Chapter I: The Secret of the Alcohol Habit (4)

Literature comes to us in our prison, and brings deliverance that is more than deliverance. It brings large thoughts to us, solvent affections, free fancies. We forget our bondage and our pain. We live a life of the mind that soars, as the bird soars, above the ground where else we should crouch and grovel. And I say that this is a real, a solid, a substantial good. Sentimental it is—yes, but our most true life is sentiment. Morton did for us, I suppose, a valuable service when he discovered the use of ether as an anæsthetic. That discovery has mitigated many a physical pang. But it is to me certain that Longfellow’s poetry, for example, has done not less to bring comfort to men. Pasteur, the great French savant, has, it is said, found a specific by inoculation for hydrophobia. That is a vast boon to our kind. The same great scientist explored the disease that was destroying the silk worm in France, and applied an effective remedy. He performed a similar service in the rescue of the cattle from a widespread and destructive malady. Pasteur, by such achievements as these, has added untold millions on millions of dollars to the material wealth of the world. I glory and joy in these beneficent results of science. Human existence is blessed thereby. But blessed not less is human existence by the great literary gift of such a body of poetry as Tennyson’s. You can not count in millions of dollars the wealth of the world received from Tennyson, but God can count it in heart-throbs, and in stirrings of the brain, too costly and too precious for countless millions of dollars to buy.

Blessed, I have said, is human existence in the beneficent results of science. But how blessed? What are we rich for? Why is it a good that we should possess a surplus beyond the necessities of subsistence, of subsistence in material comfort? That we need not work so hard to live, that we may have some privilege of leisure? But how is leisure a blessing to our race? By giving us a chance to be idle, to be lazy? I trow not. Leisure is a good to us when we use it well, not otherwise. It is not using leisure well to spend the time and the strength saved to us through science from the sordid demands of mere subsistence—getting, in accumulating appliances of pleasure. We may indeed accumulate the appliances so, but we shall never so accumulate the pleasure. God has planned it for us otherwise. Comfort turned into luxury ceases to be comfort. What then shall we do with our leisure when, at the gift of wealth through science, we have gained our leisure? We must not squander it in luxurious ease. Wealth so used would be not a blessing, but a curse.

No, wealth is a blessing to us only when we say within ourselves, now that we need not work all the time to keep soul and body together, now that our body is sufficiently well served, go to, let us see what we can do for our soul. I am not preaching to-day, and I utter not a word about religion for the soul. But, apart from religion, what is there that you can do for your soul, that is, for your self, better worth doing than to feed it with thought, with reason, with emotion, with imagination? What does your release from drudgery signify to you, if it does not signify opportunity to live freely a life higher than the life of a brute? The good that science accomplishes for us is in itself an imperfect good. It is merely means to an end. We are defeated if we stop with the means. We must go on by the means to the end. Science is chiefly good as science makes way for literature. Let literature come in through the door that science opens.

Make free and wide your mind to the expanding and ennobling influence of literature. Every time you read a great book, you grow. And growth is life, and life is power, and power is joy. Literary culture is a process of intellectual annexation. You read, and you annex province after province of thought and of experience to the realm that was yours before. There is no limit to this expansion of empire. It is not simply during the intervals while you are reading that you establish new currents of intellectual life within you. What you read remains a permanent possession. Do not say, No, my memory is poor, I can not retain what I read. But you do retain it—in effect. It has gone into the substance of your mind. Your mind is now of a different texture. Your horizon is extended. Before, you dwelt low in a valley shut in by narrowing hills. You saw only what was immediately around you. You have a higher point of outlook now. Your landscape is wider, more various. But there are yet higher heights to be won. Go on and up. What an inspiring thing it is to stand in the Alps, where there is nothing visible to overtop you but the sky itself! Toward such an experience, in the realm of mind, literature invites you.

There is no exclusiveness, no monopoly here. You are all invited. Homer, Virgil, Dante, Milton—these are not for one, or for a few, but for all. Socrates will talk with you, and Plato and Aristotle. Demosthenes will repeat his peerless eloquence for you, and Cicero, and Chatham, and Webster. It is a glorious fellowship. Here are Æschylus and Sophocles and Euripides, here are Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, here are Horace and Juvenal, Livy and Tacitus. All ages and all races are yours. You may be wise with the wisdom of time. Who would be content to live his own individual life alone, when, to each one of us all it is open to live, as it were, the whole life of mankind? And this is the gift of literature.

Let us be thankful that it is impossible for them to take away from us the “Iliad,” the “Æneid,” the “Divina Commedia,” the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” the “Paradise Lost.” These great works and their fellows are ours forever. And there are more and ever more such works to be created and enjoyed. Literature is indestructible. They may depress it, but they can not destroy it. Always, however much we may enjoy knowing nature, we shall at least as much enjoy knowing man. And it is in literature that man speaks to man. And never will come a time when there shall not be souls that must speak, and souls, too, in still greater number, that can not but listen.

Literature, then, is a true good of human life, both because, first or last, it addresses all, and because it speaks to that in all which is highest, most permanent, most controlling. Did I say I would claim for literature nothing more than equality of place with science? Let me unsay that. Science is knowledge, literature is wisdom. As wisdom is better than knowledge, so greater than science is literature.

THE AFTERNOON SERVICES.

In the afternoon the presentation of diplomas took place in the Amphitheater. The services were most interesting, many excellent addresses being delivered. A very interesting feature was the presentation of a Class Memorial by the ’84s. This memorial is to adorn the walls of the new Hall of Philosophy, and consisted of the portraits of President Lewis Miller and Superintendent of Instruction, Dr. J. H. Vincent. After the unveiling of the portraits President Miller was introduced and said:

_Chautauquans, and especially the Class of ’84_:—The name Chautauqua is now among classical words, and various definitions of it have been given, and, until its meaning is fully known, definitions will be given. You will therefore allow me to give a few definitions, so that this classical word may fix itself upon your minds and hearts, and its spirit may ever be with you. What does it mean? In its crude form I will not say, but in these last few years, and since this Assembly began, it has come to mean a place where God is all and in all; it means a place where caste, sectarianism and denominationalism are unknown; a place for formulating all kinds of moral forces; a place of rest, of proper rest, and physical development; a place to inspire mental culture—in short, a place for the consecration of all of man’s possibilities for good, and to prepare men to go out to the world to do good. These are some of the definitions, and you do not wonder, when you are here, how various and how broad the outlook is, an outlook so broad that I fear many times we become discouraged because of its breadth, and give up in despair. I am glad to see this afternoon that there are many here who have not given up.

Now, for your encouragement, let me say a few words. Suppose that the world should stand still for sixty years, and you had no more teachers for the young, that all teaching stopped, and those who now have the ability to teach, those who now have the skill to work in the mechanical arts, or to take that scientific field we heard of this morning, passed away, and there should be no more students or apprentices for sixty years, what would be the result? Taking this country as a guide, we would have but one million people who are in any vocation. This is an astonishing fact, taken from the census of the United States, as I gathered it some time ago for another occasion. Now, take the other fact: in 1880, twenty-six millions of the American people—more than one half of the inhabitants of the United States—were below twenty-one years of age, and had not taken up any vocation or any purpose in life. Chautauqua puts within your reach a privilege. I saw a man among your number this morning who was eighty-four years old. With that exception, few of you are sixty. There are not so many gray hairs here as there were this morning. In sixty years many of you will have gone; most of the men you find here on this platform will have gone, and you will have the privilege of taking their places. We sometimes think we have no place, there is no use trying to become anything because all these places are filled, but before you are sixty years old you will have the privilege of coming up through these avenues and taking any place you are able to fill. These avenues will be open to you. See what privileges you will have. I will give you the figures. You will have sixty-four thousand chances to take the rostrum or the pulpit; you will have eighty-five thousand chances to take a place in medicine; you will have two hundred and twenty-seven thousand chances to be teachers or scientists. All others will have given way before you. Now, do you think it worth while to struggle to become something? We can not all go through the schools, but by this new Chautauqua Idea we can gather together, and put our hearts together, and in this way gather some ability that will be consecrated for good.

Dr. Vincent then announced Dr. Lyman Abbott, one of the Counselors of the C. L. S. C., who spoke as follows:

ADDRESS OF REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D.

_Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Chautauquans_:—The Circle, you know, is symbolic for the conception of perfection. The C. L. S. C. stands, therefore, by its very title, for an inclusion of all knowledge. Dr. Wilkinson this morning dealt with one half of that Circle, literature. There is nothing to be added to what he said this morning, for certainly I would not detract anything from what he said, if I could. The praise that he awarded to literature as a means of education was well deserved, as it was well given.

I thank him for having left us for this afternoon the other half of the subject, and I want to say something to you about science. And I approach it from the side of ignorance, not as a scientific man, but as one whose education in youth, and ever since, has been neglected on the scientific side, and who looks at science from the point of view of desire and aspiration, not from the standpoint of satisfaction and achievement. Certainly science has done a great deal for us in the mere physical and material realm, and of that aspect Dr. Wilkinson spoke this morning. It has enlarged, if not our comforts, certainly the material of our comforts. It has enlarged, if not our satisfaction, at all events our content. It is to science we owe the fact that we have so largely increased the facilities also for our learning. Science has made for us voyaging and travel easy; science has bound the different parts of our nation together with iron bands; science enables us readily and quickly to communicate with one another; science has formed our houses, preserving us from cold; science has illuminated our houses, and redeemed from darkness and night the hours that can be given to social intercourse and study. In innumerable ways, science has added to our material and moral well-being.

But it is of science as an educator that the words I have to speak this afternoon are to be directed. I am sure nature has another aspect than that of a mere servitor, and is a material educator. So science has another aspect than that of adding to our mere material and bodily comfort. Science ministers also to our intellect and our spirit, like literature. I shall not undertake to put these in the balance, each over against the other, and see which is the better of the two. Now, it is scarcely necessary for me to point this to you who are pursuing both literature and science, that both of these develop the mind. Science as well as literature develops the soul and the spirit of man, the inner life. Science is teaching us to observe. It is teaching us other things, but that is all I wish to say to you this afternoon. It is teaching us to observe—how to use our eyes. It is astonishing how many men and women there are in this world who do not know how to use their eyes. Science is making us observant of the minuter as well as of the grander of God’s works. The motto of the C. L. S. C. stands on the wall before you, “We study the Word and the Works of God.” The word written in man’s heart, that literature opens to us; the works that are written on all nature, that science opens to us.

I go out for a walk on the Catskills; I look off, I see the view, the trees, the June aspect. But there is a scientist who walks by my side. He points out to me the little scratches in the rock, and tells me it is the path of the glacier, that here where I am walking the glacier in the centuries long gone by made its march, and that there were higher mountains here then than now, and there was a sea in the valley below, and here are the marks, the footprints of it. He takes his hammer, breaks a rock, and points out to me a trilobite. He tells me that all these rocks are rich in the remains of animal life, they are filled with the remains of those animals which have disappeared. He is seeing what I did not see, what I did not know, he has learned to use his eyes, he is teaching me that I am as one who, having eyes, sees not.

One does not need great apparatus to become in some small measure at least, a scientific observer. I was brought up as a boy to think, whether my teacher’s fault or my own I do not know, that the only use of my eyes was to read books, and I read them. But the great book in the midst of which I was living I never read. I know of some boys in my home who have furnished themselves with some naturalists’ pins, some cork, one of those boxes of drawers made to hold spools such as you see in any dry goods store, and which you can get for a “thank you;” they have provided themselves with a pole and a net, and now, when they go out into the woods, it is not for frolic, or waste of time. They see a bug or butterfly, they out with the pole and catch it. They are filling a museum. When they catch their butterfly, they come home with more questions about him, where he comes from, than I can answer. Whether their museum comes to much or not I do not care. They are learning to read that literature that comes before all books, the literature that God has written in the clouds, in the rocks, in the mountains, and in the flying things.

But science teaches us more than that. It teaches us not merely to observe with our eyes, but with our inward nature. We do not simply see works. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” You do not know a library because you know the names of the books that are printed on the backs of them, and you have not begun to know science because you have begun to gather a few isolated facts out of the heaven above, or the rocks beneath, or the trees. Not until you have learned what is in the books do you know literature; not until you know what is the truth that lies behind nature and palpitates within it, do you know science.

The crown that is upon the brow of science is composed of stars, every one of which is a star from God’s own heavens, and the hieroglyphic roll she has in her hands, which we strive to read, is God’s own words, no less than the printed book, from which we study of his word and his works. Science and religion stand at the door of God’s great temple, beckoning with one hand to those who stand without, and with the other pointing to Him who sits upon the throne within.

* * * * *

Dr. Vincent then read the following letter from Counselor Gibson, of England:

LONDON, 15th July, 1884.

MY DEAR FELLOW STUDENTS:—The pressure of engagements, which is
usually at its height in the month of May, and begins to relax as
June advances, has this year continued much longer than usual,
and threatens now to traverse the month of July; but I must not
again disappoint my dear brother, Dr. Vincent, by postponing my
letter till too late, as I unhappily did last year, for which I
ask his pardon, and yours.

I congratulate you, with all my heart, on the work of the year,
and on the wonderful growth of our Circle. How speedily has the
little one become a thousand, and many thousands!

I can not say that the Chautauqua Idea, pure and simple, has as
yet taken root in England; but there are approximations to it,
and the principles of which it is an embodiment are everywhere
gaining ground. To my mind Chautauqua stands for the keeping
together of many things which God hath joined, and which men are
too apt to put asunder. First, I think of holiday recreation and
wholesome study which many imagine to be mutually destructive,
whereas our experience proves them to be mutually helpful. Well,
the people here are beginning to appreciate this. In connection
with the great “Fisheries Exhibition,” which was the chief
novelty of the London season, last year, courses of useful
instruction were organized; and this year, as an important part
of “The Health Exhibition,” which has taken its place, lecture
courses, bearing on important branches of sanitary science, have
been delivered, and a number of useful little manuals, like those
with which we have become familiar in our Chautauqua course, have
been issued, one of them by Mrs. Gladstone.

Then, I think of secular and sacred culture, which there has been
quite too much disposition in our day to separate, and which
are, in my opinion, so happily combined in our studies. Here I
am reminded of the recent great Sunday-school meeting at Exeter
Hall, which I had the privilege of addressing, where the chair
was occupied by the Hon. A. J. Mundella, who manages with such
ability and energy the educational department of the government.
Mr. Mundella, who has risen from a very humble position, had
the foundation of his education laid in the Sunday-school, and
a night school connected with it, and when very young, received
much stimulus and encouragement by the presentation of a Bible
for proficiency in his Sunday-school lessons. He does not forget
his obligation, and his speech that evening from the chair was
eminently hearty and satisfactory. I am reminded, also, in the
same connection, of an important meeting held recently in the
Jerusalem Chamber, a private meeting, from which reporters were
excluded, and which, therefore, I must not report to you further
than to say that it was a representative gathering of leading
men of all denominations, including some distinguished Roman
Catholics, (one of whom, by the by, made the finest speech of
the evening), to consider the question whether it was possible
under a system of State Education in a country like England
satisfactorily to combine secular and religious instruction.

And this suggests another of our pleasing combinations at
Chautauqua, the drawing together, not only in fraternal
feeling, but also in important work, of Christians of different
denominations. I need not say that the current of the times
still sets in the same direction. The meeting in the Jerusalem
Chamber, above referred to, is an illustration of it; and as a
farther indication I may refer to the fact that recently the
rector of St. Paul’s, Cheswick, after due announcement, preached
and conducted divine service for Mr. McLeod, successor to Dr.
Cumming, of Crown Court. He did it with the full knowledge that
it might get him into trouble; but he was willing to have the
question tested at his expense. Considerable notice has been
taken of it in various ways, but no one has ventured to make any
complaint.

I take it that one prominent feature of the Chautauqua movement
is the desire and endeavor to bring those privileges which have
been hitherto to a large extent the possession of the few,
within reach of as large a circle as possible—the attempt to
bring the scholarship of the scholarly into far closer relations
with the wants of the people. And here I am reminded of the new
Oxford movement, of which you have no doubt heard—the resolution
of a large number of young Oxonians to devote themselves to
work in the East End of London for the educational and social
amelioration of its wretched poor. The plan involves residences
among the people and brotherly intercourse with them. It remains
to be seen, whether, without those high Christian motives which
have always been found necessary in the past, but so far are not
at all acknowledged, there will be that “patient continuance in
well-doing,” without which nothing worthy can be accomplished.
But whatever may be thought as to the probable success and
permanence of the movement, it is certainly a most gratifying
sign of the times.

But I am allowing myself to drift into a treatise _de omnibus
rebus et quibus dam aliis_, and must therefore call a halt, and
come to a period, which I do with renewed congratulations for
the past and hearty good wishes and earnest prayers for a happy
holiday season, and a prosperous and fruitful year of work.

I shall not sign myself your Counselor, though you honor me with
the title, for I am sure that any counsel I can give at this vast
distance is of very small account, but I do heartily call myself
your sincere friend,

JOHN MONRO GIBSON.

Many kind letters of greeting and encouragement were read. No one stirred a deeper sympathy than that from Mrs. Abbey Gough, of Westfield, N. Y., the senior graduate of the C. L. S. C.:

“Although I am too feeble to be with you to-day, and although I am nearly eighty-four years old, I am with you in spirit. God bless the C. L. S. C., and God bless the Class of ’82.”

Dr. Vincent said: “This dear woman marched in through the gate when eighty-two years of age; her son of over fifty, or about fifty, behind her; his daughter of twenty, perhaps, behind him; three generations in that Class of ’82. She still lives, at the age of eighty-four, to give greeting on this glad day.”

The letters were followed by the reports from the assemblies, after which Dr. Vincent addressed the Class of ’84 as follows:

ADDRESS OF DR. VINCENT.

To the members of the Class of ’84, a few words. I have watched your progress during the four years with peculiar interest. You have gained to yourselves a reputation as a class noted for zeal and earnest work in the C. L. S. C. You are known as “The Irrepressibles.” You have been characterized by an ingenuity in devising methods. In making up the history of the C. L. S. C. there are several things that may be traced to you. You number in your roll some distinguished names. You have throughout the entire extent of the Circle labored with peculiar diligence and fidelity for its general good. I am sure that the Class of ’82, and the Class of ’83, whose experience made it possible for you to be what you have been, will not complain of the tribute which at this time I seek to pay to you. I know that the other classes will follow your lead, and be glad if they can have the good reputation which attaches to your name, the name of the Class of ’84, the “Irrepressibles” of the C. L. S. C.

There are some of you who are young, in the freshness and brightness of life, with youth’s outlook. May it be a long time before the grave folds its arms about you. May you do valiant service not only in the cause of the C. L. S. C.—that were a little thing—but, using it as a platform, may you accomplish large things and worthy in the homes you represent, in the community of which you are a part, in the branch of the Church of the living God with which you may be connected, and may your impress be felt on the national life. Above all, may you do good work in God’s way, by the divine process in your own lives, that as the years go by you may build up character that shall shine as a light on the world, character that shall endure through the eternities.

Some of you are in middle life. Aches, and pain, and signs of breaking down once in awhile, make you stop and think. You wish that you could recuperate, and get back some of the old power. Probably you will. You have yet ten years, twenty years, thirty years, in which you may do splendid service. May God’s blessing through this ministry enrich these remaining years, and make you glad, and your friends glad, through every succeeding year, that you were ever identified with our Circle.

Some of you are old. You do not like to have that stated; or do you? You do not feel old: eighty-four years is nothing. May the venerable members of our Circle, who count from—where _does_ old age begin—from eighty-four and above, may you live until the new century shall dawn, and may your last days be your brightest and your best days. You do not know, you men and women of advanced years, how it warms our hearts to see you in this presence and engaged in these services. We have for all time glorified childhood. I can never allow a youngster to pass me without a salutation. There is only one place where I do not like to hear a child’s voice, and that is when it interrupts a public service. I take great delight in these little fellows whom we meet in the streets, at the front doors, and in all American homes everywhere. But I think we have glorified the possibilities of childhood to such an extent that men and women full-grown have come to think that all the possibilities of life are hidden in the earliest years. When we see men and women of advanced age coming to this place to receive the reward of four years’ work, with ambition for years to come remaining, we feel that the possibilities of this life are not limited at all.

And when we remember, as the poet says, that death is “but a gray eve between two shining days,” there is no limitation to man. Therefore, work on, work forever. God help us to begin in this life, that we shall make everlasting progress as we enjoy the fellowship of the saints in the presence of God.

So, then, my young friends of eighty-four years and under, I bid you welcome to-day to this place, and as President Miller shall authorize the distribution of the diplomas which you have won, we shall take pleasure in handing them to you. We expect one of these days to see them glittering with seals, new seals freshly won, placed on the pyramid. When you are asleep in the long sleep, the diploma shall hang on the wall—a tribute to your ambition and faithfulness.

The class song of ’84 was sung, the diplomas were distributed to the graduates, and the Commencement services of the Class of ’84 were at an end.

FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

There is no part of the world where the C. L. S. C. thermometer runs higher than in New England, notwithstanding the current opinion as to the general iciness of that region. The members of the circle in the six Eastern States are as enthusiastic in their loyalty, and as ardent in their manifestation of it, as any other section on the planet. This was abundantly shown at the fifth session of the New England Sunday-school Assembly, held at Framingham, Mass., from July 16 to 26, under the direction of Rev. Dr. Vincent, assisted by Rev. A. E. Dunning and Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, D.D. The work under the auspices of the C. L. S. C. was most promising.

The C. L. S. C. is a circle with several centers, hence no one will be surprised to learn that at Framingham there was more than one headquarters. At a modest little cottage with one room, Rev. and Mrs. O. S. Baketel conducted the business of the Circle, enrolled names, received fees, distributed circulars, furnished badges, and answered questions innumerable. But besides this, every class had its own headquarters, where the class register was kept and where members met for acquaintance and conversation. Of course the Irrepressible ’84 trimmed up its tent, and attracted general notice; but its example was soon followed, and it was hard to say which of the classes kept itself most prominently before the eyes of the people.

The Round-Table was held in Normal Hall, which was crowded with members at every session, and brilliant with badges, for at Framingham every C. L. S. C. wears the colors of his class. At the opening Round-Table Dr. Vincent presided, and a spicy discussion on the question “What is Education?” was participated in by many speakers. The second meeting, in the Superintendent’s absence, was conducted by Dr. J. L. Hurlbut, who wrote on the blackboard the words, “What good is the C. L. S. C. doing?” A rattling fire of answers, fifty in number, was shot off from the seats faster than the nimble pen of the reporter could take them down. Perhaps in some future article we may present some of them to the readers of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, as handy arguments for use in working up an interest in the cause. Other Round-Tables were held, alike in the enthusiasm and the interest, though differing in their subjects. New England is a land where everybody speaks in the town-meeting, and the Round-Table of the C. L. S. C. is no exception to the general rule. The camp-fire was more systematically conducted than is usual at assemblies. On the evening appointed, each class met at its headquarters and marched to the Normal Pavilion. Here the procession was formed in order of classes, with the venerable veterans of ’82 in the advance, and the infants of ’88, organized on that very day as the “Plymouth Rock Class” as last in the line. The army, five hundred strong, marched through the darkness to a natural amphitheater in the edge of the encampment, where a gigantic bonfire had been already kindled. Here a circle was formed, the members in front, and a few thousand spectators peeping over their shoulders, and wishing that they were there. Songs were sung, and speeches were made by representatives of each class, beginning with the youngest, for which Rev. A. E. Dunning spoke, and ending with Rev. O. S. Baketel for ’82, after which Dr. Vincent gave a few warm, uplifting words. Then two circles were formed, clasping hands around the dying embers. Within stood the class of ’84, about to graduate, and around them their companions of the other classes, all joining hands, while “Blest be the tie” was sung with deep feeling, a prayer was offered, and the benediction was spoken. This camp-fire was one where mirth, sentiment, thoughtfulness and religion were mingled in happy proportions. The class anniversaries formed a prominent feature in the Assembly. Every class had its organization; its headquarters was a place where social reunions were in progress nearly all the time; and in addition, each class, from ’82 to ’87, held its own anniversary, generally in Normal Hall, where speeches were made, poems were read, histories recited, prophecies predicted, songs sung, and the merits, general and specific, of each class in the C. L. S. C. over all the other classes, were duly presented to its own delight. Middle aged men and women showed all the enthusiasm of young collegians in the _esprit du corps_ for their class organization. The Recognition Services were attended by nearly a thousand members of the C. L. S. C. and twice as many outside listeners. The procession, marshaled by Prof. Sherwin and headed by Dr. Vincent, “the distinguished guests,” and the band, marched around the grounds to the Auditorium. Here the heroes of the day, the class of ’84, occupied the platform, while the graduate and undergraduate classes filled the reserved seats in front. The Commencement oration was delivered by President Julius R. Seelye, of Amherst, on “The Power of Ideas.” He was followed by Mr. John B. Gough, in a few remarks both witty and wise. Then Dr. Vincent, with a brief address to the graduating class, presented the diplomas to those present, one hundred and eighty-eight in number. We are conscious that our brief paragraph is a cold _résumé_ of one of the most enthusiastic and glowing services ever held in New England. We must not forget to state that the New England C. L. S. C. have resolved to erect a Hall of Philosophy on the topmost summit of the hill in the Assembly ground. It is to be modeled after the classic building in St. Paul’s Grove, dear to all Chautauquans, and will gleam from far, with its columns and white roof, inviting the passers by to climb the heights of knowledge by the paths of the C. L. S. C.

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA.

The fifth annual Pacific Coast Assembly convened at Monterey, California, on Monday evening, June 30, 1884. The president, Dr. Stratton, was not able to be present at the opening of the Assembly, and Dr. C. L. Anderson, of Santa Cruz, vice president, took the chair and made the opening address. It was an admirable review of the studies of the year, a cordial greeting to all present, and an enthusiastic explanation of the Chautauqua Idea. His audience was a large and intelligent one. The hall was beautifully decorated with evergreens, flags, bunting, and the C. L. S. C. mottoes. The evening was one of rare beauty, and altogether the Assembly lacked nothing but the genial presence of a few of its usual leaders. The summer was unusually cool, and consequently there were fewer people at the coast than last year, but the Chautauquans turned out well, and there was a perceptible increase in the daily attendance over that of last year. The musical department was under the excellent management of Mrs. R. L. Higgins, of San José, and was a matter of great pleasure and congratulation during the whole session. Various clergymen were in attendance, and a brief devotional exercise opened each meeting. There is not space here for extended notice of the ten days’ literary feast, but we will briefly recapitulate the points of interest. Miss Lucy Washburn, of the State Normal School, gave two admirable talks upon the “Circulation of the Blood,” and two others upon “Methods of Bible Study,” all of which were precisely what the audience liked to hear, and were as profitable as they were pleasant. Professor Moses, of the Berkeley State University, gave three historical lectures of great value, upon that period of Roman history during which Christianity became the religion of the empire. Rev. Dr. McLean, of Oakland, gave a brilliant description of a recent trip to the Hawaiian Islands. Mr. F. B. Perkins, of San Francisco, talked wisely and wittily of “Methods of Historical Investigation.” Mr. Adley Cummins lectured eloquently upon “What the Orient has done for us.” Mr. Clee, of Berkeley, talked interestingly of the “Date Palm.” Mr. Matthew Cook, of Sacramento, lectured upon “Entomology.” Rev. Dr. Vance, of Carlisle, Penn., read a charming paper upon “Africa.” Mrs. M. H. Field, of San José, had two papers, one upon “Holy George Herbert,” and the other upon the “Women of Ancient Greece.” Miss Jessica Thompson, of San José, also had two beautiful literary papers, one upon Shakspere’s “As You Like It,” and the other upon Tennyson’s “Princess.” Mr. Joel Bean told of the “Council of Nice,” and Dr. C. L. Anderson unfolded the marvels which lie in “A Drop of Water.” Dr. Stratton gave the closing lecture—a most noble one—on “Potential Ideas.” The Sabbath included in the session was devoted to Temperance, under the excellent management of the W. C. T. U. of California. There was a glorious sermon in the morning by Rev. Dr. Briggs, of San Francisco, upon “Woman’s Work,” a grand children’s meeting in the afternoon, and a women’s mass meeting in the evening, when Mrs. McCall, of San José, read an excellent paper upon “Temperance Education.” Mrs. Browne, of San Francisco, the State President of the W. C. T. U., made a grand address, and others made brief remarks. Beautiful weather prevailed during the entire Assembly, and the utmost good fellowship. The regular business meeting was held on the afternoon of the 10th. The reports of the secretaries and treasurer were read, and an election of officers held. The old officers were reinstated, and various committees appointed. Rev. Dr. Stratton is again president; Dr. C. L. Anderson, Dr. Wythe, and Professor H. B. Norton, vice presidents; Mrs. M. H. Field, general secretary; Miss M. S. Bowman, Assembly secretary; Mrs. Eloise Dawson, treasurer. C. L. S. C. day was the closing day of the Assembly. It was as bright and sunny as could be desired, and all things were propitious. The Chautauquans gathered in the parlors, each distinguished by an oak leaf badge, and then marched two and two in long procession over to the Assembly Hall. There were but eight graduates present. Four graduating essays were read, all of marked merit. The general secretary read some clippings from her note book. Dr. Stratton made a brief address. Mrs. McCall read a beautiful memorial paper on Mrs. M. H. McKee, of San José, one of last year’s graduates, and a most efficient and brilliant member of the C. L. S. C. The diplomas were presented, and then the Assembly adjourned to meet in the afternoon on Chautauqua Beach for a Round-Table talk and a mussel-roast. The names of the graduates present were: Dr. C. L. Anderson, Santa Cruz, Cal.; Mrs. Helen Dryden, Gilroy, Cal.; Mrs. J. A. Whitney, Gilroy, Cal.; Mrs. Lillian Shuey, Brentwood, Cal.; Miss Gussie H. Wilcox, Sacramento, Cal.; Mrs. Eloise Dawson, Mrs. C. P. Baily and Mrs. Eliza Mantz, San José, Cal. There are thirty others who have completed the course but who were prevented from coming to Monterey. The Round-Table on the beach was a lively affair. Some fifteen or twenty circles were represented, and all reported their respective circles as wide-awake and pursuing their readings with unabated zeal. After this exchange of experiences the Assembly laid aside its dignity and gave animated attention to the steaming mussels which were generously passed around by “the muscular committee.” The tempting bivalves had been gathered by the bushel in the early morning, and at precisely the right hour laid upon great beds of coals in full sight of the Round-Table gathering. A bevy of young ladies assisted in serving the multitude, and a merry feast it proved. The California mussel-roast and the down-east clam-bake are convivial cousins. The Monterey Assembly closed its fifth meeting in peace and good will, and with the hope of many and many another summer school by the sunset sea.

_THE PACIFIC GROVE RETREAT, 1884._

BY JOEL BEAN.

God of our lives—past, and to be,
God of the earth, the land and sea,
With all Thy works, we worship Thee.

In humble faith our souls would bear
To Thee our every weight of care,
And all the burden of our prayer.

But with what language can we raise
A fitting tribute to Thy praise,
And celebrate Thy works and ways?

Fresh blessings, countless as the sand,
Flow as perpetual from Thy hand
As do the waves upon the strand.

More deep and boundless than the sea,
Thy love from all eternity
Sides every inlet full and free.

On this Pacific shore we meet,
This Temple-Grove our pilgrim feet
Draws to its sacred calm retreat.

Make us to feel Thy presence near,
And with Thy goodness crown the year
Whose harvest fruits are offered here.

Our “Feast of Tabernacles” bless,
Hallow these tents and cottages
With peace, and joy, and righteousness.

A host from many a church and land,
We would, with loyal heart and hand,
For Christ our King united stand.

Thou who hast led us all our days,
O’er fertile plains and desert ways,
Be here an _altar_ to Thy praise!

OTTAWA, KANSAS.

The Inter-State Assembly of Kansas, Missouri, and the surrounding states, was held at Ottawa, Kansas, from June 24th to July 4th, under the superintendence of Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, D.D. It was a large meeting, some estimating the aggregate attendance at fifty thousand different people, during the eleven days; and in every way successful, whether viewed as to the interest of its exercises, the thoroughness of the work done in its classes (which are the backbone of an Assembly), or the financial receipts, which are needful to maintain the institution. The C. L. S. C. is somewhat new at this Assembly, as it was first recognized in 1883, when only about twenty members were present at the camp-fire. This year witnessed a great increase in the interest. Several Round-Tables were held, and reports were received from twenty-eight local circles, aggregating over four hundred members, all of which were represented by members present. At the Round-Table discussions were held upon topics such as these: “What are the advantages of the local circle?” “How may the local circles be made interesting as well as profitable?” “How shall they be organized?” beside endless inquiries concerning the subject of “seals” which not even Dr. Vincent himself could always have answered had he been present. The camp-fire was held on Tuesday evening, July 1, and was a great success, since it not only gave delight to the members, but awakened an interest among the public present, and was followed by forty new members who joined the C. L. S. C. the next day, the advance guard of the class of 1888. After the evening lecture the members gathered in procession, marched around the encampment, and formed in a circle around the fire. Here the songs were sung, and addresses, brief and pointed, some grave and others gay, were made by Rev. D. C. Milner, of ’82, the president of the Assembly, Mr. F. A. Hatch, (_the_ member of ’84 who was present), Y. M. C. A. secretary, of Kansas City, Rev. Duncan Brown, of St. Joseph, Mo., Mr. A. Zartman, of Kansas City, (a place which boasts of seven circles and two hundred members of the C. L. S. C.), Mr. E. A. Spring, our Chautauqua sculptor, and Professor W. F. Sherwin, who belongs to all the classes. At the close the hand-clasping circle was formed by the members, seventy-three in number, and a prayer was offered by the superintendent of the Assembly. The C. L. S. C. tide is rising at the Inter-State Assembly, and next year we hope to count our members by the hundreds. One minister, who with his wife had been reading the course alone, went home from the Assembly and organized a circle of forty members, ready for the fall campaign; and there are more to follow. It is proposed next year to hold a Recognition Service, and confer the diplomas upon such members of the graduating class as live between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, and can be present at Ottawa.

WASECA, MINNESOTA.

While the opening exercises of the Inter-State Assembly at Ottawa, Kansas, were in progress a similar service was being held for the first time in a large pavilion on the grounds of the Maplewood Park Assembly near Waseca, Minn. The location of this new Assembly is delightful. It is on the high lands of Central Minnesota, about sixty miles south of the great cities of the Northwest, St. Paul and Minneapolis, and central to a large and wealthy agricultural region, in which within easy reach of the grounds are a number of thriving villages. The grounds consist of a peninsula putting out into Waseca lake and covered by a heavy growth of maple, beech and elm forest trees. The nucleus of a C. L. S. C. organization existed in a local circle in the village of Waseca. During the ten days of the Assembly several meetings were held, the plans of the Home College explained, converts made, and on the evening of July 1st the first camp-fire was kindled in the presence of a large audience. Addresses were delivered by Reverends Levi Gilbert, H. C. Jinnings, John Stafford, Dr. Emory Miller and others. The meetings were pronounced successful, and the prediction of still larger successes volunteered.

ISLAND PARK, INDIANA.

At Island Park Assembly, located near Rome City, Indiana, interest in the work and delightful associations of the C. L. S. C. began with the observance of the Sunday vesper hour on the Sunday preceding the opening of the Assembly. From that the enthusiasm and interest grew, reaching a climax on Chautauqua Day. A new hall had been erected on a beautiful point of land projecting into the lake, through the open window of which came the glint of sunset light and the rippling of wavelets on the beach to mingle with the voice of “Evening Praise.” The Sunday evening vespers were among the most delightful and helpful religious influences of the Assembly. At the daily Round-Tables a series of brief lectures were delivered, three by Dr. Wm. M. Blackburn on “English History,” two on “Biology” by Dr. W. F. Yocum, one on the “Study of Literature” by Wallace Bruce, and three on “Astronomy” by Prof. F. H. Baily. “Chautauqua Day” was the red letter day of the Assembly. Early in the morning people began to gather, each train reinforcing the crowd, all eager to see and hear the “Commencement exercises.” The Tabernacle was beautifully decorated with flags, bunting, flowers, oak leaf wreaths and festoons, the mottoes of the C. L. S. C., monograms and other devices. On the edge of the platform stood a representation of the “Golden Gate,” under the arch of which the members of the class of ’84, present to receive their diplomas, passed to their seats on the platform. The procession was of imposing proportions, the largest ever seen at Island Park. The oration was delivered by Counselor Lyman Abbott, D.D., and his eloquent words of counsel will not soon be forgotten. Sixteen members of ’84 received their diplomas. In the evening, after the Chautauqua vesper service, the night procession was formed and escorted along the illuminated way under arches on which the legends, “Religion,” “Art,” “Science,” “History,” “Literature” and “Philosophy” could be read, to the place of the camp-fire. Here by the light of a magnificent fire an hour was spent in singing Chautauqua songs, listening to bright and witty speeches, brief recitations and reminiscences of similar fires at Chautauqua, closing with the “Night Song” and prayer for light and blessing on members of the Circle present and absent.

MONONA LAKE, WISCONSIN.

Monona Lake Assembly promises to be one of the more important centers of C. L. S. C. work. The grounds are situated on the banks of one of the four lakes surrounding the capital city of the State of Wisconsin, and within a mile of it. Seventy-five passenger trains go and come each day, making the grounds accessible from all directions. In spite of rainy weather and low temperature the attendance this past season was large and enthusiastic. Daily Round-Tables were held and though often interfered with by other meetings and lack of a suitable and permanent place of meeting, were well attended and proved very interesting. Thursday, July 31st, was C. L. S. C. day, and about three hundred and fifty members participated in the Recognition Service. The oration was delivered by Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, D.D., the theme selected, “The True Education” was ably discussed and a source of encouragement to many members of the circle. The camp-fire was lit on the highest point of land on the grounds, and the spot thus dedicated was tendered by the Board of Directors as the site for a new Chautauqua Hall. A vigorous canvass of the State will be made in the interest of the C. L. S. C., and it is expected that a new and commodious hall will be erected in time for our next annual gathering.

LAKESIDE, OHIO.