Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-12-11

way Of Introducing "A fanny story
would be frowncd Grwn ly a British
audience bent on rnjoyinga contiruauS
piece OF serious pleading ly experts
primed with facts and figures used as
batterlng rams. The speaker may
flavor these with wit ard hUmor if hc
has these natural cnGu" ;acutS, but
borrowed fun is not an IL crptablr
substitute. Gladstone had little of
either gift. and when Il Glcam of hu-
MOI struck him he served It out in
homeopathic doses.
If this Is n faithful account of Glad
stone as orator you will ask how the
Oratorlcal garland got place on his
brow. Here Is the answer: The secret
Of his greatness was his personality,
apart from his work, and the secret
Of his reputation as orator was his per
sonality. His spoken uttcranCeS owed
all their power to his noble self to the
grace Of his form, to the play of his
marvelously eloquent and beautiful
countcnanCc and the fire of zeal that
blaZcd In his eyes. Friend and foe
fell alike under the witchcry of that
impressive personality glowing through
and above all that he said. TO the
hcarer came the feeling that such
face, form and voice must be the
abiding place Of all the virtues. and
the all compelling fcrvor that animat-
cd every fiber of his body atteSted the
| inspiration Of n lofty soul. And this
is prosaically true.
1t comes ungraciously to dim the
glamour of such an influence, but even
Gladstone was human In so pro
longed n career it is nothing to point
to reversnls OF opinion. but to swear
that yesterdays wrong IS todnyS right
and to oppose great causes until the
eleventh hour and then turn about
and become their enthusiastic convert
champion were among some OF his
acrobatic feats which sorely puzzled
his followers to interpret. lllustra-
tions of this follow in another section.
1t was never difficult to make parallel
passages from his speeches In which
the argument of each proved the fall
lacy Of the other, like the Jew and
the Catholic who discussed their re-
Bile force that at the end of three
weeks the Jew became n Catholic and
the Catholic jew.
GladStone's voice was an instrument
Of pure music, farreaching as to space
and our lnmost chamber of delight
Mr.. Justin Mccarthy says In his ever
welcome History OF Our Own Times"
the first oratorical qualification was
Gladstone's "eXquisite voice. Such
voice would make commonplace seem
interesting and lend something Of fas
cination to dullness itself. 1t was sin
gularly pure resonant and sweet, not
loud or OF great volume, but strong
vibrating and Silvery. Somebody once
said that he was the only man in par
lament who could talk In italics. He
could, by the slightest modulation Of
his voice, give all the emphasis Of
italics of small print or large or any
other effect he might desire"
Mr.. Bryce enlarges on this voice and
must be quoted in part lest the writer
be suspected OF exaggerating the rela
tive Importance of mere voCalism In
estimating GladStone's oratory. He
says:
The vehemence of his feeling found
preston in the fire OF his eye and the
resistless strength OF his words. His ut
terance did not grow swifter nor the key
OF his voice rise passion raises and
sharpens 1t in most men. But the meas
ured force with which every sentence was
launched, the concentrated intensity OF
his look as he defied antagonists in front
and swept his glance over the ranks OF
his supporters around and behind him.
| had startling and thrilling power which
no other Englishman could exert. The
whole proud, bold. ardent nature of the
man seemed to flash out. and one almost
forgot what the lips said in admiration OF
the towering personality.
Before noting the little discount
this very distinguished associate Of
Gladstone ventures to take off this