programs, with
greater advertising publicity, with more popular attractions. Yet now at
the period of almost fifty years, not another among the ten thousand,
either of the earlier or the later Assemblies, holds a two months'
program, conducts courses of study of a wide range, or brings together
even one quarter of the assemblage which every year gathers upon the old
Chautauqua ground. All the assemblies which were established with the
highest promise have either been abandoned or are continued as chain
Chautauquas, meeting for a week only. Let us endeavor to answer the
question--Why does the mother-Chautauqua still stand supreme?

In the judgment of this writer, who has known Chautauqua almost from the
beginning, and has taken part in fifty similar gatherings, the reasons
for its supremacy are easily seen and stated. It was established by two
men of vision, one of whom was also a practical man of business, and
both men of high ideals which they never lowered and from which they and
their successors have never swerved. In its plans from first to last,
there was a unique blending of religion, education, and recreation. No
one of these three elements has been permitted to override the two
others, and neither of them has been sacrificed to win popularity,
although on the other side, popular features have been sought for within
just limits. Never has the aim of Chautauqua been to make money; it has
had no dividends and no stockholders. It has opened avenues and leased
lots to hundreds of people, but it has not sought financial gain.
Neither of its Founders nor any of their associates have been enriched
by it, for all profits--when there have been any--have been expended
upon improvements or enlargement of plans. It has shown the progressive
spirit, while firm in its principles, open to new ideas, willing to
listen to both sides of every question. It has sought to attract and to
benefit all classes in the community, not setting the poor against the
rich, nor the rich against the poor, giving a welcome to scholars of
every view and to churches of every doctrine. It has maintained a
continuous, consistent administration, fortunate in finding able and
broad-minded men to carry forward the conceptions of its founders. Few
changes have been made in its management and these have been without a
revolution or a renunciation of principles. Men at the head have
changed, but not the policy of the institution. It has remained unshaken
i