Flude's illustrated lectures

              Flude’s Illustrated Lectures
J. D. Blackwell, Operator
Management of 
The Chicago Lyceum Bureau
Chas. W. Ferguson, President
26 Van Buren St., Chicago
"A TRIP  TO  WONDERLAND'
ONE of the finest entertainments which this Bu¬reau offers this season is the illustrated lecture by Alfred L. Flude, "A Trip to Wonderland."
A Distinction
In announcing an illustrated lecture the questions naturally arise, "What kind of lecture?" " What kind of illustrations ?" People are no longer attracted by merely cheap stereopticons nor by poorly prepared talks which so often accompany them ; while on the other hand there is no form of entertainment more pleasing and instructive than a hundred or more pictures that are really works of art, accompanied by a lecture that is in itself complete and artistic. It is the latter kind of attraction that is here represented. The machine used for throwing them upon the screen is one of the finest that can be bought, a Triple Imperial, the entire outfit costing over $1,000.
The Subject
is Yellowstone Park, the Wonderland of be World. In no other part of the globe have so many of God's wonders and so many of the beautiful things of the earth been gathered together. Every American who travels desires to see his own country first, and everyone who listens to Mr. Flude and beholds the wonderful panorama as he presents it will resolve that at some future time he himself will visit the en¬chanting spot known as Yellowstone Park.
The Speaker
Alfred L. Flude is  a master  of fine de
scription.    If the Yellowstone Park is to
some an old subject, Mr. Flude's manner of treating it  makes it  all new,
and filled with vital interest from beginning to end.    He has woven in
fancies as dainty as pastels, and   entertains  his audience with humor as
delightful as it is spontaneous.    Even apart from the pictures his lecture would
please any audience.      It   abounds  in some of the richest word-painting ever
given from the platform in regard to the great western wonderland.    There is
not a dull sentence in the whole lecture.
The Illustrations
are from the finest photographs ever taken in the park. They are beautifully colored until the pictured scenes are as natural as it is possible for man to make them. They are thrown upon a screen 20 feet square, and every detail of the wonderful scenes is brought out in sharp relief. It is not necessary to describe the pictures. The lecturer does not even refer to them. But, at the proper time, just when the description requires, the picture appears as if by magic upon the huge canvas and you see before you just what the lecturer is describing. There has been no expense spared to make the entertainment the finest descriptive lecture which it is possible to present. The use of the third lantern makes possible some of the most beautiful effects in dissolving views that have ever been obtained. The rich beauty of the Grand Canon, beginning with the sunshine on its gorgeous walls, the sunset, the moonrise — all are portrayed by these wTonderful pictures. The third lantern also gives delightful effects in some of the finer fancies — dreams that come and go, and that touch a responsive chord in the heart of every listener. Some of the views for this lecture are from fine drawings by one of the best artists of the west. Those illustrating the humorous episodes are either from drawings or from photographs from living models posed to represent the idea. The same plan has been used to secure appropriate illustrations for those bits of philosophy and dreamy reverie for which Mr. Flude has become so widely known. As he is a photographer of skill, he has been able to secure just the posing and effect desired? and the result has been a very happy blending of subject and illustration
The Baby Days
The babies have furnished much of all that is best in mirth and laugh¬ter ever since the world was young. Eve's babies probably played with their toes and made bubbles with their lips in much the same way as your twentieth century prodigy. There have been a million million babies that, like yours, were smart¬er and brighter than any that had lived before. There has been a ripple of baby laughter and a trem¬ble of baby sobs coming down through all the generations, and our hearts respond to these in¬fluences as readily — nay, more readily — than ever before.
Perhaps it is because these little folk bring
back to us the memories of those days of the
long ago when we wandered in the Garden of Childhood, that our hearts reach out
after the little folk so tenderly.    Perhaps in their eyes we catch, once more, the
glimpse of the sunlight playing among the apple blossoms.    Perhaps their laughter
brings again the echoes of the happy mirth of the long ago.
I do not know — perchance you might —
Our phantom voices haunt the air,
As we were still at play.
And I can hear them call and say: " How far is it to Babylon ? "
" Ah, far enough, my dear;
Far, far enough from here." " Can I get there by candle light ?"
So goes the old refrain.
But only children hear it right,
Ah, never to return again, The eternal dawn, without a doubt,
Shall break on hill and plain, And put all stars and candles out,
Ere we be young again."
—Stevenson
This Bureau is confident that nothing more novel and thoroughly pleas¬ing has ever been offered as an illustrated lecture than this dainty conception by Mr. Flude. The baby episodes are delightful. The retrospections have that dreamy quality that wafts you, too, far back to the wonderland of the past. It is filled with the spirit of the ideal home. It is an inspiration for a purer, better home life. It is an earnest plea for clean lives and clean homes.
The illustrations are, without doubt, as fine as any ever thrown upon a screen, many of them being the work of Prof. A. H. Mills, whose artistic work is so well known in the middle west. A series of baby faces of remarkable clearness and beauty, and of laughable facial transformations, are used, which are the cutest and prettiest of the kind ever produced. The entertainment is so unique, so finished, so dainty, that, although last season was the second for this attraction, it was heartily enciorsed in every one of the nearly one hundred cities in which Mr. Flude appeared.
THE  CHICAGO  LYCEUM  BUREAU
PERSONAL & PRESS COMMENT
                                                                                   
Hon. I. P. Bowdish, of Iowa — His tribute to mother-love is the finest I have ever heard.
Earlville (Iowa) Phoenix — Mr. Flude has gained a de¬cided reputation in the Iowa literary field.
Anamosa (Iowa) Eureka— He has a philosophical turn of mind that often reveals itself in delightful and quaint deliverances.
Chieftain, Tecumseh, Nebraska—His word pictures and retrospections are especially graphic and have given him a wide reputation.
Hawkeye (Iowa) News —The lecture was fine and it was a rare treat to have the chance of taking " A Trip to Wonderland " with A. L. Flude.
Waucoma (Iowa) Sentinel—If each number of this lec¬ture course proves as entertaining and instructive as this the first one, we will have no complaints to offer.
Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Republican — Mr. Flude has an originality and a touch of nature in his sketches from life that warm the soul and make the rest of us feel like claim¬ing kinship with him.
Johnston Brigham, State Librarian, Des Moines, la.— The word-pictures by this young poet-philosopher are, indeed, brilliant in coloring and yet touch a sympathetic chord in the heart of each one of us.
Abbie P. Hinkley, Pastor Congregational Church, Fair¬fax, Iowa—We have always admired Yellowstone Park even in dull black and white—but when exhibited in Nature's own rare and lovely colorings, it is indeed mag¬nificent.    We were greatly pleased and instructed.
Jefferson (Iowa) Souvenir—Mr. Flude's lecture from the very start was intensely interesting and more especially so to those of the audience who had visited the park and seen the views and places described by the lecturer. It was by all odds the best lecture of the series and was much ap¬preciated by the audience.
Rev. H. G. Bargelt, Pastor M. E. Church, Clarence, Iowa — I have heard Alfred L. Flude's lecture, "A Trip to Wonderland," and I regard the pictures the most perfect I ever saw and the most true to nature, and having made a trip through the park on my wheel I regard his descrip¬tion as the most perfect I ever heard.
Daily Republican, Cedar Rapids, Iowa — Mr. Flude is an artist in word painting, and his audience was more than delighted with his lecture. He is a true lover of nature, a keen observer. In his lecture he displays the same ability as he did with the pen, saying the same bright, poetical, sometimes pathetic, thoughts to the hearer.
Walker (Iowa) News — For an hour and thirty minutes the audience gave its interested attention to the lecturer and the splendid views thrown on canvas in illustration of "A Trip to Wonderland," which was descriptive of travels in the Yellowstone National Park. Mr. Flude de¬parted from the custom of most lecturers in dealing but little with historic facts and figures, rather giving free reign to fancy, painting beautiful word-pictures of the wondrous beauties of that land, and brightening them with quaint bits of humor, rare fancies and even homely philosophy. The lecture was instructive as well as highly enjoyable and entertaining, and furnished a most fitting opening for the course,
Rev. Enders, Hamburg, Iowa — The finely colored views of Yellowstone Park were gems, and gave to all new im¬pressions of America's famous wonderland; but Mr. Flude's delightful word-pictures easily excelled anything of a similar kind I have ever heard. Mr. Flude combines fact, fancy and humor in the happiest manner; and gives an hour of unalloyed enjoyment.
Bishop Homer C. Stuntz, Manila, P. I.— Mr. Flude is both a philosopher and a poet. Nearly all of his poetry is written in prose, but, like Oliver Wendell Holmes, of whom he reminds me in his writings, it is none the less poetry because of its form. Mr. Flude has unusual gifts of expression. By nature and study his 4* door of utter¬ance " swings on veritable ball-bearings.
Extract from a letter written by Prof. A. M. Harris, of Cornell College — The same brain that shakes his pen in editorial chair, wags his tongue on the lecture platform, and you would recognize the author of " A Trip to Won¬derland" as the man who wTrote "The Railroad Hoodoo." Do not fail to hear him if you have the opportunity. He has a magnificent instrument and a fine lecture.
Rev. Wm. Gardner, Pastor Presbyterian Church, Chur-dan, Iowa—I can truthfully say that of all I have heard or seen on this subject, Mr. Flude's lecture is the best. I therefore take great pleasure in recommending Mr. Flude and his entertainment to the general public, and bespeak for him the success that his fine ability as a speaker and an entertainer so well deserves. In point of excellence it is unsurpassed.
L. H. Ford, Superintendent of Schools, Webster City, Iowa — This lecture is illustrated by the finest projections I have ever seen. No one who has any interest in this wonderland of America will fail to be pleased with Mr. Flude's illustrations or with the charm of his descriptions of the views as they are thrown upon the canvas. Mr. Flude's lecture is entirely worthy of the generous patronage of the people.
Mt. Vernon (Iowa) Remarker — Mr. Flude is to be con¬gratulated upon the success he has attained upon the platform. Though but a young lecturer, his address shows the artistic finish of an accomplished speaker. His appearance is pleasing, his manner easy and his delivery excellent. He intermingles poetic descriptions, scientific figures, lofty sentiment and a rippling humor so deftly that at all times the attention of the listener, old or young, is deeply engaged. His lecture is one to divert, amuse, educate and elevate.
Edgewood (Iowa) Herald — It was unique in design and artistic in execution. To say that the people were pleased does not express it at all by far. In a few well chosen words Mr. Flude prepared his audience for a trip through the famous Yellowstone Park. The views used as illus¬trations were almost perfect and, to those who had visited them, recalled the scenes of this famous place in a most realistic manner. For over an hour and a quarter the audience gave perfect attention and at its close they expressed themselves as being highly pleased. This is Mr. Flude's first appearance in Edgewood, but we can assure him a hearty welcome should we be so fortunate as to again secure him in our lecture course. The entertainment was a decided success and many were the words of praise