The Story of Chautauqua Part 1

The Story of Chautauqua.

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut.

PREFACE

WHY AND WHEREFORE

AN ancient writer--I forget his name--declared that in one of the city-states of Greece there was the rule that when any citizen proposed a new law or the repeal of an old one, he should come to the popular a.s.sembly with a rope around his neck, and if his proposition failed of adoption, he was to be immediately hanged. It is said that amendments to the const.i.tution of that state were rarely presented, and the people managed to live under a few time-honored laws. It is possible that some such drastic treatment may yet be meted out to authors--and perhaps to publishers--as a last resort to check the flood of useless literature.

To antic.i.p.ate this impending const.i.tutional amendment, it is inc.u.mbent upon every writer of a book to show that his work is needed by the world, and this I propose to do in these prefatory pages.

Is Chautauqua great enough, original enough, sufficiently beneficial to the world to have its history written? We will not accept the votes of the thousands who beside the lake, in the Hall of Philosophy, or under the roof of the amphitheater, have been inoculated with the Chautauqua spirit. We will seek for the testimony of sane, intelligent, and thoughtful people, and we will be guided in our conclusions by their opinions. Let us listen to the words of the wise and then determine whether a book about Chautauqua should be published. We have the utterances by word of mouth and the written statements of public men, governors, senators, presidents; of educators, professors, and college presidents; of preachers and ecclesiastics in many churches; of speakers upon many platforms; of authors whose works are read everywhere; and we present their testimonials as a sufficient warrant for the preparation and publication of _The Story of Chautauqua_.

The Hon. George W. Atkinson, Governor of West Virginia, visited Chautauqua in 1899, and in his Recognition Day address on "Modern Educational Requirements" spoke as follows:

It (Chautauqua) is the common people's College, and its courses of instruction are so admirably arranged that it somehow induces the toiling millions to voluntarily grapple with all subjects and with all knowledge.

My Chautauqua courses have taught me that what we need most is only so much knowledge as we can a.s.similate and organize into a basis for action; for if more be given it may become injurious.

Chautauqua is doing more to nourish the intellects of the ma.s.ses than any other system of education extant; except the public schools of the common country.

Here is the testimony of ex-Governor Adolph O. Eberhardt of Minnesota:

If I had the choice of being the founder of any great movement the world has ever known, I would choose the Chautauqua movement.

The Hon. William Jennings Bryan, from the point of view of a speaker upon many Chautauqua platforms, wrote:

The privilege and opportunity of addressing from one to seven or eight thousand of his fellow Americans in the Chautauqua frame of mind, in the mood which almost as clearly a.s.serts itself under the tent or amphitheater as does reverence under the "dim, religious light"--this privilege and this opportunity is one of the greatest that any patriotic American could ask. It makes of him, if he knows it and can rise to its requirements, a potent human factor in molding the mind of the nation.

Viscount James Bryce, Amba.s.sador of Great Britain to the United States, and author of _The American Commonwealth_, the most illuminating work ever written on the American system of government, said, while visiting Chautauqua:

I do not think any country in the world but America could produce such gatherings as Chautauqua's.

Six presidents of the United States have thought it worth while to visit Chautauqua, either before, or during, or after their term of office.

These were Grant, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft.

Theodore Roosevelt was at Chautauqua four times. He said on his last visit, in 1905, "Chautauqua is the most American thing in America"; and also:

This Chautauqua has made the name Chautauqua a name of a mult.i.tude of gatherings all over the Union, and there is probably no other educational influence in the country quite so fraught with hope for the future of the nation as this and the movement of which it is the archtype.

Let us see what some journalists and writers have said about Chautauqua.

Here is the opinion of Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of _The Outlook_, and a leader of thought in our time:

Chautauqua has inspired the habit of reading with a purpose. It is really not much use to read, except as an occasional recreation, unless the reading inspires one to think his own thoughts, or at least make the writer's thoughts his own.

Reading without reflection, like eating without digestion, produces dyspepsia. The influence and guidance of Chautauqua will long be needed in America.

The religious influence of Chautauqua has been not less valuable. Chautauqua has met the restless questioning of the age in the only way in which it can be successfully met, by converting it into a serious seeking for rest in truth.

Dr. Edwin E. Slosson, formerly professor in Columbia University, now literary editor of the _Independent_, wrote in that paper:

If I were a cartoonist, I should symbolize Chautauqua by a tall Greek G.o.ddess, a sylvan G.o.ddess with leaves in her hair--not vine leaves, but oak, and tearing open the bars of a cage wherein had been confined a bird, say an owl, labeled "Learning." For that is what Chautauqua has done for the world--it has let learning loose.

From the American _Review of Reviews_, July, 1914:

The president of a large technical school is quoted as having said that ten per cent. of the students in the inst.i.tution over which he presides owe their presence to Chautauqua influence. A talk on civic beauty or sanitation by an expert from the Chautauqua platform often results in bringing these matters to local attention for the first time.

Here is an extract from _The World To-day_:

Old-time politics is dead in the States of the Middle West. The torchlight parade, the gasoline lamps, and the street orator draw but little attention. The "Republican Rally" in the court-house and the "Democratic Barbecue" in the grove have lost their potency. People turn to the Chautauquas to be taught politics along with domestic science, hygiene, and child-welfare.

Mr. John Graham Brooks, lecturer on historical, political, and social subjects, author of works widely circulated and highly esteemed, has given courses of lectures at Chautauqua, and has expressed his estimate in these words:

After close observation of the work at Chautauqua, and at other points in the country where its affiliated work goes on, I can say with confidence that it is among the most enlightening of our educational agencies in the United States.

Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, while President of Union College in New York State, gave this testimony:

Chautauqua has its own place in the educational world, a place as honorable as it is distinctive; and those of us who are laboring in other fields, by other methods, have only admiration and praise for the great work which has made Chautauqua in the best sense a household word throughout the land.

Mr. Edward Howard Griggs, who is in greater demand than almost any other lecturer on literary and historical themes, in his Recognition Day address, in 1904, on "Culture Through Vocation," said as follows:

The Chautauqua movement as conceived by its leaders is a great movement for cultivating an avocation apart from the main business of life, not only giving larger vision, better intellectual training, but giving more earnest desire and greater ability to serve and grow through the vocation.

This from Dr. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education:

Think of one hundred thousand persons of mature age following up a well-selected course of reading for four years in science and literature, kindling their torches at a central flame! Think of the millions of friends and neighbors of this hundred thousand made to hear of the new ideas and of the inspirations that result to the workers!

It is a part of the great missionary movement that began with Christianity and moves onward with Christian civilization.

I congratulate all members of Chautauqua Reading Circles on their connection with this great movement which has begun under such favorable auspices and has spread so widely, is already world-historical, and is destined to unfold so many new phases.

Prof. Albert S. Cook, of Yale University, wrote in _The Forum_:

As nearly as I can formulate it, the Chautauqua Idea is something like this: A fraternal, enthusiastic, methodical, and sustained attempt to elevate, enrich, and inspire the individual life in its entirety, by an appeal to the curiosity, hopefulness, and ambition of those who would otherwise be debarred from the greatest opportunities of culture and spiritual advancement. To this end, all uplifting and stimulating forces, whether secular or religious, are made to conspire in their impact upon the person whose weal is sought. . . . Can we wonder that Chautauqua is a sacred and blessed name to mult.i.tudes of Americans?

The late Princ.i.p.al A. M. Fairbairn, of Mansfield College, Oxford, foremost among the thinkers of the last generation, gave many lectures at Chautauqua, and expressed himself thus:

The C. L. S. C. movement seems to me the most admirable and efficient organization for the direction of reading, and in the best sense for popular instruction. To direct the reading for a period of years for so many thousands is to affect not only their present culture, but to increase their intellectual activity for the period of their natural lives, and thus, among other things, greatly to add to the range of their enjoyment. It appears to me that a system which can create such excellent results merits the most cordial praise from all lovers of men.

Colonel Francis W. Parker, Superintendent of Schools, first at Quincy, Ma.s.s., and later at Chicago, one of the leading educators of the land, gave this testimony, after his visit to Chautauqua:

The New York Chautauqua--father and mother of all the other Chautauquas in the country--is one of the great inst.i.tutions founded in the nineteenth century. It is essentially a school for the people.

Prof. Hjalmar H. Boyesen, of Columbia University, wrote:

Nowhere else have I had such a vivid sense of contact with what is really and truly American.

The national physiognomy was defined to me as never before; and I saw that it was not only instinct with intelligence, earnestness, and indefatigable aspiration, but that it revealed a strong affinity for all that makes for righteousness and the elevation of the race. The confident optimism regarding the future which this discovery fostered was not the least boon I carried away with me from Chautauqua.

Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, President of Wellesley College, expressed this opinion in a lecture at Chautauqua: