Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Two).djvu/197

 with a crash and had the lines fastened and the gangplanks thrown out with the utmost rapidity, while the “Ocean Wave” was just coming in. The victory was ours, and a tremendous shout of jubilation went up. I wonder whether there were not many of my fellow-passengers who were not, like myself, when the excitement of that glorious day had subsided, glad to be on firm ground again safe and sound, and thankful to the boilers of the “Flying Cloud” for having endured the dreadful strain without bursting!

No sooner were the elections over than I had to start out on an extensive lecture-tour to make up by its earnings for money spent and private affairs neglected, during the political season of the year, and to accumulate something in advance for the coming great campaign of 1860. The lyceum-lecture system had at that time spread over the whole North and Northwest, even into thinly populated regions, and it may well be said to have been an educational institution or agency of great value. There was hardly a town of more than 3000 inhabitants that had not its regular lecture course during the winter, and such courses were to serve the purpose of instruction rather than of mere amusement. Some of the finest minds and the most eloquent tongues of the country, such as George William Curtis, Henry Ward Beecher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley, the temperance apostle, John B. Gough, and a large number of distinguished professors and eminent clergymen were constantly in demand to speak to lyceum audiences about things of interest to intelligent people eager to learn, and the lyceum societies enjoyed so much popular support that most of them were able to pay comparatively large fees. I remember that in lecturing one night in a small New England village, I did not notice anybody at the door of the lecture ball to receive or to sell