The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-10-21
EIOquence Extraordinary.

lu All address lately delivered before
the Young Mems Association in Great
Bend, Tenn, and published by request Of
the association, We 6nd the following clo-
giant, eloquent and perspieuous passages.
The Grafton opens thus;
"To chide the rapveLensi0le is al i'm
pulse Of humanity, but to ilnper5onate the
transgressor, is to surrender il guilt This
surrender comedies an implication abso-
lutte as it is universal of man 8 relationship
as transgressor, and of his involvement in
the limitleSs expansion Of excepticnable
undertakings. The extension OF this in,
Folvemcnt varies like its magnitude il the
ratio of its intensity-in the indulgence
of its participants-and in the complexity
of its aspiration"
That's So lfanybody contradicts that
statement, it must be because he dent
understand tor is wilfulIy captious and
wrong headed. Here the orator again :
(his subject is the "Romance OF Reform y
"Romance IF reform lies not in glitter
ing phdntosn,S, dazzling the inpetuous
with blazes Of excellence not Ia vague
sentimentallsm rcproaching the langu0r
Of sudden vicisitude; not in national eel
ebrations from party emiusnco or halcvon
repose-not in rattling thundeTS Of boil
Ing eloquence, or in q patriot $ zeal for his
country's good; but it lies in substituting
the calm repose of regularity for the wild
madness of intensity end pertuIberstIcu.
"Impetuous blazes of excellence" Is
good, but it dou't come up to "rattling
thunder Of boiling eloquence." But lne
p the language is, the thought is the
thug. How clear and precise how oIigi,
nal aud yet how obvious! But hear him
again:
"Some Of our ladies find this romance
mid fouuces and osteaa.ion, mid luxury
and expense. rid smattcrers CT French
peppered with Latin, or Latin sated with
Greek, or Greek hashcd with German
To petrify their brains with problems Of
dishes would be bowing up the rampant,
Of beauty and fortune; pjii4ging the flow,
or pots of geraniam magnifcence and ia
sulting the bounties of a benevolent God
The hot aired furnace; the atteGuated VIZ
age; the wasted finger the powdered var
nish the wasp like waste are to thcs
sublimated attainment3, sterreot7D4d a
the magnets to pauperizcd neglect"
What will "somc of our ladies" say tc
that? What does he mean e" by blowing
up the ramparts of beauty p The Oh
security can't be in the writer, and must
therefore lie in our own Ignorance. Still
we ask-what are the ramparts of beauty
Echo only answers, " beauty" which
thows no light ON the subject, and is proba
bly, intended as simp.e note Of admira
fion at the authors style. What does he
mean by blowing up the ramparts, &c
A thought strikes US ?-it's the swell Of
the erinoIine! Hoops by ali that's ex
travagant! Hoops whoop ,--hurrah
But marx the orators felicity of dictiol
in the passage about "pillagins the flow
erpots of geranium magni6ccnce," is there
anything finer than thatin Carlyle or En-
erson? Hear him once more:
"Such q theme needs no epitasis. i
needs no Amphitheater with its lgnatiu;
irritating the ioius 10 accelerate his glory
1t needs not the intellect Of an Origen
the infexibility OF I.amentius or tbs
suavity Of PoRtiuS for it1 apodopsis."
Clear as mud perspicuous as " Brah-
ma |" Let US pause for while to ponder
these maxims of wisdom. 1t is enough
for one day.