It is in the navigation of these shallow channels that the lakeman shows his skill. The lake captains, as a rule, know but little of the science of navigation. They never need to "take the sun." They steer from headland to headland, and are rarely out of sight of land. But in the art of handling their boats they are past-masters. They can bring a great ship up to a wharf, if need be, so neatly that she "wouldn't crack an egg." They are their own pilots. The "salter" gives up the command of his ship when he nears the land, and the pilot guides his vessel. That is just the time when the "laker" comes up from below and takes charge. And what an art is the management of a great ship in one of the narrow channels between the Lakes! There is an endless succession of orders such as "Starboard a little!" "Slowly!" Stidday!" "Port engine half speed astern!" Stop her!" "Start your starboard engine!" "Port a little!" "Faster!" "Hard over!" 66 Starboard!" "Catch her!" Stid-day!" And that this is not mere sailor's jargon, but is meant for a purpose, and is necessary, every word of it, if the ship is to get safely through the tortuous channel, is emphasized by the three spars sticking out of the water near the "Sailor's Encampment," mute testimony to the necessity of caution if we would avoid a like fate.

"How do you like this life on the Lakes?" the Spectator asked of a sailor off duty one morning. The Spectator uses the word sailor advisedly, for this man had sailed on "salters" on the great Pacific. "Well," was the reply,

"it's a pretty good job for the summer, but the season's short and a fellow's likely to be stranded in the winter. No, a man don't get much more of a chance to see his family here than on the 'salters.' Then the watches here are longer, and I don't like that. And I've never been forrard on this boat. On the Pacific, when you ship on a vessel, they send you over her with a 'pilot,' so you'll know the lay of things. But here you've got your own place, and don't know about anything else." This remark may indicate the "system" necessary on a vessel whose crew numbers nearly two hundred. As a rule, however, the Spectator observed less formality and less red-tapeism among the lakemen than are usually seen among the salt-water sailors. There is an air of Western democracy about these men. senger says to the mate, "Nine o'clock and all's well, sir," in a tone which indicates his distrust of the antiquated formula, and the mate addresses his men as "Dick" or "Bill" in an undertone which shows that he is on very friendly terms with them, and doesn't in the least desire the impersonality of the relations between officers and men on, say, a man-of-war. They are mostly well-spoken, straightforward men," these fresh-water sailors, with little of official dignity, and are not too self-important to answer sensible questions-though it does seem a little strange to them that anybody should get enthusiastic over the mere scenic attractiveness of a trip on the Lakes.

The mes

walking-matches on deck-two laps to a quarter of a mile; the dark deep water, beautifully blue and clear as crystal, stingingly cold as we catch its spray on the lower deck when it breaks from the sharp steel beak of our mighty onward-rushing mass; above all, the sense of having around one an illimitable sea of this sparkling, precious liquid, enough to supply the cities of the world, to revivify Sahara, or to irrigate a continent if it could only be utilized-this new sensation of "water, water everywhere" and every drop good to drink-make one (saving the contradiction) almost intoxicated, inebriated with the proximity of the boundless blessings of pure water and pure air. The blessing of pure water is not, however, appreciated by the native boy to the extent which would seem natural. The Spectator saw no happy, skylarking boys bathing in these icy waters. He talked with a summer visitor on Isle Royale who had "taken a dip," but who did not wish to repeat the experience. This young man said that he had asked the Captain of a Lake Superior steamer why he carried life-preservers, the water being so cold that one could not long survive immersion. "Oh," was the nonchalant reply, "we carry the corks so that it will be easier to recover the bodies!" It is said that Superior's waters do

dent fort, last year finally abandoned by the Government; it may be the St. Clair River, with its "little Venice" of cottages and clubhouses, the resort of Detroit's water-loving citizens; or a glimpse into Canada, with a hint of French and Indian in such an inn as the "Ashiganikaning, Leon Bellair, Prop. ;" or a view of the famous copper country on Lake Superior, with the smoke rising from the "Calumet and Hecla," the richest copper-mines in the world; or here and there a whaleback, a lumber-barge, or a "sandsucker;" it may be, at night, the vast dim luminosity on the far horizon that indicates some large city, like Cleveland or Duluth, soon to appear to the groups of watchers on deck; it may be the antics of the eager newsboys at Detroit, throwing their rolled-up papers to the high hurricane deck of the steamer, and nimbly catching the profitable nickel in return; lastly, it may be the great Government locks at Sault Ste. Marie Canal-the canal which every year passes thirty per cent. more freight and twice as many vessels as enter and leave New York Harbor-where the passenger has an opportunity to go ashore and stretch his legs and wonder at the huge locks and their mechanism, and, if he chooses, to take an exciting trip in a canoe through the " Soo" rapids. And if this is not enough, the insatiable seeker for recreation may play shuffleboard on the ship's deck, or pitch quoits, or-take kodak pictures, or talk with his fellow-passengers, or write letters, or even (if he gets just a little weary of excitement after the long day) stretch himself out on a steamer chair on deck at night and look at the quiet stars, and the rippling waters, and the dim shores, andbe still. In any event, the tourist who makes the trip of the Lakes is sure to come back a wiser, healthier, happier man, with new ideas as to ocean travel in his own land, so to speak, and with a memory full of pleasant reminiscences to hearten him for his daily work.

Duluth High School (Head of the Lakes)

It

to have entered upon it with all the greater vigor because of the lack of direct assistance. Strangely enough, his instinct proved to be a correct guide. Nineteen men out of twenty who undertake to direct their own studies during this period of life waste the greater part of their time. was not so with the founder of the Chautauqua movement. The ideals which had been placed before him in his earlier days, the conviction that in the providence of God he was to accomplish something these, together with his unerring instinct, led him through a most vigorous and thorough discipline. Yet he himself says that the lack of a college education has been for him throughout life the "thorn in the flesh;" 66 one can scarcely conceive of the grief, made up of regret, discouragement, and mortification, which this fact occasioned me through most of the years of my mature life." It was only after a prolonged struggle that at last he gave up the thought of a college course. During this period of struggle, "effort after effort was made to bring conscience and circumstances into line with ambition and to break loose from the active ministry in order to complete a college course."

Can any one doubt that the Chautauqua movement owes its existence in large measure to the fact that its founder did not have the privileges of a college course of study, and to the almost morbid feeling which had its origin in this deprivation? In the history of his mature life one can see almost at every step the influence of this feeling. Every effort was put forth to secure that which would serve as a substitute for the much-desired college training of which he was deprived. It was out of this struggle-a lifelong struggle-that Chautauqua, in the broadest sense of the term, was born.

But before we leave this earlier life, which contained, indeed, the germ of all that followed, notice should be taken of the tendencies which manifested themselves most clearly, and of the ideas which seem to have exerted greatest influence upon his mind. Before he had reached the age of twenty-one, every important characteristic of his

He had shown

later career had already exhibited itself. himself to be an indefatigable student, working then, as he has worked throughout life, whenever occasion or opportunity presented itself, occupying every moment of leisure for the acquisition of some new line of thought, for the mastery of some new author. The standard fixed in these years never afterward suffered change. He had likewise already developed the methods of the teacher, beginning at the age of fifteen, and continuing the work through four years. Here was gained an experience in the art of presenting truth for the instruction of others, which has more clearly characterized him than perhaps any other American preacher of modern times. If we had before us that picture of John H. Vincent in his earliest years, with his school gathered about him, not in the school-house, but in the grove, the pupils seated very comfortably upon the rough seats which he and they had provided, we should have indeed a picture of Chautauqua in miniature. But stronger than the tendency to be a student, more marked than the ability to teach, was the religious tendency of his mind, and his ability to preach. He was told that for this great work he had been set apart in infancy by his mother. It was his conscientious regard for what seemed to be a call from Heaven that led him to sacrifice his intellectual ambitions and undertake the work of the ministry. There is a tradition that while still a child the disposition to preach had manifested itself. The deep spirituality of his nature, the peculiar strength of the religious feeling which controlled him, the marked simplicity of his faith-these pointed unmistakably toward the work which, after all, was to be uppermost in his life. Throughout this period the influences to which he responded most easily, and by which he was most thoroughly controlled, were those of religion and of the natural world about him. The example and teaching of father and mother, together with a God-given appreciation of the value of religious faith and life, formed a character which was to continue its development in the same lines for many decades. But