  The force of the “Chautauqua Idea” is not abating; on the contrary it works its way into new homes and distant fields—for instance, we have the C. L. S. C. Class of 1888, which commenced to form last July, and now numbers about 20,000 members. The “Florida Chautauqua,” in Florida, is a new plant, and now our C. L. S. C. friends in Canada are raising a fund of $50,000 with which to purchase and furnish grounds near Niagara Falls, for an Assembly after the Chautauqua fashion. Many prominent Chautauqua workers are at the Florida Chautauqua now in session at Lake de Funiak. Among them are the Rev. Frank Russell, Mrs. G. R. Alden (Pansy), the Rev. A. A. Wright, Dean of the Chautauqua School of Theology, Prof. W. D. Bridge, Prof. W. F. Sherwin, Mrs. Juvia C. Hull, the Rev. S. G. Smith, D.D., the Meigs-Underhill Combination, Prof. C. E. Bolton, Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, Dr. O. P. Fitzgerald, Prof. R. L. Cumnock, Wallace Bruce, Hon. John N. Stearns, Col. G. W. Bain, Mrs. Emma P. Ewing, Hon. Lewis Miller, etc. Many prominent lecturers, singers and readers as yet not known publicly at Chautauqua, are at this Southern Chautauqua, or on the program for the closing week. Dr. Gillet, in preparing the royal feast of four weeks’ continuance, has subsidized the country generally for his purposes, and all prominent denominations are tributary thereto. Nearly or quite all the departments (save the C. S. L.), known at Chautauqua, are in successful operation. The Assembly already takes high rank in design and desire, and professors, lecturers, readers, singers, helpers, are among the very best. No Assembly in the land starts off with a more brilliant outlook, or with such strong financial backing. In our December issue we called attention to the effort being made to establish an Assembly in Canada, at Niagara. The plan is developing very satisfactorily. The proposition involves the acquirement from the Dominion Government of the piece of land known as Paradise Grove, containing about eighty acres, situated upon the bank of the Niagara River just outside the town of Niagara. The company which holds the lease has signified its willingness to consent to a transfer. Toronto is also thoroughly aroused to the importance of the movement, so much so that at a very largely attended public meeting called in February to discuss the matter the citizens pledged themselves almost unanimously to give a bonus of ten thousand dollars to the company. In addition to this promises of stock subscriptions have been made of at least as much more. It is easy to see that, if carried out, this project will prove a great boon to the old town. Already a large number of persons on both sides of the line have signified their intention to erect cottages and make it their summer home. The Chautauqua Circle has just added a new and important branch to the many into which it is already divided. This is an art “circle,” to be called the Chautauqua Society of Fine Arts, in which it is proposed to give lessons in drawing and painting by correspondence. Every branch of art will be taught, from elementary drawing to oil-painting. The plan is a thoroughly practical one, and will be carried out in the best interests of the fine arts. Mr. Frank Fowler has been appointed director, and Messrs. R. Swain Gifford, Thomas Moran and Will H. Low will act as a committee of award. The course of study will extend over two years, at the end of which time diplomas will be given and prizes awarded for the best work in the different classes. The membership fee is fifty cents a year. Application for circulars and further information should be made to Miss K. F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J. With the fall of Khartoum, the death of General Gordon, Roller skating is now claiming the attention of, first, physicians, who seem to be divided in their verdict as to the injurious physical effects of the exercise; second, of clergymen and laymen in the churches, who object to the “rink” on account of the associations, quite as much as the doctors do to the skating; third, of economists. In a railroad car bound west recently, we overheard a conversation between two cattle drovers on the “Roller Rink,” one of whom held up a paper named the Rink and Roller, the organ of the new sport. These two men discussed the financial side of “roller skating,” one insisting thus: “A boy will chop wood for seventy-five cents a day, or work at the bench for that amount, and then spend fifty cents in the evening for himself and girl to attend the rink; they keep it up; what’s the good; it is a craze.” Rinks are being built in all our towns and cities, but it will come to an end like every craze. Some will be injured physically—perhaps some will date a moral lapse to an unfortunate acquaintance made in the promiscuous company; while all who go will spend their money. What is the profit? The venerable Mr. George Bancroft, having passed his eightieth birthday, still preserves his physical vigor and looks like one of the patriarchs of Washington. His mind is active and retains its strength, though now enjoying a much needed respite from literary work. Mr. Bancroft has finished his “History of the United States,” which has been a long and laborious task. Some new historian must appear, who can live in the midst of political changes, and like this great man, preserve an impartial judgment, as a historian, to continue Bancroft’s standard history of the United States. The closing act of President Arthur’s term of office was one of simple justice to a worthy man. The following note explains it all: To the Senate of the United States—I nominate Ulysses S. Grant, formerly General Commanding the armies of the United States, to be General on the retired list of the army, with full pay of such rank. Chester A. Arthur. Executive Mansion, March 4, 1885. Congress had passed an act which made it possible that General Grant could be placed on the retired list. The Senate by a unanimous vote confirmed the President’s nomination. The number of books and periodicals supported on a given subject, is a good sign of its interest to the public. Following this indication we conclude that the public interest in sports and amusements is fully double what it was a year ago. A tabulated statement of the publications of 1884, compared with the books issued in 1883, gives the works on sports in the two years as twenty-two in 1883 to fifty-one in 1884. This suggestive comparison is but one of many signs that we are awakening to the absolute necessity of healthful exercise, if we would lead useful lives ourselves, and would propagate a sturdy race. Every summer many ladies and gentlemen engaged in educational work make a vacation tour to the Old World. Those having such intentions for the coming summer will perhaps accept a few words of advice. In order to economize your time and derive the full benefit of your trip abroad, the best thing to be done is to join a party, the management of which is in the hands of an experienced traveler. The question naturally arises, Where is there a party formed in which we will find most advantages for the money expended? We do not hesitate in saying that we can recommend no better than Professor de Potter’s parties, organized each year in Albany, New York, and which have the reputation of being ably conducted. There is going on in the newspapers just now a very suggestive contest over the spelling of a word. Shall it be dynamiteur or ter? Both forms have reliable followings, though no reasons have been advanced for either termination. The word is a good example of several interesting features of word-making. It illustrates how each new development in history requires a vocabulary, and how the vocabulary is formed from the facts involved. Further, the difference in the termination shows how each word must have its period of instability before usage selects the form which shall be permanent. This Irish agitation has, by the way, introduced several new words into the language. We Americans believe very firmly in ourselves. But sometimes we can not help wondering if this vigorous, athletic government of ours, and these growing institutions, seem to others a success. It will be gratifying to read Mr. Matthew Arnold’s opinion of us: “A people homogeneous, a people which had to constitute itself in a modern age, an epoch of expansion, and which has given to itself institutions entirely fitted for such an age and epoch, and which suit it perfectly—a people not in danger of war from without, not in danger of revolution from within—such is the people of the United States. The political and social problem we must surely allow that they solve successfully.” Last year women were for the first time admitted to the Oxford University examinations. Since they have been allowed to hear certain college lectures, and are now finally admitted to the classes. It is a surprising concession, but it is the course of the future. Women in England have proven conclusively their ability to cope with university studies. They have zealously and quietly improved each added liberty. This last recognition comes as the inevitable effect of a law which works through all human affairs, viz.: a demand creates a supply. President Arthur closed his term of service with the confidence and respect of the American people. He performed the difficult task of filling the highest office in the government with prudence and ability, when, in fact, he was not the choice of the people for the place, but it fell to his lot in the order of a mysterious providence. Among the Vice Presidents who have succeeded to the presidency Chester A. Arthur will be honored in history as a wise statesman, faithful to the people whom he served. President Cleveland’s administration is the dawn of a new political era in the country, but we believe that he will make a safe President. There has been recently organized in New York State a State Forestry Association. President White, of Cornell University, has accepted the presidency. The society proposes to make a vigorous effort to arouse the people to the necessity of laws which shall preserve their forests from the lawless destruction which has robbed thousands upon thousands of acres in the Adirondacks of their wealth of timber. Such a society is, without doubt, the only means by which a proper sentiment can be aroused. The cause of the wholesale depredations has been lack of thought. As one of the lumbermen put it: “It all comes to this—it was because there was nobody to think about it, or do anything about it. We were all busy, and all to blame. But I could do nothing alone, and my neighbor could do nothing alone, and there was nobody to set us to work together on a plan to have things better; nobody to represent the common object. Why did not you come along to talk to us about it years and years ago?” A look through a railroad guide shows a list of names which are a sad criticism on our refinement. Think of going down to posterity as born in such a place as You Bet, Red Hot, Fair Play, Muddy Creek, Looking Glass, Lone Star, or Saw Tooth. These undignified, ill-sounding names are very common, and in the new portion of the country it seems to be a matter of pride to invent absurd names. A gentleman who had the misfortune to reside in a town which bore one of these unmelodious names recently said to us: “I am actually ashamed to register myself when traveling, as from ‘Goose Creek,’ and for years I have had my mail sent to a town three miles away rather than endure the sight of that odious name on my letters.” There are ways of changing these names, and in the interest of good taste it should be done. In spite of the difficulties in his way, the Rev. Sheldon Jackson has succeeded in getting into his Industrial Training School for Indian Boys and Girls at Sitka, Alaska. Not the least of these difficulties has been getting lumber for the building. Here is the story as he writes us: “Since coming here last August, I sent a crew of three Indians in a canoe a round trip of 400 miles along the coast, with a letter to a saw mill. The trees were felled, the logs were sawed up, a schooner chartered to bring the lumber, and in due time 100,000 feet of lumber was rafted from the schooner on the beach, through the surf, carried on men’s shoulders to the building site, a three story building 130x50 feet in size erected, and so far completed that we were able to move into it the first week in January. I have also in the same time organized a church of seventy members, of whom sixty are natives, received on confession of faith and baptism. These converts are largely the fruit of the work of Mr. Austin, one of our teachers.” The Rev. H. M. Bacon, D.D., pastor of the Central Congregational Church, Toledo, Ohio, in a recent article on “Our English Tongue,” in which he quotes Richard Grant White’s statement in The Chautauquan for December, that “This modern English, which is the youngest, is also the greatest language ever spoken,” mentions several valuable confirmations of this opinion. Among them is the tribute of Jacob Grimm, the learned German lexicographer, who says: “In wealth, good sense, and closeness of structure, no other language at this day spoken, not even our German, deserves to be compared to it” (the English). He also calls attention to similar opinions expressed by the late Baron Humboldt, and by Guizot, and recalls the fact that once when the Academy of Berlin offered a prize for the best essay on a comparison of fourteen of the ancient and modern tongues, the prize was awarded to a writer who had given the first place to the English. On the 23d of February the Washington Monument was formally dedicated at Washington, D. C. Thirty-six years have elapsed since its corner stone was laid. Of the Senate which attended the ceremonies on that occasion but nine are still living, and since that date the most trying years of our national life have been passed. Though the delays in completing the work have been annoying, now that it is complete, it is gratifying to know that the monument is in every way worthy of its object. Indeed, we have no hesitancy in pronouncing it the most beautiful structure in the nation’s capital. An obelisk of light gray stone, at a distance it looks like a clearly defined cloud lying against the sky. Its great height (555 feet) is not realized, so perfect is the proportion. The location of the monument has been criticised. It stands on a Government reservation, adjacent to the Potomac River, and directly facing the Capitol. The land is low, and many believe it was a serious mistake not to have placed the obelisk on Capitol Hill. We can not agree with them. The advantage of having the monument on public grounds, where the view of the entire shaft will never be obstructed, is much greater than a higher location with an obstructed view would have been. Then, too, this site was one approved by Washington himself for a monument which, in 1783, the Continental Congress voted to be erected to him. Of course “going to the top” is, and will be, one of the chief features of sight seeing in Washington. Every half hour the steam elevator in the monument carries a crowded load to the top, allowing them ten minutes for looking around before the descent. The stairway is not yet open to the public, and even if it were most people would hesitate before undertaking to mount its 900 steps. The interior of the shaft is lighted by incandescent electric lights. Not the least interesting feature of the monument is the number of marble tablets presented by different states and institutions, and which are being inserted in the inside walls. Several of these have considerable artistic and historic value. |
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