The Portland daily press., 1876-11-24
THE ORATOR AND THE WRITER.


feeling lie itself, it is "views' upon life that
she tries to feel.-Henry James, Jr.
[Harper's.l
THE ORATOR AND THE WRITER.
MIR. Sumner once delivered a speech at the
Cooper Institute which the audience had 10
their hands. And Mr.. Emerson, always chary
OF his manuscript, when he expressed reluc-
tance to let reporter look over his lecture to
make an abstract, was amazed when told that
IL would be most attractive ADVERT sement. If
oratory were only the communication of infor.
nation or the statement of an argument the
presentation of facts or the recapitulation of
statistics, the newspaper would soon dispose of
the orator. But all this is but an element a
material, OF oratory That is not merely the
statement or the argument. Nor is it only
rhetorical, or passionate, or picturesque appeal.
But it is all these, penetrated and glowing with
the power Of living speech. 1t is what is called
magnetism, fascination, nameless delight.
Nothing is harder to convey in description or
in the very words than eloquence, which is the
name for the deepest charm of speech. Where
1t lies is not to be said. 1t is the most elusive
OF secrets. 1t is the spell of the magician, but
it is not in the wand nor in the words. 1t is
not the voice, the mien, the movement, the
tone, although it may seem to be in all. 1t is
the song of the cuckoo
Which made me look thousand ways,
In bush, and tree and sky"
Jefferson said that he listened enchanted to
Patrick Henry, but he could not remember
what he said. He might as well have tried to
reproduce the music of the wind harp 1t was
Charles Fox, if we remember correctly, who
sala to the young man who told him that he
had heard most eloquent speech from Burke,
and could repeat every word of it, 'It was not
very eloquent if you can remember the words"
Eoquence is the tone of the picture, the
rhythm of the music. A shrewd observer said
that he always remarked peculiar cadence in
eloquent speech; and it is not unusual for alo-
quence to leave the hearer spiritually elevated
in manner for which the words do not ac-
count. Until men become insensible to this
power. the newspaper will not supersede the
orator, nor the Campaign document the
stump speaker.-Editor's Easy Chair.
[Scribner.l
GEORGE ELIOT AND BoHEMIANlsM.
Has any of the thousand critics of Daniel
Dsronda done justice tothe story as a vndica-
tion of Bohemianism? In this regard the book
is supreme. The 'best society" has been
laughed at, sneered at patronized, made ridic-
ulous often enough before; but has it ever been
put so completely at disadvantage, intellect
ually and spiritually, as in Daniel Deronda?
Nor can it be said that any injustice is done
The Philistine is not refused the need of good
mitted certain admiration. The 'best
society has done its best for him; he has
elegance" and he has the interest and at
traction Of being perfect of his kind. But for
all this, his overthrow and that of his class is
the more conspicuous; tis he-the motives, the
ideas, the life which he represents-that is
made contemplate.
We suppose, however, that the ''best soc-
ety. will be found as long lived as Mr.. Warner
describes the effste Ottoman civilization to be-
The principle of caste has its roots deep in the
human heart. Even Bohemia has its 'best
society" One of the most consistent Bohe-
mlans that we know confessed to us not long
ago, that In dreamland he is always an aristo-
crat. His most frequent hallncination in
sleep is that of intimacy with the Court of ST.
James. Queen Victoria is always insisting
that he should spend the afternoon and go out
driving with her.-Ine Old Cabinet.
1.-THE Atlantic.l
MUSIC AND PAINTING FOR WOMEN
OF the two pursuits, painters or musi-
clans, considered not as arts but as accom-
pishments merely, the former appears to me
infinitely more desirable for woman than the
latter far more frequently cultivated one. The
one is sedative, the other an acute stimulans
to the nervous system. The one is a perfectly
independent and always to be commanded oc.
cupatinn; the other imperativey demands an
instrument, utters an audible challenge to
attention, and must either command solitude
or disturb any society not inclined to become
an audience The one cultivates habits of care
full accurate observation of nature, and re-
quires patient and precise labor in reproduce
ing her models; the other appeals powerfully
to the Imagination and emotions, and charms
almost in proportion as it exctes its vo.aries
With regard to natural aptitude, the most
musical of nations-the German-shows by
impartial training of its common schools how
universal it considers certain degree of mu-
sical capacity.
1 am persuaded that to the same degree (of
course am not speaking of that high order of
endow ment which is always exceptionally the
artistic faculty exists in every child. L do not
think there are more inaccurate eyes than imper-
feet ears, or heavy fingers for the pencil and the
brush than for the strings or keys of instru-
ments, nor do suppose defective sense of
color more common than defective sense of
sound. Aud considering what time and money
naturally poor musical endowment among
English and American girls, the frequent neg
lect of the simplest elementary training in
drawing can hardly be justified merely upon
the ground of deficient natural capacity
Fanny Kemble's Old W0nlan'S Gossip.
[Scribner.
THE SULTAN PRAYs.
Suddenly, do not know how, or from what
quarter, the feeling, for 1 could not call it in
formation, was diffused that the successor OF
the Prophet would pray at the mosque in Or
takei and that he would 60 by caique; and Wa
all scampered up the road a mile or two, racing
carriages, troops and foot men, in eager outset.
in order to arrive before the pious man. The
mosque stands upon the Bosphorus, where its