Rev. Thomas McClary: wit, humorist, and lecturer

              REV. THOMAS McCLARY, 
Wit, Humorist and Lecturer.


Under Exclusive Management


THE CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU.




REV. THOMAS McCLARY.





MANAGEMENT.



H. H. RICH, Rochester, N. Y.


S. B. HERSHEY, Cleveland, O.



Western Department:  FRED PELHAM, Chicago, Ill. So. Western Department:  A. E. PALMER, Kansas City, Mo.




REPRESENTATIVES.



New York, K. M. WHITE, Rochester, N. Y.


New England, E. W. REW, Springfield, Mass.


Penna., Del., N. J., Maryland, and Virginia, J. S. ARNOLD, Harrisburg, Pa.


Western Penna. and Eastern Ohio, C. M. PARKER, Pittsburg, Pa.


Western Ohio and Indiana, G. W. HENNEBERGER, Indianapolis, Ind.


Michigan, CHAS. T. MAINES, Flint, Mich.


Ontario, Canada, C. W. HARTMAN, Toronto, Ont.






THOMAS McCLARY
.



THERE are a very few men upon the lecture platform who have made as great a success as THOMAS McCLARY.  He has the humor of an Artemus Ward combined with the rare oratory and learning of a Wendell Phillips.  He has done as much to make the lecture popular and at the same time instructive, as any man in the Lyceum field.  Nature has endowed Mr. McClary with a face and figure like that of Sol. Smith Russell, and the same power with which to make an audience laugh or cry.  His ideas are fresh, his illustrations apt and his wit keen.  Combine the above with a careful analysis of the portrait on the first page of this circular and you have THOMAS McCLARY, 
The People's Favorite,
 complete in every detail.  We most heartily endorse him.




CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU.





SUBJECTS:



Sunshine in Labor.
The author hopes this lecture may strengthen the hearts of those who have to bear up under the heavy burdens of life.

The Mission of Mirth.

Why we laugh.  How we laugh.  What we laugh at.  I hope to assist people to use the faculties with which the Creator has endowed them for their own and others' good.

The Struggle for a Home.

The reason for the home.

Through Ireland on a Bicycle Built for One.

The beautiful country and interesting people.

David and I in the Land o'Cakes.

Scotland and her peasant poet.



PERSONAL REFERENCES.



HON. WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.


DAVID C. CLOUGH, Governor of Minnesota.


BISHOP S. M. MERRILL, Chicago.


J. W. DOWNEY, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in University of Minn.


HON. J. S. PILLSBURY, Minneapolis.


REV. JABEZ BROOKS, D. D., Prof of Greek in University of Minn.


HON. J. T. McCLEARY, Washington, D. C.


BISHOP CHAS. FOWLER, Buffalo.


O. O. WINTER, Manager of Great Northern, Spokane, Wash.





PERSONAL LETTERS



EAST JORDON
, Mich., Nov. 6, 1899.




REV. THOMAS MCCLARY
, Rochester, N. Y.




MY DEAR MCCLARY
—It would be folly for me to attempt to express to you my appreciation and thanks for the good your lectures did me.  Your handling of the church question should be heard the world around.




Yours sincerely,
E. J. 
WARREN
.


The lecture last season by the Rev. Thomas McClary on 
The Mission of Mirth
 was so thoroughly enjoyed that all were eager to hear him again.  His lecture last Monday evening on 
Sunshine in Labor
 only intensified our admiration of him as a popular lecturer.  His sense of humor, his rich thought, and his charming manner, render him a most attractive and inspiring lecturer.  Alfred audiences are seldom so delighted as with Mr. McClary.




BOOTHE COLWELL DAVIS, PH
. D. President.




Alfred, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1898.




GARNETT, KANSAS
, Mar. 8, 1899.




THE CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU
, Rochester, N. Y.




Gentlemen:—Thomas McClary lectured for our association last night on 
Mission of Mirth.
  The universal opinion is this morning that it was one of the best lectures ever delivered in this city.




MANFORD SCHOONOVER
.





In opening a program like ours you had a difficult task to perform, but you acquitted yourself in a manner that has won only words of praise from the people, and hearty appreciation from the management.




E. C. 
WHALEN
, Supt. Spirit Lake Chautauqua.




I can heartily commend the lecture to those who desire to be both entertained and instructed.




HON. WM. J. BRYAN
, Lincoln, Neb.




It is safe to say there was not a person present who has not made better by having heard his felicitous presentation of wit and practical wisdom.




WADE MILLER
, Prin. of Schools, Addison, Mich.




He is a man of genuine worth.  Frank, honest, outspoken, and at the same time kind and considerate.




JOHN F. DOWNEY
, Prof. of Math. and Astron., Univ. of Minn.




Your lecture for St. Paul's College, before the faculty, students and a large audience, was a grand success; full of thought, wit and humor.




HENRY BOETTECHER
, Agent.




I take great pleasure in commanding Rev. Thos. McClary as a popular preacher and lecturer wherever he is known.  He is an honored and successful pastor, standing in the front rank in the Northwest.  His portfolio is full of lectures—social, biographical and moral—which are especially fitted for assembly work.  He has lectured at Waseca to the delight and profit of his audience.  No one will mistake in securing his services.




H. C. 
JENNINGS
, Supt. Waseca Assembly.




[Letter to manager H. H. Rich, from Dubois, Pa.]




We have had Wendling, Conwell, Fowler, Burdette, Willits and a host of others, but none of them left a better impression for good than Mr. McClary has done.  The good thoughts, excellent moral teachings and good clean stories kept his audience in a roar of laughter.




I am personally under obligations to you for the very excellent service you rendered us.




F. J. 
SESSIONS
, Waterloo Chautauqua.




STILLWATER, MINN
, Nov. 29, 1898.




TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
:




Rev. Thomas McClary has lectured several times to the inmates of this institution on holidays.  I consider him one of the most inteliigent and effective speakers now lecturing.  He can make his lectures especially well adapted for a prison audience and his manner of presentation and happy adaptation to such an environment makes his lectures to prisoners specially valuable.  He understands criminal character thoroughly.




Respectfully submitted, 
HENRY WOLFER
, Warden.




The excellent lectures which you have delivered for us on several occasions have added in no small degree to our pleasure and interest, and have been instrumental in gaining for our meetings a reputation of success.




G. N. 
R'Y EMPLOYEES' ASS'N
, St. Paul and Minneapolis.




Rev. Mr. McClary's lecture was first class in every respect.  He is certainly performing his mission and making the world better by making the people happier.




CLAY TALLMAN
, Prin. Schools, Saranac, Mich.




Notwithstanding the many interesting entertainments given so freely by the kind friends of the old soldiers, they have never been more pleasantly and profitably entertained.




REV. L. P. SMITH
, Chaplain Soldiers' Home.




It gave me a great deal of pleasure and made a better man of me to hear your two lectures at Lake Madison Chautauqua.  Go on diffusing your sunshine, world-wide if possible.  You cannot better do your Master's business.




E. T. 
CRESSEY
, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.




I wish to thank you for the magnificent lecture you delivered in my course last night.  I considered it one of the most brilliant and interesting I have ever heard.  The audience which greeted you was the largest in attendance at a lecture in this city.  
The Mission of Mirth
 is receiving the highest commendations from everyone who heard it.




If course managers want a good thing, they should not overlook this.




W. H. 
SILCOX
, Manager Popular Course, Lansing. Mich.




He is entitled to all the confidence and courtesies proper to the ministers of the gospel of the highest character.




S. M. 
MERRILL
, Bishop of the M. E. Church.




EUID, OKLAHOMA
.




DR. THOMAS MCCLARY
, New Providence, Iowa.




MY DEAR SIR
:—I herewith enclose newspaper clippings from our two daily papers.  Your lecture has been universally praised and as you could see, was fully appreciated.  It has left sunshine in many a heart and home.  I thank you very much for the souvenir sent me and shall take pleasure in passing it around among the ladies.  We hope to again have the pleasure of hearing you, and trust your visit through Oklahoma may sow the seed for better living in many lives, which as you say cannot be reached in other ways.




Very truly,

MRS. W. S. DENTON
.




The only kicking we have heard over the McClary lecture Monday evening, was from the fellows that were not there.  Didn't know it was to be so good and so missed it and are now kicking themselves.  Thos. McClary is one of the best entertainers on the American lecture platform to-day and fully sustained that reputation here Monday evening.  The remaining lectures in the course are of the same high class and you cannot afford to miss them.—


Lohrville Enterprise, Iowa.




The second number on the lecture course was given last Saturday evening at the opera house, at which time our people were entertained by that well known lecturer, Thomas McClary, who handled the subject of 
The Mission of Mirth
 in a most charming manner and delighted his hearers.  His words were gems of thought, eloquently and earnestly expressed.  
The Mission of Mirth
 will leave pleasant memories and an influence of good that will be lasting.—


Ackley, Iowa Phonograph.  Dec. 6, 1899.




The lecture by Thomas McClary, the second number in the Y. M. C. A. course, was delivered in the opera house Friday evening to a large audience of Canton's most cultured people, who listened with rapt attention, interrupted only by frequent bursts of enthusiastic applause.—


News Democrat, Canton, O.




The lecture on 
The Mission of Mirth,
 delivered by Rev. Thomas McClary, in high school hall, on Saturday evening last, was all, and more than had been claimed for it, and the verdict of the cultured audience present is, that it was the finest of its kind ever delivered in our village.—


The Middleburgh Gazette, Middleburgh, N. Y.




The 
Mission of Mirth
 as told to a large, appreciative and responsive audience in the opera house last evening by Rev. Thomas McClary, of Minneapolis, was a masterpiece for a writer alone, but when rendered by its author, orally, all its features were developed and for over two hours the speaker held his audience as one listening attentive whole.  It was thoughtful, earnest and delivered with such eloquence, nicely colored elocutionary grace, that not one who heard it but must have been elevated as well as entertained by it.  It was helpful, elevating, inspiring and but further adds to the excellent course of entertainments the Y. M. C. A. Association is giving Mt. Carmel.—


The Evening Star, January 3, 1900.




Orator, wit, humorist, a pleasing entertainer, all these things were he, Mr. McClary, in Wardell Hall, last Tuesday evening.  He possesses the ability to precipitate his audience into solemn meditation and the next moment chases it away with a witty thought or amusing story, never for a moment forgetting the high-class part of the programme.  Mr. McClary is truly an amasing entertainer, deserving all the praise that has been given him in this country and others.  The building was filled and the entertainment was thoroughly enjoyed by all present—


Ocean Co. Democrat, Tonis River, N. J.




The lecture by Thomas McClary on Tuesday night last was voted the finest thing in the High School course of entertainments—and that is no small praise.—


New Jersey Courier, Tonis River, N. J.




The Mission of Mirth
 by Thomas McClary was a gem of a lecture.  McClary is true an orator, a philosopher and a humorist.  For about two hours he held his audience under complete control and he would be a great drawing card for any course here in the future.—


School Emblem, Tonis River, N. J.




Thomas McClary, lecturer, supplied the second of the Star Course entertainments at the Academy of Music last night and for two hours he held his audience and kept them in a good humor by his wit, philosophy, sound sense and wholesome advice.  His subject was 
Mirth,
 and he demonstrated its inestimable value in promoting health, enabling the mind, easing burdens, dispelling gloom and prolonging life.—


Hagerstown, (Mo.) Globe, Dec. 13, 1899.




Dr. McClary lectured in Centennial Hall last night on the 
Mission of Mirth.
  The mission of mirth is to do good, never harm.  A large, fine audience was present, and highly enjoyed the lecture.—


Newport News.




The High School Entertainment Course was opened Saturday evening by Rev. Thomas McClary, who gave his lecture on 
A Mission of Mirth.
  Mr. McClary is considered one of the ablest lecturers on the American platform and his lecture on Saturday evening fully proved this assertion.  The people of Howard City will give him a welcome should he again be sent here for an entertainment.—


Howard City, (Mich.) Record.




The lecture on 
Sunshine in Labor,
 by Rev. Thomas McClary, in the Congregational Church, Saturday evening, was enthusiastically received by the large audience present.  Mr. McClary was in Elbridge a year ago, and his lecture, 
The Mission of Mirth,
 was so satisfactory to all who heard it, the committee determined to secure his services again this year.  No mistake was made in doing so, for the lecture this year was even more thoroughly enjoyed than the one last year.
Thomas McClary was great Wednesday evening in his lecture on 
Missions of Mirth.
  Not a word escaped a person in the hall, which was filled.  How we wish it were possible to print that lecture and let every one read it.  His words made those present realize that we must not live for ourselves alone, but bring out all the sunshine possible in our lives.  He gave numerous vivid illustrations of why people should try to be cheerful, rather than discouraged, helpful rather than hateful, and so on down the long list.  So apt were his remarks that all profited by them—they could not help it, and at the same time enjoyed the rare humorous vein that was brought out in such a striking way from the start.  If you missed this, reader, surely do not miss the next in the course, which is giving to Earlville the best talent to be had.—

Earlville Leader, Earlville, Ill., Dec. 1, 1899.