The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-03-13
Emerson ON OratOry.

E]oquence is eminently the art which
only ffourishes in free countries. II
a shows the power and responsibility OF
s man. Recall the delight that sudden
= eloquence gives-the surprise that the
0 moment is so rich. The orator is the
e physician. Whether he speaks in the
5 capitol or on a cart, he is the bene-
factor that lifts men above themselves,
g and creates higher appetite than he
satisfies. The orator is he whom
8 every man is seeking when he goes
| into courts, into conventions, into any
: popular assembly. There is no true
! orator who is not hero. His speech
, His speech must be just ahead of the
assembly, ahead of the whole human
race, or it is superhuous. No act in
dicates more universal health than
eloquence. The special ingredients
of this force are clearly perceptions,
memory, power of statement, logic,
imagination; or the skill to clothe
your thought in natural images, pas
sion which is the heat, and then grand
will. AS soon as man shows rare
power of expression, all the great in
terests, whether of state or of property,
crowd to him to be their spokesman;
so that he is at once potentate, a
ruler of men. 1t is easy to see that
the great and daily growing interests
at stake in this country must pay pro-
portional prices to their spokesman
and defenders. But this power, which |
so fascinates and astonishes and COM
mands, is only the exaggeration of
talent which is universal. All men
are competitors in this art. Eloquence
is as natural as swimming-an art which
all men might learn, though so few do.
The orator must command the whole
scale of the language, from the most
elegant to the most low and vile.
Everyone has felt how superior in
force is the language of the street to
that of the academy. The street must
be one of his schools. Ought not the
scholar to be able to convey his mean
ing in terms as short and strong as
the porter or truckman uses to con-
yey hisp The speech of the man in
the street is invariably strong, nor :
can you mend it by making it what )
you call parliamentary. The power =
of his speech is that it is perfectly I'M !;
derstood by all; and / believe it to be 9
true that when any orator at the bar :
or at the senate rises in his thought he :
iescends in his language-that is, !.
when he rises to any height of thought .
Dr. of passion he comes down to Ian e
yuage level with the ear of his audience.
t is the merit of John Brown and of =,
Abraham Lincoln-one at Charleston, ~
me at Gettysburg the two best y
pecimens of eloquence we have had g
n this country.
1t should make the shortest list of =,
he qualifications of the orator, | ~
houid begin with manliness and, per- Il
APPS, it means here presence of mind. ..
len differ so much in control of their .,
aculties Fundamentally, all feel b,
like and think alike, and at a great g.
eat they can express themselves with =.
n almost equal force, But it costs 80
reat heat to enable heavy man to ~,
ONE up with those who have quick sL
These are ascending stairs ba
"a good voice, winning manners, 40 40
lain speech, chastened, however, by 99nn
lie schools into correctness but we a a,i
ust come to the main matter, of ~
over of statement-knowy your fact a: 90
lg your fact. For the essential thing ~
heat, and heat comes of sincerity. ~.
'SoH Whdb lOu hAOW anu DtlltNG.
oquence is the power to translate
nth into language perfectly intelli-
BILE to the person to whom you ]
eak. What is said is the least part the
the Grafton. 1t is the attitude car
ken, the unmistakable sign, never so Tn
sually given, in tone of voice, or in
amer, or word, that a greater tud
eaks from you than is spoken to in bee
N. When a great sentiment, as mo
igion or liberty, makes itself deeply SUD
t in any age or country, then ano
eat orators appear. Der
II there ever was a country where exc
quence was power, 1t is the cen
ited States. Here is room for every n @,
gree of it, on every one of it's YES
ending stages-that of useful abl
'ech, in our commercial, manu- GOV
turing, railroads, and educational ter
mentions; that of political advice axa
persuasion on the grandest wer
alter, reaching, as all good men, seal
st, into vast future, and so COM boll
ling the best thought and noblest the
ability that the citizen was
offer, Is it not worth the ambi- sep,
| of every generous youth to train to
arm his mind with all the resource # h,
# knowledge, of method, of grace, Yer
OF character, to serve such a wer