The Topeka state journal., 1897-12-07

lecture course. was told that every
seat in their hall was sold. and stand
ing-rOOm as well. This town Will pay
something like 81 600 for its winter 5
lecture course.
Some time ago it was my fortune to
lecture before the students in the state
normal school at EmpOria. To my sur
prise I frOnted an audience that in
cluded l 500 young people. A commit
tee in one of these towns told me that
for 25 years their course has never been
Interrupted He who looks through
their books will be surprised to lind
how often Cough, Wendell Phillips,
Henry Ward Beecher and Mrs. Liver
more made the tour of Kansas. IN
deed it is a trueism with public speak
ers that they look forward to tour in
that state because audiences are al
ways large, always sympathetic, al
ways appreciatiVe.
of course it is true that the last two
or three years have witnessed a strik-
ing revival of the lecture platform. It
is often said that the palmy days of the
lyCeum have passed forever; that never
again will audiences come together to
listen to discussions upon the great
truths Of life; to ask, What is So
cial truth? What is financial truth?
What is economic truth? What is the
truth of philanthropy and literature?
as they did in the days of Emerson,
Phillips Thomas Starr King, Chaplin,
Beecher and Cough. Nevertheless, the
very opposite seems to be true. The
lyceum is again Teviving. The public
has tired Of amusement and sport.
Good readers find that men assemble in
crowds TO listen to him who knows how
to trace the rugged truth in form and
beauty. or bring light and inspiration
to bear upon the great problems of life
and character.
"Of late years Kansas has passed un-
der severe criticism. Journalists and
editors have come to speak of the state
as q paradise of cranks and faddiSts.
There. it is said, the political pot ever
boils and seethes. But there are two
sides to this question The intellectual
fervOr political zeal and financial DIS
putatiOrs in which these people indulge
themselves betOken far more of good
than of evil. It must be remembered
that during the Kansas war when the
North and South were fighting for the
possession of the soil, heabOlitionists so
cieties Of New England sent forth large
companies of cOIOnists, who carried
with them boxes marked, Bibles ard
filled with bayOnetS. They were earn
est anti-SlaVery men. They were col
lege graduates and public speakers.
They erected a half dozen cabins, then
founded an embryonic academy or coll
lege. They started newspapers, and
through every possible social instru-
ment they began their propa ganda
had ceased, under the homestead act
old soldiers all afiame with patriotism,
went forth seeking their fortunes. Thus
the population became Overwhelmingly
American, in birth and sentiment and
the foreigner found that the soil had
been pre-empted Having long been a
factor in the nations battles and strug-
giles. the farmers kept in touch with the
life of the nation through the daily
newspapers. Nothing would be more
interesting than a series of statistics as
to the few newspapers that are sent
into states largely settled by foreign
populations, and the vast amount OF
mail matter sent into the region that is
overwhelmingly American in blood and
sentiment. During the long winter
days the youth reads and pOnders. At
night the people assemble in the school
house to discuss some financial theory,
the single tax, the ownership of rail
ways and telegraph. the problems of
municipal life, questions of socialism,
church and state. Out of these heated
intellectual conditions there springs an