Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z

Various

Description

! " # $ % " " " " % $ % $& % " % & % ' " " " & % " ( )* '%$ !$ ( %&%$ " '" + " & " % &&&) ) ! " # % " , %" % %$ -. /001 2 3-45//6 +% % " 7 % % " 8 449. ::: , 8; ? , 88@ 8 ,? +8A> ?7 8+ ::: $ $ + " =% " ! % 8 " % %' % ! BB&&&)! !) ! " # !" # $ $ %$ $ &'() * + !" ,- +, . + // 0/ " - $ 0 * 1 +, 2 !

Informations

• Publié par: voer
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 60
• Langue: English

Extrait

?7 8+ ::: $ $ + " =% " ! % 8 " % %' % ! BB&&&)! !) ! " # !" # $ $ %$ $ &'() * + !" ,- +, . + // 0/ " - $ 0 * 1 +, 2 !" />

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z, by Various

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z

Author: Various

Release Date: May 19, 2006 [EBook #18422]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN ELOQUENCE: VOL III ***

Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

PRISCILLA AND JOHN ALDEN

Photogravure after a painting by Lasalett J. Potts

An admirable conception of the old story of an early Puritan courtship famous in song and story, and made use of by many New England orators.

MODERN

ELOQUENCE

EDITOR THOMAS B REED

ASSOCIATE EDITORS JUSTIN McCARTHY · ROSSITER JOHNSON ALBERT ELLERY BERGH

VOLUME III After-Dinner

Speeches P-Z

GEO. L. SHUMAN & CO. CHICAGO

Copyright, 1903 JOHN R SHUMAN

COMMITTEE OF SELECTION

E DWARD E VERETT H ALE , Author of "The Man Without a Country."

J O HN B. G O RDO N , Former United States Senator.

N ATHAN  H ASKELL  D O LE Literature."

, Associate Editor "International

Library of Famous

J AMES B. P O ND , Manager Lecture Bureau; Author of "Eccentricities of Genius."

G EO RG E M C L EAN H ARPER , Professor of English Literature, Princeton University.

L O RENZO S EARS , Professor of English Literature, Brown University.

E DWIN M. B ACO N , Former Editor "Boston Advertiser" and "Boston Post."

J. W ALKER M C S PADDEN , Managing Editor "Édition Royale" of Balzac's Works.

F. C UNLIFFE O WEN , Member Editorial Staff "New York Tribune."

T RUMAN A. D E W EESE , Member Editorial Staff "Chicago Times-Herald."

C HAMP C LARK , Member of Congress from Missouri.

M ARCUS B ENJAMIN , Editor, National Museum, Washington, D. C.

C LARK H O WELL , Editor "Atlanta Constitution."

INTRODUCTIONS AND SPECIAL ARTICLES BY

Thomas B. Reed, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Lorenzo Sears, Jonathan P. Dolliver, Champ Clark, Edward Everett Hale, Albert Ellery Bergh.

N O TE .—A large number of the most distinguished speakers of this country and Great Britain have selected their own best speeches for this Library. These speakers include Whitelaw Reid, William Jennings Bryan, Henry van Dyke, Henry M. Stanley, Newell Dwight Hillis, Joseph Jefferson, Sir Henry Irving, Arthur T. Hadley, John D. Long, David Starr Jordan, and many others of equal note.

CONTENTS

VOLUME III

P AG E , T HO MAS N ELSO N The Torch of Civilization P ALMER , G EO RG E M. The Lawyer in Politics P ALMERSTO N , L O RD (H ENRY J O HN T EMPLE ) Illusions Created by Art P AXTO N , J O HN R. A Scotch-Irishman's Views of the Puritan P HELPS , E DWARD J O HN Farewell Address P INERO , A RTHUR W ING The Drama P O RTER , H O RACE Men of Many Inventions How to Avoid the Subject A Trip Abroad with Depew Woman Friendliness of the French The Citizen Soldier

The Many-Sided Puritan Abraham Lincoln Sires and Sons The Assimilated Dutchman Tribute to General Grant P O RTER , N O AH Teachings of Science and Religion P O TTER , H ENRY C O DMAN The Church P RYO R , R O G ER A TKINSO N Virginia's Part in American History Q UINCY , J O SIAH Welcome to Dickens R AYMO ND , A NDREW V. V. The Dutch as Enemies R EAD , O PIE P.

PAGE

861

872

876

880

887

892

897 904 908 913 919 924 928 931 935 939 944

950

955

959

964

970

Modern Fiction R EID , W HITELAW The Press—Right or Wrong Gladstone, England's Greatest Leader R O BBINS , W. L. The Pulpit and the Bar R O CHE , J AMES J EFFREY The Press R O O SA , D. B. S T . J O HN

The Salt of the Earth R O O SEVELT , T HEO DO RE The Hollander as an American True Americanism and Expansion R O SEBERY , L O RD (A RCHIBALD P HILIP P RIMRO SE ) Portrait and Landscape Painting S ALA , G EO RG E A UG USTUS Friend and Foe

S ALISBURY , L O RD (R O BERT A RTHUR T ALBO T G ASCO YNE -C ECIL )

Kitchener in Africa S AMPSO N , W ILLIAM T HO MAS Victory in Superior Numbers S CHENCK , N O AH H UNT Truth and Trade S CHLEY , W INFIELD S CO TT The Navy in Peace and in War S CHLIEMANN , H EINRICH The Beginnings of Art S CHURZ , C ARL The Old World and the New S EWARD , W ILLIAM H. A Pious Pilgrimage S HERMAN , W ILLIAM T ECUMSEH The Army and Navy A Reminiscence of the War S MITH , B ALLARD The Press of the South S MITH , C HARLES E MO RY Ireland's Struggles The President's Prelude S PENCER , H ERBERT The Gospel of Relaxation

976

979 981

985

988

992

998 1002

1008

1014

1018

1023

1026

1031

1034

1036

1042

1046 1051

1057

1059 1062

1067

S TANLEY , A RTHUR P ENRHYN America Visited S TANLEY , H ENRY M O RTO N Through the Dark Continent S TEDMAN , E DMUND C LARENCE Tribute to Richard Henry Stoddard S TEPHEN , L ESLIE The Critic S TO RRS , R ICHARD S ALTER The Victory at Yorktown S TRYKER , W ILLIAM S CUDDER Dutch Heroes of the New World S ULLIVAN , S IR A RTHUR Music S UMNER , C HARLES Intercourse with China

The Qualities that Win T ALMAG E , T HO MAS D EWITT Behold the American! What I Know about the Dutch T AYLO R , B AYARD Tribute to Goethe T HO MPSO N , S LASO N The Ethics of the Press T ILTO N , T HEO DO RE Woman T WICHELL , J O SEPH H O PKINS Yankee Notions The Soldier Stamp T YNDALL , J O HN Art and Science V ANDE W ATER , G EO RG E R O E Dutch Traits V ERDERY , M ARIO N J. The South in Wall Street W ALES , P RINCEO F (A LBERT E DWARD ) The Colonies W ALLACE , H UG H C. The Southerner in the West W ARD , S AMUEL B ALDWIN The Medical Profession

1073

1077

1085

1091

1094

1104

1108

1110 1115

1122 1128

1136

1139

1142

1147

1160

1162

1168

1175

1178

1182

W ARNER , C HARLES D UDLEY The Rise of "The Atlantic" W ATTERSO N , H ENRY Our Wives The Puritan, and the Cavalier W AYLAND , H EMAN L INCO LN The Force of Ideas

Causes of Unpopularity W EBSTER , D ANIEL The Constitution and the Union W HEELER , J O SEPH The American Soldier W HIPPLE , E DWIN P ERCY China Emerging from Her Isolation The Sphere of Woman W HITE , A NDREW D ICKSO N Commerce and Diplomacy W ILEY , H ARVEY W ASHING TO N The Ideal Woman W ILSO N , W O O DRO W Our Ancestral Responsibilities W INSLO W , J O HN The First Thanksgiving Day W INTER , W ILLIAM Tribute to John Gilbert Tribute to Lester Wallack W INTHRO P , R O BERT C. The Ottoman Empire W ISE , J O HN S ERG EANT Captain John Smith The Legal Profession W O LCO TT , E DWARD O LIVER The Bright Land to Westward W O LSELEY , L O RD (G ARNET J O SEPH W O LSELEY ) The Army in the Transvaal W U T ING - FANG China and the United States W YMAN , W ALTER Sons of the Revolution

1186

1189 1191

1197 1201

1210

1220

1225 1229

1232

1240

1248

1253

1257 1260

1263

1266 1271

1273

1280

1284

1288

ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME III

P RISCILLAAND J O HN A LDEN Photogravure after a painting by Lasalett J. Potts "L AW " Photo-engraving in colors after the original mosaic panel by Frederick Dielman H O RACE P O RTER Photogravure after a photograph from life T HE M INUTE M AN Photogravure after a photograph T HEO DO RE R O O SEVELT Photogravure after a photograph from life L O RD R O SEBERY (A RCHIBALD P HILIP P RIMRO SE ) Photogravure after a photograph from life H ENRY W ATTERSO N Photogravure after a photograph from life T HE N ATIO NAL M O NUMENT T OTHE F O REFATHERS Photogravure after a photograph

THOMAS NELSON PAGE

THE TORCH OF CIVILIZATION

PAGE Frontispiece

872

897

936

998

1008

1189

1210

[Speech of Thomas Nelson Page at the twentieth annual dinner of the New England Society in the City of Brooklyn, De cember 21, 1899. The President, Frederic A. Ward, said: "In th ese days of blessed amity, when there is no longer a united Sou th or a disunited North, when the boundary of the North is the St. Lawrence and the boundary of the South the Rio Gran de, and Mason and Dixon's Line is forever blotted from the map of our beloved country, and the nation has grown color-blind to blue and gray, it is with peculiar pleasure that we welcome here to-night a distinguished and typical representative of that noble people who live in that part of the present North that used to be called Dixie, of whom he has himself so beautifully and so truly said, 'If they bore themselves haughtily in their hour of triumph, they bore defeat with splendid fortitude. Their entire system crumbled and fell around them in ruins; they remained unmoved; they suffered the greatest humiliation of modern times; their slaves wereput over them; they

reconquered their section and preserved the civiliz ation of the Anglo-Saxon.' It is not necessary, ladies and gentl emen, that I should introduce the next speaker to you, for I doubt not that you all belong to the multitude of mourners, who have wept real tears with black Sam and Miss Annie beside the coffin of Marse Chan; but I will call upon our friend, Thomas Nelson Page, to respond to the next toast, 'The Debt Each Part of the Country Owes the Other.'"]

L ADIESAND G ENTLEMEN :—I did not remember that I had written anything as good as that which my friend has just quoted. It sounded to me, as he quoted it, very good indeed. At any rate, it is very true, and, perhaps, that it is true is the reason that you have done me the honor to invite me here to-night. I have been sitting for an hour in such a state of tremulousness and fright, facing this audience I was to address, that the ideas I had carefully gathered together have, I fear, rather taken flight; but I shall give them to you as they come, though they may not be in quite as good order as I should like them. The gift of after-dinner speaking is one I heard illustrated the other day very well at a dinner at which my friend, Judge Bartlett and I were present. A gentleman told a story of an English bishop travelling in a third-class railway carriage with an individual who was swearing most tremendously, originally, and picturesquely, till finally the bishop said to him: "My dear sir, where in the world did you learn to swear in that extraordinary manner?" And he said, "It can't be learned, it is a gift." After-dinner speaking is a gift I have often envied, ladies and gentlemen, and as I have not it I can only promise to tell you what I really think on the subject which I am here to speak about to-night.

I feel that in inviting me here as the representative of the South to speak on this occasion, I could not do you any better honor than to tell you precisely what I do think and what those, I in a manner represent, think; and I do not know that our views would differ very materially from yours. I could not, if I would, undertake merely to be entertaining to you. I am very much in that respect like an old darky I knew of down in Virginia, who on one occasion was given by his mistress some syllabub. It was spiced a little with—perhaps— New England rum, or something quite as strong that came from the other side of Mason and Dixon's Line, but still was not very strong. When he got through she said, "How did you like that?" He said, "If you gwine to gimme foam, gimme foam; but if you gwine to gimme dram, gimme dram." You do not want from me syllabub I am sure.

When I came here I had no idea that I was to addres s so imposing an assemblage as this. I had heard about forefathers and knew that there were foremothers also, but did not know that they were going to grace this assembly with their presence as they do to-night. When a youngster, I was told by an old gentleman, before the day of the unhappy stenographer, "You can go out in the world all right if you have four speeches. If you have one for the Fourth of July, one for a tournament address, one to answer the toast to 'Woman,' and the fourth 'to sweep all creation.'" I thought of bringing with me my Fourth of July speech. If I had known I was going to address this audience I would have brought along the one that answered the toast to "Woman."

But I do not know any man in the world better prepared to address you on the subject of my toast, "The Debt Each Part of the Country Owes the Other," than myself, for I married a lady from the North. She represented in her person the

blood both of Virginia and of New England. Her mother was a Virginian and her father a gentleman from New Hampshire; consequently, as I have two young daughters, who always declare themselves Yankees, I am here to speak with due gratitude to both sections, and with strong feeling for both sections to-night.

It seems to me that the two sections which we have all heard talked about so much in the past, have been gradually merging into one, and Heaven knows I hope there may never be but one again. In the natur e of things it was impossible at first that there could be only one, but of late the one great wall that divided them has passed away, and, standing here facing you to-night, I feel precisely as I should if I were standing facing an audience of my own dear Virginians. There is no longer division among us. T hey say that the South became reconciled and showed its loyalty to the Uni on first at the time of the war with Spain. It is not true; the South became re conciled and showed its loyalty to the Union after Appomattox. When Lee lai d down his arms and accepted the terms of the magnanimous Grant, the South rallied behind him, and he went to teach peace and amity and union to his scholars at Lexington, to the sons of his old soldiers. It is my pride that I was one of the pupils at that university, which bears the doubly-honored names of Washington and Lee. He taught us only fealty to the Union and to the flag of the Union. He taught us also that we should never forget the flag under which our fathers fought during the Civil War. With it are embalmed the tears, the holy memories that cluster thick around our hearts, and I should be unworthy to stand and talk to you to-night as an honorable man if I did not hold in deepest rever ence that flag that represented the spirit that actuated our fathers. It stood for the principles of liberty, and, strange as it may seem, both sides, though fighting under different banners, fought for the same principles seen from different sides. It has not interfered with our loyalty to the Union since that flag was furled.

I do not, however, mean to drift into that line of thought. I do not think that it is really in place here to-night, but I want you to know how we feel at the South. Mason and Dixon's Line is laid down on no map and no longer laid down in the memory of either side. The Mason and Dixon's Line o f to-day is that which circumscribes this great Union, with all its advantages, all its hopes, and all its aspirations. This is the Mason and Dixon's Line for us to-day, and as a representative of the South, I am here to speak to you on that account. We do owe—these two sections do owe—each other a great deal. But I will tell you what we owe each other more, perhaps, than anything else. When this country was settled for us it was with sparsely scattered settlements, ranging along the Atlantic coast. When the first outside danger threatened it, the two sections immediately drew together. New England had formed her own confederation, and at the South the Carolinas and Virginia had a confederation of their own, though not so compact; but the first thing formed w hen danger threatened this country was a committee of safety, which immediately began correspondence among the several colonies, and it was the fact that these very colonies stood together in the face of danger, shoulder to shoulder, and back to back, that enabled us to achieve what we did achieve.

Standing here, on this great anniversary at the very end of the century, facing the new century, it is impossible that one should not look back, and equally impossible that one should not look forward. We are just at the close of what we call, and call rightly, a century of great achievements. We pride ourselves upon