News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-05-13
SAM JONEs's PREACHING.
A Description the Revivalist as he De-
Hvers his Message to a Chicago All
dience.
from the Chicago Tribune.l

GnC SulCdSO 1l1OuhS'1
Sam Jones 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 magnificent au-
dience. The big, low-roofed hall Is
packed with people, and banks of spec
tators slope up to the ceiling on all
sides. The form that rises upon plat
form almost in the centre has the eyes
and ears of all that vast assemblage.
There is no greater opportunity for elo-
quence, for the speaker has an audi
ence that bushes its chattering curiosi-
ty to catch his every word, and he has
theme above all other themes that have
called forth human eloquence.
The figure is not an impressive one in
its quiet conventionality. The speaker
in a cutaway coat, showing his watch
chain, might be taken for we'll do
clerk or engineer. The first popularity
Is noticed when he lifts his hands. The
lanky, cuffless wrists contrast strangely
with the whitley collared neck. But
Mr.. Jones has not overlooked an article
of his dress When he lifts his arms in
apostrophe or prayer that stretch of bare
wrist has it 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 plaintive as we'll as pene-
trative quality; it rises and falls, slow
ly, drawingly, and with every phase
tipped with a rising infection and a
twang 1t Is not wearisome; it is sooth-
ing. 1t is the voice of one who has
never been in much of a hurry, and it
might have taken its melancholy color
from the loneliness of the mountains.
1t is homely, but not rude.
The sermon begins and one wonders
at the speakers flueLcy He takes an
idea, and he spreads it out as thinly as
a charity school. He is never at a loss
for an idea, for he keeps ringing the
changes on the old one till something
else occurs to him. When he feels for
something fresh he passes his hand
slowly over his head, running his fng-
ers lightly through his hair. He seems
to have the assurance of innocence it
self; 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 Is struggling for deliver
ance, but Sam Jones has a calm con-
seriousness of power that would well be-
come power that was greater.
He soon makes a joke. There is a
ripple of applause and great gratified
cackling. The fringe of spectators near
the doors who have been sitting and
staring at one another with the indiffer
ence of sightseers 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 tlippancy as irreverence. But
there are others that hold that humor,
even if it sometimes runs 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. 1t may be ques-
toned whether the tragedy of life has
impressed him deeply; but it is certain
that the comedy has touched him acute
ly. But stop. He strikes a pathetic
chord. He speaks of matrimonial love.
The tone is true, but not overwhelming
An orator would have swayed that vast
audience, and for single instant per-
haps have fused all souls in single
flame of feeling. Mr.. Jones is not the
master of his hearers. There is some
thing wanting in him to give him abso-
lutte control. The expression of indif-
ference returns to some faces, the smile
of amusement to others, and the loose,
flowing sentences slope lazily through
the air. Now and then, when q point
is to be made, the speaker stoops low,
and, lifting himself high while sweep
ing his arms, gives forceful utterance
to some epigrammatic thought. This is
what breaks the monotany- Once an
imaginative flight is attempted-the de-
scription of caravan in the desert
sending the cry OF "Water found" from
one voice to another toward the rear.
The figure is a fine one, the smile as it
is applied is apt; but before the effect
of what is really eloquent is obtained
the speaker branches off on trivial
story.
1t may be said that what is best in
Sam Jones is his easy, familiar way.
The very fact that he takes no pains
with words or with calculating effects
proves that he is not a really great
speaker There is something more than
instincts in the trlumphs of great word
builders and great word utterers. There
is work-hard, patient, and sometimes
painful. Mr. Joncs's t1uency is at once
his gift and his fatal defect. He may
convince many of the people who hear
him. but he does not thrill them with
enthusiasm. The word ''brother" is
scattered through his rambling dis
course, 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 go scram-
bling out as soon as he is through; they
have listened to one of their own kind,
speaking in their own every day way of
duty and of other things; they have
been interested; they have been tickled
nothing more, unless one be permit
ted to assume that they have been bet
tered nv what thoV have heard