Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-08-10
A LETTER FROM THE
CITY BY THE SEA.
Pagan Bob Ingersoll
gathers in the shekels.
TIE FAMOUS ORATOR 1t BIS BEST.
HOW He PILES UP MONEY AND HAf
FEW EXPENSES TO MEET.-THE SUNDAY
CROwD.-Too HOT FOR POLITICS.

Pagan Bob" Ingersoll talked to a
big audience at the Academy of Music on
Sunday evening and he must have smiled
very wide smile when he counted up
the dollars at the ticket Office. From q
theatrical standpoint he is great sue
cess, His expenses are comparatively
light, and the price of admission very
high, so, rs and 81 per seat. He has to
pay hall-rent, of course, the same as
Others do, but he has no ''star" actors,
nor ballet dancers, nor the high kickers,
no army of "supers," no big chorus, no
quarreling orchestra, nor big carloads of
fragile scenery to break, and no big bills
for feeding and transporting q small
army of male and female impersonators.
A trunk, dress suit, an advance agent,
and few notices in the daily newspapers,
is all he has to pay for aside from .his
hallrent and his railroad fares. His
newspaper notices need not be very
lengthy, for he gets all the free advertis-
ing he needs all the year around by the
foolish people who berate and attack
him, from press and pulpit OIL general
principles. NotOriety is exactly what
the genial Bob" is after, and when the
religious press and the ministers will
furnish it for nothing, why should he
"blow in" good money in paying for
much newspaper space? Personally, Col.
Ingersoll, I am told by those who know
him well, is a most charmirg g and lovable
man whose moral character is above re-
proacb, and whose domestic relations
are of the happiest. He is generous to
and needy, and disposition to assist
n h.,@f
their conditions. His unrivalled gift of
eloquence the world knows and admires,
He has no superior in all the graces of
oratory that hold vast audiences en-
thralled and move them to smiles and
tears. He can take the most common
place subject and clothe it with beautiful
language, marvellous in it's simplicity.
He can build up man of straw and
then tear him to pieces with more flowery
words than any man ever heard or read
of. In all that makes man great upon
the platform Robert G. Ingersoll has, in
overfOwiDg measure. His deeds of
charity and his great work for temper
ance and other reforms commend him to
all who labor in common causes with
him. So far can heartily admire him,
and SO can every other right minded per-
son not blinded by unreasoning predjud-
ice. His attacks upon Christianity do
not fill me with enthusiasm, and | could
wish that his master mind could find en-
ployment in it's defence. But after all
his assaults upon the Christian religion
have not accomplished much. They have
only stirred up the church people all over
the country, to renewed activity, and to-
day the membership of all evangelical
denominations is increasing instead of
diminishing. There are more new
Churches being built, more Sunday
Schools established, and more bibles sold
than ever before. The daily press prints
thousands of sermons that are read by
millions of readers every week, while
only a few read the brilliant productions
of Col. Ingersoll. His attack is lamen-
table failure in accomplished results in
everything save the accumulation of the
dollars, which, after all, ] suspect is the
objective point of the ColonePs campaign.
While many of his ideas are all right and
might be practical if everybody would
do all right, the majority OF thinking
people will hesitate to swap the faith
that they learned at their Mothers knee
for IDgersoll's gospel of suicide and eter-
nal darkness beyond the grave. tits the
hope of sonnet hing better, hereafter, that
bids us bear the ills we have than fly to
Others we know not Of" and not a
thousands IngersolPs can blot that hope
from the human mind. | can cheerfully
pay my little dollar and sit for couple
of hours and listen to the musical voice.
the well-rounded periods and the superb
oratory of Col. Ingersoll. 1t is truly an
intellectual treat, but when l sit amid
the tempests of sea and air, and feel that
death may summon me at any moment,
| do not insinc lively call on him for help.
Neither do read his lectures in that sup
rene moment of human grief, when the
doctor takes his finger from the imper-
ceptible pulse and says "It is all over"
Sunday was another rcord-breaking
day in our incoming throngs of visitors.
The railroads brought down over sc, 600
passengers on Saturday and Sunday,
and with those already here the number
must have been considerably over 100,
600.
1t is too hot for politics, and people are
too busy to pay much attention to the
political states and the slate-makers.
They want to make all the money they
can for the n. xt three or four weeks and
then with the advent of a cooler atmos-
phere it will be in order to ''fix things"
S'-ARGUs."