We have had in onr Brattleboro Lec
ture Coarse, daring the last ten years
(during which time I have been chair
man) over seventy of the very best lec
turers this country and Europe could
produce, and not one of the whole num
ber so delighted the audience as Eli Per
kins did last nlgt. Our audiances are
critical, too, for. among the seventy lec
turers that preceeded Mr. Perkins, were
Gough.Siddons, Phillips, Schun, Sumner,
Mark Twain, Wilkie Collins, and Josh
Billings; and Eli Perkins produced more
laughter, more quaint, original, strange
things than any or all of the others put
together.
Besides much instruction, he literally
made the audience laugh 100 times in 60
minutes. Some laughed till they cried.
I write this because other Lecture Asso
ciations should know the facts.
Henry C. Willard, Chairman.
Thirteen years after this lecture Eli
Perkins was called to deliver his lecture,
"The Philosophy of Wit and Humor,"
before the Brattleboro Y. M. C. A. He
captured his great audience as he always
does, and W. N. Fuller, the General Sec
retary of the Y. M. C. A., thus describes
his triumph:
Jf. Y. Lecture Bureau: Eli Perkins" lec
ture before our Y. M. C. A., November 1,
1888, was a grand success. He handled
his subject, the "Philosophy of Wit and
Humor," instructively, intelligently, sci
entifically and mirthfully, holding the at
tention of his audience for two hours.
Every part of his lecture was interesting.
W. N. Fuller, Gen. Sec'y. Y. M. C. A.
