Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-03-01

New England Society OF New York in the
| winter of 1856, no one regarded him a?
an orator, says writer in the Chicago
Times Herald. He ,.as looked upon sim
| ply as an entertaining speaker who could
| easily hold almost any crowd by his racy
anecdotes and his brilliant dashes Of rhe-
| toric. but who neither coveted the laurels
| of the orator. nor vas ever likely t.
wear them.
But when the invitation to speak before
| the New England Society came the orator
| within him suddenly awoke. He realized
! that the opportunity was one that he
could not afford to decline, and after
talking over the matter with some of his
friends he decided to accept the invita-
tation and accordingly notified the com
mittee Six weeks were given him i'm
which to prepare the speech. but on &C
ties he could devote himself to the task
of preparing 1t only AT occasional inter-
walls. Nevertheless he pondered over 1t
thougntfully in going backwards and for
wards between his home and his office.
and when he finally seated himself down
to write out the speech in fun he com
pletcd il at one sitting.
So tenacious was his memory that no
sooner was the task completed than ..c
was able to repeat the speech from be-
ginning to end. He submitted 1t to sew
eral parties In whose Judgment ne could
place reliance. and from them he received
high tributes of endorsement. but unti
the speech was finally delivered he con
tinued to feel uneasy. Never before hav-
| ing addressed an audience NJ inc NcfIn
he was fearful Of the reception which the
speech would call forth and when the
anticipated hour arrived and he arose To
deliver the speech those about him no
ticCd that his face pale with UNI
easiness and apprehension.
However the enthusiastic demonstra-
ions of applause which greeted his open
ing sentences soon restored his composure
of mind and gave him enough self comb
dence to warrant him in departing some
what from the lines of his set speech
4 a Ill.
ii the appearance of being Spontaneous
rather than premeditated. Much of the
speech which he delivered WAS suggeste :.
by the remarks Of Or; Talmadge. who I'm :,
mcdiately preceded him on the list OF
speakers. and the tribute to Abraham
Lincoln, which caused the audience to iise
up as one man and go perfectly Wild
with excitement. WAS an afterthought
which came to him in the banquet hall.
In accounting for the success of the
speech ii will not do to place too much
| emphasis upon the brilliancy of the meta
phors In which IT ahounded. Perhaps the
effect was due in still larger measure
to the spirit of earnest conviction which
characterized the orator himself and to
the. simplicity Of manner in which he
spoke. In accepting the invitation Mr..
Grady made up his mind 10 be perfectly
natural, initiating no other public speaker
! and paying no heed whatever to New
England models. In other words he was
determined to he himself.
From the date of this initial success as
an orator Mr.. Grady grew steadily h. IA
Vor with the public and his capacities
seemed to increase with his popularity.
Each speech which he subsequently, made
marked an upward and onward move
ment in his career an orator until
finally he achieved his master stroke and
received his GROWING reward in the
speech which he delivered in Boston in
December 1889 Just two weeks before the
finger of death was laid upon him.
In analyZing the sources Of Mr.. Ora
dys insniration they are found to be two
| fold. First he was bent upon deve.oplnS
the resources of the South and in lifting
| the South from the ashes of defeat, and
| second he was DESTROYS of seeing the two
| sections of the country again united in
| the bonds of brotherhood, forgetting that
| any cause Of estrangement had ever ex-
| listed between them. Such were the dom.
| mating ideas which gave character to Mr..
| Grady,s oratory: and they Will be found
! embodied in each of his speeches.
| Humor was one of Mr. Grddy's strong
traits. but he always made II serve some
practical turn. as when he told OF the
| Pickens county funeral in one of his
| speeches. He said:
On one occasion attended funeral in
| Pickens county, in my state. Funerals
| are usually anything else but cheerful OBJ
| Jects To me unless | can select the sun
jects and this one happened to be more
| than ordinarily pathetic. The deceased
, was lone gallus" fellow whose panta
looms struck him just under the armpIts
| and reached barely down to the knees.
| In laying him TO rest his friends had to
cut through solid marble to make hi
| grave. and yet the little tombstone when
| they afterward put over him came from
| Vermont. They buried him in the heart
of a pine forest. and yet the pine coffin
| was imported from Cincinnati. They bur
led him in touch of an iron mine, and yet
the iron in the shovel which was used
IN digglno the grave was imported from
! PittSburG They buried by the side of the
best sheep-EraZinG country on earth. and
| yet the wool in the coffin bands and the
| coffin bands themselves were brought
from the North. The South furnished
absolutel" nothing tor the funeral but the
| hole in the ground and the man who
went in the hole. They buried him in a
| New YORK coat and a Boston pair OF
| shoes and a pair of brooches from Chica
GO and a shirt from Cincinnati, leaving
him nothing to carry into the next world
| to remind him of the country from which
| he came hut the blood III his veins and
the marrow in his bones.
| This bit of humor was effective. Today
| the South is the center OF hundreds OF
manufacturing and industrial enterprise
and they are largely due to the agencies
| which Mr.. Gradys practical humor set
in motion.
Onn OF Mr. Gradys best speeches is
| unfortunately not Included in ne collec
ton which was brought out shortly after
his death hut from the minds OF those
| who heard the delivery its memory viii
never fail This speech was dellVered oy
ton of 1881 in Atlanta. Among other
thiuos he described the desolation which
| intnmpcranCe had wrought and pictutth
the pale faces and broken hearts ot the
| women whose lives had been highted by
drunken husbands. and he argued that
| while prohibition would temporarily cut
| short some of the city'S revenue. II would
eventually make the city more prosper
Gus than ever before by filling it with
happier women and better citizens. SAID
he: "What if we do lose some things b.
| prohibjtion We shall gain vastly more.
| Each day the sun dispclS the radiance OF
| the moon and blots the starlight from
| the skies. but only to unclaSp the eartA
| from the embrace of night aud to plant
the stars anew in the opening flowers.
| Mr. Grady's cIoquence carried the day tor
| prohibition in Atlanta, but the expert
| mcnt was not satisfactory. and two years
| later whisky was voted back.
As the years come and go. Mr. Grady 8
elonucnt voice is still raised in the south
Iand-other speakers have taken ms piace
| h,IA real la ;