The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-05-22
A "REMINISCENCES

SopyIlbHt, 1Suo. Dy w. Il. 1iearat.
Il see they are going to build a memo /
rial to Henry Ward Beecher." said myksg
white-haired southern friend, who, NJ
spite OF his soft voice and graveIy gem
tie demeanor, had been a nre-eater in thssX
old days. TITS time they did, and
shall send in my subscription"
I looked up surprised-'I thought Wi
fought for the other side during the warM
80 I did, and perhaps that's why
know he deserves a monument said It'd
colonel. smiling. IT know he was tha
greatest orator who ever lived"
"Demosthenes and Cicero amt in II,
suppose"
mot with him." the colonel insisted
Let me tell you a story to prove IT."
So I settled pack in my a~rmchair-ths
colonels "reminiscences We're always a HE
tie vacation in my work-a-day life. =
You know during the war / was sentE
to England by the confederacy to work supg
public sentiment for our side. We'll, theraS
were q number of us. and we worked upS
a good deal Of sentiment, so much that
Abe Lincoln began to take notice OF III
and after awhile he sent Beecher over tD
make some speeches against us.
When Beecter landed in Liverpool thsI
AoSl WdS diISdQy DllleQ LOT MS 1lIstN
speech. and we We're already there iMI
force to see that he shouldn't make iG|
The night came and the hall was packei1
largely with our sympathizers and With
men whom we had scattered through thai
audience and hired to hoo and make cat
calls and utterly drown out the speakersI
voice. It wasn't exactly generous, 7 adj
NIT, but you know those We're Desperate
days.
so when he entered 1t was pandemont.l
UNI let loose-you heard such Al
and walk the whole length of the half
down the middle aisle through a howling|
moi of enemies. I can see him now asl
he braced himself, shook that name of
his. walked slowly to the front, and
climbed the platform. He took off his
overcoat deliberately and put it and his
hat on a chair; he tested a reading desk
that stood in the middle, found it loose
and carried it out of his way. Then he
the whirlwind q minute, and then said, In
O voice that went through our yelling
like a cannon ball through a cotton field:
Boys, this amt fairl'"
w forgot to yell for a minute, stopped
to draw breath against him. And in that
pause he hurled upon us the most wonder.
full sentence that ever fell from the lips
u laA e klIlGSL1 JdV0
tried to re-word 1t, but always in vain. I
know only that 1t appealed to the English
love OF fair play, to the old, historic Brit.
lsh sense of justice. And I know that
from that first moment every man of us
forgot who was ~there-utterly forgot him
self and his country. and I know also that
within ten n we We're breaking the
hush with cheers that took the roof of.
Cheers, yes. sir, we who were there to
HiIanra him NH ~ kn5 a. ..- -
He held us there cheering for two hours.
and not TIL it was all over and we had
left the place Of magic, did we begin to
come to ourselves, to realize what we had
II you can find in all history such
another miracle wrought by an orator, I'd
like to know Of it.
1 tell you he was forever hurting thun-
derbolts that n~ight-there were ligltnlngs
aHashing from hin He was not like g
man, put some supernatural power. Ev-
cry soul there fell under the spell, even
the reporters. The London papers all sent
their best men with orders to take a.
verbatim report of the speech, and not
one or them got beyond BOYS. this amt
lar. The London Times actually dis-i
charged Its representative because OF his
failure.
Afterwards Mr.. Beecher made man;
speeches. In England, and good ones--you
tiieHl = you care to see now
ne as l think, saved the day for the;
north e there. But none Of these was
IKE that first speech which we tried to
slience-I am sure nothing anywhere was
ever like 1t.
len or fifteen years later I met Beech.
er and told him SO. He agreed with mo
that that night in Liverpool was the
great moment of his life, sad that them
n then only, he had felt as though pos
sessed by a god as though uttering, not
MS words, but those Of some arch.
angelic power. He regretted deeply that
the one speech by which he would like to-
ne remembered should have persisted IN
the utterance."
But is not that usually the way with
the finest things?" I asked, .'Who can
perpetuate q rapture-the orator'a voices
the singers song, the souls supreme de.
sirev How can they last?"-yy Harriet
Not So Much.
Puck: She says her face is her for
tune"
Really! Well, she could swear Of
all taxes on It with q perfectly clear