The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-21
REV. SAM JONES.
1 STUDY OF THE NOTED SOUTH.
ERN EVANGELIST'S MANNER.
Not an Orator, ''as Brutus is." but
Swaying His Auditors with ..
Earnestness and q Flood
Of Thought.

SWay1nS His AuQ1COr6 Win
Earnestness and Flood
Of Thought.
Sam Jones, If questioned about the
,ecret of his influence upon the masses of
people who throng in thousands to hear
aim every night, wherever he goes,
might say with modesty and with
some truth what Mark Antony said with
subtlety: ~,
am no orator as Brutus is,
| But as you know me all, a plain, blunt man.
He makes a queer impression upon one
who looks at him over long stretch Of
masses of heads and tries to. estimate his
qualities as speaker. But the first idea
is, what a magnificent audience. The
big, low-roofed hall is packed with peo-
pie, and the banks of spectators slope up
to the ceiling on all sides. The form that
rises upon platform almost in the centre
has the eyes and ears of all that vast as
semblage. There is no greater oppor-
tunity for eloquence; for the speaker has
an audience that bushes its chattering
curiosity to catch his every word, and he
has theme above all other themes that
have called forth human eloquence. a..
The figure is not an impressive one In
its quiet conventionality. The speaker
in cutaway coat showing his watch
chain might he taken for well-to do
clerk or engineer. The first peculiarity
is noticed when he lifts his hands. The
lanky, cuffless wrists contrast strangely
with the white-collared neck. But Mr.
Jones has not overlooked an article of his
dress. When he lifts his arms in apos-
trophe or prayer that stretch of bare
wrist has its proper dramatic effect. He
is man who is appealing to the people,
and he does not wish to have any more
starch about him than is necessary. The
voice has q plaintive as well as penetra-
tive quality; it rises and falls, slowly,
drawing, and with every phase tipped
with rising infection and twang. It
is not wearisome; it is soothing. It is
the voice of one who has never been in
much of a hurry, and it might have taken
it's melancholy color from the loneliness
of the mountains. It is homely, but not
rude.
The sermon begins aud one wonders at
the speakers fuency. He takes an idea
and he spreads it out as thinly as they
spread the butter on the bread at q
charity school. He is never at. loss
for an idea, for he keeps ringing
the changes on the old one TIL
something else occurs to him. When
he feels for something fresh, he passes
his hand slowly over his head, running
his fingers lightly through his hair. He
seems to have the assurance of innocence
itself; thoughts painting for utterance do
not stumble or crush each other at his lips;
he never suffers from the rush of ideas to
the brain. Other men may tremble or
flush with the message that is in them and
struggling for deliverance, but Sam Jones
has calm consciousness of power that
would well become power that was
greater. -.
He soon makes joke. There is q rip.
pie of applause and a great gratifed
cackling. The fringe of spectators nea.
the doors who have been sitting and
staring at one another with the indiffer-
ence Of sight-seers suddenly crane their
necks and cackle with the rest. That
is undoubtedly what some of them have
been waiting for. 1t is said that Amer
leans are fippant. Some, indeed, speak
of their fippancy as irreverence. But
there are others that hold humor, even if
it sometimes run away from the apron
strings of taste, is healthy child and
will grow up rugged and manly. Mr..
Jones, it would hardly be original to say,
is humorist. It may be questioned
whether the tragedy of life has impressed
him deeply, butitis certain that the comedy
has touched him acutely. But stop. He
strikes pathetic chord. He speaks OF
maternal love. The tone is true, but not
overwhelming. An orator would have
swayed that vast audience, and for q
single instant perhaps have fused all
souls in single fame of feeling. MIR.
Jones is not the master OF his hearers.
There is something wanting in him to
give him absolute control. The express
sion of Indifference returns to some faces,
the smile of amusement to others, and
the loose, flowing sentences slope lazily
through the air. Now and then, when
point is to be made, the speaker stoops
low, and lifting himself high while
sweeping his arms, gives forceful utter
ance to some epigrammatic thought.
This is what breaks the monotony at in
tervals. Once an Imaginative fight is
attempted-the description of caravan
in the desert sending the cry Of ''Water
found" from one veice to another toward
the rear. The figure is fine one, the
simile as it is applied is apt; but before
the effect of what is really eloquent is
obtained the speaker branches of On
trivial story.
It may be said that what is the best in
Sam Jones is his easy, familiar way. The
yery fact that he takes no pains with
words or with calculating effects proves
that he is not really great speaker.
There is something more than instinct IN
the triumphs of great word-builders and
great word-utterers. There is work,
hard, patient, and sometimes painful.
Mr.. Jones' fuency is at once his gift
and his fatal defect. He may convince
many of the people who hear him; but
be does not thrill them with enthusiasm,
The word "brother" is scattered through
his rambling discourse, and the kindly,
off-hand way in which it is spoken makes
it effective. 1t is the best thing he does.
The people in the building 60 scramb.
ling out as soon as he is through; they
have listened to one of their own kind,
speaking in their own everyday way, OF
duty and of other things: they have been
interested; they have been tickled-noth'