The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-02-27

: topic which was ever nearest his heart--,e,n
perance.
On this night. after speaking not omit
three quarters OF an hour. no glidsd into
talk on tho deadly effects of drunkenness
He was never moro fiery, mover more clio
quent. He Gcsticuiatsd abundantty. anG
shrew all the dramatic power OF ht, natnri
| into his words. His audience wa mig
netizad and thrilled as seldom in their lives
He blurred young men W tn all the inten
sity of his soul to abjurs tho serpent OF
alcohol He raised his tones, sni in feryiI
powerful voice exClaimed:
Z 'FOUNG MAN, MAXI YOUR RECORD CLEAN
I lmmei ately after IL vas observed that he
thew his arms into the air, and thai his
head dropped upon his chest He was always
intensely dramatic. and the aud.snce thought
this was nero gesticulation. Some wore
even still deceived when the orator fell for
ward upon the atform But he did no:
rise. Some OF thoe present lifted him and
carried him to q sofa There was intense
excitement amoag the ovcrwrou ,ht apliencs
then. A physician present. came forward,
examined him, and sai that Mr. Cough was
stricken with apoplexy. fii4 left siie vas
suddenly paralyz'd. He fingered two davs,
unconscious, and dol. Death came to him
in the way that all warriors who G.h; the
goo fishv would chooso-suddsnly. in battle,
with hi, aruor on But the last message ne
left has fellow man il strangely significant
When h. uttered tho words his faot ware
already upon tho borders of the invisible
country
Young man, keep your record clHan.'
1t is John b. Coughs massage from ths
other world
HIS history is familiar 10 almost every
child in America He had leeu occurring OF
Temperance as far back "a many of US car
rcmemler, 20 long, indie ii, it almost seemed
that, Ike Tenuyson's brook, ne had beer
going on forever. Yet we find that no WIS
only % years Of aGc-not 50 vory old, after
al, in ti.esc times when people live to be no.
Euy no had spollan in public moro times taan
any oiher man living, probably than any
other man dead. In ono year 10 iectured
SO times. 81 times more than there vera
days Ia all Le had delivered at the time of
his death about $ $500 lectures, aud had tray
eel half Il million miles 1t IS rot too
much TO say either that he permanently re-
formed hundreds il rot thousands of drunk
ards. lie did this all the more effectualiy
because ho WINS q reformed drunkard him
self. Those cold, rigid rnrists with turnir
in their breasts instead OF u heart, who sic
C !mly back and lecture tho drunkard on
tho enormous sin of inebriety, little know
the molten fire Of craving that consumes
his soul. But John l. Cough knew how it
was himself The snakes, tho scorpions and
the burninr.eyed der1onS of deltrium
tremens had dashed linn in the midnight
watches. His final escape from alcohol is
one OF the most magnificent tr;umphs Of the
humIn will on record, if ID was indeed
simply that, and not also power outside
OF and beyo nj him eli.
John Is. Cough secu5 10 have been raistd
UP to do great work. He himself always
felt it o Le sn, his gifts and tho money
they brought him were alike used for the
good of his fellow man. His birth WAS
English his orig N so poor and humble that
when le was T. years old his father afprsn-
ticed Inn to a family coming TO America.
He sem the boy away from him and across
tho water. in the hope that i'll the ne " world
he might ri e allows the Poverty AMI lowli-
ne IRON which there was no hopo that no
could EN- roe n tho oil. Poor people can
not afford to have teeiing+
lie woroel on u farm al first; then be-
came a Lookhinier in Methodist publish
Ing house. lie was of q warm genial nature,
with II arve,ous dramatic talent. lie never
had more than the rudiments of AN eiGca-
ton. Tho power he possessed came wholly
ly ma urc Ee INK, in youth, to the loves
depths OF degradation He WIS discharged
from one ii uation after another He mar
ried, but lost his VITO and infant child by
death 1t was said that his drunkenness
partly caused tho death Of his girl wife, He
felt as if it was so, AMI drank deeper to
drown the Slin, Of it. A Quaker. Mr.. STRAIT
ton, found hin reeling crazy drunk through
tho tire Is of this city in 1912, and induced
him to 60 to temperan o meeting and sign
the pledge. After that came terrific strug-
gle of a week to keep tie pledge The
struggle nearly killed him. He cane out
of it weak as an infant, gut he triumphed
Shortly afterN ARCS he began lecturinG. The
CHI pier of his aut, biography in which h.
dc cri Cd the horrors of that week is almost
hood chilling. lie had power of language
which put things with tho vividness Of a
hshtnin; flash. He went to lecture in Eng
land on temperance early in his career, and
the students Of Oxford university Kissed and
egged him, so unpopular was his cause in
the land of port and brown stout
Oncr after signing the pledge hc relapsed,
but only for Il short time An English
writer avs it Is mainly to John Il. Cough
that tie United States owes its comparative
freedom from drunkenness. He iectured
over forty years, and never overcane his
stage fright He always wanted 20 run
away the first moment when he faced an
aui .ence. Ibis feeling grew on him
Of late years He never wrote out q
lecture or made note of his speeches
beforehand A neishtor of his told me
last fall that Cough was poor man. His
charity was ~ large as his earnings He
had beautiful country home near hero
He was much beloved by his ne:ghborI The
principal treasure Of his home was a very
fine collection of the art works OF George
Cruikshank, the teetoialist FAINTER and
friend OK Cough. Among those whom
Coughs bounty supported in recen. years
were the widow aui children OF Mr.. Stat
ton. the good Quaker WHO reclaimed him
from ilehriety. It is good TO ieave such
81 bah ff,.l Itls