The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1879-02-25
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THE LECTURE.
On "reminiscences Of Great Men.

Rev. Van Wagser delivered . lecture
last night At ,hs Congregational Church
upcn the above subjsct, Of which the follow.
ing is . synopsis:
Man is the only animal that has the sift
OF speech. A iev gutieral sound Of rrcog-
ui,ion, of signs Of fear and distress. is all
that The beast can utter; iew notes Ut
song Of bird. il all that il can MARBLE. Be-
yond these ali is silence, and they have no
way to further express their feelings and
wants. Bat man po--e--es this power in 4
wonderful degree. Every thought, feeling.
desire, affection, ies.. hope, want, pleasure
or pain, he can express with wonderful
fuIlne,s and ease and precision. Human
Language j. . marvel. Words TO express
tie various shades Of meAnin. have multi
piled until they have almost become bur-
den, AID are rapidly multiplying still. aud
every les edition If Webster ar Worcester
has a large addition 10 lis vocabulary.
And the number OF words hut slightly ex.
press their power of speech. The human
voice has wcndrous capacities. Its powers
Of infection and expression and inion.tIon
are endless. Every voice h,s Its own pecu-
lar vibration and tone, distinguishing il
from ever other voice. and yet within its
comp,ss are endless possibilities. Man can
whisper as softly ~ The zephyr. and he can
thunder like the voice ii God. He can
play On the heartstrings with every coneeiv-
able variety of tore, and the eve and hand
aud feet AMI form and cheek and Lip and
nostrii, even, all mite to swell she marvel
lous gait of .peech.
Woman's voice is hung upon another
key, and has an e'oquence all ils own. iou
can distinguish il Instantly among ten
thousand, and il charms and fascinates YOU
nj once. II will turn your head in rail
road coach in . fash against your will.
She can sing like an angel and soo,he you
hotter than an opiaie. ard set you half crazy
with few bewiicbing tones, ard scare Won
half out Of your senses with one Of her
irowns. and quite our OF them with one al
her smiles. Ali al which are paris oil speech
And vet, with all these powers and pos
sibiliiie>. real el"qu-nee Is rather an ex-
c-ptional gilt. II We lock over the page OF
history, NJ will find few nsE.es that have
come dDwn Ia u that have Pc.s-s-td that
power to any suierlaiive degree. Cicero.
Demo-,hencs. Pitt. Cox, Burke, Sheridan
ihose are about all the names that have
come down io us that have an enduring
repat alton for elciuence. An! in our own
country the men Of might, in the varions
professions If pulpit, forum and halls OF
legislature that vi have an enduring fame
Tor eioquence are few, ard yet every man
and every woman is eloquent 80 \ certain
degree.
The speaker then proceeded TO speak o!
Webster. Clay. Preston. Rives. Wise. Ewing.
Chase. Corwin. Sherman, Lincoln. Finney.
Siorrs, B.echer-all II whom he had list
ened io, .nd gave some "reminiscences oi
them and characteristic anecdotes, and
closed wi,h an appeal ior the cultivation Of
the Voice in reading snd conversation and
singing. rs God's wonderful git TO man.
that all might he eloquent in our various
spheres.
The audience was good, ard the lecture
seemed to give general satisfaction.