Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-11-04
TIE DYNAMITE mvecuE OF rHl sT0Me
Nashville American.

kaSnYliIG American.
There seems to be an increasing
disposition, which we are sorry TO
see, upon the part of many political
speakers, to indulge in coarse cpl
thets when commenting upon some
public parsonage or the remarks OF
such person, when they happen to
be of different political faith.
When a person wishes to deny Il
statement made by another, it is
not always absolutely necessary, in
order to impress upon the audience
the point desired to be established,
which is to squelch your adversary,
to Say that the other man Is liar,
and his statement is lie, or that he
Is even black-hearted falsitier,
and that his declaration is rs false
as Hades. An average orator can
get the benefit of II disposition to
refute Il proposition, or correct an
opponent, before an ordinarily in
telligent crowd, without using such
highly charged explosives, and il
he is in neighborhood where they
use church and SchOOl-h"use, a
simple statement that his adversary
was mistaken, and that he was not
altogether an infallible public in
structor, would answer his purpose
Just as well, and is not quite so like
~ to produce bad blood. Nor is it
essential in order to give an audi
ence clear insight into the objec-
tionable conduct of an Individual
who sees proper, for some reason
that he endeavOrs TO show is sutfi-
cient, to quit the party to which he
formerly belonged and attach him
self to another, to call him white
livered migrate; patronage-cor-
rupted deserter or sneaking
traitor, who for the loaves and fishes
disgracefully betrayed the party to
which he owed obligations and
gratitude. 1t would be just as
effective before any crowd which
would justify the uncorking OF elo-
quence, to state that he had aban-
doned lifelong political associations
and doctrines for reas ons That you
thought were insufficient, and then
endeavor to induce the crowd to
agree with you. If it is desirable
10 break the force of an opponents
speech, it can be done quite as eff
fectually by showing that the mud
sills OF his forensic structure were
unsound that his Notwithstanding
was unseaSoned, and that his roof
will not shield him from being
drenched by the pure waters OF
truth, as by telling him that his
father stole something when ii boy;
that his mother was an inmate OF
the Work-hOuSe, or that he, himself,
had been in the habit of OCCASION
ally getting drnnk. In other words
even if the advocate of party is
indisputably shown to be red
eyed gutter-snipe with nose Of the
night-blOOming series, still, this
does not positively prove that his
party is second-class beer garden.
The people of this enlightened day
who attend public meetings, expect
to hear-and are entitled t0-some-
thing better than mere abuse, and
something above Il string ofepithets
or personal denunciatiOn.
The public speaker, who, in order
to be impressive, must supply the
need of strong ideas with strong
language, hard facts with hard
names, damaging history with
damaging abuse, and attempts to
sway the living mass, as if he were
its vicious passions instead of being
its moving soul, would be far less
to himself and the public
as the after-piece orator in some
circus.
This Objectionable style of speak
ing is quite common in many OF the
States, but has not yet OBJ
tanned a popular footing in the
south. Heretofore it has been re-
strained by fear Of popular foot
ing in tact-and we trust that this |
is one of their progressive ideas that
will never emigrate to this section.
We believe we prefer the old Gus
tom of an occasional knock-dOwn,
when orators overstep the boundary
line, rather than see an entire au- |
iience subjected to such an affiic-
lion.