Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-05-20
Joseph Cock i'm PIatteyIlle,

The presence of strangers from sur
rounding towns enlivened the streets of
Platteville Monday evening, May 10.
They were called here by the announce
ment that Joseph Cook. Bosion's re-
| nowned orator. would lecture in the nj.
E. church on the theme .Does Death
End All?'
The audience was large and in close
sympathy with the speaker. In appear
ance Joseph Cook is compactly built
man. His large head, with full, broad
forehead and large blue eyes overhung
with immense eyebrows, is set upon a
short, strong neck. His ample shoulders
and capacious chest lead one to think
him shorter than he really is, for he is
nearly or quite six feet tall and tips the
beam at $50 pounds. He is in the prime
OF life. His may be termed an intel
lectual face, at times glowing with the
vigor of matured manhood. His deliv-
cry is free from mannerism, his Ian
guage fluent and. considering the tech
nical nature of the subject, somewha,
remarkable for terseness and strength.
Promptly at eight o'clock, after few
Introductory words by Rev A. p. john
son. the lecture opened with a prelude
on the labor question, which was deliv-
cred wholly extempore, as was the lee
ture proper. 1t opened with sentence
which touches the bedrock of the diff
Guilty: ''1n this country there is no her.
editary class; the rich mans children
may be poor tomorrow, the poor man s
may be rich, hence what is the cause of
the capitalist is likewise the cause of
the laborer and the laborer's cause is
necessarily the cause of the capitalist"
He express ed himself IN sympathy with
labor in its efforts to organize and edu-
cate itself in the needs of the time; that
we are now seeing only the beginning
of an upheaval among US, intensfying
daily as population increases and newer
complications arise; that in our country,
owing to its form of government, moth
| ing is settled till it is settled right" that
labor must receive sufficiency to live
upon and educate its children; that ed
ucation and the work of churches must
be depended upon to meet the demands
of the hour.
OF the lecture, docs Death End
AllP'-which throughout was very in
teresting. only the briefest mention
can be made.
At the outset he disclaimed all inten-
ton of proving the souls immortality.
He urged that the universal Senti,,e,s!
of the race points to a life beyond the
grave. As the organic instinct of mi
grafton in birds argues climatic condi-
tons to match it, so the constitutional
impulse, organic instinct, in man ar
CUES the conditions necessary to its ex.
ercise.
This part of the theme was dwelt
upon at length, carefully argued and
the objections TO it fairly stated and
and to most, if not all the hearers, con-
clusively answered. The physiological
argument illustrated by charts. although
technical in treatment, was interesting
to those familiar in even the smallest
degree with scientific lore.
That intangible. impalpable something
we call life. which dwells alike in the
oyster and the brain of man. was aptly
compared to the harper, sweeping the
harp with fingers of melody. aud whose
existence is not impaired by the disso-
luton or destruction of the harp.
Occasional touches of hunor and
flashes of poetic imagery enlivened this
part of the lecture.
The argument from revelation was
largely restatement of the orthodox
belief.