Article August 19, 1905 Issue

The Lecture Work

BY A MEMBER OF THE BOARD.

This important branch of the service should be thoughtfully considered by the Field. The convenience and best interests of both the churches and the lecturers should be taken into account. The Field should realize that there are only fifty-two Sundays in each year, and therefore it is not possible to have Sundays lectures only. They should also remember that October and May have only thirty-one days each, and therefore it is not possible to have all the lectures in these two months. Judging from the many calls for Sunday lectures and for dates in October and May, the lectures might easily suppose that the Field had overlooked the above points.

The lecturers have a wide territory to cover. When a lecturer starts out on a trip his desire, very properly, is to utilize his time to the best advantage, both for himself and the churches. He could not do this successfully if he lectured only on Sundays and were idle the remainder of the time, for often he must go a long distance from home to give a lecture. Again, if all lectures were to be given in October and May the number of lecturers would have to be greatly increased.

The lecturer must arrange his trips long in advance, usually three or four months. He must consult time-tables, calculate distances, and allow for uncertainty of railroad schedules in many localities. As a rule he has arranged his dates before starting out, so that he cannot respond to way calls. When it is learned that an appointment has been made at a given place, other near-by places often send in calls for lectures about the same time; but the lecturer most likely has already given dates beyond this one, so that he has none open. Hence the importance of making early application. While in some places it may be desirable to have the lecture in an opera house, it is not always neces sarily so. The writer has found that as good an attendance is had, and as good results obtained, where the lecture has been in a church or a hall of some fraternal society.

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