The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1895-10-19
ADJUSTMENTS


Miss Bertha Davis, who assisted Mr.
Williams 1T his "lecture-recitsl" on
Tuesday evening. has improved wonder.
fully within the year. Her work speaks
excsllently for her teacher. Mr.. Lamp
recht. whom. by the way, it 10 pity that
We have not more opportunities to hear.
Her technique 10 excellent. Unfortun-
ately both OF the numbers that she
played were rather OF the difficult, elab
crate. and horid order, 90 that it is not
easy to judge OF her tone in singing pas
sages. She was hampered. too. by hor
instrument, which lacked richness Of
tone. and by the hall, which lacked res
onance. Her playing. especially in the
Kiuswiak by Winiawski. was remark
ably brilliant, with inspiring fire and
force. 1t is to be hoped that she may
be heard under circumstances more fav
orable.
Mr.. George c. Williams. like most
elocutionists. comes out strong in the
comic. "Or Pickett's Nell' and Fare
Thee Well, Brother Watkins give him
full opportunity for grotesque gesture,
amusing meditation OF voice-in fact for
very clever and very telling impersons-
ton. He can give US the absurd
preacher, the bashful debater, the howl
ing "orator" But he cannot give US
simple, strong psthos. This is his limi.
tation, and not only his limitation, but
the limitation OF the art Of elocution.
The fault is inherent in the artistic
medium. Execution is an art half Of ut
terance, half of acting. an art that re-
quires deliberate perversion, exagger-
alton. falsity to nature. And art that is
90 false to nature is hardly, in the deeper
sense, an art at all.
No matter how intensely a man tells a
story, he will not tell it az an elocution-
ist would tell it. He aims at telling. not
at building. on the foundation Of his
narrative q superstructure OF gesture,
information and facial expression. The
elocutionist studies the words, the scene
described. He should study the speak
or. the story-teller, and aim at reproduc-
ing his intensity Of recollected emotion.
Az to the vividness Of the ecene, that is
the matter Of the literary artist. Few
great pieces OF literature need elocution
Nine out OF ten lose by it. Even Shake
speare is. to many OF us. stronger as his
words come from the printed page than
as they are delivered to us by even the
ablest OF actors. The poet has given
his words appropriate rhythm. The elo-
cutionist. like the perverse piano player,
is superior to rhythm. He perverts the
time, upsets the whole metrical design.
substitutes for the even measures Of the
poet the reckless accelerando or ritard-
amdo OF his own wild will. till the verse
hurries and slows like the engines of a
steamer when the screw races in q dead
sea.
Mr.. Williams failed to show that elo-
cution is OF practical value in oratory.
His talk was weakened sadly by the de.
liberate art Of its delivery, Every ges-
ture was 30 artfuily elaborated, every
tone Of voice 80 obviously intended that
one felt that one was listening. not to
what man had to say. but to a "pro-
duction," an effort" Many a country
orator. who would have to look up the
word "eiocution" in his webster"
could command closer attention. could
rouse more enthusiasm than Mr.. Will.
liams, who stood and delivered with
graceful gestures, his own words, just as
Il they had been the words OF another,
n home only vhen the adiroct onofa