The herald., 1897-08-10
STAGE FRIGHT
THEIR PORTION.
Experiences of Famous Ora
tors When They Began to
Speak in Public.
MIR. DEPEW'S MAIDEN ADDRESS
Speaker Reed and His First Appear
ance in Public-HOW Col.
IngerSOll Began.

Perhaps it would be invidious to call
Dr. Chauncey M. Depew the foremost
orator of the day in America, but he is
certainly as well known for his address,
es, post -prandial and of every other
sort as any man who ever lived on this
side of the Atlantic. He began to think
and talk on his feet at a very early age
and many of his most felicitous speech
es are eXtemporaneous, but by far the
most important ones are. carefully
wrought out in advance and some of
them are written and memorized,
though not laboriousy perhaps. for the
gifted doctor has his mental tablets al
ways in condition. His very first pub
lie speech of any consequence to him
was delivered when he was sopho-
more. 1t was called an "oration,' was
delivered for prize which he won, and
was learned by heart. His commence
ment grafton was also memorized. His
first impromptu public address was de-
livered in 1856 when Fremont was run
ming for the presidency. Depew was out
of college by that time, but was still a
youngster. He believed in Fremont
and in this he was at odds with his
father, with whom he had held many
pOiltlCdl "A INCPuphSou
mass meeting was to be held at which
the chief speaker was to be George Will
liam Curtis. Depew decided to attend
the meeting. When he arrived the au-
dience which was large one, had al
ready been waiting some time for the
arrival of Mr.. Curtis. After a further
wait those in charge of the meeting
asked Depew to speak. He protested,
ca he inpYnari-
enced and unprepared, but they sue
ceeded in persuading him. When he
went upon the platform he was at first
greatly embarrassed.
But" he said to the writer one day,
81 made up my mind to talk to the
crowd exactly as I had been talking to
my father, and ! have no doubt 1 did
so, though 1 cannot now remember
what l said. When I had finished I
looked at my watch, supposing I had
been speaking some ten or fifteen min
utes, but in reality 1 had talked about
an hour and half
The first address to which Speaker
Reed ever gave serious attention was
delivered while he was a student at
Bowdoin College. He had fallen behind
in his classes but was very desirous of
entering a competitive contest for class
honors., Although the prizes were de-
| livered solely because of good oratory,
no one could compete whose class
standing was low, and in order to enter
the lists he had to do an enormous
amount of "back work" He once told
the writer that he worked harder dur
| ing the time he was preparing to enter
that contest than he ever did before or
ever has since. The subject of his adj
dress was Death" and he won the
prize. Mr.. Reed is still frequently af-
fected grievously by stage fright. Per-
haps his worst suffering of that sort
was on an occasion when he had to de-
liver an important political speech in
Boston. He had prepared elaborately, but
| the audience seemed so cold that before
he had been on his feet full minute he
determined to take another tack. This
meant to prepare his speech and de-
liver it at the same time. For the first
| five minutes he spared for time. He
has since said to his friends that his
voice seemed husky and far away to
him. But after a bit he struck the
right key, his tones became clear and
ringing and the resultant address was
one of the most brilliant he ever deliv-
cred.
Col Robert G.. Ingersoll never deliv-
cred a college grafton, for he had not
the advantage of the higher training.
His first speech was made as a country
lawyer in a little Illinois town, where
he had been studying for the bar with
his brother. His first fame as politi-
cal speaker was won at Peoria, and on
that occasion he, like the others men,
toned here, was in a blue funk when