=Ohio (Toledo).=—The Vincent local circle meets at the residences

of the members every two weeks regularly, and sometimes in special

meetings every week. Generally the questions in THE CHAUTAUQUAN are

asked, that being regarded as a good review of the studies taken,

but the answers go beyond those published with the questions. There

are frequently papers prepared and read on history or some part of

the course of study. Readings are found to be very interesting and

profitable. At one time, the same passage will be read by different

persons, and comparison made of their styles of reading; at another

time a story will be read, or sketch of history, or statement of

science, and all will recall as much as they can remember of what was

just read. At the meetings we usually sing the songs published in THE

CHAUTAUQUAN, and a brief prayer is offered, or all unite in repeating

the Lord’s Prayer. Conversation is free on all topics. Frequently the

roll is called and members respond to their names by quoting a sentence

from the author or literature then under consideration. Visitors

frequently meet with the circle and often take some part. Additional

members are received from time to time. Only one member has fallen out

by the way, while others have been saved from doing so by a faithful

urging of the motto, “Never be discouraged.” The three mottoes are

frequently repeated in concert. The Circle and THE CHAUTAUQUAN have

been a great blessing to many.

* * * * *

=Ohio (Wauseon).=—Our method of conducting our circle changes with

the presiding officer. Our president is also our instructor. In Greek

history chapters were given to certain members and they gave a brief

synopsis. This proved so interesting it was continued through geology.

We had the charts. We have about twenty members who are reading the

whole course, and about half as many more that take THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

* * * * *

=Ohio (Ravenna).=—Our circle numbers thirteen members, meeting weekly

at the homes of the members, and includes persons belonging to the

classes of ’82, ’84, ’85 and ’86. After opening exercises of short

Scripture reading and prayer, we have a review of the week’s reading.

In geology this review was conducted by means of questions given to

each member the week previous. These questions were numbered, covering

the reading in regular order. No. 1 was read and answered by its

holder, then No. 2, and so on. Generally, however, all read the lesson

assigned, and it is divided into thirteen parts, longer or shorter,

according to the subject; one part is then given to each member, and it

is his duty to report that part to the circle, expressing the thoughts

in his own language. In this way the entire lesson is reviewed, and

each one has had a share in it. After this we discuss the current

events of the week, each person reporting something that has interested

him. Then mispronounced words are reported by any member, and we

try to have about three biographical sketches (limited to three or

four minutes each) of persons whose names have been mentioned in the

reading. To many this may seem a long program, but we are prompt in

reciting and have no side issues, and our sessions are usually only an

hour and a half long, except on “memorial days,” when we extend time

to two hours. Questions may be asked at any time, usually asked in a

general way, so that the one speaking may not be embarrassed.

* * * * *

=Ohio (Felicity).=—The Pleiades C. L. S. C., now in its fourth year,

still continues to thrive with unabated interest and zeal. Though we

can not record entertainments and lectures, of which some of our more

fortunate “local” sisters boast, yet we manage to derive a great deal

of benefit and pleasure as we trudge along, and our “circle day,” as

we call one Saturday in every three, the one on which our little band

meets, is as refreshing and invigorating to us as the oasis to the

traveler in the far east.

* * * * *

=Indiana (Baker’s Corners).=—December 11, 1882, a local circle was

organized here, known as the “Jolly Toilers Local Circle.” The regular

meetings are to be held every two weeks. Exercises to consist of

recitations, essays, songs, &c.

* * * * *

=Indiana (Pendleton).=—On the evening of December 28, 1881, thirteen

ladies and gentlemen met for the purpose of organizing a local circle.

Although two months behind in our studies, there was a general spirit

of encouragement. This year the class is composed of fourteen members,

and a great deal of enthusiasm and interest is manifested. We meet

every Monday evening, and in this way bring nearly all our studies into

the circle meetings. We follow the outline of study as laid out in

THE CHAUTAUQUAN. The president appoints two teachers for two months’

reading, and they conduct the recitations by the Socratic method.

* * * * *

=Indiana (Danville).=—The C. L. S. C. is composed of twenty-seven

members. The circle meets the first and third Friday evenings of each

month; at present at the homes of the members, though we expect in

the near future to secure a C. L. S. C. hall, or regular place of

meeting, this becoming necessary on account of the increase in number

of members and visitors; the latter, we notice, most generally becoming

the former. We are happy in having as one of our number Prof. Joseph

Tingley, well known among the Chautauqua Assembly workers, also several

professors of science and history from our normal school, ministers,

teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc. We are not without young people, and

those more advanced in years, who never had the advantage of much “book

learning,” all adding what we can to the interest of the meetings, and

all gaining much therefrom. Subjects are assigned at one session and

brought up at the next. An author is also selected, from whose writings

quotations are given at roll-call. The question box, and critic’s

report, are important features of the evening.

* * * * *

=Indiana (Terre Haute).=—The C. L. S. C. of Terre Haute, Ind., has

been organized about three years. As a local circle it is doing good

work. Between twenty-five and thirty are taking THE CHAUTAUQUAN and

the books. Of this number sixteen are active members of the circle,

but only four are members of the general circle. At times we have met

at the homes of the members, but this year we meet at the church every

two weeks, on Friday evenings, spending an hour and one-half. Sometimes

we assign the work individually, and at other times we have general

recitations on all; this depends on the character of the lesson. We

devote the whole time to the lesson, except the opening exercises,

secretary’s and critic’s reports.

* * * * *

=Illinois (Lacon).=—We have a flourishing circle of twenty-two regular

and seven local members, organized in February.

* * * * *

=Illinois (Aurora).=—An interesting class of sixteen ladies, ten of

whom are regular members of the C. L. S. C., the ages ranging from

nineteen to sixty-three, has been organized in Aurora, Illinois. Prof.

Wilber, ex-State Geologist of Illinois, gives the class the benefit of

his large and choice collection of specimens.

* * * * *

=Wisconsin (Milwaukee.)=—The course of study this year has been most

delightful, especially enjoyable were those fascinating books by Prof.

Wilkinson and Bishop Warren. The East Side local circle devoted one

evening to star-gazing from the Signal Service station, aided by a

telescope, sailor’s glass and several opera glasses.

* * * * *

=Minnesota (St. Paul).=—Our local circle numbers sixteen members,

twelve of them regular members. We take the lessons as given in THE

CHAUTAUQUAN, sometimes using the questions given there, at others

asking questions from the book. Occasionally we have essays by

different members, on subjects selected by our president. Four of our

members complete the course this year.

* * * * *

=Minnesota (Rochester).=—In October last a class was formed in this

place, composed of twelve married ladies. There were misgivings on

the part of some of the number, lest on account of a multitude of

home and other duties, they might not be able to accomplish what they

were undertaking in as thorough and satisfactory a manner as they

wished. For that reason only about half of the number became regular

members of the C. L. S. C., although all are equally interested in the

course. Our meetings are held semi-monthly, in the afternoon, at the

residences of the members. We carry out the plan of study suggested

in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, appointing ladies to take charge of the different

subjects, making the recitations conversational, as far as may be.

Short essays upon the different characters studied in history are

frequently given, and these, with now and then one of our games or

songs, furnish abundant variety. The interest seems to increase, rather

than diminish, and we are persuaded better things of ourselves than we

had dared to hope.

* * * * *

=Minnesota (Mantorville).=—A local circle was organized here September

26, 1882. All are glad that they began such a course of study. We have

twelve members, with a promise of accessions next year.

* * * * *

=Iowa (Fonda).=—On Tuesday evening, March 20, 1883, we organized a

local circle of the C. L. S. C. It is composed of eight members of

Class of 1886; others are expected to unite with us. The members all

pronounce our meetings a success. Our lessons have been Greek history,

using questions in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and thoroughly arguing all points

brought out by them. Much good is being accomplished by this circle,

and others in our midst are anxious to join us.

* * * * *

=Iowa (Boone).=—We have heretofore had no local circle in Boone, as

the triangle, who have been the only Chautauquans, have pursued their

studies alone. They will graduate this year and have concluded that

it is “too good to keep,” so they have organized a local circle of

ten young people, who meet every Saturday evening at the home of the

leader. We have had six very interesting meetings, and we hope the

welfare of the circle is assured. Our leaders have been teachers for

many years, and they vary the exercises to our needs, so that, although

we are behind in our studies by commencing late, we are making up the

work fast, and hope to belong to the Class of ’86.

* * * * *

=Kansas (Osage City).=—Our circle was organized last October with

twelve members, who were the teachers of the public schools. Soon

afterward five more were added, and several local members. We meet

every Friday evening at our respective homes. We open the meeting with

roll call, which is responded to by a quotation from each member. We

then have the different branches, conducted by a leader or teacher,

appointed the preceding meeting—a social class, where discussions,

expression of opinions, as well as questions are in order. We have

enjoyed all the reading and meetings. We have enjoyed all the reading

and meetings, and they have proved most profitable and interesting.

* * * * *

=Utah (Salt Lake City).=—We have organized a Chautauqua Literary and

Scientific Circle in our city, with a membership of twelve.

* * * * *

=California (Sacramento).=—The only local circle in our city, the

beautiful capital of the State, is the Sacramento Circle, numbering

thirty-four members, principally ladies. This is our third year, and

our interest is still increasing. We meet every Monday evening at the

home of some member, and twenty is our average attendance. Contrary

to the expectation of some, we all found the “Preparatory Greek

Course” wonderfully interesting. Packard’s “Geology,” illustrated by

the charts, aroused our enthusiasm on that subject, while Warren’s

“Astronomy” has given us fresh zeal in the glorious study of the

heavens. Our method for work is as follows: Committees are appointed

to arrange questions on each study. These are numbered and distributed

at one meeting, and, with their answers, are read at the next, then

placed in the hands of another member, who prepares a paper from them,

with such additional data as may be obtained from other sources. This

third reading is to the students a final review of the subject, and

is particularly profitable to the compiler. Sixteen papers have been

read before the circle since October last. Oral exercises consist of

readings from THE CHAUTAUQUAN, the poetic quotations, and unusually

fine passages which frequently occur in our studies. To the text-books

we endeavor to give due attention, memorizing as much as possible. A

critic appointed for each month, reports all errors in pronunciation

at the close of the evening, and there is usually some time for

conversational discussion. Our only public entertainment, as yet, this

year, was a highly interesting and instructive lecture on “The History

of a Dead World,” by Prof. H. B. Norton, of the State Normal School,

San Jose, California. The lecture was a study and illustration of those

phenomena which seem to teach the nebular hypothesis of creation. All

the successive phases of development, including the nebulæ, stars and

sun, planets, and finally the moon, the “dead world,” were illustrated

and described. The lecturer’s novel description of a “lunar day” was

such as to charm the large audience present, and he closed with an

appropriate recitation, “A Flight Through Space,” by Jean Paul Richter.

Having just completed the astronomy, the illustrations, and explicit

information given throughout the lecture, were doubly appreciated. The

C. L. S. C. has also been brought into prominence here by two recent

lectures by Rev. H. H. Rice, on “Books and Reading,” with special

reference to the Chautauqua course.

* * * * *

=Sandwich Islands (Honolulu).=—We wish to express the very great

pleasure and profit with which we have perused the Chautauqua studies

during our last missionary voyage. It seems to have been the very thing

necessary to fill some of the spare hours at sea with pleasure and

profit. We call ourselves “The Floating Circle,” and are often joined

by our missionary passengers. We desire to continue these interesting

and instructive readings. Miss Jennie Fletcher, at the Island of

Ponape, in the Caroline Group, is a missionary of the A. B. C. F. M.

She desires to commence the studies for 1883, and to prosecute the

four years’ course, promising to give the required hours of study, and

expecting to give even more time to it.

* * * * *

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts; and thus those who, after

having made the sketch, still add to it, make a picture instead of a

portrait.—_Pascal._

LOCAL CIRCLE LECTURES.

=Ohio (Cincinnati).=—Through the courtesy of the C. L. S. C. of Grace

M. P. Church, the fourth lecture of the third course of free lectures,

given by the Cincinnati circle, was delivered at that church on March

29. The lecture was by Col. John A. Johnson, a member of the Class of

’85. His theme was “English Literature,” and the lecture was replete

with apt quotations from the masters of our language. In the course

of his remarks the lecturer recalled the old plan to free Ireland.

After drawing a vivid word-picture of the condition of Ireland in the

early centuries—the “Island of the Saints”—a country of colleges and

learning, sending the first missionaries to convert the Britons in its

sister island—he added:

“Would Ireland know the solution of her vexed question? Then let

history repeat itself; and instead of the torch of the incendiary,

or the knife of the assassin, let the Irish tenantry take in their

hands, as did their ancestors thirteen hundred years ago, the Bible

of the blessed Savior, and convert again the English land-owners to

the doctrines of him who taught, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should

do to you, do ye even so to them.’ They have tried sullen submission,

careless indifference, crafty counsels, and armed rebellion, none of

which have been successful. Now let them try Christian forbearance and

fortitude. Let once the fires of a pure and enlightened Christianity

burn on the altars of Ireland’s homes, and the God who watched over

the destiny of ancient Israel when in bondage, will in his own good

time speak as he did then, saying: ‘Let my people go.’” The lecture,

which occupied nearly an hour in its delivery, closed with these words:

“The edifice whose building we have watched is not yet completed, and

the work is still going on. We have not looked into the interior but

have only glanced hastily at the outside. We have not commemorated the

army of faithful workmen; we have not even named all of the master

builders. Our object has been suggestive, rather than descriptive,

and instructive rather than amusing, and we may not have proved even

interesting, but our chief desire has been to so present the subject

as to awaken within the breasts of some a desire to know more of that

literature of which the world is justly proud.”

* * * * *

=Maryland (Cambridge).=—At a recent meeting of the “Bird’s Nest

Circle,” in Cambridge, Maryland, an enthusiastic address was given

by one of the members, Mr. R. Christie, a gentleman seventy-four

years of age. We copy extracts from it. It has the ring of a genuine

Chautauquan—a man whose heart remains young though his head be gray:

“If I were a poet whose ‘hallowed lips were touched with fire,’ I

would sing the praises of the C. L. S. C. As it is I can only very

briefly speak a few prosy words in its favor. The C. L. S. C. is by

many regarded as the grandest conception and its establishment the

greatest achievement of the Nineteenth century. However this may be,

it is unquestionably the largest university in the world; for in what

other institution of learning do we find forty thousand students, or

two thousand circles with twenty members each pursuing voluntarily,

eagerly and persistently the same studies, the same _curriculum_. As

members of this great school we may without the imputation of egotism

be allowed to speak of a course of studies by which we have already

been enlightened and benefited, and of which, but for the fertile

brain of Dr. Vincent we, some of us at least, would have remained in

profound ignorance. * * * But thanks to Chautauqua the watch-fires of

forty thousand sentinels are burning, the world moves and the giant

Prometheus is unchained. Let no cry of superficiality from Jack Butlers

or Dolly Vardens deter us from pursuing the even tenor of our way. Let

us then as true Chautauquans go on our way rejoicing.”

[_Not Required._]

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

FIFTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON CHAUTAUQUA TEXT BOOK, NO. 34, ASIATIC

HISTORY—CHINA, COREA, JAPAN.

By ALBERT M. MARTIN, GENERAL SECRETARY C. L. S. C.

1. Q. What is one of the important particulars in which China is unlike

Africa, or aboriginal America, or even India? A. It is not a collection

of diverse tribes or races, but is one great nation.

2. Q. What is the basis and conserver of Chinese civilization? A.

Filial piety.

3. Q. What is China’s heritage from Confucius, her greatest sage? A. An

arrested development and stunted civilization, low morals, not higher

than Proverbs, but loftier than Franklin’s, yet vastly below the Sermon

on the Mount.

4. Q. What does the Chinese Empire comprise? A. One-third of the Asian

continent, and one-ninth of the dry land of the globe.

5. Q. What are the comparative areas of the five great landed

governments of the world? A. China in area ranks third; the British and

Russian exceeding, and the United States and Brazil falling short.

6. Q. What are the boundaries of China? A. On the north, the Altai

Mountains and the Amoor River; on the east, Usuri and Yalu rivers, and

the Yellow, Eastern and China seas; on the south, Annam, Burmah and

the Himalaya Mountains; and on the west, Siberia, Turkestan and the

Himalayas.

7. Q. What is the area and what the population of China proper? A. It

is two million square miles in area, and has over four hundred millions

of people, the most densely populated country in the world.

8. Q. What are the three great rivers of China? A. Ho-ang, Yang-tse,

and Hang, or Se-King.

9. Q. What are three great divisions of China? A. Manchuria, Mongolia

and Ili, or Eastern Turkestan.

10. Q. What is Tibet? A. It is the highest plateau in the world,

surrounded by mountains, snows and glaciers, which are the cradles of

the mighty rivers that irrigate India, Turkestan, Burmah and China.

11. Q. Into what three periods is the history of China divided? A. The

legendary period, from 2356 to 1122 B. C.; the semi-historical, from

1122 to 770 B. C.; and the historic, from 770 B. C. to 1883 A. D.

12. Q. What are some of the things the Chinese had from very ancient

times and for centuries alone? A. Tea, silk, paper, printing, the

magnetic needle and gunpowder.

13. Q. At whose reign does Confucius begin his history? A. The reign of

Tao, 2356 B. C., the beginning of the legendary period, when the golden

age was ushered in.

14. Q. With the commencement of the semi-historical period, 1122 B.

C., what system was begun for the government of China by Wu-Wang, the

founder of the Chow dynasty? A. The feudal system under which China was

governed for over nine hundred years.

15. Q. When was Confucius born? A. 551 B. C.

16. Q. What are the names of China’s three greatest sages, and how near

to one another did they flourish? A. Lao Tsze, Confucius and Mencius.

They flourished within about a century or two of one another, at about

the time of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon.

17. Q. Of what did the primeval religion as taught by Confucius

consist? A. Of the double worship of God and of ancestors.

18. Q. What is said of the writings of Confucius? A. They influence

one-third of the human race, and are the basis of the Chinese social,

political, moral and educational systems, and form the national Bible.

19. Q. Name three great conquerors who, with their empires, flourished

during the Chow dynasty. A. Cyrus, Darius Hystaspes, and Alexander.

20. Q. In the following, or Tsin dynasty, what was done by Prince Cheng

who took the title of first Universal Emperor? A. He abolished the

feudal system, drove back the Hun Tatar hordes into the desert, built

the great wall, and extended the empire to the limits of modern China.

21. Q. What colony entered China and settled in Honan province during

the Han dynasties, between B. C. 209 and 190 A. D? A. A colony of Jews.

22. Q. About what time was the system of competitive examination

of candidates for office founded, and civil service reform made an

accomplished fact in China? A. About the commencement of the Christian

era.

23. Q. When was Buddhism introduced into China? A. In A. D. 68.

24. Q. What great dynasty began its course in 618 and lasted until 905

A. D? A. The great Tang dynasty.

25. Q. During the Tang dynasty what forms of religion were introduced

into China? A. A Nestorian Christianity flourished in a limited number

of places during two centuries, until extirpated by persecution.

Mohammedanism took root, and mosques were built in various cities.

26. Q. Under what emperor did China reach the acme of its glory? A.

Under Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.

27. Q. What has been one of the worst results of foreign intercourse

with China? A. The introduction of opium, which began at the opening of

this century.

28. Q. From what province have nearly all the Chinese in Australia,

the East Indias and the United States come? A. The one province of

Kwang-Tung, in which Canton is situated. Most of them are natives of a

district not larger than Connecticut.

29. Q. About how many Christians are there now in China? A. There are

now about 16,000 protestant church members, and a following in all of

about 25,000 nominal Christians.

30. Q. At the rate of increase in the number of Christians since 1840

when will China be a Christian nation? A. During the next century.

31. Q. Into how many periods may Corean history be divided? A.

Four.—Era of old chosen, era of the three kingdoms, united Corea, and

modern chosen.

32. Q. What is said of the character of the early history of Corea

possessed by the natives? A. It is of a confused and untrustworthy

character down to the Han dynasty, 206 B. C., and until after the

Christian era is drawn almost wholly from Chinese sources.

33. Q. During ten centuries after the opening of the Christian era what

chiefly is the history of the three States which the independent tribes

of the peninsula form? A. It is chiefly that of border wars, with

alternating invasions or succor from China and Japan.

34. Q. What is said of the Corean alphabet? A. In the seventh century

a Shinra statesman invented the Corean alphabet of fourteen consonants

and eleven vowels, classified according to the organs of speech, and

perhaps the most perfect in the world, which greatly promoted the

spread of native literature.

35. Q. How was political unity first given to the peninsula in 960 A.

D? A. Wu-Wang, of noble blood, arose out of Korai, and by talent and

arms extinguished the rival states, and proclaimed united Corea under

the name of Korai, fixing his capital at Sunto, a little north of the

present capital.

36. Q. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to whom was Corea

subject? A. To the Mongols.

37. Q. What occurred in 1392, on the fall of the Mongols and the rise

of the Ming dynasty in China? A. A revolution in Corea overthrew the

reigning family, when the present line of rulers and order of things

were established.

38. Q. What were some of the provisions made to carry out the national

policy of Corea, that of isolation? A. A coast guard along the sea to

patrol by day and kindle signal fires at night, a line of pickets and

custom-houses on the frontier, with a neutral strip of land unoccupied

and devastated, seventeen leagues wide on the Manchurian side, and ten

miles in width along the Tumen river.

39. Q. What was the result of a treaty of peace and commerce entered

into in 1876 by the Japanese commander Kuroda with the Coreans? A.

The ports of Fusan and Gensen on the east coast have been opened to

Japanese trade.

40. Q. What field of missionary effort will Corea soon be? A. One of

the missionary fields of reformed Christianity.

41. Q. What does the empire of Japan comprise? A. Four large islands,

various outlying groups, and about 3,800 islets.

42. Q. What are the three imperial cities of Japan? A. Tokio, Kioto,

and Ozaka.

43. Q. What is the state of things first revealed by the light of

written history in Japan? A. The central and southwestern parts are

inhabited by an agricultural people dwelling in villages, and governed

by chiefs, under a rude species of feudalism. In the central region of

Yamato, around Kioto, these communities are in allegiance to the royal

family of the mikado.

44. Q. What radical change in government was made in 603? A. Simple

feudalism was exchanged for centralized monarchy with boards of

government.

45. Q. For five centuries, from the seventh to the twelfth, how may the

political history of Japan be written? A. In the rise and rivalries of

the Fujiwara, Taira, and Ninamoto families, all of them sprung from

scions of imperial blood. The mikados were little more than puppets.

46. Q. In 1192 what office was created, which existed with intervals

until 1868? A. The military ruler called Shogun, known to foreigners as

Tycoon.

47. Q. What are the names of three of the greatest men in Japanese

history? A. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Iyeyasu.

48. Q. For more than two centuries previous to 1868 what laws prevailed

in Japan which made it a hermit nation? A. Japanese were forbidden to

leave the country, boats had to be built on an unseaworthy model, and

all foreigners, with a few exceptions, were banished.

49. Q. What have the recent revolutions in Japan effected? A. A

profound change in the national policy toward foreigners; the

restoration of the ancient centralized imperialism; and the abolition

of the feudal system.

50. Q. When did protestant Christianity, founded upon the Bible and the

preaching of Christ crucified, begin in Japan, and with what results

has it been attended? A. It began in 1859, and in 1881 there were about

seventy churches and over four thousand members in Japan.

* * * * *

THE Summer Assembly of the Pacific branch of the C. L. S. C. will open

on the evening of July 4, and continue nine days. This Assembly is

held annually at Pacific Grove, two miles from the old historic town

of Monterey, California. A very large attendance is expected, and all

members of the C. L. S. C. are urgently invited to come to the richest

intellectual feast yet spread for them at this western C. L. S. C.

table. An able corps of lecturers and instructors has been secured for

the session, and the exercises of the first graduating class of the

Pacific Branch, which occur on Friday, July 13, will be the crowning

feature of this Assembly. All members of this branch who hope to

attend, will do well to notify the secretary, Miss M. E. Norton, and

also J. O. Johnson, the manager of Pacific Grove, in time to secure

good accommodations. The Assembly circular will soon be forwarded to

all members of this branch.

OUTLINE OF C. L. S. C. STUDIES.

JUNE.

For the month of June the required C. L. S. C. reading is Chautauqua

Text-Book, No. 34, Asiatic History, by Rev. William Elliot Griffis,

and the designated parts of THE CHAUTAUQUAN. The division according to

weeks is as follows:

FIRST WEEK (ending June 8)—1. Chautauqua Text-Book, No. 34, Asiatic

History—preface and introduction—to page 19, inclusive.

2. History of Russia, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday readings, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, selection for June 3.

SECOND WEEK (ending June 16)—1. Chautauqua Text-Book, No. 34, Asiatic

History—China—from page 21 to page 50, inclusive.

2. Readings from the literature of China, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday readings, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, selection for June 10.

THIRD WEEK (ending June 23)—1. Chautauqua Text-Book, No. 34, Asiatic

History—Corea—from page 52 to page 62, inclusive.

2. History and Literature of Scandinavia, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Pictures from English History, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

4. Sunday Readings, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, selection for June 17.

FOURTH WEEK (ending June 30)—1. Chautauqua Text-Book, No. 34, Asiatic

History—Japan—from page 63 to page 87, inclusive.

2. Readings from the literature of Japan, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday readings, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, selection for June 24.

C. L. S. C. READINGS FOR 1883-84.

HISTORY.

Readings in Roman, French, German, and American history in THE

CHAUTAUQUAN.

History of Greece, by Timayenis, volume two, parts seventh, eighth,

tenth, eleventh. (Students of the Class of 1887, not having read volume

one of Timayenis’ History of Greece, will not be required to read

volume two, but will take “Chapters from Greek History,” instead of

volumes one and two of Timayenis.)

Stories in English history, by the great historians, edited by C. E.

Bishop, Esq.

Chautauqua Text-books, No. 16, “Roman History;” No. 21, “American

History.”

LITERATURE.

Preparatory Latin Course in English, by Dr. Wilkinson.

“English Literature,” Chautauqua Text-book, No. 22, by Prof. J. H.

Gilmore.

Primer of American Literature, by Richardson.

SCIENCE.

How to Get Strong, and How to Stay So, by W. Blaikie.

Readings in Botany, by Dr. J. H. Wythe.

Chautauqua Text-book, No. 22, “Biology.”

Readings in Physical Science, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

RELIGION.

Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation, by Rev. J. B. Walker.

Sunday Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, selected by Dr. Vincent.

Chautauqua Text-books, No. 18, “Christian Evidences;” No. 39,

“Sunday-school Normal Class Work.”

GENERAL.

Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN about the Arts, Artists, and their

Master-pieces; about Commercial Law and Political Economy.

ARDOR OF MIND.

By JAMES KERR, M.A.

Intense ardor in the pursuit of its object seems to be one of the

leading characteristics of genius. This quality of the mind, this

enthusiasm, impels to persevering study, to sustained application and

constant effort.

In most men of genius it is found that they are fully engrossed with

the subject, and, as it were, possessed by it, while it is before the

mind. When they have anything important in hand, they are so absorbed

in that one thing that it occupies all their thoughts. They can not

attend to less important matters, and every inferior object withers in

its presence.

The perfection of any literary work seems to arise in a great degree

from the author having deeply meditated on the subject, brooding

over it with unremitting attention, allowing no other thoughts to

intrude, until it stands before his imagination a picture complete in

every part. When this is done, he can sit down and commit it to paper

off-hand.

Such was the case with the poet Burns. Intense meditation, deep

all-absorbing thought, seems first to have moulded the subject in his

mind, and then, when that was done, he could write it down rapidly. We

have minute details of the moments when he composed two of his most

celebrated pieces—“Bruce’s Address” to his soldiers, and “Mary in

Heaven.” On both occasions he was so rapt in thought, and so possessed

by the subject, as to be unconscious of what was passing around him.

It is said of Sir Walter Scott that, after choosing a subject on which

to write, he carefully brooded over it, until the outline of the story

had taken a distinct shape before his imagination. After being thus

moulded in his mind, he would seize the pen and throw off page after

page with amazing rapidity.

This also seems to have been the case with Mozart, the great musical

composer. When engaged in one of his compositions he would meditate on

the subject with intense ardor, until it stood before him complete in

all its parts, and then he would write it down easily in the midst of

company, and when people were conversing and laughing around him.

We have an instance of this characteristic of genius in Rousseau. Every

study he took up he pursued with intense ardor. A friend shows him how

to play at chess. He suddenly becomes wholly engrossed by it, shuts

himself up in his room, and spends days and nights in studying all the

varieties of the game. The same ardor and intense application he threw

into everything he undertook. He brought it to bear on his botanical

studies, his musical compositions, and his literary pursuits. He tells

us that he composed the greater part of some of his works in bed, in

the hours of the night when sleep deserted him. “I meditated,” says

he, “in my bed with my eyes closed, and in my mind turned over and

over again my periods with incredible labor and care. The moment they

were finished to my satisfaction I deposited them in my memory until I

had an opportunity of committing them to paper.” Such was his ardor in

pursuit of knowledge that he used always to carry books about with him,

and while at work in the garden he was constantly conning pieces over

and getting them by heart.

This ardor, this intense application to the subject in hand, which is

characteristic of men of genius, may account for their liability to

what is called absence of mind. They are notoriously subject to this

infirmity. Hence it is that a Sir Isaac Newton, lost in thought, sits

still while his boot is burning before the fire, and after a while

calls in the servant remove the fire, instead of himself removing his

foot. Hence it is that an Adam Smith, absorbed in his own thoughts,

sallies forth in his dressing-gown, and walks miles and miles into the

country, unconscious of his strange attire and of the ridiculous figure

he cuts. This is called absence of mind, but it implies great activity

of mind.

Some writers there are who can shift lightly from one subject to

another, attending to various studies at various hours of the day.

There are such men, and men too of no mean capacity, though not, it

would seem, of the most ardent genius. Macaulay somewhere speaks

of Southey as having an aptitude for applying his mind to several

subjects in succession—a piece of poetry in the morning, history in the

forenoon, a review in the evening. He confesses that for himself he

had no such power. Whatever he took up he must apply his whole mind to

until he finished it. That one subject was for the time all-absorbing;

and who knows but to this he may have owed much of his success as a

brilliant writer!

THE SONG OF THE ROBIN.

By MISS A. M. STARKWEATHER.

_A poem for the children._

A robin to her young ones said,

As she flew home with food:

“You look so cunning in your bed—

You are a handsome brood.

“But I must teach you how to fly,

You darling little elves;

I think you’re old enough to try

To look out for yourselves.

“Now _you_ must hunt for worms and flies,

You’re getting fat and lazy,

For food and drink, your constant cries,

Just drive me nearly crazy.

“Now I will take you, one by one,

And you shall each know how;

Red Robbie, you’re my eldest son,

Come down upon this bough.

“Now hop out on the edge, my dear,

Of this your pretty nest,

And spread your wings, and fly right here,

Just so; now do your best.”

“Peep! peep! don’t make us go alone;

We are not big enough,

Our bodies are not fully grown,

Our feathers yet are rough.

“_You_ get our food; we can _not_ fly—

’T would hardly keep you busy.

Peep! peep! oh! oh! it is so high

I’m almost getting dizzy.”

“Come, robbie dear (chirp, etc.), come right along,

Spread out your little wings;

Chirp! Chirp! I’ll cheer you with my song,

Come while your mother sings” (chirp, etc.).

He spread his wings, and found that he

Could fly like any bird,

And all around, from tree to tree,

His joyous notes were heard.

_Bird Song._

“O, what a great big world to roam!”

Said Rob; “I’m glad I’m in it.

I wonder how they do at home:

I’ll just run round a minute.

“You babies, if you’d only try,

You’d leave that horrid nest;

But I can’t mope here, so good-bye,

I’m going way out west!”

WITH AGASSIZ AT PENIKESE.

By PROF. J. TINGLEY, PH. D.

Ten years ago the lamented Agassiz undertook the establishment of a

summer school, at the seaside, for the benefit of teachers of natural

history. There was first prominently inaugurated the system of summer

instruction which has since been successfully practiced at Chautauqua

and elsewhere, in other branches of knowledge, and which seems annually

to be growing in popular favor. For this reason it has been thought

that a brief account of the life and work at Penikese would be welcome

to the readers of THE CHAUTAUQUAN. A volume might be written without

exhausting all the points of interest connected with the story.

The lectures daily delivered for seven weeks to the students there

assembled would themselves fill many volumes. Our sketch, therefore,

must of necessity be imperfect, affording glimpses only of that time

so full of activity, delightful study, novel impressions, and golden

promise. As far as possible, it shall be representative, and afford

a clear conception in outline of what was designed and accomplished.

Prof. Agassiz, being the master spirit—the soul of the enterprise—must

be, of course, the central figure in the foreground of our picture.

What a delightful summer it was! Undimmed by any presentiment of the

shadow which, so soon after, was cast upon its memories, the picture

of Penikese, its active life, its cheerful surroundings, its brilliant

designs for the future, was a picture of energy, enthusiasm, and hope.

The summer was one of bright, unclouded skies, the air laden with

delicious perfume of the bay-berry bushes, the breezes full of health

and joy. Thousands of sea gulls with silver plumage circled through

the air, with unceasing flight and tireless wing, uttering notes of

encouragement to their young, and shrill notes of warning to intruders,

adding intensity to the atmosphere of activity prevailing. Even the

sea gave complacent and hospitable welcome to the great naturalist and

his followers who had come to search for her treasures. In the gentle

plashing of the waves upon the sunny shores, there was a murmuring

of content, soothing and grateful. Separated entirely, for the time,

from the busy world, wholly absorbed and happy in their favorite

study, under such auspicious circumstances, and with such glorious

companionship and guidance, the active throng would scarce have asked

for any happier lot.

The memories which crowd upon them now are so rich in incident, new

ideas, widened conceptions, affectionate fellowship, all now hallowed

by the event which brought the enterprise to its close, that with many

it will ever remain as the greenest spot of their earthly life. For

though as one of the pupil-teachers has expressed it, “The buildings

and appliances were but half finished, even at the close of the

term—_we yet had Agassiz_. He was present at the head of the table

at every meal, he was present at every lecture or exercise, at every

meeting of the students’ ‘clubs,’ and when not lecturing, was intently

following, and ready to supplement any lack of information in any

discussion by professors or students.” He himself said: “I have given

myself up to the task with all the energy of which I am capable.”

The idea of establishing a summer school at the seaside for the benefit

of teachers of natural history originated with Prof. N. S. Shaler, then

a teacher of natural history in Harvard College. He communicated his

thought to Prof. Agassiz, and together they attempted to organize such

an institution, selecting Nantucket as the best location, on account

of its facilities, and the moderate expense of living there. About

that time Prof. Shaler received the appointment of State Geologist of

Kentucky. Partly on account of his health and partly to prepare for

his new work he went to Europe, leaving to Prof. Agassiz the entire

care and management of the new enterprise. He entered enthusiastically

upon the work; secured suitable and comfortable accommodations for a

class of fifty—the full number desired—with the proper arrangements for

lectures and laboratory work, boats and other conveniences. He also

secured the gratuitous services of twenty naturalists as lecturers

and demonstrators; some of them of long experience, and all with

reputations for skill and learning in their special fields of study.

They gladly co-operated with him, partly from their love of the work

and partly from their love and esteem for Agassiz himself. Before

a public announcement was made, or at least before any invitations

were extended to teachers to come and enjoy the opportunity, Mr. John

Anderson, a wealthy tobacconist of New York City,—owning the island

of Penikese in Buzzard Bay, which he had bought and improved for a

summer seaside residence,—tendered the island with its buildings and

improvements to Prof. Agassiz for the use of the proposed school.

This offer being subsequently supplemented by a donation of $50,000

in cash for needed preparations, was accepted formally upon the 22d

of April, 1873, and arrangements made for the immediate erection of

suitable laboratories, dormitories, lecture rooms, aquaria, etc. In

the meantime Prof. Agassiz’s movements having become known, he was

beset by hundreds of applications for admission to the privileges

of the school. Fifty were selected—perhaps the first fifty properly

qualified who applied, and all the rest were rejected. It is said that

in one small city in New York State there were twenty applicants and

nineteen disappointments. The fortunate fifty were duly notified of

the day their presence would be welcomed, and accordingly met promptly

on the morning of the 8th of July, 1873, upon the deck of the little

steamer Helen Augusta, lying at her wharf in New Bedford, Mass. At

ten o’clock we steamed down the bay and at twelve we were met at the

Penikese pier by Prof. Agassiz and his excellent wife, with broad and

smiling welcome. Three minutes walk brought us to an extemporized

lecture room previously used by Mr. Anderson for a barn, but now cosily

furnished with neat chairs and tables. When all were in their places,

Prof. Agassiz stood up before us. Then occurred an event, beautiful,

impressive, never to be erased from memory, soon rendered classic

through Whittier’s charming poem.

He looked around upon that assembly, and saw their hopeful trust in him

their chosen leader. He realized, perhaps, as he had not before, the

deep significance of the hour. His beaming smile was chastened by an

expression of tender solicitude, that our hopes and expectations might

not be disappointed; and by the thought, “In my own strength I am not

equal to this task. One higher than I must direct this movement.” After

a moment’s pause he said: “Ladies and gentlemen; we meet under very

peculiar circumstances. We are all strangers to each other. I know not

whether there be one in this assembly upon whom I could call to open

these exercises with prayer. As for myself I would not ask any man to

pray for me. I will ask all of you to join with me a few moments in

silent prayer.”

“Then the master in his place

Bowed his head a little space,

And the leaves by soft airs stirred,

Laps of wave and cry of bird,

Left the solemn hush unbroken

Of that wordless prayer unspoken,

While its wish on earth unsaid,

Rose to heaven interpreted.

* * * * *

Even the careless heart was moved,

And the doubting gave assent,

With a gesture reverent

To the master well beloved.

* * * * *

Who the secret may declare

Of that brief unuttered prayer?

Did the shade before him come

Of the inevitable doom,

Of the end of earth so near,

And eternity’s new year?”

Then followed a few words of welcome on the part of Agassiz—of

gratitude to the gentleman whose liberality had insured the success

of the undertaking, and of cheerful encouragement to all for the

realization of their hopes. They were responded to by an eloquent

address from a lawyer from New Bedford, and another from Mr. Girod, of

New York, representing Mr. Anderson. We were then dismissed, and the

life at Penikese was begun.

THE ISLAND AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.

Penikese is an island of about one hundred acres in extent, and at

its highest point about one hundred feet above the level of the sea.

It is situated about fourteen miles north of New Bedford, Mass. It

is sheltered from the open sea by the chain of Elizabeth Islands;

the nearest, Cuttyhunk, being about two miles from Penikese, and the

others, Nashawena, Pasque, and Naushon, stretching away for twenty

miles to Woods’s Hole, at the lowest point in the bend of Cape Cod

peninsula. Beyond these islands, oceanward, is Vineyard Sound, a

sheet of water ten miles wide and twenty-five to thirty miles long.

Then comes Martha’s Vineyard, twenty miles in length—then the great

ocean. Through the passes between the four Elizabeth Islands, called

by the fishermen “holes,” the tide enters with much force twice each

day, bringing with it multitudes of fish in great variety. These are

entrapped by cunningly-devised inclosures called pounds, several of

which are located along the adjacent shores and islands. From these

pounds the markets of New York and other cities draw their supplies of

fish. From them, also, the school at Penikese reaped rich harvests of

sharks, skates, sword-fish, and numerous other species, such as would

not have marketable value. The northern limit of the gulf stream lying

just beyond Martha’s Vineyard, the tropical seas occasionally send

their life treasures by that current into these waters. Many specimens

of tropical life were caught there during the summer.

THE ABUNDANCE OF LIFE.

The locality was rich in animal life. Besides all the usual varieties

of life to be found on the land, there were some particularly abundant

at Penikese. But the sea, with the island shores, was the inexhaustible

source of supply. The radiates were represented by jelly-fish,

sea-cucumbers, sea-anemones, sand-dollars, sea-urchins, and star-fish;

the articulates by lobsters, common crabs, hermit crabs, king crabs,

etc.; the mollusks by mussels, clams, naticas, pyrulas, whelks, etc.,

and the vertebrates by turtles and an endless variety of fish from the

pounds. All these could readily be obtained for the aquariums, for

study while living, or for dissection and preservation. The excursions

in search of treasures for the laboratory were always rewarded with

ample success, and were full of intense interest and enjoyment. A bed

of star-fish discovered that season on the southern shore of Cuttyhunk,

ten or twenty acres in extent, almost level, and only twelve or fifteen

inches in depth at low tide, afforded literally bushels of these

interesting creatures. A small bay on another side of the same island

swarmed with limuli, or king crabs, of all ages, while on the shore

were hundreds of their cast-off crusts, or skins, in perfect condition.

Lobsters were obtained from the fisheries in the neighborhood. Those of

us unaccustomed to the rich fauna of the sea were simply astonished and

almost bewildered by the abundance of life within our reach and at our

command.

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION AND STUDY.

At Penikese books were discarded, except for occasional reference, and

the several students were encouraged to study the objects for which

they had opportunity or special inclination. Each was also encouraged

to select for himself some particular line of investigation and devote

himself to that alone, and to a great extent this was done. There were

the botanists, who gave special attention to the seaweeds and other

plants; the ornithologists, who did nothing but collect, dissect, and

preserve specimens of birds; the microscopists, who studied the diatoms

and foraminifera and other microscopic forms, and made microscopic

sections of tissues. One gave his entire attention to radiate animals,

another to mollusks, and still another gave special attention to the

development of the eggs of the tern. In the study of animals, about the

first lesson impressed was the necessity of mastering their structure

by the free use of the dissecting knife. For some days the toads of

the island furnished specimens for the dissecting table; a day or two

was devoted to the study of the internal as well as external structure

of the lobster, each student dissecting one or more specimens. Then

sharks, skates, star-fish, jelly-fish, flounders, sea anemones,

turtles, birds, and even insects went under review in the same careful

manner.

A second lesson urged was the importance of studying the development

of animals while in the egg or embryo state. Döllinger, the father of

the now noted Dr. Döllinger, and in whose house Agassiz lived for four

years, was the founder of this branch of scientific research, and gave

Agassiz his first lessons in Embryology. Agassiz often alluded to him

in terms of most tender recollection and regard. This man commenced

his investigations in 1817, by opening three thousand eggs in various

stages of development.

Prof. Agassiz, while preparing the drawings and material for his study

of the embryology of the turtle, published in the second volume of

his “Contributions to the Natural History of America,” opened and

examined many thousand turtles’ eggs. He frequently and earnestly urged

attention to this, as an almost uncultivated field of research, and yet

of vast importance in the solution of problems.

The eggs of the tern alluded to furnished the opportunity for a lesson.

A sufficient number of these eggs were opened and prepared to enable

students to master the methods and learn what to observe. The manner

in which Agassiz first taught a group of inquirers this interesting

lesson, was an event to be remembered. It was in the open air. The

question as to method was asked. Eggs were brought; the professor

seated himself upon a convenient keg of nails, and the observers stood

about him. He first showed in what position the egg should be held, and

then with delicate and patient manipulation, he removed the shell in

minute pieces at the right spot, and revealed the marvelous structure

within, all the while accompanying his work with sparkling thoughts in

delightful words.

Another lesson was the constant and patient observation of the motions

and habits of living specimens in the aquarium. Often a student would

sit all day long watching a single specimen, and did not find such work

either irksome, uninteresting or unprofitable.

It has been remarked that the career of original investigation with

Agassiz measurably closed soon after his coming to America, and

his career as an instructor began. He turned his attention to the

development of the natural history of America. This he saw clearly

could not be done without the aid of trained naturalists, and there

were none in America. It was then his mission to create them. The

establishment of a complete museum, to which all students of natural

history could have access, was the first step; a museum which should

not only equal, but surpass the great museums of the Old World. The

design, according to Agassiz’s own plan, was so far completed before

his death, that what remained to be done could be as well done by his

trained assistants. He had stamped his own character and ideas upon

it indelibly. Prof. Tyndall declared that there was nothing like it

in the Old World. Another equally qualified to judge, familiar with

all the Old World museums, declared that nowhere in his travels had

he seen such an amount of original work done as here. The museum at

Cambridge is an institution peculiarly American in that it is arranged

without the trammels of Old World methods. In it every specimen is

labeled with the name, locality, date and donor securely fastened to

it, and the same duly recorded. A specimen concerning which, from

whatever cause, any uncertainty has arisen as to the locality, is

rejected, and consigned to the laboratory for dissection, only the

best attainable specimens are retained. Unnecessary or imperfect

duplicates are set aside for study or exchange. His completed plan

will present a collection of the animals of the world arranged

systematically, according to the principle of classification adopted

by Agassiz, and exhibiting their structure. This is supplemented by

minor collections showing embryonic development of the different

types of animal life, synthetic relations, etc. The value of such a

collection as an educational power no language can over-estimate. This

museum of comparative zoölogy at Cambridge, Mass., is pre-eminently

the greatest monument to his memory. The plans of instruction at the

museum and at Penikese were identical in methods and principles. The

first object was to bring students face to face with Nature, discarding

books and recitations, substituting original observation and work. “If

I can succeed in teaching you to observe,” he said, “my aim will be

attained. It is not my purpose to communicate knowledge to you, but to

awaken into activity a faculty which is too generally dormant, that of

observing accurately for yourselves. I will teach, but I will not give

information. To all intents and purposes I will be ignorant before you.

Do not ask questions, for I shall not answer them, but shall so lay out

your work that you will find your own path without difficulty.”

THE FIRST LESSON.

On the first day, the island itself was assigned for a lesson.

Questions were suggested to be answered on the following morning. What

is the nature of the soil, and what is the geological constitution of

this island? What is its position with respect to the points of the

compass. Take the main building as your guide, if you have no compass,

for that lies east and west. What is the meaning of the curve between

the island and the peninsula connected with it? What is the meaning of

the loose materials about us, and the huge boulders scattered over the

surface? What relation does the island bear to the adjoining islands

and to the main land? When the class had again assembled he allowed

each to report what he had learned, and taught how by comparison and

combination to understand its full significance. He said that an

exhaustive answer to each of these questions, individually wrought out,

would itself be a good summer’s work. By the observations thus made

and subsequently during the summer, it was fully demonstrated that

Penikese and the whole range of neighboring Elizabeth islands, twenty

miles in length and two or three in width, were a part of a terminal

moraine—formed by the great ice sheet which covered the continent

during the glacial period as it was gradually receding toward the polar

seas.

Prof. Agassiz taught at Penikese partly by lectures, and these

lectures, as was his custom, were always extemporaneous. No one who

ever heard him need be told that beyond all comparison he was the model

scientific talker of the age. Even those who have but read his lectures

know what a charm lingers in the sentences which have been transferred

to paper. But one must have heard him to realize the secret of his

greatest power. The printed lectures carry the brilliant thoughts,

the luminous and interesting facts, the flow of apt illustration;

but the glow and fervor of his own profound interest in the matter

of his speech, “raying out in a countenance that seemed to beam from

interior light, and pervade the tones of his sympathetic and singularly

expressive voice,” the “palpitating life” of his rapidly-uttered words,

and back of all his intense personal magnetism, diffusing itself

through the hearts of his charmed audience,—these are things that can

not be transferred to paper. Writers in attempting to describe the

manner of his eloquence have seemed to exhaust the vocabulary of eulogy.

At Penikese he probably excelled himself. He complimented his school

by seeming to believe that he was in the midst of friends, who fully

appreciated him, and who were in full sympathy with him. In 1864 it

was the good fortune of the writer of this paper to hear him deliver a

course of six lectures on the glaciers, before the Lowell Institute,

in Boston. They were charming, popular, grand; but at Penikese, on

the same subject, he seemed like a different man. All through his

summer life there flowed a current of quiet but profound happiness,

that lightened his step, glowed in his conversation, shone in his

countenance, and gave animation and radiance to his lectures, in a

manner he perhaps never before so fully exhibited. This thought was

common among the students there assembled. He gave lectures almost

every day, embracing full and exhaustive courses upon the glaciers,

upon embryology, upon classification, upon methods of instruction,

upon systematic zoölogy, upon scientific books and authors. There were

also the spontaneous lectures, called out by some casual remark, the

exhibition of some new and interesting specimen, or by the prominent

presence of some object of natural history, which we might not think

of studying at the time. For example, we were regaled one morning

with some fish for breakfast. Prof. Agassiz, entering after the rest

were seated, noticed the fish. Going immediately to the black-board,

which at that time was near and in full view; he said: “Ladies and

gentlemen: You are this morning feasting upon a very delicious fish,

called the scop. Its scientific name I will write upon the board. It is

Pagrus Argyrops—one of the sparoids. This species is not found north

of Cape Cod, or at least, very rarely found. Its range is from Cape

Cod west and southward. It is not found in the southern waters, only

on the shores of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Virginia.

The family is not well represented in America. Another species, called

‘sheepshead,’ is found in the South, and there are a few species in the

Pacific Ocean. The Mediterranean Sea, however, abounds in species of

the family. In all there are two hundred species known, and they are

confined to the temperate and tropical regions. They are intensified

in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, as many species being

found there as in all the rest of the world.” Then he sat down, and

his auditors immediately proceeded to dissect and test the qualities

of their specimens, according to natural principles and with intense

relish. In the regular morning lecture, after breakfast, an hour in

length, he gave a more thorough scientific account of the structure

of the scop, detailing its generic and specific characteristics, in

a most masterly and fascinating manner, concluding his lecture by

instructing in the proper method of describing any fish technically,

explaining the symbols used by the most learned in that department of

knowledge. On another occasion, while a group were seated engaged in

social chat, a single query made as to the possibility of preserving

the beautiful colors of star-fish, and other sea animals, drew from him

for half an hour a flood of interesting facts concerning the colors of

such creatures, their glory, their mysterious and changeful nature, and

their evanescence. He deplored the want of knowledge in this direction,

and encouraging his pupils to enter that field of investigation as

explorers, promised sure results to such as would enter upon it in the

truly scientific spirit.

HIS INTENSE LOVE OF NATURE.

This rose to the level of a passion, and was constantly revealing

itself in unconscious words and actions. Once he told the story of

Dürrckheim, a German naturalist, who after close investigation,

wrote a monograph upon the cockchafer, a common insect of Europe,

which attracted much attention from scientific men. For weeks before

he went hard to work he abstained from any kind of food which was

stimulating, even coffee, so that he might have full command of his

nerves and steadiness of his muscles. He also so supported his person

that the beating of his arteries should not interfere with his delicate

dissection. Then Agassiz having held up before us this example for

our imitation, gave utterance to the following memorable words: “When

sitting at the laboratory table, you should give yourselves up to the

work exclusively. Never trifle with Nature. The objects we study are

the works of the Creator. Even materialists consider them as the works

of the highest forces in Nature. A laboratory of natural history is a

sanctuary in which nothing improper should be admitted or exhibited.

There we are in the constant presence of Nature and its Author. _I

can tolerate with less mental agony improprieties in churches._” When

the student would come in from the sea with a bowl of newly-captured

jelly fish, or some other equally common specimen, he would frequently

see Agassiz coming down to the path to meet him. “What have you got

this morning?” Looking at them tenderly—although he had seen the like

thousands of times—he would exclaim, “Oh, they are beautiful; very

beautiful!” This tenderness for animals extended even to those usually

considered repulsive. The toads of the island he would frequently

handle without a thought of disgust. A live garter snake two feet in

length was brought to him in the presence of ladies who manifested

their usual repugnance and fear. “Why,” said Agassiz, “of what are

you afraid? It can not harm you. See! I will let it bite me.” Then

taking the reptile in his hands he suffered it to coil over his wrist,

and holding it gently by the neck, put his finger into its mouth. “It

does not hurt me nor harm so much as the pricking of a pin. This is

a very fine specimen of unusual color. It should be preserved.” He

was particularly careful to forbid any wanton destruction of life, or

practice of cruelty in the preparation of specimens for dissection.

Abundant as the birds were on the island, only the ornithologist was

allowed to shoot, and he was restricted to specimens actually needed.

Even the nests so profusely scattered were sacred, and those who were

engaged in the study of embryology alone were permitted to collect

them. Familiarity with all the forms of life had made him exceedingly

tender and watchful of their natural rights.

Thus only a glimpse has been given of the summer school at Penikese.

We can but make bare mention of the other principal attractions and

advantages: the daily boat excursion over the bay and sound; the

rambles along the rocky shores in search of treasures cast up by

the sea; the trips to Gay Head, on Martha’s Vineyard, in search of

tertiary fossil shark’s teeth; the unique curiosities of the sea that

were daily brought in for inspection, ever new and wonderful; the

parties selected each day for dredging expeditions on the beautiful

yacht “Sprite,” under the lamented Count Pourtales; the lectures and

admirable practical lessons given by the other members of the faculty,

Profs. Packard, Wilder, Bicknell, Arnold Guyot, Dr. Brewer, Benjamin

F. Pierce; the naturalists’ “club” meetings; the quiet Sabbaths, when,

in the absence of regular service, meetings for religious conversation

were held; the evening gathering with Prof. and Mrs. Agassiz under the

flagstaff on the summit of the island, overlooking the western sea, to

watch the glories of the dying day, whiling away the hour with song and

familiar converse—all these memories and many more crowd upon us for

notice, but we forbear.

Alas! that the golden hopes raised by such brilliant beginning should

so soon be blasted. Agassiz died during the succeeding December. No man

was ever more generally, more tenderly, or more profoundly mourned. By

none was his loss felt with more poignant grief than by those who were

with him at Penikese. No man, after his death, felt himself capable

to complete the liberal plans laid out by Agassiz, and the enterprise

was abandoned. Had Agassiz lived, such was his power over men that

he would have readily secured, from legislative action, and from the

donations of wealthy men, all the money he would have asked, to enable

him to carry forward the enterprise. His success in that direction was

unparalleled.

It is impossible to conjecture what an impulse would have been given to

the study of natural history and higher culture in kindred science, had

he been permitted to live until he could have seen the budding promise

burst into bloom of realized success. But it was not to be.

Fain would we linger still upon the thoughts which crowd upon the

memory now, but we must draw the curtain. Yet his beautiful spirit,

genial, loving face, beaming with kindliness and sympathy, his winning

grace and charming presence, his sublime self-denial in his devotion

to Nature, his grand intellectual expression with voice and pen, his

overflowing heart, so tender and so true, and so constant in its

blessing, can never fade from our vision, nor from our memory.

THE COMING OF SUMMER.

By HARRIET MABEL SPALDING.

We are looking for summer. Far over the hill,

Do you catch the faint sound of her hurrying feet?

Does the voice of her coming with melody thrill?

Do you strive the first breath of her whispers to greet?

She is coming. Bright garlands her pathway surround;

Her fair hands are laden with blossoms of snow.

Do you hear the soft sweep of her robe o’er the ground,

As she speaks to the flowers to awaken and glow?

Creep forth the small vines from the hedge and the wall,

So shyly they meet the glad gaze of the sun;

The brooklets sing low as they clamber and fall,

And the brown hills new mantles resplendent have won.

The spider a shimmering gossamer weaves

In the lap of the meadow, and lightly is thrown

Its faint web of gold o’er the green of the leaves,

While buds of ambrosia around us are blown.

There’s a gem in each drop of the dew on the grass,

The earth is awakened with carolings sweet;

The daisies are flashing in stars where we pass,

And the buttercups hide in the moss at our feet.

The cowslips are changing from green into gold,

On banks where the frosts of the winter have died;

The violets are seeking their hues to unfold,

And the red rose has flung its rich canopy wide.

There is blue overhead: there is emerald below,

A blending of hues in the pearl of the sky;

While garlands of azure and blossoms of snow

In gardens of beauty and loveliness lie.

She is here! she is here! the bonnie, bright June,

Like words of rejoicing in moments of grief;

Her song you may trace in the woodland’s glad tune,

Her tear in the cloud and her smile in the leaf.

* * * * *

GEN. BOLLY LEWIS, who spends midwinter in Jacksonville, Florida, and

spring and fall at the Gibson House, Cincinnati, will have charge of

the Hotel Athenæum at Chautauqua during the summer. He is making every

preparation to furnish his guests first-class entertainment. With a

hotel and furnishing that cost $125,000, all complete, even to the

grounds being graded, sodded, and flowers blooming, he is sure to do

it. The hotel will be open June 15, one month before the School of

Languages opens. Correspondents should address General Lewis before

that date at the Gibson House, Cincinnati, Ohio; after that, at Hotel

Athenæum, Chautauqua, N. Y.

IN SOME MEDICAL BY-WAYS.

By ANDREW WILSON, F. R. S. E.

That the beautifying or improvement of the person, under certain

circumstances, is a perfectly legitimate procedure, when judged by

the common-place rules of society, is a conclusion which demands

no evidence by way of support. No one would dream for a moment of

disputing the assertion, to come to personal details, that a defacing

wart, mole, or wen, on the face, capable of being readily removed,

without danger, by surgical interference, should be so disposed of. And

to take the very common and exceedingly annoying case, of a profusion

of hairs attaching themselves prominently, say, to some simple

skin-growth, and capable of being permanently or temporarily removed

by depilatories, the same remark holds good. Such acts of personal

attention need no excuse. On the ground of common personal æsthetics,

apart altogether from the freedom of annoyance from marked blemishes

of face or figure, the amelioration of such deformities is a bare act

of justice to the individual in question. The removal of a blemish

is physiologically as defensible a proceeding as the replacement of

missing teeth by the aid of the dentist, and in this latter act we

find the truest warrant, since, for digestive purposes, the possession

of teeth or their artificial substitutes is absolutely necessary for

the preservation of health. To the replacement of a maimed limb by an

artificial one, there can be still less objection. The common ground

of expediency, utility, and function, presents us with an unanswerable

argument in favor of aiding nature, in so far as we are able, by the

devices of art.

Very different, however, is the argument which would fain carry these

same reasons into the domain of the peruke maker, and into that of the

manufacturer of face-paints and lotions. On what grounds, æsthetic

or otherwise, could a change of color in the hair be demanded or

defended? Similarly, on what grounds could we justify the practice of

face-enameling, or the smoothing out of the wrinkles which time writes

naturally enough on our brows and faces at large? It can not be argued

that a false eyebrow or curl is as justifiable as false teeth, for the

purpose of the latter as aids to digestion is plain enough; whilst the

only conceivable ground for the adoption of the former appendages would

be “an improvement in looks”—an avowedly small-minded excuse, and one,

in any sense, of doubtful correctness. To the deficiency or want of

eyebrows we become accustomed, as to the whiteness of hair or other

peculiarities of _physique_; but if the practice of supplying nature’s

defects—justifiable enough under certain conditions, as we have seen—is

to be regarded as legitimate under all circumstances, the extremes of

absurdity to which such a practice may and does lead are readily enough

discerned. Admitting the false eyebrow, why should we exclude the

“nose machine” advertised for the charitable purpose, when worn daily

(in private), of altering the unbecoming natural style to that of a

becoming and, it is to be presumed, fashionable olfactory organ?

Of the deleterious effects of the continued application of the

fashionable lotions and varnishes for the face, medical science is not

slow to testify. Few readers can forget the exposures in the famous

Rachel case; or the testimony then and at other times offered, to

show that such “preparations” for the toilet are made, as a rule, to

sell and not to use. Let Dr. Taylor, in the name of authority, speak

concerning the effects of common hair-dyes. “Cosmetics and hair-dyes,”

says this author, “containing preparations of lead, commonly called

hair-restorers(!) may also produce dangerous effects. I have met,” he

continues, “with an instance in which paralysis of the muscles on one

side of the neck arose from the imprudent use of a hair-dye containing

litharge. These hair-dyes, or ‘hair-restorers,’ are sometimes solutions

of acetate of lead of variable strength in perfumed and colored water.

In other cases they consist of hyposulphite of lead, dissolved in an

excess of hyposulphite of soda. In one instance, the continued use of

such a dye is reported to have proved fatal, and lead was found in the

liver, and in one of the kidneys. Mr. Lacy,” adds Dr. Taylor, “has

pointed out the injury to health which is likely to follow the use of

white lead as a cosmetic by actors.” Doubtless “preparations” do exist,

in which the metal in question is absent; but in any case, the want of

certainty as to the composition of the substance, should, in itself,

serve as a condition inculcating caution and suspicion in regard to the

use of such nostrums.

DEATH’S CHANGED FACE.

By FREDERICK LANGBRIDGE.

Sweet Savior, since the time thy human feet

Trod thirty years our parched and dusty ways,

How hath the wilderness of life grown sweet

With flowers and warbled praise!

How hath the heavy mist that wrapt us round,

The weary mist of tears and soul-wrung sighs,

Lifted, and bared to us the blue profound

Of God’s far quiet skies!

And more than all, how hath a gracious change,

To poor scared men that slunk with fluttering breath,

Passed o’er the face, that erst was stern and strange,

Of thy strong angel, Death!

Lo, through the mazes of a tangled wood,

Nowhither bound, we groped through vistas dim,

While shadowlike amid the shadows stood

Old Death, the archer grim.

We deemed his face was pitiless and blind;

Shot all at random seemed each whirring dart,

Yet none did fail a resting-place to find

In some wrung, quivering heart.

And there, with writhen limbs and sightless stare,

Down in the drenchèd grass the victim lay,

What erst was man, erect and tall and fair,

Now shrunk and fading clay.

And over him in dull and hopeless pain

The mourners stood, sore stricken and perplexed;

“He lieth prone; he will not rise again;

And who shall fall the next?”

O sweet changed face! We see, we know him now,

Rent the thick mist that blurred our straining ken—

Death: of all angels round the throne that bow,

Most pitiful to men!

Through the dusk chamber where the watchers weep

Slowly he moves with calm and noiseless tread,

And o’er the weary one that longs for sleep

He bends his gracious head.

“Poor eyes!” he saith, “long have ye wept and waked;

I come to bid your tears and vigils cease.”

“Poor heart!” he saith, “long hast thou yearned and ached;

I come to give thee peace.”

“Be of good cheer,” he saith, “world-weary waif.

One sharp swift step, and all the way is trod:

Through the heaped darkness I will lead thee safe

To the great light of God.”

A sharp sweet silence smites the tingling ears.

How snow-like falls the peace upon his brow!

Hark! happy mourners, smiling through their tears,

Whisper, “He sleepeth now!”

CHAUTAUQUA RIPPLES.

At the opening exercises of the Chautauqua Teachers’ Retreat and

Chautauqua School of Languages, on _Saturday, July 14_, addresses

will be delivered by the Rev. Dr. J. H. Vincent, Superintendent of

Instruction, and the Rev. C. H. Payne, D.D., LL.D., president of the

Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. Prof. Sherwin will conduct

the concert. Day fireworks, under the direction of Prof. Hand, of

Hamilton, Ontario; Readings by Prof. Cumnock, of Illinois and a

reception in the parlors of the Hotel Athenæum.

* * * * *

The above item shows that the Chautauqua schools open one week later

this year than in former years. It will be a great day. Perhaps we

shall hear something about the new “Chautauqua University” in July.

* * * * *

Applications are numerous for documents and general information, at the

office of the C. T. R. and C. S. L. Early in May it was common to fill

out eighteen applications for admission in one day.

* * * * *

On June 24, Dr. Vincent, president, Lewis Miller, of Akron, Messrs.

Clem. Studebaker, of South Bend, Indiana, Jacob Miller, of Canton,

Ohio, vice-president F. H. Root, of Buffalo, N. Y., and J. Glidden, of

Cleveland, Ohio, and the secretary, Mr. A. K. Warren, of Chautauqua,

were in council at the Hotel Athenæum, at Chautauqua, providing liberal

things for the accommodation and comfort of the multitudes expected at

Chautauqua in July and August.

* * * * *

The drive-ways for carriages hereafter will extend a mile and a half

along the lake shore, touching docks, railroad depot, ice-cream stands,

hotel, croquet, and lawn-tennis grounds, and giving a beautiful view of

vessels plying the lake.

* * * * *

The large correspondence received at the office of Miss Kimball, in

Plainfield, N. J., by Dr. Vincent, in New Haven, Conn., Mr. Warren,

at Chautauqua, and at the office of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and CHAUTAUQUA

ASSEMBLY HERALD, in Meadville, Pa., indicate that there will be a great

gathering at Chautauqua, from the North and the South, from the East

and the West, the coming season.

* * * * *

It will be the tenth year of the Chautauqua Assembly, and the greatest

year of all.

* * * * *

One of the new things in July will be the “Summer Trip Beyond the Sea.”

The evening on the journey will be characterized by the organ, choir,

fire-works, etc.

* * * * *

The complete Chautauqua program for 1883 will appear in the advance

number of the ASSEMBLY HERALD, a copy of which we shall send to every

subscriber with the July number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

* * * * *

The CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY HERALD is the official organ of the Chautauqua

Assembly. It is a daily, published on the grounds at Chautauqua every

morning. _It will contain full reports of the meetings and from sixty

to seventy-five lectures in the volume._ The first number will be

issued on Saturday morning, August 4, and every day thereafter (Sundays

excepted) till August 27. Price, $1.00 for the season. Address T. L.

Flood, editor and proprietor, Meadville, Pa.

* * * * *

“Minnehaha,” “Hiawatha,” “Winona,” “Buffalo,” and the “Assembly,” are

among the new names of steamers on Chautauqua Lake.

* * * * *

The large steamers will be provided with stewardesses to look after the

comfort and welfare of lady passengers. This is a new provision and one

that will be highly appreciated.

* * * * *

New families commenced moving to Chautauqua early in June, and every

day scores new arrivals.

* * * * *

The Governor of Tennessee is in lively sympathy with the “Chautauqua

Idea.” He is giving encouragement to the Monteagle Assembly, in the

South, and hopes soon to visit Chautauqua. General Lewis says there

will be a large representation from the South at Chautauqua the present

season. The more the better.

* * * * *

Grocery stores, meat stores, furniture stores, and even a millinery

store, may be found at Chautauqua.

* * * * *

“Tell us which will be the great days at Chautauqua?” This question

comes to us nearly every day. It is hard to answer. Dr. Talmage, Rev.

D. H. Wheeler, LL.D., president of Allegheny College, Bishop Warren,

Dr. Vincent, Joseph Cook, Rev. A. Wheeler, D.D., of Pittsburgh,

presidents of a half-dozen colleges and universities, eminent editors,

great preachers, and splendid musicians from all parts of this country

and Canada will be there. And then C. L. S. C. Commencement Day, which

will be the _golden day_ of ’83 (Saturday, August 18), with an oration

by the Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D., addresses by Dr. Vincent and Lewis

Miller; concerts by the big choir, great organ, little organs, pianos,

bass viol, cornet; cantatas, solos, duets, choruses, etc.; stereopticon

exhibitions, fireworks by day and fireworks by night, spelling matches,

Greek lights, C. L. S. C. bonfires and bonfires for children, croquet,

lawn tennis, rowing, sailing, excursions on the steamers, receptions

and processions. The best way to get the great days is to bid your

friends who must stay at home good-bye, and go to Chautauqua for the

season.

* * * * *

If you can’t go for the season, don’t fail to be present on _Tuesday

evening, August 7_, when the tenth Assembly opens. Then the Chinese

lanterns will be lighted, cottages illuminated, a peal of bells will

ring, cannon be fired, flags will wave, vespers (the old songs) will be

sung, orators of other years on this sod and new ones from many States

and Canada will speak. The lake will glow with beauty, as the steamers

illuminated with many colored lights come and go with their crowds of

people, and the fireworks glare on the shore, and shooting into the air

redden the dome of the sky and reflect the glory of their colors in the

waters below. At Chautauqua every day is a great day.

* * * * *

The cost of living is not high. A room can be rented in a cottage, for

the season, for $12.00; it will be furnished with bed, chairs, etc.; at

such a price the occupant must take care of it herself. Table-boarding

may be secured for the season at $5.00 per week. A better room,

furnished with more conveniences, costs more. A party of a dozen

people, more or less, coming from a distance, may rent a cottage for

$125.00 or $150.00 (or a larger party a larger cottage for more money),

and then board themselves. By bringing their own servant and taking a

lady or gentleman through _free_—if they will do the buying and preside

over the house—board is reduced to the minimum price. If, however,

individuals or families prefer to go to a regular boarding-house, that

is, a cottage kept by a private party (and _some of these_ are well

kept, and make pleasant homes), they may secure room and boarding in

the same cottage for $8.00, $9.00 and $10.00 per week, and perhaps

less. The Hotel Athenæum is a magnificent institution—with dining-rooms

facing the lake, and a capacity for seating five to six hundred people

at one time. It will accommodate from four to five hundred guests. The

price per day and week is higher, but the fare is the best and worth

all that is asked. Write to Mr. A. K. Warren, secretary, Chautauqua,

Chautauqua County, N. Y., for information about rooms, cottages,

boarding, or anything you desire to know about living at Chautauqua,

and your questions will be answered promptly and satisfactorily.

CHAUTAUQUA SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES.

HINTS TO BEGINNERS IN THE STUDY OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK.—III.

By REV. ALFRED A. WRIGHT, A.M.[M]

HELPS—IN THE LANGUAGE ITSELF.

1. _It is easily learned by any one who can easily learn anything._ A

lady complained to her pastor that she was greatly in doubt about her

Christian character, because she could not recollect Bible passages,

though she had just read them. The pastor did not tell her the old

story of a similar case where the hermit answered by pouring water into

a basin; wiping it dry, he said, “You see the basin holds none of the

water, yet it is cleaner.” But he instantly suspected the true state of

the case. “How much of anything you read do you retain in mind?” “Why,

nothing,” she replied; “I’ve been that way always.” Here was mental

defect, not moral obliquity. She couldn’t learn Greek any more readily

than anything else.

Now to all persons not mentally incapable of learning anything, Bible

Greek presents special helps to enthusiasm, and hence to success.

2. _It is the language God chose as the vehicle of his Gospel._ There

must be in it the qualities suited to the needs of an Apocalypse of

God, or he would have selected a language more capable of containing

and of expressing such a revelation. Hence this fact is inspirational

as a sentiment. We study the very words of God. We come nearest and

most directly to the oracle, to the secrets of Deity.

We are admitted to the _sanctum sanctorum_ of his counsels, who spake

in Jesus Christ and his apostles the “wonderful words of life.” But we

need not rely upon the sentimental virtues of Bible Greek inspiration

for evidence in proof that the language itself helps the student of it.

3. _Bible Greek, like Bible Hebrew, is essentially the vehicle of

spiritual conceptions and of spiritual truths._ The spiritual in man

can find no loftier expressions of “what is in man,” than in New

Testament Greek.

4. _The very construction of the language, its idioms, the mental view

points involved in its structure and mechanism, are themselves helps._

With the Greeks thought was not indefinite as too largely is the case

with us. They never dealt in that commodity of which certain æsthetes

recently in this country appeared to have possessed the monopoly; _i.

e._ “unthunk thoughts.”

The Greeks did not think “about” things. They thought at things, or

they thought out things, or they thought things. Thucydides said that

the Greeks could not bear to think of things future as though not

already within their grasp. Hence we find their language largely uses

the present for the future tense. This present tense mode of thought,

bringing everything directly before their eyes, contributed not a

little to that definiteness of conception and of expression which

characterizes the language throughout. It was both the cause and the

effect of Greek exactness and of tetheredness in thought and speech.

Every preacher should at least read Blackstone: if possible, he should

take the full law course, not alone to know the principles of common

law, but also and especially for style’s sake; to know how to state

things exactly, economically. Verbiage is expensive. It burdens speed.

It weakens force. It is the mark of a mind untrained. Bible Greek helps

the preacher just at this point. Let him master the language and he

will unconsciously think in the very channels along which the tides of

Greek thought, feeling, emotion, and sentiment glide, never overflowing

their banks into the flat and boundless marshes of nowhereness.

FASCINATIONS OF THE JOURNEY.

1. _The Bible Greek student is continually helped in his studies by the

fascinations of his journey._ On every side arise new friends to call

him blessed. It is no arid desert which invites his footsteps. The land

flows with milk and honey. No wild beasts are there: no enemy. It is

God’s land: his Eden where he walks and talks with the true Adam.

Here, for example, is a grand plane of literary observation and

loftiness. The air is bracing, a tonic to weak chests surfeited with

library hot house forcings and environments. Then too the moral

upliftings which one gets! The sense of presences invisible to eye,

unheard, untouched: presences recent from heaven. Oh how one’s

littlenesses and inferiorities, one’s shortcomings and dwarfedness

feel the rebuke of loftier spirits, speechless, but loftier. Here are

theologic forests and drives through green carpeted woods that smell

of myrrh and balsam, even as though his footsteps and his garments had

just passed.

Yonder is an apocalyptic plateau, an island of the sky, from whose

top all heaven is visible. Are not these things helps? to preacher?

teacher? scholar? Hear just one word from Paul. It puts us on that

plateau yonder. He tells the Romans (i:20), “For the invisible things

of him, since the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being

perceived through the _things that are made_, even his everlasting

power and divinity.” He tells the Ephesians (ii:10), “For we are his

_workmanship_, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” In these

two passages the italicized words are the same. They are not found

elsewhere in all the Bible. The word is _poiema_. From its plateau

we discover the harmonies and the unity of the uni-verse of God—the

oneness of Deity with us dirt. God is discovered, _un_-covered in the

_poiema_—the poem of Nature: so that the heathen are excuseless. We are

God’s _poiema_—the poem of Grace recreated in Jesus Christ.

Ah, to find that one word, to stand upon its apocalyptic summit and to

see, is worth four years’ climbing, though it should be harder than up

Katahdin’s gorges, steeper than the icy sides horrific of Mt. Blanc.

But, in addition to this telescopic vision-range, the Greek student

gets at the infinities below him. The water drop is essentially, if not

integrally, an ocean. Infinity is unthinkable in any direction: just as

unthinkable when one thinks along the diameter towards the center of a

sphere as when one thinks in reverse direction.

So there is here philological microscopy; of words and letters

even: all valuable, sometimes necessary to any knowledge, always

disciplinary. Paul writes to Timothy, (iii: 16) “Great is the mystery

of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” Thus some Mss. But others

make Paul say, “Great is the mystery, etc., he who was manifested

in the flesh.” The Mss. differ only in a letter, scarcely that.

The difference is just that between an Ο and a θ. Hair splitting?

Yet on that one hair hangs doctrine, and duty, and destiny. And

Ellicott has split this hair out of the Alexandrine Ms. One case of

intricate and extraordinary surgery well performed, establishes the

surgeon’s fame and fortune in a day. Ellicott’s treatment of this

passage—fascinating as a romance, and romantic in its fascination, the

very quality of reading which the ill-trained judicial faculties of

some pastors need—his treatment of this passage is one of the triumphs

of philological microscopy. Of no utility? Do this kind of work and the

use will appear in one’s own self.

[To be continued.]

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.

“THE CHAUTAUQUAN.”

THE CHAUTAUQUAN is nearly three years old. In honor of its

fast-approaching birthday it has donned a new cover, and comes to its

readers asking for the approval of not only its contents but of its

improved appearance also. The cover has been carefully selected. It is

sincerely hoped that it will meet with the approval of our friends—we

feel sure that it will. The design will be full of meaning to every

ardent Chautauquan. Not fancy alone, but a tender memory of the

“Society of the Hall in the Grove,” the “League of the Round-Table,”

“The Order of the White Seal,” “The Guild of the Seven Seals,” and,

above all, the dearly-loved C. L. S. C., has suggested the really

beautiful and chaste design. The cover has not only artistic value,

but, by it, the size of the magazine is increased four pages: thus we

give our readers seventy-six instead of seventy-two pages. From the

first THE CHAUTAUQUAN has aimed at keeping its price down, while in a

healthy, vigorous way, it increased in value. When in September, 1880,

the first number of the magazine was issued, it contained forty-eight

pages; since, we have increased to seventy-two; now, we offer

seventy-six—but we make no increase in price. We believe that both in

appearance and contents THE CHAUTAUQUAN will now compare favorably with

any magazine of its age in the world, and certainly its cost is far

below that of any magazine of equal merit.

To be an efficient and useful organ of the Chautauqua Literary and

Scientific Circle has been its aim. The enthusiastic reception with

which it has met leads us to believe that it has not failed. We say

enthusiastic reception, for THE CHAUTAUQUAN finds, on looking over its

visiting list, that it numbers tens of thousands. It goes into every

one of the States and Territories to regular subscribers; also across

the Atlantic, in Europe, it goes to England, Ireland, Scotland, France,

Sweden, Germany and Italy; it is sent to the East and the West Indies,

to Africa, China, India, New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands. The

number of post offices receiving it in the United States is as follows:

New York 819, Pennsylvania 500, New Jersey 128, Ohio 456, Illinois 345,

Iowa 239, Indiana 179, Michigan 219, Minnesota 67, Wisconsin 140, Maine

151, New Hampshire 92, Rhode Island 35, Connecticut 160, Massachusetts

373, Vermont 109, Virginia 25, West Virginia 16, Maryland 26, North

Carolina 10, South Carolina 24, Georgia 24, Alabama 15, Tennessee 28,

Florida 27, Louisiana 5, Mississippi 25, Arkansas 15, Kentucky 26,

Delaware 12, District of Columbia 3, Texas 42, Missouri 70, California

137, Oregon 15, Nebraska 55, Kansas 110, Dakota 37, Idaho 10, Montana

8, Colorado 42, New Mexico 4, Arizona 2, Washington Territory 13,

Wyoming Territory 5, Indian Territory 3, Utah 7, Nevada 6, Canada 210,

giving a total in the United States and Canada of 6,069. In short, THE

CHAUTAUQUAN goes to more than six thousand post offices; nor does this

represent our circulation. During the present volume we have printed

twenty-six thousand copies each month.

We call the attention of our readers to the combination offer. As

the Assembly approaches, and THE ASSEMBLY HERALD will be issued as

a daily, we offer the _daily_ for 1883, and the _fourth_ volume of

THE CHAUTAUQUAN for two dollars and twenty-five cents, providing the

subscription price be sent before the first of August; after that time

the price will be two dollars and fifty cents.

THE C. L. S. C. COURSE OF STUDY FOR 1883-84.

This number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN brings the announcement of the C. L.

S. C. course for the coming year. With no little interest will the

members, young, old, and prospective, read and compare with those of

the preceding years. Without disparagement of the past, it is safe

to say that the course for next year will be the best of all thus

far. We expect to be able to say the same a year hence with reference

to the course for ’84-’85, for experience is ever suggesting where

changes and modifications may be made, which are entitled to be called

improvements. Thus it is hoped that each new year will have greater

attractions and greater facilities and benefits to offer.

It will be observed that the next year’s course is divided into five

general departments. At the head of the list, as heretofore, stands

history. This is the logical order, for history is the map or guide

book to the student in all other fields of inquiry. With it as the

chart, or lamp, in hand, the student is ready to begin the study of

the literature, art, science or religion of a people. A wide range of

historical readings, including Roman, German, French, and American,

will be published in THE CHAUTAUQUAN. Several of the now famous

Chautauqua text-books of history will be used, and those attractive

“stories” in English history will continue, and will be edited by C. E.

Bishop, Esq., already favorably known by his work in the course of this

year.