The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-03-06
NUMBER 30.
vAGARIES OF THE ROsTRUM.

! 4neatE1c0f Lecture
4 writer in the March Galaxy has thi,
| to say of some of our platform lecturers
In the amusement column of yester
days paper were these two attractive
advertisements
GREAT LEcTURE.-Miss Myrtle de la Hookt
! Boone, aged sixteen years. viii lecture at -
this evening, on Her Experience as a Can.
vasser," aud other topics.
LECTURE ExTRAoRDnNARY--Frank Masse,
Will lecture this evening at, etc, on - His Elk
perience as a Lord at Cape NJ Y" Oul
fashonables viii flock to hear him.
These, I think, embraced all the lee.
turing resources of that evening in the
city. Puzzling choice, accordingly,
for mental food between the K
peTience of a sixteen-year-oId canvaSser
the hall where the sham lord displayed
himself, Dr. Schoeppe had discussed
some time before, for the reason that
he had been convicted of murder and
pardoned; and we all remember that
when Mrs. Fair, the slayer of Critten-
den, was acquitted. she at once deliv-
cred lecture on Evolves in the Fold, 4"
at Sacramento. Should Stokes and
Tweed outlive their sentences, they will
of course be ready to moralize in public
on +" My Prison Experience" like a
pair of Silvio Pellicoes and the con-
7ict jackets might be shown, to draw a
larger audience.
We laugh at these absurdities, but
they are no worse than the parade of
women whose only claim to be heard is
a couple of yards of 90 store hair, a
green velvet riding habit, and a pair of
white gloves. There is small sense
now days in the Spanish saw that ga
woman and hen are soon lost by CAD
ding abroad" and even from the earli-
est ages women have thought, wrought
and fought as worthily as men-and
talked too, for that matter for, if So
crates "lectured," so did Xantippe, the
Mrs. Caudle of antiquity. ALI I mean
to say is, that lecturers sex, or the
cut of her garments, is hardly ground
enough for her asking an audience.
The platform is equally overrun with
with masculine notoriety hunters.
People there are who think it glory
enough for one life to figure as the cen
tral actors in divorce suit, and TO have
their private letters published in the
newspapers; and such people naturally
flock upon the lecture-stage, in order to
be seen, trying tc crowd off the learned,
wise, and illustrious.
The popular humorists are, taken as
a class, probably the dreariest in the
army of lecturers--though there are
splendid exceptions, like Artemus Ward.
[ must say that even the printed wit of
many professional clowns of literature,
such as the eccentric ST. SlOcum, and
the sly Tommy Tompkins, is to me not
very diverting for when "iokes must
be misspelt lest they be missed, or sep
arated into one line paragraphs to pro-
vide them with points" tEey become
somewhat sobtrusive. Nevertheless, as
the testers come daily, with hop, skip,
Jump and summersault, before the pub
lie, it is plain they amuse, and amuse,
too, week after week, year after year,
same stale gibes, spelling of GOV,
and writing 2 in place of "to," with
kindred witicisms. They are the Tom
Fools of current literature, never say
ing a word without a grimace, always
appearing In patches and paint, earning,
like other mountebanks, an honest live
Iihood by atrade that gives mirth to null
titudes. But when the humorist, mount
ing the rostrum and doffing the mask,
speaks from his undisguised personal
ity, he loses the old coigne of vantage
and encounters novel drawbacks. His
natural phiz may be anything.but funny
like Pantaloons with the daubs off :;
his voice may be-generally is-weak,
husky, harsh or squeaky his gestures
may be awkward, his whole manner I'M
pleasing and since no art can make
the spoken "of" as Iudicrous as if 1t
were '' ov," nor the spoken " to /" as if
it were SO, his strongest prop may be
cut from under the hapless humOrist at
the start.
Skill in mimicry is fortune to the
lecturer for, as many people, having
conscientious EcrupIes against the thea
tres rely on lecturers for their fund of
dramatic entertainment, it Is found that
good " readings" compel large audien-
ces, and that theatrical orators are ad-
nired. Such an orator is Cough, who,
I suppose, may be taken as typical lee
turer, since {" to him." says the Rev.
Ir. 7. Cuyler, in sketch written for
a religious newspaper, belongs the
unique distinction of having addresse
more human beings than any man now
living on the globe. For thirty years
no man has commanded such crowds. "
The secret is &c his most dramatic voice
and gesticulation for it may be pre-
sumptious to say it, continued the di-
vine, but have often thought that
Cough is the real rival of Garriek. He
has often been mother, child, plea
ding wife, brutal husband, a planta-
ton negro, Scotch deacon, French
man, a raw Itishman, a pompous cox
comb, a poor besotted topper, all in one
hours address. And he excelled in ev-
cry character. Truly, God made won
derful creature when he made John b.
Cough" AS the most apathetic hearer
OF this versatile person must own ms
oration to be as "goOo as PLAY, his
value to those who cannot frequent the
stage is specially great.