Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-11-27
"BOb" iugersoll.

a little more ihan year ago Robert G. lnger
soil burst upon the world like blazing meteor
lie had been known to the bar of Illinois as
brilliant lawyer. lie had been known to few
| beyond his own local realm as the most daring
Of "lree thinkers" and as the author of the most
| Offering and wicked epigrams. 1t was his impi-
| Gus tongue that, piraphraslng Pope, pronounced
IAN honest God the nobest work OF man." Ii
was his nreyerent pen that said he would have
| made world in which health, and not disease,
should be contagious. But TO the great mass he
vas unknown, when suddenly, with single
b,und, he leaped into natona! fame.
That speech at the Cincinnati Convention, which
made The whole boundless continent his, was
wonderful. piece Of oratory. Its music still ring.
the and It's fire still CLOVIS in the heart of all
sho heard it. The occasion was full of inspira
ion. There was all the thrill Of a great and ex.
cited Convention, There was the glittering prize
Of the Presidency at stake. There were ont
thousand picked men of the country and ten
thousand eager listeners, all wrought up to the
nighesi pitch Of feeling. Every circumstance was
favorable. 10 sharpen the contrast of shade aud
hight Richard H. Dana had Just stumbled through
he poorest speech ia VIII ch an able man ever
biuudured In.eIsoll took tae stand amid a tenn
p, stuOus roar Of cheers, which would have set the
blood dsucing iIOm u heart Of adamant AAhd
what ID speech. The fist sentence, answering
Daua's unfortunate uueiauce, was like pistol
shot. 1t echoed through the vast hall 1t startled
and Inilamed The tumuituOus audience and was
answered OAck 18th the approving shouts of ten
thousand voices In single electric sentence the
orator had made captive every man before him
\ I'd hen Ia. fin. haI
~ thM cal and meodiOus, pictorial aud pleas
ing, magnetic that 1t carried all the spell of the
magcan's wand. SO true is it that
The gates which triple steel exclude
Resls,Iess eloquenee shall enter.
With that marvellous speech, the name of Inger
soll was every lip. lie has never made another
like 1t. No man could maintain such standard
llls campaign speeches, great as they were, diff
cred nom the picture OF "the plumed knight. 3"
That was one sustained, uubioken flight of elo-
qlenCe; the Others have exhibited much of the
genius, but have varied IN character and quality.
His lecture last week displayed his matches pow
81 aud showed more OF the real man. Ii was a
CONSTANT cuiruscauon. The orator opened with a
striking autIlhesi,; then shot out sparkling cpl.
| gram; then lcll into the funniest colloqualism
next entrauccd his auditors with the most graphic
| and beautiful pictures; then cunvulsed them with
| a surprising bit OF delicious humor; then famed
~ fey inyuctlvc; then startled and shocked with
some bold biaspheuyi nexr sOftened into the
most musical cadences; then fla he'd with the keen
edge oil "a Damascus blade; and again mounted to
the Utttest heights OF luspnng eloquence. 1t wa.
| an extraordinary piece of oratoty-great and
common, brilliant and almost grotesaue, full o,
surprise and captivating even while 1t appalled,
| What shall we say OF It's matteri Ii was moi
marked by deep thought 1t didn't 90 to the
root Of Things. 1t was series Of pictures ratbel
tuan an ttlJrt of reasoning. 1t argued by asser
ION aud us iogic was an epgIam. 1t took com
mon thOuE hts aud made them shine with A glitter
ny dress. Bat IN dealing with sacred things
"haI an lcouoclast! The uugodiy speaker, with
I"lnh!e IN his eye and heamIng smile on hi
iace, seemed 10 delight in the most sacrilegiou
sayiuss. lie revoked all sense of reverence apt
u-ht wniic he pleased every fancy. With all hi
genus there Is a tone about hun which wins tt,
name OF Bob" He Is the wIckedest if not tn
sJcates OF orators ABaay Journal.