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: