Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-04
TIE CHAUTAUQUANS,
 
  Undeter < by Rain, Continue to l0emble for Study. E
 ?? S0u% FERN LITERATURE It's F it and Present and School Methods Fully
 Discussed.
S0u2 FERN LITERATURE

I
 respondence. l-Ihe days work was begun.
 as usual, with o'clock prayers, the ser
 vices being conducted by Vice. President 1 McGaha and based upon the eleventh verse
 and fourth chapter of Philippians: The
 world is infested with spiritual dyspeptics;
 no matter what God in his infinite wisdom
 and love does for them nothing agrees with l them. The cause of this discoutent is three iold-we won't let the past be the past. We magnify the annoyances of the | present and we borrow trouble. These uu. fortunate habits must be overcome, that | we may be content with such things as we | have.
 At the C. L, s. c. round table, presided over by Mir. Witherby, Miss Love read a paper upon "Soulhern Literature" and an informal discussion upon southern au- thors was engaged in by Mesdames With erby, Jones and Averyt, Misses Love, Caller, Irhy and Haley, Messrs. Witherby and Fitzpatrick.
 At Il o'clock Dr. Ledbetter made what he modesty termsd a talk, and not a lec- ture, upon "Scentitic Optics: It's Relation to Spectacles. Notwithstanding the necessarily technical nature of his address, he succeeded, by means of his original charts and pleasant manner, in holding closely the attention of his hearers and eliciting from them some very practical in- quiries which proved their interest in the subject.
 At 4:15 the rain did not deter the earnest Chautauquans from going to hear Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D., of Selma, in his in- structive lecture upon Egypt as Land of Monuments, Mummles and Mame- lukes." The period upon which he dweit was the time of Rameses l, the Greek sesostris, some of whose deeds he recounted by quoting from the ''Egypfian Iliad,'' the epic of Pehtaur. He gave, also, an ac- count of the Rosetta stone aud of the won- derful discoveries of Herr Bengsch.
 At this evening the orchestra gave it's usual concert, being assisted oy a beauti- ful solo from Miss Lula R. Wise of Selma. She has rich con,ralto voice, and having just returned from thirteen months' course in the Cincinnati College of Music is in excellent training. As an encore, she delighted the audience with "Thinkingx v
 Dr, A. P. Bourland, professor of the University of Nash lille and ma nager of the Montsagle assembly, delivered a whole some and patriotic lecture upon "A Change of Base. .'' He contrasted the con ditions existing in "fhe good old times'' present. In The ante-bellum school the maste, was King, fear, the majesty of the Jaw and sterling integrity were con- tinually before the pupils, and if the old iaSuiout u scuOolS ulu nothing else they made men. The machine Of the present public school system is running our children by sapping their individuality and making them into mere nothings. Dr. Bourland decred the habit, unfortunately too com mon of initiating yankee customs, particu- larly In pronunciation; the purest speech spoken 1n this country is that of the southern woman. We must develop the literature of the south. The parsnt who fails 10 acquaint his child with Thomas Nelson Page, uncle Remus and our other great southern writers, fails in patriotic duty. We should develop our native rich- ness, not educate it out of us; we should take this noble past of ours and work out of it's history romances and songs; we should make the most of our own and thus have springing from the old, yet leaving behind 1t all that is undesirable and keeping all that is noble and true.
 Some of the late arrivals, who, in spite of the past two days midsummer showers, have come to enjoy the Chautauqua assem- bly,, are: J. F. Milstead, James Evans, Colum biana; M. Collins, Misses Estellc Crawford and Fannie Davidson, Centre vile; Miss Irene Warren, Montgomery; Miss White, ThomasvIlle; Mrs. A. D. Pitts, Misses Daisy Meriwether, Roselle Phillips and Lula Wise, F. F. Wise, Selma; Dr. A. w. McGaha, East Lake; Dr. A. P. sonville.
 pleasing incident of the day was the melon feast given by Miss Emma L. Shaver of Woodlawn, honoring the birthday of Miss Bessie Wyatt of Marion. The guests were Misses Daug ghdrill, Lisles, Caller, Brown, Irby and Haley.