National Republican., 1883-02-03
JOHN B. COUGH
Gives an Entertaining Lecture Upon "Habib
or Powers that Be-"
The Congregational Church Crowded
with n Delighted Audience,


For nearly forty years John b. Cough has
been central figure on the lecture platform,
with power to pack house that has not
diminished either with time or repetition.
And last night at the Congregational church,
where even the aisles were filled and standing
room hardly attainable, his ability to draw u
crowd was rs marked as IL was a generation
ago in the zenith of his fame and influence,
when the characteristics of his method were
novel and the spell of his oratory fresh.
While many in his audience heard him last
night for the first time, and the greater pOr-
tion had been familiar for years with his
varied humor and pathos there were some
who remembered him at the outset of his
career, and saw how time had but changed
the outside she'll, leaving the kernel with the
same piquant flavor that distinguished 1t
much more than generation back, Tho dark
hair Is silver now, and the broad forehead
ploughed deep with the burrows of time, and
thought and toll, but the mrth is as breezy,
the humor as dry, the pathos as touching rs
ever. Tho rotund smoOthness Of voice is
yielding to the husky tinlbro of age, but its
tones have still the wide range of youth,
and strike every note in the gamit
of the emotions with the samo old strength
and skill. Defying all rules of art, utterly re-
gardlcss Of the unities and as varied in its
moods rs the topics of which IL treats his ora
tory Is nevertheless of n most effective charac-
ter, and goes strait to the mark, achieving
results that are seldom wrought by the
rounded periods and faultless pauscs of the
schools, however full they may meet all the re-
quirements of art. Ho plays upon the heart
and brings it glistening to fearful eyes, or
convulses tho diaphragm with irresistible
mirth, and all through rigid consistency of
method which forty years have only intcnsi-
fed not altered. Like q circle returning
ever TO the self-samc spot" he travels on one
line, to which he constantly revcrts, however
often and discursivo be his breaks on either
side. That line Is temperance, and he is to-
day, what he was nearly forty years ago, tho
most effective speaker that the temperance
platform has ever known.
Before 8 o'clock last night the seating ca
pacity of the Congregational church was
| filled, and the opening strains of the organ
voluntary by Prof. Bischoff found hundreds
unable to get in Precisely at s o'clock DIR.
Frank Howe, president of the Dashaway Re-
form club, escorted Mr.. Cough to the plat
form, and after stating that the lecture was
the last in the course OF the Washington Lee
ture lyceum, paid u graceful compliment to
| Mr.. Cough in peculiarly happy terms and in
| tr0duCed him to the audience.
The lecturer, after briefly limiting that his
health scarcely permitted him to be present,
announced the title of his lecture to DO
Habit" Beginning with an anecdoto
! illustrating his disregard of the unitics and
his propensity to pass in tho most irregular
| manner from one topic to another, he gave q
difnition of "habit," and impressed his
audience with vivid sense of the tremen-
dous power exercised by the continuous rcpeti.
! tiOn of triiles, He sketChed habit under
! different heads, with its bearing upon polite
ness, atlectation, enthusiasm, fashion. all
qualities in fact that are generally observed
! al .N.I
enforced these lessons with u wonder
ful variety of anecdote, both humor-
ous and pathetic, most of them old, but
all of them told with dramatic effect, and each
sending its shaft straight home to the heart OF
the aim. At times, with impetuous vehe-
mence, with rare powor of word painting,
with admirable acting, he poured out n flood
of description, which swirled and swashcd
and surged like a turbulent stream plunging
over sheer descents of rocky drift, frothing
mp in white foam caps here, flowing darkly
and shadowy there, now still and calm in
sheltered pools, then flashing in rainbow
hues adown perpendicular heights till beauti-
ful as the picture really was, its rapidity gave
you no time to catch whole or perfect
impression. And in this way he went
OH to his last and most terrible habit
! drunkenness. Here, of course Mr.. Cough
was peculiarly happy. At home with this
subject, his earnestness produced conviction
and his emotion touched kindred chords in
the hearts of his audience. There was nothing
new He had said it all thousand times
but it impressed and affected as if heard fol
the first time, for the speaker looked into his
own heart and spoke what he telt. He told
the story of his life and experience and
dwelt with much force upon the necessity
the duty, the paramount Importance of eX'
tending encouragement and sympathy tC
those struggling to break the habit Of
drinking. Ho pleaded for a more
generous sympathy of man with man. and
counseled the victim of intemperance never
to give up the struggle till he was master Of
himself and rcjoiced in II true and perfect man
hood. This part of his lecture contained
many word paintings, some of them new
which showed his best and brightest powers
He concluded by saying that, though he hat
been physically great sufferer for the pas
winter, yet the pain and labor of appearing
before his audience this night would be more
than compensated if any word he had spoken
should make any man or woman there presen
resolve to lead lives Of higher aims and noble
purposes.