Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-01-31
Caesar.

That her wide walls encompassed but
one mann"
Julius Caesar
Caesar dominated Rome to the ex-
tent that he seemed the only man in
it, and Cassius, in this conversation
with Brutus is trying to arrive at the
secret of Caesars dominant person
atty.
1t is given to few Of US to study a
personality of the first rank at close
hand as Cassius had done. The near
est approach we can make to it is to
study the personality of those who
can dominate an audience from the
alter or opera stage.
The secret of personality is as hid
den as the secret of the nature of life
volume upon volume has been writ
ten on both subjects, but they get us
nowhere in our study. When scien-
fists find out whether life itself is a
matter of chemicals, of ferments, or
of radio-activity, then they will prob
ably be in a position to show why
one man has dominant personality
and another is cipher. If life is
proved to be a chemical function, as
Lavoisier thought it, then personality
will probably be proved to be mat
ter of excess or lack of certain chem
icals in the system.
Just now the best guess as to the
secret of personality involves radio
activity. When one goes to the thea
ter and observes such widely differ
ent personalities as Caruso Lauder,
Galli-Curci and Mitzi, one is struck
with the fact that all these people
are alike in the impression they con-
vey of tremendous, overfowing ener-
gy One instinctively thinks of them
when looking into a spinthariscope
The spinthariseope is scientific
toy that enables US to see radio-actiS-
ity. II is a tube a few inches long,
containing a tiny particle of a radium
compound, mounted IN front of spe-
cial screen and viewed through mag
nifyiDg lens. When one looks into it,
one sees a continuous display Of
sparks--the flashes made as the rays
thrown off by the radium hit the
fluorescent screen. Radium, of course,
was discovered only a few years ago,
consequently no spinthariscope is very
old. We are not able, therefore, to
say how long one will keep up ITS
sparkling display; but theoretically,
one should last indefinitely. Hour
after hour, day after day, year after
year, that tiny particle of radium
compound in the spinthariscope gives
off rays, and yet never grows less in
bulk. Similarly certain people seem
able to give off encouragement and
inspiration and mental stimulation
forever, without losing anything from
their own personalities. Those who
have this quality dominate their sur
roundings as Caesar dominated Rome.
I. your speech would betray
YOU" Speech on Cancellation VIII
America"
When a man is hurried or excited
he speaks the language of his youth.
In this way speech betrays ones early
lie anu lfduIuS.
1t is much easier to disguise ones
appearance than to disguise ones
speech. One rarely, if ever, gets COM
pletely away from the speech of ones
youth. I once heard a man declare
that he could tell the state of the
Union from which anyone came by
hearing him talk for a few minutes.
He insisted that there were peculiari-
ties of speech peculiar to each state,
and that these peculiarities were
never altogether outgroWn. Few Of
US ever cultivate our powers of OBJ
servation to the point where we can
distinguish slight variations of speech;
but most of US feel able to distinguish
by his speech man from the eastern
or western or southern part of our
country.
1t is perhaps easier to learn new
language than to correct one that has
been learned incorrectly. remember
an interesting example of the way in
which the mind clings to the form
first learned. Bispham, it will be re-
membered, was an ardent advocate Of
music in English. / remember one
occasion when he sang, when | Was
a Page" and sang it as Only he could
sing it. Then, to illustrate the superb
ority of music in language known
to the audience, he began to sing it
in English. Everything went well UNI
til he reached a certain phrase, then
his speech betrayed him into the Ital-
IAN Chagrined he tried several times
to sing the aria through in English,
but every time his speech betrayed
him into the Language in which he had
so long sung.
The speech of the majority of US is
Influenced by the speech of our assoc
ciates. This is especially true of chill
dren, and mothers are often able to
tell with whom their children have
been playing by the child's uncon-
scious imitation.
Speech also tends to betray ones
occupation and interests and social
status, as we'll as ones childhood en-
vironment and ones associates. AS !
Eliot puts it:
Speech is but broken light upon the
depth of the unspoken-
Curious Web of Water Spider.