e an ear-trumpet. Mrs. Beard used to
say that whenever she wished to hold a private conversation with him,
they hired a boat and rowed out at least a mile from the shore. When the
Assembly enlarged its boundaries by a purchase of land, the Ark was
moved up to higher ground in the forest near where the Normal Hall now
stands, and there served almost a generation of Chautauqua workers,
until its frail materials were in danger of collapse, and it was taken
down. Less famous buildings have been kept in memory by tablets and
monuments; but it would require no small slab of marble to contain the
names of the famous men and women who dwelt in that old Guest House; and
what a book might have been made if some Boswell had kept the record of
its stories and sayings! After spending two nights in the Ark, the Rev.
Alfred Taylor's poetic muse was aroused to sing of the place and its
occupants after this fashion:

This structure of timber and muslin contained
Of preachers and teachers some two or three score;
Of editors, parsons a dozen or more.
There were Methodists, Baptists, and 'Piscopals, too
And grave Presbyterians, a handful or two.
There were lawyers, and doctors and various folks,
All full of their wisdom, and full of their jokes.
There were writers of lessons, and makers of songs,
And shrewd commentators with wonderful tongues;
And all of these busy, industrious men
Found it hard to stop talking at just half-past ten.
They talked, and they joked, and they kept such a clatter
That neighboring folks wondered what was the matter
But weary at last, they extinguished the light,
And went to their beds for the rest of the night.

The formal opening of the Assembly in 1876 took place after the
Scientific and Temperance gatherings, on Tuesday evening, August 1st, in
the leaf-roofed Auditorium, but the benches were now provided with backs
for the comfort of the thousands. The platform had been enlarged to make
room for a choir, under the leadership in turn of W. F. Sherwin and
Philip P. Bliss, whose gospel songs are still sung around the world.
Only a few months later, that voice was hushed forever on earth, when
the train bearing the singer and his wife crashed through a broken
bridge at Ashtabula, Ohio. The record of that evening shows that fifteen
speakers gave greetings, supposedly five minutes in length, although
occasionally the flow o