News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-01-07
CHANP CLARK STORIES
Good Things Gathered by an
Observing Statesman.

tuckian Beat a Circus Man-Iu rt'e
Too Much For a Lion-Paddy and
the Judge-CoIonel Balm as an Or
ator-The Farmer Boy on Dudes.
Copyright, 1902 by Champ Clark
Comparatively few persons have any
adequate conception of what great
educational force-intellectual, moral,
religious and material-the Chautau
qua assemblies have come to be. There
are nearly 400 of them. a Chautauqua
assembly is sort of literary, scientific,
oratorical and musical camp meeting,
a college or university in a tent or
tabernacle. They are carrying the best
thought of this generation to the re-
hottest hooks and corners of the repub-
lie. All sorts of public speakers appear
on their platforms-grave ecclesiastics,
profound university dOns, solemn
statesmen, famous soldiers, distin-
guished EDITORS celebrated authors,
poets and travellers and specialists in
every branch of learning.
Most assuredly the Chautauquas give
a variety of mental pabulum. Some
novel feature and drawing card.
Lecturers fall into two natural divi-
sions professionals and amateurs.
With the former it is their sole yoca-
ton. General Gordon, Colonel George
w. Balm, Governor Bob Taylor, George
r. Vending and a few others do moth
ing else from years end to years end.
mi w a
the doctors would say, each having
some other regular profession or call
ing. "Marse" Henry WattersOn edits
a great newspaper, the Rev. Sam
Jones and DR.. Macarthur preach, and
so on 10 the end of the chapter Some
men stay on the platform a lifetime,
making towering regulations and piles
of money. For instance, Wendell Phil
lips and Colonel Bob IngersOll were
rated among Americas great orators.
1t is said that Phillips raked in $4,000
on his lecture on "The Lost Arts" 9th
erS lecture a short time while in the
public eye. For instance, while Henry
NJ. Stanley wore sort of halo by rea-
son of his African explorations he re-
C6lNGu as ulSu pI'OOO pei l4ShC
rather comfortable wages. For the last
six years William j. Bryan has per-
haps made more money than any other
lecturer. He had very amusing and
profitable experience in 1897 The
Chautauqua assembly at Carthage, Mo-,
wanted him for one lecture. Like Bar
kis, he was "willin'," but demanded
"a
qua, thinking that too much, declined,
but offered him half the gate receipts.
He accepted their proposition and had
for his share something over $1,000, a
pretty fair days work.
Oratory Not Lost Art.
The question is frequently asked, SIS
oratory a lost artY Pessimists who
see nothing good in the present and
only eternal night in the future and
VINO are forever looking back to a
golden age assert that it is; that all the
orators are dead; that only jawsmiths
now veX the ears of men and saw the
circumambent atmosphere with their
arms. l take the negative. I'll make
my affidavit that there is at least one
orator still moving the mind and heart
by the power of spoken words. His
name is George w. Balm, and his habi-
tat is the ancient home of orators, Lex
ington, Ky.
l had the exquisite pleasure of hear
ing him deliver a temperance lecture
in 1901 at the Fort Smith Chautauqua,
in Arkansas The audience was splen-
did, the theme hacllneyed. For over
an hour he swayed his hearers as the
storm king sways the forest. At one
moment he excited them to such up
roarious laughter that it must have
startled the turtles sleeping on the
banks of the Arkansas. The next they
were dissolved in tears. l am not
ashamed to confess that he set my
lachrymal glands to working freely
and copiously, and l have heard all
our great orators from John G. Breck-
inridge to Joseph w. Bailey. The way
that Colonel Balm played upon that
weird harp Of a thousand strings, the
human heart, was a revelation to nv
Concerning the hamburger.
In lecture on Boys and Girls, Nice
and Naughty; or, The Pendulum of HUI
man Life" at the Springdale Chautau
qua, in Arkansas, in 1901 he edged In
a section on temperance and told thi!
amazing story: Girls, | have a new
word for you-warmburger. 1t hasn't
appeared in any dictionary yet, but II
may. 1t came about in this way: Al
the first circus that ever appeared IL
Allen county, KY, an African lion was
advertised as one of the attractions. Il
was stated in the bills that it was the
first ever brought to America. Wher
the show opened, among other things
the ringmaster said Ladies and gen
tlemen, in this cage is a magnifcen
African lion. Behold him in all hi!
majesty and ferocious glory. He is thu
king of beasts and can easily whip any
of the animal kingdom When he go
that far in his oration," said Colone
Balm, "a great, tall, muscular Kentuck
dan arose and roared, Hey, mister, dt
you say that that lion can whip an!
sort of animalT Yes replied the liol
keeper with great pomposity. We'll
drawled the Kentuckian, III bet yol
So that have an animal that can licl