The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-23
THE IRONY OF APPLAUSE.

OF all the subtle sweets to human kind,
there is no JUNCTION SO fattering as ap-
plause. The spotaneity In enthusiastic
| cheers warns the human heart more than
the stately pace of studied panegyric Oh
| eulogistic measures in heroic pentameters.
The feYerish fiutter experienced by the
orator IN the rapturous thanderings of his
| audience, quick upon the heels of his pas
slonate climax thrills him more than any
written, inareiculate laudation, however
profuse, ever could.
This may be an indication of our early
barbarism, this love of noisy, tumuItuous
commentator, as Chesterfield, building
his ethics of human refinement, TO such a
height, declared audible laughter to be a
remnant trace of primeval savagery.
! But better reason, still, for the fasci-
nation of applause, is that every man
knows no greater JOY than the sight of the
unmistakable unstinted effect of his own
| personal magnetism and genius. A writ
! ten encomium is silent and cold; open ap-
plause is fervently personal.
| But not always honest This must be
granted. The great original PessImist,
! from the beginning has never permitted
human joy TO 90 unalloyed no human
| pleasure or tradition to escape the faint of
| cynicism and derision. So applause has
its irony.
Athens at one time had reached the very
pinnacle of piety, and its exalted state of
religious fervor had found vent in innu-
merable statues to the deities. But an old
Greek with a poor digestion, perhaps.
came along one day, aud shifting the air
with asperiJy. opened the way to ridicule
by remarking with certain degree of
sourness, that in Athens it had come 30 be
easier to find god than man. This
proved disastrous.
In like manner, with applause, there is
tendency in modern days, to turn it into
an instrument Of torture.
And Kansas ever in the lead seems des-
tined to furnish the first victims. Kansas
quota of Alliance congressman may be cap
able, hut for some reason or other, the other
members of the same body wilfully over
look and disregard this delitescent capac-
ity. Unfortunately the present congress
has adopted an idle course and has plenty
of time to loiter away in sport. Our ALI
ance congressman, as subjects for the
Houses pleasure. fill the bill completely.
Reference to the Congressional Record
will prove this.
Mr.. Otis arises. The House at once
drops all other business. Moreover, Mr.
Otis appearance is the signal for unusual
applause. This is a trifie embarrassing to
Otis Of course. Mr. Otis says 81 wish to
say" and is forthwith interrupted by pro-
longed applause. Mr.. Otis face fushes
The applause is clearly out Of place. He
has said nothing which called forapproval.
However he continues-'I wish to say that
my constituents have sent me here''-
when again the house roars its approval,
none Of your inslpid hand-clappng, but
wild, effusive, insane, delirious applause
Then, Mr.. Otis finishes his sentence in an
ear-splitting din, and sits down, flushed,
hot, humiliated, a victim of ironical APP
plause.
But Mr.. Otis with his proposal to send
the cast-off, tobacco-ladened carpets on the
floors of representative hall to West Point
for the cadets saddle blankets, is not a
solitary victim. On Wednesday last, Mr..
Watson of Georgia also, struggled to his
feet and towering with wrathful intumes-
cence, hOwled that his heart was bleed ng
with the distress of the people. This was
greeted with an unframed, unreined, blus-
tering paroxsysm of mad applause. Ironi-
cal, of course.
This ironical applause is the congression-
al idea of fun and it is done mostly at the
sunfower states expense. which proves,
beyond a doubt, that the Alliance Repre-
sentative who keeps his seat, holds his ton |
que and entertains himself with airy Wis |
ions of what eloquence be might attain to, |
if he wished. is infinitely wiser and i'm |
measurably happier than his aspiring |
brother