The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-05
ORA1ORY And LITERATURE.


pressions of mental force l have heard
have come from the consecrated min
/ listers of God. The most exquisite elo-
/ quence-that of the beautiful have yet
/ heard was from plain, simple, I'M
aginatiye local Methodist preacher
/ Thomas G. Lowe, born in Halifax county
/ where that great Methodist preacher OF
| Georgia. was also born, Rev. DR.. LoVlcK
/ Pierce, father of Bishop George f. PIERCE
/ of Georgia. who was at times truly
! great and magnetic orator l asked my
| friend Lowe once who preached the
greatest sermon he had heard. HIS re-
Div was. Bishop Pierce's sermon at
| Goldsboro" And yet heard Rev. JunluS
| p. Moore. who was a Presiding Elder
/ when he died, say that Loves extremely
! eloquent sermon at Rock Spring camp
/ meeting. near Henderson, Vance county,
/ in 1859, surpassed Pierce's sermon or
! that of Bishop Kavanaugh at New bern
! The most heart thrilling, soul-stifing
! eIouuence / have heard fell from lips oil de-
vout. earnest preachers of the Gospel and
/ not from sensationalists, from men VINO
cater for applause and use themes filter
for the stage or a fourth of July Grafton,
than for the solemnities and necessities
great sermon that was not about Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. The most
mastery intellectual effort l have ever
listened to, of any kind. was, as l have
before stated in these papers, from Bishop
A. w. Wilson, of Maryland, in Whining
ton some ten years ago, in the First
Presbyterian church in this city. I have
heard more than one sermon perhaps
zIo.,
so sustained throughout by high think
ing, most appropriate, responsive diction,
and a lofty plain of mental and magnetic
power. He ascended to an imperial
height soon after beginning his very won
derful discourse, and he never descended
until the close. Let me mention here
lest l forget it, that when Bishop Mar
win, one of the most extraordinary men
and ministers ever born on our con
tinent, preached at Raleigh more than a
quarter of century ago, occupying two
hours in its delivery, / heard two able
men give an opinion of its merits Hon.
Bartholomew F. Moore and Governor w.
w. Holden said, not together, that it was
the very greatest sermon to which they
had ever listened. He was indeed a ire
mendous leverage in the pulpit, and
among the many really very superior
ministers the South has been blessed
with. it ia at least doubtful that Bishop
Marvin was ever equalled. Surely he has
not been surpassed in the noblest attri-
butes of a minister of Christ, and in his
great pulpit displays.
Let me mention upon unquestioned au-
thority, that when that great North
Carolina Methodist, Rev. Hezekiah G.
Leigh was once preaching at Norfolk,
Va, he preached his audience to their
feet. This brings up the power of that
greatest of all Baptist orators, Robert
Hail. at Bristol, England DR.. Olinthus
Gregory, Astronomer Royal of Great Bril-
tain, some hundred years ago, in his in
teresting biographical sketch of Mr.. Hall,
said that it was not uncommon for that
tremendous preacher to close his sermon
with his congregation standing up hav-
ing been drawn to their feet by his over
whelming oratory. But three of his mas
terpieces were ever published, and they
only from full notes, and not steno-
graphically reported They are on Mod
ern Infidelity" War" and 1.-The Death
of Princess Charlotte" l own five octave
volumes of Hall, and read them often
between my twenty first and twenty fifth
years When the celebrated Mary
Wollstonecraft published her Rights of
Women" it provoked much talk The
| younger Pitt, the Prime Minister, was
/ asked who was the man to reply to it.
/ He said, Robert Hall"
| | was much pleased to read the several
/ selections of the recently deceased North
! Carolina poet, John Henry Boner, made
! by Prof II. ]. Stockard for the News
! and Observer. / was particularly i'm
| pressed with the last part of How Oft
! I've Trod That ShadOwry Way, The
Wolf and "Hatteras." OF the latter L
knew nothing. 1t has been a long tint
/ since | read 10. Holden's fine poem with
! the same title. / do not know how they
would compare. The poem on Poe l had
read more than once. / know of nothing
4, Of North Carolina production that is su-
! perior to it. 1t has the fine flavor of the
| greatest of all American poets. 1t in
fact impressed me as partaking of some
of the qualities to some extent of the
exquisite, masterful genius whose high
| gifts and qualities are so admirably and
felicitously embodied in the charming
stanzas of the North Carolinian. 1t is
unouestionably his best strain of inspira
! ton and most perfect form.
| Whatever is immortal of his writ
| ings, if there be such must
surely be found in that one charm
ing poem. There is grim. imaginative
power in Poe, and Boner caught it in
part for once. AS Thackeray the great
said of Hoods marvellous little poem,
THE Bridge of Signs" it was his
Corunna, his Heights of Abraham" so of
the poem on Poe it may be said. Prof.
| Stockard in a few forceful lines pays
rich tribute to his personal friend, and
recognizes the melody that haunts, that
belongs to Poe, and the resoundirg lines
! that remind one of 1.-The harp of that
saturnine minstrel who in melody and
mastery of the eternal symphonies has
/ had but three equals among English
/ poets-Milton, Tennyson and SwinbuTne.
| BY the way, a small volume of selec-
| tiOns from Poes Tales has been issued.
| 1t is we'll done. Poe had more genius
than any American, and was a creator in
three departments Of letters-criticism,
short story and poetry. His stories are
/ 1x,,4 1xyroxr VIC