published periodically, and arguing in favor of the Constitution of the
United States adopted in 1789, and was the concerted work of Alexander
Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay.
16. Q. What work of Thomas Paine has always had a wide circulation
chiefly among the lower classes? A. The Age of Reason. It advocates a
pure deism, but its method of criticism and temper of attack are now
generally repudiated by more scholarly writers of the same school.
17. Q. Who was the first American poet to attain eminence? A. Philip
Freneau, a Huguenot by descent and a New Yorker by birth.
18. Q. Who was the first American novelist and what was his first work?
A. Charles Brockden Brown, and his first work called “Wieland” was
printed in 1798.
19. Q. For what are the histories written during the last century
chiefly useful? A. As authorities for later writers.
20. Q. Who were two biographical writers of the last century? A.
William Wirt, who wrote a readable life of Patrick Henry, and Chief
Justice John Marshall, who prepared a standard life of Washington.
21. Q. What was incident to the beginning of the present century being
marked by a considerable controversial excitement among the New England
clergy? A. The spread of Unitarian views in and around Boston.
22. Q. Who were the Unitarian leaders in this controversy? A. William
Ellery Channing, the Henry Wares, father and son, and Andrew Norton.
23. Q. By whom were the conservative Congregationalists championed?
A. By Noah Worcester, of Salem, and Moses Stewart and Leonard Woods,
professors in the theological seminary at Andover.
24. Q. What is the principal theological work that has appeared since
Edward’s famous treatise? A. The “Systematic Theology” of Charles
Hodge, professor in Princeton Seminary.
25. Q. What two college presidents have devoted much thought and
ability to mental science? A. Mark Hopkins, of Williams, and Noah
Porter, of Yale.
26. Q. What two names are prominent in the literature of Church
history? A. Dr. Philip Schaff and Prof. W. G. T. Shedd.
27. Q. To whom is the term “the Knickerbocker writers” applied? A. To
certain authors who began to write soon after the beginning of the
century, who were for the most part residents of New York, and who were
in some cases descendants of the old Dutch stock.
28. Q. What are the names of four prominent writers included under this
head? A. Washington Irving, James Kirke Paulding, Joseph Rodman Drake,
and Fitz-Greene Halleck.
29. Q. What are the names of five poets made celebrated by single
pieces? A. Francis Scott Key, Samuel Woodworth, John Howard Payne,
Albert G. Greene, and William Augustus Muhlenberg.
30. Q. What are the titles of the pieces for which they are celebrated?
A. “The Star Spangled Banner,” “The Old Oaken Bucket,” “Home, Sweet
Home,” “Old Grimes is Dead,” and “I would not live alway.”
31. Q. What eminent name connected the earlier and later days of our
literature? A. William Cullen Bryant.
32. Q. Who are termed the five great American poets? A. William Cullen
Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver
Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell.
33. Q. Who was an entirely original figure in American literature? A.
Edgar Allen Poe.
34. Q. What are the names of ten persons prominent as orators during
the present century? A. Webster, Calhoun, Clay, Everett, Choate,
Seward, Sumner, Winthrop, Garrison, and Phillips.
35. Q. What are the names of five prominent American historians of the
present century? A. Richard Hildreth, George Bancroft, John G. Palfrey,
William H. Prescott, and John Lothrop Motley.
36. Q. What three names are eminent in the literature of Arctic travel?
A. Elisha Kent Kane, Charles F. Hall, and Isaac I. Hayes.
37. Q. Who was the first writer of American fiction whose works were
extensively read? A. James Fenimore Cooper.
38. Q. What American author has James Russell Lowell called the
greatest imaginative writer since Shakspere? A. Nathaniel Hawthorne.
39. Q. What work has had the greatest success of any American book? A.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a novel directed against
slavery. Between five and six hundred thousand copies have been sold in
this country alone, and it has been forty times translated.
40. Q. Who is the most distinguished of American essayists? A. Ralph
Waldo Emerson.
41. Q. Give the chief among standard editions of Shakspere that have
been edited in this country. A. Those of Richard Grant White and Horace
Howard Furness.
42. Q. Who are the authors of three notable histories of the late civil
war? A. Horace Greeley, Alexander H. Stephens, and Dr. John W. Draper.
43. Q. What recent American author attained eminence as a writer of
travels, of novels, and as a poet? A. Bayard Taylor.
44. Q. What two poets are the chief American kindred of the English
pre-Raphaelites? A. Walt Whitman and Joaquin Miller; but their kinship
is one of nature and not of imitation.
45. Q. Who was the originator of a popular dialect poetry of the time,
which has found a troop of imitators? A. John Hay.
46. Q. What author has found a special field in novels of pioneer
life in the uncivilized outposts of Western civilization? A. Edward
Eggleston.
47. Q. Who is called the best of American writers of juveniles? A.
Louisa May Alcott.
48. Q. Give the names of three prominent humorists. A. Charles Farrar
Browne, Henry W. Shaw, and David R. Locke.
49. Q. What American writer has devoted the greater part of his
literary life to the production of biographies? A. James Parton.
50. Q. Who has enjoyed the acquaintance of more English and American
authors than any other of our writers? A. James T. Fields.
EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.
THE TENTH ASSEMBLY.
Ten years ago the First Assembly offered to the world the Chautauqua
Idea. It promised an almost ideal summer life, where health and
thought and brotherly love should abound. Ten years have passed, and
now the question is, has the scheme been carried out? Is the Assembly
a practical idea, and is it a permanency? The answers are most
decided. The original plan has not only been put into practice, but,
when enlarged an hundred fold, has been proven practicable. Is it a
permanency may be a harder question, but the tenth Assembly has, we
believe, in many ways proven it so. First, the character and growth of
all departments of Chautauqua work show them to be needed institutions,
and necessary institutions, as a rule, become permanent. The steady,
healthy growth of the different branches of work shows how enduring
is the Idea; the Normal department increased its alumni this year to
over 1,200; its plans for future work are much more elaborate than ever
before, its course of study much superior. The annual report from the
School of Languages shows a steady increase. Over two hundred full
tickets were sold in the school this year, and twenty-six different
states were represented.
The Teachers’ Retreat for 1883 shows a great increase over previous
years:
In 1879 there were enrolled 15 members.
In 1880 there were enrolled 133 members.
In 1881 there were enrolled 105 members.
In 1882 there were enrolled 76 members.
In 1883 there were enrolled 223 members.
The C. L. S. C. has reached the enormous membership of nearly 50,000.
Besides the advance in the different schools, the attendance at the
Assembly was unprecedented. In the earlier years of an institution
this might mean very little—a boom, and nothing more—but in the tenth
year, when the place has become well-known, it does mean a great deal.
These people, too, were not all new friends. Chautauqua has been able
to keep its old friends, while every season it has added hosts of new
ones. The whole exterior showed it. When streets are lighted by the
electric light, and houses are built on stone foundations, lathed and
plastered, and furnished with modern improvements, a town has reached a
period of durability. Things are built to stay. Chautauqua puts up no
more shanties. It has become a city, not of a day but for all time.
The genuine hearty enthusiasm which animates the workers and friends
of the movement is, to us, a most excellent reason for believing the
institution lasting. There is a feeling among many that enthusiasm
is a weakness, a quality not exactly in good form, not in keeping
with cultured minds. This is a mistake. Enthusiasm, combined with
good sense and industry, is the best equipment for any enterprise. As
Emerson says, “A man is at his best when enthusiastic,” and we believe
Chautauqua is most successful when most enthusiastic—most sure of
permanence because capable of always inspiring others with enduring
enthusiasm.
The great Assembly opens its doors to every one, but few realize the
real value of the idea, or appreciate the conditions of society which
make feasible such an idea. Said an eminent German, after having
studied the Assembly thoroughly: “You Americans do not appreciate this
wonderful plant of yours. In my country we could not have a Chautauqua;
no other country under the sun could support such an institution. It is
peculiarly American.” We do not appreciate the Idea. It is too ideal
for the practical minds of the day. But though we may not grasp its
full meaning, the Tenth Assembly has proven that people are beginning
to understand the practicability, the breadth, and the permanence of
the Chautauqua Idea.
THE C. L. S. C. AN EDUCATIONAL NECESSITY OF THE TIMES.
Necessity is a word which in its use depends on circumstances. What
is necessary to a people in one age may not have been to their
ancestors a generation earlier. Time was when the masses of men were
not required to act with intelligence of their own, but to follow the
decree of the privileged few or obey the behest of the autocratic
individual. Illustrations of such a state of society remain. They are
to be found wherever the autocracy or oligarchy, whether political or
ecclesiastical, continues its sway.
Under such conditions it is easily seen that the only education
required is obedience, blind and unquestioning. All that goes beyond
this only makes the individual unhappy and embarrasses authority.
Hence, since her ambition has been absolute power, the wisdom of that
favorite motto of the Romish church, “keep the people in ignorance,” a
motto which she has done her best to put in practice.
But our age and civilization have fallen upon other conditions.
Obedience is still required, and indeed ever must be, but it is no
longer with eyes tight shut, but open; and we are not only encouraged,
but by the very conditions of society, are required to ask questions
concerning the very grounds of obedience. Something has taken the
place of infallible Church and infallible State. That something is
enlightened conscience and educated judgment.
In this country the corner-stone of whose stability and permanence must
rest on obedience born of intellectual and moral enlightenment, some
things have become, and daily are becoming more and more apparent. It
is apparent that universal education of a certain kind, a kind that
includes to no small degree both head and heart, must go with universal
suffrage. It is neither treason nor heresy to say that in the light of
experience and of the signs of the times, neither our common schools
on the one hand, nor our academies, colleges and universities on the
other, are competent to meet and provide for all the educational
needs of the American people. Too much can not be said in praise of
these institutions. They have been the conservators of our national
ideas in the past. But we are growing, and citizenship means higher
responsibilities and higher obligations than aforetime. The common
school which fits a man for the transactions of ordinary business and
prepares the foundation for a higher development, does a great work;
but the man who settles down to life without further inspiration and
opportunity can hardly be fitted for the higher work and duties of the
home and society. Whence then comes, or can come, this inspiration
and better preparation? Thus far in our history it has come through
the seminary and college. But it is evident that not more than one
in twenty of the American youth can have these higher advantages.
Reduce the expense to the minimum and there are still insurmountable
barriers in the way. It needs no argument, therefore, to show that
an organization with the plans, aims and methods of the _Chautauqua
Literary and Scientific Circle_ has a mission which bears the sanction
of necessity. The wide gap between the common school and the college
must be filled, and only can be filled by that which brings the means
of education to the home; to the youth learning his trade, to the man
or woman in the midst of daily duties and employments. The demand is
for that which will fill the atmosphere about life with aspiration and
the spirit of inquiry. It is for that which will furnish suggestions, a
plan and a guide to lead the inquiring mind. Precisely this is the C.
L. S. C. Here is its mission and here its _necessity_—and the necessity
likewise of all kindred similar organizations which are yet to spring
up and follow in her course.
THE SHAKSPERE CONTROVERSY.
It is strange how sometimes an opinion altogether untenable, which
some one has broached, is taken up by others, and comes in time to be
accepted as true by a considerable number. It was some twenty-five
years ago that a Miss Delia Bacon published an elaborate argument whose
end was to show that not William Shakspere, but Lord Francis Bacon,
was the author of the immortal plays which bear the former’s name. She
first gave her discovery—unquestionably of the highest importance, if
correct—to the world in a magazine article; but afterward embodied
it in quite a large volume, to which Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote an
introduction, though he did not accept the writer’s theory. This was
the beginning of a controversy which is still alive. Perhaps the
number has never been very large of those who believe that the glory
of Shakspere belongs to Bacon; but there have always been some to
entertain the preposterous notion, from Miss Bacon to Mrs. Henry Pott.
The latter lady has recently issued a book which has excited some
interest. The title—somewhat drawn out—is, “The Promus of Formularies
and Elegancies (being private notes, _circa_ 1594, hitherto
unpublished) of Francis Bacon, illustrated and elucidated by passages
from Shakspere.” Mrs. Pott’s undertaking is one more in the line of
Miss Delia Bacon. By a comparison of the Bacon notes, in forms of
expression and thought, with passages of the Shakspere tragedies and
comedies, she endeavors to verify the theory that the great English
philosopher—author of the “Novum Organum,” and characterized by Pope
as “the greatest, wisest, and meanest of mankind”—is also author of
the works accorded to the Bard of Avon. That she succeeds in her task
she herself evidently entertains no doubt, but probably not many will
agree with her. She finds correspondences and similarities in passages
compared where her readers will try in vain to find them; and it is
putting the matter mildly to say that her undertaking is a great
failure.
Considerable ingenuity and much enthusiasm have been shown by advocates
of the theory which makes Lord Bacon the author of the works of
Shakspere; but the theory is an absurd one, with nothing whatever to
support it. The internal evidence, contained in the works of the two
authors, not only gives the theory no support, but is alone enough
to a sane mind completely to demolish it. The whole cast of Bacon’s
mind, as shown by his known writings, was as unlike as it could be to
that of the person who wrote the Shakspere dramas and sonnets. And
what other evidence is adduced by those who would have us transfer to
another the laurels of the man who was easily the greatest mind in all
literature? None whatever. The truth is, it is the improbability from
the nature of the case—or, as some would say, the impossibility—that
such a person as William Shakspere, the son of a Stratford yeoman,
with limited educational opportunities, whose youth was by no means
promising, should have produced the works to which for two centuries
his name has been attached, which is at the bottom of the theory which
gives the authorship to another. This, and nothing else, originated
the idea, and keeps it alive. We are told that to believe in Shakspere
as the author of these works, universally acknowledged as unapproached
and unapproachable, is to believe a miracle. “Whence hath this man
this wisdom?” it is asked, as was asked of the Divine Man; and we
are reminded that the stream never rises higher than the fountain.
Shakspere could not have produced the works—the power was not in him,
it is reasoned, but the wise Bacon might have done it; therefore people
search for the wherewithal to substantiate an assumption giving the
authorship to the latter. But we must believe the miracle; there is no
escape. Did Milton write the “Paradise Lost,” and Lord Bacon the “Novum
Organum?” Is the Iliad the work of Homer? It is just as certain that
the Shakspere writings were the offspring of Shakspere’s genius. We
admit the marvel, but there is no setting aside of the fact. And when
we are asked to explain how this man could have acquired the power to
produce these prodigies of human genius, we can only say, the Maker
gave it to him.
EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.
The C. L. S. C. received special attention at the summer Assemblies.
By referring to the reports published elsewhere in this number, our
readers will learn how the Chautauqua spirit spreads, and how the
organization is being strengthened in all parts of the land.
* * * * *
Recent Presidents of the United States have shown their taste for
recreation very positively. Ex-President Grant was fond of good horses
and rapid driving; ex-President Hayes visited colleges during the
commencement season, and loved his farm as a quiet retreat; President
Arthur turns from his arduous labors to the rod and line and long
journeys, such as he has made to Florida and the West during the past
year.
* * * * *
We can supply complete sets of the CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY DAILY HERALD
for 1883, for $1.00, postage paid by us. Also complete sets of THE
CHAUTAUQUAN of volume two and three.
* * * * *
Prophecies are numerous from newspaper men as to who will be the
candidates for the presidency in 1884. Ex-Secretary Blaine is reported
as having turned his attention to literature, and announces that he
is not a candidate; Mr. Tilden has retired to the privacy of Gramercy
Park; ex-Secretary Windom, it is said by the wise ones, went out of
the succession when he failed of a re-election to the Senate. Reports
are rife in influential political circles that the Secretary of War is
likely to be one of his martyred fathers’ successors, but time alone
will show us the true successor.
* * * * *
THE CHAUTAUQUAN opens the fourth volume in a new dress. Our printer
does the work on copper-faced type, prepared with especial reference to
the neat and attractive typographical appearance of the magazine.
* * * * *
Mr. A. M. Sullivan, in a recent number of the _Nineteenth Century_,
discusses “Irish Emigration as a remedy for Irish trouble in Ireland.”
He says: “Of the group of dynamite conspirators who stood in the dock
at Newgate the other day—men whose frightful purpose was to bury London
in ruins—not one was born on Irish soil. All were the sons or grandsons
of men swept away from ‘congested districts,’ and sent or driven to
America ‘for the good of those who went, and of those who were left
behind.’ Whoever has recently traveled in America must have been struck
with the fact that animosity toward England often displays itself more
strongly in the second and third generations of Irish Americans than in
the men who were actually driven forth.”
* * * * *
The present administration is not all-powerful in a certain kind of
its political movements. The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Folger,
was defeated for Governor of New York in the election last fall, and
recently Mr. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy, failed of an election to
the United States Senate in the New Hampshire Legislature.
* * * * *
Chautauqua grows in favor with the public. The Ohio State Teacher’s
Association held their annual convention there in July last, and with
social gatherings, lectures, and discussions on live questions, in
the educational world, they made it an interesting and profitable
session. The Pennsylvania State Teacher’s Association will hold their
convocation at Chautauqua Lake for 1884. It is an endorsement of
Chautauqua when large bodies of educators go from their own States
into another to hold their most important gatherings. The National
Teacher’s Association met at this center once, and the Ohio people have
been there twice. It is this sort of gatherings that the Chautauqua
authorities are especially pleased to welcome to the parks, public
buildings, and all the privileges of the classic groves.
* * * * *
The Royal Humane Society, in its recently issued report, gives the
following advice to swimmers and bathers: “Avoid bathing within two
hours after a meal. Avoid bathing when exhausted by fatigue, or
from any other cause. Avoid bathing when the body is cooling after
perspiration. Avoid bathing altogether in the open air if, after having
been a short time in the water, it causes a sense of chilliness with
numbness of the hands and feet. Bathe when the body is warm, provided
no time is lost in getting into the water. Avoid chilling the body by
sitting or standing undressed on the banks or in boats after having
been in the water. Avoid remaining too long in the water; leave the
water immediately if there is the slightest feeling of chilliness.”
* * * * *
The West promises to set a good example to the East in more than
one question of morals. The case deserving of mention now is where
Governor Crittenden, of Missouri, and Governor Glick, of Kansas, and
their Attorney-Generals, notified the two prize-fighters, Slade and
Mitchell, that even training for a prize-fight would send them to the
State prison. This so alarmed them that they quit the United States
and went to Mexico. The laws of the older States are as severe on this
brutal practice as those of Missouri and Kansas, but the laxity in the
enforcement of the laws is the only license that prize-fighters find to
justify their training in New York, Boston, and other old cities. Some
of our authorities could profitably “go West” to study how to enforce
civil law.
* * * * *
Dr. John Roche, an English physician who has had remarkable
experiences, gives as his conclusion that cholera is purely and simply
a specific fever, only inferior in its ravages to yellow fever, and
closely allied to it. Cholera has a period of incubation varying from
two to fourteen days; prone to attack the enervated and those subject
to depression from any cause. It is contagious, and liable to occur
periodically about every ten years in some parts of India. It seems to
have visited the British Isles about every sixteen years, and as the
period has elapsed since the last outbreak, it is more than likely to
occur this year. Those persons who indulge in no enervating habits,
and take nothing internally which would arrest the secretions nor too
drastically stimulate them, and partake of nothing which is highly
fermentable, may safely feel that they are cholera-proof during an
epidemic.
* * * * *
“The Old South Lectures for Young People” is a pleasing and successful
plan for teaching the History of America. Lectures are held Wednesday
afternoon at the “Old South Meeting House,” Boston, and the subjects
illustrate well the tenor of the meeting. Thus for September the topics
are “Franklin,” “How to Study American History,” “The Year 1777,”
“History in the Boston Streets.”
* * * * *
In the C. L. S. C. Commencement report the Lutheran has been omitted
from the list of denominations represented in the class of ’83.
* * * * *