T. Dinsmore Upton: preacher of a new gospel for the enrichment of life

              1921
T·DINSMORE UPTON>

Figure

Preacher of a New gospel for the enrichment of life


CAPT. T. DINSMORE UPTON
HOW would you like to be known and loved by more children than anyone else on earth?  That is what has often been said of Captain T. Dinsmore Upton, known all up and down the Pacific Coast States, all over Western Canada clear up to the Alaska boundary line, and all over New Zealand, as plain Dinnie Upton.

It is a strange hold that Capt. Upton gets on people.  He reaches children through their parents—and parents through the children.  He probably knows more boys and girls personally than any other man in America today.  Yet Dinnie Upton is not a preacher; neither is he a juvenile judge; nor is he a doctor—he simply reaches out, gets hold of the heart strings of children and parents alike.  And the results which follow him wherever he speaks are tangible and lasting.

For instance, there is a Dinnie Upton Baseball Club way off in Napier—in southern New Zealand.  It was Dinnie who taught the youngsters baseball in the most southerly city on the face of this old world of ours.  Incidentally, Dinnie taught the parents a new responsibility for their children, and he instilled in the youngsters not only a love of the game but also the foundation for a better citizenship.

Way up in Northwestern Canada too you will find Dinnie Upton Clubs—almost in the Alaskan territory.  You will find them scattered all over the western part of this country in a dozen different states.  They may not be officially known as Upton Clubs but they are the direct outgrowth of the vigorous efforts of Dinnie Upton.



Recalled to Lecture Again and Again
AT the conclusion of the war Capt. Upton made three tours of the western states, being recalled to many of the cities as often as three times.  So successful was his work that he was sent into western Canada and last winter spent several months in New Zealand addressing the New Zealand government Chautauquas.  It is interesting to note that in both Canada and New Zealand he met with the same wonderful success as in this country.

Capt. Upton comes from Muskegon, Michigan.  He was educated at the Muskegon High School and later at Olivet College.  In 1912 he became director of athletics at Grand Rapids, remaining there a little less than five years, during which time his teams won championships in all branches of athletics.  It was there that his wonderful hold and influence over young folks first became noticed by outside people and organizations.




Big Brother to a Hundred Thousand Kids
CAPT. UPTON directed the physical training for 30,000 men in the army.  At Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Georgia, he spent considerable time training officers for this branch of the service.  Later he took an examination and was commissioned in the air service.  Still later he was sent into the northwest as a labor meeting leader, and it was here that he first attracted attention as a remarkably gifted public speaker.

One has to hear Dinnie Upton to fully appreciate the sheer power of his eloquence.  In the first place he is a natural born leader, young it is true, and yet he makes the deepest impression with his audiences.  At the last convention of International Lyceum Association, attended by leading lecturers from all over the United States and Canada, he appeared on the platform, practically unknown to eastern people.  Before he had talked ten minutes the audience was wrapped in attention and the applause which greeted his address was most enthusiastic.  The East immediately turned its eye on Dinnie Upton.



Began Life With the Gang
Capt. Upton's personal experiences with boys and girls began when he was one of the gang in Muskegon, Michigan.  Later he became a big brother to the street urchins of the town and studied their problems, their games, their haunts and associations.  It was here that he first realized the necessity of clean, wholesome recreation.  He emphasizes the necessity of teaching the child to co-ordinate the operation of muscles and brain.  He believes that it is much less expensive to care for the growing youngster by providing clean, wholesome recreation, and by winning his confidence, than to care for the boy and girl later in the house of correction.  Later in the army he applied this same theory and found that the grown-up boys responded in just the same way as did the younger ones.

EVEN today in his lecturing, which calls him back again and again to the same cities, he is doing a remarkable work in helping solve the peculiar problems of so-called delinquents in many of the towns.  These trusts, however, are sacred.

He possesses a radiant, dominant personality, and his audiences instinctively warm toward him.  It is when this feeling of comradeship has been thoroughly established and the audiences have taken Dinnie into their confidence that he opens up with all his guns and drives home some convictions that sink deep into the hearts of his hearers—and yet the audiences love Captain Upton for reminding them of the things he mentions.  They love him for his enthusiasm, for his fine character, for his ideals, for his unshaken convictions and for his generous service in a big work on one of America's biggest problems—the problems of the boy and girl.



SUBJECTS:

THE FOUR-SQUARE BUILDER
BOYS WILL BE BOYS




CAPT. T. DINSMORE UPTON
Newspapers in Three Countries Endorse the Upton Lectures
New Zealand Praises:

The Southland Times, New Zealand, in its issue of March 17, 1921, said: Captain Upton is virile in appearance and his address was most certainly virile.  He holds his hearers from the beginning of his lecture.  While he spoke the audience was carried forward by a magnetic personality, either laughing or well nigh weeping at his drolleries or his sentimentalities as the case might be.  His main message was that love is a driving force.  It is this love that keeps the young man playing the best game instead of drifting because there was the esteem of no one but his own at stake.  His concluding plea was his sympathy for the boys and girls of the community and the applause was loud and continuous.

A Typical U. S. Comment:

Taken from the Boise Capital News in its issue of July 4th, 1921: Holding his audience spellbound with the very force of his convictions, Capt. Upton delivered Friday Night, an especially strong character building lecture on the Four Square Builder.  He has a most forceful personality, swaying his hearers repeatedly from tears to laughter by his wonderful eloquence.  Capt. Upton makes good citizens of the children of the individual community and he makes better citizens of the adults who have the opportunity to help the children.

Canada Says:


Seldom have we had the opportunity of hearing such an address as that given by Capt. Upton on the 'Four Square Builder' here last evening.  Capt. Upton has a wonderful way of awakening parents to the necessity of providing helpful recreation for their children, and at the same time he has a wonderful gift of catching hold of the children and inspiring them with ideals for better citizenship.  He moves his audiences at will, from laughter to tears, and all agreed that his talk was the hit of the present assembly.—
Hazelton, (B. C.) “News.”


Dinnie's Baseball Club in the most Southerly City in the World.





Figure

AFFILIATED LYCEUM & CHAUTAUQUA ASSOCIATION
INCORPORATED

Figure


Serving the English-Speaking Peoples of the World

LONDON-BOSTON-ATLANTA-TORONTO-PITTSBURG-CLEVELAND
CHICAGO-DALLAS-BOISE-CALGARY-PORTLAND-AUCKLAND-SYDNEY

DESIGNED AND PRINTED BY THE W. M. KING SERVICE, CHICAGO