At the same time one section of the parade was meeting in Miller Park,
in front of the Lewis Miller Cottage. Another was at the tent where
lived Dr. Vincent, and still another division, the most interesting of
all, on the hill, in front of the Children's Temple. This was an array
of fifty little girls in white dresses, with wreaths in their hair and
baskets of flowers in their hands. At the signal, the procession moved
from its different stations, and marched past the Vincent Tent, led by
the band and the flower girls, and including every department of
Chautauqua, officials, trustees, schools, and Sunday School Normal
Class. In the later years each class of graduates marched, led by its
banner, the Class of 1882, the Pioneers, bearing in front their symbol,
the hatchet. Before all was the great banner of the C. L. S. C.
presented to the Circle by Miss Jennie Miller, Lewis Miller's eldest
daughter, bearing upon one side a painting of the Hall of Philosophy and
the three mottoes of the Circle; on the other a silk handkerchief which
had accompanied the flag on its journey to the sacred places. The pole
holding up the banner was surmounted by a fragment of Plymouth Rock.
The march was to the Hall of Philosophy, where the orator, officers, and
guests occupied the platform, the little flower girls were grouped on
opposite sides of the path from the Golden Gate up to the Hall; the
graduating class still standing outside the entrance protected by the
Guard of the Gate. A messenger came from the Gate to announce that the
class was now prepared to enter, having fulfilled all of the conditions,
and the order was given, "Let the Golden Gate now be opened." The
portals were swung apart, and the class entered, passing under the
historic flag and successively under four arches dedicated respectively
to Faith, Science, Literature, and Art, while the little girls strewed
flowers in their path. As they marched up the hill they were greeted by
Miss Lathbury's song:
THE SONG OF TO-DAY
Sing pæans over the Past!
We bury the dead years tenderly,
To find them again in eternity,
Safe in its circle vast.
Sing pæans over the Past!
Farewell, farewell to the Old!
Beneath the arches, and one by one,
From sun to shade, and from shade to sun,
We pass, and the years are told.
Farewell, farewell to the Old!
Arise and possess the land!
Not one shall fail in the march of life,
Not one shall fail in the hour of strife,
Who trusts in the Lord's right hand.
Arise and possess the land!
And hail, all hail to the New!
The future lies like a world new-born,
All steeped in sunshine and dews of morn,
And arched with a cloudless blue
All hail, all hail to the New!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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