A NEW LEAF IN LUKE'S GOSPEL (1889-1892)
THE Assembly of 1889 opened on July 3d and continued fifty-five days, to
August 26th. Several new buildings had arisen since the last session.
One was the Anne M. Kellogg Memorial Hall, built by Mr. James H. Kellogg
of Rochester, New York, in honor of his mother. In it were rooms for
kindergarten, clay modeling, china painting, and a meeting place for the
Chautauqua W. C. T. U. It stood originally on the site of the present
Colonnade Building, the business block, and was moved to its present
location to make room for that building. Mr. Kellogg was an active
worker in the Sunday School movement and from the beginning a regular
visitor at Chautauqua. Another building of this year was the one
formerly known as the Administration Office, on Clark Avenue in front of
the book-store and the old Museum, now the Information Bureau and the
School of Expression. When the offices of the Institution were removed
to the Colonnade, the old Administration Building was given up to
business, and it is now known as a lunch-room. The School of Physical
Culture, under Dr. W. G. Anderson, had grown to such an extent that a
new gymnasium had become a necessity, and one had been erected on the
lake-front. In the newer part of the grounds many private cottages
arose, of more tasteful architecture than the older houses.
[Illustration: Chautauqua Woman's Club House]
[Illustration: Rustic Bridge]
A notable event of this season was the visit of former President
Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. Among the lecturers of 1889 we find the
name of Mr. Donald G. Mitchell, whose _Reveries of a Bachelor_ and
_Dream-Life_, published under the pseudonym of Ik Marvel, are recognized
classics in American literature. Other eminent men on the platform were
Professor Hjalmar H. Boyesen of Columbia University, Professor J. P.
Mahaffy of Dublin University, Dr. Lyman Abbott, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus,
Dr. Washington Gladden, Dr. John Henry Barrows, Professor Frederick
Starr, who could make anthropology interesting to those who had never
studied it, Professor Herbert B. Adams, and Corporal Tanner, the U. S.
Commissioner of Pensions, a veteran who walked on two cork legs, but was
able to stand up and give a heart-warming address to the old soldiers.
Dr. W. R. Harper, who was teaching in the School of Theology, gave a
course of lectures on the Hebrew prophets. Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, one of
the great preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, delivered a
sermon on one of the Sundays. The South sent us an able lecturer in
Richard Malcolm Johnson. The orator on Recognition Day, of the Class of
'89, was Dr. David Swing of Chicago, who spoke on "The Beautiful and the
Useful." Dr. Russell H. Conwell gave some lectures, abundant in their
illustrative stories.
I think that this was the year, but am not certain, when Dr. Conwell
preached one Sunday in the Amphitheater a sermon of remarkable
originality, listened to with the closest attention by his hearers,
because he kept them guessing as to his subject until he was more than
half-way through. He said in opening, "I will give my text at the end of
the sermon, if I don't forget it; but I will tell you my subject. I am
going to speak of a man whom our Lord called the Model Church Member."
We all began wondering who that man was, but nobody could recall him. He
said that this model man lived among the mountains, and spoke of the
influence of surroundings upon character; then that where he lived there
were two churches, one large, the other small, one aristocratic and
popular, the other of the lower classes, despised; and that this man
was a member of the church looked down upon; but these facts gave us no
hint as to the model man's identity. He puzzled us once more by saying
that this was a business man who had good credit, and we were still in
the fog;--when did Jesus ever talk about credit? Then he told in graphic
manner, making it seem as if it had happened the day before, the story
of the Good Samaritan, and the problem was solved. But he astonished us
again by saying, "There was one part of this story which for some reason
St. Luke left out of his gospel, and I am going to tell it now";--and of
course everybody was eager to hear a brand-new Bible story not found in
the Scriptures. He told that this man who had been robbed and beaten on
the Jericho road, after his recovery at the inn, went home to Jerusalem,
met his family, and then took his two boys up to the Temple to return
thanks for his restoration. The service in all its splendor was
described. One boy said, "Father, see that priest waving a censer! What
a good man he must be!" But the man said, "My boy, don't look at that
hypocrite! That is the very priest who left me to die beside the road!"
After a few minutes, the younger boy said, "See that Levite blowing a
trumpet! He looks like a good man, doesn't he?" And the father said,
"My boys, that is the very Levite that passed me by when I was lying
wounded! Let us go away from this place." And then one of the boys said,
"Let us find the church of the Good Samaritan, and worship there." And
Dr. Conwell added, "My text is, 'Go thou and do likewise!'" No one who
heard that sermon, so full of surprises, could ever forget it.
The elocutionary readers who entertained us during that season were
Professor Cumnock, A. P. Burbank, George Riddle, George W. Cable,
reading his own stories, and Mr. Leland Powers of Boston, with his
rendering of _David Copperfield_, several other stories, and a play or
two. Without the aid of costume or "making up," it was wonderful how he
could change facial expression, and voice, and manner instantaneously
with his successive characters. We saw Mr. Micawber transformed in an
instant into Uriah Heep. From 1889, Mr. Powers was a frequent visitor,
and his rendering of novels and plays enraptured the throngs in the
Amphitheater. For many seasons he was wont to appear on alternate years.
On Old First Night, when the call was made for those present on the
successive years, while the regulars stood up and remained standing as
each year was named, it was interesting to watch the down-sittings and
uprisings of Leland Powers. But we shall hear his voice no more, for
even while we are writing the news of his death comes to us.
In this year, 1889, the musical classes were organized as the Chautauqua
School of Music, with instructors in all departments. Inasmuch as all
people do not enjoy the sound of a piano, practicing all day scales and
exercises, a place was found in the rear of the grounds for a village of
small cottages, some might call them "huts," each housing a piano for
lessons and practice. I am told that forty-eight pianos may be heard
there all sending out music at once, and each a different tune.
The year 1889 brought another man to Chautauqua who was well-beloved and
will be long remembered, the pianist and teacher, William H. Sherwood,
who showed himself a true Chautauquan by his willing, helpful spirit, no
less than by his power on the piano. When death stilled those wondrous
fingers, Mr. Sherwood's memory was honored by the Sherwood Memorial
Studios, dedicated in 1912.
When we realize that Chautauqua is a city of frame-buildings, packed
closely together on narrow streets, in the early years having
exceedingly inadequate protection against fires, we almost wonder that
it has never been overswept by a conflagration. From time to time there
have been fires, most of them a benefit in clearing away old shacks of
the camp-meeting strata; and one took place on a night during the season
of 1889. It swept away a row of small houses along the southwestern
border of Miller Park, toward the Land of Palestine. Their site was kept
unoccupied, leaving a clear view of the lake, except on one corner where
a handsome building was erected, the Arcade. While the main entrance to
the grounds was at the Pier, this was a prosperous place of business,
but after the back door became the front door, through the coming of the
Chautauqua Traction Company, giving railroad connection with the outside
world, the business center of Chautauqua shifted to streets up the hill.
The year 1890 came, bringing the seventeenth session of the Assembly.
This was the year when the Presbyterian House was opened, and also the
C. L. S. C. building, erected by Flood and Vincent, for Mr. George E.
Vincent was now a partner with Dr. Flood in publishing _The Chautauquan
Magazine_ and the books of the C. L. S. C. Subsequently the business of
publication was assumed by the Institution, and the building has been
for many years the book-store, with rooms on the floor above for
classes in the School of Expression.
An announcement in the program of the College of Liberal Arts was that a
School of Journalism would be conducted by Hamilton Wright Mabie,
essayist, and one of the editors of _The Outlook_. Leon H. Vincent gave
another course of literary lectures. Dr. Henry L. Wayland of
Philadelphia was one of the speakers. John Habberton, author of the
"best seller" some years before, _Helen's Babies_, lectured, read,
joined the C. L. S. C. Class of 1894, and was made its President. Dr.
Francis E. Clark, father of the Christian Endeavor Society, came and was
greeted by a host of young Endeavorers. Dr. Alexander McKenzie of
Cambridge, Mass., preached a great sermon. Mr. Robert J. Burdette, at
that time an editor, but afterwards a famous Baptist preacher, gave one
of his wisely-witty lectures. The Hon. John Jay, worthy son of one of
New York's most distinguished families, gave an address. Dr. Fairbairn
of Oxford was again among us, with his deep lectures, yet clear as the
waters of Lake Tahoe. The orator on Recognition Day was Mrs. Alice
Freeman Palmer, whose term as President made Wellesley great. Mr. Thomas
Nelson Page gave readings from his own stories of southern life before
the Civil War. A young man appeared on the platform for the first time,
but not the last, who was destined to stand forth in a few years as one
of the foremost of Americans. This was Theodore Roosevelt, whose
lectures at Chautauqua were later expanded into the volumes on _The
Winning of the West_. Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, soldier and
historian, also gave lectures.
At the opening of the season in 1891, the members of the Chautauqua
Circle counted more than a hundred thousand. Nine classes had been
graduated, another large class was to receive its diplomas during that
summer, and there were three undergraduate classes each of nearly twenty
thousand members, with another class as large in prospect. Only a small
section of each class could be present at Chautauqua, the vast majority
of its members being far away, some in distant lands. But among those
who came to the Assembly, the social spirit was strong. They loved to
meet each other, held social reunions and business meetings constantly.
Each of the four oldest classes, from '82 to '85, had its own building
as headquarters, but all the later classes were homeless and in need of
homes. It was a great boon to these classes when at last, in 1891, the
C. L. S. C. Alumni Hall was completed and opened. Its eight class-rooms
were distributed by lot and furnished by the gifts of the members. As
new classes were organized year after year, they were welcomed by the
classes already occupying the rooms. It was not many years before each
room became the home of two classes, then after eight years more of
three classes, meeting on different days, but united in the general
reception on the evening before the Recognition Day. Beside the eight
class-rooms on the second floor of the Alumni Building there is a large
hall which is used before the Recognition Day by the graduating class,
and during the rest of the season by the new entering class. In 1916,
after the death of Miss Kate F. Kimball, Secretary of the C. L. S. C,
this hall was named "The Kimball Room." The Alumni Building with its
wide porches became at Chautauqua a social center for the members of the
Circle and many have been the friendships formed there. On this season
of 1891 the United Presbyterian House was opened.
The section of the Summer Schools formerly known as The Teachers'
Retreat, but now beginning to be called "The School of Pedagogy," was
this year (1891) under the direction of that master-teacher and
inspiring leader, Colonel Francis W. Parker of Chicago. He gave several
lectures on the principles of teaching, but many besides the teachers
listened to them with equal interest and profit. One of these lectures
was entitled, "The Artisan and the Artist"; the artisan representing
those in every vocation of life who do their work by rule; the artist,
those who pay little attention to regulations, but teach, or preach, or
design buildings, or paint pictures out of their hearts; and these are
the Pestalozzis, the Michael Angelos, the Beechers of their several
professions. We had a course of delightful essay-lectures in the Hall of
Philosophy by Miss Agnes Repplier. The Rabbi of the Temple Emanuel in
New York, Dr. Gustave Gottheil, gave some enlightening lectures upon the
principles of the Jewish faith. At that time a prominent Roman Catholic
priest, the Rev. Edward McGlynn, was in rebellion against the hierarchy
of his church, and maintaining a vigorous controversy in behalf of
religious freedom. He had been dismissed from one of the largest
churches in New York, and with voice and pen was denouncing the Pope,
Cardinals, and Bishops. Father McGlynn came to Chautauqua and delivered
a powerful address in the Amphitheater, pouring forth a torrent of
language, shot as from a rapid-firing cannon. While at Chautauqua he was
entertained at a dinner in one of the cottages with a number of invited
guests. From the moment of meeting at the table, he began to talk in his
forceful manner, never stopping to take breath. Dr. Buckley was present
and several times opened his mouth but found no chance to interject a
word, which was an unusual state of affairs for one who generally led
the conversation.
[Illustration: Post-Office Building]
[Illustration: The Business and Administration Building]
Another speaker who was heard with interest was Jacob A. Riis, with his
illustrated lecture on "How the Other Half Lives." Mr. Riis was only a
newspaper reporter, not occupying an editorial chair, but Theodore
Roosevelt spoke of him as "New York's most useful citizen." The cause of
woman suffrage and reform had a splendid showing this season, for
Frances E. Willard, Anna Howard Shaw, Susan B. Anthony, and Mary A.
Livermore, all spoke upon the Amphitheater platform. A visitor who made
many friends was Rev. Dr. Percival, headmaster of Rugby School. Julia
Ward Howe gave interesting reminiscences of Longfellow, Emerson, and
other literary lights whom she had known intimately. John Fiske, one of
America's greatest historians, gave a course of lectures on the
discovery and settlement of this continent. Another historian whom we
heard was John Bach McMaster, whose lectures were like a series of
dissolving views, picture succeeding picture, each showing the great
events and the great men of their period. In this year Dr. Horatio R.
Palmer assumed charge of the musical department, and for the first time
waved his baton before the great chorus in the Amphitheater gallery.
As everybody knows, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of
America was observed everywhere in 1892. Chautauqua commemorated it in
lectures on Columbus and his fellow-voyagers, and by a pageant
presenting scenes from the history. The Chautauqua class graduating that
year was named the Columbia Class, and as its members, several hundred
strong, marched in the procession, Chancellor Vincent was astonished to
see in the line his wife, wearing the graduating badge of cardinal
ribbon. She had read the course through four years and kept it a secret
from him, revealed for the first time at that Recognition service. The
address on that day was delivered by Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus on "The
Ideal of Culture."
Among the chief speakers in 1892 we find the names of two Presidents of
Cornell University, Dr. Andrew D. White and Dr. James G. Schurman; Dr.
J. Monro Gibson, a London pastor and one of the Board of Counsel of the
C. L. S. C. was with us; also Ballington Booth, Henry Watterson, the
journalist, and President Merrill E. Gates of Amherst College. At this
session also the Girls' Club was organized and conducted by Miss Mary H.
Mather of Wilmington, Del.
In the announcements of this year, the title of Chautauqua University
was allowed to lapse, and in place of it appeared "The Chautauqua System
of Education."