Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-04-05
DIR. TALMAEE.

The REGISTER has so fully introduced
DIR. TALMAGE to this community and
State, through a regular publication of
his sermons for long time past, that he
is no longer a stranger in our midst.
Although his appearance upon the
platform last night was only the second
time that he has visited our city, his au-
dience received him more in the charac-
ter of an old acquaintance than of a
stranger.
Nor is it often that a man who is read
so frequently and from whom the guise
ofnovelty has been dissipated, can draw
an audience to hear him lecture. The
people of Wheeling are not inclined to
public lectures. 4 man who seeks an
audience in this city to hear lecture
must come heralded as something super
human, or, at least, so far above the av-
erage public man as to set public curios-
ity on edge to see him as well as hear
what he has to say.
But DR.. TALMAGE is one among the
distinguished men of the day, who can
bear the test of close acquaintance. be
is one among the few great orators Of
any age whose OratiOnS read as well as
they sound when spoken. He puts al
most as much elOquence into his matter
as into his manner. 1t is rare, indeed,
that an orator combines both the mag
netism of manner which captivates an
audience, with that incisive and read
able style of expressing himself that
loses nothing, or but little, when trans
ferred from his lips to cold type.
In these qualities DR.. TALMAGE is
without an equal in this country. He
can put more meaning and elOquencein
single short sentence than any orator
of his time. 1t reads like q thunder
bolt. The imagination interlines his
sermons and lectures with all ths pathos
and the expression which his inimitable
manner gives to the spoken word.
DIR. TAIMAGE is always eloquent. H
never fails. Most great men are very
often quite small. They often fail before
an audience. The occasion is made the
measure of the exhibition of their
powers. But DR.. TALMAGE carries
about him q personality 50 original and
fOrceful rs to give piquancy to whatever
he says or does. He has no platitudes
or prOSaic rehearsals in his speech. The
subject and the utterance bubbles up
from the inermOSt man, and he says
what he thinks and feels with direct
ness and pungency which could come
Only from a mind intently charged with
the thought he utters.
The idea, entertained by many, that
DIR. TALIIAGE is Il mere sensatiOnalist,
laboring only for effect, and seeking
only popular applause, has no substan-
tial basis of fact or reason. No man, i'll
this intelligent age. can long maintain
himself before the public, who is mere
sensationalist seeking his own exalta-
ton. The keen, discerning eye of the
populaCe soon takes the measure of
man and sets him down ut about his
proper value. He cannot long pass be-
fore the public in any other than his
true character. DR.. TALNIAGE has with
stood the severest blasts of criticism
that envy and prejudice and malice
could invent, but it has not effected his
standing in the esteem of those who
know him best. He has his eccentrici-
ties, and they are not all favorable to
his reputation, but he has been useful
man in his day, and is now doing
grand work for humanity throughout
the world.
We do not propose to review the lee
ture oflast evening; we give instead,
very full report oft, which all who did
not hear him, will find profitable read
ing. 1t is not one OF his best, but like
ali his public utterances, it is gOOd-first-
class. 1t is no disparagement to say
that il is not better than the average
Sunday sermon which the REGISTER
sends out to its readers every Monday
morning, for there is no one of the lat
ter that does not attract u larger and
more attentive audience than any min
lister in the city, or perhaps oil the min
listers Ofthe city combined.