The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1854-10-11
Mr.. John d. Cough. gin.

4 an Mr. IOhm ~. Cough a7fa
! Some few years back. in the early morn
staggering from drunken debauch, might
be seen a young man in the American town
of Newburyport: he had reached the church.
yard Of the town, and had come there to die.
In the wide world he stood alone. His wife
was dead. He had no friends. He was
overwhelmed with misery and debt. AS he
turned round his anxious eye, he saw no way
Of escape, and no ray Of hope. There was
nothing left for him but the drunkard's un-
honored grave. Another drop, and he would
have become suicide; but the bottle struck
his lips and that saved his life. o. He went
back to town. A temperance meeting was
held, and he was induced to sign the pledge.
He did more, he left his humble calling
that Of bookbinder--and became jealous
advocate of the instrumentality that had
done SO much for him. Friends gathered
round him. AS an orator he was perpetu-
ally in request For ten years he spoke
three hundred times year, travelled ten
thousand miles year. his name was John
B. Cough. His fame reached this country,
and twelvemonth since he was engaged by
the Committee of the London Temperance
League to visit England. He came origi.
nally for six weeks, but he was induced to
stop two years. Nor will those acquainted
with Exeter Hall oratory wonder at the re-
suit. See Cough as he stands upon the
platform, and you at once learn the secret of
his success. He is spare, thin man, with
premature age stamped upon his face, with
stature by no means imposing. Dressed
in ordinary black, you would take him for
very ordinary man, and the first few scnten-
ces that fall from his lips strike you as little
better than commonplace. Wait awhile,
and the orator will warm; the mass before
him will respond, and it will beat as with
one pulse, while he convulses it with laugh
ter, or melts it into tears. The effect is
striking. The scoffet is touched; the drunk
ard is reclaimed; the most degradedfeel that
there is yet hope and happiness, and heaven
for him. And what is it that does all thisi
Not learning; for Mr.. Cough has never been
to school since he was twelve years old; not
reasoning, for he makes no pretensions to
the possession of argumentative powers; not
rhetoric, for he tells a plain, unvarnished
tale, and leaves 1t to others copiously to il
lustrate, or gorgeously to declaim. But the
fact is, that he is in earnest; that it is the
terrible story of his life he unfolds; and that,
saved as by FIRE himself he devotes for the
salvation of others; q real natural eloquence,
that never tires, never wearies; and tongue
that never grows dull. To save the drunk
ard-to stop the ravages of intemperance-
to build up barrier between the intoxica-
ting cup and the unpolluted lip-to bid man
be true to himself and the Divine principle
within him; and to dash down the Glowing
BOWL" wreathed, as it may be, by flowers,
and presented by Beauty, for beneath turks
a serpent that may sting as an adder; such is
the work of Mr.. Gough-such is his unvari-
ed theme. Had he been an orator alone, he
must have failed long before this; but he is
an actor as we'll, he has unusual fiexibility
of face and voice. His features can ex-
press every shade of feeling; his tones can
give utterance to every emotion of the hui
man heart. He can be all things in an hour;
he is the very Proteus of the platform. He
walks up and down it as one inspired; and
you tremble all the while lest the speaker
and the audience, in the frenzy of the mo-
ment, should rise up, and do something ex-
travagant or mad. You feel what wonder
full instrument the human voice is--what
power the orator wields. You feel that he
has as much power over men as when the
Hebrew Paul spoke and Felix trembled, or
as when the Athenian Demosthenes reused
the decaying hearts of his countrymen, sand
over Greece" a:sr,..,sa.,- .r#
Mr.. Cough has now been twelve months
in this country, of which he is native-for
he was born august %, 1870 and spent
the first twelve years of his life at Sandgate.
Since he has been here he has travelled over
England and Scotland, and has delivered
two hundred and thirty seven orations to au-
liences of at least one thousand five hun
dred persons. He is accompanied by his
second wife, an American lady, to whom he
was married in l843. His father was sol
der and lives on pension in London. He
has a sister in America, where he has pur-
chased small estate at Boylstown, Wor-
:ester county, about forty miles from Bos-
:on, where he usually resides three months
If the summer, and where he enjoys the So
,iety of his numerous friends, who visit him
Turing the season of his relaxation. Lon
Ton Times. Pa -. l -,
HENRy CLAy's HonfF AND GRAvF--The