THE CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLE
[Illustration: Flower Girls on Recognition Day]
[Illustration: Flower Girls of 1894
Elizabeth Vincent and Paul Harper leading]
THE "dream" of which Dr. Vincent gave a hint at the close of the 1877
Assembly was destined to become a reality in 1878. That year marks a
golden milestone in the history of Chautauqua, for then was launched
_The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle_, that goodly vessel
which has sailed around the world, has carried more than a half-million
of passengers, and has brought inspiration and intelligence to
multitudes unnumbered. The conception arose in its author's mind from
the consciousness of his own intellectual needs. He had longed, but
vainly, for the privilege of higher education in the college, but in his
youth there were no Boards of Education with endowments extending a
helping hand to needy students. His school-days ended in the academy,
but not his education, for he was to the end of his life a student,
reading the best books, even when their subjects and style demanded a
trained mind. As one who knew him well and for more than a
generation, I may say without hesitation that John Heyl Vincent
possessed more knowledge and richer culture than nine out of ten men
holding a college diploma.
But his heart went out in sympathy toward others who like himself had
missed the opportunity of dwelling in college-cloisters, toward workers
on the farm, at the forge, in the store, in the office, in the kitchen,
and in the factory, whose longings were like his own. Many of these
would read good books and drink at "the Pierian Spring," if only they
knew where to find the fountain--in other words, if some intelligent,
well-read person would direct them, and place the best books in their
way. Gradually it dawned upon his mind that everyone has some margin of
time, at least half an hour among the twenty-four, which might be made
useful under wise counsel to win knowledge. He had not heard of that
sentence spoken by the great President of Harvard, that "ten minutes a
day, for ten years of a life, with the right books, will give any one an
education." Indeed, that wise utterance came after the Chautauqua Circle
had been established and was already giving guidance to many thousand
people.
The conception came to Dr. Vincent of a course of reading, which might
become to the diligent a course of study, to include the principal
subjects of a college curriculum, all in the English language, omitting
the mathematical and technical departments of science; a course that
would give to its careful reader, not the mental discipline of four
years in college, but something of the college outlook upon life and
letters. It was to embrace the histories of the great nations that
shaped the world--Israel, Greece, Rome, Great Britain, and
America,--with shorter sketches of other important lands; a view over
the literature of the ages, not in the original Greek, Latin, or German,
but as translated into our own tongue, presented in a manner to give
general understanding to the many, and also to awaken the aspiring
reader by pointing out the path to thorough knowledge. There are tens of
thousands who have studied the Bible only in the English version, yet
could pass a better examination upon its contents than many graduates of
the theological seminary. One might read such an account of Homer's
_Odyssey_, or Virgil's _AEneid_, or Dante's _Paradiso_, or Goethe's
_Faust_, as would inspire him to seek and study a complete translation
of these masterpieces. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, from the beginning one
of the counselors of the Chautauqua Course, said that it gives to its
students "the language of the time"; not a full detailed knowledge, but
such a general view as enables him to understand allusions and
references, to be at home with the thinkers and writers of the age.
The Chautauqua Circle was not planned for specialists, seeking full
knowledge upon one subject, but for general readers. Before it was
inaugurated there was already established in Boston the Society for the
Encouragement of Home Study. The student who desired aid through this
useful organization was expected to select some one department of
knowledge, and then a list of books or articles would be sent to him,
with suggestions, questions, and an examination. If historical, it would
not be history in general, but the history of one country, or one period
in its annals. It might be the American, or French, or English
Revolution--very thorough, but only for one seeking special knowledge.
But the Chautauqua plan contemplated a general round of
knowledge--history, literature, science, natural and social, art, and
religion: and this broad conception was one great secret of its success.
A story which is typical was told the writer of this volume as an
absolute fact by one who claimed to know the persons referred to. A
young lady called upon her pastor with this request; "I wish that you
would tell me of some good books to read. I'm tired of reading nothing
but novels, and want to find some books that are worth while. Can't you
give me the names of some such books?"
The minister thought a moment, and then said slowly, "Well, what kind of
books do you want--religious books, for instance?"
"No," said the girl, "I do not know as I wish to read about religion. I
get that in the church and the Sunday School. But there must be some
good books of other kinds--can't you tell me of them?"
"What would you think of a course of reading in history?" asked the
pastor. Her face brightened somewhat, and she answered, "Why, I think
that I might like to read history. What would you recommend for me?"
The minister glanced at his own shelves, thought a moment, and then
said, "Well, I can't all at once name a course on such an important
subject as history. Come next Wednesday, and I'll have a list of good
books for you."
She came, and he showed her a formidable catalogue of books, saying:
"I have done the best that I could do, but the list is longer than I had
expected. It includes eighty volumes. I wrote down one hundred and
twenty volumes at first, but cut it down to eighty, and it cannot be
made shorter, not by a single volume. In fact, it is not as complete as
it should be. You will begin with the greatest book of history in all
literature--Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, in nine
volumes!"
The young lady was appalled, and never went through the first chapter of
Gibbon's mighty work. This was before the Chautauqua Home Reading Course
was evolved. After that had been launched any intelligent minister, or
helpful librarian, would simply have said to the enquirer, "Send for a
circular of the C. L. S. C.; that will give you exactly what you need."
[Illustration: Pioneer Hall: Class of 1882. C. L. S. C.]
[Illustration: Old College Building]
There comes to my own mind a vivid remembrance of that evening when for
the first time I heard those magic words--"The Chautauqua Literary and
Scientific Circle." In the early spring of 1878, Dr. Vincent had just
returned from an official visit to Europe, and I was no longer at
Plainfield, five minutes' walk from his home, but by the revolution of
the itinerant wheel a pastor, thirty miles distant. A message came
asking me to spend an evening with him and talk over some new plans for
Chautauqua. Of course, I obeyed the call, for I always gained more than
I gave in any conversation with that fruitful mind. We sat in front of
the fireplace in his study, and I listened while for an hour he talked
of a new organization which he proposed to launch in the coming season,
to be named _The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle_; with a
course of study to be carried through four years, with forty minutes as
each day's task, for nine or ten months of each year, in the various
branches of knowledge, analogous to the four years of college study. He
was so full of his theme and so eloquent upon it that I could only
listen to the outpouring utterances. The general purpose was clear
before him, but not the details of its operation. Dr. Vincent's eyes
were ever set upward toward the mountain-tops glorious in the sunlight,
and he did not always think of the thickets to be cut and the path to be
made from the lower plain to the summit. I could see some of the
difficulties in the way, some obstacles that must be overcome, and
sagely shook my head in doubt of the scheme. It was a radical departure
from the earlier ideals, for thus far everything on the Chautauqua
program had been along the line of Sunday School training, and this was
a forsaking of the well-trodden path for a new world of secular
education. Why try to rival the high schools and arouse the criticism of
the colleges? How would the regular constituency of Chautauqua feel
at this innovation? No doubt under the spell of his enthusiasm, some
would join the proposed class in literature and science--but how could
science be studied by untrained people without laboratories, or
apparatus, or teachers? And after the spell of the Chautauqua season
would not the pledges be forgotten at home, and the numbers in the home
classes soon dwindle away to nothing?
Dr. Vincent asked me a question as we sat in the glow of the fireplace.
"How many do you think can be depended on to carry on such a course as
is proposed?"
"Oh, perhaps a hundred!" I answered. "People who want to read will find
books, and those who don't care for reading will soon tire of serious
study."
The doctor sprang up from his chair and walked nervously across the
room. "I tell you, Mr. Hurlbut, the time will come when you will see a
thousand readers in the C. L. S. C."
I smiled, the smile of kindly unbelief! His impulse, his dream was
noble, to be sure, but so utterly impracticable. I tell this little tale
to show how far below the reality were the expectations of us both. Only
a few years after this conversation the enrolled members of the C. L.
S. C. counted sixty thousand readers pursuing the course at one time,
with probably as many more readers unregistered.
The opening evening of the Assembly was held on Tuesday evening, August
6th. The vesper service beginning, "The Day goeth away, The Shadows of
evening are stretched out, Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion,"
etc., was read responsively in the Auditorium between the Miller Cottage
and the Vincent tent, then not far from the Point, when a sudden shower
fell and a general rush was made to the new Pavilion in the ravine on
the west. That was the last opening service attempted out-of-doors.
Since that evening, the Pavilion, soon to become the Amphitheater, has
supplied the stage for the speakers, sedate or humorous, short or
long,--some of them longer than the audience desired--on "Old First
Night." A few lectures were given from time to time in the old
Auditorium, but after the season of 1879 it was left for smaller
meetings of couples in communion of soul on the seats here and there
under the trees.
The inauguration of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle took
place in the Pavilion on the afternoon of Saturday, August 10, 1878. On
the platform, then lower than most of the seats, were a telescope, a
microscope, a globe, some scientific apparatus, and a table filled with
books, giving a scholastic setting to the exercises. Dr. Vincent
presided, and with him were Bishop Randolph S. Foster of Boston, Dr.
Henry W. Warren of Philadelphia, himself two years afterward to become a
bishop, Professor William C. Wilkinson, whose pen in the following years
wrote many books for the readers of the C. L. S. C., Professor James
Strong of wide learning, and several other eminent men. The address of
the day, unfolding the purpose and plan of the Circle, was given by Dr.
Vincent. Many of us who heard him on that afternoon have thought since
that this was the masterpiece of his lifetime, and it might worthily be
so, for it launched a movement in education, the most influential and
wide-reaching of any in the annals of the nation.
I wish that it were possible to reprint that great address as reported
in full in the _Assembly Herald_, for never was the conception of
Chautauqua at home for nine months of the year more clearly set forth,
but a few quotations and outlines must suffice. He began by calling
attention to four classes of people. First, those who inherit from their
ancestors wealth, ease, and large intellectual opportunities, who find
college doors opening almost of their own accord before them. Second,
there are those born under the necessity of daily toil. For these the
education of the public school is provided; but it is limited and rarely
appreciated. Children go to school to get knowledge enough for
bread-winning and no more. Third, there are those who, born under
necessity, struggle into opportunity, fight their way up into power, and
make themselves the intellectual heroes of their time. Fourth, there are
many born under necessity, who lack the vision at the beginning, who
enter upon a life of trade or labor which may bring them success, but
who gradually awake to realize how much they have lost, without
realizing that it is never too late to gain culture and that education
ends only with life. This is the class in every community which our new
organization aims to reach, to uplift, to inspire and stimulate. We
propose to give to these people in every walk of life, both the rich,
the middle class, and the poor--all in one class in their condition and
their needs--the college student's outlook upon the world of thought, by
short studies in literature and science, by the reading of books, by the
preparation of synopses of books read, by written reports of books read,
and by correspondence with experts in the several departments.
Here are some of the advantages of this
organization: It will develop higher and nobler
tastes, increase mental power, exalt home-life,
giving authority and home-help in public school
studies and organizing homes into reading circles.
It will counteract the influence of our modern
pernicious literature and sweeten and enrich the
daily lives of poor and hard-working people. It
will bring the more cultivated people into contact
with the less scholarly, promote a true
appreciation of science, and tend to increase the
spiritual life and power of the church. All
knowledge becomes glorified in the man whose heart
is consecrated to God.
As I copy these words in the year 1920, more than forty years after they
were spoken and printed, with each sentence there rise to my mind
instances that have come to my own knowledge of every one of these
prophecies fulfilled. Chautauqua through its home-reading course has
accomplished far more than its founder even dreamed.
The speaker answered an objection to the plan of study based upon its
superficiality.
Superficial it is, and so is any college course of
study. The boy who stands at the close of his
senior year, on Commencement Day, to receive his
parchment and whatever honors belong to him, who
does not feel that his whole course has been
superficial, will not be likely to succeed in the
after struggle of life. But superficiality is
better than absolute ignorance. It is better for a
man to take a general survey, to catch somewhere
a point that arrests him; for the man who never
takes a survey never catches the point in which
dwell the possibilities of power for him. When you
sow seed, it is not the weight of the seed put
into the soil that tells, it is the weight of the
harvest that comes after.
Here are some of the closing words of the address:
How glad I should be if I should find in the
future years that more boys and girls are going to
our high schools and universities because of the
impulse received here at Chautauqua! And I say to
you: with all your getting, get understanding.
Look through microscopes, but find God. Look
through telescopes, but find God. Look for Him
revealed in the throbbing life about you, in the
palpitating stars above, in the marvelous records
of the earth beneath you, and in your own souls.
Study the possibilities which God unfolds, and
make of yourself all that you can. The harder the
struggle, the brighter the crown. Have faith and
holy purpose. Go on to _know_ and to _will_, to
_do_ and _be_. When outward circumstances
discourage, trample the circumstances under foot.
Be master of circumstances, like the king that God
has called you to be. God give you such hearts,
such toil, such triumphs, and give you such
masterhood as shall one day place you among the
kings and priests of a redeemed and purified
universe!
After the applause following this address subsided, a poem was read,
written for the occasion by the ever-ready Mary A. Lathbury. It
pictured the modern Chautauqua as representing the old Jerusalem which
pilgrims sought for worship and inspiration. We can only quote its final
stanzas:
The Life of God is shining
Upon her where she stands;
And leaf by leaf unfolding
Within her reverent hands,
The earth and seas and heavens
Disclose her secrets old,
And every force of Nature
Reveals its heart of gold!
Now knoweth she the answer
That ends the schoolmen's strife,--
That knowledge bears no blossom
Till quickened by the Life.
O holy, holy city!
The life of God with men!
Descending out of heaven
To ne'er ascend again.
O Light, O Life immortal!
One sea above, below!
If unto us be given
That blessed thing,--_to know_--
Hope's beatific vision,
And Faith's prophetic sight
Shall die before the fullness
Of that unclouded Light.
After the reading of the poem, Dr. Vincent said, "In the preparation for
this important occasion, I have consulted some of the most experienced
and practical educators of the country, and from a number of
distinguished gentlemen I have received letters relating to this
movement."
[Illustration: C. L. S. C. Alumni Hall]
We can only quote a sentence or two from a few of these letters.
Dr. Lyman Abbott wrote:
It seems to me if you can lay out such plans of
study, particularly in the departments of
practical science, as will fit our boys and young
men in the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural
districts to become, in a true though not
ambitious sense of the term, scientific and
intelligent miners, mechanics, and farmers, you
will have done more to put down strikes and labor
riots than an army could; and more to solve the
labor problem than will be done by the
Babel-builders of a hundred labor-reform
conventions.
Professor Luther T. Townsend, of Boston University:
Your plan for the promotion of Christian culture
in art, science, and literature, among the masses
of the American people, strikes me as one of the
grandest conceptions of the nineteenth century.
Dr. A. A. Hodge, of Princeton:
The scheme is a grand one, and only needs to
insure its success that efficient administration
which has so eminently characterized all your
enterprises. History and nature are the spheres in
which God exercises his perfections, through which
they are manifested to us. All human knowledge
should be comprehended in the one system of which
Christ is the center, and illuminated with the
light of revelation.
Dr. Arthur Gilman:
Your fears of "superficiality" do not trouble me.
For your course will probably aim rather to direct
the mind toward the way in which you wish it to
develop, than store it with the details of
knowledge. You wish to awaken, rather than
cultivate.
Dr. Howard Crosby, of New York:
Your scheme to induce business men and others to
pursue useful courses of reading in science and
history is worthy of all commendation. While we
cannot expect to make such persons scientists or
scholars, we may expect them to become
appreciative of things scientific or scholarly,
and to be able to discriminate between the false
and the true.
He added some valuable suggestions regarding the kind of books that
should be chosen; and the hope that the course, instead of becoming a
substitute for the college, might lead to the college.
Dr. Charles F. Deems, of New York, gave his heartiest approval of the
plan, and stated that he was holding in his own church classes in all
the departments named, and would enroll them under the Chautauqua
system, with examinations and the diploma at the completion of the
course.
Dr. William F. Warren, President of Boston University, wrote a letter in
which he said:
You are aiming to secure that without which every
system of education is weak, and with which any is
strong; namely, interested personal home work the
year round. And you seem to carry these home
students to the point where they can go alone, if
they cannot have the help of the schools.
One of these letters must be given in full, notwithstanding its length.
Dr. Vincent introduced it with an account of his interview with its
author, the venerable William Cullen Bryant, the oldest of his
group--the American poets of the mid-century.
I wrote him afterward a long letter [said Dr.
Vincent], defining the scheme more fully. While in
London a few weeks ago I received from him the
following letter, written with his own
hand,--written but a few weeks before his death.
This letter has never been read in public and has
never been in print.
NEW YORK, May 18, 1878.
MY DEAR SIR,
I cannot be present at the meeting called to
organize the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific
Circle, but I am glad that such a movement is on
foot, and wish it the fullest success. There is an
attempt to make science, or a knowledge of the
laws of the material universe, an ally of the
school which denies a separate spiritual existence
and a future life; in short, to borrow of science
weapons to be used against Christianity. The
friends of religion, therefore, confident that one
truth never contradicts another, are doing wisely
when they seek to accustom the people at large to
think and to weigh evidence as well as to believe.
By giving a portion of their time to a vigorous
training of the intellect, and a study of the best
books, men gain the power to deal satisfactorily
with questions with which the mind might otherwise
have become bewildered. It is true that there is
no branch of human knowledge so important as that
which teaches the duties that we owe to God and to
each other, and that there is no law of the
universe, sublime and wonderful as it may be, so
worthy of being made fully known as the law of
love, which makes him who obeys it a blessing to
his species, and the universal observance of which
would put an end to a large proportion of the
evils which affect mankind. Yet is a knowledge of
the results of science, and such of its processes
as lie most open to the popular mind, important
for the purpose of showing the different spheres
occupied by science and religion, and preventing
the inquirer from mistaking their divergence from
each other for opposition.
I perceive this important advantage in the
proposed organization, namely, that those who
engage in it will mutually encourage each other.
It will give the members a common pursuit, which
always begets a feeling of brotherhood; they will
have a common topic of conversation and
discussion, and the consequence will be, that many
who, if they stood alone, might soon grow weary of
the studies which are recommended to them, will be
incited to perseverance by the interest which they
see others taking in them. It may happen in rare
instances that a person of eminent mental
endowments, which otherwise might have remained
uncultivated and unknown, will be stimulated in
this manner to diligence, and put forth unexpected
powers, and, passing rapidly beyond the rest,
become greatly distinguished, and take a place
among the luminaries of the age.
I shall be interested to watch, during the little
space of life that may yet remain to me, the
progress and results of the plan which has drawn
from me this letter.
I am, Sir,
Very truly yours,
W. C. BRYANT.
The distinguished writer of this letter died only a month and four days
after writing it, on June 12, 1878, as the result of a sunstroke while
he was making an address at the unveiling of a statue in the Central
Park. He was in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
After some short addresses by men on the platform, Bishop Foster,
Professor Wilkinson, Dr. Strong, and others, Dr. Vincent announced as
the first book of the course, Green's _Short History of the English
People_, and invited all desirous of joining the C. L. S. C. to write
their names and addresses upon slips of paper and hand them to anyone on
the platform. It might have been supposed that a circular would be ready
containing a statement of the course for the first year, regulations
and requirements of the organization, the fee of membership, etc.; but
in the enthusiasm of the time those desirable requisites had been
forgotten. Everybody looked around for a slip of paper. Visiting cards
were made useful, margins were torn off newspapers, and there was an
overwhelming rush toward the platform to join the new circle. On that
afternoon seven hundred names were received and the number grew hourly
until the close of the Assembly. Nearly all the regular year-by-year
visitors to Chautauqua became members of this "Pioneer Class," as it was
afterwards named; and to this day its fellowship, after forty-two years,
still continues one of the largest at its annual gatherings in Pioneer
Hall, the building which it erected as its home.
The book-store was crowded with applicants for Green's History, and the
few copies on hand, not more than half a dozen, were instantaneously
disposed of. An order was telegraphed to the Harper Brothers in New York
for fifty copies, on the next morning for fifty more, then for another
hundred, day after day the demand increasing. The Harpers were astounded
at the repeated calls, and telegraphed for particulars as to the reason
why everybody at an almost unknown place called Chautauqua had gone
wild in demand for this book. Their stock on hand was exhausted long
before the Assembly was ended, and most of the members of this "Class of
1882" were compelled to wait a month or more for their books. Public
libraries were by no means numerous in those days while Andrew Carnegie
was making the millions to be spent later in establishing them, but
wherever they were, Green's Short History was drawn out, and a waiting
list made for it, to the amazement of librarians, who vainly proposed
the substitution of other standard English histories. Whoever could buy,
borrow, or beg a copy of Green, rejoiced--we hope that no Chautauquan,
in his hunger for literature, _stole_ one, but we are not sure. People
otherwise honest have been known to retain borrowed umbrellas and books.
In the Class of 1882 eight thousand four hundred names were enrolled,
for the members brought home from Chautauqua the good news, and
families, neighbors, and friends everywhere sent in their applications.
Later we shall learn what proportion of these followed the course
through the four years and marched under the arches to their Recognition
as graduates.
An addition had been made to the grounds on the west, and here Dr.
Vincent chose a square shaded by abundant beech-trees, as the center
and home of the C. L. S. C. He named it St. Paul's Grove, choosing the
apostle who represented the combination of the fervent heart and the
cultured mind, an ideal for all Chautauquans. Besides Dr. Vincent's
address at this time, another was given by Governor A. H. Colquitt of
Georgia, President of the International Sunday School Convention. The
dedicatory prayer was offered by Bishop Foster and an appropriate hymn
written by Dr. Hyde of Denver was sung by Professor Sherwin and his
choir. St. Paul's Grove, and its pillared temple soon to rise, will
appear often in our story as one of the sacred spots at Chautauqua.
We must not overlook the daily program during this epoch-making season
of 1878. There were the daily classes studying Greek and Hebrew under
Drs. Strong and Vail. There was a class in microscopy, with the Misses
Lattimore; there was the normal class with a full number of students
ending with the successful examination of more than one hundred and
forty new members of the Normal Alumni Association. The annual reunion
of the Normal Alumni was celebrated with the usual banners, procession,
address, the illuminated fleet and fireworks.
The lecture platform of 1878 stood at as high a level as ever. If any
one speaker bore off the honors of that year, it was Bishop Randolph S.
Foster of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose lectures on "Beyond the
Grave" drew the largest audiences and aroused the deepest interest. They
were afterward published in a volume which attracted wide attention, and
brought some criticism from preachers of the conservative school. There
were even some who talked of an impeachment and trial, but they did not
venture to bring the greatest thinker and theologian in their church to
the bar. Other lecturers who made their mark were Dr. Robert M. Hatfield
of Chicago, President Charles H. Fowler, Dr. (soon after Bishop) John F.
Hurst, Dr. John Lord, the historian-lecturer, Dr. Joseph Cook, Professor
William North Rice, Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, with his entertaining lecture
on "Big Blunders," and Dr. Charles F. Deems on "The Superstitions of
Science."
One remarkable meeting was held on the afternoon of the opening day,
Tuesday, August 6th. In the Pavilion four men gave in turn the
distinctive doctrines and usages of their several churches. These were
the Rev. Mr. Seymour, Baptist, Rev. Mr. Williston, Congregationalist,
Rev. Dr. Hatfield, Methodist, and Rev. J. A. Worden, Presbyterian.
Without attempt at controversy or criticism each speaker named the
principles for which his branch of the Holy Catholic Church stood. There
was the most cordial feeling. Each listener believed as strongly as
before in his own denomination, but many felt a greater respect for the
other branches of the true vine. At the close all the congregation sang
together,
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love.
A new building took its place upon the grounds, and speedily became the
center of many activities. It was called "The Children's Temple," built
through the generous gift of President Lewis Miller, in the general plan
of his Sunday School Hall at Akron, Ohio, a central assembly room with
folding doors opening or closing a number of classrooms around it. For
many years it was the home of the Children's Class, under Rev. B. T.
Vincent and Frank Beard, which grew to an attendance of three hundred
daily. They wore badges of membership, passed examinations upon a
systematic course, and received diplomas. Soon an Intermediate
Department became necessary for those who had completed the children's
course, and this also grew into a large body of members and graduates.
[Illustration: The Chautauqua Book-Store]
A host of events on this great Chautauqua season of 1878 must be omitted
from this too long chapter in our story.