After another song, the Marshal of the procession took charge, and the order of march was renewed, the newly graduated class in the rear, followed by the Superintendent, Counsellors, and officers. The company marched to the Amphitheater, on the way the procession dividing and forming on both sides of the street, while the officers and the graduating class passed through the open files, thus bringing the graduating class at the head of the line into the Amphitheater. Here more songs were sung and other responsive readings were rendered before an audience that thronged the building. The oration on the first graduation service was given by Dr. Henry W. Warren, who had been elevated to the episcopate two years before. After the oration a recess was taken, and in the afternoon the concluding service was held and the diplomas were conferred upon the eight hundred graduates present by the hand of Dr. Vincent.
In most college commencements that I have attended, the President takes the diplomas at random from a table and hands them to the class as they come, not giving to each graduate his own diploma, and afterward there is a general looking up one another and sorting out the diplomas until at last each one obtains his own. But Miss Kimball, the Secretary, devised a plan by which all the diplomas were numbered and each graduate was furnished with a card showing his number. These numbers were called out ten at a time, and each graduate was able to receive his own (mostly her own) diploma, while the audience heard the name upon it and the number of seals it bore for special reading and study.
It should be mentioned that some members of the class arrived on the ground too late to pass with their classmates through the Golden Gate and under the arches. For their benefit the Gate was opened a second time before the afternoon meeting, and a special Recognition service was held, so that they might enjoy all the privileges of the class. This is another custom continued every year, for always it is needed.
After a year or two it entered the facetious minds of Mr. and Mrs. Beard to originate a comic travesty on the Recognition service, which was presented on the evening after the formal exercises, when everybody was weary and was ready to descend from the serious heights. This grew into quite an institution and was continued for a number of years—a sort of mock-commencement, making fun of the prominent figures and features of the day. Almost as large an audience was wont to assemble for this evening of mirth and jollity, as was seen at the stately service of the morning. This in turn had its day and finally grew into the Chautauqua Circus, an amateur performance which is still continued every year under one name or another.
We have given much space to the story of the first Recognition Day, as a sample of the similar services held every year afterward, growing with the growth of the C. L. S. C. But there were other events of '82 scarcely less noteworthy. On that year a great organ was installed in the Amphitheater, and its effect was soon seen in the enlargement of the choir and the improvement in the music. We can mention only in the briefest manner some of the speakers on the platform for that year: such as Dr. W. T. Harris of Concord, Mass., afterward U. S. Commissioner of Education; Professor William H. Niles of Boston; Mr. Wallace Bruce; Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage; Dr. Wm. M. Blackburn of Cincinnati, the church historian; Dr. A. D. Vail of New York, who told in an interesting manner the story of the banner and the flag; Dr. Mark Hopkins, the great college President; Bishop R. S. Foster; Anthony Comstock and John B. Gough, with others equally distinguished whose names we must omit. One new name appeared upon the program of this season which will be read often in the coming years, that of Mr. Leon H. Vincent, the son of Rev. B. T. Vincent. He gave a course of lectures on English literature, mingling biographical, social, and critical views of the great writers, attracting large audiences. We shall find him among the leading lights of Chautauqua in the successive chapters of our story.
An institution which began that year and has been perpetuated must not be omitted—the Devotional Conference. Both of the Founders of Chautauqua were strong in their purpose to hold the Christian religion ever in the forefront at the Assembly. Various plans were tried during the early years, but none seemed to reach the constituency of Chautauqua until Dr. Benjamin M. Adams, at Dr. Vincent's request, began holding a daily service of an hour. This attracted a large attendance and was continued for a number of years, as long as Dr. Adams could conduct it. Afterward an arrangement was made which has become permanent. Every season a series of eminent clergymen are engaged, each to serve for one week as chaplain. He preaches the Sunday morning sermon in the Amphitheater, and on the following five days at ten o'clock conducts the Devotional Hour in the same place, giving a series of discourses, Bible readings, or addresses. The speaker of each week is a man of national or international fame. The greatest preachers in the American pulpit have spoken at this service, and the audience is surpassed in numbers only by the most popular lectures or concerts. Many there are who deem this the most precious hour in the day.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] After Dr. Vincent's title was changed to "Chancellor of the Chautauqua University" that form was used; and in his absence the President said instead "as representing the Chancellor of the Chautauqua University."