The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-03-12
YAGARIEs OF THE ROsTRUM.
The Sensational, the Comic. and
Theatrical Lecture.

YAGARIES OF THE ROSTRUM.
The Sensational, the Comic. and the
Theatrical Lecture.
a writer IN the March Galaxy has this
| to say of some of our platform lecturers:
| In The amusement column of yester-
/ days paper were these two attractive
advertisements
GREAr LEcrrrRE.-AIiss Myrtle de la Hooke
Boone, aged sixteen years. viii lecture at -
/ this evening, on - Her Experience as a Can
Nasser," AID other topics
LECTURE ExTRAoRDINARY.-Frank Massey
Will lecture this evening at, etc, on 8 HIS ltx-
/ pelience as a Lord at Cape II y" Our
| fashionables VIII flock to hear him.
These, I think, embraced all the lee
tnring resources Of that evening in the
city. PGzzling choice, accordingly,
| for mental food between the *
peTiencs of a sixteen-year-old canvasser
and that of a confessed swindler In
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 ali remember that
when ALTa. Fair, the slayer of Critten-
den, was acquitted. she at once deliv
cred q lecture on 4" Wolves in the Fold, .
at Sacramento. Should Stokes aud
MGGt7 OutAlHG EIE1L Sentences ElitN VIII
Of course be ready to moralize in public
on My Prison Experience" like
pair of Silvio Pellicoes aud the con-
vict 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 " store hair, q
green velvet riding habit, and a plir OF
white gloves. There is small sense
now days in the Spanish saw that ga
woman and a hen are soon lost by CAD
ding abroad ;" and even from the eafli-
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. Caudlo of antiquity. All mean
to say is, that a 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
trail actors in divorce suit, and to have
their private letters published in the
newspapers; and such people naturally
flock upon the 1ecture-stage, in order to
be seen, trying tc crowd off the learned,
wise, and illustrious.
The popular humolists 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 J'ompkins, is to me not
very diverting for when "jokes must
be misspelt lest they be missed, or sep
arated into one line paragraphs to pro
vide them with points" I" they become
somewhat -obtrusive. 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,
with the same musty tricks, the
same stale gibes, spelling of "ov,'
and writing 2 in place of "to," with
kindred witicisms. They are the Tom
Fools of current literature, never say
ing word without a grimace, always
appearing in patches and paint, earning,
like other mountebanks, an honest live
Hhood by trade that gives mirth to null
titudes. But when the humOrist, mount
ing the rostTum and dofing 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 un-
pleasing and since no art can make
the spoken "of" as ludicrous as if it
were Gov" nor the spoken '' to as if
it were go" his strongest prop may be
cut from under the hapless humorisE at
the start.
Skill III mimicry is fortune to the
lecturer for, rs many people, having
conscientious Fcruples 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-
mired. Such an orator is Cough, who,
l suppose, may be taken as typical lee
turer, since to him" says the Rev.
l T. T. Ouyler, In a sketch written for
a religious newspaper, belongs the
unique distinction of having addresse I
more human beings than any man now
living on the globe. For thirty years
no man has commanded such crowds. 5"
The secret is " his most dramatic voice
and gesticulation for it may be pre-
to say it, . continued the di-
Nlues DuS LStfG OLsSn NnOuBnb E1ibb
Cough is the real rival of Garricl. He
has often been a mother, a child, plea
ding wife, a brutal husband, planta-
ton negro, a Scotch deacon, a French !
man, a raw Itishman, a pompous cox
comb, poor besotted topper, all in one |
hours address. And he excelled in ey- |
cry character. Truly, God made a won |
derful creature when he made John B. |
Cough" As the most apathetic bearer |
of this versatile person must own his |
oration to be as "gooo as a play," his !
value to those who cannot frequent the |
stage is specially great.