Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-05-07
ADJUSTMENTS.
THE LECTURE OF COL. DAN RICE.

IL was a unique lecture, tnat dellv-
cred by the well known and the
veteran ex-showman Dan. Rice,
at the Cumberland Presbyterian
church last night. Several hundred
people, embracing the elite of our
church going and polite society, gath
cred to hear the novelty. To say that
the lecture was cordially received and
that he lett the rostrum in front oil
the pulpit with every member of the
audience his friend and well wisher
will be telling no more than is so.
Col. Dan Rice is we'll known to many
people as the greatest and the best
sawdust humorist or fun-maker of the
present or past generation. Indeed, it
is doubtful whether any age has pro-
duced an equal to him. For forty
years he has travelled over the country
advertised as the great Shaksperian
jester, the Grimaldi of America, the
original, the unriyaled, the motley Oar
Rice. Twenty years ago great crowds
collected to listen at his funnyiSms and
look at his antics. He could tumble
summersaults, walk a tight rope, ride
two or four horses, comfort his body
into all sorts Of cOmical shapes, break
stones with his fist, pull against the
combined strength of four horses, and
tame the widest and most ferocious
Of animals into abject submission. At
a single crack of his whip he has
driven around his sawdust circle Of
forty feet diameter, before thousands,
a kangaroo, a leopard, a lion, a tigress
with her young, his famous speaking
horse Excelsior, a rhinoceros and sew
eral other brutes not now enumerated,
and timid peoples hair would stand
fairly on end as they saw him in their
midst lashing the strange beasts into
an apparent furious temper,
only to be made as docile as
a lamb and to drop at his feet at
his word Of command. Time has
been when hundreds of visitors we're
nightly turned away from the doors
unable to gain admission to Dan Rice's
great show, and in the zenith of his
career, between 1917 and 1854, neal
$4,000 was donated by him to various
benevolent and religious institution.
of this city during his several profes.
sional visits. The poor and charity
needing Of other cities of this country
especially in those of the west, hay,
also enjoyed his bounty. While h,
made fun for the million, and drew ii
the dollars, he gave them out with
lavish hand. Now, when the sere an,
yellow leaves Of age are gatherin.
about his brow, the great Jester
though poor in worldly wealth, is rio
in the promise of a better, a happie
and a more glorious life in the worl
to come, while his closing years /
this world promise to be quietly dc
voted to the noble work OF doing gooc
His lecture of last night proved I
those who had not seer or heard hi
before, that he is a genius, an arts
oil quick thought and rapid expression
From a sublime peroration Of thrillir
and soul stirring eloquence, deliverC
9 in sonorous tones, TO an absurdly 7
.diculous picture Of inimitable conf
p atty, was an easy stage, and at int
s walls created great merriment.
: review Of the lecture cannot be Civ,
# in the brief space at commaz
but it afforded pleasure, W
instructive and moral and scie
Y, tiic to a degree. The pages ofShak
lie peare we're freQuently and freely draw
b from, showing the speaker to be pc
" fectly familiar with that great auth,
The bible was also a theme of gre
t. interest to him, and his illusions,
d we'll as extracts, afforded proof that
Of knew much Of its contents, and Ii
b. he has recently been greatly inspir
V. by that noblest Of noble works. G