The newspaper., 1909-06-11
The Power and Influence of an Orator.
BY GLENN WILLIAM RICHARDS.

The orator has stood prominently the head of
every nation And yet retrospective view presents
the whole melancholy of intellectual dark
From condition of savagery and barbarism
man has slowly climbed the heights OF fame and in
tellectual greatness until now there bounda-
ries that limit his sphere OF action walls that hem
him in He has moved from mental childhood
and weakness to Intellectual manhood and strength
and from ignorance to wisdom. He has iourneyed
in his pilgrimage from the valley the height and is
only beginning to breathe purer air. clearer
sky and behold a vision enlarged He dredges the
waters OF the deep and sinks his shaft far into the
eaYth's heart He his glass into the heavens
and there examines and analyses the dust OF the
Milky Way.
And what part has eloquence the power and
influence Of the orator played in this onward and
upward march OF civilization? From the very foun-
daton OF the world the tongues OF men have moved
the people to noble deeds, and inspired them with n
zeal to fight for honor truth and righteousness.
In our Hebrew history recorded in Holy Writ
find Isaiah with his unsurpassed sublimity; Jere
miah with his intense pathos: Ezekal with his gorge
coloring Daniel and other lyrical poets OF the
Bible who have never been surpassed singers
Interpreters OF the human heart and prophets OF the
conscience. IL Is told that Bossuet the Demosthenes
OF the pulpit" thrilled the breasts MOBILES prncesses
kings with religious tremor when he brought before
them the awful reality Of God the Lord OF all En-
pres At such times it seemed though the heavens
open and celestial joys about to descend
upon these trembling souls. like tongues of fire the
Days OF Pentecost- At other times pale. upturned
the spiri, OF repentance had breathed many
hardened heart There have been other preachers
who have had equal power OF turning the wailing of
people into thankfulness and Joy.
The history of every nation and of every age IL
filled with the miracles wrought by this enchanted
power. Eoquence was the master spirit of both the
great nations of antiquity. Greece and Rome.
1t was not the fleet of Attica. though mighty nor
the valor of her troops though unconquerable, that
directed her destinies but the words of the who
had the genius and the skill to move concentrate
and to direct the energies and passions OF whole
people as though they were people 1t
until Demusthenes had been sienced by exile and
death that despotsm triumphed in Greece by his
power and influence as an orator able to raise
the people from n life of serfdon a life OF freedom
and manhood. King Philip said that he more
afraid of the words of Demosthenes than OF all the
fleets and armies of the Athenans Cicero possessed
the same power and influence In Rome. but Demos
themes was his SUPERIOR when Cicero had finished de-
ivering his greatest speech the people said, what
fine oration, but when Dem hs finished de.
Hverng OF his grratest orations the people said
We will take up arms and fight. matter what the
COST Napoleon turned many a threatened defeat
into victory for his country by his wonderful power
OF electrfying the whole army. When he leading
his army into Egypt. and the almost Il
hausted by fatigue and disease and about be
defeated Napoleon said Soldiers, Behold the Pyra-
mids! Forty centuries are looking down upon U.S."
BY these words he turned apparent victory
Look Mt England What mighty changes have
been wrought In her political system within the last
one hundred ana twenty-five years by the indomitabe
energy OF Bright. Pitt the Foxes and Gladstone. The
government has been changed from almost
limited monarchy to government for the rights OF
the people.
Burke with his uneQualed power orator,
brought the English people to a realization of the
awful conditions In America and in India. By the
speech made at the trial of Warren Hastings he
caused the power to be taken from the corruptable
hands of the East India company and placed in the
hands OF honest and honorable men
In our own country the triumphs of eloquence
have been hardly less marked than the Old World
When tyranny ruled the country the power and in
fuence OF the orator first appeared upon our soil
Everywhere, the OF some invasion of liberty
and rights OF man was carried to the people, the ci
zens assembled and called enthusiastic Ameri-