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WHERE LIES THE MUSIC?

By ALICE C. JENNINGS.

["When Paganini once rose to amuse a crowded auditory with his music, he found that his violin had been removed, and a coarser instrument substituted for it. Explaining the trick, he said to the audience," Now I will show you that the music is not in my violin, but in me."-CHAUTAUQUAN for December, 1882.]

An artist once, whose magic could command That sound its deepest secrets should unfold, Had found his instrument by evil hand Exchanged for one of meaner, coarser mould.

Yet, like the clashing tongue of vibrant bells,
The hindrance but a greater power revealed.
See, I will show thee that the music dwells
In me, and not the instrument I wield."

He turns, and sweetly, grandly, at his call,
The violin its richest music flings.
The instrument is naught-the player all-
The power is in the touch, and not the strings.

A coarse, rude instrument, this world, at best:
Its strings made tense by selfishness and pride;
If by its discords music be expressed,

The music in our fingers must reside.

Remember this: in tune keep heart and hand, And to earth's music thou shalt hold the key, And from its discords sweetest tones command, Unknown and unimagined, save by thee.

WAVERLEY NOVELS.

By WALLACE BRUCE.

When Walter Scott, one morning before breakfast, while looking for fishing-tackle, came upon his long neglected manuscript of Waverley, and decided to publish it, he baited his hook, so to speak, with a plump literary angle-worm, and carefully concealing himself, dropped it cautiously into one of the quiet and almost stagnant pools which here and there break the flow of the eighteenth century.

Not to carry the figure further he wakes up one morning to find the "Author of Waverley" famous; but no one knew whe the "Author of Waverley" was. Romances, relating alike to the history of Scotland, England, France, Switzerland and Palestine, covering a wide range of life and character, with a varied record of eight hundred years, followed each other so rapidly that the reading world opened its eyes in wonder, until the "great unknown" was finally regarded the "great magician.', His books, as they came wet from the press, were literally de. voured by the story-loving people of England and Scotland; and packages, shipped across the Atlantic, were regarded the most valuable part of the cargo. I have heard elderly people of New England speak of anxiously waiting for the next ship which was to bring to their hands a new novel by the "Author of Waverley." Never before had the pen of any man awakened such responsive interest in his own generation. The publication of Waverley marked a new era in romantic literature.

During the eighty years that have followed that publication mankind has had its hopes, longings, ambitions and jealousies mirrored in works of fiction. Hundreds, ay, thousands of novels-most of them unworthy of their high lineage-have contended with each other for the world's approbation; writers without nu..ber have flooded the century with romance; bu through all these years Walter Scott stands the acknowledged

master, the purest-hearted, the noblest-minded of them all; the man who could say upon his death-bed: "I have not written one line which I would wish blotted."

No words of re-invitation are necessary to those who have once read the pages of Sir Walter, but it will be a "consummation devoutly to be wished" if I can turn the coming generation of your readers away from the sickly sentiment of the day to the works of him, whose influence, like that of King Arthur of the Round Table, inspires the soul with

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Some years ago, while preparing a lecture on "The Landmarks of Scott," I found myself confronted with twenty-six novels and five well-known poems, besides innumerable essays and histories, all demanding at least a passing word. I saw that two minutes devoted to each would more than fill my lecture hour, and leave no room for the frame-work, viz: Loch Katrine, Loch Lomond, the Trosachs, Melrose, Edinboro, the Yarrow, the Ettrick, the Tweed, and the Border Country, where the Percy and the Douglas fought. It then occurred to me that Scott had unconsciously prepared a panoramic history of Europe from the time of the Crusades to the year 1812. Acting upon this suggestion I examined the novels and poems and found to my great delight, that with here and there an absent link of fifty or a hundred years the chain was almost perfect. I condensed the prominent features of eight hundred years, tracing their connection with Scott's graphic pictures into a pen-sketch of ten minutes, and I have been gratified to see that this idea of chronological order has been recently followed by one of the leading New York publishers. It is my object in a series of articles to elaborate this historical sequence from the time of "Count Robert of Paris" (1094) down to "St. Ronan's Well" (1812), and to point out in passing some of the beauties of the great author.

If the reader of these articles will follow with me the romances to which I refer, I think he will say, at the close of the series, that he has found in the Waverley Novels a vivid picture the of events and customs of Europe, from the days of the crusades down to a time within the memory of men still living. M. Augustin Thierry, one of the most philosophical essayists of France, has eloquently said: "There are scenes of such simplicity, of such living truth, to be found, that notwithstanding the distance of the period in which the author places himself, they can be realized without effort. It is because in the midst of the world which no longer exists, Walter Scott always places the world which does, and always will exist; that is to say, human nature, of which he knows all the secrets. Everything peculiar to the time and place, the exterior of men, and aspect of the country and of the habitations, costumes and manners, are described with the most minute truthfulness; and yet the immense erudition, which has furnished so many details, is nowhere to be perceived. Walter Scott seems to have for the past that second sight, which, in times of ignorance, men attributed to themselves for the future. To say that there is more real history in his novels on Scotland and England than in the philosophically false compilations, which still possess that great name, is not advancing anything strange in the eyes of those who have read and understood "Old Mortality," "Waverley," Rob Roy," the "Fortunes of Nigel," and the "Heart of Mid Lothian."

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Allison says in his essay on Chateaubriand, published in Blackwood's Magazine, March, 1832: "We feel in Scott's characters that it is not romance, but real life which is represented. Every word that is said, especially in the Scotch novels, is nature itself. Homer, Cervantes, Shakspere, and Scott, alone have penetrated to the de p substratum of character, which, however disguised by the varieties of climate and government, is at bottom everywhere the same; and thence they have found a

responsive echo in every human heart. He has carried romance out of the region of imagination and sensibility into the walks of actual life. He has combined historical accuracy and romantic adventure with the interest of tragic events; we live with the heroes, and princes, and paladins of former times, as with our own contemporaries; and acquire from the splendid coloring of his pencil such a vivid conception of the manners and pomp of the feudal ages, that we confound them, in our recollections, with the scenes which we ourselves have witnessed. The splendor of their tournaments, the magnificence of their dress, the glancing of their arms, their haughty manners, daring courage, and knightly courtesy; the shock of their battle-steeds, the splintering of their lances, the conflagration of their castles, are brought before our eyes in such vivid colors, that we are at once transported to the age of Richard and Saladin, of Charles the Bold and Philip Augustus."

The four novels, which deal with the history of the Crusades, are "Count Robert of Paris," "The Betrothed," "The Talisman," and "Ivanhoe." It is a singular fact that the one occupying the first place in chronological order was written last, and hardly completed by the author when he died. "Ivanhoe" is, without doubt, the great favorite. I have often thought that "Ivanhoe" bears the same relation to Scott's novels that "The Merchant of Venice" does to the dramas of Shakspere. "Old Mortality," and "Hamlet," may show deeper insight; but neither Scott nor Shakspere ever surpassed the two I have associated in dramatic interest. The three novels which precede "Ivanhoe" in point of time will give us a complete knowledge of the times and manners of the Crusades, and lead us, as it were, from one picture-gallery to another, until we come to the master-piece of the great artist.

"Count Robert of Paris" opens with a description of the court of Alexius Commenus-a wily monarch, who had ample need of all his strategy in dealing with foes that menaced him from every side: the Franks from the west, the Turks from the east, the Scythians from the north, the Saracens from the south. The wealthy city on the Bosphorous, enriched by the spoils of nations, whose golden gate symbolized the wealth and magnificence of seven hundred years of prosperity, was on the great highway of travel, where, so to speak, the "cross-roads" of Europe met, and presented a tempting prize to the restless and barbarous hordes from the shores of the Caspian to the German Ocean. "The superb successor of the earth's mistress," decked in borrowed splendor, gave early intimations of that speedy decay to which the whole civilized world, then limited within the Roman Empire, was internally and imperceptibly tending. Intrigue and corruption in the palace had compelled the Greek sovereigns of Constantinople, for many years, to procure foreign soldiers to quell insurrections and defend any traitorous attempt on the imperial person. These were known as Verangiansa word signifying barbarians—and formed a corps of satellites more distinguished for valor than the famed Prætorian Bands of Rome.

The second chapter of the book reveals the hatred and jealousy existing between these foreign soldiers and the crafty civilians. The Verangian, to whom the reader is introduced, is an Anglo-Saxon too proud to bow his head to a Norman conqueror, a wanderer from his father-land, a soldier in search of better fortune, soon to discover by lucky chance among the crusaders the fair Bertha of his early love. Upon this slender thread the novelist hangs the romantic elements of the story. But Count Robert of Paris is in no sense a love drama; in fact it can hardly be termed a romance. It is rather a historic sketch, placing in sharp contrast the wild enthusiasm of western Europe, her castles of rude masonry, her mud hovels, her rude simplicity, with the over-refined manners and tapestried chambers of the eastern court hastening to its decay. It is living Europe confronting the dead centuries.

The third chapter introduces us to a richly furnished drawing room, where the Princess Anna Commena-the first lady his

torian-sits reading to a sleepy group her prolix history of the glory of her father's reign. At this gathering Scott brings together with great art all the leading actors of the drama; the Emperor Alexius and his wife Irene; Nicepherous Briennius, the intriguing son-in-law, husband of the fair historian; the crafty philosopher Agelastes; Achilles Tatius, master of the guards, and the faithful Verangian. This is the real commencement of the story, and to this gathering the news is announced of another body of the great Crusade, consisting not of the ignorant or of the fanatical like those led on by Peter the Hermit, but an army of lords and nobles marshaled by kings and emperors. Against this mass of steel-clad warriors the East had no power to oppose save the inherent cunning and strategy of Commenus. Craft and wealth meet stupidity and avarice. The more powerful chiefs of the Crusades are loaded with presents, feasted by the emperor with the richest delicacies, and their thirst slaked with iced wine; while their followers are left at a distance in malarial districts, and intentionally supplied with adulterated flour, tainted provisions, and bad water. Neglected by friends and insulted by foes, they contracted diseases and died in great numbers "without having once seen a foot of the Holy Land, for the recovery of which they had abandoned their peace, their competence, and their native country. Their misfortunes were imputed to their own wilfulness, and their sickness to the vehemence of their own appetites for raw fruits and unripened wines." By promises of wealth and long-practiced arts of diplomacy, the Emperor Commenus at last even induces the leaders of the crusade individually to acknowledge him - the Grecian Emperor originally lord paramount of all these regions, as their liege lord and suzerain.

Scott takes advantage of this historical fact to draw one of his matchless pictures, which in color and incident rivals the best pages of his more dramatic romances; and it is here that Count Robert, when the emperor left his throne for a single moment, dismounted from his horse, took the seat of royal purple, and indolently began to caress a large wolf-hound, which had followed him, and which, feeling as much at ease as his master, reposed its grim form on the carpets of gold and silk damask which tapestried the imperial footstool. It was a picture of modern liberty looking worn-out despotism in the face. That sublime audacity revealed the mettle of the race which was to make individual conscience supreme; and his haughty and fearless speech was the prologue of Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. We must pass over the meeting in the garden of Agesilaus, the entertainment at the palace, the drugged cup, the dungeon experience of the count, and his miraculous release, the fortitude and virtue of his Countess Brenhilda, the meeting of the Verangian with Bertha in the garden of the philosopher, the treachery of Briennius, his imprisonment and death-decree, and many other incidents of interest, for the remaining space of this article must be given to a brief consideration of "The Betrothed;" but the reader will be happy to know that, after the conquest of Jerusalem, Count Robert of Paris returned to Constantinople en route to his native kingdom. Upon reaching Italy the marriage of the Verangian and Bertha was celebrated in princely style; and on his return to England a large district, adjacent to the New Forest, near the home of his ancestors, was conferred upon him by William Rufus, where it is presumed they spent their declining years in peace and happiness.

"The Betrothed" opens with the year 1187-the time of the Third Crusade-when Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached the crusade from castle to castle, from town to town, awaking the inmost valleys of his native Cambria with the call to arms for the recovery of the Holy Sepulcher. As a connecting link between the stories we will say that the soldiers of the First Crusade, after years of hardship and suffering, at last accomplished their vows. Antioch and Jerusalem yielded to their arms, the Holy Sepulcher was redeemed from infidels.

Those who returned to their homes recounted their triumphs, and all Europe was aglow with new zeal. Forty-five years later, in the year 1142, a Second Crusade was organized against the impending dangers which threatened Palestine and Jerusalem. The warlike West was again in arms; but this crusade was more unfortunate than the first. The crusaders were again compelled to endure the outrages and perfidies of the Greek. As in the First Crusade, the Christian armies dragged in their train a great number of children, women, and old men, who could do nothing toward victory but greatly augmented the disaster of defeat. The piety and heroism of the First Crusade had degenerated into a love of show and military splendor. "That which was still more injurious to discipline," to quote from the admirable "History of the Crusades," by J. F. Michaud, "was the depravity of manners in the Christian army, which must be principally attributed to the great number of women that had taken arms and mixed in the ranks of the soldiery. In this crusade there was a troop of Amazons, commanded by a general, whose dress was much more admired than her courage," and whose gilded boots procured her a name which we will not copy from the historian's pages. Forty years of struggle pass away in Palestine, and at the time of the opening of our story Henry the Second of England, Richard the First, and Philip of France, determine on renewing the Holy War. Moved by the eloquence and enthusiasm of Baldwin, there is a general cessation of hostilities between the Welsh princes and their warlike neighbors on the Marches of England. But one castle, known as the Garde Doloureuse, was not so fortunate. Its owner was Raymond Berenger. The hand of his daughter was asked in marriage by one of the Welsh chieftains. The compliment was declined. Raymond Berenger, in accordance with a rash promise, gave battle upon the plain and was slain. The castle was assaulted, but faithfully defended by an honest Fleming, inspired by the heroism of the orphaned daughter. Before the battle, Scott gives us a fine picture of the Welsh bards, and an admirable idea of life in the mountain fastnesses of Wales. His description of the defense of the castle is so graphic that we seem to walk the ramparts with the soldiers, and listen to the counsel of its defenders. Hugo De Lacy, Constable of Chester, arrives in time to raise the siege of the castle, and at once lays siege to the heart of the fair Eveline, to whom it seems she had been promised, when a child, by her father. From a sense of duty, rather than love, she accepts his proposal. She visits her Saxon aunt-a cruel and demented relic of the house of Baldringham; and is compelled to sleep in a haunted chamber, known as the "Room of the Red Finger." The picture of Saxon life here presented is in strong contrast with the life of the Norman nobles. The century that had followed the Norman invasion of England had irritated wounded pride. Overcome by superstition and terror, Eveline sees in her dreams the spectre, and hears the fatal couplet, which gives name to the romance:

"Widowed wife and married maid,

Betrothed, betrayer, and betrayed."

Eveline goes from her aunt's to the abbess of a convent, a near relative, and Hugo De Lacy, having signified his intention of going to the Holy Land, asks a remission of his vow for two years; but the rigid prelate Baldwin was inexorable: "The advancement of the crusade was the chief business of Baldwin's life, and the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher from the infidels was the unfeigned object of all his exertions. The successor of the celebrated Becket had neither the extensive views, nor the aspiring spirit of that redoubted personage; but on the other hand, saint as the latter had become, it may be questioned whether, in his professions for the weal of christendom, he was half so sincere as was the present archbishop."

The interview between De Lacy and Baldwin shows the great power of the Church in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He was compelled to leave Eveline before wedlock had united them indissolubly, and the first line of the couplet:

"Widowed wife and married maid," seemed already in the course of fulfillment. Hugo de Lacy sets sail for Palestine with these good-by words: "If I appear not when three years are elapsed let the Lady Eveline conclude that the grave holds De Lacy, and seek out for her mate some happier man. She can not find one more grateful, though there are many who better deserve her."

Eveline returns to the castle of her father; the care of the country against Welsh invasion is assigned to Damian de Lacy, who had already by acts of bravery won the esteem of Eveline. The days and months of indolent castle life wear slowly away, with the occasional visit of a strolling harper, or a hawking expedition near the castle, which Scott, with his love for outdoor amusements, enters into with apparent relish. On one of these excursions Eveline is made prisoner by a party of Welsh soldiers, and she is led away blindfolded through the recesses of the hills. She is rescued by Damian de Lacy, who however is seriously wounded, and taken against the advice of friends to the castle. Unfounded rumors poison the minds of the people, the castle is attacked by the king's forces, led on by a traitor of Hugo's family. Damian is taken prisoner and condemned to death. More than three years had passed away, and now Hugo returns in poverty, and completely broken in spirit. Damian is released, and Hugo waives his claim to the hand of Eveline, and Damian wins one of the noblest women that Scott has made immortal in the world. So much for the brief outline of the story, which reveals the manner of life on the Welsh borders during the time of the Third Crusade. The two novels which follow, "The Talisman" and "Ivanhoe," portray even in more vivid colors the sufferings of the crusaders in Palestine, and the every day life of Merrie England.

THE IVY.

By HENRY BURTON.

Pushing the clods of earth aside,
Leaving the dark where foul things hide,
Spreading its leaves to the summer sun,
Bondage ended, freedom won;

So, my soul, like the ivy be,
Rise, for the sunshine calls for thee!

Climbing up as the seasons go,
Looking down upon things below,
Twining itself in the branches high,
As if the frail thing owned the sky;

So, my soul, like the ivy be,
Heaven, not earth, is the place for thee.
Wrapping itself round the giant oak,
Hiding itself from the tempest's stroke;
Strong and brave is the fragile thing,
For it knows one secret, how to cling:

So, my soul, there's strength for thee,
Hear the Mighty One, "Lean on me!"
Green are its leaves when the world is white,
For the ivy sings through the frosty night;
Keeping the hearts of oak awake,

Till the flowers shall bloom and the spring shall break;
So, my soul, through the winter's rain,
Sing the sunshine back again.

Opening its green and fluttering breast,
Giving the timid birds a nest;
Coming out from the winter wild,
To make a wreath for the Holy Child;
So let my life like the ivy be,

A help to man and a wreath for Thee!

-Good Words.

C. L. S. C. COMMENCEMENT.*

CLASS OF 1883.

A special dispensation of weather seemed to have been prepared for the accommodation of the second graduating class of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle on Saturday. A bright warm day was benevolently shaded and cooled by nature's great sunshade of cloud during all the out-door exercises, and promptly upon the entry of the multitude under the cover of the Amphitheater it began to rain to still further cool the air. Everything was opportune, and the surroundings faultless.

The management terrestrial was equally good. There were four different processions, in five divisions, moving from different rendezvous in the grounds and converging and articulating with each other. Each of them started on time "to a tick," got to and dropped into place, and everything moved with the smoothness and precision of a well-adjusted machine. The program, as prepared, was carried out to the letter and second.

The attendance was as immense, the feeling as good as the day and management. The unprecedented crowd of the night before was augmented in the morning by boat-loads and trainloads, and when the signal-bells for beginning the day's movement sounded the avenues were thronged.

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Punctually at the hour the Guard of the Gate," H. S. Field, J. J. Covert, Miss E. E. Tuttle, W. H. Rogers, Charles B. Wood, S. J. M. Eaton, Miss Myrtie Hudson, A. M. Martin, J. G. Allen, A. M. Mattison, and the "Guard of the Grove," Miss Annie E. Wilcox, A. Wilder, Miss M. F. Wells, Miss E. Irvin, Miss Eleanor O'Connell, E. C. Norton, Mrs. E. Howe, De Forest

Temple, Mrs. Isaiah Golding, George Secbrick, in charge of Marshal S. J. M. Eaton, formed at the cottage of Lewis Miller (Auditorium), the right resting on Hedding Avenue.

The keys of the Golden Gate having been delivered by President Miller to the Messenger, Rev. A. H. Gillet, the division marched up Hedding Avenue to Clark, and out Clark to the Hall of Philosophy, and were distributed to their proper posi ions in charge of the inclosure of St. Paul's Grove.

The second division, consisting of fifty-two little girls, the youngest, Jennie Templeton, four years of age, heading the procession, beautifully garlanded and bearing artistic baskets laden with flowers to their very brim, conducted by Mrs. Frank Beard, superintendent, assisted by Miss M. E. Bemis, Miss Minnie Barney, Messrs. Garret E. Ryckman, and W. H. Burroughs, and Miss Blanche Shove, was formed at the Children's Temple, the right resting on Clark Avenue. The "Society of the Hall in the Grove," (the graduates of the class of 1882, C. L. S. C.) were thus escorted by this beautiful company of prospective Chautauquans through Clark Avenue to Hedding, down Hedding to Simpson, through Simpson to Park Athenæum, through Park Athenæum to Lake Avenue, to Dr. Vincent's cottage.

The sixth division, consisting of the graduates of the class of 1883, and the graduates of the class of 1882, who had not last year passed through the Golden Gate, and under the Arches, met at the gate of St. Paul's Grove, on Merrill Avenue, each provided with a ticket, a garnet badge, and a copy of the commencement service. A portion of the Guard of the Grove stood within the gate, and a portion stood in waiting without. The Messenger stood at the portal, holding the keys of the gate. The Guard of the Gate took their places in order, near the Messenger, while the leaders of the graduating class, Rev. H. C. Farrar, chairman, and Rev. George C. Wilding, took their stations, one on the right and the other on the left of the gate. way, that at a given signal the class might read responsively the form of service provided. The classes were arranged in parallel columns stretching from the portal itself to the middle of Miller Avenue, a block and a half.

* At Chautauqua, Saturday, August 18, 1888,

At precisely 9:45 the Chautauqua Band, headed by Frank Wright, Marshal, marching up Lake Avenue, reached the cottage of Dr. Vincent. Here the banner of the C. L. S. C., with the "Guard of the Banner," Mrs. M. Bailey and Mrs. Delos Hatch, were escorted to their places in the line. Four little children, Chippie Firestone, Edna McClellan, Nellie Mallory and Bobbie Davenport were conducted to their places as "streamer bearers," while the beautiful fabric itself was borne by Mr. W. E. H. Massey and Mr. Will Butler. The Superintendent of Instruction, Dr. Vincent, took his place in the line. The procession took its order of march, moving through Lake Avenue to Haven Avenue, and up Haven to the Hall of Philosophy, which it entered, and the band departed to escort thither "The Chautauqua Procession." (Division V.) This division formed at the Hotel Athenæum, Frank Wright, Marshal, the right resting on the north main front of the hotel, in the following order:

Band.

Chautauqua Board of Trustees, led by Lewis Miller, Esq., President. The Faculty and Students of the "Chautauqua School of Languages," J. H. Worman, Marshal.

The Normal Alumni, carrying their banners for the various years since 1874, Frank Beard, Marshal.

The members of the classes of the C. L. S. C. for the years 1887, 1886, 1885, 1884, Mr. Copeland, Marshal.

The guests of the Assembly, Rev. Frank Russell, Marshal. The procession, thus constituted, moved at ten o'clock from the piazza of the Hotel Athenæum, across the north side of the Park Athenæum, to Lake Avenue, out Lake Avenue to Cookman Avenue, up Cookman to Clark, halting on Cookman, the

right resting on Clark, in open order, the Hall of Philosophy

being on its right flank.

At this time the entire neighborhood of the "Hall in the Grove" was filled with interested crowds of spectators, whose eyes saw for the second time the "Recognition Services" of the immense class in the "People's University."

More than a hundred and fifty of the "Society of the Hall in the Grove" (graduates of the preceding year), entered the Hall, and were seated in its western side.

Precisely at ten o'clock, as the booming of the great bell at the Point indicated the hour, the members of the Class of 1883, with such members of the Class of 1882 as had not last year passed the Arches, standing at the gate of St. Paul's Grove, read responsively the devotional services, Rev. George C. Wilding acting as precentor of the first section, and Rev. H. C. Farrar as the precentor of the second section.

The "Messenger," Rev. A. H. Gillet, in slow and solemn utterance gave the announcement as follows:

I come to inform all candidates for enrollment in the "Society of the Hall in the Grove" that the hour appointed for your reception has arrived; the Hall has been set in order; the Path through the Grove has been opened; the Arches under which you must pass have been erected; the Key which will open this Gate has been placed in my hands. And to you who, as members of the CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE, have completed the four years' Course of Reading, and now hold in your hands a pledge of the same, I extend, in the name of the authorities, a welcome into St. Paul's Grove, under the First Arch-and let the watchman guard carefully the Gate.

After the announcement by the Messenger, he turned and opened the gate. The first to enter was Mr. Miner Curtis, an invalid, borne in a wheeled carriage by the advance members of the class of '83, and accompanied by his wife and son, who were graduates of last year.

Having entered the Gate, and the Gate having been closed, the class proceeded very slowly toward the Hall, passing the As they walked up the beautifully second and third Arches. decorated way, the "Choir of the Hall in the Grove" stationed at the fourth Arch, and led by Prof. C. C. Case, sang “A Song of To-day:"

"Sing peans over the Past!
We bury the dead years tenderly."

At the entrance to the Hall stood the Superintendent of In. struction to welcome the coming class, and as they passed by the Arch nearest the Hall, the fifty-two little girls standing in double columns, scattered the way of the coming graduates with the beauteous flowers, emblematic of the flower-strewn paths of intellectual light which they may hope to tread in the coming years.

On entering the building the "Society of the Hall in the Grove" received their brothers and sisters with the most marked tokens of good cheer, waving their handkerchiefs and vocally expressing the kindly feeling of the seniors of the year agone. At precisely 10:20 the "C. L. S. C. Glee Club," Prof. W. F. Sherwin, conductor, led the classes (which filled the Hall to repletion), as they sang

"A sound is thrilling thro' the trees

And vibrant thro' the air."

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Fellow Students of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle of the Class of 1883:

DEARLY BELOVED - You have finished the appointed and accepted course of reading. You have been admitted to this sacred Grove. You have passed the Arches dedicated to "Faith," "Science," "Literature" and "Art." You have entered in due form this Hall, the center of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle; and now, as Superintendent of Instruction, in behalf of my associates, the counselors, who are this day absent, I greet you, and hereby announce that you, and your brothers and sisters absent from us this day, who have completed with you the prescribed course of reading, are accepted and approved graduates of the "Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle," and that you are entitled to membership in the "Society of the Hall in the Grove." The Lord bless and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

I may say on behalf of the only counselor who is on the ground, Dr. Lyman Abbott, that his indisposition renders it unsafe for him to be here, but at my cottage he will join the procession, and go with you to the Amphitheater. We will now unite in singing

"Bright gleams again Chautauqua's wave,

And green her forest arches."

During the singing of the ode, according to the direction of the Superintendent of Instruction, the class of 1882, under the marshalship of W. A. Duncan, quietly marched from the Hall in double column, taking their position on Haven, Clark, and Cookman avenues, that the graduating class might pass through their ranks at the close of the service of recognition.

The Superintendent of Instruction, Dr. Vincent, Lewis Miller, the Messenger, the Secretary of the C. L. S. C., preceded by the children (flower bearers) and the Banner of the C. L. S. C., headed the procession, which passed out of the south side of the Hall, around Clark to Cookman Avenue, and passed down through the opened ranks of the classes of the C. L. S. C., from whom they received constant marks of recognition and affection, the classes in some cases waving their Chautauqua salute to the Chief as he passed by.

When the head of the procession reached the cottage of Dr. Vincent, a halt was made for a few moments, during which Dr. Lyman Abbott, one of the counselors of the C. L. S. C., and the orator of the day, took his place in the ranks.

As the procession marched up the long walk to the north door of the Amphitheater, immense throngs filled all the available standing room on the slopes of the ravine, and the ,,Blooming of the Lilies" (the Chautauqua salute) was given by

all the opened ranks of the classes as the head of the procession passed through.

The Chautauqua Band, stationed at the entrance of the north gate, discoursed sweet music during the passage of the long cortege.

All the officers, invited guests, members of the board of Chautauqua trustees, officers and members of the Chautauqua School of Languages, the Normal Alumni, and the various classes of the C. L. S. C., passed into the great Amphitheater, when the ropes were dropped, and sooner than we write it, all the remaining seating space was filled to overflowing.

The platform was filled with distinguished Chautauquans and others; the organ gave forth its sweet harmonies under the manipulation of Prof. Andrews; the Chautauqua Banner of the C. L. S. C. was stationed in full view of the vast throng; and after the devotional exercises Dr. Vincent introduced Dr. Ly man Abbott, who delivered the Commencement oration, as follows:

THE DEMOCRACY OF LEARNING.

Fellow Chautauquans :—I see in some of your eyes triumph. You have run in four years a race with uncertainty whether you could ever reach the goal. You have carried on your work under difficulties and discouragements, such as are never known to him who has perfect and continual leisure for the pursuit of studies; but in the midst of employments which were incessant and imperative in their demands upon you; and your courage, your patience, your hope, have vanquished the obstacles, and you are here to-day to receive the outward sign and symbol of your inward victory. In other eyes I see expectation. You have commenced a course and you are hopeful of achieving a result, which has been made possible to you within the last few years, that the fruits and results of study might be less to the persistent and professional pursuit of scholarship. yours though you could not give yourself to a life of study, still In other eyes I see desire dimmed by fear and doubt; you do not know whether this great realm is open to you or not; you wish that you could be assured that it is. Is this all a mistake? Is your triumph a false one, your expectation a delusive one, your hope and your desire one impossible of attainment? This is so asserted. There are not a few in our times who are of the

opinion that learning is of necessity only for the few, or at all events if the many can enter a little upon the realm, they must always live upon the border and never can enter into tl. heart

of the country.

I desire, if I may this morning, to meet and to answer this objection of skepticism, and to show that learning is within the possible reach to-day of the great body of industrious, hardworking, perplexed, and driven people of America; that it is not the privilege of the few; that it is the prerogative of the many. I desire to show you that we are entering into an epoch which I may call the "Democracy of Learning." We have already entered into the epoch of democracy in religion. The time has gone by, at least for all Protestant people, of believing that religion is for the few, or that even the higher and larger privileges of religious life are for the few. It has been established for all those who believe in an open Bible and in the universal religion of Jesus Christ that the innermost sanctuary of the temple is for every one. The great wall that before separated the court of Israel from the court of the priests has been broken down; there is but one court. The great veil that hung between the holy of holies and the court of the priests has been torn asunder, and every one of us is not only priest but high-priest, free to enter into the very holy of holies. And we have entered into the epoch of democracy in public affairs. The time has gone by when political power belonged to the few and political intelligence was believed to be the prerogative of the few. We have come into an epoch in which political power is lodged in the hands of the great masses of the people; and it is lodged there because we believe that, on the whole, political intelligence is lodged in the hands of the great masses of the

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