brotherhood; they will
have a common topic of conversation and
discussion, and the consequence will be, that many
who, if they stood alone, might soon grow weary of
the studies which are recommended to them, will be
incited to perseverance by the interest which they
see others taking in them. It may happen in rare
instances that a person of eminent mental
endowments, which otherwise might have remained
uncultivated and unknown, will be stimulated in
this manner to diligence, and put forth unexpected
powers, and, passing rapidly beyond the rest,
become greatly distinguished, and take a place
among the luminaries of the age.

I shall be interested to watch, during the little
space of life that may yet remain to me, the
progress and results of the plan which has drawn
from me this letter.

I am, Sir,
Very truly yours,
W. C. BRYANT.

The distinguished writer of this letter died only a month and four days
after writing it, on June 12, 1878, as the result of a sunstroke while
he was making an address at the unveiling of a statue in the Central
Park. He was in the eighty-fifth year of his age.

After some short addresses by men on the platform, Bishop Foster,
Professor Wilkinson, Dr. Strong, and others, Dr. Vincent announced as
the first book of the course, Green's _Short History of the English
People_, and invited all desirous of joining the C. L. S. C. to write
their names and addresses upon slips of paper and hand them to anyone on
the platform. It might have been supposed that a circular would be ready
containing a statement of the course for the first year, regulations
and requirements of the organization, the fee of membership, etc.; but
in the enthusiasm of the time those desirable requisites had been
forgotten. Everybody looked around for a slip of paper. Visiting cards
were made useful, margins were torn off newspapers, and there was an
overwhelming rush toward the platform to join the new circle. On that
afternoon seven hundred names were received and the number grew hourly
until the close of the Assembly. Nearly all the regular year-by-year
visitors to Chautauqua became members of this "Pioneer Class," as it was
afterwards