Lilla G. English

              Figure
LILLA G. ENGLISH
LECTURER-SOLOIST



Photos by Spencer Rockwell City, Iowa




LILLA G. ENGLISHFigure
WHO IS SHE?



One of the great women lecturers on the platform today




A versatile woman, who has sung and talked her way into the hearts and lives of thousands, everywhere




There is a reason—She is in deadly earnest and deals with the great, throbbing, vital messages of the hour.




Few are endowed with her magnetic personality.  She holds her audiences spell bound, moving them to laughter or tears, with the finished touch of an artist.  Her singing as well as her speaking voice carries beautifully—filling the largest tent or auditorium with perfect ease.




There is no power like earnestness, no eloquence like heartfelt sympathy




Mrs. English always makes good




She has never received an adverse press comment




Press and public alike pay unstinted tribute to her great talent




Address:  Lincoln, Nebraska




A TRIBUTE



By A. L. BIXBY, State Journal Poet Lincoln, Nebraska




When Mrs. English sings


I see no signs of affectation there,


She does not rend the inoffensive air


Nor seek to pose—it's music everywhere


When Mrs. English sings.


When Mrs. English sings


She renders words, articulate and clear,


That do not grate upon the listening ear


The music and words I plainly hear


When Mrs. English sings.


When Mrs. English sings


She warbles like the wild birds in the wood


She'd not be operatic if she could,


Her tone has timber, and it does me good


When Mrs. English sings.






The Boys Behind the Bars



A wonderfully interesting and absorbing story of Prison Life.  In this lecture the speaker offers practical means for 
preventing
 crime.  This lecture is of vital interest to parents and young men, and is beautifully illustrated by songs 
the boys
 love, poems they have written and stories of their lives.




Question!
  What are 
we
 doing as parents, as citizens, to prevent 
our
 boys from going astray?




Prof. Adrian M. Newens, Impersonator:




To sing from her heart, to the hungry human hearts of her auditors, is the mission of Mrs. English.  Possessed of a heart throbbing with a passion to do good works, having a voice pure and sympathetic, a manner that is joyfully unassuming, she 'makes good' always, everywhere.



Figure


Ames Ia. Telegrapher:




Mrs. Lilla G. English has added greatly to the program by her songs and lectures.  While she does not carry as great a name as Mrs. Maude Ballington Booth, she undoubtedly got closer to the people than did Mrs. Booth.  She will long be remembered.




Two men looked out from between iron bars, One down at the mud—one up at the stars.




The Life Beautiful



A psychological discussion on the importance of right thinking.  
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
  Written especially for the guidance of young people.  
The thoughts of today, are the 
deeds
 of tomorrow.
  Especially appropriate for commencement address and preluded by appropriate solos.




Beloit (Kansas) Call:


Mrs. English's lecture on the 'Life Beautiful' needs no further illustration than is presented by her own beautiful personality.  She seems to love everyone, and everyone loves her.






Kindly Comments from Press and Public



Opie Read, Author and Lecturer:




To write the history of a nation is a broad art; to sing the story of a soul is a divine gift, and you, then, are most divinely gifted.




Ames (Ia.) Times:


Her lecture Sunday on prison life ranks with that of Maude Ballington Booth.




Cong. J. Adam Bede, of Minnesota:




A most versatile woman with a message in both song and story, for old and young.




Humboldt (Ia.) Independent:


The statement made by one who has previously heard her that this lecture alone was worth the whole price of her work for the season is true in every sense.  Her description of prison life was graphic and instructive but it is her earnest appeal for a larger charity and stronger sympathy for the ex-convict that most impresses you.




Dr. Phil. H. Baird, Lecturer and Platform Supt:




I can say without qualification that Mrs. English puts more soul into, and brings more soul out of a song than any other soloist I've ever known.  Her Prison Lecture alone is worth double her cost, and should be heard by the youth of every community.




Beaver City, Nebr., Democrat:


Did she bring a message?  Yes!  A terrible message.  She drew aside the curtain and flashed upon the screen in vivid word pictures, the lives of the 'Boys Behind the Bars.'  A message?  Yes!  To parents, who, like Pilate, wash their hands of all responsibility, while their children roam the streets at night, drifting into evil society, for lack of suitable places of entertainment and congenial home surroundings.




E. W. Hoch, Governor of Kansas:




Extract from a personal letter:  
I entertain such a high appreciation of the worth of the work you are doing, that I beg to intrude this frank expression of these sentiments.  You are very gifted, Mrs English, and you are using your fine talents to make the world better.  I want you to know that you were a real inspiration to me, and I shall do my own poor work better for having known and heard you.




Dr. Lincoln McConnell, Lecturer:




She has the manner as well as the matter to make a winner.




Chas. F. Horner, Redpath Chautauqua Manager:




Lilla G. English has for two seasons appeared upon the Chautauqua programs of various assemblies under my management in the Western Redpath Chautauqua System.  It gives me great pleasure to say that she always makes good, whether as singer, lecturer, entertainer or an all-around Chautauqua attraction.  She is first-class.  No one can make a mistake by giving her a place on any program.




Alton Packard, the Cartoonist:




There can be nothing more beautiful than a beautiful song beautifully sung.  Mrs. English is accomplishing very much with her golden voice, in revealing beauty and truth in song.  I hope she may live long and sing everywhere.




Winterset (Ia.) Reporter:


There are few platform speakers who excel Mrs. English in entertaining an audience.  Charming is the most appropriate word to use in describing her as a public speaker.  We doubt if there is a public speaker today with more power for good, along the lines of morality and the general uplift of manhood and womanhood than she.




San Diego (Calif.) Union:


The Nebraska Prison Evangelist, Lilla G. English, delivered her lecture 'The Boys Behind the Bars.'  She is an easy, fluent speaker, who carriers her subject straight to the hearts of her hearers.  Stories and incidents of prison life were given in a vivid, pathetic manner, which held her audience spellbound for over an hour.  Her beautiful voice has sung its message of tender sympathy to many a homesick soul.  For many years this gifted woman has been identified with prison work, and by many of the men she is called the 'little mother.'




Madison Co. Supt's. Office, John Gentry, Supt., Winterset, Iowa.




Mrs. English delivered her series of four lectures before the Madison Co. Institute and citizens of the town.  All were given to crowded houses and at her Prison Lecture, the largest Auditorium in the town was crowded to its utmost capacity and hundreds were turned away.  We feel the good resulting from her coming is beyond measure.  She has been recalled for another lecture in the near future.




Rev. Father Florentius Kurzer, O. F. M. Humphrey (Nebr.) Franciscan Monastery:




Mrs. English has a message to convey and is conscious of it.  It is this consciousness that makes her truly eloquent, and which, together with her other talents and accomplishments, puts her on a level with the best lecturers of her sex in the country.  'The Boys Behind the Bars' is just the thing for young men's societies and other societies.




George W. Spencer, Pres. Iowa Chau. Alliance:




Mrs. English, who is sometimes called the Maude Ballington Booth and the Little Prison Mother of Nebraska, has appeared on a large number of our best Independent Chautauqua programs.  Everywhere, she has received the highest rating.  I doubt if there is a person on the American platform today who can handle her subjects more successfully.  She strikes from the shoulder, dealing with the vital problems of life in such a way that the public knows it.  It would be impossible to praise her work too highly.





Humboldt (Iowa) Independent:




Mrs. English, who conducts the woman's Parliament during the morning hour is so thoroughly the right woman in the right place, that she seems a large part of the program.  She is a platform speaker of remarkable eloquence and power, and has endeared herself by her various charms to all.




Ames (Ia.) Times:


Mrs. English's talks on Health and Beauty were a new department for the chautauqua here, and were much appreciated.




Dr. Frank L. Loveland, Pastor and Lecturer;




Mrs. English is one of the most gifted and talented women on the platform today.  I personally know of her most excellent work.




Oskaloosa (Ia.) Times


Mrs. English in her addresses to women was worth the whole Chautauqua.



Figure


Winterset (Ia.) Reporter:


The series of lectures by Mrs. English before the Co. institute, also the general public, have proven a treat to the people of Winterset and vicinity and most helpful and instructive to all who have heard her.  She has been greeted by full houses at every lecture.  Her talks have been mainly for the ladies, and her subjects pertain to their moral, physical and social advancement and the uplift of womankind.  She is very bright and entertaining and a lady of large ability.  Her personal charms captivate her audiences and fill her hearers with enthusiasm.  She is also an accomplished singer and her songs are rendered with the greatest feeling and expression.  It has been a long time since Winterset ladies have been confronted by a speaker who has so completely won their hearts.




This beautiful tribute was unanimously voted to Mrs. English by the women of Ames Chautauqua:




Ames, Iowa, August 14, 1910.


We, the women and girls of Ames, wish to express our hearty appreciation of the splendid work done by Mrs. English.  Her timely messages, given to a thousand women and girls at a time, were given with such power, persuasiveness, and sweet sympathy, that the memory will not be lost, but the messages will be permanent in terms of purer lives, higher purposes, and loftier vision.  Mrs. English brings to her hearers messages that are vital and inspiring, replete with knowledge that gives greater power to live wholesomely and well, and above all, leaves her hearers feeling that they have made a friend whose memory will remain as an inspiration to nobler effort.  We earnestly request that the Iowa Chautauqua Alliance send Mrs. English, or women bearing a like message, to each and every chautauqua in this great state of ours, that the message she brings may be spread broadcast.  Respectfully submitted, Mrs. Freeman R. Conaway, Cor. Sec. Ia. F. W. Clubs. Emma Williams, Pres. Nonpareil Club.




Heart to Heart Talks to Women and Girls
FOUR GREAT LECTURES

WHAT A WOMAN SHOULD KNOW



A talk of untold value to all women.  Beginning at the marriage altar, and passing on through the years of motherhood, child rearing and home influence.  How to impart the secrets of life, etc., etc.



MOTHERHOOD



What does it mean to the average woman to be a mother?  How is she fitted in mind and body for this great and holy experience?  Do we as a nation understand the significance of intelligent motherhood?




THE YOUNG GIRL AND HER PROBLEMS



A plain but beautiful heart to heart talk to girls, on the problems of life.  How she may know and understand herself, her emotions, desires and impulses.  What is the place of love in a young girl's life?  
This tremendously vital talk may save a soul.





HEALTH AND BEAUTY



This lecture is given in a gymnasium suit and illustrated by exercises conducive to health and beauty.  How to strengthen and develop the vital organs.  How to stand, sit and walk.  Practical suggestions for the care of the complexion, etc., etc.





All These Talks are Illustrated With Appropriate Songs



Figure

In response to requests of hundreds of women who have listened to Mrs. English's 
talks to women only
 and who desire to retain in permanent form these lessons, Mrs. English has issued a book, 
Love Lights for Maid, Wife and Mother,
 which is having a large sale.  This work is for all ages, but especially valuable for the young girl.  It tells in chaste and beautiful language the vital things which mothers feel they should tell their daughters, but which they are not prepared to do. 
You are doing a real service to humanity and I pray God's richest blessing upon you in your great work.
 — 
Newton N Riddell, Lecturer and Author.




This delightful contribution to real women's literature is a pleasure and a delight to peruse.  The writer has touched the most vibrant chords in woman's life in a swift and tuneful harmony.  Such chapters as 
Love and its place in a young girl's life
 and 
Selecting a Mate
 will smooth out anxious wrinkles for many a mother, and better still will prepare many a young mother for the days that await her.  The chapters on 
Motherhood
 and 
Prenatal Culture
 are a valuable addition to such literature, while the 
Health
 chapters at its close are worth many dollars to every woman who desires (and who does not?) to retain and intensify her charm as the years creep on.  Every union should at least own one copy to be loaned and it should be on thousands of reading tables in Nebraska.  A mother of a beautiful daughter in her teens said to the editor:  
I have just read 'Love Lights,' and I would not for many dollars miss having my girlie read it.  How I wish every young girl might have it and get therefrom strength to help her over a trying period.
—


Union Worker, Nebr. organ W. C. T. U.




There is a world of value in it for men as well as women.  As a people we give more time and attention to our cattle than to developing a better type of humans.  I shall commend your book to all organizations of women whenever opportunity offers.
—
Col. G. A. Gearhart, Author and Lecturer.




Mrs. English is lighting the torches of Love along the path of the maid, the wife and the mother.  'Love Lights' is well named.  Expressing as it does the highest form of consideration for the girl, it tells of the duties of life in such a charming way that one is entertained as well as instructed.  Written for women, much of it will be interesting to men.  It is a well filled treasure chest upon which parents everywhere will place high value, and it should find a place in every home.
—
Richard L. Metcalfe, Associate Editor W. J. Bryan's 'Commoner'.




Address the Author at Lincoln, Nebr. Price $1.10 post-paid.




Reporter Publishing Company, Bethany, Nebr.