In an instant the grove was transformed into a garden of white lilies dancing under the leaves of the trees, or as some said, "into a snow-covered field." The Superintendent of Instruction then and there adopted the Chautauqua Salute of the waving handkerchiefs as a token of special honor. It is sparingly given, only two or three times during the season, and never except when called for by the head of Chautauqua in person.
At the annual commemoration on "Old First Night" the Chautauqua salute is now given in a peculiar manner to the memory of Lewis Miller and other leaders who are no longer among us. At the call of the President, the handkerchiefs are slowly raised and held in absolute stillness for a moment; then as silently lowered. The Chautauqua salute is one of the traditions observed in minutest detail after the manner of the Founders.
Among the early issues of the Assembly Herald appear some verses worthy of a place in our history.
THE CHAUTAUQUA SALUTE
By May M. Bisbee
Have you heard of a wonderful lily
That blooms in the fields of air?
With never a stem or a pale green leaf,
Spotless, and white, and fair?
Unnamed in the books of wise men,
Nor akin to the queenly rose;
But the white Chautauqua lily
Is the fairest flower that grows.
Never in quiet meadows,
By brookside cool and green,
In garden-plot, nor in forest glen,
This wonderful flower is seen.
It grows in goodly companies,
A theme for the poet's pen;
It loves not silence, nor cold nor dark,
But it blooms in the haunts of men.
The nation trails its great men
Of high and honored name,
With clapping of hands and roll of drums
And trump that sings of fame;
But a sweet and silent greeting
To the ones we love the best,
Are the white Chautauqua lilies
In our summer home of rest.
When the beautiful vesper service
Has died on the evening air,
And a thousand happy faces
Are raised at the close of prayer,
The voice of our well-loved leader
Rings out in its clear-toned might;
"We will give our salutation
To an honored guest to-night."
Then out of the speaking silence
The white wings rise to air,
Faintest of flutter and softest of sound,
Hail to the lilies rare!
Thousands and tens of thousands,
Swiftly the lilies grow,
Till the air is filled with the fluttering flowers,
As the winter air with snow.
Hail to the fair white lilies!
Sweetest of salutations!
The love of a thousand hearts they bear
The greeting of the nations.
The fairest of earth-born flowers
Must wither by-and-by;
But the lilies that live in the hearts they hail
Will never, never die.
O cold blast, spare the lily-bed
That bears the wonderful flower!
Give largely, O sky, of summer sun,
Largely of summer shower,
Till the white flowers born in our summer home
To earth's outermost rim be given;
And the lilies open their cups of snow
In the garden beds of heaven.
At the final meeting of the Assembly in 1877, on Monday evening, August 20th, Dr. Vincent outlined some plans for the coming year,—a large hotel to replace the tented walls of the Pavilion Palace, a new meeting-place to be built with walls and roof over the natural amphitheater in the ravine, some further courses of study, and many improvements to the grounds. Then he added, "And I shall not be surprised if—well, I will not tell you—I have another dream I will not give you." (A voice: "Let's have it.") "No, I am going to hold that back, so you will want me to come next year. But I believe that something higher and larger is just out yonder in the near future. Next summer, if we all live, I will tell you about it." We shall see in the coming chapter what that new development of Chautauqua was to be,—the greatest in its history, and perhaps the greatest in the history of education through the land.