From Pillar to Post Leaves from a Lecturer's Note-Book   By: John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922)

Leaves from a Lecturer's Note Book

by

JOHN KENDRICK BANGS

Author of "The House Boat on the Styx," etc.

With Illustrations by Jno. R. Neill

[Illustration]

New York The Century Co. 1916

Copyright, 1916, by The Century Co.

Copyright, 1915, by Associated Sunday Magazines Incorporated

Published, March, 1916

TO THAT WISE COUNSELLOR AND STERLING FRIEND J. HENRY HARPER

PREFATORY NOTE

I could not let these random notes of a delightful experience go forth into the world without expressing in some way my deep appreciation of the valued services rendered me in my ten years of platform work by my friends of the Lyceum Bureaus. In office and in the field they have labored strenuously, often affectionately, and always loyally, on my behalf. But for their interest some of the most cherished experiences of my life would have been beyond my reach. If sometimes in their zeal to keep me busy they have booked me in Winnipeg on Monday night, in New Orleans on Tuesday night, with little side trips to San Diego, California, and Presque Isle, Maine, on Wednesday and Thursday, not to mention grand finales at Omaha and Key West on Friday and Saturday, I view that sequence rather as a tribute to my agility than as a matter to be unduly captious about. It is a manifestation of a confidence in my powers to overcome the limitations of time and space that I think upon with an expanding head, if not with a swelling heart, and whether this required annihilation of distance has been wholly agreeable or not it has enabled me to see more of my own country than I otherwise could have seen, and to that extent, I hope, has made a better American of me.

Wherefore before beginning our ramble from Pillar to Post I record here in testimony of my gratitude to them the names of Arthur C. Coit, and Louis J. Alber, of the Coit Lyceum Bureau of Cleveland, Ohio; of Frank A. Morgan, of the Mutual Lyceum Bureau, of Chicago; of Kenneth M. White, of the White Entertainment Bureau of Boston; of S. Russell Bridges, of the Alkahest Lyceum System of Atlanta, Georgia; of J. B. Pond, Jr., and that tried friend both in the Lyceum field and out of it, William C. Glass, of the J. B. Pond Lyceum Bureau of New York.

Thanks are due to the publishers of Every Week for courtesies extended, and finally I desire to inscribe a word of affectionate esteem for my friends, J. Thomson Willing, and that inspiring editorial guide and mentor, William A. Taylor, of the Associated Sunday Magazines, under whose genial direction these papers were first presented to the public.

JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.

CONTENTS

PAGE I GETTING USED TO IT 3 II SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY 23 III GETTING THE LEVEL 40 IV THE GOOD SAMARITAN 61 V A VAGRANT POET 83 VI BACK HANDED COMPLIMENTS 98 VII FRIENDS OF THE ROAD 116 VIII CHAIRMEN I HAVE MET 134 IX CHANCE ACQUAINTANCES 155 X HUMORS OF THE ROAD 175 XI MINE HOST 196 XII PERILS OF THE PLATFORM 220 XIII EMBARRASSING MOMENTS 243 XIV "SLINGS AND ARROWS" 266 XV EMERGENCIES 290 XVI A PIONEER MANAGER 318

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE "I shall have to borrow some of your manly courage to carry me through" Frontispiece

"It was indeed a pretty sight to me!" 21

"Yes, and you are fifty years behind us in every other respect!" 28

I knew that I had met a "Southern Gentleman" 31

"The consciously superior person cannot last long on the lecture platform" 43

"If there's anything you want to know about Darwin's Origin of Species, you ask me!" 60

"I cannot say that his first remark was wholly cordial" 70

"I'm an Ohio man, and I'll cash the check for you on your looks" 79

In the last stages of poverty 85