To accommodate the growing circles of the C. L. S. C. a regular
Chautauqua Assembly has been established at Long Beach, Southern
California. This locality, after deliberation, was chosen as being
central and accessible. It is twenty-two miles from Los Angeles by rail,
on a splendid ocean beach ten miles long, where tourists and invalids
may enjoy surf bathing the year round, with all the accommodations of
civilization, in a mild climate, tempered by the ocean in winter and
summer. Six months ago Long Beach was little more than a sheep ranch.
Now it has a great hotel, and lesser ones, forty cottages, and over a
hundred tents. Artesian water is brought three miles and delivered in
iron pipes on many streets. On the 21st we had a regular field day,
and good audiences. At 10 a. m. a lecture on the “Chautauqua Idea” was
delivered by Dr. Clark Whittier, of Riverside, and other speakers.
At 3 p. m. a regular Round-Table was held by Rev. S. J. Fleming, of
Ontario, California, and a masterly lecture by Prof. G. F. Bovard, of the
University of Southern California, followed. At this meeting a committee
on permanent organization was formed, and Dr. Clark Whittier was elected
president. Plans are made to organize, if possible, a C. L. S. C. in
every pastoral charge, school district, mine, and Y. M. C. A. in the
seven southern counties of California. We mean aggressive work on the
borders of the great Pacific.