Sketcher. Eminent Lecturers.—No. 1.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1863, 14 June 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sketcher. Eminent Lecturers.— No. 1.

IJT approaohing this subject one f««ls not only a difficulty, but a delicacy, inasmuch as it is a difficult lubjaet which requiros deli«at« treatment; and if for nothing else, for thii all-sufficiant reason that every leoturer thinks that he is, or at least ought to be, eminent. And quite proper too, for if he did not tliink so, he would not, or at any rate ought not, to lecture — that is to say, that if the lecturer, whoever he may be, or whatever may be his specialty, have not that faith in himself, that abstract and innate belief in himself, that what he propounds to the publio is something about which he knows more than they do, about which, in short, he can teacb them something worth knowing, and about which they may know little, or nothing, perhaps, then he has no business to presume to lecture at all. Therefore it is that, *to become a lecturer, or at all events a popular lecturer, as every one who has tried it knowfl/three conditions are absolutely necessary. First, that a man should be perfect master of his subject in all its minutire and details. Second, that he should have the capacity of expressing himself in clear, correct, terse, and unmistakeable language. And third, and most important of all, that he should possess that" inexpressible and unexplainable faculty, the subtle power ol placing himself not only at ease, but en rapport with his audience. Some lecturers have this power, others have not. But nine times out of ten it will be found that those who have it not fail in mixed audiences. Of course, it is easily understood that where a savant is lecturing to scientists on pure soience, or where a theologian is lecturing to theologists, or where any other " an " or " ist " is lecturing to other " ans " or " ists," the faculty referred to may not be absolutely necessary, any more than it would be were the worthy Bishop of Melbourne laying down the dogmatic rules of his church to his clergy, or the Pope publishing his "pronunciamento" to the faithful. But when a man ventures to address the public at large on any subject, the least that can be expected of him is that he shall understand what he is talking about, and that he shall be able to say something about it ; and more, that at least a portion of that something shall be something new. Nay, more, not only that it shall be thorough and new, but that it, both in matter and manner, shall be acceptable to the public, or otherwise the result can but be failuie. America, or what is generally understood by the word America, meaning the United States of that vast continent, is, and has been for years gone by, the chosen home and stronghold of the lecturer. Nor, when we consider the peculiar aspect from which America must be viewed, is this at all to be wondered at ; for we must, in considering this matter, take two important factors into our mind. First, the almost inordinate doBire for information on all subjects which the American nation has always evinced, and second, the paucity of the sources whence, in the earlier times of settlement there, that information could be obtained. It is, of course, very easy now-a-days to say that America is essentially a land of newspapers, that there is scarcely a town or village throughout the enormous area of that country that has not its own " organ," but it must not be forgotten that it wa3 not always so. Let us look back a few years, not very many either, and what do we see ? A central city, New York, and other cities spread broadcast here and there on or away from the Atlantic coast. But diverging from these, noith, south, east, west, like the rayß from a multiplicity of suns, went strenms of hardy and energetic men, the pioneers of the broad lands of the new world, carving out, axe in hand, new territories from the wilderness, which, in future age<s, for extent and wealth, should overshadow the standstill, and then almost effete old world. And with them these bravo men, the men of nerve and muscle, never failed to carry that enquiring mind, that " I want to know" principle which called into existence in those by-gone days that necessity, that "felt want," as Dr. Chalmers happily termed it the " stump speaker." Let us think for a monient what that plain and rude expression means in its integiity. Let us reflect on the vast importance of the term at which we now-a-days may feel almost inclined to sneer. Shut out from the world beyond by dense and vast forest was a olearing, the nucleus of some futuie city. A few rough log huts erected in clo3e contiguity for mutual protection against savage beast 3, or still more savage Indians, and inhabited by a band of brave, hardy, and enterprising backwoodsmen and their families. In the very centre of the little settlement was the stump of an enormous tree left standing in the ground, and flattened off on its upper surface. This was their town hall, their court of justice, their market place, their church, and their lecture ground. News from the outer world was proclaimed here. Here the elders of the village met to discuss their own internal policy, or that of the nation. Here the candidate for Congress addressed the electors, and here the peripatetic preacher and the itinerant lecturer delivered their orations. Hence the term " stumping." But as roads were made, and communication rendered easier, and as sawmills sprung up in these remote regions, platforms, and then meeting houses, were erected, and " platforming," as it was called, took the place of " stumping." But although Australia has adopted very many American institutions, and has assimilated herself in many ways to American usages and modes of thinking, still lecturing, as a profession, has never obtained here to anything like the extent it did in the older continent. We have, no doubt, had many high-class lecturers in our midst, native and imported, who have been more or less successful both in respect of gaining reputation and money, but as a rule the game has rarely been found to be worth the candle. Of what may fairly be termed native talent in this direction, may be mentionad the Bey. Chas. Clark, who though not strictly speaking a colonial clergyman, was to all intents and purposes a colonial lecturer, and who, in that capacity, occupied the front rank. Of others we have had the learned Proctor, the astute Denton, the profound Moncure Conway, the versatile Forbes, and a host of lesser lights who have " orated " to us on every subject in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth. From orthodoxy to free thought, from abstract theology to political ethics, from pure science to Parisian fashions, from social morals and manners to free love, from materialism to the spirit world, from, in short, gravo to gay, from lively to severe. From the philosopher to the veriest charlatan, they have all given U 3 a taßte of their quality, with the exception of the rev. gentleman first named, none of these seem to have made a lasting mark. None save one. And that one is sui generis. He, apart from all others, stands out alone. His name, throughout the length and breadth of these colonies, from the far North of Queensland to the South of Tasmania, from West Australia to New Zealand, aye, and to farther India and the sunny isles of the South Seas, is " familiar in the mouth as household words." His life is a romance, an encyclopedia of colonial experiences. We refer, we need hardly say, to Mr. Frank Weston. Few, perhaps, of the many millions oE persons to whose minds it is indissolubly associated with his " Wizard og" and his "liver pills," few of the many thousands who have been at once instructed and amused by his unique style of lecturing, have any conception of the extent of the travels and the variety of his experiences. Not a part of the colonies is unknown to him, not only the large t»wns and centres of population, but the rude settlements in the wild bush ; and the most

primitive and embryeai* locations hare, at on« time or othtr, resounded to the music of his banjo, and re-eohoed the laughter of his " quips, and oranks, and wreathed smiles." In fact, it may fairly ba said that Frank Wwtotf it an institution, we had almost said an organisation, in Australia. Mr. Weston in a native of New Orleans, in South America, and is the son of a prominent medital practitioner of that place, he himself having been educated to the same profession. It may fairly ba asked, and doubtless has of ttn been wondered at why, vrith such a vast ield for enterprise as was afforded by the United States, Mr. Weston should have chosen this comparatiTGly restricted area; why he should havB left a population of thirty-eight millions for one not then numbering not more than two millions, if so many, knowing as he must that the very absolute essential for success waR a large population ? It may not be breaking faith to say that the secret, if that be a secret which is known to all his personal friends, i« a very simple one. Ifc is that he took an active part in the deplorable internecino struggle between the North and South, and that he was, in fact, a refugee from the American War. On his arrival in Austraha, # he tit once devoted himsalf to the active pursuit of bis profession on the lines he had marked out for himself, his aim being to force his medicaments, more especially his " Wizard _ Oil," which was his specialty, and whence his appellation of the " Wizard Oil Prince,"_ into public notice. And in order to do this he adopted a plan al once novel and effective. Americans, no matter of what part, as a rule, know much or little of everything. As a rule they are intelligent, inquisitive, ourious, and observant. They like to learn, and hence arises the demand for and supply of lectures on all subjects by platform orators. And if Americans, argued Mr. Weston, why not Australians? At all events he determined to make the attempt. He did make the attempt, and by sheer dogged perseverance he achieved success. But his lectures were not of the dry-ss-dust school. His lectures— if lectures they can properly be called, were unique in themselves ; they came upon his audiences like a new revelation. There was nothing of the pedant or skolas>tikos about them, and although they hud a substratum appealing to the minds and understandings of his auditors, they were ostensibly directed to the risible faculties, and to the love of amusement inherent in all human beings.