The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-10-15
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OUR CHAUTAUQUA
Secretary Writes Regarding
Achievements
Setting Forth The Efforts Which Have
Been Made to Make the Pierian
chautauqua Circle Best Of its
Kind In the World.
Pdper Read At Chautauqua Meeting By J. r.


Pdper Read At Chautauqua Meeting By j. r.
ssForsooth, brothers, felLop-ship IS heauen,
and lack of .fsIIow-ship is hell; fellowship IS
life, and lack Of teLIo,o- ship IS death; amt the
deeds that ye do upon earth. it Is for jslloso-
ship that go do thsns. p"
came upon this passage from
William Morris as l fingered the
pages of book at random, debating
what might hest prepare that would
leave with you as clear and as strong
an impression of the things for
which the Pierian Chautauqua Cir
Gle stands, of the ideals by which
we, constituents OF the Circle, are,
Influenced, and of the goal towards
which we ever strive as | have in
my own mind.
Fellowship is life" Simple,
sincere, profoundly true words. And
that other axiom, Fellowship is
heaven" A gospel of fellowship.
There is the meat of the Chautauqna
idea. 1t is practical gospel of fel-
low ship which mOtivates this Cir
Gle; it is the ideal of fellowship ever
becoming on which actuates our eff
forts toward that plane from which
we may practice most effectively
the dual purposes of fellow-self
help. That is how the Pierian Cir
Gle and the men who have bent
their best efforts to cards Its success
have impressed me; it is the impress
sion the Circle would like to make
upon the minds Of all Of it's friends.
With this as objective. let me re-
view the work and progress of the
Circle during the past few years.
Two years ago the Circle bad
membership of. eleven only. Our
bi-weekly meetings were handicap
ped by lack of proper books OF ref
erence, and our studies were, there
fore, of an uuorganized nature.
But we began to plan for great
er, better, Pierlan Circle. Under
the sympathetic guidance of our
elected officers, we then laid the
foundation on which was to rise a
structure which would command the
attention and respect of those about
US. and through which we could best
accomplish the realization of our
ideal, the creating and maintaining
of the Circle as the foremost organ
for fellow self help for prison in
mates known to the annals of pro
gressive penology.
1t is not mere laudation to say
that every member of the Circle en-
tered into these plans with epthusi-
asm, giving freely of his limited
leisure time and of his best efforts
towards their furlherance. With
the limited references at the Circles
command, many of which were fast
slipping behind the trend of modern
progress in thought, science. letters,
and art, each member devoted him
self diligently and perseveringiy to
the task of preparation necessary
to successfully take up the greater
work for which we were building.
In this preparatory work a year
was passed.
At the beginning of the last pre-
vious ChautauQua year, September
Is, 1918, the Circle had lost slightly
In membership, through discharge
from the Institution of members. but
it had gained intellectually in other
respects; for, while the membership
was small. the Circle was thorough
ly prepared to begin its course Of
actively constructive work.
The officers of the Circle elected
for the coming year, at once took
up their duties with enthusiasm and
energy. At the second meeting of
the 1918 id Circle the enrolment
was nearly doubled by the adlnis-
sion of new members. and we euter-
ed on the most successful year the
Pierian Circle has ever kEown.
A program of work for the year
was drawn up by the president ana
adopted by the vote of the Circle.
The program called for sever
al series of papers on vital topics of
the day; imtermitlant papers of gen.
eral interest; two debates; and the
making of special arrangements for
quarterly meetings.
The first series of papers dealt
with political economy, aud was
opened at the second meeting of the
season. The series has been very
successfully continued throughout
the season. different members taking
up separate specific points aud en-.
largiDR upon them.