The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-08-20
SAID IN SHORT WORDS.
A Strong Talk in Monosyllables
Made by an Ohio Man.


From the Chicago Chronicle.
In these days of turgid eloquence,
when public speakers seem to vie with
one another to see how many triple
-ionted words they can lug into a
speech, and seem to scorn the strength
and beauty of short words, an address
delivered many years ago by A. p.
Edgerton, of Ohio, has peculiar weight,
and is an eloquent argument in favor
of short, direct methods Of speech. Mr..
Edgerton is a former member of con-
gross, and was civil service commits
sioner under President Cleveland. The
address was delivered in 1882 at the
commencement of the Fort Wayne
High school, in Indiana, and while II
was impromptu and not at all
studied effort at monosyllabic diction,
each of the words it contains is a
monosyllable. Not only that, but as
an oratorical effort it ranks high. The
address is as follows:
This day we close for the year the
Fort Wayne free schools, and we now
part with you, the girls and boys We
are no more to teach.
II say girls and boys, for when
three score and ten years have come
to you you will be glad to have your
friends say that health and peace of
mind have kept your hearts warm;
that you wear no brow of gloom, are
not borne down with age, but still, In
heart, are girls and boys When
these years come. and hope they will
come to all, the tide of time will roll
back and tell you of your schOoltime
days, when the fair, the kind, and the
true found love, but false heart found
no friend, no tongues to praise. These
days brings rich gifts to age, and when
you shall cease to think of them your
fire has burned low and your light has
gone out. You have been here taught
i'm the hope that the free schools Of
Fort Wayne would help to make you
of use to your friends and to the
world, would give you faith in all that
is good and true, and lead you to
seek work, for that you must seek
and do If you would have good name
wealth, a home, a charge to keep or
a trust to serve. Go forth with bold,
true heart to seek the work for you
to do.
Keep in mind that the hours to
work run through each day and that
Gods great law of life is, In the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread
Now, for you, young man, this
truth is told.
go where you will through the
world and you will find on the front
door Of shops and mills. of stores and
banks, and on ships, on farms. on
| roads, in deep mines where men toll
for wealth; where laws are made that
make some men too rich and men of
] l.
too poor; where men by law are
| taught to plot with sin, to spurn the
| right, that charge and cost and spoil
may make old 'Quirk's' law firms
rich; where law is so plead that the
! judge must guess to find what's law.
where quacks most fight DER sick
mems pains and dead mems bones;
whore types are set and none to mind
the proofs; where priests do preach
and pray and where schools are taught
this sign: Brains Will Find Work
! Here.
Don't fear. Step up and ask for
work; brains will get 1t. Don't let Il
cat that loves fish, but dares not wet
her foot
"If it be said. What can you do?
| W ia N'u l'dlII Il lIdut. say, L nave
none, but / can learn one and put
brains in it, When you go to a place
where brains should hunt for work
and be sure to find It, IT may be said
to you, DO you see that plow? Can
| you hold and drive 1t deep? That
plow, in its wise use, gives all mcr
| food.
do you see that wheel and that
| crank and those shafts and that press
and do you hear the rush and the
hiss OF the steam which moves them
Can you make and hold and run
them? Can you build and drive the
works and wheels which make the
wealth OF the earth and cause it to roll
and to float to and fro from place to
place, where 1t is the best for man
to use it?
Can you spin the thread and weave
II which makes robes for kings and
silks for the rich and vain, and dress
for the poor and all that skill and
art have wrought by loom and hand
for mans use.
"These things are all shot through
With threads of light-the light OF
mind and art and skill which shines
each day more bright and dims all the
old by some new-found light as the
years go on"