Excerpt from Chautauqua County Schools and Education, 1802-1902

Centennial Poem

By Forrest Crissey.

A hundred years - how brief a span

In which to work the magic change

From wilderness and savage man

To fruitful field and purpling grange!

Where now the lakeward-looking hills

Are wreathed in vines of goodly fame,

The Red Man fished the lakes and rills,

And ranged the forest for his game.

He pitched his summer lodge where now

The schoolhouse stands, with flying flag;

And where the vineyards crown the brow

Of every hill he chased the stag.

His bruitish war-cry echoed wild

From every slope, in every dell,

Where now resound the echoes mild

Of sacred song and Sabbath bell.

In hideous dance and savage game

He gathered at the wood-fringed shore

Which links Chautauqua's storied name,

With Learning, Art and ripest lore.

Where e'er the toiling student lights

His solitary lamp and gives

To Learning's court his zealous nights

The fame of old Chautauqua lives!

A million clusters load the vines

Beneath blue Erie's misty wing;

But better than her rarest wines.

Chautauqua's larger gift I sing:

Her pioneers - a noble seed

From which a harvest rich and great

Of sturdy sons hath sprung to feed

The school, the mart, the court, the state!

Wipe from our country's roll the name

Of all that dear Chautauqua gave.

And you will snatch the wreath of Fame

From Lyon's and from Phillips' grave!

What though her terraced vineyards spread

To every hill that drinks the sun?

Of all her gifts, the light she's shed

On Learning's page is chiefest one!

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