Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-05
THE ASSEMBLY OPENED.
Ten Thousand People Participate In This
Great Event at Chautauqua-Dr. Barrows
on the World of Shakespeare Lecture
l,y John Fiske.

CUAUrAUouA, Aug. 4-To-night was the
formal opening of the great Chautauqua As
sembly, and fully 10000 were present to par
ticipate in the exercises. Big excursions
from New York, Brooklyn, Pfttsburg and
other points reached here to-day, so that to-
night the Summer City" is fairly swarming
with people. On Saturday last the gate re-
ceipts were the largest of any one day in the
history of Chautauqua. Nearly 10, 900 persons
came in on that day, larger portion of
these to remain here till the Assembly
closes.
The exercises in the Amphitheater to-
night were exceedingly interesting. The
big building was decorated with the finest
flowers, and the platform resembled a
miniature fairyland. The chimes rang out
sweetly on the air at 7:15 P. M, and then the
big crowd of Chautauquans gathered in the
Amphitheater. There were short speeches
by President Miller. Chancellor Vincent,
Secretary Duncan, John Habberton, the
novelist; John Fiske, the historian, and
others, as well as the finest music, rendered
by big chorus choir, augmented for the oc-
caSion, of some 800 singers led by DIR. ii. X.
Palmer, of New York. Among the musical
selections were solos by Miss Annie Park, of
Boston, on the cornet; Miss Bertha Waltz
Sherwood, the pianist, and the schumann
Quartet
The Chautauqua Roll Call.
Then took place the famous Chautanqua
roll call, which is request by Chancellor
Vincent for those of the audience who have
been present during the various years to
stand up. The roll tonight showed hun
dreds of old and thousands of new Chau-
tauQuans. The exercises closed with
grand display of fireworks on the lake front,
which recalled some of the Coney Island
pyrotechnic displays The whole grove was
lit up with hundreds of Japanese lanterns,
and the scene was most picturesque and
beautiful.
This the days programmes: At9A. NJ, the
fourth woman's missionary conference, sub
tect, Effective Missionary Organizations"
in the Temple; at 10 A. M, young women's
Temple; at II A. M, a lecture on 'Pre-C Colum-
bian Voyages to America" by Prof John
Fiske, of Harvard University, in the Amphi-
theater; at 2so P; NJ, lecture on %The World
rows, of Chicago. in the Amphitheater; at
4:40 P. NJ the fourth general missionary con-
ference, subject, ''The Objection of System
attic Giving" in the Hall Of Philosophy; at
p. NJ. lecture on "The Memory" by DR.. E.
Pick, of London, England, in the Hall of
Philosophy; at 730 a Chautauqua vesper
service in the Amphitheater; at ~ M, the
opening exercises of the eighteenth Assem-
bly, in the Amphitheater.
A Missionary Institute.
cluded each year in the Chautauqua pro-
gramme, is now in progress, including meet
ings and addresses in the Amphithea ter and
conferences, under the manage
ment of the Woman's Club. This institute
takes in all denominations. Large numbers
of missionaries are in attendance, and both
foreign fields and work at home is repre-
sented. In the conferences interesting re-
ports are presented by the missionaries
and practical ways of working
are discussed.
DR.. Barrows. of Chicago, lectured at 2:3O in
the Amphitheater on "The World of Shakes |
peare" His address was indirectly sharp |
criticism of Ingersoll's brilliant lecture on |
the great English dramatiSt. The agnostic's |
claim that Shakespeare was one of his own
kind Dr.. Barrows disputed, and showed how |
groundless is Ingersoll's claim that Shakes. |
peare regarded crime as only mistake of |
ignorance. The four great poets of the |
world are Homer, Dante, Shakespeare and |
Milton. Shakespeare was the greater i'm. |
agination and Milton the loftier character |
and shows the wealth of our English race, |
against the Baconian authorship of the |
works attributed to Shakespeare, from the |
that mind like Bacon's
dramatst. Their intellectual workings, |
though specifically similar, were essentl- |
ally unlike. To identify Bacon with Shakes |
dence of authorship and believe in stipend |
GUS frauds, which overtaxes most mems |
fraud in which there must have |
been several participants who died and
made no sign.
Everything Against 1t.
The presumptions are against O theory
which would foist the chief works in the
English language on one who never claimed
them, and who said English would bank
rupt all our books" After sketching what
Is known of the poets career, DIR. Barrows |
showed that the best influences which |
entered into it came from the outburst of |
national life which England enjoyed in the |
g9lden old age of Elizabeth; II was an age Of
DUR authors show greater familiarity with |
the Scriptures than does Shakespeare. 1t |
was time of hope, of speculation, of en- |
Of men from all lands, and it is no wonder |
that Shakespeare became the poet of men; |
the Columbus of the new world; Of the |
spirit.
The hinge of the Shakespeare play, that
upon which all turns, is Gods providential |
order. 1t is commandingly ethical, blazing |
forth the truth that the government of this |
moral sphere is set against selflshness,
against treachery, against hypocricy, |
against the madness of lust and the unwis-
dom of jealousy. Shakespeare suggested
righted in the world beyond, while he
teaches us that wrongdoers in the tempest
discover that transgression comes into con-
1ict with all spiritual personalities and
,ept heartfelt sorrow and clear life ensu-
ng. Shakespeare's world is not that of the
atheist and the agnostic This man was not
Righteousness and mercy, as DR..
Barrows showed by elaborate quotations.
A World of Prayer.
Shakespeare's world is one of prayer, and
10 one else has pictured more truly the work
If Christ's atonement or portrayed more
the Christian graces of meek
hess and of mercy. Nowhere else, outside
If the Scripture, are the sins of man re-
yealed with more astonishing and terrific
power, as acts committed against the Divine
moral order. Shakespeare is not best
studied in the representation of the stage.
He is SO ethical in his greater dramas that
We enter into the spirit of the most of Scrip
ural truths when we follow Shakespeare as
he unveils the workings of guilty conscience
n the Danish King, in Clarence. Richard Ill,
Lady Macbeth and her tortured husband.
Shakespeare reflects the Biblical truth as
le sings of the instability of earthly happi-
less, beauty and glory, and ventures now
md then to lead our thoughts and hopes |
nto the lucid realms of immortal life with
lim The grave is not utter hopelessness,
lothingness and defeat. Through the great
lnow Him as our Maker and ourselves as
children of the Highest. The world is pass
ng away like the splendors of revel in the
sic of Entertainments; but faith Is victor
,ver DEATH and, though our earthly house
,e dissolved, we have O building of God,
ternal in the heavens.
Mr.. John Fiske delivered fine lecture
his morning on the early Norsemen dis
,overies of America. This is his first visit
o Chautauqua and he is more than de-
ighted. At the close of DR.. Leonard's ad-
lress last night, the spacious apartments of
lie new Chautauqua Presbyterian Associa-
ion building were thronged with a merry
company of Presbyterians, met to do honor
o Dr. William Henry Green, who is the
worthy Moderator of the General Assembly