Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-01-02
Giadstoae. al. 4 .nxator,l i

holding small slip of paper In his
hand, and quietly looked around on the
multitude whose single gaze waS upon
him, he ieetned younger and mor6 In.
posing than he had done when Standink
chatting h tho lobby. One recognised
ct once, Hy his mere apprenticeship mo-
ton, ha be- was already ysem and,
proud VIII the ardor otSiprsnsicE cSnal
fict; that he loYel this arena on which
be stpod, and thst his whole soul vac In
the task bafbce him. a In his. first few
simple sentences, one already felfthe
sweet and persuasive power o., a vQice,
which, etsR id his agel hassperaspsi no
equal in sny assembly on earth. There
was the soul and life OF intense earnest
ness IN is sveiy first tones. as the com
monplacea opening of .the1,speech WAS
uttered /; nov 50 bdped, , 10 BE sure, but
soon to birn out and ,giow.with all the
| fire OF tho man swarm intellectual ma
ture. Tie next thing observed was the
| contrast between this smooth, steady
flow Of Words. Thu rising Auency Of
lausuageipouring cut long and invel yed
sentences without pause, a hitch, an
instant's ,oss Of the right word, and the
hating a,d hesitating oratory of most
English public men. After listening to
the stamnering OF Lord John Russell,
| the humping and having of the genial
| Palmerstan, and the studied abruptness
of Disradi, this rapid, steady, 1impid
quality q Mr. Gladstone's eloquence
was charming. TO. his wonderful thu,
ency,. the fexibility and strength as,
we'll as sweetness of his voice, added
striking effect; for it has depth, vol.
pme and wide range Of tone, and quick.
~ adapts, itself to the rhetorical need
Of the moment. ~
His style of speaking was easy and
simple. As he proceeded, he played
with piece OF paper in his hand, which
soon proved to contain the few notes he
had prepared; aud every now and then
he stroked the thin hair above his FORE
head with his forefinger or thumb, as
if to encourage the idea to come out
into expression. The gestures were at
| first few, the clenched hand occasionally
suddenly saving the air for moment,
then falling as suddenly prone at his
side. As he advanced, he often straight
ened himself up from q colloquial to
declamatory posture, with his head
thrown back, his sunken dark eyes glis-
tening from beneath the heavy brow,
and the strong jaw seeming to set, as
for q serious purpose ; and then he
would, as he passed to another branch
of the subject, relapse into the oonver.
sational attitude again. The move
ments, it could be easily seen, were
quite unstudied; the impulse OF
the moment guided the action of head
and hand, or the expression of the
speaking features. As he warmed to
his subject, his action became more ex-
cited, and his gestures more frequent.
Now, his head was almost every mo-
ment high in the air, his hands would
be clasped as if in appeal, be turned
often to the right and to the left, or
bent over the table in front of him.
Every attitude was at once ungraceful
and strong. The spontaneitv, the ear
nestness, made even the orators occa-
sional awkwardness eloquent while
the continual, unhesitating, liquid flow
of the words and sentences, and the
solid chain of thought, most often d.
verted the listeners mind from the ges-
lures altogether.
You recognized at once that this was
not an ex'empore speech, in the sense
of being delivered off hand, and with
out preparation. Every point had been
thought over carefully, every series of
figures conned, the array of the general
current of the argument duly and
methodically arranged in the mind.
But the words, the sentences, the few
telling figures of the speech, came with
voluble spontaneity. The opening de-
ceived you somehow into the idea that
the flow of the harangue would be
sweet and serene throughout. But be-
fore Mr.. Gladstone had been speaking
fifteen minutes, he seemed, Us Sydney
Smith said of Webster, "a steam engine
in trousers" No orator was ever more
susceptible to the warming-up process,
caused by the very act of speaking,
than he. No orator ever became more
wrapt, more absorbed, in the task be.
fore him. You felt profoundly that he
was speaking from the most firmly
rooted convictions that the cause he
advocated was buried deep in his hears,
and was the outcome alike OF conscience
and intellectual self-persuasion. The
dominant idea with him was, not to
make great display, not to produce o
refined and polished. of bit of eloquence,
but to persuade and to convince. He pro.
duced that powerful effect upon his
nearer, which is one of the highest tri-
amphs of oratory, that made you feel
ashamed and perverse not to agree with
him and be persuaded.-GEoRaE NJ.
TowLE. in Good Company.
The Lost FoUND.-My iatler was 3
| farmer. He had an old watch, by
which he set great store. One day
while experimenting the harvesting
operations he lost this watch. An in
slant search was made all over the field;
but it could not be found. Many Irish
laborers were busy cutting the corn;
they were all examined, but still no
clew could be found to the lost chro-
nometer. One day ten years after, as my
father was standing in the same field
watching the sowing of some wheat,
he observed something extraordinary
lying among the newly ploughed earth.
It was the old gold watch, looking
rather dirty; but there it had remained
while one crop after another had been
sown and reaped; and, singular to re-