The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-05-14
EARNEsrNEss 1N oRAroRY.

Failed.
Icy Professor Brainard G. Smith, Cornell Uni
versty. Copyright. 1928, by Brainard G.
Smith.
THIRD PAPER.
4 certain kind Of physical earnestness
IS exhibited by great orators in the de-
, livery of their speeches, but we must not
Z think of it as noise, or buster, or mere
defamation.
This energy may manifest itself In
Mirabeau's lion-like roar, in Phillips
quiet conversational manner and easy
gestures; in NYebster's ponderous sweep
of arm and organ tones; in Chatham S
thrilling whisper. But however it shows
itself, or whatever you may call it, it is
perhaps this quality more than any other
which marks the born orator,
HOW WEBSTER AND DEMosTHENEs DE-
FINED IT.
Webster must have had this quality of
speech in mind when he said: 1.-THE clear
conception, outrunning the deductions
OF logic, the high purpose, the firm re-
solve. the dauntless spirit, speaking on
the tongue, beaming from the eye, in
forming every feature and urging the
whole man onward, right onward TO his
subiect-this. this is eloquence; or rather
it is something greater and higher than
all eloquence--it is action, noble, SUD-
lime, godlike action.
Whether or no this faction was what
Demosthenes meant when he said IN
answer to one who asked what was the
first three great essentials for the orator:
faction. action. action.S / know not:
but the great Greek orator had his orato-
rical energy, this physical earnestness.
After his famous reply in the "Oratlon
on the Crown to HschInes, the latter
beaten In trial was oanished to Rhodes,
where he set up a ssSchool of Rhetoric
and Elocution.'' One day he read his
own Grafton delivered at that trial. His
pupils warmly applauded. He then read
the Grafton of Demosthenes, his rival.
The pupils could hardly restrain their en-
thusiasm. WHAT said Kschines
sadly: "What if you had heard the mon
Eter himself?''
Right here it may be interesting to re-
call the fact that when Mr.. Webster
reached the words, 'sOnward, right on
ward - Just quoted, 1t occurred in a de-
ecription of John Adams oratory. He
raised his body, brought his hands In
front OF HIM with q swing, and, step
ping TO the front of the stage, with a
broad swell and an imperious surge up
ward of his deep voice, he threw into the
several persons who sat directly in front
Of the stage lnvoluntarily hall rose from
their seats with the start the words gave
thems
EMERsoN's IDEA OF oRAToRICAL ACTION.
think it was ssphysical earnestness''
among other things, of which Emerson
was thinking when he wrote: He
(someone who is looking for an orator.
finds himself perhaps in the Senate,
where the forest has cast out some wild I,
black-browed bantling, to show the
same energy in the crowd OF officials
which he has learned in driving cattle to
the hills, or in scrambling through
thickets in winter forest, or through
the swamp and river for his game. In
the folds of his brow, in the majesty OF
his mien, nature has marked her son,
and in thai artificial and perhaps I'M
worthy place and company shall remind
YOU of the lessons taught him in earlier
days by the torrent in the gloom of the
pine woods, when he was the companion
of the mountain cattle, of jays and foxes,
and hunter of the bear.
'sOr you may find him in some lovely
Bethel, by the seaside, where hard
featured. SCARED and Wrinklsd Methodist
becomes the poet of the sailor and the
fisherman, whilst he pours on the abun-
daut streams of his thought through a
imagination-a man who never knew a
looking glass or a critic; q man whom
college drill or patronage never made and
whom praise cannot spoil; man who
conuuers his audience by infusing his
soul into them, and speaks by the right
of being the person in the Assembly who
has the most to say, and SO makes al
other speakers appear little and cowardly
before his face.'
PATRICK HENRY's TREMENDOUS SPEECH
What was Patrick Henry's famous
speech but a tremendous exhibition o.
ssphvsicaI earnestness,' if the account
given in Randall's stLife of Jefferson
be true?
Henry rose with an unearthly fire burn
ing in his eye. He commenced some.
what calmly, but the smothered excite
1nent began more and more to play upoT
his features and thrill in the tones of his
voice. The tendons of his neck stood ou
white and rigid like whipcords. His
voice grew louder and louder, until the
walls OF the building and all within them
seemed to shake and rock in its tremen-
dous vibrations.
nFinally his pale face and glaring eye
became terrible to look upon. Mer
leaned forward in their seats, with heads
strained forward, their faces pale anC
their eyes glaring like the speakers.
His last exclamation, Give me liberty OF
rive me deathi' was like the shout of the
leader which turns back the route O
battle.
esThe old man from whom this tradi.
ton was derived added that when the
orator sat down he himself felt sick with
excitement. Every eye yet gazed en-.
tranced on Henry. 1t seemed as If a wore
from him would have led to any wild ex-
piosion ofviolence. Men looked beside
themselves.
Professor Moses Colt Tyler in his 'sLife
of Patrick Henry quotes John Roam,
who heard the speech, as saying thai
sethe orators voice, countenance and
gestures gave an irresistible force to hi.
words which no description could make
Ineligible to one who had never seen hin
or heard him speak"
Now is it true that cratory simply
consists in having something to say y
something that must be said, and in say.
ing it so that your hearers will under.
stand you.
Yet there are those who think that il
the secret of efficient public speech.
THE NEWSPAPERS AND CANON FARRAR
Possibly that is what Canon Farral
thought when he came to this country tt
lecture. He certainly was surprised
when a New York newspaper in its re-
port of his first lecture said that sshis
voice was murderous,'' and that he die
not know what 30 do with his hands. D
The good Canon did not quite relish thi:
exhibition of the tfrankness Of the
American press, - and said so, adding
frankly that he knew he was without
powers of oratory, and that he had abso-
iutely no training in elocution.
Thereupon the newspapers answered
that as lecturer is a public performer
he has no business upon the platform IN.
less he can supplement his written
matter with oratorical graces. That he is
~, aooon1rlished writer does not r1raveni