The Sixth Chautauqua Assembly opened on its regular evening, the first Tuesday in August, 1879. The ravine which had been the seat of the Pavilion and birthplace of the C. L. S. C. had been transformed into a great auditorium of permanent materials and fairly comfortable seats for five thousand people. It was a great advance upon any of the earlier meeting places, and made it no longer necessary to carry one's umbrella to the lectures. But a heavy rain on the extensive roof would make even the largest-lunged orator inaudible, and the many wooden pillars supporting the roof had a fashion of getting themselves between the speaker and the hearers. Notwithstanding these minor drawbacks, it proved to be one of the best audience-halls in the land for large assemblies, for its acoustic properties were almost perfect. No speaker ever heard his words flung back to him by an echo, and the orator who knew how to use his voice could be heard almost equally well in every corner of the building. When Dr. Buckley stood for the first time upon its platform, and looked at its radiating and ascending seats, he said to Dr. Vincent, "This is a genuine _amphitheater_." The name was adopted, and the Amphitheater became the meeting place for all the popular lectures and the great Sunday services. Many were the distinguished speakers, men and women, who stood upon its platform, and as many singers whose voices enraptured throngs. At a popular concert almost as many seemed to be standing, crowded under the eaves, as were seated beneath the roof. The old Amphitheater stood until 1897. In that year the building of the Massey Memorial Organ made some changes necessary. The old building was taken down, and a new Amphitheater arose in its place, having above it a trussed roof and supported from the sides, and no pillars obstructing the view. It has been said that the Chautauqua Amphitheater will seat ten thousand people, but a careful computation shows that fifty-five hundred, or at the utmost fifty-six hundred are its limit upon the benches, without chairs in the aisles. But another thousand, or even fifteen hundred may sometimes be seen standing back of its seats at a popular lecture or concert.