The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-18

put into formulate the weird sounds of
the night or the sighings of the pines or
the fretful meanings of the wind-lash-
ed tides. A word; look; the bright
ening of the eye; a gesture of the hand;
the cold, impassive silence which gives
no sign of life-all these will be again
as they have been from the BEGINNINGS
OF time the indicia of eloauence: But
eloquence itself sits sphinx-like before
US and gives no answer to our curious
questioning. 1t is of all times and
peoples. With fine imagery the Greeks
SAID OF Nestor that the bees slipped
honey from his lips. If we had never
heard of the Aegean we would still
hear in the periods of Demosthenes
the beating of some sounding sea on
far-famed shores keeping time to the
glowing thought which reused Athens
to hopes of liberty. Homer's descrip-
tlon OF Helen has caused even school
boys to weep; and the vengeful clamor
of old Cato calling destruction upon
Carthage thrills us despite the monot-
ony of the cry.
What would We not give to have
heard the great lawyer who stood be-
fore Agrippa with such fearless elo-
quence that the temples of disbelief
in that cynical soul swayed and shook
like the earthquake-riven structures of
Thebes. o! for an hour of Mirabeau
as with perfect courage he guided the
greatest revolution of modern times
with his hands upon the muzZles of
disorder and anarchy! And men might
die and go to other spheres and still
hear no music like unto that which
filled with glory the English night
when Burke and Sheridan and Fox
hnf 81
Hastings
(which of you could" asked Mr..
Charlton, as he looked about the room.
have listened unmoved when Curran
made his appeal from the judge upon
the Irish bench to the friend of his
youth whom he had loved and honored
And who could have cherished a cow
ardly thought had he been present
when Patrick Henry stood in the Vir-
ginian House of Burgesses, surrounded
by the insignia of despotism-his every
word a strand in the rope to hang
him-and Numbered the defiance of
America in the face of the power of
the king. But spoken eloquence is of
the moment; written eloquence is of
the ages.
A Type of EIOquence a Powerful
Force.
II once had an old friend-known of
all of you-whose eloquent tongue
reused us at this festive board, on
many night, to generous thought and
noble sentiment, and so played upon
the chords which give forth music in
our souls that the answering harmony
leaped eagerly to meet his tender
phrasings. AS those he loved began to
pass into the mysteries which await
mankind, he was wont to recall that
most eloquent sketch in all literature
-Thackeray's description of the death
of Col. Newcome. The words the sim
plest, but so singular in their strength
and beauty, so full of pathos and of
hope, that they have become the cpl
taph of the good and the true wherever
our language is read. Nothing is finer
than Dickens defiance to death in the
Christmas carol. And the moonlight
scene from the Merchant of Venice
and the funeral march of Chopin are
eloquent in every line and bar. What
eloquence like that of the Master as
He stood before PLATE with never a
word'-the living, breathing Truth,
looking into the face of a dying past,
and sending the eternal light of a sure
promise into the farthest reaches of i'm
mortal time.
but where is to be the end if we
ILLUSTRATIONS
know not what eloquence is, we know
it when it comes. What little of the
earth it wears about it is so bright
with the beautiful fancies of poesy that
1t seems to come-as it doubtless does
from some other sphere, flashing
through our grosser life an instant's
space, and gone to whence it came.
Men may scheme and statesmen toll.
but the people listen until the eloquent
word be spoken, and a phrase becomes
a Dattle-cry and sentence changes
the history of the world, and reads into
the plodding lives of mankind a strain
or immortal melody which sets the
rect to quicker time and the heart to
noble deeds. The great and the
poor-the stricken and the hope
ful-the dull energies of age-the pass
ing thought of youth-all follow where
1t leads. Now, a fairy presence touch
ing so gently that
Zen the harebell lifts it's head
Beneath it's light, elastic tread"
Again. a majesty of power thunder
ing like the unleashed bolts of Jove 1t
is of the tragedy of existence-grief
and wrongs and battle and death. The
star-lit stream-the blushing petals of
the morning f1ower-the haunting song
of birds filling the night with music
these are of the possessions of the
poet. But strife and storm and beat
ing wave-the agony of suffering-the
loud-voiced sorrow of the ages-these
ffl the hours of the orator
An elemental force, sweeping
mankind along it's rugged way, riotous
and resistless as the hurricane. The
builder of states, the destroyer of
temples; to-day sitting with Cassan-
dra on the doomed walls of Troy and
pouring prophetic tidings into the re-
luctant ears of a dying civilization,
tomorrow astride the plunging steed
of Navarro. with white plume stream
ing through the blood-reeking air of
Ivry. On sea, on land; in senate
house, in court, where mighty deeds
are wrought and noble thoughts are
born a thing to stir the brain to
action and fill the heart with courage
Whether it come surrounded with the
ghttering troop of sounding periods or
call to our quickened hope with but
the signal of a cheer. a brave and
noble watcher at the gates of Fame
heralding the titles of the great and
true; the guardian of good mems
names; the knight of any cause which,
with justice as it's cry, rides through
the lists. though it be lost Itself
swept on by every passing wind. its
strength puts even death aside that
men may live in what they do for
man."
Mr. Charlton's response was received
with applause. and as he finished the
orchestra played the intermezzo, "Sa-
lone"