Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-03-07
YAGARIES OP THE ROsTRUM.
The Sensational, the Comic, aud the
Theatrical Lecture.

Theatrical Lecture.
A 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 Hooke
Boone, aged sixteen years. viii lecture at -
this evening, on Her Experience as Can
yasser,' and other topics.
LECTURE EXTRAoRDISARY,-Fran Massey
will lecture this evening at, etc, on His TX
perience as a Lord at Cape NJ y" Our
| fashionables will flock to hear him,
These, think, embraced all the lee
tnring resources of that evening in the
city. Puzzling choice, accordingly,
for mental food between the *
perience of sixteen-year-old canvasser
and that Of confessed swindler In
the hall where the sham lord displayed
himself, DIR. Schoeppe had discoursed
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, "
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-
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
couple of yards of "store hair, o
green velvet riding habit, and pair of
white gloves. There is small sense
now days in the Spanish saw that ga
woman and hen are soon lost by gad
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. 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
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 "jokes must
be misspelt lest they be missed, or sep
arated into one line paragraphs to pro-
vide them with points" tEey 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 GOV,
and writing 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
lihood by atrade that gives mirth to null
titudes. But when the humorist, mount
ing the rostrum and dofing the mask,
speaks from his undisguised personal
itv, 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 ludicrous as if II
were "ov," nor the spoken "to as if
it were "2," his strongest prop may be
cut from under the hapless humorist at
the start.
Skill in mimicry is a fortune to the
lecturer for, as many people, having
conscientious scruples against the thea
tres relv 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,
suppose, may be taken as typical lee
turer, since "to him." says the Rev
Ir. I. Cuyler, in sketch written tol
religious newspaper, " belongs The
unique distinction Of having addresse
more human beings than any man nov
living on the globe. For thirty year.
no man has commanded such crowds.
The secret is "his most dramatic voict
and gesticulation for it may be pre-
! sumptious to say it, continued the di
, vine, "but have often thought tina
Cough is the real rival of Garrick. Il
| has often been mother, child, aplea
= ding wife, brutal husband, a planta
/ tion negro, Scotch deacon, a French
man, a raw Irishman, pompous coz
! comb, a poor besotted topper, all in on
5 hours address. And he sxcelled in ey
ery character. Truly, God made wor
derful creature when he made John 1
| Cough" As the most apathetic heart
S of this versatile person must own b.
a grafton to be as "gooo as play, hi
:. value to those who cannot frequent I'll
t stage is specially great.