t. His chest swelled as he drew in a breath,
and then looking at the man who had interrupted him, he spoke in that
powerful voice:

The firmament above the massive brow of Daniel
Webster was a vaster arch than that over the
narrow forehead of Stephen A. Douglas, and the
lightning that rent the clouds from the dying face
of one, would never have been needed to bring
daylight to the other!

I was seated beside the Rev. Charles F. Deems of New York, a Southerner
by birth and in his sympathies through the then recent war. He turned to
me and said: "That was the most magnificent sentence that I have ever
heard!" There was a moment of silence, and then a burst of applause from
the audience.

The Lake Bluff Assembly never drew a large patronage, as no Chautauqua
Assembly ever has which depended upon a great city whose inhabitants can
hear the famous preachers and orators. The successful Assemblies have
been located in fairly large towns, with villages and small cities
surrounding, near enough to reach the Assembly, but so distant that to
enjoy its benefits the visitors must stay more than one day. The support
of a Chautauqua Assembly of the higher grade comes not mainly from the
one-day excursionists, but from those who plan to enter the classes and
remain at least a fortnight. These patrons constitute the backbone of
the institution, and without them the transitory crowds soon lose their
interest and the Assembly declines. Lake Bluff maintained an existence
for ten or twelve years, but never obtained an extensive constituency.

The year 1878 was noteworthy in the establishment of two Assemblies, one
still living after more than forty years, the other one of the largest,
most steadfast in fidelity to the Chautauqua ideal, and most extended in
its influence. The first of these was the Round Lake Assembly, at a camp
ground near Saratoga in New York. We have narrated elsewhere (see page
44) the story of the "praying band leader" who undertook to hold a
little meeting of his own at Chautauqua, and when called to order left
in disgust, but later showed his manly spirit by asking Dr. Vincent to
organize an Assembly on the Chautauqua plan on the grounds at Round
Lake, of which camp meeting he was President. This Assembly began in
1878, and is still maintained both as a summer school, a camp meeting,
and a Sunday School training institution. It was opened according to the