, 1886-09-16
AMERICANS, oIFT OF oaAroRY.


Awkwardness of Lngiishmen ns Speakers.
A Peculiarly of Our Own People.
Every American who has attended the
regular or occasional sitting of civic bodies,
or participated in formal dinners in Great
Britain, must have been struck with the diff
Guilty and nwkwnrdness with which the speak
ers convey their ideas, or the absence thereof.
Through sympathy he must have felt at times
that he would gladly have allowed them 10
stop, or have volunteered to help them out of
their dilemma.
How very different is all this over herel
When Americans come TO argue or discuss
any question, or to be merely entertaining,
they as a rule acquit themselves well. 1t is
not necessary that they should be reGu-
larly educated or trained; hat they shoa, A
be professional men, or that they should " i've
had experience in thinking on their feet, as IL
is chilled. They may be occupied in ~ iiness
they may he unaccustomed to the sound OF
their own voices i'll any sort OF asseU bly, they
may bo without suspicion of their linnlal
talents; but the moment they az requested
TO say something they rise, and, opening their
mouths, appropriate words flow thence. Hun
dreds of Americans nre surprised every year
TO find that they can speak without prepare
ton or premonition. Speaking is unques-
tionably natural TO them; while with nearly
every other nation ii is tho result of culture.
All Europeans observe and comment on
this popularity Of ours, and are at a loss to
account for 1t. 1t may be in a measure as
cribable to the richness of our mother tongue,
which enables us, if we wish, to talk an hour
without putting forward anything in par
ticular. Our great language is excellently
qualified for conveying glittering generalities.
and many of our politicians employ it for
flut nurpa-p Tho oha ra,far Of go, ;..et...
tons, the constant INSTRUMENTATION be
tween sections and states, the electric nature
of tho atmosphere, the variety of climate
causing a high degree of nervousness and
cerebral sensibility, have doubtless their share
in making us think quickly and utter our
thoughts freely. But these do not explain our
facility and pertinency Of speech under all
circumstances, universally regarded as our
birthright. The special gift must be accepted
as one of the American traits, which belongs
to MS like our quaint humor and our constitu-
tional love of liberty.
This gift is not restricted to the east or to
the social %ccnters; it inheres in the people at
large, and is even more conspicuous and more
widely spread in the west and in the sparsely-
settled districts than in the big cities border
ing on the Atlantic seaboard. We see this in
the mining regions of Colorado, Montana,
nevada, California and elsewhere-all along
the frontier, indeed, where men without the
regular restraints of law or the checks of
organized society show, on the smallest provo
cation, a native eloquence that is remarkable
and surprising. Rough-looking, half-educnted
fellows, semi-savage from their habits, speak,
when moved, with force and fervor that per-
sundes, melts and dominates. This is the voice
of nature, coming through nature and address
ing nature; whnt should prevent its full effectl
These spontaneous outbursts are racy Of the
soil, whenever md however they are appar-
ent. Often they are not revealed, especially
in the older parts of the republic, in a formal
declamatory manner, but rather in an easy,
lucid, pertinent fashion which seems colo
quinl, so simple and direct is it.-Cor. Chicago
Times