The Portland daily press., 1871-07-04

1t is now about the season when our vari-
Gus associations begin to make their arrange
ments for the lectures and other entertain
ments of the ensuing winter, and they will,
lit is to be hoped, deliberately reflect whether
some improvement is not called for in the Sc
lection of speakers. 1t seems to be generally
conceded that our lectures last winter werel
for the most part of an inferior order. Leaving
lout Curtis and Cough the list will be search +
led in vain for a lecturer of real weight, and
THE power of Cough is rather dramatic IMAM
literary. The lecture system, if it would re-s
tain its hold upon the public must take al
''new departure" 1t has become so thorough (
6ly debauched by sensationalism that its lcgiti-s
> mate office is almost lost sight of Al
l. large proportion of those who attend our
lectures, attend them not TO be eniight-l
Sened, but TO be intoxicated. But this dis!
Seased mental appetite soon outgroas the]
means of qualification, SO that nothing SEN
sational enough can be found. To this pass
our lecture system has come. At first it in
evoked the aid Of our Lest minds, and consti-
Stuted grand educational system for the en-
lightenment of all classes But the growing
Imania for the sensational drove most of the
8solid, earnest men and women from the plat
form, and in their place we find literary
mountebanks who TRY to feed their hearers
&upon unsubstantial danties and WORKOUT
4jokes, sensational clergymen who can say
fsmart things, and sentimental young women,
who can talk prettily without saying any
Xlthing. Such material forms the staple arti-
Gle for the lecture platfol m, and while lectur-
> ers of this sort often draw their thousands,
(only to disappoint them,) in most cases a
scholarly and instructive lecture, like that of
Charles Sumner on "Caste," delivered here
nearly two years ago, often commands only a
few hundred listeners. Even many of our
lecturers who possess solid qualities, and who
might do better, feel compelled to pander to
the morbid craving of the public for the SEN
sational. Those who provide the lectures are
not wholly to blame. 1t is quite probable
that the root of the difficulty is with those
who patrOniZe them. But yielding 10 tho
evil has aggravated it.
If appearances are not deceptive the pres
: ent order of things has about run its course
The degeneracy of the lecture system would
seem to have reached limit, and there are
not wanting signs that the public taste is sa
tiated with sensationalism, though it may be
too far debauched to turn at once to some
= thing more healthful. But persevering effoli
will effect cure. What we need is some or
. ganlzation to do for our literary, what thu
Haydn Association is doing for our musica
taste, that is to perform even at some sacrifice
a work of patient building which shall lead al
classes to prefer the solid productions of tn,
really superior minds to the t1ippant superfci
atty of an ostentatious mediocrity. An i'm
provident surface culture has diminished
mental fruitfulness. Let us have lecturer.
! who, with better husbandry, shall turn VI
= the rich subsoil OF human experience and draw
from it rich harvests of practical wisdom TO
the people. THERE'S no lack of vital question
upon which the public need instruction ant
: in which al interestImight be awakened. Out
+ side the beaten tract of ordinary thought Their
! is abundance OF mental wealth to be utilized
4 in all the varied relations of life
< Sensationalism demands an extravagan
s price for its ephemeral productions Their
r are men eminent as thinkers and writer's VIII,
S. would be much more modest in their demands
81 Though they might not produce so much flut
ter as some who are really less worthy ant
although they might not at first draw audience
! that would justify a great amount of pa
- rade and outlay they would awaken grow
Ut ing interest which would in the long rul
+ make them the most profitable class of lectu
4 rers. d. P.B.