Part 15

_The School of Theology_, J. H. Vincent, D.D., President, is to commence its first session July 12. It will be an attraction to many. The studies and topics for discussion, we see, are arranged not alone for beginners, but to allure ministers of experience to review first principles, and extend their acquaintance with truths that the wisest know but in part.

_The School of Elocution_—open from July 12th to the 25th—will be in charge of Prof. Cummock, a gentleman of culture, and thoroughly fitted for his position. Too many offer themselves to read and speak in public who know almost nothing of English phonation, and were never trained to pronounce the language distinctly and forcibly. If two-thirds of the average clergymen of the country, who are not wanting in ability, could be persuaded to seek, in their summer vacations, such instructions in voice culture and manner, as are now offered them, it would add much to their present efficiency, and make the Sabbath services a delight to their hearers.

_The Sunday-School Normal Department_ retains its prominent place in the program, and the managers have made a wise selection of the persons to whom the work is committed.

_Chautauqua Music_, both instrumental and vocal, has always been of a high order, and a source of much pleasure to those in attendance. From the grand organ, chorus choir, Tennesseeans, skillful directors and distinguished soloists that are promised, we may expect special richness in that part of the feast of fat things.

The lectures in the Amphitheater and Hall of Philosophy will be by men of acknowledged ability, equal to the best that have been on the platform before them. By such men to such audiences no second rate productions will be presented.

Recreations are recognized as desirable, and provided for—such as will please all and injure none. Nothing innocent and elevating is forbidden. Those who enjoy good society, and the friendly intercourse of cultured people, find that at the Assembly in the grove thoroughly refining influences are prevalent, and seem never to tire of praising the resort.

Although some imitations have been attempted, the original Chautauqua is unrivaled, the cheapest, most accessible, and for many reasons the most enjoyable summer resort in all the land. If you are a stranger, get the program as published in the _Assembly Herald_, study it, and in due time report in person on the ground. You will then know, and unless different from most well disposed persons, you will not need a second invitation to come.

GOING TO EUROPE.

Stowed away among the cherished plans of most people is generally a European trip. Sometimes the plan is vague, to be sure. Sometimes the probabilities are that it will never in the world be carried out. However that may be, it is a good thing for which to plan. Learning something about the conditions and details of European traveling gives not a little of the relish of the actual trip, and a preparatory journey on paper does much to educate us to travel—as important a training, by the way, as traveling.

The value of this practice was admirably illustrated last summer at Chautauqua by Dr. Vincent, in his introduction to the first tourist’s trip beyond the sea. He said:

When I was a boy I took a trip to Europe without leaving home. I imagined myself traveling all over the continent of Europe, going to Egypt and Palestine. I cut out a lot of paper and gave it value as money, foreign money and American money, and every once in a while I would take it up and imagine it covering the expense of the trip. I would read a little, and imagine myself going almost everywhere. I said to myself: “If I can ever go to Europe I shall certainly go,” and I went.

I have often said to myself, if I were a teacher, knowing the power of the imagination over children, I would take my school on a trip to Europe, and when they grew weary with the recitations and of the monotonous tasks or other routine of school life, I would say: “Now let us have a bit of fun, let us go to Europe.” I have thought of how much geography, history and architecture I could bring out on a trip to Europe! What demand there would be all the while for the knowledge of arithmetic! How many things I could teach a lot of youngsters in the average school room in the way of an imaginary trip to Europe that should last several weeks or months! And what an opportunity we have, what facilities we have for the furtherance of a scheme like this, in the photographs, the engravings and books of travel, and all sorts of things that abound everywhere, by which little people might go with you, and be glad all the while they went, and learn all the more because they were glad.

And then how much more intelligent the traveler would be in his maturer years! Men and women who imagine themselves going to Europe become much more intelligent observers on a trip to Europe. It pays double value to them.

Imaginary trips beyond the sea may teach two very important things: How to travel and how to observe. It is impossible for a novice to make a European trip with the ease with which one would journey about the United States. One must encounter strange customs, trying climates, new languages, endless interesting sights. He will be on the verge of losing his baggage, dire calamity! he will have his trunk ransacked, he will be charged extra for over-weight, he will have to wait and fight and worry his way unless fortified by a knowledge of what he must go through with, and of how to act under all circumstances. He will miss much that he wants to see, and see much in which he is not particularly interested, unless his trip is thoroughly planned and he knows accurately what he is going to see and where to go to see it.

To study up for a European trip begin with your pocket-book, and ask, “Can I afford it?” The voyage is of course the first item. The different lines which cross the Atlantic—no less than twelve in number—are very nearly uniform in their charges, in their accommodations, and in their provisions for the safety of their passengers. A first-class passage over and back may be put at $140, but as steerage passenger one may go for about $60. The expense of traveling in Europe varies with the caution, tastes and habits of the person. Supposing that you are willing to walk much, to go to second-class hotels, to ride in second or third-class carriages, and take very little luggage, you may make your trip for from $2 to $3 per day, and in that way, too, you have the advantage of seeing and hearing very much that the more expensive and, in consequence, more exclusive style of traveling denies. More than half of the unpleasantness of traveling second-class in Europe is in the disagreeable sound of the word “second-class.” On the Continent the associations of the third-class carriage are by no means unpleasant—nearly all students and many professional men travel in that way. It is, too, the only way in which to come in contact with the people and study their habits:

First-class traveling may be estimated at about $7 per day in Great Britain, and $6 on the Continent. The items which must be added to the usual hotel expenses and car and carriage rates consist largely of fees to servants in the hotels and restaurants, and to the guards, porters and guides that seem to be essential to each traveler. It is said that many servants on the Continent receive no wages except the fees from travelers. It is not strange then that the result is that in order to receive any respectable attention one must pay often and liberally. A not inconsiderable part of the day’s expense is the little fee which is required at the gate of churches, castles, museums, parks, and where-not.

It may be roughly estimated that a tour of three months through England, Scotland, France, Germany, Holland and Italy can be made for $650. Of course this is making no allowance for purchases, which latter, it is well to warn lovers of bric-a-brac, are a continual snare to pocket-books and incumbrance to luggage.

If you can afford the trip, then pack your trunk. Apropos of this operation it is well to remember that much luggage is a continual annoyance and expense. In France you can carry but fifty-five pounds free; for all over that amount you must pay. On the railways of Germany, Holland, Italy and Switzerland no luggage, as a rule, is free. The truth is, you must submit to expense and trouble for every vestige over what you can carry in your hand. A sorry outlook for Americans, who are accustomed to the generous outfit which our capacious “Saratogas” allow. The useful little “steamer trunks,” about twenty-five inches in length, eighteen in width and fourteen deep, hold considerable property if they be well packed, and one can easily arrange to leave all the ocean paraphernalia, including the steamer chairs—a _sine qua non_ to ocean travel, by the way—at the port of landing, until their return. Perhaps the best plan is to take only necessary clothing—very little finery and all the small conveniences which are requisite for comfortable living at home. A very useful and formerly essential part of your outfit will be your passport. Although not now absolutely necessary, except in Russia and Portugal, it is a very convenient document, as it secures many privileges to its possessor. It does seem strange to be obliged to carry a paper testifying that you are yourself but in the masses of humanity which throng Europe it is not surprising that it is sometimes necessary to be identified. In the United States the Secretary of State has the power of granting passports. In order to procure one an affidavit of citizenship, with papers of naturalization, if a naturalized citizen, must be forwarded. This must be accompanied by the affidavit of a witness, and an oath of allegiance to the United States, all these duly made and sworn before a justice of the peace. With these go a description of your person, in which your age is given, your height, the color of your eyes and hair, the size of your nose and mouth, the length of your chin, your complexion and the shape of face.

On reaching Europe it will be necessary to secure the indorsement, or _visa_, as it is called, of the American minister, or consul, and afterward of the minister of the country to be visited. The last item of business to worry you before you leave is to put your funds into a shape in which you will have no trouble. The “letter of credit” is undoubtedly the favorite method, as by it any amount may be drawn at almost any place a tourist will visit. Several banking houses of New York furnish them. Napoleons are current in all parts of the Continent, and English sovereigns pass in Belgium, Holland and Germany. _Circular notes_ of from £10 to £20 and upward may be obtained and are available throughout Europe.

These matters arranged, there is a much more important one to occupy your attention—to plan your trip. The indefinite purpose of tourists, their hap hazard efforts to see everything, involves them too often in a jumble of misconnections, lost days, out-of-the-way trips, and unnecessary expense, where a careful arrangement of their plan beforehand would have saved them time, trouble and money. Plan your trip. If you can go for but six weeks or three months, do not try to see all Europe and part of Asia in that time. Be content to “do” thoroughly a smaller territory, and be assured that you will be the gainer. It is well to invest in a guide-book—a stout, latest edition, reliable guide-book—Harper’s or Appleton’s is best—and select your trip. Decide exactly where you want to go, and what you want to see. If you are interested in paintings, prepare an outline of the European schools of painting, with the examples of each that will be found on your route. Put down on your chart the subjects of these pictures, and an outline history of the artists. Thus equipped you can study and enjoy the work without wasting time in learning historical details. It is wise to know something of the history of each locality which you visit, to be familiar with the palaces, cathedrals and museums of the cities, and the government, customs and employments of the people. Nor is it at all difficult to learn these things. Books of travels, delightful magazine papers, newspaper letters teem with information which can all be utilized on an imaginary European trip. It would be wiser if many people who spend much time in acquiring a slight smattering of French, German and Italian in order to make their way understandingly on the Continent would let the language go and study the countries, their cities and their people. Better, because English is spoken at all the leading European hotels and by most guides, and at nearly all points interpreters may be found to assist in making any necessary arrangements. Of course the greatest amount of good can only be gained by one commanding the languages, but where there must be a choice between a smattering of them and general information on what one is about to see, by all means choose the latter.

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Through the whole course of life it is right to hold, and to have held in a preëminent degree, the kindest language toward our parents, because there is the heaviest punishment for light and winged words; for Nemesis, the messenger of Justice, has been appointed to look after all men in such matters.—_Plato._

C. L. S. C. WORK.

By Rev. J. H. VINCENT, D. D., SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION.

July is one of the C. L. S. C. vacation months.

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“Memorial Day,” Sunday, July 13. Read Paul’s wonderful words about “Charity” in 1st Corinthians, xiii.

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Salutations—sincere and abundant—to all the members of the Circle who have opportunity this month of meeting in the green woods or by the lake-side at one of the “Summer Assemblies.” Hold “Round-Tables.” Talk and plan, and then report the new things you think of. If you can not go to any of the great Assemblies, hold a comfortable little “C. L. S. C. Grove-Rest” or “Go-to-the-Grove” picnic in your own neighborhood. One such humble gathering may be the seed of a grand Assembly one of these days.

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A member of the class of ’87 asks concerning the mountain known as Quarantania. This is a high bluff on the west of the Jordan, near the north end of the Dead Sea, and believed to be the Mountain of Temptation.

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“Hand Book of Abbreviations and Contractions, current, classical and mediæval; also of secret, benevolent, and other organizations, legal works of the United States and Great Britain, and of the Railroads of the American Continent.” By the Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows, A.M., D.D. Chicago: The Standard Book Company.

A _multum in parvo_ for the general reader. The title fully unfolds the character of the volume.

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“A Complete Hand Book of Synonyms and Antonyms, or synonyms and words of opposite meaning. With an appendix.” By the Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows, A.M., D.D. Chicago: The Standard Book Company.

This compact, neatly printed, well-bound volume is one of the most valuable of the “Standard Hand-Book Series,” edited by Bishop Fallows, of Chicago. For the English reader or writer desiring carefully to discriminate between words and phrases, anxious to use language most appropriately, we know of no single volume equaling this hand-book for utility and general adaptation to his needs.

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To a member of the circle who is really a very large-hearted and noble man, as I have since found him, but who is “decidedly opposed to teaching religious truths in schools of any kind,” and who objects to being required to read the “Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation,” I have made the following reply, which I insert here, as it may meet similar cases:

_My Dear Sir_:—Your letter of December 27 is before me. We have provided a college outlook, a college outlook which touches every department in the realm of culture. We give a bird’s eye view of this vast world which appeals to every faculty of the soul. We touch the physical man, the physical world in which he lives, above among stars, below among stones, about among plants and animals. We study history, the history of the earth as revealed in science, the history of man as unfolded in the traditions and records of the race. We study political and social economy. We also study somewhat (to a very limited degree) the phenomena and laws of man’s moral and spiritual being. _It would be a strange course of study that ignored faculties as real, as universal, and as persistent in their operations as the religious faculties._ We avoid scrupulously everything that tends to the promotion of sectarianism in thought or spirit, but we believe in that profound philosophy, which all leading educators of life have recognized, that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” A culture of muscle alone is a one-sided culture. The culture of the reason alone is equally one-sided. A culture of memory alone is folly. The true culture is a culture of body, mind and heart, the soul in its entirety, with its many-sided relations to the truths which belong to those relations: God, neighbor, home, life, nation, time, eternity. The C. L. S. C. would indeed be a most narrow and bigoted thing if it were to refuse attention to the religious world. Now concerning Dr. Walker’s work on “The Plan of Salvation,” the name is, I confess, quite misleading. It is a book written forty years ago, by one of the ablest intellects of America. No American religious book has had a wider circulation. It is profoundly philosophical, and it gives a most original view of the old Jewish history; and a man’s education who calls himself an infidel is incomplete without reading that book. There is not the slightest tinge of sectarianism about it. It is a vigorous classic which every student of the English tongue should read. Hundreds of our readers, who are not members of any evangelical church, and who are skeptical in their tendency, have read the book with great delight, and though prejudiced somewhat against the title, have given words of testimony to its wonderful power as a literary production, to say nothing about the vigor of its arguments. You say you “find sermons in stones, and _good in everything_.” Can you not, _if you find good in everything, find good in a philosophical book written by a mighty intellect, acknowledged by the scholars of the past forty years_? “The Plan of Salvation” is not a discussion of the way a soul is to be saved. It is a discussion of the philosophy underlying the biblical history. You can not afford not to read it, even if you decline to prosecute our course of study. I am a little surprised that a broad man should be “decidedly opposed to teaching religious truths in schools of any kind.” What would a culture be that ignored the religious? One of the strongest arguments that I ever read in favor of the Bible as a text-book for study, was written by Huxley, who pleaded fervently for it as _a book for study in every secular school_. I do not “compel” you to read Walker’s book; I do not say you MUST buy the book. You may read any book on any phase of the question, Roman or Protestant, according to the tendency of your faith. _Something_ on that line you must read to complete our broad survey.

THE C. L. S. C. COURSE FOR 1884-’85.

Beginner’s Hand Book in Chemistry, Prof. Appleton.

Scientific Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN: “The Circle of the Sciences;” “Huxley on Science;” “Home Studies in Chemistry,” by Prof. J. T. Edwards; “Easy Lessons in Animal Biology,” Dr. J. H. Wythe; “The Temperance Teachings of Science;” “Studies in Kitchen Science and Art.”

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Barnes’s “Brief History of Greece.”[A]

“Preparatory Greek Course in English;”[B] Wilkinson.

“College Greek Course in English;” Wilkinson.

Chautauqua Text-Book No. 5, “Greek History;”[A] Vincent.

“Cyrus and Alexander;” Abbott.

Historical Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN: “Ancient Life in Greece;” “Greek Mythology.”

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“The Art of Speech,” volume one; Dr. L. T. Townsend.

General Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN: “Talks About Good English.”

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“The Character of Jesus;” Horace Bushnell.

“How to Help the Poor;” Mrs. James T. Field.

“History of the Reformation;” Bishop J. F. Hurst.

Sunday Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

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Readings in _Our Alma Mater_:[C] “Lessons in Every-Day Speech,” Prof. W. D. MacClintock; “Lessons in Household Decoration,” Miss Susan Hayes Ward; “Lessons in Self-Discipline—Memory, Thinking, Selection of Books,” etc. Official Communications to Members.[D]

[A] Not to be read by the classes of ’85, ’86 and ’87.

[B] Not to be read by the classes of ’85 and ’86.

[C] The _Alma Mater_ is sent free to all members of the C. L. S. C. who are recorded at Plainfield, N. J., and whose annual fee is paid.

[D] To recorded members several other valuable documents are forwarded without additional expense.

LOCAL CIRCLES.