The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, October 1884, No. 1Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Science
The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, October 1884, No. 1
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
Let us be thankful that it is impossible for them to take away from
us the “Iliad,” the “Æneid,” the “Divina Commedia,” the “Pilgrim’s
Progress,” the “Paradise Lost.” These great works and their fellows are
ours forever. And there are more and ever more such works to be created
and enjoyed. Literature is indestructible. They may depress it, but they
can not destroy it. Always, however much we may enjoy knowing nature, we
shall at least as much enjoy knowing man. And it is in literature that
man speaks to man. And never will come a time when there shall not be
souls that must speak, and souls, too, in still greater number, that can
not but listen.
Literature, then, is a true good of human life, both because, first or
last, it addresses all, and because it speaks to that in all which is
highest, most permanent, most controlling. Did I say I would claim for
literature nothing more than equality of place with science? Let me unsay
that. Science is knowledge, literature is wisdom. As wisdom is better
than knowledge, so greater than science is literature.
THE AFTERNOON SERVICES.
In the afternoon the presentation of diplomas took place in the
Amphitheater. The services were most interesting, many excellent
addresses being delivered. A very interesting feature was the
presentation of a Class Memorial by the ’84s. This memorial is to adorn
the walls of the new Hall of Philosophy, and consisted of the portraits
of President Lewis Miller and Superintendent of Instruction, Dr. J.
H. Vincent. After the unveiling of the portraits President Miller was
introduced and said:
_Chautauquans, and especially the Class of ’84_:—The name Chautauqua is
now among classical words, and various definitions of it have been given,
and, until its meaning is fully known, definitions will be given. You
will therefore allow me to give a few definitions, so that this classical
word may fix itself upon your minds and hearts, and its spirit may ever
be with you. What does it mean? In its crude form I will not say, but
in these last few years, and since this Assembly began, it has come to
mean a place where God is all and in all; it means a place where caste,
sectarianism and denominationalism are unknown; a place for formulating
all kinds of moral forces; a place of rest, of proper rest, and physical
development; a place to inspire mental culture—in short, a place for the
consecration of all of man’s possibilities for good, and to prepare men
to go out to the world to do good. These are some of the definitions,
and you do not wonder, when you are here, how various and how broad
the outlook is, an outlook so broad that I fear many times we become
discouraged because of its breadth, and give up in despair. I am glad to
see this afternoon that there are many here who have not given up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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