James Hedley's lectures

              James Hedley's Lectures


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A
 LECTURE BY DR. HEDLEY IS ONE OF THE TREATS OF A LIFE-TIME.—


Minneapolis Tribune.





1900–1901

THE MOST VERSA TILE AND ENTERTAINING PLATFORM ORATOR OF HIS TIME

Twentieth Annual Tour.





I


—
Sunny Side of Life.


II


—
Wisdom's Jeweled Ring.


III


—
What is a Man Worth?


IV


—
Heroes and Heroism.


V


—
The Kingly 
No.


VI


—
Failure and Success.





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THE CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU.
H. H. RICH and S. B. HERSHEY, Proprietors.



PRINCIPAL OFFICES:



H. H. RICH, Mgr., Fidelity Building, Rochester, N. Y.


S.B. HERSHEY, Mgr. Contract Department, Cleveland, O.





WESTERN DEPARTMENT—WEST AND N. WEST.




FRED PELHAN, Mgr., 315 Inter Ocean Bldg., Chicago, Ill.




SOUTH WESTERN DEPARTMENT.




A. E. PALMER, Mgr., 324 New Ridge Bldg., Kansas City, Mo.




REPRESENTATIVES:



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


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


Central and Eastern Pa., Del., N. J., and Md.,
 J. S. ARNOLD, Harrisburg, Pa.


W. Pa., E. Ohio and W. Va.,
 C. M. PARKER, Pittsburg, Pa.


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


Michigan,
 C. T. MAINES, Flint, Mich.


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







V
ERY rarely do the people of any city have the opportunity of hearing such a lecturer as Dr. James Hedley.  He holds an audience spell-bound.  Every sentence, every word is eagerly waited for.  His rich humor, easy grace, pleasant voice, pure classic diction, intense earnestness and soul-power hold his hearers enthralled.  His lectures make people better and nobler.  I have heard many platform princes, but for me this modest, unpretentious man is the King of them all.
  PROF. T. S. JOHNSON, Supt. Schools, McPherson, Kan.





Sunny Side of Life.



Laconia, N. H., 
Democrat.


D
R. HEDLEY has a pleasant voice and a pleasant manner, and evidently has in his nature a good deal of the sunshine he talks about.  His dramatic ability is quite wonderful.  His word pictures are rapidly and strongly drawn, and at times are as startling and vivid as those which Gough used to give us.  In his dialect work he is perfection.  Both Mr. and Mrs. John Dismal talked as we have heard them talk before, and the Irishman, Dutchman and African had the tones and the speech and the manner of their race.  The musical exhibition by Miss Lillian Addlepate Littlewit was immense in more ways than one, and suggested that the doctor would be at home in the concert room.  From what we caught as the crowd passed down the stairway, we feel certain that Dr. Hedley's lecture was the hit of the season.




Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 
Eagle.


Dr. Hedley's second appearance left full as favorable an impression as his first.  His lectures are out of the general run.  He tickles you with his fun and astonishes you with his marvelous linguistic feats.  He takes ancient 
Hawthornes
 and metamorphoses them into new and entertaining forms.  In his way he is a genius, and has a mission to make people feel better.  We very much doubt if a more chatty, genial, friendly audience has left the Opera House this season than did at the close of his lecture last night on 
The Sunny Side of Life.





What is a Man Worth?



St. Joseph Mo., 
Gazette.


T
HE Y. M. C. A. Lyceum course was opened last night by Dr. James Hedley, the distinguished lecturer.  Dr. Hedley is a man of national reputation, having delivered some of his famous lectures over seven hundred times.  His subject last night was 
What is a Man Worth?
 and the speaker held his audience for nearly two hours with magnetic power.  Many of his best points were humorously illustrated and often brought storms of applause from the audience, and yet it could not be said the sole object of the speaker was to make people laugh.  He impressed the audience with the fact that he had something to say and knew how to say it.




O. B. Lake, Y. M. C. A., Williamsport, Pa.




What is a Man Worth,
 delivered in our 
Star
 course, is a 
great lecture.
  Its truths cannot fail to accomplish inestimable good.  It was not only a matchless presentation of those qualities which go toward the making of the real worth of men and women, but as an entertainment was most delightful.  Dr. Hedley is a powerful man in his work and way.  This lecture should be heard by every Y. M. C. A. in the land.





Wisdom's Jeweled Ring.



Cedar Rapids, Ja., 
Republican.


L
AST evening the Opera House with its usual audience of those who attend the Y. M. C. A. entertainment course greeted Dr. James Hedley, a platform orator of eighteen years of experience, who delivered his magnificant lecture entitled 
Wisdom's Jeweled Ring.
 Never has there been a speaker here who has come and gone leaving behind him choicer thoughts than did Dr. Hedley last evening.  He is a lecturer with a personality one will never forget.  For one hundred minutes he held his hearers in rapt attention, while he privileged them with the most beautiful delineations hinging on the truth of life.  The poet, scientist, the intellectual plodder, society—all received a hearing.  He did every one good.  Cedar Rapids is the better for having heard him.  May he once again return.




Urbana, O., 
Times-Citizen.


Dr. Hedley's subject was 
Wisdom's Jeweled Ring,
 and his method of treatment was very direct and popular.  The address was both instructive and entertaining, and we believe on the whole that this number was the best so far of the High school lecture course.  And many say that this lecture was worth all that the whole course cost.





Sunny Side of Life.



Minneapolis, Minn., 
Tribune.


I
T IS a rare tribute to Dr. Hedley, and to the taste and good sense of the public that the man and his lectures never grow old.  Those who heard him last night for the first time would gladly avail themselves of the privilege again tomorrow night, or next week, or in a year from now.  It would be impossible to report worthily such a lecture as 
The Sunny Side of Life.
  What would a kindly, benevolent, gifted man talk about, specially when he has all the wisdom of the sages, and the thoughts of the saints at his tongue's end?  Such a lecture by such a man must be, as it was, one of the 
treats of a life-time.




A. P. L. Rifenbary, Sec'y Y. M. C. A., Middletown, N. Y.




To say that our people were delighted with your lecture is putting it very mildly.  The great audience which filled the 
Casino
 was charmed for nearly two hours, and went away saying 
The grandest lecture I ever heard.




Richford, Vt., 
Gazette.


One of the finest lectures ever listened to by a Richford audience was that given in Ayer hall last Monday evening by Dr. James Hedley, of Cleveland, Ohio.  The subject, 
The Sunny Side of Life,
 was a sweet message of happiness, and all who heard it must have been benefited.







D
R. HEDLEY is doing his fellow-men good with his gospel of good cheer.  He is one of the genuinely philanthropic benefactors of the American people.  The paltry sum charged for his lecture is by no means a measure of its worth.  We have again and again paid double as much for not half so good a lecture as he gave us.  He is not only cheery in spirit, and reasonable in price—he is eloquent, philosophical, and is the most beautiful wordpainter I ever heard.
  CARLETON B. GIBSON, Sec'y Southern Lyceum League, Columbus, Ga.





Sunny Side of Life.



A. W. Taylor, Drake University, Des Moines, Ja.




T
HE first entertainment of the University Lecture Course was given by Dr. James Hedley in his wonderful lecture, 
The Sunny Side of Life.
  Twelve hundred people were waiting expectantly when this 
wonderful lyceum star
 appeared.  Power, humor, pathos, satire, all the varied gifts of the lecturer were brought into play, and the generous applause told how well the people enjoyed it.  He has given the course an impetus, and will make it an easy matter to sell seats for the next attraction.




A. R. Taylor, President State Normal School, Emporia, Kan.




The second entertainment in our course was the lecture, 
The Sunny Side of Life,
 by Dr. James Hedley.  He held the rapt attention of the vast audience for one and a half hours, entertaining it with eloquent sallies of wit and humor, and with most wholesome and delightful pictures of true contentment.  For innocent fun, for graceful tributes to noble manhood and womanhood, for exquisite pathos, for sublime description, we have seldom heard him equalled, never excelled.  The lecture is suited to all ages and conditions, and ought to be heard by every youth in America.





Wisdom's Jeweled Ring.



Jackson, Mich., 
Patriot.


D
R. JAMES HEDLEY lectured before a large audience at the First M. E. Church, last evening, and those who heard him received both profit and pleasure therefrom.  Not only is he a reconteur of much ability, an orator whose diction is poetic and forcible, but also a clever impersonator.  His subject was 
Wisdom's Jeweled Ring,
 the point running through the entire lecture being that self control was true wisdom.  Humor, philosophy and pathos closely followed one another, Dr. Hedley evincing much power and originality in his plea for more self abnegation.




Logansport, Jnd., 
Journal.




The second lecture in the Women's Club course was attended last evening by a large and enthusiastic audience, composed of those who are always interested in these excellent entertainments.  Dr. James Hedley was the brilliant speaker, who kept the great numbers before him deeply absorbed through nearly two hours of eloquence and oratory.  
Wisdom's Jeweled Ring
 was the subject of his lecture, and its substance was filled with imagery, poetry, philosophy, sketches, stories and beautiful word pictures, all helpful and uplifting.  It was the verdict that no choicer and no more entertaining lecture had ever been given in Logansport.





What is a Man Worth?



Ohio State Journal,
 Columbus, Ohio.


A
S AN orator Dr. Hedley is of a type of his own making, and probably no one ever saw or heard any one else like him.  He is a humorist and comedian, as well as poet and orator, and the audience laughed and laughed until it seemed as if they could laugh no more, but at some new sally, or well turned point or droll story, they would break down and interrupt the speaker with their uncontrollable applause.  The doctor had gestures that are grace itself, and a voice musical in the extreme, while some of his eloquent flights are almost matchless.




Daily Gate City,
 Keokuk, Ja.


The second lecture of the Y. M. C. A. course was given last evening at the Opera House by Dr. James Hedley, on the subject 
What is a Man Worth?
  The lecturer is no stranger to Keokuk people.  Those who heard his 
Sunny Side of Life,
 a year ago, were expecting a rare treat, and they were not disappointed.  Dr. Hedley is a wonderful word painter, and his choice of words is pure and faultless.  He is a reconteur of rare ability, and his effort of last evening was interspersed with apt illustrations and anecdotes told in his own inimitable style.  Perhaps his greatest charm lies in the grace and ease of his diction.  The matchless beauty of his language and the chain of thought it sustains makes 
his lecture a great one.




Mattoon, Jll., 
Journal.


The Mattoon Council of Women have rendered a service to Mattoon by bringing to the city such a kingly man as Dr. James Hedley.  The measure of a man lies in character.  Dr. Hedley proves this in a most convincing and delightful manner.  The hearer is at once captivated by his beautiful word pictures so true to nature.  He has conceived the highest ideals and is faithful in portraying them.  He has lived so close to these ideals himself, that we feel at once that they are a part of the man, and have fitted him for the masterly service he last night rendered.  For this reason, he is a man of wonderful power.





Heroes and Heroism.



W. J. Morrison, Supt. of Schools, El Paso, Jll.




M
ERIT should be known, and just praise should be placed where it belongs.  Dr. James Hedley opened our course last evening under very favorable circumstances.  City Hall was crowded to hear the brilliant oration 
Heroes and Heroism.
  Never before has such satisfaction been given by any one in this line.  The theme was one which gave the orator great range for his powers, and it seemed that he reached the heights.  For nearly two hours he held the vast audience in rapt attention.  This is the third time I have heard him, and I must say that he excelled even Dr. Hedley.






Biographical Sketch.



J
AMES HEDLEY was born in Sheffield, England, in 1848.  His father was of Saxon and Scotch extraction.  His mother was Marie Saville, of Huguenot parentage, a woman of great spirituality and religious fervor and of rare cheerfulness.  The father of our subject emigrated to America in 1853 and settled in St. Louis, where he became a hardware merchant.  In this city James Hedley received his education, being graduated from the High School in June, 1865.  Upon Commencement day he carried off the oratorical honors of his class in an address entitled 
American Footprints on the Sands of Time.
  He delivered on the same occasion the soliloquy of 
William Tell
 in the German language and appeared in Moliere's comedy of 
La Tartuffe
 in French, and received honorable mention for proficiency in the sciences.  At the suggestion of Buchanan Forden, M. D., a distinguished surgeon, he began a course of medicine, but before the December lectures were completed he was compelled, because of his father's failure in business, to relinquish his medical studies and look about for means of support.  He entered the establishment of C. M. Williams & Co., as collector, at a salary of 
twenty
 dollars per month, but in less than a year had charge of the shipping department at seventy-five dollars per month.  His old friend, Dr. Forden, constrained him to renew the study of medicine under his personal tutelage.  In two years he was a joint practitioner with that distinguished man.  In 1873, in company with Dr. Forden, he delivered medical lectures throughout Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.  At the close of that tour he began the delivery of a series of eight lectures upon Physiognomy.  His success was wonderful.  Thousands flocked to hear him.  At Springfield, O., 1,300 reserved seats were sold for the last lecture of the series before 10 A. M. Wittenberg College, under whose auspices the course was given, made him an honorary member of its Philosophian Society.  These lectures were continued for seven years.  The Doctor's fine nervous organization suffered under the strain of this work and he was forced to give it up.  After a year of rest he composed in November, 1880, his now nationally famous lecture, 
The Sunny Side of Life.
  It made an instantaneous and unusual hit.  This lecture has been delivered with unvarying success nearly 
seven hundred times.
  It is a wonderful production, and as Dr. N. C. Schaeffer, State Superintendent of Instruction of Pennsylvania, once said, 
is the 
only lecture in the world composed and delivered in twenty octaves!
  Other lectures, no less successful, followed.  
Heroes and Heroism,
 the unwritten heroism of the common people, delivered more than three hundred times.  
The Kingly 'No!'
  Who that has sat under the entrancing spell of that lecture can ever forget it?  
What is a Man Worth?
  is by many considered the greatest success of his career.  It creates a profound impression everywhere and is a most inspiring and uplifting theme.  There are many, however, who express a preference for 
Wisdom's Jeweled Ring,
 the latest of the Doctor's platform successes.  This lecture met with remarkable approval last season, many leading journals devoting from one to four columns to its consideration and praise.  Dr. Hedley 
has no equal on the platform
 in the varied range of his gifts.  He is a thinker, a prose-poet of the sweetest fancy, a consummate actor and a character impersonator unsurpassed, while in humor and pathos he moves his listeners as with the wand of an enchanter to laughter and tears at will.  His 
Lillian Addlepate Tattlewit at the Piano,
 
Patsy and Mike,
 
The Morning Glory,
 
Texas Courtship,
 
Mrs. Blunderbuss Bang's Pink and White Tea,
 
Ruby and Sandy,
 
Dicky Weaver to the Miners,
 
Mrs. Gilderoy Blowser's Chrysanthemum Tea,
 
Professional Church Choir,
 
Slumber Song,
 
Cal Horn,
 
Fortunatus Baggs' Musicale,
 and other creations are unequalled in the history of the platform.




As a writer he holds an enviable position, having contributed both prose and poetry to many of the leading journals and magazines.  His article 
How Shall the Church Triumph?
 which appeared (August, 1899) in 
The Coming Age,
 the principal Boston monthly, has attracted widespread attention.  In the city of Cleveland, his home, Dr. Hedley's services are always in demand for great public gatherings.  His address, 
Patriotic Citizenship,
 delivered on 
Memorial Day,
 five years ago to 5,000 people in Music Hall, was pronounced by many the finest ever heard on such an occasion.  At the annual banquet of the Royal Arcanum, given in honor of the Supreme Council, his speech carried off the honors, and he was made the recipient of 
Macauley's Complete Works
 in recognition of his masterly services.  His residence is at 
Afton Place,
 a charming suburban house, where with his delightful family, he spends his summers, in the midst of the maples, the lilies and the roses he loves so well.




Read Dr. Hedley's delightful article on 
The Lyceum Platform,
 with portrait illustrations, in the 
COMING AGE
 for May, 1900.  The 
COMING AGE,
 one of the great magazines of the country, is published monthly at Copley Square, Boston, Mass.  All leading Booksellers have it.