The autobiography of John B. Gough. With a continuation
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(Gleanings from my life work; comprising personal experien...)
Gleanings from my life work; comprising personal experiences and opinions, anecdotes, incidents and reminiscences gathered from 37 years experience on the platform and among people at home and abroad.
Originally published 1884.
(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)
This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for kindle devices. We have endeavoured to create this version as close to the original artefact as possible. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we believe they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)
This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for kindle devices. We have endeavoured to create this version as close to the original artefact as possible. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we believe they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Gough John was a temperance lecturer. He was an accomplished platform orator in America.
Background
John Bartholomew Gough was born on August 22, 1817, at Sandgate, Kent, England. He was the son of John Gough, a veteran of the Peninsular War, receiving an annual pension of twenty pounds.
His mother, Jane, was for twenty years a schoolmistress in the village school, at that time an important position.
Education
John was first instructed at home but was later sent to the seminary of a Mr. Davis at Folkestone.
Career
While still a pupil, John became the teacher of two classes in the seminary of a Mr. Davis at Folkestone, one in spelling and the other in arithmetic. His father once took him to a prayer-meeting at which the venerable William Wilberforce spoke. The evangelist took an especial interest in the lad, presented him with an autographed book, and spoke so many friendly and encouraging words to him that they registered an indelible impression.
Although his parents were poor, when he was twelve years of age they paid ten guineas to an acquaintance, David Mannering, to take the boy to America. For two years, he worked on Mannering’s farm in Oneida County, New York, but at fourteen with only half a dollar in his pocket he went to New York City to seek his fortune.
Here he learned the book-binding trade, and as soon as he was earning three dollars a week he sent for his father, mother, and sister to join him. His mother and sister came at once but his father stayed behind in order to save his pension.
Owing to a financial depression which began soon after the arrival of the mother in 1833, John lost his position. In the resulting hardships his mother died and he began to dissipate and drink. In 1839, after having acted low comedy parts on the stage without much success, he set up a bookbinding shop of his own at Newburyport, Massachusets.
His condition now became steadily worse until he was unemployed, homeless, a confirmed drunkard, and at the age of twenty-five, a victim of delirium tremens. In 1842, moved by some kind words from a stranger who talked with him on a public street, he promised to sign the total-abstinence pledge.
At the temperance meeting at which he took the vow, he told the story of his experiences and soon was in much demand as a speaker. Within five months, he had violated his pledge but immediately announced the fact and continued temperance work.
About three years later while in New York, he drank with a friend and spent a week in a drunken debauch. He immediately made a complete public confession and the church of which he was a member forgave him.
From that time on he never violated his pledge and remained an ardent worker for the cause of temperance. During 1843, the first of his lecture work, he traveled 6, 840 miles, gave 383 addresses, and received $1, 059 out of which he paid all expenses. The fruits of his activity were 2, 218 pledges.
He soon became one of the most accomplished platform orators in America, and at the height of his career such was the demand for his services that he received an average of about $175 for each lecture.
By 1853 his fame had so spread that the London Temperance League called him to England. Here his audiences were largely hostile, but on a second trip in 1857-60, he was received with great enthusiasm, as he was also in 1878.
He continued lecturing to the last, dying in the midst of a speaking tour at Frankford, Pennsylvania.
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Personality
Gough made a unique impression because his career was dramatic in the extreme and because he possessed the rare-speaking ability. Both friend and foe attest the fact that he had a fine musical voice which was under perfect control.
As he willed he could make his audience respond with laughter or with tears. One does not find clear-cut analysis or argument in his speeches, but rather an appeal to the emotions.
He never had much enthusiasm for a national prohibition law but directed all his energies toward the reform of individuals.
Connections
On December 18, 1839, John married Lucretia Fowler, but his wife and first child both died during one of his ten-day periods of drunkenness.
On November 23, 1843, he was married in Worcester, Massachusets, to Mary Whitcomb.