Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

106
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN B. GOUGH.
my address, which occupied but from fifteen to twenty
minutes, was listened to very attentively. How queerly
I felt in that pulpit, the faces all turned toward me. Tiie
strangeness of my position made me very nervous; my
mouth was dry, my knees very weak; but I got on, for I
had a simple story to tell. At this time nothing was
farther from my intention than becoming a public speaker;
in my wildest flights I never dreamed of this. I can sin¬
cerely say, that I was urged to give these early addresses
solely by a hope that good through my instrumentality
might be done to the temperance cause, to which I owed
my redemption.
The Washingtonian movement, as it was then called,
was becoming very popular, and meetings were held con¬
stantly in school-houses and churches, halls and vestry-
rooms, all over the country; meetings for experience,
where perhaps three or four would occupy the time; to
many of these meetings I was invited.
Prior to delivering this address at Milbury I had pm’-
chased a new suit of clothes, the first which I had been
able to get for a long period. They came home on the
day fixed for my speaking. Now I had been so long
accustomed to my old garments that they had become, as
it were, a part and parcel of myself, and seemed to belong
to me, and feel as natural as my skin did. My new suit
was very fashionably cut, and as I put on the articles one
by one I felt more awkwardness than, I verily believe, 1
ever exhibited on any similar occasion in the course of
my life. The pantaloons were strapped down over feet
which had long been used to freedom, and I feared to
walk in my usual manner, lest they should go at the knee.
The vest certainly set off my waist to the best advantage;
but it did not seem on a first acquaintance half so com¬
fortable as my ancient friend, although the latter had long