Evening star., 1923-09-02

madness, in which he had found no
kind of sense. But when he heard
my Straightforward narrative of what
the British armies had done he
sighed deeply. and said. sold again"
and tried to sleep. My loud, clear-cut
sentences hammered into his brain,
and would not allow him even that
consolation.
That first audience in the Carnegie
Hall was immensely kind, extraor-
dinarily generous and long suffering.
They applauded my stories of Brit
ish heroism as though it had been
their own heroes, laughed at my at
tempts to tell Cockney anecdotes, and
did not let me know once that i was
boring them excessively. Some spirit
of friendship and good will reached
up to me and gave me courage. Only
once did they laugh in the wrong
place, and then they couldn't help
themselves. 1t was when for the
sixth time or more I glanced at my
wrist watch, and then, in sudden
panic that it had stopped and that
had spoken an hour too long, put 1t
to my ear,
The way off the platform was more
difficult than the way on. / had come
through one little door, but there
were six of them exactly the same.
At the conclusion of my speech /
bowed, walked rapidly to one OF the
doors, and found it would not bulge!
I returned again and bowed TO the
audience before trying another doc=.
No, by heaven, it wouldn't open.
Again L returned and bowed, and
made another shot for swing door.
At the fourth try / went through.
That experience OF doors that would
not open became a nightmare of mine
in American sleeping cars when 1
suffocated from overheated pipes.
* x
HAVE lectured a hundred times
since then, made numbers OF
speeches (sometimes as many as five
a day) in American cities, faced every
kind of audience from New York to
San Francisco and across the Cana
dian border, in Montreal, Toronto
Winnipeg, Vancouver, and never
conquered my nervousness, so that
if 1 am called upon for speech at
a public dinner in England now L
suffer all the pangs of stage 1rlght
until 1 am we'll under way. But at
least my experiences in the United
States helped me to hide behind
calm and tranquil mask. and not to
give myself away so utterly as that
first time in Carnegie Hall.
1t was on my second visit, and at
nv opening lecture in the same great
hall. that 1 obtained-by accident
the most wonderful ovation which
will ever come to me in this life. 1t
was my night out, as it were, most
memorable. most astonishing, most
glorious. For it is glorious sensa-
ton, whatever the cynic may say, TO
be lifted on the waves of enthusiasm,
to have a great audience Of intelligent
people cheering one wildly, as though
ones words were magic.
It was none of my doing. My words
were poor commonplace stun, but l
stood for something which the finest
audience in New York liked with all
their hearts that night-England
liberty, fair play.
It was the Sim Feiners who did
it. A friend Of Ireland and advocate
of Dominion home rule, I was one OF
the last men they should have at
tackled. But because ] was an Eng
lishman who dared to lecture before
an American audience they were
determined to wreck my meeting and
make a savage demonstration. 1 was
utterly unaware of this plot. l was
nf
land. 1 was talking about Austria,
and was trying to tell an anecdote
about an Austrian doctor-I never
told it.-when from the middle gal
lery Of the Carnegie Hall, which was
densely packed from floor to ceiling,
there came a hoarse question In
stentorian voice, "Why don't you take
the marbles out of your MOUTH"
Rather staggered, and believing this
to be criticism of my vocal delivery
and English accent" 1 raised my
voice, but it was instantly over
whelmed by an uproar Of shouts, cat
, calls, whistlings, derisive laughter,
| abuse, and a wild wailing Of women's
voices rising to a shrek.
/ For a. few moments I could not
guess what all the trouble was about.
! I stood there, alone and motionless.
on the platform, suddenly divorced
from the audience, which 1 watched
with a sense of profound curiosity.
All sorts of strange things were hap
pening. Men were going at each
other with fists in the gallery, where
there was a seething tumult. In the
stalls 1 was aware of a very fat man
in evening dress wedged tightly in
his seat and bawling out something
from an apopletic face. Two other