, 1888-10-24
A FIELD EoR ELocu1IoN.
Clergymen should Take Lessons for the
Benefit of Their Congregations.

Clergymen should Take Lessons for the
Benefit of Their Congregations.
There is a branch of the profession of
the elocutionist hat seems, thus far, to
a escaped the grasp of the ubiquitous
reporters who are continually securing
The town in quest of novelties. This may,
however, be due to the fact that it is of so
delicate a nature in itself that it sensi-
lively shrinks from publicity. 1 know
that in my own case 1 CHANGED upon it by
accident. / found my first clew to it in a
business prospectus, and one of the first
persons to assure me that he knew moth
ing about it and had never heard of such
a thing in his life was IN eminent divine,
-whoIw WAS subsequently convinced, was
one of those who profited most largely by
it. For my part, to be sure, I cannot see
why a clergyman should be ashamed to
admit that he is taking lessons in elocu-
ton. Certainly it is no crime against So
ciety or the church for a preacher to i'm
prove his methods of oratorical delivery.
Actors rehearse their parts n painters
make sketches and studies for their
pictures. Why a pulpit ~expounder should
not make some similar preparation for his
sermons and lectures is not clear to me,
and that some of our best and most popu-
lar pulpit speakers do SO is, it seems to
me, simply a tribute to their common
sense. If they all did it, it would be to
the benefit of their congregations, who
have nowadays to sit out a vast deal of
poor speaking to get at the meat of the
sermon delivered for their good.
There are two ways in which our minis
tiers employ the elocutionist to improve
them as speakers. These might be called
the direct and indirect. The direct con-
sists in regular lessons in elocution, often
involving a rehearsal of the sermon itself.
The indirect consists in employing the ex-
pert to listen to and ~criticise the orator, so
that by acquainting him with his faults
he is warned to avoid them. This sort of
thing is called, 1 believe, instruction in
clerical reading" The elocutionists make
a special feature, l I'M told, of prayers, for
the impressive reading of which many
digines carefully prepare themselves. A
natural orator like Henry Ward Beecher
even did not disdain to occasionally en-
ploy an expert to listen to him and fur
nish him with a careful criticism of his
speaking. With this point in view it car.
be understood how advantageous the
counsel and assistance of the expert must
DO to hundreds of preachers, who, no mat
ter how large their learning and able their
powers of analysis and composition may
be, do not possess the oratorical gift of
the great Brooklyn pastor. The ability
to write n sermon by no means guarantees
the ability to delir,. it eloquently, as a
great many peop.- 40 go to church no
doubt know.
The sooner the eiocutionist gets his fine
work in among Jul literary men the
better it will be for them. If there are
any worse readers or speakers extant
than the average person who writes
poetry and books 1 should not like to
have to listen to them. At the recent
authors readings in this city I heard
some of the worst specimens of oratory,
from some of the cleverest of our
wielders of the pen, that l expect to
hear in my life. All over town 1 fall
in with men Of letters, who read all
sorts of productions to me with a fasci-
natingly ridiculous absence of that grace
of delivery and expressiveness of intona-
ton that make a reading worth hearing.
If only for the sake of the friends whom
they call upon to pass judgment on their
compositions, these gentlemen should call
Upon the elocutionist for some assistance
toward a-meliorating the terrors they in
carnate when the fine frenzy of speech is
upon them.-Alfred Trumble in New
York News.