The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-26
WOMEN WHO MAKE SPEECHES.

seemed unlikely to enter and that for
years they showed no desire to annex.
is now their own.
There was never any reason why
women should not have gained dis
tinction as speakers" said a woman
who is herself considered to have no
mean ability in the line, but the fact
remains that among the list of women
who have gained prominence in politics
and in the various professions within
the last ten years or more very few
could deliver a speech that was any
thing more than an apology. But
club life has made calls upon women
for abilities in the way of reading
papers aloud and joining in public
discussions, and, although these talks
have remained somewhat heavy In
tone, there is a marked decrease in the
self consciousness and awkward ad-
dress that really brilliant women used
to be guilty of when called upon for
few words of acknowledgements or the
thanks that courtesy demanded from
a guest of honor at some public oc-
casion. Women are emerging from this
voiceless condition, and at a recent
dinner at which a successful young
author was present she responded TO
a toast proposed in her honor in a
witty speech, entirely extempore, and
given with an easy grace and spark
Women used to get rid of oratorical
responsibility by reciting some poem
suitable to the occasion. But recit-
ing has completely gone out of vogue
in New York, although it is immense
ly popular in London, and it has grown
to be considered rather stupid to re-
cite. So the up-to-date women must
be prepared to rise gracefully and,
without bushes or tremors. deliver ali
address, as long or as short as she
chooses, but concise, intelligent and
to the point
IF the art of after dinner oratory
continues to be cultivated among wom-
en-, it is likely that they will prove
themselves as clever an as eloquent as
men who have made regulations in
this way. After dinner speeches are
avoided by many men. who believe
that this kind of oratory is not suit
ably dignified, and carries no weight
whatever, unless 1t is especially anus
ing, in which case they claim that the
speaker is merely an entertainer. But
women, who are so apt and easy in
adapting themselves to social ex-
igencies of all kinds calling for tact
and charm should excel in this field
of light. Bright talk, which need not.
be either logical or eloquent, If it be-
cheerful and cause smiles.
MANY club presidents have made
special study of speechmaking, and
one or two of them are famed for their
witty manner of bringing certain faults
to light and reproVing offenders with
out in any way seeming unpleasant.
The method is more effective than a
serious rebuke would be. and MEM
bers have learned to dread the smiling
allusion to some pet failing that may
be at once recognized as belonging to
certain dividuals. At one woman's
II, Il IA.
found to be most successful when the
orators were not obliged to RISE By
this method, women seem to lose a
certain self-consciousnes that Is al
most inseparable from being the one
person upon whom all eyes are fast
ened. Most women speak best when
adorned with their hats, wells. furs
and other belongings of their cos
tune. A woman gains far more conf
dence from her clothes than a man
does, as they are in most cases valu-
able aids to her good appearance. A
muff or fan gives her something to
do with her hands and saves her from
the somewhat stilted attitudes of the
average after dinner speaker of the
male sex. A corsage bouquet or d
fine jewel will, to a great extent, hold
the eyes of other women, and gain
respectful attention which might be
denied to the speakers remarks.
THE late Maj Pond, who directed
the tours of all the great lecturers and
entertainers of this country, as well as
those who came from abroad, once
said to me: There is no reason why
women should not make bright and
entertaining speakers and lecturers, but
as yet they have not done so. A won-
an who could deliver a really bright,
witty talk that would interest men as
well as women could command the
salary of prima donna, for the field
is an untrodden one But women who
write with pens sparkling with wit and
eplgram become mute and inglorious
when they attempt to talk in pub
lie. Their voices fail Them they STAN
mer, mispronounce and make stupid
and silly errors. Women have won
some success in England as political
speakers, but they have done it prin-
cipally because they possessed beauty,
or title. Maude Come, the
Irish orator, is a beautiful and mag
netic woman, who would hold attention
If she mounted a platform and merely
repeated the alphabet in Greek or
Latin. She is not witty, nor have
any of the women who have gained
prominence in politics possessed the
gift of saying important things in an
amusingly frivolous manner. Mrs.
Lockwood was good, strong speaker,
but not an amusing one. Mrs. Lease
is bright talker, but her subject is
always the same. Women appear to
best advantage when they have some
thing to say that they have commit
ted to memory. Mrs. Potter and Mrs.
Langtry both recite for charities
abroad, and are highly paid sometimes
to give poems bearing on the political
Programmes of recitation
and reading, with musical interpola-
tions are rather played out however.
" Women lecturers are invariably
too serious. They strive too much to-
ward weight and the masculine style
as they frequently do when they write.
woman in conversation is rarely
heavy, nor does she pose conversa-
tionally one-half so much as a man.
have endeavored to induce some of the
very brightest women speakers to pre-
pare twenty minute talk in a con-
versational, easy vein on some sub
1ect that they know thoroughly, but
they invariably fail to catch the note
OF entertainment, which is necessary in
these days. Even at church enter
tainments people do not like to listen
10 dreary harangue, and the clergy
men in their pulpits now strive to keep
their sermons bright, local and brief
IL IS peculiar fact that women OF the
stage, who should be immune to stage
fright, are often positively scared to
death on call for a curtain. speech.
ana some who can speak then would
Iai utterly II called on at a dinner
A young woman reporter who Travelled
around the world for a newspaper de-
string 10 beat the Jules Verne record,
JAILED absolutely when she confronted