The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-12-29

REDPArH UPON COUCH.
His Early Life, aud How He Became
q Lecturer-What Remuneration
He Receives. ...t
fSan Francisco Chronicle.l

q Lccturer-What Remuneration
He Receives.
fSan Francisco Chronicle.l
Continuing his talk about prominent
lecturers, Mr.. Redpath said: "In point
of universal popularity, extending ovel
more than generation, John B. Cough
is, without any question, the King Of
The Lyceum. He has lectured oftener
longer, and refused more offers of en-
gagements than any other man who eyel
lived. His father was Peninsula sol
der under Wellington-stern and stub.
born; his mother was a woman of heart
and of far more than average intelligence
All the schooling he ever got she gave
him. He stil idolizes her memory
Cough got none either of his great OF
lovable traits from his father.
"John came over when he was quite a
boy, worked on a farm in New York
State, and then learned the book binding
trade in New Yolk City. He brought
his mother over, and she died here when
they were still desperately poor. She
was buried in what was then the Potter's
Field, or what is now Washington
Square. Once | drove down with Mr.
Cough through the mean streets south.
vest of Washington Square to hunt up
the house. He found it. 1t was still let
out, every room separately, to Irish fam.
ilies, except the attic rooms, where
Cough had lived with his mother. They
formed one tenement. The woman told
rs that Mr.. Cough, the great orator, had
once lived there, and she seemed flattered
by the call when she found out who her
visitor was. Cough went away sadder
than he came. 1t is one of the great
griefs of his life that his mother did not
live to share his prosperity"
"Is Cough sad man personally? One
wouldn't think it in hearing him lee
ture."
"He is a of moods; very sensitive,
shrinking, modest; either very happy,
full of fun, Or despondent and sad.
Men of heart usually are sad. They zee
sorrow enough and relieve it, and of
course they are stung by ingrates and
feel that. Well, Cough got to drinking
and lost his place; haunted saloons,
where he used to tell stories and sing
songs and be the gayest Of the gay.
Finally he got delirium trernens. A gen.
tleman, a respectable citizen of Worces-
ter, Mass, saw him, became his friend.
and induced him to sign the temperance
pledge. He had one relapse, perhaps
two; once he was drugged."
AFTER his conversion%'
"Well, the widow of that respectable
citizen who befriended him became poor,
and Mr.. Cough gave her pension until
the day OF her death. think | heard
that she is dead; but If / am not mis-
taken she gets that pension yet. That is
the sort of man Cough is. Before he
signed the pledge he was a member of
company of strolling players for time.
If he had kept on the stage after he re-
formed I believe he would now be ac-
knowledged as the greatest comedian of
the century. And when people talk, as
they sometimes do, that he charges too
much for his lectures, they should re-
member that if he had remained on the
stage and met with the same degree Of
success that he has won on the platform,
his revenue would have been at least four
times greater than it ever has been. Be-
sides, he never in his life asked an ad-
vance in fees-he has only accepted
terms that have been offered him; and
they have ranged, if l remember rightly,
from less than 81 up to $500 a lecture.
I have myself paid him $500 many
time, and made money on his lectures at
that" .,.
GLOW much does Cough make from
his lectures yearw
"From $4,000 or $4,000 Probably
it has never reached 100000, but that is
because he will not sell his services al
ways to the highest bidder. There are
twenty or thirty managers who have en-
gagged him for twenty years or more,
every year, for whom he will speak any
how-whatever they can pay.
"Is Cough equally popular in every
Btatew
"In every State and in every city; and
he is equally as popular in the British
Islands and in every city of them as he is
in the United States and the Dominion
Of Canada. He has never yet faced
an audience that he has not
conquered. All classes, except
ing the coldly critical class, have
acknowledged his marvellous power. 1
have seen men and women weep and
laugh in Boston for an hour; have seen
the same spectacle in Montreal, Vermont,
Philadelphia and New York. There is
only one final test of oratory--success
that endures Lyceum audiences are
the seperest but the most honest au-
diences on. the globe. They represent
the average worth and intelligence Of the
country. A lecture an hour and half
or two hours long is a severe test to any
genius, far harder test than any dra-
matte role; fer everything absolutely de-
pends on one mans intellectual power
without scenery, music and associates to
strengthen bis grip on the audience as
dramatic or lyric performer has"
Cough has familyg
"Yes; his family consists of wife
and four nieces, whom he has educated.
Mrs. Cough Is woman who would make
her mark anywhere, and she has been a
strong support to him. He has always