Henry Watterson

              1895
248f
Henry Watterson
Famous Lectures

Abraham Lincoln
Money, Morals and Society

Events of the Season


HON. HENRY WATTERSON


Exclusive Management SLAYTON LYCEUM BUREAU, Steinway Hall, Chicago



Announcement Extraordinary.
HENRY WATTERSON delivered his now famous lecture on the Life, Career and Death of Abraham Lincoln, at the Auditorium in Chicago, the 12th of February, 1895, under the auspices of the Lincoln Council, National Union, in commemoration of the eighty-sixth anniversary of the birth of the Martyr President.

The great hall—the most capacious in the world—was packed from pit to dome by an eager throng of enlightened and appreciative people, who had come from far and near to hear the distinguished Kentucky orator—a Confederate soldier and a representative Southern statesman—lay upon the altar of American manhood the tribute of chivalric patriotism.  The Hon. Robt.  Todd Lincoln, the sole surviving son of Abraham Lincoln, and members of his family, occupied one of the boxes.  Great was the expectation, and it was not disappointed.  For two hours, amid constant and enthusiastic applause, Mr. Watterson held his audience, and, at the close, every one felt that, for the first time, he had seen and known the wonderful man whose weird life-story the eloquent Kentuckian had so vividly told.

The present season, just closing, Mr. Watterson has appeared in every part of of the Union from Boston to New Orleans, and with ever-interesting welcome and applause, North and South alike joining in enthusiastic approval.

Money and Morals has carried all audiences by storm, wherever it has been heard.  Mr. Watterson has recently revised it and brought it down to date, incorporating some salient passages about the 400 and the Smart Set in London, Paris and Newport.



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.—(The Lincoln Lecture.)

Reflection confirms first impressions, Mr. Watterson.  It was a grand speech.—
Chicago Tribune.


Mr. Watterson's treatment of Lincoln is most original.  It is not a rhapsody, and yet is eloquent; it is not a biography, and yet it is full of interesting narrative and characteristic anecdotes.  The orator subordinates himself to his theme.  The listener goes away feeling that he has seen and talked with Abraham Lincoln.—
Denver Post.


Henry Watterson's brilliant, beautiful and affecting oration upon Abraham Lincoln is a contribution to literature no less than to oratory.  No picture of the great martyr has been so vividly drawn, no picture has been so picturesquely colored as this one, drawn and colored by a Southerner who once was a rebel in heart and in act.  It is an imperishable wreath on Lincoln's imperishable tomb in the hearts of his countrymen. * * *
But it not only illuminates Abraham Lincoln's character.  It also throws a light upon the present feeling of the South, of which Mr. Watterson is the foremost representative.—

Chicago Evening Journal.


Last night, in the presence of one of the largest gatherings ever assembled in the hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, Hon. Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, delivered his famous lecture on Abraham Lincoln.  It was a masterpiece of eloquence and frequently during the delivery of the lecture the feelings of the audience mounted to the highest pitch of enthusiasm.  * * As the graceful figure of the eloquent son of Kentucky appeared in full stature before the audience he was greeted with loud and prolonged applause.  In the audience were many of Atlanta's foremost citizens.  All professions were represented and the audience in itself, representing every phase of political thought, was a splendid ovation to the speaker.—
The Atlanta Constitution.


No one in the large and splendid audience at the Auditorium last night listened to the eloquent periods of Henry Watterson without having acquired a better understanding of Lincoln, a higher ideal of patriotism and a more comprehensive knowledge of humanity.  Few men could paint the picture of Lincoln's life as the eloquent panegyrist of last night presented it.  Few eulogists have so rich a subject upon which to discourse.
The eulogy was the tribute of a genius to the memory of one inspired to a grand work which was mastered in the time allotted to its performance.  It was a narrative so simple and pathetic that it became the subject it canonized.  No other man in the past or present has spoken of Lincoln as he deserves to be spoken of.  Until Watterson spoke of him no one thoroughly understood a nature that was as plain, simple and sincere as the affections of a child.
In the work in which Henry Watterson is engaged he is serving humanity.  He is opening the minds and hearts of his countrymen to the reception of a memory that deserves to be cherished.  He is teaching the people of this country a lesson in patriotism which will survive and expand after he has joined Lincoln in the beyond, when posterity will praise him as he now justly eulogizes the great character in the greatest epoch in modern history.—

Kansas City Times.


Henry Watterson delivered his lecture on Lincoln at Entertainment Hall last night under the auspices of Ransom Post, G. A. R.  The speaker had an audience which filled the hall in every part.  Indeed, it was impossible to obtain admission in the body of the hall unless one had had the good fortune to secure tickets for the reserved seats.  The lecture was in every way worthy of the audience.  If one were to sum up a description of it in a sentence he would say it was an inspiring address worthy of an inspiring theme.  * * In his every utterance Mr. Watterson carries conviction.  Sincerity, earnestness, sympathy—these were the dominant characteristics.  Those who listen to Watterson on such a theme as that which formed the subject of his address last night were thrilled.  Mr. Watterson's lecture covered every point in Lincoln's character as revealed in his public acts.  * * Mr. Watterson was additionally
 interesting because of his personal acquaintance with both Douglass and Lincoln.  He described his meeting with Lincoln when the latter had become President, and described the simple honesty and candor of the man, with all the honors of the highest office in the gift of the people upon him.  He heard him deliver his inaugural address, which showed all through the same calm dignity, truth, honesty, the unconscious power, which were the features of Lincoln's life.  The lecturer showed Lincoln's mercifulness, unconscious humor and canny wisdom by many incidents.  * * He briefly referred to Lincoln's love for the South, and concluded with one of the most eloquent perorations ever uttered.  Lincoln, he said, was one of those inspired men, who, like geniuses of the stamp of Shakespeare and Burns, seem to rise from shadow and vanish in mist.  Such men were distinct creations of some special Providence, baffling the will of men, vanishing from the scenes as mysteriously as they had come upon it.  Tried by this standard, who so impressive as Abraham Lincoln?—
St. Louis Globe-Democrat.


Hon. Henry Watterson's lecture at the Pike Opera-House Wednesday night on Lincoln was one of the rarest literary and oratorical treats the Cincinnati public has had in a long while.  Mr. Watterson is always eloquent.  He is even eloquent in his style of telling stories—and those who heard him at the Pike when he recited some of the droll sayings of Lincoln appreciated the lecturer's powers of imitation in this direction.  All through it are characteristics of Mr. Watterson.  His individuality is strongly stamped upon the style of the masterly eulogy on Lincoln.  * * Every seat in the Opera-house was occupied, and the Union netted a snug little sum from the entertainment.  Mr. Watterson, in his pen picture of Abe Lincoln—From the Log Cabin to the Presidency—is in his glory, and those who heard him last evening never listened to more eloquent words of eulogy for his fellow-being.  Lincoln, to Watterson, was one of the greatest characters history has ever produced.  The history of the martyred President was more of a compliment than it was detailed facts.  In beginning the lecturer touched upon the most prominent figures in the early history of the American Republic.  He grouped the great men and soldiers—made Washington the noblest of them all and asked his audience in a measure the question—Where could better subordinates or marshals have been chosen?  Then Mr. Watterson pictured in beautiful language the events and the men of the Revolutionary period.  Col. Watterson's description of how the quaint, ungainly lawyer of Illinois entered the political arena and afterwards made himself a power was very effective.—
The Commercial Gazette, Cincinnati.


The direst blow which could have been directed against the South was the assassin's bullet which struck him down.  Such was the tribute which last night in the Boston Theatre Henry Watterson of Kentucky, to-day, as he was thirty years ago, one of the leading men of the Southern States, rendered to the memory of Abraham Lincoln.  The occasion of Mr. Watterson's coming to Boston was to deliver for the benefit of the relief fund of Charles Russell Lowell Post, G. A. R. his famous lecture on Abraham Lincoln.  * * A large audience had gathered in the theatre, drawn there probably by about equal interest in the speaker and his subject.  * * The introductory words were brief, and the speaker stepped forward to be greeted with so loud and prolonged applause that if he had been at all anxious as to the kind of a welcome he would have he must have at once been reassured.  * * The picture of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln which the speaker drew was perhaps the most perfect piece of word painting in an address where one masterpiece had followed.  * * No report, though it contained every word uttered, could do Mr. Watterson justice.  One must see the man.  While he is an orator, on this occasion he eschewed the tricks of the rhetorician and was idiomatic, not to say epigrammatic, and at times dramatic.  He is a word painter, and as such can have no rival.  His language is pure, and is enriched at times by a soft Southern accent.  He builds rich and beautiful sentences and they are always freighted with ideas and crowned with logic.  Better still, he is in love with his theme, for though he wore the gray, he loved Lincoln and reveres his memory.  He presents a new picture of the martyr.  Other orators have written of Lincoln for the time only.  Watterson's estimate of him will live forever.—
Boston Journal.


A thousand years hence no story will be followed with deeper feeling and greater interest by mankind than the one which tells the story of the life and death of Abraham Lincoln.  Thus did Henry Watterson last night close one of the most eloquent and stirring orations that has ever been heard by the people of this city.  An oration which, like the lifework of some great artist, was made up of a score of wonderfully painted pictures, each telling in its varied hues and shades of color, the story of one of the greatest statesmen America has produced, clothing a personalty already richly endowed with all the glorious attributes of a man inspired by God, and telling of the virtues which history has recorded in the person of the long dead President.  Mr. Watterson, when he reached the location of his lecture, found Washington Artillery Hall filled with a fashionable and representative audience, all eager to listen to the address upon the life and death of Abraham Lincoln, which has already become famous since first delivered by the noted Kentucky orator and statesman.  * * He spoke earnestly and with graphic description, seemingly forgetting himself in the impressions of the moment, masterly in expression, graceful in his diction and superbly eloquent.  All during the address he was interrupted by frequent bursts of applause, testifying not alone to the subject of the oration, but to the charm and influence of the speaker.  Mr. Watterson closed with a brilliant and eloquent oration upon the virtues and character of Lincoln, dwelling upon the manifold virtues of the dead President.—
The Times Democrat, New Orleans.


The audience which listened to Henry Watterson's lecture on Abraham Lincoln, last evening, in the Lowell Street Universalist Church, was a thoroughly representative one.  It exemplified to a marked degree the thought and culture of Manchester, and it is seldom that so many of the people of this class are gathered together at one time.  It is needless to say that Mr. Watterson was listened to with marked attention.  It is seldom that such a lecture is heard in Manchester, and those who were privileged to hear the gifted Kentuckian last evening considered themselves fortunate.—
Manchester (N. H.) Union.


One of the rarest entertainments ever enjoyed by the citizens was Col. Henry Watterson's lecture on Abraham Lincoln, which was delivered at Baird's Opera House last night.  It was thoroughly enjoyed by a large audience.  Col. Watterson painted a word picture of wonderful beauty and impressiveness.—
Lansing (Mich) Journal.



Last night was a memorable occasion in Minneapolis.  At the Lyceum Theater a large audience assembled to listen to a great citizen of the republic, perhaps the greatest citizen of the republic, a man who has exerted a mighty influence upon his generation, although never attaining to any public honor higher than that of a great citizen.  Henry Watterson, the gifted Kentuckian, a son of the South,-stood up in the simplicity and grandeur of his citizenship and paid his tribute to the greatest citizen, the greatest man, that ever breathed a benediction on mankind.  Watterson's lecture on Lincoln was the quiet, scholarly, analytic and anecdotal presentation of a theme that furnishes a wealth of material for the philosopher and sage to touch with the beautifying hand of genius and make it glorious to mankind.  He spoke in a simple, conversational manner, wholly unostentatious, plain and quiet, and as unaffected as the great man that inspired and thrilled his heart.  For two hours he held the audience completely in his power, for he spoke as one who, from a perfect understanding, from a wealth of knowledge and insight, lovingly interprets the genius, the glory and the immortal splendor of character and achievement of a heroic soul.  He began in the most quiet way imaginable, and gradually, under the thrill of his theme, he acquired an eloquence that, if it was not sensational, was direct, captivating and satisfying.  And when he came to the glowing peroration where his lecture reaches the height of true eloquence, and glitters with the gloss and velvet of luxurious rhetoric, leaving upon all minds that fall beneath its influence a holy benediction, he stood on tip-toe, his frame quivered, his voice was emotional and grand, his attitude rugged and dramatic, and his very soul spoke in the sublime words, Where did Shakespeare get his genius?  Where did Mozart get his music?  But, after all, nothing can be said that will convey an adequate conception of the significance of the occasion.  It was a great man, a representative man and a Southern man as well, weaving a tribute of sublime beauty for a man that he had known and loved in life.  Watterson's lecture will long be remembered as an inspiring scene, as a gracious blessing, as a superb effort.—
Minneapolis Times.



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS—Money and Morals.
Mr. Watterson appeared at Albaugh's Opera House, in Washington, to an immense audience, the President, the Cabinet, and half of Congress being present.  Of the impression he made the Washington papers speak in glowing terms.  The Evening Star says:

The lecture was delivered without notes, and apt interpolations dispelled all impressions of labored memorization.  Throughout it was full of poetry and philosophy lighted by brilliant wit.  The interest of the audience was not of that casual and languid sort so commonly yielded to a lecturer.  The applause with which the lecture was approved time after time was not the sort that is marked in the manuscript please insert.  It was spontaneous, earnest and deserved, and showed the influence exerted by the lecturer over the judgment, the imagination and the emotions of his hearers.  The thought running through the lecture was that the proper and most profitable pursuit of man is happiness here and hereafter, and that this happiness is to be found in the appreciation of the blessings in reach, however humble, rather than by following a fixed star of ambition for wealth or honors which occupies the whole mind, having no thought for the sources of true joy passed on the way.


Money and Morals is a diamond set in emeralds, rubies and gold.—
Pittsburgh Post.


Henry Watterson is wholly unlike any other speaker.  There are times when you feel that he is merely talking to you, personally, and in a simple, conversational tone; and then, before you know it, you are whirled along by the irresistible force of his eloquence and the originality of his thought, while at all times his diction is exquisite.—
Chattanooga Times.


In his really delightful discourse on Money and Morals, Mr. Watterson captivated everybody.  There was not a dull line in it.  From first to last he held his audience by the silken cords of eloquence, pathos and humor.—
Indianapolis Sentinel.


Mr. Watterson delighted everybody.  His lecture on Money and Morals, is full of light and shade, humor and pathos, magnificence of rhetoric and opulence of thought, a masterpiece, in short, of all that can command and delight an audience.—
Mobile Register.


Watterson is a great talker, and Money and Morals is a great talk.—
Des Moines Leader.


There never was a lecture with more in it, and more charmingly delivered, than Henry Watterson's Money and Morals.—
Milwaukee Sentinel.


This distinguished personage appeared at Galloway College Chapel last night.  His lecture ends the Galloway Lecture Course of entertainments.  The subject discussed by Mr. Watterson was Money and Morals, and it was handled with the ease and grace characteristic of the distinguished speaker.  His logic was plain and convincing, and pertained to everyday affairs.  His large audience was delighted with the occasional bits of humor interspersed with his philosophy, and came away well pleased with this particular lecture, as well as the entire course of entertainments.  He is a deep thinker and has powers of comprehension, and a brilliant gift of language to express what he has to say.  His ease and grace were prepossessing.  Everybody became warmer friends of Henry Watterson, and felt down deep in their hearts grateful to President Dye for having given them the intellectual feast furnished in this closing scene of the college year and the college lecture course.—
The Daily Citizen, Searcy, Ark.


The Hon. Henry Watterson lectured to a vast concourse in the park last Saturday.  The seating capacity of the tabernacle proved far too limited, and many were compelled to stand; some of these even were unable to get under the shade of the great roof.  Fully 2,000 people listened to the lecture with rapt attention.  After the rousing round of applause that greeted Mr. Watterson had died out, the vast sea of humanity came to rest and for one hour the speaker continued a systematic discussion of the old but ever new subject of Money and Morals.  Mr. Watterson treated the subject in a manner distictively his own, and with a faultless rhetoric led the audience along to the conclusion.—
The Winfield (Kans.) Daily Courier.