Dr. Sam A. Steel: popular lecturer

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DR. SAM A. STEEL
Popular Lecturer
EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT THE COIT LYCEUM BUREAU, CLEVELAND



Dr. Sam A. Steel   Popular Lecturer

BIOGRAPHICAL
DR. S. A. STEEL is a native of Mississippi.  His early life was spent amid the turbulent scenes of the war for the independence of the Confederate States, which he so vividly describes in his great lecture on Home Life in Dixie During the War.  In that severe school he learned those lessons of self-reliance, fearlessness and push, that have been characteristic of his career.  He was about grown before he got a chance to attend school; but so well had he been taught at home, and so earnestly had he applied himself to study, that within three years after he left the farm in Mississippi and while still an undergraduate at Emory and Henry College, he was elected Chaplain of the University of Virginia.  After serving in this position two years he went to the pastorate of one of the largest churches in Richmond.  He has served the leading churches of his denomination in Richmond, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, Kansas City, and other places.  He was Fraternal Delegate from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which met in New York City in 1888, and made a notable speech on that occasion.  He was elected by the General Conference of his Church the first General Secretary of the Epworth League, and for four years was editor of its official organ, The Epworth Era, giving that paper a reputation for vivacity, spirit and aggressiveness, such as few religious journals acquire.  He has lectured in all the leading cities of the United States, and has few superiors either in the pulpit or on the platform.

His lectures are brimful of color, humor, life and power.  He has made Southern history a special study, and his masterly lectures on this subject are worthy to be heard in every college in the land.  While he takes his stand to live and die in Dixie, yet his patriotism is as wide as the Republic, and his sunny, fraternal spirit makes him welcome everywhere.



SUBJECTS

Home Life in Dixie During the War
The Poets of the Southland
American Ideals
Backbone
The Pathfinders
The Man Who Wins
The Battle with the Bottle
Greenhorns, Grit and Grace
The Fall of the Confederacy





Dr. Sam A. Steel   Evangelist

PRESS and PERSONAL MENTION

San Angelo.—The gathering at the opera house Thursday night was one of the largest at that place for many months, and all readily agreed that they were repaid a hundred-fold by coming out to hear one of the foremost orators of the Southland, viz., Dr. Samuel A. Steel, who lectured on that thrilling and interesting subject, Home Life in Dixie during the War.  To say that the lecture at the opera house Thursday night was one of the best intellectual treats in the annals of San Angelo but feebly expresses the enthusiasm elicited from the many hearers.  While the distinguished speaker talked for over two hours, all the time dwelling upon incidents in the home during the war, he had the unabated attention of his auditors from start to finish and led them from the very beginning of the memorable struggle to the time when all hostilities ceased.  Dr. Samuel A. Steel possesses all the qualities of an orator and a stage power that is remarkable, holding the audience spell-bound from the very beginning to the close.  He is truly one of the most magnetic orators of the day.  He is a speaker of rare ability, and his wonderful descriptive power surpasses that of many of the most noted lecturers of the age.—
Daily Standard.

Chicago.—Dr. S. A. Steel delivered his lecture, Home Life in Dixie during the War, at Avondale M. E. Church.  To say that it gave general satisfaction is less than the truth.  It was heard with profound attention and growing enthusiasm.  His word pictures were vivid, his elocution natural and effective, his manner full of human interest.  One gentleman said: I could have listened to him all night.  His lecture seemed to say, Let us bury sectionalism and be brethren.—Edwin C. Arnold, Pastor.

Carthage, Mo.—Col. Geo. W. Bain leaves tomorrow morning for the East.  Speaking of other Chautauqua attractions to a Press reporter yesterday, he said: I am well acquainted with both Dr. Sam A. Steel, who will lecture here tomorrow afternoon, and A. W. Hawks, the funny man who will recite at night.  Dr. Steel is a wonderful speaker, pathetic and humorous, and intensely entertaining.  You can quote me as saying that without a doubt he should prove to be the best attraction of the Assembly.

South Carolina.—I heard Dr. Steel, and regard him as one of the finest lecturers I ever heard.— Major S. Watson Reid.


Vicksburg.—A highly pleased audience gathered in the large auditorium of the Crawford Street Methodist Church last night to hear Dr. Sam Steel lecture on the life of General R. E. Lee. Dr. Steel impressed upon the minds of all those present the heroic character of Lee as one of the finest characters, and one of the five great generals of the world.  Dr. Steel spoke of Lee as a citizen, and his devotion to duty, both public and private, was something sublime.  The lecture was one of the most entertaining ever heard in this city.  Dr. Steel displayed his wonderful range of thought, his wide and careful study of all the world's greatest men and events in a way that completely captured his hearers.  It would be asking too much to request Dr. Steel to repeat this lecture, but for the sake of the young men and women who did not attend last night it should be repeated, if possible.—
Post.

Chicago.—Dr. S. A. Steel favored the Chicago Preachers' Meeting on Monday of last week with an address on Home Life in Dixie during the War, giving childhood impressions, personal reminiscences and vivid descriptions of the every-day life and experiences of the Southern people during those four dreadful years of civil war.  The lecture abounded with wit and humor and was thoroughly enjoyed by the large audience present.  He was applauded so frequently that it amounted to almost an ovation.  A more entertaining and instructive lecture on those times has possibly not been given by anyone in this city.  Dr. Steel is a wide awake Methodist preacher, a man of extensive research and possesses the singular faculty of enriching his discourses with personal incidents and stories.  He will be welcomed in any congregation by those who heard him.  There was but one opinion and that opinion was one of unstinted praise.—Northwestern Christian Advocate.

Evanston, Ill.—I listened with great interest and pleasure to Dr. S. A. Steel's lecture on Home Life in Dixie during the War, and I deem it one of the most popular and useful of its kind and adapted to give information of a very valuable character, as well as great delight to an audience.—Milton S. Terry, Garrett Biblical Institute.

Lexington, Ky.—I have heard Dr. Steel's lecture on Home Life in Dixie during the War.  It is inimitable.  It is equal to anything on the American platform as an entertainment.—Col. Geo. W. Bain.





Dr. Sam A. Steel   Educator

PRESS and PERSONAL MENTION
Portsmouth, Va.—I listened to Dr. Steel for an hour and three-quarters in his Home Life in Dixie during the War.  Much of the time I was standing, but did not tire.  He held his audience spell-bound.—Rev. E. H. Rawlins.

Louisville, Ky.—On last Friday evening I had the pleasure of enjoying, with a large audience here in Louisville, Dr. Steel's splendid lecture, Home Life in Dixie during the War.  I have heard nothing for many years which impressed me so much as his eloquent presentation of the actual experiences of a brave and chivalrous people fighting for their country's independence.  The interest in his subject—always so near to the Southern heart—was intensified by the statement of the speaker, that every word was true.  I heard nothing which could offend our friends of the North or disappoint our people of the South.  One young lady told me that she had learned from the lecture more of the actual experience in the South during the war than from all she had ever read or heard before.  I hope that he can find time to deliver it in many places, not only for the pleasure of those who participated in such stirring times, but also for the benefit of the younger generation, who would be instructed, and whose patriotic spirit would be strengthened, both North and South.—General Biscoe Hindman.


Chicago.—Dr. Steel has captured Chicago.  At least that portion of it which had the pleasure of hearing him last week, capitulated without a groan.  Some years ago, the doctor appeared in several of our churches.  It was the memory of that delightful treat which suggested the plan of bringing him from his sunny Mississippi home into the crisp February air for a lecture tour.  Well, our friend lectured at Nunda, St. Paul's, Avondale, Evanston, Auburn Park, Woodlawn and Irving Park.  At the latter place he also preached.  Monday morning he gave the ministers' meeting his lecture on Home Life in Dixie during the War.  That preacher-crowd was mightily stirred.  Instead of listening to the labored discussion of some philosophical or theological theme, the brethren were given the brightest and wittiest address that has invaded this town for a generation.  The meeting did not smile.  It did not merely laugh.  It roared.  The relaxation of the brethren, weary from their Sunday's work, was complete and glorious.—
Epworth Herald.

Louisville, Ky.—I have rarely enjoyed an evening so much.  Dr. Steel's lecture was graceful in diction and delivery; its humor genuine as it was gentle; its sunward flights of eloquence exquisite and inspiring.  It charmed me, but charmed me most because it taught me so much.  Most of us of Southern birth know as much of the war history of our section as is disclosed by writers upon that subject, but these have usually confined themselves to mere military operations and political movements, and we—and if we, how much more our fellow young Americans in the North, or, for that matter, our fellow citizens there, regardless of their age—are woefully wanting in our knowledge of the domestic history of the South, of its social conditions during the war.  Dr. Steel's lecture is as a great light on this field; it is a graphic picture of the Southern home life of the period.  As he proceeds with his unostentatious heroism our fathers displayed at the front, it had its perfect exemplification in the uncomplaining sacrifices of our mothers at home.  And when the doctor has finished, that impression has been confirmed.  It is indeed a noble lecture.  It ought to be heard in every American school room.—Marmaduke B. Bowden.

Sacramento.—Those who do not believe that the last vestige of resentment in the South toward the North has been entirely eradicated should hear Dr. Steel's lecture on Home Life in Dixie during the War, and be convinced.  As an entertaining lecturer he is a success.  His delineations of the character of the simple country people in those slavery days are so true to life that his auditors can almost hear their voices and see the scenes he so vividly depicts.  The lecture is a mixture of anecdote, pathos and patriotism.—Bee.

Vicksburg.—In his great lecture, When Chivalry Was in Flower, Dr. Steel was at his best.  Those who had heard him in The Pioneers, Lest We Forget, and Home Life in Dixie during the War, were expecting something—and none were disappointed; he captivated his audience at the start, and held it throughout as only a born orator can.  Few have made such a study of the great Lee's life, and none have better expressed it.  There is about this lecture a peculiar charm; entertaining, instructive, inspiring—we would that every young man throughout the length and breadth of our land might hear it.—Rev. Dr. Hill.

THE BRITTON PRINTING CO., CLEVELAND, O.