The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-05-18
M E N w o M E N
A ND T HIN G S

Soule not, ITleHuS, " otOoA ""~'
your hearts:
am no orator, as Brutus Is
Some hold that the press has clipped
the wings of the orator and that to-
day he makes his flights with less
success than of yoro, but such Is not
the case
Styles in oratory change like styles
in dress, but, as long as the human
voice lasts it will use the notes best
suited to its speech, just like the hu-
man form will continue to garb itself
in the modes best suited to its fancy.
l am glad that oratory is not
standardized commodity to be had in
the market all of one pattern. but that
it's rich and varied, and suited to
country, station, temperament and time.
It's this which gives it its imperial
flavor and whets the appetite of its
hearers.
Isaiah of old in speaking sof the i'm
pudency of his times said;
"For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of
hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem
and Judah =, the honorable man.
and the counsellor and the cunning
artificer, and the eloquent man
for Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is
| fallen. because their tongue and their
doings are against the Lord. to provoke
the eyes of his glory"
| Oratory has played and will always
play big part in the shaping of hui
man events. but haven't the inclina-
ton to even suggest an outline from
the age of Pericles to the Present
Time" besides 1t has already been
well done by DIR. Lornez Sears, whose
volume you may get and read with
profit if you are sufficiently inter
ested in the subject, which has an in
terest all it's own for those who care
for orators and oratory.
Neither will I attempt here and now
to catalogue the various kinds of pub
lie discourse for the classification is
subject to many divisions, or to even
indicate some of the more outstanding
types of discourse as represented in
the learned professions of the law, the
ministry and the forum, each one hav-
ing rules and traditions all its own.
The lawyer making his plea to a jury,
the statesman to the country, and the
preacher to his congregation.
1 got to thinking about orators and
oratory while at the recent session of
the Alabama Press association at AL
bany as there were three distinct types
of orators who addressed the body and
each one a representative in his spe
cial sphere. I speak of Lieut.. Gov. N.
l.. Miller, Dr. CORTLAND Smith, presi-
dent of the Washington and Lee uni
versity and Judge william w. Bran
don.
I'll take the educator first as he
was a visitor from outside the state
and gave me an opportunity to hear
the address of man trained in the
| culture and resting in the proud tradi-
tons of the Old Dominion. A man with
the flavor of the best in the ante
bellum life of the. south. the very in
carnation of the old school of noblesse
manor born, with a personal sense of
his dignity and the worth of the cause
he espoused.
He had great theme and one sure
! to touch a responsive cord in every
southern heart, a plan to worthily
commemorate the name of Robert E..
Lee, the soldier statesman Of the Con-
federacy who, great in war; was still
greater in peace. To begin with. he
had a sympathetic audience, and he
soon had everyone enthused over the
| Imagination and true historic sense
he painted the portrait of the hero Of
the Lost Cause" There wasn't a false
stroke, every color blended, just as
every tone made the immortal Chris
] tan gentleman live before our eyes
! Next TIL take Lieutenant Governor
Miller, Morgan county boy who has
spent his youth and manhood in Bir
mingham, winning by degrees a place
not only in imperial jefferson but in
the state at large by his painstaking
| life In public and private as lawyer.
Nat isn't what Is called a snowy man.
but he has a solidity and strength
which is in every way dependable. His
address had been carefully prepared
and touched with illumination the va
rious problems, city, county, state and
national. He used none of the trick )
of oratory, but by the sheer intelli-
gence of his presentation gripped his
hearers from start to finish.
Then came Judge Brandon, and the
moment he stepped out every one knew
| that the atmosphere had been changed
| from the classic halls of the college,
and the sombre tone of the court room
to the hustings, and that the fireworks
were about to be set off. am not try
ing to hold the balance between Nat
and Bill, both my friends. and both
troubled with the buzzing of the guber-
Material bee. All l am seeking to do
is to state as best 1 can the difference
in their oratorical methods.
There are those who like the studied
speech of the trained LAWYER who