auqua, only three years old is already, in Scripture phrase,
lengthening its cords and strengthening its stakes.

CHAPTER VII

A NEW NAME AND NEW FACES

THE fourth session of the Assembly opened in 1877 with a new name,
_Chautauqua_ taking the place of old Fair Point. The former title had
caused some confusion. Fair Point was often misread "Fairport," and
letters wandered to distant places of similar names. There was a
Chautauqua Lake station on the Erie Railway, and a Chautauqua Point
encampment across the lake from Fair Point, but the name "Chautauqua"
had not been appropriated, and by vote of the trustees it was adopted;
the government was requested to change the name of the Post Office, and
the railroads and steamboats to place Chautauqua upon their
announcements. Fair Point disappeared from the record, and is now
remembered only by the decreasing group of the oldest Chautauquans.

Every season brings its own anxieties, and as the Assembly of 1877 drew
near, a new fear came to the leaders of Chautauqua. A few will
remember, and others have heard, that in 1877 took place the most
extensive railway strike in the annals of the nation. The large station
of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Pittsburgh was burned by a mob, and for
weeks at a time, no trains ran either into or out of many important
centers. Fortunately the strike was adjusted and called off before the
Assembly opened, and on the first day four thousand people entered the
gates, a far greater number than at any former opening.

On that year the menace of denominational rivalry threatened to confront
Chautauqua. Across the lake, two miles from the Assembly, another point
reaches westward, facing the Assembly ground. This tract was purchased
by an enterprising company belonging to Baptist churches, and named
Point Chautauqua. Its founders disclaimed any intention of becoming
competitors with the Assembly. Their purpose, as announced, was to
supply sites for summer homes, especially to members and friends of
their own denomination. They began by building an expensive hotel at a
time when the Assembly was contented with small boarding houses; and
they soon followed the hotel with a large lecture-hall far more
comfortable than either the out-door auditorium or the tent-pavilion at
Chautauqua. To attract visitors they soon provided a program of
speakers, with occasional concerts. Thus on opposite shores of the lake
two institutions were rising, in danger