The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1930-07-09
The Chautauqua

The Chautauqua
n Arrest of rare June days were those of long
X ago, during which country communities played
hosts to Chautauqua companies. To be sure,
Chautauqua circuits still make the rounds of many
Middle Western communities but the Chautauqua is
not what it used to be in days gone by 1t has lost
its place the fountain of intellectual enlightenment
and coded its position the country richest of
entertainment, to vehicles of the 1t is still
an important incident of the Summer in many COM
munity but it is longer the event of the year,
it was in many town in yesterdays.
decade ago the wall that marked the
domain of the Chautauqua and the great tent which
it's tabernacle bulked large in the life of the
community they did against the physical horizon.
Symbolic they became, with culture enlightenment
and advancement. Embematic of all that was rich
and good and wholesome they continued for genera
tion. To the communities they served they brought
the great and the great of the world and if they
well paid they well deserved their pay. Grateful
communities looked forward to their coming, mourn
ed their going and enjoyed their presence.
If the board seats hard, no one complained.
If the overpowering heat, increased by the canvas
roof fairly boiled the patrons they suffered in silence
If the rain drizzed through holes here and there and
if water squashed about underfoot no noticed it.
The body did not figure in this feature The mind
guest Of honor at these affairs
Across the crude stage along one side of the tent
strobe the mighty of the generation. Upon these
boards did Bryan stand to exhort the crowds which
loved his voice and neglected his counsels Suffer
ing in the heat with his listeners he presented his
exhibition From sweating pitcher he poured glass
after glass of water, pausing and then extol
1T as beverage. From his lips poured the eoquence
which won him fame. Out in front his auditors sat.
The hard board benches creaked groaned and squeak
ed Along the back of the tent moved tired mothers
patiently quieting irritated youngsters blissfuy
mindful of their afront to greatness An occasional
"wa-wa" punctuated the periods of Organic oratory
But left while the stream of eloquence flowed
on. Handkerchefs mopped perspiring brows and palm
leaf fans moved to and fro So went the afternoons
and evenings of seven days. A interude of en-
tertainment and education
No longer the exclusive purveyor of country cul-
ture the Chautauqua has suffered with time. The
RADIO the talkes and the highways have marked the
Chautauqua for ultimate extinction, but it may well
cherish past of glorious tradition. 1t left its i'm
press upon the lives of thousands of boys and girls
now grown men and women. To whole generation
1t meant more than the sophisticated young folk of
today can realize. The elements of adult educa-
ton were embodied in it's programs and within the
walls of its tabernacles many youth found in
SEPARATION. To literally millions of Middle Western
Americans the recollection of Chautauqua DAYS will
persist as the memory of unexpected discovery of
desert oasis fingers in the mind of one who has
travelled the wastes-Pioneer Press.
o Q
"A Hero of Peace
T is gratifying to humane persons to note that in
recent years the reading public has shown an in
creasng interest in the lives and works of those
who have wrought for the alienation of misery and
suffering wherever found Heroes of peace have come
to be esteemed no less than those of war.
This is illustrated by the enthusiastic reception
accorded recent autobiography of DIR. Axel Munthe
world-famous Swedish physician, whose long life of
unselsh service is the subject of most fascinating
and inspiring narrative. Added interest is given by
birds well, have been the objects of his humane
ministrations.
Among his patients have been the late Quenn Vic
toria OF Sweden, American monaires sojourninp in
Paris and Rome poverty-stricken cholera victims in
Naples, and dying gorilla in a zoo in Paris.
He also found time to wage successful crusade
against the centuryod cruel business of netting birds
on the Island of Capri.
1t is well that DIR. Munthe has seen fit to recount
many incidents of his busy life in his charming book
THE Story of San Michele" 1t is also pleasing to
know that in recent letter to buttons his American
publishers he has directed that all his royalties from
the book be devoted to fund for the protection of
animals and migratory birds.
The life story of this hero of peace is as full of
thrills and Inspiration that of Alexander or Ma
poeon Contrasted with the record of those monsters
of ambition, it shows humanity at its best.