Year: 1871

This is @ season, says the New York Independent, when the lyceums through out the country are arranging their courses of lectures for the winter and a few words of practical suggestion with respect to the best methods of manag> ing them may be of use to those whose experience in the business has been linn ited.

 l. The courses should be short. Half a-dozen lectures are as much as any small community can we'll afford.

 2. Variety should be sought in making up the course. It is not well to have lecturers who will all speak on one theme, or one class of themes. The lectures should neither be all scientific nor all literary neither all "solid nor all humorous instruction should be com bined with amusement, and the plat form should be broad enough to give both sides of social subjects a fair repre- sentation.

 3. Padding must be avoided. It is a common mistake to engage two or three lecturers from abroad, and then fill up the course with home talent" Doubt less the clergyman and the editor and lawyer of the village who kindly consent to help the enterprise, may in many cases deliver lectures quite as good as some of the professional lecturers but their townsmen will not pay much for hearing them.

 4. The lectures should follow each other at short intervals. A course of six lectures that is spread over three or four months is likely to fail. Season tickets are not readily sold for so long a period in advance, and all the advantage that comes from keeping the thing hot is lost. When it is possible, the lectures had better take place early ln the win ter. The best managers in New Eng land usually intend to finish their course before the holidays.

 5. The price of season tickets should be reduced to the lowest paying figure. If there are six lectures, and there IS a possible audience of five hundred per sons, the season tickets should not be placed higher than a dollar and half. It is vastly better to sell four hundred tickets at one dollar and 8 half than to sell two hundred tickets at three dollars. Managers sometimes imagine that a small sale of season tickets leaves room for larger sale of single tickets but the fact is that the sale of single tickets will be in direct instead of an inverse ratio to the sale of season tickets. Ii you have only sold two hundred season tickets you will not sell half as many single tickets as if you had four hundred regular attendants upon your course. If it is known that large audience is sure to be present, everybody wants to go. If it is expected that the. audience will be small, everybody win stay at home. For this reason it is good policy to put the price of course tickets as low as possible, In order that large number may be sold. It is also wise to fix the price of single tickets at 8 high figure, so as to compel the purchase of course tickets. If single lecture is to cost fifty cents, and the whole course of six can be had for a dollar and half, il will be seen that it IS the part of econo' my to secure the course tickets at the beginning.

 6. Before the course begins the lee, turers should all be engaged, the dates fixed and printed on the season tickets and the names of the lecturers, and sea son tickets enough sold to pay the fees of the lecturers.