The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-08-19
LAKE CHAUTAUoUA, N. Y, I
August 1st, 1882.

narrow, ueep cnannel OF running water, the
outlet of the lake The plash of the steam
ers paddles overhows the banks on either
side and the great green trees on the banks
almost meet above the pilot house Of the
steamer Once out fairly on the bosom of
the little inland sea, which is not more than
twenty miles long and FIVE wide, you take
in the fair prospect and drink in the pure
cool atmosphere, 73O feet higher than Lake
Erie, and feel that you are in new world.
EVERY PROSPECT PLEAsEs.
As far as the eve can reach ON every
side, the highly cultivated farms teeming
with luxuriant crops of wheat and corn,
oats and buckwheat, laid off in fields with
neat and regular fencing, slope down for
miles to the very waters edge. Pretty
farm houses dot the landscape here and
there, and at twenty points along the beach
are elegant hotels, picturesque villages or
rustic cottages, affording ample and luxuri-
ous accommodation for the thousands who
frequent these shores. Gay little steamers,
their decks crowded with gayer people, flags
flying and bands playing, pass and repass,
little sail boats scud swiftly before the wind
and fishing boats anchored here and there
in quiet hooks. or dancing in the sunlight,
pushed BY strong arms and stout oars, make
the bright waters as attractive as the pic
turesque shores.
cHAUTAUoTA-wHAT Is IT
Yes, what Is IL !? the stranger asks, that
brings these fifteen thousand visitors to this
quiet little paradise where FIVE years ago
there was nothing but farms and farmers
/ viii tell you if / can. The Chantauqua
National Sunday School Assembly bought
several hundred acres Of beautiful woodland
near the upper part Of the lake and estab-
hshed their camping ground there. People
came by the hundreds and then BY the
thousands. More people came to see what
these people were doing. Tents soon gave
way 10 cottages, walks became avenues, ar
bors and bush tabernaeles were replaced by
temple. athenaenm, amphitheaire, museum,
coliseum. skating rink, &c, &c. A mag
ni6ecnt hotel. equal in all its appointments
TO the best in New York, rose as if by
magic, boarding houses BY the dozen, but
more modest in accommodation and charges,
sprung up. till now Chantauqua Is beau
tiful woodland city. which, with its pretty
vine-clad cottages, bright flower walks,
shaded bowers, where the sun can scarcely
penetrate, all centering at the grand amphi-
theatre where SIX thousand people sit in
tiers and hear with ease a single speaker
who stands below them, and listen to the
grand organ which wakes the echoes Of the
forest around-all combine to make up
something unlike anything else in the
world, something beyond even the descrip-7
tive powers Of Talmage, who lecfured here
last week. He said, when asked by the
English pcople what Chautauqua Was
aChautauqua, why il isa grand-C Chautau-
qua Is a splendid-well you viii have TO 90
and see what Sshautauqua Is And Bishop
Wiley, enc of the most learned and distin-
gnished of Methodist diyines, said the other
day aWhai IS ChautauquA2 2 A Christian
light. Christian power, a Christian center,
one Of the moss hopeful, one of the most
powerful, one Of the most promising things
for the outlook Of Christianity and far in
the advance Of any one institution Of all the
past. Why Chautauqua is big enough to
save the gospel If there was nothing else
LEFT. You win knew from this brief dis
/ cription that the Sunday School Assembly
has grown TO be something more, as wei as
/ the tents and arbors ane bush tabernacles
have grown to be something more. Dis
tinguished divines from all over the country
come here TO preach, devoted missionaries
4 from the four corners Of the earth are here
10 tell af the work that i being done in
/ Christianixing the world and to get eneour-
agement and help; eradite professors from
the highest universities in the land are
1 spending their vacation here, teaching in
short lessons ard courses other teachers who
come to spend their vacation in learning /;
learned scientists and linguists have their
summer classes and skillful artists and
seulptors and musicians contribute To the
general fund Of valuable information, and
there are enrolled this season in the Teack.
ers Retreat and School of Languages alone,
two hundred and forty six Of the profession.
The course Is a four years one, and in the
graduating class this year the sage Of so
viii stand beside the youth Of 20 and the
venerable matron Of y by the lassie Of l6,
when the diplomas are awarded.
All this takes money. Wealthy philan-
thropiSts have donated their thousands,
Every conner contributes his % cents, every
scholar d few dollars, and large sum is
raised. The thing grows bigger and bigger
every year. Those interested hive in the
woodland city, and the thousands who come
to see what these thousands are doing, find
pleasant abodes in the score or more hotels
and resorts along the 30 or 40 miles Of
beach; come to the place every day to look
and wonder at the unusual sight, enjoy the
grand music, listen to the learned and other
attractive discourses, which are all as free
as the pure air, and 90 away to return
again and wonder and enjoy.
COMFORTS.
AS to the creature comforts, here is the
sweetest butter, the richest milk, the fax
lest bread. the purest maple syrup, the jul
ciest beef, the freshest fish, the healthiest,
! coolest air; no flies, no mosquitoes, no ants,
no lizards, no snakes, no bar rooms, no
riots. no profanity, no Sabbath breaking;
| not visitor IS allowed 10 leaNe anu NOT II
stranger to enter the gates on Sunday, not
a railroad train to stop at the station, or a
steamboat to land at its wharves from Sat
urday night until Monday morning. In
fact as nearly as they can make it, they
have paradise on Garth and there is even
model Palestine in miniature ON the
grounds, covering an area of about an acre,
| gotten up at considerable expense by a
| landscape artist who ''has been there.
There is Jerusalem, ike toy city, with
its temple and minarets, its houses and
streets, the Mount of Olives and the Geth-
semane garden, the long stretch of country
from Dan to Beersheba, the Dead Sea and
the Sea of Tiberias, the river Jordan, water
in miniature streams and pools, Tyre and
Sidon, and Joppa and Nineveh on the sea-
coast, (the lake shore the Wilderness in
artificial rocks and crags Of cement and
stone, Lebanon, Jericho, Nazareth, Bethle-
hem, the rocky road that leads down to
Jericho, the rich pasture lands and grassy
and wooded mountains, in fact all the no
table points Of Sacred history, with the
names and scripture references on tin plates,
and here and there through this plot are