THE C. L. S. C. CLASSES.

CLASS OF 1885.

“Press on, reaching after those things which are before.”

OFFICERS.

President—J. B. Underwood, Meriden, Conn.

Vice President—C. M. Nichols, Springfield, Ohio.

Treasurer—Miss Carrie Hart, Aurora, Ind.

Secretary—Miss M. M. Canfield, Washington, D. C.

Executive Committee—Officers of the class.

Class badges may be procured of either President or Treasurer.

Letters are coming to the secretary from members in all parts of the United States—Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa being represented, and the indications are, the “Invincibles” will not be “lost in the woods” in August ’85. Those who attended the camp-fire last season at Chautauqua will appreciate the foregoing phrase.

One enthusiastic young lady writes: “I have read the course alone, could not form here even a ‘straight line’ or a ‘triangle;’” another, “I am alone in my studies, but hope to meet and greet my fellow-laborers ‘under the arches.’” Such courage is truly “Invincible” and should be rewarded by an extra seal.

Letters ending “Your Chautauqua friend,” “hoping to clasp hands with you at Chautauqua in August ’85,” etc., make one feel “Chautauqua” is the magic word that draws us together as links in the great C. L. S. C. chain, and that friendships formed through its medium may continue even after we have “finished our course.” “For so the whole round earth is every way bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”

CLASS OF ’86.

“We study for light, to bless with light.”

CLASS ORGANIZATION.

President—The Rev. B. P. Snow, Biddeford, Maine.

Vice Presidents—The Rev. J. C. Whitley, Salisbury, Maryland; Mr. L. F. Houghton, Peoria, Illinois; Mr. Walter Y. Morgan, Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Delia Browne, Louisville, Kentucky; Miss Florence Finch, Palestine, Texas.

Secretary—The Rev. W. L. Austin, Dunkirk, New York.

NEW ENGLAND ORGANIZATION.

Class Headquarters was a new and most pleasant feature at Framingham last summer, and one which the limited hall accommodations rendered a necessity. The class tent was tastefully decorated, and over the entrance was displayed the device of the class—a hand passing a lighted torch to another hand—with the class motto, “We study for light to bless with light.” The committee having the matter in charge hope to provide suitable accommodations for the class at the Assembly next season.

A very pleasant reunion was held in Normal Hall, Thursday, July 24, at 10 a. m. The exercises consisted of an address by the president, the Rev. B. P. Snow, of Biddeford, Me., and stirring speeches by representatives from several states, with reading of original and selected articles. A most interesting item on the program was the reading of the well known poem, “No sect in Heaven,” by Mr. C. Cleveland, of Hartford, Conn., son of the authoress, who is also a member of the class. Miss Gelia H. Tewkesbury (Helen Hawthorne) was unanimously elected class poetess. Hon. Wm. Claflin, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, was made an honorary member of the class.

Six hundred and forty-eight names from one hundred and seventy-three towns are now enrolled, only a fraction of the whole number. Will all members of Class ’86 in New England, who have not yet registered, please send their names and address, stating whether they are studying alone or in a circle, and the name of the circle, to the New England Secretary at their earliest convenience?

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:

President, the Rev. B. P. Snow, Biddeford, Me.; Vice Presidents, Miss Emily Jordan, Alfred, Me., Edwin F. Reeves, Laconia, N. H., the Rev. J. H. Babbitt, Swanton, Vt., Chas. Wainwright, Lawrence, Mass., H. Howard Pepper, Providence, R. I., the Rev. A. Gardner, Buckingham, Conn.; Secretary and Treasurer, Mary R. Hinckley, New Bedford, Mass.

A new badge bearing the emblem of the class is proposed. If it is adopted further particulars will be given hereafter.

Ida M. Grisell, of the class of ’86, died at her home in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, June 30, 1884. She was an enthusiastic Chautauquan, having remarked shortly before her death that life seemed so much more worth living since she had taken the course.

CLASS OF ’87—“THE PANSIES.”

From De Soto, Mo., comes news of most vigorous work in the C. L. S. C., a large circle of enterprising members and a program for the observance of the Bryant Day, that tells of a meeting of rare interest.

The Rev. N. B. Fisk, of Woburn, Mass., class of ’87, is the secretary and treasurer of the Board of Trustees who have in hand the erection of the “Hall on the Hill” for New England’s accommodation at Framingham.

In the November number of The Chautauquan the New England branch of the Class of ’87 was given three presidents. The Rev. F. M. Gardner, of Lawrence, Mass., is the president; the other two names should have been grouped with the vice presidents.

Newspaper notices of C. L. S. C. work sometimes do more than we expect. Circles in the country and smaller towns read programs of meetings and other Chautauqua items with a good deal of interest, and often get encouragement from seeing what others are doing. The papers are glad to get the notices. We advise circles to use them freely, and to publish in their local papers notices of the memorial days, with a list of the reading for those days. Try it.

The “Pansy” bed at Chautauqua, projected as a testimonial improvement by the class of ’87, is in the hands of a committee who are to secure a good location and carry the matter to completion. It will be placed near the Amphitheater, a little toward Mrs. Alden’s cottage. Already a number of most exquisite designs have been furnished by widely separated members of the class. When agreed upon the description will be given in our column.

One New England minister, who is a member of ’87, writes: “I consider this Chautauqua business a part of my pastoral duties; it is so saturated with the spirit of Jesus, emanating from such a consecrated man as Dr. Vincent, and comprehending so much of the devotional, aggressive, and persuasive in religion. I have a Congregational church in a hotbed of infidelity and heresy, and can see very plainly that such books as ‘Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation’ and ‘Evidences,’ together with the devout spirit of the whole plan, are making an impression among the skeptical and shaking them somewhat in their infidel intrenchments.”

A Michigan mother nearly sixty years old writes a letter, touchingly grateful that the C. L. S. C. was ever organized. She has two sons who are members with her of the class of ’87, and who are herders of cattle in New Mexico. She says no one can appreciate her joy at the assurance that they are held by their reading to the improvement of their time, and thus escape the evils that work the ruin of many boys away from home. She with them forms a circle. Their meetings are only through correspondence. Neither has ever seen Chautauqua, or any other summer Assembly, but they bless the plan of improvement whose privileges they share.

Among pleasant C. L. S. C. experiences which are found among the members of ’87, as among those of the other classes, is the case of an engineer on the railway west from Chicago. The last argument he made to his wife why he could not join the class and do the reading was that he would unavoidably so soil his books that she could not tolerate them in their cosy cottage home. She said, “Try it, and I will clean every soiled page the year through and have them tastily on our little shelves.” He agreed to undertake it. She found no small task upon her hands, but she did it by pinching her allowance to the purchase of a duplicate for each successive book, to which joyous accomplishment on her part her husband points with pride in his growing library.

Quite a large proportion of the class are going on with the reading this second year. But the number can be increased by a little personal effort on the part of those who have the C. L. S. C. enthusiasm. See that your book stores keep the books ready for sale. See that each member has one of the C. L. S. C. circulars for 1884-5, so that they may not be in any doubt about what the reading for each month is. Help them about sending for The Chautauquan by forming a club and sending together, thus saving expense. Some fail to send in their annual fees, but go on with the reading. Secretaries of circles should collect the annual fees of 50 cents, and send on by check or postoffice order to Plainfield. By attending to these matters some will be kept in the ranks who would otherwise fall behind. If any one can not do the prescribed reading just as directed in The Chautauquan, week by week or day by day, let such try to keep a little in advance, rather than behind. The officers of circles ought to keep in advance especially, so as to be ready to arrange some parts of the program for the future meetings of their circles.

The most of the more than two hundred ’87s whose names were registered at Chautauqua, this year, promised to write Mrs. Alden, Carbondale, Pa.—“Pansy”—a letter of incident in the work, she most kindly indicating her willingness to write a book, dedicated to the class. It’s one thing to promise, another to perform, and while we could not think of a Chautauquan who would not do as they agree, the secretaries of ’87, with the president, are very anxious to know if Mrs. Alden has received nearly two hundred letters. Early in the new year the class officials will write to Carbondale to know if all the promises have been made good. Mrs. Alden’s book will be grand, every one of her more than fifty books are excellent. Let every one of us who promised do gladly all that we promised and more.

The ’87 badges were noticeably fine at Chautauqua last year, and every reader in that great class should have this badge. They should be worn uniformly at the circles and on all memorial days. Class love (call it pride if you will) is important indeed; it can scarcely be overestimated. You are and can be in but one class, and that is the class to you, and will be all through life. ’87 “Pansy” class is yours, and you love your classmates, and you are deeply interested in every one of them, and will be all along down through life. It is true that the first great class (in numbers at least) is ’87, and while we hope ’88 and ’89 and ’90 will every way excel it, it still remains for us of ’87 to make the most of every hour.

Miss Ellen A. Shaw, of Keeseville, N. Y., a member of the C. L. S. C., of the class of ’87, entered “that school where she no longer needs our poor protection, but Christ himself doth rule,” on September 30, 1884, aged nineteen years. They had been “nineteen beautiful years,” exceptionally happy to herself, and the source of great pleasure to all her friends. Graduating from the High School in Keeseville in June, 1884, she immediately took up the Chautauqua Idea, and began the prescribed course in October following. She enjoyed it exceedingly, interested others in it, read carefully, and made her memoranda and reports faithfully until her strength failed, and she laid down her hopes of earthly improvement, with brighter ones of the country where our mental powers know no fatigue or decay.

At a meeting of the “Bryant” circle of Worcester, Mass., C. L. S. C., October 7th, 1884, the following memorial was adopted: “Whereas, It has pleased our Heavenly Father to remove from our circle one of our beloved members, Miss Effie C. Warner, of the class of ’87, we desire to express our appreciation of her character and her worth as a member of our circle. Her presence was always welcomed with pleasure, and our meetings were made interesting by her fine musical attainments, which she was ever ready to devote to the cause she loved. While we mourn her loss, we bow in submission to the will of him who ‘doeth all things well.’ We are thankful for her pure, gentle life, and feel sure that its influence will long be felt in our circle.”