We are pained to record the death of our able contributor, Mr. Richard Grant White. For several months Mr. White has been seriously ill, though making a brave effort to continue his labors. The excellent series of articles on Good English, which have appeared in the Required Readings in this volume of The Chautauquan, from his pen, was interrupted by his illness, and now his death leaves a vacancy which President Wheeler kindly comes in to fill for our readers. Mr. White’s work for The Chautauquan has very deeply interested him. As late as March 18th, he wrote us: “I may be obliged to abandon the series entirely, but this I should greatly regret.” His expressions of interest in our work have been encouraging and hearty. Mr. White was only sixty-three years old at his death. He first gained public distinction as a musical critic in the Courier and Enquirer. He was subsequently attached to the staff of the World, the Albion, and the Times; and of late years he has been widely known as a writer on English topics, and especially as a critic of social and philological subjects. The news of his decease will be received with sincere sorrow by the wide circle of his friends and professional associates.
The Rev. Joseph Leslie, an honored minister, who for about fifty years served churches within a few hundred miles of Chautauqua Lake, died at his home in Cattaraugus, New York, March 13th. He was a pioneer preacher in the grove at Chautauqua many years before the Assembly was held there. As a faithful preacher, a man of fine character and sunny disposition, he has made a strong impression for Christianity on the people among whom he lived. He was a trustee of the Chautauqua Assembly, and in his death the Board lose one of their most honored members.
Mr. T. S. Arthur, author and publisher, died at his home in Philadelphia, on March 6th. Mr. Arthur is well and widely known as the author of one of the most effective temperance stories ever written—“Ten Nights in a Bar Room.” Temperance people, particularly, owe him a kind remembrance for his vigorous works against strong drink.
Another writer of a widely popular book died the past month, Miss Susan Warner, the author of “The Wide, Wide World.” A healthy, vigorous story it is, and its continued popularity for a third of a century is an almost unknown phenomenon in American novels.
Think of it! On the first day of April there were eighteen inches of snow covering the Assembly grounds at Chautauqua, and the robins were singing in the trees.