Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-10-14
Wendell Philips Orauon at Har-
yard

He spoke perhaps two hours, perhaps
for half an Lour. But there was lie
sense OF the lapse OF tine. His voice IS
somewhat less strong, but It had al the
old force and the old music. He
was in constant action, never Vehe-
ment, never deciauatory In !oue.
walking often to and fro, every gesture
expressive, art perfectly concealing ar:
1t was all melod. ard grecs ana magic,
all wit and paradox aLd power. The
apt quotation. the iae metaphor, tho
careful accumulation Of Intensive tp..
tibet to point I'm au'iaciouI aid etartiiBe
assertion, the pathos, the hn:no-. Blu.
why try to describe beauty? 1t was
consummate art, and "a noble display
of high oratory rs any nearer or specta
tor had known.
1t is usually thought that there must
be great occasion for great oratory.
Burke and Chatham upon the floor oil
Parliament plead for America against
coercion; Adams and Otis and Patrick
Henery III vast popular assemblies fire
the Colonial heart to resist aggression
Webster lays the cornerstone OF
Bunker Hill, or in the Senate unmasks
secession in The euise Of political all
straction; Everett must have tie living
Lafayette by his side. But here is al
orator without an antagonist, with nc
measure to urge or oppose. whose sim
pie theme upon a literary occasion Ii
the public duty Of the scholar. But be
touches aud stirs and inspires every
listener; and as be quietly ends his
discourse with stsnZa of Lowell.s thai
be has quoted a hundred times, every
nearer feels that j, is historic day, ana
that what he has seen and heard vi jill be
one of the traditions of Harvard and o.
Phi Beta Kappa.
1t does not follow, because the audi
ence was charmed, and overlooked witt
expressions of delight, that it therefor.
agreed. When an orator calls thu
French Revolution "the greatest. thu
most unmixed, the most unstGined ant
wholly perfect blessing Europe has hs(
in modern times, unless, perhaps, w
may possibly except the Reformation,
there will be those who diifer-whO will
grant the benehcent results of revoIu
tions, as of wild storms of nature, blu
who will hesitate to call movement O
which the September days. the no
yades, and the bloody fury of brnta
mob were incidents, the moot unmixe'
and the most unstained of blessings
No American would undo emancipation
to which the life of the o,ator las Leel
devoted. 1t Was q great blessing to u
country and to humanity; but. iron
the blood of Lovejoy to that Of the las
victim of the war on either side, it wa
not an unstained and unnixed bless
ing. There is, indeed, a seuse IN wbicl
"to gar kings know" that they have
joint in their necks may in itself b
called an unstained political gam. Ba
since historically the lesson is laugh
only by the terrible suffering Of the in
nocent and the guilty together, it is, il
fact, terribly stained. "Ah T. said III
most benignant of men. lit was dc
liRhtful discourse, but preposterou
from beginning to end"
Yet its central idea, that it is the dut
of educated men actively to lead til
progress of their time, is; incoptesta
BILE. The orator, indeed, virtually ar
ranged his alma mater for moral hest
tation and timidity. But universit
lives in its children, and is judged b.
them; and surely the history OF civi
and and religious liberty in this couu
try. from Samuel Adams, James Oils
and Joseph Warren down to Charming
and Parker, Charles Sumner ant
Wendell Phillips, aud the brave boy
of whom Memorial Hall is the monu
ment, all of whom we're sons of Harvard
does not show that the old uuiversit.
has not contributed her share OF leader
ship Editors Easy Chair, in HaE
per's Magazine.