The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-23

1
 Sl,250?" There seemed to be menace ir
 ms manner, as if he would have added
 Am I to lay hands on the miscrean at that late day there was some little
 smiting of conscience for having de
 manded an exorbitant fee for a lectur
 in Toledo. but confession of identit,
 had to be made. Not a little relic
 came when, In answer to an inquiry a
 to the financal result, the minister said
 "Oh, we came out all right; We dit
 we'll" Till then the name and face o
 the former secretary of the Toledt
 Young Mems Christian Association Were quite out of memory. Still later
 when talking with a Detroit journalist
 it was disclosed that he was one of thu
 committee of the boat club tha
 brought the lecture for that city. To z similar question he replied. We were satisfied; we made money" The 1 bureaus profits for the seventeen were
 about $5,500.
 There are pioneers in the world oi
 thought just as there were pioneers ir the Western woods-men who look
 eagerly into the dim vastness ahead
 and blaze intellectual trails for others
 to follow: and there are men who lack ing the true instincts of the pioneer
 lack also his courage, yet have the
 faculty of perceiving early the trend of
 popular thought toward a certain point.
 and leap at once to that point, es-
 tablishing themselves there in advance
 of the slower movement of the masses,
 thus gaining for themselves the reputa- ton of leaders they are only followers
 after all being gifted merely with
 keener sight and more agility than their fellows. By universal assertion, MT. Beecher stands with the pioners, albeit some have found pitfalls on the trail he blazed. He was no exception to the rule which seems to prompt our thinkers, from whatever field of in- tellectual labor they come, to choose the platform rather than any other vehicle for the enunciation of those ideas designed specially to challenge public attention, In some places, nota- ply in Cincinnati, the radical views ex- pressed in Manhood and Money" and in Compulsory Education" the two lectures prepared by Mr. Beecher for this trip, provoked good deal of com ment than would be provoked now, when popular thought has caught up with his leadership, Were he still alive no doubt he would still be ahead.
 From observations made dur ing the tour MT. Beecher did not always give his audiences what they thought to be the worth of their money in oratory. He was largely a man of moods; if in good fettle and the were present, he was album dantly able to gratify the most exact ing but when these conditions were lacking there was not apparent strong sense of obligation to summon all his reserve forces, and to struggle against the temporary of his mind, that no man who had paid his money might leave the house unsatlsfled If he talked an hour and half, or even one, hour, he semed to think his whole duty done, and men unreasonable who demanded more, Mr. Roberts for many years of the Old Bay State Course, Boston, used to tell story Illustrating his phase of Mir. Beecher's character. At the time of the incident Mir. Beecher vas featuring but seldom ever near home. MT, Roberts was very anxious Q secure him for his course. Already "a hn d cent hic eayarol Iattavs h,.4 LA 10 reply He then wrote MT. Becher lote reading something like this: T want a lecture by you the coming sea- 'on in the Old Bay State Course, Bos- on. Date and subject I leave wholly to you. Inclosed find check for $500 in payment of same" There was no &C., tnowledgement of this, but In a short ime Roberts got his bank-book balanced and looked eagerly over his cancelled checks. To his great delight le found the money had ben collected. | Then he announced Mir. Beecher for the | curse, date and subject hereafter" It equired some patient effort to get hese, but finally they were obtained nd duly advertised. Toward evening 'n the day of the lecture MT. Beecher | vent into private office of James T. Fields and said; Fields, lock me up or an hour or so; I have a lecture to rive tonight, and I have nothing pte- ared.' MT. Fields did as requested. nd that night MT. Becher gave a very l-digested talk of forty-fve minutes o a thoroughly disappointed audience. speaking afterward of Roberts's ruse dr. Becher explained that he did not 1tend to accept his invitation to lec- lre but just as the check came 1rs. Beecher was an aplicant for mon " and having none to give he indorsed he check and handed it to her. That him.
 Even when indisposed to "pull him elf together" that the fullest antici- ations of his hearerds might be req zed Beecher gave them of the best oinage of his brain, but they yearned or those flaming outbursts of eloouence or which he was famous, and these were not always in evidence. It could e said of him more truly than most public men that he needed Il occasion. His manner sometimes aft the impression (which probably 7as not far wrong) that he had under iken piece of drudgery to gain alpe- uniary end attainable in no other way, nat his heart was not fully enlisted in Ir he scheme. Also, the long daily rides lroads upon that spontaneity that was
 part of his temperament. and that he 'as prone to sluggishness when en. aged in merely routine work He was
 nightly contestant For n ,,,.,,a 4l tf