Another lecturer from abroad, though hardly a foreigner, for he came from England, Prof. J. Stoughton Holborn, wearing his Oxford gown (which we had not seen before at Chautauqua), gave a course on "The Inspiration of Greece,"—a view of that wonderful people in the different fields of their greatness. Think of one city which in the departments of literature, drama, philosophy, oratory, art, and public affairs could show more great men in two hundred years than all the rest of the world could show in two thousand!
We were treated during the season of 1913 to a sight new at that time, though common enough now. Mr. Engels brought to Chautauqua a Curtiss hydroplane, and day after day made flights, skimming over the surface of the lake, rising into the air, circling the sky and returning to the starting-point, to the amazement of the watching multitudes. A few, and but a few, dared to be strapped into the machine and take the flight; Director Bestor was one of them, and when Mrs. Bestor heard of it she said: "I told him that he must not do it, but I knew all the time that he would!"
Another event of the season was the production of a Greek play, in the original language, by a group of college students in Greek costume. Another fact worthy of remembrance was the opening of a completely furnished playground for the children in the ravine near the ball-ground. To stand on the bridge and look down upon that company of happy little people, is always a delight. Also it is not to be forgotten that this year for the first time natural gas for cooking and heating was supplied throughout the grounds.
The year 1914 was the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Chautauqua. One of the Founders was with us, hale and hearty, and still able to give an admirable address, although his memory of recent matters and people had failed. The other Founder was no longer among us, and even fifteen years after his departure we of the earlier days missed him; but his memory will ever be kept green at Chautauqua, while the white lilies are silently unfolded in his honor. On Friday, July 3d, the signal fires were lighted all around the Lake. The celebration of the anniversary did not take place until August, near the date in the month of the first Assembly. On Sunday, August 2d, Bishop Vincent preached in the Amphitheater with scarcely any lessening of his old power. At the anniversary service, Dr. Jesse L. Hurlbut—who was exhibited as one of the survivals of the prehistoric age, a sort of a dinosaurus or pleiosaurus,—gave an address on "Memories of Early Days," of which the reader may find the substance scattered through these pages. But we must give a paragraph or two from Mrs. Frank Beard's paper.
In reference to the interdenominational aspect of the Assembly, she said:
The good Baptist brother, wandering down by the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean, looked at the generous supply of water and was satisfied. The Presbyterian brother gazed into the cloudless sky above him, saw his favorite color, and felt that Chautauqua was foreordained for him. The lineal descendant of St. Peter croqueted his ball through the arch and rejoiced that he was on saving ground.
We sat on the hard board seats with nothing to rest our backs upon but the salubrious atmosphere. We heard ponderous speakers who talked on ponderous subjects. Among the speakers was Joseph Cook, also Bishop Peck, 350 pounds. Some of the lecturers were recommended as cultured and highly finished. Mr. Beard said that he had attended these lectures, was glad that they were cultured and more than pleased that they were finished.
The music week had now become a permanent institution, bringing thousands to the Assembly. This year it began on Monday, July 27th, with Victor Herbert's orchestra through the seven days, the Chautauqua soloists, and the great chorus trained by Alfred Hallam. Some musical associations from Jamestown and elsewhere added their voices.
Among the lecturers, Mr. Griggs gave a course on "Dramas of Protest," the Book of Job, Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound," Galsworthy's "Justice," Calderon's "Life is a Dream," and some others. Bourke Cockran, the brilliant orator of Irish descent, gave a great lecture on "Abraham Lincoln—Original Progressive." Miss Mary E. Downey, Director of the Library School, spoke on "The Evolution of the Library," Dean Edwin Watts Chubb on "Shakespeare as a Moral Teacher." John Purroy Mitchel, the reform Mayor of New York, spoke on "Municipal Government" on July 18th; Dr. Lincoln Hulley of Florida gave a course on the leading American poets. Mr. E. H. Blichfeldt spoke most interestingly on "Mexico as I Know It," the results of a year of wide travel and close observation in that land.
During the month of July we read in the papers of complications in the political world beyond the ocean, but few looked for serious trouble and none for actual war. On the first of August, 1914, the storm burst, and nation after nation in a few hours assembled their hosts for the most terrible war in the history of the world. In accordance with the Chautauqua tradition of free and open discussion, a War Symposium was improvised and each of the contending nations had its speaker. On Tuesday, August 4th, Dr. Hans E. Gronow who had served his time in the German army gave "The German Point of View." On Thursday, August 6th, Mr. Sanford Griffith, a newspaper correspondent and a student of public affairs spending several years in Europe whom some of us had known as a boy at Chautauqua, spoke on "European Unrest Due to Shifts in the Balance of Power." On Friday, August 7th, Mons. Benedict Papot, formerly a soldier in France, gave "The French Point of View," and on Saturday, August 9th, Dr. W. S. Bainbridge, English in ancestry but American in birth and spirit, presented "The British Point of View." All the exercises of the crowded program were held, but amid all our efforts the war brooded above us, a darkening cloud.