The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-01
rs ANNA E. DICKINSON A DEMOS
THEMES2

1hhNEO!
We regret exceedingly that so amiable per-
sonage as Miss Anna E. Dickinson should have
taken in ill-temper the complimentary notice
which we gave in advance of her performance
last night. The prevailing taste is peculiar, and
we have no disposition to underrate her power
to crafty it. The age which delights in the
daring feats of the trapeze women, the opera
bouffe, the ballet, and the blonde burlesque
actresses finds in her vixenish diatribes the fitting
intellectual counterpart of its other favorite
amusements. She possesses, in an eminent
degree, the remunerative talent of drawing
a crowd, and while the dollars continue
to pour in at the ticket Office she can
well afford to snap her fingers at cap
tious critics. and denounce them as creatures
beneath her sovereign contempt. With keen
eve to the main chance, she can even turn them
to advantage, because each new object of assault
adds to the piquancy of her discourse; and, when
her audiences grow weary of denunciations of
mankind in general, they can be refreshed by
attacks upon individuals in detail. 1t seems,
however, that she is aggrieved because we no
longer regard her as q Demosthenes or a Cicero.
Sad and shameful as the confession may be we
fear that VIC are scarcely prepared TO rank her
in the category of the great orator-statesmen of
the world. We are ready to acknowledge that she
may equal, in invective, the most abusive of
declaimers. She may have fought the Rebels
with her tongue-as ferociously as Cicero
fought Cataline, and her attacks upon Abra-
ham Lincoln, Ulysses s. Grant, and
THE EVENING TELEGRAPH may have
been as sharp as the thrusts Demosthenes gave TO
his enemies. But Cicero and Demosthenes were
capable of advising, aiding, and serving their
country; and the one talent which Miss Dickin-
son possesses, in common with her cXemplars,
by no means entities her to rank as their equal
in other respects. She has made terrible blum
ders in the use of her powers when she seriously
strove to influence practical affairs Gas, for in
stance, in 1864, in opposing the nomination of
Abraham Lincoln and advocating Fremont and
in 1868, in opposing General Grant and adyo-
eating Chase) and when sharp tongue is not
under the command of a good judgment it is a
twO-edged sword that generally does more harm
than good. Nevertheless, as the public
goes to hear Anna for the purpose
of being entertained and amused, and
not to receive instruction, she can
retain her present position as a popular lecturer
without doing much mischief, and console her
self with the reflection that while crowds will
flock to hear and applaud her, her conscience
need not be burdened with the fear that she
seriously lnHuenCes pupllc oplhloh'
AS for her new topic of ''Woman's Suffrage,
it is discussed by some writers and speakers in q
style that deserves respect, but she treats il
mainly as a pretext for assailng mankind, and al
men are willing to pay roundly for the privilege
of hearing themselves abused in good set terms
1t matters little to the advocate what becomes o
the cause; and she can be as Indifferent to III
final triumph as lawyers are to the Termination
of protracted suit in chancery. She scarcel,
ever attempts to convince; she presents no argu
ments which are worth combating; but as he
popularity is largely due to her avoidance
serious discussion, she displays acuteness in th
practice of her profession, and the fate OF TN
Women's Rights agitation is a secondary matter
1t was not in this spirit or in this manner tina
Cicero and DemOsthenes appealed to their coun
trymen on the current questions of their day
and heretical as we may be, we cannot give NJ
the belief that, in the particulars specified, evel
the eloquent Miss Dickinson falls far beloY
thsR.