The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-30
ORATORS AND ORATORY."
A Splendid Lecture Last Night by Rev. DR.
Hawthorne.

East night at the Baptist Female
University Rev. DR.. j. ID. Hawthorne,
of Atlanta, delivered Il most instruc-
tive and entertaining lecture. His
subject was Orators and Oratory."
He began by declaring that oratory
was not dead-that it needed but
great crises to bring it ont. He did
not think it would ever die.
Il challenge any man to name Il
human power that has wrought great
cr events in the worlds history than
has oratory.
1T was the eloquence Of Demos
themes that gave Greece her glory.
at was the eloquence of Cicero that
even proud Rome was proudest of.
ut was the eloquence of Martin
Luther that made possible the Ref
ormation of the Sixteenth century.
at was Lord Chatham'S famous
speech in Parliament that gave heart
to the American Revolutionists.
'But for the eloquence of such men
as Henry there would have been no
Revolution"
The speaker declared Beecher the
most versatile man that has filled any
pulpit this century. and said that
Charles Sturgeon went into his pulpit
every Sunday morning and quickened
the pulses of the whole religious
world.
pulpit eloqucnce is still fact and
o force. The man who says that it is
dead is either ignorant or stating
that which he knows to be untrue
DR.. Hawthorne analyZed true elO-
quence as consisting of four elements:
G). Oratorical power, GU reason. CD
Imagination, and (4) action. And he
declared that he could count on the
fingers of one hand the men in the
worlds history who possessed all
these combined in their perfection:
Demosthenes, Cicero, Chatham and
Mirabeau.
But Greece in all her history had
only one Demosthencs; Rome had but
one Cicero. England but one Chat
ham and France only one Mirabeau.'
The lecturer said John {. Calhoun
was not usually regarded as an elo-
quent man, but he regarded him as a
speaker of the most masterful elo-
quence.
"His speech was like a massive
granite column without a solitary
wreath around it."
"The eloquence of Daniel Webster
combined maSSiVeness. overpOwering
argument and vaulting ambition. He
had strength of thought expressed in
language as eloquent as Cicero's. His
greatest efforts are magnificent as Il
winters night when all the stars are
~ IN, ,1nl hp
an oratorical Hercules Every sem
tcncc had the weight of a ton. and
his words leaped from his lips like a
thunderbolt.
Henry Clay was an orator of pas
sion. He was born to command. pos
scssing kingly elements in his nature.
He excited the admiration, won
the confidence and captured the heart.
Henry Clay was mighty because of
his complete absorption in the cause
he advocated. When he arose to speak
men saw in him Inc embodiment of
n great principle. In his great de-
sire to see that principle enthroncd
i'm the hearts of his hearers he lost
sight of himself. At such times moth
ing could withstand him. ~ shook
like an earthquake and swept all be-
fore him like Il cyclone"
The speaker then discussed at
length the elements of Oratory and
the principles on which great orators
had built their speeches.
He closed with "a wonderfully elo-
uuent and tender tribute to Henry
w. Grady. who was his friend and
whom he places as an orator side by
side with Sargent S. Prentiss. who
was said to have a nesC of singing
birds in his throat
1t was a very fine lecture, polished.
eloquent and instructive. and it's
every word was greatly enjoyed by
all who heard it.