Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-04-01

Curran was the greatest orator OF his
day, aud some Of the passages In his
speeches thrill the reader to-day like
trumpet blast. and they will continue to
thrill while truth sublImely uttered
has the power to effect mankind. No,
/ do not regard Gladstone as a great or
ator. but II must be conceded that he Is
a grand speaker. He Is wanting In i'm
agination. He says fine things In q
stately, well-balanced way, but ! defy
his greatest admirer 70 repeat on the
spur Of the moment, one sentence OK
Gladstone that has been burned into the
memory and the recital OF which stirs
the pulse into faster beat"
"How do you think American orators
compare with those OF other lands?"
THE Americans are the most fiuent
people In the world, and our political
methods have done much TO foster the
art OF public speaking, but this has MOB
encouraged true oratory, for when
every one is speaker. people are salts
fed with mediocrity. The true artist 10
no. going to enter the field against the
sign painter. nor will the poet compets
with the maker of advertising rhymes
"Webster was man OF grand posi-
bilitles rather than OF great achieve
ments. He aimed At being sonorous
and ponderous. and he succeeded.
he ignored the heart while adj
dressing himself 10 tho head, yet he
has left few grand oratorical para
graphs that will survive the language
after his standing as statesman Is
forgotten. Clay was handicapped by
inadequate training. His success with
the masses, who idolized him, was due
more TO his personal magnetism than TO
his originality, for he had none. There
was far more 10 his manner than In his
matter. lie was great force, but
history will not rank him as great
orator. In his own field Tom Corwin
was superb, but he either lacked tho
opportunity or did no make II, 10 give
the world the best that was In him. \.
). Prentiss was an oratorlcal meteor.
He famsd across the sky aud was gone.
but he had the divine gift, with all the
human failings that attach. In denun-
ciatory power, biting scorn and wither-
ing contempt, Wendell Phillips was
wonderful, and unspproaehed by any
man OF his time. Henry Ward Beecher
as an orator OF the first class stands In
the fore front OF Americans, and unsur-
passed by many OF the ancisnt or mod
ems. he was master OF the emotions.
He said grand things and might have
spoken still better, had not his splendid
genius been cramped by his environ
ment IL isa great pity that Beecher
wasted so much OF his life within the
| narrow aud narrowing compass OF the
! pulpit Talmage? VINO ever accused
| Talmage OF being an orator; certainly
no person able to define the word or 10
appreciate the gift? lie is a sponter,
a word conjurer. The yentriloQuist
can do some surprising thugs with his
mouth, but that does not make him an
orator. Lincoln's Gettysburg speech Is
a gem, aud Abraham Lincoln In that
] rose TO the front rank Of orators. But
1t was but one flight as brilliant as ~
was brief. indicating the grand possl-
bnlities that lay dormant Ia the man.
No land has had so many great speak
| ers as America, but II would be sheer
vanity for us to claim 10 head the list
with our array OF great orators.
"Don't you think, Colonel, that the
printing press has lesseDed the field for
oratory, or rather the need for it?" waa
my nexs question.
HAS the poYchromailc printing
press that turns our millions OF repro
] ductions OF splendid painting, llInlted
the field Of the artist? OF course not,
II anything the production OF the
chrome lntsnsdes the desire TO sec ne
genuine thing, People are Still ess 4
to hear and be thrilled by the music q
the human voice. They have read the
speeches, and they yearn 10 see and 10
hear the man--the orator. They want
TO have their emotions stirred, 10 feel
the divine fame, and forgetting the
sordid earth for the time. 10 soar 10
heights OF dazzling splcndor on his
wings. As 10 the suggestion that the
printing press exhsusts tho orators's
themes, IL but serves 10 intensity them
and to prepare the people for tho proper
reception OF what he has TO say. In
every way tho printing press Is the
orators ally, for IL enables tho nearer
to deliberate on the truth that has stir
L