I could not let these random notes of a delightful experience go forth
into the world without expressing in some way my deep appreciation of
the valued services rendered me in my ten years of platform work by my
friends of the Lyceum Bureaus. In office and in the field they have
labored strenuously, often affectionately, and always loyally, on my
behalf. But for their interest some of the most cherished experiences of
my life would have been beyond my reach. If sometimes in their zeal to
keep me busy they have booked me in Winnipeg on Monday night, in New
Orleans on Tuesday night, with little side-trips to San Diego,
California, and Presque Isle, Maine, on Wednesday and Thursday, not to
mention grand finales at Omaha and Key West on Friday and Saturday, I
view that sequence rather as a tribute to my agility than as a matter to
be unduly captious about. It is a manifestation of a confidence in my
powers to overcome the limitations of time and space that I think upon
with an expanding head, if not with a swelling heart, and whether this
required annihilation of distance has been wholly agreeable or not it
has enabled me to see more of my own country than I otherwise could have
seen, and to that extent, I hope, has made a better American of me.
Wherefore before beginning our ramble from Pillar to Post I record here
in testimony of my gratitude to them the names of Arthur C. Coit, and
Louis J. Alber, of the Coit Lyceum Bureau of Cleveland, Ohio; of Frank
A. Morgan, of the Mutual Lyceum Bureau, of Chicago; of Kenneth M. White,
of the White Entertainment Bureau of Boston; of S. Russell Bridges, of
the Alkahest Lyceum System of Atlanta, Georgia; of J. B. Pond, Jr., and
that tried friend both in the Lyceum field and out of it, William C.
Glass, of the J. B. Pond Lyceum Bureau of New York.
Thanks are due to the publishers of _Every Week_ for courtesies
extended, and finally I desire to inscribe a word of affectionate esteem
for my friends, J. Thomson Willing, and that inspiring editorial guide
and mentor, William A. Taylor, of the Associated Sunday Magazines, under
whose genial direction these papers were first presented to the public.