The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-07-11
TRICKS OF ORATORY
DEVICES USED BY NOTED SPEAKERS
TO GAIN A POINT.
The Effect Demostbenes Attained by
MisprOnOuncing His Words - The
Trap Into which the Eloquent Cur
ran Drew u Witness.

One wonders of DemoSthcnes wheth-
2r he ever in after years resumed of
set purpose that habit of stammering
which he had taken such heroic means
to eradicate. A stammer Is a most eff
fective trick sometimes, and we know
that Alcibiades found his lisp by no
means the least useful of his many
winning ways. The trick In oratory
combines both the conventional mean
ings Of the word. 1t Is sometimes a
habit, sometimes will, sometimes
both.
Addison tells capital story of a
trick in forensic oratory. At Westmin-
ster hall there was a counselor who
never pleaded without piece Of pack
thread in his hand, which he used to
twist about thumb or finger all the
while he was speaking. The wags of
those days called 1t the thread of his
DISCOURSE for he was not able to utter
word without It," as n foolish client
proved once to his own cost, for ne
stole the thread, and his advocate
came to utter grief
Another clever sort of trick, the "tak-
ing dodge" to borrow phrase from
the vernacular, Is the more generally
interesting. The classic instance which
naturally occurs to every one Is
Burke's famous dagger scene" in the
house of commons when he empha-
sized his peroration regarding the
reign of terror in France by dramatic
ally throwing a dagger on the floor of
the house as an example of the meth
ods of the apostles of liberty, equality
and fraternity.
One of the tricks credited to Sheri-
dan was very much on the lines of Il
famous "score' of classic times. A
member whose admira tion for the bril-
liant statesman was not tempered with
discretion greatly annoyed Sheridan
by continually calculating, Hear,
hear!' without rhyme or reason. Sher-
idan determined to give him lesson.
At the close of one of his speeches, de-
nunciatory of some individual, he used
the words, Where shall we find a
more foolish knave or a more knavish
fool than hep
Hear, hearv' came as usual from
the troublesome enthusiast. Sheridan
bowed, thanked him for SO obligingly
supplying the required information
and resumed his seat.
And long centuries before Demos
themes, inveighing against an opponent
who was suspected of receiving subsi-
dies from the court of Persia, passion
ately asked the crowded audience, "Is
he not Misthotos-a hireling?" But as
though inadvertently he mispronounced
the words so obviously that the audi
cnce shouted out corrections from all
points-"Misthotos Msthotos.' the eff
feet of which was TO make the citizens
themselves apply the opprobrious epi-
thet.
Not very dissmlar i'm character Is
one Of the many tricks attributed to
Curran. He was engaged on Il case
wherein the principal witness on the
other side was gentleman Of position
whose evidence. if accepted, would be
conclusive. In his opening speech Cur
ran inveighed with all the bitterness
and cloQuence in his power against
the chief witness for the other side
but without actually mentioning his
name. When the time came for the
witncss-a Mr.. Lcger-to be sworn Cur
ran interposed in the blandest way
that this was surely a needless formal
ity. Mr.. Lcger's character was such
that he felt sure the jury would accept
his simple assertion. The unfortunate
man fell into the trap. II am glad
Mr.. Curran, you have a better opinion
of me now than when you first spoke"
"..ou admit, then, sir, that, though
named 10 names, you recognized my
description as applying to yourselfT
Another of Curran's oratorical tricks
is not unlike one Sheridan perpetrated
on the house. In this case the last
speaker, it will be remembered, had
wound up his speech with classical
quotation, which, to judge from the
plaudits it received, made most eff
fective point Sheridan in his reply re-
gretted the honorable member had not
completed the quotation. He would do
so himself, and the house would then
see how fat% to the contention of the
honorable member was the authority
he had cited, whereupon Sheridan with
magnificent dramatic effect recited a
solorous piece of gibberish! And the
house applauded vigorously.
Curran's trick was at the expense of
a preternaturally stupid jury. The
judge happened to be consummate
classical scholar and, knowing Curran
to be the same, was naturally astound-
ed on hearing him quote piece Of Lat
In as coming from the Phantasmagoria
of the historian Hesiod! you mean
Latin poet, Mr.. Curran. Hesiod was a
Greek, poet and not historian, and
| doubt whether he ever wrote work
called the Phantasmagoria. The lines
are Juvenal's." "Hesiod, my lord, l as
sure you, and Greek, not Latin" You
must be out Of your senses, Mr.. Cur
ran, or think / am out of mine. The
lines are Latin" "Well, my lord, can
only suggest that we leave it as an is
sue for the jury, and I'll be bound they
will find it-Greek" The trick was
,,arfootIv- affactuoI T ondnn CInha