Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-04

THE .ANGLO-SAN0S RAt
RULES TIE WORLD.
REV. TH0s. DlxON's LECTURE,
j. sone, the Subject OF Re-
l'icr. EIoancncc.

Christian Association auditorium last
night. Thomas Dixon. Jr minister. poilt'-
clan lecturer. and moro recently novelist
o. distinction and national fame, told Oh
The man with The courage Of his coiVic-
lion. in an address the platform title OF
which is Backbone.
Mr.. Dixon WAS certainly an object Q.
marked interest TO his hearers The re-
putation Of Leopard Spots" has done
more for Mr. Dixon than even his useful
and bri!Iian; pulpit and platform career
in bringing him 20 public attention, but
after his mastery address last night,
!, was tho subject Of no little comment
among his audience that there should be
combined IN one man the genius ci plot
maker and the fiery clocutncc OF an ora
1o- His; dramatic powcr which has its
forte in his marvellous voice, intense an7
clear as II is WIS not the most enter
4aiaing feature OF his lecture. II wac
easily surpa ssed by his skill IN workman
ship. MIR. Dixon displayed last night his
striking ability as lecturer and con-
:scquentir as Il pleasing speaker by his
genius in fitting his words 10 the sense
that thcy WIRE intended 10 conTey-a
talent that rhetorjcianS designate hy q
very long word. Some Of his illustrations
ing where rich ina gination copious voca-
',ulary and a indicious combination Of the
two rendered his descriptive paris thor
oushiy enjoyable Ia his listeners.
ITO WILL. Is TO LIVE.
TO viii is to live: 10 cease to will is to
die: he who has ceased 10 will is already
dead" Around this idea, Mr.. Dixon con-
structcd his address. He prcfaccd his re-
marks with tho statement that n French
Ia. ,,l1
est reason why the AnSlo-SaNon race was
destined 10 become the rulers OF the world
in the twentieth century in that the
Anslo-SaNon idea was based upon ind-
yidualism while that of the Latin races
was planned upon the communal group in
society. obey me- says a French father
10 his daughter land when YOU are of
age I'll give YOU a dollar and find You
a decent husband.
'Or If it is the SON said Mr.. Dixon,
Ito whom he is speaking, it is tie prom
Use OF a position in the army navy or III
lieu of that, position in the civil SER
vice
with the AngIo-SaXon father, it is q
case Of giving the child the best education
possible and then throwing him up in the
air. lie generally lights on mis- feet.
HIS IDEA Or BACKBONE.
Mr. Dixon was led from this suggestion
to the comment on the stamina OF Amerl-
can citizenship. and then to mis- idea of
what backbone is, which he designated
as that part OF a mans anatomy that
enables him to stand on his feet-but not
in The same place all the time, which he
termed mulcishneSs. Il never saw q man
tt sense VINO didn t make mistakes. lie
must have the courage TO correct them.
The greatest message that was ever sent
to Il legislative body Was ,tlat Of Freder-
ick the Great when he wrote. Il have
just fought & great battle and lost It
was all my fault lie cited with pleasing
dialect power the incident Of an Irish
man in the Federal army who was twit
ted for having run away disgracefully
from the field of battle at Bull Run.
''Yis.'' replied the fleeing one, them rs
didn't run is there Wit With Il number
of pointed illustrations, the speaker show
ed the necessity for q man to correct his
mistakes after acknowledging them.
which he admitted required courage and
backbone
HIS EXPERIENCE IN POLITICS.
ar. Dixon reviewed his experience in
North Carolina politics With his. charac-
teristic touch of humor. he cited his
career to illustrate the fact that the man
with the courage of convictions will ulti-
nately win, for the men who howl and
hiss to-day will applaud and welcome to-
morrow. II decided 10 enter politics III
North Carolina Years ago. All that q man
had to do in my State then to get in poll
tics was just to enter, set out and rum
Mr.. Dixon stated that he prepared a
speech during the campaign that was we'll
received except that some Tool would
come up after he had spoken and sug-
Eest to him that it would be well TO cut
out certain parts Of it. IF ] had yielded
my convictions to the suggestions of my
supporters there wouldn't have been any
of that speech left after the fourth day..
STORY OF LUTHER BENSON.
Mr.. Dixon told the story of the cSpe-
rience of Luther Benson, the great tenn
perance lecturer who appeared among the
moonshiners in the vicinity of Asheville,
and by the wonderful power of his con-
viction carried his crowd with him, not
withstanding he was in Il hostile country
and handbiils stating that he had been
drunk for three days in Greensboro were
freely circulated among his hearers Ben
son Acknowledged the truth Of the cir
culars hut won mis- audience by his frank
statement that before he had pledged
himself to fight his arch encmy-drinh-he
was drunk every day in the year and that
after he determined to exercise the Il
will power. he had fallen only seven
times. In his recitation Of this incident,
Mr.. Dixon was at the height OF his
dramatic skill and force which was re-
cognized by the applause of his audience
His epiSrammatic sentences. the figures
OF speech that he freely used. and the
fibre Of his voice pleased the audience to
the limit. Referring 10 Benson, Mr.. Dix
on said of him, You could no more crush
that man than sou could crush the gran
ties bones of earth with strands of straw.
nor was ho afraid of that ghost of coy
&iStency that frightens small minds"
FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
Possibly the most effective piece of
descriptive work that the speaker en-
plo%ed during his lecture was to illustrate
The freedom OF choice III man as distin-
;;uished from the automaton He told
III choicest diction and with thrilling cf
feet in language that was no less graphic
and terse than that in which the descrip-
lien of the battle Of Waterloo is fold hv
Victor Hugo, Of the action Of the rail
road engineer who encountered a runa-
way freight on one of The steep grades in
the mining region of Pennsylvania SEQ
tiiE that fatal collision was jneyitab,,
hnless something Was quickly done tho
engineer cut ms engine loose from his
IRAN and pulling wide the throttle set Il |
~. up INC grade TO meet the flying freight.
ne iiciaeht was a simple one, but The
marvellous word painting Of the sneaker
IN describing the scene thrilled the a,,.
uiefce, and the application Of the incident
as used hy DIR. Dixon Ia ilIrstr,,a e.