Holbrook argus. (Holbrook, Ariz.) 1900-1913, 1901-08-31
HOLD THEM BY THE EYE.
Public Speakers Have a Way of Talking
at One Person in the Crowd.

at One PerSOu IN the Crowd.
ST have noticed a rather singular
thing about public speakers" said a
gentleman who had attended one of the
big meetings in New Orleans, land 1
have had occasion to observe the pecu-
liarity several times in my life In
some instances the observation has
been attended with some embarrass-
ment. Several days ago 1 attended
meeting in this city. 1 was seated well
up to the front, and In fact within a
few yards of where the speakers stood.
One Of the speakers apparently deliv-
cred his whole address to me. If he
paid particle of attention to any other
person in the hall could not notice 1t.
He spoke with great animation, and he
kept his eye on me. He literally bonn
barded me with his laundering philip
pics, and whenever he shrieked his way
up the scale to point he would hurl
1t down with vehemence, pointed his
finger at me in derision, yelled at me,
made faces at me, and stared at me in
the most fiendish way imaginable. 1t
was a trif1e embarrassing, but l man
aged to stand it because had observed
The same popularity in public speakers
before. l have never heard a public
speaker say as much, but believe they
always pick out some object, probably
some person, and during the greater
portion of the time they are speaking
their attention will be turned to this
object, and it probably aids them in the
matter of mental concentration. 1t
probably shuts out the side Views
which tend to break the evenness and
continuity of the speech. This prob
ably Is why some of the early orators
back In the days Of Cicero and Demos
themes are credited with having ad-
dressed their remarks to stumps and
other inanimate objects. By focusing
and riyeting the eye on an unchange-
able object the mind concentrates more
quickly and the speaker is able to pur-
sue his subject with greater conference.
But my own experience in these mat
tiers brings back an incident at one of
Sam Jones big meetings eight or ten
years ago, when he had reached the
high tide of his evangelical reputation.
A young friend Of mine took a Young
lady around to hear Sam Jones. and the
church was damned to the door. as was
usual then at meetings held by the
evangelist They sat pretty close up to
the pulpit. Sam Jones had on his wal
paint, and he picked out my friend an.
parently. You f1op-eared hound he
said, shaking his finger at my friend
you red-nosed whelpi you blear-eyed
sot-you drag yourself around In the
cutters of infamy and wallow around
In rum-shops, and then,' he continued
leaning over the pulpit toward nv
my friend, you have the nerve to cal
on one OF the sweetest and purest LITTLE
women in town and come sneaking in
to this church with her. NV friends
race was the color of red flannel, ant
the young lady was as mad as q bor
net She had never heard Sam lone,
before, and she not only believed thu
evangelist was talking to my friend
but she believed all that he said M,
friend told me afterward that th,
young lady frequently referred to i
during their friendly spats, and vet i
was nothing more than another illus
tratlon OF the popularity displayed b,
public speakers; but it shows, too. tina
the matter of playing in the role of th,
stump for Demosthenes is not the mos
pleasing thing in the world."-New Or
leans Times-Democrat.