DEMOCRACY AND ARISTOCRACY AT CHAUTAUQUA (1881)
THE eighth session opened on Thursday, July 7th, and continued
forty-seven days to August 22d. A glance over the program shows that
among the lecturers of that year was Signor Alessandro Gavazzi, the
founder of the Free Italian Church, whose lectures, spiced with his
quaint accent, and emphasized by expressive shoulders, head, glance of
eye, held the interest of his auditors from the opening sentence to the
end. No verbal report, however accurate, can portray the charm of this
wonderful Italian. Professor W. D. McClintock of the University of
Chicago, gave a course on literature, analytic, critical, and
suggestive. Dr. William Hayes Ward, Dr. Daniel A. Goodsell, afterward a
Methodist Bishop, Professor Charles F. Richardson, Dr. Edward Everett
Hale, Dr. A. E. Dunning, Editor of _The Congregationalist_; General O.
O. Howard, who told war stories in a simple, charming manner; Dr.
Philip Schaff, one of the most learned yet most simple-hearted scholars
of the age; Dr. A. A. Willetts, with his many times repeated, yet always
welcome lecture on "Sunshine," were among the men whose voices filled
the Amphitheater during the season. The Fisk Jubilee Singers were with
us again and Signor Giuseppe Vitale made the birds sing through his
wonderful violin.
The success of the C. L. S. C., which was widening its area every month,
inspired Dr. Vincent to look for new fields to conquer. He established
this year the C. Y. F. R. U., initials standing for The Chautauqua Young
Folks Reading Union, which proposed to do for the boys and girls what
the Reading Circle was accomplishing for men and women. But it was found
after a few years of trial that the school-age seeks its own reading and
is not responsive to direction in literature on a vast scale, for the C.
Y. F. R. U. was not successful in winning the young readers.
Another scheme launched this year met with the same fate;--The
Chautauqua School of Theology. It was thought that many ministers who
had not received a theological education would avail themselves of an
opportunity to obtain it while in the pastorate. This was to be not a
course of reading, but of close study, under qualified instruction in
each department, with examinations, a diploma, and a degree. But it
required more thorough study and much larger fees than a mere course of
reading, and those who needed it most were often the poorest paid in
their profession. It did not receive the support needful for its
success, it had no endowment, and after an experiment extending through
a number of years, it was reluctantly abandoned. Some of us have
believed that if the Chautauqua Correspondence School of Theology could
have found friends to give it even a moderate endowment, it might have
supplied an education needed by a multitude of ministers.
[Illustration: Unitarian Headquarters]
[Illustration: Episcopal Chapel]
The Hotel Athenaeum was opened in 1881 and speedily filled with guests.
It aided in bringing to Chautauqua a new constituency and also spurred
the cottage boarding-houses to improve their accommodations and their
fare. From the beginning the waiters and other helpers at the Hotel, and
also in the cottages, have been mostly young people seeking to obtain
higher education, and paying their way at Chautauqua by service. I
remember one morning finding a Hebrew book on my breakfast table. One
meets unaccustomed things at Chautauqua, but I was quite sure the _menu_
was not in that language. I called the attention of the young man who
brought in the breakfast to the book. He told me that he was studying
Hebrew with Dr. Harper, and from time to time we had some conversation
concerning his college work. Twenty years afterward I met a prominent
Methodist minister at a Conference, who said to me, "Don't you remember
me, Dr. Hurlbut? I used to wait on your table at Chautauqua and we
talked together about Hebrew." That minister was a member of several
General Conferences and some years ago was made one of the Bishops in
his church.
Mrs. Ida B. Cole, the Executive Secretary of the C. L. S. C., is
responsible for the following: A woman once said, "Chautauqua cured me
of being a snob, for I found that my waitress was a senior in a college,
the chambermaid had specialized in Greek, the porter taught languages in
a high school, and the bell-boy, to whom I had been giving nickel tips,
was the son of a wealthy family in my own State who wanted a job to
prove his prowess."
There are a few, however, who do not take kindly to the democratic life
of Chautauqua. I was seated at one of the hotel tables with a well-known
clergyman from England, whose sermons of a highly spiritual type are
widely read in America; and I remarked:
"Perhaps it may interest you to know that all the waiters in this hotel
are college-students."
"What do you mean?" he said, "surely no college student would demean
himself by such a servile occupation! But it may be a lark, just for
fun."
"No," I answered, "they are men who are earning money to enable them to
go on with their college work, a common occurrence in summer hotels in
America."
Said this minister, "Well, I don't like it; and it would not be allowed
in my country. No man after it could hold up his head in an English
University or College. I don't enjoy being waited on by a man who
considers himself my social equal!"
Other eminent Englishmen did not agree with this clergyman. When I
mentioned this incident a year later to Principal Fairbairn of Oxford,
he expressed his hearty sympathy with the democracy shown at Chautauqua,
and said that whatever might be the ideas of class-distinction in
English colleges, they were unknown in Scotland, where some of the most
distinguished scholars rose from the humblest homes and regardless of
their poverty were respected and honored in their colleges.
Dr. Vincent, ever fertile in sentimental touches, added two features to
the usages of the C. L. S. C. One was the "Camp fire." In an open place
a great bonfire was prepared; all the members stood around in a circle,
clasping hands; the fire was kindled, and while the flames soared up and
lit the faces of the crowd, songs were sung and speeches were made. This
service was maintained annually until the ground at Chautauqua became
too closely occupied by cottages for a bonfire to be safe. It is
noteworthy that on the day after the camp fire, there was always a large
enrollment of members for the C. L. S. C. Of course, the camp fire was
introduced at other Assemblies, by this time becoming numerous, and it
attracted not only spectators, but students to the reading-course. At
our first camp fire in the Ottawa Assembly, Kansas, an old farmer from
the country rushed up to Dr. Milner, the President, and said:
"I don't know much about this ere circle you were talking about, but I'm
going to jine, and here's my fifty cents for membership and another for
my wife."
There were only twenty members around the fire that night, but on the
next day, there were forty or more on the registry at the Chautauqua
tent.
The camp fire died down after a number of years, but the Vigil, also
introduced in 1881, became a permanent institution. In the days of
chivalry, when a youth was to receive the honor of knighthood, he spent
his last night in the chapel of the castle, watching beside his armor,
to be worn for the first time on the following day. Dr. Vincent called
upon the members of the Pioneer class of the C. L. S. C., destined to
graduate on the following year, to meet him in the Hall of Philosophy
late on Sunday night, after the conclusion of the evening service. All
except members of the class were requested not to come. The hall was
dimly lighted, left almost in darkness. They sang a few songs from
memory, listened to a Psalm, and to an earnest, deeply religious
address, were led in prayer, and were dismissed, to go home in silence
through the empty avenues. After a few years the Vigil was changed from
a Sunday evening of the year before graduation to the Sunday immediately
preceding Recognition Day, for the reason that on the graduation year,
the attendance of any class is far greater than on the year before. The
Vigil is still one of the time-honored and highly appreciated services
of the season. Now, however, the Hall is no longer left in shadow, for
around it the Athenian Watch Fires lighten up St. Paul's Grove with
their flaring tongues. Generally more people are standing outside the
pillars of the Hall, watching the ceremonials, than are seated before
the platform, for none are permitted to enter except members of the
class about to graduate.
I am not sure whether it was in this year, 1881, or the following that
Dr. Vincent inaugurated the Society of Christian Ethics. This was not an
organization with a roll of membership, dues, and duties, but simply a
meeting on Sunday afternoon in the Children's Temple, at which an
address on character was given, in the first years by Dr. Vincent. It
was especially for young people of the 'teen age. No one was admitted
under the age of twelve or over that of twenty. The young people were
quite proud of having Dr. Vincent all to themselves, and strongly
resented the efforts of their elders to obtain admittance. No person of
adult years was allowed without a card signed by Dr. Vincent. These
addresses by the Founder, if they had been taken down and preserved,
would have formed a valuable book for young people on the building up of
true character. They were continued during the years of Dr. Vincent's
active association with Chautauqua and for some time afterward;
addresses being given by eminent men of the Chautauqua program. But very
few speakers could meet the needs of that adolescent age. By degrees
the attendance decreased and after some years the meeting gave place to
other interests.
The regular features of the season went on as in other years. The
schools were growing in students, in the number of instructors, and in
the breadth of their courses. The Sunday School Normal Department was
still prominent, and on August 17, 1881, one hundred and ninety diplomas
were conferred upon the adults, intermediates, and children who had
passed the examination.