Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-03-01
.HisceTamcOEs Reading

DR. B4RroL's Euuoor or Hrs-

In thousands Of ships, by almost millions
of mariners TO whom by baptism of the Holy
Ghost he Was father who christened their
babes, his fame war borne to every port. The
sailor eays he has been where the United
States had not been heard Of, but never
where Father Taylor had not. How did
man.-no discoverer iu the kingdom OF ideas,
no martyr Of principle, nor marshal Of opin-
ions so touch the common mind The an
swer is that word about whose application we
are ALWAYS in quarrel or doubt,-genius. His
casual talk was better than any preparation
his impromptu his finest performance.
gown would have wrapped his talent IN a
napkin. He put on no dress nor garland.
He was as inspired at the street corner as adj
dressing a throng There was grandeur in
his trivial converse, and hun OF in his grave
discourse. lie provoked loughter in the con-
gregauon, and wet your eyes with bis phi
vate greeting; put you in church with his
grace at table, made an April day Of smiles
and tears at mis- evening yestry or oyercame
YOU with solemuity IN your house, 50 that
YOU were inclined 70 say 1t thundered, OF an
angel spake TO him. One said be was like
cannon, better on the common than IN tue
parlor. But in your sitting-rOom he
could be a flute. Ee was a man-ot-war, or
tender and soft as a maid. In accidental en-
counters he melted hard-iaced persons with
his uathos. or surprised the despondent into
good cheer with consultations ehectual be-
cause before undreamcd. In all this was no
calculation. As the spirituallsts say, he was
under control. lie was an Italian improvisa-
tor in America, an eLtemporaneous spea ker
condensed beyond example, with combustion
and no dilution.
There was in Taylor Infinite case. His dis
play Of power cost him TO more effort than
Tor the sea to roll or the wind TO blow. Il
would but have been hard 70 resist his influx
and inspiration. He had at his mercy alike
0ur pocket and our heart. Yet this gracious
respect had in it no weak gushing, nor the
smallest leak. Ii he ever boiled, he never
slopped over, ike George Washington, whose
temper was csldron, If not an awkwardly
lifted pail. lie carried no lo0klng-glass OF sell
admiration or mutual admiration. His ex-
trayagance was elevation. His glowing com
mendatiOn Of the men and women, hls fellow
laborers, was like the luster with which the
sun aatters the mountain tops. His approach
was no defiance OF assault; but he always ac-
..rpted a challenge with courage that was
.ssartesy in the duel from which he never ran.
lie was nothing if not spontaneous. His orig
ina,ity was never insOlence, ike that Of Mr..
Browns0n who told his audience their resent
ment Of his doctrine proved it, truth. His
marvellous supleuess of FIBER and organ made
his whole BODY tongue " hen the ballet
girls came out in the theater and commenced
their astonishing prouettes, he, sitting on
the front row, turned round to the spectators
with look that diverted the house from the
snoctacls and outdid all the mimicres of the
stage. He was as ingrained an actor as Gar
rick or Kean. lie did not believe in preach
ing from notes. and making a speech at a
meeting of his brethren, he took Of 4 clergy
man confined to his manuscript looking from
his page to his hearers, gazing one way and
resticulating another, to the conclusive
laughter Of the victims he scJfed. remem-
her him personating dervish in his spinning
raptures, so that to see that oriental charac-
ter one had no need to travel. There was in
his word a primitive for,e none could with
stand. Move little; accommodation is a
part Of reli ision,' he said to some one who
took up TO much room in a crowded seat; and
as though his request were favor, and in
such quaint phrsze they had received pres
ent, they moved. Taylor's thought touched
heaven. At eight years old he went through
all the motions Of the minister's service, not
stopping with sermon and prayer lie must
also have funerals. But how to get the bodies?
By shying stones at chickens, and having OBJ
seouies over their remains When the sun
ply failed, or perhaps, for the cruelty. his
heart misgave him, the little resurrectiopist
dug I'D the bodies for second performance
Mourners, too, were necessary; and for that
Office be required the negro children on the
plaoe to fill. If words would not move the
law things, he whipped them into the traces
of bis machine Of grief. His acting was no
Illusion or trick, but perfect nature, and so
perfect art. lie could not, like Delsarte, have
picked out the muscle TO express heaven or
hell How he did ii he knew not Great ora
tors have studied their motions in a glass
But if he ever saw his own face for a mo-
mcnt, be must have strsightway have forgot
ten what manner of man he was. Never was
a less selfconscious countenance,-mOre ig-
norant of It's own looks. The Cape Ann far
mer said Rufus Choate could cant his coun-
tenance so as to fetch tears out OF you in two
minutes. But there was no canting in Tsy-
lor.
Of true genius sympathy is a mark. In
- "N7 la4etu " lilt ulShSob iOnti' hN
not only saw into people, but out of them or
saw as they did from their center; and for
biz eyeglasses put on their eyes. His word
grew out Of the occasion; his feeling was
generated on the spet His thought fell like
an arolite, and did not crystalize like gem.
Or. Claiming had views; be had visions.
He preached as the birds sang. lie could not
help it or help himself Where he stood was
drama, not a desk. He was the character
IN "Midsummer-Night's Dream" it matter
ed not what part he took Riches dropped
from him unawares, like pearls from Prince
hsterhazy's dress. His concern was wide as
hls race. His was a southern heart married
70 northern brain. He went back to Vir-
glnla and asked to see Johnny, the little boy
he had played with at school fifty years be-
lore, and they brought ma white-haired old
man "nd Taylor came home and represented
tAd and gray-beard with bis marvellous trans
iTnrhatlons, needing no stage-dress. He enter
Gu ih'o every nature; with the Dutch painter