The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-04-27
AFTER.DINNER ORATORY
Bottled Eloquence Uncorked at
Big BanQuets.
y Tircsomc Experience for tho Average
Citizen brilliant Post PrandiaI
Speakers Arc Always
In Demand.

We have come upon anagc of dinners
| and oratory, and the inclination to mix
! the two is leading TO interesting consc-
uucnccs. 1t is Il matter of easy calcula-
ton TO show that from The first of No
vember to the first of May the public
dinners given in this country average
moro than hundred II night, and, as
there are ut least six speeches at each,
the total IS usually impressive. at
many of these dinners, says Frank Les
lies Weekly, the same stories are told;
Il speaker who originates Il happy illus
tration or n successful bon mot is re-
echoed wherever his performance is
known. Il wish had said that" said
Oscar Wilde to Whistler, after enc of
Whisticr's best cpigrnlns. ooh, but
YOU will say it," responded the Incrci-
less James. 1t is largely that way with
after-dinner oratory, and we may we'll
inquire where the fashion is going to
enc unless it is more judiciously di-
:ected.
There is an awful suspicion that the
people who buy ten dollar and twenty
dollar tickets. and who simply cat and
drink and listen, may get tired of being
bored. 1t is one of the disadvantages
of the growth of total abstinence that
it makes the aftcr-dinner audience
moro critical. When under the full in
SEPARATION of unnumbcred bottles the
banquctcr 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 sobcrcst
man in the company. 1t is easy for a
prosy speaker to work off noss-covcred
anecdotes upon an intellectual condi-
ton of this kind And it is still easier for
| the victims of the evening to sing For
| he's Jolly good fellow" whether they
really think he is or not. But nova
| days intempcrancc, even at banquets,
| is distinctly questionable. The many
| wines arc tasted moro than they arc
drunk. The quality is praised, while
| the man who goes in" for mere guam
| tity is set down as a 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 arc
sober affairs, and the post-prandial ora
| tor finds before him n hundred or more
| of clean, keen and intelligent 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, distinct
| ly threatens to bring after-dinner speak
! ing down to practical basis on which
bore will be recognized as bore and
plagiarist as plagiarist.
| At best banquet is tircsome cX-
| pcriencc for the average citizen, and if
the people who support banqucts
should make up their minds TO revolt,
what is to become of the numerous
| gentlemen who are assured in their
| own minds that they arc very happy as
| aftcr-dinncr speakers, but who some
| times fail to prove the facts TO those
| who hear them? A mania of this kind
| is practically incurablc Heretofore it
| has existed upon the good-natured toll
| GRANGE of friendship, and in years to
| come, as there may be n necessity of
| finding away to handle it, there will
doubtless arise n post-prandial audience
agency, which will supply on short no.
tice to orators of this kind a brilliant
1 and apprcciativc asscmblagc, who will
applaud at the right time and with the
fcrvor of real enthusiasm.
There is,anothcr thing. The really
! brilliant post-prandial speakers are be-
sicgcd with applications all through
the year. There are so few of the
| really good ones in proportion to the
| demand that they cannot begin to ac-
ccpt 4 third OF the invitations 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 business. More than one of them
has sacrificed part of his life for
nftcrdinner speeches, which at best
could only be neeting III their interest
and results. The dinner with us has
| not yet come TO an occasion for the
| promul cation of important principles
| of policies. The speeches are most sue
ccssful when most fragmentary; but
| the strain is there just the same. AS
| the world grows older every leading
| business man becomes more cngroSscd
| in his particular work. We have not
| yet succeeded in cultivating leisure.
| But among the men who bear the hon
| ors in the different walks are many
who begin to see that they must con-
serve their energies, and that they
have yet to learn that sitting six hours
at Il table and eating and drinking q
| lot of things which the human stomach
does not especially want is n poor way
to take care of health. Perhaps these
gentlemen may revolt from banquets
and leave the field to the great army of
mediocrtics, who mean well, but who
| do not love their fcllow-men as much