The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-09

NYE, THE AFTER DINNER ORATOR.
his time, and his remarks compared
with those that appear from day to day
in The Congressional Record would in
dictate that ho was not overestimated by
his fellow men. And yet Cicero excelled
in sarcasm and witticisms. Those were
two of his leading characteristics.
The more serious foe of oratory has
been the remarkable growth Of the news
paper. Formerly the orator told people
what to believe, and they believed it.
Oratory nowadays is most effective on
jurymen, and those who inform them
selves are not selected as jurymen. This
goes toprove that oratory flourishes best
among the ignorant.
The "spellbinder' of today is general
ly man who could not charge any ad-
mission. If he were to do so, his life
would be one of extreme isolation.
1t is said that Cicero during his at
tack upon Catiline made many humor-
GUS hits at his adversary and told some
excellent stories fresh from the cloak
room. In his style he resembled Senator
Jeter G. Pritchard of North Carolina,
wiping his nose with the same air of de-
fiance and abandon in the midst of q
thrilling period.
During the defense of Murena, Cicero
is said to have made an address which
abounded in witty and humorous out
bursts
If the humor of our own orators has
destroyed the power Of American ora
tory, what is the matter with British
oratory? 1t is an entirely different bug
altogether. Those who have listened for
few weeks to the porterhouse olo-
quence Of parliament will agree with
mo that its foundations are not being
Slapped by humor.
The truth is that we live in most
practical and prosaic time. When city
can be destroyed at distance of eight
miles and large iron cook stove full
of explosives may be thrown into New
/, York from beyond Fire Island, what
sort of employment is there for poet
laureate or big browed orator with n
cloven breath?
No, it is not true that humor has
wrecked American oratory, for even the
humorous orator finds on arriving at his
destination that the morning papers pub
AioiOu Ilo AuLLJ AuCCQOtCS bNO Weeks Do-
fore he arrived. Our after dinner people,
of course, tell humorous stories, but
that not generally regarded as oratory
Speeches which go with great eclat at O
dinner when the pudding sauce has been
rather eXhilarating often read rather
tamely at the breakfast table, especially
by people who were lot invited.
Oratory i'll the days when it took the
place now occupied by the telegraph, the
press and the tutor, was as often wrong,
too, as right, and to this day Cicero is
condemned for using his great gift for
the inexcusable death of Cathegus and
Lentulus.
Agreat many people overestimate the
value of oratory. Oratory must have o
| just cause Or it becomes power for
evil. Some think even today that Patrick
Henry was the direct and solo cause Of
American independence because he gave
tho Revolutionary war permission to
come.
Such, however, was not the case
We need not bewail tho conditions
here which havo brought about this
change. When great newspaper re-
duces its price, it is moro important to
the American people than tho birth Of o
Demosthenes. Everything which en-
courages MS to do our own thinking &C.
monts another granite block into the
beautiful pedestal Of civilization.
When we may glance over days his
| tory of tho world between our oatmeal
and our Goldfish ball. the opinion Of one
man assumes its truo value When five
or six we'll informed men i'll an audience
shake their heads ut an orator, ho begins
melting at az early date.
| What becomes Of the young orators
who round cat the exercises at college
commandments? They go forth with
the applause of their neighbors still ring.
ing in their cars, and it is their inten-
tion TO mold great masses Of mind into
shape, but we find them later on en-
gagged i'll tho fire insurance business or
travelling with stereopticon through
tho remote precincts Of our frontier.
What happened to Cicero in the year
5S B. c.? Ee went into exile, and his
l house was burned down by those who al
,t~..s.1-