Leonora M. Lake: a woman with a message

              Redpath

Figure

Mrs. Leonora M. Lake
A Woman with a Message


Leonora M. Lake's Message
TO THE PUBLIC, My Judge and Jury:

What is my message?  An earnest desire to attract attention to the most sacred obligations of Life, loving service to God, Home and Country; to awaken conscience, arouse ambition, strengthen purpose for the fulfilling of life's noblest duties; to help the weak and faltering; to encourage the strong and persevering; to open up grander possibilities before the minds of those standing undecided on life's threshold; to try and make every one glad that they live in this the most wonderful of all the ages, in the most beautiful of all lands; to help all, to hurt none, except that one of whom it might be said 'Tis only the wounded bird which flutters.

If in my message there be aught of helpfulness to young or old; if I shall dry one tear of sorrow, soothe and comfort one aching, doubting, despairing heart—help one struggling soul to a clearer vision of the creature's duty to the Creator, and therefore a kindlier relation with all mankind; if my message shall help some young man or woman to hold fast to the higher, nobler, purer ideals of life, then indeed will I have done some good in my ministry of a smile and a cheery word.

I am an enthusiastic Chautauquan and Lyceumite.  I believe their platform affords greater opportunities for education, inspiration, spiritual uplift, recreation and an appeal to the moral sensitiveness and unselfish impulse of human souls than any other known method of reaching and benefiting all classes of people.

And so believing, I bring to it all the zeal, vigor and conscientious effort of which I am capable.  I love the work with all the ardor of a girl in her teens.  Although a wife, mother and grandmother, I am not yet ready to be labeled antique.  I am a member of I. L. A. (International Lyceum Association), not that I am of any benefit to that organization, but because it is of great benefit to me.  Contact with its brilliant-minded, noble-hearted, conscientious men and women makes me better fitted to serve you acceptably.  May I hope, your honors, judge and jury, to receive a favorable verdict whenever I appear before you.

I am Irish by birth and parentage.  Became an American when less than three years old.  I was reared in the country, on a farm, and was called a pretty good farmer, too.

In those pioneer days there were little or no church or school advantages.  But I had, thank God, that which supplied so far as possible the need of both, a wise, prudent, intelligent, devout Catholic mother, to whose teachings and character-building I owe all that is good in me, and to whom I am indebted for the ideal mother, home, and home-life for which I so earnestly plead to-day.



Subjects:

When Man Is King
The Girl We Love
The Country Boy in the City
The Divine Rights of the Child
The Nation's Needs—Homes
My Neighbor and I



RLB

Redpath-Slayton, BOSTON, NEW YORK, CHICAGO, CEDAR RAPIDS, COLUMBUS, KANSAS CITY, DENVER, BUTTE, PORTLAND

Redpath-White, 100 BOYLSTON ST., K.M. WHITE, MGR. BOSTON, MASS.

Redpath-Brockway, 6101 PENN AVE. PITTSBURG, PA.




Words of Appreciation
THE following letter was received by Rev. W. G. Irish, Mason City, Ill., from Mr. C. E. Gullett, Chairman of the Program Committee, Lincoln (Illinois) Chautauqua Association, on the eve of Mrs. Lake's lecture in Mason City:

Rev. W. G. Irish, Mason City, Ill.

Dear Father Irish:—

I am glad to have an opportunity to say a few words in commendation of Mrs. Leonora M. Lake, who will lecture for you at Mason City.  Mrs. Lake has lectured three times at Lincoln Chautauqua.  No man or woman is heard here more gladly and none presents a more vital message.  I am within safe bounds in saying that Mrs. Lake has been more cordially received here on each successive visit and heard by larger audiences.  Our people are anxious to hear her speak on every one of the half-dozen subjects on her list and then begin over again on the full list.  The reason for her success is not hard to find.  A speaker who appears on the platform merely to entertain has missed the spirit of the times.  Mrs. Lake is always intensely interesting, but she would scorn to hold an audience and do nothing more than entertain.  A purpose underlies her work.  She brings a great burning message.  Her words glow with vital truth.  She stirs her hearers to higher resolves, to clearer conceptions of individual and public duty, and to better citizenship.

Mrs. Lake has the gift of eloquence as it has been given to few men and women.  She classes herself, by her platform work, along with the best of the public men who have lately rendered such splendid service in arousing the public conscience—the reform Governors and Senators of our great Western States.

Very respectfully yours,
C. E. GULLETT.



To Whom It May Concern:—

The Pontiac Chautauqua has held thirteen annual sessions and Mrs. Leonora M. Lake has delivered addresses at twelve of them—and is already engaged for the session of 1911—speaking to some of the largest audiences gathered.  No one is nearer and dearer to the hearts of our patrons than this great hearted Irish woman, with her wonderful brain working for the good of mankind, as with eloquent words born of an inspiration of love for her fellow man she delivers her message, thrilling the heart and conscience and stirring the American people to a realization of the need of an effort to help and uplift humanity.

(Signed) A. C. FOLSOM,
Supt.

Archbishop Ireland, St. Paul

Mrs. Leonora M. Lake is one of the most gifted women to whom I have ever listened.  Her views on any question show deep and sober thought, a wide range of knowledge and profound judgment.

Hon. J. Frank Hanly, of Indiana

I have had the privilege of hearing Mrs. Leonora M. Lake in her lecture on The Rights of Childhood.  It is a message of great value and should be heard by all people everywhere.  In it, a great word is fitly spoken.

Hon. George R. Wendling

Mrs. Lake is unquestionably the greatest woman orator I have ever heard.  She has all the strength and ability that a man could have, and, at the same time, retains her womanliness and charm.  Mrs. Lake speaks from the heart.

Archbishop Keane, of Dubuque

I wish I could worthily express my appreciation of Mrs. Leonora M. Lake's splendid work for Christian morality in general during all those years that I have witnessed her career, but only the recording angels and their Divine Master could do it justice.




Praises from the Press

The stirring address of the evening was that of Mrs. Leonora M. Lake, of St. Louis, fraternal delegate of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union to the World's W. C. T. U. Convention in Toronto, Canada.  This Irish woman is a born orator, who was born again a better one when her heart was enlisted in the Temperance cause.  When she said that it was not indifference to home and children, but concern for them—not ambition, but conscience—which made women speak in public for Temperance, the heart of the audience felt the truth of this.—
The Outlook.


Mrs. Lake is one of the most gifted lady speakers on the platform today.  She has a splendid delivery, and her lecture, which was couched in language which even a child could understand, was full of wit, humor and good hard common sense.  She is a very rapid speaker, never lacks for a word, her illustrations are clear cut, her arguments are convincing and her talk charmed and delighted all who heard it.  That she made a decided hit in Hannibal was shown by the fact that she was frequently interrupted by vigorous applause.—
Hannibal (Mo.) Morning Journal.


Ireland's Best Gift.—In introducting Mrs. Leonora Marie Lake, who has a national reputation as a temperance worker, at the Chautauqua Monday afternoon, Platform Manager Atkinson said the best gift Ireland had given America was Mrs. Lake.  Mrs. Lake told some wholesome truths in a forceful way in the course of her lecture, The Divine Rights of the Child, which was one of the best yet delivered at the Chautauqua.  Mrs. Lake is one of the most able women orators of the country.—
Paris (Ill.) Daily News.


Mrs. Leonora M. Lake is a woman of plain speech but ponderous thinking; a woman who bravely casts conventions to the winds and tells wherein a purer social and political life is needed—
New Hampton (Ia.) Tribune.


Once heard, never forgotten is a saying which is adaptable in the case of Mrs. Leonora M. Lake, who spoke at the Wilson Theatre Sunday evening.  An eloquent, daring, convincing speaker, she stirred the heart depths of her immense audience as none other could have done.—
Mason City (Ia.) Times-Herald.


Mrs. Leonora M. Lake was undoubtedly a surprise to most people.  It is not too much to say that no more powerful and splendid address was ever delivered in David City than her lecture last night on The Divine Rights of the Child.  She has a real message, and delivers it with wonderful effect.  She is the peer of any lecturer, man or woman, ever heard by the writer.—
David City (Neb.) People's Banner.


The largest crowd of the week, and second largest in the organization of the Chautauqua, was that of Sunday, and it was a magnificent audience that greeted Mrs. Leonora M. Lake, who spoke upon The Divine Rights of the Child.  Mrs. Lake is, without a doubt, the most gifted woman now upon the platform.  For nearly two hours she held her audience enthralled by her eloquence and persuasive powers, as she pleaded for the helpless little ones, that they should come into their rights, for to be well born and well reared is the rightful heritage of every child, to be sound and healthy, both morally and physically.—
Sandwich (Ill.) Free Press.


Leonora M. Lake, of St. Louis, delivered a lecture Sunday afternoon on The Divine Rights of the Child, and by special request talked again Sunday evening.  About all one could hear Monday from the Chautauqua patrons was Isn't Mrs. Lake grand?  She is, as her talks showed, a woman of sound judgment and good sense.  As an orator, she presents her subject in a manner that holds every auditor.—
Carrollton (O.) Free Press Standard.