Therehave been visitors at Chautauqua who, listening to some of the lecturers and their radical expressions, were alarmed and inclined to believe that the woods were full of cranks, faultfinders of the general social order, wild agitators, and revolutionary reformers bent on reorganizing the world. Chautauqua has always favored the freest discussion of all subjects and has admitted to its platform spokesmen upon all the questions of the time and from every point of view, even some unpopular men airing their unpopular ideas, confident that in the conflict of opinions the right will triumph. In 1913 the living question under discussion was Socialism; what it means, its positive aims and the arguments both for and against it. Here are the names of some speakers on that controverted subject. Professor Scott Nearing, perhaps the most radical of any, spoke on "Social Sanity," although his conception of sanity waslooked upon by many as absolutely insane. Mr. J. W. Bengough explained and advocated "The Single Tax" and almost converted some of us to his doctrine. Mrs. Rose Pastor Stokes, a most winsome speaker, without opinion as to her views, told us of "The Socialist's Attitude towards Charity," which was that much denominated charity is simple justice. Mr. Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee, who has several times been denied a seat in Congress to which he was elected on the Socialist ticket, stated the views and demands of his party. Dr. H. H. Powers spoke on "Present Day Socialism in Europe," John Mitchell gave us "The Trades-union Point of View." Earl Barnes took part in the discussion, and Dr. Charles R. Henderson of Chicago also touched upon it. Some speakers were openly for, others as strongly against the movement. Whether the Socialist Party gained voters may be doubted, but it certainly enjoyed a full and fair hearing.
Turning from politics to religion, which should have a more intimate friendship than most people give them, we notice the Devotional Hour during the season of 1913. The Chaplain for the first week was Dr. Charles F. Wishart of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, his addresses being on "The Christian View of Some Facts of Life." Dr. LynnHarold Hough, then a Methodist pastor in Baltimore, and Rev. Arthur C. Hill of London were on the list. Dr. S. M. Crothers of Cambridge, Mass., preached one Sunday and conducted the Devotional Hour a week in a series on "Gaining the Mastery." Bishop Williams was on the platform again, speaking on "Aspects of Personal Religion." Anyone who attended this service through the season—and the daily congregation was not far below a thousand—would obtain a pretty clear understanding of Christianity and the character of its advocates.
Every year the musical element grows at Chautauqua. There was this year, as had been the case for several seasons, a Musical Festival Week, with daily concerts. For many years there had been a quartette of the best soloists during July and another during August, supported by a chorus often of three hundred voices and the great Massey organ. Henry B. Vincent, who is the son of Dr. B. T. Vincent of the Children's Class, grew up at Chautauqua, in a sense, spending his summers there from early childhood. For many years he has been at the organ seat, except when conducting the orchestra which he organized and trained. In 1912 he gave an interesting course of lectures on "How to Listen to Music." Every Sundayafternoon a large audience assembles to hear Mr. Vincent for an hour in an organ recital. An oratorio of his composition and under his direction was given at Chautauqua some years ago, entitled "The Prodigal Son." With one Vincent Founder and Chancellor, his son the President, one nephew a lecturer every year or two on literature, the other nephew the organ and band master, and his mother the President of the Woman's Club for many years, the Vincent family has been worthily represented at Chautauqua.
While speaking of music we must not forget one course of lectures by Mr. Olin Downes, musical critic of theBoston Post, on "Musical Expression in Dramatic Form," a history of the music drama in general; early French operas; the German Romantic School; Richard Wagner; Verdi and Latter-day Italians.
Prof. Richard Burton gave an entire course of lectures on "The Serious Bernard Shaw," which caused a run upon the library for Shaw's writings, as I perceived, for I vainly sought them. Miss Maud Miner of the School of Expression gave some recitals and a lecture, packed full of suggestions on "Efficiency in Speech." Dr. George Vincent spoke to a crowded Amphitheater on "A National Philosophy of Life." A Serbian, PrinceLazarovich Hvebelianovich, gave a lurid picture of the Balkan situation. Let me quote one sentence as reported in the Daily of July 11, 1913 (note the date):
"Within the next few months there will be a war; and such a war as has not stirred Europe since the days of Napoleon; a war that will involve all the principal nations on that side of the Atlantic."
Less than thirteen months after that prediction came the event in the capital of his own little nation which let loose twenty millions of armed men, filled the seas with warships, above and beneath the waves, and the skies with fighting aeroplanes.
Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker of Texas, gave a series of addresses on the Federation of Woman's Clubs, of which she was at that time the President. We listened to a Chinaman, Ng Poon Chew, the editor of a Chinese daily paper in San Francisco, on "China in Transformation," a clear account of the new Republic of China in its varied aspects, spoken in the best of English. We noticed too, that the speaker showed an understanding and appreciation which foreigners are often slow to obtain of American humor and jokes.
Another lecturer from abroad, though hardlya foreigner, for he came from England, Prof. J. Stoughton Holborn, wearing his Oxford gown (which we had not seen before at Chautauqua), gave a course on "The Inspiration of Greece,"—a view of that wonderful people in the different fields of their greatness. Think of one city which in the departments of literature, drama, philosophy, oratory, art, and public affairs could show more great men in two hundred years than all the rest of the world could show in two thousand!
We were treated during the season of 1913 to a sight new at that time, though common enough now. Mr. Engels brought to Chautauqua a Curtiss hydroplane, and day after day made flights, skimming over the surface of the lake, rising into the air, circling the sky and returning to the starting-point, to the amazement of the watching multitudes. A few, and but a few, dared to be strapped into the machine and take the flight; Director Bestor was one of them, and when Mrs. Bestor heard of it she said: "I told him that he must not do it, but I knew all the time that he would!"
Another event of the season was the production of a Greek play, in the original language, by a group of college students in Greek costume. Another fact worthy of remembrance was theopening of a completely furnished playground for the children in the ravine near the ball-ground. To stand on the bridge and look down upon that company of happy little people, is always a delight. Also it is not to be forgotten that this year for the first time natural gas for cooking and heating was supplied throughout the grounds.
The year 1914 was the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Chautauqua. One of the Founders was with us, hale and hearty, and still able to give an admirable address, although his memory of recent matters and people had failed. The other Founder was no longer among us, and even fifteen years after his departure we of the earlier days missed him; but his memory will ever be kept green at Chautauqua, while the white lilies are silently unfolded in his honor. On Friday, July 3d, the signal fires were lighted all around the Lake. The celebration of the anniversary did not take place until August, near the date in the month of the first Assembly. On Sunday, August 2d, Bishop Vincent preached in the Amphitheater with scarcely any lessening of his old power. At the anniversary service, Dr. Jesse L. Hurlbut—who was exhibited as one of the survivals of the prehistoric age, a sort of a dinosaurus or pleiosaurus,—gave an address on "Memories of Early Days,"of which the reader may find the substance scattered through these pages. But we must give a paragraph or two from Mrs. Frank Beard's paper.
In reference to the interdenominational aspect of the Assembly, she said:
The good Baptist brother, wandering down by the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean, looked at the generous supply of water and was satisfied. The Presbyterian brother gazed into the cloudless sky above him, saw his favorite color, and felt that Chautauqua was foreordained for him. The lineal descendant of St. Peter croqueted his ball through the arch and rejoiced that he was on saving ground.We sat on the hard board seats with nothing to rest our backs upon but the salubrious atmosphere. We heard ponderous speakers who talked on ponderous subjects. Among the speakers was Joseph Cook, also Bishop Peck, 350 pounds. Some of the lecturers were recommended as cultured and highly finished. Mr. Beard said that he had attended these lectures, was glad that they were cultured and more than pleased that they were finished.
The good Baptist brother, wandering down by the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean, looked at the generous supply of water and was satisfied. The Presbyterian brother gazed into the cloudless sky above him, saw his favorite color, and felt that Chautauqua was foreordained for him. The lineal descendant of St. Peter croqueted his ball through the arch and rejoiced that he was on saving ground.
We sat on the hard board seats with nothing to rest our backs upon but the salubrious atmosphere. We heard ponderous speakers who talked on ponderous subjects. Among the speakers was Joseph Cook, also Bishop Peck, 350 pounds. Some of the lecturers were recommended as cultured and highly finished. Mr. Beard said that he had attended these lectures, was glad that they were cultured and more than pleased that they were finished.
The music week had now become a permanent institution, bringing thousands to the Assembly. This year it began on Monday, July 27th, with Victor Herbert's orchestra through the seven days, the Chautauqua soloists, and the great chorus trained by Alfred Hallam. Some musical associationsfrom Jamestown and elsewhere added their voices.
Among the lecturers, Mr. Griggs gave a course on "Dramas of Protest," the Book of Job, Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound," Galsworthy's "Justice," Calderon's "Life is a Dream," and some others. Bourke Cockran, the brilliant orator of Irish descent, gave a great lecture on "Abraham Lincoln—Original Progressive." Miss Mary E. Downey, Director of the Library School, spoke on "The Evolution of the Library," Dean Edwin Watts Chubb on "Shakespeare as a Moral Teacher." John Purroy Mitchel, the reform Mayor of New York, spoke on "Municipal Government" on July 18th; Dr. Lincoln Hulley of Florida gave a course on the leading American poets. Mr. E. H. Blichfeldt spoke most interestingly on "Mexico as I Know It," the results of a year of wide travel and close observation in that land.
During the month of July we read in the papers of complications in the political world beyond the ocean, but few looked for serious trouble and none for actual war. On the first of August, 1914, the storm burst, and nation after nation in a few hours assembled their hosts for the most terrible war in the history of the world. In accordance with the Chautauqua tradition of free and opendiscussion, a War Symposium was improvised and each of the contending nations had its speaker. On Tuesday, August 4th, Dr. Hans E. Gronow who had served his time in the German army gave "The German Point of View." On Thursday, August 6th, Mr. Sanford Griffith, a newspaper correspondent and a student of public affairs spending several years in Europe whom some of us had known as a boy at Chautauqua, spoke on "European Unrest Due to Shifts in the Balance of Power." On Friday, August 7th, Mons. Benedict Papot, formerly a soldier in France, gave "The French Point of View," and on Saturday, August 9th, Dr. W. S. Bainbridge, English in ancestry but American in birth and spirit, presented "The British Point of View." All the exercises of the crowded program were held, but amid all our efforts the war brooded above us, a darkening cloud.
The Department of Religious Work was carried on with a strong force of speakers and teachers under the direction of Dr. Shailer Mathews, its details supervised by his efficient assistant, Miss Georgia L. Chamberlin of Chicago, who also gave daily lectures. Among the instructors were Dr. Charles F. Kent of Yale, and Dr. James Hope Moulton, one of the richest minds of the age inBiblical lore, who gave a series of lectures, learned yet simple, on "The Origins of Religion." None of us could have thought then that this noble life in its prime was destined to end in the Mediterranean by a shot from a German submarine.
The Devotional Hour and the Sunday services were led for a week by the Rev. C. Rexford Raymond of Brooklyn, who told in several chapters the old story of Joseph, yet seeming new in its application. The Rev. G. Robinson Lees, Vicar of St. Andrews, Lambeth, England, who had lived in Palestine and among the Arabs in the desert, had written a book forbidden by the Turkish authorities, and had been banished from the land, preached one Sunday morning and gave graphic pictures of Oriental life through the week. Dr. W. H. Hickman, a former President of the Chautauqua Board of Trustees, Rev. Peter Ainslie of Baltimore, Dr. C. F. Wishart, Dr. Washington Gladden, one who was ever welcome at Chautauqua; and a great-hearted man, Dr. George W. Truett of Texas, were also chaplains, each serving a week.
This year also the new golf course was opened on the field beyond the public highway, to the rejoicing of many patrons. At the close of the season the annual convention was held by the International Lyceum and Chautauqua Association,the union of bureaus and speakers in the "Chain Chautauquas" held all over the continent, of which we shall speak later. Their meetings were continued until September 10th, making 1914 the longest session in the history of Chautauqua.
In 1915, the war of the world was bringing its unspeakable terrors to Europe, and America was looking on, yet hesitating to plunge into the welter; but Chautauqua held on its even way, its courses of instruction as many, and its classes as large as ever. This year Dr. George E. Vincent felt constrained by the pressure of his duties as President of the University of Minnesota, with its eight thousand students and as large a number in its University Extension courses, to withdraw from the direct supervision of Chautauqua. He resigned his office as President of the Chautauqua Institution, and Dr. Arthur E. Bestor became President. But Dr. Vincent retained his membership on the Board of Trustees, was named Honorary President, and has continued to come to Chautauqua almost every year. Even for a few days, and with a lecture or two, his presence gives strength to the Assembly.
In 1917, Dr. Vincent resigned the presidency of the University of Minnesota to accept the sameposition with the Rockefeller Foundation, disbursing millions of dollars every year in the interests of world-wide education and health.
The lecture platform of 1915 was arranged under six great weeks, each making prominent one subject, while popular addresses and the devotional services went on parallel with them all. The first week was devoted to the study of community service. Mary Antin, whose book,The Promised Land, had been read by everybody, was greeted by an audience far beyond the reach of her voice, speaking in her ardent manner. Dr. Lincoln Wirt proclaimed "America's Challenge to the World"; Mr. E. J. Ward explained the why and the how of "Community Service," and Norman Angell set forth "American Leadership in World Politics." During this week Chancellor McCormick of the University of Pittsburgh conducted the services of the Devotional Hour.
The second week was devoted to the Drink Problem. Bishop Francis J. McConnell of the Methodist Episcopal Church preached on Sunday morning and spoke at the Devotional Hour each day. The opening address was by Governor George A. Carlson of Colorado, who set forth powerfully the methods and results of prohibition in his State. Dr. H. A. Gibbons spoke on "TheProhibition Question in Europe." The Hon. J. Denny O'Neill, on "Booze and Politics." While the temperance question was discussed in the Hall of Philosophy, there were concerts and lectures in the Amphitheater, one especially by Mr. Sanford Griffith, who had been at the battle front as a war correspondent, on "Fighting in Flanders." Also Dr. Hamilton Wright Mabie, editor and essayist, spoke on "The East and West, Friends or Enemies?"
The third week was entitled "Justice and the Courts"—with such subjects as law, legislation, the administration of justice, and penology. Among the speakers were George W. Alger, Thomas Mott Osborne, Katharine Bement Davis, Judge W. L. Ransom of New York, and Dean James Parker Hall of the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Charles Rann Kennedy, author ofThe Servant in the House, a drama with a sermon, recited the play, aided by Mrs. Kennedy. The play had already been read a year or two before by Mrs. Bertha Kunz Baker, and also enacted by the Chautauqua Players, so that we were familiar with it, but were eager to hear it recited by its author. Mr. Kennedy also gave some dramatic interpretations from the Bible. This week the Devotional Hour was held by Dr. Charles W. Gilkey, of the Hyde Park Baptist Church in Chicago, the churchnearest to the University and attended by many of the faculty and students.
The music week was notable from the presence of the Russian Symphony Orchestra, led by a great player and delightful personality, Modest Altschuler. One of his company said of him, "He rules his orchestra by love." The Recognition Address this year was by President E. B. Bryan of Colgate University, on the all-important question: "Who are Good Citizens?"
The forty-third Assembly in 1916 found our country in the throes of a presidential election, party strife bitter, and the nation divided on the impending question of our entrance into the world war. The feverish pulse of the time was manifested in the opinions expressed by the different speakers. Dr. George E. Vincent gave a lecture on "What is Americanism"—a sane, thoughtful view which was needed in that hour.
The week beginning Sunday, July 23d, was devoted to the subject of Preparedness for War or Peace. The Ford Peace Expedition of that year will be remembered, the effort of a wealthy manufacturer to stop the war. Several who had taken part in that apparently quixotic movement spoke in defense or criticism of it, and also the question of preparedness was discussed by Governor CharlesS. Whitman, President Hibben of Princeton, Hon. Henry A. Wise Wood, Senator W. M. Calder, and others. Mrs. Lucia Ames Ward, of the Woman's Peace Party, was opposed to any participation in the war or preparation for it. The controversy waxed warm, for the opinions were positive on both sides.
On subjects aside from the war we had an enlightening series of addresses at the Devotional Hour by Dean Charles R. Brown of Yale; a course of lectures by Dr. Edwin E. Slosson on "Major Prophets of To-day," Bernard Shaw, G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, and some others; a series of lectures by Dr. Percy F. Boynton on "The Growth of Consciousness in American Literature,"—as shown in Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Lowell, and Whitman. Raymond Robins gave four lectures on "The Church and the Laboring Classes." Dr. Griggs awakened general interest by his lectures on "Types of Men and Women," as illustrated in their autobiographies and letters, presenting John Stuart Mill, Benevenuto Cellini, George John Romanes, Marie Bashkirtseff, Sonya Kovalevasky (a new name to most of us), and Henri Frederic Amiel,—all possessing characters pronounced, some of them so peculiar as to be almost abnormal.
The Russian Symphony Orchestra, with its beloved director, Modest Altschuler, was with us again for another week, aided by the soloists and Chautauqua Chorus. In our rapid survey, we have only glanced at the prominent events in a great season.
Whenthe forty-fourth session of Chautauqua opened on Thursday, June 26, 1917, it found the American republic just entering upon the Great War, which had already raged in Europe for over two years. Training camps had sprung up like magic all over the land, from ocean to ocean, and young men by the hundred thousand had volunteered, with others by the million soon cheerfully to accept drafting orders. Almost every university had been transformed into a war college. President Vincent was at the intensive military training school at Plattsburg, N. Y. Every morning before breakfast two hundred men at Chautauqua were marching and counter-marching, and learning the manual of arms with wooden guns, with President Bestor and most of the officials of the Institution in the lines. The young women every afternoon were receiving similar drill under a woman officer, and some said that they presented even a moresoldier-like appearance than the men. The headquarters of several denominations had been commandeered for Red Cross work and training. A stranger could scarcely get into the Methodist House without being scrutinized as a possible German spy, with a pocketful of poison or powdered glass to sprinkle on the bandages. War was in the air as well as in the newspapers. No matter what was the subject of a lecture it was almost sure to be on the war before the finish. There were discussions on the platform and on the street about the League of Nations, some with President Wilson in favor of it, others as vigorously against it. A symposium on "Our Country" and a conference of "Organizations Engaged in Education for Patriotic Service" were held during the session; also a company of students from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, presented a brilliant pageant, "The Drawing of the Sword."
The Fourth of July address was given by the Hon. G. W. Wickersham, former Attorney-General of the United States. Captain A. Radclyffe Dugmore of the British Army spoke on "Our Fight for Freedom." Miss Ida Tarbell, who had won fame by a book showing the operations of the Standard Oil Company, and had also written a life of Abraham Lincoln, to be found in everypublic library and read more widely than any other biography of the Greatest American, gave some lectures. Her literary life, by the way, began in the office of theChautauquan Magazine. Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker this summer became President of the Chautauqua Woman's Club, which office Mrs. B. T. Vincent had relinquished after many years of leadership. Both these presidents were eminently successful in different directions and by different methods, the earlier having built up the Club by wisdom mingled with gentleness; her successor carried it onward by an energy that brought everybody into willing subjection to her far-reaching plans. Almost the first result of the new administration was the purchase of a club house fronting on the Lake, and holding in it almost a bewildering series of teas and receptions. While the public meetings of the Club crowded the new Hall of Philosophy every afternoon, Mrs. Pennybacker gave a stirring address on "What our Country Asks of its Young Women."
During the first week Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick of the Union Theological Seminary was the Chaplain, and his addresses blended fervent patriotism and fervent religion in about equal measure.
The second week, from July 8th to 14th, wasdenominated "Arts and Letters," with lectures on these subjects by Dr. Mitchell Carroll of Washington, Henry Turner Bailey of Boston, and others. But underneath the artistic and the literary, the echo of the war might still be heard in many of the lectures, and it sounded out in the Devotional Hour addresses of that soldier in the army of the Lord, the Chaplain, Bishop Charles D. Williams.
During the week of July 15th to 21st, the Methodist Bishop, William Burt of Buffalo, to whose "area" (for Methodists of course could not call it a "diocese") Chautauqua belongs, was the Chaplain. During this week we heard lectures by Admiral Peary, the discoverer of the North Pole; by Thomas Adams of Canada; by D. R. Garland of Ohio; by D. A. Reed of Michigan, and by George A. Bellamy of Cleveland.
July 22d-28th was Musical Festival Week, when we had with us once more the Russian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Modest Altschuler, who was welcomed with sincere rejoicing by Chautauqua's multitude. Looking over the crowded Amphitheater during those daily concerts, the only reminder of a war in progress was that scarcely a young man was to be seen, although every seat was occupied.
From July 29th to August 4th, the Great Warwas the theme on the platform. Mr. Earl Barnes gave a series of lectures on "Historical Backgrounds of the War," respectively in the British Empire, France, Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Russian Empire, and the Balkan Peninsular. Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons presented some of the "Problems of the Peace Conference,"—though at that time nobody knew when the Conference would be held or whether anybody would be left alive to hold it. But the cheerful assumption was taken that Germany would be beaten, which proved to be correct, and also that the Allies would rearrange the map of the world, which does not now appear to be quite certain. Mr. Sanford Griffith, just from the front, gave us an inspiring word-picture of "Paris Reborn."
The concluding address of the symposium was given by President Bestor on "America and the War." It was considered by the National Security League as of sufficient value to be published in pamphlet form, and received a wide circulation.
From August 13th to 18th, Bishop Charles B. Mitchell (Methodist Episcopal), living at Minneapolis, held the post of Chaplain, and gave a number of heart warming addresses on "The Transforming Power of Divine Grace." During the week the Recognition Day exercises were held,with all pomp and ceremonial, the address being given by President George E. Vincent. His father was present and that afternoon, as Chancellor, gave the diplomas to the graduates, but none of us knew that it was for the last time, and that his face would not be seen again at Chautauqua, although he lived nearly three years longer.
In 1917, President E. B. Bryan of Colgate University accepted the position as Director of the Summer Schools. But to one who through the rest of the year has a college full of students to keep in order, and also a faculty to maintain in harmony—which one college president told me he found the harder task,—the burden at Chautauqua of a hundred and twenty-five teachers, two hundred courses of study, and forty-five hundred students during nearly all his summer vacation, proved too heavy even for Dr. Bryan's shoulders, and after three years, in 1919, he was compelled to relinquish it into the hands of President Bestor.
This summer, also, the new traction station of the Chautauqua Lake Railway was opened at the highway entrance to the grounds; a handsome pillared structure with more room than Chautauqua had ever before possessed for waiting room, ticket office, baggage, freight, and express, aconvenience appreciated by every visitor. Also, by the shore a new bathhouse and the Jacob Bolin Gymnasium were built and opened, as well as the Fenton Memorial Home for Methodist Deaconesses on the Overlook addition.
In 1918, we were in the grip of the war, with our young men in camp by the million, overseas and on their way by the hundred thousand, and every woman "doing her bit" in the Red Cross work. Outwardly, Chautauqua seemed as flourishing as in other years, the hotels and cottages appeared to be full, the Amphitheater was crowded at the concerts and popular lectures, and the main streets before and after lectures were a continuous procession. But the gate receipts showed that the Institution, in common with every college in the land, was lessened in its attendance and its financial returns. Nevertheless, the program was not allowed to decline in its extent and its interest. Indeed, one added feature attracted attention. In the field of the Overlook a National Service School was held in cooperation with the Woman's Naval Service. A tented camp was maintained under the strict discipline of Mrs. George E. Vincent, with regular guards, and training for more than two hundred khaki-clad young women in agriculture, telegraphy, basketry, and canteenmanagement. I am not sure about carpentry, though I saw a photograph of young women sawing boards and putting up a house.
The value of Chautauqua in national patriotic leadership was recognized, not only by our own government, but by the Allies as well. Great Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, and Greece sent official speakers, either through their embassies or their special war missions. It was a mark of distinguished favor that the French High Commission gave the French Military Band to Chautauqua for a week, their longest engagement in this country.
On the opening day, July 4th, President Bestor gave the oration on "Mobilizing the Mind of America." For nearly a year before, and until the Armistice in November of this year, Mr. Bestor was almost without intermission in Washington in government service as head of the Department of Publicity. He was Director of the Speaking Division of the Committee on Public Information, and also Secretary of the Committee on Patriotism of the National Security League, an organization which held in many places training camps for patriotic speakers. Dr. Bestor was carrying on more than double duty until the Armistice in 1918 gave him something of a breathingspell between the sessions of Chautauqua. During the week from July 7th to 13th, Bishop Edwin H. Hughes (Methodist Episcopal) was Chaplain, and gave addresses of a high character on "Varieties of Religious Experience." As samples of the type of lectures during this strenuous battle summer, this week President E. B. Bryan spoke on "War as a Schoolmaster," Mr. E. H. Griggs began a course on "The War and the Reconstruction of Democracy," and Dr. L. A. Weigle of Yale lectured on "Religious Education in War Times." One evening Dr. S. H. Clark read war lyrics in the Amphitheater.
The week from July 14th to 20th was "Women's Service Week," and among those who spoke on the subject were Anna Howard Shaw, who had been called by the President to be Chairman of the Women's National Council of Defense, in command of all the activities of women in aid of the war, Miss Helen Fraser of England, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Ella A. Boole, Mrs. Pennybacker, and Mrs. George Thatcher Guernsey,—women whose voices had often been heard in behalf of woman suffrage, now as ardently speaking in aid of work to carry on the war. This week Dr. S. P. Cadman had been engaged as Chaplain, but he was unable to remain more thanone day and other men were suddenly drafted to take his place on successive mornings, one of them, the writer of these pages, on fifteen minutes' notice called to conduct the Devotional Hour, immediately after an hour's teaching in class. This little incident, of no particular interest to anybody but the writer, is mentioned merely to illustrate the instant change of front which must be made frequently at Chautauqua, when a speaker is delayed by a railroad wreck or unexpectedly called home to conduct a funeral.
"Our Allies" was the title of the week from July 22d to 27th. Dr. Charles W. Gilkey of Chicago preached the sermon on Sunday morning and led in the devotions through the week. Prof. Robert Herndon Fife of the Wesleyan University, Conn., gave a series of lectures on "The New Europe." Not all of his forecasts have yet come to pass, for the new Europe is only slowly emerging out of the old. Mrs. Kenneth Brown—the name sounds American, but she is a Greek lady of rank, born Demetra Vaka—told a harrowing tale of her own experience and observation, "In the Heart of the German Intrigue." Dr. Mitchell Carroll of Washington gave an account of "Greece, our Youngest Ally," with Venizelos as the hero. Lieut. Bruno Roselli of the Italian army spoke; Miss MaudHayes of "England in War Time." On Friday evening, July 26th, there was a concert in the evening of national songs of the Allies; the flags of more than twenty nations being hung above the choir loft. On Grand Army Day in this week Lieut. Telfair Marion Minton spoke on "The Flags of a Thousand Years."
In the following week, July 28th to August 3d, while the Musical Festival was in progress, the French Military Band played every day, and concert followed concert, with Gaul's "Joan of Arc" sung one evening by the soloists and full chorus. Dr. Leon H. Vincent gave a course of lectures, showing "War in Literature," the stories called forth by the Wars of Napoleon, the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and the struggle in progress in 1918—a most interesting series. The Chaplain of this week was the Rev. Wm. S. Jacobs, D.D., of Houston, Texas.
Omitting a fortnight for lack of room, we must not omit "The Next Step Forward," the topic of the week from August 18th to 24th, a discussion of some movements to follow in the footsteps of war, such as "Theological Reconstruction," by Shailer Mathews; "Christianity in Foreign Lands," by Dr. J. L. Barton, Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; "TheSunday Evening Club" and "Church Advertising," by W. F. McClure, and "The Art of Motion Pictures," by Vachel Lindsay. There was also a course on "Art in Daily Life," by our English friend, Prof. I. B. Stoughton Holborn, of Oxford.
Bishop McConnell, who conducted the Devotional Hour, August 11th-17th, also gave the Recognition address to the graduating class of the C. L. S. C., on "Ideals of Leadership." The skies were clouded, yet we were able to hold the procession as usual (only once in forty-seven years has the march been broken up by rain), but the storm fell during the address, with such noise on the roof that the Bishop was compelled to pause for some minutes until its rage abated. We missed on this day especially the presence of Bishop Vincent and his son, and the diplomas were conferred by Dr. Bestor, the new President of Chautauqua. Not long after the closing of the Assembly, on November 11, 1918, "Armistice Day" was ushered in by the blowing of every steam whistle upon the continent, by all-day processions, by bands and horns, and a surrender of the nation to the universal joy, through the news that the most terrible war that ever desolated the world was over at last.
When the forty-sixth session of Chautauquaopened in 1919, it found the land rejoicing over the conclusion of the war, happy in the return of two million men in khaki, apparently rich with high wages, booming business, and money in plenty. It was the top of a tide destined before many months to recede to normal conditions. But while the flush times lasted, Chautauqua shared in the nation-wide prosperity. This was the period of astounding financial drives. One great church commemorated the hundred years of its missionary enterprise by a centenary movement and a subscription of more than a hundred million dollars. Other churches followed with "New Era" and "Nation Wide" campaigns. It seemed to be the opportunity for Chautauqua to reap some benefits from the spirit of the time, and the trustees launched the "Comprehensive Plan" to raise half a million dollars, freeing the Institution from all debt and placing it on a safe, permanent, and prosperous basis. Here was a university of a hundred and twenty-five instructors, two hundred courses of study, and nearly five thousand students every summer, yet without a dollar of endowment;—what college in the land was doing so much with an income so small? Here was a property of three hundred and fifty acres, gradually accumulated, partly by thedemands of the Institution's growth, partly from the necessity of controlling its surroundings. Debts had been incurred by enlargement of the grounds, a sewer system, a water supply, electric lighting, new buildings, new roads, and a hundred items of improvement. The overhead expenses of Chautauqua, in the form of interest that must be paid, were more than thirty thousand dollars every year. How much might be accomplished if every debt could be cleared away and the saving in interest be applied to the improvement of the property and the enlargement of opportunities? Mr. John D. Rockefeller made an offer of giving one-fifth of all that should be raised, up to the desired half-million dollars. The trustees assigned to themselves another hundred thousand of the amount, and a committee of the cottage owners pledged $150,000 from those having property on the ground. The plans were carefully laid, and during the season of 1919 every visitor at Chautauqua was called upon to make his contribution.
Of all the forty-six years of Chautauqua up to 1919, this was the most successful in its history. The attendance shown by the receipts at the two gates—one at the Pier where the steamboats landed their thousands, the other at the new station on the public highway where the trolleybrought the tens of thousands—were far beyond that of any former year. The registration at the schools was sixty-two per cent. in advance of 1918, and eighteen per cent. beyond that of 1914, the best previous year. Every hotel and boarding house inside the fence was full, and pleas were made to cottagers to open their doors to incoming guests. Many who could not find lodging places on the grounds found homes in the hotels and hamlets around the Lake and came daily to the Assembly by trolley or by boat.
During the opening week, Mr. W. W. Ellsworth gave two illustrated lectures, one on "Theodore Roosevelt," the other "The Rise and Fall of Prussianism," and Prof. Thomas F. Moran of Purdue University gave an appreciation of "Mark Twain, Humorist, Reformer, and Philosopher." Miss Maud Miner gave a popular recitation of "Comedy Scenes from Shakespeare." It was noticed that in the very opening the Amphitheater was filled;—what would it become at the height of the season, the first two weeks in August?
The Devotional Hour from July 6th to 12th was held by Dr. Charles F. Wishart, in a series of studies in the book of Exodus, entitled, "A Free People in the Making," and from the story he drew frequent applications to the history ofanother "free people." During this week, Dr. Louis A. Weigle, Professor of Psychology at Yale University, began a course of lectures on "Character Building in the Public Schools" suggesting many thoughts—not all of them gratulatory—in those who heard them.
On Sunday morning, July 13th, the great congregation heard Dr. Wm. P. Merrill, of the Brick Church, New York, deliver a sermon on the topic as announced, "The League of Nations," of which he declared himself unreservedly in favor. On this question there were two parties throughout the nation strongly opposed to each other and fiercely debating it, and when a fortnight later the chaplain, Bishop Williams, who was never known to sit on the fence, also came out vigorously for the League, Mr. Bestor began to look around for some speaker on the other side, for it has been a principle at Chautauqua to give both sides a fair showing, even when the Chautauqua constituency as a whole might be opposed to a speaker. A speaker against the League was found in Mr. John Ferguson, but he evidently represented the sentiments of the minority. Among the speakers of the second week were several on "The Aftermath of the Great War," among them Dr. Katharine B. Davis, Major-General Bailey,who had been Commander of the Eighty-First Division of the A. E. F., and Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer. Prof. S. C. Schmucker also gave a course of lectures on "The Races of Man."
Musical Festival Week was from July 28th to August 2nd. The New York Symphony Orchestra of sixty instruments was with us in concerts daily, led in the absence of its conductor, Mr. Walter Damrosch (who was abroad) by René Pollain of France. During this and the following week Earl Barnes gave a course of lectures on "The New Nations of the World." We listened to a discussion of "Zionism," in a lecture on "Jewish Aims in Palestine" by Charles A. Cowen, of the Zionist organization, to which Mr. Earl Barnes gave a cool, dispassionate answer, showing the difficulty, amounting almost to an impossibility, of establishing a Jewish State in the land looked upon as holy, not only by Jews, but by Mohammedans and Christians of all the great churches. Another speaker in this symposium was Mme. Mabel S. Grouetch, the wife of the Serbian minister at Washington, who afterward became the Czecho-Slovak representative to Japan.
Old First Night on August 5th was devoted to the Comprehensive Plan of lifting Chautauqua out of debt. The elements seemed against the aimfor rain kept some away,—though the Amphitheater was full—and its thunder on the roof made some speeches inaudible. But it could not dampen the ardor of the people. Practically every organization, club, or class at Chautauqua, besides many individuals, made pledges. Besides the chorus, there was a children's choir in the gallery, and one gentleman offered to give a dollar for every child in it, whereupon scouts were sent out, boys and girls were gotten out of bed and brought to the gallery, so that his pledge cost that gentleman considerably over $300.00. Before the close of the Assembly $375,000 had been subscribed, inclusive of Mr. Rockefeller's quota.
Americanization week was from August 11th to 16th, with timely addresses by Prof. Herbert Adolphin Miller, Prof. Thomas Moran, and a delightful lecture by Mrs. Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale, on "Reconstruction in England and America." As a practical illustration of Americanization, there was a wonderful pageant by the children of a public school in Pittsburgh, practically all of foreign lineage. The Recognition address on August 20th was by Bishop Charles F. Brent, who after heroic work in the Philippines had been translated to the Episcopal diocese ofWestern New York. His subject was "The Opportunities of the Mind."
We must not forget that some lectures were given at this session by Dr. Charles A. Eastman, whose name does not suggest, as his complexion does, that he is a full-blooded Sioux Indian. He is a successful physician and a graduate of Dartmouth College,—which, by the way, was established in 1750 as a school for Indians, with no thought of Anglo-Saxon students. This year also Dr. E. B. Bryan was unable to remain as Director of the Summer Schools, and his work was added to the many tasks of President Bestor.
We come finally to the Assembly of 1920, the forty-seventh session, and at present the last upon our list, unless we undertake a prophetic look into the future. We met in sadness, for our great Founder John Heyl Vincent, who had lived to the age of eighty-eight years, died on Sunday, May 9th, at his home in Chicago. He had outlived his fellow-Founder, Lewis Miller, by twenty-one years. The two names stand together in the annals of Chautauqua and in the thoughts of all Chautauquans, for Chautauqua could not have been founded by either one without the other, and on Old First Night, for both together the lilies of the white handkerchiefs are silently and solemnly lifted,and as silently and solemnly lowered. A memorial service was held for our beloved Bishop and Chancellor on Sunday afternoon, August 1st, at the Vesper Hour, in the Hall of Philosophy as the appropriate place, and the writer of this story, as the oldest of living Chautauqua workers, was permitted to offer the tribute in his honor. In the evening another service was held in the Amphitheater, at which Dr. John H. Finley, Superintendent of Education for New York State, and Bishop Herbert Welch of the Methodist Episcopal Church, home for a few months from his field in Korea and Japan, gave addresses. During the past year Chautauqua had sustained another loss in the death of Mr. Alfred Hallam, who for nearly twenty years had been the untiring and wholly devoted leader of the Musical Department. It was felt that a musical service was his most appropriate memorial, and the oratorio "Hora Novissima," by Horatio Parker, was sung by the choir and soloists on Sunday evening, August 8th. During the session news came that Dr. Bethuel T. Vincent of Denver, long conductor of the Children's class and Intermediate class in the early years of the Assembly, had followed his brother the Bishop, into the silent land. He was remembered in an address by the writer at a memorialservice. His wife, Mrs. Ella Vincent, for many years president of the Woman's Club, in a few months also joined the company of the church triumphant. Another voice often heard at Chautauqua was stilled this summer, that of Mrs. Frank Beard, always bright and sunny in her spirit, who fell asleep in the cottage where she was abiding, soon after the opening of the Assembly, fulfilling the wish expressed to a friend a year before that she might die at Chautauqua.
The most notable feature on the program this summer was the presence at Chautauqua for nearly six weeks, from July 26th to August 31st, of the New York Symphony Orchestra, with daily concerts, conducted by René Pollain and William Willeke,—a bold venture of the management but evidently successful.
This was the tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrims, and the event was recognized by several addresses, one in particular by Mr. Charles Zeublin, on "1620 and 1920." Prof. Weigle gave a lecture on "Education of Children in Early New England"; Dr. Alfred E. Garvie spoke on "The Message of theMayflowerfor To-day." Principal Alexander J. Grieve of the University of Edinburgh gave lectures on the "Leaders of the Pilgrims,—John Robinson and others."
Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, after an experience of years in Asia Minor and in France, gave a series of valuable lectures on "After the War," and Mrs. Gibbons narrated the thrilling story of herself in Turkey, during the massacres of 1908. Dr. Lynn Harold Hough was chaplain from July 4th to July 10th, and in the morning talks spoke on the spiritual experiences of St. Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley, then summed them up in a conception of "The Christian Society." Prof. Richard Burton lectured in a course on "Modern Literary Tendencies,"—the essay, the novel, the drama, and other forms of literature. One of the great acquisitions this year was Prof. T. R. Glover of Cambridge, England, with a course of lectures on "The Jesus of History," the results of the deepest study of the New Testament and also of the contemporary Roman world. Dr. H. Gordon Hayes, just leaving Yale for the Ohio State University, discussed most ably "Factors in Labor Unrest." On Roosevelt Day, July 21st, Mrs. Douglas Robinson, his sister, gave "Recollections of Theodore Roosevelt." In the week from July 26th-31st, the subject was "Problems of the Present Day Civilization," discussed by Dr. E. H. Griggs, Rabbi Louis Wolsey of Cleveland, and Dr. Cornelius Woelfkin of NewYork. "Woman and the New Era" was the theme of the week August 2d-7th, a discussion participated in by Mrs. Thomas G. Winter, President of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs; by Mrs. George Bass, who was the woman, for the first time in history to preside for a day at the Democratic National Convention which renominated Woodrow Wilson; and by Miss Mary Garrett Hay, the President of the Affiliated Women's Republican Clubs. August 22d-29th was the week of the Ministers and Church Workers' Institute, with addresses by Bishop McDowell (Methodist), Ozora S. Davis, Shailer Mathews, Mrs. Helen Barrett Montgomery, and Chancellor S. B. McCormick, of Pittsburgh.
This was a great year. Subscriptions to the Comprehensive Plan brought the amount up to $450,000, including Mr. Rockefeller's contribution, to be increased if other gifts warranted it. The Summer Schools were twenty-five per cent. in income and nearly twenty per cent. in numbers over 1919, the highest mark of past years. Provision was made for improving and enlarging the golf links, and for building a new club house on the grounds of the golf course.
Chautauqua, planted upon the shore of its Lake, grew up a fruitful vine, and within two years shoots cut from its abundant branches began to take root in other soils. Or, to change the figure, the seeds of Chautauqua were borne by the winds to many places, some of them far away, and these grew up, in the course of little more than a generation, a hundred, even a thousand fold. Many of these daughter-Chautauquas were organized by men—in some instances by women—who had caught the spirit of the mother-assembly; others by those who had heard of the new movement and saw its possibilities; some, it must be confessed, by people who sought to save a decayed and debt-burdened camp meeting, and a few with lots to lease at a summer resort. From one cause or another, immediately after the first Assembly had won success, Dr. Vincent began to receive pressing invitations to organize similar institutions in many places. As he was already fulfilling the dutiesboth of an editor and a secretary for the rapidly growing Sunday School cause, he could accept but few of these many calls. But a number of younger men trained by a year or two of experience in teaching at Chautauqua were around him and to these he directed most of the enquirers. At least three Assemblies arose in 1876, two years after the founding of Chautauqua. Of these I possess some knowledge and will therefore name them, but without doubt there were others which soon passed away and left scarcely a memory.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, the first gathering to follow in the footsteps of Chautauqua was the Sunday School Parliament on Wellesley Island, one of those romantic Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, where it emerges from Lake Ontario. This island stands on the boundary line between the United States and Canada, but the home of the Parliament was on the Canadian side of the line. The name "Chautauqua" has now become generic and almost any gathering in the interests of the Sunday School, or of general literature with a sprinkling of entertainment, is apt to be named "a Chautauqua." But in those early days the word Chautauqua was not known as the general term of an institution of the assembly type, and the new gatherings were named "Congress" or"Encampment" or "Institute," and for this gathering the title "Sunday School Parliament" was taken, as smacking somewhat of English origin. Its organizer and conductor was the Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts, at that time a Methodist minister, afterwards a Congregationalist, and still at present working as the head of the International Reform Bureau in Washington, D. C. He was aided in the plan and direction by Mrs. Crafts, for both of them were then prominent leaders in Sunday School work. It was my good fortune to be present and conduct the Normal Class during a part of the time. As compared with Chautauqua, the Parliament was small, but its spirit was true to the Chautauqua ideal and it was maintained faithfully for ten or twelve years. The place had been established as a camp-meeting ground, but it shared the fate of many camp meetings in gradually growing into a summer resort for people in general. As cottages and cottagers increased the Chautauqua interest declined, and finally the attempt to maintain classes and meetings after the Chautauqua pattern was abandoned, and the island took its place among the summer colonies in that wonderful group.
The same year, 1876, saw another camp ground becoming a Chautauqua Assembly,—at Petoskey,near the northern end of Lake Michigan. Here a beautiful tract of woodland, rising in a series of terraces from Little Traverse Bay, about forty miles south of the Straits of Mackinac, had been obtained by a Methodist camp-meeting association, and laid out in roads forming a series of concentric circles. Here the first Bay View Assembly was held in 1876, and again in its scope were combined the camp meeting, the summer home, and the Chautauqua conception, three divergent aims that have rarely worked well together. It will be remembered that on its land side the original Chautauqua was shut off from the outer world by a high fence, and everybody was compelled to enter the ground through a gate, at which a ticket must be purchased. At Bay View, as at most camp-meeting grounds, access was open on every side. At first they undertook to support the Assembly by collections, but the receipts proved inadequate, and they placed a ticket window at each lecture hall and endeavored to induce the cottagers to purchase season tickets, a plan which has been pursued down to the present time. One of the founders of Bay View, perhaps the one who suggested it, was Dr. Wm. H. Perrine, an ardent and intelligent Chautauquan, the rebuilder of Palestine Park.Other men came to the aid of the Bay View Assembly, some of them men of means, who gave liberally in the form of buildings, an organ, and to some extent an endowment. One of these was Mr. Horace Hitchcock of Detroit, another was John M. Hall, who organized the Bay View Reading Course,analogousto the C. L. S. C., and by his personal endeavor built up a reading and book-buying constituency. I was present at the second session in 1877, when it was a handful of people in a wilderness, and again thirty years later, when I found a beautiful city of homes in the forest, rising terrace above terrace, with good roads, fine public buildings, and a body of people interested in the best thought of the time. Chautauqua points with pleasure and pride to her oldest living daughter, the Bay View Assembly.
Mention should be made here of an Assembly established at Clear Lake, beside a beautiful sheet of water in northern Iowa, nearly midway between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It was organized in 1876, with the Rev. J. R. Berry as superintendent. For some years, beginning in 1879, it was under the direction of the Rev. J. A. Worden, who, like some others of us, had learned the Assembly trade in apprenticeship to Dr. Vincent at Chautauqua. For ten years ClearLake was fairly prosperous, but in time it met the fate of most assemblies and dropped out of existence.
During the year 1877 three more Assemblies arose, one of which remains to this day in prosperity, while the two others soon passed away. The successful institution was at Lakeside, Ohio. Like many others, it was grafted upon a camp meeting which had been established some years before, but was declining in its interest and attendance. The name "Encampment" was chosen as an easy departure from its original sphere, but after a few years the name "Assembly," by this time becoming general, was assumed. The first meeting as a Sunday School gathering on the Chautauqua plan was held in 1877, with the Rev. James A. Worden, who had assisted Dr. Vincent for three years in the normal work at Chautauqua, as its conductor. Afterward Dr. B. T. Vincent was in charge for a number of seasons, and one year, 1882, Dr. John H. Vincent was superintendent. For many years all the Chautauqua features were kept prominent, the Normal Department, with a systematic course, examinations, and an Alumni Association; the C. L. S. C. with recognition services, Round Tables, camp fires, the four Arches, and all the accessories. Lakeside drew around it helpersand liberal givers, and still stands in strength. Lakeside has the benefit of a delightful location, on a wooded peninsula jutting into Lake Erie, near Sandusky City, and in sight of Put-in-Bay, famous in American history for Commodore Perry's naval victory in the War of 1812. It still maintains lecture courses and classes in the midst of a summer-home community.
Another Assembly began in 1877, with high expectations, at Lake Bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, thirty-five miles north of Chicago. It was confidently supposed that on a direct railroad line from the great city, Lake Bluff would draw large audiences, and Dr. Vincent was engaged to organize and conduct an Assembly upon the Chautauqua plan, with lecturers and workers from that headquarters. A strong program was prepared for the opening session. Among the lecturers was the Rev. Joseph Cook, at that time one of the most prominent and popular speakers in the land. I recall in one of his lectures at Lake Bluff a sentence, wholly unpremeditated, which thrilled the audience and has always seemed to me one of the most eloquent utterances I have ever heard. It was twelve years after the Civil War, and on our way to the Assembly we passed the marble monument crowned with the statue ofStephen A. Douglas, the competitor of Lincoln for the Senatorship and Presidency, but after the opening of the war his loyal supporter for the few months before his death. Dr. Cook was giving a history of the forces in the nation which brought on the secession of the Southern States. He referred to Daniel Webster in the highest praise, declaring that his compromise measures, such as the Fugitive Slave Law, were dictated by a supreme love for the Union, which if preserved would in time have made an end of slavery, and he added a sentence of which this is the substance.