Dr. Hale told of a man who had been formerly a pupil and youth in his church, who was suffering from nervous prostration, and lay down in a shack in an out-of-the-way place in Florida, almost ready to die. His eyes were drawn to the orange-colored cover of a magazine which he had never seen before, The Chautauquan. He opened it at random and began to read. "Are you a child of God? Are you a partaker of the divine nature? If you are, work with God! Don't give up working with God!" It seemed to him like a voice from heaven. On that moment he said to himself, "I will not die, but live!" He began to read the magazine and followed it by reading the books to which the magazine made reference. They opened before him a new field of thought and made of him a new man. He told this story to Dr. Hale in his own church and said: "I am here because of that orange-covered Chautauquan which I found lying under the bench in that old cabin."
It is possible, nay, it is certain, that the Chautauqua Circle, by being not a church society, but a secular organization permeated by the Christian spirit, has exercised an influence all the stronger to promote an intelligent, broad-minded Christianity.
Everyone active in Chautauqua work through a series of years could narrate many stories like the above, and doubtless some more remarkable; but I have given only a few out of many that could be recalled out of an experience with the C. L. S. C. through more than forty years. As I have looked upon the representatives of the graduating class in the Hall of Philosophy, I have often wished that I might know some of the life-stories of those who, often through difficulties unknown, have carried the course through to completion.
An eminent minister wrote to me recently as follows:
At a place where I became pastor I found two sisters who were living in dark seclusion, brooding in melancholia as the effect of a great sorrow. They attended church, but took no part in our work, and none at all in society. I did my best to comfort those young women and bring them out of their monasticism. But it was all in vain. Their broken spirits revolted from a religion of happiness. A few years after my pastorate was ended there, and I was preaching elsewhere, I visited the town and was surprised to find both those women among the most active women in the church, happy, gifted, and universally esteemed. What had wrought the change? They chanced to hear of the Chautauqua Reading Course and sent for the books and magazines. They pursued the course, graduated, and visited Chautauqua. It awakened their entire being and brought them into a new world. They were literally born anew. I have witnessed wonderful changes in people, but never any that was more thorough, real, and permanent than in those young women.
Let us name also some of the leading events of the Assembly of 1884. As the organ of the C. Y. F. R. U. Dr. Flood established The Youth's C. L. S. C. Paper for boys and girls. It was an illustrated magazine, but only twelve numbers were published, as the field for periodical literature for young people was already well covered. "The Chautauqua Foreign Tour," a series of illustrated lectures on the British Isles, was conducted this year by Rev. Jesse Bowman Young, Professor H. H. Ragan, and Mr. George Makepeace Towle. Music was abundant and varied this season, the choir being led by Professors Sherwin and Case in turn; concerts by a remarkable quartet, the Meigs Sisters; the delightful singers of southern plantation and revival songs, the Tennesseans; the Yale College Glee Club; Miss Belle McClintock, Mrs. J. C. Hull, Mr. E. O. Excell, and Miss Tuthill, soloists. Dr. Charles J. Little gave a course of lectures on English literature; Dr. Henson, Miss Susan Hayes Ward, Dr. J. W. Butler of Mexico, and Dr. S. S. Smith of Minnesota were among the lecturers. We heard Ram Chandra Bose and Dennis Osborne of India, and Sau Aubrah of Burmah, a most interesting speaker on the customs of his country and his impressions of ours. Principal Fairbairn of Oxford made the history of philosophy interesting, and the Rev. A. J. Palmer of New York won instant fame by his great war lecture, "Company D, the Die-no-more's," given on Grand Army Day to a great concourse of old soldiers.
On Saturday, August 23d, a reception was given to the Governor of Pennsylvania, Hon. Robert E. Pattison. Friday, August 15th, was observed as the decennial anniversary of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. I find on the program of that year a series of colloquies named "The Socratic Academy," conducted by Dr. H. H. Moore. I know not what subjects they discussed, nor how they discussed them, but I remember Dr. Moore as one able to shed light on any subject that he chose to present. As I read the program of any one of those years at Chautauqua, I realize how utterly inadequate must be any sketch like the above to bring it before a reader.