CHAPTER IX

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

Old College BuildingOld 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 namedThe 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 constituencyof 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 theC. 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 theAssembly 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 openingalmost 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, tocatch 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 toknowand towill, todoandbe. 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 picturedthe 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 shiningUpon her where she stands;And leaf by leaf unfoldingWithin her reverent hands,The earth and seas and heavensDisclose her secrets old,And every force of NatureReveals its heart of gold!Now knoweth she the answerThat ends the schoolmen's strife,—That knowledge bears no blossomTill quickened by the Life.O holy, holy city!The life of God with men!Descending out of heavenTo ne'er ascend again.O Light, O Life immortal!One sea above, below!If unto us be givenThat blessed thing,—to know—Hope's beatific vision,And Faith's prophetic sightShall die before the fullnessOf 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 andpractical educators of the country, and from a number of distinguished gentlemen I have received letters relating to this movement."

C. L. S. C. Alumni HallC. 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 aremanifested 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 borrowof 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 happenin 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.

New York, May 18, 1878.

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 borrowof 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 happenin 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'sShort 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 statementof 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 placecalled 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,stoleone, 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 squareshaded 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 bindsOur 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'scourse, and this also grew into a large body of members and graduates.

The Chautauqua Book-StoreThe 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.

Duringthose 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 betaken 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 atthe 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 themselvesChautauquas, 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 mosttrying 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 opportunityarose,—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 greaterinterest 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 ofThe 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 ChautauquaHome 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 forThe Chautauquanon "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 ChristHall of the Christ

Entrance to the Hall of PhilosophyEntrance to the Hall of Philosophy

The course of reading for the first year was as follows: Green'sShort History of the English People;with it the little hand-book by Dr. Vincent—Chautauqua Text-Book No. 4,Outline of EnglishHistory;an arrangement by periods, enabling the reader to arrange the events in order; Chautauqua Text-Book No. 5,Outline of Greek History;Professor Mahaffy'sOld Greek Life;Stopford Brooke'sPrimer of English Literature;Chautauqua Text-Book No. 2,Studies of the Stars;Dr. H. W. Warren'sRecreations in Astronomy;J. Dorman Steele'sHuman Psychology;Dr. J. F. Hurst's,Outlines of Bible History, andThe 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 inthe 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 bookRecreations 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 theC. 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'sShort 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 requiredcourse. 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. Thosewhose 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 hisannouncements 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 becamecrowded, 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. booksarrived, 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 ofone 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.

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