The record-union., 1892-12-01
CLEAN RECORDS.
Rev. J. B. Sicox Tells How Men May
Make Them.
he Illustrates His Subject by Review
ing the Life and Character of
John b. Cough.

Owing to the inclement weather the
Congregational Church was only parti-
ally filed last evening to hear Rev. J. B.
Silcox of Oakland in his lecture on John
3. Cough, entitled Keep Your Record
Clean" but the audience was an appreci-
ative one, and Mr.. Silcox was frequently
and heartily applauded.
He prefaced his lecture by few words
of greeting to his audience, and then said
he was there to say something aboutlthe
life of John B. Cough, of who and what
he was and did, and something of the
cause for which he spoke.
No man, said Mr.. Silcox, liveth to him
self; souls touch and are touched and in
fluenced by each other. Being dead, they
yet speak and exist for good or evil. The
good that men do lives after them, as well
as the bad they do, and by speaking OF
men as men, women were also included
in the term. Men are the most instructive
subjects for human study, and were in
themselves heaven-sent teachers. We
become what we admire most, for adj
niration begets emulation. He held there
is no better way 10 teach the young how
to live, aud what to live for, than by Set
ting before them worthy and illustrious
examples.
To review the life of the man who for
over forty years fought the great evil
drink, and sum it up in few words, he
would say he began Life mud and ended
marble, and that there were few names
brighter or Worthier than that OF John B.
Cough.
Cough spent most ofhis life in reclaim
ing men from drink and his energy and
faith never faltered or waned. He spoke
to more men than any orator that ever
lived in ancient or modern times. He
was not born great and did not have
greatness thrust upon him." but he
achieved greatness by his own earnest
and untiring efforts. He was great-gre&t
| as d lnan-there was great deal Of man
i'll him and he was the incarnation of
conscience and charity. He spoke IN
welcome truths to unwilling ears and ob-
tanned the attention Of thousands. He
| hammered away at men and commanded
attention.
The speaker did not wish TO pose as a
DiOgenes going around with lantern in
guest of men; he believed there were
honest men and good men, but somehow
they were scarce. He WAS inclined to
/ think there are more good women deserv-
ing Of good husbands than there are good
husbands. There is great cry from all
quarters for good men and there are
vacancies everywhere awaiting them
tail men-sun-croWned men, standing up
above their fellows.
Cough was such n man. rising pre-emi-
nent-a great orator endowed with great
genius, who for nearly half a century
constantly awakened and interested
thousands in Europe and America. He
touched every side of human life, and
held men willing prisoners to his elo-
quence. He was pathetic, humorous,
earnest, philosophical, q disciplined
| thunderbolt in his power to strike the
great evil. He employed pathos, humor,
comedy, tragedy-everything to reach,
influence and interest his hearers in his
war against hquor.
In speaking OF Coughs humor, Mr..
SilcoX said he was sorry for those who
found nothing to laugh at, and he in
stinctively avoided & man who never
laughed. He believed humor a good
thing, and quite a religious as any
other quality. There was nothing put in
q man wrongly, or that was not intended
for cultivation.
II God did not love humor there would
be no monkeys. The man VINO con-
structs good joke and makes people
laugh is benefactor and deserving OF q
pension. Devils never laugh. The mule
| is too serious to laugh, and if he has the
chance ne invariably kicks like the devil.
Cough hitched hUmor into harness and
used it i'll his service. In one of his
| speeches he made the statement that
liquor might be a stimulant, but it was
not a nourishment," and a man in his
audience arose and wanted him to ex-
plain how anything could be stimulating
and not nourishing. You sit down
upon hornets nest, and you will find
out" he replied.
Mr.. Silcox introduced a number of
amusing anecdotes into his lecture which
created much laughter lie gave a con-
densed history OF Coughs life, saving he
q 9 the co Vjnu thNplI horn - 10
was born III Sandgate, Eng, in 1917, his
father soldier and a Puritan, and his
mother of an excellent family. His
| father was one who could drink mod
! erately," but the son could not-no more
than gun could be fired little at time
At twelve years of age Cough was
brought to America in an emigrant ship
and he went upon farm in New York.
! His mother died in poverty and was
| buried in the potter's field. with no flu
neral services. He was for so long in
such poverty that in his life he never for
got or failed to sympathize with the poor.
! lie followed the stage Tor some years, but
drank so much he had to be shut up in a
room until wanted, and then upon one
OCCASION he induced boy to bring him
! brandy, which he uckedIthrough straw
and the keyhole of the door with such
success that his part was not acted on the
! stage that night.
TOE SGN6il y ears ne was DOuuu mana
| and foot by drink until he staggered one
night into a temperance meeting in
! Worcester, Mass, where he signed the
! pledge, afterwards reverting to drink and
again taking the pledge. until by his ex-
traordinary efforts he saved himself and
! set forth on his mission us an apostle of
temperance. He joined the Congrega-
/ tional Church in Boston, the same church
| of which ID. L. Moody became a member.
! His fame as a lecturer spread, and he
went to England where he was enthusi-
astically welcomed, and his first audience
! in Exeter Hall numbered 1000 people,
and he afterwards spoke to one number
! ing II, 900. He spent over two years in
England, and saved thousands from
drink.
On his return to the United States he
continued his lectures increasingly, un-
| til, while speaking in Philadelphia in
1886, he fell upon the platform as he pro-
nounced the words, "Young men, keep
your record clean," and died day later.
In concluding his lecture Mr.. Silcox
eulogized Mr.. Cough very highly, and
! quoted from his eloquent perorations.
/ He then made a strong and eminently
| forcible appeal for the cause of temper
ance. frequently evoking the applause of
his listeners.