g through the years since at
the services of the Chautauqua Circle, was written and set to music by
Miss Lucy J. Rider of Chicago, afterward Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer, one of
the founders of the Deaconess movement in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. It begins with the lines:

The winds are whispering to the trees,
The hill-tops catch the strain,
The forest lifts her leafy gates
To greet God's host again.

In the year of which we are writing, 1877, Mary A. Lathbury gave to
Chautauqua two songs which have become famous, and are to be found in
every hymnal published during the last generation. One is the Evening
Song of Praise, "Day is dying in the West," written to be sung at the
even-tide conferences beside the lake. The other, beginning, "Break thou
the bread of life," was the study song for the Normal Classes. Another,
less widely known abroad, but sung every year at Chautauqua is the
Alumni Song, "Join, O friends, in a memory song." These were a few of
the many songs written by Miss Lathbury at Dr. Vincent's request, and
set to music by Professor Sherwin. Originally composed for the Normal
Class, then the most prominent feature on the program, after the
Chautauqua Circle arose to greatness in 1878, they were adopted as the
songs of that widespread organization. For the C. L. S. C. a class song
was written each year, until the Chautauqua songs grew into a book. Not
all of these class songs have become popular, but quite a number are
still sung at the Institution, especially at class-meetings and in the
Recognition Day services.

At the Assembly of 1877 the Normal Class still stood in the foreground.
Special courses of lessons were given to Primary Teachers, by Mrs.
Emily Huntington Miller, Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts, and the ever-popular
"Pansy"--Mrs. G. R. Alden. The record informs us that the average
attendance at the four normal tents was more than five hundred. Thorough
reviews after the course were held from time to time, and this year two
competitive examinations, one on August 14th for those unable to remain
until the close, but received examination on the entire course--fifty
questions in number; the other on Tuesday, August 21st with three
hundred candidates for the diploma.

From 1876 for a number of years it was the custom to hold an anniversary
service on one evening, for the Normal Alumni. The graduates marched in
procession, led by a band, a silken banner before each