riend and pastor. This year a young man
made his first appearance upon the Chautauqua platform, not yet as a
lecturer, but introducing speakers in felicitous sentences and presiding
with the ease of an experienced chairman. This was Mr. George Edgar
Vincent, just graduated from Yale University, from whom Chautauqua and
the world in general was to hear before many years.

In 1885, the institution received a new charter from the Legislature of
New York, giving it the name "Chautauqua University" and the power to
confer degrees. By vote of the Board, the title "Chancellor of the
Chautauqua University" was given to Dr. Vincent. It was hoped to
establish a college for study by correspondence, with reviews of the
subjects taught in the summer meeting. But the expense of a professional
staff was great and the number of students was not large enough to
support it without an endowment. The Chautauqua University might have
won a place in the world of education, if friends had been found to
bestow upon it a liberal endowment, but among the varied gifts of Dr.
Vincent was not that peculiar talent for raising money. The University
did not prosper, and in 1898 the Trustees voluntarily surrendered to the
Regents of the University of the State of New York the examination of
candidates and the conferring of degrees. Again the title was changed
and the University became "The Chautauqua System of Education."

The year 1886 ushered in some improvements. In place of the old wharf
stood a new pier building, three stories high, with stores on the upper
balcony, for the steamboat still brought most of the Chautauqua crowds
and at their arrival a throng was always present to greet them. Above
the building rose a tower, from which sounded forth over the lake and
through the Grove the melody of the Chautauqua chimes. On the hill was
the new Jewett House, given by Mrs. A. H. Jewett as a home for
self-supporting young women, teachers and others, while at Chautauqua.

The program of that year shows that a faculty of sixteen conducted the
work in the Chautauqua Teachers' Retreat, and fifteen others gave
courses in the School of Languages. Lessons in Harmony, Organ and Piano,
Drawing and Painting were also added. The Chautauqua School of Physical
Education was established under the direction of Dr. W. G. Anderson. All
these were signs that the system of summer schools at Chautauqua was
increasing its range of study, as well as growing in the number o