The Story of Chautauqua

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

CHAPTER XIII

THE FIRST RECOGNITION DAY
(1882)

The opening service of the ninth session was begun, as all the opening sessions of previous years, in the out-of-doors Auditorium in front of the Miller Cottage. But a sudden dash of rain came down and a hasty adjournment was made to the new Amphitheater. From 1882 onward, "Old First Night" has been observed in that building. A few lectures during the season of '82 were given in the old Auditorium, but at the close of the season the seats were removed, save a few left here and there under the trees for social enjoyment; and the Auditorium was henceforth known as Miller Park.

The crowning event of the 1882 season was the graduation of the first class in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Taking into account the fact that it was the first class, for which no advertising had been given and no announcement made in advance, the number graduated at the end of the four years was remarkably large, over eighteen hundred, of which eight hundred received their diplomas at Chautauqua and a thousand more at their homes, some in distant places. Years afterward I met a minister in a small town in Texas who had seen the report of the inauguration of the C. L. S. C., had read Dr. Vincent's address on that occasion, and joined the Class of 1882, its only member, as far as he knew, in his State. One member was a teacher in South Africa, others were missionaries in India and China. Most of the regular visitors to Chautauqua in those early days were members of this class, so that even now, after nearly forty years, the Pioneer Class can always muster at its annual gatherings a larger number of its members than almost any other of the classes. For many years Mrs. B. T. Vincent was the President of the Class, and strongly interested in its social and religious life. She instituted at Chautauqua the "Quiet Hour," held every Saturday evening during the Assembly season, at Pioneer Hall, by this class, a meeting for conversation on subjects of culture and the Christian life. It is a touching sight to look upon that group of old men and women, at their annual farewell meeting, on the evening before the Recognition Day, standing in a circle with joined hands, singing together their class song written for them by Mary A. Lathbury, and then sounding forth their class yell:

Hear! Hear! Pioneers!
Height to height, fight for right,
Pioneers!
Who are you? Who are you?
We are the class of eighty-two!
Pioneers—Ah!

No college class was ever graduated with half the state and splendor of ceremony that was observed on that first Recognition Day, in a ritual prepared by Dr. Vincent, and observed to the letter every year since 1882. He chose to call it not a Commencement, but a Recognition, the members of the Circle being recognized on that day as having completed the course and entitled to membership in the Society of the Hall in the Grove, the Alumni Association of the C. L. S. C.

A procession was formed, its divisions meeting in different places. The graduating class met before the Golden Gate at St. Paul's Grove, a gate which is opened but once in the year and through which none may pass except those who have completed the course of reading and study of the C. L. S. C. Over the gate hung a silk flag which had been carried by the Rev. Albert D. Vail of New York to many of the famous places in the world of literature, art, and religion. It had been waved from the summit of the Great Pyramid, of Mount Sinai in the Desert, and Mount Tabor in the Holy Land. It had been laid in the Manger at Bethlehem, and in the traditional tomb of Jesus in Holy Sepulcher Church. It had fluttered upon the Sea of Galilee, upon Mount Lebanon, in the house where Paul was converted at Damascus, and under the dome of St. Sophia in Constantinople. It had been at the Acropolis and Mars' Hill in Athens, to Westminster Abbey, and to Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford, to the graves of Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Upon its stripes were inscribed the names of forty-eight places to which that flag had been carried. The class stood before the Golden Gate, still kept closed until the moment should come for it to be opened, and in two sections the members read a responsive service from the Bible, having wisdom and especially the highest wisdom of all, the knowledge of God, as its subject.

Lutheran Headquarters

United Presbyterian Chapel

At the same time one section of the parade was meeting in Miller Park, in front of the Lewis Miller Cottage. Another was at the tent where lived Dr. Vincent, and still another division, the most interesting of all, on the hill, in front of the Children's Temple. This was an array of fifty little girls in white dresses, with wreaths in their hair and baskets of flowers in their hands. At the signal, the procession moved from its different stations, and marched past the Vincent Tent, led by the band and the flower girls, and including every department of Chautauqua, officials, trustees, schools, and Sunday School Normal Class. In the later years each class of graduates marched, led by its banner, the Class of 1882, the Pioneers, bearing in front their symbol, the hatchet. Before all was the great banner of the C. L. S. C. presented to the Circle by Miss Jennie Miller, Lewis Miller's eldest daughter, bearing upon one side a painting of the Hall of Philosophy and the three mottoes of the Circle; on the other a silk handkerchief which had accompanied the flag on its journey to the sacred places. The pole holding up the banner was surmounted by a fragment of Plymouth Rock.

The march was to the Hall of Philosophy, where the orator, officers, and guests occupied the platform, the little flower girls were grouped on opposite sides of the path from the Golden Gate up to the Hall; the graduating class still standing outside the entrance protected by the Guard of the Gate. A messenger came from the Gate to announce that the class was now prepared to enter, having fulfilled all of the conditions, and the order was given, "Let the Golden Gate now be opened." The portals were swung apart, and the class entered, passing under the historic flag and successively under four arches dedicated respectively to Faith, Science, Literature, and Art, while the little girls strewed flowers in their path. As they marched up the hill they were greeted by Miss Lathbury's song:

THE SONG OF TO-DAY

Sing pæans over the Past!
We bury the dead years tenderly,
To find them again in eternity,
Safe in its circle vast.
Sing pæans over the Past!
Farewell, farewell to the Old!
Beneath the arches, and one by one,
From sun to shade, and from shade to sun,
We pass, and the years are told.
Farewell, farewell to the Old!
Arise and possess the land!
Not one shall fail in the march of life,
Not one shall fail in the hour of strife,
Who trusts in the Lord's right hand.
Arise and possess the land!
And hail, all hail to the New!
The future lies like a world new-born,
All steeped in sunshine and dews of morn,
And arched with a cloudless blue
All hail, all hail to the New!
All things, all things are yours!
The spoil of nations, the arts sublime
That arch the ages from oldest time,
The word that for aye endures—
All things, all things are yours!
The Lord shall sever the sea,
And open a way in the wilderness
To faith that follows, to feet that pass
Forth into the great TO BE
The Lord shall sever the sea!

The inspiring music of this inspiring hymn was composed, like most of the best Chautauqua songs, by Prof. William F. Sherwin. The class entered, and while taking their seats were welcomed in the strains of another melody:

A song is thrilling through the trees,
And vibrant through the air,
Ten thousand hearts turn hitherward,
And greet us from afar.
And through the happy tide of song
That blends our hearts in one,
The voices of the absent flow
In tender undertone.

Chorus

Then bear along, O wings of song,
Our happy greeting glee,
From center to the golden verge,
Chautauqua to the sea.
Fair Wisdom builds her temple here,
Her seven-pillared dome;
Toward all lands she spreads her hands,
And greets her children home;
Not all may gather at her shrine
To sing of victories won;
Their names are graven on her walls—
God bless them every one! Chorus.
O happy circle, ever wide
And wider be thy sweep,
Till peace and knowledge fill the earth
As waters fill the deep;
Till hearts and homes are touched to life,
And happier heights are won;
Till that fair day, clasp hands, and say
God bless us, every one! Chorus.

Another responsive service followed, read in turn by the Superintendent and the class, and then Dr. Vincent gave the formal Recognition in words used at every similar service since that day:

Fellow-Students of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

You have finished the appointed and accepted course of reading; you have been admitted to this sacred Grove; you have passed the arches dedicated to Faith, Science, Literature, and Art; you have entered in due form this Hall, the center of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. And now as Superintendent of Instruction,[1] with these my associates, the counsellors of our Fraternity, I greet you; and hereby announce that you, and your brethren and sisters absent from us to-day, who have completed with you the prescribed course of reading, are accepted and approved graduates of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and that you are entitled to membership in the Society of the Hall in the Grove. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace."

After another song, the Marshal of the procession took charge, and the order of march was renewed, the newly graduated class in the rear, followed by the Superintendent, Counsellors, and officers. The company marched to the Amphitheater, on the way the procession dividing and forming on both sides of the street, while the officers and the graduating class passed through the open files, thus bringing the graduating class at the head of the line into the Amphitheater. Here more songs were sung and other responsive readings were rendered before an audience that thronged the building. The oration on the first graduation service was given by Dr. Henry W. Warren, who had been elevated to the episcopate two years before. After the oration a recess was taken, and in the afternoon the concluding service was held and the diplomas were conferred upon the eight hundred graduates present by the hand of Dr. Vincent.

In most college commencements that I have attended, the President takes the diplomas at random from a table and hands them to the class as they come, not giving to each graduate his own diploma, and afterward there is a general looking up one another and sorting out the diplomas until at last each one obtains his own. But Miss Kimball, the Secretary, devised a plan by which all the diplomas were numbered and each graduate was furnished with a card showing his number. These numbers were called out ten at a time, and each graduate was able to receive his own (mostly her own) diploma, while the audience heard the name upon it and the number of seals it bore for special reading and study.

It should be mentioned that some members of the class arrived on the ground too late to pass with their classmates through the Golden Gate and under the arches. For their benefit the Gate was opened a second time before the afternoon meeting, and a special Recognition service was held, so that they might enjoy all the privileges of the class. This is another custom continued every year, for always it is needed.

After a year or two it entered the facetious minds of Mr. and Mrs. Beard to originate a comic travesty on the Recognition service, which was presented on the evening after the formal exercises, when everybody was weary and was ready to descend from the serious heights. This grew into quite an institution and was continued for a number of years—a sort of mock-commencement, making fun of the prominent figures and features of the day. Almost as large an audience was wont to assemble for this evening of mirth and jollity, as was seen at the stately service of the morning. This in turn had its day and finally grew into the Chautauqua Circus, an amateur performance which is still continued every year under one name or another.

We have given much space to the story of the first Recognition Day, as a sample of the similar services held every year afterward, growing with the growth of the C. L. S. C. But there were other events of '82 scarcely less noteworthy. On that year a great organ was installed in the Amphitheater, and its effect was soon seen in the enlargement of the choir and the improvement in the music. We can mention only in the briefest manner some of the speakers on the platform for that year: such as Dr. W. T. Harris of Concord, Mass., afterward U. S. Commissioner of Education; Professor William H. Niles of Boston; Mr. Wallace Bruce; Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage; Dr. Wm. M. Blackburn of Cincinnati, the church historian; Dr. A. D. Vail of New York, who told in an interesting manner the story of the banner and the flag; Dr. Mark Hopkins, the great college President; Bishop R. S. Foster; Anthony Comstock and John B. Gough, with others equally distinguished whose names we must omit. One new name appeared upon the program of this season which will be read often in the coming years, that of Mr. Leon H. Vincent, the son of Rev. B. T. Vincent. He gave a course of lectures on English literature, mingling biographical, social, and critical views of the great writers, attracting large audiences. We shall find him among the leading lights of Chautauqua in the successive chapters of our story.

An institution which began that year and has been perpetuated must not be omitted—the Devotional Conference. Both of the Founders of Chautauqua were strong in their purpose to hold the Christian religion ever in the forefront at the Assembly. Various plans were tried during the early years, but none seemed to reach the constituency of Chautauqua until Dr. Benjamin M. Adams, at Dr. Vincent's request, began holding a daily service of an hour. This attracted a large attendance and was continued for a number of years, as long as Dr. Adams could conduct it. Afterward an arrangement was made which has become permanent. Every season a series of eminent clergymen are engaged, each to serve for one week as chaplain. He preaches the Sunday morning sermon in the Amphitheater, and on the following five days at ten o'clock conducts the Devotional Hour in the same place, giving a series of discourses, Bible readings, or addresses. The speaker of each week is a man of national or international fame. The greatest preachers in the American pulpit have spoken at this service, and the audience is surpassed in numbers only by the most popular lectures or concerts. Many there are who deem this the most precious hour in the day.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] After Dr. Vincent's title was changed to "Chancellor of the Chautauqua University" that form was used; and in his absence the President said instead "as representing the Chancellor of the Chautauqua University."

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