The Arkansaw traveler. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1882-1???, 1888-11-17
OUR KALEIDOSCOPE.

taught to read from McGuheys
readers, the best series Of readers that
were ever used In q school-room, In
nay humble opinion. In the Fourth
and Fifth of the series are to be found
selections from the hest writers and
many gems, both In prose and verse,
of English literature. But this 10 only
introductory to what /, 20 use pro-
vincialism, want to get at. / went,
not long ago, to hear certain Chicago
minister preach. The sermon, had 1t
been printed, or delivered by an orator.
would have been pronounced excel
lent. But, as 1t fell from the minis
ter's lips, it also fell fiat, stale and
Improbable upon the ears of most OF
his hearers. Rhetorically 1t was hne
piece of work, good sentences, well
rounded periods, profound enough In
thought, but delivered all out Of
time, beginning and ending In dull,
unimpassioned monotone. While sit
ting, and, with that politeness and
patience unborn in the average news
paper man, enduring the torture, my
mind went back to McGuffey, and /
remembered q blank verse poem on
"Modulation," the opening lines Of
which are:
"'Tis not enough the voice be loud and clear.
'Tis modulatiou that must charm The ear"
That was just what this minister
lacked.
Leigh Hunt tells story of q broken
down English actor who took It into
his head to teach clergymen how to
read the Lords Prayer. Accordingly
he had the following announcement
printed and displayed in the window
of the INN where he resided:
CLERGYMEN TAUGHT TO READ THE
LORDS PRAYER
l. BY ROBERT suETT, COMEDIAN.
ADDRESS TO THE CAT AND FEATHERS,
| NO. I'll DRURT LANE.
The actor's card was not Intentionally
humorous he grsvely meant just
what he said. His idea was to teach
ministers something they should know
and to earn Q few honest shillings for
himself.
don't mean to say that clergymen
of to-day should take lessons In elocu-
ton from stage comedians, but the
majority Of pulpit speakers would do
well to pay more attention TO elocu-
tionary training.
lam not O believer In the theory
that Q man can do his greatest work
under adversities, such ~ rspestsd
failures, and poverty. The commits
SION for picture at liberal price, an
accepted story with an order for more
Ms. win do wonders for the poor
artist and the writer struggling for
recognition. Success, not failure, gold,
not poverty, win stimulate, nay, in
spire, genius, to more hsroic effort, to
still grander achievements. The man
who has NO ambition to do something
is not likely to succeed. The man
who has, who works industriously,
with well defined intentions, viii ut
least progress towards the goal Of his
ambition In spite Of either riches or
poverty. That II . very pretty story
about the king and the spider that
tried almost . counties number Of
times to do something, and finally
succeeded and the lesson Taught by
its perseverance good one, but the
fact remains that disappointment and
poverty viii crush rather than build
mp the average man. A smile Of ap-
preciatioD, . word of encouragement
and few dollars, the reward Of hon.
est and deserving effort, will do much
towards assisting the struggling
climber on his way to the top, albeit
he has to 60 through the garnet to
reach 1t.
Bob Hodge owned and ran . saw
mill down in Indiana Among the |
men In his employ was an Old fellow, |
Charley Baun WA his uame. who had