Evening star., 1925-03-29

Andrew Johnson's first speech in the
Senate after taking his seat in that
body at tho special session which
began March 5. 1875, in which he at
Andrew Johnson's dent Grant. at
Two-Hour Speech. sf+e1eG aftention ~Tpe The
Star of March %. 1875, the day on
which he delivered the speech, thus
describes the scene in the Senate:
Mr. Johnson did not appear until
the Rev. Mr.. Sunderland had con-
cluded his prayer, when he emerged
from the cloakroom on the Demo-
cratic side and slowly walked to his
seat. He was dressed with his usual
care and neatness. His hair, which
though quite gray, is still sufficiently
luxuriant to cover every part of his
head, was nicely brushed. He was
dressed in a black frock coat and
pants and a black velvet vest, across
which was suspended a small gold
chain. He wore, as he did when in
the White House, a standing collar
and black stock. On his desk had
been placed a half of a lemon and a
glass of water. About four minutes
after noon Mr.. Johnson rose, and
silence fell upon the large audience.
He began speaking in low but dis
tinct tone of voice, which steadily
swelled in volume until IL filled the
entire chamber. For some time after
he began speaking he made no
gestures, but stood between two
desks. with a hand on either. He soon
warmed up with his subject, however,
and assumed his old and well remem-
bered style of oratory. AS usual, he
occasionally made a grammatical slip,
but this was scarcely noticeable. none
of his Inaccuracies of speech being
of a marked character He spoke
without notes and frequently. con-
suited several books OF reference
which lay on his desk.
He began by saying that 1t was
evident that he was expected to make
long speech, but that he would be
compelled to disappoint expectations,
as he had but few words to say.
1t soon became evident, however, as
he warmed up with his theme that he
| would talk for some time. His ami
madversions on the administration
| were evidently relished by many of
| the occupants of, the male galleries,
| who loudly applauded when he said
| If Grant was elected a third time, then
farewell to the republic. The chair,
Mr.. Ferry, at once interrupted Mr..
Johnson to state to the galleries that
applause was prohibited and must not
be repeated. He then directed the
| serg cant arms to take precautions
to prevent a repetition of tho offense,
and soon after Capitol policemen ap-
peared in the aisles to preserve order.
AT 25 minutes to 2 Mr.. Johnson said
he had spoken longer than he had in
tended, and would close, but several
Democratic Senators said Go on. go
| on!' and he continued, and finally
CLOSED his speech at minutes after 2
o'clock, having spoken just two hours.
A oil ioI
ripple of applause. After Mr.. John
| son had taken his seat he was warmly
congratulated by a number of Demo-
cratic Senator'S"
| Attention was called recently to the
| fact that President Coolidge, in a
speech which was broadcast. pro-
.,., nounced certain
freSlucntldI words in a pecu
Pronunciation. following in The
Star of March 2S, 1875, cites a case
somewhat in point
During his speech in the Senate
| Yesterday, Mr.. Johnson had occasion
| to make frequent use of the word
| recognize which he pronounced lay
| ing the accent on the second syllable.
There are many good speakers who,
| while aware of the modern pro-
| nunciation as laid down by standard
dictionaries. still prefer the good old
| fashioned way. Gen. Jackson, for
| instance, always insisted on pro-
! nouncing the word development as
| divided and spelled 'dev-il-ope- -ment,
with the accent on the third syllable.
! He gave as his reason for so doing
that he was so instructed by his old
and respected teacher, DR.. Waddeu,
whom he should follow in preference
to the dictionary makers