Evening star., 1934-02-25
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

The following society paragraph in
The Star of February IS. 1884, is a
reminder of the man.
a oOClal ner in which Wash
Occasion ingtonians Of half a
century ago enter
tained themselves:
The Mother Goose party given on
Saturday night by Mrs. Halliday of
N street was eminently successful,
nearly every lady present assuming
for the occasion some one of the char
acters mentioned in the Nursery
Rhymes. The costumes were modelled
after the Kate Greenaway edition of
these old ditties and the scene thus
presented to the onlooker was a very
pretty one. Mother Goose was i'm
personated by Mrs. Hubbard T. Smith,
who received the guests standing in
the bay window by an ancient
STRAIGHTFORWARD chair, on the crimson
cushion of which: sat a veritable live
white goose. whose demeanor through
out was marked by the greatest
gravity. The Daffy Down Dillys were
out in full force, doubtless to herald
the approaching Spring. while Miss
Mary Quite Contrary Haunted gaily
about adorned with cookie shells and
flower maids all in a row. Bo-Peep
bewailed the loss of her sheep, dill
gently persevering in her endeavors
throughout the evening to find them,
and was inconsolable despite the eff
forts of the Queen of Hearts to BAN
ish her woes. Little Miss Moffltt ran
about with the obnoxious Big Spider.
which was supposed to have frightened
her away. Polly carried little copper
kettle, seeking an open fire upon
which to put it. The Old Woman
who essayed to sweep the cobwebs
out OF the sky had condescended to,
abandon her aerial wanderings for
the nonce and mingle with less flighty
mortals. Betty the Milking Maid ran
in for a time to dance in preference
to further attendance on her favorite
bossy. The Little Maid in Blue with
a Hole in Her Shoe, all unabashed.
put the best foot forward and entered
with enjoyment into the spirit of the
occasion, Notwithstanding the fact
that an old witch covered with
cabalistic signs lowered ever near to
lay her under the spell. The mid
night hour came all too soon for each
one present."
A news item in The Star of Feb
ruary ~. 1884, gives pen picture of
John B. Cough popular ',I platform form,
in Action. speakers of fifty
years ago:
John B. Cough, behind a reading
desk, with his head bent over a manu-
script as he first appeared last eve
ming at the Congregational Church,
was not familiar sight to those who
had been accustomed to attend the
lectures of the great orator during
the past thirty years. 1t was evident
ly not natural position to the
speaker himself, and it was not very
long before he skipped to one side
of the platform and was pulling
snakes off the ends of his fingers
accompanied with the power of facial
expression and dramatic intonation
that has made his representations of
the delirium tremens one of the most
powerful pieces of acting ever seen
outside Of the theater. The subject
of his lecture was The Powers That
Be- which be enumerated as faith,
memory, imagination and will. But
1t was never anything long but
temperance, and that subject he
treated with the graphic force which
has made his reputation as a plat
form speaker.
"Mr. Cough is now sixty-hve years
Of age. His long hair and full beard
are quite gray. but his face is full,
his complexion quite ruddy, and he
has all the appearances Of a man in
good health. The subject of his lee
ture last evening served mainly to
string along his apparently mex
haustible fund Of anecdotes and his
manner Of telling them kept his
audience altering between tears and
laughter. He took occasion to defend
his action In not voting the prohibi-