The Story of Chautauqua

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

At this formal opening on August 4, 1874, brief addresses were given by Dr. Vincent and by a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, and a Congregational pastor. This opening showed the broad brotherhood which was to mark the history of Chautauqua.

On the next day, Wednesday, began what might be called the school sessions of the Assembly. The fourteen days were divided into three terms. Every morning at 8 o'clock a brief service of prayer and Bible reading began the day in the auditorium, now Miller Park. At 8:15 during the first term, August 4th-9th, a conference was held of Normal Class and Institute conductors, at which reports were rendered of work done, courses of study, and methods of work, and results obtained. In those days when training classes for Sunday School teachers were almost unknown, this series of conferences, attended by hundreds of workers, proved of infinite value, and set in motion classes in many places. At 9 o'clock, section meetings were held for superintendents and pastors, and teachers of the different grades, from the primary class to the adult Bible class.

The Normal Class held its sessions during the second term, from August 10th-13th, and the third term, August 14th-18th. Four classes were held simultaneously in different tents, with teachers changed each day. At these classes most of the lessons were on the Bible—its Evidences, Books and Authors, Geography, History, and Interpretation. The topics pertaining to the teacher and the class were taken up in the different conferences. The Normal Class was held to be the core and life of the Assembly, and everybody was urged to attend its sessions. All whose names began with letters from A to G were to attend regularly Tent A. Those with initials from H to M were to go to Tent B, and so on through the alphabet, to the four Normal Tents. But the students soon found their favorite teachers, would watch for them, and follow them into their different tents. There was another infraction of the program. The blackboard was a new feature in Sunday School work, and not enough blackboards of good quality had been secured. Some were too small, some were not black enough, and one was painted with the lines for music. It is reported that some of the teachers bribed the janitor to provide for their use the good boards. There is even the tale that a Sunday School leader was seen stealing a blackboard and replacing it in another's tent by an inferior one. We humbly trust that this report was false.

That the Normal Class, the conferences, and the lectures on Sunday School work were taken seriously is shown by the report of the written examination, held on Monday, August 17th, the day before the Assembly closed. More than two hundred people sat down in the Tabernacle on the hill, each furnished with fifty questions on the Bible and the Sunday School. Twenty or more dropped out, but at the end of the nearly five hours' wrestling one hundred and eighty-four papers were handed in. Three of these were marked absolutely perfect, those of the Rev. C. P. Hard, on his way to India as a missionary, Mr. Caleb Sadler of Iowa, and the Rev. Samuel McGerald of New York. Ninety-two were excellent, fifty more were passed, making one hundred and forty-five accepted members of the Normal Alumni Association; eighteen had their papers returned to be rewritten after further study, and the lowest fourteen were consigned to the wastebasket.

The Western Christian Advocate gave a picture of the first normal examination at Chautauqua, which we republish.

The tent is a very large one, and was plentifully supplied with benches, chairs, camp-stools, etc. The spectacle was very imposing. The ladies seemed a little in the majority. There were two girls under fifteen, and one boy in his fourteenth year. Each was provided with paper, and each wore a more or less silent and thoughtful air. There was no shuffling, no listlessness, no whispering. The conductor, with a big stump for his table, occupied a somewhat central position, ready to respond to the call of any uplifted hand. We stood just back of Dr. Vincent, with the scene in full view. To our right, but a little on the outside of the tent, were Bishop Simpson and Dr. Thomas M. Eddy, who remained only a few minutes, as the latter was compelled to take the ten o'clock train for New York. On the same side, and a little nearer to us, were groups of visitors, mostly from the country adjacent, who gazed in rapt astonishment at the sight before them, not daring to inquire the meaning of all this mute array of paper and pencil. A little to our left was a lawyer of large experience and almost national fame, who had removed his hat, collar, coat and cuffs; just by his side was an ex-State senator; and a little further on was a boy from Iowa. He had improvised for his table a small round log, and had gathered together for the better resting of his knees, a good-sized pile of dry beech-leaves. This lad, we learned, had been studying the Normal course during the last year; and we further discovered that he succeeded in answering accurately all but ten or twelve of the fifty questions, one of the to him insoluble and incomprehensible being, "What is the relation of the church to the Sunday School?" Nearly in front of the conductor were two veteran spectacled sisters, who at no time whispered to each other, but kept up a strong thinking and a frequent use of the pencil. Near these sat a mother and daughter from Evanston, Illinois, silent and confident. On the outer row of seats we observed three doctors of divinity, a theological student, the president of an Ohio college, a gentleman connected with the internal revenue, and a lady principal of a young ladies' seminary, all with their thinking-caps admirably adjusted.

At the end of an hour and forty minutes a New York brother, who had been especially active in sectional work, held up his hand in token of success, and his paper was passed up to Dr. Vincent. Shortly afterward another made a similar signal; but nearly all occupied over three hours in the work. Over one half attained to seventy-five or eighty per cent.

Let it be remembered that no matter how long the student was compelled to remain, even long past the dinner hour, he was not permitted to take a recess for his midday meal. He must stay to the end, or give up his examination.

The report of the Assembly shows twenty-two lectures on Sunday School work, theory, and practice; sectional meetings—nine primary, six intermediate, one senior, five of pastors and superintendents, eight normal class and institute conductors' conferences; six Normal Classes in each of the four tents—twenty-four in all; three teachers' meetings for preparation of the Sunday School lesson; four Bible readings; three praise services; two children's meetings; and six sermons. All the leading Protestant churches were represented; and twenty-five States in the Union, besides Ontario, Montreal, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Scotland, and India. Among the preachers we find the names of Dr. H. Clay Trumbull, editor of the Sunday School Times, John B. Gough, Bishops Simpson and Janes, Dr. James M. Buckley, Dr. Charles F. Deems, Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, and four ministers who later became bishops in the Methodist Episcopal Church:—Drs. H. W. Warren, J. F. Hurst, E. O. Haven, and C. H. Fowler.