The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1859-12-15
The Philosophy ofEeCturing.

The lecture system is, as yet, quite I'M
organized. All creation is scrambling up
to the platform and the people are COM
PEELED to make a selection. There was
once a hallucination that in this new sys-
TEN we were to have the cream of all pro-
fessions that the dulness Of the pulpit,
the mountebankry of medicine, the kna-
very Of law and politics, the twaddle OF
the newspapers, and the verbosity of lit
erature were suddenly to vanish before this
corps of select men, talking an hour, on
large pay, with great mental leisure for
preparation. But human nature insists
on giving every grain of wheat, with its
bushel of chaff, and lecturers are already
no better than sermons, newspapers, pills.
congressional speeches and laws. Here,
as everywhere, we must select, and we pre-
sumo the most inveterate literary gossip or
llon-gazer does not pretend to be in his
seat every night the hall is lighted. The
fact is, eloquence is very rare, and no pro-
cess of compression or stimulation VIII
bring it out oftener than at long intervals
The professions are imperfect, because man
IS imperfect. For each, humanity can af-
ford to spare but few of her elect; and
we must endure the affliction of medioc-
rity everywhere with patience, selecting
the best in each department in life, and
enriching the soil cut of which great men
alone can grow-an Intelligent, strong,
virtuous people.
We believe that the great crush" to the
platform is over. As the newspapers i'm
prove, books cheaper, the Church wakes
to life, and the people scare the doctors
and politicians into new activity, the nov
ell forms of amusement arise, the lecture
will be less courted for its own sake, but
reserved for choice men and rare occasions
"The liberty of speech" in America must
be curtailed, not by any despotic censor
ship in Church and State, but by the COM
mon sense of the people. To MAINTAIN
that visionary fool, or u travelling Bonn
bestes; or a dabbler in spiritual or phys
ical quackeries, should waste the precious
hour of a thousand busy men and women,
is the last assumption ofindividual tyranny
An hour IN America is becoming more
valuable every day, and woe to him who
abuses time under the plea of freedom of
speech. The sacred liberty Of STAYING at
home must drive off crowds ofblatant stu
pldltles that now vex the air of the
-NNN'AN iOOiAiJ SiiIt wal NOOu men
into disgust at our new American profes-
sion. We need organization and rigid Sc
lection, to gain the best thing from this
system, and the time has come to urge it.
This mania for hearing lectures is not
altogether hopeful; neither is 1t humbug.
1t denotes several things that the people
want u new amusement-that they want
to sec the ''lion' of every tribe-that they
are curious TO hear what may be said Of
everything-that they have little time
to read and study-that they begin to
suspect they cannot make model rcpub-
lie out Of a dozen conflicting nationalities
and untwist knots like Free Suffrage, En-
igration, Slavery, National Expansion,
Popular Education and Religion, without
little more knowledge than they now
have. The public interest in the lecture,
while it does signify new desire for i'm
provement among the people, is ncvertho-
less a mixed feeling of personal curiosity,
love for recreation and intellectual im-
pulse. As mere form Of social amuse-
ment, is not to be despised: but one chief
interest in it, is its educational relation
to the country