Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP JOHN B. GOUGH.
Sinee January 1, 1861, it has been a source of great
gratification and thankfulness that I have been able to
appropriate three hundred dollars per year to his widow;
and I intend that she shall not be dependent while I
live.
I had hitherto delivered lectures solely on the subject
of temperance, never, except on one or two occasions, at¬
tempting to use written notes, and never being able to
succeed satisfactorily to myself, with the paper before me,
or in my hand. Many friends were desirous that I should
present in a lecture some experiences of London life;
several literary associations applied for such a lecture to
be delivered in their course,—for I rarely lectured in a
course, having been an outsider, very much “on my own
hook.” I had for some time felt the necessity of some
change that would prevent my losing the elasticity of
mind that I knew was suffering from the intense strain
of speaking so often, and under such exciting circum¬
stances, upon one theme with so little possible variety; I
must either speak much less frequently, or I must have a
variety of topics. T had but little ambition (for I am well
aware of my deficiences) to take rank among the literary
lecturers of the day; but having, from pure interest in
what I saw, collected a large amount of material, espe¬
cially in reference to the street life in London, I was in¬
duced to prepare such a lecture. I had appointed New
Haven as the place where I should make the experiment;
if I failed, I could devote myself to temperance according
to my ability as long as I might be needed.
On the 21st of November, 1860,1 was announced to de¬
liver a lecture on “Street Life in London.” Passing
through New Haven on my way to New York, I met Mr.
Edwin Marble, then the efficient president of the Library
Association, and my warm personal friend, and begged