Evening journal., 1912-03-26
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Story That Turned Ap-
parent Failure Into Bril-
liant Success
By Holland

among the great war governors, al
though he was not elected governor OF
Ohio until the Civil War was half
over Opposed to him as a candidate
for governor was c. L. Vallandigham.
John Brough received the largest ma
iority which at that time had been
given to any candidate for governor Of
Ohio. He was very popular with the
plain people, having worked his way
up from poverty to a position of in
fluence In his early life he learned
the printers trade and while still
earning weekly wages in that vocation
worked his way through the Ohio
State University. A man Of large and
imposing physique, he was utterly de-
void of physical fear, and conspicu-
Gus among the great men OF OHIO OF
his day for moral courage. He was,
moreover, one of the best campaign
speakers Of that time.
Vallandigham had been member
of Congress and was very popular
Democrat, but he was accused OF be-
ing in complete sympathy with the
cause of the Confederacy and came
very near getting into serious trouble,
because it was at one time thought ad-
vlsable to arrest him for treason. The
great canvass made by John Brough
as a Republican and by Vallandtg-
ham as a Democrat for the governor
ship of Ohio in 1864 and the enormous
majority which Brough obtained ad-
ded TO his reputation and made him
for a time as conspicuous a Republic
can as was TO be found in the West.
The Republicans of New York city
and the war Democrats were very
anxious to have Governor Brough de-
liver political address in New York,
and he was invited by a committee
composed of many of the leading citi-
zens to speak in historic Cooper Union
| platform He accepted the invita-
ton, and upon the evening fixed for
his appearance to deliver his speech
the great Cooper Union auditorium
was packed to its capacity. No man,
! indeed, ever had more friendly audi
ence at Cooper Union than did John
Brough of Ohio when he faced thar
| great gathering, and yet within tve
minutes after he began his speech no
/ thought he was doomed to failure. he
afterward told General James A. Car
| field, a warm personal friend, what
that experience was.
Il was inspired when | stood before
that great audience that met to hear
me in Cooper Union" said Governor
Brough," and for a moment / forgot
| that I had never tested the acoustic
properties of that hall Now IL had
always been my habit when I was to
speak in a strange hall, either to tset
| by personal visit TO the hall, or by
hearing from others who had already
| tested its acoustics, what its peculiar
! characteristics, If any, from the point
| of view of acoustics were Because
had neglected this precaution in New
York, when l began my Cooper Union
speech / could not tell whether my
voice was pitched right or not.
didn't want to shout, because some
times there is a heavy echo in a hail
which causes a light voice TO be
smothered SO ] began to speak in a
very low tone, intending to feel my
| way until / could get the exact pitch
that would be suitable for the hall.
Speedily there began to be cries OF
Louderi Louderl' These calls embar-
rassed me greatly. Then there came
the suffing of many feet-the audi
ence was getting restless-and still
the shouts Louder! Louder reached
my ears.
Suddenly there came to my mind a
story which ] thought might serve to
relieve me from the embarrassment
and in the end enable me to get the
ears Of my hearers. So held up my
hand and I said that the calls for me
to speak louder reminded me of an
experience a farmer in Ohio once had.
He employed a young Irishman to do
some threshing in the barn. but he did
not like the listless way in which the
man worked. so at last he eXpostulat-
ed with him. where-upOn the man.
said, Give me time to get the hang Of
the barn, won't youg And So I said,
won't you give me time to get the
hang of this great barn?
well. the audience was put into in-
slant good humOr, and as I stood wait
ing for the laughter TO subsidc. / was
told by a friend on the platform that
if spoke in my ordinary voice. enun-
ciating distinctly, ] would have no
trouble in Cooper Union. / did that,
and had the most enthusiastic public
meeting ] ever had outside OF the
State OF Ohio"
Copyright, 1912. by r. J. Edwards,
All rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell Of
"The Enemy That Ben Butler Trans
formed Into Staunch Friend