Evening star., 1924-06-09
In TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

preacher of the last century. Truth.
which Demosthenes, master of ora
tors, flung as well-wrought gold, into
those ilI-resounding orations, which
outring the delighted wonder of the
growing centuries and outlast the
keenest examination of pitiless cr1tI-
cism. Search, and ye shall ind truth
which Plato. Cicero and Quinulian
declare to be the very throbbinS,
informing life of all abiding and
impuisive eloquence; truth which
Therenin makes the very virtue of
eloquence; which Shedd in his scholar
ly essays declares to be the very
ridge and Marsh, with Bacon, affirm
TO be the force and fire of eloquence.
Search and you will find that the
secret of eloquence = truth truth
which makes Demosthenes grander than
Aeschines, Cicero than Hortensius,
Massillon than Bossuet, Burke than
Fox, Webster than Hayue, Gladstone
than Disraeh."
What names would form antitheses
today for Beecher, as he might set OF
the orators of our Congress, the one
in contrast with the other? Many
are full of words-aS was the page
which so eXaSperated Hamlet, when
he was asked what he was reading
and replied. Words. Words: Words
The greatest mistake is made by
the listener who ascribes eloquent
outbursts to the sudden inspiration OF
unpremeditating genius-unless the
definition of genius be that of Michel
angelo-"a capacity for infinite
palms."
Daniel Webster protested that his
mind was not perennial spring. but
a cistern, from which he could pump
only what he had previously stored.
Oratory is not dead. sit is not done
any more" because the jazz of tho
age has been fascinated by "the lit
tie man in the tin shop" rather than
the solemn thrills of the cello.
THE capacity for taking infinite
palms," In newspaper circles the
most crushing condemnation is given
known as "fine writin'" 1t is some
times assumed to be the mark of q
literary amateur-to be laughed TO
superficial tradition that live copy
must come hot from the typewriter,
page by page. unreEIsed. directly to
the linotype, and to the first column
on the front.
Not so was the description of his
own methods OF writing editorials
given by the veteran Henry Waiter
son to the National Editorial Asso-
process of his penciled copy and the
manifold interlineations before it
reached the linotype, and the cancel
lations and changes Of expression in
pains will develop great oratory.
We talk of the coming of the great
American novel: why not look rather
for, the great american orator who
A~ JAo iGla in =
listening senates will command
with Beechers secret of eloquence?
4 * r 81
1t is a favorite subject of sopho-
moric debate whether man is the
product of his environment. Who viii
measure the influences Of the spirit Of
the times by which great geniuses
have been grouped In the Centuries
in the golden age OF Greece, the
golden and silver ages of Rome, the
renaissance, the Elizabethan and
Victorian ages of England: Has 1t
-just happened that great CO.
temporaries lived in one century and
the adjoining centuries were barren?
The groupings Of genius-who will
explain them? -
Now with the orator enabled TO
speak to audiences not of a few visible
hundreds but as did the young ora
tors of the recent contest, addressing
through the wireless ether the mil
lions spread over half world, what
unfathomabie inspiration comes for
the first time, to eloquence. The
printed page may be cold. but a lis
tening world has the throbEing in
terest of instant responsiveness OF
beating hearts, pulsating blood of
passion and tense nerves of action.
Call II the mob spirit, the instinct of
the mass: The age is for oratory; it
will create greater than Demosthenes
TO the degree that today's civilization
is greater than that of ancient Greece.
Copyright 1924, BY Paul Y. eolliaA.S