Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-07-03
ORIGIN OF CHAUTAUQUA
FIRST SESSION HELD IN NEW
YORK IN AUGUST 1874.
Higher Education to All Alike the
Fundamental Principle of This
Great. System.

In these closing days of the second
annual ehautauqua pronounced sha-
ta-kwa) ii may be interesting to those
who are not already informed to know
something OF the origin and purposes
OF this great educational institution.
The. name was adopted from a lake
in southwestern New York, which has,
during the past third of a century,
become associated with system of
popular education now generally
known but by many vaguely under
stood The fundamental principle of
this system is that higher education
may be extended to all alike. Broadly
speaking, the influence of the insti-
tuition is two-fold-it is exerted
through the summer assembly, directly
upon those in attendance, and by
means of reading circles and cores
pondence instruction upon self-edu-
eating readers and students in their
own homes, wherever they may be.
The function of the institution in the
educational system is, therefore, com
pensatory and supplementary. While
its methods cannot adequately sub
stitute- the higher places of learning,
they stimulate personal development
among ambitious persons who are de-
MED college opportunities, and among
all classes encourage habits of system
attic reading and study.
The first chautauqua was in session
August 1874, as a result of plan de-
veloped by Lewis Miller of Ohio and
John H. Vincent of New York. Both
men were deeply interested in Sunday
school work, and devised this plan
of furtheling that work. Although
Methodists' originated the chautauqua
it was with no thought of making it
denominational, and never has it been
to this day. Primitive lodges were
erected on the chautauqua lake, but
so rapidly has development been dur
ing these intervening years that hun
dreds of thousands of dollars are now
permanently invested in magnificent
assembly buildings and beautiful
homes. The chautauqua in New York
now continues in session sixty days,
and the most intellectual men of the
whole world appear upon its platform,
the staff of lecturers numbering more
than 200. Every year at least one
well known British scholar crosses the
Atlantic especially to lecture at the
great gatherings at this now famous
intellectual center.
Thus began the chautauqua, based
ON the theory that change Of occu
patton, not idleness, is the true rec
reation, and that the summer vacation
may be made means Of development
and stimulus to those engaged during
the year in the ordinary persuits of
life. Today there are thousands of
chautauquas similar to the one held
in Dallas the past week in every sec
tion of the land, financed by people
who appreciate their worth. But
chautauqua work is not confined to
the annual out-of- door meetings, but
extends to literary societies and
scientific circles whose sessions are
continued at frequent intervals
throughout the year This system was
inaugurated in the belief that thous-
ands of ambitious people throughout
the length and breadth Of the land
were only waiting for definite sugges
ton and aid to mental development.
And so it has proved