Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

=District of Columbia (Washington).=—A few of us concluded to push the Chautauqua movement here, and so we went to work to ascertain how many circles had been formed, and as a result representatives from Parker, Union, Foundry, and Dumbarton circles met and organized a Chautauqua Union, the object being for mutual interest and to endeavor to organize other circles during the coming summer and fall, to secure lectures upon the topics connected with the readings, and to do anything that would bring to popular attention the grand C. L. S. C. The first thing we did was to go to the fountain-head, and on March 16, Dr. J. H. Vincent lectured in the Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church, before the Union and a very large audience, upon the Chautauqua work, with marked success, and with his usual eloquence and power to interest and instruct. The lecture was free, as we wished those to come who could not well afford to pay for admission. We wish to reach the very lowliest. His lecture caused many to join circles, even at this late day, and we expect to reap a grand harvest next October. But this is not all. Our lines have fallen in pleasant places. On the 20th Mrs. Spofford, a large-hearted lady, invited the Union, through Foundry Circle, to meet in her parlors Bishop H. W. Warren, a counselor of the C. L. S. C., and author of “Recreations in Astronomy.” There was a large gathering, and the bishop and his fair daughter were cordially welcomed. Mrs. Lydia H. Tilton welcomed the bishop with the following lines:

To you who talk with distant suns and stars;
Find proofs in light of undiscovered spheres;
Keep time with Vulcan or moons of Mars,
And balance cycles with eternal years,
Yet count as highest in God’s universe,
And worthiest our study and our care,
One human soul, we bring in simple verse
A grateful welcome; counting it a rare
Good fortune, for one happy hour, to tread
Your larger orbit, sharing in your light,
And being by your inspiration led
To study truths that everywhere unite
To show us God, not as a dread unknown,
And far away, but _here_ in watchful care,
Where every heart that yields to him a throne,
May, e’en as suns and stars, his praise declare.

* * * * *

=Florida (Miccosukie).=—Our local circle was organized March 14, with Rev. W. S. Richardson, president. I think it is the first local circle in the State; there are several members of the C. L. S. C., however, who are pursuing their studies alone. We organized with five members, all of whom seem deeply interested in the work.

* * * * *

=Ohio (Plain City).=—About October 1 we organized a local circle of fourteen members. Soon after, by the appointment of conference, our pastor’s family was removed, which, with the removal of another family, deprived us of five of our most reliable members, and disspirited the remaining ones. The consequence is that we have not attained a very sure footing as yet. We have not succeeded in having enough members present to accomplish anything at meetings more than once or twice, although one or two of us have exerted ourselves to secure an attendance, and have a program prepared. Most, however, are doing the reading and enjoying it. If some enthusiastic Chautauquan can suggest a plan by which we may bring about a better state of affairs in our circle, we shall be glad to hear from him or her.

* * * * *

=Ohio (New Albany).=—We are all very well pleased with the course. We feel much stronger now than when we commenced last October. The work commends itself to all, old and young.

* * * * *

=Ohio (Norwalk).=—Our circle is doing a grand work. All of the graduates are members of the local circles, and are reading the seal courses.

* * * * *

=Indiana (Monticello).=—We organized a local C. L. S. C. January 24, 1883. Seven of us are taking the full course, two of whom did last year’s work. Besides those taking the regular course, nine are taking THE CHAUTAUQUAN this year with the intention of reading the full course next year. It is impossible to tell you how much we love the work. Many are becoming interested in the readings, and we hope to have a better report next year.

* * * * *

=Illinois (Chicago).=—One of the most difficult things we found was naming the circle. It was weeks before we could find a suitable name, but our motto was “_nil desperandum_” and at last we came off conquering, for we are now the “Vincent (conquering) Circle,” of Chicago.

* * * * *

=Illinois (Hampshire).=—Our meetings are conducted wholly on a conversational plan, led by our president and everyone taking part. The members are all very much interested in the work, and show a great deal of enthusiasm. Each book is left with regret.

* * * * *

=Illinois (Peoria).=—The Y. M. C. A. of Peoria has been trying to find the best method for putting their members in the way of doing themselves a permanent good, and to get an interest in their thoughts and hopes, tastes and inclinations, so as to guide them to that which is higher and better. After many efforts they believe they have found it: “We have our gymnasium for those who like it, some receptions with refreshments, and some games, chess, checkers, etc., and a library, and the periodicals, but such things do not take a hold upon earnest natures so as to create a new life in them. They are not exhilarating or inspiring. We finally have concluded that the C. L. S. C. was just what we wanted, and adopted it. There is certainly a very great benefit in the knowledge that 30,000 people are taking the same course, that our work is all laid out for us, a definite amount for each week. It is a great advantage to the committee on program; they are not compelled to spend any time in discussing what they will take up next, and how much. The members of the circle waste no time in suggesting this, that and the other thing to the committee. Many a circle would be disintegrated and broken up if they should attempt to discuss what study they would take up next, and how much and in what manner it should be studied; just as many persons waste their lives vainly attempting to determine the question what they shall do, and most people waste a large part of their leisure moments because they have no plan for using them systematically. I look upon the ‘Chautauqua Idea’ as one of the greatest and best ideas of our wonderfully rich and fruitful century, and I believe it is only in its infancy, and anything I can do to help it along I desire to do. It seems to me that the C. L. S. C., and the Book-a-month, and the C. Y. F. R. U, are very proper departments of Y. M. C. A. work, and that their introduction into Y. M. C. A.’s would greatly strengthen the associations and greatly benefit the members, and I can (now) see no objection to the Y. M. C. A. being used to introduce the ‘Chautauqua Ideas,’ and thus be made to do good and get good. Mr. Hill, of Ohio, has succeeded in having the movement favorably endorsed by the Y. M. C. A. State Conference of Ohio. I think I will try to attend the International Y. M. C. A. Conference at Milwaukee this spring, and bring the matter up there; but in the meantime if it could be brought before State and local organizations, it would be so much time saved. It seems to me that small Y. M. C. A.’s would be even more benefited than large ones by the C. L. S. C., and that they might be maintained with a C. L. S. C. in country neighborhoods and small hamlets where they could not exist alone. The size of our C. L. S. C. puzzles me now, and I hardly know what to do about it. Owing to the large number of members we are compelled to limit each member to answering one question, and to something like one minute in which to do that. If the circle were smaller each one would have more time. But I am afraid to try to divide it, for fear some will thereby be discouraged. Still there are new members who wish to join, and if size was no detriment to a circle, I think we could commence the next year with two hundred members. We have rather encouraged the organization of a local circle in the R. E. Church, of which Alex. G. Tryng is a member. I think they have about fifteen (all local) members, no regular C. L. S. C. We have not encouraged any but regular C. L. S. C. members to join our circle, though we have seven local members.” This circle sends in a report of fifty-seven regular members, with an average attendance of forty-five.

* * * * *

=Wisconsin (North Leeds).=—I have read much, but no course of reading that I’ve ever undertaken has afforded me the genuine satisfaction which I have received from the C. L. S. C.

* * * * *

=Michigan (Davison Station).=—We organized a circle here in December last, and now have a membership of fifteen. Commencing so late in the year, we are still somewhat behind in our reading, but we are trying to do extra work, and hope to finish the year’s work in time to begin with the class next October.

* * * * *

=Tennessee (Memphis).=—The Memphis local circle was organized on July 23, 1880, with eight members. Mr. J. R. Pepper was elected president. The membership increased to twenty-nine during the first few months following its organization, and thirty-five joined the Class of 1885 formed in October-December, 1881. During the winter of 1881-82 there were seventy-five persons engaged in reading the course, although only fifty belonged to the local circle. The Memphis local circle held monthly meetings from the date of its organization until October last, when its members were divided into three local circles, the smaller bodies proving more beneficial in their results and more convenient, since the members are scattered over the entire city. The three societies now in existence are the Central, Chelsea, and the South Memphis local circles. The Central circle consists of sixty members, and meets on the first Friday evening of each month. The Chelsea circle meets in the school room at the brick church, on the evenings of the first and third Tuesdays of each month. It contains thirty-two members. The South Memphis circle, containing about twenty members, meets in the Second Presbyterian church, on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of each month. All the circles are in a prosperous condition, and the interest taken in them is progressing steadily.

* * * * *

=Minnesota (St. Paul).=—We have received from Professor Daniels, of the Academy of Science at St. Paul, some encouraging words: “I came up here on account of some Geological work in the Rocky Mountains last fall, and have remained with my family to begin the organization of a campaign for scientific and industrial education in these new States. I have hunted up the scattered Chautauquans, and endeavored to persuade them to enlarge their circle, and take up the scientific part of the course with greater earnestness. I see a mighty future for your work, and am stirred to enthusiastic admiration of it, and it seems to me a grand opportunity is opened to ally it with scientific development and place it in the front rank of educational progress. Myself and my whole family have joined the class, and we are live Chautauquans, doing our class readings and drawing others into it as we can. We meet to-morrow evening at the house of Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, well known to you I presume.”

* * * * *

=Iowa (Maquoketa).=—This is the first year of a branch of the C. L. S. C. in Maquoketa; although we did not organize our local circle until late in November, we have thirty-eight members, who seem to be in earnest and doing good work. Rev. F. C. Wolf is our president. It was through his efforts that the interest in the C. L. S. C. was awakened and a circle organized. We have a committee of three, who arrange a program for each meeting. We have essays and talks on subjects assigned, written questions brought in by the members to be answered by the circle, readings of selections from THE CHAUTAUQUAN, or the books we have been reading, and the last half-hour devoted to “Round-Table Talk.” Our president had great difficulty at first to get the tongues loosened, and we had numerous long pauses in the conversation, but we know how to improve the time now, and all enjoy it.

* * * * *

=Iowa (Washington).=—Our local circle has a membership of thirty-eight, six of whom have taken up the four years’ C. L. S. C. work. We meet every Monday evening at the homes of the different members, and our program consists in reading, answering questions in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and general discussion of the subjects under consideration, after which the secretary calls the roll, and each member responds with a quotation from a favorite author.

* * * * *

=Missouri (St. Louis).=—Under the efficient leadership of its president, Miss Helen Peabody, the circle here is doing good work, and is one of the largest and best sustained literary societies in the city.

* * * * *

=Kansas (Leavenworth).=—This circle was organized March 5, 1883, with eighteen members, which have since been increased to twenty-nine. At the meeting, Mrs. Burrows, of Ohio, a graduate of C. L. S. C., was present, and it was largely through her influence and zeal (according to knowledge) that the circle started so auspiciously. The membership includes teachers, lawyers, merchants and others, and all seem thoroughly alive to the benefits of the mental and social culture which the course affords. We begin several months behind the class of 1886, but we don’t forget that we live in a State whose motto is “_Ad astra per aspera_,” (“To the stars through difficulties.”)

* * * * *

=Idaho Territory (Ketchum).=—We are two. Only a Chautauquan couple in this far-away little mining-camp, whose natural location brings to mind with new beauty the words, “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever.” We have had our books less than one month, and are still in our first enthusiasm over the glad fact of each being one of the 12,000 of the class of 1886. Beginning with the readings for October, we have read up to date—everything on English History—Ancient Greece, Preparatory Greek Course, Scandinavian, and Sunday Readings, besides pouring delightedly over every thing in THE CHAUTAUQUAN relating to the C. L. S. C. work, longing for the time when the completion of the required reading will allow us to enjoy all of the excellent things therein. With cordial greetings for all Chautauquans, and especially warm ones for the lonely ones scattered in solitary places, we hope to remain unto the end.

* * * * *

=Oregon (Portland).=—On December 11, 1882, was organized the first Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (within our knowledge) in Oregon. We feel quite encouraged, as we had so little difficulty in getting started, and all seem to take a great interest, notwithstanding our class is composed almost entirely of working people. By this I mean those who have little or no leisure even, outside of daily labor, but what should in a measure be devoted to the home circle; still we are becoming (even within so short a time) so attached to our class or circle, that we class it among one of our household and family treasures that both old and young can cherish and enjoy. Our class numbers sixteen. Now we are prepared to go along with the lessons of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and feel that we are more united to the Class of 1886.

* * * * *

=Southern California (Riverside).=—We have a large circle, meeting monthly in the Methodist Episcopal church, and each two weeks at the residences of members.

* * * * *

=Canada (Toronto).=—The Toronto Central Circle has a membership of about two hundred, and includes all Chautauquans in Toronto and vicinity. About seventy-five of the two hundred members are of the class of 1886, and have therefore only just begun, while others are completing their course. As yet we have only one alumnus, our enthusiastic secretary, Mr. L. C. Peake. In connection with the Central Circle are two or three strong local circles, one at least of which meets regularly, and has very interesting meetings. I think, if we may have a little space in THE CHAUTAUQUAN occasionally, we can furnish you with an item now and then to let Chautauquans know that Toronto is pushing ahead, and will soon have a band of Chautauquans second to no city of its size in numbers and enthusiasm. I may say we expect to have Dr. Vincent lecture here in Shaftesbury Hall soon—subject, “On the Heights.” We anticipate a rare treat. Dr. Vincent is perhaps the most popular lecturer we have on the Toronto platform.

OUTLINE OF C. L. S. C. STUDIES.

MAY.

The required C. L. S. C. reading for the month of May is Longfellow’s Evangeline, and the designated reading in THE CHAUTAUQUAN. The division according to weeks is as follows:

FIRST WEEK (ending May 8)—1. Longfellow’s Evangeline, sections I, II, and III of part the first—381 lines.

2. History of Russia, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday reading, selection for May 6, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

SECOND WEEK (ending May 16)—1. Longfellow’s Evangeline, sections IV and V of part the first—from line 382 to line 665, inclusive.

2. Scandinavian History and Literature, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday reading, selection for May 13, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

THIRD WEEK (ending May 24)—Longfellow’s Evangeline, sections I, II and III of part the second—from line 666 to line 1077, inclusive.

2. Pictures from English History, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday reading, selection for May 20, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

FOURTH WEEK (ending May 31)—Longfellow’s Evangeline, sections IV and V or part the second—from line 1078 to line 1399, inclusive.

2. Readings in Physiology, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday reading, selection for May 27, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

[_Not Required._]

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

FIFTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “EVANGELINE: A TALE OF ACADIE.”

By ALBERT M. MARTIN, GENERAL SECRETARY C. L. S. C.

1. Q. Who is the author of Evangeline? A. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

2. Q. When and where was Longfellow born, and when did he die? A. He was born in Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807, and died March 24, 1882.

3. Q. To what did he devote the greater part of his life? A. To literature, and to teaching in connection with literature.

4. Q. What was the first volume he published? A. An essay on the moral and devotional poetry of Spain.

5. Q. What are two of his best known prose works. A. “Outre-mer” and “Hyperion.”

6. Q. What is perhaps the best known of Longfellow’s short poems? A. “The Psalm of Life.”

7. Q. What celebrated work did Longfellow translate out of the Italian? A. Dante’s “Divina Commedia.”

8. Q. Name three of the longer well known poems that Longfellow wrote. A. “The Song of Hiawatha,” “The Courtship of Miles Standish,” and “Evangeline.”

9. Q. On what historical incident is the story of “Evangeline” founded? A. The forcible removal of the French from Acadia by the English in 1755.

10. Q. By what name is Acadia now known? A. Nova Scotia.

11. Q. How many of the Acadians were sent out of the country at this time? A. About three thousand.

12. Q. To what parts of the United States were they taken? A. To North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

13. Q. In the haste and confusion of sending them off, what occurred as to many families? A. They were separated, and some at least never came together again.

14. Q. What is the story of Evangeline? A. It is the story of such a separation.

15. Q. What is the measure in which the story of Evangeline is written? A. It is what is commonly known as English dactylic hexameter.

16. Q. What is a dactyl? A. It is a poetical foot of three syllables, of which the first is long and the other two short.

17. Q. In dactylic hexameter how many of these feet are there in a line? A. Six.

18. Q. Name some noted classical poems written in dactylic hexameter. A. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil’s Æneid.

19. Q. With what description does part the first of Evangeline open? A. With a description of Grand Pré in 1755.

20. Q. What person is introduced as the wealthiest farmer of Grand Pré? A. Benedict Bellefontaine, the father of Evangeline.

21. Q. What was the age of Evangeline at the time the story opens? A. Seventeen.

22. Q. Who was the accepted suitor of Evangeline? A. Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the blacksmith.

23. Q. Who attested the contract for the marriage of Evangeline and Gabriel? A. René Leblanc, the notary.

24. Q. On the 5th of September, 1755, the day following the execution of the marriage contract, what had the male inhabitants of Grand Pré and the surrounding country been summoned to do by proclamation of Col. Winslow, the commander of the New England troops? A. To attend him in the church at Grand Pré to hear a communication which the governor had sent.

25. Q. How many assembled in the church on this occasion? A. Four hundred and eighteen men and boys.

26. Q. After they had assembled, what did Winslow do? A. He surrounded the church with a guard and made all the inmates prisoners.

27. Q. What did he state was the decision of the king in reference to them? A. That all their lands, dwellings, and cattle were forfeited to the crown, and they themselves were to be transported to other provinces.

28. Q. How long were they kept prisoners in the church? A. Until the 10th of September.

29. Q. While the people were being taken on board the fleet for transportation from their homes, what occurred to the village of Grand Pré? A. It was set on fire and burned.

30. Q. What became of the father of Evangeline? A. During the delay on the shore he died, and his body was buried by the seaside.

31. Q. How were Gabriel and Evangeline separated? A. They were taken to different ships.

32. Q. In what does the story of Evangeline thereafter chiefly center? A. In her long and fruitless search for Gabriel.

33. Q. To what city in the South did a large number of the Acadians go? A. New Orleans.

34. Q. Where did they form settlements? A. On both sides of the lower Mississippi.

35. Q. In what part of her wanderings is Evangeline first specially introduced to the reader? A. With a band of Acadians on a raft descending the Mississippi toward these settlements.

36. Q. While their raft was moored at the Atchafalaya who passed them during the night in a boat going north? A. Gabriel.

37. Q. At a settlement on the banks of the Têche what Acadian did they find? A. Basil the blacksmith, now a herdsman.

38. Q. What did Basil report as to Gabriel? A. That he had that day started for “the town of Adayes to trade for mules with the Spaniards,” and thence he would follow “the Indian trails to the Ozark Mountains,” hunting and trapping.

39. Q. The next morning who started to attempt to overtake Gabriel? A. Basil and Evangeline.

40. Q. When they arrived at the little inn of the Spanish town of Adayes what were they told by the landlord? A. “That on the day before, with horses and guides and companions, Gabriel left the village and took the road of the prairies.”

41. Q. At a Jesuit mission in the region of the Ozark Mountains, what did the priest inform them of Gabriel? A. That “not six suns” had “risen and set since Gabriel” had told him the same story, and then had continued his journey to the far north.

42. Q. What did Basil and Evangeline now do? A. Basil returned to his home, and Evangeline remained at the mission.

43. Q. While at the mission, where did Evangeline next hear that Gabriel was? A. In the Michigan forests by the banks of the Saginaw River.

44. Q. When she reached this place of his lodge, what did she find? A. “The hunter’s lodge deserted and fallen to ruin.”

45. Q. Where had Evangeline landed when she came from Acadia? A. At Philadelphia.

46. Q. Who among those mentioned in the story had died there? A. René Leblanc, the notary.

47. Q. After Evangeline had given up finding Gabriel, to what place did she go? A. To Philadelphia.

48. Q. In what way did she employ her time? A. In administering to the sick and distressed as a Sister of Mercy.

49. Q. In the year 1793 what terrible pestilence was in Philadelphia? A. The yellow fever.

50. Q. Where did Evangeline at length find Gabriel? A. In the Friends’ alms-house as he was dying from the fever.

C. L. S. C. ROUND-TABLE.[I]

DR. VINCENT: All interrogations are in order in the way of criticism, questions relating to blunders in speech overheard, to infelicities on the platform, provincialisms, or to any imperfections of speech, which we desire in the interest of the English language and of a true culture to correct.

I receive a great many very sensible letters from members of the Circle. I received one during the summer or spring, to which I call your attention. I will read it. We have not been able to carry out the idea here, but at some time I trust will do so:

“DEAR SIR:—At Chautauqua last summer I remember Miss
Washburn referred to some of the practical scientific
work they accomplished at their California Assembly;
and you expressed a wish to bring more of this work
into the Round-Table meeting. I have thought of the
matter often, and several plans presented themselves.
The chapters we had on geology in THE CHAUTAUQUAN
suggested an idea to me that might be carried out with
little trouble. In some of the local circles there are
many who are able to classify and give interesting
particulars of the rocks they may pick up by the
wayside, but many are not so fortunate. I doubt not
those few chapters in geology led more than one to say,
‘I wish I could classify this and this fragment of
rock.’ I do not mean rare and curious specimens, but
that rough and bare rock by the roadside. Many of the
C. L. S. C. members who will be at Chautauqua, must be
familiar with these things, and many will be ignorant.
It seems to me it would be very profitable for those
who are ignorant, and not wholly unprofitable for the
enlightened ones, if we could have some rudimentary
work in reading sermons in stones.”

The letter closes:

“If those who are qualified should be too modest to
volunteer in sufficient numbers, you would undoubtedly
be enabled to select proper ones to supply the
deficiency. Enough specimens, probably, might be picked
up. I was talking to some of the C. L. S. C. friends
who thought they would take a basketful of stones. I
have hesitated about writing, but your note of May 15,
acknowledging the former letter, encourages me that you
will not think this an intrusion.”

It is a very happy, practical letter, and it was in pursuance of the suggestions made in that letter that Colonel Daniels was invited to take the class which he organized in geology. I have no doubt that many of you who attended several sessions of this class in geology found great benefit, and you have seen how the same kind of work may be continued on a smaller scale at home. If you have any thoughts in that direction, I shall be very grateful if you will write them to me. I hope to do something a little more thorough next year. We have in the history of Chautauqua had Prof. Winchell, and Prof. Rice, of Middletown, for very able lectures on geology. We shall do something in this line in the future. I read the letter because it was practical, just such as I like to receive.

A VOICE: How would it do for all of us to send on forty to fifty pounds of geological specimens to the museum from the various localities?

DR. VINCENT: Express prepaid. It might be well to write in advance to let us know the localities you represent, so that certain portions of Ohio, where the C. L. S. C. furore prevails, may not send several tons from the same neighborhood. [Applause.]

A VOICE: A lady here proposes to send specimens from Colorado.

DR. VINCENT: We should be very glad of them. There is no reason why, with our large organization through the world, we should not have at Chautauqua one of the best geological museums in the country.

[Footnote I: Seventh Round-Table, held in the Hall of Philosophy, at Chautauqua, at 5 p. m., August 14, 1882, Dr. J. H. Vincent presiding.]

A correspondent, a lady, writes from Colorado: “I think a knowledge of hygiene and medicine very essential to house-keepers, but it is one very little understood in the majority of households. I wish to offer the suggestion that a course should be founded in connection with the C. L. S. C. I can not go away from my home and spend time and money to take the course, but would be glad to take it up in the C. L. S. C., if offered.”

DR. VINCENT: Why may we not have a department, in which mothers and house-keepers might be interested; a department which would collect the various suggestions and devices for promoting house-keeping, that we may have the “house beautiful” in every home. Wealth is not necessary to such a result. Some of the most doleful places that I visit are the richest homes, where they have bare walls, or poor pictures on them, and carpets selected in the worst taste, and furniture that cost enough, to be sure, but was not selected wisely. When I go into a house, though it have very low ceilings, very small windows, and is very old-fashioned—built years ago, and though the people who built it did not have very much to build with—when I look at a house like that, and see on the walls pictures, selected for their real artistic value, even though inexpensive; when I see flowers and vines growing about; when I see the _Atlantic_, or _Harper’s_, or the _Century_ on the table—and a few well-chosen books on the shelves—when I get into a house of that kind, my heart always warms toward the people who live there. We might have delightful homes all over the land. Brick and boards, lath and plaster do not make homes. It is not the large, costly house, I commend, but the house, little or large, cheap or costly, with evidences of taste here and there. Do you know that the first movement of true taste in many a house would not be the putting in of new pictures so much as the taking out of the old. (Laughter.)

MR. MARTIN: Are the “Hall in the Grove” and the “Outline Study of Man” absolutely required for ’83?

DR. VINCENT: We put them on the list, but when asked if it were absolutely necessary to read them I said “No.”

MR. MARTIN: I think that the memoranda will show that at least ninety per cent. of the class of ’82 have read it.

DR. VINCENT: I am glad to hear it; but you remember when an objection was made two years ago to the “requiring” of a local, modern book like the “Hall in the Grove,” I said in a general way we did not require it, but we preferred it. I will tell you why the “Hall in the Grove” was written. It is my old story of the _esprit du corps_. The college provides for this by its surroundings—the old buildings, the old elms, the old campus, the class songs, the memorial days, the pleasant memories, the struggles and rivalries in recitation, the sports, the diploma, the honor, the _prestige_ in the world outside, the relative standing of “our” college and the other colleges. All these things create in the student the _esprit du corps_ which makes him glad to say, “I belong to this or that college.” See the working of this spirit in a college boat-race. Take these old dignified and pious editors of religious papers, who have not been in a boat, unless to cross to Europe, for twenty-five years. Let old Wesleyan row with Cornell, and Harvard, and Yale, and Brown, you will find the old Baptist editor, or the old Methodist editor, who opposes all that sort of thing, close up an editorial on the modern follies in college, “Nevertheless, we were somewhat glad when we read that Wesleyan stood so well in that race.” [Laughter.] That is the spirit which characterizes the college life. There is educating power in it. It is a good thing for a boy to have it, and for a man to keep it. Now, we of the C. L. S. C can have nothing of this kind unless we construct it or grow it in our own way. So we have “Our Hall”—the Hall of Philosophy. Look at it by moon-light, or in the morning, or with its eager crowds at the vesper hour. The other evening a lady said, “There is something very fascinating about this Hall.” Then here are our St. Paul’s Grove; our path-way from the gate to the steps. Do you remember on Commencement Day the flowers strewn by those little darlings, who only knew that they were doing a beautiful thing, and did not see how far down it went into your hearts? Then there are our Athenian Watch-fires and our songs that excel for poetry and inspiration all the songs that were ever written for any educational society on earth (I am proud of our Chautauqua songs and our Chautauqua poetess, Miss Lathbury),—all these things help to create the spirit of Chautauqua. Pansy has given in her “Four Girls at Chautauqua,” and especially in the story of “The Hall in the Grove,” a true interpretation of Chautauqua and in a delightful way has shown the effects of the movement on society. All these things tend to give an _esprit du corps_ to the C. L. S. C., and when you carry your diploma and remember your march from gate to goal the other day, you say, “I was present at the graduation of the class of ’82, and I shall go there as often as I can.” What the vision and the experience do for us who come here “The Hall in the Grove” will to some extent do for those who can not come. This enthusiasm will do for our members what the similar element in four years of college discipline and experience do for college students. And that is why I said let us have “The Hall in the Grove” written, so that people who never come to Chautauqua shall feel that they are one of us, that they really seem to have been there.

Questions concerning pronunciation of words were then taken up. The words “wiseacre,” “housewife,” “area-r” (a New England mispronunciation), “septuagint,” “Charlotte Yonge,” “khedive,” “Chautauqua,” “Celtic,” “truths,” were considered. The differences of opinion expressed justify our readers in consulting Webster or Worcester.

DR. VINCENT: I hope the Class of ’83 will be here to-night, according to the program, at nine o’clock for the Class Vigil. I am very anxious to see every member of that class. The Class of ’84 will please meet here when this service closes.

WRITTEN QUESTION: Where is volume four of the “History in Literature?”

DR. VINCENT: That work on English Literature (Chautauqua Library) was commenced by an accomplished lady who has been ill ever since she wrote the first volume.

WRITTEN QUESTION: Are we to use the same text-book on Greece as the first year?

DR. VINCENT: We are.

WRITTEN QUESTION: What is the Bryant Bell? Did Bryant give it?

DR. VINCENT: He did not. We gave that name to the bell we purchased. We own only one bell. The other bells are furnished by the house of “Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company,” of Troy, N. Y.

WRITTEN QUESTION: Will reading the White Seal Course for the last two years give us the white seal?

DR. VINCENT: Yes, sir.

I will now proceed to state the objects of the S. H. G. “The Society of the Hall in the Grove” has for its object the improvement of the graduates of the C. L. S. C. in all things that tend to true life, physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual; the permanence of the Chautauqua Idea and spirit, the keeping of the place, and the protection of the articles which have acquired a peculiar sacredness to all C. L. S. C. Chautauquans. In furtherance of these objects the Society of the Hall in the Grove shall select an executive committee of twenty-five members, whose business it shall be to appoint the working committees for each year. And each year all the members who are elected in 1882 shall constitute the nucleus or foundation of that committee. For example, if you elect twenty-five ladies and gentlemen this year, and next year ten of them are absent, the fifteen who are present make the nucleus of that executive committee. In that way we shall keep up a permanent element. It will be your duty to elect twenty-five members. The “Messenger of the Hall,” appointed by the Superintendent of Instruction, shall be chairman of that executive committee. We hope to retain this Messenger for years. The committee shall be elected in 1882. Then there ought to be several special committees. We had some annoyance on Saturday. That banner was left standing in the Amphitheater. It is a banner that no money could buy. It might be easily mutilated. We need a committee to protect that banner from one end of the year to the other. We need also a permanent “Guard of the Gate.” It is only a conceit, and some people may think it is ridiculous, but we do not mind that. It is a pleasant conceit that no one pass under that arch who has not a right to pass under it. It is the business of the Guard to carry out this law. We had the gate photographed to-day, but the gate was opened, and opened by the Guard. There should be a committee on correspondence. You see we have quite an amount of work to do as a “Society of the Hall in the Grove.” I make these announcements so that you all who are interested may know, and that we may become a formal “order” and duly elect our committees.

EDWIN AND CHARLES LANDSEER.

The writer of an obituary of Charles Landseer, who died in July, 1879, records an interesting incident connected with that artist’s picture, “The Eve of the Battle of Edgehill.” This, perhaps his best work, was painted in 1845. When it was nearly finished, Edwin Landseer was asked by Charles to come and look at it; and remarking that it was a very good picture, but “How nice a spaniel would look in that corner!” Charles said, “Will you put it in, then?” At which the master took up the brush, and at once painted in a fine old English spaniel with some leather dispatch-bags lying on the ground by him. The picture was duly exhibited and admired, the spaniel especially; but the dealer who bought it, being a simple man of business, bethought him that Sir Edwin’s dog would be worth more than the whole picture. So he coolly cut it out and sold it, filling the place by a common dog copied from it. Several years afterwards the owner of the picture showed Sir Edwin, with some pride, the picture in which he had painted the dog; but the great master declared “he’d be hanged if ever he did that dog.” The picture was examined more closely, and then the trick was found out. The identical picture, as cut out and put on another canvas, was sold shortly before Charles Landseer’s death at Christie’s, in the collection of the late Mr. White, for the sum of £43!

THE SONNET.

By WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room;
And hermits are contented with their cells;
And students with their pensive citadels:
Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom,
Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest peak of Furness-fells,
Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells:
In truth, the prison unto which we doom
Ourselves, no prison is: and hence to me,
In sundry moods ’twas pastime to be bound
Within the Sonnet’s scanty plot of ground;
Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)
Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,
Should find brief solace there, as I have found.

A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD.

By MRS. JOSEPH COOK.

Two months have passed since the journeyings of the Chautauqua quartette were interrupted by the illness of their beloved commander-in-chief, and now, under new leadership, they are about to resume their travels with the “limited time” for which American tourists are famous. Much must be omitted which was in the original program, and piteous are the groans of these disappointed Chautauquans, as one after another of their anticipated delights is ruled out of the new plan. “We can not go to Germany!” “Can not go to Germany!” exclaim the four as with one voice. And then one by one they utter their separate laments. “Not see the Sistine Madonna!” “Nor the Rhine!” “Nor Rauch’s lovely marble of Queen Louisa at Charlottenburg!” “Nor Heidelberg Castle!” “I feel for you from my heart,” says the leader, “but let me beg of you to reserve some of your emotion, for I have other disappointments in store for you. It is quite likely that you will visit the continent of Europe again, but this may be our only opportunity to go around the world. We do not want to make the circuit of the globe after the fashion of Jules Verne. Be prepared for another shock. We can not stop in Switzerland!” The faces of the quartette grew positively pale at this announcement. There were tears in the eyes of the æsthetic member, who had been improving the two months’ delay in practising sketching from nature, and confused murmurs of “Interlaken—Chamounix—the ascent of the Rigi—Lucerne and Thorwaldsen’s lion—the Lake of Geneva, and the Castle of Chillon—alas! alas!” came from the party.

“Let me tell you our best plan,” said the leader, who felt herself in an awkward position in thus coming in to take the place of another, and obliged at the outset to insist upon slaying the cherished hopes of the Chautauqua quartette. “I am sure none of you want to visit any of these famous places simply to say that you have been there, or to ‘see all that you can in five minutes,’ like the over-hurried traveler Howells describes in his ‘Venetian Journeys.’ We must reach Italy by the shortest possible route. We can not stop there half as long as we shall desire. Rome is inexhaustible, and we want to see the Pyramids and be ready next month to set sail from Suez for India.” The gloomy shadows which had fallen on the faces of the eager Chautauquans lifted a little at the mention of Rome and the Pyramids, and a sweet reasonableness began to take possession of them. The leader continued: “We leave Paris at nine o’clock this evening, and in twenty-four hours we shall be in Turin. We shall cross the Alps by the Mont Cenis tunnel, and you will have a glimpse of Switzerland, and be in the midst of grand mountain scenery all day to-morrow. When we reach Turin we will decide which route we will take to Rome, for the City of the Seven Hills must be our chief objective point.”

Packing to resume the journey was now the business of the day. Our practical member made all necessary arrangements for us. She visited the Gare de Lyons that afternoon and had our tickets _visèd_, for we had been assured that, disagreeable as it might be to join a superintended party which moves according to an inexorable plan, it would save us some annoyance to buy the tickets issued by any of the responsible tourist organizations and then there would be no awkward mistakes at small railway stations, where only Italian was spoken, and we found that this arrangement worked admirably. Our energetic little woman of business, with her imperturbable good nature and winning smile, which always melted the hearts of stern railway officials, came back to the pension with the assurance that everything was satisfactorily arranged, and by judiciously feeing the guard we should be able to secure a railway carriage to ourselves.

Twenty-four hours of railway travel and we reach Turin, fatigued enough for a good night’s rest at the Hotel Trombetta. We make an early visit the next morning to the Royal Palace, the residence of Victor Emmanuel, while Turin was the capital of Italy, which position she held from 1859 until 1865. The palace has the plainest possible exterior, but the long suites of apartments are fitted up in a lavish manner, and these rooms are reached by a magnificent marble stair-case. Glass chandeliers, gilded and frescoed ceilings, beautifully polished floors of inlaid woods, were the main characteristics of the rooms. A marble bust of the wife of Victor Emmanuel showed a sweet, womanly face, with a queenly pose of the head. Here were many interesting portraits and miniatures of the house of Savoy—among others one of the Princess de Lamballe, who suffered such cruel indignities from the Paris mob for being the friend of Marie Antoinette. Powdered hair, rolled back from the forehead with a long curl each side of the neck, gentle brown eyes and a refined face, with a touch of sadness in it, which seemed to forebode her fate, made up the picture.

In our drive about the city we talk over our future route. “There are two ways to Rome,” says the leader, “and we should not long hesitate which of them to take if it were not for this serious embarrassment in respect to time. Our inclinations point to Milan, Venice and Florence, but it is not safe to trust ourselves in those alluring places, so we will proceed to-morrow to Genoa, and thence to Pisa, and so on to Rome.” The Chautauquans are becoming philosophic. “The Continent of Europe another time!” saves them from despair under these repeated disappointments.

Genoa, with its memories of Christopher Columbus, is not a very attractive place except for those who have a fondness for silver filigree jewelry. Our few hours here gave us opportunity to visit several gaudily decorated churches; to see the exteriors of palaces, cold and cheerless-looking under a gray sky, though warmth and sunlight might have made the courts pleasant, in which we caught glimpses of fountains, statuary and colonnades. In the Andrea Doria palace we saw a portrait of the old admiral with his favorite cat, but most of the rooms were desolate and unadorned.

The journey from Genoa to Pisa is a succession of tunnels, eighty in all, many of them of considerable length, so that it seemed as though we were traveling by night instead of day. The views of the Mediterranean were aggravatingly beautiful as we emerged from the tunnels, but we had only time to exclaim and spring forward toward the window when our enthusiasm would receive a sudden check as we plunged into darkness again. Now and then our unobstructed vision permitted us to see these bold promontories, through which our course lay, bordering the coast and pushing their sharp tusks into the sea. At Massa the Marble Mountains, rivalling those of Carrara, contrasted finely with nearer green slopes.

The objects of chief interest at Pisa center in one square. Here are the Cathedral, the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery and the Campo Santo. These beautiful buildings, from four to six hundred years old, have been wonderfully preserved from the ravaging tooth of time. The interior of the Cathedral is a basilica with nave, double aisles and elliptical dome over the center. Its sixty-eight columns are ancient Roman and Greek, and were captured by the Pisans in war. The flat ceiling of the nave, though richly gilded, marred the beauty of the otherwise noble interior, but the aisles were vaulted. The swaying of the bronze lamp which hangs in the nave is said to have suggested to Galileo the idea of the pendulum.

A burial place in Italy, called a _Campo Santo_, is arranged in the form of a square with covered arcades like the cloisters of a cathedral, and a sunny, open central space. The one at Pisa is particularly sacred because the earth in the open court was brought from Jerusalem. We wandered through these aisles filled with mortuary marbles and tablets enjoying the reflection of the sunlight falling through the beautiful tracing of the open, round-arched windows. The frescoes by Orcagna representing Death and the Last Judgment, were fascinating from their horrible realistic treatment. The Baptistery, a circular, dome-crowned building, is a perfect gem inside and out, exquisitely finished as an ivory toy. There is a wonderful echo here which comes floating down from the dome like music from an angelic choir. Two hundred and ninety-four steps lead to the top of the famous Leaning Tower, and one is repaid for the ascent by a wide outlook on the Apennines; the city itself through which the Arno winds; the cluster of fine buildings at the base, and the flashing Mediterranean six miles distant. And so, closing our eyes repeatedly to see if we could reproduce in mental vision the picture before us, we bade farewell to Pisa and are next to be found at Rome.