New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1897-10-06
.GreatG Orators.

1 >oF0,,@1s os1OA0 "CAC SAe1nto II In0 uCAO " ~
talked always to great audiences and II
a way to leave lasting impressions. John
3. Cough IN his prime was at once the
most earnest man and finest actor evel
saw on any stage. Cough controlled an
audience not more by his wonderful
voice than by his intense and dramatic
action. So furious was he in action that
his long hair would often move with q
Whlsk like that of horses tail, and his
coat-tails would fairly snap as he made
some of his quick turns. This was not
theatrical display, but the effective ex-
preston of earnestness. He drove a
thought, conviction, home with the
wild energy Of a blacksmith pounding a
hot iron, and at the end, breathless ana
| disheveled, held it down until it was
burned into the memories of all who lis
tened - s#-"
~AAA" A~ANnAAoOA " No SACAb q WILL
der as Cough, but her power was in her
voice, not in her gestures. heard her
deliver an address, on one occasion and
under circumstances such as no other
speaker ever experienced in the United
States. 1t was early in the war period
! and before President Lincoln had issued
his proclamation of emancipation. II
was in the House of Representatives
She occupied the Speakers stand and
was introduced IN eloquent words by
Hannibal Hamlin, who likened her to
Joan of Arc. She had for an audience
Abraham Lincoln and all of his Cabinet
all the members of the United States
Supreme court, all the members of the
Senate and House of Representatives, and
all the military officers stationed in and
about Washington, who could get leaves
of absence. The floor and galleries were
packed to their fullest capacity. Never
was Miss Dickinson 50 eloquent or so Sc
we're in her denunciations of Mr.. Lin
coin for his hardness in freeing the
slaves. So severe was she that remarks
could he heard on all sides. elbow can
she do so? What a shame to insult the
President before such all audience"
All Ieyes were directed towards Mr..
Lincoln to see how he was taking it. At
times, when expressing herself in lndig-
nant tones, Miss Dickinson would in a
sarcastic manner point her finger at the
President. She was frequently applaud
ed and cheered. ehe had hardly closed,
when Mr.. Lincoln arose to his feet and
with quick steps was at her side. Selling
both her hands in his own, he said, loud
enough to he heard by every QUE: ''That
IS the best and most eloquent speech I
ever heard, and I indorse every word of
it,"
All the famous platform orators of the
old time did better before mass meetings
and in conventions than on the lecture
platform. This was true of men like
Wendell Phillips and Henry Ward
Beecher, but most particularly was it
true of men like William H. Burleigh
and FREQ. Douglass. Burleigh had the
warm imagination, the poetic method,
and the picturesque exuberance of In
gersoll, and one of his utterances, which
l heard when boy, made mole impress
sion upon me than anything I ever
heard in the way of illustration until l
heard 1ngerscll's wonderful speeches in
1876. 1t was at a meeting where the
fugitive slave law was Under discussion,
and after many had spoken Burleigh
rose quietly, and, raising onehand tremb-
ling with the intensity of his feelings,
said: "The fugitive slave law-it is on.
ly the quiverlng leaf on the outermost
|
branch OF great tree, on the outskirts
of dark, Unreasonable forest, and that
forest is slavery. Why spend time on a
flu:tering leaf? Why not strike at the
roots of the trees of the forest?''
| In the old Greenwood hall at Cincin-
natl l saw Fred Douglass single-handed
capture meeting. For some reason he
was not invited to the speakers stand,
and the committee had not arranged for
him to speak, but at an exciting moment
he sprang to his feet and with imperative
gesture and in ringing voice said: Gone
word, Mr.. President He made an i'm
FASHIONED plea, and in the midst of the
intensified excitement was hustled OF
carried or pushed toward the platform.
Nobody knew how he got there. There
was an upheaval and eruption, and when
the convention came to Its senses Fred
Douglass was on the platf orm, with the
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