The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-05-19
TlMID GREAT MEN.
PUBLIC SPEAKERS ARE OFTEN POS
SESSED WITH NERVOUS FEAR.

Mr.. spurgeon Dreaded Excitement in
Great Audiences Intense Mental and
Physical Suffering Often Experienced
by Famous orators While Addressing
Critical Assemblies.
1t has been recently stated, says Cas-
sells Sunday journal, by those who
knew him we'll, that Mr.. Spurgeon was
still another example Of the fact that
public men often quake on tho eve Of
their great successes. Though few
guessed it, he was nervous in speaking,
aud one result Of the disastrous panic
ut the Surrey Gardens in 1856 was that
he ever afterward dreaded excitement
in great audiences. At the Free Trade
Hall in Manchester, 1872, the orator
was in buoyant and brilliant form. Yet
before delivering his address he had
been attacked by nervous sickness in
his Gnte.room.
As we have suggested, this curious
preliminary recoil seems to be fre-
quent characteristic of the efforts that
establish or increase fame. Inquiry
shows that some form OF timorousness
dogs distinction like its shadow. II
may have peculiar and even eccentric
features. Mr.. Edmund Yates has
mentioned the case OF distinguished
living politician, noted for his dash and
aplomb while in tho House Of Com
mons, to whom on one occasion Sir
Henry Halford, the eminent physician,
gave an account OF railway accident.
The narrator was elaborate in his de-.
scription, and II was too much for the
listeners nerves. In the midst Of the
story tho doctor had to break of. His
friend was on the point Of fain ting.
Condition Of mind bordering on panic
has often prevailed up to the test mo.
ment with men who have had to face
critical audiences.
The late Lord Derby earned the title
Of the Rupert Of debate" from his dash.
ing alacrity, but he declared When
l am going to speak my throat and lips
are rs dry as those OF u man who is
going to be hanged. He never rose
to speak without experiencing q pecul.
lar and very unpleasant nervous
tremor." The same was said Of Lord
Lyndhurst. That eminent jurist and
statesman was totally unable to free
himself, from beginning to end Of his
career, Of tropidation and nervous
emotion when he got upon his legs to
address either q court or Parliament.
Canning, too, told his friends that he
knew beforehand, by disagreeable set
Of symptoms, when he should win and
hold the ear of the House and extort
the admiration even Of his adversaries.
He was always conscious of an ominous
chill of fear. 1t meant not failure, as
was his dread, but fine grafton.
Emilio CASTELAR,, the silver-tongued
Spanish Tribune, is simply miserable
on the eve Of great speech. His un.
rest and anxiety on such occasions are
characteristic feature of the man. He
wanders distraught about the building
in which the Cortes is in session. He
rushes into the cafe to take glass of
water; seems to be seized with o fever;
fancies he will not know how to put the
words together; that he will be laughed
ut or hissed; not single lucid idea of
his speech remains in his head-he has
confused and forgotten everything
until the moment when he looks round
upon the expectant faces and delivers
the first sentence of his address. Then
words do not fail; they como to his
help in stately, sonorous order. Then
courage does not flag. He is states
man with mission, inspired and
earnest. Every atom Of timorousness
has evaporated.