The first Local Circle Assembly of which we have heard was held on June
30th, at Lake Grove, Auburn, Me. Six different circles in the towns of
Lewiston, Auburn, and New Gloucester were represented, and with their
invited guests made a gathering of several hundred people. This was the
first out-of-door C. L. S. C. Assembly ever held in Maine. The occasion
was one of great interest. A program of delightful exercises was carried
out. There was a grand banquet and a long list of witty and entertaining
after-dinner speeches. Among the pleasant features of the occasion was
the following kindly letter from Dr. Vincent to the Assembly:
NEW HAVEN, CONN., June 18th, 1884.
MY DEAR SIR AND BROTHER:—Through you I desire to salute the
members of the C. L. S. C. to assemble at Lake Grove. Nothing but
official engagements of an imperative character could keep me
from the fellowship of the six circles on the 30th inst. I hail
with joy all these movements which tend to develop the social
life of our members, and to create within the circle something
of the class and society spirit which characterizes the college.
An important factor of school life is the association of students
and the sympathy growing out of similar aims and experience.
The delight which accompanies the development and play of such
sentiments is not limited to the early years of life, nor are the
relief, the recreation and the inspiration which it furnishes
alone needed by youthful students. Full grown men need and can
appreciate the same; and it is the object of the C. L. S. C. to
promote it by our class spirit, by our annual and class songs,
by the mottoes, often repeated, by the sundry devices which tend
to make the C. L. S. C. a union of hearts. Accept my hearty
salutations. May I exhort you all to be diligent missionaries of
the C. L. S. C. Idea? Enlist as many members as you can in the
class of 1888; and where it is impracticable to enlist members
as members of the C. L. S. C., present to them with strong
argument, the scheme of the “Spare Minute Course,” which will
sooner or later result in larger work proposed by the older
society. Praying that our Heavenly Father may be in the midst,
that you may continue to study his word and works, and in all
these you may never be discouraged, I remain your affectionate
fellow-student,
J. H. VINCENT, Supt. Instr. C. L. S. C.
J. C. HASKELL, Pres. Auburn C. L. S. C.
It is hoped that a summer school will follow in the train of this first
meeting.