tories, capable of being open during the
general exercises, but closed in the lesson period so that each class
could be alone with its teacher while studying.

Mr. Miller was also interested in secular education, was for years
president of the Board of Education in Akron, always aiming for higher
standards in teaching. He was also a trustee of Mount Union College in
his own State. Two men such as Vincent and Miller, both men of vision,
both leaders in education through the Sunday School, both aiming to make
that institution more efficient, would inevitably come together; and it
was fortunate that they were able to work hand in hand, each helping the
other.

These two men had thoughts of gatherings of Sunday School workers, not
in conventions, to hear reports and listen to speeches, not to go for
one-day or two- or three-day institutes, but to spend weeks together in
studying the Bible and methods of Sunday School work. They talked over
their plans, and they found that while they had much in common in their
conception each one could supplement the other in some of the details.
It had been Dr. Vincent's purpose to hold his gathering of Sunday School
workers and Bible students within the walls of a large church, in some
city centrally located and easily reached by railroad. He suggested to
Mr. Miller that his new Sunday School building, with its many classrooms
opening into one large assembly hall, would be a suitable place for
launching the new enterprise.

One cannot help asking the question--what would have been the result if
Dr. Vincent's proposal had been accepted, and the first Sunday School
Assembly had been held in a city and a church? Surely the word
"Chautauqua" would never have appeared as the name of a new and mighty
movement in education. Moreover, it is almost certain that the movement
itself would never have arisen to prominence and to power. It is a
noteworthy fact that no Chautauqua Assembly has ever succeeded, though
often attempted, in or near a large city. One of the most striking and
drawing features of the Chautauqua movement has been its out-of-doors
and in-the-woods habitat. The two founders did not dream in those days
of decision that the fate of a great educational system was hanging in
the balance.

An inspiration came to Lewis Miller to hold the projected series of
meetings in a forest, and under the tents of a camp meeting. Camp
meetings had been held in the United States since 1799, when t