_President_—Rev. B. P. Snow, Biddeford, Maine.
_Vice Presidents_—Rev. J. C. Whitley, Salisbury, Maryland; Mr. L. F.
Houghton, Peoria, Illinois; Mr. Walter Y. Morgan, Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs.
Delia Browne, Louisville, Kentucky; Miss Florence Finch, Palestine, Texas.
_Secretary_—Rev. W. L. Austin, Dunkirk, New York.
* * * * *
The class of ’86 feels that it may exercise a little just pride in the
fact that it enters upon its third year with a good 14,000 members,
characterized, especially, by earnest, studious application to the
work of the course. The class mean to be true to their name, the
“Progressives,” and they hope that noise and show may not be the only
signs they may give of progress. They trust that ’86 will not fail to
make good and continue to maintain the strong and honorable place it now
holds as a corps of the great C. L. S. C. army.
* * * * *
It will interest the whole membership of ’86 to know that Principal
Fairbairn, of England, the distinguished lecturer on Philosophy this
season at Chautauqua, accepted with great satisfaction, an election as
honorary member of ’86, and entertains the warmest interest in his class.
* * * * *
Two who have won names in song are among our regular members, and have
been elected class poets. One is the author of “No Sect in Heaven,” the
other has written admirable verses for THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and for other
publications. One honored and earnest member, Professor C. C. Case, will
in due time set to music some of the poetic utterances of these writers
as class songs for ’86.
* * * * *
A special monogram note paper has been prepared for the class of ’86. It
is much admired.
* * * * *
We are pained to record the death of our class-mate, Mrs. Lorica Bennett,
of Gilmore, Iowa. Her devotion to the C. L. S. C. had for a long time
been intense, and one of her last requests was that her testimony to its
benefits be added to the list of those which appear in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.
THE CLASS OF 1888.
All items of interest pertaining to the class of 1888 should be sent to
C. C. McLean, Jacksonville, Florida.
* * * * *
We are in receipt of a letter from Professor Walton N. Ellis, Chairman of
Motto Committee, notifying us that the selection made is “Let us be seen
by our deeds,” from the Latin _spectemur agendo_.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
CYRUS THE GREAT AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT, AND “PREPARATORY GREEK COURSE IN
ENGLISH.”
BY A. M. MARTIN,
General Secretary C. L. S. C.
FIFTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE HISTORY OF CYRUS THE GREAT.
1. Q. How has the conquest of Cyrus been characterized? A. As the
starting-point of European life.
2. Q. As an individual, of what does Cyrus stand out as the
representative? A. Of the East.
3. Q. Of what empire was he the founder? A. The Persian empire.
4. Q. Where was the Persian empire situated? A. In Asia, between the
Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.
5. Q. At what date did the Persian empire attain to great magnificence?
A. About five hundred years before Christ.
6. Q. Contemporaneous with the Persian empire what republics flourished
in the West? A. The republics of Greece.
7. Q. What two Greek historians have given us the history of Cyrus? A.
Herodotus and Xenophon.
8. Q. How did Herodotus obtain his information for writing his history?
A. By visiting the countries about which he wrote.
9. Q. What romance did Xenophon write, founded on the history of Cyrus
the Great? A. The “Cyropædia.”
10. Q. Why may we assume that much Xenophon says about Cyrus is fiction?
A. His narrative was apparently written for the purpose of conveying
lessons in philosophy, morals, and military science, rather than that of
stating historical facts.
11. Q. As what kind of a person does he portray Cyrus? A. As a model hero.
12. Q. What six empires or countries are specially associated with the
life of Cyrus? A. Media, Persia, Lydia, Babylon, Judah and Scythia.
13. Q. When was Cyrus born? A. About six hundred years before Christ—B.
C. 599.
14. Q. At the time of his birth who was king of Media? A. Astyages.
15. Q. Who was the king of Persia at this time? A. Cambyses.
16. Q. Whom did Cambyses marry? A. Mandane, the daughter of Astyages.
17. Q. What son was born to them? A. Cyrus.
18. Q. By reason of his dreams what did Cambyses fear? A. That Cyrus
would usurp him.
19. Q. To whom did he give orders to have Cyrus destroyed? A. To
Harpagus, an officer of his court.
20. Q. To whom did Harpagus deliver the child Cyrus, with orders to have
him left in the forest and destroyed? A. A herdsman, Mitridates.
21. Q. What did Spaco, the wife of Mitridates, persuade her husband to
do? A. To substitute Cyrus for her own dead child, and to expose the
latter in the forest.
22. Q. About what age was Cyrus when he was discovered by his grandfather
and restored to his mother? A. About ten years of age.
23. Q. What revenge did Astyages take upon Harpagus for not carrying out
his instructions to have Cyrus destroyed? A. He made a feast to which he
invited Harpagus, and after giving him of the flesh of his own son to
eat, displayed to him his mutilated remains.
24. Q. In what manner did Harpagus seek to revenge himself against
Astyages? A. He plotted the overthrow of his government by fostering
discontent at home, and inciting Cyrus to attempt the conquest of his
grandfather’s kingdom.
25. Q. When Cyrus made the attempt what was the result? A. Astyages was
defeated, and Cyrus was established on the throne of the united kingdom
of Media and Persia.
26. Q. What prominent empire or kingdom existed in Asia Minor at the time
of Cyrus, of which Crœsus was the king? A. Lydia.
27. Q. For what was Crœsus celebrated? A. For his great wealth.
28. Q. With whom did Crœsus ally himself and attempt the conquest of the
Persian empire? A. With the Lacedæmonians.
29. Q. When the two armies met at Pteria, in the eastern part of Asia
Minor, what was the result of the battle that ensued? A. The conflict was
continued all day, and at night each army withdrew from the field.
30. Q. What did Crœsus do after the battle? A. Thinking Cyrus was
repulsed he returned to Lydia for fresh recruits, dismissing his army on
the way, intending to renew the invasion in the spring.
31. Q. What course did Cyrus pursue? A. He followed after Crœsus, and
forced him to renew the contest under the walls of Sardis.
32. Q. What did Cyrus oppose to the cavalry of Crœsus? A. His transport
camels.
33. Q. What was the result? A. The camels threw the cavalry into
confusion, and Crœsus met with overwhelming defeat, which was soon
followed by the capture of Sardis and the taking of the king prisoner.
34. Q. What great empire in Asia was yet unconquered by Cyrus? A. Babylon.
35. Q. What river flowed through the city of Babylon? A. The river
Euphrates.
36. Q. Who was king of Babylon when Cyrus attempted its conquest? A.
Belshazzar.
37. Q. In what manner did Cyrus capture the city? A. He turned the
Euphrates from its course, and marching his army by the dry bed of the
river under the walls, surprised Belshazzar at a feast, and gained full
possession of the city.
38. Q. To whom does the Bible narrative attribute the taking possession
of Babylon? A. To Darius the Mede.
39. Q. How can this apparent contradiction be explained? A. On the
probable theory that Darius held the sovereignty as the viceroy of Cyrus.
40. Q. How has a recently discovered inscription confirmed the truth of
the Scripture narrative that Belshazzar was the king of Babylon at the
time of its capture, although authorities in secular history give the
name of Nabonnedus as the king? A. By proving that Nabonnedus, during the
last years of his reign, associated his son, Bil-shar-uzur—which name is
shortened to Belshazzar—with himself in the government, and allowed him
the royal title.
41. Q. At the time of the capture of Babylon who were in captivity there?
A. The Jews.
42. Q. How many years after the captivity did the restoration of the Jews
to Jerusalem take place? A. Seventy years.
43. Q. One year after the taking of Babylon what proclamation did Cyrus
issue? A. A proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and
rebuild their city and the Temple.
44. Q. After the conquest of Babylon of how large a territory did Cyrus
find himself the sovereign? A. Nearly all of then known Asia.
45. Q. About how many years had he been engaged in these conquests? A.
About thirty years.
46. Q. What northern tribe did he now try to conquer? A. The Massagetæ,
one of the Scythian nations.
47. Q. By whom were they governed? A. By a queen named Tomyris.
48. Q. What was the result of the expedition? A. The Persian army was
almost wholly destroyed, and the body of Cyrus was found among the slain.
49. Q. Who succeeded Cyrus to the throne of the Persian empire? A. His
son Cambyses.
50. Q. What difficulties are experienced in tracing the connection
between the secular history of the Persian domination and the narrative
of the same epoch as given in the Bible? A. The proper names used to
designate the same person are different in the secular and in the sacred
histories, and the best scholars are not agreed in identifying the two.
II.—QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
51. Q. In what year was Alexander the Great born? A. In the year 356 B. C.
52. Q. At what age did he commence, and at what age end his career? A. He
commenced when about twenty years old, and died at thirty-two years of
age.
53. Q. Where was his native country? A. On the confines of Europe and
Asia.
54. Q. What were some of the characteristics of the Asiatic civilization?
A. Wealth and luxury; vast cities and splendid palaces; and enormous
armies, magnificently equipped.
55. Q. What were some of the characteristics of the European
civilization? A. Energy, genius and force; strong citadels and military
constructions; and compact bodies of troops, thoroughly disciplined.
56. Q. What were the names of Alexander’s father and mother? A. Philip
and Olympias, the latter being the daughter of the king of Epirus.
57. Q. What great philosopher had charge of the education of Alexander?
A. Aristotle.
58. Q. In what great battle did Alexander take part, when eighteen years
of age? A. The battle of Chæronea.
59. Q. What befell Philip, the father of Alexander, at the celebration
of the wedding of his daughter? A. As the military procession was moving
toward the theater he was stabbed to the heart by Pausanias, an officer
of the guard, and immediately expired.
60. Q. At the time of Philip’s death what great expedition had he been
planning? A. An expedition into Asia.
61. Q. What did Alexander, as successor to Philip on the throne,
determine as to this projected expedition? A. To carry it out as designed
by his father.
62. Q. How large an army did he have when he at length marched into Asia?
A. Thirty-five thousand men, five thousand being cavalry.
63. Q. At what place did Alexander first encounter the Persian army, and
in how large force? A. At the river Granicus. The Persian force is stated
to have been from two to six hundred thousand.
64. Q. What was the result of the battle? A. The army of Alexander
crossed the Granicus in the face of the enemy, and entirely routed the
Persian army.
65. Q. After marching further into Asia, who advanced to meet him? A.
Darius, the king of Persia, with a vast army, equipped in great splendor.
66. Q. Where did the hostile armies meet, and how did the battle that
ensued result? A. On the plains of Issus. The Persian army was defeated
and routed, the king saving himself by precipitate flight.
67. Q. Where did Alexander meet his first obstruction in his march along
the eastern shore of the Mediterranean? A. At the great and powerful city
of Tyre.
68. Q. What followed the taking of Tyre by Alexander, after a long siege?
A. The slaughter of the inhabitants, and it is said that Alexander
crucified two thousand of them along the seashore.
69. Q. Into what country did Alexander soon after march, and what city
did he there found? A. Into Egypt, and founded the city of Alexandria.
70. Q. After again returning to Asia, where did Alexander encounter the
Persian army, and with what result? A. On the plain of Arbela, where
fifty thousand men under Alexander defeated and routed the army of Darius
of from five hundred thousand to a million men, leaving the bodies of
three hundred thousand of the slain on the field.
71. Q. To what three cities did Alexander now march that surrendered
on his approach? A. Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, the capital of the
Persian empire.
72. Q. To what position did Alexander now find himself elevated, at the
age of twenty-six? A. To the summit of his ambition. Darius was dead, and
he was the undisputed master of western Asia.
73. Q. For the following two or three years where did Alexander continue
his expeditions and conquests? A. In Asia, meeting with a great variety
of adventures.
74. Q. After his return to Babylon from an expedition into India how
did he spend his time? A. In forming vast plans one day, and utter
abandonment to all the excesses of dissipation and vice the next.
75. Q. What was the immediate occasion of his death? A. A prolonged
carousal was followed by a violent fever, which soon terminated fatally.
76. Q. What became of the empire of Alexander after his death? A. It was
for many years subjected to protracted civil wars, which resulted in its
separation into numerous small kingdoms.
III.—QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “PREPARATORY GREEK COURSE IN ENGLISH,” FROM
PAGE 172 TO END OF BOOK.
77. Q. Of what is the most famous passage in the Sixth Book of the
“Iliad” descriptive? A. The parting of Hector and Andromache, his wife,
bringing with her their little child.
78. Q. Who among the Greeks takes the honors of the seventh book of the
“Iliad?” A. Ajax.
79. Q. What constitutes a prominent feature in the eighth book of the
“Iliad?” A. Another account of the Olympian gods in council.
80. Q. Technically described, what is Homer’s verse? A. Dactylic
hexameter.
81. Q. What is a dactyl? A. A foot of three syllables, of which the first
is long and the other two short.
82. Q. In dactylic hexameter how many of these feet are there in a line?
A. Six.
83. Q. Name a classic English poem written in dactylic hexameter? A.
Longfellow’s “Evangeline.”
84. Q. What does the “Odyssey” mean? A. The poem of Odysseus, or Ulysses,
king of the island of Ithaca.
85. Q. When Troy was taken for what place did Odysseus and his followers
sail? A. Ithaca.
86. Q. On their way, to what land were they driven? A. That of the
Cyclops, a savage race of one-eyed giants.
87. Q. Here, what did Odysseus do to the Cyclop Polyphemus? A. He put out
the one eye of the monster, after he had eaten six of the hero’s comrades.
88. Q. What did Poseidon, the god of the sea and father of Polyphemus, do
in revenge? A. He doomed Odysseus to wander far and wide over the sea to
strange lands.
89. Q. When the “Odyssey” begins, ten years after the fall of Troy, where
is Odysseus? A. In the island of Ogygia, at the center of the sea, where
for seven years the nymph Calypso has detained him against his will.
90. Q. Meanwhile, what has befallen Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, in
Ithaca? A. She has been courted by more than a hundred suitors, lawless,
violent men, who feast riotously in the house of Odysseus as if it were
their own.
91. Q. When Odysseus at length gets permission to sail from Ogygia, and
starts on a raft, what occurs to him? A. Poseidon wrecks his raft, and he
is thrown upon the island of the Phæacians, a rich and happy people near
to the gods.
92. Q. Upon being entertained by the king of the Phæacians, what are the
subjects of some of the adventures he relates? A. The enchantress Circe,
the sweet singing Sirens, and the passage between Scylla and Charybdis.
93. Q. After Odysseus is taken back to Ithaca by a Phæacian crew, what is
the fate of the suitors of Penelope? A. They are all slain in the palace
by Odysseus, assisted by his son Telemachus and two trusty servants.
94. Q. What are some of the most noted translations of the Odyssey? A.
Chapman’s, Pope’s, Cowper’s, Worsley’s, and Bryant’s.
95. Q. What part of the adventures of Odysseus does our author first give
in an extended quotation from Worsley’s translation of the “Odyssey?” A.
His stay in the country of the Phæacians.
96. Q. What was the name of the king of the Phæacians, frequently
referred to in poetry containing classical allusions? A. Alcinous.
97. Q. Of what is the next extended quotation descriptive that is given
by our author from Worsley’s translation of the “Odyssey?” A. The
slaughter of the suitors of Penelope by Odysseus and his son.
98. Q. Of what are the remaining quotations given descriptive? A.
Odysseus making himself known to Penelope, his wife, and to Laertes, his
father.
99. Q. Who now intervenes to avert further bloodshed? A. Athene.
100. Q. In what manner is this accomplished? A. She stays the hand of
Ulysses, raised in fell self-defense against the avenging kindred of the
suitors, and enjoins a solid peace between the two parties at feud.
101. Q. In this appearance what familiar form does the goddess Athene
assume? A. That of Mentor, ancient friend of Ulysses.
THE CHAUTAUQUA UNIVERSITY.
BY PROF. R. S. HOLMES, A.M.
The Chautauqua University is empowered by its charter to grant the
degrees ordinarily conferred by American colleges. The chief of these are
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Philosophy, and Civil
Engineer, to be awarded to undergraduates at the completion of certain
prescribed courses of study, as the seal of their work and the sign of
their graduation. The degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy
are the leading post-graduate degrees. The Chautauqua University proposes
to use the power granted by its charter whenever the occasion may demand.
It believes that good and thorough study may be done at home; that good
and thorough instruction may be imparted by correspondence; and when good
home study and good instruction by correspondence are united, it believes
that as good and thorough education will result as results from resident
college training, and such education it proposes to recognize and crown.
The Chautauqua University does not contemplate the bestowal of degrees
upon groups, or ranks, or classes of individuals who may for certain
periods of time have been associated in the same studies and the same
courses. It is the individual student, as an individual, who will
receive the Chautauqua degree, and not he, until after tests severer
than are required of students in the average college, and after more
years than college students think they can spare from practical life.
The student of the Chautauqua University is in practical life when he
becomes a student, and remains in practical life while he is a student,
consecrating to self culture those spare hours which his neighbor, who
has graduated long ago, spends in idleness or in restless quest of
amusement.
The Chautauqua University does not design to lower the standard of
attainment essential to a degree. This does not mean cheap diplomas for
the masses—it means education for those who have stood outside the gates
of opportunity; it means lofty purpose, noble aim, self-sacrificing
consecration to culture of mature hours and rigid discipline whose end is
power. This institution opens no door to the multitudes of youth annually
leaving our high schools, through which they can pass along some royal
road to enter the portals and sit down in the palace of culture. To
all of this class who can, it says go to college; climb the heights of
Olympus; sit on the hill of Helicon; drink at the Pierian spring; walk
in the groves of the academy; seek with Crito to catch Socrates as he
passes out of his prison; put on the buskin; wear the laurel. For you we
have nothing. But for the great majority of those who, year by year are
passing from school into the practical avenues of life, the multitude
who can not go to college, we rear an altar by the fireside, on which we
kindle the fires of truth, by whose light they shall see clearly to read
the mysteries of that world of knowledge into which their more fortunate
companions have gone; and when the years have passed, years of patient
toil, of earnest endeavor, of unswerving purpose, of daily sacrifice upon
those altars of spare moments of time, they, too, shall wear the laurel.
The Chautauqua University has no purpose of swelling Chautauqua ranks at
the expense of established resident institutions. It offers no allurement
to turn young men or young women away from college. It seeks to foster
the college spirit, to create a desire for intimate knowledge of the
liberal arts. It would see college graduates numbered not by tens, but
by hundreds. It holds high the banner of college education. On it are
inscribed the immortal names of Edwards, Hopkins, Woolsey, Dwight,
and the long illustrious list of those who have made illustrious the
institutions with which they were connected. It bids the young men of the
nation to range themselves beneath their standard, _if they can_. But for
those who can not, the young, gifted, anxious, who are longing to stand
beside their former companions, but can not; for those also who could
not, the mature, with vigorous powers, who by earnest labor and economic
care have escaped the environments of early days, and are able now to
give a leisure hour to study; for those, too, who would not, and who
to-day regret and would atone for the mistake of by-gone days; for all
these we raise the standard of the Chautauqua University, and bid them
range themselves beneath it. _Tandem fit surculus arbor_—“The sapling has
at last become a tree.”
But while Chautauqua takes this last step upward she forgets and abandons
nothing of her past. The Assembly, with its years of wonderful influence,
goes on to widen that influence. Chautauqua Literary and Scientific
Circle, serving a purpose of wide usefulness goes on to enlarge that
usefulness with ever increasing numbers. The methods which have made
her past so successful and memorable will characterize her future. The
annual pilgrimage of tens of thousands to the shores of the beautiful
lake will continue. Sermon and lecture, discussion and conversation,
representations of the treasures of art, and the wonders of science,
study and recreation, pathos and zest will still instruct, delight,
arouse and rest her summer multitudes. But all this does not complete
Chautauqua’s work for the world. There is a higher summit to be reached,
and on its crest is reared the University, and only accurate learning and
close scholarship can speak the open sesame that will give entrance to
her inmost shrines.
It has been the burden of this article to impress our readers with the
idea that diplomas in the Chautauqua University can not be had on call,
but will be awarded only to high attainment after strenuous toil. But
while we would speak on this subject in language that shall not be
misunderstood, we would not go to the other extreme, and deter any from
entering upon the work. Though our standards are high, they are not too
high to be reached. Art may be long, and time fleeting; but art is not
too long and time is not too fleeting to allow an earnest man or woman
within their time to measure the length and breadth of the treasures art
may hold.
The Chautauqua University appeals to a mighty constituency. There are a
hundred thousand readers who, glancing over the columns of their daily
or weekly paper, will stop to read with attentive interest the article
or item which contains the word “Chautauqua.” The circle into which
their lines of influence radiate is almost without circumference. That
appeal has been answered. From this constituency, within the month just
ending, hundreds of inquiries, prompted by the article in the October
issue of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, have reached the University office. They come
from the farthest eastward province of the Dominion of Canada, and from
the remotest southern and western states of the American Union. Chief
among the inquiries has been one concerning the courses of study to be
pursued for the attainment of specific degrees, prompted, no doubt, by
the following paragraph from our preliminary circular:
DEGREES.
Among the degrees to be conferred by the Chautauqua University on the
satisfactory completion by the candidate of prescribed courses, are the
following:
A. B.—A Full Academic Course.
A. M.—A Post-Graduate Course in approved liberal studies.
B. S.—An Elective Course in Science, Art, and English.
Ph. B.—An Elective Academic Course.
Ph. D.—A Post-Graduate Course in Philosophy, and one or more other
liberal studies.
In pursuance of our purpose to show how much we shall require, and still
that such requirement may be met by him who will, and to answer the
inquiries on the subject, we add our proposed course of study for the
diploma and degree of Bachelor of Arts. This is not sent out as final, or
as not subject to modification. It is, however, substantially the basis
of all work in the Chautauqua University, and is as follows:
The completion of the following courses of study, and the possession
of certificates from the directors of the various departments which
these courses represent, will be required before the student will be
recommended for the degree of Bachelor of Arts: Two full courses in
Greek; three full courses in Latin; four full courses in Mathematics;
two full courses in French or German; three full courses in English; two
full courses in History; one full course each in Philosophy, Political
Economy, Physics, Chemistry, Moral Philosophy, Astronomy, the History
and Literature of Art, and two full courses in Biological Science.
The student will not be required to pursue these courses exactly
as prescribed, as wide opportunity will be given the individual to
substitute other branches than those named, or more courses in particular
departments than are here specified, as he may elect. But in every case
full courses equal in number to those specified will be required. For
the other degrees the scheme of study now pursued will form the basis,
such omission and substitution being made as are suited to the particular
degree; but in no case will a diploma be given for less than twenty-two
full courses. With this outline of work before them, students will be
able to begin at once without further inquiry. Select the courses which
you will first attempt; and with purpose never to cease your effort till
success has crowned it, we bid you enter the Chautauqua University.
EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.
A DANGER FOR LOCAL CIRCLES.
We are often slow to believe that our pet institutions have points of
attack. We become so enamored with their merits that we close our eyes
to their dangers. Particularly is this true, we fear, in regard to the
local circle. Its members rejoice so heartily in its existence that
they are prone at times to forget that even a local circle is heir to
the frailty of all human institutions, and that it may be threatened by
dangers which, unless arrested, will destroy its usefulness. One danger
at a time is sufficient to consider; certainly so when so serious a one
as narrowness is announced.
The whole plan of the C. L. S. C. is broad—it is literally for _all_ men.
Any department of the work which is conducted on any other principle
fails to discharge its full allegiance. We fear that the local circle
is in danger of losing sight of this great principle. Most natural is
it for circles to so limit themselves. When a club of ten, twenty or
thirty congenial members has been formed, when a pleasant plan of work
has been adopted and thoroughly organized, it is comfortable and natural
to decide that the circle is large enough; that a larger number would
spoil the informality, would bring in an uncongenial element, would be
unmanageable. The growth of the circle is stopped in the community, and
the harm done is threefold. Probably the most serious evil is that the
exclusiveness of the circle has abridged the usefulness of the C. L. S.
C. Intended for all men who need a course of reading it naturally asks
from its members fidelity to this underlying catholicity of spirit. The
original plan of its founder did not include the local circle. His idea
was to ask from every reader faithfulness to the broad and inspiring
principle on which he had based the plan. Every member was to lead others
to the well. The local circle has grown up and is undoubtedly a wonderful
help in many ways, but it is in danger of keeping the C. L. S. C. from
the very people who need it most. A circle once formed, and which has
closed its doors to all outsiders, naturally spreads the idea that the C.
L. S. C. is a sort of a private club, that only certain kinds of people
are admitted, or it is suitable for only such and such people. Utterly
false and harmful in the extreme to the work, it is but a logical result
from this exclusiveness.
An injury almost as deplorable is the encouragement this limitation gives
to the widespread social evil of “sets.” “Our set” is the bane of church
union; it breaks up the harmony of Sabbath-schools; it divides our towns
into a vast number of petty, jealous cliques. This spirit is contrary to
the fundamental principles of our work, yet we encourage, rather than
hinder it by narrowing our borders in the local circle.
Unless we do open our lines we suffer, ourselves. We lose the greatest
aid which the C. L. S. C. has to offer—the inspiration which comes from
working for a good cause. Sustained zeal is possible only when fed by
unselfishness. Work becomes nerveless, narrow, crotchety, which has
not the inspiration of being not only a help to oneself, but a help to
others. To omit this labor for others is to leave out a most important
part of the course.
But perhaps, it is argued, this is not practical. We have a habit,
now-a-days, of declaring “not practical” a great many ideas whose utility
is evident, but whose realization is attended with self-denial and
constant effort. Do not be deceived. _All_ good things are practical,
if not always easy. Catholicity in the C. L. S. C. most certainly is
so. Have you a large circle and do you hesitate before extending its
boundaries, then you should form a second circle. Through the efforts
of your members not only one but any number might be started, until
there would not be a house in your town in which the C. L. S. C., if
not a member, at least would be an acquaintance. These could meet
separately each week, but monthly meetings, memorial celebrations and
vesper services should beheld jointly. In every city where local circles
exist, at least three joint meetings should occur in the year. Each
society should be represented at these meetings, and provision should
be made for social converse. This plan, so easily arranged, has been
successfully tried in many places. It does not hinder the great work of
a small circle, and removes the danger of narrowness. It may cost you
self-denial and struggle, but the broader view of your true relations to
men which you will get, the inspiration of seeing the work extended, and
the increased friendliness in the inhabitants of your town will more than
compensate.
ELECTING A CHIEF MAGISTRATE.
Under the wholesome rule of the constitution, by which power regularly
returns to the people for a new lease of it, we have just chosen a
President of the United States. It is wise to remember the things
which were _not_ before the people for their decision. There is, for
example, the constitution under which we live with its securities
for all well-defined rights under a judiciary made as independent as
possible. There is also that system of local self-government vesting
in states, cities, counties and towns, the control of business which
is exclusively their own. There is the general policy of leaving the
people to transact private business for themselves and relieving them of
infantile dependence on the government. What a contrast to that Roman
empire which gave _panem et circenses_ to the people and reduced the
popular conception of government to that of a good fairy who furnished
food and amusement—ran the bakeries and the theaters! But on the other
hand, we may as wisely remember that a campaign may have fateful bearings
on our dearest interests; highest moralities and most revered sanctities.
It is conceivable that the result of an election might be the admission
of polygamous Utah as a state, and the consecration of plural marriage
as one of the allowable and honored modes of founding the American
family. It is also conceivable that as the result of an election the
laboring classes might be reduced to distress, and all of us along with
them, by the establishment of free competition between our workmen and
the men in blouses, and the women in wooden shoes, on the other side
of the ocean. It is possible, too, that a new interpretation of the
constitution which would seriously impair private rights might grow from
the results of an election. Nor can we forget that the _spirit_ of our
public life is powerfully affected by the discussions and the management
of political campaigns. The profuse spending of money to influence votes,
the recklessness which breaks out in ballot-box stuffing and counting-out
frauds is more dangerous than any proposition to alter the constitution;
for it does alter it and sells out the governing of us to unscrupulous
managers.
And therefore it is a happy result of our political system as our
fathers gave it to us, that the people interest themselves in elections,
discourage great changes in our laws, impose a conservative policy upon
parties, demand respect for the sanctities of the family and of society,
and frown upon corrupt practices in handling the national ballot-boxes or
influencing the nation’s voters by bribes and unlawful promises.
We have for the twenty-fifth time chosen a President. The office has
grown in its burdens, but it has not grown in its constitutional powers.
For ten years there was a great danger that its wholesome powers would be
seriously reduced by the so-called “courtesy of the Senate,” according
to which the President became the clerk of the Senators for Federal
appointments in each state. But since the pistol shot which killed
President Garfield was fired, the so-called “courtesy” has ceased to
be named except for condemnation; and the President retains the power
Washington had to nominate office-holders in the several states. Probably
there has never been a time when the highest office was more carefully
and exactly defined by practice in harmony with the constitution. The
President does not dictate to Congress, force nominations through the
Senate, or interfere with the independence of the Federal courts. On the
other hand one may search the newspapers in vain for a trace of distrust
or criticism in any of these vital concernments. After the war there
was a period during which the constitution underwent severe strain at
several points. The criticisms of the times of Johnson and Grant turned
mostly upon constitutional questions. The conflicts of politics bore
upon that class of differences. To many it seemed doubtful whether our
institutions could survive these struggles. Providence has been good
to us; we have been good to ourselves and our children. The storms are
overpast. The constitution exists unimpaired; it is universally accepted
as the fundamental law. There has not been a breath of discussion
about it in the late campaign. It is many quadrenniums since the like
occurred; indeed we doubt if there ever was any such campaign in this
respect. Here and there a man may be found to explain our peace as
ignorant indifference; but he is profoundly wrong. The separate powers
of the government are well defined, and the independence of each in its
own domain is preserved. The single new machine—national supervision
of congressional elections through U. S. Marshals—had in it great
possibilities of danger. It might have been so handled as to vest the
power to hold the ballot-boxes in the President’s hands; but it has
simply created salutary checks on frauds. Here and there an isolated
case of improper interference may reach the record; but there is no
fear abroad that our chief magistrate abuses his powers. The errors
when they occur are only the blunders of individual officers, not an
organized invasion of the people’s rights. So little has been said about
this piece of machinery recently, that we half fear that some readers
have forgotten or never heard of the Federal election laws. The sum of
what we would say is that the late election marks the subsidence of
those waves of constitutional disorder or conflict which had run high
from the beginning of the war to the death of President Garfield. We
have evidently entered upon a new field of partisan controversy; and
no constitutional questions, only questions of expediency, are before
us or are likely to be. The industrial problems as related to tariff
questions, perhaps also some others, such as the expediency of National
savings banks and life insurance bureaus for the poor, are likely to lead
the political thought into channels which were never before open to it
in the line of humanitarianism and the general welfare. In becoming a
manufacturing nation we have traveled to new political outlooks. We have
to adjust ourselves to the results of our tariff laws, whether or not we
like either the laws or its results. The results are some millions of men
and women earning wages in mills, whose fate and that of their children
is in our hands. We shall be tempted to follies of protection as well
as follies of free trade; to follies of philanthropy as well as follies
of indifference and neglect. To thoughtful men the path to safety may
well seem as narrow as the edge of that scimetar along which the Moslem
saint skated into Paradise. Let us hope that the conservative genius of
our people will not fail in these new fields of political activity; and
that the buoyant hope of this growing people may continue to lift us out
of the dangers of the failure of self-confidence. It is our happiness
that we feel able to govern ourselves, equal to our problems, superior
to our perils. If it should ever come to pass that the mass of our
citizens lost the self-assurance for which foreigners sometimes unwisely
rebuke them, they would begin to transfer the government to oligarchies,
aristocracies, or “the man on horseback.” The campaign has had many
unpleasant incidents—political mills can not be clean and quiet any
more than other mills can—but a judicious observer will have noted with
satisfaction that the plain men have everywhere felt equal to forming
their own judgments about grave matters concerning which the so-called
wise have differed most energetically. And inasmuch as the wise could
not agree, it is safe to say that the wayfaring men have displayed as
much sense as “their betters,” and more courage and consistency. We have
been impressed by the experience of the campaign with the belief that the
average American, who knows neither Latin nor science, does understand
his principal business—that of governing this country.
PRINCIPAL FAIRBAIRN’S LECTURES.
The lectures of Principal A. M. Fairbairn, of England, on the Chautauqua
platform last summer, were a valuable contribution to contemporary
philosophy. Their subject is Modern Philosophy in its specifically
English form. Starting with Locke, and passing along through the ideas of
Berkeley, Hume, the Mills, Comte, and Herbert Spenser, the learned and
brilliant lecturer gave us a history of modern speculation respecting the
problem, “How is knowledge possible? What are its conditions? How does
man come by it?” We have lately read over again these lectures in the
careful reports made for the _Assembly Herald_; and we believe we shall
render our readers a service by calling their attention to the importance
of them and reminding those who have not files of them that they are on
sale at this office. There is a very remarkable unity in the empirical
philosophy which is associated with the names we have just given, and
this unity was developed with rare skill by Principal Fairbairn. John
Locke, the English founder of the school, formulated and determined the
problem of philosophy for the English and the French peoples; and though
each of them was original after his kind, Berkeley, Hume, the Mills,
Comte and Herbert Spenser have worked upon lines which Locke laid down.
Locke asked himself, how do ideas come into the mind? and answered his
question by saying, there are no ideas in the mind until the senses
have conveyed them in. In other terms, he undertook to disperse as a
metaphysical mist the “innate ideas” in which philosophy believed when
he began to write. In varying forms, the notion that there is nothing
in the mind except what the senses have put there remains the creed of
the empirical philosophy. The criticism of Principal Fairbairn upon the
successive statements of the doctrine that the outer world is prior, and
creates the inner world, is very keen and accurate. Locke was fond of
saying that the mind was like a clean table, to which the senses brought
ideas. Our critic asks: “Did you ever find a table that could grasp
the significance of what was graved on it?” and adds, “It is the power
to read the writing and weave it into a connected and reasonable and
rational whole, which is the very thing to be explained. It is not how
nature through the senses comes to me, but how I through the senses read
nature.” And one of his strong and luminous statements is, that “Ideas
can not get into the mind unless there is a mind to get into.”
The purpose of the critic throughout these lectures was to establish the
priority of thought by disposing one by one of the various attempts to
post-fix mind to matter. The attempts successively made to attach mind,
ideas, thought, conscience, and philosophy to the tail of the material
kite, all tended, of course, to skepticism. As a theologian Dr. Fairbairn
was instinctively drawn to the task of reversing this order so as to
attach matter as a tail to the kite of the spiritual world. No matter
how plausibly stated, the theory that our knowledge and our minds are
a result of material energy reduces any possible God to the status of
a product of nature. If in reasoning about ourselves we shall finally
conclude that our inner totality is simply and only a product of the
external world, we shall be forced to conclude that all thought in the
universe is of like origin. The skeptical result is inevitable. Whatever
view we take of substance in nature we are compelled to decide whether
or not it is so moulded as to express the thoughts of an infinite God.
If we so believe we shall find it easy to explain how thought in us
finds a cosmos in nature. If the infinite mind reveals his thought in
the order and harmony of the external world, the fact easily explains
why we _find_ order and harmony there. It is not necessary to reduce the
external world to a phantasmagoria of the mind in order to vindicate a
place for God. Rather the most subtle and dangerous of skepticisms may
lie in the teaching that innate ideas construct the harmonies of nature.
Berkeley said we are reading God’s thoughts in the visible world; and
hegelianism, to which Principal Fairbairn evidently leans, dispenses with
matter while filling the universe with thought. It is equally easy to
give matter reality as a plastic thing on which God writes his thoughts
so that we may read them. This question of the reality of substance may
very properly be the next one to command the attention of philosophy. But
it must be remembered that the science which resolves matter into motion
and force conspires with the philosophy which makes matter merely the
expression of divine ideas.
But we do not wish to make our readers heads ache with philosophy; only
to suggest to those who are interested in it that these lectures will
afford them valuable instruction. At their close on the Chautauqua
platform, Chancellor Vincent expressed in happy terms the admiration of
thousands who heard these lectures for their vigor and eloquence. He
said: “Principal Fairbairn, in behalf of Chautauqua I desire to say a
very few words. We are glad that you came. We are sorry that you must go.
You have commanded our admiration by the elegance, clearness and force
of your diction, but preëminently by the vigor and freshness of your
thought. You stand before us a great ‘phenomenon.’ [Applause.] For we
have been accustomed to vigorous thought read from manuscript, we have
been accustomed to vigorous thought put into memory and recited with
accuracy, but this living, present, compact, vigorous thinking on one’s
feet, that has held us spell-bound, is a very remarkable occurrence at
Chautauqua.” [Applause.]
EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.
The saying “politics makes strange bed-fellows,” never had a more
dramatic exhibition than in the case of Henry Ward Beecher. In the late
campaign, he was violently handled by the only paper in New York which
supported and defended him in his trial; and he has been on the same side
with the papers which at that time most infamously abused him. The press
is also fairly representative of the public around him; his life-long
friends have now been opposed to him; and one friend of other years has
been branded by him as “a continental liar,” whatever that may be. “It
is,” say his present friends, “the fate of a prophet.” His older friends
say “he is growing old.”
* * * * *
In England, in one county, 30,000 acres of good land are tenantless
because the laborers and farmers have gone to manufacturing towns. To
cure this evil Lady Catherine Gaskell wants to put a stop to educating
the poor. She is a picturesque reformer who may be safely classed with
the Roman pontiff. She would forbid the humble classes to wear clothes
such as other people wear, send them to the fields at three o’clock in
the morning, and keep them with the cattle. The dear soul is probably
mad, at least “south by southwest.”
* * * * *
It is said that the Jesuits are creeping back into Rome and buying
property in the names of private persons. The Pope is very busy and
hopeful in his work of strengthening the church. One aspect of this
matter of the Papacy and its Jesuit agents, is too much overlooked. Italy
can not successfully fight either the Papacy or Jesuitory _with atheism_.
So long as the Catholics have the religion of the country they will
actually rule it, whatever may be the form of government. A dreadfully
perverted Christianity is still a positive force, advancing and
aggressive. Atheism is not a force; it is a barren negation. A Protestant
Italy is the want of liberty in that peninsula.
* * * * *
Wm. H. Vanderbilt has given $500,000 to the New York City College of
Physicians and Surgeons. The gift is wise and generous, and it breaks a
disagreeable silence. It is only by such gifts that very rich men can
satisfy our moral sense. The vast wealth can be justified only as a
stewardship for one’s fellow men; and we want to see the proofs that the
stewardship is righteously exercised.
* * * * *
A Chinese pamphlet, instigated by the French invasion, and designed to
inflame the passion of the celestials, says that Europeans are not human
beings at all, but wild animals descended from monkeys. We fear that an
imperfect copy of Darwin has fallen into the hands of this pamphleteer;
but he gives us a chance to see ourselves as others see us.
* * * * *
October is the month of political parades in the political almanac. This
year the display at some points was magnificent. Broadway, New York, with
from thirty to sixty thousand men in line, in the picturesque costumes
of contemporary politics, is the most imposing sight in the world. And
our sober-sided people seem to like and enjoy this single form of public
theatrical effects.
* * * * *
Now and then a good man is plentifully advertised as “a man with a
conscience.” Would it not be easier and more wholesome to morals to
confine this kind of advertising to the men who are without consciences?
The men who have consciences must be very numerous.
* * * * *
The appointment of the Hon. Hugh McCullough as Secretary of the Treasury
reminds us, not only that President Lincoln nominated him to the same
office, but also that he returns to the most arduous office in the United
States at the age of seventy-three. His health is perfect, and he has the
vigor of middle age. The old men are holding out in American public life
about as well as they do in English politics.
* * * * *
Mr. Wm. J. Stillman, an American artist and writer who has lived abroad
for twenty-five years, makes a practical suggestion which all who have
crossed the Atlantic just once will appreciate. He proposes that the
eating on ocean steamers be done on the restaurant principle, each
passenger paying for what he eats, at fixed prices. If the plan is
adopted, it will considerably reduce the cost of that trip to Europe of
which most of our readers are dreaming. Eating and a first voyage are
antipathetic.
* * * * *
It is a very amusing thing (to us Americans) which Professor Goldwin
Smith says in a recent number of the _Contemporary Review_, that the
organization of a government in England can not be long delayed. The
fictitious constitution has broken down, he thinks, and a real one
(somewhat like ours, but better) must be made for modern England. But the
Professor always was hysterical.
* * * * *
The result of the French war in China is still in doubt. Three months ago
the French papers were writing about their great victory and proposing
that their Tonquin army conquer the Christian queen of Madagascar. Now
the latest public statement is that the army in Tonquin is sufficient
for _defensive_ operations. There is a gradual growth of manifestations
of hostility by the Chinese against all foreigners, and an outbreak is
_possible_ which might arm the Christian world against China; but that
seems to be the only door of escape for the French from a long and costly
war.
* * * * *
The desperate condition of railroad property has been made more desperate
by a rate-cutting war. There are more roads than are needed, and this
state of things reduces the fares and freights to be divided among an
increased number. The result is a still further reduction by reduced
fares of passengers. The problem of this class of property is a difficult
one; and it is a large one and closely related to the general prosperity.
A first step would seem to be getting speculators out of the directorates.
* * * * *
The Northern Pacific Railroad recently transported a solid wheat train
containing one hundred and ten cars. Ten years ago the whole region in
which this wheat grew was a wilderness. But the farthest great wheat
field has now been opened to culture. Wheat will not always be cheap,
though it need not be scarce. With the rise in price will come a vast
increase of production in the older states.
* * * * *
We are entertained by the solemn pleadings of certain journals that boys
be allowed to take exercise, that the schools be restrained from spoiling
their bodies while cultivating their minds. Any one who knows a boy when
he sees one must “laugh consumedly” over this reform. Teachers will find
special and boundless amusement in the idea that a boy can be kept from
abundant and even violent exercise.
* * * * *
An interesting side-light on our civilization is the fact that some
of the Sitting Bull Indians have been exhibiting themselves and their
costumes and customs in a New York theater—“to make money to build houses
and buy furniture,” the manager says. This is more heroic than taking
scalps for glory.
* * * * *
Once when the superior generalship of General Lee was explained to
General Grant, he replied with his usual modesty of tone: “I believe I
beat Lee.” We are reminded of the incident by an elaborate explanation
that England had all the points of success in her favor, and had them
all properly counted in our two wars with her. And yet—we seem to have
heard that—we came out ahead. These metaphysical victories are not very
satisfactory. Artemas Ward said: “I pulled my enemy down on top of me and
firmly inserted my nose between his teeth.” Still, his nose got the worst
of it.
* * * * *
The humors of campaign politics are often good enough to keep. After the
October election in Ohio a Republican paper said: “John R. McLean, the
Democratic manager, married a wife a few days before the election, and
after the state was lost to his party, was _the only happy Democrat in
Ohio_.” We hope Mrs. McLean saw the neat compliment to herself.
* * * * *
Farmers are peaceable people, and yet the lawyers would starve to death
if farmers did not furnish them lawsuits. A movement is on foot in New
York state to settle farmers’ differences by arbitration. The Patrons
of Husbandry recommend this method, and there is some prospect of its
adoption on a considerable scale. We commend the plain common sense of it
to our agricultural readers.
* * * * *
King Humbert distinguished the throne of Italy by visiting the plagued
cities and following the cholera into hospitals. The Pope, as the
pretender to the temporal throne of Rome, had to demonstrate also. He
has called for an organized assault by prayer on the heart of the Virgin
Mary. It is easier than visiting plague-infested towns, and safer. But
the Pope proposes to pay those who pray. All who take part in the “rosary
prayer” will get absolution for seven years—not from cholera, but from
their sins.
* * * * *
How many people will be in the world in 2000 A. D.? is one of the
questions pressing for settlement in the heads of statisticians. It is
comforting to know that these interesting and romantic persons assure us
that the United States will have six hundred millions, if nothing in the
nature of a preventing Providence intervenes. It is a comfort to know
that the jury have no personal interest in this verdict in our favor.
* * * * *
This country will have to make some laws on the subject of timber. The
big forests are rapidly becoming only memories. We make some kinds of
lumber from straw, and iron has taken the place of other kinds. But the
woods have climatic uses, and a treeless land is exposed to evils more
costly than the value of the timber we are wasting. The annual floods are
one item of the cost of destroying trees; changes of climate, which can
hardly be measured, are another item but little thought of. The trees are
a part of natural economy of the earth.
* * * * *
Public debts are made with far too much carelessness; but people who wish
to evade taxes so arising, repudiate _en masse_; and hence comes the
interesting question: “Are we a nation of rascals?” If one judges by the
number of worthless (or little worth) bonds of all sorts which are in
existence, we _are_ a nation of rascals. There must, in other words, be
some rascally element in the national character, or all these promises to
pay would not be dishonored. The genesis of the good-for-nothing bonds
ought to be written philosophically; that may be a necessary preface to
writing it with a moral purpose.
* * * * *
The Boston _Traveler_ of November 6th contains, in its editorial
department, the following noble compliment to the C. L. S. C.: “This
society that teaches the use of leisure hours and inspires the men and
women of America with an intelligent aspiration to learn something of all
that it is practicable to learn in home study by imparting the enthusiasm
of companionship in work, has this year almost twice as many ardent,
self-sacrificing students of its curriculum as the combined membership
of all the American colleges from Maine to Washington Territory. When
we consider the influence of a single collegiate institution, many of
whose students attend from parental rather than personal aspirations,
and think how much money is annually raised through benevolence for
them, exceptional praise is due him who has by his own wit and wisdom,
without financial appeal or charitable pretence, called into line for the
study of history, philosophy, science and literature nearly double the
constituency of all our colleges.”
* * * * *
A story comes from one of the Southern states that a man recently
committed suicide rather than pay his taxes. Of the two inevitable
things, death and taxes, he seems to have preferred, contrary to the
common choice, to suffer death. The story furnishes a text for a sermon
on the modification of general feeling relative to taxation. The suicide
of the story was a survival; taxes are no longer regarded with aversion;
they are paid, as grocers’ bills are, with equanimity.
* * * * *
The desire to fly “springs eternal in the human breast,” and the balloon
is a very fascinating field of experiment. A Frenchman seems to have
gained a point, and a good one. By using stored electricity he has
succeeded in going where he wanted to go, moving for four hours against
the wind. An Englishman has invented a means of keeping a balloon at the
same level, he thinks. Perhaps ballooning may yet become a practical
science.
* * * * *
Eccentric opinions sometimes have a fine and ancient flavor combined with
a modern taste. Such is the statement recently made in a public meeting
that insanity is increasing among the colored people, and that education
is the cause of it. The reader can pick out the two tastes. We fear that
the colored people are not yet educated enough to cause insanity, and we
do not seem to know that education ever caused anybody to become insane.
* * * * *
Among the “fashions” is the rage for old furniture. Grandmother’s
spinning wheel adorns the parlor, and worm-eaten old bureaus flank it
on either side. But a dealer in this kind of goods, speaking of course
against his rivals in trade, says that most of this old furniture is
made at modern factories. Even the old spinning wheels are imitated
to perfection. A story—wicked, perhaps—says that a Connecticut man is
getting rich making “Mayflower heirlooms.” Persistent rumors of this kind
will kill the fashion.
* * * * *
One of the notable events of October was the celebration throughout the
world of the hundredth birthday of Sir Joseph Montefiore, the wealthy Jew
whose philanthropy has shed luster on his race. In this celebration the
Hebrews have the sympathy and congratulations of Christians everywhere.
The venerable philanthropist has shown what wealth is good for, and set
an example of faithful stewardship which ought not to be lost on other
millionaires.
* * * * *
Some one has figured out that “just now, in the United States,”
twenty-one deaths in a hundred are caused by violence. It is safe
to avoid this kind of statistics. There is no means of knowing what
the rate of death by violence really is “just at present,” and it is
perfectly certain it is not twenty-one. It is only seven in England,
where statistics are kept. We keep none except in large cities, but we
certainly are not three times as bloody-handed as Englishmen.
* * * * *
New York had pending in the late election an amendment to the
constitution limiting the debts of towns and cities in the ratio of
population. In Illinois, in 1870, the new constitution put in force a
similar rule. The effect, in many towns, was a series of “improvements,”
carrying the debt up to the constitutional limit. The towns were ashamed
of themselves when they found that they did not owe as much as the law
allowed them to owe.
* * * * *
The horror of being buried alive is the most blood-curdling one known to
civilized life, and yet cases of people being buried alive continue to be
reported. The death of a woman at Hornellsville, N. Y., was certified by
a physician. She was removed from the grave, and report says that, though
in all other respects apparently dead, the body perspired freely. It
looks like a case of trance. At all events she was buried too soon, and
it is probable that in other cases bodies are frozen to death a few hours
after apparent death. The whole subject of trance invites study of a more
thorough sort than it has hitherto had.
* * * * *
Unpunctuality is a seductive vice in social matters. When a party or a
dinner is announced for a given hour, it should begin at that hour, and
not an hour or two later. The French custom is to allow half an hour for
dilatory guests at dinners; but in other matters the French way is for
each of the parties who have made a rendezvous—unless as duelists—to give
the other half an hour’s margin, which being taken on both sides makes in
all an hour. This system of addition is analogous to what a Californian
said of a big tree—it grew so high that it took two men and a boy to see
to the top.
* * * * *
ERRATA.—Dr. Felix Oswald, speaking of the principle governing schools of
medicine, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for November, made a quotation concerning
the school of Homœopathy, to which a few of our readers filed exceptions.
It was not Dr. Oswald’s design to reflect on this honorable class of
people, beside, THE CHAUTAUQUAN is not sick, and needs no physician;
therefore it is not a partisan among medical men.
* * * * *
In Miss Frances E. Willard’s article, “Romance vs. Reality,” in THE
CHAUTAUQUAN for November, the statement that in Ohio in 1883 only 90,000
votes were cast against constitutional prohibition is misleading. There
were cast at that election 721,310 votes; now the constitution of Ohio
requires that an amendment to be adopted must receive a majority of all
the votes cast, which would be 360,655, while the actual vote cast for
the amendment was but 223,189.
* * * * *
The class of ’84 “shines for all.” Up to November 1st 1,387 have
graduated, and still more to come.
C. L. S. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR DECEMBER.
PREPARATORY GREEK COURSE IN ENGLISH.
P. 172.—“Hip-polˈo-chus.” This son, Glaucus by name, was a prince of
Lycia, a country on the south side of ancient Asia Minor, and an ally of
Priam. Hippolochus is remembered only as the father of Glaucus and the
son of Bel-lerˈo-phon, who slew the fire-breathing monster, Chi-mæˈra,
which had long ravaged Lycia. Glaucus was slain at last by Ajax.
“Braggadocio,” brag-ga-dōˈshĭ-o. Boasting; brag. _Braggadocio_ is a
character in Spenser’s “Faerie Queen,” famous for his boastful talk, and
his name furnishes us this word.
P. 173.—“Bentley,” Richard. (1662-1742.) “Perhaps the best classical
scholar England has ever produced.”
“Foster.” (1770-1843.) A Baptist minister of no great prominence as
a preacher, but the author of a large number of valuable essays on
biography, literature, philosophy and society.
P. 174.—“An-dromˈa-che.” The daughter of the king of Theˈbe in Cilicia.
Her father and seven brothers were killed at the taking of Thebe, and she
was ransomed. After the fall of Troy, Andromache fell to Pyrrhus, the son
of Achilles, and he dying, she married Helenus, the brother of Hector,
who had escaped the fury of the Greeks and gained the favor of Pyrrhus.
“Hecˈto-rīˌdes.”
P. 175.—“E-eˈtion.” The king of Thebe.
“Plaˈcos.” A mountain of Mysia, near Thebe.
“Adˈja-ces.” The plural of Ajax, the name of two Greek heroes in the
Trojan war. Ajax the Great was a son of the king of Salamis, and second
in valor to Achilles. After the death of this latter hero, Ajax contended
for his armor with Ulysses, but being defeated, he went mad and took
his own life. The Lesser Ajax, as he was called, was a prince of the
Locricans, and rivaled Achilles in swiftness of foot. He was drowned
while returning to Greece.
“I-domˈe-neus.” The king of Crete, one of the bravest heroes of the
Trojan war.
“Aˈtre-us.” “The two chiefs born to Atreus” were Agamemnon and Menelaus.
“Ty-diˈdes.” Diomed, the son Tydeus.
P. 176.—“Hecˈu-ba.” The mother of Hector.
“Mes-seˈis.” A fountain in Laconia.
“Hyp-e-reiˈan.” Homer speaks of several fountains called Hyperia, located
in Thessaly.
P. 181.—“An-teˈnor.” One of the wisest counselors of the Trojans, and one
of the few spared by the Greeks at the capture of Troy.
“As-træˈa.” Referring to the constellation _Virgo_, between which and the
Scorpion “the golden scales” or Libra lies. Astræa was a daughter of Zeus
fabled to have lived among men during the Golden Age, and to have been
set among the stars at its close.
P. 191.—“Voss.” (1751-1826.) A German scholar. His translation of the
“Odyssey” has been, since 1781, the standard German version of that poem.
He made translations of many classical works, wrote on Grecian mythology,
and was a poet of ability.
“Chry-seˈis.” The daughter of a priest of Apollo, captured at Thebe,
and the booty of Agamemnon. Her father solicited her ransom, and when
refused, Apollo sent a plague upon the Greeks. Agamemnon was obliged to
surrender her, and to make good his loss, demanded Briseis, Achilles’
prize, hence “the wrath of Achilles.”
P. 193.—“Seventh of March.” A speech delivered in Congress by Webster on
March 7, 1850, in which he justified the fugitive slave law.
P. 196.—“Dædˈa-lus.” Fabled to have been an Athenian architect who, for
murder, was condemned to death. He fled to Crete, where he constructed
among other works a labyrinth at Gnosˈsus, or Cnossus, in which to
confine the monster Minotaur. The caves and quarries in Mount Ida
probably led to this legend.
P. 197.—“Aˌri-adˈne.” The daughter of Minos, the king of Crete.
P. 201.—“Mōˈly.”
“That _Moly_,
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.”—_Milton._
(See page 231 of “Preparatory Greek Course.”)
P. 202.—“Euˈry-tus.” A legendary hero of Thessaly, said to have been a
famous archer. He instructed Hercules in this art, and even boasted to be
equal to Apollo.
P. 208.—“Dyˈmas.”
P. 210.—“Er-y-manˈthi-an.” Pertaining to a mountain in Arcadia, famous as
the scene of the hunt by Hercules of the Erymanthean boar.
“Ta-ygˈe-tus.” A range of mountains between Laconia and Messuria.
P. 214.—“Euˈry-me-duˌsa;” “A-peiˈra.”
P. 215.—“A-reˈte;” “Perˌi-boiˈa;” “Nau-sithˈo-us;” “Eu-rymˈe-don.”
P. 216.—“Rhex-eˈnor;” “Scheria.” (See page 224 of “Preparatory Greek
Course.”)
P. 217.—“Argus-Slayer.” Mercury, who, by the order of Jupiter, killed
Argus, whom Juno set to watching Io after she had been changed into a cow.
P. 218.—“Echˌe-neˈus;” “La-odˈa-mas;” “Lustral.” Purifying.
P. 219.—“Pon-tonˈo-us.”
P. 222.—“Rha-da-manˈthus;” “Titˈy-us.” A giant of Eubœa, fabled to have
been after death cast into Tartarus, where he lies with two vultures
devouring his liver—a punishment for attempting to violate Diana.
P. 227.—“De-iphˈo-bus.” A son of Priam. The Greeks went first to his
home on the capture of Troy, being bitter against him, as he was counted
second in valor to Hector, and as he had married Helen on Paris’ death.
P. 230.—“Eu-rylˈo-chus;” “Pramˈmi-an.”
P. 235.—“An-tinˈo-us.”
P. 236.—“Eu-rymˈa-chus;” P. 237, “Am-phinˈo-mus;” P. 238, “Agˈe-laˌus;”
“Me-lanˈthi-us.”
P. 239.—“Eu-mæˈus;” “Doˈli-us.”
P. 240.—“Menˈtor.” A firm friend of Ulysses, to whom the latter confided
his property when he went to the Trojan war. Minerva assumed his form in
order to teach Telemachus. “Da-masˈtor;” “Alˈki-mus;” “Eu-rynˈo-mus;”
“Am-phimˈe-don;” “Demˌop-tolˈe-mus;” “Pei-sanˈder;” “Polˈy-bus.”
P. 241.—“Eu-ryˈa-des;” “Elˈa-tus;” “Cte-sipˈpus;” “Eu-rydˈa-mas.”
P. 242.—“Lei-ocˈri-tus;” “Lei-oˈdes;” “Pheˈmi-us.”
P. 243.—“Laˌer-tiˈa-des.” The son of Laertes. “Meˈdon;” “Phil-œˈti-us.”
P. 245.—“Eu-rynˈo-me;” “Euˈry-cleiˌa.”
P. 247.—“Acˈto-ris;” “Lamˈpus and Phaˈe-thon.” The goddess of the morning
dawn (Eˈos in Greek, in Latin Au-roˈra). “At the close of every night
rose from the couch of her spouse Tithonus and on a chariot, drawn by the
swift horses, Lampus and Phaethon, she ascended up to heaven from the
river Oceanus, to announce the coming of the light of day to the gods,
as well as to mortals. In the Homeric poems Eos not only announces the
coming sun, but accompanies him throughout the day, and her career is not
complete until the evening; hence she came to be regarded as the goddess
of the daylight.”
P. 249.—“Ciˈcons.” After the capture of Troy Ulysses set out for home,
but was driven by a storm on to the coast of Ismarus, a town of the
Cicones in Thrace, north of the island of Lemnos. He took much booty
from the town, though in the fray several of his men were killed. The
adventures of the company with the Lotus-eaters are told on page 228,
and with the Cyclops on page 200. After leaving these giants he came to
the island of the god of the winds, Æolus. This island has been said
to be Lipara, or Strongyle, in the group of Lipara islands, northeast
of Sicily. Ulysses was well treated by Æolus, who gave him a bag of
winds on his departure, which was to carry him home. The companions of
Ulysses, however, opened the bag, and the winds escaped. The ships were
driven back to the island, but Æolus would give no further help. Six
days afterward the fleet arrived at “the wide-gated Les-try-goˈni-an
town,” supposed to be Tel-epˈy-los, in the north of Sicily, where dwelt
the Les-trygˈo-nes, a race of cannibals. Ulysses fared hard among them,
escaping with but one ship. Circe and her wiles are told on page 230.
In Hades Ulysses learned mainly that he was at last to get safely to
Ithaca, providing that he let the herds of Heˈli-os, “the sun’s kine,” in
Thrinacia go unharmed. The “Sirens” lived on an island somewhere near the
western coast of Italy, and sang so sweetly that all who came that way
were forced to stop, when they were destroyed. Ulysses filled the ears
of his companions and fastened himself to the mast of the ship. Next he
came to the rocks called Scylˈla and Cha-rybˈdis. The former received its
name from a fearful monster with twelve feet, six heads, and a bark like
a dog, which dwelt thereon, and the latter from a being who thrice every
day swallowed the waters of the sea and thrice threw them up. They passed
uninjured and came to Helios’ (the sun’s) land. Ulysses was compelled by
his companions to land, and while he was one day asleep they killed some
of the sacred oxen. When again under way the storms arose which drowned
all the company save Ulysses.
P. 252.—“Ar-keiˈsi-as.”
P. 253.—“Alˈy-bas;” “A-pheiˈdas;” “Pol-y-peˈmon;” “E-perˈi-tus.”
P. 254.—“Par-nasˈsus.” See map, History of Greece. It was on Mount
Parnassus that Au-tolˈy-cus lived. He was a son of Mercury, and renowned
for his robberies.
NOTES ON CYRUS AND ALEXANDER.
P. 14.—“As-tyˈa-gēs.”
P. 25.—Names of the nine muses. See “Brief History of Greece,” page 73,
and note in Cyrus and Alexander.
P. 29.—The mother of Cyrus was named Pa-rysˈa-tis. There is a brief
reference to her in “Preparatory Greek Course,” page 65. The attempt on
the part of Cyrus to assassinate his brother is denied by some writers.
From the “Introduction” to “Kendrick’s Anabasis” the following quotation
is taken: “During the last illness of his father, Cyrus was summoned to
his bedside, and with Tissaphernes as an ostensible friend, and with
three hundred Greeks he went up to the capital, with strong hopes,
doubtless, that the question of the succession to the throne might be
decided in his favor; the queen-mother espousing his cause, and he being,
though not the oldest son, yet the oldest son born after Cyrus was king.
He was disappointed in his hopes; and, not only so, but, through the
accusations of Tissaphernes, was even seized on charge of a conspiracy,
and escaped death only through the powerful intercession of his mother,
Parysatis. Being dismissed from the court, he returned to his satrapy,
burning with resentment, and determined, if possible, to shake off all
dependence on his brother by succeeding to the throne. He immediately
commenced a secret mustering of the troops needed for so great an
enterprise.”
P. 30.—“The Auxiliary army,” from Greece. “The Peloponnesian War had just
come to a close, and had released from service large numbers of trained
soldiers, fond of war, and ready to enlist, as soldiers of fortune, in
any enterprise that promised success and good pay.” Also see “Brief
History of Greece,” page 33, note.
P. 35.—“Cyropedia.” For pronunciation and definition see “Preparatory
Greek Course,” page 62.
P. 37.—“Cam-byˈses;” “Man-daˈne.”
P. 40.—“Harˈpa-gus.”
P. 42.—“Mitˈri-daˈtes.”
P. 51.—“Ar-temˈba-ris.”
P. 75.—“Sacian.” The Sacians, or Saciæ, were one of the numerous and most
powerful of the Scythian nomad tribes, and had their abodes northeast of
the Massagetæ, in the steppes of Central Asia. They were made tributary
to the Persian empire, and were among the best troops that the kings of
Persia had. They were very warlike, and excelled especially as cavalry.
The name of the Sacians is often used loosely for other Scythian tribes,
and sometimes for Scythians in general.
P. 97.—“A-rasˈpes.”
P. 101.—“Mermˈna-dæ;” “Gyges,” jiˈjes.
P. 102.—“Can-dauˈles.”
P. 106.—“A-ly-atˈtes.”
P. 107.—“Thrasˈy-buˈlus.”
P. 108.—“A-riˈon.”
P. 113.—“Pac-toˈlus.”
P. 117.—“Aˈtis.”
P. 148.—“Promˌe-neˈa;” “Te-marˈe-te;” “Ni-canˈder;” “As-tragˈa-lus.”
P. 167.—“Thaˈles.”
P. 168.—“The celebrated fifth proposition of the first book.” If two
sides of a triangle are equal, then the angles opposite these sides are
equal.
P. 170.—“Pteria,” teˈri-a.
P. 178.—“Tmolus,” moˈlus; “Hyrædes,” hy-rēˈdes.
P. 193.—“Belus.” Son of Neptune. He was believed to be the ancestral hero
and national divinity of several eastern nations. He was the same as
the god Baal, of whom we read in the Scriptures, and, perhaps, the one
known to the Phœnicians as Moloch. His temples were built on the tops
of high hills, or still more frequently in solemn groves, and sometimes
altars were erected to him on the roofs of houses. Incense was the most
frequent offering presented to him, but we also read of sacrifices of
bullocks, and even of children. Priests danced about the altar during
the sacrifices, and barbarously cut and mangled themselves if their gods
did not speedily answer their prayers.
P. 200.—“Pacˈty-as;” “Ta-baˈlus.”
P. 202.—“A-ris-to-diˈcus.”
P. 228.—“A-bra-daˈtes.”
P. 256.—“Phe-rauˈlas.”
P. 267.—“A-glaiˈta-das.”
P. 272.—“Massagetæ,” mas-sajˈe-te; “Tomˈy-ris.”
P. 273.—“Spar-ga-peˈzes.”