There were only twenty members around the fire that night, but on the next day, there were forty or more on the registry at the Chautauqua tent.
The camp fire died down after a number of years, but the Vigil, also introduced in 1881, became a permanent institution. In the days of chivalry, when a youth was to receive the honor of knighthood, he spent his last night in the chapel of the castle, watching beside his armor, to be worn for the first time on the following day. Dr. Vincent called upon the members of the Pioneer class of the C. L. S. C., destined to graduate on the following year, to meet him in the Hall of Philosophy late on Sunday night, after the conclusion of the evening service. All except members of the class were requested not to come. The hall was dimly lighted, left almost in darkness. They sang a few songs from memory, listened to a Psalm, and to an earnest, deeply religious address, were led in prayer, and were dismissed, to go home in silence through the empty avenues. After a few years the Vigil was changed from a Sunday evening of the year before graduation to the Sunday immediately preceding Recognition Day, for the reason that on the graduation year, the attendance of any class is far greater than on the year before. The Vigil is still one of the time-honored and highly appreciated services of the season. Now, however, the Hall is no longer left in shadow, for around it the Athenian Watch Fires lighten up St. Paul's Grove with their flaring tongues. Generally more people are standing outside the pillars of the Hall, watching the ceremonials, than are seated before the platform, for none are permitted to enter except members of the class about to graduate.
I am not sure whether it was in this year, 1881, or the following that Dr. Vincent inaugurated the Society of Christian Ethics. This was not an organization with a roll of membership, dues, and duties, but simply a meeting on Sunday afternoon in the Children's Temple, at which an address on character was given, in the first years by Dr. Vincent. It was especially for young people of the 'teen age. No one was admitted under the age of twelve or over that of twenty. The young people were quite proud of having Dr. Vincent all to themselves, and strongly resented the efforts of their elders to obtain admittance. No person of adult years was allowed without a card signed by Dr. Vincent. These addresses by the Founder, if they had been taken down and preserved, would have formed a valuable book for young people on the building up of true character. They were continued during the years of Dr. Vincent's active association with Chautauqua and for some time afterward; addresses being given by eminent men of the Chautauqua program. But very few speakers could meet the needs of that adolescent age. By degrees the attendance decreased and after some years the meeting gave place to other interests.
The regular features of the season went on as in other years. The schools were growing in students, in the number of instructors, and in the breadth of their courses. The Sunday School Normal Department was still prominent, and on August 17, 1881, one hundred and ninety diplomas were conferred upon the adults, intermediates, and children who had passed the examination.
CHAPTER XIII
THE FIRST RECOGNITION DAY
(1882)
The opening service of the ninth session was begun, as all the opening sessions of previous years, in the out-of-doors Auditorium in front of the Miller Cottage. But a sudden dash of rain came down and a hasty adjournment was made to the new Amphitheater. From 1882 onward, "Old First Night" has been observed in that building. A few lectures during the season of '82 were given in the old Auditorium, but at the close of the season the seats were removed, save a few left here and there under the trees for social enjoyment; and the Auditorium was henceforth known as Miller Park.
The crowning event of the 1882 season was the graduation of the first class in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Taking into account the fact that it was the first class, for which no advertising had been given and no announcement made in advance, the number graduated at the end of the four years was remarkably large, over eighteen hundred, of which eight hundred received their diplomas at Chautauqua and a thousand more at their homes, some in distant places. Years afterward I met a minister in a small town in Texas who had seen the report of the inauguration of the C. L. S. C., had read Dr. Vincent's address on that occasion, and joined the Class of 1882, its only member, as far as he knew, in his State. One member was a teacher in South Africa, others were missionaries in India and China. Most of the regular visitors to Chautauqua in those early days were members of this class, so that even now, after nearly forty years, the Pioneer Class can always muster at its annual gatherings a larger number of its members than almost any other of the classes. For many years Mrs. B. T. Vincent was the President of the Class, and strongly interested in its social and religious life. She instituted at Chautauqua the "Quiet Hour," held every Saturday evening during the Assembly season, at Pioneer Hall, by this class, a meeting for conversation on subjects of culture and the Christian life. It is a touching sight to look upon that group of old men and women, at their annual farewell meeting, on the evening before the Recognition Day, standing in a circle with joined hands, singing together their class song written for them by Mary A. Lathbury, and then sounding forth their class yell: