The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-08

it is doubtful if he really got so much or
every occasion. 1t is a tradition in my
town that Horace Greeley came there
seson after season for the sum Of fifteen
dollars and expenses per lecture and was
glad to get it. This may have referred
however. to his satisfaction at lecturlne
before such an appreciative audience as
he met there; for really, the lecturer VINO
has the opportunity to deliver hirnseU OF
his favcrite opinions and get paid at the
same time, is doubIy rewarded
Nv first lecture was before the Long
Island Historical Society in the month OF
! March. 1879. and I received fifty dollars
for my maiden effort. few months pre-
viously had returned from a protracted
expIora ton of the southern west Inoies.
where I discovered many new birds and
much information which the sclehtists
considered Of value. Hence this invitation
to lecture before a learned society Incl
| dentaIiy l may mention that perhaps the
fact that an intimate friend of mine was
| q member of the governing board may
/ have had something to do with the IN
vitation" Having made many photo
! graphs while in the West Indies, the mega
tives were available for lantern Sides
which were produced on a screen at my
! first lecture and used subsequently for
years.
Following the Long Island Society, the
! Essex Institute of Salem, Massachusetts,
extended me an invitation to lecture. This
| institute. a pioneer OF its kind in New
England, was presided over by the patrl-
archaI Dr. Wheatland and stood sponsor
for the American Naturalist at its birth,
the talented Morse Packard, Putnam and
several other since noted specialists hav-
ing been brought out under its wing. AS
a boy, I had grown up with the Salem
coterie of natural history workers and
it was from such scientific and semi
scientific societies as the Essex Institute
that 1 received my first impulse to invest
igate nature and lecture upon what nan
found. BY the next season, however,
had resolved to extend my field and try
to include the popular" lecture course,
so far as possible. Referring to my scrap
book [ find myself announced to lecture,
November 1879, at Wesleyan Hall, Brom-
field street, Boston, on 1.-TWO Years in the
Tropics" illustration on anvass by
Means of the Calcium Lantern" This also
was the first time, so far as 1 can recall.
was not the last, by any means, for the
unsought and unmerited title was applied
hundreds of times and was especially
in vogue in the South and West Just
what kind of a professor lantern lectu-
rer was supposed to be has never yet been
explained. but whenever l denied a right
or claim, TO the title, was looked upon as
peculiar. So 1 let it go, allowing lecture
managers to call me what they pleased
and advertise me for what they chose,
not feeling any sense of personal response
biity in the matter at all. After 1 retired
from the lecture field the title sloughed
off. somehow, as the superfiuous thing it
it was ard I have not heard it applied to
me for years.
Almost anybody can deliver lantern
lecture" and it used to seem to me that
almost everybody took a try at tit
is so easy to get together lot of slides,
grind up and memorize a lecture either
from observation or books of travel, and
then spout it in the semi-obscurity OF
the darkened platform. The most trying
thing about it is, of course, the intro
ductory for the ethics of the profession
demanded that, Notwithstanding the body
of the lecture might be read from manus-
cript, by the aid of a shaded light at one
side of the stage, the salutary should be
delivered off-hand and with apparent
spontanity. After Speaking on one or two
subjects few hundred times, L managed
to acquire the art of delivering my intro
ductory and also the whole lecture as well
as if it were an impromptu production.
But this comes only from long practice
and cannot be done without the aid of
a trained operator behind the lantern
at the other end of the ball. This operator
can make or mar a lecture at VIII, for,
while the audience presumably attends
for the intellectual pabulum proffered by
the talented lecturer" yet it really in
clines more to his pictures than to orato-
rical effect. There should, indeed, be such
a blending of individual talent with art
that the pictures appear merely supple
mentary to the verbal descriptions; yet
they must appear at just the right time,
never too soon or too late, otherwise the
effect will be a meretricious clap-trap-
as most often it is.
The lecturer should always have his
wits about him, needless to say and be
ready to turn a contretemps to his advan-
tage and some such a mistake as get
ting a slide in wrong side up Git is al
ways inserted upside down, of course,
being reserved on the SCREEN may be
made an occasion for putting an audi
ence in good humor. l remember, for in
stance. that my operator once allowed
the light to go down. as 1 was eXpatiating
upon the beauties of street in Seville.
As it happened fortunately, L CHANGED to
look up, hearing a faint smoker from the
front benches where the youth had con-
greCated as was their wont, and imme-
diately added that succeeding this night
view Of the street would appear view
by daylight when its attractions would be
more apparent. 4 slight thing and finn
sy; but il served TO create a diversion and
cause a laugh. which might have been at
the expense of the lecturer. The trivial
ties which an audience tolerates and
sometimes even seems TO court, are cal
culated to breed in one who frequently
addresses large gatherings a feeling some
what akin to contempt. for it would in
deed appear that mankind taken collec-
lively does not average up TO its in
dividuaI plan. In one of my lectures, for
example. there were several Jokes" that
from long familiarity had become almost
nauseating. Time and again, in revising
my lecture. I threw them out and cast
them. as I fondly believed. into the limbo
of things eternally done FOR. but fully as
often they came sneaking back and foist-
Cd themselves into my remarks just when
1 could not proceed without launching
them forth. unless I lamely halted or
came to stop. There were some remarks
that always caused a faint snickering.
others that brought out laughter stll
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