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The Story of Chautauqua
[Illustration: Lewis Miller (1878)]
The Story of Chautauqua
By
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, D.D.
Author of "The Story of the Bible," "Teacher Training
Lessons for the Sunday School," etc.
[Illustration]
_With 50 Illustrations_
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1921
Copyright, 1921
by
Jesse L. Hurlbut
_Printed in the United States of America_
_This book is dedicated to the honoured memory
of the two Founders of Chautauqua_
=Lewis Miller=
_and_
=John Heyl Vincent=
PREFACE
WHY AND WHEREFORE
AN ancient writer--I forget his name--declared that in one of the
city-states of Greece there was the rule that when any citizen proposed
a new law or the repeal of an old one, he should come to the popular
assembly with a rope around his neck, and if his proposition failed of
adoption, he was to be immediately hanged. It is said that amendments to
the constitution of that state were rarely presented, and the people
managed to live under a few time-honored laws. It is possible that some
such drastic treatment may yet be meted out to authors--and perhaps to
publishers--as a last resort to check the flood of useless literature.
To anticipate this impending constitutional amendment, it is incumbent
upon every writer of a book to show that his work is needed by the
world, and this I propose to do in these prefatory pages.
Is Chautauqua great enough, original enough, sufficiently beneficial to
the world to have its history written? We will not accept the votes of
the thousands who beside the lake, in the Hall of Philosophy, or under
the roof of the amphitheater, have been inoculated with the Chautauqua
spirit. We will seek for the testimony of sane, intelligent, and
thoughtful people, and we will be guided in our conclusions by their
opinions. Let us listen to the words of the wise and then determine
whether a book about Chautauqua should be published. We have the
utterances by word of mouth and the written statements of public men,
governors, senators, presidents; of educators, professors, and college
presidents; of preachers and ecclesiastics in many churches; of speakers
upon many platforms; of authors whose works are read everywhere; and we
present their testimonials as a sufficient warrant for the preparation
and publication of _The Story of Chautauqua_.
The Hon. George W. Atkinson, Governor of West Virginia, visited
Chautauqua in 1899, and in his Recognition Day address on "Modern
Educational Requirements" spoke as follows:
It (Chautauqua) is the common people's College,
and its courses of instruction are so admirably
arranged that it somehow induces the toiling
millions to voluntarily grapple with all subjects
and with all knowledge.
My Chautauqua courses have taught me that what we
need most is only so much knowledge as we can
assimilate and organize into a basis for action;
for if more be given it may become injurious.
Chautauqua is doing more to nourish the intellects
of the masses than any other system of education
extant; except the public schools of the common
country.
Here is the testimony of ex-Governor Adolph O. Eberhardt of Minnesota:
If I had the choice of being the founder of any
great movement the world has ever known, I would
choose the Chautauqua movement.
The Hon. William Jennings Bryan, from the point of view of a speaker
upon many Chautauqua platforms, wrote:
The privilege and opportunity of addressing from
one to seven or eight thousand of his fellow
Americans in the Chautauqua frame of mind, in the
mood which almost as clearly asserts itself under
the tent or amphitheater as does reverence under
the "dim, religious light"--this privilege and
this opportunity is one of the greatest that any
patriotic American could ask. It makes of him, if
he knows it and can rise to its requirements, a
potent human factor in molding the mind of the
nation.
Viscount James Bryce, Ambassador of Great Britain to the United States,
and author of _The American Commonwealth_, the most illuminating work
ever written on the American system of government, said, while visiting
Chautauqua:
I do not think any country in the world but
America could produce such gatherings as
Chautauqua's.
Six presidents of the United States have thought it worth while to visit
Chautauqua, either before, or during, or after their term of office.
These were Grant, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft.
Theodore Roosevelt was at Chautauqua four times. He said on his last
visit, in 1905, "Chautauqua is the most American thing in America"; and
also:
This Chautauqua has made the name Chautauqua a
name of a multitude of gatherings all over the
Union, and there is probably no other educational
influence in the country quite so fraught with
hope for the future of the nation as this and the
movement of which it is the archtype.
Let us see what some journalists and writers have said about Chautauqua.
Here is the opinion of Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of _The Outlook_, and a
leader of thought in our time:
Chautauqua has inspired the habit of reading with
a purpose. It is really not much use to read,
except as an occasional recreation, unless the
reading inspires one to think his own thoughts, or
at least make the writer's thoughts his own.
Reading without reflection, like eating without
digestion, produces dyspepsia. The influence and
guidance of Chautauqua will long be needed in
America.
The religious influence of Chautauqua has been not
less valuable. Chautauqua has met the restless
questioning of the age in the only way in which it
can be successfully met, by converting it into a
serious seeking for rest in truth.
Dr. Edwin E. Slosson, formerly professor in Columbia University, now
literary editor of the _Independent_, wrote in that paper:
If I were a cartoonist, I should symbolize
Chautauqua by a tall Greek goddess, a sylvan
goddess with leaves in her hair--not vine leaves,
but oak, and tearing open the bars of a cage
wherein had been confined a bird, say an owl,
labeled "Learning." For that is what Chautauqua
has done for the world--it has let learning loose.
From the American _Review of Reviews_, July, 1914:
The president of a large technical school is
quoted as having said that ten per cent. of the
students in the institution over which he presides
owe their presence to Chautauqua influence. A talk
on civic beauty or sanitation by an expert from
the Chautauqua platform often results in bringing
these matters to local attention for the first
time.
Here is an extract from _The World To-day_:
Old-time politics is dead in the States of the
Middle West. The torchlight parade, the gasoline
lamps, and the street orator draw but little
attention. The "Republican Rally" in the
court-house and the "Democratic Barbecue" in the
grove have lost their potency. People turn to the
Chautauquas to be taught politics along with
domestic science, hygiene, and child-welfare.
Mr. John Graham Brooks, lecturer on historical, political, and social
subjects, author of works widely circulated and highly esteemed, has
given courses of lectures at Chautauqua, and has expressed his estimate
in these words:
After close observation of the work at Chautauqua,
and at other points in the country where its
affiliated work goes on, I can say with confidence
that it is among the most enlightening of our
educational agencies in the United States.
Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, while President of Union College in New York
State, gave this testimony:
Chautauqua has its own place in the educational
world, a place as honorable as it is distinctive;
and those of us who are laboring in other fields,
by other methods, have only admiration and praise
for the great work which has made Chautauqua in
the best sense a household word throughout the
land.
Mr. Edward Howard Griggs, who is in greater demand than almost any other
lecturer on literary and historical themes, in his Recognition Day
address, in 1904, on "Culture Through Vocation," said as follows:
The Chautauqua movement as conceived by its
leaders is a great movement for cultivating an
avocation apart from the main business of life,
not only giving larger vision, better intellectual
training, but giving more earnest desire and
greater ability to serve and grow through the
vocation.
This from Dr. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of
Education:
Think of one hundred thousand persons of mature
age following up a well-selected course of reading
for four years in science and literature, kindling
their torches at a central flame! Think of the
millions of friends and neighbors of this hundred
thousand made to hear of the new ideas and of the
inspirations that result to the workers!
It is a part of the great missionary movement that
began with Christianity and moves onward with
Christian civilization.
I congratulate all members of Chautauqua Reading
Circles on their connection with this great
movement which has begun under such favorable
auspices and has spread so widely, is already
world-historical, and is destined to unfold so
many new phases.
Prof. Albert S. Cook, of Yale University, wrote in _The Forum_:
As nearly as I can formulate it, the Chautauqua
Idea is something like this: A fraternal,
enthusiastic, methodical, and sustained attempt to
elevate, enrich, and inspire the individual life
in its entirety, by an appeal to the curiosity,
hopefulness, and ambition of those who would
otherwise be debarred from the greatest
opportunities of culture and spiritual
advancement. To this end, all uplifting and
stimulating forces, whether secular or religious,
are made to conspire in their impact upon the
person whose weal is sought. . . . Can we wonder
that Chautauqua is a sacred and blessed name to
multitudes of Americans?
The late Principal A. M. Fairbairn, of Mansfield College, Oxford,
foremost among the thinkers of the last generation, gave many lectures
at Chautauqua, and expressed himself thus:
The C. L. S. C. movement seems to me the most
admirable and efficient organization for the
direction of reading, and in the best sense for
popular instruction. To direct the reading for a
period of years for so many thousands is to affect
not only their present culture, but to increase
their intellectual activity for the period of
their natural lives, and thus, among other things,
greatly to add to the range of their enjoyment. It
appears to me that a system which can create such
excellent results merits the most cordial praise
from all lovers of men.
Colonel Francis W. Parker, Superintendent of Schools, first at Quincy,
Mass., and later at Chicago, one of the leading educators of the land,
gave this testimony, after his visit to Chautauqua:
The New York Chautauqua--father and mother of all
the other Chautauquas in the country--is one of
the great institutions founded in the nineteenth
century. It is essentially a school for the
people.
Prof. Hjalmar H. Boyesen, of Columbia University, wrote:
Nowhere else have I had such a vivid sense of
contact with what is really and truly American.
The national physiognomy was defined to me as
never before; and I saw that it was not only
instinct with intelligence, earnestness, and
indefatigable aspiration, but that it revealed a
strong affinity for all that makes for
righteousness and the elevation of the race. The
confident optimism regarding the future which this
discovery fostered was not the least boon I
carried away with me from Chautauqua.
Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, President of Wellesley College, expressed
this opinion in a lecture at Chautauqua:
I could say nothing better than to say over and
over again the great truths Chautauqua has taught
to everyone, that if you have a rounded, completed
education you have put yourselves in relation with
all the past, with all the great life of the
present; you have reached on to the infinite hope
of the future.
I venture to say there is no man or woman
educating himself or herself through Chautauqua
who will not feel more and more the opportunity of
the present moment in a present world.
The character of Chautauqua's training has been
that she has made us wiser than we were about
things that last.
Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, author of _In His Steps_, a story of which
three million copies were sold, said:
During the past two years I have met nearly a
million people from the platform, and no audiences
have impressed me as have the Chautauqua people
for earnestness, deep purpose, and an honest
desire to face and work out the great issues of
American life.
This is from the Rev. Robert Stuart MacArthur, the eminent Baptist
preacher:
I regard the Chautauqua Idea as one of the most
important ideas of the hour. This idea, when
properly utilized, gives us a "college at home."
It is a genuine inspiration toward culture,
patriotism, and religion. The general adoption of
this course for a generation would give us a new
America in all that is noblest in culture and
character.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale, of Boston, Chaplain of the United States
Senate, in his _Tarry At Home Travels_, wrote:
If you have not spent a week at Chautauqua, you do
not know your own country. There, and in no other
place known to me, do you meet Baddeck and
Newfoundland and Florida and Tiajuara at the same
table; and there you are of one heart and one soul
with the forty thousand people who will drift in
and out--people all of them who believe in God and
their country.
More than a generation ago, the name of Joseph Cook was known throughout
the continent as a thinker, a writer, and a lecturer. This is what he
wrote of Chautauqua:
I keep Chautauqua in a fireside nook of my inmost
affections and prayers. God bless the Literary and
Scientific Circle, which is so marvelously
successful already in spreading itself as a young
vine over the trellis-work of many lands! What
rich clusters may ultimately hang on its
cosmopolitan branches! It is the glory of America
that it believes that all that anybody knows
everybody should know.
Phillips Brooks, perhaps the greatest of American preachers, spoke as
follows in a lecture on "Literature and Life":
May we not believe--if the students of Chautauqua
be indeed what we have every right to expect that
they will be, men and women thoroughly and
healthily alive through their perpetual contact
with the facts of life--that when they take the
books which have the knowledge in them, like pure
water in silver urns, though they will not drink
as deeply, they will drink more healthily than
many of those who in the deader and more
artificial life of college halls bring no such
eager vitality to give value to their draught? If
I understand Chautauqua, this is what it means: It
finds its value in the vitality of its
students. . . . It summons those who are alive with
true human hunger to come and learn of that great
world of knowledge of which he who knows the most
knows such a very little, and feels more and more,
with every increase of his knowledge, how very
little it is that he knows.
Julia Ward Howe, author of the song beginning "Mine eyes have seen the
glory," and honored throughout the land as one of the greatest among the
women of America, wrote as follows:
I am obliged for your kind invitation to be
present at the celebration of the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the founding of Chautauqua
Assembly. As I cannot well allow myself this
pleasure, I send you my hearty congratulations in
view of the honorable record of your association.
May its good work long continue, even until its
leaven shall leaven the whole body of our society.
The following letter was received by Dr. Vincent from one of the most
distinguished of the older poets:
April 29, 1882.
J. H. VINCENT, D.D.,
DEAR FRIEND: I have been watching the progress of
the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
inaugurated by thyself, and take some blame to
myself for not sooner expressing my satisfaction
in regard to its objects and working thus far. I
wish it abundant success, and that its circles,
like those from the agitated center of the Lake,
may widen out, until our entire country shall feel
their beneficent influences. I am very truly thy
friend,
JOHN G. WHITTIER.
After these endorsements, we may confidently affirm that a book on
Chautauqua, its story, its principles, and its influence in the world,
is warranted.
And now, a few words of explanation as to this particular book. The
tendency in preparing such a work is to make it documentary, the recital
of programs, speakers, and subjects. In order to lighten up the pages, I
have sought to tell the story of small things as well as great, the
witty as well as the wise words spoken, the record of by-play and
repartee upon the platform, in those days when Chautauqua speakers were
a fraternity. In fact, the title by which the body of workers was known
among its members was "the Gang." Some of these stories are worth
preserving, and I have tried to recall and retain them in these pages.
JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT.
Feb. 1, 1921.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER
I.--THE PLACE 3
II.--THE FOUNDERS 11
III.--SOME PRIMAL PRINCIPLES 27
IV.--THE BEGINNINGS 38
V.--THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT 63
VI.--THE NATIONAL CENTENNIAL YEAR 72
VII.--A NEW NAME AND NEW FACES 93
VIII.--THE CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLE 116
IX.--CHAUTAUQUA ALL THE YEAR 141
X.--THE SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES 160
XI.--HOTELS, HEADQUARTERS, AND HANDSHAKING (1880) 172
XII.--DEMOCRACY AND ARISTOCRACY AT CHAUTAUQUA (1881) 187
XIII.--THE FIRST RECOGNITION DAY (1882) 196
XIV.--SOME STORIES OF THE C. L. S. C. (1883, 1884) 209
XV.--THE CHAPLAIN'S LEG AND OTHER TRUE TALES (1885-1888) 224
XVI.--A NEW LEAF IN LUKE'S GOSPEL (1889-1892) 239
XVII.--CLUB LIFE AT CHAUTAUQUA (1893-1896) 253
XVIII.--ROUNDING OUT THE OLD CENTURY (1897-1900) 271
XIX.--OPENING THE NEW CENTURY (1901-1904) 283
XX.--PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT CHAUTAUQUA (1905-1908) 295
XXI.--THE PAGEANT OF THE PAST (1909-1912) 308
XXII.--WAR CLOUDS AND WAR DRUMS (1913-1916) 321
XXIII.--WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH (1917-1920) 338
XXIV.--CHAUTAUQUA'S ELDER DAUGHTERS 361
XXV.--YOUNGER DAUGHTERS OF CHAUTAUQUA 385
APPENDIX 395
INDEX 420
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
LEWIS MILLER _Facing title-page_
JOHN H. VINCENT 4
STEAMER IN THE OUTLET 8
OLD BUSINESS BLOCK 16
OLD AMPHITHEATER 24
OLD AUDITORIUM 24
OLD GUEST HOUSE "THE ARK" 32
OLD CHILDREN'S TEMPLE 32
LEWIS MILLER COTTAGE 40
BISHOP VINCENT'S TENT 40
OLD STEAMER "JAMESTOWN" 50
ORIENTAL HOUSE 50
PALESTINE PARK 60
TENT LIFE 60
SPOUTING TREE 70
RUSTIC BRIDGE 76
AMPHITHEATER AUDIENCE 84
OLD PALACE HOTEL, ETC. 92
OLD HALL OF PHILOSOPHY 100
THE GOLDEN GATE 100
FLOWER GIRLS (2 pictures) 116
PIONEER HALL 122
OLD COLLEGE BUILDING 122
C.L.S.C. ALUMNI HALL 130
CHAUTAUQUA BOOK STORE 140
HALL OF THE CHRIST 150
HALL OF PHILOSOPHY, ENTRANCE 150
CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE 160
FENTON MEMORIAL 160
BAPTIST HEADQUARTERS AND MISSION HOUSE 170
PRESBYTERIAN HEADQUARTERS AND MISSION HOUSE 170
METHODIST HEADQUARTERS 180
DISCIPLES HEADQUARTERS 180
UNITARIAN HEADQUARTERS 190
EPISCOPAL CHAPEL 190
LUTHERAN HEADQUARTERS 200
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHAPEL 200
SOUTH RAVINE 220
MUSCALLONGE 220
JACOB BOLIN GYMNASIUM 220
ATHLETIC CLUB 230
BOYS' CLUB HEADED FOR CAMP 230
WOMAN'S CLUB HOUSE 240
RUSTIC BRIDGE 240
POST OFFICE BUILDING 250
BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION 250
GOLF COURSE 260
SHERWOOD MEMORIAL 260
TRACTION STATION 260
ARTS AND CRAFTS BUILDING 270
MILLER BELL TOWER 270
SOUTH GYMNASIUM 280
A CORNER OF THE PLAYGROUND 290
The Story of Chautauqua
CHAPTER I
THE PLACE
JOHN HEYL VINCENT--a name that spells Chautauqua to millions--said:
"Chautauqua is a _place_, an _idea_, and a _force_." Let us first of all
look at the place, from which an idea went forth with a living force
into the world.
[Illustration: John H. Vincent (1876)]
The State of New York, exclusive of Long Island, is shaped somewhat like
a gigantic foot, the heel being at Manhattan Island, the crown at the
St. Lawrence River, and the toe at the point where Pennsylvania touches
upon Lake Erie. Near this toe of New York lies Lake Chautauqua. It is
eighteen miles long besides the romantic outlet of three miles, winding
its way through forest primeval, and flowing into a shallow stream, the
Chadakoin River, thence in succession into the Allegheny, the Ohio, the
Mississippi, and finally resting in the bosom of the Gulf of Mexico. As
we look at it upon the map, or sail upon it in the steamer, we perceive
that it is about three miles across at its widest points, and moreover
that it is in reality two lakes connected by a narrower channel, almost
separated by two or three peninsulas. The earliest extant map of the
lake, made by the way for General Washington soon after the Revolution
(now in the Congressional Library at Washington), represents two
separate lakes with a narrow stream between them. The lake receives no
rivers or large streams. It is fed by springs beneath, and by a few
brooks flowing into it. Consequently its water is remarkably pure, since
none of the surrounding settlements are permitted to send their sewage
into it.
The surface of Lake Chautauqua is 1350 feet above the level of the
ocean; said to be the highest navigable water in the United States. This
is not strictly correct, for Lake Tahoe on the boundary between Nevada
and California is more than 6000 feet above sea-level. But Tahoe is
navigated only by motor-boats and small steamers; while Lake Chautauqua,
having a considerable town, Mayville, at its northern end, Jamestown, a
flourishing city at its outlet, and its shores fringed with villages,
bears upon its bosom many sizable steam-vessels.
It is remarkable that while Lake Erie falls into the St. Lawrence and
empties into the Atlantic at iceberg-mantled Labrador and
Newfoundland, Lake Chautauqua only seven miles distant, and of more than
seven hundred feet higher altitude, finds its resting place in the warm
Gulf of Mexico. Between these two lakes is the watershed for this part
of the continent. An old barn is pointed out, five miles from Lake
Chautauqua, whereof it is said that the rain falling on one side of its
roof runs into Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence, while the drops on the
other side through a pebbly brook find their way by Lake Chautauqua into
the Mississippi.
Nobody knows, or will ever know, how this lake got its smooth-sounding
Indian name. Some tell us that the word means "the place of mists";
others, "the place high up"; still others that its form, two lakes with
a passage between, gave it the name, "a bag tied in the middle," or "two
moccasins tied together." Mr. Obed Edson of Chautauqua County, who made
a thorough search among old records and traditions, which he embodied in
a series of articles in _The Chautauquan_ in 1911-12, gives the
following as a possible origin. A party of Seneca Indians were fishing
in the lake and caught a large muskallonge. They laid it in their canoe,
and going ashore carried the canoe over the well-known portage to Lake
Erie. To their surprise, they found the big fish still alive, for it
leaped from the boat into the water, and escaped. Up to that time, it is
said, no muskallonge had ever been caught in that lake; but the eggs in
that fish propagated their kind, until it became abundant. In the Seneca
language, _ga-jah_ means fish; and _ga-da-quah_ is "taken out" or as
some say, "leaped out." Thus Chautauqua means "where the fish was taken
out," or "the place of the leaping fish." The name was smoothed out by
the French explorers, who were the earliest white men in this region, to
"Tchadakoin," still perpetuated in the stream, Chadakoin, connecting the
lake with the Allegheny River. In an extant letter of George Washington,
dated 1788, the lake is called, "Jadaqua."
From the shore of Lake Erie, where Barcelona now stands, to the site of
Mayville at the head of Lake Chautauqua ran a well-marked and
often-followed Indian trail, over which canoes and furs were carried,
connecting the Great Lakes with the river-system of the mid-continent.
If among the red-faced warriors of those unknown ages there had arisen a
Homer to sing the story of his race, a rival to the Iliad and the
Nibelungen might have made these forests famous, for here was the
borderland between that remarkable Indian confederacy of central New
York, the Iroquois or Five Nations,--after the addition of the
Tuscaroras, the Six Nations--those fierce Assyrians of the Western
Continent who barely failed in founding an empire, and their antagonists
the Hurons around Lake Erie. The two tribes confronting each other were
the Eries of the Huron family and the Senecas of the Iroquois; and
theirs was a life and death struggle. Victory was with the Senecas, and
tradition tells that the shores of Chautauqua Lake were illuminated by
the burning alive of a thousand Erie prisoners.
It is said that the first white man to launch his canoe on Lake
Chautauqua was Etienne Brule, a French voyageur. Five years before the
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, with a band of friendly Hurons he
came over the portage from Lake Erie, and sailed down from Mayville to
Jamestown, thence through the Chadakoin to the Allegheny and the Ohio,
showing to the French rulers in Canada that by this route lay the path
to empire over the continent.
Fifteen years later, in 1630, La Salle, the indomitable explorer and
warrior, passed over the portage and down the lake to the river below.
Fugitives from the French settlements in Nova Scotia, the Acadia of
Longfellow's _Evangeline_, also passed over the same trail and
watercourses in their search for a southern home under the French flag.
In 1749, Captain Bienville de Celoron led another company of pioneers,
soldiers, sailors, Indians, and a Jesuit priest over the same route,
bearing with him inscribed leaden plates to be buried in prominent
places, as tokens of French sovereignty over these forests and these
waters. Being a Frenchman, and therefore perhaps inclined to gayety, he
might have been happy if he could have foreseen that in a coming age,
the most elaborate amusement park on the border of Tchadakoin (as he
spelled it on his leaden plates) would hand down the name of Celoron to
generations then unborn!
[Illustration: Steamer in the Outlet]
In order to make the French domination of this important waterway sure,
Governor Duquesne of Canada sent across Lake Erie an expedition, landing
at Barcelona, to build a rough wagon-road over the portage to Lake
Chautauqua. Traces of this "old French road" may still be seen. Those
French surveyors and toilers little dreamed that in seven years their
work would become an English thoroughfare, and their empire in the new
world would be exploited by the descendants of the Puritan and Huguenot!
During the American Revolution, the Seneca tribe of Indians, who had
espoused the British side, established villages at Bemus and Griffiths
points on Lake Chautauqua; and a famous British regiment, "The King's
Eighth," still on the rolls of the British army, passed down the lake,
and encamped for a time beside the Outlet within the present limits of
Jamestown. Thus the redskin, the voyageur, and the redcoat in turn
dipped their paddles into the placid waters of Lake Chautauqua. They all
passed away, and the American frontiersman took their place; he too was
followed by the farmer and the vinedresser. In the last half of the
nineteenth century a thriving town, Mayville, was growing at the
northern end of the lake; the city of Jamestown was rising at the end of
the Outlet; while here and there along the shores were villages and
hamlets; roads, such as they were before the automobile compelled their
improvement, threaded the forests and fields. A region situated on the
direct line of travel between the east and the west, and also having
Buffalo on the north and Pittsburgh on the south, could not long remain
secluded. Soon the whistle of the locomotive began to wake the echoes of
the surrounding hills.
In its general direction the lake lies southeast and northwest, and its
widest part is about three miles south of Mayville. Here on its
northwestern shore a wide peninsula reaches forth into the water. At the
point it is a level plain, covered with stately trees; on the land side
it rises in a series of natural terraces marking the altitude and extent
of the lake in prehistoric ages; for the present Chautauqua Lake is only
the shrunken hollow of a vaster body in the geologic periods. In the
early 'seventies of the last century this peninsula was known as Fair
Point; but in a few years, baptized with a new name CHAUTAUQUA, it was
destined to make the little lake famous throughout the world and to
entitle an important chapter in the history of education.