The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-14

Identification of the speaker with his
subject and with his hearers are sell
dom or never attained in that way.
You may forecast your topic, and Of
course you must have adequate famil-
iarity with it and know what special
phase of it you are to present, but any
further preparation than this is of
little avail. For you can never tell be-
forehand in what hu,nor your audience
will be, nor what circumstances may
arise to modify the situat ton. To sue
coed, the first need is to be at one with
! your hearers, you must be able to put
into words the thoughts that they are
thinking at the moment-or at least to
make clear to them and put in logical
order the confused contents of their
minds Mr.. Ingersoll has said, | be-
! lieve," added Mr.. Cochran, that there
| is no such thing as cxtempore speak
! ing, but l can't agree with that. A
| true speech is the creation of the mo-
ment, but it is so created, not, as one
might suppose, by the orator, but by
his audience. l have found this to be
/ Sc III III Wv II l)ciiCitC.
| | suggested that perhaps the famous
| speech at the convention last year
might be an instance in point.
1T was certainly not prepared" re-
! piled Mr.. Cochran. There is not and
never was any record of it except the
reports in the daily newspapers. Al
! most up to the moment that / rose to
speak | had meant to remain silent;
indeed, had left the hall some hours
before intending to GO home. But l
was hungry and / got some dinner. and
then l no longer felt sleepy and went
back to the hall. The convention was
very turbulent and noisy; an hour and
ten minutes were used up in giving
cheers for Cleveland and Hill. Speakers
of neither side could get hearing. AL
though the convention was almost en-
tirely pledged to Cleveland his support
ers were used as unceremoniously as
those of the other side. When the chair
man asl1edme to address the meeting, !
said: What is the use? The vote has
been settled Never mind said he,
go ahead; if something is not done we
shall be made ridiculous.' Then | got
up and spoke. Ny audience was indul-
gent from the first. They became ST.
lent as soon as I began, and remained
attentive to the end. They had already
made up their minds how they were
going to vote, and only three Or four
votes were changed in consequence of
what | said, but l had their sympathy
for the time being, nevertheless"
81 have been told" l said, shat
when Henry Clay was speaking he lost
his physical sensitiveness, SO that if
pin were run into him he would not
feel it. Do you fall into such state
as that?"
Il can understand that it may be so.
Oratory is a sort of spiritual state.
You are raised as it were out of the
body and are conscious only of the
ideas that are finding utterance
through you. A mystical tie is estab-
lished between the speaking and the
hearing elements; they axe identified
He leaned back in his chair and
added: ''In oratory, and probably in
other forms of art, the best results
are obtained when the personality of
the artist is least obtruded. You must
forget yourself in order to do high
things. AS in religion, you come near
est the ideal when you are furthest
from what belongs to the conscious
self"
As I contemplated my host and re-
Elected how young he was and how
much he had achieved l was moved to
ask him at what age he had begun to
turn his thoughts in the direction of
oratory.
He laughed and answered that he
had always faced thitherward.
when | was boy" said he. 81
used to go out to walk alone and
make speeches to myself. It has been
my bent from the first. But there is
really less opportunity now than there
used to be for oratory," he concluded,
as ! made ready to depart. ''The
newspapers are doing most Of our work
now-they cut the ground from under
our feet"
The rest of our conversation was not
gcrInane TO the point now at issue. In
saying farewell l could not help feel
ing that | had been given at least as
much enlightenment as ! had had skill
to ask for, and yet, as said before.
remained inexpert. Mr.. Bourke Cock
ran can do wonderful things, but he
cannot teach me how to be an orator
The best things in life are incommuni-
cable. We're il otherwise. there would
soon be nothing left unvlIlGarized and
unProfaned. JULIAN HAWTHORNE