y is one of the greatest that any
patriotic American could ask. It makes of him, if
he knows it and can rise to its requirements, a
potent human factor in molding the mind of the
nation.

Viscount James Bryce, Ambassador of Great Britain to the United States,
and author of _The American Commonwealth_, the most illuminating work
ever written on the American system of government, said, while visiting
Chautauqua:

I do not think any country in the world but
America could produce such gatherings as
Chautauqua's.

Six presidents of the United States have thought it worth while to visit
Chautauqua, either before, or during, or after their term of office.
These were Grant, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft.
Theodore Roosevelt was at Chautauqua four times. He said on his last
visit, in 1905, "Chautauqua is the most American thing in America"; and
also:

This Chautauqua has made the name Chautauqua a
name of a multitude of gatherings all over the
Union, and there is probably no other educational
influence in the country quite so fraught with
hope for the future of the nation as this and the
movement of which it is the archtype.

Let us see what some journalists and writers have said about Chautauqua.
Here is the opinion of Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of _The Outlook_, and a
leader of thought in our time:

Chautauqua has inspired the habit of reading with
a purpose. It is really not much use to read,
except as an occasional recreation, unless the
reading inspires one to think his own thoughts, or
at least make the writer's thoughts his own.
Reading without reflection, like eating without
digestion, produces dyspepsia. The influence and
guidance of Chautauqua will long be needed in
America.

The religious influence of Chautauqua has been not
less valuable. Chautauqua has met the restless
questioning of the age in the only way in which it
can be successfully met, by converting it into a
serious seeking for rest in truth.

Dr. Edwin E. Slosson, formerly professor in Columbia University, now
literary editor of the _Independent_, wrote in that paper:

If I were a cartoonist, I should symbolize
Chautauqua by a tall Greek godd