* * * * *

“Kate F. Kimball,” Minneapolis, Kansas, sends us their _menu_. The

invitation to this tempting repast we could not accept, though the food

_was_ prepared in accordance with THE CHAUTAUQUAN’S directions. We

must also decline the kindly invitation to the reception tendered our

president, the Rev. A. E. Dunning, by the Congregational Sunday-school

Superintendents’ Union, of Boston. The card is itself a treat.

* * * * *

Make your items for this column very brief, as we are not allowed much

space. Write _no more words_ than are necessary, and yet state everything

of interest.

* * * * *

ILLINOIS.—“The North Side C. L. S. C., of Chicago, held a public

examination and reception at the parlors of the Grace M. E. Church,

recently; it was a great success. There were about 150 persons present,

and they evinced great interest in the exercises. We belong to the class

of ’88, and this is our first reception, and we all feel delighted over

our success, and we will have another in a short time. We know that our

meeting will be of interest to all Chautauquans, particularly those of

Chicago and vicinity.”

* * * * *

From a packet on the Tensas River comes a bit of history telling how one

new member has been added to the class of ’88: “Having complained to a

passenger on board my steamer that time hung heavily on my hands during a

portion of each trip, and asked her to suggest a remedy, she immediately

named the Chautauqua school, and advised me to become a member of the

class of ’88, and gave me a list of questions I would be obliged to

answer. As my education has necessarily been limited, I thought favorably

of the scheme of self-improvement, as a relief to the monotonous long

watches.” The master of the packet is now a member of the class of ’88.

* * * * *

Way down in Texas, at Hempstead, is a faithful band of fifteen C. L. S.

C. workers of the class of ’88. They are college folks, the president of

the institution—Soule College—to which they belong being the president of

the circle. They are very enthusiastic over the course, and do a great

deal of work.

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.

GENERAL GRANT’S ILLNESS.

The pathetic interest surrounding the illness of General Grant recalls

the intenser, but not more persistent, emotions of the days when

President Garfield lay dying. The strong and sustained popular interest

in the illness of General Grant is shown by the constant attention of

the press to the theme. No day is allowed to pass without a telegraphic

bulletin informing the nation how well or ill the distinguished patient

slept the last night, and reporting any change for the better or the

worse. We are all gathered about the invalid chair, in which the

illustrious sufferer spends his wearisome days; and any word which drops

from his lips flies on the wires all over the country. It is not a

passion, or a folly, or a nullity. It is a piece of modern Providential

education. What distinguished patient, ever before Garfield had so large

and so _near_ an audience of sympathy? And who does not see in the

strong-flowing tide of sympathy for General Grant another lesson of the

same kind? Eminence has been honored before; but these thought-laden

wires take us into the very chamber of the patient and set us all upon

muffled words of regret, and pity, and sorrow. We are learning, hardly

knowing it, how eminence claims our regard and commands our attention,

and how rapidly we can forget our criticisms and our antagonisms when

Death knocks at the great man’s door. There is nothing political, nothing

sensational, in this illness. No public fortunes, or hopes, or fears hang

upon the event. General Grant is dying; that is all; but the man who has

filled so large a space in his country’s history, and dwelt so long in

the world’s eye, can not die without quickening all pulses, and awakening

every soul to pitiful attention. Great worlds of mysterious human powers

of interest and sympathy seem to open before us, and invite us within the

awe and solemnity of their spiritual skies. It is better—we see why,

now—to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. No day

of triumph in General Grant’s life had such an uplifting and educating

power as is borne along in the arms of these days’ sickness and sorrow.

Dying so among us, the illustrious patient does indeed die for us—his

death lifting us into better life.

There are many smaller lessons. What an education in gunshot wounds we

got at the bedside of Garfield! What a window into one of the awfully

mysterious diseases we are looking through at the bedside of Grant!

Before the end comes, cancer will have parted with much of its mystery.

What doctors know the nation will know; and the education will save human

lives; perhaps impel men to closer and more effectual search for the

causes and remedies of this terrible disease. A human interest, such as

we are feeling throughout the nation and the world, has a stimulating

power which no man can measure. It may be that out of Grant’s dying of

cancer may come discoveries of permanent and universal value to mankind.

THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

Many circumstances have combined to fix attention at the present time

upon the Senate of the United States. We have seen a Republican majority

confirm the appointments of a Democratic President with the calmness and

dignity of a Supreme Court passing upon questions of law. The event is

not a new one, but it is still an impressive one, quite as much so as

the change of the presidential office on the fourth of March. We then

saw a defeated party resign the control of the government with decorum

and civic reverence. We waited with bated breath for the first conflicts

between the President and the Senate. No conflict came. Appointments were

confirmed by the Senate without partisan bickerings or lamentations. The

dignity of the Senate was seen to be a splendid and honorable reality. We

catch other lights shining upon the Senate by going back a little. Last

year, when the English people were “mad to the verge of insanity” because

the House of Lords refused to pass a bill extending the franchise, the

English magazines and newspapers overflowed with commendations of our

Upper House. In the light of their own trouble, the English saw how

happily our fathers had founded an Upper House upon enduring foundations,

and how deftly they had combined popular representation with conservative

privilege in our Senate. No other American institution ever had so much

first-rate advertising as this Senate of ours had last year. The praise

came from the best foreign sources; from men deeply versed in history,

rich in public experience, and renowned for candid and sober judgment.

What the historian sees in our Senate is an Upper House which reposes

upon the elective principle, and is in fact constituted indirectly by

the same vote which fills the Lower House—and therefore as truly from

the people—but which has at the same time a distinct and original and

impressive office in the government. The result was achieved by the

fathers with a few well-aimed strokes of political art. For example, _the

Senate never dies_. There are many Congresses, but there is only one

Senate. There is at this time no House of Representatives; there never

was an hour of constitutional history when there was not a Senate. This

was achieved by a simple provision that one third of the Senators should

retire biennially. The Senate must “advise,” that is to say, confirm

all the President’s appointments. It is his council for considering and

completing treaties with foreign powers—and without the consent of the

Senate the President can make no treaty. And if the people through the

House of Representatives impeach the President, it is in that august

presence that he must appear and plead in his defense. The Senate has

exercised all these peculiar functions during the century past, and

in all of them it has displayed in the main those special qualities

which the framers of the constitution sought to enlist in the service

of government. It has even tried a President in the intense heat of

controversies begotten in civil war—and acquitted him in the face of

the clamorous dominant party to which the majority belonged. Its record

is full of striking triumphs over the bitterness of party spirit. It

has been judicial in its temper many a time when the air was full of

rancorous strifes and malignant personalities. It has sloughed off the

partisan sores caused by factional poison; and though it was seriously

endangered by such devices as “the courtesy of the Senate,” it has

refused to be used for narrow and selfish ends. The wranglers have passed

out of sight; the Senate never dies.

The judicial character of the body is apparent in its methods of

discussion. There is no “previous question” gag upon debate. A

conspicuous unfairness to a member is impossible. A neat way of showing

self respect by respecting brother Senators is the custom of confirming,

without reference to a committee, any nomination of a Senator to an

office. All other names must go to the committees; the names of Senators

are honored by immediate action. Members of the Lower House are, not

without reason, jealous of the power and “arrogance” of the Senate.

But the people enjoy the breadth and decorum of their Senate. It can

be trusted to _judge_, to put its candid opinion into all the peculiar

functions which it exercises. In the field of politics, senatorial

action may be very like any other human behaving in such environments;

but in the special judicial tasks of the Senators there is the serenity

and probity of a court room. And yet the Senate has its dangers, and it

has in recent years been close to the perilous edge of the precipice. A

tendency to venal methods of electing Senators came in after the civil

war, and a number of rich nobodies have disgraced the high office. It is

believed that there are now a few Senators whose purses are far longer

than their heads, and in some of the wrangles over recent elections of

Senators, the power of money has been very freely talked of and boasted

of. But in this matter the worst is over. The election of Mr. Evarts

in New York is a proof that legislatures can be lifted above money

influence; for if any senatorships would invite special efforts to win

them by venal arts, they are those of the Empire State. When that state

chose last winter one of its most eminent citizens—a man known rather

as a great man than as a politician—it set an example which will have

no small influence over other states. The Senate has in both parties

men of great ability. There is undoubtedly a growing desire and purpose

that only great men be clothed with senatorial honors. We are well past

the civil war and reconstruction periods, and as we advance into happier

conditions we are likely to take an increasing popular pride in our

unique, original and successful Upper House. There is nothing like it in

the world. It is the most conspicuous work of American political genius.

The more the people realize it, the more pains will they take in filling

it with great men.

SUMMER AMUSEMENTS.

We are, as a people, growing in taste for amusements. Some of the

manifestations of this taste are not of an entirely satisfactory

character; but there are other aspects of a very agreeable nature. Our

summer amusements are in the open air. We have not yet learned to play

outdoors in the winter; but we are slowly learning of the Canadians,

and it is not improbable that Southern people will by and by come north

in the season of short days to play in the frost of our most Arctic

states. We have commented in a former number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN upon the

advantages of the Canadian winter sports. Our summer sports are in a

more advanced state of development. Base ball, Lacrosse, lawn tennis and

croquet are established institutions, while we are only experimenting

with tobogganing. It needs no argument here to satisfy people who think

at all that amusements should be in the open air and require exercise

enough to increase the strength and expand the lungs. Exercise is a

farce unless the heart is put into it; and play is unwise if it is not

healthful. Play is primarily a demand of the physique; its value to the

mind begins with the refreshment of the body by wholesome use of the

muscles. The summer amusements in which women take part are above all

just criticism. Croquet and lawn tennis have no doubtful elements. The

exercise they afford will not content an athlete, but they are adequate

to the wants of sedentary people in warm weather. There is no doubt

that many persons would be greatly benefited by such games. They are

too sedentary; they live too much indoors; they are too closely tied

to a routine of thought or feeling. The open air, the mild exercise,

the social chat, would give them a change of feeling and an agreeable

exercise. Nor is there any conceivable avenue of approach for moral

dangers. It is not wise for any one to make a business of croquet or of

any other amusement; but the danger of excess is not worth considering.

It will occur so seldom and have such limited consequences that the

moralist need not post sentinels upon croquet grounds.

The “manly sports” are less satisfactory. Cricket, base ball and Lacrosse

have the disadvantages following: First, they are exhibitions and public

rather than social; second, they require violent exertion in hot weather;

third, they are accompanied by gambling and other unmanly vices. Cricket

and Lacrosse are not open to the last objection to any considerable

extent. Those who engage in them are for the most part gentlemen; they

are, so to say, the aristocratic games, while base ball is the great

popular athletic game. It is not very old. When men now fifty were boys

they did not know the modern game, though they did know a much simpler

and far less strenuous practice with a soft ball—a game also called

base ball. There is some reason to fear that this form of athletics is

being ruined by immoral attachments and environments. Of boating we make

special mention because it _requires_ no overstrain—since boating need

not mean boat-racing—and, indeed, is open to none of the objections

urged against the exhibitory public games. On Chautauqua Lake, in the

Assembly season, boating is one of the most healthful and enjoyable

recreations. The exercise can be adjusted to strength, arrested at any

time or prolonged at pleasure, and the boatload is enough for pleasant

society—which may, of course, be selected to suit one’s tastes. Of this

amusement we have only one regrettable feature to mention—it can be

enjoyed only where there is convenient water.

Of the vigorous sports, we are compelled to speak with some reserve.

We doubt the wholesomeness of athletics; they involve excess of

exertion, and the gambler is the curse of base ball games. The other

games may escape the influence of the demoralization, and cricket, polo

and Lacrosse become great American exhibitory games of strength and

skill. But the quiet social amusements ought to flourish among us, and

indefinitely increase. The pleasure row-boat, the croquet and lawn tennis

grounds, deserve our special attention. Let us play a little more. We can

spare the time, for we shall live longer; we can well afford the hours,

because the other hours will be worth more to us. In these quiet games we

get refreshment of body and of spirit.

THE MODERN TREATMENT OF THE SOLDIER.

Decoration Day has many happy outlooks upon the humanities. Philanthropy

may use it as a finger-board indicating the direction of our modern

progress. The soldier’s grave is its special theme; it as clearly

suggests the happier fate of the modern soldier as compared with his

ancient brother. Great nations have always honored their dead soldiers;

it is only in modern times that nations have given their whole hearts to

the living soldiers. In the long wars between France and England from

the twelfth century onward, the armies had no surgeons, and medical

supplies were unknown. The medical equipment of a modern army is costly

and ample; and that no man may die unnecessarily, woman hangs on the

verge of battle to nurse the wounded, sheltered and safe under a red

cross or a red crescent. In the old navies of England and France, the men

were slaves who had been captured in their own lands and sent to suffer

in crowded bulkheads of ships, or in the galleys, steaming with the most

abominable odors. A French duchess in the sixteenth century wrote of that

“living hell,” the many-oared galley war ship of the Mediterranean. One

can not recall the horrors of any battle on sea or land with composure,

but the whole life of soldier and sailor in public service was in the old

days full of the horrors of battle fields.

It is often said that war will eventually be stopped by the increased

and perfected effectiveness of engines of war. It may well be doubted on

general grounds; but it is specially true that humanity has robbed war of

many of its terrible aspects; it may well be that those who open again

the gates of mercy are competing successfully against those who “shut the

gates of mercy” on mankind.

The modern treatment of the soldier is conspicuous in providing for his

comfort. Why should England buy canned meats for her soldiers? Some

crusts would have sufficed the providing spirit of an ancient general.

The British army in the field must be well fed or there will be a great

noise about the ears of the government. Let it be written home that

the biscuits were stale, or the army went without its supper, and the

newspapers will roar out the indignation of the nation. It is an immense

task; but it must be accomplished; the modern soldier must have his

regular meals with certainty, and the food must be good. The Mahdi has no

such cares or duties. His soldiers must forage and browse as best they

can. The superior power of the civilized soldier lies as much in his

regular feeding as in his discipline—the feeding is an element of his

discipline. The soldiers must also be comfortably clothed and sheltered.

Woe to the commander who exposes his men to needless hardships. The

country will not allow its loyal and brave defenders to suffer a needless

deprivation or hardship. If commissaries are careless or venal, the

nation will pillory them in eternal infamy. The soldier must have, even

in the far off desert, many of the comforts of home or the country will

know the reason why. And when the battered veterans come home, how the

air rings with huzzas, how tender the pity for the wounded, how liberal

the pensions for the widows and orphans of those who did not come home!

Neither Cyrus nor Alexander had any such pension rolls. Rome idolized

her armies, but she let them starve abroad, and forgot their families

at home. This whole line of treatment means more than we can express in

words. It is a very real and royal worship of the nobility which we see

in the soldier. Often he is a sorry human creature, but it is almost a

profanation to say so. We idolize him and his office. He is our defender,

our chivalric knight, our personation of the flag over us, and of the

civilization in us. But—but—what chance does this treatment of the

soldier afford for the Day of Universal Peace? Will a sword ever become a

pruning hook so long as it is glorified by such a symbolism and illumined

by these soft lights of pity and reverence? Let us not take too gloomy a

view of the effects of our philanthropy toward the soldier. The causes of

war probably lie out of the range of these influences. Wars would still

be, if they were still as diabolically merciless as they were in the

mediæval days when a war galley was “a living hell.” Peace is a question

of universal civilization; and the pity we yield to the soldier is one of

the undying agencies of universal civilization.

THE LIGHTING OF TOWNS.

Street lighting is a modern invention. The history is imperfect, but

Alexander Dumas gives credit to the tradition that Naples was first

lighted in the seventeenth century by the cunning of a popular and

sagacious priest, who induced the people to burn votive lamps before the

numerous images of St. Joseph, the patron saint of the city. In the

ancient towns people went about at night with lamps; and in mediæval

times crimes of vengeance and greed found shelter and safety in the gloom

of unlighted thoroughfares and bridges. When lighting began with oil

lamps, the situation was not much improved; the feeble glimmer of the

lamp-wicks only made certain corners less gloomy. When gas lights began

to be used the millennium seemed to have come, and gas was expected to

abolish midnight crimes. Until about a score of years ago, there was

general satisfaction with gas light. Very satisfactory results were

obtained in small towns by the use of petroleum, and the only formidable

difficulties were those arising from the high cost of gas in towns of

moderate wealth. It almost doubled the tax-levy, and when this bill

did not materially decrease the cost of a police force the tax-payers

murmured. Still, the work of lighting went on, and as soon as a town

became ambitious, its citizens demanded street lights of some kind. The

general result has been an immense increase of the aggregate outlays

for this purpose. If we take into account the growth of towns and the

extension of public lighting, it is safe to estimate that the public

lighting bill of the world is twenty times as large as it was fifty years

ago.

The invention of electric lights has, by the superior efficiency of

this method, rendered oil and gas unsatisfactory; and the electric lamp

furnishes three or four times as much light as gas at the same cost.

But there are a dozen or more methods of using the electric lamp, and

it may be doubted that we have yet reached the end of our inventive

wits in this field. It is quite probable that the electric lamp of the

next century will cost far less than any now in use. We are yet in the

infancy of electrical invention, and it may be wise for communities to

suffer a little longer the evils of darkness in order to obtain the best

appliances for public lighting. The time is at hand when all towns will

have street lamps; the inventors are busy and hopeful, and a little

cautious patience in the public will probably stimulate rather than

discourage invention. It is a good trait in our people that they want the

newest device, at whatever cost; but on the other hand the ability of A

to stock the market with an inferior article discourages the efforts of

B to devise a superior one. The plant for lighting a town is expensive,

and can not easily be thrown aside for a better one. Besides, we are

in some danger of hatching a new brood of monopolies to plague us with

unreasonable exactions.

We need street lights much more than our fathers did. In large towns—and

in many small ones—the din of toil does not cease when darkness comes

on. There is a steady increase of night occupations. Some of these

occupations are of high convenience, such as the pharmacies, the printing

offices, and the depots of travel. Others are means to profitable ends

for individuals. In a great city a multitude of people use the streets

at night. The market gardener must be in his stall before day dawn. The

daily bread is baked or distributed to depots of sale in the night time;

a thousand small trades are plied in the darkness to provide the tables

of the families with the necessaries and luxuries of life. The result is

a growing demand for artificial sunshine, and this demand will be amply

met in a near future. The bright lights will do what the feeble lights

partially failed to do. The night will cease to be the hour of crime.

If one will but think of it, a marvelous change has come over the world

since petroleum was discovered in Western Pennsylvania—which was, as it

were, but yesterday. Then we had tallow dips in all but the largest towns

for all lighting purposes, except when extravagant people burned on rare

occasions the costly illuminating oils. To make noonday in a whole town

at midnight would have seemed a foolish dream thirty years ago. The world

moves—into the light.

EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.

The world was never kept busier studying its geography than just at

present. All quarters of the world are demanding attention. In China the

Tonquin trouble has assumed such proportions that the daily papers have

come out with a map of the disputed country. The Afghan difficulty has

set us to locating Herat and learning how to pronounce the barbarous

names; the Soudan is pinned up on everybody’s wall or tucked into their

note-book; the revolution in Central America demands that we familiarize

ourselves with a country we never did know much about, while the Oklahoma

boomers of the West and rebellious Manitoba keep us interested enough in

home affairs not to forget how our boundaries lie.

* * * * *

One of the most popular places in Washington during inaugural week

was the National Museum. During the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th days of

March 23,000 visitors were registered. Going to the inauguration, like

“goin’ to the Fourth,” is becoming an American custom. To express the

peculiar habits of those who surrendered themselves to the festivities,

Washingtonians say that they have gone “inaugurating,” a noun which we

may be obliged to put into the dictionary if we continue to make so much

of our political moultings.

* * * * *

A useful improvement in letter delivery is to go into effect on July 1st.

A ten-cent stamp is to be provided, which, attached to a letter, entitles

it to immediate delivery in all cities having 4,000 inhabitants or over,

within the carrier limit of any free delivery office, or within one mile

of the postoffice. It is a perfectly practical scheme, and it is apparent

that there is a demand for a quicker means of communication than an

uncertain and delayed letter delivery, for a class of letters which are

unsuited for telegraph or telephone.

* * * * *

The “Bird’s-Eye View of Forestry” which appears in this issue of THE

CHAUTAUQUAN from the pen of the Rev. S. W. Powell will be read, we

trust, with attention. Mr. Powell is an authority on the subject, being

corresponding secretary of the New York State Forestry Association

recently organized at Utica, New York.

* * * * *

There is something new in bills of fare. For several seasons

_littérateurs_ have rejoiced in _menus_, with quotations. The “allusive”

_menu_ takes its place now. Here is a sample from a mid-Lent luncheon

party in London: “Beauty draws us with a single hair” turned out to be

jugged hare; “My Lord, the early village cock,” curried spring chicken;

“Sing me songs of Araby,” coffee.

* * * * *

The year 1884 did nothing brilliant for astronomy. Nine new asteroids

were added to the list, giving us a family of 244. Six new comets

were noted, but none of them created much of an excitement save in

astronomical circles, and even there they were rather disappointing.

* * * * *

Russia threatens to completely outstrip America in the production of

petroleum. Their richest petroleum region has but 400 wells, while in

America there are over 23,000; but one well of the 400 is declared to

produce, in a day, more than all our daily production. Spouting or

flowing wells throw out such mammoth quantities that the oil is allowed

to run into the sea or is burned.

* * * * *

Everybody knows that we get our trained artisans from Europe; that our

trades unions have discouraged apprentices until it is very difficult

for boys to get any instruction in trades. What shall take the place

of the former system of apprenticeship? It seems to us that the New

York Trade Schools are framing a practical answer. The schools offer

courses in bricklaying, plastering, plumbing, carpentry, wood carving,

pattern making, stone cutting, and fresco painting; they furnish the best

instructors procurable, and for such a cost that almost any young man

can afford the instruction. These schools, if encouraged, will make it

as possible for young Americans to become skilled mechanics as it is for

young Germans or Englishmen.

* * * * *

The re-appointment of Postmaster Pearson, of New York City, will do more

for civil service reform than many speeches in favor of the measure.

The wholesomeness and reasonableness of appointing men because they are

competent to do the work, and not because they belong to a particular

party, will be more forcibly demonstrated to the country by a few such

illustrations than by any other means.

* * * * *

In a recent crusade movement at Cornwall, N. Y., several ladies of the

“Society of Friends” besieged a saloon, where they remained several days,

praying and singing. Pepper was burned on the stove, the room was smoked

full by the loafers, but with more valor than discretion the ladies staid

in spite of every insult. It is difficult to see what has been gained.

The saloon had law on its side, and the good women were arrested for

trespass and fined, while the leading men of the Society published a card

declaring that they did not “approve nor consent to all their unwise

practices.” “Wise as serpents, harmless as doves,” is the only motto for

those who contend effectually with the liquor traffic.

* * * * *

Some one has set afloat, in the midst of all the attention which has been

given to the Washington monument, a touching story of a monument erected

seventy-five years ago to the “Father of his Country,” by the inhabitants

of Boonesboro, Md. It was purely a labor of love. Near the town stands

South Mountain, and on the most conspicuous point a site was chosen,

where the farmers of the vicinity hauled and laid with their own hands

the rocks which they themselves had quarried. Labor and time were given

willingly until the work was complete. The humble, eloquent tribute still

stands, a witness to the honest devotion of a faithful people.

* * * * *

The Afghan frontier difficulty between England and Russia came in like

a lion, and bids fair, at this writing, to go out like a lamb. War was

announced to hang by a thread. The Russians were declared to be advancing

into the territory of the Ameer; England to be ready with an ultimatum,

which might be accepted or not, as Russia pleased. Announcements were

made that no such vast stores of ammunition, unbounded supplies of

provisions, and altogether gigantic preparations for a ferocious war had

ever before been made. British consols and Russian securities went down,

and American wheat went up. Undoubtedly the war cry has been fostered in

England—a shrewd maneuver of the ministry—to take the attention from the

Soudan trouble, and there is but little doubt now that the negotiations

in progress will be successful. England has her hands full already, while

Russia is not so hot-headed as to rush into a war without counting its

cost.

* * * * *

A pleasant surprise has stirred literary circles this past month. A

favorite magazine contributor for several years has been Charles Egbert

Craddock, whose striking, original stories, full of freshness and keen

observation have been constantly becoming more popular. “Mr.” Craddock

kept himself quietly in St. Louis until his literary position was well

established, and then went to Boston to make the acquaintance of his

publishers. What was the astonishment of the latter to find that this

contributor was a lady, Miss M. N. Murfree by name. The revelation was

almost “too good to be true,” for no one had suspected the vigorous

writing to come from other than a masculine mind. The surprise has

greatly increased her popularity, of course.

* * * * *

The striking public spectacle of 100,000 visitors gathered to witness

and to swell the pageant of the 4th of March is not yet at an end. The

month goes, but it still leaves in Washington hundreds of office seekers,

who have before themselves the belittling, wearing, unmanly business of

_etching_ their way into public service. The way in which most of the

appointments have thus far been made signifies very plainly that this

work is at a discount, and that we may reasonably hope to soon see the

office seeker starved out.

* * * * *

Niagara is to be preserved. The bill which passed the New York State

Assembly recently, providing for the preservation of the banks of the

rivers from the works of the vandals, proves conclusively how quick we

Americans are to do the right thing when we are fully persuaded what is

right. Most of our wrongs against good taste and our depredations against

rivers and forests are rather to be attributed to a lack of thought than,

is usually the case, to be laid at the doors of avarice.

* * * * *

We are pained to record the death of our able contributor, Mr. Richard

Grant White. For several months Mr. White has been seriously ill, though

making a brave effort to continue his labors. The excellent series of

articles on Good English, which have appeared in the Required Readings

in this volume of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, from his pen, was interrupted by his

illness, and now his death leaves a vacancy which President Wheeler

kindly comes in to fill for our readers. Mr. White’s work for THE

CHAUTAUQUAN has very deeply interested him. As late as March 18th, he

wrote us: “I may be obliged to abandon the series entirely, but this I

should greatly regret.” His expressions of interest in our work have

been encouraging and hearty. Mr. White was only sixty-three years old

at his death. He first gained public distinction as a musical critic in

the _Courier and Enquirer_. He was subsequently attached to the staff

of the _World_, the _Albion_, and the _Times_; and of late years he has

been widely known as a writer on English topics, and especially as a

critic of social and philological subjects. The news of his decease will

be received with sincere sorrow by the wide circle of his friends and

professional associates.

* * * * *

The Rev. Joseph Leslie, an honored minister, who for about fifty years

served churches within a few hundred miles of Chautauqua Lake, died at

his home in Cattaraugus, New York, March 13th. He was a pioneer preacher

in the grove at Chautauqua many years before the Assembly was held there.

As a faithful preacher, a man of fine character and sunny disposition, he

has made a strong impression for Christianity on the people among whom he

lived. He was a trustee of the Chautauqua Assembly, and in his death the

Board lose one of their most honored members.

* * * * *

Mr. T. S. Arthur, author and publisher, died at his home in Philadelphia,

on March 6th. Mr. Arthur is well and widely known as the author of one of

the most effective temperance stories ever written—“Ten Nights in a Bar

Room.” Temperance people, particularly, owe him a kind remembrance for

his vigorous works against strong drink.

* * * * *

Another writer of a widely popular book died the past month, Miss Susan

Warner, the author of “The Wide, Wide World.” A healthy, vigorous story

it is, and its continued popularity for a third of a century is an almost

unknown phenomenon in American novels.

* * * * *

Think of it! On the first day of April there were eighteen inches of snow

covering the Assembly grounds at Chautauqua, and the robins were singing

in the trees.

* * * * *

A most remarkable work has been accomplished in the last twelve years by

Mr. Anthony Comstock and his associates. When he put his hand to the work

in 1872 there was a systemized business for spreading vile literature and

vile pictures over the land. Out of 201 books published in New York, the

plates of 199 have been seized, 230,955 pictures, 1,402,444 circulars

and leaflets have been destroyed, and 982,010 names which the managers

of this infamous business had collected from the catalogues of schools

and seminaries seized. In 1877 there were six hundred open gambling dens

and nine lotteries in New York City; to-day there is not an open saloon

or lottery in the city where gambling can be done or lottery tickets

purchased. The character of criminal papers has been so restricted by

law that two out of the four worst papers scattered through the country

have died of enforced respectability. The circulation of a third has been

reduced from 125,000 to 67,000, and that of another has fallen fifty per

cent.

* * * * *

There is probably no doubt in the mind of the magic-working electrician

that the horse car of the future, and, indeed, the railway car, will be

run by electricity, and the public has seen so much of the wonderful

that it is quite ready to believe in anything promised. Already a

very successful experiment with a tram car has been made in Millwall,

England, where it has been proven that the electric machine necessary

has in weight an advantage of five to one compared with a steam or air

locomotion, that the speed can be increased much more easily than with

horse power, and if necessary, a propelling power equal to sixteen horses

can be gained. The changing of batteries requires less time than the

change of horses; the arrangement of bells and lamps is much superior,

and the cost per mile just one half. Another consideration suggests

itself to the member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals—it will prevent much wicked abuse of horses.

* * * * *

There is a society in London which has undertaken to furnish two-cent

dinners to poor children. The first thought would be that such a scheme

must fail entirely of paying its own way, and sooner or later collapse if

not endowed. The organization sends out a report, however, which declares

that it is a financial success—such a success, in fact, that a second

society has undertaken to furnish one-cent dinners to the very poor

children. This latter enterprise, it is believed, will nearly pay its

way. Here is one of the worthiest schemes for the philanthropists of our

cities and larger towns, and one which can be conducted without taxing

anybody’s pocket-book.

* * * * *

Mr. Richard Proctor says: “One of the most remarkable inventions of the

age is the ammoniaphone.” The inventor, Dr. Carter Moffat, has for years

believed the beauty of Italian vocal tones was due to something in the

air of Italy. Visiting Southern Italy he made over seventy-five analyses

of the air and dew, and finally became convinced that its peculiar

characteristic was its saturation with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. He

has spent nine years in perfecting an instrument for inhaling vapors.

Mr. Proctor says after testing the instrument: “One draught of air was

inhaled, when, to our great astonishment, the intensity of the voice

was about doubled, while its cleanness was as greatly increased.” The

inventor claims that the “employment of the ammoniaphone according to

direction Italianizes the voice, and makes a weak voice or a drawing room

voice strong, rich, clear, and ringing.”

C. L. S. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR MAY.

ENGLISH AS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.

1. “Max Müller.” (1823-⸺.) An English philologist, and one of the most

eminent living orientalists. He prepared an edition of the “Rig-Veda”

(a collection of ancient Hindoo literature), with a commentary. This

stupendous work is composed of six volumes, and each volume contains more

than 1,200 pages. He has published many philological works, and has done

more than any other one scholar to awaken a taste for the science of

language.

2. “The Aryan tribe.” See in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for October, 1884, the first

article, “Why we Speak English.”

3. “Sanskrit.” The literary language of the Hindoos, the Aryan

inhabitants of India.

4. “Dark Ages.” The name given to the time of intellectual depression in

Europe, extending from the fifth century to the fifteenth. During this

time some periods were darker than others, the darkest occurring about

the seventh century.

SUNDAY READINGS.

1. “Gil-filˈlan,” George. (1813-1878.) A Scottish minister and author;

has published many works.

2. “Herbert,” George. (1593-1632.) All English divine and poet. He was

generally known as “Holy George Herbert,” his life being most exemplary

and zealous.

3. “Prof. Upham,” Thomas Cogswell. (1799-1872.) An American author. For

two years he was pastor of the Congregational church in Rochester, and in

1825 he accepted a professorship in Bowdoin College.

CHEMISTRY.

1. “Adams,” John Couch. (1819-⸺.) An English astronomer, who shares with

Leverrier the honor of having calculated the place of the planet Neptune

before it had been seen.

2. “Leverrier,” Urbain John Joseph, lŭh-vair-yā. (1811-1877.) A French

astronomer. His “Tables of Mercury” and some memoirs led to a friendship

with Arago, and opened to him the door of the French Academy. He then

began the study of the disturbances of the planets, which led to the

discovery of Neptune. By a remarkable coincidence the existence of this

planet was discovered at the same time, and independently, by Adams.

3. “Foucault,” Leon, foo-kō. (1819-1868.) A French natural philosopher,

who for years turned his attention exclusively to optics, and was very

successful in mechanics. He invented an electric lamp which was adopted

by natural philosophers for physical experiments, and was used for

lighting large factories.

4. “Brobˈdig-nag,” also written Brobdingnag. The imaginary country

described by Dean Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels,” which was inhabited by a

race of giants.

5. “Perihelion,” perˈi-hēlˌyun; “Aphelion,” af-hēlˈyun.

6. “Kepler,” Johann. (1571-1630.) A distinguished German astronomer and

mathematician, to whom the world is indebted for the discovery of the

laws that regulate the movements of the heavenly bodies. He was appointed

to the chair of astronomy in Gratz University, in Styria, but in 1598 was

dismissed because he professed the reformed religion; he was afterward

recalled. He was an earnest disciple of Copernicus, and published in

seven volumes the “Epitome of the Copernican Astronomy,” which was placed

in the list of prohibited books by the inquisition. He was the author of

many other works.

7. “Dr. Maskelyne,” Neville. (1732-1811.) An English astronomer.

8. “Dr. Cavendish.” See Notes in THE CHAUTAUQUAN for October, 1884.

9. “Archimedes,” ark-i-mēˈdes. (B. C. 287-212.) The most celebrated

mathematician of antiquity. Cicero and Livy both refer to him in their

writings, the former to his aptness in solving problems, the latter to

his ingenuity in the invention of warlike engines. The law referred to

was, that a body plunged in water loses as much weight as is equal to the

weight of an equal body of water. King Hiero suspected that a gold crown

had been alloyed with silver, and asked Archimedes to test it. He was

trying to find some means by which he could decide the matter, when going

one day to the bath tub he found it full, and immediately saw that as

much water must run over the tub as was equal to the bulk of his body. He

saw at once a method for determining the matter of the crown, and crying

“_Eureka, eureka_; I have found it, I have found it,” he ran home.

THE EYES BUSY ON THINGS ABOUT US.

1. “Turner,” Joseph Mallord William. (1775-1851.) An English painter. His

greatest fame was acquired through Ruskin, who in “Modern Painters” gives

a full account of his works. As an artist he is distinguished by the

strong lights and high colors of his landscapes.

2. “Ruskin.” In addition to what was said of him in the Notes in THE

CHAUTAUQUAN for April, the following is given: His books upon art are

the most eloquent and original ever written. His “Modern Painters” was

revolutionary in its spirit, and roused the hostility of conservative

art lovers. Its design was to prove the superiority of modern landscape

painters, and particularly Turner, over the old artists. Its high merits

gave it a fixed place in literature.

3. For Galileo, Humboldt and Hugh Miller, see former Notes in the

present volume of THE CHAUTAUQUAN. “Newton,” Sir Isaac. (1642-1727.) An

English philosopher. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and

in 1669 accepted the mathematical professorship in that institution.

While there he made his three great discoveries, of fluxions, the nature

of light and colors, and the laws of gravitation. He was the author of

many works, chief among which is the “Principia,” containing his theory

of the universe, which brought him fame and riches. His generosity was

remarkable; he frequently entertained in a royal manner his many friends,

and his kindness and courtesy toward foreigners was very marked.

“Agassiz,” Louis. (1807-1873.) One of the most eminent naturalists of the

century. He was born in Switzerland, and educated in the universities

of Zurich, Heidelberg and Munich. He made great researches in the field

of science in different lands, and published extensively on subjects

of natural history. From 1846 his biography belongs to the scientific

history of the United States. For some years he was professor in the

scientific school founded at Cambridge by Mr. Abbot Lawrence. For two

years he held the professorship of comparative anatomy in the medical

college of Charleston, S. C., and in 1868 was appointed professor in

Cornell University, in Ithaca, N. Y. His eminence as a scientific man

was early recognized in Europe. He was made a member of the Academy of

Science in Paris, and of the Royal Society of London.

4. “Vergers,” verˈjers. 1. An attendant upon a dignitary. 2. A beadle in

a cathedral church; a pew opener or an attendant.

5. “Cathedral at Pisa.” One of the most remarkable structures in the

world. It was commenced in 1068 and finished in 1118. It is built of

white marble, and its noble dome is supported by seventy-four pillars.

It contains some celebrated works of art, and these, together with its

variegated marbles and stained windows, add much to its attractiveness.

6. “Count Maurice of Nassau.” (1567-1625.) The second son of William

of Orange. He was in his seventeenth year at the time of his father’s

assassination, and was soon after proclaimed governor by the states of

Holland and Zealand. His talents, as a general, in the troublous times

that followed, surpassed all expectations.

7. “Sir Samuel Browne.” (1776-1852.) An English engineer who brought into

use both chain cables and iron suspension bridges.

8. “James Watt.” (1736-1819.) A Scottish inventor. He began life as a

mathematical instrument maker. In this capacity he was employed in the

university of Glasgow from 1757 to 1763. He devoted his evenings to the

study of modern languages and music. In 1758 he began his experiments

with steam as a propelling power, which led to the invention of the steam

engine. Among his other inventions are a micrometer, a copying machine,

and a machine for making drawings in perspective. For some years he

devoted himself to land surveying and superintending the works on canals,

to the improvement of harbors and the building of bridges. He possessed

an extraordinary memory, and a more than superficial acquaintance with

many sciences and arts.

9. “Sir Isambert Bru-nelˈ.” (1769-1849.) The well known executor of the

Thames tunnel. He was a Frenchman, and was intended for the church, but

manifested so strong a liking for the physical sciences, and so great

a genius for mathematics, that he was allowed to follow his natural

bent and adopt the profession of a civil engineer. During the French

Revolution he emigrated to the United States, where he engaged in many

great works. After a stay of some years he went to England and there

invented a number of useful machines, and was steadily employed upon

important architectural and engineering works. His greatest achievement

was the construction of the tunnel under the Thames River, which after

many difficulties and disasters was completed in 1843, eighteen years

after it was commenced. He was a member of the Royal Society, and also of

the French Academy.

10. “Cuvier,” kūˈvyā. George Leopold Christian Frederic Dagobert, Baron.

(1769-1832.) An eminent French naturalist. Such was his talent and such

the perseverance with which he followed up his examination and inquiries,

that he was soon looked upon as one of the best zoölogists in Europe.

His fame reached the ears of Napoleon, and he bestowed upon him the most

important offices in the department of public instruction. France is

indebted to him for the finest osteological collection in the world; and

the world is indebted to him for the great addition he has made to the

science of zoölogy.

11. “Buffon,” George Louis Leclerc. (1707-1788.) A French naturalist.

He studied law, but never practiced it, being strongly inclined to

scientific and mathematical studies. Euclid was his constant pocket

companion. After having traveled extensively, he settled down in France

and devoted himself to study and to his literary works. His fame rests

upon his “Natural History,” in thirty-six volumes, which has been

translated into almost every European language. It is a wonderful work

in the extent of its information and its eloquence, though it is often

inaccurate, and is full of wild theories.

12. “Cuttle-fish.” A molluscous shell-fish. The shell is internal, and

is of a friable, calcareous substance, much used for making pounce,

tooth powder, and for polishing purposes. The fishes are provided with

eight arms and two long tentacles, all of which are ranged round the

head and provided with suckers, which take such fast hold of objects

that the limbs will sometimes tear away before they will let go. The

animal is provided with an ink bag as a means of defense; when attacked

it instantly darkens the water with this black fluid, and so conceals

itself, and often makes its escape. They have very large eyes, which are

designed for use in the night, as the animal seems to shun the light

of day. It is not easily caught, and is one of the pests of Scottish

fishermen, as it frequently devours the fish which have been caught in

their nets.

13. “Cromˈar-ty Firth.” A landlocked inlet of the North Sea, on the

northeast coast of Scotland. It is a fine harbor, eighteen miles long,

running southwest, and from three to five miles broad. The largest fleet

could be safely sheltered within it.

14. “Amˈmon-ites.” A genus of fossil shells, somewhat like the

_Nautilus_. They are found in all fossiliferous rocks from the transition

strata to the chalk. They vary in size from those that are exceedingly

small to those three and four feet in diameter. Some of them resemble in

form the coil of a ram’s horn, and others a snake coiled up. For a long

time they were taken by the common people to be petrified snakes. They

are so abundant in Burgundy that in some places the roads are paved with

them.

ANIMAL BIOLOGY.

1. “Barˈna-cles.” A kind of shell fish, now recognized as belonging to

the _Articulata_. They are provided with a long, flexible footstalk, by

means of which they adhere either to fixed or floating objects. At the

summit of this stalk are shelly valves, five in number, which enclose the

principal organs of the animal. This shell opens and closes to admit of

its spreading out and retracting a net-like organ, by means of which the

animal catches its food, which consists of small crustacea. On emerging

from the eggs, young barnacles are free, and are furnished with organs

of locomotion, and with large eyes, but in a short time a change occurs

in them. They assume the form of their parents, and attach themselves to

some place of residence. In warm climates they are exceedingly abundant,

and often fasten themselves in such numbers to the bottom of a vessel as

to retard its progress.

2. “Fourteen-footed Crustacea.” The beach-fleas which are found so

commonly among weeds, belong to this order, and the mantis shrimp.

3. “Ten-footed Crustacea.” This order is represented by the shrimp.

4. “Cephalo-thorax,” sephˈa-lo thoˈrax. Head-chested. The first segment

of the animal contains the head and the chest.

5. “Carapace,” carˈa-pace.

6. “Epidermis,” ĕp-i-dermˈis. The thin, semi-transparent covering over

the true skin. It is readily seen in the occurrence of blisters, as the

fluid is always contained between it and the dermis, or true skin. It

extends over the whole body, even the front of the eye.

7. “Acarina,” ă-ka-reeˈna.

8. “Pedipalpi,” pedˈi-palˈpĭ. The word is derived from two Latin words,

meaning a foot, and to touch softly.

9. “Araneina,” ar-a-nīˈna.

10. “Centipedes,” senˈti-pēdes. The word means hundred-footed.

11. “Chitine,” kīˈtēn.

12. “Chilognatha,” kī-logˈna-thä.

13. “Chilopoda,” kī-lopˈa-dä.

14. “Neuroptera,” new-ropˈte-rä.

15. “Orthoptera,” or-thopˈte rä.

16. “Hemiptera,” hĕ-mipˈte-rä.

17. “Coccus Cacti,” cocˈcus cac-ti.

18. “Nopal,” nōˈpal. A plant of the genus cacti; the Indian fig.

19. “Cortes,” or Cortez, Fernando. (1485-1554.) The Spanish conqueror of

Mexico.

20. “Coleoptera,” cō-lē-opˈte-ra.

21. “Imago,” ī-māˈgo.

22. “Elytra,” elˈī-tra.

23. Ornaments made from the sheaths of beetles. In the National Museum

at Washington are many articles made by Indians and trimmed with beetle

wings. There are leather capes and straps decorated with them, and

head-dresses on which rows of the wings are sewed together edge to edge.

Besides these, many little fancy ornaments are made of them. They may

also be seen in large millinery stores, as they bid fair now to come in

vogue as decorations for ladies’ bonnets.

24. “Lepidoptera,” lĕp-i-dŏpˈte-ra.

25. “The silk worm.” This insect is a native of the north of China, and

a large part of the raw silk for Europe and America comes from that

country. The silk worm was brought into the south of Europe in the sixth

century, whence the insects, being found profitable, gradually spread

into Italy and France, in both of which countries the production of silk

has long been an important industry. The worms, when properly cared for,

do remarkably well in this country, where, in an early day, considerable

attention was given to silk culture. In colonial times the government

encouraged the industry, and the production was considerable. In all the

middle and southern parts both soil and climate were found favorable, and

there was fair prospect of success; but for some reason the production of

raw silk has fallen far behind other American industries, and certainly

is not now in a flourishing condition. As late as 1844 the production was

396,700 pounds, worth $1,400,000. It has been much less since. But with

our superior natural advantages, and the very fine quality of silk that

can be produced, if ever the price of labor in other countries is raised

to near the same it is here, it will be profitable, and capitalists ready

to invest largely in the business.

26. Such statements as these call to mind the following doggerel couplet:

“Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em

And these again have other fleas; and so on, _ad infinitum_.”

27. The habits of ants form a most interesting study. The males and

females are provided with delicate glistening wings, the infertile

females, or neuters, are wingless. The latter are divided into two

classes—the workers or nurses, and soldiers. There is on the part of the

fertilized females a disposition to desert the colony, but the workers,

who are always on the lookout for any such manifestations, prevent it if

possible. The nurses take all the care of the eggs, which are so small

as scarcely to be visible to the naked eye, and which the mother never

notices unless she is left alone; they also care for the young ants.

When the proper time comes they cut them from the cocoons in which the

pupæ envelop themselves, but from which they are unable to extricate

themselves without help. Winged ants are seen most frequently in the

autumn, and the greater part die before cold weather. Ants feed mostly

on the sugar found in vegetable substances, and on the secretions of

the _aphides_, or _plant lice_, called honey dew, which is found smeared

over the leaves of plants. Some kinds of ants catch these _aphides_ and

carry them to their cells where they carefully provide for them in order

that they may have the honey dew for food. Thus in their way they keep

cows. The workers also have the care of building the habitations of the

colony, forming the streets and chambers, repairing them, and fortifying

them against the weather. The soldiers are larger, and are provided with

stronger jaws. They do the heavier parts of the work, and the fighting

for the colony. Some species of ants are slaveholders. They attack other

colonies, and if not repelled, carry off the eggs and cocoons, which they

care for, and when they are hatched and grown they are compelled to life

service for their captors.

28. “Ascidian,” as-sidˈi-an.

29. “Lamprey,” lamˈpry.

30. “Marsipobranchii,” mar-sipˈo-brankˈĭ.

31. “Lamprey pie.” Lampreys were formerly held in high esteem for the

table, and it was an old custom for the city of Gloucester annually to

present a lamprey pie to the sovereign. Worcester, also, is famous, for

its pies and potted lampreys.

32. The American lamprey likes best shallow places in rapidly flowing

streams where there are pebbly bottoms. Out of the pebbles it builds

its circular nest of stones, which vary in size from a hen’s egg to a

cannon ball. It carries the stones in its mouth. The eggs are laid in

these nests, and the young remain here until able to care for themselves.

For full account of nest building fishes see the Christmas number of

_Harper’s Monthly_ for 1883.

33. “Nictating membrane.” “A thin membrane at the inner angle of the eye,

capable of being drawn across the ball beneath the lid, as in birds and

some ruminant animals; the third eyelid.”—_Webster’s Dictionary._

34. “Operculum,” ō-perˈcu-lum.

35. “Vascular,” vasˈcu-lar. Consisting of vessels. The vascular system in

animals contains the arteries, veins, and like parts.

36. “Elasmobranchii,” e-lasˈmo-brankˈĭ.

37. “Teleosti,” tē-lē-osˈti.

38. “The electric eel.” These animals are found in several of the rivers

of South America. They are three or four feet in length, though a few

have been found measuring six feet. The viscera lie close to the head,

and all the rest of the body is taken up by the electrical apparatus,

which consists of four batteries, two on each side. These batteries

consist of horizontal membranous plates, intersected by delicate vertical

plates; the spaces contain a glutinous matter. The batteries are supplied

with two hundred and twenty-four pairs of nerves on each side. Humboldt

gave much study to these eels, and wrote a graphic description of how

the Indians captured them by driving horses into the water occupied by

them. The powers of the fishes were exhausted in shocking the horses

(some of which died from the effects), and the eels were caught. It is

said, too, that the Indians sometimes caught wild horses by driving them

into the water and capturing them while they were under the influence of

the shock. Faraday calculated that the eel emitted a force as great as

the highest charge of a Leyden battery of fifteen jars, having a coated

surface of 3,500 square inches. The most powerful shocks are felt by

touching the head of the eel with one hand, and the tail with the other.

39. “Blind fishes.” These are fishes found in caves, especially in the

Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. They possess organs of touch so delicate that

they are able to pursue and overtake fishes with eyes, that stray into

their domain. It is very difficult to capture them, their sense of

hearing being as acute as that of touch. They are nearly colorless and

present a ghostly appearance in the water. They vary in length from two

to five inches; they are viviparous.

40. “Sargossa Sea.” The name given to that part of the Atlantic Ocean

lying between 25° and 36° north latitude, and west of the Azore islands,

which is covered by a kind of seaweed distributed in great masses by the

Gulf Stream. Humboldt speaks of it as “that great bank of weeds which

so vividly occupied the imagination of Christopher Columbus, and which

Oviedo calls the seaweed meadows.” On his first voyage Columbus passed

through this sea, which caused great alarm to his companions, who thought

there must be rocks or shoals near. The quantity of the weed is such as

often to impede the progress of vessels.

TALK ABOUT BOOKS.

The histories of James Anthony Froude are best appreciated by and adapted

to those who already have a good knowledge of history. They are like

studies in higher mathematics, which always demand a careful preparation

in the branches preceding them. All who read Thomas Becket[B] will

readily assent to this. Without some knowledge of the “Constitutions of

Clarenden,” one could hardly gather from this book what the beginning

of the trouble was about, and would lose much of the enjoyment to be

had in the fine analysis of the event. The first chapter contains a few

incidents illustrative of the spirit of the times; then comes a very

brief sketch of the famous archbishop, up to the time of the rupture of

friendship between him and the king from that time until his murder in

the cathedral of Canterbury, his life and characteristics are very fully

drawn. The book lacks entirely that which no good book should ever be

without—a full index.

Abridged dictionaries have been among the most unsatisfactory works

which we have ever owned. They never cover the ground. A fresh attempt

to make a complete, compact work has resulted in a book that no one need

hesitate to recommend. It has been revised from Webster’s unabridged

dictionary, and the editing has been subject to President Noah Porter.

Several plans have been adopted for saving spaces, which neither cheapen

the work nor injure the quality. The abridgment has been accomplished,

we believe, after carefully comparing the abridged and unabridged works,

without sacrificing either pronunciation, definitions or derivations.

The aid of examples and synonyms is lost in the smaller work. The

invaluable appendix of the larger work is very adequately represented by

a pronouncing vocabulary of Biblical, classical, mythological, historical

and geographical proper names. The cost of the book places it in the

reach of almost every one. We have felt for a long time that there was

no really desirable dictionary of low price which we could recommend

willingly to our C. L. S. C. readers. This work will fully meet their

needs, and we take pleasure in calling attention to it.[C]

A study of frontier life and government is to be found in “Mining

Camps.”[D] As one reads the book the old saying “One half of the world

does not know how the other half lives,” recurs again and again to the

mind. That such great organizations should have been in existence,

governed by local laws devised by themselves to suit the necessities of

their condition, and carried up to a high state of development, while

other parts of the country were almost in ignorance concerning these

commonwealths, seems hard to understand. The book is not designed as a

technical history of mining. Ancient and mediæval mining systems are

examined, and the development of their institutions carefully traced. The

greater part of the book is devoted to the study of camps in the remote

West.

The “Historical Reference Book”[E] at once takes its place among those

works which cause one to wonder how he ever did without them. It

comprises a chronological table of universal history, a chronological

dictionary of universal history, a biographical dictionary, and

geographical notes. Great care has been taken in the biographical

dictionary to select all the names of those men who have a strong claim

to distinction, and from the list, which is necessarily limited, those

have been omitted whose renown is fleeting. For those who can not provide

themselves with cyclopædias, large dictionaries, and books of reference,

we know of no work better calculated to meet their needs, and those who

have these other helps at hand will find this the most convenient for

brief notices. It is especially adapted to the use of students.

In “Workday Christianity”[F] the names of tradesmen, as “The Carpenter,”

“The Potter,” etc., have been used as the subjects of chapters, and the

history of each calling is briefly given, from the earliest Bible times

down to the present. They are then used as figures, and around them are

draped moral lessons from which may be gathered many useful suggestions.

There is, however, a gloomy outlook spread before the Christian; his life

is made to seem only as “a life of work, of trial, of tears and fears, of

conflicts fierce and long.” In the author’s denunciations of hypocrisy,

style, cant and caste in the churches, he inconsistently pays them the

high honor of allowing them to overshadow all else. He never sees the

true, the beautiful and the good existing there also. Such sentences as

the following have a wrong tendency and do harm: “It was not considered a

disgrace in those days to ply a trade.” “How many rich young ladies would

scorn to associate with the sons and daughters of our workmen.” For some

strange cause there is a large class of laboring people who are always

debasing themselves by supposing other people feel above them. They are

constantly snubbing themselves, in the fear that somebody is going to

do so. This feeling should never be fed by a religious book. The author

stands on the wrong side of many questions he attempts to handle.

The most pleasing observations of nature at present being contributed

to our literature are those by John Burroughs. Most writers in their

descriptions of the outside world are one-sided. They see the landscape

but forget the sounds. Burroughs never does this. He catches everything:

the dew, the color, the sound, the accent of the country-folk, the lay

of the land, the build of the plow. In his “Fresh Fields”[G] the effect

is exactly what the walk through the fields would have been. A vivid,

fresh, constantly changing panorama is spread before you. The style suits

the shifting scenes. It is not “fine writing,” but it is clear, plain

and appropriate; like the corduroy trousers, short coat, and top boots

which form the outfit for tramps like those of Mr. Burroughs, it is not

elegant, but exactly “the thing.” While the observations of flower and

bird and sky are so exact and pleasing, there is much “humanization of

nature.” He is not so enamored with the fields that he can not take a

genuine interest in men. The most delicious story we have read for a

long time is his “Hunt for the Nightingale.” No knight in fiction ever

followed his lady-love more eagerly than does this ardent wooer his

Philomel, and it has been a long time since we have been more eager to

have a story turn out well.

In “Letters to Guy”[H] boys will find an interesting book. These letters

are written from Australia, by a mother to her son left at home in

England. They tell of the voyages from one place to another, of the

places visited, of the people, and of the natural history of the country.

They are written in a bright, racy style, and are so homelike that any

boy could easily forget they were penned by a titled lady, and imagine

they might be his own mother’s letters to himself.

In “How to Get On in the World”[I] will be found a full account of the

life and literary works of William Cobbett. In his preface the author

says: “It is thought that an account of the life and writings of one of

England’s most powerful writers and most remarkable characters, with

some of the best productions of his pen, can not fail to be useful.”

And a very useful and entertaining book he has succeeded in giving to

the public. The making it serve the double purpose of biography and

autobiography affords, as is always the case, a pleasing variety. His

early history, his experience in the British army, in the United States,

and as an editor, his trial and imprisonment for the libels he placed on

government and individuals, and all of the leading events in the stirring

life of this great political writer are clearly set forth. There is also

a full account of his works, which are very numerous. Better than any

theoretical treatise on this subject is the history of this self-made

man, conquering difficulties and winning successes along the lines in

which he sought it.

A story of the times of Wyckliffe is given under the title “Dearer than

Life.”[J] One of the best means of doing good now in use is that of

teaching the young people useful lessons in the form of these attractive

historical novels. In this one, the fortunes of a family who were for

a long time divided in their opinions concerning the doctrines of the

great reformer are narrated, and are so closely interwoven with the real

history of the times that there can be no skipping of the facts for the

sake of the fancy.

Of the recent text-books published for use in schools, on physiology and

hygiene, none deserves higher commendation than “Our Bodies, and How we

Live.”[K] The lessons are all so arranged and expressed as to awaken and

hold the attention of the scholar, and can not fail, especially in the

hands of a skillful teacher, to make this important study an exceedingly

interesting one. The effects of strong drink on different parts of the

system are carefully shown. The numerous illustrations are very clear,

and so well labeled that they perfectly supplement the lessons and leave

no chance for misunderstanding or mistake. The book contains a glossary

and an index.

Two little books by Charles Kingsley,[L] put into the hands of children

who have been taught to love good reading—and indeed the books of

themselves would teach any child to do this—would prove a treasure-house

to them. The prefaces alone, with their cordial, sympathetic greeting,

their natural, straightforward statements, and their spirit of love and

reverence, are worth the price of the books.

Any one who has had experience in arranging tableaux knows how true

it is that there is a false and a true way of producing effects. Not

knowing how to drape, to select colors, to arrange a group, to copy this

or that, spoils many tableaux and discourages managers. We are glad to

find a suggestive book on this difficult art.[M] Without any theorizing

the authors teach us how to do by plunging _in medias res_ and producing

the tableaux before our eyes. The book describes twenty-four tableaux,

but the variety of subjects is such that study of them furnishes a very

complete drill for producing any desired effect.

A good game will occasionally fill a niche in an evening, in a way

entirely its own. We believe we have found two such in Miss Alice M.

Guernsey’s Shakspere Game,[N] and Elements and Compounds.[O] The games

are pleasing variations of the well known game of “Authors.” The latter

is particularly novel in its arrangement, and local circles who want to

fix in mind the troublesome “compounds” will find it very useful.

It is a very convenient thing for a reader of history to have at hand

a chart which gives in brief the synchronological events of nations.

So many charts of this kind, however, are cumbersome, that the trouble

of using is almost as time-taking as that of consulting books. A chart

without this drawback is the “Concentric Chart of History”[P] which Dr.

Ludlow has recently published. It can be held in the hand when in use,

and folds up into small compass. It contains all the facts which readers

ought to go to a chart for, and some interesting items on the useful

arts, on sculptors, artists, and literary characters. Altogether it makes

a very convenient reference table for a reader of history.

The “Common School Compendium”[Q] is a little volume, intended, the

author says, “to serve several purposes—to provide graduates of high

schools and colleges a quick means of reviewing the work of early school

days; to give to teachers a reliable hand-book of knowledge they are

expected always to have at command, and above all to provide that large

class of young people who are striving in the privacy of home to master

the difficulties of a systematic course of study, a work that should do

away with the necessity for large numbers of text-books.” It outlines,

and gives brief lessons in, geography, arithmetic, grammar, natural

history and history. It will be found by all to be a valuable reference

book.

GORDON IN THE SOUDAN.—“I have certainly got into a slough with the

Soudan; but looking at my banker, my commander-in-chief, and my

administrator, it will be wonderful if I do not get out of it. If I had

not got this Almighty Power to back me in His in finite wisdom, I do

not know how I could ever think of what is to be done. With terrific

exertions I may in two or three years’ time, with God’s administration,

make a good province, with a good army and a fair revenue and peace and

an increased trade, and also have suppressed slave raids, and then I will

come home and go to bed and never get up again till noon every day, and

never walk more than a mile.”[R]

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Evolution and Christianity, or an Answer to the Development of Infidelity

of Modern Times. By Benjamin F. Tefft, D.D., LL.D. Boston: Lee and

Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham. 1885.

How to Do It. By Edward Everett Hale. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1884.

Weird Tales. By E. T. W. Hoffmann. A new translation from the German. By

J. P. Bealby, B.A. In two volumes. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

1885.

Words and Ways; or, What They Said, and What Came of It. By Sarah J.

Jones. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. 1885.

Price, $1.00.

Edward Arnold as Poetizer and Paganizer, Containing an Examination of the

Light of Asia for its Literature and for its Buddhism. By William Cleaver

Wilkinson. Funk & Wagnalls. New York: 1884.

The Clerk’s Manual of Rules, Forms, and Laws for the Regulation of

Business in the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York. Including

Croswel’s Manual. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co. 1885.

Consolation. A Special Collection of Standard Hymns, Tunes, and Chants

for Funeral and Memorial Services, together with suitable “Gospel Songs,”

New and Old, designed to Comfort those Who Mourn. Edited by James R.

Murray. Cincinnati: Published by John Church & Co.

Serapis. A Romance. By George Ebers. New York: William S. Gottsberger,

Publisher. 11 Murray Street. 1885. Price, paper cover, 50 cents.

A Railroad Waif. By Mrs. C. B. Sargent. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. New

York: Phillips & Hunt. 1885. Price, 75 cents.

Mind-Reading and Beyond. By William A. Hovey. Boston: Lee and Shepard.

1885.

The Three Pronunciations of Latin. By M. M. Fisher, D.D. LL.D. New York:

D. Appleton & Co. 1885.

The Story of the Resurrection By William H. Furness, D.D. Philadelphia:

J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1885.

Composition and Rhetoric. By G. P. Quackenbos, LL.D. New York: D.

Appleton & Co. 1885.

Organic Chemistry. By Ira Remsen. Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co.

Continuity of Christian Thought. By A. V. G. Allen. Boston: Houghton,

Mifflin & Co. 1884. Price, $2.00.

The Hallam Succession. A Tale of Methodist Life in Two Countries. By

Amelia E. Barr. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe.

1885. Price, $1.00.

The Lenâpè and their Legends. Library of Aboriginal American Literature.

By D. G. Brinton, M.D. Philadelphia. 1885.

The Open Door. The Portrait. Two Stories. By the author of A Little

Pilgrim, and Old Lady Mary. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1885. Price, 75

cents.

Tales from Shakspere. By Charles and Mary Lamb. Edited for the use of

Schools. Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co. 1885.

[B] Thomas Becket. By James Anthony Froude. New York: Charles Scribner’s

Sons. 1885. Price, 50 cents.

[C] Condensed Dictionary of the English Language. Edited under the

supervision of Noah Porter, DD., LL.D. By Dorsey Gardner. New York and

Chicago: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Company. Price, $1.80.

[D] Mining Camps. By Charles Howard Shinn. New York: Charles Scribner’s

Sons. 1885. Price, $2.00.

[E] The Historical Reference Book. By Louis Heilprin. New York: D.

Appleton and Company. 1885. Price, $3.00.

[F] Workday Christianity. By Alexander Clarke. Cincinnati: Cranston &

Stowe. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Price, $1.00.

[G] Fresh Fields. By John Burroughs. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

1885. Price, $1.50.

[H] Letters to Guy. By Lady Barker. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1885.

Price, $1.50.

[I] How to Get On in the World, as Displayed in the Life and Writings

of William Cobbett. By Robert Waters. New York: R. Worthington, 770

Broadway. 1885. Price, $1.50.

[J] Dearer than Life. By Emma Leslie. New York: Phillips & Hunt.

Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe. 1885. Price, $1.00.

[K] Our Bodies, and How we Live. By Albert F. Blaisdell, M.D. Boston: Lee

and Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham. 1885. Price, 60 cents.

[L] The Heroes. Price, 30 cents. Madam How and Lady Why. Price, 50 cents.

New York: Macmillan & Co. 1885.

[M] Artistic Tableaux, with Picturesque Diagrams and Descriptions of

Costumes. Text by Josephine Pollard. Arrangement of Diagrams by Walter

Satterlee. New York: White, Stokes & Allen. 1884.

[N] Quotations. A Shaksperean Game. By Alice M. Guernsey. Chicago: S. R.

Winchell & Co. Price, 25 cents.

[O] Elements and Compounds. A Chemical Game. By Alice M. Guernsey.

Chicago: S. R. Winchell & Co. Price, 25 cents.

[P] Ludlow’s Concentric Chart of History. By James M. Ludlow, D.D. New

York City: Funk & Wagnalls. Price, $2.00.

[Q] The Common School Compendium. For Home Students and Teachers. By Mr.

L. J. Lanphere. Chicago: Fairbanks & Palmer. 1885.

[R] Chinese Gordon, the Uncrowned King. His character as it is portrayed

in his Private Letters. Compiled by Laura C. Holloway. New York: Funk &

Wagnalls. 1885. Ribbon-tied. Price, 25 cents.

CHAUTAUQUA, 1885.

Chautauqua is the original recreative and educational summer resort on

Chautauqua Lake;

Chautauqua is the center of an elegant and literary social life;

Chautauqua is the first of many similar movements in all parts of

the land, and the one from which they have received their idea and

inspiration;

Chautauqua is the seat of the world-wide “C. L. S. C.” (the Chautauqua

Literary and Scientific Circle), which enrolls more than fifty thousand

readers, and provides more than thirty distinct courses of reading and

study for persons of all ages and degrees of culture;

Chautauqua is a place of rest and recreation; with grounds, high, dry,

perfectly drained, clean, delightful; with three lovely natural plateaus

rising from the lakeside to an elevation among the very highest on

the lake. The sanitary regulations are scientific and effective. The

healthfulness of the place is not excelled in America.

Chautauqua has a charming hotel, the Hotel Athenæum, one of the most

elegant and substantial summer hotels on the continent. Its lovely

outlook on the lake, its ample piazzas, spacious halls, parlor and dining

room render it equal to any hotel outside of New York City.

Chautauqua provides cottage-boarding at all rates, and persons preferring

cheap board to that of the more expensive and elegant Hotel Athenæum can

easily find it.

Chautauqua is CHAUTAUQUA. The name of the ground is CHAUTAUQUA. The

landing is CHAUTAUQUA. The postoffice is CHAUTAUQUA. The express office

is CHAUTAUQUA. It is not “Point Chautauqua” or “Chautauqua Point,” or

“Chautauqua Lake,” but simply CHAUTAUQUA, N. Y.

Chautauqua is the children’s paradise. Games, romps, bathing, boating,

calisthenics, roller skating under judicious control, bonfires, concerts,

stereopticon exhibitions, a splendid museum of oriental curiosities and

pictures, a useful “hour-a-day” during the Assembly season (if children

wish it) of lessons, story-telling, and songs—all these make Chautauqua a

most charming resort for children.

SUNDAY SCHOOL NORMAL WORK.

At the summer session of the Assembly the normal work is conducted in

five departments, viz.:—

1. The Children’s Class, for young people, taught by the Rev. B. T.

Vincent.

2. The Intermediate Normal Class, for advanced scholars and teachers,

also taught by the Rev. B. T. Vincent.

3. The Sunday School Normal Class, in the two sections of the Bible and

the Sunday School, taught by the Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, D. D., and Prof. R.

S. Holmes.

4. The Advanced Normal, conducted by the Rev. A. E. Dunning and the Rev.

Frank Russell.

5. The Primary Teachers’ Normal Class, for the instruction of teachers of

little people. By Mrs. B. T. Vincent.

6. Among other exercises valuable and interesting to Sunday School

workers are the following: Daily Bible Reading, under the direction of

Dr. John Williamson, of Chicago, Ill.; Daily Devotional Services, led by

the Rev. Dr. B. M. Adams, of New York; Occasional Question-drawers and

Normal Councils, under the direction of Dr. J. H. Vincent; Sunday School

Teachers’ Meetings on Saturday evenings, and the great NORMAL ALUMNI

REUNION on Thursday, August 13th.

Information concerning the Normal Course may be obtained by addressing

either the Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, D. D., 805 Broadway, New York; or the Rev.

A. E. Dunning, Congregational House, Boston, Mass.

THE CHAUTAUQUA COLLEGE OF MODERN LANGUAGES.

PROF. J. H. WORMAN, PH. D., Director.

PROF. A. LALANDE, Associate, School of French.

The College of Modern Languages, under the direction of the distinguished

teacher and author, Dr. J. H. Worman, will open July 11th, and continue

in session for six weeks.

Concerning Prof. Worman, it is not necessary that anything be said in

this announcement. As a teacher he is unexcelled in this country. As an

author of school books in language he is widely known.

Prof. Lalande, a Parisian, a thorough Frenchman, a born teacher,

captivates his pupils while he leads them on to a mastery of his native

tongue through his aptness to teach, distinct enunciation, and personal

enthusiasm.[S]

For full information concerning the COLLEGE OF MODERN LANGUAGES for the

coming season, address as follows: German, Italian, and Spanish, Dr. J.

H. Worman, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; for French, Prof. A.

Lalande, Bridgeport, Conn.

[S] Indiana Cottage, 253 North avenue, Chautauqua, N. Y., will furnish

for $55.00 for the six weeks (July 11th—August 24th) of the Chautauqua

Schools of Language, room and board, including all the comforts of a

quiet home, with a private table to be presided over by Prof. A. Lalande,

where nothing but French is to be spoken.

THE ACADEMIA OF LATIN AND GREEK.

(Summer Term of Six Weeks.)

Professor Shumway writes to the Chancellor of Chautauqua University:

_My Dear Doctor Vincent:_

It gives me great pleasure to be able to offer this summer, at

Chautauqua, a course in Latin and Greek of unusual merit. Of the

assistant teachers, Mr. Otto is already favorably known to our pupils

of last summer, and to many correspondence students as an energetic and

thorough teacher. Dr. Bevier will be a great acquisition for Chautauqua.

He was graduated from Rutgers with first honors, having also during his

course won honors in Latin and Greek at the inter-collegiate contest.

After graduation he studied at Johns Hopkins University (which conferred

on him the degree Ph.D.), and then continued his studies in Europe. He

was a student at the American School at Athens, Greece, and is now an

enthusiastic and successful teacher. He is the author of a paper on

the _Olympieion_ (in the report of the School at Athens, published by

Professor Goodwin, of Harvard).

Although our session in Latin last year began a week late, and we

suffered from other disadvantages, I believe our numbers in Latin reached

a total unparalleled in the history of Chautauqua.

What was, however, especially gratifying, was the improved quality of

scholarship manifested by students.

For this summer we offer the following course:

1. ROMAN LAW (using the Institutes of _Justinian_) with information. Not

only every lawyer, but every teacher of Latin to-day should familiarize

“_thon_”self with Roman law, lying, as it does, _at the base of Roman

civilization_.

2. THE LATIN OF THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS.—Recent publication and

discussion have brought into such prominence the influence of the early

Latin Fathers on church doctrine that _every clergyman_, present or

prospective, will do well to examine this question for himself.

3. COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY (using Halsey’s Etymology; Ginn, Heath &

Co.)—(Every student preparing to enter either of these three classes

should _at once_ communicate with the principal, that there may be no

delay at the opening of the session, in securing apparatus.)

4. PLATO.—Apology and Crito, Tyler’s Ed. (Appletons.)

5. CICERO.—_De Natura Deorum_, Stickney’s Ed. (Ginn, Heath & Co.)

6. HOMER.—Odyssey.

7. VERGIL.—Æneid.

8. HORACE.—Chase’s Ed. (Eldridge & Bro.)

9. CICERO.—Orations.

10. XENOPHON.—Anabasis.

11. CÆSAR.—_De Bello Gallico_ (two hours per day).

12. BEGINNERS IN GREEK. Harkness’s Text-Book, last ed. (Appletons.)

13. BEGINNERS IN LATIN (THREE HOURS PER DAY BY THE INDUCTIVE METHOD, WITH

CONSTANT USE OF LATIN QUESTION AND ANSWER).

🖙 Latin students must have the “Hand-Book of Latin Synonymes.” (Ginn,

Heath & Co.)

🖙 _Special rates will be made for correspondence pupils, and all are

urged to attend._

I hope you will give us at Chautauqua zealous students, who will

concentrate their work on Latin and Greek, and especially two classes:

TEACHERS of Latin and Greek, and those who are absolutely BEGINNERS. A

clear-headed student who doesn’t know a word of Latin, can, by devoting

six weeks to it, FIVE HOURS per day (_Beginners_ and _Cæsar_) or ONE

HUNDRED AND FIFTY HOURS in six weeks—quite as much time as the average

school gives in one year—make decided progress.

It is thought that teachers of Latin and Greek will find of value not

only the method, but also the inspiration which indubitably does arise

when teachers gather.

It is perhaps hardly necessary to add that _the use of Latin not only in

elucidating text, but also in discussing syntax, derivations, synonymes,

history, geography, archæology, etc., is an essential feature of our

work in Latin_. Worthy of the attention of teachers is the fact that our

colloquial work is not the mere parrot-like repetition of phrases of the

text.

Your ob’t servant,

EDGAR S. SHUMWAY,

Principal of Chautauqua _Academia_.

RUTGERS COLLEGE, February 23, 1885.

THE CHAUTAUQUA SCHOOL OF HEBREW.

DR. W. R. HARPER, of the Institute of Hebrew, Director.

The Chautauqua School of Hebrew will open August 4, at 2 p. m., and

continue until August 31, at 12 m.

The tuition fee is $10.00. This sum includes admission to the grounds.

Elementary, Intermediate, Progressive, and Advanced Classes will be

organized. For further information, correspond with Dr. W. R. Harper,

Morgan Park, near Chicago, Ill.

THE CHAUTAUQUA COLLEGE OF ENGLISH AND ANGLO-SAXON.

The Chautauqua College of English and Anglo-Saxon is under the direction

of Prof. W. D. McClintock, who has by steadiness, fidelity, tact,

and rich scholarship commanded the respect and enthusiastic devotion

of his pupils during several summers at Chautauqua. For particulars

concerning the Summer School of English, address Prof. W. D. McClintock,

Millersburgh, Ky.

THE CHAUTAUQUA TEACHERS’ RETREAT.

The Teachers’ Retreat is a three weeks’ meeting of secular school

teachers, opening July 11, 1885, for lectures, illustrative exercises,

biographical studies, and scientific experiments, combined with the

recreative delights of a summer vacation and the quickening influence of

the summer school. The teachers in the “Retreat” for this season are: Dr.

J. W. Dickinson, of Boston, Dr. J. T. Edwards, of Randolph, N. Y., W.

C. J. Hall, Esq., of Jamestown, N. Y., Prof. R. L. Cumnock, of Evanston,

Ill., Prof. C. R. Wells, of Syracuse, N. Y., Prof. W. D. Bridge, of New

Haven, Conn., Prof. Henry Lummis, of Boston, Prof. E. A. Spring, of Perth

Amboy, N. J., Mrs. A. L. Blanchard, of New York City, Miss Mary A. Bemis,

of Fredonia, N. Y., Prof. Walton N. Ellis, etc.

Lessons in experimental science, microscopy, kindergarten, elocution,

the science and art of pedagogy, penmanship and book-keeping, mineralogy

and geology, calisthenics, phonography, stenograph reporting, botany and

forestry, drawing, painting, needle-work, clay modeling, voice culture,

harmony, organ instruction, etc.

Tickets of admission to the Chautauqua Teachers’ Retreat for the three

weeks in July, $5.00. This ticket admits to all general Amphitheater

exercises, lectures, concerts, etc., and to the following: The special

and general exercises of the “Chautauqua Foreign Tourists’” ideal

excursion through Italy, brilliantly illustrated with the stereopticon;

fourteen lessons in pedagogy; fourteen lessons in the practical

application of pedagogical science; four tourists’ conferences; four

expositions of method in chemistry; one exposition of method in

penmanship; one exposition of method in elocution; two admissions to each

of the several classes in the Schools of Language; two lectures on school

method, by Prof. Edward E. Smith, superintendent of schools in Syracuse,

N. Y.; one exposition of method in standard phonography; one exposition

of method in reporting by the stenograph; ten half-hour drills in school

calisthenics, etc.

For circulars, address W. A. Duncan, Esq., Syracuse, N. Y.

THE AMERICAN CHURCH-SCHOOL OF CHURCH WORK.

REV. GEORGE P. HAYS, D. D., of Denver, Director.

Dr. Hays will open at Chautauqua this season a “School of Church Work,”

for the benefit of the laity in all denominations and in all branches of

Christian activity. [See announcements in May issue of _Assembly Herald_.]

CHAUTAUQUA IDEAL FOREIGN TOUR.

Among the most instructive and entertaining features of the Chautauqua

season is the annual “foreign tour” to some of the “lands beyond the

sea.” The “Ideal Foreign Tour” this year will be made through ITALY.

Foreign tourists’ conferences, parlor soirees, stereopticon illustrated

lectures, and a large library of well-selected works on foreign travel,

with a large variety of engravings, photographs, etc., will furnish

abundant enjoyment and profit to all the members of the Teachers’ Retreat

and the members of any department of the Schools of Language.

SCHOOL OF ORATORY.

PROF. R. L. CUMNOCK, Director.

The school will open on the 13th of July, and continue in session six

weeks. The instruction in elocution will be thorough, practical and

progressive. Four classes will be organized: Juvenile, General, Advanced,

Ministerial.

TERMS:—I. Juvenile Class: $10.00 for the session; $7.00 for

three weeks; $5.00 for two weeks; $3.00 for one

week.

II. General or Advanced Class: $12.00 for the session;

$8.00 for three weeks; $6.00 for two weeks; $4.00

for one week.

III. General and Advanced Classes: $20.00 for the

session; $14.00 for three weeks; $9.00 for two

weeks; $6.00 for one week.

IV. Ministerial Class: $8.00 for three weeks; $6.00

for two weeks; $4.00 for one week.

V. Private Hours, $3.00. In sections of four, $1.00

each per hour.

For further particulars, address Prof. R. L. Cumnock, Evanston, Ill.

Prof. Cumnock will give two public readings at Chautauqua during the

season.

LESSONS IN ART.

Mrs. A. L. Blanchard, of the American Art School, New York, will conduct

this department at Chautauqua the coming season. She will give thorough

instructions in free-hand drawing, all branches of painting, crayon

portraiture, and art needle-work.

TERMS:—10 Lessons in Drawing $5.00

12 ” ” Painting, Mineral, Oil and Water Colors 10.00

10 ” ” Needle-Work 5.00

12 ” ” Out-door Sketching 10.00

10 ” ” Object Drawing and Perspective 5.00

THE ORGAN.

Isaac V. Flagler, of Syracuse University, will preside at the organ. A

full program for ten organ recitals will be given in an early program.

Many of the organ selections are not to be found in this country

elsewhere, and will be played for the first time at Chautauqua. They were

sent to Prof. Flagler by the composers, whose acquaintance he made in

Europe.

The principal purposes of organ-playing will be demonstrated

theoretically and practically by Mr. Flagler.

1. Playing for divine services.

2. Playing for concerts and exhibitions.

3. Playing accompaniments.

Especial attention will be given to manual and pedal technique, and the

art of registration, or the employment of such stops as will display not

only the different degrees of power, but also the utmost variety of tone

color. Terms for a course of lessons on the organ at Chautauqua, $10.00.

KINDERGARTEN.

This department will be in charge of Miss Mary A. Bemis, a pupil of Mrs.

Kraus-Boelte, of New York, and for years teacher in this department at

Chautauqua. An opportunity will be given, as last year, to observe the

children under training by Miss Bemis. After each recitation, parents and

teachers may receive practical instruction in the use of kindergarten

material and the application of kindergarten principles to home and

school life.

PHONOGRAPHY AND THE STENOGRAPH.

This department will be in charge of Prof. W. D. Bridge, of New Haven,

Conn., for thirty years a shorthand writer, and for many years a

practical shorthand reporter. For the last four years he his been engaged

constantly with Dr. Vincent as shorthand secretary and assistant. Classes

for beginners and advanced pupils in “Standard Phonography” will be

organized. There will also be organized in this department of shorthand

one or more classes in instruction on the “Stenograph,” the newly

invented machine for practical reporting. A competent teacher will be in

attendance from July 11th to August 24th.

TERMS: $10.00 for either department, “Standard Phonography,” or the

“Stenograph,” in classes; seventy-five cents per hour in private.

For full information concerning this department, address Prof. W. D.

Bridge, New Haven, Conn., up to July 1st; after that, at Chautauqua, N. Y.

THE CHAUTAUQUA MISSIONARY INSTITUTE

Will open Saturday, August 1st, and continue for several days, with

conferences on important missionary topics, conducted by earnest men and

women; with lectures, sermons and platform meetings.

MUSIC AT CHAUTAUQUA.

The arrangements for musical entertainment this year will exceed those of

any former year in the history of Chautauqua.

The season of 1885 may justly be called the “summer of song” at

Chautauqua. Among the attractions are the following:

A grand chorus under the direction of Prof. W. F. Sherwin, of the New

England Conservatory of Music, in Boston; Prof. C. C. Case, of Akron,

Ohio; and Prof. A. T. Schauffler, of New York City;

The famous Schubert Quartette (male), of Chicago, will be present from

August 8th to 22d;

Miss Dora Henninges, of Cleveland, Ohio, _mezzo soprano_, will be at

Chautauqua from August 4th to 18th.

Prof. Isaac V. Flagler, of Syracuse, N. Y., will preside at the great

organ during the season;

Miss Adele M. Dodge, of Williamsport, Pa., will preside at the piano.

Mr. H. N. Hutchins, of Chicago, Ill., one of the greatest cornetists in

America, will be at Chautauqua from August 4th to 18th.

THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS.

The original company who so charmed Chautauqua three years ago with their

matchless music, will be at Chautauqua July 11-18, and July 28-August 5.

In this company are four of the original members of the earliest Fisk

Jubilee Company, our old friends: Miss Jennie Jackson, soprano; Mrs.

Maggie L. Porter-Cole, soprano; Miss Minnie W. Tate, contralto, and Miss

Georgia M. Gordon, soprano.

THE PLATFORM.

The entire program has not been completed, but the following lecturers

are engaged:

Dr. Geo. C. Lorimer, of Chicago, Ill.;

Dr. B. G. Northrop, of Connecticut;

Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, of Boston, Mass., who will lecture on Wendell

Phillips, and a Dream of To-morrow;

Miss Kate Field, of Boston;

Dr. Geo. Dana Boardman, of Philadelphia, Pa.;

Rev. Robert Nourse, now of Washington, D. C.;

Philip Phillips;

Rev. J. W. A. Stewart, of Ontario;

H. K. Carroll, Esq., editor of _The Independent_, N. Y.;

Col. Homer B. Sprague, Boston, Mass., who will deliver two lectures on

Shakspere, and two on Milton;

Miss L. M. Von Finkelstein, of Jerusalem;

Bishop R. S. Foster, of Boston, Mass.;

Dr. J. M. Buckley, of New York;

W. M. R. French, the brilliant crayonist;

Dr. C. F. Deems, of New York;

Edward Everett Hale, of Boston;

Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, of Minnesota;

It is hoped that John B. Gough and Frank Beard may be present. Other

names will be announced in due time.

The distinguished English orator and scientist, George Sexton, M.A.,

LL.D., will deliver several lectures on scientific subjects.

The full program of the CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY and the SCHOOLS will be ready

in a short time. Questions addressed to Dr. J. H. Vincent, Plainfield,

N. J., or W. A. Duncan, Esq., Syracuse, N. Y., will receive prompt

attention.

THE FLORIDA CHAUTAUQUA.

The Florida Chautauqua is a success. Four months ago we had a dubious

feeling that such an undertaking would fail of any real support in a

clime which has always been so averse to adopting progressive ideas.

Our healthy Chautauqua tree, we feared, would be enervated by tropical

sunshine; but it has taken root with surprising readiness. And its

growth is assured by the hearty northern support it is receiving. This

support is a striking feature of Lake de Funiak. You see it in the pretty

cottages that are being built about the grounds. They are generally owned

by northerners. Wallace Bruce has a cottage there; Pansy is building one;

Mrs. Harper, of Terre Haute, Ind., another; Dr. Hatfield, of Chicago,

one, and Mrs. Emily Huntingdon Miller another. One delightful spot has

been turned into an “Artist’s Corner” by Joaquin Miller, Mr. Durkin,

Harper Brothers’ well known artist, and Mr. Gross, of Covington.

The attraction which Lake de Funiak has for literary and artistic

people is easily explained. The country is enveloped in a mist of most

fascinating story. Ponce de Leon and his warriors once searched its

forest, and, perhaps, who knows, bathed in the lake’s clear waters.

It has an ideal climate. The lake lies on a ridge eighty by thirty miles

in extent, and three hundred feet above sea level. “Too cold to raise

oranges here,” the natives say, and sure enough it is, though east, at

a lower altitude in the same latitude, orange groves are abundant. The

beautiful LaConte pear, peaches, apples, and quinces, are the favorite

fruits of this ridge. The result is that here in this overheated,

indolent land, is formed an oasis with an even temperature, unknown to

the mosquito, and unvisited by the cyclone.

No better place could be found for gathering the “material” in which the

artist and the writer revel. These mammoth forests of pine, magnolia,

cypress, palmetto, and oak, are broken by the settlements of a peculiar

people. Northerners find here a fresh field of study for pen and pencil.

And it is a fresh field for the Chautauqua Idea. During the progress of

the Assembly the people of the surrounding country were in a constant

wonderment over the peculiar performances, but when they understood

what was meant, their coöperation was the heartiest, and their interest

was untiring. The earnest workers who have undertaken to introduce the

Chautauqua plans, if they are still in the first stage, are yet sure of

abundant results.

In arranging the Florida Assembly the effort has been to have everything

truly Chautauquan. Naturally we think of the Auditorium first, and at

Lake de Funiak the situation is superb. The lake, which is about a

mile in circumference, some sixty-four feet in depth, and its water of

extraordinary clearness and purity, has a setting of grassy banks which

slope upward from the lake some fifty feet to the edge of the forest.

Into this bank, looking out over the lake, is built a square auditorium,

large enough to seat 4,000 people, enclosed and furnished with an iron

roof. All of the various Chautauqua developments have found their way

there. The platform, presided over by the Rev. A. H. Gillet, the C. L.

S. C., the normal work, a school of Greek, a kindergarten, school of

cookery, and an art school. Prof. Sherwin was there, presiding over

the chorus. Messrs. Fairbanks & Palmer opened a bookstore. There were

Chautauqua singers, songs, speeches, and ideas, and they all took root.

The beautiful situation, the desirable company that is building the new

town, the vigor of the management, and its sound financial backing,

evidence the future of Lake de Funiak. What more beautiful southern home

could those of us who migrate southward from this land of snow and ice

wish, than under the pines of Ponce de Leon’s fountain, surrounded by a

band of the most earnest workers in the world, and in daily reach of the

best thought which money and skill can bring together? Or if we can find

time and money for but a month’s study of Florida and her people, what

more delightful headquarters?

SPECIAL NOTES.

A SCHOOL OF PEDAGOGY has been arranged in the CHAUTAUQUA UNIVERSITY. Its

purpose is to assist the directors of popular education, and especially

teachers, in the study—1st, of the subjects taught in the schools;

2nd, of the principles and art of teaching; and, 3d, of the history of

education. Two courses of study and of reading will be arranged. One

course may be completed in a year, the other in two years. Books to

be studied and read will be suggested. Examinations for promotion and

certificates will be made at the close of each year. The design of the

course of studies and reading is to prepare school directors and teachers

for the work of organizing and teaching the schools in accordance with

the best methods. Any person may become a member of the School of

Pedagogy by paying the Matriculation Fee of $5, unless it has already

been paid in connection with some other department, and the Tuition Fee

of $10. The Tuition Fee is a yearly fee. All fees are payable in advance,

to R. S. Holmes, Registrar of the Chautauqua University, Plainfield, N.

J., from whom all particulars in reference to the school may be obtained.

* * * * *

Miss Susan Hayes Ward, in her article in the March impression of THE

CHAUTAUQUAN, spoke disparagingly of electro-silicon as a cleaner for

silver. Some good housekeepers represent it to be both a very useful and

safe cleaning material. In all such cases, however, the person using the

article must be the judge. But in this case we favor the opinion of the

good housekeepers.

* * * * *

The Easter cards of the season just past were very bright and beautiful,

and many of them exceedingly rich. Prang’s cards, as usual, took the lead

in artistic design and fine finish. They issued a very large number of

new designs, and some very taking novelties in satin and plush.

* * * * *

At Siloam Springs, Benton Co., Arkansas, another Chautauqua has been

established. A joint stock company, with ample capital, has been

organized, and a state charter secured. Prof. E. Dolgoruki was elected

director-general. Siloam Springs is a place of 2,000 inhabitants, near

the southwest corner of the state, one mile from Indian Territory.

An amphitheater large enough to seat 2,500 persons is in process of

erection, and efforts are being made to secure a good and diversified

program for the coming session, which opens June 11, 1885, and continues

three weeks.

* * * * *

In the March number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, among the errata, appears the

following: “Arann, the Rev. J. M., not _Araun_.” It seems it is not right

yet; it should be Avann.

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Page 437, “transfered” changed to “transferred” (and transferred it to

their own home)

Page 451, “crochety” changed to “crotchety” (crotchety but kind)

Page 455, “insistance” changed to “insistence” (ill-timed insistence)

Page 458, “tation” changed to “station” (the station agent was kind

enough to say)

Page 459, “corrider” changed to “corridor” (a corridor nearly two hundred

feet long)

Page 468, “fnnctions” changed to “functions” (the authority and functions

of)

Page 474, “Broomfield” changed to “Bromfield” (36 Bromfield Street,

Boston)

Page 479, “Eebruary” changed to “February” (February 20, 1885)

Page 480, “wvies” changed to “wives” (two merchants’ wives)

Page 487, “fnlly” changed to “fully” (when we are fully persuaded)