rom the platform of
class-meetings, and it was sometimes difficult to provide for them all.
During the season of 1884 two classes united their interests, raised
money, and purchased a small octagonal building near the Hall of
Philosophy. These were the classes of '83 and '85. The movement for
class headquarters was growing; all the other classes began the raising
of building funds, and those who looked into the future saw all around
St. Paul's Grove the prospect of small buildings rising. How would the
grounds appear when forty classes should have little headquarters--a C.
L. S. C. village? The plan began to be mooted of a Union Class Building,
to be realized later.

CHAPTER XV

THE CHAPLAIN'S LEG AND OTHER TRUE TALES (1885-1888)

THE twelfth year of the Assembly, 1885, opened with a preliminary week,
beginning July 7th, for the Teachers' Retreat and the School of
Languages, and closed with "After-week," making the entire session
fifty-three days long, ending on August 28th. But the official "opening"
did not take place until the traditional date, Tuesday, August 7th. For
years, indeed from the beginning, Dr. Vincent had set his heart on
having a chime of bells at Chautauqua. The practically minded trustees
urged for some needed improvement, and buildings for the growing
schools, but the poetic conception carried the day, and in 1885 the
Meneely chime of ten bells was heard at the opening in July. Some common
souls in cottages around complained of their frequency, awaking folks
early in the morning and breaking their naps in the afternoon, but to
most their mellow music was a welcome sound.

It has always been the rule that quiet must reign on the grounds after
the night bells at 10:00 P.M., and watchmen have been wont to knock at
doors where the rule was honored in the breach instead of the
observance. A parlor full of young people enjoying themselves does not
always come to silence in a minute. I remember one house near the Point
where dwelt an elderly lady with abundant gray hair but a young heart,
and also with an attractive daughter. That home was exceedingly popular
among the younger set, and their meetings--doubtless held for the
discussion of serious subjects, for the voices were sometimes loud--were
often prolonged beyond the time of the bells. One night an unusually
imperative rap of the watchman's stick on the front door startled the
group. The door was opened a little and the matron put forth her