The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1907-02-07

II last SATURDAY uiBuh was ah GFChs
J long to be remembered by the think
, ing people of Port Gibson. The
! subject was "Stonewall Jackson, "
y and in the course of an hour and 2
; half Mr.. Vending gave luminous
! analysis of Jackson's genius, and a
: brilliant exposition of his achieve
, ments.
, After brief and appropriate in
? PRODUCTION by our townsman. Mr..
, ]. McC. Martin, Mr.. Vending be-
] gan by giving an account of Jack
J sons early years. leading up to a
description of the first Battle of
Manassas, which is a piece of rhet-
! oric was pictorial in its power But
that battle, said the lecturer. set
tied and could settle, nothing. 1T
! was, said he. 'but the lightning's
flash that revealed to Northern and
! to Southern people the greatness
J and the darkness of the thunder
J cloud of war" The description of
! that battle made it plain to the au-
! dience that Mr.. Vending has all
! Of the arts and many of the graces
J of an orator.
; After his battle-piece, Mr.. Wend-
: ling entered upon close and pro-
: found analysis Of the cause of the
} Civil War, which he traced back of
: Negro Slavery and back of the doc
! trine of States Rights. to a dual
principle of antagonism inherited
by Americans from their English
ancestors, and which could be
fused into unity and harmony. he
said, only by the purging FIRE Of
war.
The lecturer then gave a minute
account of Stonewall Jackson's ear
lier campaigns. bringing into play
a power of statement SO clear that
the most intricate maneuvers of
military strategy were made plain.
, Indeed, Nj. Wendling's greatest
gift is not his eloquence. nor the
force Of his thought. nor the beauty
of his diction. (though he has all
these graces in high degree), but
his greatest gifl is his wonderful
lucidity of statement that makes
the most abstruse subjects appear
to lie "as clear as light and palmer
than the sun"
Mr.. Wendling undertook to draw
parallel between Jackson and
A Grant which was more subtle than
it was convincing and another be-
tween Jackson and Cromwell which
was both profound and satisfying.
It was in the comparison of Jackson
and Cromwell that he applied to
Jackson Goethe's celebrated saying
of Spinoza that he was "a God-in-
toxicated man." This phrase, said
i Mr.. Vending, is the key that un-
locks the riddle of Stonewall Jack
sons character,-he was "a Cod
intoxicated man."
Mr.. Vending allowed his wit to
play through and tighten several
paragraphs of his great lecture.
His wit has tart flavor Of its own
/ lit is incisive. sharp. and satircal.
as in his thrusts at Secretary Stan
H ton, and at the meddlesome busy
4 bodies in Richmond, and at the dis
patches sent north by Hooker and
Pope before and after their defeats.
III EIf the lecture fell short of any
excellence it was the failure to use
to its fnllest limit, for oratorical
II purposes, Stonewall Jackson's
death -scene--the most dramatic and
pathetic event in his great career.
But it would be thankless task tc
find fault with anything so full o.
grace and beauty and power as Mr.
Wendling's lecture. 1t is the high
water mark reached thus far in th'
Lyceum Course now running il
Port Gibson. To have listened t
such a masterpiece of eloquenc
from such an accomplished orato
as George R. Vending Is a memo
rable event in lifetime.
P. w. ].
The Limit of Life.