The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-10-20

the most part, were made from "head-
ings.' Probably there never was in
the United States senate u man who
needed less preparation than James G.
Blaine. He is infallible in history and
impregnable in debate. His memory
of facts and faces is absolutely wonder
full. He can begin with William the
Conqueror and give you the name of
every sovereign of England down to
Victoria, with the dates of their reigns.
Now and then the senator would give
his personal attention to the printing of
speech. One morning Oyster found
him busy cutting up copy" for the
printers. "Hello, Oyster, Pm ahead of
you. See, Pm dividing copy" eyes,
Senator, ! see you're ahead of me; but
| went home only six hours ago, and
shall be here for sixteen consecutive
hours" Well, l know its bard work,
Oyster I've been at it. and know what
night work means"
Voorhees, prepares his speeches care
fully and revises moderately. He is
one of the few-very few-men who
use manuscript in such way that not
a single oratorical grace is diminished
thereby. Whether this is because he
commits his speech well to memory or
not we could never tell We rather
think he does. But with or without
manuscript, Voorhees, is an orator of
the first school. AS a rule, the very
sight of manuscript in the hands of 81
speaker is enough to nerve one for a
bore. Demosthenes was right when he
said: "Oratory is delivery-delivery-
delivery" and delivery is killed by
manuscript.
Jones, of Florida, always hard stu
dent. labors diligently at set speech.
He is passionately fond of Edmund
Burke, and knows his works as we new
er knew any other to know them. He
has u memory equal to Blaine's or Ben
Hills, and time and again have we
heard him repeat page after page of
Burke's immortal speeches. 1t is the
same with the speeches of Phillips,
Grattan, Cnrren and O'Connell. Jones
is very able man. His democracy is
extreme, but out of politics he is one of
tee best fellows the world over.
Davis, of West Virginia, though an
old member of the senate, has made
but one speech-on agriculture. It
was printed exactly as it was written.
His remarks are left to the tender mer-
cies of the stenographer.
Beck, Davis colleague on the COM
mittee Of appropriations, is the most
rapid talker in either house of congress,
Well for him that the senate has such
a stenographer as Dennis Murphy,
whose hand travels over paper like
lightning. We doubt if his equal could
be found anywhere. Beck is an untir-
ing worker, has the constitution of n
Kentucky race horse, and no amount
of labor is too heavy for him. He is
not much of reviser, going on the
principle of Pontius Pilate-quod scipsi,
scripsi. He is as blunt as joey Bag
stock, and as good natured as Mark
Tapley. AS there are mo leaves to
print" in the senate, no senator can
publish speech without having at
least read it from manuscript. The
first poge of the daily Res9rd is quite a
desideratum as the place to air the title
of speech, and many grave senator
who would willingly sit at the end of
McGregor's table is loath to have his
speech hidden in the middle of the
Record. In vain to attack SOlomon's
theory about VARIETY Washington Re
nnbEcnn.