us of "The
Socialist's Attitude towards Charity," which was that much denominated
charity is simple justice. Mr. Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee, who has
several times been denied a seat in Congress to which he was elected on the
Socialist ticket, stated the views and demands of his party. Dr. H. H. Powers
spoke on "Present Day Socialism in Europe," John Mitchell gave us "The
Trades-union Point of View." Earl Barnes took part in the discussion, and
Dr. Charles R. Henderson of Chicago also touched upon it. Some speakers
were openly for, others as strongly against the movement. Whether the
Socialist Party gained voters may be doubted, but it certainly enjoyed a full
and fair hearing.
Turning from politics to religion, which should have a more intimate
friendship than most people give them, we notice the Devotional Hour

during the season of 1913. The Chaplain for the first week was Dr. Charles
F. Wishart of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, his addresses being on
"The Christian View of Some Facts of Life." Dr. Lynn Harold Hough, then
a Methodist pastor in Baltimore, and Rev. Arthur C. Hill of London were on
the list. Dr. S. M. Crothers of Cambridge, Mass., preached one Sunday and
conducted the Devotional Hour a week in a series on "Gaining the
Mastery." Bishop Williams was on the platform again, speaking on
"Aspects of Personal Religion." Anyone who attended this service through
the season—and the daily congregation was not far below a thousand—
would obtain a pretty clear understanding of Christianity and the character
of its advocates.
Every year the musical element grows at Chautauqua. There was this
year, as had been the case for several seasons, a Musical Festival Week,
with daily concerts. For many years there had been a quartette of the best
soloists during July and another during August, supported by a chorus often
of three hundred voices and the great Massey organ. Henry B. Vincent, who
is the son of Dr. B. T. Vincent of the Children's Class, grew up at
Chautauqua, in a sense, spending his summers there from early childhood.
For many years he has been at the organ seat, except when conducting the
orchestra which he organized and trained. In 1912 he gave an interesting
course of lectures on "How to Listen to Music." Every Sunday afternoon a
large audience assembles to hear Mr. Vincent for an hour in an organ recital.
An oratorio of his composition and under his direction was given at
Chautauqua some years ago, entitled "The Prodigal Son." With one Vincent
Founder and Chancellor, his son the President, one nephew a lecturer every
year or two on literature, the other nephew the organ and band master, and
his mother the President of the Woman's Club for many years, the Vincent
family has been worthily represented at Chautauqua.
While speaking of music we must not forget one course of lectures by
Mr. Olin Downes, musical critic of the Boston Post, on "Musical
Expression in Dramatic Form," a history of the music drama in general;
early French operas; the German Romantic School; Richard Wagner; Verdi
and Latter-day Italians.
Prof. Richard Burton gave an entire course of lectures on "The Serious
Bernard Shaw," which caused a run upon the library for Shaw's writings, as

I perceived, for I vainly sought them. Miss Maud Miner of the School of
Expression gave some recitals and a lecture, packed full of suggestions on
"Efficiency in Speech." Dr. George Vincent spoke to a crowded
Amphitheater on "A National Philosophy of Life." A Serbian, Prince
Lazarovich Hvebelianovich, gave a lurid picture of the Balkan situation. Let
me quote one sentence as reported in the Daily of July 11, 1913 (note the
date):
"Within the next few months there will be a war; and such a war as has
not stirred Europe since the days of Napoleon; a war that will involve all
the principal nations on that side of the Atlantic."
Less than thirteen months after that prediction came the event in the
capital of his own little nation which let loose twenty millions of armed
men, filled the seas with warships, above and beneath the waves, and the
skies with fighting aeroplanes.
Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker of Texas, gave a series of addresses on the
Federation of Woman's Clubs, of which she was at that time the President.
We listened to a Chinaman, Ng Poon Chew, the editor of a Chinese daily
paper in San Francisco, on "China in Transformation," a clear account of
the new Republic of China in its varied aspects, spoken in the best of
English. We noticed too, that the speaker showed an understanding and
appreciation which foreigners are often slow to obtain of American humor
and jokes.
Another lecturer from abroad, though hardly a foreigner, for he came
from England, Prof. J. Stoughton Holborn, wearing his Oxford gown
(which we had not seen before at Chautauqua), gave a course on "The
Inspiration of Greece,"—a view of that wonderful people in the different
fields of their greatness. Think of one city which in the departments of
literature, drama, philosophy, oratory, art, and public affairs could show
more great men in two hundred years than all the rest of the world could
show in two thousand!
We were treated during the season of 1913 to a sight new at that time,
though common enough now. Mr. Engels brought to Chautauqua a Curtiss
hydroplane, and day after day made flights, skimming over the surface of
the lake, rising into the air, circling the sky and returning to the starting-

point, to the amazement of the watching multitudes. A few, and but a few,
dared to be strapped into the machine and take the flight; Director Bestor
was one of them, and when Mrs. Bestor heard of it she said: "I told him that
he must not do it, but I knew all the time that he would!"
Another event of the season was the production of a Greek play, in the
original language, by a group of college students in Greek costume. Another
fact worthy of remembrance was the opening of a completely furnished
playground for the children in the ravine near the ball-ground. To stand on
the bridge and look down upon that company of happy little people, is
always a delight. Also it is not to be forgotten that this year for the first time
natural gas for cooking and heating was supplied throughout the grounds.
The year 1914 was the fortieth anniversary of the founding of
Chautauqua. One of the Founders was with us, hale and hearty, and still
able to give an admirable address, although his memory of recent matters
and people had failed. The other Founder was no longer among us, and
even fifteen years after his departure we of the earlier days missed him; but
his memory will ever be kept green at Chautauqua, while the white lilies are
silently unfolded in his honor. On Friday, July 3d, the signal fires were
lighted all around the Lake. The celebration of the anniversary did not take
place until August, near the date in the month of the first Assembly. On
Sunday, August 2d, Bishop Vincent preached in the Amphitheater with
scarcely any lessening of his old power. At the anniversary service, Dr.
Jesse L. Hurlbut—who was exhibited as one of the survivals of the
prehistoric age, a sort of a dinosaurus or pleiosaurus,—gave an address on
"Memories of Early Days," of which the reader may find the substance
scattered through these pages. But we must give a paragraph or two from
Mrs. Frank Beard's paper.
In reference to the interdenominational aspect of the Assembly, she said:
The good Baptist brother, wandering down by the Dead Sea and Sea of
Galilee to the Mediterranean, looked at the generous supply of water and
was satisfied. The Presbyterian brother gazed into the cloudless sky above
him, saw his favorite color, and felt that Chautauqua was foreordained for
him. The lineal descendant of St. Peter croqueted his ball through the arch
and rejoiced that he was on saving ground.

We sat on the hard board seats with nothing to rest our backs upon but
the salubrious atmosphere. We heard ponderous speakers who talked on
ponderous subjects. Among the speakers was Joseph Cook, also Bishop
Peck, 350 pounds. Some of the lecturers were recommended as cultured and
highly finished. Mr. Beard said that he had attended these lectures, was glad
that they were cultured and more than pleased that they were finished.
The music week had now become a permanent institution, bringing
thousands to the Assembly. This year it began on Monday, July 27th, with
Victor Herbert's orchestra through the seven days, the Chautauqua soloists,
and the great chorus trained by Alfred Hallam. Some musical associations
from Jamestown and elsewhere added their voices.
Among the lecturers, Mr. Griggs gave a course on "Dramas of Protest,"
the Book of Job, Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound," Galsworthy's "Justice,"
Calderon's "Life is a Dream," and some others. Bourke Cockran, the
brilliant orator of Irish descent, gave a great lecture on "Abraham Lincoln—
Original Progressive." Miss Mary E. Downey, Director of the Library
School, spoke on "The Evolution of the Library," Dean Edwin Watts Chubb
on "Shakespeare as a Moral Teacher." John Purroy Mitchel, the reform
Mayor of New York, spoke on "Municipal Government" on July 18th; Dr.
Lincoln Hulley of Florida gave a course on the leading American poets. Mr.
E. H. Blichfeldt spoke most interestingly on "Mexico as I Know It," the
results of a year of wide travel and close observation in that land.
During the month of July we read in the papers of complications in the
political world beyond the ocean, but few looked for serious trouble and
none for actual war. On the first of August, 1914, the storm burst, and
nation after nation in a few hours assembled their hosts for the most terrible
war in the history of the world. In accordance with the Chautauqua tradition
of free and open discussion, a War Symposium was improvised and each of
the contending nations had its speaker. On Tuesday, August 4th, Dr. Hans E.
Gronow who had served his time in the German army gave "The German
Point of View." On Thursday, August 6th, Mr. Sanford Griffith, a newspaper
correspondent and a student of public affairs spending several years in
Europe whom some of us had known as a boy at Chautauqua, spoke on
"European Unrest Due to Shifts in the Balance of Power." On Friday,
August 7th, Mons. Benedict Papot, formerly a soldier in France, gave "The

French Point of View," and on Saturday, August 9th, Dr. W. S. Bainbridge,
English in ancestry but American in birth and spirit, presented "The British
Point of View." All the exercises of the crowded program were held, but
amid all our efforts the war brooded above us, a darkening cloud.
The Department of Religious Work was carried on with a strong force of
speakers and teachers under the direction of Dr. Shailer Mathews, its details
supervised by his efficient assistant, Miss Georgia L. Chamberlin of
Chicago, who also gave daily lectures. Among the instructors were Dr.
Charles F. Kent of Yale, and Dr. James Hope Moulton, one of the richest
minds of the age in Biblical lore, who gave a series of lectures, learned yet
simple, on "The Origins of Religion." None of us could have thought then
that this noble life in its prime was destined to end in the Mediterranean by
a shot from a German submarine.
The Devotional Hour and the Sunday services were led for a week by
the Rev. C. Rexford Raymond of Brooklyn, who told in several chapters the
old story of Joseph, yet seeming new in its application. The Rev. G.
Robinson Lees, Vicar of St. Andrews, Lambeth, England, who had lived in
Palestine and among the Arabs in the desert, had written a book forbidden
by the Turkish authorities, and had been banished from the land, preached
one Sunday morning and gave graphic pictures of Oriental life through the
week. Dr. W. H. Hickman, a former President of the Chautauqua Board of
Trustees, Rev. Peter Ainslie of Baltimore, Dr. C. F. Wishart, Dr. Washington
Gladden, one who was ever welcome at Chautauqua; and a great-hearted
man, Dr. George W. Truett of Texas, were also chaplains, each serving a
week.
This year also the new golf course was opened on the field beyond the
public highway, to the rejoicing of many patrons. At the close of the season
the annual convention was held by the International Lyceum and
Chautauqua Association, the union of bureaus and speakers in the "Chain
Chautauquas" held all over the continent, of which we shall speak later.
Their meetings were continued until September 10th, making 1914 the
longest session in the history of Chautauqua.
In 1915, the war of the world was bringing its unspeakable terrors to
Europe, and America was looking on, yet hesitating to plunge into the

welter; but Chautauqua held on its even way, its courses of instruction as
many, and its classes as large as ever. This year Dr. George E. Vincent felt
constrained by the pressure of his duties as President of the University of
Minnesota, with its eight thousand students and as large a number in its
University Extension courses, to withdraw from the direct supervision of
Chautauqua. He resigned his office as President of the Chautauqua
Institution, and Dr. Arthur E. Bestor became President. But Dr. Vincent
retained his membership on the Board of Trustees, was named Honorary
President, and has continued to come to Chautauqua almost every year.
Even for a few days, and with a lecture or two, his presence gives strength
to the Assembly.
In 1917, Dr. Vincent resigned the presidency of the University of
Minnesota to accept the same position with the Rockefeller Foundation,
disbursing millions of dollars every year in the interests of world-wide
education and health.
The lecture platform of 1915 was arranged under six great weeks, each
making prominent one subject, while popular addresses and the devotional
services went on parallel with them all. The first week was devoted to the
study of community service. Mary Antin, whose book, The Promised Land,
had been read by everybody, was greeted by an audience far beyond the
reach of her voice, speaking in her ardent manner. Dr. Lincoln Wirt
proclaimed "America's Challenge to the World"; Mr. E. J. Ward explained
the why and the how of "Community Service," and Norman Angell set forth
"American Leadership in World Politics." During this week Chancellor
McCormick of the University of Pittsburgh conducted the services of the
Devotional Hour.
The second week was devoted to the Drink Problem. Bishop Francis J.
McConnell of the Methodist Episcopal Church preached on Sunday
morning and spoke at the Devotional Hour each day. The opening address
was by Governor George A. Carlson of Colorado, who set forth powerfully
the methods and results of prohibition in his State. Dr. H. A. Gibbons spoke
on "The Prohibition Question in Europe." The Hon. J. Denny O'Neill, on
"Booze and Politics." While the temperance question was discussed in the
Hall of Philosophy, there were concerts and lectures in the Amphitheater,
one especially by Mr. Sanford Griffith, who had been at the battle front as a

war correspondent, on "Fighting in Flanders." Also Dr. Hamilton Wright
Mabie, editor and essayist, spoke on "The East and West, Friends or
Enemies?"
The third week was entitled "Justice and the Courts"—with such
subjects as law, legislation, the administration of justice, and penology.
Among the speakers were George W. Alger, Thomas Mott Osborne,
Katharine Bement Davis, Judge W. L. Ransom of New York, and Dean
James Parker Hall of the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Charles
Rann Kennedy, author of The Servant in the House, a drama with a sermon,
recited the play, aided by Mrs. Kennedy. The play had already been read a
year or two before by Mrs. Bertha Kunz Baker, and also enacted by the
Chautauqua Players, so that we were familiar with it, but were eager to hear
it recited by its author. Mr. Kennedy also gave some dramatic
interpretations from the Bible. This week the Devotional Hour was held by
Dr. Charles W. Gilkey, of the Hyde Park Baptist Church in Chicago, the
church nearest to the University and attended by many of the faculty and
students.
The music week was notable from the presence of the Russian
Symphony Orchestra, led by a great player and delightful personality,
Modest Altschuler. One of his company said of him, "He rules his orchestra
by love." The Recognition Address this year was by President E. B. Bryan
of Colgate University, on the all-important question: "Who are Good
Citizens?"
The forty-third Assembly in 1916 found our country in the throes of a
presidential election, party strife bitter, and the nation divided on the
impending question of our entrance into the world war. The feverish pulse
of the time was manifested in the opinions expressed by the different
speakers. Dr. George E. Vincent gave a lecture on "What is
Americanism"—a sane, thoughtful view which was needed in that hour.
The week beginning Sunday, July 23d, was devoted to the subject of
Preparedness for War or Peace. The Ford Peace Expedition of that year will
be remembered, the effort of a wealthy manufacturer to stop the war.
Several who had taken part in that apparently quixotic movement spoke in
defense or criticism of it, and also the question of preparedness was

discussed by Governor Charles S. Whitman, President Hibben of Princeton,
Hon. Henry A. Wise Wood, Senator W. M. Calder, and others. Mrs. Lucia
Ames Ward, of the Woman's Peace Party, was opposed to any participation
in the war or preparation for it. The controversy waxed warm, for the
opinions were positive on both sides.
On subjects aside from the war we had an enlightening series of
addresses at the Devotional Hour by Dean Charles R. Brown of Yale; a
course of lectures by Dr. Edwin E. Slosson on "Major Prophets of To-day,"
Bernard Shaw, G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, and some others; a series of
lectures by Dr. Percy F. Boynton on "The Growth of Consciousness in
American Literature,"—as shown in Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Lowell, and
Whitman. Raymond Robins gave four lectures on "The Church and the
Laboring Classes." Dr. Griggs awakened general interest by his lectures on
"Types of Men and Women," as illustrated in their autobiographies and
letters, presenting John Stuart Mill, Benevenuto Cellini, George John
Romanes, Marie Bashkirtseff, Sonya Kovalevasky (a new name to most of
us), and Henri Frederic Amiel,—all possessing characters pronounced,
some of them so peculiar as to be almost abnormal.
The Russian Symphony Orchestra, with its beloved director, Modest
Altschuler, was with us again for another week, aided by the soloists and
Chautauqua Chorus. In our rapid survey, we have only glanced at the
prominent events in a great season.

CHAPTER XXIII
WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH
(1917-1920)

When the forty-fourth session of Chautauqua opened on Thursday, June
26, 1917, it found the American republic just entering upon the Great War,
which had already raged in Europe for over two years. Training camps had
sprung up like magic all over the land, from ocean to ocean, and young men
by the hundred thousand had volunteered, with others by the million soon
cheerfully to accept drafting orders. Almost every university had been
transformed into a war college. President Vincent was at the intensive
military training school at Plattsburg, N. Y. Every morning before breakfast
two hundred men at Chautauqua were marching and counter-marching, and
learning the manual of arms with wooden guns, with President Bestor and
most of the officials of the Institution in the lines. The young women every
afternoon were receiving similar drill under a woman officer, and some said
that they presented even a more soldier-like appearance than the men. The
headquarters of several denominations had been commandeered for Red
Cross work and training. A stranger could scarcely get into the Methodist
House without being scrutinized as a possible German spy, with a pocketful
of poison or powdered glass to sprinkle on the bandages. War was in the air
as well as in the newspapers. No matter what was the subject of a lecture it
was almost sure to be on the war before the finish. There were discussions
on the platform and on the street about the League of Nations, some with
President Wilson in favor of it, others as vigorously against it. A symposium
on "Our Country" and a conference of "Organizations Engaged in
Education for Patriotic Service" were held during the session; also a
company of students from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh,
presented a brilliant pageant, "The Drawing of the Sword."
The Fourth of July address was given by the Hon. G. W. Wickersham,
former Attorney-General of the United States. Captain A. Radclyffe
Dugmore of the British Army spoke on "Our Fight for Freedom." Miss Ida

Tarbell, who had won fame by a book showing the operations of the
Standard Oil Company, and had also written a life of Abraham Lincoln, to
be found in every public library and read more widely than any other
biography of the Greatest American, gave some lectures. Her literary life,
by the way, began in the office of the Chautauquan Magazine. Mrs. Percy
V. Pennybacker this summer became President of the Chautauqua Woman's
Club, which office Mrs. B. T. Vincent had relinquished after many years of
leadership. Both these presidents were eminently successful in different
directions and by different methods, the earlier having built up the Club by
wisdom mingled with gentleness; her successor carried it onward by an
energy that brought everybody into willing subjection to her far-reaching
plans. Almost the first result of the new administration was the purchase of
a club house fronting on the Lake, and holding in it almost a bewildering
series of teas and receptions. While the public meetings of the Club
crowded the new Hall of Philosophy every afternoon, Mrs. Pennybacker
gave a stirring address on "What our Country Asks of its Young Women."
During the first week Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick of the Union
Theological Seminary was the Chaplain, and his addresses blended fervent
patriotism and fervent religion in about equal measure.
The second week, from July 8th to 14th, was denominated "Arts and
Letters," with lectures on these subjects by Dr. Mitchell Carroll of
Washington, Henry Turner Bailey of Boston, and others. But underneath the
artistic and the literary, the echo of the war might still be heard in many of
the lectures, and it sounded out in the Devotional Hour addresses of that
soldier in the army of the Lord, the Chaplain, Bishop Charles D. Williams.
During the week of July 15th to 21st, the Methodist Bishop, William
Burt of Buffalo, to whose "area" (for Methodists of course could not call it
a "diocese") Chautauqua belongs, was the Chaplain. During this week we
heard lectures by Admiral Peary, the discoverer of the North Pole; by
Thomas Adams of Canada; by D. R. Garland of Ohio; by D. A. Reed of
Michigan, and by George A. Bellamy of Cleveland.
July 22d-28th was Musical Festival Week, when we had with us once
more the Russian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Modest Altschuler,
who was welcomed with sincere rejoicing by Chautauqua's multitude.

Looking over the crowded Amphitheater during those daily concerts, the
only reminder of a war in progress was that scarcely a young man was to be
seen, although every seat was occupied.
From July 29th to August 4th, the Great War was the theme on the
platform. Mr. Earl Barnes gave a series of lectures on "Historical
Backgrounds of the War," respectively in the British Empire, France,
Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Russian Empire, and the Balkan Peninsular.
Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons presented some of the "Problems of the Peace
Conference,"—though at that time nobody knew when the Conference
would be held or whether anybody would be left alive to hold it. But the
cheerful assumption was taken that Germany would be beaten, which
proved to be correct, and also that the Allies would rearrange the map of the
world, which does not now appear to be quite certain. Mr. Sanford Griffith,
just from the front, gave us an inspiring word-picture of "Paris Reborn."
The concluding address of the symposium was given by President Bestor
on "America and the War." It was considered by the National Security
League as of sufficient value to be published in pamphlet form, and
received a wide circulation.
From August 13th to 18th, Bishop Charles B. Mitchell (Methodist
Episcopal), living at Minneapolis, held the post of Chaplain, and gave a
number of heart warming addresses on "The Transforming Power of Divine
Grace." During the week the Recognition Day exercises were held, with all
pomp and ceremonial, the address being given by President George E.
Vincent. His father was present and that afternoon, as Chancellor, gave the
diplomas to the graduates, but none of us knew that it was for the last time,
and that his face would not be seen again at Chautauqua, although he lived
nearly three years longer.
In 1917, President E. B. Bryan of Colgate University accepted the
position as Director of the Summer Schools. But to one who through the
rest of the year has a college full of students to keep in order, and also a
faculty to maintain in harmony—which one college president told me he
found the harder task,—the burden at Chautauqua of a hundred and twenty-
five teachers, two hundred courses of study, and forty-five hundred students
during nearly all his summer vacation, proved too heavy even for Dr.

Bryan's shoulders, and after three years, in 1919, he was compelled to
relinquish it into the hands of President Bestor.
This summer, also, the new traction station of the Chautauqua Lake
Railway was opened at the highway entrance to the grounds; a handsome
pillared structure with more room than Chautauqua had ever before
possessed for waiting room, ticket office, baggage, freight, and express, a
convenience appreciated by every visitor. Also, by the shore a new
bathhouse and the Jacob Bolin Gymnasium were built and opened, as well
as the Fenton Memorial Home for Methodist Deaconesses on the Overlook
addition.
In 1918, we were in the grip of the war, with our young men in camp by
the million, overseas and on their way by the hundred thousand, and every
woman "doing her bit" in the Red Cross work. Outwardly, Chautauqua
seemed as flourishing as in other years, the hotels and cottages appeared to
be full, the Amphitheater was crowded at the concerts and popular lectures,
and the main streets before and after lectures were a continuous procession.
But the gate receipts showed that the Institution, in common with every
college in the land, was lessened in its attendance and its financial returns.
Nevertheless, the program was not allowed to decline in its extent and its
interest. Indeed, one added feature attracted attention. In the field of the
Overlook a National Service School was held in cooperation with the
Woman's Naval Service. A tented camp was maintained under the strict
discipline of Mrs. George E. Vincent, with regular guards, and training for
more than two hundred khaki-clad young women in agriculture, telegraphy,
basketry, and canteen management. I am not sure about carpentry, though I
saw a photograph of young women sawing boards and putting up a house.
The value of Chautauqua in national patriotic leadership was recognized,
not only by our own government, but by the Allies as well. Great Britain,
France, Belgium, Italy, and Greece sent official speakers, either through
their embassies or their special war missions. It was a mark of distinguished
favor that the French High Commission gave the French Military Band to
Chautauqua for a week, their longest engagement in this country.
On the opening day, July 4th, President Bestor gave the oration on
"Mobilizing the Mind of America." For nearly a year before, and until the

Armistice in November of this year, Mr. Bestor was almost without
intermission in Washington in government service as head of the
Department of Publicity. He was Director of the Speaking Division of the
Committee on Public Information, and also Secretary of the Committee on
Patriotism of the National Security League, an organization which held in
many places training camps for patriotic speakers. Dr. Bestor was carrying
on more than double duty until the Armistice in 1918 gave him something
of a breathing spell between the sessions of Chautauqua. During the week
from July 7th to 13th, Bishop Edwin H. Hughes (Methodist Episcopal) was
Chaplain, and gave addresses of a high character on "Varieties of Religious
Experience." As samples of the type of lectures during this strenuous battle
summer, this week President E. B. Bryan spoke on "War as a
Schoolmaster," Mr. E. H. Griggs began a course on "The War and the
Reconstruction of Democracy," and Dr. L. A. Weigle of Yale lectured on
"Religious Education in War Times." One evening Dr. S. H. Clark read war
lyrics in the Amphitheater.
The week from July 14th to 20th was "Women's Service Week," and
among those who spoke on the subject were Anna Howard Shaw, who had
been called by the President to be Chairman of the Women's National
Council of Defense, in command of all the activities of women in aid of the
war, Miss Helen Fraser of England, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Ella A.
Boole, Mrs. Pennybacker, and Mrs. George Thatcher Guernsey,—women
whose voices had often been heard in behalf of woman suffrage, now as
ardently speaking in aid of work to carry on the war. This week Dr. S. P.
Cadman had been engaged as Chaplain, but he was unable to remain more
than one day and other men were suddenly drafted to take his place on
successive mornings, one of them, the writer of these pages, on fifteen
minutes' notice called to conduct the Devotional Hour, immediately after an
hour's teaching in class. This little incident, of no particular interest to
anybody but the writer, is mentioned merely to illustrate the instant change
of front which must be made frequently at Chautauqua, when a speaker is
delayed by a railroad wreck or unexpectedly called home to conduct a
funeral.
"Our Allies" was the title of the week from July 22d to 27th. Dr. Charles
W. Gilkey of Chicago preached the sermon on Sunday morning and led in
the devotions through the week. Prof. Robert Herndon Fife of the Wesleyan

University, Conn., gave a series of lectures on "The New Europe." Not all
of his forecasts have yet come to pass, for the new Europe is only slowly
emerging out of the old. Mrs. Kenneth Brown—the name sounds American,
but she is a Greek lady of rank, born Demetra Vaka—told a harrowing tale
of her own experience and observation, "In the Heart of the German
Intrigue." Dr. Mitchell Carroll of Washington gave an account of "Greece,
our Youngest Ally," with Venizelos as the hero. Lieut. Bruno Roselli of the
Italian army spoke; Miss Maud Hayes of "England in War Time." On Friday
evening, July 26th, there was a concert in the evening of national songs of
the Allies; the flags of more than twenty nations being hung above the choir
loft. On Grand Army Day in this week Lieut. Telfair Marion Minton spoke
on "The Flags of a Thousand Years."
In the following week, July 28th to August 3d, while the Musical
Festival was in progress, the French Military Band played every day, and
concert followed concert, with Gaul's "Joan of Arc" sung one evening by
the soloists and full chorus. Dr. Leon H. Vincent gave a course of lectures,
showing "War in Literature," the stories called forth by the Wars of
Napoleon, the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and the
struggle in progress in 1918—a most interesting series. The Chaplain of this
week was the Rev. Wm. S. Jacobs, D.D., of Houston, Texas.
Omitting a fortnight for lack of room, we must not omit "The Next Step
Forward," the topic of the week from August 18th to 24th, a discussion of
some movements to follow in the footsteps of war, such as "Theological
Reconstruction," by Shailer Mathews; "Christianity in Foreign Lands," by
Dr. J. L. Barton, Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions; "The Sunday Evening Club" and "Church Advertising,"
by W. F. McClure, and "The Art of Motion Pictures," by Vachel Lindsay.
There was also a course on "Art in Daily Life," by our English friend, Prof.
I. B. Stoughton Holborn, of Oxford.
Bishop McConnell, who conducted the Devotional Hour, August 11th-
17th, also gave the Recognition address to the graduating class of the C. L.
S. C., on "Ideals of Leadership." The skies were clouded, yet we were able
to hold the procession as usual (only once in forty-seven years has the
march been broken up by rain), but the storm fell during the address, with
such noise on the roof that the Bishop was compelled to pause for some

minutes until its rage abated. We missed on this day especially the presence
of Bishop Vincent and his son, and the diplomas were conferred by Dr.
Bestor, the new President of Chautauqua. Not long after the closing of the
Assembly, on November 11, 1918, "Armistice Day" was ushered in by the
blowing of every steam whistle upon the continent, by all-day processions,
by bands and horns, and a surrender of the nation to the universal joy,
through the news that the most terrible war that ever desolated the world
was over at last.
When the forty-sixth session of Chautauqua opened in 1919, it found the
land rejoicing over the conclusion of the war, happy in the return of two
million men in khaki, apparently rich with high wages, booming business,
and money in plenty. It was the top of a tide destined before many months
to recede to normal conditions. But while the flush times lasted,
Chautauqua shared in the nation-wide prosperity. This was the period of
astounding financial drives. One great church commemorated the hundred
years of its missionary enterprise by a centenary movement and a
subscription of more than a hundred million dollars. Other churches
followed with "New Era" and "Nation Wide" campaigns. It seemed to be
the opportunity for Chautauqua to reap some benefits from the spirit of the
time, and the trustees launched the "Comprehensive Plan" to raise half a
million dollars, freeing the Institution from all debt and placing it on a safe,
permanent, and prosperous basis. Here was a university of a hundred and
twenty-five instructors, two hundred courses of study, and nearly five
thousand students every summer, yet without a dollar of endowment;—
what college in the land was doing so much with an income so small? Here
was a property of three hundred and fifty acres, gradually accumulated,
partly by the demands of the Institution's growth, partly from the necessity
of controlling its surroundings. Debts had been incurred by enlargement of
the grounds, a sewer system, a water supply, electric lighting, new
buildings, new roads, and a hundred items of improvement. The overhead
expenses of Chautauqua, in the form of interest that must be paid, were
more than thirty thousand dollars every year. How much might be
accomplished if every debt could be cleared away and the saving in interest
be applied to the improvement of the property and the enlargement of
opportunities? Mr. John D. Rockefeller made an offer of giving one-fifth of
all that should be raised, up to the desired half-million dollars. The trustees

assigned to themselves another hundred thousand of the amount, and a
committee of the cottage owners pledged $150,000 from those having
property on the ground. The plans were carefully laid, and during the season
of 1919 every visitor at Chautauqua was called upon to make his
contribution.
Of all the forty-six years of Chautauqua up to 1919, this was the most
successful in its history. The attendance shown by the receipts at the two
gates—one at the Pier where the steamboats landed their thousands, the
other at the new station on the public highway where the trolley brought the
tens of thousands—were far beyond that of any former year. The
registration at the schools was sixty-two per cent. in advance of 1918, and
eighteen per cent. beyond that of 1914, the best previous year. Every hotel
and boarding house inside the fence was full, and pleas were made to
cottagers to open their doors to incoming guests. Many who could not find
lodging places on the grounds found homes in the hotels and hamlets
around the Lake and came daily to the Assembly by trolley or by boat.
During the opening week, Mr. W. W. Ellsworth gave two illustrated
lectures, one on "Theodore Roosevelt," the other "The Rise and Fall of
Prussianism," and Prof. Thomas F. Moran of Purdue University gave an
appreciation of "Mark Twain, Humorist, Reformer, and Philosopher." Miss
Maud Miner gave a popular recitation of "Comedy Scenes from
Shakespeare." It was noticed that in the very opening the Amphitheater was
filled;—what would it become at the height of the season, the first two
weeks in August?
The Devotional Hour from July 6th to 12th was held by Dr. Charles F.
Wishart, in a series of studies in the book of Exodus, entitled, "A Free
People in the Making," and from the story he drew frequent applications to
the history of another "free people." During this week, Dr. Louis A. Weigle,
Professor of Psychology at Yale University, began a course of lectures on
"Character Building in the Public Schools" suggesting many thoughts—not
all of them gratulatory—in those who heard them.
On Sunday morning, July 13th, the great congregation heard Dr. Wm. P.
Merrill, of the Brick Church, New York, deliver a sermon on the topic as
announced, "The League of Nations," of which he declared himself

unreservedly in favor. On this question there were two parties throughout
the nation strongly opposed to each other and fiercely debating it, and when
a fortnight later the chaplain, Bishop Williams, who was never known to sit
on the fence, also came out vigorously for the League, Mr. Bestor began to
look around for some speaker on the other side, for it has been a principle at
Chautauqua to give both sides a fair showing, even when the Chautauqua
constituency as a whole might be opposed to a speaker. A speaker against
the League was found in Mr. John Ferguson, but he evidently represented
the sentiments of the minority. Among the speakers of the second week
were several on "The Aftermath of the Great War," among them Dr.
Katharine B. Davis, Major-General Bailey, who had been Commander of
the Eighty-First Division of the A. E. F., and Attorney-General A. Mitchell
Palmer. Prof. S. C. Schmucker also gave a course of lectures on "The Races
of Man."
Musical Festival Week was from July 28th to August 2nd. The New York
Symphony Orchestra of sixty instruments was with us in concerts daily, led
in the absence of its conductor, Mr. Walter Damrosch (who was abroad) by
René Pollain of France. During this and the following week Earl Barnes
gave a course of lectures on "The New Nations of the World." We listened
to a discussion of "Zionism," in a lecture on "Jewish Aims in Palestine" by
Charles A. Cowen, of the Zionist organization, to which Mr. Earl Barnes
gave a cool, dispassionate answer, showing the difficulty, amounting almost
to an impossibility, of establishing a Jewish State in the land looked upon as
holy, not only by Jews, but by Mohammedans and Christians of all the great
churches. Another speaker in this symposium was Mme. Mabel S.
Grouetch, the wife of the Serbian minister at Washington, who afterward
became the Czecho-Slovak representative to Japan.
Old First Night on August 5th was devoted to the Comprehensive Plan
of lifting Chautauqua out of debt. The elements seemed against the aim for
rain kept some away,—though the Amphitheater was full—and its thunder
on the roof made some speeches inaudible. But it could not dampen the
ardor of the people. Practically every organization, club, or class at
Chautauqua, besides many individuals, made pledges. Besides the chorus,
there was a children's choir in the gallery, and one gentleman offered to give
a dollar for every child in it, whereupon scouts were sent out, boys and girls
were gotten out of bed and brought to the gallery, so that his pledge cost

that gentleman considerably over $300.00. Before the close of the
Assembly $375,000 had been subscribed, inclusive of Mr. Rockefeller's
quota.
Americanization week was from August 11th to 16th, with timely
addresses by Prof. Herbert Adolphin Miller, Prof. Thomas Moran, and a
delightful lecture by Mrs. Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale, on
"Reconstruction in England and America." As a practical illustration of
Americanization, there was a wonderful pageant by the children of a public
school in Pittsburgh, practically all of foreign lineage. The Recognition
address on August 20th was by Bishop Charles F. Brent, who after heroic
work in the Philippines had been translated to the Episcopal diocese of
Western New York. His subject was "The Opportunities of the Mind."
We must not forget that some lectures were given at this session by Dr.
Charles A. Eastman, whose name does not suggest, as his complexion does,
that he is a full-blooded Sioux Indian. He is a successful physician and a
graduate of Dartmouth College,—which, by the way, was established in
1750 as a school for Indians, with no thought of Anglo-Saxon students. This
year also Dr. E. B. Bryan was unable to remain as Director of the Summer
Schools, and his work was added to the many tasks of President Bestor.
We come finally to the Assembly of 1920, the forty-seventh session, and
at present the last upon our list, unless we undertake a prophetic look into
the future. We met in sadness, for our great Founder John Heyl Vincent,
who had lived to the age of eighty-eight years, died on Sunday, May 9th, at
his home in Chicago. He had outlived his fellow-Founder, Lewis Miller, by
twenty-one years. The two names stand together in the annals of
Chautauqua and in the thoughts of all Chautauquans, for Chautauqua could
not have been founded by either one without the other, and on Old First
Night, for both together the lilies of the white handkerchiefs are silently and
solemnly lifted, and as silently and solemnly lowered. A memorial service
was held for our beloved Bishop and Chancellor on Sunday afternoon,
August 1st, at the Vesper Hour, in the Hall of Philosophy as the appropriate
place, and the writer of this story, as the oldest of living Chautauqua
workers, was permitted to offer the tribute in his honor. In the evening
another service was held in the Amphitheater, at which Dr. John H. Finley,
Superintendent of Education for New York State, and Bishop Herbert Welch

of the Methodist Episcopal Church, home for a few months from his field in
Korea and Japan, gave addresses. During the past year Chautauqua had
sustained another loss in the death of Mr. Alfred Hallam, who for nearly
twenty years had been the untiring and wholly devoted leader of the
Musical Department. It was felt that a musical service was his most
appropriate memorial, and the oratorio "Hora Novissima," by Horatio
Parker, was sung by the choir and soloists on Sunday evening, August 8th.
During the session news came that Dr. Bethuel T. Vincent of Denver, long
conductor of the Children's class and Intermediate class in the early years of
the Assembly, had followed his brother the Bishop, into the silent land. He
was remembered in an address by the writer at a memorial service. His
wife, Mrs. Ella Vincent, for many years president of the Woman's Club, in a
few months also joined the company of the church triumphant. Another
voice often heard at Chautauqua was stilled this summer, that of Mrs. Frank
Beard, always bright and sunny in her spirit, who fell asleep in the cottage
where she was abiding, soon after the opening of the Assembly, fulfilling
the wish expressed to a friend a year before that she might die at
Chautauqua.
The most notable feature on the program this summer was the presence
at Chautauqua for nearly six weeks, from July 26th to August 31st, of the
New York Symphony Orchestra, with daily concerts, conducted by René
Pollain and William Willeke,—a bold venture of the management but
evidently successful.
This was the tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrims, and the event
was recognized by several addresses, one in particular by Mr. Charles
Zeublin, on "1620 and 1920." Prof. Weigle gave a lecture on "Education of
Children in Early New England"; Dr. Alfred E. Garvie spoke on "The
Message of the Mayflower for To-day." Principal Alexander J. Grieve of the
University of Edinburgh gave lectures on the "Leaders of the Pilgrims,—
John Robinson and others."
Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, after an experience of years in Asia Minor
and in France, gave a series of valuable lectures on "After the War," and
Mrs. Gibbons narrated the thrilling story of herself in Turkey, during the
massacres of 1908. Dr. Lynn Harold Hough was chaplain from July 4th to
July 10th, and in the morning talks spoke on the spiritual experiences of St.

Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley, then summed them up in a
conception of "The Christian Society." Prof. Richard Burton lectured in a
course on "Modern Literary Tendencies,"—the essay, the novel, the drama,
and other forms of literature. One of the great acquisitions this year was
Prof. T. R. Glover of Cambridge, England, with a course of lectures on "The
Jesus of History," the results of the deepest study of the New Testament and
also of the contemporary Roman world. Dr. H. Gordon Hayes, just leaving
Yale for the Ohio State University, discussed most ably "Factors in Labor
Unrest." On Roosevelt Day, July 21st, Mrs. Douglas Robinson, his sister,
gave "Recollections of Theodore Roosevelt." In the week from July 26th-
31st, the subject was "Problems of the Present Day Civilization," discussed
by Dr. E. H. Griggs, Rabbi Louis Wolsey of Cleveland, and Dr. Cornelius
Woelfkin of New York. "Woman and the New Era" was the theme of the
week August 2d-7th, a discussion participated in by Mrs. Thomas G.
Winter, President of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs; by Mrs.
George Bass, who was the woman, for the first time in history to preside for
a day at the Democratic National Convention which renominated Woodrow
Wilson; and by Miss Mary Garrett Hay, the President of the Affiliated
Women's Republican Clubs. August 22d-29th was the week of the Ministers
and Church Workers' Institute, with addresses by Bishop McDowell
(Methodist), Ozora S. Davis, Shailer Mathews, Mrs. Helen Barrett
Montgomery, and Chancellor S. B. McCormick, of Pittsburgh.
This was a great year. Subscriptions to the Comprehensive Plan brought
the amount up to $450,000, including Mr. Rockefeller's contribution, to be
increased if other gifts warranted it. The Summer Schools were twenty-five
per cent. in income and nearly twenty per cent. in numbers over 1919, the
highest mark of past years. Provision was made for improving and
enlarging the golf links, and for building a new club house on the grounds
of the golf course.

CHAPTER XXIV
CHAUTAUQUA'S ELDER DAUGHTERS

Chautauqua, planted upon the shore of its Lake, grew up a fruitful vine,
and within two years shoots cut from its abundant branches began to take
root in other soils. Or, to change the figure, the seeds of Chautauqua were
borne by the winds to many places, some of them far away, and these grew
up, in the course of little more than a generation, a hundred, even a
thousand fold. Many of these daughter-Chautauquas were organized by men
—in some instances by women—who had caught the spirit of the mother-
assembly; others by those who had heard of the new movement and saw its
possibilities; some, it must be confessed, by people who sought to save a
decayed and debt-burdened camp meeting, and a few with lots to lease at a
summer resort. From one cause or another, immediately after the first
Assembly had won success, Dr. Vincent began to receive pressing
invitations to organize similar institutions in many places. As he was
already fulfilling the duties both of an editor and a secretary for the rapidly
growing Sunday School cause, he could accept but few of these many calls.
But a number of younger men trained by a year or two of experience in
teaching at Chautauqua were around him and to these he directed most of
the enquirers. At least three Assemblies arose in 1876, two years after the
founding of Chautauqua. Of these I possess some knowledge and will
therefore name them, but without doubt there were others which soon
passed away and left scarcely a memory.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, the first gathering to follow in the
footsteps of Chautauqua was the Sunday School Parliament on Wellesley
Island, one of those romantic Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River,
where it emerges from Lake Ontario. This island stands on the boundary
line between the United States and Canada, but the home of the Parliament
was on the Canadian side of the line. The name "Chautauqua" has now
become generic and almost any gathering in the interests of the Sunday
School, or of general literature with a sprinkling of entertainment, is apt to
be named "a Chautauqua." But in those early days the word Chautauqua

was not known as the general term of an institution of the assembly type,
and the new gatherings were named "Congress" or "Encampment" or
"Institute," and for this gathering the title "Sunday School Parliament" was
taken, as smacking somewhat of English origin. Its organizer and conductor
was the Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts, at that time a Methodist minister, afterwards
a Congregationalist, and still at present working as the head of the
International Reform Bureau in Washington, D. C. He was aided in the plan
and direction by Mrs. Crafts, for both of them were then prominent leaders
in Sunday School work. It was my good fortune to be present and conduct
the Normal Class during a part of the time. As compared with Chautauqua,
the Parliament was small, but its spirit was true to the Chautauqua ideal and
it was maintained faithfully for ten or twelve years. The place had been
established as a camp-meeting ground, but it shared the fate of many camp
meetings in gradually growing into a summer resort for people in general.
As cottages and cottagers increased the Chautauqua interest declined, and
finally the attempt to maintain classes and meetings after the Chautauqua
pattern was abandoned, and the island took its place among the summer
colonies in that wonderful group.
The same year, 1876, saw another camp ground becoming a Chautauqua
Assembly,—at Petoskey, near the northern end of Lake Michigan. Here a
beautiful tract of woodland, rising in a series of terraces from Little
Traverse Bay, about forty miles south of the Straits of Mackinac, had been
obtained by a Methodist camp-meeting association, and laid out in roads
forming a series of concentric circles. Here the first Bay View Assembly
was held in 1876, and again in its scope were combined the camp meeting,
the summer home, and the Chautauqua conception, three divergent aims
that have rarely worked well together. It will be remembered that on its land
side the original Chautauqua was shut off from the outer world by a high
fence, and everybody was compelled to enter the ground through a gate, at
which a ticket must be purchased. At Bay View, as at most camp-meeting
grounds, access was open on every side. At first they undertook to support
the Assembly by collections, but the receipts proved inadequate, and they
placed a ticket window at each lecture hall and endeavored to induce the
cottagers to purchase season tickets, a plan which has been pursued down to
the present time. One of the founders of Bay View, perhaps the one who
suggested it, was Dr. Wm. H. Perrine, an ardent and intelligent

Chautauquan, the rebuilder of Palestine Park. Other men came to the aid of
the Bay View Assembly, some of them men of means, who gave liberally in
the form of buildings, an organ, and to some extent an endowment. One of
these was Mr. Horace Hitchcock of Detroit, another was John M. Hall, who
organized the Bay View Reading Course, analogous to the C. L. S. C., and
by his personal endeavor built up a reading and book-buying constituency. I
was present at the second session in 1877, when it was a handful of people
in a wilderness, and again thirty years later, when I found a beautiful city of
homes in the forest, rising terrace above terrace, with good roads, fine
public buildings, and a body of people interested in the best thought of the
time. Chautauqua points with pleasure and pride to her oldest living
daughter, the Bay View Assembly.
Mention should be made here of an Assembly established at Clear Lake,
beside a beautiful sheet of water in northern Iowa, nearly midway between
the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It was organized in 1876, with the
Rev. J. R. Berry as superintendent. For some years, beginning in 1879, it
was under the direction of the Rev. J. A. Worden, who, like some others of
us, had learned the Assembly trade in apprenticeship to Dr. Vincent at
Chautauqua. For ten years Clear Lake was fairly prosperous, but in time it
met the fate of most assemblies and dropped out of existence.
During the year 1877 three more Assemblies arose, one of which
remains to this day in prosperity, while the two others soon passed away.
The successful institution was at Lakeside, Ohio. Like many others, it was
grafted upon a camp meeting which had been established some years
before, but was declining in its interest and attendance. The name
"Encampment" was chosen as an easy departure from its original sphere,
but after a few years the name "Assembly," by this time becoming general,
was assumed. The first meeting as a Sunday School gathering on the
Chautauqua plan was held in 1877, with the Rev. James A. Worden, who
had assisted Dr. Vincent for three years in the normal work at Chautauqua,
as its conductor. Afterward Dr. B. T. Vincent was in charge for a number of
seasons, and one year, 1882, Dr. John H. Vincent was superintendent. For
many years all the Chautauqua features were kept prominent, the Normal
Department, with a systematic course, examinations, and an Alumni
Association; the C. L. S. C. with recognition services, Round Tables, camp
fires, the four Arches, and all the accessories. Lakeside drew around it

helpers and liberal givers, and still stands in strength. Lakeside has the
benefit of a delightful location, on a wooded peninsula jutting into Lake
Erie, near Sandusky City, and in sight of Put-in-Bay, famous in American
history for Commodore Perry's naval victory in the War of 1812. It still
maintains lecture courses and classes in the midst of a summer-home
community.
Another Assembly began in 1877, with high expectations, at Lake Bluff
overlooking Lake Michigan, thirty-five miles north of Chicago. It was
confidently supposed that on a direct railroad line from the great city, Lake
Bluff would draw large audiences, and Dr. Vincent was engaged to organize
and conduct an Assembly upon the Chautauqua plan, with lecturers and
workers from that headquarters. A strong program was prepared for the
opening session. Among the lecturers was the Rev. Joseph Cook, at that
time one of the most prominent and popular speakers in the land. I recall in
one of his lectures at Lake Bluff a sentence, wholly unpremeditated, which
thrilled the audience and has always seemed to me one of the most eloquent
utterances I have ever heard. It was twelve years after the Civil War, and on
our way to the Assembly we passed the marble monument crowned with the
statue of Stephen A. Douglas, the competitor of Lincoln for the Senatorship
and Presidency, but after the opening of the war his loyal supporter for the
few months before his death. Dr. Cook was giving a history of the forces in
the nation which brought on the secession of the Southern States. He
referred to Daniel Webster in the highest praise, declaring that his
compromise measures, such as the Fugitive Slave Law, were dictated by a
supreme love for the Union, which if preserved would in time have made an
end of slavery, and he added a sentence of which this is the substance.
Had it been given to Daniel Webster, as it was given to Edward Everett,
to live until the guns were fired upon Fort Sumter, there would have been
an end of compromise. He would have stamped that mighty foot with a
sound that would have rung throughout the land, have called forth a million
men, and might have averted the war!
Just then a voice rang out from one of the seats—"As Douglas did!"
Joseph Cook paused a moment. His chest swelled as he drew in a breath,
and then looking at the man who had interrupted him, he spoke in that
powerful voice:

The firmament above the massive brow of Daniel Webster was a vaster
arch than that over the narrow forehead of Stephen A. Douglas, and the
lightning that rent the clouds from the dying face of one, would never have
been needed to bring daylight to the other!
I was seated beside the Rev. Charles F. Deems of New York, a
Southerner by birth and in his sympathies through the then recent war. He
turned to me and said: "That was the most magnificent sentence that I have
ever heard!" There was a moment of silence, and then a burst of applause
from the audience.
The Lake Bluff Assembly never drew a large patronage, as no
Chautauqua Assembly ever has which depended upon a great city whose
inhabitants can hear the famous preachers and orators. The successful
Assemblies have been located in fairly large towns, with villages and small
cities surrounding, near enough to reach the Assembly, but so distant that to
enjoy its benefits the visitors must stay more than one day. The support of a
Chautauqua Assembly of the higher grade comes not mainly from the one-
day excursionists, but from those who plan to enter the classes and remain
at least a fortnight. These patrons constitute the backbone of the institution,
and without them the transitory crowds soon lose their interest and the
Assembly declines. Lake Bluff maintained an existence for ten or twelve
years, but never obtained an extensive constituency.
The year 1878 was noteworthy in the establishment of two Assemblies,
one still living after more than forty years, the other one of the largest, most
steadfast in fidelity to the Chautauqua ideal, and most extended in its
influence. The first of these was the Round Lake Assembly, at a camp
ground near Saratoga in New York. We have narrated elsewhere (see page
44) the story of the "praying band leader" who undertook to hold a little
meeting of his own at Chautauqua, and when called to order left in disgust,
but later showed his manly spirit by asking Dr. Vincent to organize an
Assembly on the Chautauqua plan on the grounds at Round Lake, of which
camp meeting he was President. This Assembly began in 1878, and is still
maintained both as a summer school, a camp meeting, and a Sunday School
training institution. It was opened according to the Chautauqua pattern, with
an evening of short speeches, of which some at least were supposed to
blend humor with sense. Frank Beard was on the platform, and was

expected to be the wit of the evening. To the blank perplexity of all, he
made a serious speech, without a solitary funny allusion. The audience did
not know whether to laugh or to look solemn, as he talked on, and at last
brought us all "before the great white throne." The next morning at
breakfast—for all the imported workers took our meals at one table in the
Round Lake Hotel—Dr. Vincent freed his mind to Frank Beard, somewhat
after this fashion:
Now, Frank, I want you to understand that we bring you here to brighten
up the program with a little fun. We don't need you to make serious
speeches; there are plenty of men to do that; I can do it myself, a great deal
better than you can. To-night I'm going to give you another chance, and I
expect you to rise to the occasion with something to laugh at.
So, before the evening lecture, Dr. Vincent announced that Mr. Beard
wished to say a few words. This was something of what he said:
Dr. Vincent, he didn't like the speech I made last night. He told me this
morning before all these fellers that it was too eloquent, and he said, "Mr.
Beard, when you are eloquent you take the shine off from me, and these
other men, and you mustn't do it. If there is any eloquence needed, I will do
it myself, and you mustn't interfere with the regular program."
Then he went on, in his usual way, using some of the dear old jokes that
some of us had heard at Chautauqua, but polished up for a new
constituency. Everybody saw that he was guying the doctor, but there was a
group of us present who knew just how Frank was twisting the breakfast
talk of the Superintendent of Instruction.
On the shore of Round Lake, near the Assembly ground, a copy of
Palestine Park had been constructed, and daily lectures were given there. It
was just a few feet larger than the Park at Chautauqua, as we were informed
by the President. Let me correct the report that a big Methodist bishop
arriving late one night, and enquiring the way to the hotel, fell into the
clutches of the most mischievous small boy in the region, who told him:
"The gates are all shut and you'll have to climb the fence yonder."
He did so, according to the story, and fell from the top of the fence into
the Dead Sea, which at once swelled its waters and washed away the city of

Jericho. The eminent divine, it is said, drenched with water and spattered
with mud, walked up the Jordan Valley and over the mountains of Ephraim,
destroying the cities and obliterating sundry holy places; one foot caught in
Jacob's Well, and his head bumped on Mount Gerizim. He reached the hotel
at last, but the next morning showed the land of Palestine in worse ruin than
had been wrought by Nebuchadnezzar's army. All this I, myself, read in a
New York newspaper that is said to contain "All the news that is fit to
print"; but I here and now declare solemnly that there is not a shred of truth
in the story, for I saw the Bishop, and I saw the Park!
The Round Lake meetings are held to this day, courses of lectures are
given, and classes are held. But the Park of Palestine, which was to surpass
Chautauqua's Park, is no more. It was built on swampy ground, after a few
years sank under the encroaching waters of the lake, and was never
restored.
The other institution founded in 1878 was the Kansas Chautauqua
Assembly. It was organized by the Rev. J. E. Gilbert, then a pastor of a
Methodist Church in Topeka, who was an active Sunday School worker and
started other assemblies during his different pastorates in the Middle West.
It was held for three years at Lawrence, then at Topeka for two years, and
finally in 1883 located at Ottawa, about fifty miles southwest from Kansas
City. Most of the Assemblies already named were held upon camp grounds,
but the Ottawa Assembly was unique in its location upon the large Forest
Park just outside the city, leased for this purpose by the authorities. Being
public property, no cottages could be built upon it, but a city of three
hundred tents arose every summer, and after a fortnight were folded and
taken away. For nearly twenty years this Assembly was under the direction
of the writer, and in every respect followed the lines laid down by its parent
Chautauqua. Buildings were put up for classes, which served as well for the
annual agricultural fair in the fall. In our first year at Ottawa, our normal
class was held out of doors, the members seated upon the unroofed grand
stand of the Park, and I was teaching them with the aid of a blackboard.
Clouds began to gather rapidly and a storm seemed to be in prospect. I
paused in the lesson and said:
"I am somewhat of a stranger here—how long does it take a thunder
storm to arrive?"

"About two minutes!" responded a voice from the seats; and instantly
there came a rush to cover, leaving the history of the Bible to care for itself.
We were just in time, for a minute later it was blowing a hurricane, bending
the great trees and breaking their branches. I had heard of Kansas cyclones,
had been shown a "cyclone cellar," and only the day before had taken
dinner in a house of which one end had been blown clean off by a cyclone.
As we stood in a building which we had named "Normal Hall," I asked a
lady by the window, "Is this a cyclone?" She glanced without and then
calmly said: "No, this is a straight wind."
In ten minutes the tornado was over and we reassembled for the lesson.
Kansas people seemed to accept occurrences like this as all in the day's
work. One weather-story of Kansas reminds of another. On my first visit to
that State in 1882, the last year of the Assembly at Topeka, I was standing
in front of the hotel, thinking of the historic events in Kansas,—where the
Civil War actually began, though unrealized at the time,—when I saw
nearby a rather rough looking, bearded individual. Thinking that he might
be one of the pioneers, with a story to tell of the early days, I stepped up
and began in the conventional way by remarking:
"I don't think it's going to rain."
He looked me over and responded:
"Wal, strangers from the East think they know when it's goin' to rain and
when it ain't; but us fellers who've lived in Kansas thirty years never know
whether it'll rain in five minutes or whether it won't rain in three months."
The Ottawa Assembly was one of the best in the Chautauqua system.
The people of the city built for its use a large tabernacle and halls for
classes. Beside the park flows the River Marais du Cygne, "the Swamp of
the Swan," celebrated in one of Whittier's poems; and on a bank
overlooking the river was erected a Hall of Philosophy, copying the old Hall
at Chautauqua, except that its columns were lighter and ornamented,
improving its appearance. We followed the Chautauqua programs as far as
possible, having many of the same speakers on our platform and Professor
Sherwin to lead the music, succeeded later by Dr. H. R. Palmer. The
teacher-training work, then called the Normal Class, was maintained
thoroughly, with adult, intermediate, and children's classes,—all wearing

badges and following banners. The C. L. S. C., with all its usages of camp
fires, Recognition Day, vigil, procession and arches, was kept prominent.
We established a Chautauqua Boys' Club, and Girls' Club also. We could
not conduct a summer school, as the meeting lasted only a fortnight, but we
had lecture courses of high character upon literature. Kansas contained
more old soldiers in its population than any other State in the Union, and
the Grand Army Day at Ottawa was an event of State-wide interest. Some
distinguished veterans spoke on these occasions, among them General John
A. Logan, Major William McKinley, and General John B. Gordon of the
Confederate Army; also Private A. J. Palmer of New York, whose
"Company D, the Die-No-Mores," roused enthusiasm to its summit. One
element in Ottawa's success was the steadfast loyalty of the city,—a place
then of seven or eight thousand people, which enjoyed a special prohibitory
law some years earlier than the rest of the State. Almost every family had its
tent in Forest Park and lived there day and night during the fortnight of the
meetings. Another cause of its prosperity was its able, broad, and
continuous management. Its President for many years was the Rev. Duncan
C. Milner, a Chautauquan from his boots up to his head, and laboring with
untiring energy in its behalf.
I must tell an amusing story of our camp fire one summer. As the ground
was by this time well occupied, we decided to have the bonfire on a raft out
in the stream, while the crowd sang the songs and listened to the speeches
from the Hall of Philosophy on the shore. But when we met at night for the
services, the raft and the materials ready for lighting had disappeared! We
were told that the janitor had thought it an improvement to have the fire
lighted above, in a bend of the river, and float down to the Hall. We waited,
not exactly pleased with the janitor's unauthorized action, and after a time
we heard a mighty racket. The raft with the bonfire was floating down the
stream, while around it was a convoy of about a hundred boats, loaded with
boys, and each boy blowing a horn or yelling in the most vociferous
manner. That put an end to any prospect of songs and speeches, for who
could command silence to such a din? But that was not all nor the worst.
The janitor tried in vain to anchor his raft, but it still floated downward. We
saw our camp fire sail majestically down the river, until it approached the
mill dam and the falls, when the boys desperately rowed their boats out of
danger. Raft and contents went over the falls and the bonfire was quenched

in the devouring flood. As we saw it going to its doom, I distinctly heard the
word "dam" spoken, and I fear it was intended to include a final "n." But
that was the last attempt at a camp fire. When I proposed one at the next
season, the entire Round Table burst out with a roaring laugh.
The success of Ottawa led to the opening of many other Assemblies all
over the State, and by degrees weakened this, the mother Chautauqua of
Kansas. It is still maintained, but in a small way, as one of the chain
Chautauquas.
In 1879, a Sunday School Congress which soon grew into an Assembly
was held at Ocean Grove, on the Atlantic Coast, almost the only place
where the camp meeting, the summer resort, and the Chautauqua idea have
lived together in mutual peace and prosperity. But even at Ocean Grove the
Assembly has been overshadowed, almost out of sight, by the camp
meeting and the summer boarding-house contingent. For several seasons I
took part in the work, and in 1881 conducted the Children's Class. On the
next to the last day I told all the children to meet me at our chapel, naming
the hour when the tide would be at its lowest, every child to bring a pail and
shovel, or a shingle, if his shovel had been lost. We formed a goodly
procession of three hundred, marching down the avenue, myself at the head.
At the beach I had selected a suitable area, and set the children to
constructing out of the damp sand a model two hundred feet long of
Palestine, the land of which we had been studying in the daily class. It was
a sight to see those young nation builders, making the coastline, piling up
the mountains, and digging out the Jordan valley with its lakes. Some
Biblically inclined gentlemen aided in the supervision, and apparently a
thousand people stood above and looked on. When it was finished I walked
up and down the model, asking the children questions upon it, and was
somewhat surprised to find how much they knew. Some whose conduct in
the class gave little promise were among the promptest to exploit their
knowledge. It was my purpose to leave the map that it might be seen by the
multitude until the tide should wash it away. But the boys shouted, "Can't
we stamp it down now?" and I rather reluctantly consented. Palestine has
been overrun, and trodden down, and destroyed by armies of Assyrians,
Babylonians, Turks, Crusaders, and many other warriors, but the land never
suffered such a treading down by the Gentiles as on that morning at Ocean
Grove.

In the year 1879, the wind-wafted seed of Chautauqua was borne to the
Pacific Coast and an Assembly was founded at Pacific Grove in Monterey,
California. I know not whether it remains, but the Grove has been the place
of meeting for the California Methodist Conference year after year. Another
Assembly combined with the summer resort was established this year at
Mountain Lake in Maryland, a charming spot, whose elevation beside a
lovely lake brings coolness to the summer air.
One more Assembly established in 1879 must not be forgotten. In the
early years of Chautauqua we used to see a plainly clad man, who from his
appearance might have been a farmer or a lumberman; in fact, he was the
proprietor of a large saw and planing mill. This man was at every meeting,
listened intently and took full notes, for he was intelligent, reading good
books, and ardent in his devotion to Chautauqua. For years he was one of
my friends, but, alas! I have forgotten his name. He lived in Northern
Indiana, and in 1879 was able to interest enough people to start an
Assembly at Island Park at Rome City, Indiana, not far from the Michigan
line. He became its Secretary, managed its finances, and called upon the
Rev. A. H. Gillet, one of Dr. Vincent's lieutenants, to conduct it. For many
years Island Park was one of the foremost children of Chautauqua in its
program and its attendance. It was situated upon an island in a lovely lake,
with bridges leading to the mainland, where most of the tents and cottages
were placed, and where buildings were erected for the normal classes and
the kindergarten; the Tabernacle, seating 2500, being upon the island which
was bright with flower beds amid winding paths. For years Island Park was
a center of Chautauqua influence and strong in promoting the C. L. S. C.,
but like many other Assemblies, it failed to receive financial support and
was abandoned.
Two great Assemblies, both closely following the path of Chautauqua,
were founded in the year 1880. One of these was Monona Lake, near
Madison, Wis. It was established by the State Sunday School Association,
its founder and first president being the Hon. Elihu Colman of Fond du Lac.
Like Ottawa in Kansas, it was an assembly of tents, not of cottages. The
first session, a small gathering, was held in 1880 on the shores of Green
Lake, one of the five hundred lakes of Wisconsin; but in the following year
it was removed to Monona Lake, one of the five surrounding the capital
city, Madison. After Mr. Colman, the Rev. F. S. Stein, D.D., became

President, and for nearly a generation, Mr. Moseley, a bookseller of
Madison, was its efficient secretary, business manager, and organizer of its
programs. The standards of Monona Lake were high and its work was
thorough, but for lack of adequate support, it was given up after nearly
thirty years of usefulness and the point became an amusement park.
Among those prominent in the early seasons at Monona Lake was the
Rev. O. P. Bestor, who was active in promoting the C. L. S. C. He brought
with him his son, who began as a small boy attending the Assembly, and
formed the assembly-habit so strongly that in the after years he grew up to
be the President of the Chautauqua Institution—Albert E. Bestor, LL.D.
The other notable Chautauqua started in 1880 was the New England
Assembly at South Framingham, Mass., originally in closer affiliation with
the original Chautauqua than any other Assembly, for it chose Dr. Vincent
as Superintendent of Instruction, and many of its speakers were also on the
Chautauqua program. It drew from all the New England States, until its
success led to the establishment of other Assemblies at Fryeburg, Maine, at
Northampton, Mass., and at Plainville, Conn. One of Dr. Vincent's
assistants at the Framingham Assembly was the Dr. A. E. Dunning, at first
Congregational Secretary of Sunday School work, later Editor of the
Congregationalist. Dr. Vincent, after a few years, gave the Assembly into
the hands of Dr. Dunning and the writer, and sometimes we conducted it
jointly; at other times in successive years. On an eminence overlooking the
grounds and the adjoining lake arose another Hall of Philosophy, like the
one at Chautauqua, and all the Chautauqua customs were followed—C. L.
S. C., Normal Class, Children's Classes, and the rest. The first President
was the Rev. William R. Clark, who was instrumental in locating the
Assembly upon the ground of a camp meeting which it succeeded. It was
continued for more than a generation, but at last succumbed to changing
times. Perhaps it might have continued longer, if throughout its history it
had not been encumbered by the debts of the former Camp Meeting
Association.
Our chapter has already grown beyond bounds. We would like to tell the
stories of Monteagle, Tennessee, of Mount Dora, Florida, of De Funiak
Springs, also in Florida, of the Arkansas and Dakota and Southern
California Assemblies. In fifteen years after Chautauqua began there were

nearly a hundred Assemblies, each independent of all the others, yet all in
friendly relation to the oldest and greatest of them all, the mother—
Chautauqua by the Lake.

CHAPTER XXV
YOUNGER DAUGHTERS OF CHAUTAUQUA

We have seen how Chautauquas sprung up throughout the land, inspired
by the example of the original Assembly beside the lake. All these were
independent, arranging their own programs and securing their own
speakers. Chautauqua never took a copyright upon the name or a patent for
the idea. It was natural, however, for many of these Assemblies to combine
their interests, for it soon found that half a dozen Chautauquas in the same
section could save expenses by employing the same group of speakers and
passing them on from one gathering to another. There were already lyceum
bureaus offering lecturers and entertainers. At first the Assemblies secured a
few of their speakers from these offices, and after a few years their entire
programs were arranged in conjunction with the bureaus. Finally the
lyceum agencies began to organize and conduct assemblies directly, and
thus the Chautauqua circuit or the system of a Chautauqua chain was
developed. One office in Chicago, the Redpath Bureau, is said to conduct
three thousand Chautauqua assemblies every year, others have charge of a
thousand apiece, while there are lesser chains of fifty, twenty-five or a
dozen assemblies. I have been officially informed that in the year 1919, ten
thousand chain Chautauquas were held in the United States and Canada.
They are to be found everywhere, but their most popular field is in the
Middle West, where "the Chautauqua" is expected every year by the
farming communities. These bureaus and the "talent" which they employ
have been combined in an organization for mutual interest, to avoid
reduplication in the same locality, to secure their workers and arrange their
programs. This is named the International Lyceum and Chautauqua
Association, holding an annual convention at which the organizers and the
participants upon the programs come face to face and form their
engagements. The circuit system has arisen largely through economic
causes; the saving of expense by efficient organization, the elimination of
long railroad jumps from Assembly to Assembly, guarantee of continuous
engagement to attractive speakers, better publicity, and the concentration of