The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-08-10
HILL WAS WITTY
RECENT DEVELOPMENT SHOW A
NEW PHASE OF HIS CHARACTER.
his Reply to Gornan-Apt and witty Com
parison to Shakespearean Characters
His Love For the Drama-How German
Acquired the Gift of EIoquence.
Especial Correspondeuce-l

Especial CORES Doadeucel
NEW YORK. Aug. Gone of the speech
es recently delivered by Senator Hill in
the [ ited States senate has caused no
little comment outside Of the purely polit-
ical inspiration and argument which it
suggests. 1t was speech utterly unlike
anything heretofore delivered by the New
York senator and contained some flashes
of wit, some sly humor and some broader
sarcasm which suggest something OF the
quality that used to characterize the
speeches of Senator Conkling.
When il is remembered that a day or
two before he made that speech Senator
Hill had delivered another occupying some
two hours time, it must be plain that
this second speech of his must have been
largely extemporaneOus, if not. in fact,
completely iInpromptu. He could GER
tainly have had no more time for its prep
aratiOn than he found between the hour
Of adjournment of the senate one day and
of its meeting upon the next.
To the intimate friends of Senator Hill,
however, these unusual qualities of hui
nor sarcasm and something akin 10 wit
which he revealed in the speech occasioned
no surprise, since in his private converse
ton with those whom ne trusts he is not
only apt TO be humorous and sarcastic in
what he says, but he also has the faculty
which COnkling had to higher degree of
quickly seeing the humorous side of life
and of graphically reproducing by mimic
~ or cOmical suggestion what he has
thus seen. Mr.. COnkling was one of the
greatest mimics that ever sat in the SEN
ate He did not dare 10 trust himself TO
display this faculty very much, since ne
feared that it might carry him TO ex-
tremes. Yet there were occasions when
he felt safe To attempt TO mimic the tones.
the methods of speech and the manner of
some public men, and when he did so the
accuracy of the imitation was always ac-
knowledged.
Senator Hill has something Of this fac
ulty, and now that ne has made slight
revelation of it in the senate it is quite
likely that his colleagues and the country
may have some finer exhibitions hereafter
of these powers. Sometimes in the even
ing at his hotel, with group Of friends
around him, the senator has put them into
high glee by his vivid reproduction of tho
characteristics of some of the men who
are distinguished in political affairs Of to-
day.
that Senator Hill should have been able
TO take up the comparison of himself with
one Of Shakespcare's characters which
was made by Senator German in his
speech and should have carried'that COM
parison very much further than German
did and do it with delicacy and appro-
priateness which caused the senators TO
forget their dignity and TO laugh most
hpa i1x- of m
thus exposed to the gentle satire that lay
concealed In Hills remarks.
But the fact is that, while Senator Hill
might not have been able to have taken up
comparisons from classic literature or from
the greater novels, Yet in the field of dra-
matte literature he is perhaps more at
home than any of the other senators. The
stage has been Senate Hills only recrea-
ton in a very busy lie for nearly 30 years,
if we except a fondness for the game of
baseball. In that sport he, like Senator
German, not only takes interest to this
day, but also had some expert quality, since
each of these senators in his younger days
was player on the field.
Senator Hill is probably the best inform
ed man upon the greater plays and the
greater actors and actresses of the present
who now sits in the United States senate.
He has much of General Sherman's fond
ness for the theater and keener apprecia-
ton of dramatic art than the old general
had. In the midst of intense political bat
ties it has been Hill's habit, when he had
opportunity, 10 steal away for an evening
To the theater, where, concealed from an
audience behind the curtains OF box, he
CrQy n Ia nj ffrli "A
boy who for the first time sees farce /
Then he would return to the strife OF poll
tics, fresh, clear headed and ready 10 stay
up a. late as the most earnest person in
the company of politicians whom he met .
Hill knows Shakespeare as well in one
way as Senator Hoar, who has been a
deep student Of the great dramatist, does
in another. The Massachusetts, senator .
has studied Shakespeare in the library,
while Hill has studied him as his works
have been presented upon the stage. He .
has seen the greatest actors who have ever .
played Shakespeare in America in his own
time and has seen all the ShaEespearean /.
plays which have ever been produced here. .
Therefore he was quite able on the instant
to make use Of the comparison suggested .
by Senator German as text and upon it
TO construct greater satire and a more .
deliciously humorous one than the Mary
land senator did.
Hill, unlike German, has had training
as a public speaker outside the senate
chamber Therefore experience served
him well so that he could at once make
reply TO Mr.. German.
The Maryland senator, whose speech
was a national sensation, had scarcely
any training As a public speaker until
after he entered the senate. When be was
first a member Of that body, he spoke
with hesitation, his difideDce being very
apparent. and he had not mastered the
art Of quick thinking whom upon his feet.
He had no expectation that be would ever
b. able 70 do more than utter a few brief
sentences upon the floor Of the senate.
But he has shown that the theory Of sen
ator Conklinc is q true one that any man
Of good Inteliige and active mind can Be-
come public speaker II he chooses, since
the speaker, unlike the poet. does not need
10 D. born an orator, but can make him
self one. OF course the greatest orators
those who move the w0rld-mU-t have
p7e-emiuent natural gifts. and no man
IAN become q Webster Or even a COnkliug
~ mere hand work Any young man,
however. who looks forward % public life
may take courage from the SUCCESSES q
Senator German 50 that be may have hope
that he, too, may become az some time q