Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

LECTURES.
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I was entertained; the sums received for service, and the
expense incurred—that is all. And I much regret that I
have kept no regular journal of incidents or facts, as I
must rely somewhat on memory; but principally on letters,
newspaper articles, and my record book—in which I have
written down from time to time the main features of facts
which I deemed valuable, with dates and names; and I
shall reject those that are at all apocryphal, and give only
those where the date is kept, and the evidence reliable.
My personal experiences I give on my own veracity,
avoiding the use of names and places, as I deem it
judicious.
For the first year or two of my work I laboured hard.
In three hundred and sixty-five days I gave three hundred
and eighty-three addresses, and received from them one
thousand and fifty-nine dollars,—out of which I paid all
expenses; travelled six thousand eight hundred and forty
miles; and obtained fifteen thousand two hundred and
eighteen signatures to the pledge. It was my custom to
speak an hour or more, then invite signatures, sing songs,
and give short exhortations, relating anecdotes, &c. I
received from seventy-five cents to six dollars for a lecture
—the latter sum being paid me in the city of Boston; and
eighty-three addresses were given gratuitously in that
time. Probably the remuneration was all they were worth;
but I sometimes found it hard to keep up with my neces¬
sary expenditure. I remember at one place I had spoken
on three evenings, when the committee told me they had
no funds in the treasury, and did not like to take up a j
collection; but if I would come again, and give them three •
more lectures, they would pay me. I made the arrange¬
ment, and some time afterward went again. At the close
of the second lecture a gentleman rose and said: “I believe
the gentleman who has addressed us left this town on the