The Washington herald., 1914-05-14
HISTORY BUILDERS.
When the Lecture Fad Was at ls
Heisht.

written expressly for The Herald)
ny On. =. >. EDwARDs,
At the time the Iyceum platform. se
called. was the most popular form Of
winter evening entertainment everywhere
In the United States, PArke Godwin was
widely sought by iyceum committees n
was regarded a. especially fortunate II
Mr. Goodwin could bs secured TO eeiiver q
lecture. He usually spent three or four
months In the winter In travelling from
place to place to meet his engagements
with lyceum committees. Mr.. Godwin
died about ten years ago well Advanced
in years. He wss the last survivor Of ali
Of those who had gained nation wide rep
ntation a. iyccum lecturers. Mr.. Godwin
was associated with George William Cur
tbs in the editorship OF Putnam's Month
ly Magazine. which for some yea-s just
before the civil war yained q greater
popularity than any other American mag
szine at that time. Frthermorc, as SON.
in-law Of William Cullen Bryant with
whom he was associated In the editorship
Of the New York Evening Post. Mr.. God
win became widely known to the Ameri-
can public. He did not need. however,
any incidental Advertising In order to se-
cure large audiences at his lectures.
Three or four years before Mr.. God
wins death I asked him wnat the rea-
son was for the rapid decline Of the ~
ceum lecture popularity.
There were two reasons for It," he re-
piled. "One was tho outbreak of The civil
war. That absorbed the attention Of the
people Of the North. Another reason was
found In the fact that newscaper reading
became what I might call Q national vo-
cation. The low cost of newspapers and
the rapid transmission Of copies by mail
served to divert the attention from tho
lyceum platform"
Mr.. Goodwin became meditative sccri-
ingly turning something over In his mind.
At last he said: 1T In strange how few
Of the popular lecturers OF that day accu-
money. I suppose John p.
Cough was as popular q lecturer as any,
and In the latter years of his life he was
paid 500 a lecture. but have understood
that his estate was found to oe not mere
Than $4,000. I never accumulated much
money. / appropriated my lecture fees
Tor my personal and family expenses.
Henry Ward Beech-r was as popular
/ lecturer as any. yet he did not leave
much more than q comfortabl, estate,
The greater part OF which was gained
from his salary and from his writings.
used to think that he utilized the fees
which he received from lectures to pay
he expenses Of his farm at PeekskiIl-on-
They did not fully pay those
expenses. for his farm was always
drain upon his income. Ven
iell Phillips, whose lectures upon the
lost Arts and Daniel OConnor were very
depended almost entirely for his
'upport upon these lecture fees, so that
lie left very little property. His estate
vas . small one
George William Curtis, however. ac-
considerable sum from his
ees as lecturer. But he devoted every
,enny OF that to the payment of obiiga-
Ions which he felt were morally Upon
lin on account OF the failure of Put
lam's Magazine. There was absolutely
10 legal obligation upon Mr.. Curtis. He
esolved to take the lecture platform
egularly. and to set apart lis fees for
he purpose Of taking up the notes which
lie gave to those to whom he felt he was
morally obligated. 1t took him twenty
ears to do this, and II was only two or
hree years before his death that he was
BILE to take up the last of the notes"
Copyright 1874 by Dr. Z. J. Edwards All rishts |
reserred-J
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell of |
Col. Bob Ingersoll's Views on Gesticu-
alton"