El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-09-05

L
| crowd extends halfway round the out
side, standing many rows deep. Once
| in while, at some popular allusion,
| applause bursts forth and browns the
| speaker.
| NOTED VISITOR PERPLEXED.
More rarely the man on the platform
is granted the high honor of the ''Chau
| tauqus salute" a silent fiutteripg of
| thousands of white handkerchief all
| over the building. The Earl of Aber-
deem, governors general of Canada, who,
| with his wife and family visited Chau-
| tauqua Aug. II, was received with this
| unique symbol of welcome. AS he en-
tered the house, the audience sang
''God Save the Queen" and sang it
right heartily. The earl evidently ex-
pected good British cheer to follow
the song, and when in perfect stiffness
the white flags of peace were set flying,
he looked first surprised, than rather
alarmed, and turned to the chairman
with an expression of amused per-
| plexity that was very funny. But he
| appreciated the heartiness of it all, if
| his words in response meant anything.
He spoke of personal "reminiscences of
| Gladstone; the countess described an
enterprise she has recently undertaken
in the scattered settlements of west
ern Canada, for furnishing
good reading to the farmers
fsmilies-similsr in idea. though vast
ly more modest in scope, to the Chau-
tauqua plan. Then the two distinguish
ed guests sat on the platform during
the concert that followed, with their
tall young daughter, Lady Marjorie
Gordon, aud two small boys in Eng lish
schoolboy costume, The juvenile part
of the family certainly enjoyed being
| the center of SO much attention; and
| the earl did not object. His good
Scotch heart seemed to warm towards
Chautauqua,a and he said that he should
| be pleased to recommend the place as
SURE CURE FOR CYNICISM.
And such it is. For the spirit of
Chsutauqua is, above all else, sincere.
Scarcely one among the thousands
here has not some mild enthusiasm
that the hard-hesrted world would
| hold ridiculous-some striving after
knowledge that buffers no bread; some
hidden hero worship of a great scholar
or teacher; some longing for the SYM
pathy of fellow creatures whoihave.sim
ilarly struggled and suffered disap-
pointment and struggled on again:
some pathetic regret for an idle youth,
supplanted now by more than youthful
perseverance and half comic devotion
ago; some of the deepsr heart hunger
that shines forth from the eyes and
takes the edge from harsh voices. But
beneath these trees, which have shell
tered so many pilgrims as they talked
together of the long and dusty way the
WEAKNESS of journeying and the bright
shrines beyond, one learns to respect
that which others hO,d most dear.
People do not laugh at other peoples
hobbies at Chautauqua. 1t does not
seem amusing to find gray-h&ired
women and white-haired men holding
their ''class meetings and ''vigils,''
and marching in their professions
through the golden gate" Rather
does it bring grateful thoughts to the
heart that by the diviuely inspired
idea born a generation ago in the mind
of the beloved founder of Chautauqua,
thousands of lives have had their gray
ness changed to god, their middle age
redeemed FROM mental sloth, their old
age frightened and broadened by the
great thoughts of great men, and the
cousecrated study of Gods world.
But there are
YOUNG PEOPLE AT CHAUTAUQUA;
plenty of them. There are hosts
of children, and fine, sturdy, happy
lot they are. They have their clubs
and picnics, their SundayschOols and
their athletics, their gymnastic classes
and their outing parties. All this ur-
der the best of leadership, so that
parents may feel no anxiety about
them. There are many young women,
also. largely drawn from the rank of
the school-ma' ANS, who spend their
summers here. with mixture of study