Beautiful for situation in one of the many lovely glades of the
Alleghenies, nearly 3,000 feet above the sea, in the very midst of grand
and imposing mountain scenery, and where the freshness and crispness
of the air itself gives inspiration, Mountain Lake Park, Garrett Co.,
Maryland, although but in the third year of its existence, owing to the
facility with which it is reached from the Mississippi Valley and the
Atlantic slope, and to its increasing celebrity as a delightful and
healthful summer resort, already numbers about eighty cottages and four
or five hotels or boarding houses, which in the height of the season
are inadequate to accommodate the guests who desire to avail themselves
of its many advantages. The Mountain Lake Park Assembly commenced its
second annual meeting here on August 14th, under the most favorable
auspices. The lecture course was an unusually brilliant one. The names
of Revs. D. H. Muller, D.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, Washington Gladden,
D.D., of Columbus, Ohio, Jesse Bowman Young, A. M., Philadelphia,
Penn., J. B. Van Meter, D.D., Baltimore, Md., Prof. Charles J. Little,
Ph.D., State Librarian of Pa., and others are themselves a sufficient
assurance of the very high character of the literary feast provided for
the deeply interested and discriminating audiences who daily listened
to them. The Chautauqua Sunday-school Normal Course was one of the
marked features of interest during the Assembly, the instructors being
Rev. J. T. Judd, Lewisburg, Pa., president of the Assembly, Prof. J. B.
Young, Philadelphia, Rev. Wm. M. Frysinger, Baltimore, and Prof. W. A.
Lindsay, Carlisle, Pa. After passing a written examination, diplomas
of the C. T. U. were granted to Rev. L. E. Peters, Clarksburg, W. Va.,
Dr. Robert W. Armstrong and Miss Laura Rice, of Baltimore, Maryland.
Thursday, August 28, was C. L. S. C. day. The members of the circle, the
officers of the Assembly, and the president and directors of Mountain
Lake Park Association assembled at 11 a. m., at a designated place in the
grove. The marshal of the day, C. O’Brien Mettee, Esq., of Baltimore,
formed the line of procession, which was headed by a number of little
girls bearing flowers to strew the path of the graduate, Mrs. A. C.
Rodgers, of Baltimore, who followed immediately with her escort of four
maids of honor. The officers of the Assembly and of the Association,
with the members of the circle, and other Chautauquans present, each
wearing a sprig of golden rod as a badge, brought up the rear of the
line. While marching from the Grove to the Auditorium the procession
united in singing Chautauqua Hymn No. 1, “We gather here a pilgrim
band,” after which, while the members and invited guests took the seats
reserved for them, Rev. Jesse B. Young, A. M., made the Commencement
address, after which all joined in the responsive service appropriate
to the second motto, “Let us keep our heavenly Father in the midst,”
and in the Chautauqua Hymn of Greeting. The president of the Mountain
Lake Park Association, Rev. Dr. J. B. Van Meter, of Baltimore, made the
salutatory address, Rev. C. W. Baldwin, of Cumberland, Md., offered
a few words, and President Judd then made a brief but eloquent and
suggestive address, concluding with the presentation of the Chautauqua
diploma to the graduate, Mrs. A. C. Rodgers, of Baltimore. At a meeting
of the circle on August 29, a unanimous vote of thanks was tendered
to President Judd, “for the able and kindly manner in which he had
presided over its sessions and in various ways furthered its interests.”
The secretary was instructed to furnish a copy of his report to THE
CHAUTAUQUAN for publication. The closing meeting of the Assembly was held
at night, followed by a general illumination, camp-fire, corn-roast,
stump speeches, and a general hand-shake good-bye. Rev. J. T. Judd was
unanimously reëlected as president for the ensuing year, and Dr. Robert
W. Armstrong, of Baltimore, was elected secretary, in place of Miss
Jennie Jones, resigned. Between twenty and thirty new members were added
to the circle.