Connecticut western news., 1902-04-17

living on .sXts that are overlooked by other preachers. I revise my work and boil it down, making it as pungent and epigrammatic as possible, and then die tate 1t to get the oratorical effect. I've found my subjects in odd, out of the way places, in locomotive train, on hotel piazza in patent office report, in a rainstorm. I never had more than three lessons in elocution, but I recall an early experience that helped me. When young man, belonged to a de- batting club. It was a rule of the club to devote one evening a month to ex- temporaneous addresses on a topic not to be announced, even to the speaker, until the moment of delivery. None of us knew what we might have to talk about, but we were expected to get up and say something anyway without hesitating about it. One night 1t came my turn, and when the president an- nounced, MT. Talmage win now ad. dress us on the influence of the moon upon vegetation I felt as though I had been struck with a baseball bat. But I rose, pulled up my collar and made a speech. I don't remember what said, but 1t was as full of seri- ous, fine spun resounding phrases as though I had been a scientific professor fresh from the study of the subject, and 1t passed muster. After that ex- perience," he added, laughing. T felt quite equal to speaking offhand on | anything"
 "TALMAclsMs."
 As an editorial writer pr. Talmage was versatile and prolific, and his weekly contributions on an immense | variety of topics would i'll many vol umes. His writing was as entertaining | and pungent as his preaching and full of brilliant eccentricities-"Tal- | magisms," as they were called. He coined new words and invented new phrases. If the topic was to his liking, the pen raced to keep time with the thought. It was the same with his ser mons. Once conceived in the busy l brain, the committing to paper was swift and exciting. Still, with all this haste, nothing could exceed the scrA- pulous care he took with his finished manuscript. He once wired from Gin cinnati to his publisher in New York instructions to change a comma in his current sermon to a semHolon. He had detected the error while reading proof | on the train.
 His phenomenal memory was never | at loss. He had spoken or written on thousands of topics, and he remember ed almost everything he had ever preached. In preparing his twenty | volume series of sermons he used only | 500, or less than half the total number he had preached. In addition to at least a thousand sermons of 4.00o | words each, each sermon different from the other, this vast pulpit reper- tory aggregating probably 100000 words, he was the author of a number of lectures, the most popular being "The New Life of the Nation" "Grum- blers," "Our New Home," Big Blum ders" and 'aThe Bright Side of Things"
 Originality in all things was perhaps the most pronounced trait of Dr. Tal- mage's character. In his literary work he scorned to borrow, though his own | unique phrases and ideas were the prey of many petty plagiaTists. AL though his fame will rest chiefly upon his sermonic writings, his treatment of | lighter topics was brilliant and clever. But his finest work was not among the shallows. His pen could go deeply into the secrets of the heart and soul, and such was his rare gift that with a sin gle sentence he could move a multitude. Some of his volumes written In the early part of his career show rare vi- | vacity and wit and give a clew to his wonderful success as an entertaining lecturer In maturer years. Among the periodicals to which he contributed at various times were the New York Weekly, Hearth and Home, The Inde- pendent and The Christian at Work. About thirty volumes of his sermons rhaye been published, twenty volumes appearing in a single series In 1900. His other works besides those already mentioned include Crumbs Swept Up," Around the Tea Table, ""Sparks From My Anvil, "A Thousand Gems," From Manager to Throne" Sports That Kill" 1 "The Wedding Ring," Night Sides of City Life." ''The Poetry of Life" "old
 Wells Dug Out" "Abominations of Modern Society" and ''The Earth Cir dled." For many years his revenues from his editorial and other literary work, his book royalties and his lec- lures netted him the princely income of $20,OO0 a year, these figures by no means representing the maximum.
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
 In person Dr. Talmage was above the medium height and we'll propor- toned His head was of average size. with marked evidence of intellectual power. His eyes were light and his complexion fresh and indicative of TO- bust health. His face shone with amia- bility and cheerfulness. His conversa- ton was animated, his manner gentle and cordial in the extreme. Self reli- ance, calmness and judgment were ap- parent, and his bearing indicated dig nity and self possession, yet he was mo- wise ostentatious or affected, and his hearty manner and genial flow of con versation placed even a stranger on agreeable terms with him at once. He was a most fascinating conversational ist. His language was marked by noble sentiment. poetry and humor, and he talked with fine originality, never be- ing afraid to show his feelings. When in the glee and enthusiasm of the mo- ment at a church festival he exclaimed that he felt "like a morning star," it 1 was not that his taste induced him to take his illustration from negro min strelsy; but, acting on the impulse of the moment, he seized upon a popular saying to express his own feelings. Men of stiff propriety and starched dig nifty would not have done such thing. With him it was the impulsive express sion of free, cheerful heart bubbling over with the love of humor and the milk of human kindness" Whether 1t was due to eccentricity or to an unusu- al store of rich, exuberant animal spir-