His
Subject Also Was The War - Or Rather The Causes Of The War And Its
Qualification.
Had the North given to the South cause of
provocation?
Had the South been fair and honest in its dealings to
the North? Had any compromise been possible by which the war might
have been avoided, and the rights and dignity of the North
preserved? Seeing that Mr. Everett is a Northern man and was
lecturing to a Boston audience, one knew well how these questions
would be answered, but the manner of the answering would be
everything. This lecture was given at Roxbury, one of the suburbs
of Boston. So I went out to Roxbury with a party, and found myself
honored by being placed on the platform among the bald-headed ones
and the superlatively wise. This privilege is naturally
gratifying, but it entails on him who is so gratified the
inconvenience of sitting at the lecturer's back, whereas it is,
perhaps, better for the listener to be before his face.
I could not but be amused by one little scenic incident. When we
all went upon the platform, some one proposed that the clergymen
should lead the way out of the little waiting-room in which we
bald-headed ones and superlatively wise were assembled. But to
this the manager of the affair demurred. He wanted the clergymen
for a purpose, he said. And so the profane ones led the way, and
the clergymen, of whom there might be some six or seven, clustered
in around the lecturer at last. Early in his discourse, Mr.
Everett told us what it was that the country needed at this period
of her trial. Patriotism, courage, the bravery of the men, the
good wishes of the women, the self-denial of all - "and," continued
the lecturer, turning to his immediate neighbors, "the prayers of
these holy men whom I see around me." It had not been for nothing
that the clergymen were detained.
Mr. Everett lectures without any book or paper before him, and
continues from first to last as though the words came from him on
the spur of the moment. It is known, however, that it is his
practice to prepare his orations with great care and commit them
entirely to memory, as does an actor. Indeed, he repeats the same
lecture over and over again, I am told, without the change of a
word or of an action. I did not like Mr. Everett's lecture. I did
not like what he said, or the seeming spirit in which it was
framed. But I am bound to admit that his power of oratory is very
wonderful. Those among his countrymen who have criticised his
manner in my hearing, have said that he is too florid, that there
is an affectation in the motion of his hands, and that the intended
pathos of his voice sometimes approaches too near the precipice
over which the fall is so deep and rapid, and at the bottom of
which lies absolute ridicule.
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