Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1925-08-19
THE PASSING OF THE ORATORS
Written for the Spirit of jefferson by
Arthur W. Hawks, Sr.. Ruxtox. Nd


Arthur W. Hawks. ST.. Raxton, Md.
Good friends o'mine, before Won
read this article pause a moment and
count up on your fingers the living
Orators of today. You win have
some fingers left over. and at least
one thumb.
Somehow. the day for the Orator
has passed.
In the Pulpit, in the Chautauqua
or Lyceum platform, and in the pol
itical field we have no more Orators.
Think of some you have heard and
! have heard.
In the Pulpit, I think the most
wonderful speaker | ever listened to
was Rev. Thomas A Guard of Ire
land. l went one morning. in Balti-
more, with Rev. DR.. Tongue, of
Charles Town. to hear DR. Guard
preach in the Mount Vernon Church.
Suddenly, ! felt brother Tonkue pull
ing my coat tails, and | was very
much abashed to find myself stand
ing up, holding on to the back of the
pew with my mouth wide open.
Brother Tongue and myself had
good laugh over it many time af-
forwards
Gov. Henry A. Wise
was wonderful political speaker.
He had. wonderful stage presence;
tall, long grey hair; his nose like the
beak of an eagle. | remember hear
ing him at Harper's Ferry, and he
swayed his great audience like a
great wind blowing over field of
ripe wheat.
The Tall Sycamore of the Wabash
| thought of it the other day, how
my father took me down to the Court
House to hear Hon Daniel w Vor-
hees make his wonderful defense of
Cook. one of the John Brown raid
ers. Cook taught school, and used
to see the report he would send in
to my father. He was fine pen
man. and he would make a capital
NJ, and in the curve draw beautiful
landscape. Voorhees, flayed John
Brown alive. then made wonderful
appeal to the jury for the sake of
Cooks mother.
VIM. Bryan
I was associated with this wonder
full man on the Chautauqua and Ly-
ceum platform for many years. He
was the finest elocutionist I ever lis
tened to. Though he was a phrase
maker, he juggled and juggled well
with words-had a wonderful vocab
ulary. | have heard him preach
some wonderful sermons. He was
not an evangelist He was preach
err. There is a difference. The two
greatest evangelists | ever heard are
Billy Sunday and GYPSY Smith. They
can not have failure in any meeting
either one of them holds.
From a platform experience of
MANY wears with Mr. Bryan, he re-
mains, and always will remain,
puzzle to me. ;,
He had drawing power; he had
holding power. but he did not have
converting and convincing power.
A man and his wife and children
would walk miles to hear Mr. Bryan.
stand in the rain for two hours lis
terinp to him. wait two more hours
to shake hands with him, go home
and name all the boy babies William
BRYAN and all the girl babies Willie
BRYAN. and then, vote against him
ever time.
He was a good man in every way.
Our Col. Vending
As I write | have on my desk
volume of lectures he sent me. He
was a wonderful preacher of right
eousness. Eloquent, all of his lee
lures prepared with great care and
delivered with wonderful power. |
consider his Stonewall Jackson and
his life of Christ his two best lee
lures.
John Temple Graves
has Just passed away. Time and
again I heard him and never grew
tired of hearing him. He would
write and rewrite his ornate and pol
ished orations, and then send them to
| Col. Vending to put on the finishing
touches. He never changed his lee
lures. He passed on the other day
to his rest and reward.
{ When Gods clock strikes the hour,
there will come great men to fill the
places of those who have gone over
/ the river.
A. w, HAWKS, SIR,
August 10th. 1925