This structure of timber and muslin contained Of preachers and teachers some two or three score; Of editors, parsons a dozen or more. There were Methodists, Baptists, and 'Piscopals, too And grave Presbyterians, a handful or two. There were lawyers, and doctors and various folks, All full of their wisdom, and full of their jokes. There were writers of lessons, and makers of songs, And shrewd commentators with wonderful tongues; And all of these busy, industrious men Found it hard to stop talking at just half-past ten. They talked, and they joked, and they kept such a clatter That neighboring folks wondered what was the matter But weary at last, they extinguished the light, And went to their beds for the rest of the night. The formal opening of the Assembly in 1876 took place after the Scientific and Temperance gatherings, on Tuesday evening, August 1st, in the leaf-roofed Auditorium, but the benches were now provided with backs for the comfort of the thousands. The platform had been enlarged to make room for a choir, under the leadership in turn of W. F. Sherwin and Philip P. Bliss, whose gospel songs are still sung around the world. Only a few months later, that voice was hushed forever on earth, when the train bearing the singer and his wife crashed through a broken bridge at Ashtabula, Ohio. The record of that evening shows that fifteen speakers gave greetings, supposedly five minutes in length, although occasionally the flow of language overpassed the limit. Among the speakers we read the names of Dr. Henry M. Sanders of New York, Mr. John D. Wattles of the _Sunday School Times_, Dr. Henry W. Warren of Philadelphia, soon to become a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. C. F. Burr, the author of _Ecce Coelum_, a book of astronomy ministering to religion, famous in that day, though almost forgotten in our time; Dr. Lyman Abbott, who came before the audience holding up his pocket-Bible, with the words, "I am here to-night, because here this book is held in honor," Dr. Warren Randolph, the head of Sunday School work among the Baptist churches, and Mr. A. O. Van Lennep, in Syrian costume and fez-cap. He made two speeches, one in Arabic, the other in English.