The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1907-09-12
How Grady Came to Lecture on "IuSt
Human"
fDy L. L. Eni2ht, in SUNNY Sorth.l

Henry ". Grady organized Allan
ta's first lecture course away back il
the early seventies and though i
ran through only one season, il
brought to Atlanta some Of the
bright particular stars Of the Amer.
lean platform.
| One of these was ''Sunset" Cox
the noted humorist Of congress. Ir
accepting the invitation Mr.. Cox
mentioned the date which would
best suit him and also announced
the subject on which he would speak;
but as near as this could be deciph-
cred it read, "Just Human.
What hidden significance underlay
these mysterious symbols not even
the expert imagination of Mr.. Grady
could decipher; but without trying
to solve the problem the town was
soon placarded with the announce
ment that Mr.. Cox was to speak on
this unheard-of subject and every
body was put to wondering what it
could possibly mean.
Finally the day for the lecture ar
rived and Mr.. Cox himself appeared
upon the scene. On reading the an
nouncement with which his name
was coupled he turned to Mr.. Grady
II utter establishment and said:
What does this mean, Mr.. Grady?"
Supposing that this question was
only the precursor of some witty ex-
pianation which the lecturer was
about to make, Mr.. Grady replied:
I'VE are not good at solving
riddles and we expect you to tell US
tonight. Everybody in town is puz-
z!ed to know what you are going to
get out of your subject, but they
are expecting something rich"
'But I have no lecture on such an
outlandish subject" said Mr.. Cox.
How does it happen that l am bill
ed to speak on Just Human when
my lecture is on Irish Humor?'''
This statement explained the stu
alton. On account CT the bad pen
manship on which the document was
written Irish Humor" was made to
look like Just Human"
wen, sald Mr. Grady, knlJtmg
his eyebrows refectively, well have
two lectures instead of one. You
stick to your subject and lecture on
Irish Humor' and later on in the
season | viii lecture on Just HUI
This promise was faithfully kept.
Taking this ludicrous error as the
text Of his discourse Mr.. Grady de-
livered enc Of the best lectures
which the people of Atlanta had ever
had the pleasure Of hearing. He
kept them alternating in rapid sue
cession between smiles and tears and
when he had finished it was the gen
eral opinion that he had measured
fully up to the standard set by the
New York orator.
Mr.. Grady was an ideal entertain
er. Both humor and pathos were at
his command and he never failed to
captivate any audience before which
he spoke.
During the past ten years it has
been my good fortune to hear some
of the best public speakers Of the
country, and, while am free to ad
nit that | have heard some whom |
considered greater orators in the
forendic sense Of the time, | have
never heard any one who possessed
within himself greater resources for
keeping an audience entertained
from first to last than Mr.. Grady.
and | verify believe that had elived
his tastes and inclinations were such
that he could easily have been in
duced to give part Of his time to the
lecture platform.
Perhaps it is not putting emphas-
is in the wrong place to say that Mr..
Grady's subsequent success i'll the
oratorical arena is due largely to the
confidence begotten by his first ap-
pearance before an Atlanta audience
as all advertised public speaker.
GnOd ypter1rnf2sian