Rev. A. B. Cristy, pastor of the Congregational church, Conway, Mass., has devised one or two very ingenious Chautauqua games, which I hope he will see fit to publish.
Mr. Cristy has adopted a very ingenious plan for a local circle. He says: “I have prepared a narrative with breaks to be filled in, in order, by the answers to the one hundred questions in the October and November Chautauquan. One reads, and, as he comes to a break, suddenly calls for some one to read the answer from The Chautauquan. If the other does not find it, and begin before the reader counts ten as the clock ticks, a forfeit is to be paid to the general fund, thus insuring attention while the main points are reviewed during the game.” A very bright way of spending a little time in a local circle.
A lady from Vermont writes: “Since I wrote last, my eldest brother, Dr. ——, of ——, and my own sister, Mrs. ——, have both joined the C. L. S. C. This makes four of father’s family who belong to the ‘people’s college.’ With the exception of the doctor we were all in the old home at Christmas, and as my cousins were there too, we planned to organize very quietly. We seated ourselves on the stairs in the front hall, and were proceeding to business, when the dear old mother announced that there was ‘a college being organized in the house,’ so, of course, every one had to come and look at us, and as each one said something wittier than the last had said, we were soon in an uproar of merriment—a very undignified college class. I think hereafter when they read of the C. L. S. C., they will think of the company of people on the stairs, and that is really what we are—going up one step at a time. There are five in the circle, and we have arranged to meet once in two weeks.” A good name, the On-the-Stairs circle. Our correspondent in a later letter adds: “Did I tell you that we sat near the foot of the stairs, as symbolical of the heights we hope to climb? and on the lowest step was a little girl who had left the company to be near her mother, and in her we saw a type of the coming generation, and the promise of an ever-widening circle. Do urge it upon the mothers more and more to talk over their studies with their little children. It not only helps mothers, but it gives such zest to the studies of the little ones, when they think that by-and-by they are going to study these other wonderful things which now interest their parents. Only this last week my little nine-year-old girl was having a hard time over her geography lesson; out West seemed so far away, but when I mentioned to her that Yellowstone Park was out there it was like another lesson, or like another girl studying—an interested girl.”
A cultivated lady writes: “One of the most agreeable Methodist ladies in the city of New York recently asked of me some information about the Chautauqua course. She occupies a high social position in the church, and is possessed of no little intelligence, but finds her time absorbed in the cares of her domestic establishment. I gave her such of the Chautauqua matter as I had at hand, and asked how her interest in the course had been awaked. She replied that an amiable young kinswoman, who is in the habit of visiting her yearly, endeared herself to the household, during her last visit, by the development of her intelligence, the animation of her conversation, and her greatly improved intellectual character. ‘I found a Chautauqua text-book on her dressing table,’ said my friend, ‘and guessing the secret of the marked change in her, asked her whether she knew of the Chautauqua course?’ ‘Yes, indeed!’ It had laid hold of her; she could not do without it; such a blessing and benefit it had been to her, etc. Mrs. —, my friend, thereupon came to the conclusion that she herself must have the course. ‘My reading is necessarily limited, but it need not be desultory,’ she said; ‘I want what we all want—regulated reading.’ Accordingly she has subscribed for The Chautauquan, and begun the course. As she has two little girls, and a boy fourteen years old, the C. L. S. C. will not impart its healthful influence and stimulus to her alone. I am sure that it will prove a well-spring, refreshing and nourishing her household.”
The item calling for missing numbers of The Assembly Herald brought satisfactory answers; the first from Mrs. H. M. Graham, of Garrettsville, Ohio, who sends the missing March and October numbers for 1879; the May number, and also the October, which has been returned, from Miss Jessie Brownell, of St. Louis, Mo. My cordial thanks to these kind helpers.