“We refer with confidence and pride to the general result of the Republican party in support of the policy of prohibiting the traffic in intoxicating liquors, the wisdom and efficiency of which legislation in promoting the moral and material interests of Maine have been demonstrated through the practical annihilation of that traffic in a large portion of the state; and we favor such legislation and such enforcement of law as will secure to every portion of our territory freedom from that traffic. We further recommend the submission to the people of a prohibitory Constitutional amendment.”
“We refer with confidence and pride to the general result of the Republican party in support of the policy of prohibiting the traffic in intoxicating liquors, the wisdom and efficiency of which legislation in promoting the moral and material interests of Maine have been demonstrated through the practical annihilation of that traffic in a large portion of the state; and we favor such legislation and such enforcement of law as will secure to every portion of our territory freedom from that traffic. We further recommend the submission to the people of a prohibitory Constitutional amendment.”
Such is the latest authoritative and comprehensive testimony to the actual results of prohibition in Maine. Similar testimonies could easily be obtained from the most influential sources in every part of the state. Every brewery and distillery has been suppressed. Molasses, which is yet imported into the state in large quantities, is no longer converted into rum, but is used exclusively for domestic purposes, while a large part of it is converted into sugar by improved processes. The share of Maine of the national drink bill would be about $13,000,000, but I am far within the truth in saying that one million will cover the cost of all liquors smuggled into the state in violation of law. From the poorest state in the Union, Maine has become one of the most prosperous, and it has gained immeasurably in many other ways from the policy of prohibition.
By E. E. HALE.
It was the morning after the funeral. Aunt Fanny had tried to make the breakfast seem cheerful to the children, or at least tolerable. She had herself gone into the kitchen to send up some trifle a little out of the way for the family meal. She talked to the children of the West, of the ways in which her life in Wisconsin differed from their lives in Boston. And Aunt Fanny succeeded so far that George passed his plate for oatmeal a second time, and little Sibyl did not ask leave to go before her aunt had poured out her second cup of coffee.
Aunt Fanny made the breakfast as long as she could. Then she folded her napkin slowly, and led the children into the other room for morning prayer. They read the last chapter of Proverbs, and then all knelt down and said the Lord’s Prayer. Then Aunt Fanny took Nahum’s hand and took little Sibyl on her lap, and she said to all four of the children, “It is very hard for us all, dear children, but I must tell you all about what the plans are. I have a letter from Uncle Cephas, and you know I had a long talk with Mr. Alfred after he came here yesterday. We will not break up here yet.”
“Oh, I am so glad of that,” said poor, sturdy Belle, who generally said so little.
“No, we will not break up here yet. In the spring we will all go to Wisconsin, and you shall learn to like my home at Harris as much as you like Roxbury.” So spoke Aunt Fanny, as cheerfully as she could. And not daring to wait a reply, she hurried on: “See here, Uncle George writes that I may stay till late in March, or early in April, if I think best, but that then we must all be ready to go on.”
You must know that the four children were orphans. Their father had died in April, and now, in the middle of December, their mother had died. Aunt Fanny had been with them for the last month. But she knew, and they knew, that their pleasant home was to be broken up forever.
“And now,” she said, “we must all see what we have to do this winter, to be ready for Wisconsin. Belle and Sibyl, you may come up stairs with me, and we will look through your clothes and the boys’. I must not be lazy this winter, and I will have it for my morning work to put everything in order.”
And when they came up stairs, and this business like, energetic Belle took their frocks and underclothes from the drawers, Aunt Fanny was indeed surprised. The girl was grave beyond her years; so long had her poor mother been ill, and so much of the care of the family had fallen on her. “I should think you were an old housekeeper,” said Aunt Fanny, in admiration, as Belle explained how she had mended this, and, on the whole, determined to retain that. And when Belle took her into the little room which she called the “sewing room,” and showed her drawers, and even shirts for the boys, which she had under way, Aunt Fanny squarely told her that she was quite her own equal in such management.
“How did ever come to be such a thorough seamstress?” said she. “Dear Mary has been sick so long that I had somehow imagined that such things as these must slip by.”
“Oh! of course mamma told us everything. But you know we learn this at school.”
“I do not know any such thing,” confessed Aunt Fanny, promptly.
“Oh, yes,” said Belle, “we learn more or we learn less. But so soon as I found I could help mamma about it I went into the advanced class. There we learned to cut shirts and to make them. I can make a shirt now as well as anybody,” said the girl, laughing. “But of course I do not in practice.”
“Why of course?” persisted Aunt Fanny.
Belle opened her eyes as much as to say, “How little these people in Wisconsin know.” But she did not say so in words, she only said: “Oh, I can buy my collars and wristbands and fronts ready made a great deal cheaper than I can make them, if my time is worth anything. And you must not laugh, Aunt Fanny, but papa said my time is worth a good deal.”
Aunt Fanny did not laugh. She smiled very kindly, and drew Belle to her and kissed her.
“You see, the boys run the machine for me, and Sibyl can do perfectly well any plain sewing we need. We do not think a set of shirts such a very heavy job,” said the little matron, quite unconscious of the amusement she was giving Aunt Fanny.
“Do you mean that every girl in Boston learns to do this?”
“Why yes, if she goes to a public school. She learns it, or she may. I think perhaps she might shirk a good deal. But if the teacher sees you are interested, and you do as well as you can, she helps you on. I know a great many girls who have made dresses for their friends. And I know there are girls who went directly to dress-makers from schools, and earned good wages at once. Some girls, you know, have a gift for cutting and fitting.”
It must be confessed that Aunt Fanny went down stairs a little relieved in mind after this talk with Belle. Here was one, at least, of her little charges, who would be worth her weight in the new home to which they were to be transferred. As the boys came in from school, she had another such lesson. She asked Nahum who would be a good man to whom to send her trunk, which needed some repair. The boy gave her his views, and then asked what she wanted to have done. Aunt Fanny explained that in coming on she had, wisely or not, left the dress tray of her trunk at home. In going back she was sure she would need a tray, and she must have a new one made.
“Is that all?” said Nahum. “I should never send to Sage’s for that.”
“What would you do?” asked Aunt Fanny.
“I should make the tray myself,” said Nahum, quite unconsciously. “When Belle made her famous visit to Swampscott, she found that that trunk she has now would not take in some dandy-jack hat she wanted to carry. And I made a new tray for her.” So he brought his aunt to the “trunk closet,” draggedout Belle’s trunk, and showed her a neat tray, made of white-wood, and very perfectly fitted. “Is that good enough?” asked the boy.
Of course it was good enough, and Aunt Fanny explained that she had not known that Nahum was fond of tools.
“Oh, I might have been as fond of tools as of candy,” said Nahum. “But that would not have come out for much. I learned to handle tools at school.”
“School!” said Aunt Fanny.
“Yes, they wanted to try it at the Dwight, where I was. So they got some benches put into the Ward Room, which is in their building, and is only used by the voters twice a year. They had a first rate teacher, Mr. Batchelder. We had one lesson a week. They would not let us go on unless we kept up in the regular school lessons. So it made the fellows spur up, I tell you, because we all liked the shop, though that was extra.”
“How many lessons have you had?” said Aunt Fanny.
“Oh, I was in the first class, and so I had only one year’s course. It was eighteen lessons. The first day we tried to strike square blows with the hammer. Some of us did not strike very square, I tell you. All the beginning with nails came the first day. The last lesson was ‘planing and squaring, marking, making tenon, making mortise, and fastening mortise and tenon.’ I wrote a letter to another fellow, and I copied it from the school regulations.”
So Nahum went out to his own work shop in the shed, which, as it happened, Aunt Fanny had never seen before, because Nahum kept it under his own key. In the afternoon the tray was made.
“This will make you no end of comfort in Wisconsin, Nahum.”
“But if I am to do carpenter work, really,” said the boy, “I ought to go to the Technology.”
He meant to the Institute of Technology.
“Would you like to go there?”
“Of course I would. Why, if I went there I could make the frame of my own house, and raise it, if the neighbors would help.”
Nor was the boy wrong. And his Aunt Fanny and Uncle Asaph determined he should go, and go he did. He spent three months of that winter there, four days of every week; and worked steadily eight hours a day. Still it was different from what it would have been had he gone to a carpenter as an apprentice. For then he would have had to do whatever the carpenter was doing; and he would have had to take his chance for instruction. But at the Technology he had regular teachers and regular practical lessons. Of course he needed practice, and in the long run, it is only practice which makes a first rate workman. But at the end, he had seen every important part of a good carpenter’s work done, he knew why it was done, and had had a hand in the doing of it.
The Institute of Technology is not a public school as the Dwight School is, where Nahum had picked up his elementary instruction; and for his lessons here they had to pay thirty dollars. But when, the next summer, all the barns on his uncle’s farm in Harris were carried fourteen miles by a tornado, and Nahum found himself directing the framing of a new barn, and doing half the work, he and his aunt thought that those thirty dollars had been well invested.
She took very good care that George should go into the carpenter’s class at the Dwight School while they staid in Boston. He would not have been obliged to go. No scholar took this course, excepting as an extra, buthetook it because he wanted to. And, as Nahum had said, they were obliged to keep in good standing in their other studies.
As for little Sibyl, Aunt Fanny judged, after full consultation with her confidential adviser, Belle, that Sibyl had better stay where she was—at the Grammar School. Aunt Fanny went down and made a state call on Miss Throckmorton, the teacher of the school, and also saw Miss Bell, the sewing teacher. She explained to them that while she did not want to break any school rules, she should be well pleased to have as much attention as possible given to Sibyl’s sewing. Miss Bell was really pleased with the attention. She said a good many parents did not seem to care anything about it. But if Sibyl would really give her mind to it, she would see that she was able, before she left them in the spring, to cut and fit a frock for Aunt Fanny or for her sister. And before they went to Wisconsin, it proved that Miss Bell was as good as her word to her little friend, and Sibyl made a very pretty dress for Aunt Fanny, before she left school.
As Aunt Fanny herself made her inquiries into these practical matters, she resolved to try an experiment, which she would have laughed at when she left Wisconsin. She was asked to a lunch party of ladies one day, and was a little amused and a little amazed at first, when she observed how much they said about what they had to eat. Aunt Fanny had been trained to a little of the western ridicule of Boston, and had supposed that a bubble rechauffée or a fried rainbow was the most material article that anybody would discuss. And here these ladies were volubly telling of the merits of oysters in batter and oysters in crumbs—of one and another way to serve celery—in a detail which Aunt Fanny found quite puzzling, and, indeed, quite out of place in the manners to which she had been bred, which had taught her never to criticise what was on the table.
Perhaps her silence showed her surprise. This is certain, that all of a sudden a very pretty and gay Mrs. Fréchette turned round and said, “Here is Mrs. Turnbull, horrified because we talk so much of what we eat. Dear Mrs. Turnbull, it is not what we eat, it is the cooking we care for. You must know we have all been to the Cooking Schools—all who are not managers.”
Aunt Fanny confessed that she had been puzzled a little, and Mrs. Fréchette and Mrs. Champernom, her hostess, explained. In point of fact this very lunch had been cooked, “From egg to apple,” as the Romans would say, by Mrs. Champernom and her two daughters. It may be worth while, therefore, to give the bill of fare:
Raw Oysters on the shell.Bouillon in cups.Scalloped Lobster in its own shell.Quails on Toast, with White Sauce.Sweet Breads, with Green Peas.Capons, with Salad.Ice Creams. Frozen Pudding. Jelly.Fruit. Coffee.
How good cooks the mother and daughters had been before, they did not explain. But these particular results were due to their training at the Cooking School. They had made the rolls as well.
“I came out of it so well,” said Mrs. Champernom, laughing, “and Mary Flannegan approved the results so well, that when I told her and Ellen Flynn, my waiter girl, that if they liked to go to the cooks’ class, which is a class for special instruction to servant girls, I would pay half, they both consented to go; Mary Flannegan to keep Ellen Flynn company, and to see that she was not taught wrong. The cooks’ class is twelve lessons, and costs three dollars each. I shall pay a dollar and a half for each of them, and as Ellen Flynn is a bright girl, I shall have four good cooks in the house instead of three. For really,” she said, “there is nothing that Hester and Maria can not do. They went down to the beach with their father and the boys, and for a week they cooked everything that was eaten. They made the boys wash the dishes.”
This started Aunt Fanny herself. She found there were four classes she could attend:
1. The Cooks’ Class, for people who had some experience. Twelve lessons would have cost three dollars.
2. The Beginners’ Class of twenty lessons, for which she must pay eight dollars. Here she would be trained to make bread, and to prepare the ordinary dishes for family use at breakfast and dinner and supper.
3. The Second Class, also of twenty lessons, but more advanced. Here she must pay twelve dollars. But here more elegant dishes, what Mrs. Fréchette called “company dishes,” were part of the program.
4. What Mrs. Fréchette called “The Swell Course.” Here every lady paid fifteen dollars for her twenty lessons.Per contra, they had what they cooked, and very jolly parties they seemed to make, when they dared ask their friends to their entertainments.
Aunt Fanny was a good housekeeper, but she thought she should like to astonish her friends at Harris with some of the best seaboard elegancies, so she and Belle entered the “second class.” And pleasant and profitable they found it.
“Sibyl, my dear,” said Aunt Fanny one morning, “I have only just found out that you and Belle make my bed. You need not do it again; I always make it at home, and I should have done it here, but you have been too quick for me.”
“We shall not give you a chance, Aunt Fanny; we shall not let you.”
“But when do you do it, you little witches; you are always at breakfast and at prayers; and when I go up into my room, it is all in order. I supposed Delia did it while we were at breakfast.”
Then, with much joking, it was made clear that every day, while Aunt Fanny saw George and Nahum off, and spoke to the butcher in the kitchen, Sibyl and Belle slipped up stairs, and “did” her room.
“That is a piece of your dear mother’s training,” said Aunt Fanny, as she patted Sibyl’s head.
“As it happens, it is, Aunt Fanny,” said Belle. “But dear mamma said even she got points from Miss Homans, and I am sure Sibyl and I both learned the reasons of some things at the Kindergarten that we did not know before.”
“Reasons for making a bed,” said Aunt Fanny. “Why, you do not tell me that you learn to make beds at school.”
“We did not, because mamma had taught us. But the kitchen Kindergarten was such fun that we liked to go; and if you like to see it, we will take you.” So Aunt Fanny was taken to see that very pretty sight. And she understood at once, how even very little children can be taught housework thoroughly, and taught to like it too. Each child had a doll’s bed to make, and to unmake; and each child, in unison with thirty or forty others, made it and unmade it, singing little songs and going through other such exercise as made the thing amusing, while it was methodical. In the same way each child set a baby house table with the most perfect precision, and swept a floor, and dusted a room. It was play to them, but they learned what they never forgot, as Aunt Fanny had occasion to see every day in the neat order of her dear brother’s orphaned household.
Thus was it that it happened that when Aunt Fanny took home in April her little flock of orphans, she did not bring to their wholly new life four mere cumberers of the ground.
Note.—In preparing this little sketch of “Industrial Education in Boston,” at Dr. Flood’s request, I have selected what seem to me, on the whole, the most important branches of such education for illustration. It has not seemed advisable to introduce too much detail.1. The instruction in sewing is given in all public schools to all girls.2. The instruction in carpenter work has been attempted only in two public schools. A central school is now to be established, where classes of volunteers from the different grammar schools will be received. The full course described, of eight hours a day, for four days a week, of thirteen weeks, is one of the Technology courses, and there is a fee for instruction.3. The Cooking Schools are under the direction of a society for that purpose. It also maintains Normal Classes for teachers of cooking. Different churches and charitable societies maintain free cooking classes, and free carpenter classes.4. Drawing is taught in all public schools.5. Schools of design and of carving are maintained by different societies.I have confined myself to instruction which is to a certain extent training in handiwork, and in this I have not included musical or other artistic performance.
Note.—In preparing this little sketch of “Industrial Education in Boston,” at Dr. Flood’s request, I have selected what seem to me, on the whole, the most important branches of such education for illustration. It has not seemed advisable to introduce too much detail.
1. The instruction in sewing is given in all public schools to all girls.
2. The instruction in carpenter work has been attempted only in two public schools. A central school is now to be established, where classes of volunteers from the different grammar schools will be received. The full course described, of eight hours a day, for four days a week, of thirteen weeks, is one of the Technology courses, and there is a fee for instruction.
3. The Cooking Schools are under the direction of a society for that purpose. It also maintains Normal Classes for teachers of cooking. Different churches and charitable societies maintain free cooking classes, and free carpenter classes.
4. Drawing is taught in all public schools.
5. Schools of design and of carving are maintained by different societies.
I have confined myself to instruction which is to a certain extent training in handiwork, and in this I have not included musical or other artistic performance.
ByRev. H. H. MOORE.
Now that winter is gone and the time for the singing of birds is near, the readers ofThe Chautauquan, especially those who have spent a summer at this place, will inquire: “How does Chautauqua appear in autumn, with flowers withered, trees naked, and not a robin or thrush to be seen or heard? What a contrast must be the sudden change from a summer world to the wild desolations of a semi-Arctic winter!” and perhaps it seems to them that the place was dead and buried beneath a monument of snow and ice. A feeling of chilliness comes over them, and possibly they half resolve never to visit these groves again. Pity, and possibly a prayer are indulged for the poor unfortunates resident here. Lonesome things, shut up in the woods, how can they stand it? With all respect and due thanks for good intentions, we will excuse the pity, that it may be bestowed where it is more needed, and will be better appreciated. If contentment, good cheer, and the elements of good society can be found anywhere, it is at Chautauqua.
Let man’s environments, duties and responsibilities be what they may, if his mind and heart are in harmony and sympathy with them, he is satisfied, and at rest.
If Chautauqua is stirring and rosy and beautiful in summer to all people, to a nature that can appreciate it it is gorgeous, savage, grand and thoughtful in winter. At the one season we float carelessly along in the midst of scenes of sunshine, loveliness and gaiety; at the other we are more, alone with God, we commune with the stars, and become familiar with the sterner aspects of life. The change from one season to another is simply turning over a leaf in the book of nature, and receiving additional instruction, but of equal value. To our astronomers, the heavens, whenever they could be seen, have presented an aspect of surpassing beauty. Just after sunset in the west, Venus, from beyond the sun has been seen climbing toward the zenith, and is now rapidly approaching the earth, dropping down between it and the sun; we have swept by fiery Mars, which has been nearly over our heads during the winter; further to the east, Jupiter and Saturn have held high court; over the southern heavens has swept Sirius, the brightest star to be seen; to the north and northwest, Vega, the largest of the stars yet measured, has been steadily looking down upon us, and to crown all, Orion, the most magnificent of the constellations has illumined the southern sky.
January was a month of storms, and often did we contrast its desolations with the excitement of a summer Assembly, but such was our satisfaction with the present that we were in no haste for a change. The wild, weird elements of the season interested us; the opportunity afforded for reading, rest and recuperation was what was needed, and we felt that these things could not be too long continued. What, have the beautiful lake ice-locked for months, and used as a public highway? Listen day and night to the moaning and howling ofthe winds as they swept through the branches of the naked trees, often threatening to tear them up by the roots? Live weeks together without sight of the sun by day, or of a star by night? Yes, for all these things accorded with each other, and with the general aspect of nature. The music was of aclass, and each note was in harmony with the general movement of the grand anthem. When nature had savagely arrayed itself in frost and snow and cloud and tempest, hiding the earth and filling the heavens, had the sun put in an appearance what a ghastly display would it have made! But in the midst of this desolation the snow-birds appeared, and they were beautiful, for they were the flowers of the season. We realized that the power of harmony could be heard in a tempest as well as in a seraph’s song. It is the extreme of folly to waste a winter watching for the coming of spring. The soul that is free from shams and is a pure part of nature itself, is attuned to the real and the true, and accepts the nature that is as the best, and would resolutely resist a change.
Our snow storm continued about twenty-eight days, and its coming was heralded by the play of lightning and the music of thunder. It never ceased to be a pleasure to watch the falling of the snow; to see the curiously wrought crystals drift out of the sky down among the branches of the trees, filling the air till it seemed mantled in white—a new creation. As an aid to the expression of our feelings we read the poem of Emerson. We quote a few lines:
“Come see the north wind’s masonry,Out of an unseen quarry evermoreFurnished with tile, the fierce artificerCurves his white bastions with projected roof.Round every windward stake, or tree, or door,Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild workSo fanciful, so savage, naught cares heFor number or proportion. MockinglyOn coop, or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths.A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn,Fills up the farmer’s lane from wall to wallMaugre the farmer’s sighs; and at the gateA tapering turret overtops the work,And when his hours are numbered, and the worldIs all his own, retiring, as he were not,Leaves when the sun appears, astonished ArtTo mimic in slow structures, stone by stoneBuilt in an age, the mad wind’s night workThe frolic architecture of the snow.”
“Come see the north wind’s masonry,Out of an unseen quarry evermoreFurnished with tile, the fierce artificerCurves his white bastions with projected roof.Round every windward stake, or tree, or door,Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild workSo fanciful, so savage, naught cares heFor number or proportion. MockinglyOn coop, or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths.A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn,Fills up the farmer’s lane from wall to wallMaugre the farmer’s sighs; and at the gateA tapering turret overtops the work,And when his hours are numbered, and the worldIs all his own, retiring, as he were not,Leaves when the sun appears, astonished ArtTo mimic in slow structures, stone by stoneBuilt in an age, the mad wind’s night workThe frolic architecture of the snow.”
“Come see the north wind’s masonry,Out of an unseen quarry evermoreFurnished with tile, the fierce artificerCurves his white bastions with projected roof.Round every windward stake, or tree, or door,Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild workSo fanciful, so savage, naught cares heFor number or proportion. MockinglyOn coop, or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths.A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn,Fills up the farmer’s lane from wall to wallMaugre the farmer’s sighs; and at the gateA tapering turret overtops the work,And when his hours are numbered, and the worldIs all his own, retiring, as he were not,Leaves when the sun appears, astonished ArtTo mimic in slow structures, stone by stoneBuilt in an age, the mad wind’s night workThe frolic architecture of the snow.”
“Come see the north wind’s masonry,
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof.
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door,
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly
On coop, or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths.
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn,
Fills up the farmer’s lane from wall to wall
Maugre the farmer’s sighs; and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work,
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone
Built in an age, the mad wind’s night work
The frolic architecture of the snow.”
Had the storm completed its work in a day, the snow at Chautauqua would have been from six to ten feet deep; but as it extended over the most of a month, changing occasionally into rain, it became so packed that at no time was it more than three feet deep. On some of the buildings, where two roofs met at right-angles it was six or eight feet deep at the angle. But we suffered no inconvenience from the long storm. Our stalwart young men, with heavy teams and strong-built snow-plows, kept the streets open to all parts of the grounds. For a short time, as our greatest trouble, in common with other places, we were a little vexed because of the irregularities of the mail.
But in our safe retreat we could but think of the time when this immense mass of snow would melt away, perhaps attended by falling rain, and of the suffering which the floods would cause in the valleys below. Our gravest apprehensions have since been more than realized. As the snows disappeared the waters of the lake began to rise, and the low lands about Ashville, the Narrows, Griffiths, and other places were flooded, and the area of the lake was sensibly enlarged. The upper dock at Chautauqua stood out at least two rods in the lake, and in the baggage room, by actual measurement, the water stood fourteen inches deep. As the stage of water was unprecedented, we intend to sink a stone at high water mark as a monument of the phenomenal flood of the year 1884.
Up to the 15th of January the game laws permit our fishermen to take with spear pickerel from the lake, through the ice, and the time was well improved, but with poor success. An almost air-tight house, about four feet square, is placed on the ice where the water is from twelve to fifteen feet deep. Brush and snow are packed about the base of the house, and not a ray of light is allowed to enter; then the fisherman, closely shut inside, can see into the clear water, but the fish cannot catch a glimpse of anything in the house. Having thus taken all the advantages to himself, he keeps a decoy chub moving about in the water, and as the pickerel comes in sight to seize its prey, it is saluted with the deadly spear. One year ago tons of pickerel were taken from the lake, and many of them were shipped to distant cities as rare luxuries; but this has been a very unfavorable season, for which all Chautauquans should be thankful. During the legal fishing season, the wind was in the north, and at such times, the fishermen say, the fish keep in deep water, and will not “run.” However, some were taken, and those left we may troll for during the August Assembly.
When the ice in the lake was at its best, the Assembly ice house and many individual houses were filled, and in that respect we are prepared for a long, hot summer, and for supplying the wants of the thousands of people who may visit the place in July and August.
Late last autumn, quite a company of old Chautauquans repaired to Florida to spend the winter; but fifty-nine families remained, and some that left us have returned, so that the place is blest with the elements of good society. The Sabbath services are largely attended; a choir of excellent singers adds much to the interest of the occasion. The average attendance at the Sunday-school was about ninety-six during the winter. It is thoroughly manned and well supplied with lesson helps. The assistant superintendent, A. P. Wilder, deserves much credit for the prosperity of the school. The social and devotional exercises of the church are spiritual, and special attention is given by competent teachers to the religious education of the children. Thus an intelligent and Christian class of people are keeping watch and ward of Chautauqua interests in the absence of the Assembly authorities.
The local C. L. S. C. is under the direction of Mrs. Sarah Stephens, a lady graduate, who brings to her duties, ability, culture, and the ardor of woman’s heart. She follows closely the prescribed course of study, and by the general circulation of written questions, endeavors to reach and interest the entire community. The meetings are held Tuesday evenings, in the chapel, and are largely attended by enthusiastic students. Most of the people here live at their leisure, and much of their time is given to reading and study. I have noticed that subjects discussed at the C. L. S. C. meetings often come up for further examination in shops, stores, on the street, and in the family, and these discussions I judge go far to fix in the mind the subjects discussed. At any rate they are a splendid substitute for the empty or slanderous gossip which is bred in minds that have nothing else to do.
The Good Templars hold their meetings on Friday night and occasionally favor the public with a lecture. Sometime in the winter, under the auspices of the order, an oyster festival was given which brought together a large crowd. The evening was devoted to feasting, music, gossip and addresses. It was really an enjoyable occasion, without any discount. The addresses were so well received as to elicit, in miniature, the “Chautauqua salute.”
To accommodate the little folks who were not able to go outside the gates to the public school, Miss Carrie Leslie has kept a private school, and given entire satisfaction.
Not much has been done during the winter in the way of building and improvements. Late in autumn, A. Norton, Esq., commenced the erection of a fine cottage, at the corner of Vincent and Terrace Avenues, which is now nearing completion. He is building a private cottage for a permanenthome, and will expend upon house and lot from $2,500 to $3,000. The Rev. Frank Russell, D. D., of Mansfield, Ohio, has under way a unique cottage, a little back of the Amphitheater, which, when completed, will present a fine appearance. The prospect from his upper verandas will be the widest and best on the grounds, away from the lake.
The Sixby store, embracing dry goods, groceries, drugs, and hardware, under the management of the gentlemanly and accommodating Mr. Herrick, has been open during the winter, and has done a good business.
We have had some sickness and one death since the Assembly. Mr. Crossgrove, a very good man, came here some two years ago, the victim of consumption, and passed away in September last, leaving a widow and other friends to mourn their loss.
The first notes of preparation for the next Assembly have been heard. The appointment of Mr. W. A. Duncan as superintendent of grounds gives entire satisfaction. A modification of policy in some respects is anticipated, which will reduce expenses and work general improvement.
We feel that we are nearing the time when a large group of boys will be on the ground, receiving an education according to theenlargedChautauqua Idea.
I am here interrupted by the tolling of our bell, reminding us of Longfellow, and one of our Memorial Days.
Chautauquans everywhere should know that the Chautauqua Vesper Service is read every Sunday eve, and that all these Chautauqua interests and peculiarities are cared for from one Assembly to another. Chautauqua is not a six weeks summer affair, but in spirit, and to some extent in form, it lives through all the months of the year, and twelve months are none too many for the full development of all its interests. Again am I interrupted, this time to attend a wedding at the parsonage, and here shall close this survey of Chautauqua in the winter season.
ByRev. J. H. VINCENT, D.D., Superintendent of Instruction.
Will local circles please report to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J., as well as toThe Chautauquan? Please attend to this.
Persons desiring graduates’ badges in the C. L. S. C. should address Mrs. Rosie M. Baketel, Methuen, Mass., as she has now entire charge of Mrs. Burroughs’ business.
TheSaturday Union, published in Lynn, Mass., contains a C. L. S. C. column. The number for February 2 has an original Chautauqua song, and a column and a half of questions and answers in Political Economy. The questions are by Rev. R. H. Howard, A.M. This is an advance movement, and will undoubtedly help our cause.
Will all members take notice not to send letters, postals or papers to me at Hartford, Connecticut? My personal postoffice address is Drawer 75, New Haven, Conn.; Miss Kimball’s address is Plainfield, N. J. Letters addressed to me at Plainfield are forwarded.
TheAlma Mater, the new bi-monthly to be sent to all recorded members of the C. L. S. C. at Plainfield, N. J., will contain original answers by Dr. William M. Taylor, of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York City; Dr. John Hall, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City; John Wanamaker, Esq., of Philadelphia; Dr. R. M. Hatfield, of Chicago, Ill.; Dr. Joseph T. Duryea, of Boston, and Prof. J. W. Dickinson, of Boston, written expressly for this number of theAlma Mater, to the following question: “What advice do you give to a person who has had but little school opportunity since he or she was fifteen years of age—a person busy in mechanical, commercial or domestic duties much of the time, who complains of a very poor memory, and desires to improve it—how may such person improve the memory?”
The Rev. Dr. A. M. Fairbairn, principal of Airedale College, Bradford, England, who was announced to give a course of lectures on the “History of Philosophy” at Chautauqua last summer, but who was detained at home by business connected with the college, writes to Dr. Vincent under date of January 29, 1884, as follows: “I intend, all well, to be with you in August; the latter part of the month will be most convenient for me. The subjects the same as before stated. Sincerely yours, A. M. Fairbairn.”
Persons desiring copies of the Chautauqua Songs or of the Sunday Vesper Service may procure them of Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J., at the rate of $2.00 per 100 copies each, postage paid.
There are some members of the class of 1887 who have not yet returned the blank form of application. Such blank should be filled at once and forwarded to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J.
The badge of the C. L. S. C. furnished by Mr. Henry Hart is not in any sense an official badge, nor does the C. L. S. C. receive any percentage from the sale of the same. This has been offered, but not accepted. The badges furnished by Mr. Hart are very beautiful. This is all that the officers of the C. L. S. C. can say.
Alma Materis the name of our new bi-monthly communication to be sent from the C. L. S. C. office at Plainfield to all members of the Circle whose annual fees are paid. The first number will contain some valuable hints on “Memory,” “The Laws of Memory,” etc., by prominent educators. The second number ofAlma Materwill contain a very ingenious study in English—a series entitled “Where the every-day words come from.” Communications to the members of the Circle which have heretofore been printed separately, as well as the memoranda, will be published in theAlma Mater. All members whose names are recorded at Plainfield, and whose annual fees are paid, will receiveAlma Mater.
To all recorded members whose annual fees are paid will be forwarded in March an envelope containing apetitecalendar for ’84, a most humorous, brilliant and effective tract on evolution entitled “Saw-mill Science,” a copy of the “Sunday Vesper Service,” specimens of the new and brilliant C. L. S. C. envelopes, and a copy of the little tract entitled “Memorial Days.”
Our Alma Mater.—The contributions to this magazine are copyrighted, and are not designed for publication anywhere else than through this medium.
A correspondent kindly criticises a statement in the “Outlines of Roman History,” on page 68, in which it speaks of Polycarp as being in Rome in 240. Assuming that this is 240 A. D., he says: “Now what Polycarp do you mean? Not the disciple of John, who was afterward Bishop of Smyrna, for, according to Prof. R. W. Hitchcock, the church historian, and other excellent authorities, Polycarp suffered martyrdom between the years 166 and 167 A. D.” We referred the question of our critic to an expert in such matters, and this is the reply: “In all the authorities I find mention of but one Polycarp, the Disciple of John and Bishop of Smyrna, and his death is given as either 168 or 169, but they add that it is uncertain. As to the Polycarp mentioned by your critic, I feel sure that there is a mistake, and Polycarp of Smyrna is meant, who did visit Rome during the controversy about the celebration of Easter, probably about 140 A. D. With dates it is easy to make a slip of a century, and probably this was the trouble in this case; certainly there is no mention of a Polycarp in Rome as late as 240.”
The Chautauqua University is gradually developing its courses of study. The preparatory and college courses in German, French, Latin, Greek and English are already announced. A practical department has also been recognized, and a corresponding class in connection with a technical school for draftsmen and mechanics is now in full working order. The lesson papers prepared by Profs. Gribbon and Houghton are divided into eight series of about twelve lessons each, treating upon the following topics: First series, free-hand drawing; second, mechanical drafting; third, fourth and fifth, geometry applied to carriage construction; sixth, miscellaneous problems in carriage construction; seventh, review tables useful in carriage construction; eighth, miscellaneous lessons. Young men, apprentices, journeymen, and others desiring to take this course, should correspond at once with George W. Houghton, Esq.
There are many persons who are taking up the Chautauqua Spare-minute Course, which is a course of readings, short, practical, simple, attractive, in biography, history, literature, science, and art. This course is printed in twenty-one Home College Series and in two numbers of the Chautauqua Text-Book Series. They cost in one package $1.00, sent by mail. The reading in this course can be carried along steadily, and, after a while, one who has prosecuted the course will find himself well along in the C. L. S. C.
The following pleasant little domestic picture comes from New Hampshire: “I can not thank you enough for what the C. L. S. C. has done for us all. You should see us some evening now. We sit around the table, every one interested in some C. L. S. C. books. Even my little boy of seven years will tease me to read aloud to him, and nearly every evening this month gets his dumb-bells, and wants to go through gymnastics with me.”
Members must not return memoranda to the Plainfield office until all the reading for the year has been completed.
A White Seal will be given all graduates of ’84 who read the following: “The Hall in the Grove,” “Hints for Home Reading,” and the following numbers of the “Home College Series” (price 5 cents each): No. 1, Thomas Carlyle; 2, Wm. Wordsworth; 4, Longfellow; 8, Washington Irving; 13, George Herbert; 17, Joseph Addison; 18, Edmund Spenser; 21, Prescott; 23, Wm. Shakspere; 26, John Milton. Address Phillips & Hunt.
The Required Readings for April include the second half of Prof. W. C. Wilkinson’s “Preparatory Latin Course in English,” Chautauqua Text-Book No. 16—Roman History and the Required Readings inThe Chautauquan.
First Week(ending April 8).—1. “Preparatory Latin Course” from “Fifth Book,” page 167 to the first paragraph on page 202.
2. Readings in French History inThe Chautauquan.
3. Sunday Readings for April 6 inThe Chautauquan.
Second Week(ending April 15).—1. “Preparatory Latin Course” from the first paragraph on page 202 to the “Georgics” on page 236.
2. Readings in Art inThe Chautauquan.
3. Sunday Readings for April 13 inThe Chautauquan.
Third Week(ending April 22).—1. “Preparatory Latin Course” from the “Georgics,” page 236 to the middle of page 272.
2. Readings in Commercial Law and American Literature inThe Chautauquan.
3. Sunday Readings for April 20 inThe Chautauquan.
Fourth Week(ending April 30).—1. “Preparatory Latin Course,” from the middle of page 272 to the end of the volume.
2. Readings in United States History inThe Chautauquan.
3. Sunday Readings for April 27 inThe Chautauquan.
Now that Longfellow’s Day is gone, we have no Memorial Day until April 23rd. So many and so delightful are the ways of celebrating Shakspere’s, that it is to be hoped that every circle will do something extra. To read from Shakspere, to have an essay on his life, another on his characteristic as a writer, and a scene from a play, all followed by an elaborate supper, is the usual order. Do something new this time. Try Shaksperean tableaux—an evening of them, with music, is delightful. If the expense of the “properties” needed for successful tableaux is too heavy, dispense with the supper, and let the cost of butter, sugar, eggs, the meats and fruits, be contributed for buying an apparatus which, once owned, will always be ready for use. Get Mr. George W. Bartlett’s little book on parlor plays, published by Dick & Fitzgerald, New York, and with little expense you will be able to prepare an excellent arrangement for the tableaux which in Shakspere are “as thickly strewn as leaves in Vallambrosa.” Or, if you wish to be strictly literary, take one character as Hermione, or Portia, or Cornelius, and read everything that has been said on it. Study one character thoroughly. Try a Shaksperean carnival. Do something fresh. Do not fall into the danger of wearing out the pleasure of Memorial Days by monotony of program. There are an infinite variety of means for brightening and freshening, not only special occasions, but the ordinary ones as well. One of the most entertaining devices we have had comes in a breezy letter fromTitusville, Pa., a place about fifty miles from Chautauqua, where there is an excellent circle of fourteen members. Our friend writes: “We make it a point to commit our text-books to memory and recite from them; but aim to bring in all the outside information possible, and to present and draw out ideas suggested by our books, rather than simply to recite over what we have been reading in them. In Greek history we found Adams’s Historical chart very useful. By close study of various authorities we extemporized a model of Athens, on a round table with green spread. My writing desk served as the Acropolis, and paper bunched up under the cloth, as Mars’ Hill, the Pnyx, etc. Out of the children’s blocks we erected the various buildings, while Noah’s wife, clad in gilt paper, and mounted on a spool, rose in calm majesty from behind the Propylea. A slate frame, with pasteboard porch on one side, decorated with paintings, represented the Agora and Stoa Poecilé, and in the street of the Tripods a cologne bottle received great admiration as the choragic monument of Lysicrates. Wavy strips of paper suggested the rippling Ilyssus and Céphisus, while a wall of brown paper encircled the whole. Outside the city limits, under the shadow of Lycabettus (brown paper with clay coating on the summit,) on one side, and about a mile out on the other, flower pots with drooping vines brought to mind the classic groves of Aristotle and Plato; while the street leading through the Ceramicus to the Academic shades of the latter, was lined on either side with chalk pencil monuments to the illustrious dead! This attempt met with so much favor that I was prevailed upon to repeat it, substituting for the blocks cardboard models quite characteristic of the Parthenon, Erechtheum, etc., while the Theater of Dionysius, the Odeum of Jupiter, Cave of Pan, steps to the Propylea, and the Bema of the Pnyx, were done in clay. The hard names, in this way, soon became familiar, and each object served as a sort of peg upon which to hang a good amount of Grecian history and mythology. After reading, as a sort of finish, Mark Twain’s account of his midnight visit to Athens, we were quite possessed with the fancy that we, too, had been actual sight-seers in that wonderful city.” Everybody that reads this will undoubtedly feel as we do, that we would like to go back and read Greek history over again, for the sake of building up Athens; but why can we not utilize the idea when we read the voyage of Æneas this month in the “Preparatory Latin Course”? And when we come to English history why not build a London?Plans like the above for interesting circles must be supplemented by plans for keeping the members at work, a matter especially difficult in large circles. In a late issue we called attention to the program plan used atUnion City, Ind.The secretary has kindly sent us an outline of their method, which we are sure will be useful: “We prepare and have printed a neat program for four months, giving the places and times of holding meetings, specifying the different exercises, with those who are to carry them out. These programs cost each of us about fifteen cents each, and enable us to have about five apiece. Each person knowing his duty, prepares for it from the beginning and no excuse for non-performance of duty is left except unavoidable absence, etc. Our experience for this year renders it certain that the circle can no longer get on well without our printed programs.”
Along with the plans and suggestions come cheery reports of how the circles everywhere are growing and spreading. Mrs. Fields, the secretary of the Pacific coast C. L. S. C., writes us: “It has been quite negligent in the secretary of this branch not to have reported long ere this the growing interest and increased numbers of Chautauquans on this coast, and especially in California. Perhaps one reason of this remissness has been the very fact that every mail has brought to the aforesaid secretary letters of inquiry concerning C. L. S. C., which must be answered sometimes quite at length; or applications for membership, which must be acknowledged, registered and forwarded to headquarters; or letters from faithful old members with words of cheer and renewal of fees, all of which certainly should be replied to in the secretary’s most cordial style. We have five hundred and forty new members this year and two hundred old members have renewed their allegiance. If, as is generally the case, the old members continue to renew to the very end of the year, we may hope for a list of nearly a thousand names before next July, as the record of this year’s students.”
The circle atKnoxville, Tenn., Monteagle Assembly, in which we all became so interested by their rousing letter inThe Chautauquanof November last, has written us a characteristic bit of experience, which we quote: “The dark, rainy nights of January are rather discouraging, but we keep at work. One rainy night, on our arrival at the parlors we found no light, and out of a membership of thirty-three but three were present. We had one visitor, whose words I quote: ‘I had no idea they would hold a meeting, but they were not at all disconcerted. The whole program, prayer, minutes, lesson and music, was carried out as though the number present was fifty instead of three.’ The result? Thevisitorbecame amember, saying, ‘that’s the kind of society I wish to join.’ I wish to state, however, that so small an attendance is quite exceptional.”
Another circle whose history offers us some wise suggestions is that ofSyracuse, N. Y., the home of the new secretary of the Chautauqua Assembly, Mr. W. A. Duncan. Indeed, Mr. Duncan has the honor of having founded this circle, which dates back to the inauguration of the C. L. S. C. The city has fine public schools and its university is well known for its able professors and superior apparatus; the circle has been wise enough to use the material within its reach. It secured Prof. Rollins, of the high school, as its first leader; for three years he conducted a circle of fifty. His successor, the Rev. Mr. Mundy, brought to them a large knowledge of art, gained by travel and study. When they came to science, again they chose a leader particularly fitted by taste and profession to lead them through geology and astronomy. This plan of selecting leaders who are skilled in certain studies is very advantageous. The enthusiasm and knowledge of a specialist in a branch must always remain superior to that of the one who has only given a little attention to the subject. In spite of excellent leaders and earnest members, their numbers did fall off a little last year. A class graduated and they did not secure new members to supply the deficiency. The plan they followed for a re-awakening was excellent. Returning from Chautauqua last summer they held a public meeting and explained the plan of the C. L. S. C. and its benefits. That night brought them several new names. Then they secured Dr. Vincent for the next week to give them a sketch of the aims and methods of the organization. At the next regular meeting the secretary received the names of forty-two members of the class of ’87. The circle is certainly to be congratulated for its proximity to so much local talent and still more for its enterprise in utilizing it so diligently. The neighboring circle ofTroy, N. Y., continues to maintain its enviable standing under the leadership of Rev. H. C. Farrar. His indomitable energy and perseverance are felt along all the lines. The plan of presenting subjects in three minute essays is being tried with interest and profit at their monthly meetings.
All of the old circles show a steady growth. AtClaremont, N. H., “Minerva Circle,” organized a year ago with a membership of ten, has grown to twenty; the “Atlantis,” ofLynn, Mass., commenced its second year in October last with a membership of eighteen, an increase of ten; the year-old circle ofPittsfield, Mass., has gained thirty members since its organization in February of 1883.
Since 1881 a little “Pentagon” of ladies has been meeting inGreenwich, Ct.A member writes of their circle: “Although composed of particularly busy people, we have the conviction that we have been patient over our hindrances, punctual in attendance and persevering in the work. We have run the scale of questions and answers, topics, essays and memorial readings, but prefer, on the whole, the conversational plan as being best adapted to bring out individual thought.”
Cambridgeboro, Pa., has an interested circle of twelve members, andBlairsville, of the same state, reports twenty, with a prospect of an increase.
New London, Ohio, claims that their circle, organized one year ago last September, and now numbering twenty, might with propriety be called the incomparable.
AtHennepin, Ill., there is a circle of fourteen ladies now reading the second year of the course.
A lady writes fromMarion, Ind.: “We have great reason to congratulate ourselves upon the deep and constantly growing interest felt in our circle, and which is plainly manifested not only by our own members, but by those who do not belong, away off here in the very center of Hoosierdom.” This “deep and growing interest” is the unfailing result of earnest work in the C. L. S. C., and how can it be otherwise when the idea continually develops new phases? The experience of the circle atLittle Prairie Ronde, Mich., that “each year the C. L. S. C. unfolds new beauties, awakens new incentives for more earnest action, calls to the foremost the very best of kindliness and cheer, and incites to diligence, research and thought,” is universal.
The “Centenary Circle,” ofMinneapolis, Minn., has long been a leading one. It is by no means lagging—a late letter reports them as fifty strong—their graduates reading the seal courses, the Memorial Days all celebrated, and a big delegation contemplating a visit this summer to Chautauqua. That, has a genuine ring, particularly the reading for seals by graduates. Hold on to your reading habits.
The first and only circle to report an observance of College Day was the “Alden,” ofMarshalltown, Ia., where it was recognized by a large gathering of Chautauquans and their friends. Marshalltown has been faithful in reporting all their meetings. They have the western enterprise, but we believeSioux Falls, Dak., ranks first in that quality. The following explains why: “We have an interesting circle here. We hold meetings weekly, and they are interesting and profitable. We purpose to double or treble our circle next year. We have sent you reports of our circle forThe Chautauquan, but you have failed to notice us. We have decided toFloodyou with letterstill you notice the C. L. S. C. in the largest and most beautiful city in southeastern Dakota.” We shall only be too glad to receive such stirring letters.
A few circles have reported lectures. FromSeward, Neb., where there is a circle of sixteen, the secretary writes that they have had a lecture on Emerson, a reading by Prof. Cumnock, Chautauqua’s favorite of last year, and that they are expecting others.Salt Lake City, Utah, had the pleasure of hearing Bishop Warren last fall in his lecture on “The Forces of the Sunbeam.” The circle in this city numbers thirty-seven, and is composed of ministers, teachers, business men and housekeepers; that they have caught the spirit of our work is very evident, for they write us that many of their number have in joyful anticipation the time when the long distance that separates them from home and friends shall be paved over, and they shall be permitted to join the number of those who pass beneath the Arches of Chautauqua.
We have received this month (February) reports of thirty new local circles.Salem Depot, N. H., has organized a circle of fifteen members;West Medway, Mass., one with a membership of a dozen;Somerville, Mass., has a class of thirty-five reading the course, fifteen of them have joined the C. L. S. C. as members of the class of ’87; two villages of Massachusetts,AmesburyandSalisbury, have united their members in one organization. Their membership at present is twenty-one, consisting mostly of beginners of 1887, a few of 1885 and 1886, and of local members. AtMadison, Conn., there is a circle which traces its organization to the interest of a lady who had taken up the reading alone. She writes: “January last I began the work of the C L. S. C. and finished the year alone, but decided that another year should find a circle in our village, if my powers of persuasion were worth anything. I had no difficulty in forming a small circle, some members of which have since basely upbraided me for not telling them of it before.” They have named their circle after the pleasant and capable office secretary of the C. L. S. C., the “K. F. K. Circle,” and true to their allegiance, suggest that the local circles ought to see to it that she and her aids have a building which could have C. L. S. C. suitably inscribed onanypart of its front, instead of meekly abiding in a hired house. Some day we may expect this.
New Haven, Conn., the home of Dr. Vincent, organized, in October last, “The Woolsey Circle,” so called in honor of their eminent fellow townsman, ex-President Woolsey, of Yale College.
A new circle called “Washington Heights” is reported fromNew York City.
AtBethel, N. Y., they started off last October with thirty members, while fromBuffalo, same state, a friend writes: “We have a wide awake circle here, the membership of which has increased from six to twenty since October 1st, when the circle was organized.” This circle has found “review evenings” of great service to them. After finishing a subject they devote one evening to a review, securing a leader competent to answer all their questions and settle their disputes; thus for the review of Biology they secured Dr. Kellicott, of the Buffalo Normal School, who kindly answered all questions, and with the aid of his microscopes, explained much that before had been obscure.
FromLisle, N. Y., we have word of a circle of nine.
North East, Pa., has a newly organized circle, among whom are several yearly visitors at Chautauqua;Newville, of the same state, reports a flourishing circle of nine members; from the class of ’87 inAllegheny, Pa., we have received the program of the services held by them on February 10, special Sunday. It is particularly good. This circle is following one plan which deserves more attention from all circles. They are giving a good deal of attention to singing the Chautauqua songs, devoting a portion of each evening to practice.
Plainfield, N. J., the place which enjoys the honor of being “the headquarters of the C. L. S. C.,” was without a local circle for several years, though many individual readers have pursued the course. Last fall the Rev. Dr. J. L. Hurlbut invited those who wished to form a local circle to meet at his residence. The result was a houseful of people, and a circle which has met fortnightly since, and now numbers forty-five members. A friend writes us from there: “We allow no ‘associate members’ (persons not connected with the general C. L. S. C.) and none who will not attend regularly and take active part. For every meeting Dr. Hurlbut prepares a program of fifteen topics selected from the fortnight’s reading, and assigned to the various members. The program is printed by the ‘hectographic process,’ and distributed to all the members at the meeting in advance of its date. We take a recess in the middle of the evening’s exercises for social enjoyment and conversation, and afterward generally listen to a vocal or instrumental solo, and a reading from one of the members. At the close of the evening the critic dispenses his delicate attentions, his motto being ‘with malice toward all, and charity toward none.’ On Sunday evening, February 10, we held the Chautauqua Vesper Service in one of the largest churches, filled with an audience which participated in the responses. We regard our relation to the C. L. S. C. as among the most pleasant, and our circle as one of the best in the land.”
Camden, N. J., has also recently formed the “Bradway Circle” of thirty-two members. This circle has a novel way of managing its session, which may furnish a suggestion to some one wanting a new idea. After their general exercises and transaction of business they separate into two classes for the study of some subject selected at the previous meeting by the members of the class. After devoting about half an hour to the separate classes, they again unite into one general class for the discussion of some topic.
We are very glad to welcome into our midst two new circles from the South, one atSalem, N. C., of thirty-eight members, and another atAtlanta, Ga.At the January meeting of the Salem circle the exercises were on “Germany,” and as most of the members understand the language of that country, part of the exercises were in German. A very pleasant feature of their program was an account of the customs, traits and people of the country as they appeared to one of the members who had lately traveled through that land.
Our space forbids our giving long accounts of the new circles in the West. InIllinoisthere is a new class of thirteen atJanesville, and another atJacksonville, a place famous among its neighbors as “the Athens of the West.” It contains no less than five excellent institutions of learning, and yet they find a place for the C. L. S. C. AtLitchfield, Mich., is another new circle, and from the college town ofAppleton, Wis., the president writes: “It was considered impracticable at first, in view of college and other literary societies in the town, to start a C. L. S. C. These objections soon vanished. We have a most enthusiastic circle of thirty-eight members, including two college professors and wives, a physician, a clergyman and wife, and several graduates of this and other colleges.”Iowareports three new circles. FromFairchildthe secretary writes: “We have a most enthusiastic circle of twenty-five members. At our opening in October we thought one meeting a month sufficient, but as we warmed up we multiplied them by two, and last week we doubled them again, so that now we meet each week. You see this interest compounds more rapidly than that on most other investments.” If one still imagines that the C. L. S. C. is in any sense denominational in its tendency, let him read the experience of one of the members of the new class atGrundy Center, Ia.: “I had a little prejudice once against the course, as I thought that it would naturally run into Methodist channels; but I have outgrown that. As a matter of fact, of our fifteen enrolled members eight are Presbyterians and four Congregationalists; but as members of the C. L. S. C. we are entirely unconscious that we belong to any denomination.” AtBelle Plaine, Ia., there is a circle of fifteen ladies; atClarksville, Mo.,one numbering fourteen. Kansas reports two new circles, one atWyandotte, where in a month they increased from four members to twenty-one; and another of twenty members atSabetha, including the professor of the high school, and the teachers in the community.York, Neb., has lately organized a circle of fifteen members.