By REV. J. H. VINCENT, D.D., SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION.
Will local circles please report to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N.
J., as well as to THE CHAUTAUQUAN? Please attend to this.
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Persons desiring graduates’ badges in the C. L. S. C. should address Mrs.
Rosie M. Baketel, Methuen, Mass., as she has now entire charge of Mrs.
Burroughs’ business.
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The _Saturday Union_, published in Lynn, Mass., contains a C. L. S. C.
column. The number for February 2 has an original Chautauqua song, and
a column and a half of questions and answers in Political Economy. The
questions are by Rev. R. H. Howard, A.M. This is an advance movement, and
will undoubtedly help our cause.
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Will all members take notice not to send letters, postals or papers to me
at Hartford, Connecticut? My personal postoffice address is Drawer 75,
New Haven, Conn.; Miss Kimball’s address is Plainfield, N. J. Letters
addressed to me at Plainfield are forwarded.
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The _Alma Mater_, the new bi-monthly to be sent to all recorded members
of the C. L. S. C. at Plainfield, N. J., will contain original answers
by Dr. William M. Taylor, of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York City;
Dr. John Hall, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City; John
Wanamaker, Esq., of Philadelphia; Dr. R. M. Hatfield, of Chicago, Ill.;
Dr. Joseph T. Duryea, of Boston, and Prof. J. W. Dickinson, of Boston,
written expressly for this number of the _Alma Mater_, to the following
question: “What advice do you give to a person who has had but little
school opportunity since he or she was fifteen years of age—a person
busy in mechanical, commercial or domestic duties much of the time, who
complains of a very poor memory, and desires to improve it—how may such
person improve the memory?”
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The Rev. Dr. A. M. Fairbairn, principal of Airedale College, Bradford,
England, who was announced to give a course of lectures on the “History
of Philosophy” at Chautauqua last summer, but who was detained at home
by business connected with the college, writes to Dr. Vincent under date
of January 29, 1884, as follows: “I intend, all well, to be with you in
August; the latter part of the month will be most convenient for me. The
subjects the same as before stated. Sincerely yours, A. M. Fairbairn.”
* * * * *
Persons desiring copies of the Chautauqua Songs or of the Sunday Vesper
Service may procure them of Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J., at the
rate of $2.00 per 100 copies each, postage paid.
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There are some members of the class of 1887 who have not yet returned
the blank form of application. Such blank should be filled at once and
forwarded to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J.
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The badge of the C. L. S. C. furnished by Mr. Henry Hart is not in any
sense an official badge, nor does the C. L. S. C. receive any percentage
from the sale of the same. This has been offered, but not accepted. The
badges furnished by Mr. Hart are very beautiful. This is all that the
officers of the C. L. S. C. can say.
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_Alma Mater_ is the name of our new bi-monthly communication to be sent
from the C. L. S. C. office at Plainfield to all members of the Circle
whose annual fees are paid. The first number will contain some valuable
hints on “Memory,” “The Laws of Memory,” etc., by prominent educators.
The second number of _Alma Mater_ will contain a very ingenious study
in English—a series entitled “Where the every-day words come from.”
Communications to the members of the Circle which have heretofore been
printed separately, as well as the memoranda, will be published in the
_Alma Mater_. All members whose names are recorded at Plainfield, and
whose annual fees are paid, will receive _Alma Mater_.
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To all recorded members whose annual fees are paid will be forwarded
in March an envelope containing a _petite_ calendar for ’84, a most
humorous, brilliant and effective tract on evolution entitled “Saw-mill
Science,” a copy of the “Sunday Vesper Service,” specimens of the new and
brilliant C. L. S. C. envelopes, and a copy of the little tract entitled
“Memorial Days.”
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_Our Alma Mater._—The contributions to this magazine are copyrighted, and
are not designed for publication anywhere else than through this medium.
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A correspondent kindly criticises a statement in the “Outlines of Roman
History,” on page 68, in which it speaks of Polycarp as being in Rome
in 240. Assuming that this is 240 A. D., he says: “Now what Polycarp do
you mean? Not the disciple of John, who was afterward Bishop of Smyrna,
for, according to Prof. R. W. Hitchcock, the church historian, and other
excellent authorities, Polycarp suffered martyrdom between the years
166 and 167 A. D.” We referred the question of our critic to an expert
in such matters, and this is the reply: “In all the authorities I find
mention of but one Polycarp, the Disciple of John and Bishop of Smyrna,
and his death is given as either 168 or 169, but they add that it is
uncertain. As to the Polycarp mentioned by your critic, I feel sure that
there is a mistake, and Polycarp of Smyrna is meant, who did visit Rome
during the controversy about the celebration of Easter, probably about
140 A. D. With dates it is easy to make a slip of a century, and probably
this was the trouble in this case; certainly there is no mention of a
Polycarp in Rome as late as 240.”
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The Chautauqua University is gradually developing its courses of study.
The preparatory and college courses in German, French, Latin, Greek and
English are already announced. A practical department has also been
recognized, and a corresponding class in connection with a technical
school for draftsmen and mechanics is now in full working order. The
lesson papers prepared by Profs. Gribbon and Houghton are divided into
eight series of about twelve lessons each, treating upon the following
topics: First series, free-hand drawing; second, mechanical drafting;
third, fourth and fifth, geometry applied to carriage construction;
sixth, miscellaneous problems in carriage construction; seventh, review
tables useful in carriage construction; eighth, miscellaneous lessons.
Young men, apprentices, journeymen, and others desiring to take this
course, should correspond at once with George W. Houghton, Esq.
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There are many persons who are taking up the Chautauqua Spare-minute
Course, which is a course of readings, short, practical, simple,
attractive, in biography, history, literature, science, and art. This
course is printed in twenty-one Home College Series and in two numbers
of the Chautauqua Text-Book Series. They cost in one package $1.00, sent
by mail. The reading in this course can be carried along steadily, and,
after a while, one who has prosecuted the course will find himself well
along in the C. L. S. C.
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The following pleasant little domestic picture comes from New Hampshire:
“I can not thank you enough for what the C. L. S. C. has done for us all.
You should see us some evening now. We sit around the table, every one
interested in some C. L. S. C. books. Even my little boy of seven years
will tease me to read aloud to him, and nearly every evening this month
gets his dumb-bells, and wants to go through gymnastics with me.”
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Members must not return memoranda to the Plainfield office until all the
reading for the year has been completed.
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A White Seal will be given all graduates of ’84 who read the following:
“The Hall in the Grove,” “Hints for Home Reading,” and the following
numbers of the “Home College Series” (price 5 cents each): No. 1, Thomas
Carlyle; 2, Wm. Wordsworth; 4, Longfellow; 8, Washington Irving; 13,
George Herbert; 17, Joseph Addison; 18, Edmund Spenser; 21, Prescott; 23,
Wm. Shakspere; 26, John Milton. Address Phillips & Hunt.