The Worthington advance., 1879-04-03
MODELS OF ORATORY.

Harvard College to engage Wendell
Phillips rs II professor to teach the stu.
dents the principles Of oratOry, rather
intimating 1T the same time that the
lessons which they do receive are of an
Inferior character. II it was not for !.
few such public speakers ns Phillips,
the growing youth Of the country would
mistake ''Sunset" Cox or VOORHEES, for
eloquent speakers, and our simple Eng
llsh speech would I've corrupted by the
influence Of such popular models. But
every country boy who hears Phillips
learns that the plainest, simplest aud
most direct language, with thought be-
hind it, is the most effective speech
Rutland Herald.
Twelve years ago we took the ground
that Wendell Phillips was the most el-
oquent speaker before the American
public, using the term ''eloquence" in
Its true sense of persuasive. The old
style of actor at the head of which For
est stood. and the old style of orator of
which Clay WAS probably the best ex-
ample we have had, is passing away.
The people have discovered that vei,e-
ment utterance and gesticulation, off,
en- full Of sound and fury signifyinE
nothing," is not oratory.
THE POET OF THE NEW ERA.
The aeligio-P Philosophical Journal, of
March Sth, contains sensible article
under the title of IA Drag upon Spir-
jtualism," commenting on the mass of
platitude, bad grammar and nonsense
which is given out through mediums as
from the spirits Of those who achieved
some eminence before death. For years
1t was just this which kept us from in
vestigating the subject. The nonsense
purporting to come from Byron, Burns.
Poe, and other poets, and which in mer.
It was hardly up to the average of
school girl effusions, led us to the hasty
conclusion that the whole thing was a
prctense and fraud. Becoming salts
fled, however, of the fact of spirit COM
mu"ication, we began to think there
was some force in the explanation that
~ performer, however skilled, could not
produce good music without a good in.
:strument.
Tho Journal is correct in saying that
the best Of the mediums shave rarely
given us an extemporaneous produc-
tion that could be compared in merit
with the best work of Tennyson, Long.
fellow and Whittier" The Journal,
however, should not overlook the fact
that the productions of Mrs. Richmond
and other trance speakers are improri.
sations. These efforts are extempore
addresses in metre ard rhyme, and,
even if we admit that they are from
spirits, we should not expect that per.
lection i'll detail which can be attained
only by labor and long preparation, any
more than we should expect an off-hand
talk from any of our great orators tc
equal thei- elaborately prepared ora
tions. We have read Il number of these
improvisations through trance-medi
ums which, so far rs subject matte,
and lofty thought are concerned, were
beyond anything in Milton or Dante
but the execution is generally so lamt
and the style so diifuse, that we would
not wish to preserve them in that form
We can wait for the poet OF the New
En-. to gather up and condense, by lone
and patient effort, such as Milton ex
pended upon Paradise Lost, the won
dcrful ideas which, are now floating
about III the great mass of spiritualis
tic literature. Whoever essays thi:
great task must be q poet born, must
lay Nature and Art under tribute t
adorn his work, and must condense
polish, re-write and perfect details, al
oil great poets have done who's,
voices have prevailed over time" a.
Goldsmith expresses it. As Milton EN-
lntlied the Old Theology in y lasting
epic, so the New Theology or Philoso
phy needs great poet to give expires
sion to the wonderful thoughts nov
flowing in under the generic name O
''spiritual.'
TITEOLOGIANS AND THDATREA
The st. Paul Pioneer j, ress recent,