The Story of Chautauqua

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

CHAPTER VIII

THE CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLE

Flower Girls on Recognition Day

Transcriber's Note: Clicking on this image will provide a larger image for more detail.

The "dream" of which Dr. Vincent gave a hint at the close of the 1877 Assembly was destined to become a reality in 1878. That year marks a golden milestone in the history of Chautauqua, for then was launched The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, that goodly vessel which has sailed around the world, has carried more than a half-million of passengers, and has brought inspiration and intelligence to multitudes unnumbered. The conception arose in its author's mind from the consciousness of his own intellectual needs. He had longed, but vainly, for the privilege of higher education in the college, but in his youth there were no Boards of Education with endowments extending a helping hand to needy students. His school-days ended in the academy, but not his education, for he was to the end of his life a student, reading the best books, even when their subjects and style demanded a trained mind. As one who knew him well and for more than a generation, I may say without hesitation that John Heyl Vincent possessed more knowledge and richer culture than nine out of ten men holding a college diploma.

But his heart went out in sympathy toward others who like himself had missed the opportunity of dwelling in college-cloisters, toward workers on the farm, at the forge, in the store, in the office, in the kitchen, and in the factory, whose longings were like his own. Many of these would read good books and drink at "the Pierian Spring," if only they knew where to find the fountain—in other words, if some intelligent, well-read person would direct them, and place the best books in their way. Gradually it dawned upon his mind that everyone has some margin of time, at least half an hour among the twenty-four, which might be made useful under wise counsel to win knowledge. He had not heard of that sentence spoken by the great President of Harvard, that "ten minutes a day, for ten years of a life, with the right books, will give any one an education." Indeed, that wise utterance came after the Chautauqua Circle had been established and was already giving guidance to many thousand people.

The conception came to Dr. Vincent of a course of reading, which might become to the diligent a course of study, to include the principal subjects of a college curriculum, all in the English language, omitting the mathematical and technical departments of science; a course that would give to its careful reader, not the mental discipline of four years in college, but something of the college outlook upon life and letters. It was to embrace the histories of the great nations that shaped the world—Israel, Greece, Rome, Great Britain, and America,—with shorter sketches of other important lands; a view over the literature of the ages, not in the original Greek, Latin, or German, but as translated into our own tongue, presented in a manner to give general understanding to the many, and also to awaken the aspiring reader by pointing out the path to thorough knowledge. There are tens of thousands who have studied the Bible only in the English version, yet could pass a better examination upon its contents than many graduates of the theological seminary. One might read such an account of Homer's Odyssey, or Virgil's Æneid, or Dante's Paradiso, or Goethe's Faust, as would inspire him to seek and study a complete translation of these masterpieces. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, from the beginning one of the counselors of the Chautauqua Course, said that it gives to its students "the language of the time"; not a full detailed knowledge, but such a general view as enables him to understand allusions and references, to be at home with the thinkers and writers of the age.

The Chautauqua Circle was not planned for specialists, seeking full knowledge upon one subject, but for general readers. Before it was inaugurated there was already established in Boston the Society for the Encouragement of Home Study. The student who desired aid through this useful organization was expected to select some one department of knowledge, and then a list of books or articles would be sent to him, with suggestions, questions, and an examination. If historical, it would not be history in general, but the history of one country, or one period in its annals. It might be the American, or French, or English Revolution—very thorough, but only for one seeking special knowledge. But the Chautauqua plan contemplated a general round of knowledge—history, literature, science, natural and social, art, and religion: and this broad conception was one great secret of its success. A story which is typical was told the writer of this volume as an absolute fact by one who claimed to know the persons referred to. A young lady called upon her pastor with this request; "I wish that you would tell me of some good books to read. I'm tired of reading nothing but novels, and want to find some books that are worth while. Can't you give me the names of some such books?"

The minister thought a moment, and then said slowly, "Well, what kind of books do you want—religious books, for instance?"

"No," said the girl, "I do not know as I wish to read about religion. I get that in the church and the Sunday School. But there must be some good books of other kinds—can't you tell me of them?"

"What would you think of a course of reading in history?" asked the pastor. Her face brightened somewhat, and she answered, "Why, I think that I might like to read history. What would you recommend for me?"

The minister glanced at his own shelves, thought a moment, and then said, "Well, I can't all at once name a course on such an important subject as history. Come next Wednesday, and I'll have a list of good books for you."

She came, and he showed her a formidable catalogue of books, saying:

"I have done the best that I could do, but the list is longer than I had expected. It includes eighty volumes. I wrote down one hundred and twenty volumes at first, but cut it down to eighty, and it cannot be made shorter, not by a single volume. In fact, it is not as complete as it should be. You will begin with the greatest book of history in all literature—Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in nine volumes!"

The young lady was appalled, and never went through the first chapter of Gibbon's mighty work. This was before the Chautauqua Home Reading Course was evolved. After that had been launched any intelligent minister, or helpful librarian, would simply have said to the enquirer, "Send for a circular of the C. L. S. C.; that will give you exactly what you need."

Pioneer Hall: Class of 1882. C. L. S. C.

Old College Building

There comes to my own mind a vivid remembrance of that evening when for the first time I heard those magic words—"The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle." In the early spring of 1878, Dr. Vincent had just returned from an official visit to Europe, and I was no longer at Plainfield, five minutes' walk from his home, but by the revolution of the itinerant wheel a pastor, thirty miles distant. A message came asking me to spend an evening with him and talk over some new plans for Chautauqua. Of course, I obeyed the call, for I always gained more than I gave in any conversation with that fruitful mind. We sat in front of the fireplace in his study, and I listened while for an hour he talked of a new organization which he proposed to launch in the coming season, to be named The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle; with a course of study to be carried through four years, with forty minutes as each day's task, for nine or ten months of each year, in the various branches of knowledge, analogous to the four years of college study. He was so full of his theme and so eloquent upon it that I could only listen to the outpouring utterances. The general purpose was clear before him, but not the details of its operation. Dr. Vincent's eyes were ever set upward toward the mountain-tops glorious in the sunlight, and he did not always think of the thickets to be cut and the path to be made from the lower plain to the summit. I could see some of the difficulties in the way, some obstacles that must be overcome, and sagely shook my head in doubt of the scheme. It was a radical departure from the earlier ideals, for thus far everything on the Chautauqua program had been along the line of Sunday School training, and this was a forsaking of the well-trodden path for a new world of secular education. Why try to rival the high schools and arouse the criticism of the colleges? How would the regular constituency of Chautauqua feel at this innovation? No doubt under the spell of his enthusiasm, some would join the proposed class in literature and science—but how could science be studied by untrained people without laboratories, or apparatus, or teachers? And after the spell of the Chautauqua season would not the pledges be forgotten at home, and the numbers in the home classes soon dwindle away to nothing?

Dr. Vincent asked me a question as we sat in the glow of the fireplace. "How many do you think can be depended on to carry on such a course as is proposed?"

"Oh, perhaps a hundred!" I answered. "People who want to read will find books, and those who don't care for reading will soon tire of serious study."

The doctor sprang up from his chair and walked nervously across the room. "I tell you, Mr. Hurlbut, the time will come when you will see a thousand readers in the C. L. S. C."

I smiled, the smile of kindly unbelief! His impulse, his dream was noble, to be sure, but so utterly impracticable. I tell this little tale to show how far below the reality were the expectations of us both. Only a few years after this conversation the enrolled members of the C. L. S. C. counted sixty thousand readers pursuing the course at one time, with probably as many more readers unregistered.

The opening evening of the Assembly was held on Tuesday evening, August 6th. The vesper service beginning, "The Day goeth away, The Shadows of evening are stretched out, Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion," etc., was read responsively in the Auditorium between the Miller Cottage and the Vincent tent, then not far from the Point, when a sudden shower fell and a general rush was made to the new Pavilion in the ravine on the west. That was the last opening service attempted out-of-doors. Since that evening, the Pavilion, soon to become the Amphitheater, has supplied the stage for the speakers, sedate or humorous, short or long,—some of them longer than the audience desired—on "Old First Night." A few lectures were given from time to time in the old Auditorium, but after the season of 1879 it was left for smaller meetings of couples in communion of soul on the seats here and there under the trees.

The inauguration of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle took place in the Pavilion on the afternoon of Saturday, August 10, 1878. On the platform, then lower than most of the seats, were a telescope, a microscope, a globe, some scientific apparatus, and a table filled with books, giving a scholastic setting to the exercises. Dr. Vincent presided, and with him were Bishop Randolph S. Foster of Boston, Dr. Henry W. Warren of Philadelphia, himself two years afterward to become a bishop, Professor William C. Wilkinson, whose pen in the following years wrote many books for the readers of the C. L. S. C., Professor James Strong of wide learning, and several other eminent men. The address of the day, unfolding the purpose and plan of the Circle, was given by Dr. Vincent. Many of us who heard him on that afternoon have thought since that this was the masterpiece of his lifetime, and it might worthily be so, for it launched a movement in education, the most influential and wide-reaching of any in the annals of the nation.

I wish that it were possible to reprint that great address as reported in full in the Assembly Herald, for never was the conception of Chautauqua at home for nine months of the year more clearly set forth, but a few quotations and outlines must suffice. He began by calling attention to four classes of people. First, those who inherit from their ancestors wealth, ease, and large intellectual opportunities, who find college doors opening almost of their own accord before them. Second, there are those born under the necessity of daily toil. For these the education of the public school is provided; but it is limited and rarely appreciated. Children go to school to get knowledge enough for bread-winning and no more. Third, there are those who, born under necessity, struggle into opportunity, fight their way up into power, and make themselves the intellectual heroes of their time. Fourth, there are many born under necessity, who lack the vision at the beginning, who enter upon a life of trade or labor which may bring them success, but who gradually awake to realize how much they have lost, without realizing that it is never too late to gain culture and that education ends only with life. This is the class in every community which our new organization aims to reach, to uplift, to inspire and stimulate. We propose to give to these people in every walk of life, both the rich, the middle class, and the poor—all in one class in their condition and their needs—the college student's outlook upon the world of thought, by short studies in literature and science, by the reading of books, by the preparation of synopses of books read, by written reports of books read, and by correspondence with experts in the several departments.

Here are some of the advantages of this organization: It will develop higher and nobler tastes, increase mental power, exalt home-life, giving authority and home-help in public school studies and organizing homes into reading circles. It will counteract the influence of our modern pernicious literature and sweeten and enrich the daily lives of poor and hard-working people. It will bring the more cultivated people into contact with the less scholarly, promote a true appreciation of science, and tend to increase the spiritual life and power of the church. All knowledge becomes glorified in the man whose heart is consecrated to God.

As I copy these words in the year 1920, more than forty years after they were spoken and printed, with each sentence there rise to my mind instances that have come to my own knowledge of every one of these prophecies fulfilled. Chautauqua through its home-reading course has accomplished far more than its founder even dreamed.

The speaker answered an objection to the plan of study based upon its superficiality.

Superficial it is, and so is any college course of study. The boy who stands at the close of his senior year, on Commencement Day, to receive his parchment and whatever honors belong to him, who does not feel that his whole course has been superficial, will not be likely to succeed in the after struggle of life. But superficiality is better than absolute ignorance. It is better for a man to take a general survey, to catch somewhere a point that arrests him; for the man who never takes a survey never catches the point in which dwell the possibilities of power for him. When you sow seed, it is not the weight of the seed put into the soil that tells, it is the weight of the harvest that comes after.

Here are some of the closing words of the address:

How glad I should be if I should find in the future years that more boys and girls are going to our high schools and universities because of the impulse received here at Chautauqua! And I say to you: with all your getting, get understanding. Look through microscopes, but find God. Look through telescopes, but find God. Look for Him revealed in the throbbing life about you, in the palpitating stars above, in the marvelous records of the earth beneath you, and in your own souls. Study the possibilities which God unfolds, and make of yourself all that you can. The harder the struggle, the brighter the crown. Have faith and holy purpose. Go on to know and to will, to do and be. When outward circumstances discourage, trample the circumstances under foot. Be master of circumstances, like the king that God has called you to be. God give you such hearts, such toil, such triumphs, and give you such masterhood as shall one day place you among the kings and priests of a redeemed and purified universe!

After the applause following this address subsided, a poem was read, written for the occasion by the ever-ready Mary A. Lathbury. It pictured the modern Chautauqua as representing the old Jerusalem which pilgrims sought for worship and inspiration. We can only quote its final stanzas:

The Life of God is shining
Upon her where she stands;
And leaf by leaf unfolding
Within her reverent hands,
The earth and seas and heavens
Disclose her secrets old,
And every force of Nature
Reveals its heart of gold!
Now knoweth she the answer
That ends the schoolmen's strife,—
That knowledge bears no blossom
Till quickened by the Life.
O holy, holy city!
The life of God with men!
Descending out of heaven
To ne'er ascend again.
O Light, O Life immortal!
One sea above, below!
If unto us be given
That blessed thing,—to know—
Hope's beatific vision,
And Faith's prophetic sight
Shall die before the fullness
Of that unclouded Light.

After the reading of the poem, Dr. Vincent said, "In the preparation for this important occasion, I have consulted some of the most experienced and practical educators of the country, and from a number of distinguished gentlemen I have received letters relating to this movement."

C. L. S. C. Alumni Hall

We can only quote a sentence or two from a few of these letters.

Dr. Lyman Abbott wrote:

It seems to me if you can lay out such plans of study, particularly in the departments of practical science, as will fit our boys and young men in the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural districts to become, in a true though not ambitious sense of the term, scientific and intelligent miners, mechanics, and farmers, you will have done more to put down strikes and labor riots than an army could; and more to solve the labor problem than will be done by the Babel-builders of a hundred labor-reform conventions.

Professor Luther T. Townsend, of Boston University:

Your plan for the promotion of Christian culture in art, science, and literature, among the masses of the American people, strikes me as one of the grandest conceptions of the nineteenth century.

Dr. A. A. Hodge, of Princeton:

The scheme is a grand one, and only needs to insure its success that efficient administration which has so eminently characterized all your enterprises. History and nature are the spheres in which God exercises his perfections, through which they are manifested to us. All human knowledge should be comprehended in the one system of which Christ is the center, and illuminated with the light of revelation.

Dr. Arthur Gilman:

Your fears of "superficiality" do not trouble me. For your course will probably aim rather to direct the mind toward the way in which you wish it to develop, than store it with the details of knowledge. You wish to awaken, rather than cultivate.

Dr. Howard Crosby, of New York:

Your scheme to induce business men and others to pursue useful courses of reading in science and history is worthy of all commendation. While we cannot expect to make such persons scientists or scholars, we may expect them to become appreciative of things scientific or scholarly, and to be able to discriminate between the false and the true.

He added some valuable suggestions regarding the kind of books that should be chosen; and the hope that the course, instead of becoming a substitute for the college, might lead to the college.

Dr. Charles F. Deems, of New York, gave his heartiest approval of the plan, and stated that he was holding in his own church classes in all the departments named, and would enroll them under the Chautauqua system, with examinations and the diploma at the completion of the course.

Dr. William F. Warren, President of Boston University, wrote a letter in which he said:

You are aiming to secure that without which every system of education is weak, and with which any is strong; namely, interested personal home work the year round. And you seem to carry these home students to the point where they can go alone, if they cannot have the help of the schools.

One of these letters must be given in full, notwithstanding its length. Dr. Vincent introduced it with an account of his interview with its author, the venerable William Cullen Bryant, the oldest of his group—the American poets of the mid-century.

I wrote him afterward a long letter [said Dr. Vincent], defining the scheme more fully. While in London a few weeks ago I received from him the following letter, written with his own hand,—written but a few weeks before his death. This letter has never been read in public and has never been in print.

New York, May 18, 1878.

I cannot be present at the meeting called to organize the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, but I am glad that such a movement is on foot, and wish it the fullest success. There is an attempt to make science, or a knowledge of the laws of the material universe, an ally of the school which denies a separate spiritual existence and a future life; in short, to borrow of science weapons to be used against Christianity. The friends of religion, therefore, confident that one truth never contradicts another, are doing wisely when they seek to accustom the people at large to think and to weigh evidence as well as to believe. By giving a portion of their time to a vigorous training of the intellect, and a study of the best books, men gain the power to deal satisfactorily with questions with which the mind might otherwise have become bewildered. It is true that there is no branch of human knowledge so important as that which teaches the duties that we owe to God and to each other, and that there is no law of the universe, sublime and wonderful as it may be, so worthy of being made fully known as the law of love, which makes him who obeys it a blessing to his species, and the universal observance of which would put an end to a large proportion of the evils which affect mankind. Yet is a knowledge of the results of science, and such of its processes as lie most open to the popular mind, important for the purpose of showing the different spheres occupied by science and religion, and preventing the inquirer from mistaking their divergence from each other for opposition.

I perceive this important advantage in the proposed organization, namely, that those who engage in it will mutually encourage each other. It will give the members a common pursuit, which always begets a feeling of brotherhood; they will have a common topic of conversation and discussion, and the consequence will be, that many who, if they stood alone, might soon grow weary of the studies which are recommended to them, will be incited to perseverance by the interest which they see others taking in them. It may happen in rare instances that a person of eminent mental endowments, which otherwise might have remained uncultivated and unknown, will be stimulated in this manner to diligence, and put forth unexpected powers, and, passing rapidly beyond the rest, become greatly distinguished, and take a place among the luminaries of the age.

I shall be interested to watch, during the little space of life that may yet remain to me, the progress and results of the plan which has drawn from me this letter.

I am, Sir,
Very truly yours,
W. C. Bryant.

The distinguished writer of this letter died only a month and four days after writing it, on June 12, 1878, as the result of a sunstroke while he was making an address at the unveiling of a statue in the Central Park. He was in the eighty-fifth year of his age.

After some short addresses by men on the platform, Bishop Foster, Professor Wilkinson, Dr. Strong, and others, Dr. Vincent announced as the first book of the course, Green's Short History of the English People, and invited all desirous of joining the C. L. S. C. to write their names and addresses upon slips of paper and hand them to anyone on the platform. It might have been supposed that a circular would be ready containing a statement of the course for the first year, regulations and requirements of the organization, the fee of membership, etc.; but in the enthusiasm of the time those desirable requisites had been forgotten. Everybody looked around for a slip of paper. Visiting cards were made useful, margins were torn off newspapers, and there was an overwhelming rush toward the platform to join the new circle. On that afternoon seven hundred names were received and the number grew hourly until the close of the Assembly. Nearly all the regular year-by-year visitors to Chautauqua became members of this "Pioneer Class," as it was afterwards named; and to this day its fellowship, after forty-two years, still continues one of the largest at its annual gatherings in Pioneer Hall, the building which it erected as its home.

The book-store was crowded with applicants for Green's History, and the few copies on hand, not more than half a dozen, were instantaneously disposed of. An order was telegraphed to the Harper Brothers in New York for fifty copies, on the next morning for fifty more, then for another hundred, day after day the demand increasing. The Harpers were astounded at the repeated calls, and telegraphed for particulars as to the reason why everybody at an almost unknown place called Chautauqua had gone wild in demand for this book. Their stock on hand was exhausted long before the Assembly was ended, and most of the members of this "Class of 1882" were compelled to wait a month or more for their books. Public libraries were by no means numerous in those days while Andrew Carnegie was making the millions to be spent later in establishing them, but wherever they were, Green's Short History was drawn out, and a waiting list made for it, to the amazement of librarians, who vainly proposed the substitution of other standard English histories. Whoever could buy, borrow, or beg a copy of Green, rejoiced—we hope that no Chautauquan, in his hunger for literature, stole one, but we are not sure. People otherwise honest have been known to retain borrowed umbrellas and books.

In the Class of 1882 eight thousand four hundred names were enrolled, for the members brought home from Chautauqua the good news, and families, neighbors, and friends everywhere sent in their applications. Later we shall learn what proportion of these followed the course through the four years and marched under the arches to their Recognition as graduates.

An addition had been made to the grounds on the west, and here Dr. Vincent chose a square shaded by abundant beech-trees, as the center and home of the C. L. S. C. He named it St. Paul's Grove, choosing the apostle who represented the combination of the fervent heart and the cultured mind, an ideal for all Chautauquans. Besides Dr. Vincent's address at this time, another was given by Governor A. H. Colquitt of Georgia, President of the International Sunday School Convention. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Bishop Foster and an appropriate hymn written by Dr. Hyde of Denver was sung by Professor Sherwin and his choir. St. Paul's Grove, and its pillared temple soon to rise, will appear often in our story as one of the sacred spots at Chautauqua.

We must not overlook the daily program during this epoch-making season of 1878. There were the daily classes studying Greek and Hebrew under Drs. Strong and Vail. There was a class in microscopy, with the Misses Lattimore; there was the normal class with a full number of students ending with the successful examination of more than one hundred and forty new members of the Normal Alumni Association. The annual reunion of the Normal Alumni was celebrated with the usual banners, procession, address, the illuminated fleet and fireworks.

The lecture platform of 1878 stood at as high a level as ever. If any one speaker bore off the honors of that year, it was Bishop Randolph S. Foster of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose lectures on "Beyond the Grave" drew the largest audiences and aroused the deepest interest. They were afterward published in a volume which attracted wide attention, and brought some criticism from preachers of the conservative school. There were even some who talked of an impeachment and trial, but they did not venture to bring the greatest thinker and theologian in their church to the bar. Other lecturers who made their mark were Dr. Robert M. Hatfield of Chicago, President Charles H. Fowler, Dr. (soon after Bishop) John F. Hurst, Dr. John Lord, the historian-lecturer, Dr. Joseph Cook, Professor William North Rice, Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, with his entertaining lecture on "Big Blunders," and Dr. Charles F. Deems on "The Superstitions of Science."

One remarkable meeting was held on the afternoon of the opening day, Tuesday, August 6th. In the Pavilion four men gave in turn the distinctive doctrines and usages of their several churches. These were the Rev. Mr. Seymour, Baptist, Rev. Mr. Williston, Congregationalist, Rev. Dr. Hatfield, Methodist, and Rev. J. A. Worden, Presbyterian. Without attempt at controversy or criticism each speaker named the principles for which his branch of the Holy Catholic Church stood. There was the most cordial feeling. Each listener believed as strongly as before in his own denomination, but many felt a greater respect for the other branches of the true vine. At the close all the congregation sang together,

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love.

A new building took its place upon the grounds, and speedily became the center of many activities. It was called "The Children's Temple," built through the generous gift of President Lewis Miller, in the general plan of his Sunday School Hall at Akron, Ohio, a central assembly room with folding doors opening or closing a number of classrooms around it. For many years it was the home of the Children's Class, under Rev. B. T. Vincent and Frank Beard, which grew to an attendance of three hundred daily. They wore badges of membership, passed examinations upon a systematic course, and received diplomas. Soon an Intermediate Department became necessary for those who had completed the children's course, and this also grew into a large body of members and graduates.

The Chautauqua Book-Store

A host of events on this great Chautauqua season of 1878 must be omitted from this too long chapter in our story.

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