The Irish standard., 1902-10-11
Max O'Rell on Lectures.

leader, was staying with friend in
Cork The Young Ireland Society ask
cd him to deliver Il lecture on Irish
history. He consented. SO he Went
to his host and said to him: II know
nothing of Irish history. Have you
any books 1 can rcad?"
His host tished out some books +
him. The day of the lecture came. An
hour before dinner P:ulell did some
reading. He dinrd ut seven and at Il
quarter t. eight hr asked for pen, ink
and paper. Ten minutes later he said
to his host: I'm ready; think
shall he able to say something"
He drove to the hail. The streets
were crowded. The rooms of the Sc
ciety Wee packed. Parnell received
a grand ovation ana the lecture went
off very we'll. Up to that time Paruell
was locked up t. as the greatest man
in Ireland. From tie day Of tllat lee
turr the Irish also declared he was
=
Max ORcll in The Chicago American.
But the most mem rab.r lecture
over delivered w;p> perhaps the one
which was given by the order of the
Convention Rationale by Bernardin de
st. Pierre. the immortal author of
Paul and Virginia." The great writ
CT lived in TIL. country. not far from
Paris.
AS we all know. in all his writings
NE praises family life and delights in
descriptions of fields, forests and flow.
CTS. He had never lerturcd before
and when he arrived on the platform
he felt very nervous. However. he
pulled himself together and began:
Ladies' and gentlemen, am fam
lily mann and | live in the country"
On lpalring those words family" and
country" which seemed to sum up
all his works. the audience applaudcd
madly Bernardin, not understanding
why they arplaudcd. got more ner-
vous and was unable tn find another
word to 80 on with the lecture.
Seeing his emotion the audience
chccrcl AND appau,el till the poor
man, absolutely overcome With emo
ton. timidity and gratitude for tho
ovation accorded him. fell prnstratc in
his chair crying like Il child. 1t was
more than tlEnt excited ;,udt.ncr could
stand
On seeing the dear old man in tears,
they carried him off on their Shout
tlrrS nd would not allow him to pro-
coed with the lecture. Thus ii is that
l'criardin dc ST. Pierre acquired a rcp-
utation as II lecturer and received 500
frames for THAT lecture the only one he
ever gave in his life.
10 tllis very day some lectures are
given With success without ting
mlch trouble to the lecturer. Let u
war he declared. let Il great calamity
he tlr, talk of the papers. some lectur-
ers procure 100 ur 100 lhh tngrnpls of
the country where war is going to
rage, or where the calamity has hap
pcnch. An hours reading lis sufficient
and. with the pictures shown on II
screen. the lecture is successful and
can be repeated every day until the
interest in that particular country is
exhausted.
'W:S the lecture &, ol?" Uncr asked
the secretary of :; society in whose
hall this 'N;llow" WAS given. Yes"
he replied: tile photographs were en-
cclirnt and he lnlS Il splendid Llntrrn."
II is as easy tn give lectures as il
is to examine. II is much easier to
ask questions than to answer them,
therefore much easier to be examiner
than to H., examined.
Some twenty years ago WAS in
vitrd to examine the boys of Il great
English public school in French and
German and asked to name my fee.
| replied: "Two hundred dollars to
examine the boys In French; 5000
to examine them in German"
'l'e head master wrote me II letter
to inquire why ! would charge ten
times more to examine in German
than TO examine in French "I,ct,a,lse,"
! replied, mot knowing German, |
sbO.lld have to lcnlnl It first"
Not Il Bit" remarked friend to-
HON told the incident. with Il
couple of hours preparation you could
have set papers and, with the help of
books, seen which were the best an
swers to your questions"
Being innocent in those days, | had
not Thought of that.