CLASS OF 1885.—“THE INVINCIBLES.”
“Press on, reaching after those things which are before.”
OFFICERS.
President—J. B. Underwood, Meriden, Conn.
Vice President—C. M. Nichols, Springfield, Ohio.
Treasurer—Miss Carrie Hart, Aurora, Ind.
Secretary—Miss M. M. Canfield, Washington, D. C.
Executive Committee—Officers of the class.
After Commencement, what? More of the same sort, undoubtedly—of a better sort, if possible. The members of the class of ’85 are now near enough to the “finish” to arrive at some more or less mature conclusions as to the future. They find that the word “commencement” is to be no misnomer, and is not even to be criticised. For after four years of reading and study the students find that they have not come to the end, but only to the beginning. The matter selected for them has been so good, so substantial, and really so inspiring, as a whole, that an immortal, if not divine, sort of hunger for the best in literature, science, art, philosophy, has been created in their minds, and they could hardly stop if they desired. The aggregate amount of literary and scientific information which has been acquired is really large, and much of it has been retained as a permanent fund of knowledge, but this has proved to be but a small part of the benefit that has been derived. Thousands of people have just begun to find out how little they really know, and how much they ought yet to learn, to satisfy their own ideas and notions as to what is required to make one, not learned, indeed, but reasonably well informed! And what they think they need to know, they feel sure that they have now discovered how to learn, and have acquired habits of reading and thinking which will make the processes easy and enjoyable, instead of laborious and tiresome. They have already looked beyond bounds into the green fields and pastures new of that which is best, most beautiful, and grandest in the domain of thought, and suggestion, and philosophical research and discovery, as brought out by poets, philosophers, statesmen and philanthropists, and they are likely to pass through the Golden Gate and out from the Temple on the hill into a still broader fraternity of thought and action, whose limits will correspond with those of the world itself.
A breezy letter from the plains of Dakota contains the following: “I have been studying entirely alone, and have found the course a blessing that can not be valued. Here, quite removed from society, while winter winds howl round my cabin home, I find help, companionship and pleasure in the studies of the dear ‘Home College.’ The most attractive corner of my little room is the one where my beloved books lie on the home-made shelves. My little ones love them too, and there is scarcely a time when I need help but what I can find it in my books.”
One young lady from Massachusetts, who hopes to hear the “Chautauqua Chimes,” writes: “I have a class of girls in Sunday-school, and want so much the help I think I shall be able to find at Chautauqua. The course has been just what I needed, and I know I have grown, mentally and morally, since joining the C. L. S. C.”
This from a gentleman in Kansas: “If health will permit I hope to be one to enter in under the Arches among the ‘Invincibles.’ I must be one of the oldest of the ’85s. I was fifteen days old at the battle of Waterloo, and, if I am spared till my next birthday, I shall have arrived at the bounds allotted to man in the Bible.”
One ’85 writes: “I hope to receive my diploma at Chautauqua, but, I am a busy mother with six children, and can not always plan so long ahead. I have had the greatest pleasure and satisfaction in the course, for, with a family of wide-awake boys and girls about me, I have found it is very necessary to refresh myself and keep well informed on all subjects.”
One enthusiastic lady from Texas writes: “I have gathered through four years of delightful reading an intellectual bouquet, whose fragrance I hope to wear about me when I pass, not only through the Arches at Chautauqua, but when I pass through the ‘Beautiful Gates’ to the Celestial City.”
Another testifies: “I am one of the busy mothers and housekeepers who pursue the C. L. S. C. course under numerous and varied difficulties, but find my enthusiasm increasing as the four years draw to a close.”
From Massachusetts: “I intend to still ‘press on’ after I graduate—in fact, I hope always to be a Chautauquan.”
Wisconsin contributes: “I like our motto and our name, and I love the C. L. S. C. Though reading alone, it has always been an inspiring thought that many thousands are reading the same course.”
Another: “I regret that the course is so nearly finished, but the spirit it has awakened within me has enabled me to ‘Press on, reaching after those things which are before.’”