Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

FIRST SPEECH IN THE PULPIT. 105
rience of the intemperate. Some persons, hearing these
little speeches of mine, invited me to visit the neighbour¬
ing towns and deliver addresses; but the state of my ward¬
robe, and my desire to work at my trade till I could pro¬
cure the clothes I needed, prevented me. But one after¬
noon, not long after I joined the society, a gentleman
invited me to speak on temperance in the school-house on
Burncoat Plain. That evening I shall never forget. I
had not been able, through scarcity of funds, to procure
fitting habiliments in which to appear before a respectable
audience, and so I was compelled to wear an old overcoat,
which the state of my under-clothing obliged me to button
closely up to my chin. The place assigned to me was
very near a large and well-heated stove. As T spoke I
grew warm, and after using a little exertion the heat
became so insufferable, that I was drenched in perspira¬
tion. My situation was ludicrous in the extreme. I
could not, in consequence of the crowd, retreat from the
tremendous fire, and unbuttoning my coat was out of the
question altogether. What with the warmth imparted
by my subject, and that which proceeded from the stove,
I was fairly between two fires. When I had finished my
speech I was all but “done” myself, for my body con¬
tained a greater quantity of caloric than it had ever pos¬
sessed before. I question whether Monsieur Chabert, the
fire-king, was ever subjected to a more “fiery trial.”
Not long after this it began to be whispered about that
I had some talents for public speaking; and my career as
an intemperate man having been notorious, a little curi¬
osity concerning my addresses was excited. I was invited
to visit Milbury, and deliver an address there. I went in
company with Dr. Hunting of Worcester; Mr. Van
Wagner, known as the Poughkeepsie Blacksmith, was also
to speak. I spoke for the first time from a pulpit, and