The Story of Chautauqua

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

On Sunday morning, July 13th, the great congregation heard Dr. Wm. P. Merrill, of the Brick Church, New York, deliver a sermon on the topic as announced, "The League of Nations," of which he declared himself unreservedly in favor. On this question there were two parties throughout the nation strongly opposed to each other and fiercely debating it, and when a fortnight later the chaplain, Bishop Williams, who was never known to sit on the fence, also came out vigorously for the League, Mr. Bestor began to look around for some speaker on the other side, for it has been a principle at Chautauqua to give both sides a fair showing, even when the Chautauqua constituency as a whole might be opposed to a speaker. A speaker against the League was found in Mr. John Ferguson, but he evidently represented the sentiments of the minority. Among the speakers of the second week were several on "The Aftermath of the Great War," among them Dr. Katharine B. Davis, Major-General Bailey, who had been Commander of the Eighty-First Division of the A. E. F., and Attorney-General A. Mitchell Palmer. Prof. S. C. Schmucker also gave a course of lectures on "The Races of Man."

Musical Festival Week was from July 28th to August 2nd. The New York Symphony Orchestra of sixty instruments was with us in concerts daily, led in the absence of its conductor, Mr. Walter Damrosch (who was abroad) by René Pollain of France. During this and the following week Earl Barnes gave a course of lectures on "The New Nations of the World." We listened to a discussion of "Zionism," in a lecture on "Jewish Aims in Palestine" by Charles A. Cowen, of the Zionist organization, to which Mr. Earl Barnes gave a cool, dispassionate answer, showing the difficulty, amounting almost to an impossibility, of establishing a Jewish State in the land looked upon as holy, not only by Jews, but by Mohammedans and Christians of all the great churches. Another speaker in this symposium was Mme. Mabel S. Grouetch, the wife of the Serbian minister at Washington, who afterward became the Czecho-Slovak representative to Japan.

Old First Night on August 5th was devoted to the Comprehensive Plan of lifting Chautauqua out of debt. The elements seemed against the aim for rain kept some away,—though the Amphitheater was full—and its thunder on the roof made some speeches inaudible. But it could not dampen the ardor of the people. Practically every organization, club, or class at Chautauqua, besides many individuals, made pledges. Besides the chorus, there was a children's choir in the gallery, and one gentleman offered to give a dollar for every child in it, whereupon scouts were sent out, boys and girls were gotten out of bed and brought to the gallery, so that his pledge cost that gentleman considerably over $300.00. Before the close of the Assembly $375,000 had been subscribed, inclusive of Mr. Rockefeller's quota.

Americanization week was from August 11th to 16th, with timely addresses by Prof. Herbert Adolphin Miller, Prof. Thomas Moran, and a delightful lecture by Mrs. Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale, on "Reconstruction in England and America." As a practical illustration of Americanization, there was a wonderful pageant by the children of a public school in Pittsburgh, practically all of foreign lineage. The Recognition address on August 20th was by Bishop Charles F. Brent, who after heroic work in the Philippines had been translated to the Episcopal diocese of Western New York. His subject was "The Opportunities of the Mind."

We must not forget that some lectures were given at this session by Dr. Charles A. Eastman, whose name does not suggest, as his complexion does, that he is a full-blooded Sioux Indian. He is a successful physician and a graduate of Dartmouth College,—which, by the way, was established in 1750 as a school for Indians, with no thought of Anglo-Saxon students. This year also Dr. E. B. Bryan was unable to remain as Director of the Summer Schools, and his work was added to the many tasks of President Bestor.

We come finally to the Assembly of 1920, the forty-seventh session, and at present the last upon our list, unless we undertake a prophetic look into the future. We met in sadness, for our great Founder John Heyl Vincent, who had lived to the age of eighty-eight years, died on Sunday, May 9th, at his home in Chicago. He had outlived his fellow-Founder, Lewis Miller, by twenty-one years. The two names stand together in the annals of Chautauqua and in the thoughts of all Chautauquans, for Chautauqua could not have been founded by either one without the other, and on Old First Night, for both together the lilies of the white handkerchiefs are silently and solemnly lifted, and as silently and solemnly lowered. A memorial service was held for our beloved Bishop and Chancellor on Sunday afternoon, August 1st, at the Vesper Hour, in the Hall of Philosophy as the appropriate place, and the writer of this story, as the oldest of living Chautauqua workers, was permitted to offer the tribute in his honor. In the evening another service was held in the Amphitheater, at which Dr. John H. Finley, Superintendent of Education for New York State, and Bishop Herbert Welch of the Methodist Episcopal Church, home for a few months from his field in Korea and Japan, gave addresses. During the past year Chautauqua had sustained another loss in the death of Mr. Alfred Hallam, who for nearly twenty years had been the untiring and wholly devoted leader of the Musical Department. It was felt that a musical service was his most appropriate memorial, and the oratorio "Hora Novissima," by Horatio Parker, was sung by the choir and soloists on Sunday evening, August 8th. During the session news came that Dr. Bethuel T. Vincent of Denver, long conductor of the Children's class and Intermediate class in the early years of the Assembly, had followed his brother the Bishop, into the silent land. He was remembered in an address by the writer at a memorial service. His wife, Mrs. Ella Vincent, for many years president of the Woman's Club, in a few months also joined the company of the church triumphant. Another voice often heard at Chautauqua was stilled this summer, that of Mrs. Frank Beard, always bright and sunny in her spirit, who fell asleep in the cottage where she was abiding, soon after the opening of the Assembly, fulfilling the wish expressed to a friend a year before that she might die at Chautauqua.

The most notable feature on the program this summer was the presence at Chautauqua for nearly six weeks, from July 26th to August 31st, of the New York Symphony Orchestra, with daily concerts, conducted by René Pollain and William Willeke,—a bold venture of the management but evidently successful.

This was the tercentenary of the landing of the Pilgrims, and the event was recognized by several addresses, one in particular by Mr. Charles Zeublin, on "1620 and 1920." Prof. Weigle gave a lecture on "Education of Children in Early New England"; Dr. Alfred E. Garvie spoke on "The Message of the Mayflower for To-day." Principal Alexander J. Grieve of the University of Edinburgh gave lectures on the "Leaders of the Pilgrims,—John Robinson and others."

Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, after an experience of years in Asia Minor and in France, gave a series of valuable lectures on "After the War," and Mrs. Gibbons narrated the thrilling story of herself in Turkey, during the massacres of 1908. Dr. Lynn Harold Hough was chaplain from July 4th to July 10th, and in the morning talks spoke on the spiritual experiences of St. Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley, then summed them up in a conception of "The Christian Society." Prof. Richard Burton lectured in a course on "Modern Literary Tendencies,"—the essay, the novel, the drama, and other forms of literature. One of the great acquisitions this year was Prof. T. R. Glover of Cambridge, England, with a course of lectures on "The Jesus of History," the results of the deepest study of the New Testament and also of the contemporary Roman world. Dr. H. Gordon Hayes, just leaving Yale for the Ohio State University, discussed most ably "Factors in Labor Unrest." On Roosevelt Day, July 21st, Mrs. Douglas Robinson, his sister, gave "Recollections of Theodore Roosevelt." In the week from July 26th-31st, the subject was "Problems of the Present Day Civilization," discussed by Dr. E. H. Griggs, Rabbi Louis Wolsey of Cleveland, and Dr. Cornelius Woelfkin of New York. "Woman and the New Era" was the theme of the week August 2d-7th, a discussion participated in by Mrs. Thomas G. Winter, President of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs; by Mrs. George Bass, who was the woman, for the first time in history to preside for a day at the Democratic National Convention which renominated Woodrow Wilson; and by Miss Mary Garrett Hay, the President of the Affiliated Women's Republican Clubs. August 22d-29th was the week of the Ministers and Church Workers' Institute, with addresses by Bishop McDowell (Methodist), Ozora S. Davis, Shailer Mathews, Mrs. Helen Barrett Montgomery, and Chancellor S. B. McCormick, of Pittsburgh.

This was a great year. Subscriptions to the Comprehensive Plan brought the amount up to $450,000, including Mr. Rockefeller's contribution, to be increased if other gifts warranted it. The Summer Schools were twenty-five per cent. in income and nearly twenty per cent. in numbers over 1919, the highest mark of past years. Provision was made for improving and enlarging the golf links, and for building a new club house on the grounds of the golf course.