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.
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