The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-07-03

N nearly always the shallow.
4 IA est of scphists. There is
usually little to be gained
In what he says, but, to the
groundllngs." there IL a deep sig.
nifcance in the way he says
but, to the groundlings," there is a
deep significance In the way he says
It. We had orators in the ward and
In the city, the common, native gar.
den variety of "wlnd.jammors," and
the exotic, or imported variety Of
"taw.smIths." Oratory at its best is
rather lost art, and the political ora.
tor is n good example of n lost artist.
We never expected to influence voting
In the ward on account of speechmalt.
ing. The Republicans went to Repub
lcan meetings and the Democrats
went to Democratic gatherings, and
the applause that the speakers re-
ceIyed was simply the Jolly" that
their own crowd was handing them,
and there you had It.
Occasionally n man might drift in
where some really witty and able
talkcr was rousting out the "chin.mu.
sic" and be impressed n little, but af.
ter he had gone home and slept over
1t, and appeared at the polls he would
get the same old ticket and vote IL in
the same old way. heard the orators
in an early day who were orators, but
did not hear them in the political cam
paigns. Bob" Ingersoll and Emory
Storrs were orators the like Of whom
i shall hardly hear again, but It was
not for me to be daz2led by the gilt.
tering generallties or clumsy plat.
tudes Of these "silver.tongued" orators
of the hastings, no matter whether
they were OF my own party or not.
liked a good sensible talk but the
average line of bunk" handed out by
the ground and lofty tumblers of the
city campaigns was something to
make man laugh.
And yet the custom had grown so
strong that nothing could apparently
stop IL. There was always the CON.
mittee on halls, and the committee on
speakers, and there was racing and
platforms by anxious candidates, and
great desire to present to the citi.
zens the Issues of the day and so
licit their suffrages on election day
And who attended these meetings?
Why, mainly, the boys" The pre-
cinct captains, the members Of the
ward clubs. the hangers.on that only
knew Andrew Jackson as the name OF
a cigar the men on the apprehension
gangs. the ward superintendent. the
men down in the city hall, the sewer
diggers, laborers, etc, who are work
ing for the city, and the payroll bri.
gade" in general
And where was the private citizen?
Why, he was at home, reading the
evening paper, playing with the cat,
having n quiet little game OF "cinch'
at ten cents corner five cents
a "set-up" and Tommy around to the
Dutchman's with the big white pitcher.
Much he cared for oratory II he got
a letter from the managers Of the cam
paign. or maybe q letter from may
orally candidate, he opened 1t and
read It, and possibly specialized lit
tie as to the truth of 1t, but. as a rule,
he did not bother himself much as to
the meetings.
There was an exception to this,
however, when the candidate for al
derman or the candidate for mayor
appeared in ward Then the citizens
generally went TO the meetings. But
not to hear what were glibly termed
tissues" discussed. But to look at the
candidate size him up, and see wheth.
er they liked him, and " he looked
like O man who could fill the job. |
They didn't care for his "oratory," un.
less he could tell them a good story |
or roast" the opposition candidates
wittily. and then he was indeed
"siar."
The appearance OF the may.
orally candidate was, Of course,
the great event OF ward |
campaign, and filled the halls
to overlooking. Boys and women in
the galleries. and even the aisles
TANNED Perhaps some Silver.
tongue would be making the welkin
ring with n passionate declamatory
burst about the thirteen struggling
colonies" these are the times that
try mems souls" when in the course
or human events, or some other
"gnff" borrowed from a school history,
a war pamphlet or the declaration OF
independence. when oil at once there