The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-19
AFTER DINNER SPEAKING.
[Georre A. Marden, to eos.oa Glohe.l

(George A. Warden, la Boston Globe.l
 A patiens who complained of the dam ger of exposure to night air" vas told by his physician that night air and day air were the same thing. Undoubtedly the chemical constituents are the same, but, for all that, the average sensi oility readily 6nds a peculiarly in might air Oratcry consists of words, tones and ges- lures, as air consists of oxygen and nltro- geu but there is a marked difference in different kinds.
 It may not be easy to exactly de6ne them, but the courtroom, the musings, the lecture platform, the pulpit and the dinner table each have their appropriate styles of speaking. And really none of them dem ands more peculiar gift than the successful after dinner speech. It need not, or perhaps VIC should say, it must not be profound, and 1t certainly csano, Dc Prosy. l. may have one or an other of dozen qualities which may save it from from failure, provided it only avoids those which are not suited to its province.
 Canon Farar says that the American press, with charming frankness, asserts that his voice is monotonous and that he does not know what to do with his hands, and he freely admits that the American press is right. But these lacks do not pre- vent the aIchdeacon from being a capital after-dinner speaker. Indeed, bis very confession has in 1t & dash of that humo' . which is almost an essential of post-pran- dial success. h the qualities of selt pos session and an easy elocu,ion nobody could be a greater contrast to the Egg fish chuIchman than that other recent Eoglish visitor to OUT shores, Lord Chief Jlstice Coleridge, who proved to be un surpassed as an after dinner orator. lt IS free aently rema arked that this is de- partment of oratory in which Eaglishmen do not as a rule excel, but certainly the lord chief justice had few superiors among the many brilliant Americans whom he met while in this country.
 Nor could anything better illustrate the diversity of successful types of this class of speeches than that of Mayor Palmer at the banquet given by the city of Bos- ton 10 Lord Coleridge at the Palmer house, and his lordship's reply. Mayor Palmer, who has attained great reputation in this direction, fairly outdid himself on this occasion, and his speech was a per feet gem. But the guest of the occasion was up to any demand, and his reply was equ lilly a model. The mayor was the more oratorical, and lacked something oi the spcntapeity which characterized the reply of the chief justice, and which is one of the charms of an after-dinner speech.
 And this suggests one of the arts which professional atter-dinner speakers use (f1r there are professionally, and that is the seiztng of occurrences or utterances of the moment as sort of warp on which to weave the fAbric of the speech. It re- quires facility in thinking aud readiness of expression to do this so dettly that the patchwork shall not show the seams which hold ittogether, bu, it is essential to the highest success, and he who can ac- complish it fairly we'll need seldom be a, kind, unless he unhappily comes first n the list.
 The ability to tell good story we'll is also a great help to the af,er-dinneI speaker, though he may succeed without it. Good stories are al~ays scarce, and especially such as have not lost their aroma by frequent repetition They are like the parsley which garnishes the salad not essential to its favor or relish, but making it more appetizIng by appealing to sense auxiliary to the taste.
 If 10 the readiness, versatility and story telling capacity one adds the wealth of illustration which comes from wide read ing and tenacious memory and gif, of quick witted aidaci,y which some men have, he may conf dently hope to get through his oost-prandial effor, with credit to h,m self and pie .sure to his audi ence. But pG.a nascitur <; and this really first class sfer- dinner speaker who is not born may be set down as pon it. Of the born after-dlnner speakers Judge Thomas Russell of Boston or Chauncy N Depew of New York are brilliant examples ; while, if the cable has told us the truth, James Russell Lo we'll as left ss shining a reputation for this sort of thing on the other side of the water as the lord chief justice lett with us.