The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-08-10
In Programs Are Included Nearly Everything that VIII
Amuse, Instruct, and Improve Trained Seals
Booked" with Statesmen and PoEcists

I fed when he Is preceded on the pro-
gram by a glass blower or q female
| impersonator.
Chautauqua was once 3 word Of re-
tricted meaning, and was q proper and
not a common noun. 1t denoted q beau
tiful lake with a forest colony of middle
aged persons studying in cottages and
tents or attending lectures and concerts
in amphitheaters. Other summer settle
ments of the same character were in
dependently established in the Northeast
and on the Pacific Coast. They were
pluralized and loosely called chautauQuas.
The plan Of each was practically the
same. Each. also. was fixed and local.
lied. Then, seeing that the idea was
new, sound and popular. chautauQuas, So
called, were organized by promoters and
carried over circuits after the fashion Of
dramatic companies and circuses.
1t SO happened. therefore, that chautau-
qua now means most any sort of q sum-
mer entertainment. The main purpose.
however. remains intellectual Persons
do not take up definite courses of study
at the movable chautauquas. Instead.
they listen to lectures and concerts, and
are otherwise entertained or instructed.
Hundreds Of such chautauquas are held
every season. II is said that 30.000,0 900
persons-vlllagers and farmers, almost
entirely-attended them last year. They
hear messages" Of one kind or another,
stump speeches by politicians who think
they are lecturing and rhetorical out
bursts by fluent gentlemen on the value
of human character, the dear old star
spangled banner, and how to make q
s., 0oO, OOo.
They Close saloons and Stop Racing
The movable chautauqua business has
been organized into bureaus. or booking
agencies, and while it Is profitable to the
managers and the talent 1t is rarely
so to the local committees, who do most
Of the work and usually assume all the
financial burdens. But a chautauqua
stirs up a sleepy town, draws people in
from the country, and indirectly stimu-
lates trade in the community. 1t gives
the neighborhood an opportunity to see
and hear pulpit and political notabilities
and something new and interesting to
talk and think about Coarseness is
never tolerated, publicly, in the country.
An unpatriotic speaker would be groaned
and Missed from the platform. Turkey
trotters would outrage the mothers,
though they might arouse the curiosity
Of the fathers If the children were at
home. Consequently. the chautauquas.
SO far, have been free from moral OBJ
lection, and their number Is growing
year by year.
1t is claimed that chautauqua closed
the saloons at Oskaloosa, Iowa, and that
one in Maysville Mo-, stopped horse
racing in that vicinity. Chautauquas in
many places have been followed by reli-
gious revivals. In some towns the man
ayers find homes for orphan children. At
Maysville, where horse racing was agi-
tated out of existence, forty-nine waits
have been adopted by country families.
A Mr.. Russ took thirteen of them from
time to time and sent them to college,
He gives the boys 81 900 with which to
begin life, and the girls an equal sum
when they get married. I'D rather do
that" he has said. than build libra
ries."
Persons attending the first chautauqua
thirty-nine years ago lived In tents, held
their meetings out of doors. and moved
around at night by the light OF pine fires. |
The enterprise thus started on the shore