etings
for preparation of the Sunday School lesson; four Bible readings; three
praise services; two children's meetings; and six sermons. All the
leading Protestant churches were represented; and twenty-five States in
the Union, besides Ontario, Montreal, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Scotland,
and India. Among the preachers we find the names of Dr. H. Clay
Trumbull, editor of the _Sunday School Times_, John B. Gough, Bishops
Simpson and Janes, Dr. James M. Buckley, Dr. Charles F. Deems, Dr. T.
DeWitt Talmage, and four ministers who later became bishops in the
Methodist Episcopal Church:--Drs. H. W. Warren, J. F. Hurst, E. O.
Haven, and C. H. Fowler.

The two Sundays, August 9th and 16th, were golden days in the calendar.
An atmosphere of quiet and peace reigned throughout the grounds. No
steamboats made the air discordant around the pier; the gates were
closed and the steamers sailed by to more welcome stations; no excursion
trains brought curious and noisy throngs of sightseers. Tents and
cottages lay open while their dwellers worshiped under the trees of the
Auditorium, for no one was required to watch against thieves in the
crowd. The world was shut out, and a voice seemed to be saying, "Come ye
yourselves apart and rest awhile."

The day began with a Sunday School graded to embrace both young and old.
The riches of officers and teachers formed an embarrassment. For once,
nay twice (for there were two Sundays), a Superintendent had at call
more instructors than he could supply with classes. On each Sunday the
attendance at the school was fifteen hundred.

At the sunset hour each evening an "Eventide Conference" was held on the
lake side. The dying day, the peaceful surroundings, the calm sheet of
water, the mild air, combined to impart a tone of thoughtful, uplifting
meditation. I have heard old Chautauquans speak many times of the
inspiring spiritual atmosphere breathed in the very air of the first
Chautauqua.

Never before had been brought together for conference and for study so
many leaders in the Sunday School army, representing so large a variety
of branches in the church catholic. And it was not for a day or two days
as in conventions and institutes, but for a solid fortnight of steady
work. The Chautauqua of to-day is a widely reaching educational system,
embracing almost every department of knowledge. But it must not be
forgotten that all this wide realm has grown out of a school to awaken,
instruct, and inspi