St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-06-19

interest was aroused in foreign Ulls-
sionary work and in the winter OF
1853 DR.. c. P. Frost read paper on
omissions in China, and few weeks
later Judge Ross spoke upon the hlsto'
ry and civil condition of the Chinese
empire. The great religious doc
trines were discussed and one even
ing a scholarly address was given
bv the late Andrew E. Rankin on
"Evidences aside from revelation
of the divinity Of Christ"
During the winter OF 1858 course
of popular lectures was given, which
was the forerunner Of the lecture
course which was established as a
regular feature OF Y. M. c. A. work
10 years later. In the first course
of lectures DR.. Silas McKeen, Bishop
Hopkins, Rev. Dr.. G. N. Weber and
Rev. DR.. William H. Lord were
among the talent engaged.
The civil war which came upon us
in 1861 interrupted the work of the
association and it had another sleep
of six long years. But in 1867 it
awakened from it's lethargy and for
the second time in its history had a
reorganization. This was effected
on a still broader plan than before,
and a reading room was opened and
II religious and secular papers were
kept on file. The public was cor
daily invited to avail themselves of
the privileges of this room, but for
some reason the room was not kept
open very long. The CALIFORNIAN of
Nov. 20, 1867, publishes an item
wherein the Y. M. c. A. thanks Hen
nv Fairbanks, Luke P. Poland and
Henry E. Jewett for magazines and
books donated to the reading room.
In the month of December we learn
from the same source that county
Y. M. c. A. convention was held
with the county conference of Con-
gregational churches in the North
church. At this gathering the asso-
Citations at Bradford, Peacham and
St. Johnsbury were reported as in a
fourishing condition.
During the winter of 1867 there
was course of lectures under the
auspices of the Ladies Library Asso-
citation, but the following winter the
Y. M. c. A. took up the lecture bust
ness and established course which
with few exceptions has been kept
up until the present time. This
course has not only become one OF
the leading features of long winter
but at the same time has become one
of the leading lecture courses in the
United States. The first lecture in
this course was given on Monday
Ian. 81, 1868, by President Asa D
Smith of Dartmouth College and his
subject was "The Mission of New
England" The CALIFORNIAN sale
that a number of listeners from
neighboring villages were present
and announced that the next lecture
in the course would be given by
President Kitchell of Middlebury
, College. Since that time the people
of st. Johnsbury have heard at {
; very low price such orators as Wen
dell Phillips, Henry Ward Beech
er, Frederick Douglass, John b
Cough and Col. Watterson sucl
travellers as Henry M. Stanley
George KEENAN,, P. B. DuChaillu ant
, Lieut.. Eisenhower ; eminent divine
like John S. c. Abbott, Lyman Alb
bott, Joseph Cook, DR.. Talmage
naturalists in Prof. J. G. Woods, ant
: Others war veterans like Chaplai
. now Bishop McCabe, Gen. John L
Swift, Gen. O. 0. Howard, Gen
r Gordon, and host ofliterary light
e including John G. Holland, Will Carrie
:, ton, George w. Gable, George Mac
9 Donald, Max O'Rell and Robert ]
Burdette. During all these years tn
lecture course has included some {
n the most famous musicians in thi
d and other countries, but which tim
y forbids me to mention.
t AS this paper was intended to pr
1 sent only sketch of the early stru&
4, giles of the association there is lit
t. more to say at this time. In 1873
r. more direct work was done for youn
r. men by the employment of genera
in secretary and since that time the a
Sc ISOLATION has been in the direct chari
;. OF general secretary. c. H. Sag
1. now OF Denver, was secretary for tW
ar years. He was succeeded by Z.
s, Page, now assistant pastor of