Year: 1872

Lecture by Frederick Douglass.
A large audience assembled last night il


the hall Of the House of Representatives


in conformity to call published in the daily


papers, as hearers of a lecture on "Self


made Men, delivered by Frederick Doug


lass.


Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback introduced the
lecturer to the audience, and he was re-


ceived with hearty applause.


| The subject of men, the lecturer began


by saying, had been the theme OF lecturers
| and writers for sll time. Representative
men, men of genius, and great men OF


every degree, all were the favorites Of liter
ary efforts. Man it is who chiefly interestA


US at every point Of inquiry. In this man
| ner, by general illusions, introducing his
! subject, speaking of the results Of science
| and OF art, all the studies, indeed, in man,
| the greatest as well as the smallest, the
| greatest villain and the nOblest. On the
| present evening all the wires Of the land
centered in Washington, and from all points
| Of the north, the south, the east and west,


intelligence, first set in motion by Morse,
| was transmitted. The lecture would not be
| complete without tribute to Professor
Morse, man whose great discovery
converted the world into a whispering


gathering. Applause Morse taught the
lightning to speak; Daguerre, the sun to
instantaneously take portrait. 1t is
natural to reverence great men; 1t may not
be to worship him. He may be our king,


our lawgiver, our statesmen, our priest.


Men who have distinguished themselves by


the sword or the mitre were equally rever-


enced, and upon these we look somewhat


in the same spirit children regard their big


brother. He would deliver his lecture on


the model OF good, old fashioned Method


ist Episcopal sermon. 1t would have a


firstly, secondly, thirdly. a fourthly,


and possibly an ''in conclusion"


Who are the selfmade men! He pro-


ceeded to define self-made men as those


who, without the advantages Of an early
education, have succeeded in breaking up


the dark incrustatiOns of ignOrance-men


who have been their own professors, their
own academies; men who have built the road
themselves, and who have butfeted the waves
Of opposition successfully where other1nen
had gone down. Strictly speaking, thele
were no self-made men; all have borrowed
or have stolen something to add to their


own knowledge. Wherever they are
found, on the bench or on the rostrum,


their characteristics are similar. How is it
a man rises from the shoemaker's bench to
be the match Of the man who comes from
the academic instruction of Europe! How
is it a man comes from the printers case to
move the companion of kings, like Frank
lin How is it a man from being cObbler
at Nanck is the companion in the Senate of
the product OF the European schOOls2


Upon what meat do these our Caesars feed


That they do grow SO great p


The lecturer then went into an explana-
ton of the causes that lay at the base of
success in life, how it was that some men
with the most brilliant endowments were
failures, while those who in early life had
none were successful. 1t appeared as if
God would mar the complacency of the
great. Keep down arrogance in the sue
eesstul by showing that from the very
stones in the street He can raise up great
ness and successful men. "It is the use we
make of our chances, and not the chances
themselves, that make men successful.
DetractiOn, however, is a sweet morsel. 1t
is far easier to account for success in others
than to explain our own failures. Men," he
went on to say, ''are the authors Of their
own misery or their own condition. The
lazy man is the unlucky man, and the man
Of luck Of work" Looking into the origin of
greatness it will be found the great man was
awake while others slept: economical his
time while others were prodigal of theirs;
was at work while others were idle. Every
thing of value comes of work. Labor is
unceasing. He who receives thing for
which nothing is paid does not appreciate it,
and as it is obtained without toll it is worth
nothing or equivalent to nothing. The man
who lies down fool at night, expecting to
rise up wise man in the morning, will get
up as be laid down. There is 40 royal nor
religious road to learning. Neither learn
ing nor knowledge comes by praying.
Prayer never put out a fire nor saved ship.
He, when slave, prayed Justify three times
day for his freedom, but never obtained
it until he prayed with his legs. lApplause
The preachers have now got into the habit
of decrying learning on the principle that
the ''letter killetb," and that when the
mouth was opened it would be filed. But
nothing could come from no exertiOn or toll.


All that he asked for the colored man was
fair play and let him alone. Ii he is seen
on the way to school let him alone; on the
way to church, on the way to advancement
to Congress let him alone; if he can stand
Congress, Congress ought to stand him.


A long and earnest effort was now made
by the lecturer on the subject of work.


Man must not wait in the journey of life
until man comes along and puts spring
board under his feet to help him along. He
must walk along himself. None of us gain
without work.


Toll lay at the foundation of all success,
mans own work. individual effort. The
man who does not live honestly is not fit to
live at all, and he who lives upon the labor
of Others and depends upon others work,
is not living honestly. tApplause.l He
who lives upon the labor of others, though
he may, like Jim Fisk, live in luxury; like
Tweed, have wealth; but he has lost his self
respect, and when this was gone he has
already lost his soul. [Applause.l Speak
ing of great men, and how they were IN
greatest man in his neighborhood was one
who could lift a cider barrel and drink out
of the bunghole; now days it would be a
test of greatness to make the cider barrel
lift Itself. Kit Carson was in some respects
a great man, but as the tide of civilization
rolled over the hills and valleys of the
West, leaving towns and cities in desert
places and on the banks of streams, great
ness consisted of another cast. The lee
turer always reached what appeared to
be the foundation of the whole, that is,
all success and greatness came from work.
from applied labor and ceaseless toll. Elihu
Burritt, Hugh Miller, Louis Kossuth, were
all alluded to as examples of self-made
men. Miller pointed to the earth as his in
structor and college; Kossuth had the
foundation Of his knowledge of his English
out of Shakespeare in prison walls. The
lecturer gave an interesting account Of his
own eKertiOns, when a youthful slave, to
learn how to read, write and cypher. His
mistress piousily read aloud from the Book
Of Job, when he became inspired with a de-
sire to read, and one day asked his good,
kind mistress to learn him. She consented,
and from her he obtained the first rudi-
ments of his education. Although this was
fifty years ago, the incident was as fresh in
his memory as if it were yesterday, and he
had never forgotten his good, kind mistress
from that day to this. But his master found
out what was going on, and objected to his
too great intimacy with the spelling book.


h.