The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-18
COL. WATTERS0N'S lecture
Heard BY q Select Audience at the
frOthingham Theater.
TOPIC MAS ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Auditory Swayed BY the Southerncr's
Magnetic Power and Oratory-Be.
lieyes Lincoln Was Destined by
God to save the Union.

his most famous lecture, abraham
before an audience represen-
tative of the city's culture. refinement
and wealth, an audience which permits
itself to be called publicly together only
upon such rare occasions as the visit,
for instance, Of one so noted as Col
onel Watterson. The lecture was for
the benefit of the Pennsylvania Oral
school.
The gallery and main auditorium
were comfortably filed and each box
and loge was occupied In one or the
boxes Judge Willard had as his guests
Judges Reeder. Wickham, Smith and
Orlady, Of the Superior court, and A. ID.
Holland. other boxes had been sold to
William Connell. ex-Lieutenant Cover
nor l.. A. Watres, l.. l.. Fuller, j. B.
Dimmick, Colonel II. NJ. Boies, ex-Jus-
tice Alfred Hand and w. II. Taylor. and
the loges to Il. b. Sturges, James Arch
bald. Major j. w. OakfOrd, Henry Be-
lin, jr., George b. Smith, John Simpson,
Y. II. Watkins, A. ID. Blackington and
j. II. Steel.
The audience was moved as one per-
son from the moment the magnetic
orator opened his address until he
closed with prose-poetical and reVer-
ential reference to the awful hour In
which Lincoln was shot down. There
but the speaker so possessed the will
and sympathy of his auditory that the
plaudits accorded him came spon-
and with force. He treated
the subject in an analytical way. |
Why Colonel WattersOn's portrayal
of Lincoln has invited extensive criti-
cism, was revealed in his frequent
declaration that the martyr-president
was inspired of God for his Office; that
~ I,.. In.
of critics TO the effect that Lincoln's
birth, training and characteristics were
entirely at vsSiance with the great
work he performed--in fact. the proof
that Lincoln was given and prepared
by God to save the nation Is the only
reasonable explanation of his successful
" ork, because the world thought at the
time he was ill,fitted for the task before
him, and later critics incline to this be-
lief. at the same time lauding his beau
tiful character Such was the idea pro-
claimed frequently by Colonel Waiter
son in the kind Of exquisite diction,
profound reverence and dramatic bear
ing that does not invite pollution by
attempted repetition.
Ills Appearance on the Platform.
Probably the majority Of the audi
ence saw In Colonel Watterson, except
in an oratorfcal sense, a person entirely
different from the one they had pic
tured. In figure he IL neither tall nor
commanding and in face he looks the
scholar rather than the orator whose
raised hand, few sentences and un-
wasted gestures have many times de-
manded and been accorded silence and
attention in conventions fraught with
turmoil and factional strife. He does
not. in repose. show himself a leader of
men, although his stern, rudy and SOL
djerly visage, topped with Ia heavy
growth of iron gray hair and with over
hanging eyebrows and silver-white
moustache and goatee would at any
time proclaim him to be more than an
ordinary man and would invite respect
1t is when Colonel Watterson speaks.
when he Is on the platform, that the
secret of how he moves men Is revealed.
Then, it is the thought and heart of the
man making themselves known with
such force and strength that person
not affected by him would have to be
very immobile, indeed. Intensity and
force are most prominent In his utter
ances; of oratorical fire he has little, at
least he didn't exhibit much of that
quality last night, but his power and
magnetism by means Of strength and
profound gesture were always appar-
ent.
It was SEQ when Colonel WattersOn
appeared on the stage and was intro
duced by ex-Justice Alfred Hand, as
one whose fearlessness in support of
truth had made him so well-known that
an introduction to the audience seemed
superhuous Judge Hand remarked
that the audience would undoubtedly
introduce Itself as the lecture ps'o-
gressed-and it did.
lie Arrived Hero at 9 p. NJ.
Colonel watterson reached here on
the 6 o'clock evening .Lackawanna
train from Philadelphia, and registered
at the Wyoming house. where he i'm
mediately ate supper and then went to
his room and rested short while be-
fore dressing for the lecture. He was
accompanied in the drive to the theater
by Judge Hand and Henry Belin, jr.
After the lecture a few gentlemen
were introduced to Colonel Watterson
in his dressing room
After the lecture Colonel Watterson
was a guest for an hour or so at the
home of w. r.. Smith on Jefferson ave-
nue.. Those present were: Judges of the
Superior Court Orlady, Wickham, Reed
err and Willard, Col II. Nj. Boies. Will
liam Connell, j. A. Linen, Fl. j. Ander-
ex Justice Hand, James Archibald. A.
T.. Hunt, Charles r. Connell, A. d. HOl-
land, Rev. DR.. James Mcleod, Rev.
Rogers Israel, ex-Lieutenant Governor
Watres, John T.. Barrett, Tallie Evans,
of the Pittston Gazette. and Livy s.
Richards and w. w. Davis, of The
Tribune.
Before leaving the city this morning
on the LAO train for New York Colonel
Watterson paid visit To the Tribune
building and, after being shown through
the local, editorial and telegraph de-
partments, composing room and other
departments of the paper, pronounced
the plant one OF the most complete
and modern for its size that he had ever
inspected.
A Tribune reporter was granted an
interview with Colonel Watterson in
his room at the Wyoming. where he
declined to discuss for publication sew
eral important current topics of na-
tional import.
II am out Of politics and out of public
life, Just noW" he said. ,"and any opin-
ions of mine for public Use would not,
/ think, be in good taste."
Colonel Watterson explained that his
present lecturing tour Is under the
management of lyceum bureau and
will last until April 6, at Albany. Two
and his children in New York, and sail
for Europe. After q month or six
weeks each In London and Paris (for
the educational benefit Of his children,
he explaine6 he will go to Genoa,
where he will occupy several months
in writing 0ne-vOlume life Of Lincoln
for popular use. For this work he has