LIB RARY OF CONG RESS. @§apX-*?-- ©opijrigftt Ifo. Shelf -JM.. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING \\r J. W. DONOVAN, Author of "Modern Jury Trials," "Skill in Trials," "Tact in Court," etc. MWH- Oj&~* COLLECTOR PUBLISHING COMPANY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN, 1895. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1895, by The Collector Publishing Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. Have you been called on for remarks at a soldiers' re- union, a salesmen's banquet, a welcome to druggists, Ma- sons or Maccabees; an address to the Home of the Friend- less, the closing of a school term, the graduation of young doctors, lawyers, or a Sunday school picnic; a Fourth of July, Washington or Lincoln's birthday, the founding of a school or the presentation of a flag; on Memorial Day oc- casions, on children's day in the churches; a welcome to Sir Knights and an infinite variety of similar topics? If you have not, you have yet to run the gauntlet of a popu- lar advocate and had better be posted in season. The best time to prepare for it, is the earliest day possi- ble. As a builder provides material and puts his tools in order, so you will gain by a thorough preparation. It will be too late by and by when a score of your comrades have outrun you in the arena of life and you have only criticised them — it will be too late then to start over again. You will be a stronger, braver, readier speaker to read up and enlarge your storehouse of information. To one who spurned to learn of any but old masters, Cicero and De- mosthenes, Clay and Webster — and never, in fact, learned of anybody and simply threw clubs at those who made progress, we offer no encouragement. But to one who can see flowers even on thorn bushes and know real wisdom is born of struggle and experience, tnat the nearer we are VI. to the struggle itself, the more we will gain by its inspira- tion, this work may be useful. Much of it is made up of shorthand reports, dictated to meet a demand from hundreds of hungry students that I am no longer able to supply by letter — time to rewrite be- ing beyond command. Public speakers do not need many reasons why. They want facts, precedents, matter and in- spiration. They will do their own pruning, cutting and selecting. If some young man, who has learned life's les- son by struggle, shall preserve what others have gained by like struggles, and profit by it, this may form a part of his mental bank account to add to and accumulate. The greatest study of history is to know men. Books are what men have thought or found and had printed — no more. While you stop to criticise, are you yet per- fect? As to the effect of eloquence, let me repeat what I have said once with emphasis: I have heard Gen. Butler in his powerful philippic on an Indianapolis editor, when hundreds stood upon the seats and shouted, "Hit him again ! Give it to 'im ! ! (smiting their hands together), Give it to 'im ! !" until I realized the force of "fighting 1 ' eloquence. I have heard Gough give his nineteen rewards to the faith- ful, looking up toward the heavens with expanded nerves, and eyes dilated, face all ablaze with magnetism, hands charged with electricity, and tones tuned with the finest melody. I have seen Benjamin F. Taylor when he marched the forces up the sides of Lookout Mountain, and pictured the battle above the clouds with lifelike energy — vu. pictured it so graphically that we could almost hear the final shout of victory that shook the hills of Tennessee, when the boys in gray retreated from the boys in blue. I have heard the echoing shout receding over Cemetery Hill, caught up by Union forces and carried through the ranks of the entire army of the Cumberland; I saw the audience sit spellbound at the close, dismissed by a waive of the chairman's hand, so touched by the grandeur of the scene that they marched out in silence from college chapel, and I called that eloquence — but it was imaginary. I have heard Phillips describe the conduct of a heroic general till he called before us the mighty dead, like Napoleon, Wel- lington and Alexander, and "dipping his finger in the sun- light," write on the blue arch of Heaven the name of his brilliant hero, and I was thrilled by his graphic descrip- tion, and even that was imaginary. And when a real pic- ture came before me in a New York court room, and Beach was the champion of a wife discarded by a wealthy husband, and when I heard him rehearse her wrongs, and tell her simple story to a jury, and listened to their verdict of heavy damages, I knew, and felt, and realized the power and force of eloquence, and thought it would be instructive to repeat it, and describe it as a lesson to advocates and ambitious lawyers. Many sentences, having application to different topics, are purposely repeated, both for emphasis and to show their varied application. Seward well said: "If one makes many speeches he repeats some sentiments, even if not in Vlll. the same language." But all good songs and sayings are repeated — the oftener the better, if they teach good les- sons. Phillips repeated his lecture on "Lost Arts" for thirty years and pleased many thousands by it. Jefferson repeated his "Rip Van Winkle" twenty-six years in succession and Ole Bull played eighteen years on his violin before he really loved it, and then he said the very fibres of the wood, the strings and keys and bow all made music in his soul till it thrilled like a passion and moved his hearers like a song. Detroit, June, 1895. J. W. D. INDEX. A Page American Boy— The 3 Addresses to Societies and Social Gatherings 63 Address to School of Industry 69 Address to Medical Students 70 Address to Retail Grocers... 91 Australia — In 151 Accused— Defending the 160 Affections— Curtis on 182 Alcohol— Ingersoll on 204 Art of Speaking 236 B Blaine, James G 59 Books as Friends 106 Boy Lawyers 146 Bible— Mathews on 190 Beach on Beecher 193 Banquet— San Francisco 262 Bell— The Fox and the 266 O Citizenship 35 (From a Speech by Senator Frye.) Columbian Day 44 Cheerful Salesman— The 65 Character 110 (Extract from Bishop New- man's Address.) Crown— The Men We 163 Commerce — Depew on 174 Crittenden on Self -Defense... 187 Commerce — Maybury on 187 Curtis on Affections 182 Capital— Speakers' 210 D Druggists— Welcome to 88 Defending the Accused 160 Defense— The Teacher's 165 Depew on Commerce 174 Debate— Silver 196 E Page Elements of Happiness 101 Eloquence 239 Extraordinary— Pleading 267 (Selected.) F Flag— The 48 Farmer Boy— The 76 Friendship 96 Fortunes — Lawyers' 143 Fathers— In the Sight of 163 Fox and the Bell— The 266 G Grocers— Retail— Address to.. 91 Great Speeches 148 Grain Gambling 156 Gordon's Plea for Mercy 188 Genius of Oratory— The 207 Genius of Pleasure— The 248 H Hand— Miser's 258 I In the Sight of the Fathers.. 163 Ingersoll on Alcohol 204 K King— A Story of 264 L Lincoln as a Genius 12 Lincoln Election— A 33 La Fayette 54 (From a beautiful address to the Michigan Club by Henry D. Estabrook, of Omaha.) Law— Starting in 122 Lawyers as Leaders 125 Page Lawyers— "Wealthy 132 Lawyers Talking Too Much.. 134 Lawyer on His Merits 136 Little Things 139 Lawyers' Fortunes 143 Lawyer's Boy 146 Log Cabin Days 149 Lincoln's Art in Court 159 Lost by Latin 255 Latin— Lost by 255 Lycurgus— The Law-Giver — 260 Little Stories 263 M McKinley— Gov. on Our Na- tional Credit 1 Make Him Our King 30 Medical Students— Address to 70 Maccabees— Welcome 84 Miscellaneous Addresses, Quo- tations, Etc 96 Money Making 152 Men We Crown— The 163 Maybury on Commerce 187 Mathews on the Bible 190 Marshall's Oratory 243 Miser's Hand 258 N Newsboys— A Talk to 86 O Orators and Oratory 112 (From Donovan's Trial Practice.) On His Merits 136 Oratory— The Genius of 207 Orators and Oratory 222 (Selected— Modern Jury Trials.) Oratory— Marshall's 243 P Patriotic Addresses 1 Points on Saving Money 63 Plea for Mercy— Gordon's 188 Preparation of Speeches 207 Page Pleasure — The Genius of 248 Pinch of the Bent 256 (Story.) Pleading Extraordinary 267 (Selected.) R Retail Grocers— Address to 91 S Soldier's Reward— The 37 (Address to Old Soldiers.) School of Industry— Address to 69 Stars of the Churches— The.. 73 Societies and Social Gather-; ings— Addresses to 63 Starting in Law 122 Speeches— Great 148 Sketch— A Thrilling 150 Self-Defense— Crittenden on.. 187 Silver Debate 196 Speeches— Preparation of 207 Speakers' Capital 210 Speaking— Style of 211 Speaking— Art of 236 Short Stories 249 Story— Pinch of the Bent 256 San Francisco Banquet 262 Stories— Little 263 Story of a King 264 T Talk to Newsboys— A 86 Talking Too Much 134 Thrilling Sketch 150 Teacher's Defense 165 The Higher— The Grander. ... 270 (Address to a High School Graduating Class.) \V Welcome Maccabees 84 Welcome to Druggists 88 Well-Bought Goods 91 Wealthy Lawyers 1S2 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. CHAPTER I. PATRIOTIC ADDRESSES. ooy. Mckinley on our national credit— the Ameri- can BOY— LINCOLN AS A GENIUS— A LINCOLN ELEC- TION—CITIZENSHIP—THE SOLDIER'S REWARD — CO- LUMBIAN DAY— THE FLAG— LA FAYETTE— INGE R SO LL NOMINATING BLAINE. GOV. McKINLEY ON OUR NATIONAL CREDIT. The United States need not go abroad to find purchasers for its bonds. The patriotic people of this country stand quite ready to take all that may be offered, and pay for them in as good money as the financiers of Europe. We ought to appreciate by this time that we should neither do our work nor make our loans in Europe. Let us place our options with our own capitalists, and let us place our orders with our own manufacturers who, in the past, have been quite capable to answer every need and demand of the government and of the people. 2 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Who has questioned the good faith of the government of the United States? When did it ever fail to meet the high- est requirements of national and commercial integrity? Answer me that! Its financial honor is without taint; it has always been above and beyond suspicion. The government faith cannot be prescribed by the lan- guage of the bond; it can neither be enhanced or abated by the mere words of the contract. Our national honor is far above the quibble of the ordinary debtor. The government has established its credit, and the highest financial standing in the world, by paying its creditors in the money, not of the contract merely, but in that money which the whole civilized world regarded as the best in existence at the time of payment. Every obligation of the government rests upon the honor of the government, and in whatever payment the highest honor of the government suggests, in that the government has always paid and always will pay. It never took advantage of a creditor at home nor a creditor abroad. It sold its bonds during the stress of war at whatever price it could get, and when the great war ended it marched steadily up to the very highest standard of payment. Let us provide somehow, and in some sensible, patriotic way, for the collection of enough money annually to pay all our current expenses, and let it be large enough to pay all pensions justly due our soldiers and sailors in all the SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 3 wars of the Republic. Let it be enough to maintain with vigor our navy and diplomatic services and abundantly sup- port every branch of the government, without parsimony or extravagance. If this cannot be done now — if the pres- ent Congress and administration are unable to do it — then the only thing we can do to bridge over the trouble is to borrow the money to do it. But it should be remembered that this will only be a temporary cure and provision. What we want — what we must have — is enough money to run the government, and it must be borne in mind con- stantly that we have the best government and highest civili- zation to maintain of any government and civilization of the world. THE AMERICAN BOY. "It is a wise man that carries his boy heart up into man- hood." The American Girl is a familiar theme. Her portrait is painted in short or, long dresses, with curious costumes and strange designs. She is seen, and known, and remembered by the masses, from the day she emerges as a sweet girl graduate, to the hour of her grander wed- ding march and triumphal bridal tour. She is pictured at the charity dance, and described on the burning sands of 4 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. the sea shore, in the raging surf, or marching off by moon- light, leaning on the arm of a wealthy merchant, in a maiden's dream of ideal happiness — and then — and then — she is forgotten. But the American Boy, who is he? where is he? what is he? and how does he reach the high rounds of fame's tall ladder and become rich or honored? In early days he had one of four qualities to make him famous, either a good woodchopper, a great wrestler, a fine cradler, or an athlete. When the country was new and log cabin raisings were more frequent than league games of base ball, the woodchopper of three cords a day was known and noted for miles around his neighborhood. When barn raisings ended with a grand dinner and a hur- rah, the climax was reached in a matched wrestle, where the idol of the town could throw his rival in three out of five rounds in a splendid physical contest — then he was a hero. When the wheat harvesting was done by hand, the evening story tellers doted on the four-acre-a-day cradler, and cor- ner grocery gatherings told of the heavy lifter who could shoulder a full flour barrel. But all of these boys have passed away. Their places are filled with fast oarsmen or curve pitchers. The scenes of amusement are moved into cities. The American boy is no longer an obscure quantity. He is a factor in society, an element of speculation — something to draw on tor amusement. The rugged labor that made Lincoln fa- mous with the pioneers of Illinois, and fought the great SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 5 battle with the Michigan wilderness and won it, is almost forgotten in the struggle for the pennant in a base ball contest, or of the labor leadership in a country that can keep its chief organizer on a salary far above the net earnings of President Washington. The American Boy is a traveler on a fast express. If he is a printer without fortune, he can live by his wits a half year in New York, a quarter year in England, a winter in France, and a summer in Germany, a vacation in China, and a season at Salt Lake or San Francisco. The space for the American Boy is unbounded, for the English speaking race is fast spreading over the globe, and the boy is always first in work, first in play, and first in the scenes of invention and discovery. The room in his own country gives him courage for big undertakings, and confidence to reach out after new opportunities. He is a far-seeing statesman, and an unyielding competitor. If you take the wings of the morning and fly away to Birmingham, San Diego, Tacoma or St. Paul, even there you will find the young American merchant in all his glory. He may have bought farms in Kansas City at $50 an acre, and sold them in lots at $100 a foot, and yet be under thirty and still a millionaire, but he is a boy all the same, and is ready to greet you with a slap on the shoul- der and a hint of: "Have a quail lunch, old fellow, while you tell me of the boys back in Northville." It is his boy heart carried up into manhood that cheers him. It is his hope of prosperity that promotes his progress. It is his 6 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. belief in himself that animates him. It is his thinking to the front that takes him there. It is his determination to reach a front seat in life that gives him room in the box near the footlights. The American Boy, like a poet, is born that way. There is no use of cutting patterns for him to follow. He will make patterns for himself and suited to his condition. He will see the world as it is. He does not need any Roman forums, or Grecian games to practice in. His country is his forum. He is an all-seeing, all-inhaling, all-around money-making and self-enjoying model of his own. You may preach him a sermon, or tell him a story; you may show him a play, or build him a model ; but he will hear half the sermon, see half the play, glance at the model, and make a mental improvement on the whole lot. He is a sermon. He is a play. He is a model. He makes all these trifles for himself. What is the use of saying new things, or strange things, or funny things to an American Boy? Is he not up to every new art, strange device or funny saying the day before it was uttered, invented or related? And can't he straightway make an improvement on it? Talk to him of perfection? He sees it in a flying machine. Talk to him of motor power, and he dreams out a storage batten-; talk of the printers' art, and he invents a typesetter; and away he goes with the discovery to the ends of the earth an hour later after a patent. He beats all the news carriers, and excels all the ages as an advance agent. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 7 The American Boy as a city builder is a marvel. If Home was not built in a day, that is no sign that an- other city, more modern, better lighted, with broader streets, more opera houses, grander boulevards, finer railroads and faster cable cars cannot be built in a day — -on paper! And he builds it — for he knows how to build it. An older boy might hesitate and begin to quote to his iriends the Scotch adage, "The house never costs less than the builder estimated," or "Count the cost," or some such old-fashioned notion; but while one fellow is counting the cost, the other fellow (the American Boy), is laying out a city and building it, and selling lots at a fabulous profit. Shakespeare, the greatest star playwriter of his time, who said so much of law, medicine, love and murder, who be- came so elated in his art, that he called the whole world a stage and twitted every man and woman in it with being rather poor players; who told the young men how to dress well, before he had ever seen a standing paper •collar, or a red russet or patent leather shoe ; how to beware -of entrance to a quarrel (when he had never known how- little Mrs. Prof. John L. Sullivan could pound the Boston culture all out of such a maxim); who told the boys to put money in their purses, but never played to a six-thousand-dollar house in his life, and if he Tiad seen some of the Booth, Barrett, Anderson, Lang- try, or Irving-Terry fortunes, he would have opened his ^eyes wider on the taking plays of the season. Or if he had ■seen a Chicago grain dealer make a million, or a New 8 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Yorker buy up a railroad, or followed a boodle alderman over into Canada, he would have a good many new point- ers on that "money-in-your-purse" business; yes, even Shakespeare was as much behind the American Boy in knowledge of things that are, as a sail barge is behind the speed of an ocean steamer. He never struck a curve ball; never even struck a match; never saw Barnum's circus; never went up in a balloon, or slept in a palace car across the continent; or founded a western city; telephoned his dinner, or heard the new Edison doll-baby sing the touching lullaby of "Put Me in My Little Bed,"" like a modern Jennie Lind. So there's no use in looking way backward for wonders, with plenty of them in our own country. We need no ancient advisers to tell young Ameri- can boys how to make up the earth into money. They know how already. They are way up in everything. The American Boy gets married — in America; of course he does; he will live longer, better, happier, and he gets married and that's a good notion. In marriage he is a free trader. He goes where the market is full of blue-blooded women; he goes east and moves westward. Out west he is a typical Yankee, for later on in the season his father- in-law calls out west at the ranch he has opened, and being intoxicated with the climate (climate is the biggest word in the whole western country), being made duly drunk on the climate, he invests his eastern money in western climate, where the son-in-law has the experience, and the money, with the experience soon becomes so equally divided that SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 9 protection and free trade become a double blessing to the American Boy with his American bride and American fath- er-in-law. Does the American Boy work hard? Does he get up at 4 in the morning like a farmer, or a Polish car builder? Oh, no, not that way any longer. He is a manager this year. He worked very hard when. he started, but he got over it; he makes machines do his. heavy work lately. He invests money more judiciously and lets the other fellow do the working. It may have been well enough once to have been economical and save the pennies. Now he spends them in advertising. A country paper, a plat of a city, a big ranch in Texas, a charter for a franchise, a bank in "Cauker City;" a right of way across, a county; a township of pine timber; a five-million iron com- pany; an oil well; a hundred schemes that men invent, and men invest in; are made to do his bidding, just as soon as he knows the ropes, for he is rich, and great, and happy, hon- ored, and elevated because of his grasp of genius to seek and to find opportunities. The American Boy is a wide-awake traveler. He is not a spendthrift, but his wits sharpen, his mind enlarges,, his plans expand, his courage increases with this ex- perience. "He is a wise man who has known many- men and seen many cities." He has learned that a. home character is not enough. He needs a training out- side of colleges; colleges teach how things ought to be done; experience shows exactly how they are done. The- io SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. college graduate has had his ringers pinched just often enough to keep his eyes open. He only wishes that he had ventured more and taken more chances — been more courageous. Men must venture to make money. "Had I bought a farm in Chicago instead of Peoria, I might be a millionaire," said a western farmer. Yes, and so you might have been to have bought in New York, Buffalo, Toledo or Detroit. And so you may be yet to buy in any growing city. But you will not. For it takes nerve to make money. It takes genius to reach greatness. It takes courage to be successful. The boy that waits is never successful. He is the hard times believer, who hopes something may turn up, who thinks to the rear, and keeps in the back seat; who has a dream of progress, but dares not enforce his ambition; who wants to marry a fortune but daren't propose — till the other boy gets his girl away. To-day the American Boy is a moulder, or joiner; to- morrow a foreman, or master car-builder; next day he is at the head of a stove works, or car works, or owner of an air brake, making up the earth into money, with two thou- sand wage-workers looking up into his eyes in wonder how he got there! To him the wonder is as great as to anyone. But he had the courage to begin. The genius to plan. The perseverance to execute, and the knack of success! Every State has a hundred such instances. In Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Bay City, Detroit, Chicago and Omaha, every leading house and factory manager has worked up from the basement. To name them is to be personal, to admire them is but natural. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. n Pitcarn, the air brake inventor, is a fifty millionaire. Carnegie's auditor has an $18,000 salary. Dr. Hussy, of steel patents, makes a quarter million a year. But do not expect one to be everything. Not by any means. It is enough to be a man of good character — one who is proficient in some honest trade or calling, for pro- motion comes in the end to the deserving. He must be trusty, or he will never be trusted. He must be able to do something well, or no one can use him. He must attract at- tention by some act of ability. He must perform his duty well, or he will never lead an enterprise. It was Grant's victories that led Lincoln to trust him and promote him. It was Edison's skill that gave him control of telegraph capital to make up his inventions. Let us remember the Carlyle rule: "Success in life, in anything, depends upon the number of persons that one can make himself agreeable to." Finally, the American Boy's ambition is unbounded. For years he has been an inventor of new imple- ments. The house and the farm, the shop and the factory, bear marks of his genius and discovery. He would raise faster horses, breed finer cattle, make safer ships, build taller blocks, run grander cars, write better books, print cheaper, larger, nicer newspapers, heat homes with gas jets, make the dolls in doll-houses to sing the babes to sleep, lay out the earth into villages, sell all the corner lots for school houses, travel, marry, go to Congress, be a merchant prince, or 12 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. make himself a millionaire; but more than all, he will mag- nify and love his country — as the greatest and freest nation on earth! The time was when he took sides in war; when he went out in the morning of his life — in the honeymoon of his marriage — the day after his wedding ; when he endured hard- ship and suffered hunger — when he reached his hands down into the horse troughs and took the coarse corn from the dumb brutes' rations, to parch it and eat it and keep from starving to death! But he will do so no longer! In the morning of his life, his country was poor, like the early days of our fathers, and now that it is richer, and prouder, he repeats the good words of his old commander, the silent soldier, General Grant, "Let us have peace ; Let us prosper." Truly let us have peace, and, by making up the earth into money, let us create prosperity. Let us distribute not grudg- ingly but liberally among those who created it! LINCOLN AS A GENIUS. For over thirty years in his lifetime, Wendell Phillips, the brilliant and distinguished Boston orator, passed over this country and spoke in different cities week after week, month after month, and year after year, on the "Lost Arts." Lean- ing with one arm upon the pulpit, or standing at ease, with SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 13 scarcely a gesture above the forearm, he described by the hour and a half the pyramids of Egypt, the Damascus blade, the raising of mighty rocks high in air, and we listened to it, and year after year, he told the same story, with the same interest, and I have thought of all he said of the lost arts, but it was nothing in comparison with the great character that we are to consider to-night. George Eliot tells us that there are words in describing things that pass by us like the winds, and we forget all about them, and there are other words that come to us as with friendly hands, and look upon us with kind eyes and breathe upon us with sweet breath, and come into our being, move us and thrill us like music, and then we are influenced by them, and then they mold our lives, and then they last and influence us in our whole career. We are to consider to-night, in plain simple words, the greatest character that this country has produced in this cen- tury — without any exception whatever — a character not so learned in books as many others; not so learned as Everett or Seward or Chase, in books; but considered in another light, in the knowledge of men and events, a man wiser than either of these; for one single year of his administra- tion was more than eight years of any college course that any man ever had in the world. Not so polished an ora- tor, in the ordinary acceptation of the term as was Beecher, Webster, Clay or Phillips; not as we ordinarily speak of ora- tors, but measured by a higher test than these, by the ancient test — the test that Cicero and Demosthenes gave — U SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. the power to mold and influence men; to make them act as he willed. Measured by this test he was a greater orator than either of these. Not so polished a man in deportment and manners as was Franklin Pierce, Charles Sumner, Conkling or Arthur, but measured by a broader test than of ordinary deportment — a gentleman. A man whom all could approach and feel at home with. A man whose heart beat alike for all mankind. A man who carried his man- hood forward in all positions, under all circumstances, and who was ever true, faithful, and upright as a gentleman. By this test no one of them excelled plain Abraham Lincoln. You that attended the World's Fair at Chicago will re- member a peculiar figure in the center of the fine art gal- lery, surrounded by competing statuary of the world. You remember a large figure of heroic size, with heavy frame and bent head, sitting in an arm chair, and in the right hand a pen and in the left hand an unrolled scroll. On the scroll one word, "Emancipation." And in the deep-set eyes bent forward, if marble eyes have expression, there was a far-away look, as if to pierce centuries and tell and see what this one word he had written would impart and bring to mankind. That is the figure that we are to throw light on to-night. It is impossible to dwell upon the whole character in one evening, but we speak of one element of his character — Lincoln as a Genius. The ancient Greeks and Romans both believed in the Genii — born with man — evil or good — that followed him SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING 15 from cradle to coffin — directing his career through all his life. We call genius a native gift. Defoe thinks genius is "pa- tience." Edison says it's another name for work. He thinks we only know a millionth part of anything yet. But most of us, with Webster, believe it to be the highest ele- ment of intellect applied to human affairs — a spark of the divinity. Genius is something that leads one to do extra- ordinary things, that reaches more than ordinary emergen- cies; that always goes a little beyond expectation instead of falling a little below it. The German legend describes man and his creation most beautifully. It seems by the legend that at the creation of man the Almighty called his attributes before him, Truth, Justice and Mercy; and to Truth He said, shall We make man? and Truth answered Him, make Him not, he will deny Thv statutes; and to Justice He said, shall We make man? and Justice said, Oh, create him not, Father, he will destroy Thy statutes, bring want and misery to light, and bathe his hand in human blood, create him not; and to Mercy He said, shall We make man? and gently kneeling at the throne, Mercy answered, O, create him, Father, and I will follow him; wheresoever he goes I will go; by his errors he shall learn wisdom, and at last I will bring him back to Thee; and man was made at the behest of Mercy. And do you remember in all history any one character that so fitly and aptly answers all these definitions, as did plain Abraham Lincoln; created with the genii, or genius 16 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. ■of good, that filled him ail the days of his life, within him was the element of patience and duty, as he struggled with adversity and by his side the Angel of Mercy, said, be merciful, be merciful, and all things he did were merciful. What was it that made this man, born in the year 1809, on the 1 2th of February, in Kentucky, of the poor white people, in great poverty, without school houses and ad- vantages-; what was it that so lifted him up and raised him above his fellow men; what made him great? First, he was born poor and from necessity he struggled, and next he was reared and trained by his own mother; his hope, his cheer, his ambition, his instruction came directly to the boy from the lips of a true mother and were not implanted in him through the hand of a hired nurse. In his struggle, in his one year's schooling, he remembered what his mother had said: "Think for yourself. Be independent in every- thing. Be true to yourself." And as he grew up he remem- bered it and often told of it. His mother was buried when he was 9 years of age; and with his books he would go out and sit by her grave and read and study and in his heart he determined to obey the mandates and the precepts of his mother; for somewhere he felt when a small boy, within him a secret ambition; he knew not what; we will call it the little angel, the genii or genius of good. He had only four books; his year's schooling was a very meager training. Whenever he found a good quotation in a book he would write it on a board; if he had no pencil, with coal, with chalk, with anything; pencils were not common then. He SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 17 would take a piece of coal and write it down and learn it; and a peculiarity of Lincoln's education was, that he learned well what he knew; what he knew he remembered; what he remembered he put in practice. Everything he knew was so clear, that he could make it clear to others. He read Blackstone, Shakespeare, the Bible, Bunyan, Burns and had Aesop's Fables committed to memory — and solved alone the problems of Euclid. He had enough in his books learned thoroughly to give him a splendid vocabulary. There are no great thoughts that are not found in these books. Lincoln was of magnificent form physically and had a mind of his own; it was not so much what others thought, but how he made it over as his own; he had molded it, he had controlled it, he had made it, so that it was at his com- mand. True greatness is measured by what men do to make other men better. Born in sight of slavery and the auction block, where the mother was separated from the child and the husband from the wife, he acquired a hatred of oppres- sion that became a passion in his nature till by his procla- mation he made this nation free. No orator, poet or states- man has ever been great who has not known suffering. It is the cross that wins the crown. It was his blindness that made Milton immortal. It was his suffering that made St.. Paul eloquent. It was his own abject poverty that made J~ Howard Payne's "Home, Sweet Home" so pathetic. Great sentiments brought out by sorrow, by suffering and strong- thought, Lincoln had them all. 18 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. At Gettysburg he felt his passion from his very soul. Elevated by the people, he was the same plain man of master mind as before his elevation. He was merciful. The Vermont woman who waited through the long hours of night to gain a pardon for her son, who was to be shot at sunrise, came out with the reprieve exclaiming, "They lied about him! They said he was homely; but to me he is the handsomest man I ever saw!" He had a pointed humor with the rest. Challenged to fight a duel, he promptly accepted, saying as the challenged one could choose his weapons, he would select broadswords; and so he had one made at a blacksmith's shop, nine feet long — which ended the duel. He lived to be 2.7 years of age without any marked suc- cess at all; he was a lawyer at 27. He cut a very small figure when he kept a store. He, and his partner, for he bought into a store, had an interest in a business for a little while, and afterwards in life it was thrown up to him in a peculiar way, but Lincoln, equal to every occasion, made answer. * * * In their debate Mr. Douglas said, "I re- member my young friend, when over in Sangamon County, how he kept a grocery store and sold nails and calico, brooms, tobacco and whiskey, and a very good quality whis- key, too. I have been there on one side of the bar and he and his partner on the other, and know." If anybody did, Douglas ought to know. When it came Mr. Lincoln's turn he remembered it. He said, I am glad he mentioned it, I re- jnember it was not a very successful venture, that store. It SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 19 winked out. I remember we had a regular variety store, axe handles, broom handles, cigars and tobacco, calico, sheeting, almost everything — and whiskey, too. I remem- ber, for my good friend came often, he came often and stayed long, I remember that he did get what he called for and, Lincoln grew very solemn, I am bound to say that I have left my side of that counter, and I have left it forever, but I notice that my friend Douglas clings to his side with the same tenacity that he ever did. (Applause.) When he first started in life they rather made fun of him as being homely. But he said, I reckon the Almighty must have liked homely people better than others, he made so many. They laughed at his extreme height ; he was 6 feet 4 inches high in his stockings. He said, I always thought a man's legs ought to be long enough to reach from his body down to the ground. He was equal to any emergency. In a law suit, after he began practice, he tried a case known as the Grayson case. Old Mrs. Grayson employed Lincoln to defend her son for murder. He was known then as Abram Lincoln. Grayson was accused of killing Lockwood on a camp meeting ground; the feeling ran so high that they had to change the venue. The trial began, and Lincoln kept very silent during the examination; didn't cross-examine anyone until the last witness, and Mrs. Grayson got very uneasy, she commenced to scowl a little, muttered, I wonder why Abram don't do something, and that nettled him, because he wanted his own way in the trial, and in a little while he did do something. Remember, we are in the court room; 20 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. there is a murder scene; a crowded hall; ladders are at the windows; every inch of standing room is taken; intense ex- citement. The populace have turned out; they are all there watching the battle of the attorneys. The last witness has been called to testify and he has given a very straightforward story. He saw the shot, saw it fired, saw young Grayson stand over his victim, saw him start to run away; intense excite- ment settled in the court room, and the people rested. Then plain Abraham Lincoln stood up, and everybody held his breath. He said, picking up the pistol, I under- stand you to say that you saw this weapon, that you saw the hang of it, and you recognize this as it? Yes, sir. You saw the man start to run away after the shot? Yes, sir. Saw him lean over the victim? Yes, sir. This was the one? Yes, sir. How far were you away? Only a few rods. How far was that in the timber? About twenty rods. What time of the year was it? The ioth of August. What time of the night was it? About 10 o'clock. Wasn't it nearer 9 o'clock? It was 10 o'clock. How far from the camp ground proper was it? Oh, I guess about twenty rods. Was it in the timber or open field? In the timber. Leaves on the timber then in August? Lots of them. Leaves on the timber; thickly timbered, was it? Yes, sir. You are sure you saw the hang of the pistol that you saw the shot fired with — that you saw the whole transaction? I told you so before. Yes, I know you told me so before, but I wanted you to tell me so again. What did you do with the SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING 21 light you held there? I didn't have any light. Where were the lights? The lights were up by the meeting house. By what light did you see this shooting, then, sir? By moon- light. By moonlight? By moonlight. Then the tall man went down into his side pocket and took out a blue covered almanac, and turning to the Court, said, Your honor, I call your attention to this page and this date, to have it marked, and I ask your honor to note that at that hour, 10 o'clock on the 10th of August, there was no moon. The moon rose at 1 o'clock the next morning; there was no moon, your honor! The Court saw it; the people saw it, and Lincoln, taking advantage, turned as if half a foot taller, and said, I demand the arrest of this man here and now! Perjury so vile should not go unpunished. He should be brought to the bar of this court; and he was brought to the bar, and it was found that he, in a quarrel with Lockwood, shot him, -and that he was the murderer and not young Grayson. You can see the genius in it. You can see the man rising to action, the forecast, the far-away look. Judge Campbell said in reply to my question before I went to Crete one year, when asked what is the greatest quality of a lawyer, that forecast, foresight, always ready to see through to the end of litigation and comprehend it; that is the greatest in a lawyer, the greatest in a statesman. Oh, if we could see through to the end and know where victory could be. Is it not the greatest quality of a lawyer or a statesman? Lincoln had that forecast. When he was a 22 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. debater, prominent in politics, he was put forward to contest the senatorial nomination with Mr. Douglas, and early in his career lie displayed the same sagacity and genius as a de- bater he had displayed as a lawyer. Douglas wanted to be President. He was of elegant appearance and had a good education. Lincoln was a tall homely man, with a great amount of sturdy manhood. He had a direct way of put- ting everything. First the crowd was inclined to follow Douglas. Lincoln saw it. So he laid a trap for Doug- las. On the second evening of the debate, the second or third evening, he asked him four different questions, and if they were answered one way, they would please the State of Illinois, because they related to the extension of slavery in the territories and the repeal of the Dred Scott decision, or the reversal of it, and the general attitude of the country on the question of slavery. Douglas was very ambitious to be a senator. Young men, don't make that mistake and forget the long look and far distant future. Douglas so framed his four answers to the four questions that they suit- ed the people of Illinois. Why he was opposed to the ex- tension of slavery, he would have it curtailed just about as the people of Illinois wanted it. But if a man chanced to go into Kansas he had the same right to take his slave as any property. He would not extend it without limit. He an- swered the question as Mr. Lincoln wanted; made himself a very good man in the State of Illinois, but a very bad man to suit the Southern people. Lincoln said, that sends him to the Senate. That defeats him for the presidency. Sure SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 23 enough, the next time, this was in -58, when he came up for nomination in '60, Douglas was rotten-egged out of the con- vention. Do you see the genius of Lincoln and the long look ahead? Lincoln was triumphantly nominated and as triumphantly elected for the presidency of the United States, and by his election he changed the whole attitude of the country. Before his election men had been in the habit of dating back to ancestry. "My grandfather came over in the May Flower, or my great uncle was a blue blood, or my relatives were very high up in the world, and they were none of the low common people;" oh, no. But after Lincoln's election things changed all over this country, people com- menced to build rail fences and talk about labor, and after his election labor was lifted up to the altitude of the tall President, and it never went down after that; it was upon a higher plane than ever before, and manhood was higher than ever before, it took a higher standing, upon a higher plane; and to-day, no man, for any office, dare say that he has not done honest hard labor with his own hands, but if he has worked, he dare say it, and to-day the question is not what a man's grandfather was or his great uncle happened to be, but what he is, and not what he may be and will be — not what somebody else had been. I almost skipped over something in Lincoln's character that must not be left out. In his early life he shaped his ca- reer to a great extent. In his early life he was disappointed. He loved a young woman (it is not profane to speak of it), and the affection was returned — but before the time 24 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. she was buried ; and he started out in life in a way that would have broken down a weaker nature, for it took a strong hold on him. Some men would have turned to drink, others to roving, others to reckless life, but to him it took hold of his great heart and being and nature, and it plowed up his soul, and increased his affection, and his spirit grew larger and grander, and Lincoln was the greatest hearted man that this country ever knew. Lincoln was honest. He had a genius for honesty. He could not try a case for a client who had the wrong side. Unlike Webster, who bowed to public opinion and party spirit, he made public opinion and scorned party senti- ment. Webster wanted to be President. Lincoln wanted to be right. And if we could call back the statesmen of the past who have made our country free and famous, we would pass by our idols like Sumner and Seward, Webster and Clay, Mor- ton and Chandler, Garfield and Blaine, Grant and Sherman, and bow before the grandest of them all, Lincoln the genius ! He was nature's gentleman. As one has said: When nature, with a matchless hand, Sends forth her noblv born. She laughs the paltry attributes Of wealth and rank to scorn. She molds with care, and spirit rare, Half human, half divine, And cries exulting, "Who can make A gentleman like mine?'' SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 25 She may not spend her finer skill Upon the outer part, But showers beauty, grace and light Upon the brain and heart. No haughty gesture marks his gait, No pompous tone his word; No studied attitude is seen, No palling nonsense heard. Justice and mercy for his code, He puts his trust in heaven; His prayer is : "If the heart be right, May all else be forgiven." So few of such men gem the earth, Yet such rare gems there are. Each shining in his hallowed sphere As virtue's polar star. There are some spirits nobly just, Unwarped by pelf or pride, Great in the calm but greater still When dashed against the tide. They hold the rank no king can give, No station can disgrace; When nature forms her gentleman, All others must give place. These are the words to show that he was a gentleman; approachable, upright, honest, conscientious — the same man in Washington that he had been in Springfield; the same man in any station, always approachable, always a gentle- man. He was the head of his administration; he selected the wise men, Stanton, the proud man of Ohio; Seward, the 26 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. pride of New York State; Wells and others. He selected these men, but he governed them in great emergencies; the state papers bear the marks of his ingenuity, of his diplom- acy, of his forecast, for he could look after other men; he went through the first administration, the greatest and the largest that this country ever knew. He struggled against fault-finding and criticism, and bore malice toward none, and charity to all, and went forward doing his plain duty; apprehending much, planning much, executing, thinking much, and when the time came he always acted in the most masterly manner. When it became known in the dark days just before Jan- uary, '63, that it was necessary to break the bonds and let the bondmen free, his deliberate action, his long look ahead was equal to the emergency, and with that unrolled scroll and uplifted pen, that far away look, that signature — with one word millions became free, now six, soon twelve, then twenty millions — wonderful deed! Measured by the one test, this one test alone, what he did, not for himself, but to make others happy, measured by the one test of signing that proclamation alone, all else left out, that one act of statesmanship, the fame of Lincoln will reach to the height of the Washington monument, the highest monument ever built by man. Caesar and Alexander and Napoleon were ambitious ; they all had a personal ambition ; they were cruel at times ; they always had a personal object, but will you tell me one act of cruelty in the life of Lincoln; will you name or place SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 27 your finger upon any act that seemed like a personal glory or personal ambition? Then the test applied to him, that he was an unselfish man. Aristotle, years ago, said of a great- souled man, he will not be given to small ambition, he will bear no malice ; he will be charitable and considerate to his equals and to his inferiors, even to his slaves. But above all a great-souled man will be unselfish. Then by the meas- ure of the wisest philosopher, by the definition of the dic- tionaries and writers, Lincoln not only became and was a genius, equal to all emergencies, but governed the definitions of true and noble greatness. While you would think that a man like that ought to be allowed to live a thousand years, that he might do good to other generations, he died in his prime. Let me vary from the subject for one brief mo- ment. One of the greatest men this country ever knew was Webster. Webster, you remember, was one not so tall, but a large man; a grand expounder of the law and Constitu- tion and a great Senator, and to describe him in a word they said of him, the houses on Beacon street looked smaller when Webster passed along! A magnificent picture of a great character; the houses looked smaller when he passed; yet he failed in statesmanship. The difference be- tween Lincoln and Webster was this: Webster wanted to be President, Lincoln wanted to be right! But in the very height of his prime, almost thirty years ago to-night — after they had put down the rebellion, and the sword of Lee had been passed over to the hands of Grant — rejoicing went up and down Pennsylvania avenue;. ^8 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Lincoln rejoiced with the rest, and went one night to the theatre — a theatre no larger than this. Before the second act, as he and his family were enjoying the play, a slim, black-haired young man crept around through the flies, through the seats, crept up near the great Lincoln, crept up close behind and shot him in the head, and instantly leaped from the box and hurried off, but was later shot and killed in a barn. The next day the great Lincoln was dead. I was a school boy here then. When the news- boys came out they cried: "Lincoln is killed. Lincoln is killed." "President Lincoln is shot." I bought a Tribune, with black lines all around the sides. Inside of an hour the streets were crowded, more than when at a .fire. Where the City Hall is, great masses of people gathered as if a great fire had been; and all afternoon they kept gathering, and you could see men with tears in their eyes; in the evening they held a public meeting, and Stewart spoke. Men said, blood for blood; blood, blood for blood! This was the feeling every- where; blood for blood; all over the city and all over the nation ! Men were enraged, they were sore at heart. They held public meetings. If a man said aught against Lincoln they took rails and broke in his buildings; men were excited; they drove one man into the river. Then the great procession bearing the body started in Washington, to Philadelphia and New York, to Rochester and to Buffalo and Cleveland and Indianapolis and Chicago and rested at Springfield; and it seemed wherever that SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 29. procession went with that body, farmers left their teams, storekeepers went out, children hung on the fences, until it seemed one continual funeral procession from Washington to Springfield. And they buried the body of the great man. They did not bury his good name; they did not bury his deeds; they didn't bury the freedom that he had created. They didn't bury the hope that he had planted in the breasts of the laboring men in this country. They buried the body only. The news went out over the country, and the people mourned as though a king were dead. The tele- graph did not go as fast those days as now; and one man who carried the news over to Germany tells that they had on the first of May in Frankfort a great feast, and he happened to be there, and the details of the killing of Lincoln had not reached there yet; he attended the great hall; those magnifi- cent halls and theatres are so many and many times larger than in this country. And there the men were drink- ing and the women were marching; they had glasses in their hands, and flowers, and it was a gala day; it was the first of May. This man had reached home in this season. Mount- ing the stage, he said, "Hear you, hear you, that great man over the water is shot!" People halted; he repeated, "Lincoln, the great President over the water is killed!" The glasses dropped to the table; the flowers fell from the children's hands; the faces looked downward, the music stopped; the people turned and went out doors in silence, in deep, sub- dued silence ; thev marched as if from a funeral scene. That 30 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. was the impression made all over this country and all over the civilized world. And to-day, the picture, the likeness of this man, is hanging upon the walls in more cottages than any other face except the Savior's. The name that we see in books attached to any story, that we always read about. The one man that this whole community can stand together and admire. The great comrade, the greatest living Ameri- can in the last century, born in this country. That man has planted his career in the hearts of the people ; his monument is not as tall as the one in Washington, but it is as broad. There are more hearts to-day touched by the j understanding of the death of Lincoln, and there are more cheered by the life of Lincoln, and more have been made happy by his acts and conduct, and more have been taught to believe him and his sentiments of real honesty by reason of his character, than any one man's that ever lived on this continent. MAKE HIM OUR KING. I read long ago in the German, of a kind young king, among the Huns, who was so loved by his people that they gave him a golden throne and a silver crown. That soon after he died in his prime, and the people said: "We will have no king. None other can fill his place." Two years they waited and finally they longed for a king. At last they voted to select a king, provided one could be found whom the elements obeyed and the animals would love. To find such a king search was made in all the cities and hamlets round about, but without avail. Then men in SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 31 pairs were sent through the fields and woods, but returned without a king. Then at last, they searched in the moun- tains, till one day two searchers for the king were overtaken by a dreadful storm of wind and hail and snow, that drove them for shelter into a cave way up on the mountain side. In the cave they found a little man dressed in furs. He gave them generous welcome, saying: "Come in and wait until the storm goes by!" He gave them bread to eat, and a bed of furs to sleep upon and said, "Rest until the storm goes by." They fell asleep, but about two o'clock in the night they were awakened by a terrible roar and noise outside. They rose on their elbows and said: "We shall be killed! We shall be killed! This is a rob- ber's cave!" Then the little man in furs came out, saying, "What is this I hear? What is this complaint?" "Hear you the noise outside?" said the searchers for a king, still trembling in fear. Going to the cave door and sliding it, the little man in furs exclaimed: "O, I see! Bears, wolves, tigers, lions, wild animals out in the storm! Come in! Come in, out of the storm! Come in, you lions! Come in and wait till the storm goes by!" Instantly the bears, lions, tigers and wolves hurried in. The lions licked the little man's hands. He stroked the tigers on the back. The wolves huddled around like little lambs. 32 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. "Take your places in the corner there," said the man in furs, which they did and seemed delighted to be in out of the storm, and all slept again until morning. In the morning the animals were let out. A hole was made in the ceiling and the bright rays of the sun shone in. It was focused in a glass and a fire lighted from a piece of punk. A fire was built, a meal of meat cooked; the men were treated to a substantial meal and then shown outside, where the water in summer was caught in a fountain, where sheep and cattle and animals and men could drink. The searchers for a king were about to go. They remem- bered to pay their bill. "What shall we pay you for your kindness and entertain- ment like this?" asked the men. The little man straightened up and said with great force, very slowly: "Pay — me — for — kindness? O, sirs, there is no payment for kindness save in kindness to somebody else f Go your way, and when you find people in distress, so deal with them as has been done to you in this storm, with this injunction, that you bid them all continue the kindness to the end of time." The little man bowed and returned to his cave. The searchers for a king returned to their city and knew not what they had seen; but the people, always wiser than one or two, threw up their hands, exclaiming: "Make him our king. Make him our king! Kindness has made him worthy to be king." SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 33 So they sent the men once more up the steep moun- tain side and brought back the little man in furs, placed him upon the golden throne, put upon his head a silver crown, in honor of his kindness. A LINCOLN ELECTION. I remember one. In November, 1864, the union prison- ers in Andersonville held an election in all due form of law. News had reached them from beyond the lines that the Republican party had renominated Abraham Lincoln upon a platform which declared for the prosecution of the war to the bitter end. They had heard that the Democrats had nominated George B. McClellan on a platform which de- clared the war a failure, and called for the cessation of hos- tilities. They knew that McClellan's election would result in a speedy exchange of prisoners, and a return home. How much that meant to a man penned up there, God only knows. To walk once more the shady lane; to see the ex- pectant faces of love in the open door, to hold against his breast the one woman whose momentary embrace seemed more to him than hope of heaven does to you and I ; to raise in yearning arms the sturdy boy who was a baby when his. father marched away. It meant this, and it meant more. 34 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. It meant life, and hope, and home, and love, and peace for him; but for the flag, dishonor, and for the Union dissolu- tion. The re-election of Lincoln meant the indefinite continu- ance of the war, prolonged captivity, suffering and death, amid the horrors of Andersonville. They knew the issue and they solemnly prepared to meet it on that election morn,- ing. A mock election, say you? Yes, a mock election. Its re- sult would never be returned to swell the grand total of loyal votes in liberty's land, but in the golden book of life, that mock election is recorded in letters of eternal splendor. They took for their ballot-box an old tin coffee pot; their ballots were army beans. A black bean was for Lincoln, the Republican party, the flag and the Union, but the man who cast it could never expect to see home, wife or babies any more. A white bean was for McClellan, the Demo- cratic party, the Union sacrificed, its flag in the dust; but it also was a promise to those despairing men of all most dear to human hearts. Some walked to the polls, some crawled there, and some were borne in the tender arms of loving comrades, and with the last expiring breath of life dropped in the bean that registered a freeman's will. And when the sun had set and the glory of evening filled the sky, eager hands tore off the lid and streaming eyes looking therein saw that the inside of the old coffee pot was as black as the face of the blackest contraband with votes for Abraham Lin- coln and the Republican party. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 35 CITIZENSHIP. (From a Speech of Senator Fry.) Citizenship? What is citizenship? It has a broader signification than you and I are apt to give it. Citizenship does not mean alone that the man who possesses it shall be obedient to the law, shall be kindly to his neighbor, shall regard the rights of others, shall perform his duties as juror, shall, if the hour of peril comes, yield his time, his property and his life to his country. It means more than that. It means that his country shall guarantee to him and protect him in every right which the Constitution gives him. What right has the Republic to demand his life, his property, in the hour of peril, if, when his hour of peril comes, it fails him? Why, a man died in England a few days ago, as I see by the papers — Lord Napier, of Magdala, and his death reminded me of an incident which illustrates this, an incident which gave that great lord his name. A few years ago King Theodore of Abyssinia seized Capt. Campbell, a Brit- ish citizen, and incarcerated him in a dungeon on the top of a mountain 9,000 feet high. England demanded his release and King Theodore refused. England fitted out and sent on 5,000 English soldiers, 10,000 Sepoys; debarked them on the coast, marched them 900 miles through swamp and morass under a burning sun. Then they marched up the mountain hight, they scaled the walls, they broke down the iron gates, they marched down into the dungeon, they took this one 2,6 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. British citizen like a brand from the burning and carried him down the mountain side, across the morass, put him on board the white-winged ship and bore him away to England in safety. That cost Great Britain millions of dollars and it made Gen. Napier Lord Napier of Magdala. Now, was not that a magnificent thing for a great country to do? Only think of it! A country that has an eye sharp enough to see way across the ocean, way across the morass, way up into the mountain top, way down into the dungeon, one citizen, one of her 30,000,000, and then has an arm strong enough to reach way across the ocean, way across the morass, way up to the mountain hight and down into the dungeon and take that one and bear him away home in safety. In the name of the dear God, who would not live and die, too, for the country that can do that? (Applause.) That magnificent man (pointing to the picture of Wash- ington), that glorious patriot, that father of his country, Lin- coln and Garfield to-day, standing right by his side, that glorious triune — what do you suppose they would say to the Republican party in power? I tell you, my friends, this country of ours is worth our thought, it is worth our care, it is worth our labor, it is worth our lives. (Applause.) What a magnificent country it is; what a Republic for the people; where the people are kings. Men of great wealth, great power, great influence, can live without any difficulty in a monarchy; but how can you and I, how can the average man, live under despotic SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 37 power? Oh, this blessed Republic of ours stretches its hands down to the men and lifts them up, while despotism puts its heavy hand on their heads and presses them down. This blessed Republic of ours speaks to every boy in the land, black or white, rich or poor, and asks him to come up higher and higher. THE SOLDIER'S REWARD. (Address to Old Soldiers.) The Germans have a beautiful legend of Valhalla, a place erected in honor of brave men who fell in the battle. Con- nected with Valhalla, or Hall of the Valiant, is the belief that just before every battle two angels pass over the camp in the darkness, while the soldiers are asleep, and select out the valiant who are to fall in the contest, and mark them with honor. By the story in the legend, all who may thus fall in battle are doubly immortal. They receive their reward in a happy home beyond the sun and the lasting honor in the hearts of their people who erected to their memory the build- ing, "Valhalla.'' From the early ages till the present the brave have ever been honored with monuments. The Egyptians spent mil- lions to build pyramids by the labor of slaves in honor of 38 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. kings, and filled the vacant chambers with portraits of bat- tles so that the deeds of bravery might be lasting and per- petual. The Spartans trained their boys for battle from five years upwards. Each was taught to mount fleet horses and use the shield and spear with dexterous hands. Even in childhood the Romans gave their chief honors to manly contests and physical bravery. It is not from tradition or from story that we found our inspiration for bravery. It is a new and separate motive, different from that ever known in history. In the Avars of Caesar, Alexander and Napoleon, or even of William the Conqueror, there is a separate and different motive. Caesar sought honor in glory, Alexander in dominion, and Xapo- leon in both. All these sought personal honors. Their fol- lowers were not inspired by devotion to country, but by a desire to obey their leaders and seek under them to attain some special glory and renown. It was not liberty but con- quest that William the Conqueror looked for in England. Even in the seven years war of the revolution there was an element of self-defense — a defense of home — a struggle with invaders and savages that gave a strong motive to battle. But the mainspring of action that inspired men in the late great battle for the union was unlike all of them. History is full of wars and battles. The story of the world is written in blood; but history has never before shown such a vast body of intelligent men drawn from all trades and walks of life, following a single leader — the immortal Lin- coln — and risking so much with such a trifling reward and SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 39 so meager a pittance of salary. It was not for money, surely, that men enlisted, for the $13 a month could easily be doubled at home. It was not for the glory of men, for Americans had no special idol. It was for a pride of national supremacy, to have a nation of states, a new principle of government — the experiment of men trying to govern them- selves that they enlisted to perpetuate. For this they braved the heat and dust of a southern climate, the swamps and miasma of foreign states, the loathsome prisons, and the dreadful privations of hunger, sickness and starvation; and those that lived the longest suffered most. To the heroes who fell asleep either at the sudden shock of the cannon or the quick blow of the bullet, and the pierc- ing shriek of the shell — those whom the death angel singled out in advance to die in honor, a rest came and relieved them from duty. They lived in honor and died like mar- tyrs. For them we bring flowers to-day and sing anthems. They are gone to their home over and beyond the sun and stars, and we are building "Flower Halls" to their memory. But there are others that found not the relief that death often brings to a noble sentinel, to those who have waited through the long watches of the night and no relief; those who had their forced marches, endured their prison fare, received their shock and their wounds, and outlived them; of those who mingled honor and cruelty — honor for their bravery, but cruel, as it follows them with a lasting pain and an everlasting reminder that once they were well, once they were young, once they were heroes, once they were 40 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. petted and promised great gains and rewards, and now, when they are older, with the fruits of their labor all secure, a nation saved and made glorious, has either forgotten them or neglected their necessities. Let us hope and trust that the implied contract of suffering for something — a contract that the nation is bound by when it settles with its defenders, will demonstrate it. Away with this talk of u too much sur- plus" while the unpaid debt to crippled soldiers hangs as a menace over a liberty-loving people! Liberty means value to a government. It means credit. It is not the land of a nation that makes it wealthy, nor the climate, nor the riches, nor the pleasure of a few, for Mexico and South America have these, but the kind of laws, the safety of the people, the plan of government, the genius of our institutions preserved, the model of free government twice tried and once almost destroyed, and saved only by soldiers. These are founders of greatness, that to-day are often tramps, and many living in destitute circumstances who are too proud to beg and too brave to murmur. Dec- orate the graves of your fortunate comrades — brave men — cover them deep with flowers, for they deserve it. The time will come when your graves will be covered. The day will come when the enlightened conscience of the people will de- mand for you and your comrades a fairer compensation for the longer service and suffering you have endured. Go out into the world with a deeper and a firmer resolu- tion to-day as you leave the graves of your comrades, that while vou love vour countrv and its heroes, you will ask at SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 41 its hands not only every honor for the dead but every obliga- tion for the living — not only the promise of reward but the performance of the promise; not only that the bondholders who lent their aid in money to save the nation's credit shall be settled with, but the creditors, in a larger sense, who opened the veins of their arms and lungs and limbs, and gave of their blood and their muscle, and their flesh, and their youth and their hope, and their manhood and their comfort in the morning of life — lent it, pledged it, furnished it, spared it, took it from their own, from their wives, their own children, and threw it in the balance that this govern- ment might not perish from the earth. To these — to the comrades who survive must yet come a day of reckoning and a soldier's reward, and that reward is a liberal, a boun- tiful and a universal pension. We are gathered near the graves of some of the greatest heroes the world has ever known. These men fell not in self-defense or even in defending homes. They lived beyond their age, and died that others might be free. They had known the blessing our country had been to all nations for a hundred years, and they gave their lives away that others might live on in greater liberty. These heroes with their comrades left everything, braved everything, lost everything but honor for our sake. Their country is their monument. In faint recollection of their worth and sufferings, a nation has voted them a day of flowers. Well may we vote them flowers, for all the flowers of all the states a hundred years to come is not enough to pay them. The time will come 42 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. when they will have something better. There are things back of them that shaped their lives that cheered them when they fought and as they fell, and gave a warmer pressure to their kindly hands, that lit their eyes anew with hope, these were the souls within them. We reassure these in memory, and we have faith that by-and-by the fond faces will be seen again, and all the lost things will come back to us like songs we've heard and friends we've heard and friends we've parted with, and we will wait to meet them and greet them in the glad hereafter. We are met to observe a beautiful custom, and form a part in the millions that bring flowers to-day, to the graves of brave loved ones who died for us. A well spent life, the joys and affections of those we love, may persuade us of our merit, and make us long to live longer. In one view the grave is a dreamless sleep. In our hours of comfort the restful, perfect sleep of childhood may be counted as happy hours. At the grave, ambition, malice and revenge are laid away in dust. There friend is unlocked from the hand of friend and brother from the arm of brother. There the kind father takes the last look at the body of his cherished son. There the fond mother day by day and night by night moistens with her tears the earth that embraces her first born child. There the bereaved wife brings her garlands to spread over the one she will see no more till the resurrec- tion. To you, soldiers, who survived all the suffering, whose heroism withstood the strain of forced marches, who braved SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 43 the cruelty of a four-years' war, in heat and dust of summer, and cold and hunger of winter; whose hearts failed not at Donelson and Vicksburg, whose courage matched Bragg at Chickamauga and stood with Thomas against a dreadful charge that swept away so many of your comrades, who en- dured the forces of Longstreet at Chattanooga on half ra- tions; who marched with Logan and Sherman to Atlanta, in the face of many doubters who said the "war was a fail- ure;" who drove back with Hancock, the invaders of Penn- sylvania at Gettysburgh, who followed Phil. Sheridan on his. grand ride to Winchester and Fredericksburg where your gallant Col. Gilloly fell; who trusted in Grant, that tireless, silent soldier, who followed him through the wilderness to Appomatox and saw him take the sword of Lee, who helped with 300,000 slain, and with as many thousand survivors, to save our nation and make it what it is to-day — the only free government of states on earth — to you, soldiers, and sharers of great glory, I say, make again a firmer resolution; make it by the graves of fallen comrades; carry it to your homes and your busi- ness, "write it on your hearts and engrave it on your bones," that this nation owes a debt to all soldiers, liv- ing or gone, and will never meet its honest obligations till it liberally provides an adequate pension for the survivors living and the heirs of the dead. This is the nation's duty, and the soldier's reward. 44 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. COLUMBIAN DAY. It is the custom of nations to honor their heroes, and the flowers before us remind one of the German legend of "Val- halla, " a building erected by Ludwig, in honor of brave men who fell in battle. The legend tells us that before every battle, two angels pass over the camp in the night, while the soldiers are fast asleep, and touch those who are to fall on the morrow for their country, and mark them as immor- tal here and hereafter; and at the flower seasons like this, the young men and women repair to Valhalla with wreaths and songs and anthems to bravery; and this is one of the few customs of the old world that we may well copy. The nations of the earth have generally been held to- gether by the sword, the cannon or the bayonet; but our country has been formed and kept together by the superior intelligence of our people, by the "Little Red School House," and its graduates. Take away the history of the war from other nations and their story would be tame. Take out all the years of war in our country and we have still over ioo years of splen- did prosperity. Not by force of arms or guns or armies, for we have but a 20,000 army, but by a union of 65 millions of intelligent people, all under one flag, do we prosper! The Egyptians built pyramids with the labor of slaves, to the honor of kings, and piled up vast heaps of heavy stones and blocks of marble that vain man might be remembered. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 45 or his body be preserved to show him by engraving on the massive walls in the act of killing a lion or tiger, and make the later ages call him brave. But there is nothing in that ancient race that teaches us one single principle of liberty for the masses. The Greeks excelled in art and oratory — in physical beauty and manly proportions. They gave us wise rules of happiness, but only a small portion of their people were examples of either comfort or happiness. In Attica, one of their large wealthy cities, out of 550,000 people, over four hundred thousand were slaves! So that Greece was not a model for our country. The Spartans trained their sons from 5 years upwards for war — made them ride swift horses — live on hard fare, sleep out of doors and endure privation, and they became great soldiers. Their mothers presented them as offerings to the state, but the Spartans made a poor government. The Romans boasted of a strong government under Cae- sar, of the value of Roman citizenship. But the Romans were both cruel and haughty to the poor; all they could cap- ture in war were made slaves to Roman masters. The kings amused the people by calling in 400 lions at a time to fight and kill each other in the arena. When this was too tame, they added 40 elephants to the fray; then took away a part in numbers and called the Christian slaves to fight for their liberty with wild lions; then they made man to man fights, till 10,000 gladiators a year would be a small average! And of their government, Cicero says : 46 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. "Gavius, a young Roman, was captured at Messea, and bound in irons in a forum, and was there beaten with rods, and as he was beaten, he turned his face to his native coun- try, Rome, and cried out: " 'I am a Roman citizen !' yet with red-hot irons did they scourge him, but he kept on repeating: 'I am a Roman citi- zen,' as if to ward off pain and danger with the words — 'I am a Roman citizen,' " and Cicero adds: "It was a crime to bind a Roman, to scourge him were cruelty, to put him to death, almost a parricide; but what shall we say when they crucified him!" Oh, Romans! it was not Gavins — it was not one man, but the common cause of freedom exposed to torture and nailed upon that cross. So with all her boasted freedom. Rome was a monster of cruelty to the common people. Her young men were debased and made brutal with wars. It was their people that killed the Saviour, for fear of trea- son to a Roman Caesar. So while the Germans are held together by a two million standing army, where the best blood of the nation is kept ready for battle, and the English, since the days of William the Conqueror, have exalted their Kings, Queens and nobles at the expense of the poorer classes, there is little in either country to pattern after by Americans. But in our country, 3,000 miles long and 2,400 miles wide — all free, all equal, all independent, all under one flag, we have an ideal government — the only successful people on earth. Original in everything, we pattern after no SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 47 nation. We have learned to rule by intelligence — by edu- cated citizenship, and our progress depends upon education. To the young women of Michigan, the State has said, "Come up higher!" Come right up and vote (if you can read well enough). It matters little whether male citizens can read at all, but women must be able to read the consti- tution! In the old world we find few examples to encour- age women. Ruth was one. Mary at the tomb of the Saviour was another. And what a picture of faithfulness! After the mob had scoffed at Him, and killed Him, away into the darkness of the night, Mary was true to her Saviour! It is His teaching of peace that stands as the truest, as the highest example of life, and foundation of our government. The heroes of life are often women. They struggle all alone, without fame, without mention, without recorded honor. The lesson to the people is one of charity and unselfish- ness. Let me write it on your hearts to honor industry, and educate children. As we owe our freedom and stand- ing to intelligence, let us sort our immigration and exclude paupers. They fell as in the German legend, touched first by the angels as immortal! They fell for liberty; they fell for the flag that makes us free, and they shall never sleep unknown. Hundreds more as brave, perhaps the wives of those that fell, have suffered on for years, loyal to the flag, and yet unknown. Let it not be said thev fell in vain. Give us 48 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. more honor and honesty in dealing with the brave. The unrecorded should be found. Let us remember the hardy pioneers who paved the road to commerce, freedom and free schools. Let us remember the masses — the toilers who made this country the grandest on earth. And to all the heroes, now unknown, let us say: "Columbia ere shall know them, And from her glittering towers, Kisses of love shall throw them And wreaths of sweetest flowers; Ever in realms of glory, Will stand their starry claims, Angels have heard their story, And God knows all their names.-' THE FLAG. Soldiers and Citizens: Travelers tell us that after having passed over the ocean in a storm, the recollection of that storm is a picture in their memory that they would never wish to efface. They re- member the old ship (if they have come out alive and well), they remember it with pleasant recollections, and say, I am glad to have passed through that storm. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 49 Soldiers tell us, even those who have left an arm on battle fields, they are glad they enlisted, and glad they passed beyond the storm. In times like these, when the Nation somehow trembles just a little in the Western States, in the Middle States, in the factory districts of the East; in times like these, when the earth jars just a little, when England says America is passing through a revolution that she does not realize; in times like these it is well to remember other storms we have passed through and passed them safely through. The first great battle of the center of the Union's victory commenced in 1863. Indeed, the storms of 1863 were the battle storms of the Republic; 1863 was the revolution from 1855- In 1855 they were passing laws in Kansas making it a crime, punishable with two years' imprisonment, to publish a paper, a tract or a book, that said aught against slavery. They were passing laws there that made it punishable with death to interfere with what they called the sacred rights of slavery. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln — God bless his soul (continued applause) — said, "We will have no more tampering with slavery; we will make the Nation all and altogether free!" (Applause.) And then they started in with the old flag at Gettysburg, and celebrated the Fourth of July. You were there, some of you. You remember how they fought on old Round Top, Hood against Sickles, and Lee against [Meade, and 50 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Hancock fighting Longstreet. You were there. (Applause, and a voice, "Hurrah for Hancock.") You saw them going hand to hand; you heard the belching guns, 250 at a time; you heard the roar of the thunder; you heard the noise of battle; you saw the smoke, and the dust of the earth, and men rushing at each other and drawing blood. You saw the Nation in agony. You saw the South boasting against the North. You were there, part of you. You were there and saw the glorious victory of July 3rd, 1863. You were not all there. Part of you were with Grant at Vicksburg. Part of you had been away back into the country, cut off from supplies a hundred miles ; you had been throwing up breast works; you had waited and waited for Vicksburg to surrender, starving them out; you saw in the darkness the light of the ships coming down, and grand old Farragut with his two boats together, and his men march- ing by. You were there and saw it, and took part in it, part of you. And when the last boat struck upon the sands of the old Mississippi, and they were obliged to take the men off, and spike the guns, and fire the boat, you were there when the shells exploded. You were there when Pemberton sent the words over to Grant, "Upon what terms may we surren- der?" and when Grant said, "Unconditional surrender." You were there. You were not all there; part of you were with grand old General Thomas at Chicamauga. Fighting all day long; standing like a wall of iron against a sea of fire. Standing SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 51 and kept fighting away into the night, until he was beaten if he had known it; fighting until he had gained the name, 'The rock of Chicamauga." (Applause.) You were not all there. Part of you were in the valley at Chattanooga, hemmed in, hedged in, supplies cut off, railroads cut off; supplies coming over two ranges of mountains; you were on short rations, half rations. You were there, going down to the horse troughs, and putting your hands in and taking the grain and putting it into your pockets and parching it to keep from starving to death. You were there in that scene in the valley, hedged in and hemmed in. You were there when Bragg held Lookout Mountain. You were there when Sherman was above, towards Cleveland, Tenn. You were there when Grant was on Cemetery Hill. You were there when Gordon Grainger and Thomas and the great generals of the war had congregated there, and when they let the pontoon bridges, sixty in number, come down the Tennessee River, and halted in the night by the side of Lookout Mountain — you remember that. You remember the steep ascent, and the slant on the other side towards the valley. You remember, on November 24th, 1863, how Hooker stole up the side of the mountain, having crossed the bridges, and how he went up the steep ascent; how he climbed away up towards the skies; how he planted the banner, and Grant spied it from Cemetery Ridge, and said,. "Hooker is fighting above the clouds." You were there, and you saw the fighting and beheld the flag; you heard 52 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. the order, you saw the charge. You saw them driven be- fore the bayonet. You were there when they drove them down the valley like cattle into the valley. And when they cheered till the earth trembled, when they cheered above the roar of the guns, you were there and saw them go into the valley, and you saw them embrace each other; you saw them in the height of their enthusiasm start to scale the ridge. Grant said, "Who gave that command?" Sheridan said, "Not I, General." Gordon Grainger said, "Not I, General," and Thomas said, "I guess they took their own command, General," and once started all hell could not keep them back. (Cheers and continued applause.) They scaled Missionary Ridge, captured the valley — the Chattanooga Valley, Lookout Mountain — fighting up there above the clouds; and the victory was one grand celebra- tion all over the country. That was the year, that season of 1863, a year of storm. In every place there is the flag; the flag we started ahead with, and close to the very edge, the flag was always there. There is no flinching with the flag; it is always in the front; it is always on the edge of victory. It means the Nation's life. At the end of these battles, all over the country, we thought the war was over; but up to now we had been fighting with one hand and feeding with the other, and Grant was put in command. And Grant said to Sheridan, "Come with me and lay waste the Shenandoah Valley; drill your men in the wheat-fields." War is dreadful, war is terrible, war is earnest, and thev laid waste the valley. And SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 53 he said to Sherman, ''Start towards the sea," and Sherman mowed a swath forty miles wide, clear down to the sea. He said, "Come with me; chase down the army of Lee." Another year was over, and there at Spottsylvania, there at Appomatox Court-house, Lee handed over his sword, and Grant had won the victory. It was not Grant alone — the hero of so many battles; it was the common soldier, so-called — the private soldier, the righting soldiers. In 1865, just after that great victory, they murdered the best man this country ever knew. (Applause.) Murdered — killed him; why? His fame — they did not kill him in that sense, for by the side of Caesar, Alexander and Napo- leon, his name stands like the Washington Monument, the highest monument in the world, in contrast to theirs in the dust. We took that hero of a hundred battles, that silent soldier whom you fought with, and we made him President tw T ice, and then he started around the world. Started with the flag that was made whole. He started with the flag that was respected then. He went over to England, and Queen Victoria came down twenty-eight steps to say "God bless you, General Grant, for your country's sake.*' (Applause.) And Bismarck locked arms with him, and went with him through the gardens of Germany. He was given medals and charts, and freedom of cities, and canes, and offered titles, but he declined them. He passed under the giant arch at Jerusalem made of flags. He crossed over to the 54 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. old world to places where English-speaking people had never been — to the presence of the nobility of China and Japan. He returned; he came to his own native country, and he was met by whom? The Mayor of the city, and the officers of the city, and the distinguished men and women — all; and he was met by the school children, and the little girls. With a basket on one arm and a flag in one hand, they met him at the dock, and actually filled his pathway with roses and flowers, so that he walked upon them all the way to his carriage and into the hotel; and then the great man, the strong man, the hero of a hundred battles, he who had never been conquered, the silent man, broke into tears. Unac- customed to weep, Grant was touched, as he was never touched before, by the patriotism of the rising generation — by the little flags, and the flowers, and the school children. LA FAYETTE. (From a beautiful address to the Michigan Club by Henry D. Esterbook, of Omaha.) "Shall I," asks Balzac, ''shall I tell you how to make your way in the world? You must plow through humanity like a cannon ball, or glide through it like a pestilence." SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 55 Men will, of course, make way for a cannon ball, but what pleasure does the cannon ball have in that? It is of iron, without sensibility. If it have a feeling it is a feeling of pride, which is harder than iron and a thousand times more cruel. Men will succumb to a pestilence, but what joy does the pestilence take in that? Its crown is a wreath of snakes, its breath the vapor of graves, its laugh the gibber of a corpse. How can I extract, condense, and fuse into the limits of this response the combined essence of the life and soul of La Fayette — a life crowded from youth to age with hero- isms, adventures and romance; a soul, luminous and glori- ous with its love of right! I have felt as though I must bring here and read to you the entire correspondence between La Fayette and Washington; not for the effusive affection shown by the young officer for his chieftain, but because his impetuous devotion penetrated that wonderful reserve which has baffled history, and led even so redoubted a patriot as Mr. Ingersoll to say: "Washington has become a steel engraving." A few years after their deliverance by Napoleon this gracious woman died at the old chateau, attended by her husband. Every act of her life had been a token of her love, but it was reserved for this last illness to reveal its height and depth and amazing plenitude. Her death was the transfiguration, the apotheosis of love. Poor La Fayette could only sit at her bedside and with streaming 56 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. eyes and breaking heart listen to the gushing ecstacy of her affection. He assured her that she was loved and valued. "Nay," she said, with wan coquetry, "I care not to be valued if I am only loved. Ah, my husband, there was a period when, after one of your returns from America, I felt myself so forcibly attracted to you that I thought I should faint every time you came into the room. I was possessed with the fear of annoying you, and tried to moderate my feelings. What gratitude I owe to God," she would repeat, "that such passionate feelings should have been a duty." Again in her delirium she had said: "If you do not find yourself suffi- ciently loved, lay the fault on God; He hath not given me more faculties than that I love you, christianly, humanly, passionately." I have chosen these sentences from a letter of La Fayette, written in holy confidence to a friend. It seems almost sacrilege that it should ever have been published. And yet, not so. Perhaps in years to come, some sublimated Zola, searching for realism, not in the muckheaps of humanity, but in the hearts of God's children, will stumble onto it and learn how real, how true, how beautiful is human love when a man is a moral hero and woman his good angel ! (Applause.) The fortune of this youth was among the largest in Europe. He was accordingly frowned upon by courtiers, and humored by the king. If he was thought to be some- what erratic, it was only because he had so little to say, whereas society expected him to prattle. He evinced, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 57 moreover, a predilection for his wife. Except for these slight aberrations he appeared to be as sane, and almost as inane, as nobility in general. He made it known to the American Congress that under no circumstances was the Marquis de La Fayette to receive a commission in its armies. Congress was not only willing to oblige the King .of France, but, on its own account, thought that the quixotic services of the youthful marquis might prove more embarrassing than useful. Washington,, moreover, shared the same opinion. He, poor man, had seen enough of foreign adventurers. So that upon his arrival, La Fayette was graciously received, and as graci- ously ignored. It was under these circumstances, and when his cherished plans had little hope of realization, that he addressed to Congress this brief but immortal note: ''After the sacrifices I have made I have the right to exact two favors : one is to serve at my own expense, the other is to serve as a volunteer.'' They reached the camp of. Washington in time to witness a review of troops. There were 11,000 men, possibly the forlornest ever calling themselves an army. Their muni- tions were wretched, their clothing ragged, and without any attempt at uniformity in cut or color; their evolutions were original, not to say grotesque. But they were Americans,, .and Washington was their leader. "We should feel some embarrassment,'' Washington observed, "in showing ourselves to an officer who has just left the armies of France." 58 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. « "Sir/' replied La Fayette, "it is to learn and not to teach that I am here." There spoke, not simply the modesty of the man, but if there be any design or meaning in the affairs of men, there spoke his destiny: He was here to learn. To learn what? To learn first of all, and all in all, Wash- ington by heart! To learn his God-like integrity of nature — his singleness of purpose and loyalty of faith — his wisdom — his justice — his goodness — his loving kindness — his prudence in counsel — his courage in action — his deep res- pect of self, combined with a divine unselfishness — his majesty of patience in defeat — his almost melancholy joy in victory. To learn Washington was to learn what God meant when He made us in His image ; it was to know man, the archetype. Here was a provincial farmer whose pride of manhood, compared with the insolence of a king, soared into the empyrean, and yet who thought so little of the habil- iments of power that all he asked of fortune or of fate were the tranquility of Mt. Vernon and the obscurity of his home. When, therefore, La Fayette returned to France it was not as an effigy of liberty, but as liberty's incendiary. His soul, like a torch, had been lighted at that star which first beckoned him away, and like a torch he flung it among the dry and sapless institutions of his country. The conflagra- tion, the holocaust, the nameless crackling which ensued, we call the French revolution. I could not, if I would, portray the venomous writhings of this infernal orgasm ; Carlyle has done it in a vertigo of SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 59 words. What I would impress upon you is the fact that except for La Fayette this revolution never would have been. He it was who inspired it, ruled it, was ruled by it, emerged from it to confront the sordid splendor of Napoleon with the glory of Washington, survived it — tyranny, anarchy, despotism — survived it all, and then died, like Moses, in sight of the promised land. JAMES G. BLAINE. (Robert G. Ingersoll, in nominating Mr. Blaine before the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati in 1876.) "Massachusetts may be satisfied with •the loyalty of Benjamin H. Bristow; so am I. But if any man nominated b>y this convention cannot carry the State of Massachusetts, I am not satisfied with the loyalty of that State. If the nominee of this convention cannot carry the grand old Commonwealth of Massachusetts by 75,000 majority I would advise them to sell out Faneuil Hall as a Democratic headquarters. I would advise them to take from Bunker Hill that old Monument of Glory. The Republicans of the United States demand as their leader in the great contest of 1876 a man of intellect, a man of integrity, a man of well-known and approved political opinion. 60 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. "They demand a statesman. They demand a reformer after as well as before the election. They demand a pol- itician in the highest, and broadest, and best sense of that word. They demand a man acquainted with public affairs, with the wants of the people, with not only the requirements of the hour, but with the demands of the future. They demand a man broad enough to comprehend the relations of this government to the other nations of the earth. They demand a man well versed in the powers, duties and pre- rogatives of each and every department of this government. They demand a man who will sacredly preserve the financial honor of the United States. (Cheers.) One who knows enough to know that the national debt must be paid through the prosperity of this people; one who knows enough to know that all the financial theories in the world cannot redeem a single dollar (applause); one who knows enough to know that all the money must be made, not by law, but by labor (cheers) ; one who knows enough to know that the people of the United States have the industry to make the money and the honor to pay it over just as fast as they make it. The Republicans of the United States de- mand a man who knows that prosperity and resumption, when they can come, must come together. When they come they will come hand in hand; hand in hand through the golden harvest-fields; hand in hand by the whirling spindles and the turning wheels ; hand in hand past the open furnace doors; hand in hand by the flaming forges; hand in hand by the chimneys filled with eager fires. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 61 'This money has got to be dug out of the earth. You cannot make it by passing resolutions in a political meeting. The Republicans of the United States want a man who knows that his government should protect every citizen at home and abroad; who knows that any government that will not defend its defenders and will not protect its pro- tectors is a disgrace to the map of the world. They demand a man who believes in the eternal separation and divorce- ment of church and schools. They demand a man whose political reputation is spotless as a star, but they do not demand that their candidate shall have a certificate of moral character signed by a Confederate Congress. The man who has in full habit and unbounded measure all of these splen- did qualifications is the present grand and gallant leader of the Republican party, James G. Blaine. "Our country, crowned with the vast and marvelous achievements of its first century, asks for a man worthy of the past and prophetic of her future; asks for a man who has the audacity of genius; asks for a man w r ho is the grandest combination of heart, conscience and brain beneath the flag. That man is James G. Blaine. For the Repub- lican host led by this intrepid man there can be no such thing as defeat. This is a grand year — a year filled with the recollection of the revolution; filled with proud and tender memories of the sacred past; filled with the legends of liberty. A year in which the sons of freedom will drink from the fountain of enthusiasm; a year in which the people call for a man who has preserved in Congress what our 62 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. soldiers won upon the field (cheers); a year in which we call for the man who has torn from the throat of treason the tongue of slander (applause); a man that has snatched the mask of Democracy from the hideous face of Rebellion; a man who, like an intellectual athlete, stood in the arena of debate, challenged all comers, and who up to the present moment is a total stranger to defeat. Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen forehead of every defamer of this country and maligner of its honor. For the Repub- lican party to desert that gallant man now is as though an army should desert their general upon the field of battle. James G. Blaine is now and has been for years the bearer of the sacred standard of the Republic. I call it sacred, because no human being can stand beneath its folds without becoming and without remaining free. (Cheers.) "Gentlemen of the convention, in the name of the Great Republic, the only republic that ever existed upon this earth; in the name of all her defenders and of all her sup- porters; in the name of all her soldiers living; in the name of all her soldiers that died upon the field of battle, and in the name of those that perished in the skeleton clutches of famine at Andersonville and Libby (cheers), whose suffering he so eloquently remembers, Illinois nominates for the next President of this country that prince of parliamentarians, that leader of leaders, James G. Blaine/' (Loud and pro- tracted cheers.) CHAPTER II. ADDRESSES TO SOCIETIES AND SOCIAL GATH- ERINGS. ADDRESS TO REAL ESTATE AGENTS— ADDRESS TO SALES- MEN—ADDRESS TO SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY— ADDRESS TO WOMEN IN THE CHURCH— ADDRESS ON THE FARM ROY— ADDRESS TO MEDICAL STUDENTS— ADDRESS TO THE MACCABEES— ADDRESS TO NEWSBOYS— ADDRESS TO DRUGGISTS— ADDRESS TO RETAIL GROCERS. POINTS ON SAVING MONEY. (Used at a Banquet to Real Estate Agents.) A Chicago real estate dealer, who at a banquet of real estate dealers evidently spoke from actual experience, said: I have been in the business of selling land near our city twenty years, and count myself well up in the line of land booming (having told all the lies I could about it), but the facts have been so much stronger than the lies, about the change in value, that it would take me forty years to make people believe what has actually happened in the last twenty. (Applause.) I shall never be able to catch up with the truth of land advances. General Butler lately said: "More money has been made and saved in the last sixty years in Boston on real estate, than from all other causes combined." ' One of the old grandfathers of the Astors is said to have, found a keg of 64 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Spanish gold in New York and invested it in corner lots, and kept it invested till the Astors now own one-twelfth of all New York real estate, exclusive of buildings, and yearly spend ten million dollars in repairs and improvements, and lead the select four hundred in society, and verify Butler's saying: More money is made and saved in the land in and adjoining cities, than in all other industries. What is true of New York, Boston and Chicago, is tru« of Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Louisville and San Fran- cisco. If we call the roll of our heavy men, we will find they have saved the bulk of their money in land transactions. It was General Cass, who wanted, before the war, to sell the great Cass farm for twenty thousand dollars, that is now worth twenty millions. It was General Alger who bought pine lands at two dollars an acre and sold the pine for a hun- dred dollars an acre, and is now yearly dividing the profits with the poor. It was the enormous rise in land values that made the Brush estate worth millions, and you may safely conclude that more money is made and saved in the leading cities of the country in land than in any other kind of business, and of all the men who have invested money in lands in the center of large cities, not one in one thousand have failed to realize handsomely on their investments. This is really a high compliment to the real estate business as a calling. These results are from legitimate real estate business, and minded to-night of the days of Abram and Lot. Their not by men who degrade their calling. \Ye have been re- SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 65 real estate dealings were friendly. Lot and Abram subdi- vided; Lot took the Jordan valley and Abram the hills of Canan. There is only one shyster real estate dealer named in the New Testament; that was the old man Satan, himself, who took the Saviour to the top of a high mountain and offered to deed him the universe on conditions, but the Sa- viour demanded his abstract, and to know by what author- ity he offered so much earth, and failing to show his author- ity, Satan was relegated, as all shyster dealers should be, to a rear seat in the real estate business. THE CHEERFUL SALESMAN. (At a Salesmen's Banquet.) Every salesman has reason to be thankful for the pros- pects before him in the spring sales of merchandise. With the low price of goods, the adjournment of Congress, the opening of factories and new suburban street car lines, the great soda ash works, a new county court house and more than all, a return of confidence, new purchases actually com- pulsory, times must soon be better. There has been no time since 1892 when business pros- pects looked better and brighter in iron, copper, lumber, groceries and dry goods than at present, and you have many d 66 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. reasons to be cheerful and happy over the prospects. By you will be carried the good news all over the nation. It is not for a lawyer to give you pointers on selling goods, but I may tell you that the one thing that has brought me the most genuine pleasure and happiness in life has been the daily practice of a cheerful disposition. The best salesman I ever knew was a pleasant fruit tree dealer. He had sold us thirty fruit trees, and when he called three of the number were dead and useless, and we com- plained of it. He took it in good part and asked: "How would you like to sell me any ten of those that did grow for all you paid for the thirty?" That was a poser. "How would you like to sell any five that I may choose for the whole price?" Then he added: "In two years any one will be worth the whole outlay." He was so mild, fair and good tempered that he made a fine impression and sold a half dozen large orders in the village. His success came in his having learned to take things with a cheerful temper. The real trials of a salesman are from the hardship of travel. They will soon be lessened. The time will come when men will be allotted their territory, a state or half a state, or many states, and all orders from the district will be to them duly credited. By the long distance telephone they will soon be in easy circumstances. A call at Vernor's drug store led me to hear this conversation. A remark was made about his clear-toned phone, when the salesman said : "I live out on the Cass farm and happened to be in Boston not long ago and knowing my boy had been under the SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 67 weather, I called him up by long 'phone and had not talked three minutes when something he said made me laugh; and he said, 'that's you, pa, I know your laugh;' that was eight hundred miles away — heard on the Cass farm." This is the key to the whole matter. It may not be in our day, but I think it will come when sales will be made by long distance telephones, and large outlays in travel greatly lessened. It is a solution of trade more important than the Bacon cipher. It touches a million of the brightest men in America, her salesmen. How would it sound to take in a few dozen orders like these? Listen! You hear the 'phone ring and answer: "Is this P., D. & Co.?" "Yes." "This is Niles. Is Mr. Label in?" "Not at present. He is on a yacht ride." "Tell him, please (the voice is a sweet sixteener), to send one dozen of Cascara Segrada, 12 gross quinine, and six dozen large lead pencils to give away to customers." Here is one from Vassar: "This is W. J. Gould & Co. Mr. Likins in? Ah, good. He is always at his post. Mr. Likins, this is Vassar. Will you kindly ship us six chests of gunpowder, and six young Hyson teas, four barrels of rice and twenty sacks old govern- ment Java? What a marvelous thing this long 'phone is." Ring! Ring! "Oh, I forgot; will you call in Mayor Pingree's foreman., Mr. Frank Pingree? 68 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. ''This Mr. Pingree — brother to the Mayor? Send us, please (this is Wheat & Co., Vassar), full assortment of your best spring style shoes, one case each kind. Credit the sale to Mr. Howarth." "This John J. Bagley & Co.? Is Mr. Somers in?" "He is out riding with a party at Belle Isle at present. What can we do to make you happy?" "Tell him to send Piatt & Co., Muskegon, ioo pounds of Mayflower, ioo pounds of smoking and 50 pounds of Navy plug. We are fitting out a lumber camp near by. Good bye." "This is J. K. Burnham & Co. Mr. Will Stoepel in? Call him please. Say, Will, if it isn't convenient to run over here to Grand Ledge, send two dozen bolts Lonsdale sheet- ing, 30 bolts Amoskeag, 6 dozen pieces of spring ging- hams. C. O. D. Good bye." So that Salesman Label may ride in a yacht and Likins may receive orders by 'phone and Pingree may sell shoe or- ders, and Somers may sell Mayflower, and Stoepel sell dry goods over the long distance 'phone and neither carry sam- ples. And I have another day dream like this : It comes to the worn out retail dry goods clerk and makes him cheerful — it is a lady with a bundle. She says: "I've brought back all my samples and brought my pocketbook. I come to buy my new spring suit. I did not come to look." Before these dreams are realized, each salesman must have made an impression on his customers, for friendship brings SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 69 him trade. Fasten the Carlyle rule in your minds. Write it on your hearts. Engrave it on your bones. Success in life, in anything, depends upon the number that one can make himself agreeable to. ADDRESS TO SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY. Response to Toast "To the Ladies." (Selection used on the occasion of the opening of a School of Industry for Young Men and Women. The response is directed mainly to the ladies, that far outnumber the gentle- men.) I will speak to the ladies, for the gentlemen have already spoken for themselves. Some said as we came into the hall, this is the ladies' banquet. The ladies of the church pre- pared it. Evidently the little girls had a share in it, and the old sign kept in heathen gardens is not a very familiar one in this community. It was a sign nailed upon the trees by the side of the fountain, which read, "Beware, no little girls allowed to be drowned here." And this reminds me of an- other, which is in the line of training. A man said in years gone by : "I once settled by a cemetery because the rent was cheaper. On seeing the mournful processions pass into the cemetery day after day my two little boys, nine and 70 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. twelve, soon commenced to imitate the burial of the dead by digging in the earth and covering up boxes with solemn faces, and I said, that will not do to bring up our children in that manner; so we moved near a market place and I soon found my two boys imitating the hucksters on the market and crying aloud, as if to sell their pretended wares in close imitation of the auction man; and I said this w T ill never do, and we settled near a school house and at the exercises the scholars were declaiming and reading essays, and my chil- dren very soon commenced to imitate them and I said, this is the place to bring up our children, where they may learn the noblest sentiments known to man. There is a legend in one of the old books of my library called the "Story of Panthea." Panthea was captured by the soldiers of Cyrus in a contest with the Assyrian army. When they brought the glad news to Cyrus of their wonder- ful victory they said, "We have brought you, oh, king, a most beautiful maiden. Even as she sat upon the ground cov- ered with her veils, we saw that she was a superior creature, but when she rose up and stood erect she was so divinely tall and graceful in her carriage that I do declare she is the most beautiful creature in all Asia, and we have brought her to thee, oh, king, as a present to thee, and a trophy of our victory." And King Cyrus said, "If half what you say of her is true, I will not dare to look upon her, engrossed, as I am, with the affairs of state; should I gaze upon her once. 1 might be tempted to see her another time. No, I will not see her. But care w r ell for her, see that no harm comes to SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 71 her, for if she is a being, like you say she is, she will bring great influence to our kingdom." And Cyrus placed a man in charge of Panthea, and he said early in his guardianship, "Fair lady, I know that your husband must have been a prince, but our King Cyrus will deal more kindly with you than even he, your husband, could have done." At the mention of her husband, Panthea broke into tears, and tearing away her veil, uncovered her face and her hands, and said, "Speak not to me of aught against my husband," and yet the man persisted and hinted that the separation from her husband was a lasting one. Panthea sent word to the king, and another guard was placed over her, with direction to treat her with the utmost kindness, Cyrus having heard of the insult already offered her. He called the culprit before him, and rebuked him sharply. He could have taken his life, but he remarked to the second keeper, "It is not so very strange after all, that he was in love with her, for gods and men are alike in love with beautiful women." (Applause.) Not long after the second keeper took charge of Panthea, he, too, became en- chanted with her charms, partly by association, partly by mutual kindness, and partly by her beauty, and this news w T as conveyed to Cyrus, who said, "Surely, a creature of such influence must be of use to our kingdom ;" and he sent word to Panthea, and bade her call her husband, and come and be an ally to the forces of Cyrus. Which offer Aberidates, Panthea's husband, gladly ac- cepted, and hurried forward to meet his long absent wife, 72 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. bringing with him a thousand men and a thousand horses, and cheerfully joining in the forces of Cyrus. War came on, and partly by lot, and partly by design, Aberidates took an important command in a dreadful battle. Before leav- ing, Panthea came to bid him good bye, and placing her hand upon his shoulder, said, "My good husband, you are going to battle for our king, for him who did so generously save us for each other. No woman loves r her husband more than Panthea loves thee, but remember we both love honor more. Let no act of yours this day bring discredit to the cause of Cyrus, but battle bravely, as if both Cyrus and Pan- thea were standing by your side." The battle was a fierce one. At one time the forces of Aberidates were surrounded by the forces of Croesius as by a strong brick wall, but, fighting with superhuman energy, he cut through the lines and gained a marvelous victory. Losing his own life in the contest, being hacked to pieces, his arms cut off at the wrist and his head almost severed from his body. On hearing of his fate, Cyrus mounted his horse and rode hurriedly to the field. On dismounting, he found Panthea kneeling on one knee, holding the head of her husband in her lap, and he reached out and took Aberi- dates by the hand, for his body was still warm. On touch- ing the hand it parted at the wrist, and Panthea said, "Oh, take him not apart, it was my words that did cheer him and urge him to this fate;" and Cyrus said, "I will raise a monu- ment to his memory, and generations shall call him great. Say what thou wilt, and go where thou wouldst, and I will SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 73 send thee." But Panthea said, "Leave me with my husband yet a little while, and then you shall know where I would be sent;" and Cyrus returned to his camp and Panthea, being « alone, seized a poniard and buried it in her breast, falling dead by the side of her husband. They were buried in one grave, as two who did great honor to each other. It is not the solemn part, but the cheering part. It is not the tragic ending, but the intense devotion; it is not the mar- riage of the two, but the influence of Panthea that enforces the lesson you are teaching in this school. These young women are the Pantheas of this institute. The women of the churches are the Pantheas of the churches. They are the ones in every movement of reform that touch their husbands, their brothers, their friends and their sweethearts on the shoulders and bid them fight valiantly in every good under- taking. THE STARS OF THE CHURCHES. I am glad to-night, and you must all be pleased to receive the sanction of the seal of the great State of Michigan, by the keeper of the seal, Washington Gardner, on this enter- prise. And you will soon be proud to hear for the first time in your midst, one of the largest, and most eloquent, and I believe, one of the very best circuit judges in the whole State 74 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. of Michigan — Judge Frazer. I had also hoped to welcome that little "Daniel come to judgment," Judge Chapin, but he has failed to come to judgment on account of sickness. It was my privilege to attend in boyhood, a theater where the actors were all stars. It was a brilliant gathering in New York. The house was packed like this one, and even the minor parts were well and harmoniously taken. It was the play of David Garrick, where a stage-struck maiden is cured of her desire to go upon the stage by a play in which the mirror of life is held up before her until she can see her- self clearly. And I have thought to-night as I looked over this brilliant assemblage, that the secret of the success of this church is, that so many of our actors are stars. I mean that Plymouth Church is unlike the ordinary church, for it is composed of a live and active lot of working people, every one of them having in their eyes, hands, and hearts, something of interest to the rest. There is a kind of touch elbows all through the church and all over the society. And I thought I would speak a moment on the stars of the church. The stars of the church, of course, are the women of the church. You take the women out of this gathering or any large church gathering, and where is it? Take the working women out of the churches, and where are the churches? Why, at one place over at Morenci they had a church debt, I think it was less than $100, and the women said, "We will raise it at a dollar apiece." And they took a novel way of raising it. Each one was to raise a dollar; one dug two bushels of potatoes and sold them; one saved SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 75 out the light pieces of washing and paid her dollar; one "baked extra bread; another sold a pair of gaiterettes; an- other shaved her husband ten times at ten cents each time. Then they got together and had an experience meeting and told of all these little things that happened when they were alone, and charged admission. And when the woman told about shaving her husband, she said, "Oh, my! but that was hard work;" and her husband, in hearing, said, "You are jolly right it was hard work on me," and that brought the riouse down. I happened to be over in Indianapolis in ^2, and there listened to that wonderful orator, Gen. Butler; and in the course of his address he made a graphic explanation of the story of the spoons in New Orleans, and in the course of that argument to 10,000 people, and long before he was half •done, there were fully a hundred men standing up on the seats, beating their hands together and saying: "Hit him agin, Ben, give it to him, go for him!" That is the spirit that we get sometimes in the churches and in institutions, but very rarely. There is generally a cold reserve, a hold- ing back, something that is lacking in the church. In the great Roman play of Virginius, where the father seeks to rescue a little daughter, Virginia, that had been stolen from him, you remember the father says, as he sees he must lose his daughter: "Give me men and I will rescue her! Where are the men? Give me men, with hearts in their hands, and I will rescue her! The hand is no stronger than the heart! Give me men!" But there are no men, 76 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. and he goes over to his tender little girl and talks with her a moment, and while talking with her he drives a dagger to her heart rather than that she should become the prey of an unworthy despot. Give me men in the churches; give me men in society; give me men in position; give me men and I will rescue the state; give me men and I will rescue the country. The world wants men. The church needs men. The women control it. The women are the stars of the churches in every city of our country. THE FARMER BOY. (From Fourth of July Address to Farmers.) "It is better for the nation and the state when all men are free." Our early settlers were willing to brave a stormy voyage, the dangers of life among savages, rather than endure the oppression of the old world. Take the story of wars from the histories of all countries but ours and their histories would be blank. Other nations have been held together by the cannon and bayonet, ours is held by intelligence. Egypt had her pyramids, Greece had her scholars and her slaves, Caesar ruled Rome in cruelty, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 77 Alexander and Napoleon failed in war, William holds Ger- many together with a two million army, but one man in our country has cut the knot and found the key to rulership. Born a poor farmer boy, in his own hard struggle with pov- erty he learned the lesson, and of all the kings and rulers on earth none have yet equaled plain Abraham Lincoln, of of Illinois. * * * The farm boy is raised near the soil, with broad and deep sympathy, strong, hardy frame and de- termined will power. He is trained by his own mother, and never afraid to work. His hope, his cheer, his courage and his ambition are all implanted by a friend and not by a nurse. "Give your boy to a slave to be educated and you will have two slaves." Train him at home and he will not depart from it. Gladstone chops trees at eighty to brighten his majestic intellect. Bismarck keeps his farm, his dogs and his cattle. Burns grew to fame on the soil. Webster and Clay were farm boys. Edmunds and Marshall and Howard and Grant were raised upon a farm and inherited industry. A healthy body, a moderate income, a well trained mind — these were the Greek elements of happiness. The farmer has them all. Let me write it on your hearts to educate your children. Our duty to-day is not in war, but in citizenship. Let us sort immigration, exclude dangerous classes, stop raising criminals and raise industrious men and women in honor of the state. We do not train horses to run by leaving them in the field to see others run, but we put them on the track 78 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. and train them there with other runners. Let the light of education, which is better than a dozen trades, shine into your children's minds, and they will be broader and have a grander life. Teach them morals at home, and they will be upright men and women. In that beautiful story of James leaving home, we see the family in the morning walking to and fro before the open fire-place, hardly knowing whether to smile or to cry. Then the mother speaks: "I have put a couple of pairs of warm socks and needle book in your satchel, James, for you may not find one to quite take your mother's place." Then the children bid James good-bye, and the stage ap- proaches. The father lays his hand on his son's shoulder and says: "My son, you are about to leave us. You may forget your father and your mother, and your brothers and your sisters, but, oh, do not forget your God;'' and that les- son is not lost. It is written deep in the heart of the boy and will be there forever. The hope of young men is in our country. It is not in Germany, in France or in England; it is here, where all men are free. And if the boys struggle in hardship, so much the better and stronger they will be. In Manchester where operatives have worked on half time, and taken studies the other half, they have far outrun the whole day stu- dents in the schools. It is not the forenoon scholars, but those that develop the body and the mind together that ex- cel in after years of experience. Thoug-ht — strong, original thought — independent thinking is what is needed. We SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 79 want more honor and integrity, more courage and convic- tion, more freedom for men and women. In the story of the revolution not ten women are mentioned in eight long years of hardship. But the State of [Michigan has lately said to women, "Come up higher. Come up at least to the level of a foreigner of two years' residence. Come up and vote if vou can read the Constitution.'' ADDRESS TO MEDICAL STUDENTS. The only reason for inviting a lawyer to speak to a medi- cal class is to show how much more the class knows than the speaker came to tell them. It is a sort of side light to show off the real genius of the student; to put some one else under the saw and lancet; to hurt him and to enjoy his torture. In running up and down the world I have found doctors, ever so much worse than juries; while one stubborn juror sometimes will hang out, the doctors almost always dis- agree. In Chicago, not long ago, I listened to a long trial. A brick had fallen from a building and struck a man on the side of his head, and all the doctors said it hurt the other" side. I concluded that the dangerous side was always the farthest from the accident; and that was literally true. In 80 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. the Quincy explosion, where three men were in the mill, one stood at his post as fireman, the other two stood back near the wall. After the boiler exploded the man at his post was found some four rods away, blown through the open space where the wall was torn out; the other two men near the rear wall were mashed to a jelly by the concussion. The ways of explosions and the ways of some medical men are fast being found out, and they result in surprises. This leads me to the real use of doctors. In a world of rapid transit, in the age of fast cars and fast horses and whirling machinery, there is a constant danger of accident, and here we must meet the doctor in all his "glory. It is here that he can mend the broken body and heal the bruised limb, soothe pain and save life. It is the grandest opportunity of his life to stop the loss of blood, and set life's wheels in regular motion by the art of knowing how. Indeed, surgery is one of the greatest sciences that the world has ever known. It is not a very high compliment to physicians that one- half of the race die in infancy; and children have many reasons to complain that the science of medicine does not reach their condition. The day must come when doctors can meet and master diphtheria and rheumatism and other incurable complaints, all bunched under the one great head of malaria. When a doctor don't know what ails me, he says it's malaria. Here is an opportunity worthy of a student's ambition; better than the Keely motor, better than the telephone or SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 81 the phonograph; of him who invents a diphtheria cure the praises will be sung for generations. The medical profession has a new rival in Christian Science, which is founded after the manner of the Aladdin Lamp stories, of wishing you were there, and you instantly get there. You all remember the three brothers that fell in love with one girl, as reported by Aladdin. They all started out to find the most wonderful thing, and he that found it within the year was to win the fair maiden and wed her. The first found a man selling small pieces of carpet — rugs we call them. The salesman said, if one but steps upon this elegant carpet he can wish, and instantly the carpet will bear him to any place and carry him to any object. (This would be a great scheme for a doctor on a cold night when called far out into the limits.) Well, he bought it, and paid a fabulous price — what cared he for the price, especially if a wealthy young doctor, and young doctors are expected to be wealthy. . i | ■ ■■ ■ \ The next brother came to a man selling fine telescopes. The auctioneer urged that any object could be seen through it, however distant. Instantly the love-sick brother said, I'll buy it, and he bought it to see his girl far away; and lo! his girl was sick nigh unto death. He was in great anxiety, as people all are under such circumstances. Meanwhile the third brother had found a man in Venice selling a wonderful cure. (I presume a patent medicine, like Wizard oil or Mrs. Lydia Pinkham's syrup.) It 82 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. would cure everything — headache, earache, sideache, etc.; and hearing that the girl was sick, the other brother thought to buy a bottle, and did buy it. The three brothers met to compare notes and see who had the most wonderful discovery, and which do you think it was? The boy with the glass was first to speak. "There she is," he says. "Oh! that I could be near her." The medi- cine man cries, "Oh, that she could have but a few drops of my all-healing, never-failing medicine, but how can I reach her ere she may die?" Then the carpet man suggests, "Let us all go and leave her to decide;" and away they sailed on the carpet. But which got her, which one was he — the lucky one — no mortal has yet found out; of course, we guess it was he that rescued her — the doctor. We are in search of discoveries, of strange cures and marvelous sights and wonders. We will find them near us, all around us; they are in reach and ever near our notice. The first discovery of medical science was seen in the treatment of General Grant; when the grand old hero lay in the last stern agony; when death seemed untieing his very heart strings one by one; when the warm breath ceased; when the light left the eyes and the purple currents were fast freezing. With one turn of the lancet and a touch of science, Dr. Douglas rallied his patient and revived him, and after he was as one dead he was restored, and completed that marvelous work that will pass down the ages as a master-piece of simple and beautiful English — equal to Addison, Macaulav or Washington Irving. SPEECHES AXD SPEECH-MAKING. 83 And in view of the actual wonders of our day, has the Aladdin story far outrun real discoveries? The man with the carpet, that could take one anywhere, is conductor of a sleeping car or an ocean steamer, and all we need do is to pay fare and be carried to any wished-for place on either continent. The man with a glass is measuring the heavens by night, and has already counted four million stars that he has taken portraits of, heretofore all invisible. The medi- cine man has worked so many wonders, in vaccination, anesthetics and modern discoveries, that to believe one-half of what we hear is a compliment to doctors. But the end is not yet, though the " 'phone" and the "wheel," the "cars" and the "steam,-' and the "wire," and the light, and the heat, and the wonders of science are beyond all comprehension; and the doctors must run to keep up. If it were wise to give advice on such occasions I would say: "Watch the latest: be ready for the critical cases.'' The prizes of life come most often to the skillful and upright; the deserving, in any battle, must in the long run be re- warded. Xot every bud becomes the perfect flower : Xot every bird sings sweetly as the lark. And the swift arrow, shot with certain power, May cleave the air or fail to reach the mark. So must we struggle on. and never be Dismayed, disheartened at ambition crossed; Our work wrought out in patience silently. Is worth to everv one whate'er it cost. 84 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. WELCOME MACCABEES. What a splendid lot of people the Maccabees are: They are born happy; they live happy; they feel happy and they grow, like the new married man said of his bride, better and better every day. The Maccabees, like all great men and women, are born in the country, where there is room to be honestly brought up and plainly educated. As a class they are not very good dudes ; they are of the solid, substantial, home-loving people,, that the village, the field and the farm is blessed with. They are not perfect! Oh, no. Like the girl said to her fellow, they don't expect that; but when she asked him if he smoked, he said, "No." "Drink?" "No," "Chew?" "No." "Swear?" "No." "No vices? "No." "Then I can't have ye, for I must have something to find fault with !" The match was "declared off" from that moment. The object of the order is not a mystery; it is a simple system of caring for our own. Herodotus says that way back among the ancients there was a custom at the burials where near relatives of the dead would row the body across a beautiful lake to a still more beautiful resting place beyond. But before entering the last place the bearers were obliged to convince the keepers that if it was the body of a child seeking burial, the child had been true and obedient t" its parents; and it it was a parent, he had been true to his offspring. U true and faithful the body could rest with the SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 85 honored dead in long repose. If untrue or cruel, or had neglected home, then the body was sent back to be devoured hy the fowls of the air, as unworthy of a Christian burial. So the lessons of the past come up before us, and we are forced to believe that the most sacred of all relations are those of home and kindred; that we must remember and provide, as far as in us lies, for the feeble and the dependent. We are assembled in honor of an event held sacred in our history. In this beautiful city we are free to exchange hopes and go without pass-words. We are at home with each other. We are proud of our membership; we long to see it extended. We enjoy the Order and know that it is good. We need these reunions. to revive our memory. To illus- trate by story: A young man came home rather late, and a little boozy, and found his wife with her child in arms crying, and said: "You don't care for me as you used to, or you would not stay out so. I wish you would take this child and hold him a while; he cries dreadfully; he is half yours, anyway; you ought to be willing to hold him half the time." "Half mine is he? Only half mine, anyway! Wal-1, you just rock your half and let my half cry!" \ 86 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. A TALK TO NEWSBOYS. Little men and little women are not near as little as the books for boys, or books for girls, or as the real little boys and little girls would be. Little men are always older than little boys, and little women never wear short dresses, and little men would look odd enough with knee-breeches, so we will not depend on books for boys, but talk about boys. Boys are handy to run on errands, go to the store, call the men to dinner, bring a broom down stairs, hold a horse while a man lights his cigar; or they are handy to sell newspapers, deliver a telegram, run an elevator, or take a parcel two miles that cost only a quarter, and could be car- ried in the buyer's pocket on the way home — but never mind, that would hurt the boy's business. His business is to carry the parcel, go to the store or do what they want him to, and save what he earns by it; for just as like as not, some one wants a boy, and will hire the best one he knows, and how can he know who is best till he sends one or more after something, or to take something? I know a blind boy, Dean Gray, who has been blind since childhood, and now he is grown up almost a man. Pie has been to the Blind Asylum at Lansing, a big brick building on a large hill out beyond the State Capitol, with a great, large yard and plenty of trees, flowers and a fine play- ground. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 87 Dean is learning music and to tune pianos for a living. He pays $2 a week for board and schooling. At first he went without paying, but now he is able, he pays a little money. He always walks out with some one and seems to know all that is going on in town; but he cant see the circus, nor the horse race, nor the color of his dog, nor the playmates on the street, nor the color of the apples that he eats at college. But he is cheerful and happy. After I had seen the World's Fair in Chicago and told him all about it, he said: "I guess I will not go to the fair this time. There isn't much that I could see there." This sounds pathetic, but Dean is happier than many rich boys, who eat cake and keep awake nights over it. The boy that didn't eat cake is the happiest boy the next morn- ing. You may think the rich boy has a good time. Maybe he does. You would like his cart and his little black pony; but wait until he grows up. While he rides in a cart you are hustling. While you learn to make change and gain con- fidence, he is growing up weakly; while you make friends and learn business, he is idle, and I had rather trust one newsboy to make his way and get on in life than any five rich boys I ever saw. The poorest boys, after all, are the sons of the rich. They lean on their fathers for everything. There is no independence like being able to hustle for your- self. How much money does a rich boy own? Xone — not a penny. His father owns it; he depends on his father. His 88 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. father will say, "What did you do with the quarter I gave you yesterday?" WELCOME TO DRUGGISTS. It is an exceedingly great pleasure to welcome a large number of happy people to the handsomest city in the State, except perhaps the cities that you are from; and I might add a word or two by saying that it is a pleasure to welcome such a fine body of intelligent men to the finest city in the West. But I am reminded, gentlemen, of that saying of Lord Chesterfield to his son, "In giving flattery, always give it the very opposite of medicine — the strongest doses to the weakest patients," and therefore I will not trespass upon your matter of medicine. It is unnecessary to say, gentle- men, to you of Michigan, that we have in our State, and in our city, especially here, some of the largest institutions in your line of business. Houses with business extending as far west as San Francisco, Kansas City, even into Canada and to London, and away off to Australia; certainly some of the largest institutions of that kind in the known world. We are the home office of ginger ale and sherbet — and that means a good drink at each place, I understand, when you get around there. We are the home office of other drug supplies, and Banner cigars — I suppose that means a smoke, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 89 if you should happen to be around either of these places. We are, gentlemen, celebrated for one other thing in con- nection with these houses, that I might state in passing: That is, that of all the large drug houses in our city — some of them have grown old in the business — not a solitary one has ever failed, either morally or financially. We can say to you that deal in drugs (and I think I may say it as a law- yer, having had considerable experience in closing out small drug houses), that you have an advantage of being frequent buyers of fresh goods, instead of old, shelf-worn goods — shelf-keepers; and if you will point to me a man who has failed in business, I will point to you an over-buyer, and generally one who has gone far from home, and bought a great many things that he was not obliged to buy. And if you will point me to a successful business man in your line, I will point you to one who has bought of a reliable house near by, who had his interest at heart, who was one of his State citizens, who could sympathize with him, carry him over if need be, who could give him a fresh line of goods by telephone or telegram, and help him on the high- way of success. There is a man present here to-day who remembers one leading druggist, as a man who bought from everybody, everywhere in the State and the Union, and all over the country, and bought until he over-bought, until his brain reeled and his business reeled with it, and he has gone down to his long sleep. Had he been a prudent buyer of his home houses, had he been a careful druggist, an intelligent dealer, he would have been among you to-day. 90 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Now, gentlemen, you are welcome to our city. You are welcome to everything in sight; and if any man interferes with your welcome, drug him on the spot. You are wel- come to the river, with its beauty and its boats; you are welcome to the street cars. We are especially noted for our line of street cars, and the harmony with which we manage them. Go out, go out among us, go out everywhere. Meet with our people, see our beautiful streets and our parks, and we will meet you everywhere with a generous welcome; and if we have to take any of your medicine while you are here, just sugar-coat it up as well as you can, so it will go down easy. We realize, gentlemen, the importance of your business. Not as much when we are here and well; not as much to-day as we do when we come closer to the ground, which covers us all. We realize that you can, as the good doctor has said, relieve pain. We realize it; we realize that you occupy responsible places in the community; we know it. We are glad to find in such responsible places men of high foreheads and large intelligence. W r e are glad that you realize the solemnity of the little package you send out now to the homes and children; that like the engineer that touches the throttle, when you hold in your hands the issues then of life and death, you are careful to save life and protect homes from accidents in mixing medicines. But I will not detain you. We bid you thrice welcome to all that our city affords. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 91 WELL-BOUGHT GOODS. (Address to Retail Grocers.) In going over this country quite extensively during the last twelve years, and observing the business relations of merchants, I have found that retail grocers rarely fail and seldom make assignments. They generally own their stores and dwellings, bring up good families in comfort, educate their children, and quite often become well-to-do and some- times grow wealthy. With goods well bought, the right location, honest, fair dealing, and few bad debts, there is no need of failure in your business. You deal in something that the people must buy and are generally ready to pay for. It is in watching these three things that secures your success as grocers. If you have made a mistake in location, the sooner you change the better (after you are sure of it), for any amount of travel in the direction of Louisville will never bring you to California. You must start right and do right, and then there is no danger. The vital thing in retail business that I wish to impress early on your minds is the danger of the credit system. Smooth-tongued men will call and pay promptly; they will remind you that they pay cash, and see that you are made aware of it. The first and second time they pay promptly; then let a little run over; then pay that up to buy credit and confidence; then buy goods heavily — they slide into your credit; then slide out of your county- It's an old trick. 92 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. You know it is done often. Too many such debts eat up the profits, use up your capital and destroy your margins. Generally speaking, goods sold to strangers on credit are worse than wholesaled. "Goods well bought are half sold," and men like Thurber, who lately retired with $2,000,000 from the largest grocery house in the world, believed and practiced this motto. Al- ways keeping the best and purest articles, always dealing squarely and honestly, he established a business that gave him a national reputation and a splendid fortune. In this connection let me say, avoid buying "shelf-keepers," ground goods, odd goods that may be and may never be called for; they fill up and become shelf-keepers, and never end in a profit to the owner. A word or two on the legal manner of charging. Men will drop in with some stranger and say, "He is all right," and away goes your goods. But this is not enough. It is all important to know he is right. The test of the matter is in whom you charge the item. If it is all right, charge it to the one who recommends, and tell him you are doing so. Unless you do so, the promise will not be binding. You cannot legally give credit to both. You must have authority, and at the exact time of giving the credit, you may, if told to, charge the bill to the one that vouched for the other. Be careful about this part, and also be careful to make all complaints about bad or imperfect goods within ten days after the purchase. It is an implied warranty in .all business that goods are sound and reasonably perfect, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 93 but be diligent in opening up and demanding any lack of it in season. Don't wait till the bill is due, and then complain about it. That is like the man who married a good wife, and, after she grew old and gray, sent her back to her parents, with the words in white chalk on the back of her black dress, "Don't suit." With these precautions, you need not fail of success in business. You need never dream of failure. Your manager has kindly handed me a brief of the objects of your Union, as follows: 1. Social Friendship. I like that. Life is short, busy, active. You will wake up some morning, not much beyond forty, and, startled as by the coming of some fast express, will come the fact that you are nearer the other end of life than the beginning. You will then think back, and wonder what you have most enjoyed; and it will not be alone the money made, but the good done your fellow-men. It will not be the monument in the cemetery, but the grander monument, like the great-hearted Bagley left us, a fountain of pure water for thirsty people. (Applause.) You may not all equal Bagley, but you can be kind and noble, oblig- ing and charitable. It may be the half-cord of wood, or the smaller gift that will bring you blessings. Everyone who loves you will be your customer. Men will go out of their way to trade with fair dealers. It will pay to be kind and social. 2. It is a second object to stop wholesalers from retail- I need not add much to what Air.. 94 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Mathewson has told you on this, but I will say it is in the power of organized dealers to do it. Once act together, and you can command it. If they deny your demands, treat them as the boy did the kicking mule, when he said: "I'll get even with him. I'll stop it out of his feed to-night: that's what I'll do." 3. To cut off delinquent debtors and prevent adulterated goods, as another object, is excellent. I have already hinted at the first and may mention the last one. You have it in your power to expose buyers who beat their grocer and change residence by an early notice to your Union. Use that power, and you will do good by it. You have it in your power to buy good goods and none other. Simply say, Competition is so close to-day, we must buy customers by fine goods and none other. It is not enough to be a merchant; one must be up to the age and alive to progress. If possible, it is better to buy at home. There is no city better, cleaner, thriftier than Detroit — few, if any, growing faster. Detroit markets for Detroit should be your watch- word. Buy of your dealers and they become interested in your welfare. Runners who come from New York, Chi- cago and sister cities may urge you, but in such cases you buy too much sometimes, and have no chance to make changes, and they come on with less interest in your future, and may close in on you too suddenly. 4. Selling by weight and trade arbitration seems to con- clude your objects. The arbitration is all important. It may sound odd for a lawyer to advise against suits, but I SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 95 often do it. Enough will go to law that cannot be pre- vented. It is better to look trouble in the face manfully, and not write letters over the fence and quarrel with each other about trifles. Life is too short to wrangle in business. Time is too valuable. Too many go to law and lose by it. Honorable men can settle honorably, if they try. See that you are right as well as reasonable. Your objects are all laudable. You desire to succeed and do well by your Union. The power of combined force is marvelous. Col. Croften once said: "I can take a body of 500 trained veterans, and subdue a whole country that act at random without leaders." The strength of your Union is in the ability to act as one man. You are united. Keep to your colors. Be courageous. Be diligent. Be earnest. Stand to the principles of your Union, and you will prosper as a body, and many of you may yet become wealthy and influential merchants. (Applause.) CHAPTER III. MISCELLANEOUS ADDRESSES, QUOTATIONS, ETC FRIENDSHIP— ELEMENTS OF HAPPINESS— BOOKS AS FRIENDS— CHARACTER— ORATORY AND ORATORS- STARTING IN LAW-LAWYERS AS LEADERS— WEALTHY LAWYERS— TALKING TOO MUCH— ON HIS MERITS- REMEMBER LITTLE THINGS— LAWYERS' FORTUNES— THE BOY LAWYER— GREAT SPEECHES— LOG CABIN DAYS— A THRILLING SKETCH— IN AUSTRALL^— MONEY MAKING— GRAIN GAMBLING— LINCOLN'S ART IN COURT— DEFEND THE ACCUSED— MEN WE CROWN- IN THE SIGHT OF THE FATHERS— A SILVER DEBATE— DEPEW ON BONDS OF COMMERCE— THE TEACHER'S DEFENSE. FRIENDSHIP. A friend is a person who takes an interest in our welfare ; will not flatter us to our face; will defend our good name and our actions; who will keep our secrets, advance our interests, in all places, under all conditions, so long as they claim our friendship. To paint a small picture of friendship is to describe that link between kindred minds on some common thing, where the minds agree together, and usually pledge themselves, either by a bond of promise or an implied obligation, to stand by each other in the common object. It is a feeling not known to men of ordinary minds, a lofty sentiment. It SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 97 embraces a love of justice, mercy and fidelity to each other; a devotion to duty, and a harmony of purpose, that will outlast all trifles of differences for the sake of one common good. The Spanish say of friendship: To keep with the good is to be one of them; to go with the bad is to soon be one of them. The Germans have a saying, more beautiful in their own language than in ours: "Mit dem hut in der hand geht man durch das ganze land," which with us is, "Wkh polite- ness, or with his hat in his hand, man succeeds in any coun- try." The English have a crystalized saying by Carlisle, that success in life in anything depends upon the number of persons that one can make himself agreeable to. All these are only the fringes of friendship ; a very reason- able friendship may exist between persons in many things the opposite of each other. A man may love his dog; a horse may follow his master; a white child may be greatly attached to an old colored nurse, and all these have in them many elements of friendship. Shakespeare has given us an instructive instance in the case of Timon of Athens, who was a rich lord, had plenty •of friends while his money lasted, who made lavish and costly banquets, with splendid dinners, and gave away plenty of money to men, who, in turn, played upon his credulity. If one chanced to give him a cane, he would pay back the gift with a carriage. If one sent him a dog, he would repay it with a horse. If one dedicated a book to his memory he would buy up the whole edition. 98 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. But his means soon came to an end, and when his money ran out his head servant was sent out to borrow a little of his former friends. This was a sharp test of their friendship. His friend "A" said, "I am very sorry, but my present wants are enough to use up quite all the money I can raise." His friend "B" said, "Well, I thought as much. Timon has been living too fast." His friend "C" said, "It has come at last; just as I expected; he was too prodigal of his money." When Timon heard of it he felt greatly hurt; he called his servants together and made a great feast, and invited everybody, including his friends. As they came in one by one they spoke something like this : "We are glad to dine with our genial friend again ; we knew it was a joke; we knew our old friend Timon was well- to-do." Timon remained silent. At a given signal the covers were raised, and only hot water was seen in every dish. "Now," said Timon, "begone, begone, you false friends; flee out of my sight instantly," and he drove them away. He took to the woods, and lived like a hermit with his dogs. War came on, and Timon, who had been valiant in battle, was needed in Athens, but he would not go back. One day he found a vast deposit of gold and silver, and became very rich again, but even then he would not return, - though he could have returned in great splendor and been a ruler and prince in Athens; but he refused saying, "I will not return, for what is money without friendship?" Let us linger a moment on the theme that comes so close to our homes and our lives; let us hurry not away from it, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 99 but go from it thoughtfully. The Chinese have a saying when parting from their friends: "Go away slowly when you must go — go away slowly." The Japanese say, when they separate, "If it must be so." The Germans say, "auf wieder- sehen," till we meet again ; and Confucius, the great Chinese teacher, said, "The archer who misses the target, turns to himself and not to another for the cause of his failure." So with our friends, and our friendly relations — the only possible failure, if failure it be, to win their respect must fall upon ourselves. Perhaps the most beautiful story of friendship of all was the story of Damon and Pythias. You remember it is in poem form, but to shorten it and get the meaning of it, the tyrant first says to Damon, ''What means this disguise, and the dagger that gleams in thy breast?" To which Damon answers, 'Twas to free this dear land from its chains. "Free the land, wretched fool; thou shalt die for thy pains." * * * I am ready to die — I ask not to live, Yet three days of respite, perhaps, thou wouldst give, For to-morrow my sister will wed; And 'twould damp all her joy were her brother not there. Then let me, I pray thee, to her nuptials repair, While a friend remains here in my stead. Then to Pythias he went and told him his case ; That true friend answered not, but with instant embrace Hurried forth to be bound in his stead. You remember on his return three days later, how he met the floods and robbers, and battled his way back, and at last arriving in sight of the scaffold, the poem concludes:. ioo SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. ''When, hark! what a sound is muttered around, Saying, hold! it is I, it is Damon, for whom he was bound." How the King for once felt himself as he ought and com- manded that both to his side might be brought. How the King forgave them both on condition that they would make him one of their friends. You remember another instance of friendship. It is old, it is rare, it is beautiful; it is the little story in the Bible of Ruth, the gleaner, who, when asked by her mother to re- main at home while she went out into another country to get grain, the dutiful girl said, "Entreat me not to leave thee, nor cease from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, thy God shall be my God. Where thou livest, I will live. Where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried." And so in friendship we must stand together, like Damon and Pythias, to the end of life, and not to the end of for- tune. I must conclude this with the words of an old Indian who before every battle, believing, as many Indians do, that the spirit of the slain will enter their spirit to make them stronger Indians, and that after every defeat a part of the spirit goes out of them until they are no longer big Indians. It was the custom of this Indian to walk out in front of his braves and, beating his brawny hand upon his manly breast, exclaim, "I know that I shall win this battle! I feel that I shall win this battle! It is burning in my body that I shall SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 101 win this battle." And so, if united in life's battle, we may win it as the examples have shown ; and so if we wrong our friends and forfeit their friendship, we will lose, after all, in the battle of life, for in the language of Timon, "what is money without friendship." And if we live well, it may be said of us at last: "And I am glad that he has lived thus long, And glad that he has gone to his reward ; Nor deem that kindly nature did him wrong, Softly to disengage the vital cord. When his strong hand grew palsied, and his eye Dimmed with the frosts of years, it was his time to die." ELEMENTS OF HAPPINESS. IT DEPENDS ON YOURSELF. Happiness is a rare study. A Boston editor sent out five thousand letters to learn of those who had lived past eighty years, as to what they attributed their long life and happi- ness. The answers from 3,500 New Englanders showed four main reasons: 1. Out-door work and exercise. 2. A happy marriage and a peaceful home. 3. A life of hope and contentment. 4. An interest in other people in the world around them. 102 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. A bond of' sympathy unites all civilized nations together. Who can solve the mystery of right living? May it not be that we live with each other, when we think of each other? Whether an ocean or a continent divides us, a flash of thought knows no distance. The absent are nearer than we realize. As in modern times, even continents are but a few days from each other, so, in a broader sense, every living thing ever known, even but briefly, comes back to us at will, and vivid impressions of earnest lives are never separated. The sympathy of lives for each other creates their hap- piness. The willingness to work and do duty increases our usefulness. No careless work will answer. The demand of the age is earnest thought or work. We must plan and plan wisely. We must be in deep earnest, or we will lose all our advantages. In the great Roman play of Virginius, where the father seeks to rescue a little daughter, Virginia, that had been stolen from him, you remember the father says, as he sees he must lose his daughter: "Give me men and I will rescue her! Where are the men? Give me men, with hearts in their hands and I will rescue her ! The hand is no stronger than the heart! Give me men!" But there are no men, and he goes over to his tender little girl and talks with her a moment, and while talking with her he drives a dagger to her heart rather than that she should become the prey of an unworthy despot. Give me men in the churches; give me men in society; give me men in position; give me men SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 103 and I will rescue the State; give me men and I will rescue the country. The world wants men. Alexander the Great, on seeing so many men were in training in the games, became jealous of them and said: "If there were princes in the ring as competitors, I would train with them myself." To-day the Alexanders are never so great that they fail to come into the arena and in the ring, and train with the people themselves. Alexander also wisely said : "I have noticed that the prizes are always given to those who enter the arena and run, and never to those who stand on the outside." Have you thought of it? The prizes of life in anything are given to those who enter into the arena and run, and never to those who stand on the outside. You must enter, young men and young women. Name me, if you please, one single, solitary great singer, great artist, great lawyer, great statesman, great minister, great merchant or great scientist — name me one anywhere in the known world that has ever failed long of a position in life. There is no such thing as failure to one who is qualified away above his fellows. There never was any such instance. Pick out a musician in your churches to-night with a superior, melodious voice that can capture an audience, and that musician's fortune is already made. Name me a lawyer to-day who stands above his fellows as a man, brilliant, honest and upright, able and learned and ready, and there is no such thing as failure to that lawyer. Name me a skilled mechanic like Edison, a scientist like Agassiz and there is no such thing as failure to such a man. 104 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Well, this nation in the past, especially within the past few years, has been bowing down very low to money; and I ac- tually believe that rich men are no longer to be fashionable. Therefore, you that would take the prizes in the arena must enter in the arena, and not stand looking on the outer side. Money is going out of fashion. (Cheers and laughter.) I believe it to-night. I believe that the fashion of the coming ages will be brain power, nobility, talent, genius, energy, uprightness, love of duty. John B. Gough, the brilliant lecturer, brought before me, when a boy, the picture of the life of a temperate man. I had gone nine miles on horseback from my village home to Hillsdale College chapel to hear him, and at the close of the lecture men were touched and moved by the simple figure, the beauty, the grandeur, the sublimity he set of a temperate and upright life. But to-day we need men and women of more than temperate life. We need men and women of unselfish life. We need the life that comes out of self to pick up hundreds and bear them in our arms and encourage them, so that we shall not live alone for self. At the close of that brilliant lecture, the audience had not even applauded save by silence, and as the speaker took his seat, the people were loath to leave the room, such a hush fell over them - f men and women stood in their places, and silence became intense. No one dismissed us, but the chairman, rising slowly, waved his handkerchief and they went out as they would go from a funeral. The impress that meeting made upon my mind was that it pays to live an upright life ; SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 105 that it pays to be manly every day of your life; that it pays to study; that it pays to think; that it pays to exert energy to help one another. It pays to think the intel- lectual aristocracy is the highest standard in the world. I remember reading, when a boy, a story of duty. It was the story of an old German sexton who had been placed in charge of a church in the Netherlands, and one day found it on fire. He had grown up with the church and he was then gray-headed and old. The church was of stone, but the steeple or belfry and the whole inner part was wood work. He seized a pail of water as he saw the flames break- ing out, and hurried up the steep stairs and worked up close where the fire was burning, and commenced throwing water to put it out, going a little higher, and a little higher yet, when suddenly the flames broke in below him, cutting off his retreat. He dropped the pail of water and looked down on the people below. The flames were lighting up his bright eyes ; the flames were licking up the skirts of his cloth- ing; the flames were burning in his hair; the flames were burning the man up, when suddenly, reaching his hand up- ward-, he grasped the bell, seizing it with his right hand, shook it and set the chimes in motion : "Praise ye the Lord,"" and once more he pulled it: "Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord," and dropped to death at the end of his duty. io6 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. BOOKS AS FRIENDS. "The fairest fruit earth ever held up to its Maker is man." George Eliot says: "Some thoughts pass by us as the winds and leave no trace; others touch us with soft hands, breathe upon us with sweet breath, move us like music ■and thrill us like a passion.'' Lowell says: "Life is a leaf of paper white, On which each one may write his line or two And then comes night." Whittier tells : "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are It might have been." Longfellow: "There is no death, The stars go out and shine upon another shore." Books tell us if the good love us, we need not fear, the hatred of the bad. Confucius says: "The archer who misses the target turns to himself and not to another for the cause of his failure.'' To know all men is knowledge. To love all men is be- nevolence. It is the beginning that costs. The first step over, all is easy in anything. Keep with the good and you will soon be one of them. But go with the bad and you will be one of them. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 107 In all our acts we must run alone. Friends follow us to the arena, but the race and the battle of life is our own. Education makes a man fit company for himself. The Miser's Hand is a most beautiful illustration of fin- ished work. Firnaz's The Genius of Pleasure is another. Books teach that to "Employ only the upright, and all things will be upright." "If good men governed a hundred years, there would be no need of capital punishment." Shakespeare's Timon of Athens is a lecture by itself: What is money without friends? Mensus says: "Learning without thought is labor lost. Reflect and gain wisdom by what you see and read." Riches and honor all men desire; poverty and distress all dislike. You can be fitted for the one or descend to the other. The wise love learning; they do not transfer their anger nor repeat a fault. If one lose his uprightness, his escape from death is his good fortune. I would not have you cross a river without a boat, or attack a tiger unarmed; nor can you win the battle of life without weapons. The virtuous are free from anxiety; the wise free from doubt; the upright free from fear and care. Goethe tells us that a man's first duty is to select a busi- ness suited to his capacity. If he discovers his vocation, to pursue it steadily, and thus make his life of greatest use and 108 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING service to the world and produce to himself the utmost harmony — concentrated activity being of the greatest moment. There is nothing worth thinking, adds the same wise author, but has been thought before, and we may merely think it over again. The best education is in the discovery of the best and wisest thoughts. The effect of our thoughts is left to our- selves. He bids us, above all, avail ourselves of the present, rather than bewail our fate or fortune; to do what we can to make our memory lasting. That mind, he adds, is in keeping with a practical object whose task lies nearest and is worthiest to be done; for by the time one has taken note of everything he has lost himself. Character, in matters great and small, is in steadily pursuing the things which he feels himself capable. Duty is the goal of ambition. A man is happy when he delights in. the good will of others, and loves what he commands himself to do. He urges us to cull the wise thoughts of good books and master them, and thus be in touch with the wisdom of the whole world. It will give an amazing insight into lives and affairs and enlarge both our sympathy and influence. A mind so stored with wisdom need only speak to do good and open rich stores of knowledge. It is worth a life of enthusiasm to gather the flowers of learning in the store house of memory. As books are the souls of a dwelling, so thoughts are the essence of rare books. They are only valuable when we make their contents useful. They are a mirror in which we see men, and events, sorrow and happi- SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 109 ness. Thoughts/ like stars, will light our pathway when the sun of prosperity may be clouded. In whatever position we are, great thoughts will be loving companions. To be broad and fertile, to be keen and appreciative, we must cul- tivate a knowledge of men with our books. Both travel and lectures will aid us, but thought and reflection on what we read, hear and know, are above all to be treasured as the best secrets of the universe. It is not language alone, but the mind embodied in it that is enjoyable. Reading ought to mean understanding; writing ought to mean knowing something. To desire a thing is to take it; to demand it is to get it; to get it is to enjoy it in literature. A man's knowledge determines what he will do: what station he will occupy. The same author adds: "For a man of the world, a col- lection of anecdotes and maxims is of the greatest value, if he knows how to intersperse one in his conversation at fitting moments, and remember the other when a case arises for their application." As architecture has been well called frozen music, so the style of one's thoughts and sayings may be models built from the material and conceptions of the proportions that our minds are supplied with. In his unique simplicity, wit and brevity, Lincoln led all speakers of his time. It was owing, no doubt, to three things: (1) An intense nature, born of a hungry appetite for wisdom in books — he read Shakespeare, the Bible, Bun- yan, Burns and Blackstone, with thought and reflection; no SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. (2) To his knowledge of pioneer life and simple application of little things to large ones — his windows of thought were of the clearest polish, and (3) To his frankness and liberal- ity in giving out what he knew and believed, so that every day was a published volume of his life with his hopes and feelings blending in the painting as he passed along. ''What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties; in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a God !» CHARACTER. (Extract from Bishop Newman's Address.) The true basis of all liberty is law. Absolute liberty is im- possible. A restraining influence is essential to growth, to security, to character. Without the limit of law, the owner- ship of property would cease, and men would contend for their share as the wolves divide their substance. Without the restraint of law, the trees might grow and reach above the sky; without the limit of law, the ambition of man, with his present environ- ments, would never cease, till he managed the earth and stood above the sun; without the limit of law, the sun and stars and elements on high, would clash and melt and roll to chaos in a maddened mass. The law that makes us. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. iil keeps us, rules us, gives us scope for effort and reward, is,, after all, the better law for everyone. It leaves man within its limits to work out mighty plans and accomplish great re- sults. 5fc >H ^ 5jC The characters in history that stand out alone have inheri- ted qualities that were bred in their nature : Caesar to rule,. Antony to be moved by impulse, Gibbon to write and rea- son, Napoleon for war, Howard to philanthropy, Addison to refinement, Washington to freedom, but each worked out his own destiny; and when we get down to the bed-rock of character, it demands individualism. It's not enough that others succeed or have succeeded, the condition is a per- sonal one. He that is wise is wise for himself. He that fails must turn to himself and not to another for the cause of his. failure. * ^ >£ ^ After citing many characters, Caesar, Anthony, Gibbons,, Howard, and Voltaire, Addison and Washington, the speaker turned his argument toward the general conception of Heaven, which he said, "would not be heaven alone to me, if all the streets were gold, the gates were pearl, the leaves of silver, and the walls of jasper. It's not enough to say of it that the good of all ages are massed together there; that statesmen and scholars and wise men are there; they will not make it heaven to me. It's not enough, that I shall meet the friends that have gone before me there; they 112 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. cannot create a heaven for me; it's not enough that waiting angels may attend the grounds to show us where our loved ones are. It's not enough that just within the gates a fond mother may be stationed ready to stretch forth her hands of welcome there — even that mother has not the power to make it a heaven for me — for heaven must be born within, and must become a part of self to be enjoyed." All character needs stability. You remember in that beautiful epic — the Book of Job, how the man of flocks and hefds and lands and family and power, later became poor, and lost his property and lost his health; how the black leprosy ate into his burning flesh, and yet he held his character; how, when his family turned against him and his own wife urged him to take his life — to curse God and die — yet he was firm and said, "I will wait for the fullness of my time; all the while my breath is in me my tongue shall not utter deceit, 'till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me." ORATORS AND ORATORY (From Donovan's Trial Practice.) The intense aversion that all good lawyers have for affec- tation, is, in a measure, a hinderance to the study of oratory. Many fear that they may acquire a stilted habit of delivery. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 113 But surprising as it may sound, the one thing most neg- lected in law schools, is the subject of delivery, or the art of speaking in a tone and manner easily understood, by a court and jury. The high pitched key of loud talkers, and inaudible voices of others, fall on the ear like the prattle of the street vendor, and never leave the listener room to comprehend the sub- ject, if he cared to follow the reasoner. Men are not moved and converted by such repulsive utterances. The music of modulation is a great essential in speaking, as men never quarrel in the hearing of sweet sounds, so with pleasing speeches, they steal in on the senses, and capture the judg- ment. They compel attention. They win juries, command verdicts, and secure large retainers. Such is the power of eloquent speech, that trained and modulated, with some apt words to utter, it will quell a mob, nerve an army, rouse an audience, move an assemblage, and often change the destiny of nations. The same words spoken without a forcible and apt delivery, Avould be lost on the listener, or fall, as Gough puts it, "like stones in the mud, to sink and disappear forever." No man ever believed more in the power of well chosen sentences, and their right delivery, than Webster, the great- est model of American advocates. He was often absorbed in the study of forcible sayings for days before his greatest speeches, and never made an important effort unprepared. He would commit to memory, and carry illustrations, ten. and fifteen years before using them. He was indebted to> ii 4 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Dryden for his "raising mortals to the skies, and drawing angels down." He owed much to Scott for his "sea of up- turned faces;" much to the Scriptures for his sublimity, and many strong sentences to Shakespeare, but he owed most of all to his wonderful delivery. In reply to Hayne he drew on all his resources. At the dedication of Bunker Hill Monument, the crowd pressed hard upon the speaker's platform. The police were powerless to restrain them. In vain the master of ceremon- ies urged them to be quiet. It was a supreme moment just before Mr. Webster was to be introduced as the orator. All were anxious to hear his earliest utterances, but confusion became intense. The chairman begged Mr. Webster to say a few words to restore order. The great man came forward in his majestic way, and said: "Gentlemen, you must fall back!" "Mr. Webster, it is impossible!" "It is impossi- ble !" shouted many voices in unison. Raising his arm and his voice, as his burning eyes flashed over the excited mul- titude before him, he said with Websterian emphasis: "Gen- tlemen, nothing is impossible to Americans at Bunker Hill ! Fall back!" A great shout rang through the audience as they surged back like the waves of the ocean. This was what Webster would call something higher than eloquence — action, noble, sublime, God-like action. Carlyle says: "Let him who would be moved to convince others, be first moved to convince himself," and adds : "The race of life has become intense; the runners are treading on SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING 115 each other's heels ; woe be to him who stops to tie his shoe- strings." While we may abhor the mimic style of elocution as some- times taught by ranting readers of worn-out themes, a well delivered speech, or play, is a rare pleasure; and there is no greater luxury on earth, than that experienced by accom- plished singers, speakers and actors before an appreciative audience. To acquire that ease and pleasant delivery, and know T its value, is a work of time and patience ; but I prefer to speak of it through men of larger experience, whose apt words are quoted, instead of personal counsel. These masters of their science speak with unquestioned authority. It goes without saying that American statesmen, notably the late President Garfield, first acquired eminence by their oratory. Cicero says : "Delivery has the sole and supreme power of oratory. Without it a speaker of the greatest mental power cannot be held in any esteem, while with it, one of moderate ability may surpass those of the greatest talent." Quintillion says: "Indifferent discourse well delivered, is better received by a popular audience, than a good discourse badly delivered. It is not so important what our thoughts are, as in what manner they are delivered, since those whom we address are moved only as they hear." Humboldt says : "The essence of language lies in the living utterance. It is only by the spoken word that the speaker breathes his soul into the souls of his hearers." Sargent S. Prentiss, of whom S. S. Cox says : "No man, south or north, ever left a finer u6 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING reputation for eloquence," in a letter to his brother, dated Vicksburg, August 9, 1833, writes: "Let me particularly recommend to you to cultivate as much as possible your powers of elocution. This attainment is to every man of the utmost importance. It is no less than the power of using his other attainments, for what advantage is information un- less one is allowed to convey it, and show the world one pos- sesses it. Indeed, my observation of mankind has con- vinced me that success in life depends not upon the quantity of knowledge a man possesses, as upon the skill and facility with which he is able to bring it to bear upon the affairs in which he may be engaged. "This is particularly true with great men. Their great- ness consists less in the extent of their knowledge, than in the way in which they use it. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men in the United States who exceed Henry Clay in information on all subjects, but his superiority con- sists in the power and adroitness with which he uses his in- formation. "I would again press, before any other acquisition, neces- sity of training. What young man, having merely a fond- ness for painting, and a corresponding desire to paint, would dare to take up brush and palette, and expect his first ignorant daubs to be accepted by the academy? What young woman without training would dare sing before a public audience of cultivated people? What merely sub- architect would expect to have his random plans accepted, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 117 even for a State capitol ? Everyone understands the neces- sity of thorough technical education in these arts ; but when you come to elocution, the highest of all arts, there is a gen- eral impression that the mere desire to do something indi- cates the power to do it. Art in elocution is the purest appropriate expression of thought, therefore no man who desires to use his mind can afford to dispense with the knowl- edge of its simplest and most apparent laws. And there can be no great success without severe technical study." Professor Wm. Matthews says : "Let men once learn and deeply feel that no man ever has been, or ever can be, a true orator without a long and severe apprenticeship to the art; that it not only demands constant, daily practice in speaking and reading, but a sedulous culture of the memory, the judgment, and the fancy — a ceaseless storing of the cells of the brain with the treasures of literature, history, and science for its use, and they will shrink from haranguing their fellow-men, except after a careful training and the most conscientious preparation." Henry Ward Beecher says: "While progress has been made, and is making, in the training of men for public speaking, I think I might say that relative to the exertions that are put forth in other departments of education, this subject is behind all others. Training in this "department is the great want of our day, for we are living in a land whose genius, whose history, whose institutions, whose peo- ple, demand oratory. I advocate, therefore, in its full n8 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. extent, and for every reason of humanity, of patriotism, and of religion, a more thorough culture of oratory. "Now in regard to the training of the orator, it should be a part and parcel of the school. The first work is to teach a man's body to serve his soul. So long as men are in the body they need the body; and one of the very first steps in oratory is that which trains the body to be the welcome and glad servant of the soul. Grace, posture, force of manner, the training of the eye that it may look at men, and pierce them, and smile upon them, and bring summer to them, and call down storms and winter upon them; the development of the hand, that it may wield the scepter or beckon with sweet persuasion ; these themes belong to man. And, among other things, the voice — perhaps the most important of all, and the least cultured. ''How many men are there who can speak from day to day, one hour, two hours, three hours, without exhaustion and without hoarseness? But it is in the power of the vocal organs, and of the ordinary vocal organs, to do this. What multitudes of men there are who weary themselves out be- cause they put their voice on a hard run at the top of its compass, and there is no relief to them, and none unfortu- nately to the audience. But the voice is like an orchestra. It ranges high up and can shriek betimes like the scream of an eagle ; or it is low as the lion's tone ; and at every inter- mediate point is some peculiar quality. It has in it the mother's whisper and the father's command. It has in it warning and alarm. It has in it sweetness. It is full SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 119 of mirth and full of gayety. It glitters though it is not seen with all its sparkling fancies. It ranges high, intermediate, or low, in obedience to the will, uncon- scious to him who uses it; and men listen through the long hour wondering that it is so short, and quite unaware that they have been bewitched out of their weariness by the charm of a voice, not artificial, but by assiduous training made to be his second nature. Such a voice answers to the soul, and it is its beating. " 'But,' it is said, 'does not the voice come by nature?' Yes; but is there anything that 'comes by nature' that stays as it comes if it is worthily handled? There is no one thing in man that he has in perfection till he has it by culture. We know that in respect to everything but the voice. Is not the ear trained to hearing? Is not the eye trained to seeing? Is a man because he has learned a trade, and was not born with it, less a man? Is the school of human training to be disdained when by it we are rendered more useful to our fel- low-men? "But it is said that this culture is artificial; that it is sim- ply ornamentation. Ah ! that is not because there has been so much of it, but because there has been so little of it. If a man were to begin, as he should, early: or if, beginning late, he were to address himself assiduously to it, then the graces of speech, the graces of oratory, would be to him what all learning must be before it is perfect, namely — spon- taneous. If he were to be trained earlier, then his training would not be called the science of ostentation or acting. 120 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Not until human nature is other than it is will the function of the living voice, the greatest force on earth among men, cease." It sounds so old, and is so true, to say of the first of ora- tors that he spent years in severe training; that he endured torture, and regarded the art as a pleasant task, and a val- uable science, and succeeded in overcoming deformity of voice and body, and won at last the crown of gold and last- ing fame as a reward for his energy. It sounds so very strange to speak of Clay as an ardent follower of this Gre- cian master, and Marshall as another, and Prentiss as an- other, each almost their master's equal, but their brilliancy as orators rewarded their years of training. And to-day, in the presence of Booth, who brings all nations at his feet, by purity of voice and grace of action, there are men enough to ridicule attempts to cultivate the finer qualities of delivery. Men are not wanting who see in the scholarly language and majestic delivery of Conkling — one with mind and body most wonderfully developed — what they please to term too much of the imperial for an American. But what if it be imperial, and is really finished? Is not the body a part of the Creator's stamp, and the soul within it simply living up to its possibilities? Men are not at all of an equal mould. They are not even created equal. Some are weak, and others strong; some are large, and others little; some are students, and others idlers; some look over the stars to other worlds, and others see but a single hamlet and that imperfectly. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 121 That an orator like Butler should employ the strong and logical, while one like Cox reasons through his wit, and another like Matthews commands men by his dignity and eloquence, and many more possess but a tithe of their ac- quirements and succeed, is only an argument by contrast, ior Butler, Cox and Matthews, each employ their best forces, and forces not untrained or neglected. I sometimes wish that I could paint the real picture of a trained orator like Beach, as I heard him in the Brinkley case; a likeness of his flashing eye, his commanding form, and features all ablaze with eloquent looks, and voice of wonderful melody; or tell of Choate's swift flights of fancy; ■of Everett's rhythmical sentences; of Matthews in his strongest power, or Storrs in some closing appeal; where the form surges and trembles with thoughts too fast for utterance, but these men must be seen to be appreciated, and heard to be understood. In a country where so much is demanded of orators, where place and power often comes to the eloquent and gifted, enough is left for the highest order of oratory and the finest finished speeches; no one need despair of a lack of present opportunity, but all should be ready to embrace their opportunity when it offers, for "There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." 122 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. STARTING IN LAW. Training, courage, patience and aptness for the business are the essential elements of success in law practice. If one has not discernment enough to know how well he can fill these requirements it is better to wait awhile, or learn from another what is lacking. With a thorough training, courage should follow easily, for no one is strong without knowing it, and strength comes of confidence in ability to do what we undertake. Then with energy and work well done, new cases will follow, and business will grow like a tree, with new branches from every limb. If one is willing to wait the growth of an orchard, the development of an enterprise, or any ordinary matter that requires time, he should be willing to take law business as it comes — thankfully. Actors are willing to play sub- ordinate parts many years in starting till suddenly called in to replace their seniors, when they often display their earliest talents by accident. Lawyers are watched in court trials very much like actors in a play, and, indeed, many are superior to actors, and the real tragedies shown to juries are superior to the imitations of the mimic stage. A few well cut knots of controversy, a few well turned periods of argument, a clear insight into the puzzling problems will soon place a lawyer in his proper rank before any community. Learning, language, manner, familiarity with facts, and ingenuous handling of half-a- dozen witnesses will do the work. The best talent of a SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 123 lawyer is common sense — a basis to which all cases finally must come before the last court leaves them. What is good sense is always good law, and counsel who act and advise on this principle must succeed in keeping their clients out of petty litigation, which is invaluable. The next best gift is foresight — the gift of telling how reasonable men will judge of a contract or controversy — the ability to frame a correct theory of a defense or prose- cution. Without this intuitive knowledge few can reach the right beginning in practice. Tact is born with a lawyer. If not, he was born for another calling. And what is finer than rare tact? The third gift is clearness. Things that come clearly to a teacher can be as clearly explained, but we never know well what we cannot tell to others. The very fact that it is not clear to the speaker, renders the listener all the more- confused. Some are so gifted in clearness that they send, as it were, a ray of electric light through their trials, and satisfy court, jury and client of the certainty of their posi- tions. Memory goes to make up clearness. So many details are to be kept track of that memory is a rich gift in trials, and one that cannot be over cultivated. It grows by use, and strengthens by practice. With all eyes on the actor, his lines are important. Neither wit, grace nor ap- pearance can replace matter and memory of the points in contest. As the actor wins a recall, so must the lawyer by influence on all in hearing. His form, manner, voice, mat- ter and ingenuity, each form a part, and aid in victory. 524 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. AN INSTANCE. In a Kentucky murder case great excitement prevailed, and hundreds of armed men thronged around the counsel. Judge Curtis defended; he felt the sentiment of conviction in the air. The danger of lynching was not trifling. With subdued tones and careful diction, he opened in an eloquent tribute to the character of women, for charity, long suffer- ing, love and mercy. Tears fell freely, for on that ground no one disputed the speaker. The court was hushed and silent, till snow flakes could have been almost heard to fall. The crowded house grew to a house of admirers of the modest beauty of statement, as well as of the doctrine taught. All eyes met the speaker. He stood in the crowded court room like an athlete in an amphitheater. His danger 'n- -creased when the second passage was reached, where his client had been berated for acts of conduct in his early love, and a fair chance came for a strong turn on his adversary. The speaker wisely foresaw two answers, the bitter and the sweet; he chose the latter; he regretted that his noble brother should so far forget his high calling as to make sport of the early affections of his client. True, he stood solitary and alone, a childless man, and when he died it would be the last of his line. True, he had years before met and won a fair Kentucky lady, and but for her parents' wishes, they would have been united, and great God! said the speaker, can it be that to please a miscellaneous audi- ence, this holiest of earthly affections is to be held up to scorn and ridicule! In a State of chivalry and bravery like SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 125, Kentucky, can it enter into the heart of a man humane, to make sport of the holiest sympathy of the human soul! The ice melted, the audience were his. The influence of courtesy and nature was sublime. The defendant's life saved by it. This silent influence that brings out a recall, a half cheer, a sentiment of belief in the audience is, after all, the art of oratory. It conciliates, captures, convinces, wins and controls the judgment of a jury. It is superior to ques- tioning and brow-beating bad witnesses, and, coming from one of known integrity and sincerity, it weighs with a court and an audience. Let it be practiced by all laudable means at command. Surely it is more pleasing to a jury to do as Judge Perrin always advised: treat opposing state- ments as possible mistakes, and seek to show which side is mistaken. Juries had much rather hear this argument than a personal wrangle and a bitter controversy. LAWYERS AS LEADERS. The leaders in a general assemblage of men, suddenly summoned together to decide almost any question of public- interest, will be composed largely of lawyers. The Parlia- ment of Europe, the Congress and Senate of the United States, and each of the several State governments of the nation, draw their rules and wisdom in general from legal 126 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. advisors. This is true of banks, corporations and com- panies of large moneyed interests. Where careless contracts might easily involve houses in ruin, or sensible advice could steer their course so safely that accidents need never impair the capital, or losses invade their private fortunes, considering the large sums spent in litigation, the time, anxiety and prospects of defeat for want of safe counsel, how strange it seems that more reliance is not placed on men whose business calls their attention to legislative enactments and the precedents of court decisions. With the vast responsibility before them, with the daily prospect of being questioned on State, municipal and busi- ness affairs, with the thought that on the answer given may depend the success of him who counsels wisely, is it unrea- sonable to ask trial lawyers to be ready and well read on the affairs of the world? Would you ask a description of fron- tier life or far away customs, speak with one who has tasted the hardships of the former, and witnessed the workings of the latter. Lawyers are often chosen for age and presumed wisdom whose learning is inapt and meaningless as the limited ob- servation of their plodding lives would mould and make it. Doctors, on the other hand, are more wisely selected from some known specialty wherein they excel and cure their patients. Lawyers ought to be well read in matters outside of their profession. Read in history, romance, Scripture and human nature. History will be dense with examples SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 127 of righted wrongs through courts and laws and regulations. The pages of history are full of ripe experiences of heroic lives and eloquent appeals for liberty written all over in italics of long suffering men finally triumphant. Romances are drawn from mysteries in courts, over wills or marriages, about characters that live and have their being very often in the commonest affairs of business. The moral of the author, if he be one of worthy fame, will add interest to tradition, and weave in the rarest touches of pathetic incident and ingenious releases. The lesson of "put your- self in his place," intensified by Reade, the character pictures of Dickens, and historical sketches of Irving and Cooper, are all full of wisdom and beauty; to neglect them is to omit such a record of heart histories that no ripe scholar can afford to ignore, even if saved for a fund of illustration. It may be no wiser to speak of a matter as true in history, than of something that happened yesterday, but the sanction of age adds authority to enforce attention. The study of the Scriptures has ever been a means of strength in criminal advocacy. Webster, Ryan, Carpenter, Crittenden, Voorhees, Graham and Van Buren all reasoned through Scripture characters, and so full is the confidence of a jury in the truthfulness of Bible sayings, that they lodge in the mind and refuse to be removed by argument while hundreds believe that the Proverbs of Solomon are the sanctifications of common sense. But what lawyers most need is directness of purpose. Genius is never so much lacking as application. The most 128 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. brilliant of the bar often take to drink and grow lower and lower year by year, till they end in the mad-house, the alms- house or the gutter, and lawyers more than others need to control their appetites. Excessive drink is the temptation before a speech to make it fervid, and it generally makes it flat or silly; and the temptation after the speech to make up for the waste or over-exertion, when rest is the real thing needed. I often think that race horses are far better cared for after a contest, than lawyers after an exhaustive argu- ment. But judgment dictates that quiet and rest is better than any form of stimulants. The ambition of all lawyers is to speak well, and to such the words of Fowler should be engraved upon their memory, "The best teachers of humanity are the lives of great men," to which may be well added, the best teachers of good speaking, are the lives and sayings of good speakers inter- woven with intense practice. Henry Clay attributed his success in speaking to his early practice of committing speeches, and debating. Webster was a great student of oratory, and O'Connell believed that a good speech is a good thing, but the verdict is the thing. Gladstone is the only man in Parliament who speaks always in italics, and he is full of maxims. While the best of teachers may fail with a dull student, one born with eloquent tendencies, with heaven's great gift of genius, and a heart full of the subject, will need no rhetoric in words, but earnestness; and probably no quality can better aid a lawyer in his road to victory than is SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 129 expressed in the simplest sentences. The statement of an event told in the tone and words as it happened, in a well modulated delivery, will best describe even the most terrible tragedy. The events in the Bible are all given in this manner. No amount of economy on a meager income will ever bring riches. It is the proportion of money spent to money earned that regulates a fortune, so that to be rich in infor- mation, to be wise in knowledge of books one must be industrious, be he ever so careful, and still if unwise, how can he impart wise counsel? The field is a large one, the work exacting. A trial on patience, integrity and vital energy, bringing early silver of locks and furrows of care in its busy energy, where the wheels of life run rapidly, and some day the engine stops from lack of propelling power. But of all men lawyers live long, and see much of life's mix- tures. As success in racing requires training, so progress at the bar "is marked by aptness in references selected, in clearness of principles and reasons given, and fullness of the subject at hand, so that industry is beyond all natural requirements in the conduct of difficult cases. "I never realized what labor was," said Shaffer, "until they attempted to baffle me in the poisoning case." "When I had been three days under ground, and measured every vein, and studied it like a miner, I knew I was right in my position," said Van Arman, of his Ohio coal case. i 3 o SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. And what other rule can be given that will increase one's practice and income? This is it, and the last one: Kind- ness. The success of a man in business depends upon the number that he can make himself agreeable to. His cus- tomers come out of their way to deal with him. His integrity being presumed, and honesty unquestioned, and industry conceded, even then he may be a bear in appear- ance or actions. If he is, he is sure to be avoided. Much in law comes to the courteous and deserving. Xo man knows when he passes a little shop with a key hung out as a sign, that he may ever need to call there, but the first broken lock reminds him of its location. No one knows that all around him may be men and women of peaceful habits, utterly unknown to courts and lawsuits, whose friends may be deeply involved in trouble, and the sunny smile or kindly tone accompanied by other essentials, may have left an impression deep and lasting on one who shall send the lawyer his best client, all through some act of kindness. If we knew much depended on good will in law business, we would all practice courtesy. Often in his earliest cases will counsel be tempted into severe language. He may be overfull of prejudice from his own client's story. Most likely he has had the enemy pictured as a brute, and the opposing counsel seems a wretch to contend with such * rights as his client seems to possess, but time will change this materially. It will be better by and by to avoid per- sonal offense, even to defendant. The bone of contention SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 131 has doubtless been magnified. The opponent has many- equities that can be fairly conceded, and far wiser is he who oils the ruffled feathers by kind words, and makes an early settlement possible. With a wise enthusiasm and honest purpose, and a thorough skill and ripe knowledge of facts and principles, kindness will win all hearts and many verdicts. And in a calling so high, great and noble ; so honored by the lives of statesmen and orators of the past; honored by being the body of followers whose laws govern humanity; honored by having framed great constitutions, systems of govern- ment, and national settlements that have saved the lives of whole nations, and systems of finance, trade protection and international commerce; with all of them to remind us, and inspire us, how small, and low, and mean, seems a little quarrel, and how great and grand are wisdom, honesty and nobility! to acquire which, we must be diligent and genial, with purity of purpose and charity in practice, so that when death, the great reconciler, is come — to divide us — it is never our tenderness, but our severity that we repent of. Let us talk, act and live in friendship, but reason in italics. Let us live, and do our duty, but forgive our enemies in whispers, where the "soft answer turneth away wrath, and grievous words stir up anger." 132 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. WEALTHY LAWYERS. The practice of law is not always remunerative. Many an advocate turns before he reaches success to other and more profitable employment. The cost of books, offices and travel, the delay of trials and worry in weary waiting comes to most men as a discouragement. Men wait for a lawyer's success, as they do for an actor's celebrity. They dislike to advance much on the great un- known. This is a terrible blunder of men who need legal talent If one is apt, keen and alert in his profession, and has but little practice, he is the very one who will spend days over a question that older attorneys would be unable to devote a good hour's study to investigate. The cheapest talent is the medium priced and rather younger classed lawyers; men who have reputations to win, and need to be diligent. As new houses put out many goods at small profits, and old ones rest on their reputation, so lawyers are full of rare service at low pay when they start in practice. I have seldom known very rich lawyers to be very anxious to try knotty cases. They prefer ease in practice. A man worth many millions that has tried all classes says: "Give me a poor lawyer, not so poor as to be needy, but give me one who wants reputation and will earn it." Give me young talent like new buggies, fresh horses and new houses; the forenoon chance is always the best. When one is rich and able to rest, why should he kill himself with over work SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 133 and hard cases? The young are the burden bearers of business generally, and no less in law than in merchandise. It is reserved for the poor men to do the fine work, study and invent machinery, improve on the old methods and take the long steps forward, and no one need fear that poverty will forever keep him under in practice. It is a mistake to regret a humble birth, or envy the rich practitioner. It takes no genius or tact to be born rich, but, as Ingersoll well says, "the honor of the thing is in im- proving on the common stock — doing, and being, a little better than our ancestors." It is not what one's position may have been, or what his parents may have been, or how he attained his rank at the bar, but what he is, and how well he can maintain his position, that tells in practice. The genius that counts his fingers till he learns the rules more clearly, is none the less a genius. The boy lawyer with brains and grit who struggles with his superiors and suc- ceeds, is more deserving than the senior of name, character and standing. Time evens such things nicely in the long run, and rich, gray-haired men need never be envied by the young and ambitious, for few lawyers are wealthy under fifty who make their money in practice. 134 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. TALKING TOO MUCH. "Pleasant words are sweet to the soul." Aaron Burr made a rule of thirty minutes speeches. That is a little too short for most men to conclude their stating portions of an argument. But Burr always commenced in the middle, and cut both ways, with vivid intensity he reached the vital issue and held it like a quivering victim in his toils, till he mastered the issue and convinced his hearers. Most advocates start too far away, and end long after the end is out of sight and out of hearing. Once well told is told enough. One good reason need not be worn thread- bare by over-handling, and when a counsel goes off into science, metaphysics and generalities over minor matters, he dulls the edge of reason and tires his jury. There is such a strong disposition to cut across lots in business, and juries are so well informed, and should be so fully convinced by the testimony, that speeches are lost if made tiresome. Men have a right to look for apt words. "A word spoken in due season, how good it is." "He that hath knowledge, spareth his words." One had better say too much than too little, but just the right thing will be neither extreme. Careful attention will show the stopping point, and place the closing period where the end should be, before the sharp point is over-worded. Endless talkers are sure to lose their grip. It is the man who talks little and in pithy SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 135 sentences that wins suits and settles differences. Con- stantly objecting, or frequent side cuts of interruption, may require some lively sparring to get even, but the telling speeches are the short, sharp, clear cut, stinging ones that pierce to the heart like a swift arrow and execute the will of the advocate. Witness the address of McReynold's in the Stevens' Insurance suit, where talent, character and eloquence were arrayed in force against a country lawyer, who, with a period seldom equalled in any language, told more in ten minutes, than hours of round-about reasoning could accomplish. Judge Curtis, whose opinion is second only to Beach's in America — and in this case shared in by the latter — says of this McReynolds closing: * * * "It is a gem in English literature, sublime in sentiment, eloquent in heart thoughts, grand in its simple simplicity. Who could resist such strength of reason, combined with his power of vivid pathos." Here is part of it: "Even now, by your silence and interest in this case, I hear you say stop, delay not longer, let us begin the work of justice! Stop till we right this wrong at once! Stop till we restore these orphan children to their own, to that char- acter they will love to honor — a character as pure as they believed it on that last sad night, the night before the night of death ! Stop till we give a verdict and a vindication !" Judge Beach was more especially pleased with the pas- sage of the accident just before the one quoted, which he pronounces rare: "I can see her now, a.s plain as yesterday. 136 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. It is evening. It is twilight. The snow is falling fast and slippery, whitening the little white walk to the cistern. She is confused; she has company. She seizes the pail, hurries to the cistern, catches up the hook, leans over the curbing. Slips! Falls! The water covers her! No one hears her! She is drowned ! It is an accident." ON HIS MERITS. The success of a doctor may be aided by good nursing, and nature's efforts to revive the patient. In eight cases out of ten, except in seasons of epidemic, rest and a natural vitality will withstand ordinary diseases. This fact gives doctors a great reputation, but such is not true of lawyers, whose clients once in trouble, generally stay in for a good season, and no reputation can be made in law, save on the merits of the lawyers. Some may dream that wealthy relatives will do it; some that influential friends can elevate one to power and posi- tion — and they may for a brief season — but the lawyer has one road, and one only: he must win for himself, and be as much independent of relatives, friends and riches, as if row- ing a boat race; mettle, and mettle alone, must count in him if he conquers. Cheers help a speaker, but no amount of cheers win a law suit. Wealth helps one socially, but not in a law suit, before a jury, to any great extent. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 137 There may be instances of purchased positions, but they are clerical or secondary places; there may be corporation counsel appointments, where wealth turns the scale, and secures the place for a favorite; but corporations are none too ready to rely on other than actual merit in legal matters. So that at the outset a strange feeling must come over a young student in his early practice; that he must make his own way in practice, and to preferment, unaided by any- body. There is one source of encouragement in this thought to the worthy, and that is the fact that he will own his honor when he earns it. It may stimulate his energy in character building, which of all things is the best capital in practice. It may urge him to braver work, and nerve him to endur- ance, to reflect that in the legal arena he is struggling alone for a name of winning cases, and earning fame, that with the lookers on, are the friends and relatives who will cheer his first victory, but he is the racer, who must outrun others to secure it, and probably it does cheer him, for few are so careless of a good name as not to desire, and wish to deserve one, for this reason, if no other, the legal profession opens a broad arena of competition. There is no storekeeper, dealer or merchant who meets an equal competition with the lawyer. His way is beset with tricks and accidents. His client may be honest and may be knavish. He may be wise, and is more likely to be foolish. He may be discreet, but has more likely given away his case in some left-handed letter 138 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. or admission where opposite counsel will say "we have the best of witnesses — a confessing defendant/' and mean it. But while the law never requires of one to do impossible things, it has said in a wise maxim that ''reason is the soul of law," and all one really needs is earnest endeavor and common sense to reach the true basis of practice. The rare chance may not come in the beginning. It may come later. Most good lawyers mature well along in life, with gray hairs and increased confidence; with cases Avon and large experiences; with friendships made that turn into line quickly when one is known to be successful. Such is the whim of human nature that once on the wave of popular favor, every one who knows you is pleased to be friendly and joyous at your victories. Who did not know that Garfield was great, and would •exceed Grant's popularity in Chicago? Who was more willing to call Grant great while away over the water, stand- ing at the foot of the high stone steps, as Queen Victoria came down and held out both hands to greet him? Who did not thrill with pride as he marched arm in arm with Bismarck? and later rode through Jerusalem in triumph; rounded the Globe and landed at the golden gate of his native shores ; called out vast crowds to greet him, and was the lion of two Continents? Such is life, and such is victory. Success makes friends, and defeat makes enemies. The world will bow in season, ■or growl in season. Let one slip like Colfax — once one of the greatest of senators — how soon were his enemies ready SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 139 to belittle his honesty? See Conkling, one of the most brilliant of statesmen, and whom millions believed the leader of all stalwarts, how soon he was maligned by slanderers? • But the glory of the lawyer is his strength. His knowl- edge and acumen must be forever respected. It is his last- ing capital. Fires never burn it; slanders cannot kill it. Distance, time or rivalry cannot destroy a man's legal capital actually acquired and frequently tested. This is the merit of the whole matter. What one owns in knowledge is liis, is valuable, is lasting. REMEMBER LITTLE THINGS. It is well to remember not only that kindness begets kind- ness, but that "vainly is the net set in sight of the bird ; v so that kindness must be a growth of our being, an every-day practice. Chief Justice Waite never passed an old acquaint- ance, juryman, witness, or party to a case, without a cordial recognition. His nature was one long day of even dealing, and considerate deportment to others, high and low alike. A friend says of Matt Carpenter: "I was with him in an important ship canal case, when hundreds of thousands depended on the issue. He had turned away caller after caller of distinguished senators and visitors; he had de- clined all company, when the secretary announced, 'Mr. i4o SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Carpenter, the little colored girl waits to see you.' Instantly the pen dropped, and the senator had her come in, and said in a kind voice, 'Well, Liza, did you get the place?' 'Xo, Massa Carpenter; that place was all full.' It was to be janitress of a committee room. The senator added, 'Wait a moment, and I'll go with you, Liza;' and out into the evening to the committee room went the great supreme court lawyer, and soon secured the situation, saying: These men callers can come again, but it would break the little girl's heart to turn her away rudely.' The next day he won the canal case, but the joy at finding a place for little Liza was as great to the advocate as his greater victory." The incident touched me; acts like these give all orators a better hearing before a jury; it is not enough to be great once, true greatness is always great. I was in a United States court when a distinguished counsel returned from a trip to Europe. His return to the bar was cordially greeted; first he paid his respects to the court, and then turning towards the bar he met the old janitor on his way with an ice pitcher, whom he greeted with equal politeness, and so on through the bar, but noth- ing marked the gentleman more than the natural ease with which he remembered the colored janitor. In most cases lawyers have to win the respect of parties and witnesses, and when one gets the name of sharpness, he draws that much less from his witness, and is that much more discounted by the jury. As "modulation is the music of oratory," so tact is the weapon of an examiner. Men of SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING 141 fairness, men of candor and reputation are not long in get- ting the facts of a controversy in issue; therefore, it is all essential to be manly, to overcome the dread of testifying, to lead a witness to truth telling in natural language. To gain the confidence of everyone, and deserve it, re- quires a life of uprightness. To such a lawyer, half of his cases are easy victories. His words are weighty. Suppose such a man asks a witness, "May you not be a little mis- taken?" the answer will be, ''Yes, possibly.'' "May not the plaintiff have been just a little to blame ?" "Yes, he may have." "And you may be just a little prejudiced?'' "Yes." "May he not have spoken harshly?" "Yes." "May he not have looked just a little angry, or disappointed; or attempted to show his manhood; then his courage; then his anger; then he did brace up?" "Yes, sir." "Just as you or any brave man would do, did he?" "Yes, sir." "And was ready to strike (or shoot) if forced to-?" "Yes, of course he was." After these yeses begin to be repeated, the judge would get "yes" to matters of importance. If one can listen a few days to the average run of court arguments, he will soon see how poor and awkward, how dull and monotonous most of them sound to outsiders. It is the province of counsel to present facts in a winning way, and in language persuasive. If he sang in a choir, he would practice; if he lectured, he would write and' commit every paragraph ; if he dreamed of fame as a painter, he would study fine art diligently; and this is but one man's opinion, but firmly believed in, that any advocate can be greatly aided by a thorough study of 142 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. fine speeches, arts, and samples of rare work by others, and one that also believes many cases have been won by pleas- ant and pungent arguments, where the facts pointed to the other side without this rarest of all gifts, earnest eloquence. ''He that is wise, is wise for himself," is a saying that ought to be framed, and hung up in every law office in the land. If he is wise for himself, he will not neglect to secure prompt settlements, and thereby lasting friendship with clients. That man who owes his counsel an X, or double eagle, or half hundred, some amounts too small to be sued for, will go elsewhere, and pay his money so long as the debt case can slide along uncancelled; and more clients change lawyers for lack of prompt settlements than any other cause, but the losing of cases. Of course lack of suc- cess always leads to change of counsel. But a lawyer is to blame who has failed to tell the real prospects of success and failure at the beginning; he that is wise will take a long look ahead, and provide a permanent life work by reason- able charges, honest advice and sturdy integrity. These all make friends, and friends make practice. I have heard attorneys say, "All the business I ever got came first from strangers ; my friends never helped me any." Poor fellow, he had never "grappled any friend to him with hooks of steel," or his story would be different. "He that would have friends, must show himself friendly," is too true to need one word of comment. The wisdom of the ages by the wit of one, need never be distrusted. "Better a good name and loving favor, than great riches," makes another SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 143 of the rare rules of law practice. One who would have "reason impelled by passion, sustained by learning, and adorned by fancy,'' should gather maxims and rules, and commit passages until his mind becomes a fountain of fine thoughts and rare sayings, that come like an authority, for quotations always sound like authorities. LAWYERS' FORTUNES. The number of good lawyers, celebrated for eloquence .nd sagacity, that have gone down in middle life, and often at the end of a brilliant career, without the means of enjoy- ment that their talents deserved, is too large to specify. "Webster was a failure, financially, all the days of his life. He took in large fees, and lacked nothing in opportunities. He was a lover of farm life, and cattle and horses, and had a broad forecast of national matters, but cared far too little for his bank account. Carpenter made more money than any Senator of his time, for he worked more hours, but no one will credit him with a wise investment of his earnings. Butler had the foresight to buy rundown real estate, and improve it and make by it, until at his death he was believed to be worth several millions, but not through his law fees merely. 144 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Fullerton has had one long, continued success at the bar, as has General Pryor, but neither acquired riches, and neither is financially independent. Dillon and Hoadly and Chamberlin, all celebrated trial lawyers, fall far short of a handsome fortune. Dougherty made more than a half million, and saved a snug sum of it, but was not rich by any means. Ingersoll, of all men, has a royal income, and no one credits the Colonel with great riches. He is known to command large fees and save but a small portion of them. Conkling, that prince of good livers, never saved a thou- sand a year while Senator, and only in later years retrieved his fortune. , Sumner (but he was hardly a lawyer) lived up to his income continually. Storrs was an able and eloquent pleader, located in the fastest growing city of America, and was on the popular side of politics through the war, but died without leaving a comfortable heritage for his family. Davis has dropped the income of a rich clientage for the meager stipend of a Senator. Edmunds must have saved something to retire in comfort, and Evarts, with princely income, is turning to the quiet ways of rural living. Carlisle is talented and elo- quent, and Breckenridge likewise, and neither is wealthy. Beach was a most brilliant advocate, and enjoyed while he lived the good things of life quite comfortably; but Beach was not a success financially. Hilton, who took a lower rank than anyone mentioned, has, by the luck of SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 145 Stewart's friendship, carved out a fortune of more millions, and is no doubt a heavier taxpayer than all the names given of those living, aside from Butler. The possessions in money of all those mentioned would hardly equal Hilton's, but the fame of either would scarcely be exchanged for the Hilton millions. And this seems to be the goal of a lawyer's ambition — to reach fame and deserve honor. For it he toils years in drudgery; for it he endures seclusion, privation, ill-health and pecuniary losses; for it he clings to his clients and ad- vises peace when war and lawsuit would be more money- making. For it he leaves the gold to misers and holds fast to the honor of his profession. During my last interview with the lamented Regent Draper, in the winter of '91, a man whose talents and keen insight are well known all over Michigan, he related how he had recently closed a timber deal for a firm of clients, extending some six days in duration, consuming several hours each day — at least three days' service — on which, by his advice and sagacity, the firm made $75,000; and at the settlement the clients very generously offered $75. He replied that he guessed his services were not enough to charge for, and had better be donated under the circum- stances, which hint shamed the clients into a little larger fee; and he added: "Our court fees are paid for, but our counsel is given for a most meager compensation ; we make others wealthy; we are partners in their business plans that 146 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. make them millions, but we are never appreciated." So Draper died without leaving a fortune. THE BOY LAWYER. The boy lawyer has every muscle to harden — all to develop, all to enlarge. If he "keep with the good, he will soon be one of them," as the Spanish put it. "If he misses the target, he must turn to himself for the cause of hie failure," for he surely cannot blame another. The first step (rightly taken) the rest is easy. "He must not attack a tiger without a weapon," or try a case unprepared. He must not "cross a stream without bridge or boat." (These mean readiness, theory, proof and law.) Like Alexander at the games, he must observe the single fact, that they that win the prizes in the games enter the arena and run, and not those who stand and look on. Carlyle's saying applies again here: "Success in life, in anything, depends upon the number one can make himself agreeable to." This is true of doctors, lawyers, merchants and business men of all conditions. Cyrus, the great general, started training at five years of age, in open air, on fleet horses and hard fare ; sleeping on the ground to harden his body. With his hardened muscle SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 147 and trained mind he conquered the mighty armies of Croesus. He was a model in training. Wisdom is learning applied and made useful. But Cyrus had another virtue. He was a just man. Early in life his schoolmates referred their quarrels and disputes to his decision, and one day a large boy, having a small coat, and a small boy a large one, the stronger boy forced the other to change, and the matter was presented to Cyrus, who sided with the big boy. But the matter was appealed to his teacher, who reprimanded i.mi soundly, saying: "By what rule of justice do you allow the strong to override the weak? I would teach you that justice protects the weak. The strong need no protection." The lesson was life-long. The error was not repeated. The young lawyer must make friends, but be diligent in business. Whatever he has learned to do a little better than another will be rewarded. His turn will soon come. The ranks of the procession soon thin out and he takes a place nearer the front. It is a test if he is ready; if not, he goes backward; if ready, he steps in and forces his way to a front rank and a lucrative employment. Brains, work, will and industry, with constant practice, are always rewarded. Let him debate, speak, write, exercise, keep cheerful, grow strong in speaking, fill up with wise words, simple, elegant diction; be broad in reading, apt in illustration, fluent in story or incident. Webster, who forgot nothing, once said: "I carried it fifteen years 'till I found a fitting place to use it." Often one illustration wins a lawsuit, and fame alwavs comes of victories. 148 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. GREAT SPEECHES. Colonel Ingersoll says: "If you wish to know the differ- ence between an orator and an elocutionist, read Lincoln's wondrous words at Gettysburg and then the speech of Edward Everett. The elocutionists believe in the virtue of voice, the sublimity of syntax, the majesty of long sentences, the genius of gesture. The orator loves the real, the simple, the natural. He places thought above all. He knows that the greatest ideas should be expressed in the shortest words — that the greatest statues need the least drapery." Lincoln went to Gettysburg with a preparation which Everett could not have had; he went there to perform a duty radically different from that assigned to the Massa- chusetts orator. The weight of responsibility resting on Lincoln's shoulders was enormous. At that time he was the brain and nerves of an excited nation. No reverse by the side of a muddy creek in some far off Southern State but sent a throb of pain through those nerves to that brain ; every strange visitor at the White House might be the assassin who was to come at last. The soldiers of the Union army were personally dear to him, because every regiment, every company, every man of them was needed by him on whom the people had thrown the burden of a war, which was not only to win success on the battlefield, but which also was to establish a principle. Is it any wonder that the words of such a man, at such an SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 149 hour, are immortal? If ever inspiration comes to man, it came then to Lincoln. LOG CABIN DAYS. "The scene is mid-winter. The heavy snow banks are piled high along- the Adrian road in Southern Michigan — rude log cabins and plain rail fences are in the height of fashion. It is evening and early candle light. The sheep and the cattle are housed and cared for. The farmer and his boys are carrying in the night wood to feed the broad fire-place. Hark! Is that music coming down the big hill yonder? Yes, whole sleigh loads are coming singing on the clear evening air — singing familiar tunes with happy voices. They drive in by the cabin door, shake the fleecy snow from their outer garments and surround the big fire- place. They are not in full dress, but full hearted. They visit in earnest, read their letters from far-away homes in New York and New England; they talk of their clearing, the markets, their prospects, the news of their weekly papers, their churches; they enjoy their visit. At nine the warm lunch is brought on, with hot rye coffee. At ten the chairs are pushed back and an earnest prayer is offered by one who prays for everyone; for their friends at home ; for the wanderer in the bleak forest, if any there be without shelter; for food and raiment, friendship and charity; 150 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. for the loved they have left, the prospects of the future; ior health and hope and happiness eternal, and the double blessing of a peaceful life. They say good-bye. They go away, three, five, six miles out in the wilderness to clear forests, to make States; these men who founded our vil- lages; these women who were a help and a comfort to their children, who have done more to build up America and American institutions than idle men ever could do, and women who have gone down into the very valley and shadow of death to bear children; the mothers of a race of men, of soldiers and statesmen. They are growing scarcer. They are going to their rest after labor. And of all things that have blessed our nation these were the double blessing." A THRILLING SKETCH. A train from the East had a terrible experience two miles east of Mt. Vernon. A destructive prairie fire was raging at that point, and the dust and smoke made the surround- ings as dark as night. The engineer plunged the train into the darkness, and the first thing he knew found the ties on fire for nearly a mile ahead. He checked the train, fearing to advance lest he should find no track ahead of him, and there, in the suffocating smoke and scorching heat, with blazing ties underneath the train and flames on each side of SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 151 the track, the crew sought to extinguish the flames and save the train. The passengers became excited and pleaded to be released from the death by fire or suffocation that seemed so near at hand. Children cried for pain and gasped for fresh air, and strong men became desperate and left the train to fight the flames, only to return to the coaches exhausted. For a time escape looked impossible. The train crew and passengers worked heroically. Men gasping for breath felt their way to the tender and got water to dash on the burning ties, while others went a few feet ahead of the engine to see whether it was safe to move on. It was dangerous to move ahead, and behind, the road was on fire. But it was death to linger, and when the surroundings either meant move or death, a start was made. The suspense and horror of the few moments required to pass over the burning track and through the terrible heat and smoke cannot be expressed, but the train finally pulled out of the flames to fresh air and safety. IN AUSTRALIA. Hardly anything here has the character, quality and rela- tions that it has in other lands. Although the trees and flowers are chiefly those of the temperate zone, the birds are, for the most part, of the tropics and flash the gorgeous col- ors of the parrot and the cockatoo through the dull foliage 152 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. of the sad-toned eucalyptus. The birds have no song, and such notes as they possess seem like weird echoes from a period when reptiles were assuming wings and filling the tree tops with a strange jargon, before heard only in the swamps and fens. The flowers have no scent, while the leaves of every tree are full of odor.< The trees cast no shade, since every leaf is set at edge against the sun, and shed, not their leaves, but their bark, which, stripping off in long scales, exposes the naked wood beneath, and adds to the ghostly effect which the forest already holds in the pallid hues of its foliage. MONEY MAKING. Money making with the ancients was confined mainly to kings and misers. The common people had very little to do with it. This is largely the custom of Eastern nations, even in our day. Merchants originally carried their stores on the backs of camels in caravans, and traded by the roadside one article for another, but very little money was exchanged among dealers. It is related that competition was a little more severe then than that between the wholesalers and retailers to-day, but of a very different character. The Moors and the Greeks SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 153 were fighting rivals in business, and one time met on a high and narrow mountain pass, way up near the clouds, and held an angry dispute, for there was no room to pass each other, and one side (like the wholesalers and retailers of our day) must back down. The Moors said: "Greeks, back down your elephants!" The Greeks answered: "Back down your camels." A fight followed, long and bitter, and only one Greek escaped alive. Over the high precipice went the loads and camels. Over it fell the huge elephants, all in one common ruin. This was a foolish transaction. There was no business in it. It ended in a double ruin to both caravans. Mark Twain tells us that the Moors are cunning people. They make and save money on the sly, and if the king knows it he confiscates it. At one time they invented a new $2 gold coin, and that is so small that if overcome by an enemy they can swallow it. This is the practice in their country. Shakespeare tells of Timon of Athens; how he became a great money maker, and finally grew to be very liberal. He would give away to every one. The people knew it, and flattered him by presents, like a beautiful pony, to which Timon would pay back a team worth ten times their value. But he ran out of money and became poor. (He did too much credit business — he trusted his people.) Well, when he got very poor he called on his friends whom he had fed and feasted, and of course expected small sums of money — very much as men who sell on credit expect when they send 154 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. out a collector. The result was just as it is with us. They were all hard up — very suddenly hard up ! Timon became disgusted. He abandoned his home. He took to the woods. He wandered away poor. War came upon his country, and he was invited back, but he refused. One day he found a vast deposit of gold and became rich — very rich. Then the people wanted him home again. He refused, and said he would not trust such a people. (He had enough of the credit system, and knew how to handle his money.) Money making in our day is peculiar. Here the common people become wealthy. Flood & O'Brien in San Francisco, were poor dealers. They supplied the miners with what was called a "grub stake" — food till they could develop a mine. Suddenly both grew very rich in millions. When Flood went home to New Jersey he had a gold trimmed car — the finest ever known in America. A drayman in In- dianapolis bought a farm of a neighbor — paid down $500, and next day sold for $35,000 net profit. I could multiply cases. Nearly every leading business man in Detroit, Toledo, Chicago and New York, came to his wealth by trading or by business, by saving, by investing, by waiting the growth of property. They were poor once, hard up often, but they had foresight and ingenuity. I could call the roll and give names, but names are not needed. You know it is true, and need no proof of it but your own experience. Money making is mainly in cities. The richest either seek cities or places near them. It is the rule to say the SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 155 place to make money is where money is. In Kansas City, now a place of 140,000 people, 70,000 have settled in the past six years. They are earnest people. They stand to- gether, trade with each other, believe in their town, and press its growth in every direction. Wichita, Kansas, is another marvel in growth and pros- perity. The people are full of life and energy. They like their city ; they push its growth ; they trade with each other ; they believe in home markets. They recently raised $40,000 to bring in a wagon works to increase the pay roll and ad- vance the interest of real estate owners. Minneapolis is another case of rapid growth by home pride and home deal- ing. There is no city that grows faster; 22,000 in 1870, 160,000 in 1886. They are even jealous of St. Paul — once as much larger than their city as Chicago is larger than De- troit. It is said that a minister in giving out his text as from St. Paul, actually emptied his church by the announce- ment! In all of these cities you find men buying for cash and sell- ing for cash, buying at home and selling at home — stand- ing together. They know that cash trade is trade at a profit. That credit trade is worse than wholesaling retail goods. They know that credit trade soon places the mer- chant's capital in the hands of idle spendthrifts, and to them it means debt and mortgage, and "debt is a monster that binds them in irons, while interest eats out their vitals," while a cash trade means a discount on bills of six per cent, and that doubled once a month is a splendid interest. 156 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. I know a case of a run-down stock — no names are men- tioned — a new man took hold — placed the shelfkeepers — the unsalable goods, by themselves — marked and sold them be- low wholesale — closed them out — bought and sold fresh goods, and in thirty days was taking in $90 a day up to $175 Saturdays, and selling at a profit. I know of a case where a man paid $9 a day rent and expenses, and now pays $5 a day rent and does double the former business. His old business was on credit Since he failed his trade is on a cash basis. Each discount their bills now and make a fine profit by it. It is one of the very best means of money mak- ing in trade to make it by discounts. Try it and win by it. GRAIN GAMBLING. Set over in a showy corner of nearly every large city newspaper at some time of the year will be seen the seductive card of some two or more New York or Chicago houses showing the prospective profits and a great willingness to engage in investing other people's money in grain options, or, putting it in plain English, who are willing to bet on how high or how low the standard grades of wheat will rule a day or 60 days next following. As if this were not down- right gambling. A man who plays draw poker and loses a V, or X, or double eagle, and leaves a half hundred of someone's money SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 157 in a faro bank, may walk home wiser and more cautious for the venture, but not utterly ruined. Men who buy a lottery ticket and help to pay high salaried nabobs in Louisiana and other cities, may, once in a while, hear of one drawing a small prize by it. Of course such concerns must pay a little something for the sake of advertising. But even such a habit grows with practice and tends to lessen confidence in the sturdy industry and good contracts as a means of rapid money making. But men who once get the grain gambling fever are ruined ere they are aware of it. It is a Niagara whirlpool that never lets go of its victim till it lands him headlong in the seething abyss below, never to rise again. Grain gambling is a betting of a strange, uncertain kind. A thousand and one chances may change the scale and alter the result completely. The wind, the rain, the frost, the drouth, a war, a foreign turn, a pestilence abroad, all count in the market roll of nations to send up wheat or cut down corn prices. The moral effect is marvelous. Men of state repute, clerks of courts, heads of firms, confidential cashiers, men with trust funds, merchants, bankers, lawyers and business houses in firms and singly, once started in this gambling trade are lost to honor and lost financially in ninety cases out of every hundred. They buy and borrow and overdraw and beg and fail to pay and go downward to the last round on the ladder, and very rarely make by the merest chances and regain their foothold in business. They more often be- come drunkards to the habit and borrow of their friends and 158 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. end in utter ruin. Not five dollars in ten go to the credit of the real owner. Firms that pick up a cool million and de- camp into Canada are very slow to put in all the dupes' dollars sent them from all over the country. They notor- iously place the lion's share in a private bank account of their own, skip into another country, some favorite resort for these fashionable bankers, and enjoy a few seasons' rest, then cross to Spain or South America, possibly to Mexico, and live up their swindles in riotous luxury. The wdiole scheme is a polite system of pilfering in which more banks have been wrecked, more widows and orphans made doubly destitute, more men in high life been sent to prison, more envious emulations and extravagance in life, more high-handed rascality practiced than all of the com- bined robberies, larcenies and burglaries of the nation. It is doubtful if the money invested in drink or the widows of drunkards begins to compare with those brought low by grain gambling. The delusion is so secret and seductive that few hear of it and less realize it. But in every village, every hamlet, every city, and even out into the country, from one to hundreds are caught in the meshes of this soul-eating canker and coaxed to invest trust money, savings bank money, money saved for mortgage payments, or saved to meet honest debts, or held to pay insurances, or kept for rainy days or held in trust for others, is thrown in the pool to be squandered by the bankers who handle it. Instances can be given of a farmer near Oxford who lately lost $6,000 in wheat options; of another at Ovid who lost SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 159 $2,200 in like manner; of a respected clerk of a court in Grand Rapids, who formed this dangerous habit of invest- ing in options till he squandered his salary and savings, bor- rowed all he could get trusted for, and ran down to the verge of insanity, lost his position and beggared his family by the investments, and to-day remains a living witness of its wickedness. A thousand cases could be given, but why name them when every city has its hundreds, and every village its ex- ample. Talk of rum's ruin; talk of broken homes by drink; talk of poverty, forfeited friendship and trust betrayed, you will find it in the swindling option buying on the broadest scale. LINCOLN'S ART IN COURT. In his famous Grayson case the guilt seemed almost cer- tain. Two young men wanted one girl. They were not friendly. Young Lockwood was murdered on a camp ground. Mr. Lincoln defended. All the witnesses were allowed to stand down without cross-examination, till the last one. Old Airs. Grayson grew impatient and wondered "why Abram didn't do something/' At last the tall lawyer stood up and said: "You saw the shooting?" "Yes." "Saw the pistol?" "Yes." 160 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. "Stood near by?" "No; twenty feet away." "In the open field?" "No, in the beech timber." "Leaves on the timber?" "Yes." "At ten in the evening?" "Yes." "You could see the pistol and how it hung?" "Yes." "Near the meeting place?" "Three-quarters of a mile away." "Did Grayson or any one have a candle?" "No." "How did you see it then in the night?" "By moonlight." Lincoln drew out an old blue almanac, showed that the moon rose at one the next morning, and there was no moon- light that evening. The moonlight perjurer was the murderer. DEFENDING THE ACCUSED. Society is Safer by Fair Trials. In a criminal trial the lawyer is not the judge. He is not even a juror. He stands for his client. His appeal is the appeal of his client. Flis voice is the voice of the ac- cused, who has a right to be heard. In the Sickles case no one doubted the fact that Gen. Sickles shot and killed Key. But some one should speak for him. Edwin M. Stanton and James T. Brady both appeared for him. In the trial a reference was made to the effect on Sickles as they broke the news to his child, and he broke down and sobbed, and quiv- SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 161 ered, and shook with agony. His wise counsel saw that he had spoken eloquently for himself. They rested and won. In the Hayden case in Wisconsin, Emory Storrs defended Judge Hayden for shooting the betrayer of his wife, and said, "It is not in the law, it is not the law, for laws were never made broad enough nor statutes strong enough to restrain a husband's hand from punishing the invader of his home." In a recent trial a colored man had sent a note to a white girl to meet him at a mill where he was foreman. The girl's lover called instead for explanation. A quarrel followed. The colored man was shot deep in the neck and nearly died. The proof was certain. The intent was to kill the invader, for they were engaged. The case looked hopeless. De- fendant's counsel insisted that while one can defend himself, he can defend his wife, his mother, his sister, and — added counsel — his sweetheart, for whom will he ever love more, to whom is he nearer than he should be to her? and more, by the note the quarrel began — by the insult he brought upon himself all that happened. In the morning of life, al- most the honeymoon of marriage, he invaded a home and provoked the assault. It served him right. He won. So I could multiply cases. One recently defended, the Beamer-Baker case, where the guilt was certain. Beamer kept a restaurant; Baker boarded with him; fell in love with his wife; induced a di- vorce; married Mrs. Beamer; settled in the same city. One day they met and Beamer beat Baker nearly to death with 162 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. a loaded cane. He had carried the grudge, and could not sleep. He was not insane. In the defense this line was used. Beamer acted in self-defense. In the quarrel it came out that Bridge in taking Beamer off heard him say: "Let me hit him, he stole my wife! He broke up my business! He ruined my home !" This was enough to provoke a quar- rel! Cicero said: "This is the law judges have not learned from books but was born in us, that if our life is in danger from robbers or enemies any means of safety is honorable. * * * Reason hath taught this law to learned men, necessity to barbarians, and custom to all na- tions and nature to wild beasts." The Burglar Story. — It's two o'clock — all are asleep — Scotten is aroused by a man with a drawn revolver who says, show me your money. It is shown. I see a ring on your wife's finger, take it off. The wedding ring comes off. Show me down-stairs! He is shown down, and so excited is Scotten that he invites him to call again ! Out into the night went the burglar. Back to his room went Scotten. His jewels and money and wedding ring were gone, but his wife was left! In the case at bar the wife was gone. And who shall say but that Scotten had a right to kill the robber half way downstairs, or out in the yard or anywhere? And the city say amen for society would be safer! And who will say but Beamer could avenge the de- stroyer of his home when in his words he said: "Let me hit him ! He stole my wife ! He broke up my business ! He SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 163 ruined my home !" The cases are many where we know the guilt and see the extenuating circumstances. THE MEN WE CROWN. Demosthenes, the father of all orators — the first Grecian advocate of his time, after years of study and practice won the crown of gold in a seven days' contest with Eschines — who twitted his rival with cowardice and desertion, who begged of his people not to crown one who was unworthy, saying in this beautiful sentence: "The character of a city is known by the character of the men it crowns!" To this the great Demosthenes replied that often he had served with them in war on land and sea, that in defeat and victory they had stood together. He reminded them of the part they took at Marathon and Salamis and calling up the grand bat- tles he touchingly appealed to them and their honor that it was but the part of brave men they had all taken. He won the crown of gold by a tremendous majority. IN THE SIGHT OF THE FATHERS. If it be true, as many believe, that the good of all ages are permitted to look down on occasions of rejoicing like this, and witness our happiness from their home beyond the 164 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. stars, oh, what a scene must it be to-day where the fathers of a mighty nation are gathered to review the glory of a Re- public that they have planted and reared and made glorious ! What an army to celebrate this great birthday of our liberty ! and how they will rejoice in our prosperity. Well may Co- lumbus be proud of such a discovery ! Well may Washing- ton look down on a land of free men. Well may Jefferson and Adams, Jackson and Webster look with pride on a united people. And well may Lincoln and Douglass, Sum- ner and Garfield shake hands over the past, and pointing to that Constitution that living they defended and dying they remembered, say: "This government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth." THE TEACHER'S DEFENSE. It is a country school. A teacher trial for murder. The court room is packed to witness a trial that always excites a community. It comes into their homes and in- terests every one. The facts are best developed in the argument. The time is December, 1887. The place is Cor- unna. One hundred scholars are witnesses. The case is strongly represented for the people, who are determined to convict. (They have convicted the defendant in their hearts already.) Notice the answer of the very first witness SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 165 sworn, to the question: "Have you formed or expressed an opinion in this case?" "Yes, sir, I have. I have said I am opposed to the use of fire arms in our public schools." (Sensation!) This reflects the average bias. A jury is obtained and a separation of witnesses ordered — one brought in at a time. Before any evidence is given both the people and the defendant counsel carefully state their case. The proof was strong on both sides. A single incident reveals a discrepancy. A scholar who saw the shooting swore that the teacher walked to his desk, took out his re- volver, put it in his coat pocket, on the front right hand side, from which he drew it when he fired at Morrison. This looked premeditated. On cross examination, it ap- peared that defendant had no such pocket in the coat. A part of the argument describes the case: It is morning and at recess; Calvin Morrison, an unruly boy, is about to be punished. He was a fighter, and could swear in all the modern oaths of the season. He would run away, and tell the teacher he would be d d if he would come in. The big boys laughed. It was very funny to them. He called the boy to punish him. The boy fought back, and was conquered. In the tussle a whip was broken over the boy's arm. xAnother was snatched from the teacher's hand by the boy, and recoiled on his nose, and it bled. The boy rubbed the blood over one side of his face, and smeared it. School was called again, and suddenly in came Morrison, the boy's father, a large man of 190 pounds. Joscelyn, the teacher, weighed 122. One was 166 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. a slender cripple; one a giant in strength! Morrison was angry. Throwing his hat on the desk, he muttered : "I want to know what in hell you're whipping my boy for!" starting toward the teacher, who said, "for disobeying the rules and running away." "Didn't you lick him for that yesterday?" "No ! but for disobeying another rule." "Well, if you ever lay your hand on him again, d n you! I'll pound you into the ground!" He turns to go. He sees his boy's face. He turns to Joscelyn and says: "D n, I've a notion to do it now!" He rushes to the desk. Joscelyn draws his revolver from his hip pocket and says: "Hold on, Mr. Morrison! You lay yourself liable for disturbing a school." On rushes Morrison to the rostrum. He clinches the teacher with his right hand thrown over his neck and reaches with his left hand for the revolver, now held off to the right at arm's length. The struggle is desperate. In the extreme moment of excitement and peril, nature and instinct prompts the thought to Joscelyn, "O, God! Must I shoot? Must I kill him?" The light goes out in his eyes. The room whirls. He loses his control. He knows not what has happened — whether an accident or a pull at the hammer has let go the dangerous bullet! Morrison is hit in the abdomen. The ball passes through the left lapel of Joscelyn's coat; it is buried in Morrison's body, but the strong man struggles, swearing "Let go of it! let go of it!" SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 167 In a moment he wilts and weakens, and mutters, 'There, I can't hurt you now! YouVe shot me!" still lying on the teacher. The small man rolls the large one off, hurries for a doc- tor; gives himself up, is here for trial for doing what you and you and you would do — shooting in self-defense. Our Supreme Court has said three times: "The man when hard pressed by one of superior strength and violent temper, is to act under the circumstances as they appear to him. He is not obliged to even call upon by-standers for help, but may defend himself even to the taking of life, and it will be excusable homicide. He may or may not be in actual serious danger, but if he believes that he is, he may act and he is not expected to draw any very fine distinctions, when he believes his life is in peril, or his body is in danger of serious harm." (See Hurd and Brownell cases, 38 Michigan.) Such is the law of our State beyond all question; and such is the law of reason, of instinct and nature. But we have more evidence. We will show you his father, who knew of this terrible accident by the machine, of his peculiar dread and fear of danger; we will call upon his brother and prove the warning to the young man as to Morrison's quarrelsome disposition — a man who was hard to handle — who had^five fights a year on an average. We will call in the neighbors who have seen him break in the head of a sugar barrel with his fist; who have seen him kick an old man till he was senseless; who knew him to be 168 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. violent and dangerous. Oh, we will satisfy you, gentle- men, in spite of this powerful army of trained scholars, who ran away, confused and excited; who claim the teacher fired twice ; wIiq heard the breaking desk as it was wrenched from the floor; who saw no smoke, who found a hole an inch square in the plaster, but no bullet; who admit the anger, the swearing, and the clinching, but saw no need of using a revolver! Finally we will show, as if to call one from the clouds to testify — that Morrison — the dying man, in the presence of two ministers and his family, when aware of his ap- proaching death, after he had twice been prayed with, asked : "Where is Joscelyn?" "He has gone for the doctor, to Owosso." "What! gone for a doctor for me?" "Yes." "Is there no hope for me?" "Not in this world," said the minister. "Then tell Joscelyn I ask his forgiveness. He will for- give me. I had no business there." And next to the name of the Saviour, the name of Joscelyn and his for- giveness was the last thought of the dying man Morrison. Shall we say any more, gentlemen? If we prove this, we will ask you to say in reason, "Not guilty." The defense proved what they stated. Judge Joslyn gave all of the defendant's requests and embodied a large part of the Hurd case mentioned. He SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 169 held that a teacher stands in a school like a parent to his children, and may punish them in reason; and any inter- ference, like the call of Morrison, was unlawful, and he could be expelled by force as from the teacher's own home. The Court said he had been five years a teacher, and knew the importance of maintaining order in schools. That there was no evidence of extreme punishment or unreasonable punishment. In the closing, both grew eloquent, but the position of the former that "free schools are the foundation of our in- stitutions, sacred and must be sustained," seemed to go home to the jury. He spoke an hour on the evidence of self-defense; quoted from Cicero, impressed the fact that Joscelyn could do no less and be manly; that the best way to stop crime is to stop making criminals — indeed made an eloquent appeal that will be remembered for many years by all who heard it. Every available inch of space in the court room was occupied, every window filled with faces of those who stood twenty feet deep at each possible point of hearing, while beyond surged crowds of those unable to hear, but impatiently awaiting the result. Indeed, before the defendant's counsel had half finished his introductory address, whispers were heard on every side, "He's going to win the case." It was certainly one of the most intensely interesting and dramatic trials that has taken place in many years. In closing his address to the jury before an immense audience, counsel used these strong words of bad boys, 170 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. that thrilled his hearers to earnest approval: "I have said, gentlemen, that bad boys make bad men. Let me illustrate. At a reunion in the old school house where I was trained as a boy, my first teacher spoke like this : " Tor nine years I taught this union school — often with few books and many scholars in an early day — always with young men and women older and larger than myself. Many were punished, for it was more the custom then than now. Often have I been threatened secretly that they would "get even with the teacher some day" (meaning when big enough, I suppose) — but no one ever struck back. Scholars, I have watched the progress of these boys and girls as they grew to manhood and to womanhood; many have outgrown their teacher in size and ability to master him. I have seen the studious children of the poor — little boys with patches on their trousers, and little girls with blue dresses of calico — grow up to men and women, and far outstrip, and stand head and shoulders over their fa- vored fellows in eminence, and I have concluded that good boys make good men, and good girls make good women. And I tell you with pain and with pride that one — only one — of my scholars turned out badly; he was unruly, ran away, went to the bad, and ended in prison — brought his father's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.' " "Ah, gentlemen, what a story this is, and how true after all! Have we not learned it by bitter experience that bad boys make bad men? And do we not know that good boys make good men? SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 171 "Look about you! Look in this court house and see this array of Henderson boys and girls, urged on by their parents to fight a school teacher — urged on to sustain this Calvin Morrison, a boy of only 13 summers, whose curly brow wears the scowl of crime, who swears and damns his teacher, and fights back and brings his own father to the grave! Great heavens! has it come to this! has the sense of decency sunk so low that a community can take such sides and set such an atrocious example? (Great sensation in the court room.) 'And the king walked out and bared his head, weeping, "O, Absalom, my son, Absalom, my son! O, my son, would God I had died for thee! Absa- lom, my son, my son!" ' "I have told you, gentlemen, that in his school room Joscelyn was in his home! Who but he should guard and control it? Who but he should ward off invaders? Who but he should enforce order? His home was invaded, and he acted under the law of self-defense, that in our State makes him the judge of his own danger, and permits him when so assaulted to repel the assault, even to the taking of life, and defines such an act as excusable homicide. "It is clear, then, by the evidence of both sides, that there was an occasion for self-defense, which Cicero says is: 'A law that we are not trained in, but which is implanted in us; that if our life is in danger by robbers or enemies, every means of securing safety is honorable: * * * Reason has taught this law to learned men; necessity, to i/2 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. barbarians; custom, to all nations, and nature to wild beasts/ "Besides this, gentlemen, I assert that laws are not strong enough, statutes are not broad enough, and never can be created by man, to restrain his own arm from warding off danger when his life is in peril! As it appeared to him, you are to judge him! He was almost alone at recess. The boys were out He was set upon and frightened. He must act, and act instantly. He must contend with a giant ; with an intruder without warning. "He had been enforcing the lesson that the way to stop crime is to stop raising criminals! "And think of the lesson you would teach, if you convict him for standing at his post in a time of danger! You would strike a blow at our common school system that is a center column of our civilization! "He was frightened. Let me illustrate: When the gen- tlemanly burglar called on Orren Scotten, at Springwells, the other night, the family were fast asleep. It was 2 o'clock in the morning. The cold steel of a revolver was pressed to Scotten's temple, and he looked up in the face of a masked man with a dark-lantern in one hand, and said: T suppose you want something?' 'Yes, get up,' said the burglar. He got up. 'Fold your hands.' Pie folded his arms meekly. 'Show me your money and no harm will come to you.' He hesitated. 'Show it! 1 demanded the burglar. He showed it, and when all was taken, $700 — a bright diamond ring was seen on the wife's finger. 'Take SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. .173 it off!' demanded the burglar. The wedding ring was taken off by the husband, who went down (as bid), and showed the gentleman to the door, and remained so under his con- trol that he bade him call again." (Sensation.) "I must leave you, never to speak to you perhaps till we shall all stand for judgment. We will know each other then, our masks will all be torn away. I ask you to deal fairly, humanely, mercifully with this young man. I ask you to uphold the cause that he upheld! I ask you to set an example to dangerous men and check the raising of bad boys in our country! "To him, imprisonment would be more than death. Death in honor, at any age, is not to be so much dreaded as a life of dishonor. 'Whether a wall or a door, death undoubtedly opens into a better life. The heavens are full of worlds, by the side of which ours is a speck.' But to walk up and down a narrow cell for years to come out at last, if at all, broken in body and mind, and say, as the man did after six years of prison life at Auburn, 'How sweet the air smells outside to-day! I never knew the sunshine was so good before!' "But it will not happen ! It cannot happen ! "The last words of Morrison told, as he went to meet his God, are said to you, 'Where is Joscelyn? I want to ask his forgiveness; I had no business there' — going to his 174 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. home beyond the stars; muttering the self-condemning words, in effect, he is innocent! "He is innocent! May God help you to give him a quick deliverance !" The jury took but one ballot and said: "Not guilty." As they filed past the prisoner and his counsel, each shook hands, and tears in the eyes of the audience were very plainly seen. Joscelyn was the hero of the hour, and a free man again. CHAUNCEY DEPEW ON BONDS OF COMMERCE. Chauncey Depew is the first after-dinner speaker in America. His style is a topic of interest. He is slim, lithe, active, with gestures from the start forceful, happy and what Canadians call clever — more so than eloquent. He is deeply in earnest and "all men are eloquent in that which they know." He knows much of railways and com- merce, therefore he is a taking speaker. He had to follow Air. Wffl, C. Maybury, whose periods were well rounded and beautiful — quite so in the one whe.n he said: "I believe the happy solution of these issues, upon the high principles that we have indicated, because of my thorough belief in humanity. In vain do we read the records of this humanity of ours (weak though we sometimes call SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. .175 it) to find one instance where humanity has been called to rise to the hight of true grandeur and where it has failed to respond to the demand. The spark of divine origin is in us yet and waits only to be fanned into life as great emer- gencies arise. The white face of no little child has ever looked out of the window of a burning house that did not find brave hearts and willing hands ready to make any sac- rifice that the life of the little one might be saved." One of Mr. Depew's first moves is to gain his audience. Here is an instance at the Chamber of Commerce banquet: "The railroad position to-day can be accurately stated in the language of the mate of the whaling schooner, when the surly captain had offered him, because of his success in capturing one of the monsters of the deep, promotion, honorable mention and a share of the profits. Said the mate: 'Captain, I don't want no promotion. I don't want no honorable mention. I don't want no share of the profits. All I want is common civility, and that of the darndest, commonest kind!' "These chambers of commerce become good govern- ment clubs and enforce efficiency in public service and pur- ity and ability in public office. They are the sources of commercial and national union in a republic. They are schools, academies and colleges for the study and the teach- ing of sound political principles and economic doctrines. In time, there will be a central Chamber of Commerce at 176 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Washington, in which each of these bodies will have a ••jt representation. The great national chamber of commerce will most beneficently affect the legislation of Congress. "There is a singular fatality which overtakes the business man when he steps out of business and becomes a states- man. I don't confine this to men who are in business. It affects equally those who come from the professions. A man who has won the respect of his fellow citizens as a lumberman, or a merchant, a manufacturer, or a farmer, a miner or lawyer, an artisan or a teacher, becomes a member of Congress. The effort to spread himself over this great country seems to so thin his gray matter as to make him incapable of bringing to the business of the nation the same common sense which made him successful at home. "We live in an age of associations. Steam, electricity and inventions have so accelerated the pace of progress, have so reduplicated the forces of industry and trade that the individual has lost his place. Capital combines in cor- porations, not only where it is required in vast sums for railways and telegraphs, but in lumbering, mining, manu- facturing and storekeeping. Labor combines, both in sep- arate industries and in general federation. The educator and the scientist discover that development is so rapid that they must also form associations if they would keep step with SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 177 the truth. The unit upon which liberty formerly relied must now be a drilled and disciplined soldier, assigned to his company, his regiment, his brigade and his corps. There is no more beneficent form of association than these boards of trade and chambers of commerce which are es- tablished all over the country. It is but a few years since they existed only in the large cities. Now they have been created in every village of over a thousand inhabitants. They are something more than boards of trade. They con- centrate the energy, the business tact and the progressive spirit which develop the village and make the town. They invite capital, they stimulate enterprise, they create the con- ditions which attract populations. They do more : while in no sense political, they perform the highest public duties. They know that extravagance or corruption increases taxes; that taxes make it more expensive to transact business, and that the town in which business can be most cheaply done will defeat its rivals. They become good government clubs — (applause) — and enforce efficiency in the public service and purity and ability in public office. They are the sources of commercial and national union in a republic. By correspond- ence all these bodies are in touch with one another. They are schools, academies and colleges for the study and teach- ing of sound political principles and economic doctrines. In time there will be a central Chamber of Commerce at Washington, in which each of these bodies will have a repre- sentation. That great National Chamber of Commerce will most beneficently affect the legislation of Congress. 1 178 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. "The mind can scarcely grasp or the imagination conceive of the tremendous forces under the control of these com- mercial bodies of the United States. It is a well-known law that the prosperity and progress of the world are deter- mined by the amount of its transportation. The tons of merchandise which are carried in the general interchange of the globe are the indexes of its industries and wealth. The farm, the mine and forest yield their wealth to be turned into articles for the use and service of man in the mill and the factory and the furnace, the product to be handled by the merchant and the factor, and to be dis- tributed by the railroad, the steamship, the sailing vessel and the canal, and the sum of it all is the employment of the wealth and the labor of the country and the living and profits of its people. "The necessity of the continuance of our commercial re- lations with foreign countries for the disposal of the surplus of our farms and factories in a trade which has reached fabulous figures, imposes upon us also the duty of keeping inviolate the laws by which trade with other countries of the world is possible, and impresses upon us the lesson that we cannot disregard those laws without suffering the most serious consequences. We will always, and must always, avoid complications in European or in Asiatic poli- tics, but no foreign power can exercise a hostile authority in Hawaii, or Central America, or Mexico, or the sister SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 179 republics of the southern hemisphere without receiving from us protest and resistance. (Cheers.) "How are we to preserve our prosperity and continue our progress? The drastic lesson of the last two years has taught us that this enormous internal commerce of ours, which includes all the productive elements which go to make it up, can be destroyed by distrust. Confidence and credit are the factors of American prosperity and progress. With confidence the spindles hum, the furnace is in blast, the miner is at work, the farmer is happy, labor has full em- ployment, capital is active and the wheel of the freight car is perpetually revolving. With confidence a business of in- calculable magnitude can get along with notes, checks, warehouse receipts, telegraphic orders and other commer- cial appliances, and with very little currency; without confi- dence there is not money enough in the world to conduct the business of the United States. We are all business men. Business men care nothing for feather-heads whose stock-in-trade is epithet or phrases. By business men I mean every man who uses his money, his hands or his brain in any activity. The time has come when, without regard to temporary madness or prejudices or hard names, busi- ness men should calmly consider the dangers of our situa- tion. We have been at the bottom and we are on the up- grade of prosperity; but it is purely tentative so far, because of doubt and distrust. Doubt and distrust about what? About the things concerning which, among a commercial people, there should never be any doubt or any distrust. 180 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. We should have a revenue system so well defined that it could not be disturbed, except in minor details, for a genera- tion. While not discussing tariff or free trade, we should have a revenue system which will meet the requirements of the government and support it without direct taxation. (Cheers.) "There never should be any doubt as to the currency of the people. Their currency should be such that the world would recognize it upon a common standard. It is said that the debtor can pay his debts more easily in depreciated currency. There is an easier and quicker way, and that is not to pay them at all. The United States is a debtor, na- tional, municipal, railway and individual, to the extent of about fourteen billions of dollars. We have developed our marvelous resources with this borrowed capital. Of this sum one-third is held abroad. A well-defined policy to pay our debts at 75 cents or at 50 cents on the dollar would lead to two thousand or three thousand millions of dollars of securities coming home here for us to take. The presenta- tion of them in our markets would endanger the stability of every bank, derange every exchange and paralyze even- industry in the United States. The fiat of the government cannot make paper of value, nor silver of value, nor copper of value, nor gold of value, though it may compel any or all of them to be taken in payment of debts within the limits of the United States. There can be but one standard of value, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 181 and that is a metal which will bring the same price whether it is in the bar or has the stamp of the government upon it. If the promise of the government to pay a dollar is to be redeemed at the treasury in a coin which is worth ioo cents anywhere in the United States and worth ioo cents anywhere in the world, then the dollar which pays the laborer for his work and the farmer for his wheat and the merchant for his wares, represents the full value of the labor and of the product for which it is paid. Anything less as money ruins our trade with foreign countries, robs the wage-earner and producer and makes us a nation of speculators. (Applause.) But, gentlemen, I have no time to discuss this question. I simply hint at it as the one which, unless settled, will make impossible that prosperity for which we are all longing and praying. "The sentiment which you have assigned to me is as broad as the continent. That commerce does bind to- gether these states is the assertion of a beneficent truth. The chain from the farm, through the lumber camp and the mine, reaching every store and industrial center, touch- ing every house and cabin, running over mountains and through valleys, binds the shores of the Pacific to those of the Atlantic and ties the gulf line to our northern boundary. (Applause.) "The . railroad is an expression of commerce, and the iron rails, interlacing and intertwining through the states, 182 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. are bonds of union. The electric telegraph is a medium of commerce, and the wires stretching north, south, east and west, keep all our people in daily touch with each other. The telephone is the voice of commerce, and New York speaks to Chicago, and Chicago to .San Francisco in familiar and family conversation. "Our educational systems and our material development are happily blended in the interests of the republic and its perpetuity. Every dispatch which flashes over the wires, every voice which is heard through the long distance tele- phone and every train which thunders across the conti- nent are messengers of peace and union. (Applause.) In every one of our hundreds of thousands of common schools our thousands of academies, our hundreds of universities and colleges, our youth are absorbing the story of our or- igin, the history of our past, the splendors of our present and the promises of our future. Patriotism wedded to commerce and intelligence surely safeguards the continu- ance of the union 6f the States." JUDGE CURTIS ON EARLY AFFECTIONS. I need no apology for appearing before a jury of Ken- tucky; but it may not be improper for me to say why I am here. The nephew of that unfortunate man, whom it is my Christian privilege to defend, and myself were bosom SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 183 friends. He was the friend of my youth. He was the friend whom, in all his manly beauty, whom, in all his in- tegrity of character, in all his loyalty of friendship, I loved. He, gentlemen, has passed away. He sleeps in that beau- tiful city of the dead, the cemetery at Lexington, wherein, greeting the eye of every beholder, that monument to Ken- tucky's greatest statesman, erected by pious and grateful hands, rises, as Webster says, till it meets the sun in his coming. It was in the name of that friendship, and it was for the love that I had and I bore for the staunch friend of my youth, that when the application was made to me I came here to espouse the cause of this unfortunate man, whom, really, gentlemen, God and not you ought to judge. I was very much surprised and grieved the other day to hear the gallant and chivalrous Colonel Breckenridge, and even General Rodman, make light of the disappointed af- fection of Colonel Buford in his early life. True it is that he sits there to-day, solitary and alone/ a childless man. True it is that about that ancestral tree clusters only himself and brothers, and they are childless men. True it is that the condemnation provided by Heaven on the intermar- riage of close relations has fallen upon the first generation, and when they die they are the last of their line. Gentle- men, some twenty years ago he was captivated by the beauty and accomplishments of a Kentucky lady. He be- lieved himself acceptable to her, and the wedding day was set. Every preparation was made for it, but at the last moment 184 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. she rejected him on the advice of her friends, because they did not believe him to be of a sound mind. And, great God! in this, the supreme hour of his life; in this, the hour of his great affliction, with all these years of despair and sentiments of prejudice combined to crush him, is it in the heart of any advocate — can it come from the lips of any ad- vocate to charge to his prejudice one of the sincerest attach- ments that ever graced the life of any man? How do we know but what, if he had met his destiny in that woman, instead of being here in this mortal peril, he might have been so controlled, so influenced, so directed, that instead of being, as it has turned out, a terror to society, he might have been one of its ornaments and one of its prides. How- can my friends on the other side feel that it is decorous, that it is even decent, to make sport and humor for a mis- cellaneous auditory of the disappointment of one of the greatest and divinest feelings in the human heart? And the proof in this case demonstrates beyond contro- versy or contradiction that for a long time anterior to this tragedy Col. Buford's nights were sleepless, and were passed in mental anguish and disturbance. He walked the floor, muttering to himself, cursing and denouncing real or imaginary foes, and, in weird communication with the spirits of the departed in the land of shades, listening to voices from an unseen world. In the language of some of the witnesses, great scalding tears rolled down his SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 185 cheeks, and the strong man of dauntless heart was con- vulsed in a paroxysm of sorrow — and I ask you, gentle- men, is not the story of his life one that justly causes the tear of human sympathy to flow down the marble cheek of justice. Behold him upon the highway, astride his horse, talking loudly to himself and gesticulating to the air. It was not in this mood that Daniel Webster composed those prophetic and sublime sentences that saved the American Union and destroyed Governor Hayne. It was not in this mood that Henry Clay, the Great Pacificator, the Great Commoner, composed those magnificent senti- ments that enthralled the American Senate and fascinated the world. So you see that Col. Breckenridge in this illus- tration and comparison was not in his usual happy vein. I think I have now said all that need be said on our side of this case. It is in your hands. I thank you for the kind consideration and attention with which you have deigned to honor me. I am speaking here as it were for the dead friend of my youth, and if it is possible that he bt conscious of what I have done it is a consolation to me to know that he at least understands that I have never for- gotten the ancient friendship that existed between us. I have demonstrated in this proof that this man's life cannot "be taken without a judicial murder. I have shown you the acts and influences that operated upon his mind and the reason why, in the view of the law, in the view of medical science, in the view of Christianity, in the view of humanity, you should not lay your hands on that life. 186 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. In the name of our Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect justice, in the names of your wives and children, to whose embrace you will soon return, in the name of Chris- tianity, humanity, science, progress and the law, lay not audacious and sacrilegious hands upon this mentally-be- nighted man, from his very infirmity under the protection of heaven. In the progress of the ages this country may become only the subject of the antiquary, but let not the historian of that distant day have it to record that a lunatic, o'ermastered by his fate, afflicted with the direst infirmity with which God has ever chastised any of his children, was, in obedience to the bestial voice of popular ignorance, clamor, prejudice, and revenge, in the gaze of the civil- ized universe, strangled to death on the scaffold and in- humanly rushed, soul unprepared, into the presence of his Maker. Col. Breckenridge, in his beautiful and eloquent perora- tion, brought before you the State of Kentucky holding in her hand the record of her list of crimes, and with her he brought the body of the dead judge. And upon this spectacle he demanded judgment for the people. I bring you, the dead judge, the mad assassin, and arraign all be- fore Kentucky, and demand, in her sacred name, her tradi- tions and her laws, that you be true to the solemn oath you have taken to true deliverance make between the people •and the prisoner. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 187 CRITTENDEN ON SELF-DEFENSE. But where a man in sudden affray is beaten or assaulted in such a manner as to peril his life, or place him in danger of great bodily harm, when there is no other way of es- cape, he has a right to kill his adversary, and the law calls it justifiable homicide — killing in self-defense. The law is very tender of human life, and, therefore, homicide, even in self-defense, is spoken of by the English authorities as "ex- cusable rather than justifiable." And thus the definition of it given by Lord Bacon is, "A blamable necessity." Yet though blamable, it is a necessity, and it excuses and ac- quits the party. It is described as "that whereby in a sud- den broil, or quarrel, a man may protect himself from assaults or the like, by killing the one who assaults him." But it must not be used as a cloak for a revengeful and wicked heart, for we are explicitly told that we may "not exercise it, but in cases where sudden and violent suffering would be caused by waiting for the intervention of the law." But if, on the other hand, having rendered a contrary verdict, you feel that there should have been a conviction, that sentiment will be easily satisfied. You will say: "If I erred, it was on the side of mercy ; thank God, I incurred no hazard by condemning a man I thought innocent!" How different the memory from that which may come in any calm moment, by day or by night, knocking at the door of your hearts, and reminding you that in a case where you 188 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. were doubtful, by your verdict, you sent an innocent man to disgrace and to death. Oh, gentlemen, pronounce no such verdict, I beseech you, but on the most certain, clear and solid grounds. If you err, for your own sake, as well as his, keep on the side of humanity, and save him from so dishonorable a fate — preserve yourselves from so bitter a memory. It will not do then to plead to your consciences any subtle tech- nicalities and nice logic — such cunning of the mind will never satisfy the heart of an honest man. The case must be one that speaks for itself — that requires no reasoning — that without argument appeals to the understanding and strikes conviction into the very heart. Unless it does this, you abuse yourselves — abuse your consciences, and irre- vocably wrong your fellow man, by pronouncing him guilty. It is life — it is blood with which you are to deal; and beware that you peril not your own peace! GORDON'S PLEA FOR MERCY "I can see men on this jury who remember that sultry Sunday morning when we were tired and had slept late, when the enemy came upon us like a whirlwind, scattering fear and panic in his course, while our half-dressed com- pany hurried to their saddles and saw a plain man, riding at a rapid gallop, on a big, black horse, along the lines, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 189 sending one man to the right, one to the left, one on one message, one on another, and before we could think, they were all in their places, when the command rang out on the clear morning air, 'Charge!' and we wheeled into line, and with a desperate struggle, turned back the enemy that in a quarter hour would have driven all in the river! There was no rest for any one that day. All day long we fought in smoke and dust, without relief or rations ; and late in the afternoon I saw the man in slouch hat and dusty blouse galloping again up a hill, and raising his hat in mid-air, he said, 'Charge! double-quick! Charge!' and we charged, and won! And when I looked up into that plain, strong face, on beard begrimed with sand and smoke, and saw his beaming eyes full of satisfaction at the work we had accomplished, I said, 'That is the handsomest face I ever saw!' That was Grant at Shiloh. My boy was in that battle, was shot, went down to an early grave. Had he lived he would have been nearly the size and age of this boy (the one he was defending), and ever since that awful day we have set the vacant chair and placed the plate at the table, but we shall see him no more, till the great day hereafter. Though we mourn that loss and feel for our boy, how would such a death compare with a death in prison? Ah, gentlemen, death is never so terrible as dis- honor. It is an awful death to be buried alive in prison walls! to walk the narrow halls and beg for liberty, saying, 'O, how sweet the air smells outside to-day; I never knew the sunlight was so good before!' Yet this is prison life, 190 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. and prison death! Can you comprehend it? Can you un- derstand it? You that think the weeks are long, while you serve your state and stay away from home? You that long to see your flocks, your family, and even your favorite dogs, and count the days till you shall be free to go and gather up your little boys and girls? Think of it, men! Think of a hundred weeks, two hundred, three hundred, a thousand weeks, and no relief! Shut out from light! Shut out from home! That is a prisoner's fate. Such is a prisoner's home. * * * May the good angel of mercy keep your child and mine, and this poor boy — who is after all somebodv's bov — from such a dreadful death! 1 ' THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS. JUDGE MATTHEWS. APOSTROPHE TO THE BIBLE. "But if your honors please, let me say, for I conceive it to be a privilege to say it, that I believe that this book, which I hold in my hands, is a sacred book in the highest sense of the term. I believe that it is the word of the living God, as essential to our spiritual nourishment and life as the bread we eat, and the water that we drink to quench our thirst is, for our bodies. It records the history of the most marvelous appearance that ever occurred in human SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 191 history — the advent in Judea of the man Christ Jesus, the promised Messiah of old, whom Moses wrote about, and of whom Moses was a feeble type; whom Joshua predicted when he led the hosts to take possession of the happy land prefigured; whom all the prophets foretold, and the Psalm- ist sung, and the people sighed for, throughout all the weary ages of their captivity and bondage; who appeared in the light and brightness of the heathen civilization of the Augustan age; who spake as never man spake; who healed the diseases of the people; who opened their eyes; who caused the dumb t# speak, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and preached the Gospel to the poor; who was per- secuted because he was the living representative of divine and absolute truth, and who was lifted up upon the cross charged with blasphemy untruly, but slain upon the baser charge of treason to the Roman Caesar, while in the very act of declaring that his 'kingdom was not of this world;' lifted up, to be sure, by the hands of men, of ignorant men, for whom and for whose forgiveness he prayed, 'because they knew not what they did;' lifted up by their hands but in pursuance of a covenant that He had made in eter- nity with His Father that it should thus come to pass, because without the shedding of blood there was to be no remission of sin; lifted up in order that he might draw all men unto Himself, that whosoever looked upon Him might be healed of the poison of original sin and live. " 'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!' That, if your honors please, is my credo. 192 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. If I am asked how I prove it, I enter into no disputation or doubtful argument. I simply say that His divinity shone into my heart, and proved itself by its self-evidence. I have not three witnesses only, if your honors please, above. I have five — five witnesses in heaven to-day, that are calling to me to come to them. I would not give up, I would not abate a jot or a tittle of my belief in that book, and in the God that it reveals, and the salvation that it of- fers for all that this world can give. And yet, if your hon- ors please, in the spirit of my Divine Master, I do not want to compel any man. If he cannot believe — oh! it is his misfortune, not less than his fault, and not to be visited on him as a penalty by any human judgment. It is not to be the ground of exclusion from civil rights; it is not to bar him from any privilege. It is even, if your honors please, to protect him from the finger of scorn being pointed and slowly moved at him as if he were out of the pale of divine charity. Oh, no ; it was to the lost that the Saviour came, to seek them as well as to save them; and I know no other way, I know no better way, to recommend the truth of that book to those who cannot receive it, but to live like Him whose teaching is to be just, to be good, to be kind, to be charitable, to receive them all into the arms of my human sympathy, and say to them : 'Sacred as I believe that truth to be, just so sacred is your right to judge it.' " SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 193 BEACH ON BEECHER. Nearing the close of the trial, and for the second and last day, the court scenes were supremely eloquent and impres- sive. Mr. Beach was cheered when he entered the court room, when he went out, and even at recess. The ladies shared heartily in the hand-clapping and applause, and were frequently heard to say, "Oh, did you hear that? Listen! It's grandl" His closing sentences were beautiful as he pictured the temple of justice tried by the turbulence of passion: We have stood together before this community ani- mated by a common object, seeking after the right in hon- est sincerity. The distempered plea of turbulent passions has been against the altar at which we serve. The boister- ous interests and sympathies of an interested people have tried the firm foundation of this temple, but the spirit of justice sees nothing of the tumult, hears nothing of the uproar. Calm and confident, she leans trustingly upon a jurors oath. Your consciences uphold the shaking temple and the tottering altar. If they weaken and fail, if the strong pillars of honesty and truth give way, temple and altar and God sink to a common ruin. The struggle this day is between the law and a great character and a great church. If the latter triumph, and the law is trodden down, woe unto him who calls evil good, and good evil. No man venerates more profoundly than myself the mag- nificent genius of this defendant. His large contributions 194 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. to the literature of the times excite the sentiment of which Macaulay spoke in his essay on the Life of Bacon. Rich as he is in mental endowments, prodigal as his labors have been, they can shelter no offense against the law. Genius as lofty, learning more rare and profound, could not save Bacon. He sinned and fell. Upon his memory history has written the epitaph, "The greatest and the mean- est of mankind." Toward great men in disgrace, like those who fall, Whittier, New England's gifted poet, wrote in his poem entitled "Ichabod:" So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn Which once he wore! The glory from his gray hairs gone Forevermore ! Revile him not — the Tempter hath A snare for all, And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, Befit his fall ! O, dumb be passion's stormy rage, When he who might Have lifted up and led his age Falls back in night. Scorn! would the angels laugh to mark A bright soul driven, Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark, From hope and heaven! Let not the land once proud of him Insult him now, Nor brand with deeper shame his dim, Dishonored brow. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 195 But let its humbled sons instead, From sea to lake, A long lament, as for the dead, In sadness make. Of all we loved and honored, naught Save power remains — A fallen angel's pride of thought, Still strong in chains. All else is gone; from those great eyes The soul has fled: When faith is lost, when honor dies, The man is dead! Then, pay the reverence of old days To his dead fame; Walk backward, with averted gaze, And hide the shame! Gentlemen, I commit this case to you in the sublime language of the great orator who speaks to you from his grave at Marshfield : "With conscience satisfied with the discharge of duty, no consequences can harm you. There is no evil that we cannot either face or fly from but the consciousness of duty disregarded. It is omnipresent, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, duty performed or duty violated is still with us for our happiness or misery, and if we say darkness shall cover us, in darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us. We cannot escape their power nor fly from their presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at its close, and in that sense in- 196 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. conceivable solemnity which lies yet further onward we shall still find ourselves surrounded by the consciousness of duty to pain us wherever it has been violated, and to console us so far as God may have given us grace to per- form it." A SILVER DEBATE. The question of the hour is "Sixteen to one, or which shall it be?" The coming year, or years maybe, will bring this question to the notice of every reading banker, lawyer, merchant and workman in the land. The doctrine of six- teen to one has been given a tremendous forward move- ment by Mr. Harvey, of Chicago, who is a young lawyer of considerable genius, and pitted against him in a recent debate Prof. Laughlin appeared before a fine audience, also showing himself to be a man of learning and fine ability. The pointed brevity of their arguments is attractive. Mr. Harvey's appeal to the masses by the lack of money is answered by his opponent by strong references to the cowardice of money in times of panic; that only a little real money is used or needed in business when confidence is restored, and especially strong are his reasons why sav- ings banks should never be allowed to buy silver at half rate and pay off depositors with depreciated money. That laborers would be the first and greatest sufferers from any SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 197 money speculation. Neither is very clear on real bimetal- lism, the true solution of the whole matter. The question discussed was "That the United States should at once enter upon the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, independently of the action of any other nation." In opening for the affirmative, Mr. Harvey said: "The first reason why I am in favor of independent action by this country is that we should not be subjected to the in- fluences of the governments of Europe. When our fore- fathers declared their political independence from Europe, it was to free themselves from the class legislation of those governments justly termed plutocratic. If people can be reduced to poverty and the prosperity of the United States can be ruined by hanging to the financial policy of Europe, then we can be reduced to the same condition by financial legislation as a war of conquest would reduce us. "If a war of conquest in this country by the monarchies of Europe whose form of government is different from ours, would reduce us to the condition that the people of those governments are in, and they can accomplish the same pur- pose by financial legislation, then there is a necessity for independent action. Where there is a necessity, there is a remedy. The governments of Europe are plutocracies. They squeeze the lemon for the people about every so often. The few control class legislation and the masses are hewers of wood and drawers of water for the titled few. Now, if financial legislation is one of the classes iq8 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. of class legislation by which the many are robbed and the few are enriched, then it is one of the institutions of the European governments that we as a nation of people, re- publican in form, should declare our independence of. That is the first reason why independent financial action should be taken bv the United States. ''This nation can have an independent financial system without any reference whatever to the balance of the world, and carry on its own commerce by ocean and by land with the other governments of the world notwithstanding. We do not now settle our balances with Europe in coin except on its commercial value and by weight. Our coinage has nothing to do with it. Primarily balances of trade are settled with trade. There is no such thing as an interna- tional money. What we are contending for is the opening of the mints to the free coinage of silver (they are now open to the free and unlimited coinage of gold and have never been closed to that metal) and the establishment of bimetal- lism on those simple and fixed principles that were adopted by those statesmen who had in view the interest of no class, but of all the people. "What we want is bimetallism. And scientific bimetal- lism is this: "i. Free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver, these two metals to constitute the primary or redemption money of the government. SPEECHES AND. SPEECH-MAKING. 199 "2. The silver dollar of 371} grains of pure silver to be the unit of value and gold to be coined into money at a ratio to be changed, if necessary, from time to time if the commercial parity to the legal ratio shall be affected by the action of foreign countries. "3. The money coined from both metals to be legal tender in the payment of all debts. "4. The option as to which of the two moneys is to be paid in the liquidation of a debt to rest with the debtor and the government also to exercise that option when de- sirable when paying out redemption money. "The mints are now open to the unlimited coinage of gold. Such portion of the product of that metal as does not find an immediate demand to be used in the arts and manufactures is taken to the mints and coined into money and becomes at once the object for which all other products seek the market. It thus has an unlimited market as the mints are open to all of it that comes. "This was true also as to silver prior to 1873, but by operation of section 21 of the act of that year, the mints were closed to the unlimited coinage of that metal. Hence, when silver now seeks the markets and exhausts the de- mand supplied by arts and manufactures and the small purchases of the government to coin it into token money, the demand for it ceases. Gold has an unlimited demand. Silver has a limited demand. Silver is now a commodity to be measured in gold. It has been deprived of that un- limited demand it enjoyed prior to 1873. We would restore 200 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. to it that unlimited demand. We would open the mints to it again. We would leave the mints open to gold as they are now. We would give silver the same privileges as gold. Restoring to it this unlimited demand would cause the value of silver to rise as compared with gold." * * * Professor Laughlin, in replying for the negative, said: "Apart from the well understood use of money as a medium of exchange, money is used like a common denominator of value with which other articles are compared. As a quart cup may serve as a measure of capacity, and as there is not needed a separate cup for every quart of milk in existence, so one can measure hundreds of thousands of goods by comparing with the same standard of measure. There is no need of an amount of money equal to all the goods in existence. The measure of value is that in which prices are stated and debts are paid, provided the measure of value is also made a legal tender in any country. It is evident then that the quantity of measure is not so material as the unvarying stability of the standard of measure. For the exchange of goods money is not needed in proportion to the transactions. This function is that of the medium of exchange. "The necessity of an increasing quantity of money is growing less important with the development of this sys- tem of exchanges. From 92 per cent to 95 per cent of transactions are performed by this machinery without the use of money and the recent investigations by the comp- SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 201 troller of the currency show that 54 per cent of retail trans- actions are similarly performed without the use of money. "Prices since 1873 have not fallen because of the lack of money. Silver has fallen about 50 per cent as compared with a very modest fall in the price of commodities. Sil- ver does not have the same purchasing price in 1894 as in 1873. Hence, free coinage cannot be urged as a wise means of paying debts. "More so-called redemption money by the amount of $1,092,000,000 is in existence to-day as compared with 1873, and yet prices have fallen and silver has fallen still more. Prices unmistakably have fallen because of the cheapened cost of production. Since we undertook the purchase of silver in 1878 it has fallen about one-half in value, al- though we have purchased about $600,000,000. It is per- fectly evident that there is no use in the United States act- ing alone to bolster up the price of silver when we have failed even in concert with the Latin union. Free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 means the single silver standard or sil- ver monometallism. To-day the market ratio between gold and silver is nearly 34 to 1. If we had the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 there would be the premium of about 16 ounces of silver as a premium on withdrawing every ounce of gold coin in circulation. The free coinage of silver under such conditions as exist to-day would not mean the concurrent circulation of both gold and silver. It would mean the immediate adoption of the single silver standard. Free coinage of silver would not increase the quantity 202 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. of money. Since gold must be inevitably driven out the free coinage of silver would result in a diminution of the quantity of money. "It could not change prices merely by increasing the amounts of the medium of exchange. The way it would act, however, would be to change the prices of everything because reckoned in a cheaper medium than that of gold. For example, a pair of gloves now worth ioo cents in gold would exchange for about 210 cents in silver. A dozen of eggs now selling at 15 cents w r ould sell for about 30 cents and everything w T e buy would rise in proportion. "It is usually supposed that free coinage of silver is in the interest of the debtors. I think it will be found quite the contrary. Not only will it prevent a person in distress from being able to borrow money when he needs it, but it will create conditions which will make it impossible for the debtors to meet their indebtedness. But, greater than all objections, is that of public dishonor and repudiation. No trick or sophistry can make the scaling of debt to mean anything but dishonesty and cheating. Were free coinage of silver to be passed it would mean that every depositor in a savings bank, every investor in a loan association, even- holder of a life insurance, every recipient of a pension would have their dues reduced one-half. Is it possible that there is something behind this free coinage scheme not really discovered? Is it possible that it is aimed against the SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 203 great mass of the industrious and intelligent and is really intended to serve the interests of the very rich and of great corporations? The act of July 4, 1890, unless repealed, would have brought us to the single silver standard. As it was, the mere suspicion of silver monometallism and the change of prices and of our standard of measure struck a blow at the solidity of our international trade, brought on the panic, made prices uncertain and caused doubt as to future plans in every factory and shop in the land. Those who have sil- ver mines and who can by their wealth control political parties and legislatures, who make the very seat of our national government their private offices and actually turn the national senate into a bureau for bulling the price of their product, to these men we say beware. We cannot be- lieve that a special interest led by millionaires can go on in their plan of sacrificing the taxpayers in order to heap up riches, especially when this is done on the most false of economic grounds which have been proved wrong by the experience of every country of modern times. "Extraordinary as is the proposal for free coinage, it is in truth only a huge disease. It was born in the private offices of the silver kings, nursed at the hands of specula- tors, clothed in economic error, fed on boodle, and as sure as there is honesty and truth in the American heart it will die young and be buried in the same ignominious grave 204 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. wherein lies the now forgotten infant once famous as the Rag Baby." COL. INGERSOLL ON ALCOHOL. "I am aware that there is a prejudice against any man who manufactures alcohol. I believe that from the time it issues from the coiled and poisonous worm in the distillery until it empties into the jaws of death, dishonor and crime, that it demoralizes everybody who touches it, from its source to where it ends. I do not believe anybody can contemplate the object without being prejudiced against the liquor crime. "All we have to do, gentlemen, is to think of the wrecks on either bank of the stream of death, of the suicides, of the insanity, of the ignorance, of the destitution, of the little children tugging at the faded and withered breasts of weeping and despairing mothers, of wives asking for bread, of the men of genius it has wrecked, the men strug- gling with imaginary serpents, produced by this devilish thing, and when you think of the jails, of the almshouses, of the asylums, of the prisons, of the scaffolds upon either bank, I do not wonder that every thoughtful man is preju- diced against this damned stuff called alcohol. "Intemperance cuts down youth in its vigor, manhood in its strength, old age in its weakness. It breaks the father s heart, bereaves the doting mother, extinguishes natural af- fection, erases conjugal love, blots out filial attachment, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 205 blights parental hope, brings down mourning age in sorrow to the grave. It produces weakness, not strength ; sickness, not health; death not life. It makes wives widows, chil- dren orphans, fathers fiends, and all of them paupers and beggars. It feeds rheumatism, invites cholera, imports pestilence and embraces consumption. It covers the land with idleness, misery and crime. It fills your jails, supplies your almshouses and demands your asylums. It engenders controversies, fosters quarrels and cherishes riots. It crowds your penitentiaries and furnishes victims for your scaffolds. "It is the lifeblood of the gambler, the element of the burglar, the prop of the highwayman and support of the midnight incendiary. It countenances the liar, respects the thief, esteems the blasphemer. It violates obligation, rev- erences fraud and honors infamy. It defames benevolence, hates love, scorns virtue and slanders innocence. It incites the father to butcher his helpless offspring, helps the hus- band to massacre his wife and the child to grind the parri- cidal ax. It burns up men, consumes women, detests life, curses God, despises heaven. It suborns witnesses, nurses perjury, defiles the jury box and stains judicial ermine. It degrades the citizen, debases the legislature, dishonors statesmen and disarms the patriot. It brings shame, not honor; terror, not safety; despair, not hope; misery, not happiness; and with the malevolence of a fiend it calmly surveys its frightful desolation and unsatiated havoc. It poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins morals, blights confidence,. 206 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. slays reputations and wipes out national honor, then curses the world and laughs at its ruin. It does all that, and more. It murders the soul. It is the sum of all villainies, the father of all crimes, the mother of all abominations, the devil's best friend, and God's worst enemy." CHAPTER IV. POINTS ON THE MAKING OF A SPEECH. THE GENIUS OF ORATORY— THE PREPARATION OF A SPEECH— A SPEAKER'S CAPITAL— STYLE OF SPEAK- ING—ORATORS AND ORATORY— THE ART OF SPEAKING— REAL ELOQUENCE— TOM MARSHALL'S ORATORY. THE GENIUS OF ORATORY. Genius in anything is the art of doing it. The object of the orator is to gain the attention, please and convince his hearers and carry their minds to his conclusion. To engage the attention, the topic should begin with something pleas- ant or beautiful, something so clearly comprehended that it at once creates a bond of sympathy between the speaker and the hearer. I have found nothing in literature more direct and applicable to begin a speech with than a terse story, a local hit or some far away legend. THE PREPARATION OF A SPEECH. In reply to a woman, as to the best age to begin with the education of her children, Dr. Holmes said: "100 years be- fore their birth." The best time to prepare a speech is years before its de- livery. To prepare one's self to make speeches one needs 208 SPEECHES AXD SPEECH-MAKING. a large fund of information, a thorough reading up and a cultivated diction. Depew prepares most of his after-dinner speeches within an hour or two of delivery, giving a half hour's thought to each. But his oratory is exceptional. He speaks entirely of now, nearly always braiding in some dainty little story, or well turned witticism, as a drapery to what he says, and drawing on his vast resources of previous experience. He rarely writes his speeches, but they are well interspersed with stories and happy hits well digested. Both Sumner and Seward were careful students and drew on their vast learning for examples and pertinent matter. Garfield relied upon his memory and Webster always pre- pared elaborately, and even revised his speeches after delivery and before publication. So did all of the ancient orators. But on one thing public speakers are generally agreed, that little things said, apt quotations, terse stories, dainty sayings used in speeches mark the hits and clever- ness of the speaker. Who has not turned from a speech or lecture with a life long memory of even a single well-told story or witty turn in argument- There is not much left to remember of what Joe Jefferson says in "Rip Van Winkle/' but a little scene, as he is turned into the storm by his exacting wife, hangs like a picture ever after; and who can forget the pathos in the sentence: "I did not think so of you, Gretchen. I did not think that. And so you drive me out into the storm, Gretchen."' And he leaves his home in the night time with the pathetic SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 209 picture vividly printed and engraven on our memory and that alone assures success to a great actor. There is no excellence without great labor. Estabrook spent six full weeks on his Lafayette address and in it has compressed Balsac, Hugo, Castellar and Meade — a lecture for a lifetime. Wendell Phillips committed every word of his "Lost Arts'' address, and it served the people for thirty years as his greatest production. Wendling repeats to himself his entire lecture each time before a public deliver}'. Singers rehearse frequently, and more time is spent by careful orators than the world ever dreams of. It is an art, a science, a profession. It calls for patience, practice and experience. The better method is to first think out the topic; think out the matter — fill in and make notes of it. - Then write it all carefully, then make an abstract; then commit mainly to memory, and make very large coarsely written notes or sub-heads; say in form like this: 1. "Statue." 2. "Born Poor." 3. "Lawyer." 4. "Debater." 5. "Sorrow." 6. "Cross and Crown." 7. "Lincoln as a Genius." Commit head notes to memory. With this you are equipped for public speaking. Leave your notes in your pocket while speaking. 210 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. How will you find a topic? Think it out. How clothe it? Think it out. You would not build a barn without prepared material, much less a dwelling, much less a crea- tion to outlast either barn or dwelling. Argument is the main material, stories and legends may be the cornices and drapery. Diction and choice of words will tell the work- manship; delivery is the soul and colors everything. Let the words breathe and touch and please and thrill and ele- vate. Let the whole be one pleasant melody, and you have a strong structure. A SPEAKER'S CAPITAL. The capital of a public speaker or reader is embraced in his matter, reputation, and ability to please the people. Without something pertinent to say he is a back number. He must be alert, and up to date in matter and material. The secret of an orator's success is to tell of something that will interest the people, either on moral, literary, historical or business topics. His character is a matter of growth. It is only attained by saying or doing something worthy of notice. Like Ingersoll and Dougherty, he may gain a char- acter and a hearing by a single speech; or like Depew it may be a growth of experience. Ability to please is an art worthy of study. There is the attractive element, the argu- ment and the eloquence. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 211 There are speakers whose strength of character will alone attract and enforce attention, and whose powerful influence is like a standard authority for all they put forth in mere statement. But what of a boy's influence? What is the effect of a stranger's words on a public meeting? He must put forth novelty, musical tones and eloquence of delivery or beauty of some kind to pass it as current on an intelligent audience. Actors rely on delivery and interpretations more than on lines. There are those who can repeat the Lord's prayer and the Ten Commandments or read the ninth chapter of John in a manner never to be forgotten. To reach eminence requires material, practice, intensity and eloquence combined; and as one should start a bank account early to gain the advantage of interest and a capital to em- bark in business, so should the reader, speaker, or orator store away his fund of wisdom for use in his profession. Aim to be excellent, easy, at home, attractive and as elo- quent withal, as your talents will allow. Stretch every en- ergy, cultivate every brain muscle, and rise to the highest element of possible excellence. STYLE OF SPEAKING. Distinguished speakers of all ages are believed to have given as much care and attention to the art of oratory as 212 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. musicians now give to cultivate the rare melody of harmon- ious and inspiring music. To suppose one can enter on the field so full of genius as the lawyer finds on his early admission to practice, with- out some system, or plan of meeting this essential, is to be- lieve more than men ever expect of any other business. The lucky man in commerce is one brought up from the habits of careful experience. To the trained sea captain his chart is simple. The bricklayer or builder is a student "of books and designs; the race-rider is one accustomed to horses, and even the woodsman has learned to handle his axe with clever skill and powerful force. Genius alone is well likened to a rich mine of metal, that thought and skill must apply to uses and values. It is not what we know, but how we make use of that knowledge, that makes the world better, or better comprehends its beauty. A man may out-think twenty of his neighbors and let nineteen of the twenty out-do him in honor and usefulness by one actual accomplishment. I have seen a man cradle wheat with an ease and poetry of motion, and another strike the scythe into the earth at every other clip from awkwardness. I have seen the mason evenly spread his mortar that a new hand would throw down his sleeve with a single attempt to fill his trowel. I have known the well-tuned voice of Phillips, in graceful modula- tion, to so charm the senses of his hearers that few could count it less than music, and no one saw the art of conceal- ing art that he had struggled so long to master. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 213 The art to charm the senses by pleasing speech is an en- joyment greater to the speaker once acquired than to rule an empire. Gibbon wrote his "Memoirs'' six times to se- cure perfection. Turner walked over mountains and in the water till they colored the retina of his eves with intensity, before committing the colors to canvas. The elegy of Gray and the "Village" of Goldsmith, with the later examples of endurance by Morse and Edison, are apt illustrations that, "the hand of the diligent maketh rich" in oratory, in science, and all useful achievements. I am not urging the practice-before-a-looking-glass style but a plan of speaking of, and dealing with, subjects that will command attention, and secure a following. The method of Judge Curtis, of New York, is to think out his speeches as Sumner did. Van Arman writes incessantly during trials, while each master with consummate care the details of his case in his own peculiar way. Both Porter and Shaffer, of New York, wrote all salient points of evidence with their own pens, and trusted no notes to any but their own making. They committed their speeches as they went along; the former, a powerful examiner, the latter a master of human nature, both eminently successful. Judge Beach trusted different branches to associates, and spoke from copious manuscript; while Graham read frequently and quoted all the wisdom of the past, at command, on the topics under discussion. Emory Storrs spoke with power- ful rapidity, composed on his feet, carried his hearers with rhythmical sentences, but was a trained and thorough 2i 4 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. speaker. Wirt Dexter was more deliberate, but equally effective. He was a master of modulation and emphasis, a student of fine language and rich in resources. Colonel Breckenridge, of Lexington, is one of the most flowery speakers since the days of Crittenden, whom his style resembles as Beach resembled Beecher. Daniel Dougherty, of Pennsylvania, was as fluent in his style as Tom Marshall was in his, without the eccentricities and brilliant fancy of that high bred Kentucky orator. Leonard Swett, of Chicago, and Colonel Broadhead, of St. Louis, form a pair of the most scholarly orators in America. Yet each could relate many struggles and bitter embarrassments in early life. They had mastered the art of advocacy in early days, but practice their art like musicians, reading and improving through years of experience. Jus- tice Matthews and Judge Hoadley present a striking con- trast, while General Butler and Senator Conkling are as widely dissimilar. Butler won by rarity of illustrations, Conkling by rich imagery, Matthews by his logic and intensity, Hoadley by his mastery of analysis and purely legal principles. Senator Carpenter was an ideal orator, who chose his central point and built around it, graphic in style, vivid in description. It required that giant, Judge Ryan, of Madison, to even approach him in ar- gument. Stars of such brilliancy are seldom now equaled, and never excelled, in Wisconsin, that home of brilliant advocates like Vilas, Hudd, Jenkins, and Hazleton. SPEECHES AXD SPEECH-MAKING. 215 In the circle of the several States, from Gov. Davis, of St. Paul, on the west, to the scholarly Edmunds, on the east; from the musical pathos of Judge Curtis in New York, to the picturesque imagery of Gordon and Yoorhees in Indiana, and the florid style of Jeff Chandler, on the Pacific slope, or the same vigorous heart-speaker, like H. M. Furnam, of Texas, each and all have come to fame by force of earnest oratory, ripened by age, and burnished by use. They stand and speak at the bar and before the public, and in life's af- fairs, as actors do on the mimic stage ; studying their several parts with care and diligence, applying to them their genius and experience, ripened by age and fed by inspiration, till they so please their hearers as to meet most hearty recalls and clear appreciation in large emoluments. Tom Corwin, of Ohio, who started with Jere Black, and died young, was a master of advocacy, but a different kind of a lawyer. He won by wit. His speeches were flowery. He often captured a jury by a simple story, or a flight of eloquence, He enjoyed a joke, and made all others in hear- ing take an interest in his way of telling it. Large, laughing eyes, dark complexion, robust in speech and manner, for years he led the Ohio bar in eloquence and Avon his cases by it. He regarded his wit and manner- as a mistake, and said at last that "men never respect those who always make them laugh." That "one should look wise to attain eminence." Mr. Corwin was in Congress with Henry Clay, and made many brilliant little speeches and attained national fame. His work is mentioned elsewhere. 216 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Webster and Choate were such active rivals as to be evenly mated. In the Smith will contests in 1845, tne heirs re- tained Rufus Choate as their lawyer, whereupon the friends of the will secured the services of Daniel Webster as their attorney. The case came to trial before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, in July, 1847, an d occupied two days. There was the greatest excitement, not only on account of the interests involved, but also on account of the fame of the two great lawyers who were to speak for and against the will. "The battle of these giants" is still remembered in this vicinity, although it occurred nearly fifty years ago. So great was the crowd that ladders were put up to the windows of the court house, and eager listeners stood upon them for hours. When Mr. Choate had finished his argu- ment the conclusion was nearly unanimous among the spec- tators that the will would be broken ; but when Mr. Webster had finished his masterly address no one doubted but that it would be sustained — so say the older men of to-day who were present at the famous trial. The jury brought in a verdict sustaining the will. General Butler early learned the secret of Choate's suc- cess and matched it. He defended a famous case where Choate prosecuted, and in his closing made such a masterly analysis of his opponent's style, that he mortified the im- mortal Rufus, and won his victory. Butler has since won many verdicts, and next to Beach and Roscoe Conkling, was, 1883, the greatest living advocate in practice. His chief resource was a large brain and long experience SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 217 in hard cases. He was government counsel in the Johnson impeachment case, and the master advocate of them all. What he failed to discern in a trial was hardly worth noting. His power of logic and strategy were both marvelous. In a railroad accident case the injured man said, "It's all my fault; if I'd been inside I wouldn't have been hurt," show- ing clearly contributory negligence. "This was but the wailing of a disordered fancy," said Butler, "for they swear he was in his place, inside the car door — all swear it but the allies of this corporation." He won a $26,000 verdict, which, on two new trials, reached $45,000, and was affirmed and settled. Roscoe Conkling's power was in mastery of language and force of argument. He was not a genius, like Butler, but a man of immense tact, with force of reason and logic. He was commanding, intense, graphic, and full of supreme courage, which is admired in a court room, and delights an audience. He rapidly acquired a fortune in his excellent practice. Had he always followed the law as devotedly as he did politics, his fame would have been greater as an ad- vocate. Large, tall, commanding, almost imperial in bear- ing, he was an attractive and impressive speaker, with scarcely a peer as an orator in America. These advocates, all successful, were each students of ora- tory, patient in detail, earnest in manner, effective in deliv- ery. While their number could be greatly augmented, and perhaps should be doubled, they represent the highest order of legal eloquence and American advocates. Many others 2i8 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING herein described are equally worthy of study, and their wis- dom and art dense with interest. Hon. Chas. S. May, of Kalamazoo, himself an excellent advocate, thus vividly describes Mr. Lincoln's style of ora- tory in his great campaign with Stephen A. Douglas: Promptly at the hour appointed for the meeting, in the midst of a buzz of eager expectation and quiet applause, following through the main aisle of the hall the chairman of the evening, there entered a tall, sallow-faced man with disheveled hair and lank, angular figure, dressed in plain black — and I had my first view of Abraham Lincoln. Pre- ceded by the chairman he mounted the bare platform at the end of the hall, and after a brief, formal introduction, stood face to face with his audience. I should, perhaps, say, stooped apologetically before his audience, for, bowed for- ward, with his hand on a low stand where he had deposited a few scraps of newspaper memoranda, he presented a timid, bashful appearance. His opening sentences were not more reassuring than his attitude. They were hesitating, in- volved and awkward, as he went on to depreciate his ability to follow so distinguished a speaker as Gen. 'Cass, of Michi- gan, who had spoken the night before in the same hall. In- deed, so lame and halting were his first words, and so awk- ward and unpromising his whole appearance that, recall- ing the eulogy of the party paper, I said to myself, "Can this be one of the first orators of Illinois? Is this what they call eloquence in Chicago?" But before my disappointment had time to deepen into disgust, the speaker began to SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 219 recover himself, he raised himself from the table to his full height, his language began to flow more smoothly and grammatically, he began to uncoil himself in mind and body, so to speak, and very soon I was listening with rapt and deepening interest to his words. Of the speech itself, which held that weighty and intelli- gent audience for more than two hours, I still retain a per- fect and vivid impression. Delivered in an animated, earn- est, conversational manner with a clear and pleasant, but penetrating tenor voice, with no attempt at oratory or fine language, it was a candid, a convincing and powerful politi- cal argument, addressed to the reason and conscience of his hearers. Nothing could exceed its perfect fairness of tone and statement, and from beginning to end there was noth- ing to detract from its dignity — not an epithet or coarse ex- pression, not a single attempt to provoke applause, or create a laugh by anecdote or joke, or stale wit, or appeal to pas- sion or prejudice. Mr. Lincoln was famous as a story- teller, but he did not tell his stories in his speeches. He was full of wit and drollery, but he used these in private. The innate seriousness and earnestness of the man lifted him in his public efforts to a plane above these diversions. But his logic was overwhelming. Proceeding from premises stated with the utmost fairness, and with transparent clearness, it moved to its conclusions with a force and power and thoroughness that left no room or quarter for sophistry or evasion. 223 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. In replying to the plausible and specious arguments and positions of his great rival, who was a master of political at- tack and fence, he had abundant opportunities to display his great power of analysis and his keen discernment of the weak points of his adversary. I remember, too, that he had a quaint and original way of putting things. Coming to a particularly untruthful and audacious proposition of his op- ponent he said: "Now, it is exceedingly difficult to answer such an argument as this. It gains strength and plausibil- ity, paradoxical as it may seem, from its very unreasonable- ness, for when a man like Judge Douglas makes such a proposition, a man who has been so long in public life and in a position to know, it is natural for men to say, 'This thing looks so all wrong and preposterous to us that we may be mistaken after all, for he must see something that we don't see.' " A spontaneous burst of quiet but general applause showed that the audience appreciated the keen, fine point. I will not undertake in this brief article to give even the substance of this great speech. Mr. Lincoln had momen- tous questions to discuss — questions of liberty, of slavery, of patriotism — and he treated them in a way I have never seen surpassed. Of all our great political speakers of this generation — and I have heard them all — he has been to me the model stump orator. Discarding all the tricks and ar- tifices and stock expressions so common in this style of ad- dress, he literally reasoned with the people, and lifted them up to the plane of his own patriotic and moral earnestness. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 221 While it was not eloquence in the traditional and technical sense, it realized the very essence and definition of eloquence — persuasion. ORATORS AND ORATORY. ANCIENT AND MODERN. (From Modern Jury Trials.) (The object of this work is hints on oratory to attract attention to the theme and illustrate by examples the power of eloquence.) The charm of eloquence, like music, must be heard to be appreciated, and comprehended to be enjoyed. So little can be placed upon paper that only rare passages read well and bear frequent repetition. Yet there are single speeches that have changed the fate of nations or saved a poor, quivering being from a cruel death of horrible torture; speeches that carry with them an inspiration forever, and, like old, familiar songs, when repeated, always awaken renewed interest. Very much of an oration dies with its author and the event that called it into being. A stranger, coming in sud- denly on a scene of local interest, in the midst of a stirring speech, would realize but faintly the real spirit of the occa- sion, and could hardly comprehend its true beauty. And no one will claim that a true repetition of that matchless 222 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. oration of Demosthenes, in his contest for a crown, which included those magic words, "Man is not born to his parents only, but to his country!" could be delivered by any other than the mighty genius himself, who had long been im- prisoned by Alexander; who was moved by the plaudits of a mighty people, whose liberty he believed was hanging in the balance, adding fire to his eye, power to his voice, soul to his sentences, and energy to his expression. It was the pleading and the beseeching look from the crowded athenaeum that loosed the speaker's tongue, thrilled his nerves, lit up his features, and formed a granite foundation to his argument. Remove the sur- roundings, and you remove the charm of the oration. Following in this line of powerful speakers to the days of Edmund Burke, in the seven years' contest in the trial of Hastings, who will say that a clear likeness of this great intellectual gladiator, that made England shudder at the sound of his voice, could be reproduced without the long, long, weary trial, the building up of public sentiment, the occasion that gave force and fervor to debate, genius to oratory, and a scene of tragedy to the effect of his tre- mendous appeal. Not for the purpose of comparison merely, but as illus- trating, that speakers follow and range, in lines of Grecian or Roman oratory, as fully as styles of architecture are handed down for generations, in certain models and ex- amples, a chapter is given in this connection, with the briefest extracts of ancient oratorv included. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 223 In the modern addresses which follow, attention will be given to the manner of delivery, as well as the selection of extended paragraphs from recent arguments, and their ef- fect upon jury cases. In this way, it is hoped, the student and advocate will easily compare the recent speakers' words and styles with the immortal names of history, and, in many cases, the modern may read equally as well as the ancient. The bold, glowing words, and deep sympathy, the tragic delivery and intense manner of Burke, in his four days' speech on Warren Hastings, are first chosen. After a vivid description of the horrors inflicted upon the natives of India by the agents of Hastings, during which many fainted and were carried out, "He was himself so overcome," says a writer, "as to be unable for many moments to proceed, and with head bowed in his hands, he waited in silence and deep emotion." Then he proceeded: "What is it that we want here, to a great act of national justice? "Do you want a criminal? Is it a prosecutor you want? Do you want a tribunal?" And then, in a majesty of words simply sublime, he says: "I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great Britain. "In the name of those eternal laws of justice which he has violated ! "I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly outraged, injured and oppressed, in 224 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKJING. both sexes, in every age, rank, situation and condition of life! "My lords, I have done! The part of the Commons is concluded! With trembling hands we consign the product of these long, long labors to your charge. Take it! Take it! It is a sacred trust! Never before was a cause of greater magnitude submitted to any human tribunal!" He was followed by Sheridan, that magic of impulsive oratory and eloquence, in a speech so grand and lofty, that the people sat five hours, spell-bound. No report was ever made of the words, and none could be made, of the fiery sentences as uttered; no pen could sketch the keen, magnetic look; the low, persuasive tones; the loud, vin- dictive manner; the power and play of passions, like the actor in the scene. This style of Demosthenes was employed by Lord Chat- ham, the eloquent defender of America, in England, in the time of the Stamp Act, when he said: "If I were an Ameri- can, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never surrender! Never! Never! Never!" And by the same statesman, in his appeal for personal rights, when he said: "The poorest man. in his cottage, may bid defiance to all the forces of the crown ; it may be frail ; the winds of winter may blow through it; the storm may enter it — but the King of England can not enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement !"* ♦"Orators and Statesmen," by Harsha. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 225 Once in an age will be born other men, and other events, which may resemble, but will never excel, such scenes of mental contest. What was then voiced by a half dozen leaders, is now sown broadcast by a million papers — saying in advance all that is new or novel in our great achieve- ments. Once in a while, men like Henry will utter, "Give me liberty or give me death!" to remind us of Grecian ora- tory, but they will find it a well-told story, often read. And but for a Webster, this powerful style of a Demosthenes would have died before our day. It passed from the stage of actual oratory, and had lain, half forgotten, nearly a century, when Hayne aroused Webster, in the Senate, to great thoughts, that leaped to the immortal by a single bound; thoughts that could flow in no other channel but the heroic and sublime. In his reply to Hayne, that great- est effort ever made in modern times, the audience sat, silent, and when the giant's voice rang out through the Senate and the halls, and penetrated every room as he said, with such soul-stirring emphasis: "Xor those other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and union afterwards;' but everywhere, spread all over, in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every American heart, 'Liberty and union, now and for- ever, one and inseparable !' " The audience remained seated in silence; "hands sought each other, eye turned to eye, and hundreds hung breath- less on the echo of the orator's words." No orator ever 226 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. excelled the effect of this master eulogy on our country. And no one can doubt that, in Burke's place, Webster would have fully equaled Burke, or, in Greece, even might have equaled Demosthenes. But there is another kind of oratory, described by Cicero as the art of saying things in a manner to please and per- suade, a mingling of passion and reason — thoughts set on fire, the sudden birth of a new expression, of grand ideas, by looks and words and actions — the means by which men are moved. This style of Cicero was not original. He studied it in Greece for years, wholly enraptured with the noble art. It was not Roman, but he gave it a Roman cast, and later historians called it so because it influenced Roman minds. It was neither the style of Demosthenes nor of Pericles, but of students of the great Grecian masters. Thus oratory has been a borrowed art for ages. This is the kind of oratory more suited to our day. It was employed by the gifted and graceful Roman orator, in his plea for a Roman citizen. It has more of the grace and charm of music and the art of persuasion, coupled with an ease of delivery that tells men to act in a way, never to refuse the simple and sensible request, that steals in on the senses by surprise, and takes us captive at its will. Eloquence is described as close, rapid, powerful, practi- cal reasoning, animated by intense passion, and speaking in a manner proper to persuade. An excellent example is of Cicero on the execution of Gavins: "In the middle of the forum of Messana, a Roman citizen was beaten with SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 227 rods, and between the blows were heard 'I am a Roman citizen!' as if to ward off pain and torture from his person; and as he kept on repeating his entreaties, A cross, I say, a cross!' a cross was made ready for the miserable man. O, sweet name of liberty! O, admirable privilege of citi- zenship! O, Porcian law! O, power of the tribunes, bit- terly regretted by, and at last restored to the Roman people, in a town of confederate allies, that a Roman citizen should be bound in a forum, beaten with rods by a man, who only had fasces and axes through the kindness of the Roman people! What shall I say when fire and red-hot plates and other instruments were employed to torture him? If the bitter entreaties and agonizing cries of that man had no power to restrain you, were you not moved by the weeping and groans of the Roman citizens, who were present at the time. Men born in obscure ranks, go to sea, to places never seen before, and, owing to the confidence of their citizenship, they shall be safe. It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is wickedness, to put him to death almost a parricide. What shall I say of cruci- fying him? It was not Gavius. It was not one citizen. It was the common cause of freedom! exposed to torture and nailed on that cross !" The new star in English eloquence came with Erskine, with the style and elaborate finish of a Cicero, sparkling in imagination, replete with graceful gesture, elegance of expression, charm of manner, and refinement of sensibility, that won with an audience, pleased and persuaded. He was 228 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. slow at first in development, but want and poverty drove him to the law, and when, as he says, "It seemed as if my little children were tugging at my skirts, begging for bread," he cut loose from restraint and became a natural orator. His warm, rich, brilliant sentences, ready and retentive memory, powerful imagination, and elegant ex- pressions, acquired by living in the language of Milton and Shakespeare, are read as masterpieces by thousands the world over. Of the few whose orations and speeches read well, far removed from the scenes that made them, are those of Cicero, Erskine, Webster and Everett, and of these the world will never tire of hearing. It is said that the single oration of Everett, on Washington, was delivered over a hundred times, in the different cities of the Union, and always to interested audiences. As the style of Webster was grand and vehement, like Demosthenes, the words and manner of Everett resemble Cicero. That same copious flow of beautiful, elaborate imagery, the refined, melodious sentences, the elegant and persuasive delivery, the rare sympathy and finish, the matchless arrangement of happy thoughts, gave a har- mony to his utterances that will never be forgotten. Space allows but one selection, old and yet ever new, for it never has been excelled in all the annals of eloquence. Horace Greeley said this speech of Mr. Everett, and Mr. Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, and. John Brown's address at Harper's Ferry, were the masterpieces of American SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 229 oratory. I would change from Mr. Brown's speech to Mr. Webster's, and agree with Mr. Greeley. But here are the words of Everett that tell their own story : "Welcome, friend of our fathers, to our shores! Happy are our eyes, that behold those venerable features! Enjoy a triumph, such as never conquerer or monarch enjoyed — the assurance that, throughout America, there is not a bosom which does not beat with joy and gratitude at the sound of your name. Welcome! thrice welcome, to our shores! and whithersoever your course shall take you, throughout the limits of the continent, the ear that hears you shall bless you, the eye that sees you shall give wit- ness to you, and every tongue exclaim, with heart-felt joy, 'Welcome! welcome, Lafayette!'" In classic beauty and polished sentences Cicero seldom equaled and never excelled these passages. As has been said, tone, voice, manner, gesture and expression die, in a large degree, with a speaker; they can not be reproduced in print. While this is true of Air. Everett, it was doubly true of Mr. Webster, whose swell of voice and ponderous sentences were fit expressions of a giant mind that the cold, printed page can never convey. If this rapid glance at the orators of renown, and a few gems of their sayings, may serve to interest a reader, on themes gone by, how much more should our later events and modern court trials and orations serve to stimulate the advocate of to-day, as he reads the points worth pre- 230 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. serving, and too often lost, of trials within twenty years in which orators of our times have contended in mental duels, where ripened learning- meets an equal foe, and where advanced civilization crystalizes the good and eliminates the verbiage of ancient oratory; where the higher intelli- gence of mankind demands that the methods of practice shall grow clearer and terser, to keep pace with the progress of the age. The orators of to-day are the wires and the presses. The eloquence is often supplied by the editor's quill. But there is, and always will be, a demand for stirring and elo- quent speeches, in court, in Congress, and on the rostrum. It is felt to-day as with the ancients, only in a less quantity and more refined degree. The oration of Ingersoll at Cincinnati in '76, the master speeches of Conkling and Garfield at Chicago in 1880, or the thrilling eulogy of Daniel Dougherty on Hancock the same season, were delivered with as much energy and effect as the speeches of Clay and Calhoun, and but for the power of the press, which had filled and prepared the people, the multitude would have been carried captive at the will of the speakers (as in the last instance they seem to have been). Men and manners may change, but truths and passions are eternal. Fear, hope, reward and human sympathy always have been and always will be subject to influences, and are swayed by the power of great minds, acting on minds, through the medium of eloquence. There are thoughts and themes that grow by repetition, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. . 231 like the songs of Burns and Whittier, and the plays of Shakespeare. Orators have arisen, and will arise, who voice one event and one occasion; men with neither learning nor grace, nor logic, nor fine words, but with the rugged manner of a native Indian, drawing their inspiration from the Al- mighty, with a genius born of heaven, grouping some homely thoughts in eloquent delivery. Some one shall say again, in that beautiful rhythm of sympathy and grandeur, "Let it rise! Let it rise! till it meet the sun in the glory of his coming!" Some one will 'look on a sea of upturned faces," who has not the gift to raise mortals to the skies, nor that other power to drag angels down! "Modern civilization," says a great writer, "is the differ- ence between an Indian's hut and a lady's parlor." But oratory has not advanced in that degree, for the brightest orations of our day have never excelled those of the ancients; nor have the most cultivated speakers ever used choicer words than did the little Indian girl at Omaha, who spoke in the simplest language of nature, when she said, "It is but a little thing my people ask, yet infinite in its consequences; they ask for liberty, and law is liberty!" By saying that eloquence is often born and never made, it may as well be said that oratory is oftener made than born. The true orator, like the wrestler, walker, or oars- man ? is a thoroughly trained and skillful man, read and cultivated to the art assumed; he has to deal with an age 232 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. of reason, and he must deal in living lines of history, science and events; he must be ''burnished like a silvered sabre, without one rusty spot." American advocates have realized this requirement. They are terser, clearer and more industrious and ingenious every decade. They are growing more fertile in resources. Fifty years ago the plea of emotional insanity was unknown; now it's a sheet anchor to the rich and influential! Counsel do not all plead for insanity, and a clearer pic- ture of law and its uses will never be made than that beau- tiful word painting of Major Gordon, when he describes how "It surrounds us like the air we breathe, and lived before our being; that meets us in our helpless infancy, shields us with a mother's tenderness, follows us through the perilous journey of our lives, guards our liberty from the cradle to the coffin, and defends our persons and prop- erty from harm; walks with us to the verge of the deep, dark valley, protects our lifeless remains in peace till the coming of the resurrection! Nay, even the sweet rose, planted by the hand of affection, or the wild flower grow- ing on our graves, shall all be guarded by the strong arm of law!" A graphic description of law and evidence is aptly given by Mr. Lothrop, when he says: "All the mists are cleared away. The obscurity that surrounded this case has disap- peared. It is as though the walls of that bank were lifted up and the bright September sun should stream in, and show the dreadful deed! In the light of all this evidence, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 233 you see, standing over the body of his prostrate victim, his hands dripping with blood, the murderer of Herbert Field!" Truly the walls are lifted, and we look in! The sturdy appeal of General Browne, for the law's vindication, is given in the Hetfield homicide: "Take this widow, and her helpless orphan children, and go to that lone and lonely kirk yard, and, standing by the grave of Calvin Hetfield — unmarked by stone or monument — and, in view of the great sorrow that this defendant has brought into the world, there, there write your verdict!" The sweeping and dramatic sentence of Storrs, in the de- fense of Babcock, is excellent: "He is not guilty, gentle- men, he is not guilty! I feel an inspiration settling in this court room, stretching away to Washington, as if to bear the glad news to his devoted family, who, in his humble home, where an anxious wife, now surrounded by her little children, are kneeling, watching, praying and looking to God! for his deliverance and joyous return to the capi- tal of his country, that he has served so long, so faithfully, and so well!" Here the speaker carries his hearers a thousand miles with a single sentence. The massive periods of Seward, and prophetic fore- thought of Van Dyke are too full of the sublime to afford a separation for introductory extracts. They will be found in extended paragraphs in the cases to which they pertain. And again, the sterner words of Judge Ryan : "Whether they come in the soft, white gloves of peace, or the dark, 234 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. bloody gauntlets of war," breathe forth a Roman beauty. The deep drawn pathos of Graham, "Long enough has he endured the pelting of this pitiless storm; and who does not hope that he will find an asylum in your justice, and that it will be seasoned with mercy, as you yourselves ex- pect to be forgiven!" is thick with emotion. The homely eloquence of McReynolds, pleading for the little orphans is rare: "My work is done, gentlemen; but you will do a better work. Even now, by your silence and your interest in this case, methinks I hear you say, 'Stop! delay not longer! Let us begin this work of justice. Stop! that we may rebuke this cruel company. Stop! that we may restore these orphans to their own! to that pure char- acter that they will love to honor; a character as pure as they knew their mother on that last and long good-night, the night before the night of death! Stop! till we give a verdict that will vindicate a mother's name and a mothers love for her children !' " Arnold's appeal in Hubbell's case is pathetic: "And, in yonder cottage, almost within the hearing of my voice, there is yet another who is waiting, with intense solicitude, the result of your deliberations. She waits, in unshaken confidence and devoted love, for the accused. She is in deed, as well as in law, the wife of her husband, and she would clasp that man to her breast, though her arm were in a flame of living fire till it burned to its very socket! Her prayers are all around you — her hopes are all de- pendent on you. On bended knee, and with eye uplifted SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. ^55 prayerfully to Heaven, before you, she implores you: 'O, give me back the husband of my youth! I can surrender him to God — I can surrender him to my country — but O! spare the blow which, while it destroys him, dooms me to lean upon a broken reed, and to a life without a hope !' " The stirring sentences of Beach are rhythms of beauty: "They were married when he enjoyed the bloom of her youth and heart's loving tenderness! Married when it flattered his vanity to control her beauty! Married when she went through the valley and shadow of death to bear his children! But when of all times marriage is most sacred, when they should be leading each other along the western hill slope, to rest together at its foot, then it is he seeks to cast her off and call the contract spurious!" Or that touching and brilliant appeal of Voorhees, for Mary Harris, that moved all hearts within hearing: "The wife who is graced by her husband's love is more beauti- fully arrayed than the lilies, and envies not the diadems of queens! But to the young virgin heart, more than all, when the kindling inspiration of its first and sacred love is accompanied with a knowledge that for it, in return, there beams a holy flame, there comes an ecstacy of the soul, a rapturous exhalation more divine than will ever again be tested this side of the bright waters and perennial fountain of paradise! O, how her prison cell has been lighted by the purest and gentlest of her sex, and delicate flowers from the loftiest statesman in the world, have mingled their odors with the breath of her captivity! In the name of 236 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Him who showers His blessings on the merciful, who gave the promise to those who feed and clothe the hungry strangers at their gates, unlock the prison door, and bid her bathe her throbbing brow once more in the healing air of liberty!" THE ART OF SPEAKING. A bright young law student, a graduate of a great col- lege, lately asked: "What is the real art of speaking to please?" The answer was, "a full and thorough prepara- tion — practice." This thought has appeared often and been often re- peated. It will be repeated to the end of time and this is why. With nothing to say or nothing to sing, even Jenny Lind would have failed to please. No great speech has lived long without matter. Manner is a second considera- tion. Matter of the right sort set in simple words, is essential. The graphic, pathetic, humorous, quaint or eloquent way of putting it will tell in the end, but some- thing to say is essential over everything. Therefore, to read, commit, post up, fill up, intensify, embellish, prune, enlarge, amplify, yet chasten, all must be considered care- fully. The boast that our day is a day of scholars and colleges is idle in oratory without intense application. The one SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 237 great thing that the poor boys have over the rich, is their struggle and development. The one great advantage that the unlearned have over the accomplished, is the struggle in development. The intensity of a struggle is lacking in modern education. No amount of reading tends to pro- duce originality like a struggle. Books are hints. In- spirations come from reading, listening and observing, but perfection comes only by practice. Lincoln's greatest thoughts were born of his struggle with adversity. It is the cross that wins the crown. Ruskin is right. The fortune is conditional. The fortunate orator is one who has not been handed all his knowledge ready-made. He has solved his problems in Euclid alone as did Lincoln. He has written choice thoughts on his heart to last for- ever. Margaret Fuller was a brilliant scholar at 13. She spoke several languages while a child, but she was utterly void of original thought. Such thoughts are the thoughts of others. It needs adversity of the hardest kind to make an orator. It needs a fund of information quarried out from one's reading, it is stretching the mind that makes it grow stronger. No amount of playing in the field together ever made a fast trotter. He must be trained in the race with others in actual practice to gain the hardened muscle. So practice, training, intense application must precede pub- lic speaking. But bear in mind: You will not be often called on if when invited you have nothing to say of in- terest to hearers, and will not long be capable and left without an audience. By fitness to do anything you attract 238 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. to yourself those who are deeply interested in your theme. When a boy I attended a senatorial convention. The delegates were seated without contest and before nomina- tion the different candidates were asked to state their posi- tion on the banking question, which was the important issue just before the war. The first candidate (one of the daintiest dressed men I ever saw), began with the statement that he was so young when he left New York State that the law was not familiar to him, but if elected he would post up and be ready. Loud cries for Beeman, who came out with a miller's suit on and began to strike square from the shoulder, sav- ing he wanted every dollar in paper worth one in gold or silver. How in New York wild-cat banking, one quarter in hard money, had secured the full issue and many a bank had filled its currency kegs two-thirds with nails and the balance in gold or silver. "Nails are good in their place," said he, with spirit, "but not good in a money keg." As he proceeded he brought his strong hands together and the flour from his sleeves raised quite a dust around him. He was nominated ten to one over the dainty man and on the way home I was told that his clearness and earnestness would capture and convince any audience. His talk was all reason. He had learned by a struggle. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 239 REAL ELOQUENCE. (From a Speech of McReynolds when 70 years of age.) May Stephens lived in Ypsilanti, and was insured in five companies, aggregating $20,000. The Michigan Mutual Life, of Detroit, contested their $5,000 policy on the ground of fraud. Deceased had only paid twenty-four dollars in all, was poor, and gave her notes for premiums. She was drowned in a cistern, leaving two small children — ages under fourteen. A guardian was appointed, and suit brought in the Superior Court of Detroit, which was crowded full as the trial came on. Judge Longyear left the United States Court to listen, and was invited to sit with Judge Cochrane of the Superior Court. The bar crowded in en masse, and witnesses and spectators packed the court room for many days. Counsel said: "The policy had its own conditions, was its own receipt — was made at the urgent request of an anxious agent. On failure to meet the premium, she was deprived of its benefits. Talk about honest citizens paying honest debts! Talk about fraud committed on this poor, afflicted com- pany, with its force of shrewd, sharp men; talk about the imposition of a loathsome disease! Why, gentlemen, what are the records on that fact? Strange her nearest neigh- bors never knew it. Strange the doctors never knew it. Here is their story in this application: Sound, healthy, five feet six, robust, skin clear, pulse 72, waist 36, no 240 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. insanity, palpitation, erect, sound in every limb. Yet rotten with disease, they say! "Oh, what a monstrous absurdity! Experts chosen for learning, skill and experience, baffled by a poor, weak widow, who is seeking to impose upon the world by a fraud. She had a little money. She was coaxed to invest it for her child — her bright-eyed boy, for her little girl, fast budding into womanhood. She did. She went too far. She was over-persuaded. These men, pleading in her ear, telling the stories of profits, singing their siren songs, that, like the mermaids in the legends of old, which lured the returning seamen from their well-filled boats to tie up the ships and follow the sweet songs until far away from home, in the mountains and forests, they were lost, to die alone in hunger and delirium. It is said that ever afterwards travelers took warning, as they passed, and put wax in their ears to shut out the music of the allurers as they passed. This may be a lesson in our day, for only wax could shut out the pleading appeals to join this coaxing- company. * * * Oh, what a picture is here to behold ! Two little orphans battling with a giant corporation! A money power, backed by the bondholders and directors. How it rouses our impulses to witness the contest! 'That mother, the object of this bereavement, is gone. Her lips are dumb; her voice is hushed — low in the silent grave. No whisper can come back to say: T fell. I slipped. I fell. I was misguided. I did all. I risked all for you! For you, my son, my child, my own! For you. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 241 my little one.' She has gone. She has whispered the last good night and gone ! The secrets of her death are locked till judgment day. There they are sacred; there they will remain secure. "Oh! I can see her now; it is early twilight, it is winter, the snow is falling fast and slippery; whitening the little plank walk to the cistern. She has company, she hurries down the walk, catching up a pail, leaving the hook hanging over the curbing, bending low she slips, falls, the water covers over her, no one hears, she is drowned! It is an accident; and I almost hear her say, as she looks down to you, to this upright judge, this honest jury: 'Gen- tlemen, you may cheat my children, if you will, but spare them the burden of dishonor; the money will be a poor pittance at the most to that priceless character that my innocent children should inherit.' We plead for the money that they deserve, we plead for the character that they own, we plead for the justice that their evidence demands; make their lives happy and their mother's memory sweet — sweet as the day she bade them good-night, the night be- fore the night of death, little dreaming of the sudden end, little dreaming of the scandal they should meet, little dreaming she should be held up in horror to frighten a jury from duty; held up in shame and diseased to blot out the fair name she had earned for her children! You will not stain these little ones, gentlemen; you will not pay a P 242 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. claim that way; you will not cancel a just debt by a mean insinuation of wrong. Why, gentlemen, they would have you think that this woman loved her little ones so much that she dared the pains of hell, and drowned herself, that they might be made rich, though orphaned ! No crown of glory she held in prospect; no garland of the blessed to be wreathed upon her brow! only a sordid fraud, a leap in the dark oblivion of the great hereafter, to get gain! "Gentlemen, my work is almost done; poorly as it is, I must trust to you to do a better work. And my little clients (here the speaker laid one hand on each of the clients' shoulders and amid the hushed silence of rapt at- tention, said), my little clients, may God bless you! I have done my best to make your names an honor to our state. But, O! how poor and weak my words have been. And you, gentlemen, even now, by your silence and your interest in this case, methinks I hear you say, stop! delay not longer! let us begin this work of justice; stop! that we may rebuke this cruel company; stop! that we may restore these orphans to their own; to that pure character that they will love to honor, a character as pure as they knew her on that last and long good-night; stop! that you may wipe away all tears from these orphaned eyes, and plant the sweet rose of a mother's love in their bright young lives to grow, b^oom and bless the world for their living in it; stop! that we may right this wrong at once. O God! put SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 243 it into the hearts of this jury to see the truth; to vindicate a mother's name and a mother's love to her helpless chil- dren. "O God! remove the mist from this case, reveal the truth to these jurors, let them see their duty and give them strength to do right, and do it remembering that some day — yes, an early day to most of them, when they shall be called home, to leave, it may be, dependent children, and a sacred memory of a good name, that of future juries they may expect the same just finding that they have found for us — a verdict and a vindication!" Won. TOM MARSHALL'S ORATORY. Marshall believed in careful preparation of speeches. "They talk of my astonishing bursts of eloquence (he said), and doubtless imagine that it is my genius bubbling over. It is nothing of the sort. I'll tell you how I do it. I select a subject and study it from the ground up. When I have mastered it fully I write a speech on it. Then I take a walk and come back and revise and correct. In a few days I subject it to another pruning and then recopy it. Next I add the finishing touches, round it off with graceful periods and commit it to memory. Then I speak it in the fields, on my father's lawn and before my mirror, until gesture and delivery are perfect. It sometimes takes me 244 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. six weeks or two months to get up a speech. When I have one prepared I come to town, am called on for a speech and am permitted to select my own subject. It astonishes the people, as I intended it should, and they go away marveling at my amazing power of oratory. They call it genius, but it represents the hardest kind of work." Here is a sample of his eloquence: Mr. Marshall said, "Gentlemen: In appealing to you, as the representatives of a merciful God, it appeared to me that it would have been quite enough for the gentlemen to consign the prisoner to an early and disgraceful grave in the midst of all his promise and all his hopes, without in- truding such a rhetorical display upon him. It appeared to me, that after recommending him to such a grave, or, in case he should escape it, to the whips and stings of con- science on all occasions and in all climes, and to every horror that a distorted imagination has been able to depict, we might at least have been left to our fate, and spared the infliction of such a speech and such an appeal. And to crown the whole, you are gravely exhorted, out of simple mercy, to rescue us from the horrible phantoms that have been conjured up, by handing us over to the hangman! "Attention has been directed to the past life of the ac- cused, and this traveled young gentleman is graciously informed that he may commence his travels over again. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 245 But the permission is coupled with the assurance that wherever he may go — whether he shall climb the rugged Alps and wander in the regions of polar cold, or roam through the sunny climes of Italy and France, still every opening flower shall remind him of the flowers he has left blighted at home. Should he seek the blue ocean, we are told that each white cap will remind him of the shroud of his victim, and that in the boom of every surge, he shall hear the rattle of the death shot." . His words on self-defense are striking: "He had the right, and exercised that right of self- defense with which nature has provided him. But what does this right mean, 2nd how far does it extend? It confers upon me the privilege of beating off any in- jury or infringement upon those inherent rights with which God and nature have provided me. It gives me the right to exercise any means, to use any amount of force that may be necessary to repel such attacks. No man has a right to take my life; I may defend it and preserve it at any cost. But this is not all; a man's rights are not confined merely to the preservation of his life. He has others, many others, guaranteed by nature, that are nearer and dearer and which it is his privilege and his duty to protect. Without these, life itself could have no charms; and had I no other right than the simple one of existence, I would raise my own wild hand and throw back my life in the face of Heaven, as a gift unworthy of possession! 246 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. "I maintain that I have as much right to defend my personal liberty as my life; but the force to be used is only that necessary to repel the attack, and to prevent injury. Were this defendant to attack me, and attempt to chastise me, I would have no right to take his life, because he is an invalid, and so far inferior to me in physical strength, that I have no reason to apprehend any serious injury. But with a man of more powerful frame than myself, the case would be different. He has no right to attack me; I have a right to defend myself, and I may use just the amount of force necessary to do so. If I choose I may strike him with my fist That would show a great deal of game; but if he were stronger than I, it would certainly tend to exasperate him, and render my chastisement six times as severe as it would otherwise have been. Per- chance I may be able to seize a bludgeon, with which I can fell him to the earth, and thus protect myself. But if no such means are at hand, will any man, will any Kentuckian, tell me that I must stand and be beaten like a dog, at his discretion? Certainly not. I may repel him and defend myself in any way I can, and if nothing else will prove effectual, I have a perfect right to cut his throat from ear ! to ear. I may use any amount of force whatever that is necessary; and this, as I understand it, is the law on the subject, as construed, applied and executed, throughout the land. I ask you to look at the facts in this case, and apply the law to them. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 247 "Should he die for this? Does this act make it necessary for that young prisoner to be stricken from the roll of living- men? Does it render him unfit to live, and a dangerous member of human society? "But if you think to mitigate his punishment, will you immure him within the walls of a penitentiary? Will you cut those flowing locks — will you shave that classic head — will you snatch him from the bosom of his loving family — tear him from the arms of his girl-wife and rudely sunder every tie that makes life dear? Will you do this and call it mercv?" CHAPTER V. LEGENDS, STORIES, APT ILLUSTRATIONS AND QUOTATIONS. THE GENIUS OF PLEASURE. Fernanz, way back in the distant past, was known as the Genius of Pleasure, and was said to control all the elements that ministered to the senses. The groves, the flowers, the fountains, the stars, and the heavenly bodies were controlled by his genius, and seeing their effect on mankind, he con- ceived the plan to improve men's condition by culture. He selected a modest young boy, whom he caused to be trained in art, science, physical culture and the ways of wisdom and justice — never allowing him to meet or mingle with the op- posite sex during his training. He then selected a young girl of rare beauty and had her trained by twelve maidens in the ways of life with all the accomplishments of womanhood — keeping her in parks and gardens with pure human beings, entirely out of sight of men and boys, until the age of sixteen. / One day in the garden by chance in passing a pool of clear water, she saw reflected in the pool her own image, and exclaimed, "Why, I am created beautiful ;" for she com- pared the image with herself and readily determined that it was her own figure in the water. The flowers have beauty, she said, that I may admire them, and the trees, and SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 249 the stars, and the fountains, but, oh, why am I thus propor- tioned without some object! In her reverie she fell asleep and dreamed sweet dreams of a being never before seen yet greatly admired in her vision. The being seemed to elude her advances and kept just barely out of reach, until finally she awoke. On seeing the very object before her, she shaded her eyes with her hands and said: "Oh, it is my dream, it is my dream;" and she turned to go away. Then came the young man, who had been trained from his youth up, and taught in all the languages and arts of refinement, yet in this emergency he had no words nor language, for deep emotion is not given to easy sayings. As they ap- proached each other and as he was about to lay his hand upon her head, Fernanz, concealed near by, was heard to say: "Stay young man, withhold your hand, touch her not, until you hear this lesson. It is not her beauty, sir, nor your manhood, that you each admire in the other, but the train- ing of your lives that has taught you the meaning of beauty and uprightness. Join your hands with each other, and go into the world, and so act and live that others seeing your conduct, may be taught to admire beauty and manhood." SHORT STORIES. Goethe says: For a man of the world a collection of anecdotes is of the greatest value. If he knows how to 250 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. use them in conversation and fit them to occasions he will have a fund of perpetual enjoyment. In his simplicity Lincoln excelled all men, for three rea- sons: By his intense nature; his appetite for wisdom; his frankness and clearness of expression. Many a story is well worth money. Here is one that is: A farmer and his three sons caught a woodchuck in the harvest field. Each boy, especially the youngest, wanted him. The farmer, knowing his boys to be good debaters, said : "I'll tell you what we'll do ; the boy who can give the best reason for his political faith shall have the woodchuck." "You may choose your party to speak for, and have five minutes each. Start at the youngest, whom I think is a Pro- hibitionist. So Bennie commenced: "I am a Prohibition- ist. Liquor is a great evil. It will make a father kill his own wife; make a mother kill her own child. It brought more evil in the world than war; it fills the prisons, jails, and almshouses; it drives men to the mad house. It sends men to hell. I am a Prohibitionist." "Next!" said the farmer; and James started off with great earnestness: "I am a Republican! I belong to the party that put down the rebellion, paid the national debt, revived the industries, freed the slaves; made our nation's credit the highest in the world ; gave our nation as the home of the op- pressed all over the world." "Time!" called the father, and John, the oldest came up, saying with great deliberation: "I — am — a — Democrat. SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 251 My father is a Democrat, my grandfather was a Democrat. I am a Democrat because I want the woodchuck!" An Indian hearing a white man complain of hunger, said: "White man dum-big-fool ; he was always hungry when can get nothing to eat!" A trite old saying is, "Stick to your text." In a law suit many things happen to try one's patience; w T itty retorts, stinging replies, low personalities, may so engage counsel and jury as to obscure the case. Jurors take sides, and enter into outside discussions. The real winner after all is one that, with singleness of purpose, holds to his point and hugs the issue to the end. Harper's Weekly gave an excel- lent story of a lawyer selecting a clerk, that applies to this point admirably. The lawyer put a notice in an evening paper, saying that he would pay a small stipend to an active office clerk; next morning his office was crowded with ap- plicants — all bright, and many suitable. He bade them wait in a room until all should arrive, and then ranged them in a row and said, he would tell a story, and note the comments of the boys, and judge from that whom he would engage. "A certain farmer," began the lawyer, "was troubled with a red squirrel that got in through a hole in his barn and stole his seed corn; he resolved to kill that squirrel at the first opportunity. Seeing him go in at the hole one noon, 252 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. he took his shot gun and fired away; the first shot set the barn on fire." "Did the barn burn?" said one of the boys. The lawyer, without answer, continued: "And seeing the barn on fire, the farmer seized a pail of water, and ran in to put it out." "Did he put it out?" said another. "As he passed inside the door shut to, and the barn was soon in full flames. When the hired girl rushed out with more water " "Did the hired girl burn up?" said another boy. The lawyer went on, without answer: "Then the old lady came out and all was noise and confusion, and everybody was trying to put out the fire." "Did they all burn up?" said another. The lawyer, hardly able to restrain his laughter, said: "There, there, that will do ; you have all shown great interest in the story," but, observing one little bright-eyed fellow in deep silence, he said, "Now, my little man what have you to say?" The little fellow blushed, grew uneasy, and stam- mered out, "I want to know what became of that squirrel, that's what I want to know." "You will do," said the lawyer; "you are my man; you have not been switched off by a confusion and a barn's burn- ing, and hired girls, and water pails; you have kept your eye on the squirrel." The story is packed full of excellent advice to beginners in the law, with a few good hints to older counsel. In SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 253 every suit there is, or should be, one squirrel to kill, and no more. * * * It was midway in the Fremont campaign, and the old story that the Pathfinder had killed a lot of cows to keep his explorers from starving, was turned against the would-be president Fairfield was the speaker at the Fowles Grove, near Mos- cow, Southern Michigan. Midway in his address the speaker had pictured the rais- ing of the Stars and Stripes on Fremont Peak, when an old Democrat thought to check the spell of eloquence and yelled out, "What about them cows?" No attention was paid to it and again the farmer squeaked out: "Tell us about them cows, that Fremont stole on the mountains. Tell us about them cows." Fairfield turned half face to the intruder and said: "Has any farmer present got a new milch cow? If so, for God's sake drive her up and let that poor critter suck." The applause lasted many minutes. A sailor being asked, what, of all things he would wish tor, if given three wishes, said: "My first wish is 'tobacker' (all I want of it)." "My second, 'whiskey' (all I want of it)." "Well, what about the third wish?" said the questioner. "Let me see," mused the sailor, "More tobacker." 254 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. Two boys stood on a street corner disputing. A benevo- lent stranger overheard it, and said: "Tut, tut, boys, don't quarrel, settle your differences; what's it all about, boys, anyway?" One boy spoke up, saying: "He says his grandfather was eighteen feet high, and I said, 'Oh, what a whopper/ why he could not stand in a house or lay in a bed, or see what was going on anyhow; but, I said, maybe he was that tall, it de- pends on where he growed up. In California the trees grow three hundred feet high and one hundred feet round, and my father killed a snake out there three miles long; and he said, 'Oh, what a whopper.' " "Well, boys," said the stranger, "better harmonize your differences; can't you each come down a little?" Then the tall grandfather boy looked sullen, and the long snake boy said : "Then let him take off twelve feet from the height of his grandfather and I'll take a mile off my snake, and maybe we can agree." A tippler came into a protracted meeting rather late and heard the minister urging men and women to stand up and be prayed for. It being the first night, no one arose, until the misguided tippler arose and looking solemnly around, seeing only the minister standing, said: "Well, Elder, I guess you and I is in a hopeless minority this time, a hope- less minority." SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. LOST BY LATIN. A passenger train ran over a farmer in Southern Illinois, way down near Egypt, killing the farmer and his team in- stantly, and almost derailing the passenger cars at the cross- ing. So terrible had been the destruction that but little trace of the team and wagon was in sight when the train backed up to view the accident. Suit was brought for damages, and a learned Chicago lawyer defended, closing his argument with the well-known plea: "What we claim for the company is that the corpus delicti (the Latin for the body of the offense) has not been made out by the evidence." The Latin was about as little known to the jury and plaintiff's counsel as we know of the inhabitants of Mars. But the young man's turn came next, and he began: "What is the defense to this damage case, gentlemen of the jury? It is not even claimed that the company is not in some way negligent. It is not even denied that they ran over that poor farmer. It is admitted that they tore his wagon all to splinters, and his horses all to pieces, and instantly killed the farmer, with their fast express train, but to get out of damages, they say: 'The corpus delicti' is not proved; is not made out. All the way from Chicago comes this great lawyer to tell you that story, gentlemen. But I tell you that when they backed up that train over the ruins of that wagon and the broken remains of the horses there, by that track there, in plain 256 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. sight, there lay the corpus delicti, the farmer, and their own witnesses all swear to it, and we want a verdict for $10,000 for it" — and he got it. "THE PINCH IN THE BENT/ Many years ago, on the banks of Lake Erie, at Buffalo, New York, a number of builders were engaged in raising a large warehouse. It was before the days of cranes and tackle-blocks — when heavy bents lifted by hand, with pike- poles. The foundation stood five or six feet from the ground level. The bents had all been put together in the afternoon, and all raised from the platform but the last one. The last bent was run out on blocks and timbers after being pinned together, and had to be lifted from the ground to a standing place. It was a hard day's work ; the lifting was heavy, the day was hot and tiresome, and when they came to the last bent they knew that the tug of war was before them, for they had lifted until they were lifted out, and felt that dizzy, trembling weakness that comes from over exertion. In raising the last bent they were starting almost at arm's length to begin with, and as they touched their hands to the work, the words rang out, "All ready! Pick 'er up! He-o-heave!" Up went the bent, four feet at the time. "Pick 'er up! He-o-heave!" and up she went, four feet SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 257 higher. "Pick 'er up! He-o-heave!' But it went slower. "Now, once more! He-o-heave!" and it barely moved. The commander seized one of the posts and said in earnest, "Now, men, all together! Lift 'er up! He-o-heave!" But the bent hung in mid air — it was a dead lift, too high for short pikes, too low for long ones — out of reach by hands. They had reached the pinch in the bent. The captain aroused the men, and said: "Now, men, don't let this bent go down! When I say, 'set 'er up!' for God's sake lift! Now, set 'er up! He-o-heave!" But the bent trembled in mid air. Then the captain, seeing the danger, took in the situation at a glance. Turning around he saw a group of women and children looking on in breathless agony, and in his frenzy he said: "Mothers, if you would save your sons; sisters, if you would save your brothers; wives, if you would have your husbands home to-night, come and help us!" In an instant they came bounding like a flock of deers over the bridge, up the embankment — and seizing the pikes, they were ready for the lift. Then rang out the clear voice of the commander: "Now, men, your wives and children are in danger! Lift for your lives! He-o-heave!" and up she went. "Once more! He-o-heave! Set 'er up! Set 'er up! Steady! Steady! Round with your long pikes! In with the pin! There! Thank the women and girls for that!" Here we are in the midst of a "credit panic," not for want of crops, or produce; not for want of money or solvency; not for want of prosperity — if we could but set it in q 258 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. motion — but for want of confidence. The business houses have almost "mortgaged their souls" to get money to pay help; and yet standing near by are hundreds of women, and weak men, who act very unlike men, who draw out and hide away the very money that would set business in motion. May we say to them, "We have reached the pinch in the bent; come and help us, and don't let this bent go down under the eyes of your carelessness, and crush the business of the country, and with it bring starvation to our work- ing people." THE MISER'S HAND. There is a beautiful tradition of a painting in Venice called the "Miser's Hand." By the story of the painting a very talented young man fell in love with a beautiful daughter of an old miser. The love was mutual; the day set; and still it remained to break the news to and gain the consent of the miser. The young man presented his case and the miser scorned it. "What! You, a pauper, would marry my daughter? No! No! I will have no paupers to inherit my patrimony! I will leave no entailment of pau- pers to my family!" The young people were greatly distressed. The young girl even attempted to commit suicide. She was rescued by an unknown stranger from drowning, and touched by SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 259 her pitiful story, he promised to intercede for her and her lover with the father. Taking the couple to the miser, he presented their side and urged consent; but the miser was obdurate, and spurned them without pity, saying: "I will have no paupers in my family." "Then I perceive," said the stranger, "that it is the money and not the manhood you would have your daughter marry?" The miser shrugged his shoulders and growled. "But if he should bring you three thousand pistoles for his fortune, would you then consent?" "Three thousand pistoles! Three thousand pistoles!" ex- claimed the miser, "Yes, yes, I would consent." Drawing a piece of parchment from his pocket, the stran- ger sketched a hand upon it with crayon, and held it in front of the miser, who exclaimed: "My God! It is my hand! It is my own hand !" And sure enough, it was an old withered hand, half open, in the act of catching a shower of gold. "Take it to the keeper of St. Mark," said the stranger to the lover, "and sell it for three thousand pistoles," which they promptly did, and laid the money in the lap of the miser, who consented, and the young couple were married, and were happy. The stranger was Michael Angelo. The painting hung for years in Venice, and was captured in war by enemies, and now only a tradition remains of it; yet the legend is beautiful. It shows that fine finish and talent and perfection 260 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. in anything is always rewarded, and brings gain to its owner, and happiness to all who come within its influence. 'Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne ; Yet the scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown, Standeth God, within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own.' ; 'Words are but leaves, Deeds are the fruit." Words are the shadows of actions." Lycurgus, the law-giver, to convince his King of the value of training and education, said: "I would show thee, oh King, the value of habit and training upon a people, for as their training is, so will they be all thro' their lives. I would show thee by the example of my little dogs." The King, being a lover of dogs, said: "Bring in your dogs." The dogs were sent for, when Lycurgus said: "This little dog on my left has been petted and fondled, and fed on SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING 261 bread and milk, and kept in the house. This little dog on my right, his own brother, has been taken to the chase and taught to hunt the hare and bring it to his master — to make his way in the world by hunting. Now bring in a platter of bread and milk, and a live hare," which being done, and the milk placed furthest from the house dog, and the hare furthest from the hunting dog, the law-giver said: "Now let go the dogs," which being done, the house dog ran at once to the milk platter, and never stopped until he had eaten all of it; and the hunting dog made chase for the hare and stopped not until he had caught it and laid it at his master's feet. And Lycurgus said: "You see, oh, King, that as their habit is, and as their training is, so will they be all through their lives ; and so also it is with men and children." ^ >£ ^ "Give your child to a slave to be trained," said one, "and you will have two slaves." "We settled near a cemetery," said another, "and our little boys, on seeing the solemn processions file in day after day, soon learned to imitate burial forms, and I said, 'this will not do. Our children will grow up with long, solemn faces.' So we settled near a market place, and soon the boys began to imitate hucksters in crying out their pre- tended wares, and I said, 'this is too rude; this will not do.' So we settled near a school house, and soon the boys began to attend exercises, and followed by declamations and de- bates, and I said: 'Now are we well situated; the boys will 262 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. acquire habits of learning and usefulness, and take on a higher life. " At a salesmen's banquet they had all spoken, and wittily withal. The last toast was: "To the Ladies." The modest young man said: "The Lord made the earth in six days, and said it was good, and rested. He made man and said he was good, and rested. He then made woman out of a rib of man, but no mention is made of his resting, and there has been no rest for God nor man ever since." It was over in San Francisco at a banquet. They had extolled the fruit and flowers and tall trees, and gold and silver, and the beauty of nature, and the modest Michigan Governor (Luce) said: "In speaking for my State, she may not have as many mines of gold and silver; she may not be blessed with as many tall mountains; she may not have so many broad acres of climate, or leagues of wild flowers, but Michigan can boast one thing that surpasses all such beauties: The Michigan boys can look into the bright, dancing eyes of more handsome girls and women, than any other section on earth." SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 263 Illustrations are the windows of thought. The air, when heard, speaks in tones of thunder. * * * "Does that man defend me?" said the prisoner. "Yes," said the court. "If he should die, can I have another ap- pointed?" "Yes." "Can I see him a minute alone?" A farmer found on a tombstone: "Here lies a lawyer and an honest man." He seemed puzzled and said : "Why did they put two such men in one grave?" Several little school girls were going to be late to school. One of them proposed: "Let us kneel down and pray that we may not be marked tardy." "No," said another, "let us skin out and get there and pray as we go." ^ >& >k Mamma, hasn't God improved awfully since he made papa? 5fc ^ ^ If a stranger should tell a young man before starting in life that he knew of a fortune, an inheritance, worth many thousand on conditions that the young man should do something to inherit it, how anxiously he would act. Yet all American bovs have a fortune on condition. 264 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. THE STORY OF A KING. "I read long ago in the German of a kind young king, among the Huns, who was so loved by his people, that they gave him a golden throne and a silver crown; that, soon after, he died in his prime, and the people said : "We will have no king. None other can fill his place." Two years they waited and at last they longed for a king. At last they voted to select a king, provided one could be found whom the elements obeyed and the animals would love. To find such a king search was made in all the cities and hamlets round about, but without avail. Then men in pairs were sent through the fields and woods, but returned without a king. Then at last, they searched in the moun- tains, till one day two searchers for the king were overtaken by a dreadful storm of wind and hail and snow, that drove them for shelter into a cave way up on the mountain side. In the cave they found a little man dressed in furs. He gave them generous welcome, saying: "Come in and wait 'til the storm goes by." He gave them bread to eat, and a bed of furs to sleep upon and said, "Rest 'til the storm goes by !" They fell asleep, but about two o'clock in the night they were awakened by a terrible roar and noise outside. They rose on their elbows and said: "We shall be killed! We shall be killed! This is a rob- ber's cave!" Then the little man in furs came out, saying, "What is this I hear? What is this complaint?" SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 265 "Hear you the noise outside?" said the searchers for a king, still trembling in fear. Going to the cave door and sliding it, the little man in furs exclaimed: "Oh, I see! Bears, wolves, tigers, lions, wild animals out in the storm! Come in! Come in, out of the storm! Come in, you lions ! Come in and wait till the storm goes by!" Instantly the bears, lions, tigers and wolves hurried in. The lions licked the little man's hands. He stroked the tigers on the back. The wolves huddled around like little lambs. "Take your places in the corner there," said the man in furs, which they did and seemed delighted to be in out of the storm, and all slept again 'til morning. In the morning the animals were let out. A hole was made in the ceiling and bright rays of the sun shone in. It was focused in a glass and a fire lighted from a piece of punk; a meal of meat was cooked; the men were treated to a substantial meal and then shown outside, where the water in summer was caught in a fountain that sheep and cattle and animals and men could drink. The searchers for a king were about to go. They re- membered to pay their bill. "What shall we pay you for your kindness and entertain- ment like this?" asked the men. The little man straightened up and said with great force, very slowly: "Pay — me — for — kindness? O, sirs, there is 266 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. no payment for kindness save in kindness to somebody else! Go your way, and when you find people in distress, so deal with them as has been done to you in this storm, with the injunction, that you bid them all continue the kind- ness to the end of time." The little man bowed and returned to his cave. The searchers for a king- returned to their city and knew not what they had seen; but the people, always wiser than one or two, threw up their hands, exclaiming: "Make him our king! Make him our king! Kindness has made him worthy to be king!'' So they sent the men once more up the steep mountain side and brought back the little man in furs, placed him upon the golden throne, put upon his head a silver crown, in honor of his kindness. THE FOX AND THE BELL. This story was used once on a prolix debater with great force and effect. He never fully rallied from its effect in the immediate circle who heard it told. Pie was no longer their separate hero. Here it is: A fox found a bell in the woods covered with leaves. It so excited his curiosity that he turned it over and over and each time came a hollow sound that seemed to startle him and the fox thus soliloquised: "What is that infernal SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 267 * thing? Its noise don't belong to the animal nor the mineral kingdom! It neither resembles one nor the other. It's all noise and tongue. I'll name it! I'll call it the long- tongued, hollow-headed devil and let it go." In the roar which followed the point was apparent. But the speaker applied it: Who is this strange freak who inveighs against capital and labor? Who is this law breaker? Is he a laborer? His lilly white hands deny it. His long, slick tongue alone proclaims it. I will name his argument. I'll call it the long-tongued, white-handed, hol- low-headed thing — unknown to reason, applicable to nothing, nowhere and to nobody — a long-tongued, hollow- headed reason and let it go. PLEADING EXTRAORDINARY.— (Selected.) (Useful on a recall for young speakers.) May it please the Court, Gentlemen of the Jury: You sit in that box as the great reservoir of 'Roman liberty, Spartan fame and Grecian polytheism. You are to swing the great flail of justice and electricity over this immense community in hydraulic majesty and incongugal superfluity. You are to ascend the deep arcana of nature and dispose of my client with equiponderating concatena- tion and reverberating momentum. Such, gentlemen, is 268 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. your sedative and stimulating character; my client is only a man with domestic eccentricities and matrimonial con- figuration, not permitted, as you are, gentlemen, to bask in the primeval and lowest vales of society; he has to endure the red hot sun of the universe, seated on the heights of nobility and feudal eminence! He has a wife of matrimonial propensities that henpecks the remainder of his days with soothing and bewitching verbosity. He has a family of domestic children that gather around the fireside of his peaceful homicide in tumultuous con- sanguinity and cry with screaming and reverberating mo- mentum for bread, butter and molasses. Such, gentlemen, is the glowing and overwhelming character and defear- ance of my client, who stands here indicted by this perse- cuting pettifogger of this court, who is as much inferior to me as I am exterior to the judge, and you, gentlemen of the jury. This borax of the law has brought witnesses into this court, who swore my client stole a firkin of butter ; but I say they swore to a lie, every one of them, and the truth is concentrated within them, and I will prove it by a learned expectoration of the principles of law. Now, butter is made of grass, and it is laid down in St. Peter Pinder in his principles of subterraneous law, pages 1 8 to 27 inclusive, that grass is couchant and levant, which means, in our obicular tongue, that grass is of a mild and free nature, and therefore you see that my client had a right to grass and butter both. Again, butter is made of grease, and Greece is a foreign country situated SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 269 in the far off and amaciated country of Liberia and Cali- fornia, and therefore my client is out of the benediction of this court and cannot be tried in this horizon. I will now bring forward the ulimantum respondenti and cap the great climax of logic by quoting an inconceivable maxim of law laid down in Latin in Hannibal, Hudibras, Blackstone and Sangrado. It is this, heck, hock, morus, multicalus, emensa et thoro guta bega sentum; which means in English, that ninety-nine men are guilty where one is innocent. It is therefore your duty, gentlemen, to convict ninety-nine men first, then you come to my client, who is innocent, and acquit according to the law. If these great principles shall be duly appreciated by this court, then the great north pole of liberty that has stood so many years in pneumatic tallness shall continue to stand the wreck of the Indian invasion; the pirates of the Hypoborian seas, and the marauders of the Aurora Boliver. But, gentlemen, if you convict my client, his children will be obliged to pine away in a state of hopeless matrimony and his beautiful wife will stand alone and de- serted like a dried up mullen stalk in a sheep pasture. "Not guilty." 270 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. THE HIGHER— THE GRANDER. THE HIGHER WE RISK THE GRANDER THE VIEW." (Address to a High School Graduating Class.) What a beautiful class motto that is ! It carries us all with a single sentence to the highest ambition of your class. It is like the old copies that tell you to "aim at the sun" — "nail your banner to the stars" — "think to the front," and by aiming and thinking you attain a higher station-dn anything. I congratulate this class on such a lofty ambition. Table Rock, at Harper's Ferry, is 200 feet straight upward, reached by a steep hill. From its summit one can look out over the Shenandoah River and the valley beyond on the south, Maryland Hights on the east, West Virginia on the west, and Pennsylvania on the north. With the inspiring grandeur of the scene, high up between heaven and earth, Thomas Jefferson composed the Declaration of Inde- pendence, 119 years ago! He must have believed in your motto — "The Higher we Rise, the Grander the View! There is a poetic beauty in the scene, to look downward and see the Shenandoah River and the rapid Potomac marry under the iron bridge and go in one river from there to Washington on their wedding tour. In the little park on Broadway and Sixteenth street, New York, in the year '82, I saw a monster hand and forearm. It was made of iron and bronze and had but little meaning, SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. 271 except it was an arm larger than a man's body and fingers larger than human arms, and later, in 1890, I saw it again, when it stood on Bedloe's Island, upon a mighty stone monument 150 feet high — higher than the tallest buildings, or the Colossus at Rhodes — in all 306 feet high, where the statue of Liberty is holding a torch of powerful light and is called "Liberty Enlightening the World.'' There is another place that Americans all admire — the Washington monument — higher than St. Paul's Cathedral tower, higher than the hanging gardens of Babylon, higher than the Pyramids of Egypt. From the top of that monument, one may see the White House, the Capitol, the Soldiers' Home, the Departments of State, the Soldiers' Burial Ground at Arlington Hights, and off into different States ; but more than all, one can see a love of country and a desire to perpetuate the deeds of its mighty men. Cars look like toys from its summit, horses look like little dogs, and men like tiny children, but the nation looks larger than ever before from this grand and inspiring view. All these figures portray altitude of objects. But your motto means a higher, brighter view of life. Education makes one fit company for himself. You learn to live better, to know things more clearly, to comprehend the duty of your lives, to be happier, wiser, better, every day. Reader Crossman o'nce said : "I never knew what the stars of heaven meant 'til I looked through the great Lick observatorv from Mount Hamilton, California. From that 272 SPEECHES AND SPEECH-MAKING. powerful glass I saw a million worlds hanging in space, beside which our earth is like a little marble." "The Higher we Rise, the Grander the View," in any- thing. The early studies are like going into a tunnel — dark, and deep, and dismal. The later ones let us out into daylight, into sunlight, into wisdom, into comprehension. The alphabet is the dullest part of any language. The first step over, the rest is easy. Then, as Webster said at Bunker Hill, "Let it rise till it meet the sun in his coming." So, let us rise, and rise till we meet the sun in the glory of his coming! Eloquence ant> IRepartee in tbe Hmerican Congress- By WM. C. SPRAGUE. This book contains selections from the brilliant addresses and debates in the 42d Congress — a Congress known in history as a brilliant one. This Congress contained some of the best orators from the North and South that have ever occupied seats in the United States Congress. The occas- sions of the addresses and debates from which selections are made were largely those that grew out of the war. This was the date of the discussion on universal amnesty to those who had taken part in the rebellion ; the discussion that grew out of the Kit Klux Klan ; the discussion of reform of the civil service, that marked the beginnings of the great liberal Republican party, under the lead of such men as Sumner, Schurz, etc., etc. Among the speeches from which selections are made are those of Thomas F. Bayard, Francis P. Blair, Jr., Simon Cameron, Mat H. Carpenter, Zachariah Chandler, James W. Nye, Roscoe Conkling, George F. Edmunds, John A. Logan, Oliver P. Morton, Carl Schurz, John Sherman, John W. Stevenson, Charles Sumner, Allen G. Thurman, Lyman Trumbull, Henry Wilson, Nathaniel P. Banks, James B. Beck, Austin Blair, Benjamin F. Butler, S. S. Cox, H. L. Dawes, John F. Farnsworth, Charles Foster, James A. Garfield, George F. Hoar, William D. Kelley, Horace Maynard, Luke P. Poland, J. H. Rainey, Samuel J. Randall, William A. Wheeler, Fernando Wood, and others. Here will be found the finest models for young orators to study, as well as historical incidents worthy of reading and study. Only such debates are quoted as are replete with sharp or witty repartee, and only such quotations are made as evince eloquence of a high order. No one who delights in reading speeches or who desires models upon which to form his own style should be without this book. Price, $1.50, delivered. Published and for sale by The Collector Publishing Co., Detroit, Mich. jflasbes of Mit from Bencb anb Bar. By WM. C. SPRAGUE. There is compressed into this work hundreds of the purest, brightest, happiest examples of wit and humor ever collected be- tween the covers of a book. Nearly all of the examples are taken from actual life, the most of them being incidents from court life. There is no place where true wit is more frequent than in every day court scenes. There is scarcely a case, however serious its nature, but has its funny witness or its play of humor between counsel, and ofttimes the court itself is caught turning a good jest to relieve the usual monotony of the court room. It is well known that nothing so well adorns a speech, enlivens conversation, or relieves the monotony as pure humor from actual life. The lawyer who is called upon so frequently to speak in pub- lic must needs study and practice the story-telling habit. The most conspicuous element of Mr. Depew's after-dinner speaking is his aptness of illustration and his success at story-telling. Judiciously used, wit has won lawsuits and in public speech and conversation is a sure road to favor. This, with a good personality, good enunci- ation, and rapid, telling gestures, makes the banquet speaker sans pareil. In this book may be found a mine of telling illustrations, with several hearty laughs for every one cent of its purchase price. The man with a good story is always welcome; he always has friends; he is never at a loss for an attentive audience; he is pre- pared for any emergency in conversation or in speech making. A good fund of humor may cover much inconsistency, and may even make ignorance brilliant. A jury is always on the side of good- humored counsel. Tons of philosophic argument and ponderous reasoning have been overthrown by well-turned humor. PRICE, $1.50 Published and for sale by THE COLLECTOR PUBLISHING CO., DETROIT, MICHIGAN. THE BEST STUDENTS' HELPS IN THE WORLD Zhe