New York (Albany).—Our Albany circle was organized in 1880, with a membership of five. Since then we have been steadily growing, and our list of regular members now numbers fifty. During the first year we met at the homes of the members, but since then we have met in the Assembly room of the old Capitol. We vary in the method of conducting our meetings, which are held monthly. Two or three subjects are generally assigned, and essays are prepared and read, followed by a general discussion. Then, again, the evening will be devoted to one subject. Century arches and our question-box are interesting features. We have had several fine lectures from our own and neighboring clergymen and scientific men. Dr. Vincent gave a new impetus to the work by a lecture, delivered in one of our churches a year ago.
New York (Spencerport).—The first meeting of the Spencerport circle for the year 1882-3, was held September 12. The meeting was more especially for the purpose of showing to the public the aim of the C. L. S. C., the work which had been accomplished by the Spencerport circle during the past year, and the work which was laid out for them to do during the coming year; and as the public were invited to attend the meeting, the purpose was not in vain. There were nearly one hundred present, exclusive of the members of the circle, and the program was excellent and entertaining; a very pleasant feature of which was a description of the Chautauqua Assembly, and graduating exercises of the Class of ’82, by Mrs. James Hickcok, she being a member of that class. Subsequently another meeting was held, at which the officers for the ensuing year were elected, and arrangements made for the work of the year. Quite a number of new members have been admitted, and the number has increased from a membership of nine regular and nine local members of last year, to sixteen regular and sixteen local members for this year. The meetings are held every alternate Saturday afternoon, at three o’clock. The program consists of essays on the lives and works of various authors, and reading selections from their writings, taking one author at each meeting; after which the questions in The Chautauquan are asked and answered, with the privilege of discussing points in the subjects treated. The authors already treated upon have been Tennyson, O. W. Holmes, Irving, and Bryant. At the first regular meeting after the election of officers, the ex-president of the circle, Mrs. H. H. Hartwell, was presented with a very fine cabinet photograph album, by the members of the circle, as a token of their esteem, and the well wishes of the entire circle go with her to her new home in Albion, Michigan. The meetings are very well attended, and the interest is increasing.
Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh).—The following remarks were made in response to a toast, “The Chautauqua Idea the unchained Prometheus,” proposed at the banquet of the C. L. S. C. alumni of Pittsburgh, Pa., January 25, by Dr. J. J. Covert: “It is written in ancient story that one ambitious Prometheus once ridiculed the gods, and deceived even Jupiter himself. As a punishment to himself and the rest of mankind, Jupiter took fire away from the earth. But the stealthy and ambitious Prometheus, by the aid of the beautiful Minerva (you see no great thing could be done without woman), climbed the heavens and stole fire from the chariot of the sun, which he brought down to earth again. This so enraged the Olympian god that he ordered Prometheus chained to a Caucasian rock for thirty thousand years, while every day a vulture was to come and dine upon his liver. The mighty Hercules slew the hateful vulture, rent the granite rock, broke the galling chains that bound his limbs, and the unchained hero rises from his granite bed of ages, the pride of all the earth and the envy of the gods. Prometheus chained was ignorance and superstition enthroned; with limbs unfettered he is literature and knowledge sown broadcast in all the land. How fitting a figure then, the language of the toast, ‘The Chautauqua Idea the unchained Prometheus.’ The selfish gods of fortune doomed the Promethean masses to cruel and hopeless bonds of ignorance and illiteracy forever. From age to age the hateful vulture of fate fed upon the imperishable and irrepressible liver of aspiration, until the mighty hero Vincent Hercules arose, and heard the crying want, and armed with giant weapons forged by the Vulcan Miller, smote the granite rock, severed the galling chains, slew the greedy vulture, and set the prisoner free, opening wide the golden gates that guard the perennial groves and Pierian springs of Academia, where ambitious thousands have entered—are entering still; giving to renewed thought the wings of the morning, freighted with literature, art and science, that it may ‘circle’ the earth with the gilded, jeweled, mystic C. L. S. C. opportunities. See that beautiful, shadowy, Academian grove yonder, nestling in the fond embracing arms of that silvery lake! What a fitting home and dwelling place for our unchained hero, and all the muses of the ages! Chapels, temples, palaces, amphitheaters, obelisks, and pyramids spring up as by Herculean power. Here Phidias, and Homer, and Plato, and Demosthenes, and Xenophon, and Raphael, and Angelo, have their dwelling-place. Surely this is where our unchained hero and his attendant muses dwell, and hither his disciples love to make their pilgrimage. Look out upon the shimmering lake in the brightness of the early dewy morn, and listen to the music of the rippling waves as they break upon the pebbly shore, surpassing far the mystic notes of Memnon’s shaft at early dawn of day. But now ’tis night, and stars are looking down and sparkling like jewels on the bosom of the placid lake. Sloops, and yachts, and steamers large, and smaller craft of every name and form, fly swiftly round with colors high and blazing lights; music of bands and ringing bells commingle with ten thousand happy voices in the glad acclaim, and highest heaven hears the song. And now I know that this is where Prometheus dwells, whence all the muses come to celebrate the breaking of his chains, and the setting of him free; and whence again they fly abroad through all the land, the message-bearers of the beautiful and true. It is the apocalyptic angel flying through the midst of heaven with the everlasting truth that shall fill the world with light and joy. I see the mystic band with robes of light and arms of love, from every walk of life, while joy and peace sit undisturbed upon their brows. Oh, what a mighty host! They are forty thousand strong. A mystic circle binds them round, and every link within the golden chain is set with pearls. O, for some mystic tongue of fire, that I might the better speak the glories of our chosen muse! The world-renowned ‘Chautauqua’ may not sparkle o’er our heads as a constellation in the skies, but if true Chautauquans we prove ourselves to be, we shall far outshine the stars in the kingdom of his love forever and forevermore.”
Pennsylvania (Sunbury).—The circle has been in existence since October, 1880, and at present has a membership of twenty, all ladies. Our method of conducting meetings this year is very simple. We meet once a week, on Saturday afternoons. Questions on the lesson assigned are previously written out by the president and numbered. They are then distributed among the members and answered as they are called off. There is a great deal of free and easy discussion of the topic on hand.
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).—West Philadelphia has a thriving local circle of fifteen ladies. We are officered with a president and secretary, and meet weekly at the homes of the members. A teacher is appointed for each subject under consideration; for instance, next week we have a teacher to hear the astronomy, and another to hear the Russian history. These teachers are very thorough in their questionings; we are obliged to study our lessons well, or be mortified by a failure. Last year, while studying chemistry, we had a lecture (with experiments) by Prof. English. This year we gave a Christmas entertainment and invited our friends. The exercises consisted of a little drama, readings, music and an essay on Chautauqua, read by one of our members who visited Chautauqua last summer. At every meeting, in addition to the regular work, we have quotations from different authors, or else readings of an amusing as well as instructive character, and often we close our meetings with what we call Chautauqua games. Thus we combine solid work with entertainment and mirth, and consider ourselves hard-working enthusiastic Chautauquans.