Reporters and interviewers found him in Chicago and told him he was
charged with refusing to deliver a eulogy on his friend for less than
$250. Had he any money belonging to the Beecher Statue Fund? He declared
he had none.
The Doctor had been lecturing to crowded houses, but now the reporters
completely demoralized him. He telegraphed me that he must stop. He was
ill and could not go farther. He returned to New York. Reporters haunted
him there. Every interview made matters worse. He engaged passage and
sailed back home in a very few days. There was due to Dr. Parker $1,100
for lectures that he had delivered. Of course I had been making money on
his lectures, and to stop and cancel was a financial loss to me; but as
in all contracts, “illness or unavoidable circumstances render this
agreement null and void,” I could only settle with Dr. Parker by paying
what was due him. I made out the statement and accompanying check for
$1,100. He sent for me the day before he sailed. As I came into his
dignified and sombre presence the Doctor said:
“Major Pond, I sail for my home to-morrow. My health is such that I
cannot go on. The long voyages frighten me, and I am so completely
collapsed when I arrive at the end of a day’s journey that I cannot
address my audiences. Under these conditions, and with this certificate
of one of your most eminent physicians, I am legally released from any
obligation to you. You owe me $1,100 according to this statement. I
propose to go away from America owing no one and having no one owe me,
and you wish to pay me? You give me this check, which I suppose is
good.”
Holding the check in his hand, he proceeded to tear it up. “You are an
honorable man. I want you to feel welcome at all times in my house in
London. As to what you owe me, I propose to give you five hundred years
to pay me, and if when due you cannot meet it I will renew it five
hundred years more.”
That was Dr. Parker’s eccentric business way.
Comparisons were sometimes made between Mr. Beecher and Dr. Parker from
the standpoint of pulpit and church resemblances. There were, in fact,
few if any points of similarity. In the Englishman’s manner there is the
note of social dominance and a full gamut of ecclesiastical supremacy.
Mr. Beecher had none of this, but in his relation to the public
exhibited only a loving paternalism. Dr. Parker directs as well as
teaches. Beecher advised and sympathized.
In public affairs, taking their different conditions into view, Dr.
Joseph Parker and Henry Ward Beecher would bear a closer comparison, not
at all unfavorable to Beecher’s British compeer.
Dr. Parker was Mr. Beecher’s personal friend of many years’ standing,
and was his host in England on several occasions, the last being in
1886. During Beecher’s English campaign in defence of the Union cause,
in 1863, Dr. Parker, then living and preaching in Manchester, was among
Mr. Beecher’s firmest and most active supporters. As a speaker, Dr.
Parker’s manner, though essentially dramatic, is never melodramatic like
that of Dr. Talmage. His intellect, and therefore his voice and style,
is that of action--insistent, believing, combative, even aggressive. His
manner is more emphatic and his tones deeper than were Mr. Beecher’s,
striking as the latter’s often were. The small piercing eyes and
peculiar voice hold his audience strongly; even the burr in his tones
helps the orator’s control. It intensifies the air of sagacity, the
expression of intellectual shrewdness, as well as sincerity, which make
him one of the more notable personages I have been able to bring into
the arena of brain and speech which our lecture forum offers. Dr. Parker
does not possess the amazing versatility which made Mr. Beecher so
attractive and gave him such a mental charm, nor does he possess at all
times the sunny sweetness of disposition which men loved in Mr. Beecher.
Dr. Parker’s sincerity is always as apparent as his ability of thought
and expression. He gives the impression that all his preparation and
power are aimed merely to give suitable expression to the opinions and
convictions that are his. Words, tones, mannerisms, gestures, are all
simply vehicles. It is the thought and its purpose that dominate all,
and this is the secret of his strength, success, and power.
His imagery is English; his poesy belongs to their flowers and verdure;
the ruggedness of his speech and manner is that of the bleak moors of
the north of England. A middle-class Englishman, the Doctor is the
personification of all their sterling traits and sturdy characteristics.
His speech is studied, polished, finished; his gestures are trained, and
all climaxes are carefully arranged. One can only imagine what might be
if the speaker ever broke loose; but he never did so far as I know. Our
Beecher, on the contrary, was, while obedient to the law of his themes,
free as the wind, fresh as the air, full of fancy and illustration as
all out of doors, alive with the human glory and glow of life, sweeping
in grandeur, glowing with sunshine or melting as with the dew and the
joy of the eve. All these, and the deep, lifting, surging soul of the
man were in his utterances.
But when all is said for Mr. Beecher, it must not be forgotten that Dr.
Parker is a power, a unique personality, gifted with a remarkable
intellect and endowed with a temperamental quality which makes all
characteristics effective for his work. He is a contemporary whose force
and value can be measured only by a comparison with one like Mr.
Beecher. And I found him an honorable man.
[Illustration: T. DEWITT TALMAGE]
The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage made a lecture tour under my management in
England in the summer of 1879.
One morning in early June of that summer I was passing a news stand in
front of the Astor House in New York and was attracted toward a small
placard which read “_Christian Herald and Signs of the Times._
Circulation half a million. Only authorized publication of the Rev. Dr.
Talmage’s sermons in England.” I bought the paper, and read the
attractive headlines of the sermons, and a leader by its editor, the
Rev. Dr. Baxter, a clergyman of the Church of England, eulogizing the
great preacher, describing his popularity as a preacher and lecturer in
America and his extensive influence on the religious thought of Great
Britain. I was on my way to Brooklyn, and while reading the paper on the
ferryboat, I concluded to call on Dr. Talmage and see if he would not
like to do some lecturing in England. I found him in his study, very
affable, and disposed to look favorably on a proposition to go abroad.
He had never crossed the ocean, but had heard that his sermons were
extensively published and read in Great Britain. In fact, the last mail
had brought a letter from the general secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at
Leeds asking if he would consider a proposition to deliver ten lectures
under the auspices of his association in the larger cities of England,
Ireland, and Scotland, offering to pay his passage and give him £10 a
lecture--£100 for ten cities ($500). The Doctor asked me to write out a
proposition and to call in the morning. I sat down and wrote on a sheet
of paper in his study, as follows:
* * * * *
“REV. T. DEWITT TALMAGE.
“DEAR SIR: I will give you $10,000 for one hundred lectures in Great
Britain this summer, paying all the travelling and hotel expenses for
yourself and Mrs. Talmage from the time you sail from America until you
return; settlement to be made weekly.
“Yours truly,
“J. B. POND.”
* * * * *
The following morning I called again at No. 1 South Oxford Street,
Brooklyn, the Doctor’s home, and he read me a letter which he had
prepared in duplicate:
“J. B. POND.
DEAR SIR: I will deliver one hundred lectures for you in Great Britain,
beginning within three weeks, for $100 a lecture, you paying the
expenses of myself, wife, and daughter from the time we sail until you
return.
“Signed,
“T. DEWITT TALMAGE.”
* * * * *
I mailed a note accepting his proposition, and he gave me the subjects
of his lectures. He wrote a note to the secretary of the Leeds Y. M. C.
A., saying that I would soon be in England, and that all arrangements
must be made with me. He told me that he had already secured passage on
the _Gallia_, to sail in about a week.
The next morning found me on board the _City of Berlin_ bound for
England for the first time. While on the steamer I wrote a letter to the
editor of _The Christian Herald and Signs of the Times_ stating that I
was coming over to see if arrangements could be made for some lectures
by Dr. Talmage, and that I would stop at the Westminster Palace Hotel
and hoped to pay my respects to him soon after my arrival. I also wrote
Mr. John Lobb, whose address Dr. Talmage had given me, editor of a new
religious paper, _The Christian Globe_, who had also asked permission to
print some of Dr. Talmage’s sermons.
Upon my arrival at the hotel in London, I found several gentlemen
waiting to see me: Dr. Baxter, of _The Christian Herald_; John Lobb, of
_The Christian Globe_, and Henry Thorn (brother of Charley Thorn,
belonging to the family of famous actors of that name), who was
secretary of the Leeds Y. M. C. A. All wanted a private interview then
and there, but I was very tired. It was past midnight, and I set a time
for meeting them the following morning.
The next morning the first and earliest caller was Dr. Baxter, who
apologized for the unseasonableness of the hour--8 A.M. He thought he
would come early, as possibly he might be of service, as his paper was
going to press that day and if I wished any announcement made of Dr.
Talmage’s coming, its columns were at my service. I replied that I
should like to announce that the Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage would be
available to lecture in Great Britain during his summer vacation. Any
parties desiring to secure him might address Major J. B. Pond,
Westminster Palace Hotel, London. This at once he agreed to, and then
asked if I would sell him the right to place on the benches of all the
halls where the Doctor lectured copies of _The Christian Herald_. I told
him that I had no idea as to the value of such a franchise in his
country, and asked him what he considered a fair price. He offered me
£50 ($250). So large a sum almost stunned me. However, I showed no signs
of the shock, but intimated that a Mr. Lobb, of _The Christian Globe_,
had some proposition to make. He replied, “Yes, Mr. Lobb has a new
paper, but I consider the established circulation of half a million
copies of _The Christian Herald_ a great medium for Dr. Talmage, as it
prints his sermons regularly.” I asked if he paid the Doctor for his
sermons. He replied that at one time he had sent him £100. There was no
international copyright law then. He then said that if I would accept
£100 ($500) for the right, he would give me a check then and there. I
concluded to do this, and the first half hour’s business talk in London
found me in possession of $500, without the slightest expense on my
part. Then Dr. Baxter offered another £100 for the sole privilege of Dr.
and Mrs. Talmage’s and their daughter’s photographs, to print on the
first page of his paper. I told him that I was not authorized to sell
the right, but as he was the Doctor’s publisher, I would risk the
acceptance of his offer. As I gave Dr. Baxter a receipt for £100 for the
sole right to publish these portraits in Great Britain during the tour,
I at once telegraphed Dr. Talmage on board the _Gallia_ at Queenstown
what I had done, and to consider no overtures from publishers who had
already gone to Queenstown to meet and to welcome him.
That afternoon Dr. Baxter brought me a copy of _The Christian Herald and
Signs of the Times_, fresh from the press, with the little announcement
that I had given him inserted at the head of the editorial column. It
was not long before ministers began to call and to inquire terms and the
possibility of securing a lecture. I had not even time to inquire as to
the best hall for a first London appearance. Mr. Thorn, general
secretary of the Leeds Y. M. C. A., had come by first train, after
receiving my letter mailed at Queenstown. He wanted the first ten
lectures in Great Britain, and offered me £20 each for those to be given
in the largest cities. When I informed him that I paid the Doctor far
more than that amount, he seemed amazed. He said that £20 was the
highest fee ever paid for a lecture in England. I told him I was
prepared to speculate unless I could get my price. He asked time to wait
upon his associates in Exeter Hall, promising to return in an hour. On
his return he said that he was authorized to pay me £50 each, for one
lecture in each of the ten cities of Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester,
Liverpool, Glasgow, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Bradford, and
Sheffield.
Being unacquainted with the country and its lecture system, and knowing
the offer to be a substantial one, and that there was $1,200 profit in
it for me, I closed the contract, fixing the first date in Nottingham on
Wednesday, June 18.
I had been kept in my hotel all day by the crowd of waiting applicants
for lectures without a chance even to look out on a London street. I was
recognized and addressed by all visitors as Dr. Talmage’s “secretary.”
Such patronage from such a class of men was indescribably overwhelming;
they were all ministers from suburban churches. I saw success and profit
assured in my venture already in the first twelve hours in London.
That evening I went out into the London streets for the first time in my
life. “London by Gaslight” I had read about, and now the reality had
suddenly burst upon me! No wonder so much has been said and written of
it. I got into a hansom cab for the first time, and told my driver to
show me as much of London as he could in an hour. We went over
Westminster Bridge to Spurgeon’s Tabernacle. I wanted to see that famous
edifice first. It was not lighted, and to me presented a dreary
appearance. Then back over the bridge down Whitehall to Trafalgar
Square, Picadilly Circus, and out Oxford Street to Holborn Viaduct we
went. I wanted to see City Temple, where the Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker
preached. That was dark, too, but oh! the flying street traffic of cabs
and vehicles of all kinds!
What an amazing sight!
Many handcarts were drawn by men and women in the streets, something
entirely new to me. The streets were bordered on each side with
cablights--a yellow border when looking in one direction and red in the
opposite. All those in motion were being driven with such rapid speed
that collision and accident seemed inevitable, but I got safely back to
my hotel having seen more in sixty minutes than my eyes had ever before
beheld in as many months. I tried to get sleep that night, but sleep
would not come. What if the _Gallia_ should go down, or Dr. Talmage get
ill, or any other accident? I was alone in London, too. I had no one to
talk to. I wanted to vent my feelings and could not. It was a long
night.
I was up early next morning, but there was no sign of life about the
hotel or in the street. I asked the first person I met: “What is the
matter--is it Sunday? Where are all the people? “He informed me that it
was only 7 o’clock, and that nobody was supposed to be moving about
London before 9. It seemed strange to a Yankee. I started out and got
lost in Westminster Abbey. How time dragged along. I wanted breakfast,
but could get nothing for an hour, so I waited and wondered.
At 8:30 I got into the dining room and gave an order for breakfast and a
morning paper. While reading my paper a man in uniform, whom I found to
be “boots,” approached me with a salute, asking if I were Major Pond?
“Yes,” I replied.
“The post has just brought your letters; where shall I take them, sir?”
“Bring them to me here,” I said.
“But I can’t. There are several baskets full.”
“What!” said I. “You must be mistaken. I am expecting no such mail.”
“Aren’t you Major J. B. Pond?” he again politely inquired.
“Yes; I’m that man. What’s the matter?”
“You have several hundred letters, sir. Shall I take them to your room?”
I accompanied “boots” to the office, and there, to my astonishment, were
between four and five hundred letters, nearly enough to fill a barrel,
and they were all addressed to me, and from every part of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and many telegrams. All were seeking to secure
the Rev. Dr. Talmage for a lecture, and all from the two-line
announcement in _The Christian Herald and Signs of the Times_ the day
before.
About 10 o’clock Dr. Baxter called and I showed him what I considered a
sight--more letters than I could open and read in two days. He expressed
no surprise, but kindly offered to put one or two stenographers and a
permanent secretary at my disposal, free of any expense. About noon
three young men arrived from Dr. Baxter’s with notes of introduction;
these were the stenographers and a secretary at my service. “Who am I?”
I thought. Such patronage and politeness I was unaccustomed to. It
required change of position and getting out into the lobby for a free
breath very often.
I began opening letters. They were from everywhere in the British
islands, invariably addressing me in words of welcome to Dr. Talmage and
his worthy secretary, and asking terms for the Doctor to preach or
lecture. Many of them were admirably written, showing that their respect
and welcome for Dr. Talmage knew no bounds. I wondered if it were
possible that there could be so many ministers who knew and read of Dr.
Talmage. I felt certain that the Doctor had no idea of his popularity
over there. Callers flocked in and crowded the lobby of the hotel,
waiting answers to their cards. I could not see half of them. I put them
off with asking them to write and promising to answer.
I soon discovered that I had made a mistake, and that my contract with
Mr. Thorn for the first ten lectures had cost me $5,000, for that was
just what the Leeds Y.M.C.A. cleared on them.
I got the letters open. I also got a map of Great Britain and an “A.B.C.
Guide,” which tells more of that country than all our American guides
can tell in many times the space. With the aid of secretaries and map, I
was soon enabled to see that I could easily fill five hundred lecture
engagements, if I only had them. I replied to the smaller cities that no
proposition for lectures would be considered under a guarantee of £100,
and cities like London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow,
Edinburgh and other large ones would require £300. I received
acceptances from Belfast and Dublin of my proposition of £200; of that
for £300 from Manchester, Liverpool, and Bristol. In all replies to the
applications I was non-commital and careful to state that when terms
were accepted and contracts forwarded and signed, there must be an
accompanying deposit of twenty-five per cent. of the amount of each sum
contracted for. Many correspondents were so eager to secure contracts at
once that they sent checks by return mail. So many of these checks of
deposit came in that it caused great embarrassment and confusion. In
some instances they were sent back to me a second time, with the
assurance that I was held to produce Dr. Talmage or I would have the law
applied to force me. Such a scramble for an attraction I had never
dreamed of before. During all the first two days at every mail “Boots”
brought in armsful of letters. I decided to wait a day or two and let
applications accumulate. On Dr. Baxter’s recommendation I accepted an
invitation for Dr. Talmage to preach in the Islington Presbyterian
Church, Colebrooke Road, Beside-the-Angel (a part of London). He was to
have £10 for that. The Sunday business was not mine, and the secular
days were all I cared to be interested in.
The _Gallia_ arrived at Queenstown in due time, and I received a
despatch from the Doctor that deputations were there to meet him from
all parts of Great Britain and he had referred all to me. A day later I
met him and Mrs. Talmage and Miss Jessie Talmage at the Northwestern
Station in London, safe and well, but very tired. He said he had had a
narrow escape of his life; that as soon as the steamer arrived in
Queenstown delegations of ministers and deacons and secretaries of
Y.M.C.A.’s had rushed aboard the boat and down to his and Mrs. Talmage’s
stateroom. He heard them coming, shouting:
“Welcome, Talm-o-d-ge.” (They all give the broad sound of “o” to the
middle “a” of his name.) “Welcome! Welcome! God bless you! God bless
Mrs. Talm-o-d-ge. God bless Miss Talm-o-d-ge. Where is the Doctor?”
And rushing into the room they got hold of Mrs. Talmage’s arm, she being
in the lower berth, and nearly jerked it out of the socket before they
knew or cared to know their mistake. They got hold of the Doctor and
pulled him out of his room before they let go, and shook his hands, and
pulled his shirt nearly off, shouting, “Welcome! God bless you,” and
kept it up all day on the steamer and on the cars to London, arriving at
the Westminster Palace Hotel about 6 P.M., where Dr. Baxter was in
waiting. Arrangements had been made for dinner and a reception at the
Doctor’s house that evening, so our party was obliged to hurry and
dress. We drove in hansoms about four miles. Dr. Baxter’s father, a
noted barrister, seemed to be the head of the household. Ministers and
clergymen were assembled to do the guests honor. Lord Shaftsbury was the
first lord I ever recalled seeing. Dinner was at a long table, with not
much sociability; all wore serious, pious expressions. I think I never
saw Talmage so uncomfortable. He asked the blessing, and after dinner in
the parlors came a season of prayer. The circle of kneeling visitors was
to me as tiresome as the old frontier country prayer meetings of my
boyhood days, and there was less feeling in them. Each prayed in his
turn, and thus for two long hours there was a contest of appeals to the
throne for God’s servant, “Talm-o-d-ge.” It was twelve o’clock when we
got into our cabs to make our way back to our hotel. It was the first
chance I had to speak to Talmage alone; but as it was Saturday night,
and he was to preach the next afternoon in the Islington Presbyterian
Church, he retired at once.
I did not see him the next morning, as he was preparing for the
afternoon sermon. An hour’s drive, with Dr. Baxter as pilot, and Dr. and
Mrs. Talmage in an open carriage, Miss Jessie and I following in a
second carriage, brought us to a point where we could look across an
open space to a hillside where stood a church. That hillside was black
with thousands of people, they all wear black on Sunday there, and as we
came in sight the crowd began to move, and soon I saw we were being
surrounded by what seemed an impassable mob. Coming nearer, Talmage was
recognized, and a shout arose:
“Talm-o-d-ge! Talm-o-d-ge! God bless Talm-o-d-ge!” and the crowd came
rushing on. Some jumped on the carriage and grabbed his hands and hung
on to them; some got hold of Mrs. Talmage, and some one got hold of
Talmage’s coat and succeeded in tearing off a piece of his coat-tail. “I
want this for a souvenir,” shouted that maniac.
They then unhooked the horses, tied a long rope to the carriage, and
hauled the great divine through a jam of humanity, and amid uproars and
noises that Niagara Falls could hardly have drowned. Finally the
preacher was lifted from the carriage, carried bodily over the heads of
the mob, and thrust into the crowded church. After he was out of sight,
the crowd gave way, and not long afterward a committee succeeded in
getting Mrs. Talmage into a side door, but Miss Jessie and I preferred
to wait outside in our carriage until after the service. What took place
inside can be inferred from the following item, which appeared in _The
Dally News_ next day (June 16th):