Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-04-07

A Description of the ReviyaIist ~ HI e
Delivers His Message to q Chicago
Audience.

From the Chicago Tribune
Sam Jones makes a queer impression upor
one who looks at him over a long stretch o.
| masses of heads and tries to estimate his quail
| Ties as a speaker. But the first idea is what 9
magnificent audience The big, low-roofed hall
| Is packed with people, and banks of spectators
| slope up to the ceiling on all sides. The form
| that rises upon platform almost in the center
| has the eyes and ears of all that vast assem-
| blsge. There is no greater opportunity for elo
/ Quence for the speaker has an audience that
| bushes its chattering curiosity to catch hi
every word. and he has a theme above all other
| themes that have called forth human elo-
| quence.
| This figure is not an impressive one in Its
quiet conventionality. The speaker in a cut.
away coat, showing his watch chain, might be
taken for q weil-tO-do clerk or engineer. The
nrst popularity is noticed when he lifts his
| hands The lanky, cuffless wrists contrast
strangely with the Whitley colIared neck. But
dress. When he lifts his arms in apostrophe or
prayer that stretch of bare wrist has its proper
dramatic effect. He Is a man who is appealing
10 the people, and he does not wish 10 have any
more starch about him than is necessary. The
voice has plaintive as well as penetrative
and with every phase tipped with a rising In,
nectfon and twang. 1t is not wearlsome; ii is
soothing. 1t Is the voice of one who has never
taken its melancholy color from the loneliness
OF the mountains. 1t is homely, but not rude.
Inc sermon begins ana one wonders at the
| speakers huency. He takes an idea, and he
spreads it out-as thinly as they spread the but
ter on the bread at a charity school. He is
never at "a loss for an idea, tor he keeps ringing
the changes on the old one till something else
oEurs 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 tor utterance do not stumble
OF crush each other at his lips, ne 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 deliverance, but
Sam Jones has a calm Consciousness OF power
that would well become a power that was
greater.
He soon@nakes a joke. There is a ripple of
applause and great gratited cackling. The
fr1nge of spectators near the doors who have
been sitting and staring at one another with
their necks and cackle with the rest. That is
undoubtedly what some of them have been
waiting tor. 1t is said that Americans are
nlppant. Some, indeed, speak of their flip
pancy as irreverence But there are Others
that hold that humOr, even If it sometimes runs
away from the apron strings of TASTE is a
manly. Mr.. JONES' it would hardly be original
TO say, Is humorist 1t may be questioned
whether the tragedy OF life has impressed him
deeply; but it Is certain that the comedy has
touched him acutely. But stop. He strikes a
pathetic chord, He speaks OF maternal love-
The tone is true, but not overwhelming An
orator would have swayed that vast audience,
fused all souls IN a Single fiame sps Of I fee-
hearers: There Is something wanting in him
10 give him absolute control The expression
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 Hitting himself high
while sweeping his arms, gives forceiul utter
ancs 10 some epigrammatic thought. This is
Whit brs4ks the monotony. Once an imagine
tive flight is attempted--the description of a
caravan in the Desert sending the cry of
Nv alter found from one voice to another
toward the rear. The figure is a fine one the
simlle eas 1t Is applied is apt; but before tue
enect II what is really eloquent is obtained the
speaker branches of on trivial story.
IL may be said that what is best in Sam
Jont 3 Is mis- easy, familiar way. The very TACT
That ne takes no pains with words or with cal
cuiatlng effects proves that he is not a really
great speaker. There Is something more than
instinct In the triumphs of great word build
erS ana great word utterers. There is work
naru, patient, and sometimes painful Mr.
zones Huency Is at once his gift and his fatal
ueIsct 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 discourse and the kindly
oL-ntind way in which 1t is spoken makes il
eHeetlve. 1t Is the best thing ne does
The people in the building go scrambling 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 nave been interested; they have been
hckied-nothing more, unless one be permitted
10 assume that they have been bettered by what
they have heard.