Mr. P.M. Pearson

              MR. P. M. PEARSON
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ASSOCIATE MEMBERAMERICAN LYCEUM UNIONS.B. HERSHEYPresident and Gen'l Mgr.ROCHESTER, N.Y.

DIRECTION
CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU
213 Walnut Street, HARRISBURG, PA.
JNO. S. ARNOLD, Manager
 ANNOUNCEMENT
(Extract from a letter to the Bureau) Professor Pearson's Lecture Recitals constitute the most unique feature among the literary and elocutionary attractions of the American Lyceum platform today. Having charge of the Department of Public Speaking at Swarthmore College, Professor Pearson lives, day and night, with those rare literary Genii whom 	his interpretative wand so easily, truthfully and instantly conjures before eye and ear and heart. His Lecture Recitals are at once discriminating studies of those distinguishing biographic, literary and individual qualities that fame accords Riley, or Field, or Dunbar, or Dickens, and at the same time a living, speaking personation thereof. And these personations, while ever true to type, refined, delicate, virile, and adequately expressing the literary process of the author, both illustrate and elucidate those human qualities of Art that forever charm us.

Our books show that more than half of Mr.  Pearson's dates are return engagements; there can be no stronger commendation than this.
I have heard Mr. Pearson in his admirable recitations, and consider him an elocutionist of fine attainments.F. H. Bristol, D. D.,Washington.I commend Mr. Pearson as an elocutionist of ability.Henry Wade Rogers, LL.D., Yale University.Among the most popular and instructive features of the Assembly of 1899 were the Lecture Recitals by Professor P. M. Pearson. During the week his audience quadrupled in number. He has a fine power of analysis, can see .the plan and motive of the author, and has the ability as an elocutionist to interpret the author's meaning in the best way. H. C. Jennings, Superintendent Assembly, Marinette, WIS.I heartily endorse the work of Mr. P. M. Pearson on the platform and in the school room. Who hears him once will be entertained delightfully and desire to hear him again. His art is fine, and an hour with him makes forever after a charming memory. Robert McIntyre, D. D., Chicago.My Dear Mr. Pearson : -I have wanted to write ever since I heard yourRiley.It is the best popular interpretation of a popular poet. YourLecture Recitalis a superb thing. This fruit of your genius is very grateful to me beautiful, fragrant, delicious, nutritious.N. M'Gee Waters, D. D., Binghamton, N. Y.I have heard Mr. P. M. Pearson read, and take pleasure in commending him as an elocutionist of more than ordinary ability and charm.N. D. Hillis, D. D., Brooklyn.Mr. P. M. Pearson's series of six Lecture Recitals has been one of the most attractive features we have had during our Summer Quarter. Every one who heard him was more than pleased with his work. I have congratulated myself many times upon securing him for our summer program, for he has been able to entertain and instruct at the same time. His personality is most delightful.Jerome H. Raymond, Former President Virginia University.SUBJECTS
RILEYFIELDDUNBARKIPLINGMARK TWAINLOWELLPOEDICKENS
Personal and Press CommendationsF. W. Gunsaulus, Armour Institute, ChicagoProfessor Pearson has captured us completely, and Armour Institute is still echoing with the praises of our gifted conqueror, who has precisely the temperament which makes him the sympathetic interpreter of the literature he most often presents to his audience. Almost before he began his hour with us, the seven 	hundred restless young people were obedient to his charm of manner, and they laughed and cried, while the members of the faculty did likewise, throughout the entire entertainment. We all came away feeling that we had been back again among the dew drenched meadows where the flowers of happy childhood were still blowing.John M. Coulter, Ph.D., Chicago UniversityMr. Pearson had charge of the work in oratory two seasons at the Winona Summer School. I had occasion not only to know of his work, but also of his platform ability. He at once became very popular with the Winona audiences, and I recommend him as a thoroughly interesting and attractive platform speaker.Professor Pearson won most cordial approval in his interpretations of Kipling and Riley. Many thought these Lecture Recitals the best things of the entire program. Professor Pearson in these lectures gives enough of the biography of his subject to properly throw the character before the mind; but the chief charm of the lecture is the interpretation of the writer's best things. Professor Pearson is certainly a master interpreter of literature. As a reader with the purpose of exposing the genius of an author, as the author has exposed himself in his lines, Professor Pearson is a true artist. People leave his lectures saying,Well, I know more about that author than I ever did before, or ever could learn by simply reading him myself.Elvin Swarthout, Secretary Epworth League flssociation, Ludington, Mich.I have heard Mr. Pearson and very frankly state that in my judgment his readings are of a high order of excellence. He is natural, has superior histrionic powers, uses pathos and humor with admirable effect. He is pleasing, and what is better, helpful and inspiring. W. d. Quale, D.D., Kansas City, Mo.The Riley Lecture Recital, last evening, was one of the rarest literary treats it has been the good fortune of Michigan City folks to enjoy for a long time. Professor Pearson entertained, amused and imparted instruction to the audience which filled the church to its capacity. Being an excellent impersonator, having a splendid voice and keen appreciation of the pathetic, as well as the merry, he wove his own personality into those characters which our Hoosier poet portrayed faultlessly, and gave to them the form that the author would have them.Michigan City (Ind. ) Evening NewsMr. Pearson captured his audience at the first and held it throughout. His readings were artistic, and the selections so well made as to give a splendid conception of the genius of the author. Mr. Pearson is no less at home in the field of literary interpretation than that of reader.Evanston (Ill. ) Index Unstinted praise was given Mr. Pearson for his excellent Lecture Recital on Kipling. This is his second visit here and our more having is as a sauce to make us hunger more.Newtonville (Mass.)  Messenger.Personal and Press CommendationsJ. R. Smith, D.D., Great Falls, MontanaMy Dear Mr. Pearson : Your Lecture Recitals are a pure delight. The mixture of biography, anecdote and criticism with Recitals is of splendid proportions and admirable in its effects. There is instant awakening of keen interest in and appreciation of your author, and, as you proceed, a feeling of more intimate acquaintance. You are most happy in relieving the "study" of the subject from all strain by your rendition of choice and representative selections in a rarely artistic style.Marinette (Wisconsin) EagleP. M. Pearson gave this morning one of his most delightful Lecture Recitals, and a very large audience attended to hear his talk on Eugene Field and his writings. After giving in his nice, conversational way a brief sketch of the poet's life, Mr. Pearson read first that humorous dialect sketch entitled, The Conversation.A Little Peach, with that well known phrase about Brother John and Sister Sue,was then given, followed by a prose reading ofBill, the Lokil Editor,and by a number of the best known child poems. All these charming rhymes with their fanciful flights were given with much beautiful expression and were intensely enjoyed. Mr. Pearson told many incidents showing Eugene Field's personal character, his love for children, his admiration for the quaint and curious, and the love of children for him.
Prof. Pearson was gracefully introduced by Mrs. John A. Nipgen, the president of the club, who gave him an opportunity in her remarks, which he aptly and humorously seized upon in his acknowledgment, and thus placed himself en rapport with the audience by a laugh whichbroke the ice,as it were, and established a mutual acquaintance.

The speaker began his lecture with an appeal for a wider appreciation of humor and for more laughter in the world. As a prelude to a talk upon James Whitcomb Riley and a recital of some of his most famous poems, this was eminently fitting, for Riley's humor is as spontaneous as it is indigenous, and the individual who cannot appreciate it is minus that finer quality which makesthe whole world kin.His poems of childhood, of country life, of nature, his dialect verse, his glorification of the commonplace, are all so characteristic and so mirthprovoking that not to be able to laugh at them is to be an alien to the American idea as it obtains.

A sketch of Riley's early life and his first excursions into literature under the penname of Benj. F. Johnson of Boone,beginning withThe Old Swimmin' Hole,in the Indianapolis Journal, followed naturally, and afterwards a number of Riley's poems were agreeably recited by Prof. Pearson, many of them without the titles being given.

Among these recitations were The King,a picture of autumn;Ezra House,a quaintly eccentric bit of rhyme;The South Wind and the Sun,a splendid panorama of word pictures admirably delivered;The HarperandThe Shower,also vividly descriptive.

Among his dialect recitations wereSanta Claus,Martha Ellenand When the Green Gets Back in the Trees.

Particularly good was his rendition of negro dialect. HisKnee Deep in Junewas a charming bit of wordpainting which delighted the listeners.
Chillicothe, Ohio. I have heard Mr. Pearson read, and I take much pleasure in endorsing him.John H. Barrows, D.D.I have heard Mr. Pearson, and am charmed with the naturalness and effectiveness of his reading. Chas. B. Mitchell, D.D.Professor Pearson is one of the best on the Chautauqua program. In his Lecture Recital yesterdayPaul Lawrence Dunbarhe gave a sketch of the poet's life, and told of the possibilities of the Negro race. He has as good a conception of the darky dialect and darky life, as one reared among then.Ashand (Ky.) Independent.