New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-10-28
THE TABERNACLE COURSE.
Lectures and Lecturers.
BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
rourea nfTwolvo r .acturas

| ture from OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, EsI., OF Bos-
| ton A crowded audience present the occasion,
comprising number Of the professional and literary
lcbrties Of the city, with brilliant collection Of ladies'
relieving the grave monotony Of the Tabernacle Mr.
Holmes greeted his introduction 10 the assem-.
bly,, with enthusiastic welcome and after the ap.
peuse Ind subsidized he commenced his lecture by re-
marking the world Of matter and the world OF mind
were each subject to two great primary moving forces
These forcesn the world ofmaer were wind and water
1t the wind which gently waited The clouds through
their expanse while propelled the rich argosies
laden with the treasured fruits Of distant cline This
forccwas irregular erretc deyng tepower Of MN 10
ensave itin hsservice The distinguishedby
moving in fixed channel, more permanent in its
efects regular in ia action and moro capable OF
being reduced into obedience 10 the human will.
In the world Of mind, the corresponding forces were
the spoken word and the printed sheet. Speech the
breath Of msns mouth, may be compared to the wind,
subtle, penetrating, pervasiye, moving the mighty
masses Of human thought with Ito potent force The
printed page like the power Of water in its con-
slant and RESTLESS effects. No could Withstand
its influence. In the form Of daily newspaper, its ac
ton extended over continents and hemispheres en-
brscing every subject reaching every cass Of society
and leaving its impress. for good or for evil on
whole generations of men. In applying this force
| no doubt mixtures were often usod-chernical
| egents were employed-acids, dyestuts, and
| sometimes little lie-But the powers of
nature in the sphere of mechanics had been, TO q
markable degree, modified superseded By the pro-
ducts Of inventive genius The steainengine had taken
the place Of the crude forces Of the material universe
Not dispensing with those agents il used the wind to
blow lie belows and the water 10 supply s boleri but
in itself it able TO accomplish such miracles OF
strength had before not been imagined in the widest
dream This black, brawny slave had presented itself
10 the service Of man. with foot the earth and
the other the sea- ready for labor either clement
and performing those constant proiiges which almost
realized the failed wonders of Aladdins lamp.
In the world of mind the popular lecture performs
the same function a. the steamengnc the world Of
matter. As that modes the agency Of wind and water
in their application to material uses this has added
power to speech and print in relation intellect
ual progress The lecture grew out of the intense vital
ity which pervade the American mind and found
in the reform movements which date from thirty
years back They gave rise 10 spirit of dark and bit
ter fanaticisn-men were alenated from each other
neighbOrhoods were thrown into discord-old friends
scowled defiance when they met in the streesand the
sweetest charities Of life seemed turning into vinegar
and veIjuce. The vocabulary Of vituperation ex
hausted in the application of offensive epithets. The
most sanguinary terms of reproech were hurled ut
men for no cause but difference of opinion
The words william" "scoundrcl," "lar" were
freely banded about-bu they hsdlostheir significance
meaning only that the person to whom they ap
piled did not agree with him by whom they were
spoken. But the world made too hot by the action
of such irebrands Men could not bear such state of
chronic inflammation. They longed for drop Of water
to cool their tongues Where could they find place
shades in which friends could in social
harmony Not the church, for men gathered around
the pulpit according their religious affinity Not the
concert room, the theater, for these usually
limited to cities nor could they be made the universal
resort of our active population The public lecture
clone supplied the want which deeply felt. 1t
erected the common altar around which could
once more bow in peace.
The lecture the natural product of American civil
izaton What the fret creation OF Yankee ingenu
tyr Not the ship-nor the plow-nor the jack knife
for with this Brother Jonathan has taken TO be pro-
vded prevously-bet, it is the stump. He fens the
tree in the forest, and makes Of the stump his pulpit
nrd his rostIum-and from this standpoint, whether
fringod only with its native mOsses or covered with
velvet crimsoned and cushioned, he delivers the
speeches which sway the hearts of the people and send
their electric influences jr and wide overthe character
of Me nation.
Mr. Holmes proceeded to describe the qualities OF a
good lcctue in a strain of mingled humor, soquence,
and sense. lecture must be confined within the
hour whatever be the subject discussed. all over
that like extra baggage on public conveyance, must
he Of the risk of the owner II must not be too fine
spun CT is effect will be lost promiScuous audi
ence and like the heads in fresco painting must be
larger than life to be correctly appreciated degree OF
exagceration, of extravaganza, ID admissible
in the lecture. which would be condemned by the
critic in printed book. The lecture is place
for the discussion of scctaisn conroverted opin
ions taking advantage Of the presen of the audi
encc for the defense Of dogma. Mr.. II. said he was
no enemy TO the indulgence of the Imagination, in
apopulnr lecture, 10 vein of rinal and subis
thought which though it might be fully com
pretended by oil in the audience yet fruitful in sug
geson ard afforded healihful stimulus TO the acul
ties Some persons said Mr. H., eternaly crying
cut for facts public lecture. Give US hard solid
substantial factsand the OF them the better Ii
their was erueone the task sfthe lecturer would
be easy Nothing is readily done than to compose
lecture of the established facts in history geography
biography or science They all al hand in the books,
and the lecturer need only transcrbe them in proper
form for delivery But in cases they amounted TO
little than telling the audience that eggs were pos
sble chickens unless they should previously be turned
into actual omeletes, that they had been eating
bivalves al their life whom they supposed hey had
only been eating oysters. Such lectures frequently no
more put an idea into the heads OF the hearers, than
Professor Anderson fried pancakes in their hats The
Illusion WIS equally great in both whatever might
be the appearance Alecturer should knde and inspire
- well as inoin.
This course of remark was pursued 10 considera-
be length by the lecturer whose lively eloquence was
HashCs M wit
discourse one OF the sparkling and dazzling that
we have ever heard addressed TO New FORK audience
We have merely given sample of its leading thought
without attempting the rash enterprise OF following the