and looked at its radiating and ascending seats, he said
to Dr. Vincent, "This is a genuine _amphitheater_." The name was
adopted, and the Amphitheater became the meeting place for all the
popular lectures and the great Sunday services. Many were the
distinguished speakers, men and women, who stood upon its platform, and
as many singers whose voices enraptured throngs. At a popular concert
almost as many seemed to be standing, crowded under the eaves, as were
seated beneath the roof.

The old Amphitheater stood until 1897. In that year the building of the
Massey Memorial Organ made some changes necessary. The old building was
taken down, and a new Amphitheater arose in its place, having above it a
trussed roof and supported from the sides, and no pillars obstructing
the view. It has been said that the Chautauqua Amphitheater will seat
ten thousand people, but a careful computation shows that fifty-five
hundred, or at the utmost fifty-six hundred are its limit upon the
benches, without chairs in the aisles. But another thousand, or even
fifteen hundred may sometimes be seen standing back of its seats at a
popular lecture or concert.

In the season of 1879, one of the leading speakers was an Englishman,
the Rev. W. O. Simpson of the Wesleyan Church, who had been for some
years a missionary in India. His graphic pictures of village life in
that land were a revelation, for Kipling and his followers had not yet
thrown the light of their genius upon the great peninsula and its
people. Mr. Simpson was over six feet in height and large in every way,
in voice as well as in girth. We all hoped to meet him yet many years at
Chautauqua, for he seemed to be abounding in health. But a few months
later we learned of his sudden death. In those years it was the
Chautauqua custom to hold a memorial service for men prominent in the
class-room or on the platform, and it fell to my lot to speak in 1880
upon the Rev. W. O. Simpson. I sent to England for printed matter
relating to his life, and among the appreciative articles found one
story which is worthy of remembrance.

When Mr. Simpson was a student of theology at the Wesleyan Theological
School, he chanced one day to read the announcement of a lecture upon
the Bible, and went to hear it. To his amazement he found himself at an
infidel meeting, listening to a virulent attack upon the Holy
Scriptures. In the middle of his lecture, the speaker said:

There are undoubtedly go