The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1878-04-16
M $1,000 7.9l ~ TF11I7s NJ
Barnum's Temperance Speech

~ n 5000 y n go - UNIV sAopCCSAAs
meeting Of the American Temper.
ance Union, held at the Hall Of Cooper
Union, New York, p. T. Barnum, the
great Snowman, spoke upon the temper
ance question; from an extract. the follow.
ing is found in the Sun Of the s inst:
Mr. Barnum's manner OF dealing with
the threadbare question Of inebriety is re-
Ifreshingly different from that of the orar-
ors ofths day who have distinguished
themselves, and at the same time different
from the style Of Mrs. Van Colt, who is
also original in her way. She discards
1.-The old comparative methods, and, rush.
ing in at the head other religion, attacks
lntemperance as an evil stronghold that
must be battered down; whereas Mr.. Bar
mum attacks it in an. entirely srgalnenta-
tive spirit, much after the manner Of 4
man who supposes that fend is lurking
behind q tree. and that he would like to
get him IN open ground before throwing
stones at him. \.
Mr. Baraum simply says: II have not
drank liquor for thirty one years becaus
/ found thatas long as / drank liquor, it
made 9 fool Of me; therefor quit" This
SIS greatly applauded by his hearers, as
though he had said q witty thing, He is
also illustrative and strongly exalbitional
If the word may be coined-and fire.
quently reminds you in his temperance
illustrations of the Snowman enforc.
ing the strong points of his wild beasts
upon the spectator, Thus, when he holds
a poor, miserable drunkard up to the vir-
tuous contempt Of his hearers, the lmpres.
sion is continually forced upon the mind
that he is praising a q particular. kind Of
Gland or zebra, with something to fetch
up from the background in ease the first
exhibitions do not produce a sufficiently
startling effect.
The great showmans hearers applaud
frequently, as though longing for sur
prise, a new show, which, 1t is needless to
say, never comes, Mr.. Barnum's reminis
cences Of Drunkards. are nearly all fresh
and funny, but he does not betray his in
tention TO produce novel effect. He
would simply caution men from the intox-
icating bowl on common sense and COM
paratlye grounds, aud, with his natural
eIoquence and gift Of language, he en-
forces his arguments in almost every pos
sible way. No better illustration of Mr..
Barnum's method Of talk and manner can
be. instancrd than an incident while he
was speaking. Aman began first to nut.
ter, and then TO disagree aloud with certain
statistics presented. Some speakers woul d
have invoked the aid Of the police, but the
great Snowman simply directed himself
toward the disturber good naturally, first
vagaely then Enthusiastically in the line Of
his talk, until there was absolute quiet IA
Mr.. Barnum's manner is what it was
when, msny years ago, he told an English
audience that, having paid their money
.theylcould take their choice, Only there
lis an addition Of assurance, if any were
needed. To say that he is always interest
ing is only family to set forth his magnet
ic influence. upon his hearers. He said:
= propose to entertain you with a few
|offhand remarks, founded upon my own
|experience. The longer we live on this
little ball Of mud the more we realize the
necessity Of obeying the eleventh COM
mandment, to love our. nelghbors as our.
selves. Having myself Leen rescued, I
deem 1t my duty to rescue my fellow man
i'll can. ! am now G8 pears ofage. In
1841 went to England with Tom Thumb,
and there I learned to drink liquor. Ev-
ybody drank liquor there. I met men
and women who had never drank drop
of water in their lives. When | came
home and built my oriental villa in
Bridgeport, my greatest pride was in my
wine cellar. I went on in this wal for
years, until | happened to see that was
going to destruction. Then / broke
square of, and havn't had an ache or pain
since. Il
"These United States would be most
charming country if it wasn't for liquor.
Do you know that in them 5000, 100000 is
annually spent for the stuff? And its
the very best fellows that are ruined by 1t,
too. Mean men don't drink, because it
costs too much. 1t is the generous, good
hearted fellows that get togethe. to socia
bly, drink each ether's health--health in
poison! These are the men who fall and
are eyerlastingly ruined by it. I would
suggest that the conyiYial man, when he
goes from his home in the morning, car
ry apocketful Of cold potatoes. Corn
whisky is fever taken from a. death bed.
There is no more vitality in pint Of it
than in pound Of tenpenny nails. From
a drink Of whisky man will derive as
much nutrilnent as horse will from a
spur, and of the same sort.
my friend, Albert Smith, an English
man, told me that he once took passage
on Mississippi steamer with much trepi-
dalton, for he had heard 40 many frighttal
stories Of their racing The Captain as
surcd llr, that he wouldn't race, and for
two days ne didn't. On the third day
they saw a steamer just ahead Of them, and
a race begun. My friend became as much
excited as anybody, and, seeking the Cap