Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-17

spaces, as the reaQlnS Ol useiui dhu
entertaining authors; and, with that,
the conversation of a well-chosen
friend.
A man Of letters never knows the
plague Of idleness: when the company
of his friends fails him, he finds
remedy In reading, or In composition.
Action keeps the soul in constant
health, but idleness corrupts and
rusts the mind; for man Of great
abilities may, by negligence and idle
ness, become so mean and despicable,
as to be an incumbrance to society,
and a burden to himself.
Examples.
Demosthenes was extremely affected
with the honors which he saw laid to
the orator Callistratus, and still more
with the supreme power of eloquence
over the minds of men; and not being
able to resist its charms, he gave him.
self up to It: from thenceforth he re-
nounced all other studies and pleas
ures, and during the continuance OF
Callistratus at Athens, he never quit
ted him, but made all the improve
ment he could from his precepts. The
first essay of his eloqu ace was
against his guardians. wh' he oblig-
ed to refund part Of his fortune. En-
couraged by this success, he ventured
to speak before the people. but with
very Ill success. He had weak voice,
thick way of speaking, and a very
short breath; Notwithstanding which,
his periods were so long, that he was
often obliged to stop in the midst OF
them for respiration. This occasioned
his being hissed by the whole audi
ence. AS he withdrew, hanging down
his head, and in the utmost confu-
sion, Statyrus, one Of the most excel
lent actors Of those times, who was
his friend, met him; and having learn
ed from himself the cause Of his being
so much detected, he assured him that
the evil was not without remedy. and
that the case was not so desperate as
he imagined. He desired him to re-
peat some Of the verses Of Sophocles
or Euripides to him, which he accord
ingly did. Statyrus spoke them after
him, and gave them such graces by
the tone, gesture, and spirit, with
which he pronounced them, that De-
mosthenes himself found them quite
different from what they were In his
own manner of speaking. He per-
ceived plainly what he wanted, and
applied himself to the acquiring of 1t.
His efforts to correct his natural de-
feet Of utterance and to perfect him
self in pronunciation, Of which his
friend had made him understand the
value, seem almost incredible, and
prove that an Industrious perseevr-
ance can surmount all things. He
stammered to such a degree that he
could not pronounce some letters;
among others, that with which the
name Of the art he studied begins;
and he was 80 short-breathed, that he
could not utter a whole period with
out stopping. He overcame these OBJ
stacles at length, by putting small
pebbles into his mouth and pronounc-
ing several verses in that manner
without interruption; and with walk
ing and going up steep and difficult
places, so that at last no letter made
him hesitate and his breath held out
through the longest periods. He went
to the seaside; and whilst the waves
were in the most violent agitation, ne
pronounced harangues, to accustom
himself, by the confused noise Of the
waters, to the roar of the people and
the tumultuous cries of public assem-
! blies.
Demosthenes took no less care OF
his action than his voice. He had 8
large looking glass in his house, which
served to teach him gesture, and al
which he used to declaim, before ne
spoke in public. To correct a fault
which he had contracted by an IL
habit of Struggling up his shoulders
he practised standing upright in
kind Of very narrow pulpit, ol
rostrum, over which hung a halbert
in such a manner that If in the heal
of the action that motion escaped
him, the point Of the weapon might
at the same time, admonish an6
correct him.
| His application to study was ne
less surprising. To be the more re-
moved from noise, and less subjec
to distraction, he caused a small
room to be made for him under
ground, in which he shut himself uI
sometimes for whole months, shaving
on purpose half his head and face
that he might not be in a condition
to go abroad. 1t was there by th'
light Of small lamp he composed
the admirable orations which were
said by those who envied him, t
smell of the oil, to imply that the!
were too elaborate. 1T Is plain" re
piled he, yours did not cost you 81
much trouble" He rose very earl!
every morning and used to say tina
he was sorry when any workman wa
at his business before him. W.
may further judge Of his extraordi
nary efforts to acquire an excellence
of every kind from the pains he tool
in copying Thucydide's History eigh
times with his own hand in order t
render the style Of that great maj
familiar to him.
His pains were we'll bestowed, fo
it was by these means that he carried
the art OF declaiming to the highes
degree Of perfection of which it wa
capable; whence it is plain, he vel
knew its value and Importance
When he was asked several times
which quality he thought most neces