The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-27
DINNERS AND ORATORY
The Condition of His Hearers
Makes the Speakers
Success.
MEN WHO ARE IN DEMAND.
Brilliant PoSt-Prandial Takers Are
Constantly BeSieged With
Invitations.

| We have come upon an age of dinner!
and oratory, and the inclination to mix
the two is leading to interesting conse
| quences. 1t is matter of easy calculation
| to show that from the 1st of November tC
the LIST of May the public dinners given il
| this country average more than a hundred
night, and, as there are at least six
| speeches at each, the total is usually i'm
| pressive, remarks a writer in Frank Les
lies Weekly. AT many of these dinners
the same stories are told; a speaker who
originates happy illustration or sue
cessful bonmot is re-echoed wherever his
| performance is known. II wish l had sale
that" said Oscar Wilde to Whistler, after
one of Whistler's best epigrams. ooh, but
you will say it, responded the merciless
James. 1t is largely that way with after
dinner oratory, and we may well inquire
where the fashion is going to end unless il
is more judiciously directed.
There is an awful suspicion that the
people who buy $40 and $40 tickets and
who simply eat and drink and listen may
get tired of being bored. 1t is one of the
disadvantages of the growth of total absti-
hence that it makes the after-dinner audi
ence more critical. When under the full
inspiration of unnumbered bottles the ban
queter cares very little about the quality OF
the speeches. All that he hopes to do is
to keep his eyes open, his body steady, and
occasionally to pound the table by way OF
showing those around him that he is the
soberest man in the company. 1t is easy
for prosy speaker to work off moss-cov-
cred anecdotes upon an intellectual con-
dition of this kind. And it is still easier
for the victims of the evening to sing, "For
he's a Jolly good fellow" whether they
IL. Il 10 l.
intemperance even at banquets is distinctly
questionable. The many wines are tasted
more than they are drunk. The quality is
praised, while the man who "goes in" for
mere quantity is set down as vulgarian.
There are exceptions, OF course, and there
are many dinners which end in mental fog
and physical uncertainty. But the great
majority of the banquets are sober affairs,
and the post-prandial orator finds, before
him hundred or more of clean, Keen in
telligent faces that measure him at his own
height, and do not magnify his size or his
words through an alcoholic atmosphere
The increase of sobriety, therefore, dis
tinctly threatens to bring after dinner
speaking down to a practical basis on
which bore will be recognized as bore
and plagiarist as plagiarist.
AT best banquet is tiresome expert
ence for the average citizen, and if the
up their minds to revolt what is to become
OF the numerous gentlemen who are as
sured in their own minds that they are
very happy as after-dinner speakers, but
who somehow fail to prove the fact to those
VINO hear them? A mania of this kind is
practically incurable. Heretofore it has
existed upon the good-natured tolerance of
friendship, and in years to come, as there
NAV be a necessity of finding a way to
han6la II thara will don htlqCS ariS a
prandial audience agency, which will sup
ply on short notice to orators of this kind
a brilliant and appreciative assemblage,
who will applaud at the right time and
with the fervor of real enthusiasm.
There is another thing. The really bril-
liant postprandial speakers are besieged
with applications all through the year.
There are so few of the really good ones in
proportion to the demand that they can
not begin to accept third of the invita-
tions that are extended to them. Now, all
this means work and the men who are worth
listening TO are generally men who work
hard in their profession or in their BUSH
ness. More than one of has sacrificed a
part of his life for after-dinner speeches,
which at best could only be heeting in
their interests and results. The dinner
with us has not yet come to an occa-
sion for the promulgations of important
principles or policies. The speeches are
most successful when most fragmentary,
but the strain is there just the same. As
the world grows older every leading man
becomes more engrossed in his particular
work. We have not yet succeeded in cult
waiting leisure. But among the men who
bear the honors in the different walks of
life there are many who begin to see that
they must conserve their energies, and
they have yet to learn that sitting six
hours at a table and eating and
drinking a lot of things which the
human stomach does not especially want is
poor way to take care of health. Perhaps
these gentlemen may revolt from banquets
and leave the field to the great army
of mediocrities, who mean well, but who do
not love their felIowmen as much as they
should. Perhaps there may be way out of
the difficulty through the photograph and
the kaleidoscope, but that is yet to be de-
veoped. 1t is certain that the giving OF
banquets will go on ana that there will be
need for speechmaking. We must look at
the question fairly, and then do what we
can to reform it. The first great step
should be for the listeners to put down the
stupid orator, and the next great step
shonld be for the bright orator to avoid the
Stupid listeners.