Conwell himself is amused to remember that
he wanted to talk in public from his boyhood,
and that very early he began to yield to the
inborn impulse. He laughs as he remembers the
variety of country fairs and school commencements
and anniversaries and even sewing-circles
where he tried his youthful powers, and all for
experience alone, in the first few years, except
possibly for such a thing as a ham or a jack-knife!
The first money that he ever received for speaking
was, so he remembers with glee, seventy-five cents;
and even that was not for his talk, but for horse
hire! But at the same time there is more than
amusement in recalling these experiences, for he
knows that they were invaluable to him as training.
And for over half a century he has affectionately
remembered John B. Gough, who, in the
height of his own power and success, saw resolution
and possibilities in the ardent young hill-man,
and actually did him the kindness and the honor
of introducing him to an audience in one of the
Massachusetts towns; and it was really a great
kindness and a great honor, from a man who had
won his fame to a young man just beginning an
oratorical career.
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