Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1886 — JOHN B. GOUGH DEAD. [ARTICLE]

JOHN B. GOUGH DEAD.

Th 9 Greatest of Temperance Orators Passes Away at Philadelphia— His Last Words. [Philadelphia telegram.] John B. Gough, the eloquent temperance lecturer, died on the 18th of February, at tho residence of Dr. R. Bruce Burns, in Frankford, a suburb of Philadelphia, whore he was taken on Monday night when stricken with paralysis while lecturing at the Frankford Presbyterian Church. His wife was at lis bedsido w*hen ho died. There were also present Mrs. IJgjdgo, his sister; Mrs. Burns and two nieces, Misses Mary and Fanny Whitcomb: Mr. John Wanamaker, tho ReV. -Thomas -Murphy—and Mrs. Jacob Wagner. Mr. Gough’s last intel 1 igiblo-.words were Spoken on tho lecture platform Monday evening, Feb. 15. “I,” said Mr. Gough, “have seven years in the record of my own life when I was held in the iron grasp of intemperance, I would give the world to blot it out; bdt alas 1 I cannot.” Stepping forward with impressive gesture, the lecturer said: “Therefore, young men, make your record ” Ho failed to finish the sentence, but sank helplessly into a chair. sketch of the deceased. John B. Gough was bom at Sandgate, Kent, Aug. 22,1817. His parents were poor, and he contributed,’'by exorfcißing his talouts as a reader, to their scanty resources. At the age of 12 he emigrated to New York and became apprenticed to a tradesman, with whom he settled on a farm in Oneida County, New York. In December, 1831, he obtained employment in New York City as a hook-binder. Ho soon fell into habits of dissipation, and was frequently thrown out of employment. To such degradation did he sink that, night after night, ho sang comic songs and played the buffoon to the habitues of the lowest grogshpns, who in return supplied him with drink. Re married in 1839, nnd became a bookbinder on his own account; but intemperanoo prevented his success. He had suffered from tremens, had lost his wife and child, and was reduced to the utmost misery, when a Quaker invited him in the street to take the temperanoe plodge. Having told his story at a temperance meeting, he at once became a leading orator in the temperance cause. In 1842 some of his former companions Induced him to violate his pledge, and he confessed the fact at a public meeting at Worcester. Since 1843 he has labored incessantly in behalf of temperance with ability and success. His reputation as an orator quickly spread through tho United States and Canada, and reached England. In 1853 the London Temperance League invited him to visit Great Britain. The visit, intendod to last only six weeks, was protracted to two years, during which he advocated the cause of temperance throughout the island. He then resumed nis labors in America. 'ln 1857 he again went to England, and lectured with still groater succoss than before until 1860, when he returned to America. He then began to lecture on other tonics with- great success, acquiring a large in.oome. In 1846 he published his “Autobiography ”; a volume of .“Orations" in 1854 ; a collection of “Temperance Lectures,”lß79: and “Sunlight and Shadow, wfGleohings from My Life-Work;* 1880 i In 1873 he announced that he was about to leave the field as a public lecturer; but he appeared subsequently at intervals. In 1878 he again visited England. ... , - For.wcaty years twenty thirty managers sought Mr. Gojigh’s services, and he lectured incessantly from four to six months in the year. He never aßked for an advance in fees, but always accepted the terms offered him and visited every point to which ho was invited that was within his reach. His lectures brought him from $1 to £SOO a night, and he earned from 820,900 to $31,000 a year.

Miss Kate Field has been telling the women that they had better stop talking about cremation and prohibition, and learn how to cook. . Richmond, Va., must be the heaven bachelors are looking for. The States sayß that they can live there for S3OO a year. The estate of J. B. Lippincott, the Philadelphia publisher, is inventoried at $3,599,133. The Princb of Wales is selling large tracts of his Cornwall estates in small holdings.