Chapter I (3)

49. Q. What is said as to the number of elements with which sulphur combines? A. It combines in simple form of union with a majority of the elements known.

50. Q. What are three important compounds of sulphur? A. Sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphur di-oxide, and sulphur tri-oxide.

THE TRUSTEES REORGANIZE CHAUTAUQUA.

On the thirteenth of January the Chautauqua Board of Trustees held its annual meeting in the elegant rooms of the Young Men’s Christian Association of the city of Pittsburgh, to prepare the way for the next great Assembly. Mr. Lewis Miller, Dr. J. H. Vincent, Messrs. F. H. Root, Jacob Miller, E. A. Skinner, W. A. Duncan, Dr. J. T. Edwards, Rev. J. Lester, Rev. H. H. Moore, and most of the trustees were present, but as usual, of the twenty-four members, letters of apology were received from a few who were detained at home by sickness or urgent business matters. Those present, however, were fully prepared to go forward and meet the responsibilities of the hour. Dr. T. L. Flood, editor of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and Judge Holt, attorney for the corporation, were present to look after their respective departments.

As they came together for deliberation the trustees felt the inspiration of a history of grand successes, of a present satisfactory, and of a future full of hope. Hence the boldness of their plans, and the energy with which they were carried into effect. Chautauqua has a constituency which is of inestimable value, in the prayers and sympathies of many thousands of people who have never seen those beautiful grounds.

Wherever the Board of Trustees hold their annual meetings a lively interest is created, especially among press reporters and in the C. L. S. C. part of the community. In this respect Pittsburgh surpassed any other place ever visited, Jamestown and Cleveland not excepted. On reaching the city it was found that a reception had been arranged by the alumni and members of the Chautauqua Circle, to be held in Christ Church on the evening of the 13th, and that an elaborate program of exercises had been provided. The Rev. Mr. Williams, of the Pittsburgh _Christian Advocate_, occupied the chair. Music was furnished by Hamilton’s Junior Orchestra. Dr. Hirst, pastor of Christ Church, delivered, in chaste and eloquent language, an address of welcome. Prof. Holmes, Registrar of the Chautauqua University, in reply, spoke at length, explaining its aims and method of operation. President Miller followed in his happiest vein, and made clear the point that the educational scheme of the Circle was well suited to meet the constant and progressive changes ever going forward in society. On being introduced, Dr. Vincent was received by the great audience with a storm of applause. In his own usual taking way he unfolded the principles embraced in the Chautauqua Idea. We deal mostly, he said, with the mature mind that is athirst for knowledge. We make use of practical methods to supply the great want of the day, which is a rational society.

Dr. Flood, editor of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, was presented and spoke for a few moments. The music was fine, the speaking the happiest, and after the formal exercises had closed a season of free social intercourse followed. The power Chautauqua had exerted upon the city of Pittsburgh appeared in the great number present, who rose to their feet as witnesses; and most of the cities of the nation could produce like evidence of its popularity and influence.

The lavish expenditures of money which have been made upon buildings at Chautauqua in the past have created such facilities for work of all kinds that at present nothing further is required in that direction. This was a satisfaction not only to those who have heroically carried heavy financial burdens, but to those who have regretted that they were able to give only their sympathies to the cause. The brief address made by President Miller to the Board of Trustees consisted of a brief and cheery review of the past and a hopeful glance into the future. There is, he said, much yet to be done, sacrifices to be made, for Chautauqua is yet in its infancy, and its enlarged work from year to year will demand increased attention. Secretary Duncan in his annual report informed the trustees that during the past year his receipts had exceeded his expenditures by nearly ten thousand dollars, and that this sum had been used as far as it would go to liquidate the floating debt.

The following written report was presented by Chancellor Vincent:

“For the first time in the history of the Chautauqua Assembly I present to the Board a formal report. This has hitherto seemed to me unnecessary, and you have generously accepted a verbal statement in lieu of a full, official communication. I no longer thus tax your generosity, but under a keen conviction that an important crisis has arrived in our history, I beg leave to lay before you the following statements and suggestions:

“The Chautauqua movement is a marvel even to its projectors. However all-embracing may have been the original conception of our noble president, Mr. Miller, when he proposed a summer gathering in the grove at Chautauqua, the gradually unfolding scheme has been a source of surprise and delight to the world of curious and interested observers.

“Chautauqua in its various departments is a unit. However diverse the outward forms, the name which marks them all proves them one. The ‘Chautauqua Assembly,’ the ‘Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle,’ the ‘Chautauqua School of Languages,’ the ‘Chautauqua Teachers’ Retreat,’ the ‘Chautauqua Young Folks’ Reading Union,’ the ‘Chautauqua School of Theology,’ the ‘Chautauqua University’—all are but developments of the radical idea of Chautauqua, which is popular and symmetrical education; education for all people; education in all lines, according to varied tastes, needs and opportunities.

“Our constituency is as broad as are the aims of the institution: Sunday-school and other Christian workers, day school teachers, students of language, ministers of the gospel, citizens who mold the nation, mothers who mold citizens by making homes—these all, and all beside who seek knowledge, character and usefulness, are the people for whom Chautauqua was organized.

“With this wide reach of purpose it was necessary that Chautauqua should project the lines of its intention in plans and departments, that the world might see its magnitude, and that the full territory it proposes to occupy might be preëmpted. Until this projection was made, the Chautauqua Idea was irrepressible. And now Chautauqua with its variety of departments is not like a mere pile of buildings, with additions, lean-tos, unrelated edifices, and other after-thoughts, the results of unmanageable ingenuity. It is a growth and development, a provision according to the highest law, to meet the necessities which called it into existence.

“In this growth of twelve years there have been no unnecessary additions. To have omitted any of them would have made Chautauqua less than it is; and to have made Chautauqua less than it is would have been a mistake—almost a disaster. Because of the broad and varied provisions now included in the Chautauqua movement, it will be greater and stronger for all time to come.

“It would not have been easy to organize these departments at first under a single charter. The separate schemes under separate constitutions came into being. Each is stronger to-day because of the relative independence of its origin. The time may have come, I think the time has come, for an external union of departments which have all along been practically one. No antagonism between them has ever seemed to me possible, but there is a way of preventing even the seeming or fear of such antagonism.

“At the first meeting of the Board of Trustees of Chautauqua University, I proposed the appointment of a committee whose business it should be to bring into complete external unity all departments of Chautauqua. This committee has never acted. I now renew the proposal, with some practical hints looking toward this result.”

Dr. Vincent then presented several suggestions designed to harmonize the various Chautauqua interests.

The report continues:

“The financial condition of Chautauqua is a subject to which I have heretofore given little attention. I trusted implicitly to the wisdom of the Board, whose large ideas of the Chautauqua work, whose enthusiasm in it, and whose generous courtesy toward me, have caused them to give me the largest liberty, and to treat with great gentleness what they have sometimes felt to be excessive expenditure.

“My dreams and aspirations concerning the development of Chautauqua have led me to plan largely, and to spend liberally, that the attention of great-hearted men might be attracted to our work, the sympathy of progressive educators secured, and the great centers of influence in pulpits, colleges and newspapers be commanded in the interest of Chautauqua. A careful analysis of these expenditures will show that there has been no extravagance, although a greater economy might have been exercised.”

The report of Dr. Vincent closed with the following words:

“Trusting that you will see your way clear to coöperate in the plans proposed, and commending our great institution to him who is the ‘Master of Assemblies,’ this report is respectfully submitted.”

The report of Dr. Vincent was submitted to a special committee, which presented the following report, which was adopted as below:

The special committee to which was referred the report of the Superintendent of Instruction, begs leave respectfully to report:

1. That we recommend to the Board to reorganize the union of the several associations, schools, and departments of the Chautauqua Assembly, the Chautauqua School of Theology, the Chautauqua University, and the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, under a single organization to be known as THE CHAUTAUQUA UNIVERSITY.

2. (This article calls for necessary legislative action.)

3. The work of the new organization shall be carried on under the following departments:

I.—THE CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY, embracing:

_a._ The Summer meetings at Chautauqua;
_b._ The Sunday-School Normal Department;
_c._ The School of Languages;
_d._ The Chautauqua Teachers’ Retreat;

II.—THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE;

III.—THE CHAUTAUQUA SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS, now known as “The
Chautauqua University,” and with powers as provided in its
charter;

IV.—THE CHAUTAUQUA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, with purposes and powers
as in its charter;

V.—THE CHAUTAUQUA PRESS.

4. There shall be three committees, of three persons each, appointed by the Board, to coöperate with the Chancellor in the management of the above departments. Persons may be eligible to appointment on these committees who are not members of the Board.

These committees shall be:

_a._ A Committee on Assembly;
_b._ A Committee on C. L. S. C., the C. S. L. A., and C. S. T.;
_c._ A Committee on the Chautauqua Press.

5. We approve of the recommendation of the Superintendent of Instruction, of the establishment of the “Chautauqua Press,” as a part of the “Chautauqua University.”

6. The income from the general membership fees in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, in the Chautauqua School of Liberal Arts, and in the Chautauqua School of Theology, with such annual appropriations as may be made by the Board to these departments, shall constitute their fund respectively, out of which all expenses of each of these departments shall be paid annually; the surplus in the department treasury of the C. L. S. C., of the C. S. L. A., and of the C. S. T., from year to year, shall be paid to the treasurer of the Assembly Board. There shall be two assistant treasurers, one to have charge of the funds of the C. L. S. C., and the other of the funds of the C. S. L. A. and of the C. S. T., both of whom shall make an annual report to the Board.

7. We recommend that the Superintendent of Instruction in the Assembly Board shall hereafter be known as “The Chancellor of the University.”

8. It shall be the duty of the Chancellor of the University to arrange and conduct the program of the Chautauqua Assembly; to engage speakers, teachers, leaders of music, and such other assistants as the program may require; to conduct the affairs of the C. L. S. C., the C. S. L. A., and the C. S. T.; he shall submit a report to the meeting of the Board in January of each year, which shall contain a statement of his expenditures in the several departments during the preceding year, and an estimate of the probable expenses for the year ensuing.

9. The duties of the other officers shall be those specified in the by-laws as already adopted by the Assembly, the Chautauqua School of Theology, and the University, or as may be hereafter adopted.

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As it has been abundantly demonstrated that this section of the lake is rich in natural gas, it may be expected that as the season opens the work of development will commence. Chautauqua has also an inexhaustible mineral fountain, which many have found not only a pleasant beverage, but rich in health-giving qualities.

Appearances indicate that the next Assembly will be of the first importance. Many will probably meet J. B. Gough—the hero of a thousand platforms—for the last time. Dr. Deems is to come among us once more, and the original Fisk Jubilee Singers will be there, and they have no equals in reproducing the fast vanishing songs of the plantation.

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.

THE GREAT GREEK DRAMATISTS.

The Greek drama, which is now before our C. L. S. C. students in its English rendering, presents many interesting aspects to the modern mind. We are well aware that this statement will surprise some readers; but let them consider a few facts. Is it not a remarkable thing that the Greek drama, which the world will not suffer to be forgotten, was all produced in the space of about half a century? And compare the fact with our own history, noting that English drama of the imperishable type is all gathered into a single brilliant period, of which Shakspere is the central light in dramatic poetry. Æschylus was born in 525 B. C., Sophocles in 495, and Euripides in 480. The three are nearly on a level in merit, Æschylus having the more force, and his compeers in dramatic fame more of the refinements of art. They are not three Shaksperes in one constellation, but three orbs whose combined light is less than that of our English poet. No one has satisfactorily explained why the tragic drama should so isolate itself in the centuries of a people; but it may be said to be a rule that if a people produce a great drama at all, this choice fruit will appear only in a single period. But since Greece and England are the only nations having a great tragic stage—for we do not reckon the French drama as in the first rank—the rule has no well-defined value. It is remarkable, too, that the great epic poets are more numerous than the great masters of tragedy. Greece, indeed, is known to us for one epic and three tragic poets; but every great people before ours has had a respectable epic poem, whereas in most nations tragic poetry is rare or inferior. The great tragedies are so few that one may easily know them and prize them. No other form of literature presents us with so few masterpieces.

Another good aspect of the drama in Greece is that it came in the period of the full-flowering of Greek egotism, or if the phrase is happier, of Greek patriotism. Here, too, we may find an analogy in the England of Shakspere. The age of Elizabeth is easily fixed upon as that of self-satisfied British patriotism. It is also true that alike in the Athens of the dramatists and the London of Shakspere there was the stir and bustle and heroic energy of national life. It is not to be overlooked that the dramatists of Greece, like the literary statesmen of England were in public life. They sought and held office; and, indeed, they, like Socrates, were soldiers besides. Æschylus fought at Marathon, Salamis, and Platæa, the three great battles of his country. Shakspere did not do his work on the Avon, but in the din of London, and many a thing which surprises us in his plays may be explained by the close and uninterrupted contact of the dramatist with the active men of his time. He learned, for example, all his law phrases in convivial association with lawyers, much as he learned scripture by hearing the prayer-book read in the churches. (He always quotes the prayer-book, never the Bible.) So in Athens, our statesmen-dramatists lived in the full press of life, and their drama reflects the opinions and proverbs of their day. Men of the lamp could not have caught the spirit and attitude of the Athenian mind toward the problems of life which underlie the Greek plays. The just-enough and not too much or too little of philosophy—the mean between dogmatic theology and crude irreligion—the man of the world, and he alone, can hit. We may safely reason that while many forms of literature can be best wrought by men out of the world, some forms seem to require their producers to be in the world and of the world; and among these, the drama is especially reserved to men who combine practical experience with erudition, and also possess the indescribable mystery of genius. The student will be well repaid for his pains who struggles to understand the spirit—a strange one to us—which is peculiar to the Greek drama, the singular aspects and functions of religion, and the mode in which it is apparently held fast by the tragic poet, who is also a man of the world. There are also profitable studies to be made of those glimpses of unchanging human nature which the tragedies afford us. One theory is that we study old classics in order to know an older and extinct type of mankind: a truer view is that the virtues and vices of the elder man are simple and undisguised by social varnish. In any case, the student who understands, for example, the woman Medea, has a useful lesson in “the proper study of mankind.”

CHAUTAUQUA AT NEW ORLEANS.

Almost every interest of the country is represented at New Orleans this winter. Every prominent manufactory, all leading trades, the great branches of commerce, and particularly educational institutions have exhibits of more or less importance. The eye of the country is turned southward. Whatever is worthy our civilization has been collected there for study. In educational matters many departments have been given position, that they may be studied by the eager learner; for people are eager to know the world’s work. You see it in their keen observation of the displays made throughout the long galleries, and their quick notice of the comparative merits of the exhibits. To them the work from the Indian schools, from the colored people, from the far away territories, and from foreign lands are studies in comparative civilization. Every sign of advancement is quickly seized upon; and in no department is more eagerness to know manifested by visitors than in the “Chautauqua Alcove.”

Chautauqua and the C. L. S. C. have a very good representation in the south gallery of the government building, under the general supervision of Prof. E. A. Spring, a member of the faculty at Chautauqua. This exhibit is attracting a great deal of attention. All members and friends of the C. L. S. C. who may visit the Exposition are earnestly and cordially invited to visit the Chautauqua exhibit. An idea of Prof. Spring’s work may be obtained from a few extracts from a letter received from him in the holidays:

CHAUTAUQUA ALCOVE, NEW ORLEANS, LA., Dec. 26, ’84.

There is a large placard up in this exhibit, as follows:

U. S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION.

CHAUTAUQUA ALCOVE.

_Any one of the sixty thousand of the members of the C. L. S. C.
who may be here is requested to register._

I give everybody one of a little handful of Spare Minute Course
circulars that I brought with me. I have given out about a
hundred—and had conversations, some of them with evident
conviction—in German, French, English, and the language of signs.
By help of my Italian, I have tried to talk to some of the many
Mexicans here, but did not get deep enough to broach the C. L. S.
C.

I had yesterday and to-day considerable talk with the intelligent
gentlemen representing the French Republic school system—M.
Buisson and his assistant. General Eaton says that the brother
of this Mons. Buisson is the genius of education in France. They
expressed themselves as much interested in the scope of the noble
Chautauqua plans.

The principal and seven lady teachers from Normal, Ill., just
left me. They will come again, to learn more of Chautauqua. Some
Texas gentlemen, one of whom, Prof. Hogg, I have long known as a
fellow member of the National Educational Association, have been
here again to-day, to say that they would be here to see me with
about two hundred teachers from Texas at noon to-morrow.

Dr. Mitchell was here this afternoon.

On Saturday, the 27th, I was all ready for the two hundred
teachers, who advanced in a body with a banner, and I gave them a
regular lecture on Chautauqua and its out-reachings.

Then I said my friend, Prof. Hogg, had seen me model in
Philadelphia, in 1879, at convention of the National Educational
Association, where he read a paper on “The Education of the
Hand, the Head, and the Heart,” and he had asked me to show this
company of teachers some clay modeling, so I would occupy a few
minutes in that, as it was one of the methods in the Chautauqua
plan to train the hand by clay, and through that educate the
head; and if the hand and the head were truly educated, as they
ought to be, the heart should be developed too. So, laying out
a colossal head in relief, I made a few remarks as to the value
of a little easy practice of clay modeling in schools; and then,
turning to the board with clay on it, I worked eighteen minutes,
and made a head of “an American Teacher.”

General Eaton came to me after their vote of thanks, and as soon
as they had gone—in the most congratulatory frame. “Chautauqua
could afford to pay you two months’ work for that!” he said,
shaking me by the hand. Two of the class of ’86 C. L. S. C., from
Lockport, Dr. Mitchell, Mons. Buisson and a few others expressed
themselves as much interested.

I was glad to find I had so many “Spare-minute” circulars—and
I must have given out seventy-five or one hundred yesterday,
beside one hundred to the Texans, generally accompanied with a
conversation of more or less length.

All this in the midst of busy work and good progress in the
mechanical embellishment of our alcove. It will be very
attractive when completed, and I have so planned that I can work
at it all along, adding new features from day to day.

It is very interesting, how near to people’s hearts and inner
lives I sometimes get in these little talks. It is a plan that
touches the aspirations and longings of many a true soul. I wish
sometimes that words could be instantaneously photographed. It is
impossible for me to write as fully as I should like.

Our only CHAUTAUQUAN (November) with one copy of the C. L. S. C.
circular, with its cut of the Hall, has done good service.

I very much hoped that Dr. Vincent could manage to come here.
Many people have asked, the first thing, if Dr. Vincent is to
be here. Every state should have a Chautauqua headquarters—this
alcove will get them all ready for it.

_Monday morning._—Damp, muddy, discouraging to many people. The
car drivers have struck and the hour’s ride, long and tiresome at
best, is now cut off. Hundreds of teachers who have been pouring
into New Orleans these last days of their holiday, are prevented
from seeing and learning by this four or five miles of mud before
they reach the Exposition. There have been great hindrances all
along to the completion of the Exposition, and many grumblers.
But I have never been discouraged! Everything from the first
start has been delightful. When the roof leaked, I moved some
things away, told the roofer, and it was at once mended. When it
came on a hard storm night before last, I laid down on the floor,
rolled in my Kansas blanket, and liked it so well that I shall
camp out here in the Chautauqua precincts; at any rate, till
there is some comfortable conveyance away.

More anon.

Ever yours faithfully,

EDWARD A. SPRING.

WINTER SPORTS IN CANADA.

Winter undoubtedly has its hygienic value; and a part of this value we get without effort. It is not only a comfort to be freed from the annoyances of insect life, but it is also a gain for health that many of the atmospheric impurities are removed by frost. But to get the largest value from winter as a frost cure, we need to avail ourselves of the system of healthful and invigorating amusements which prevail in Canada, and have made that country famous. That portion of our population which is employed out-doors in winter is, _pro tanto_, undoubtedly the most healthy. For the rest of us the only possible equivalent is winter sports. It is unfortunately true that the variable character of our weather precludes us from exact imitation; but our inventive genius ought to be equal to the task of bridging over the soft places in our winters. In Canada, the long and comparatively equable winter makes it a simple thing to provide healthy and innocent amusements which may be enjoyed as regularly as any business is carried on. It is not to be forgotten, however, that the Canadians are the only people in the world who know how to keep warm out-doors as well as in-doors. They have learned to perfection this art, for lack of which our out-door employments are more or less dangerous. Our laborer does not keep warm in winter, and his “colds” become consumption. In Canada, young girls accomplish in this respect what stout men fail to do among us; they keep warm whether they are flying in sleighs or on toboggans. These forms of enjoyment are well organized; there are toboggan clubs, and “society” means some form of winter sport. The miserable imitation called “roller-skating,” which is alarming thoughtful people in many of our villages, is only a craze, a temporary insanity; the winter sports of Canada are a national institution. The physical and moral wholesomeness of the roller-skating rink is more than doubtful. The moral and physical healthfulness of the sports by which Canadians make winter a season of joy, can not be questioned.

On the average, our winter in the United States is not a healthful and invigorating season to us. We lose the greater values and expose ourselves to special dangers. We live in-doors, with a temperature ten degrees too high. We shut in with us invisible plagues which breed diphtheria and other diseases. We are enfeebled by refraining from exercise and breathing unwholesome air in our houses. We come to the spring weaker than we were when winter began. We have moped by hot fires and breathed vitiated air, when we ought to have been out in the winter blast, using our muscles and filling our lungs with the clean winds. Two or three conditions seem wanting for a reform of these habits. One is the art of keeping warm in the cold air; another is a keener sense of the value of winter exercise, and a third is some devices by which the “soft spells” of weather shall not arrest our sports nearly every week.

THE RELATIVE PRONOUN “THAT.”

This word is a demonstrative pronoun and a conjunction; and in some idiomatic phrases it is also a relative pronoun. By idiomatic phrases, we mean that use has constructed certain forms of expression which are wholes, though consisting of several words. _All that we know_ is an idiomatic phrase; use and habit have welded the words together. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there grew a habit of using _that_ very freely as a relative pronoun. The Bible of 1611 is full of illustrations of this habit. During the present century this use of _that_ has been by the best writers gradually restricted, and at present the rule for _that_ as a relative pronoun, probably, is about as stated above—the word is used, as a relative, only in idiomatic expressions. The history of this word would make a very interesting chapter. We have in the foregoing statement merely suggested one line of change in its use, and we call attention to this change for a particular reason. Among the excellent books published by Appleton & Co. is a reprint Cobbett’s English Grammar, and in this reprint Mr. Ayres, the editor of it for this republication, lays down in his introduction, and illustrates by significant bracketing in Cobbett’s text, a new rule for the use of the relative _that_. This new rule is, in substance, that the restrictive relative is _that_—_who_ and _which_ being coördinating relatives. This proposed reform is unfortunately timed. By a progress in use which has been unobtrusive, and unaided by dogmatism, the number of _thats_ on a printed page has been reduced to tolerable proportion. If we accept the new rule we shall not only go back to excessive use of _that_, but we may even increase the evil of too much _thating_. The word fills two important functions in present good use; to add the office of expressing all the restrictive uses of the relative pronouns, would probably increase _thating_ so as to render an English page unsightly. Take a sentence: “He said that that man that that boy said that he saw was not that man that that boy thought that he saw.” Mr. Ayres tries to show that certain sentences which contain _who_ and _which_ as relatives are ambiguous in meaning, and that the substitution of _that_ would make the meaning clear. As to such sentences, we may say that if they are really ambiguous in sense, the remedy is to reconstruct them. It is not necessary to use _that_ to pull them out of their obscurity. It is easy, however, to show that a detached sentence might mean something which it does not mean. The meaning of a text is helped out by the context. Aphorisms usually have not context auxiliaries, and usually are ambiguous; but the ordinary use of language is to express our meaning by paragraphs rather than by single sentences. Every ellipsis furnishes an opening for the entrance of small criticism; and ellipsis is one of the large facts of English writing.

In short, the critic of ambiguous sentences will have abundant employment on the best writers, if he is allowed to break off any sentence from its yoke-fellows in the paragraph. We advise our readers not to make haste to adopt the rule of Mr. Ayres. The important question is: How do good writers employ the word _that_ in their books? The answer is that good English writers employ the word as a conjunction and as a demonstrative; and as a relative only when phrase idiom compels such use. In this country, the practice is to use _that_ a good deal as a relative; but there has been a great decline in this use of it, especially during the last thirty years. At the present time our best writers seem to be following the English practice. We hope that Mr. Ayres will not succeed in turning reform backward. With _who_ and _which_ to employ as relative pronouns—and occasional help from _that_, _what_, and _as_, in idioms—the English language is not poor. We need not recall the restrictive _that_ from its honorable retirement.

EDMUND ABOUT.

The death of this versatile French writer removes from modern literature another of the few French literary men who are known all over the world. About was born in 1828, and has enjoyed a cosmopolitan fame since 1860. His literary work had the charm of contemporary interest, and at the same time the merit of philosophical breadth and insight. He gained fame at home in a way our men of letters would not travel, by writing a Dictionary of Railroads. He was equally interesting and instructive whether he wrote a novel or a political pamphlet; for in both, Edmund About’s personality was in the foreground. He was not an egotist, however, in his books, but his _I_ was a modest one which rather relieved others of responsibility for his opinions, than obtrusively forced the author upon our admiration. He had a keen zest for current thought and fact; and, though our sensationalist newspaper men would not fellowship him, he was one of the best editors of his age. He was always an editor—even when he wrote the railroad dictionary—and his political pamphlets are among the best presentations of questions and situations. He saw the heart of a current issue, and with easy grace and perfect poise he described it from the point of view of a modern cosmopolitan gentleman. His “Roman Question” was, in its day, equally intelligible, interesting, amusing and illuminating in Paris, London, Vienna or New York. He described the situation under the Pope as King of Rome, setting out in full relief those peculiarities of the Roman situation which were picturesquely illogical for all men of the world. He had a marvelous power of suggestion. The first sentence of the “Roman Question” is like this—we do not attempt to recall the exact words or figures: “There are in the States of the Church 1,366,328 souls, _not counting the little Mortara boy_.” The last clause referred to a charge that priests at Rome had stolen a Jewish boy and were making a good Catholic of him against the will of his family. The incident made a great uproar at the time, and About recalled to the mind of the reader the whole story, and, without expressing an opinion, attracted the sympathy of his Protestant readers by the mere allusion. Probably his books contain more examples of strong, suggestive allusions to recent or contemporary events, than those of any other writer; and it was always his special art to allude _only_, leaving his reader to his own opinion. The delicacy of his touch and the fine flavor of his criticism were remarkable, even in this age of keen and witty French writers. He became editor of the _XIX. Siecle_ (century), after the war with Germany; but he had always been a journalist in some form, and more than one paper had its editions suppressed by Napoleon III. because they contained the fine but biting satire of About. Some years ago (in 1870, we believe) he was blackballed in the French Academy, but he was recently elected to that august body. He died before he was installed in his academic chair.

EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.

We regret exceedingly that a serious illness makes it impossible for Mr. Richard Grant White to furnish his usual paper to the present issue of THE CHAUTAUQUAN. Another month Mr. White will probably be able to continue his articles.

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The glimpse we are getting, even at this early day, of the Chautauqua program for 1885, is very inviting. The regular School of Science will be under the charge of Prof. Edwards, president of Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, N. Y., and that of Pedagogy, under Dr. Dickinson, secretary of the board of education, Boston. Such people will be present as John B. Gough, Dr. Deems, Miss Willard, Mrs. Livermore, Bishop Foster, Dr. Boardman, of Philadelphia; Dr. G. P. Hays, of Denver, who will organize a school of Christian work; the Schubert Quartette, of Chicago; the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, for two weeks, and Miss Henninges, the noted singer of Cleveland, O. A very superior organist, Prof. Isaac V. Flagler, has been engaged for the entire Chautauqua season.

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The alarm which the recent terrible earthquake in Spain has caused has led to the compilation of some interesting figures relative to the number of shocks which have occurred in late years. Between 1872 and 1883 no less than 364 earthquakes are recorded as occurring in Canada and the United States, not including Alaska. Of these the Pacific slope had 151, the Atlantic coast 147, and the Mississippi valley 66. Thus it appears that an earthquake occurs about once in every twelve days somewhere in the United States and Canada, and about once a month on the Atlantic coast. These are exclusive of the lighter tremors which do not make an impression on observers, but which would be recorded by a properly constructed seismometer, an instrument designed to detect the slighter shocks.

“Just about twenty years ago,” writes Dr. Felix Oswald in a recent letter to THE CHAUTAUQUAN, “when I was stationed at Sidi Belbez, in western Algiers, I had a conversation with a half-civilized Sheik, who had visited our camp and seemed to take a good deal of interest in the portrait of a _mitrailleuse_ (”Gatling gun“) that had been photographed together with a group of Zouave artillerists. After scrutinizing the picture and comparing it with the original, he clutched his head, as if stunned by his emotions. ‘Where do they teach such things?’ he inquired, and then suddenly burst out: ‘What a pity that education and Gatling guns can not be had at home!’ For North America, at least, THE CHAUTAUQUAN seems to have solved one of those problems.”

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In a yellowish, time-worn volume bearing the title, _The Allegheny Magazine, or Repository of Useful Knowledge_, issued in Meadville, Pa., on July 4, 1816, we find in a paper on Chautauqua the following: “The tradition among the Seneca Indians is, that when their ancestors first came to the margin of this [Chautauqua] lake and had reclined their weary limbs for the night, they were roused by a tremendous wind which suddenly and unexpectedly brought the waves upon the shore to the jeopardy of their lives. The aboriginal history as handed down from father to son further represents that in the confusion of the scene a child was swept away by the surge beyond the possibility of recovery. Hence the name of the lake _Chaud-dauk-wa_; the radix from which this is formed signifying _a child, or something respecting a child_. The word is usually spelled _Chautauqua_; but, according to the pronunciation of the venerable Cornplanter, whose example is the best authority, it should be written _Chaud-dauk-wa_, the two first syllables of which are long, and the consonant at the end of each is to be distinctly sounded.”

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Mr. Francis Murphy, the apostle of temperance, who, by the way, is engaged to speak at Chautauqua next season, is a very useful and popular man in Pittsburgh, Pa. Mr. Murphy has recently been invited to become the pastor of a People’s Church which leading citizens of Pittsburgh propose to establish. He is a powerful man with the masses, and his method of “Gospel-Temperance” is a wise one. By his efforts tens of thousands of drinkers, drunkards and saloon keepers have been led to become better men. We shall watch the new departure in Pittsburgh with a great deal of interest.

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Bishop Hurst has discovered in Cairo, Egypt, the next largest university to Chautauqua in the world. His rich article on the “Mohammedan University,” in this impression, fixes the number of students in attendance at about 15,000. The C. L. S. C. numbers more than 60,000, and the class of 1888, organized this school year, will reach nearly, if not quite, 20,000 members.

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The recent terrible explosions in London have set us to counting up the similar outrages which have been perpetrated of late in England. In 1881, attempts were made to blow up the armory at Salford, the Mansion House, London, the Lord Mayor’s private apartment, the barracks at Chester, the Central Police Station at Liverpool, and the Town Hall at Liverpool. The activity of the dynamiteurs was checked about this time by the vigilance of the police, and nothing further was done until March 15, 1883, when the Local Government Board offices in Westminster, near the House of Parliament, were nearly destroyed by an explosion of dynamite. In 1884, attempts were made to shatter three railway stations in London, explosions occurred in Scotland Yard and at St. James Square and under London Bridge. Already, in 1885, there have been an explosion on a London underground railway, and the outrages in Westminster Palace and the Tower.

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What shall we do? How shall we treat these outrages? We can do nothing. To be sure it is a shameful list of cowardly, ineffectual deeds. Yet they deserve more pity than rage. It is a sad thought, that in rich, cultured, high-bred old England, there can exist a class so weak, cruel, and miserable that it tries to right its wrongs by methods more horrible than those of war.

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A very suggestive scene took place recently in the Arkansas Assembly. Engrossing and enrolling clerks were to be elected. The members brought up the names of several ladies, discussing their ability, beauty, and claims to recognition, in most eloquent terms. After a long and amusing discussion, both positions were filled by ladies. This move gives to the self-supporting women of Arkansas a new outlook. The possibility of securing such positions will incite hundreds of women to prepare for clerkships, which if not found in the legislature will surely be found elsewhere, as the peculiar ability of women for such work is recognized.

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The legislature of Georgia, at its past session provided a similar opportunity for the women within its borders. Eight to ten clerks have been regularly employed each session to assist the clerk of the lower house of the legislature. Of its own accord the House directed that women be hereafter employed to fill these positions. This was done, and the bills engrossed by them are said to have been remarkably neat and accurate. This ready sympathy for the women who must earn their bread, and manly effort to make places for them, is very characteristic of the generous southern heart.

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The Assembly at Lake de Funiak, Florida, will be in session when this number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN is on its way to our subscribers. The opening takes place on February 18. It is the first attempt at planting the Chautauqua Idea so far south, but after its fashion it is sure to take root. The preparations made by Mr. Gillet and his associates give promise of a good program. We expect an account of the meeting for the April number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

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Two big schemes to attract patronage have of late come before the country. At the time the New Orleans Exposition seemed to stagger under its load of expense, and money was absolutely necessary, the Louisiana Lottery tried to get control of the Exposition. General Grant’s embarrassment was seized upon by the incorrigible Barnum, who proposed buying the invaluable curiosities and relics of the General, to display in his summer pilgrimages through the country. It makes a person of taste blush to think of this impudence, to remember that there is a very large class of people who are willing to drag into advertising the most dignified and sacred institutions in the country.

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The commercial side of Chautauqua Lake does not often reveal itself in the educational work which finds its center there. The beautiful country which forms the setting for the fair lake has, however, more than one most interesting industry. Just now ice cutting is at its height. There is a transit company which packs dressed meats, eggs, butter, and other perishable articles, at Chicago. When these refrigerator cars start from that city, ice is placed in the cars, which is expected and found to keep the stores in fresh condition, as far as Salamanca; here the cars must be replenished, and it is to these storehouses that the ice which is now being cut from the lake is sent. The company employs men and teams near the lake to cut the ice, and the process is a very interesting one.

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Mr. Edmund Yates, the editor of the London _World_, has been committed to prison for four months for allowing in his columns a bit of gossip connecting in an injurious statement the name of a young woman with that of a young nobleman. It is a refreshing sign of the times. Popular sentiment has tolerated an immense amount of personality, of curiosity, and of absolute impudence in the social columns of newspapers. Mr. Yates’s punishment will emphasize the fact that the public is not so depraved as editors often consider it. By the way, how like is this affair to that earlier one of Mr. Yates’s, when he was turned out of the Garrick Club for publishing a disrespectful paragraph about Thackeray, a fellow-member. It is to be hoped that Mr. Yates will soon learn that it is a mean thing to make one’s bread by selling a friend’s peculiarities or a neighbor’s mistakes and sins.

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The Christian revolt of the Jews of Bessarabia, and the establishment of the “National Jewish Society of the New Testament,” was discussed by Bishop Hurst in the January issue of this magazine. The founder of this new sect, Rabinowitz, has been since found dead at his home in Kishenev. It is believed that he was murdered. The Christian authorities believe that it is the work of the orthodox Hebrews, and it is not improbable that such is the case. Apostasy in religion very rarely receives from men Gamaliel’s advised treatment, and unless the law can secure safety for these reformers, there is but little chance that they will escape the fate which all the history of the past teaches us that religious fanaticism believes to be the just and only treatment.

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It is gratifying to know that in all probability the $250,000 required for the pedestal of the Bartholdi statue will soon be in the hands of the committee. The difficulty in raising the money has revealed a new side of American generosity. The financial agent of the pedestal committee probably explained it, when he said recently: “The American people are peculiar about these matters. You touch their sympathies and sensibilities, and money flows like water. For flood or fire sufferers you can raise a million dollars in forty-eight hours and have a million more advanced for emergencies by bankers who know that it will be promptly replaced by willing givers. But we haven’t got along to the appreciation of art—of great masterpieces like the Bartholdi statue—and so it was hard to raise money for it. In France, under similar conditions, the fund would have been raised in a week.”

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Apropos of the above a step that is being taken in many cities and towns of late, will undoubtedly do much to cultivate among us the lamented lack of “appreciation of art.” It is the establishment of city and village art museums. Worcester, Mass., has had $25,000 left to her, recently, to invest in an art museum. Smaller sums have been raised in several other towns. A good opportunity to study art thoroughly may be secured to any village by a donation of $1,000. Casts, photographs, engravings, and a few standard works are sufficient to cultivate correct ideas, and lay the foundation of knowledge. It is the only way in which to raise the standard of taste in the villages remote from the few cities of America which boast art museums.

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The question of the date of the birth of Elizabeth Barrett Browning interested the readers of the C. L. S. C. some time ago. The year alone was ascertained. If any one was troubled that we were unable to answer the query exactly, the answer of Mr. Robert Browning to a lady asking for the date of Mrs. Browning’s birth may be of some consolation: “I know neither the day, month, nor year of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s birth. It is a subject upon which I have never had the slightest curiosity.”

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One of the most active public men of the last generation has been Schuyler Colfax. He has been prominent, both as a political leader and as a public speaker. Mr. Colfax’s life of a little more than sixty years was immensely busy. He made his career, beginning as errand boy and clerk in his grandfather’s store. After he was eighteen years of age he took up the study of law, then launching out as a journalist, and finally, at twenty-five, entering the world of politics as secretary of the Whig National Convention, to which he had been sent as a delegate. When the new Republican party was started, Mr. Colfax was sent as a representative to Congress, and from that time he was closely identified with his party, serving particularly as Speaker and Vice President. He was of that large class of industrious, quick witted men who make themselves indispensable in whatever relations they are placed.

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The “Imperial Dictionary” promises to be the rival of all the old standard dictionaries among scholarly people. Its form is four good sized volumes, which signifies that the English language grows and grows, and that words need fuller explanation. Mr. Gilder, editor of _The Century_, explained to us, when on a recent pleasant visit to the _Century_ offices, that the “Imperial Dictionary” was built on “Webster’s Dictionary” in England, and that scholarly men had devoted ten years to the task. Now the Century Company have more than two hundred scholars engaged in making improvements on the English edition. It will be seven years before the new American edition will be ready for the market.

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A timely and practical department of the Chautauqua University is the School of Journalism. This school is under the able direction of H. W. Mabie, one of the editors of the _Christian Union_. The demand for such schools is great, and the fact that all the work between teacher and pupil in this new undertaking will be conducted by correspondence, is an additional argument in its favor. The plan is briefly this: Three courses of study, with supplementary readings for those who have time for them, have been prepared; theses are expected on subjects assigned, and these will be criticised with special reference to vigorous style; constant correspondence will furnish needed help and hints. The plan is a wise one, its director is able, and there is no doubt but there are numerous young men and women to whom it will open the long desired way out of the woods.

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One of the most romantic spots of American history is that of the Florida Chautauqua. Ponce de Leon’s famous quest for the Fountain of Youth lay through this region, and Lake de Funiak itself is fabled to be one of the springs by which the old knight encamped. Perhaps here he plunged into the clear waters and vainly waited to see himself changed to vigorous youth again. However that may be, the road he laid out is a thoroughfare for Florida travelers to-day, and about the clear lake still hangs the tradition that it is the fabled Fountain of Youth. Ten miles from Lake de Funiak is a second spring which still bears the gallant Spaniard’s name. It will be a rare opportunity for dreaming over those early adventures that visitors to Lake de Funiak will have.

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The proposed new word, “Thon,” which was suggested in the program in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for January as a suitable subject for an essay, seems to have caused our readers some trouble. A word of explanation may help them. We have no pronoun of the singular number and common gender in English. The absence of such a word leads to many awkward circumlocutions. To obviate this trouble Mr. C. C. Converse, a lawyer, has compounded the word _thon_, from _that_ and _one_—declined: nominative _thon_, possessive _thons_, objective _thon_. Its use is evident. In this sentence is an example: If George or Anna will meet me I will go with _thon_. The word has been much discussed and much amusement is caused by using it—a practice which, however, demonstrates the need we have for such a word. Prof. March, of Lafayette College, writes: “I do not know that any other vocable would have so good a chance for this vacancy.” Prof. Norton, of Harvard, says: “Such a pronoun would undoubtedly be a convenience, did it exist. The difficulty lies in it being _yours_. All forms of speech have grown, and I do not recall an instance of the use by a civilized race of any word, not a noun or a verb, deliberately invented by a philologer, however ingenious.”

C. L. S. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR MARCH.

COLLEGE GREEK COURSE IN ENGLISH.