io6 Reminiscences of 



Lane on the opportunity offered of having their works 

 illustrated upon the shelves of the club. To this they 

 all responded, but when it came to the straight asking 

 of money donations I felt a diffidence I could not over- 

 come, but Lane felt no false sentiment in this respect, 

 and the twenty -five and fifty dollar donations he raked 

 in became rather alarming when we had secured enough 

 to defray all possible expenses for a twelvemonth ahead, 

 and we had to call him off, in fear our abilities would 

 not be sufficient to sustain the expectations which had 

 been created. 



With our hall furnished, we branched off with a 

 course of lectures, dead-heading a semi-distinguished 

 embryotic class of orators, merchants or others, who, 

 having visited the Holy Land, had stood on the pyramid 

 of Cheops, or had seen Vesuvius in eruption, and whose 

 narratives had been of intense interest to admiring 

 friends, but who had not yet been called upon by the 

 acclamation of the public to stand in prominent places. 

 To them we gave hearty welcome, and rewarded them 

 with thanks and a dozen or two of tickets. Our tickets 

 were twenty-five and fifty cents, depending upon the 

 location of seats ; if near, where the expressions of the 

 lecturer could be clearly observed, and no words lost, 

 fifty cents; if in the rear where words sometimes 

 flatten out and possible draughts occur, twenty-five 

 cents. 



Numerous bunches of tickets would be disposed of, 

 and often to prominent parties whose presence would 

 add ^clat to the occasion, but whose appearance gener- 

 ally failed, owing to remarkable coincidental absences. 

 A survey of the audience would sometimes indicate 

 that the lower classes were awakening to a realization 



