The following note explains itself: “Philadelphia, Pa.—I regret to announce that the positive order of my physician to abandon for the present all literary work, forces me reluctantly to discontinue my “Journey Around the World” with my Chautauqua friends. With assurances that I shall miss my monthly visit to your columns, and best wishes for all the good work so nobly forwarded by your magazine, I remain, very cordially yours, Mary Lowe Dickinson.”
Prof. W. F. Sherwin, of Cincinnati, tarried with us an hour recently, when we found him in a very hopeful frame of mind concerning the future of Chautauqua. We gleaned the following from his conversation about the musical part of the Chautauqua program for 1883: Chautauqua College of Music Scheme for 1883: Musical Directors, Prof. W. F. Sherwin, Cincinnati, O.; Prof. C. C. Case, Akron, O. Departments: (1) Grand chorus, (2) Special class in English glees and madrigals, (3) Harmony, (4) Voice culture, (5) Elementary singing-school, (6) Children’s class. Directors in charge: July 14 to 22, W. F. Sherwin; July 22 to August 6, C. C. Case; August 7 to 18, W. F. Sherwin; August 19 to close of Assembly, C. C. Case. There will be occasional lectures and “conversations” upon various topics of practical interest, and the usual number of concerts, matinees, organ recitals, etc. Prof. Davis, of Oberlin College, is engaged as organist, and he will be ably assisted in the instrumental department. There will be a quartette of eminent soloists whose names will be announced in due time. Arrangements are in progress for a Reading Circle which shall be to musical people what the C. L. S. C. is to general literature. The details of this are being arranged by Prof. E. E. Ayres, of Richmond, Va., and will be published when complete. On the whole it looks as if the Musical Directors were determined to make that department superior to what it has ever been in the past, and we hope that musical people will sustain their efforts.
There will be a total eclipse of the sun on the 6th of May. The astronomers are making arrangements to observe it on two little islands in the South Pacific Ocean. An expedition is to be sent from this country to one of these islands, and French and English astronomers will also go there. The principal objects are to obtain further knowledge of the strange surroundings of the sun, which are ordinarily hidden in the overpowering blaze of his central globe, and to search for the planets which are supposed to exist between Mercury and the sun. The total eclipse will last nearly six minutes. Unfortunately, the total phase can be observed only from two little islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
It is reported that Dr. Benson, the elect-Archbishop of Canterbury, recently had a long interview with General Booth, the leader of the Salvation Army, and expressed himself as being in sympathy with that organization. “Go on,” he said; “do all the good you can; get at the people. We rejoice, only we would like it to be done somehow or other in harmony and in unison with the Church of England.”
In the list of C. L. S. C. graduates which appeared in The Chautauquan for February, the name of the Rev. Caleb A. Malmsbury appears among the names from Ohio. It should have been in the New Jersey column. Mary Maddock, of Ohio, whose name did not appear in February, graduated with honor; and the name of Mary E. W. Olmsted was among the honored ones from Colorado. Her name should be in the Ohio column. What a State Ohio is, in education, civil government, etc!