About 1912 she was suddenly taken with an illness, not deemed serious at the time, but later found to have been a slight paralytic shock. She was given a year's vacation from office work and spent most of it in England and on the continent. Some of her friends think that if she had absolutely abstained from work, she might have recovered her health; but while in England she visited nearly all its great cathedrals, and wrote a series of articles for _The Chautauquan_ on "An English Cathedral Journey," afterward embodied in one of the best of the non-technical books on that subject. She returned to her desk, but not in her former vigor. Year by year her powers of thought and action declined, and she died June 17, 1917, in the fifty-seventh year of her age, leaving after her not only a precious memory but an abiding influence; for the plans initiated by her adaptive mind are still those effective in the shaping of the Chautauqua Circle. [Illustration: Hall of the Christ] [Illustration: Entrance to the Hall of Philosophy] The course of reading for the first year was as follows: Green's _Short History of the English People_; with it the little hand-book by Dr. Vincent--Chautauqua Text-Book No. 4, _Outline of English History_; an arrangement by periods, enabling the reader to arrange the events in order; Chautauqua Text-Book No. 5, _Outline of Greek History_; Professor Mahaffy's _Old Greek Life_; Stopford Brooke's _Primer of English Literature_; Chautauqua Text-Book No. 2, _Studies of the Stars_; Dr. H. W. Warren's _Recreations in Astronomy_; J. Dorman Steele's _Human Psychology_; Dr. J. F. Hurst's, _Outlines of Bible History_, and _The Word of God Opened_, by Rev. Bradford K. Pierce. This included no less than eleven books, although four of them were the small Chautauqua textbooks, Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 6. All that was definitely required of the members was that they should sign a statement that these books had been read; but through the year a series of sheets was sent to each enrolled member, containing questions for examination, under the title "Outline Memoranda," in order not to alarm the unschooled reader by the terror of an examination. Moreover, the student was at liberty to search his books, consult any other works, and obtain assistance from all quarters in obtaining the answers to the questions. These questions were of two kinds, one requiring thought on the part of the reader, and not susceptible of answer at any given page of the book; such as: "Name the five persons whom you consider the greatest in the history of England, and the reasons for your choice," "Name what you regard as five of the most important events in English history," etc. There were some other questions, of which the answer might or might not be found in any books of the books of the course, but questions to make the reader search and enquire; such as: "What did King John say when he signed Magna Charta?" "With what words did Oliver Cromwell dismiss the Long