Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-07-22
THE LECTURE.
Colonel uicRman's brilliant Effort

lecture, the church was occupied by "A
large audience, Friday evening, To hear
Col. Hickman on the theme of tenn
perance. And those who did so, we
are prepared say, never had the
pleasure OF hearing an ADLER argument
made for the principles of total absti-
hence. The speaker is u natural orator,
aud elegantly constructed sentences
and wei! rounded paragraphs fell from
his lips with power that was irresisti-
bile In its graceful eloquenc. A sincere
Christian gentlemen, earnest i'm his
convictions of right, aud fearless in
his advocacy of these convictions,
Col. hickman stands to-day, in the
minds, at least, of all who heard him
last evening, unquestionably, one of
the foremost temperance orators in this
or any other country.
The entire address was free from
any denunciation of those who differ
with the temperance people. No
harsh words, under the cover of his
position, were hurled Mt poor unfor-
tunates, but tenderest sympathy and
earnest desire to benefit and raise up
those who had fallen was breathed in
his every utterance. He handled the
subject as the twin sister of religion
the one inseparable from the other;
showing that moral suasion was the
powerful lever in the hands of the
temperance element, and that violent
measures never accomplish any per-
manent beneficial results.
Col, Hickman is certainly the most
able, brilliant and thrilling speaker
that ever addressed Knoxville audi
ence on this subject, and the Good
Templars are enthusiastic i'm his
praise, while they confidently
predict a new impetus to their
Order from his visit. There is
certainly abundant material in our
city to work upon, and even if only
one home shall be made happy; only
one poor miserable wreck reclaimed,
regenerated and disenthralled; only
one druukard who now reels through
our streets a by-word and reprOach,
restored to his friends and his family
clothed in his right mind by reason of
his coming here, the distinguished
gentleman will have reason 10 feel
himself well repaid.
At the conclusion of the address, n
committee went through the audience
with the Good Templar's pledge, the
speaker acting with them. No unpleas
ant urging was resorted to, but those
VINO desired to do so were given an
opportunity to forward their names
for admission into the Order. About
twenty gentlemen and ladies availed
themselves of the same.
Col. HickmRn's Second Address
To the majority of men, the discus.
sion of an abstract proposition is at
tended with peculiar difficulties and
impediments, and especially is this
the case with the hackneyed theme of
temperance. Statistics, terrible in
their dread array of startling figures,
warnings without number and
instances multiplied, have been hurled
from the rostrum of sobriety at the de-
voted heads of folly's votaries, but it
was reserved for Col. Hickman to pre-
sent To our citizens this oft-tCld story
clothed with new beauty and virtue of
sentiment.
While we think now, ms we thought
then, that the address of Friday eve
ming could not be surpassed, those who
heard the distinguished orator, now
with us, Saturday night, were bound in
the same pleasing chains of wrapt at
tentiOn. We shall not attempt even q
review of Col. Hickman's intellectual
effort, for we could not do it justice.
No newspaper reporter, in the hurry
and press of other important matters
even though he might listen from be-
ginning to end, could convey to the
minds of any but the most careful
reader the faintest conception of the
rich beauty of thought and vivid
imagery with which the subject wa.
portrayed. Well does he deserve the
honor of bearing the title of Right
Worthy Grand Templar. a noblel
moral object never called true men
and women together in council, and
who more worthy TO preside
over the international deliberations
of more than three mil
lion Good Templars than he, who
while with whitening words denounc-
ing what he considers an Infamous
traffic, with one hand lifts up those
who have fallen low in the scale OF
human degradation and with the Other
extends the pledge of total abstinence,
sealed with the broad seal of Faith,
Hope and Charity?
Not to the vendors alone, not to the
devotees of alcohol simply did the
speaker confine his remarks. Quasi
temperance men, members of religious
denominations who able themselves to
stand without the restraining in
! fluenences thrown around men in the
Lodge room, refuse to give this high
cause the sanction of their presence and
stand with folded arms supinely by
while five hundred and eighty thou
sand drunkards are annually march
ing on to the dread sleep which shall
know no waking until the resurrection
trump of the judgments at once
grand and awful morn shall call them
/ to the bar of an outraged God, to hear
! the final malediction, mo drunkard
shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven
And some of this class were awaken
| ed to a sense of their responsibility in
| this matter, and at the conclusion en-
! listed under the lifelong banner of the
| speakers Order.
! AT the close of Col. Hickman's adj
dress and when the audience had retired
! the officers of Holston Lodge No. 80 as
sumed their respective positions and
| twenty-six ladies and gentlemen were
| initiated into the Order. Forty mine
| signatures were obtained on the two
evenings, but all of them could not
remain for the ceremony.