During the last two years he has made discoveries and brought to light much interesting new material relating to the early history of George Washington. A new lecture has been prepared by Mr. Ellsworth on the subject, which I was invited to hear at his home, Esperanza Farm, near New Hartford, Conn., in August, 1900. This has certainly proved the most interesting and charming of all. Gifted with a descriptive voice that is strong, resonant, and absolutely faultless in delivery, with the personal magnetism that is so essential to a lecturer’s success, Mr. Ellsworth is unquestionably one of the best-equipped men for an instructive and entertaining lecture that the lyceum has yet produced. From one of Mr. Ellsworth’s lectures the rising generation can obtain more knowledge of the early history of our nation than from a whole winter of hard study. School boards and teachers are beginning to find out that one of the simplest and most thorough means of instruction nowadays is the lecture platform. In the city of New York there is hardly a public school that does not have a large hall set aside for lectures. Last year over three thousand free lectures were given in the public schools in Greater New York on nearly every possible educational topic, generally illustrated with stereopticon pictures which greatly enhanced their value. In this special line great advances are being made, and they are due to the fact that such men as Mr. Ellsworth, who have something to give in return for what they receive, are available for the work. [Illustration: COPYRIGHT 1897 BY ROCKWOOD N.Y. ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS] Anthony Hope Hawkins was discovered by Robert Barr, who first went to London in the interests of the Detroit _Free Press_. One night Barr, then editing _The Idler_ with Jerome K. Jerome, met a thin, pale, bald young barrister who talked so charmingly about books that Barr, who is big, burly, bouncing, and straightforward, asked him: “Do you do anything of the sort?” Mr. Hawkins confessed, with a blush, that he did when not painfully busy. “I’ll come and read some of ’em to-morrow,” said Barr. And he did. After he had read the last sheet he said: “Say, Hawkins, how much have you got like this?” “Considerable.” “Want to sell it?” “Why--why, yes, I’d like to.” “How much do you want a thousand words?” Hawkins was amazed. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Would a pound be too much?” Barr laughed. “You don’t know much about this business, do you?” he asked. “Absolutely nothing.” “Well,” drawled Barr, “I’ll give you several pounds a thousand, and we’ll start publishing right away.” Beneath the title of each sketch Mr. Hawkins had written: “By Anthony Hope.” “Ought I to put my last name there?” he asked. “It doesn’t make any difference about the name,” answered Barr; “it’s the stuff that counts.” And count it did.