The regular features of the season went on as in other years. The schools were growing in students, in the number of instructors, and in the breadth of their courses. The Sunday School Normal Department was still prominent, and on August 17, 1881, one hundred and ninety diplomas were conferred upon the adults, intermediates, and children who had passed the examination. CHAPTER XIII THE FIRST RECOGNITION DAY (1882) THE opening service of the ninth session was begun, as all the opening sessions of previous years, in the out-of-doors Auditorium in front of the Miller Cottage. But a sudden dash of rain came down and a hasty adjournment was made to the new Amphitheater. From 1882 onward, "Old First Night" has been observed in that building. A few lectures during the season of '82 were given in the old Auditorium, but at the close of the season the seats were removed, save a few left here and there under the trees for social enjoyment; and the Auditorium was henceforth known as Miller Park. The crowning event of the 1882 season was the graduation of the first class in the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Taking into account the fact that it was the first class, for which no advertising had been given and no announcement made in advance, the number graduated at the end of the four years was remarkably large, over eighteen hundred, of which eight hundred received their diplomas at Chautauqua and a thousand more at their homes, some in distant places. Years afterward I met a minister in a small town in Texas who had seen the report of the inauguration of the C. L. S. C., had read Dr. Vincent's address on that occasion, and joined the Class of 1882, its only member, as far as he knew, in his State. One member was a teacher in South Africa, others were missionaries in India and China. Most of the regular visitors to Chautauqua in those early days were members of this class, so that even now, after nearly forty years, the Pioneer Class can always muster at its annual gatherings a larger number of its members than almost any other of the classes. For many years Mrs. B. T. Vincent was the President of the Class, and strongly interested in its social and religious life. She instituted at Chautauqua the "Quiet Hour," held every Saturday evening during the Assembly season, at Pioneer Hall, by this class, a meeting for conversation on subjects of culture and the Christian life. It is a touching sight to look upon that group of old men and women, at their annual farewell meeting, on the evening before the Recognition Day, standing in a circle with joined hands, singing together their class song written for them by Mary A. Lathbury, and then sounding forth their class yell: Hear! Hear! Pioneers! Height to height, fight for right, Pioneers! Who are you? Who are you? We are the class of eighty-two! Pioneers--Ah!