Belle Kearney: one of America's foremost lecturers

              Figure

Miss Belle Kearney
One of America's Foremost Lecturers


MISS BELLE KEARNEY
MISS KEARNEY is celebrated as a lecturer, writer and traveler.  She is tall and dignified, with a gracious, queenly bearing.  She stands as the peer of the most intellectual women in all lands: royally representing the spirit of modern, progressive womanhood.  Upon introducing her to a number of U. S. Senators and Congressmen, in Washington City, a famous Statesman said: Miss Kearney is a Mississippi gentlewoman.  She stands for the best in civic and social righteousness.  Whatever she does is right, because she is right.

Miss Kearney's success as an orator has been remarkable.  In Toronto, Canada, at Massey Hall, she addressed audiences numbering more than four-thousand.  She received ovations and was invited to return and lecture at other mammoth meetings.  Once she addressed an audience of ten-thousand in Royal Albert Hall, London, England, and was cheered repeatedly.  She spoke before an audience numbering thousands at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where the demonstration was amazing.  While delivering an address in New Orleans, the audience would stand again and again and applaud.  No grander compliment was ever accorded a woman in the South.  At a meeting held in Convention Hall, Washington, D. C., Miss Kearney addressed an audience of ten-thousand.  At the close of her lecture, she was given a prolonged demonstration.

For several years Miss Kearney has devoted herself, almost exclusively, to Chautauqua and Lyceum work.  She has a wide range of subjects: from travels to sociological studies.  In 1910, Miss Kearney accomplished the longest, continuous lecture-campaign of her years upon the platform.  Form May to October, she spoke at the Lincoln Chautauquas; delivering twelve lectures each week, at one hundred different places.  In 1911, she addressed great audiences every day, for nearly three months, at the Redpath-Vawter Chautauquas.  In 1912, she lectured through the entire season, on the largest circuit of the Redpath-Horner Chautauquas.  During the fall and winter of 1911, and late into the spring of 1912, she was in the Lyceum field of the middle west and on the Pacific coast.  Miss Kearney is the possessor of a marvelous voice.  It is beautifully modulated; rich, deep, musical, powerful; with a carrying capacity that is tremendous.  She is famous for her fine English.  Her entrance upon the Chautauqua and Lyceum platform has added much to its dignity, brilliancy and effectiveness.

Miss Kearney's platform career was begun soon after meeting Miss Frances E. Willard.  She entered the work of the Great Reform, to which that matchless leader had consecrated her talents, and was at once chosen to fill important offices.  She was crowned with promotions.  These found their culmination in the reception of a cablegram from England inviting her to speak at an international convention, to be held in London.  While there, she was commissioned to go around the globe in the interest of the world's work.  Most distinguished attentions were paid Miss Kearney on this, her first visit to Europe.  She was the guest of Lady Henry Somerset, at Reigate, Surrey, and in London; and was offered the hospitality of Eastnor Castle, and of Lady Henry's home in Switzerland.  Before returning to America, and extended tour through many countries, was accomplished.

From her earliest years Miss Kearney has believed in the enfranchisement of women, and has worked for that cause almost from the beginning of her public life.  She has twice occupied the position of President of the Mississippi Woman Suffrage Association.  In 1910 she addressed the legislature of Maryland.  She has addressed other state legislatures, in advocacy of different reforms; and has had the privilege of appearing before Congressional Committees at the National Capitol.  Miss Kearney is a member of the International Lyceum Association, the Woman Suffrage Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and has a right to belong to the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the Confederacy.  In recent years, Miss Kearney has made a journey around the world upon her own responsibility—going alone.  She traveled leisurely from land to land, lecturing, writing for a syndicate of newspapers and studying human conditions.  Honors were heaped upon her.  She was entertained, in various countries, by eminent personages; many of whom belonged to the nobility.  The foremost of these was Count Leo Tolstoi.




LECTURES


Russia As I Saw It
An editor wrote, after hearing Miss Kearney deliver this lecture: It teems with facts, is alive with shifting scenes and peopled with human triumphs and tragedies.  It is a message of fire: burning its way into the sympathy of the audience.  The gigantic empire of the Czar is described; the different classes into which its civilization has crystallized, and the various nationalities existent under the Russian flag.
Finland, with her enfranchised women; Poland, with her memories of victories and her newer memories of defeat and oppression; the Cossacks, those ignorant horsemen, with whom cruelty is a pastime.  These and many more are thought of now when one mentions Russia.
The life-history of Madame Katherine Breshkovsky is told in all its grandeur of heroism.  Through the thrilling narrative, the awful Siberian Exile System is pictured; its terrors; its unspeakable infamies.
The glorious art and literature of Russia are dwelt upon; and a fascinating portrayal drawn of the characters who made possible that world of brain and spirit-power.
A graphic description is given of Count Leo Tolstoi as Miss Kearney knew him in his ancestral home, far below Moscow, at Yasnaya Polyana.
This lecture is a master-piece.  The climax finds expression in a magnificent tribute to the men and women—patriots and intellectuals—born upon Russian soil—who gave their best in life that Russia might be free.

Pulse-Beats of Nations
This lecture is delivered from the view-point of internationalism.  A literary critic says that it is like a procession of majestic music.  Miss Kearney takes her auditors with her in a triumphant journey around the world.  Rapidly we pass from country to country; beholding conditions that make our hearts tremble with joy or grow faint from a consciousness of supreme need.  Through all there is felt the throbbing of the great soul of humanity; whether among the veiled, Mohammedan women of Egypt and other far-eastern climes; the shepherds and fishermen upon the quiet waters and barren plains of Palestine; the childwives in their desolation, and the hunger-bitten hordes of India; the piteous masses of China, stepped in ignorance, struggling through darkness into the light of dawn; the interesting Japanese, on their fairy islands, with their unique customs, their intense pride and astonishing achievements; the Europeans, with their advanced civilization, their lands of enchantment, their deep unrest; t
he Americans, with their stupendous problems, their subtle temptations, their limitless possibilities.  All are considered searchingly; with infinite solicitude, but with the sight of a prophet and the wisdom of a statesman.  Incidents appear throughout, illustrative of projective traits of the nation under discussion.
This address gives evidence of the most profound research, of keen observation, of broad scholarship.  It is particularly adapted to Sabbath services.  It has been the admiration and the astonishment of those who have heard it.

Life in the Nile Country
This Lotus Land address is considered the best of Miss Kearney's travel-lectures.  It is the only one, of any kind, with which she uses illustrations.  It is not delivered without them.  The pictures were obtained by Miss Kearney while traveling in Egypt; and were colored and made into slides by an artist in the Orient.  The speaker does not furnish the stereopticon, only the slides.

Woman and the Ballot
Woman Suffrage in the United States





MISS KEARNEY'S PLANTATION HOME




Old Days in Dixie Land
Miss Kearney is peculiarly fitted to speak on this subject, for she is a daughter of the South and characterized by its distinguishing spirit.  Her ancestors were slaveholders from the time they landed on the shores of Virginia, coming over from the old world, up to the hour in which the system of bondage was destroyed.  Added to the knowledge of conditions, which came as a heritage from many generations, is the store of information that Miss Kearney has garnered during years of deep study and contact, through travel and social intercourse, with the people of the Southern states.

This lecture, Old Days in Dixie Land, is an enthralling word-painting of the times of cavaliers and of chivalry, when the Old South led the nation in statesmanship and moulded its civilization; on down to these modern days of commercial enterprise.

First comes a brief outline of Colonial history.  Then a survey is made of the ante-bellum period, famous for its irresistible charm.  Visions are gained of vast plantations, elegant country mansions, royal hospitality, courtly men and gracious ladies—and the life of the slaves: as servants in the masters' dwellings; in the quarters and in the fields.

The Civil War and the Reconstruction are touched upon as sombre shadows in the sunlight of American history.  An illuminating discussion follows of the race problem and suggested solutions.  At the last is given a captivating account of the New South, with forecasts of a resplendent future.

The lecture pulsates with absorbing interest.  It is electrical with exquisite humor.  It abounds with incidents, rich in tone and color, growing out of the very heart of the South, told in a vivid manner.  Audiences are placed in the atmosphere of that romantic section and presented with fresh visions which transport them with delight.  Persons are alternately convulsed with laughter and blinded by tears.  The negro dialect is given to perfection.

The entire discourse is inimitable.  Miss Kearney is never greater as historian, humorist and sociologist; never more magnetic as a public speaker, than when she is lecturing on Old Days in Dixie Land.  Such addresses as this will do much to cement the bond between the North and South.



Lectures on the Great Reform:

Who is Responsible?
The Ship's Barnacles
The Final Victory
The Waiting Hour




PERSONAL and EDITORIAL COMMENT
Miss Belle Kearney is the ablest woman lecturer on the platform in America today.  I believe it with all my heart.  Her platform service has been exceedingly satisfactory.

ALONZO E. WILSON, Manager of the Lincoln-Chautauqua System.  Chicago, Ill., Sept. 19, 1910.

Miss Belle Kearney devoted the entire Chautauqua season, of 1912, to a lecture-tour, on Chautauquas, under our management.  She lectured in about seventy different cities, and in every place gave universal satisfaction.

Miss Kearney brings a high degree of culture and refinement to the lecture platform.  Besides, she has such a charming personality, and is naturally so well equipped as a public-speaker, that her lectures cannot fail to be distinctly successful.

CHARLES F. HORNER, Manager, Redpath-Horner Chautauquas.  Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 6, 1912.

Miss Belle Kearney is a charming, entertaining and instructive platform-speaker.  In addition to her rare gifts as a lecturer, Miss Kearney is richly endowed with those qualities of head and heart which excite admiration and respect.

ANDREW A. KINCANNON, Chancellor University of Mississippi.  Chancellor's Office, Oct. 1, 1912.

I consider Miss Belle Kearney one of the most eloquent, forceful, logical and convincing speakers on the American platform.  Her lectures cannot fail to be helpful to the cause which she advocates.

DR. ANNA H. SHAW, President National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Philadelphia.


Miss Belle Kearney spoke fearlessly and in matchless English.  Her lecture was thoroughly entertaining.  She held her vast audience as few speakers can.—
The Weekly Herald, Austin, Minn. Redpath-Vawter Chautauqua, 1911.


Miss Belle Kearney again appeared in a very superb lecture.  Not even a verbatim report could convey to my readers any idea of the splendid personality and the wonderful power of the eloquence of this illustrious, Southern woman.—
The American, Nashville, Tenn., report of Monteagle Assembly.


Miss Belle Kearney is generally regarded as the most brilliant, woman, public-speaker in America today.  She has lectured in every state in the Union, and in almost every civilized country of the world.—
Evening Observer, La Grande, Ore., 1912.


The principal address of the evening was developed by Miss Belle Kearney, of Mississippi, who is a fluent, forceful and witty speaker, and roused the audience to enthusiasm.—
New York Daily Tribune, Brooklyn.


Miss Kearney, who is a woman of charming personality and attractive manner, held the attention of her audience to the end of her lecture, which she handled in a very masterly and forcible manner.  Miss Kearney had a lengthy interview with Earl Grey yesterday, at Government House, and also a conference with Sir Wilfred Laurier, last evening.—
Evening Journal, Ottawa, Canada, 1907.


Miss Kearney, with her magnificent voice, wonderful command of language, and soft, Southern intonation, has a splendid control of her audience.  Above all, she has a message.—
Joliet News, Joliet, Ill., 1910, report of Lincoln Chautauqua.


None who anticipated a treat were disappointed, as the address was eloquent and scholarly.  Miss Kearney is a pleasing and forceful speaker.—
Freeman's Journal, Cooperstown, New York, home of James Fennimore Cooper.


A writer to The Times-Democrat, of New Orleans, said:
Miss Belle Kearney is both writer and lecturer—an uncommon combination—but she never fails to fulfill every expectation of her great gifts, creating enthusiasm by written and spoken words.


Miss Kearney is a remarkable woman in many respects, and Mississippians delight to acknowledge the honor she has brought to their commonwealth by her creditable achievements.—
Jackson Daily News, Jackson, Miss., 1910.


With an intensity of manner and conviction that sometimes carried her to the verge of fiery eloquence, Miss Belle Kearney, the noted lecturer, delivered an address at the Pasadena Y. M. C. A., yesterday afternoon to an audience of men.  Yesterday morning she spoke to the ministers of Los Angeles.  A slight southern accent lends piquancy to the words of Miss Kearney.—
Daily News, Pasadena, California.





MISS BELLE KEARNEY


Press of Franklin C. Hollister 500 Sherman St. Chicago