sessed the
_suaviter in modo_ so graciously that many failed to realize underneath
it the _fortiter in re_. Behind that smiling countenance of the
President of Chautauqua was an uncommonly stiff backbone. Rules once
fixed were kept in the teeth of opposition from both sinners and saints.

Let me anticipate some part of our story by saying that at the present
time there are from six to eight hundred all-the-year residents upon
Chautauqua grounds. Before the Assembly opens on July 1st, every family
must obtain season tickets to the public exercises for all except the
very youngest members and bedridden invalids. A lease upon Chautauqua
property does not entitle the holder to admission to the grounds. If he
owns an automobile, it must be parked outside, and cannot be brought
through the gates without the payment of an entrance fee, and an officer
riding beside the chauffeur to see that in Chautauqua's narrow streets
and thronged walks all care is taken against accident. The only
exception to this rule is in favor of physicians who are visiting
patients within the enclosure.

The catholicity of the plans for the first Assembly must not be
forgotten. Both its founders were members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church and loyal to its institutions. But they were also believers in
and members of the Holy Catholic Church, the true church of Christ on
earth, wherein every Christian body has a part. They had no thought to
ignore the various denominations, but aimed to make every follower of
Christ at home. Upon the program appeared the names of men eminent in
all the churches; and it was a felicitous thought to hold each week on
one evening the prayer meetings of the several churches, each by itself,
also to plan on one afternoon in different places on the ground, for
denominational conferences where the members of each church could
freely discuss their own problems and provide for their own interests.
This custom established at the first assembly has become one of the
traditions of Chautauqua. Every Wednesday evening, from seven to eight,
is assigned for denominational prayer meetings, and on the second
Wednesday afternoon in August, two hours are set apart for the
Denominational Conferences. The author of this volume knows something
about one of those meetings; for year after year it has brought him to
his wit's end, to provide a program that will not be a replica of the
last one, and then sometimes, to persuade the conferences t