Chautauqua has inspired the habit of reading with a purpose. It is really not much use to read, except as an occasional recreation, unless the reading inspires one to think his own thoughts, or at least make the writer's thoughts his own. Reading without reflection, like eating without digestion, produces dyspepsia. The influence and guidance of Chautauqua will long be needed in America. The religious influence of Chautauqua has been not less valuable. Chautauqua has met the restless questioning of the age in the only way in which it can be successfully met, by converting it into a serious seeking for rest in truth. Dr. Edwin E. Slosson, formerly professor in Columbia University, now literary editor of the _Independent_, wrote in that paper: If I were a cartoonist, I should symbolize Chautauqua by a tall Greek goddess, a sylvan goddess with leaves in her hair--not vine leaves, but oak, and tearing open the bars of a cage wherein had been confined a bird, say an owl, labeled "Learning." For that is what Chautauqua has done for the world--it has let learning loose. From the American _Review of Reviews_, July, 1914: The president of a large technical school is quoted as having said that ten per cent. of the students in the institution over which he presides owe their presence to Chautauqua influence. A talk on civic beauty or sanitation by an expert from the Chautauqua platform often results in bringing these matters to local attention for the first time. Here is an extract from _The World To-day_: Old-time politics is dead in the States of the Middle West. The torchlight parade, the gasoline lamps, and the street orator draw but little attention. The "Republican Rally" in the court-house and the "Democratic Barbecue" in the grove have lost their potency. People turn to the Chautauquas to be taught politics along with domestic science, hygiene, and child-welfare. Mr. John Graham Brooks, lecturer on historical, political, and social subjects, author of works widely circulated and highly esteemed, has given courses of lectures at Chautauqua, and has expressed his estimate in these words: After close observation of the work at Chautauqua, and at other points in the country where its affiliated work goes on, I can say with confidence that it is among the most enlightening of our educational agencies in the United States. Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, while President of Union College in New York State, gave this testimony: