The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-06-10
CHAUTAUQUA OPENS
WITH ATTENDANCE
UNEXPECTEDLY BIC
RALPH PARLETTE CHARMS TWO
LARGE AUDIENCES; LINCOLN
MCONNELL TONIGHT.

The Ardmore Chautauqua opened in
Convention Hall Sunday with an attend
ance Unexpectedly large. 1t was esti-
mated that nearly 1000 persons attended
sion also drew a very encouraging
crowd, and the local managers believe
that the Chautauqua will be a thorough
success from every standpoint.
The noted lecturer, Ralph Parette,
was the star performer at both of the
Sunday sessions. His lectures We're pre-
faced by Miss Electra Plat and the Vic
tory Players.
Miss Plat played the star role in the
Victory Players and with her charm
ing personality she at once made
friendship with her entire audience.
Her work, both as a singer and a reader,
was effective. Vernon Stone captured
the crowd with his one.string fiddle,
made from a cigar box, and the work
of Miss Florence Jack on the flute was
artistic and clever. The company as a
whole was a happy combination which
fitted well into the Sunday program.
In the afternoon, Mr.. Parlette held the
crowd with his imimitable lecture, "The
Big Business of Living" He compared
life to the Mississippi river which
springs tiny silver thread from its
cradle, Lake Itasca in the Minnesota
woods, and like wobbly calf. he said,
meanderS it's way southwark, over
waterfalls, gathering strength as it goes
along, until when it reaches the gulf
it becomes the mighty father of waters.
SO the stream of life should ever keep
moving southwark never stopping to
become stagnant, growing broader and
deeper as it approaches the great gulf
of a new life.
His evening lecture was "The Uni
versity of Hard Knocks" in which he
emphasized the fact that people can only
really learn by experience. Mr.. Par
lette demonstrated his lecture with a
jar filled with peas and nuts of different
sizes. showing that a little shaking
would cause the large objects to rise to
the top. while the smaller ones would
go to the bottom. His application was
that the only way we can receive pro.
motions is to grow bigger, and by just
the moment we fail to grow we fall
to rise higher.
He said the demonstration also rep
resented three forms of governme mt:
Autocracy, where the king is at the top
and the people under him and not al
lowed to rise; mobocracy. where the little
ones try to put themselves on top;
and democracy. where each one has the
same opportunity of growing large and
rising to the top. BY the law of uni
versal gravity, he showed that only
democracy can live.
Mr. Parlette presents his lectures
with a mannerism and style peculiarly |
his own. He grips his hearers and holds
them with unusual interest by his |
wit
Tonight DR.. Lincoln Mcconnell will |
deliver the lecture, and the st. Clair |
Sisters will precede him with the well |
known friendship program. Tomorrow |
afternoon the Italian Bersagliere Band |
viii entertain. The evening programs |
will begin promptly at Sis o'clock.
Junior Chautauqua
Miss Anderson organized the Junior
Chautauqua this morning at Conven-
tion Hall. There We're more than a
hundred children present and Miss
Anderson expects fully 800 members
before the close of the week. After
the storytelling hour at Convention
Hall, the children were taken to Cen
trail Park where the play hour was
spent. Miss Anderson said that she
had better attendance here than in any
xk~t,a hn ha1