The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-06-27
~ENGERs0LL ON ORATOIY.
His Opinion Regarding
I~mprOEnptu speaking.

1hbpTosfpta
AS Col. Ingersoll's indianapolis address
in 1876 is regarded as the model of Decor
alton Day oratory, and has gone into the
school books as a specimen of chaste and
exalted eloquence, it seemed 20 me that
perhaps he might be willing to say some
| thing both about the manner lie adopted
III composing this address, as well as upon
the general subject.
| said to him that there prevailed a gem
eral belief that the indianapolis address
was impromptn, or, at least, extempor-
aneous. Col. Ingersoll said that this opin-
ion was entirely wrong, and was as incor-
rect in regard to his addresses as it was in
regard to any speech or specimen of ora
tory which was thought worth preserving.
| quote his language from memory, but
still with sufficient accuracy:
"There is no such thing as an extempor-
aneous address. OF course, | mean by
| that an address which is dignified, worthy
of the occasion, and commands attention
and respect. There never was and there
never will be an impromptu speech. OF
| course, | know that some men have deliv-
cred speeches which haye attracted wide
attention; which are reported to have been
inspired III the moment. But in the
nature Of things this is impossible. If you
~analyze a great speech, and consider what
is necessary to make one, it is easy to see
that such a thing as impromptu o~ratory is
impossible. Now, a speech which is true
oratory must, in the first place, suggest
sublime, deep. and eterna' truths. There
must be thought, and it should be thought
which is capable OF producing correspond
ingly great emotion and sentiment in tho
minds of those who hear it spoken.
Therefore, the thought cannot help being
sincere; it must reflect the very Truth, as
the mind of the utterer has conceived it;
and SO 40 really great Grafton has ever
been delivered which did not spring from
the heart of him who spoke it.
Sometimes the thought is developed at
ter excessive, and it might be said exquis-
lite, labor and turmoil of the soul. The
operation OF constructing or composing ii
speech which is Truly great is precisely sim
liar to that which enables the painter 10
express great emotions by eolUrs aud with
the painters brush upon canvas. Tn
making of a great speech is like the for
muiating OF a great painting. aee how
the operations are similar. The painter
conceives a great truth, an idea, capable OF
suggesting The profouhdest realities of
nature and OF calling into Deing the sub
lImest emotions vi the human intellect; he
takes his palette aud his brush, aud With
infinite patience mixes his colors aud de-
velops upon the canvas the thought mhich
is in mind. lie labors over it patiently,
affeetIUnately, his whole soul Wrapped up
in the desire 10 express to the fullest
that idea or emotion which is i'll his heart.
Sometimes it is the labor Of years; delicate
shadings, strong, vigorous strokes, a def
ance of technical rules if need be in order
thereby the more strongly 10 bring out the
| idea upon tic canvas; the touch of a bruss
guided it'll The superb d~elicacy which
truth and love compel; and in this way the
painter at last produces upon canvas that
idea which was born within him and
which makes clear to men for all time the
power, the beauty. the strength, the love
illness of that conception.
Now that is precisely What the man
who is to deliver an Grafton must do if he
is true TO himself and if he would make
the impression Of the idea as it exists in
him clear, strong, persuasive, and emotion
stirring in those 10 whom he is to disclose
it by means of word pictures. For a great
Grafton, a true Grafton, is but the painting
of ideas by wor DIS instead of by %eolors,
and the truth that is init will be suggested
as impressivelY and as surely, ifthe speak
er has been true to himself, as does the
wonderful painting upon which multitudes,
for generation after generation, look with
wonder and with the pest emotions of their
nature stirred within them. Now, when
We consider that it is with such methods
as this that tic true Grafton is perfected
and delivered TO the hearers, it is easy to
| see that it is impossible to formulate it
while a man is standing upon his feet and
to create ON the instant and deliver
thoughts by word of mouth which shall
stand the test which makes or breaks an
oratorical effort"
Col. Ingersoll said these words with
much of that fervor and earnestness which
distinguish him as an orator, The re-
marks themselves might have been called
a little impromptu Grafton, delivered on
! the suggestion of the moment, and yet
| they illustrated the force of the assertion
which lie made, for it was plain that he
had thought much aud deeply upon this
subject, and had in reality already compos-
| ed an Grafton in which the central thought
was the idea expressed above. l
asked him if there were not in his exper-
fence, both in his own career and in listen
ing to the great o"ations OF Others. some
other qualifications than those of which he
had spoken. He replied that there GER
tainly were. lie said:
at takes not only the power of compos-
ing an Grafton but the experience which
oop,as from lanv nractiee and Datient labor