will; to play upon their hearts and minds as a master upon the keys of
a piano; to convince their understandings by the logic, and to thrill
their feelings by the art of the orator; to see every eye watching his
face, and every ear intent on the words that drop from his lips; to see
indifference changed to breathless interest, and aversion to rapturous
enthusiasm; to hear thunders of applause at the close of every period;
to see the whole assembly animated by the feelings which in him are
burning and struggling for utterance; and to think that all this is the
creation of the moment, and has sprung instantaneously from his fiery
brain and the inspiration imparted to it by the circumstances of the
hour;--_this_, perhaps, is the greatest triumph of which the human mind
is capable, and that in which its divinity is most signally revealed."

The aims and purposes of speaking to-day have radically changed from
former times. Deliberative bodies, composed of busy men, meet now to
discuss and dispose of grave and weighty business. There is little
necessity nor scope for eloquence. Time is too valuable to permit of
prolonged speaking. Men are tacitly expected to "get to the point," and
to be reasonably brief in what they have to say.

Under these circumstances certain extravagant types of old-time oratory
would be ineffectual to-day. The stentorian and dramatic tones, with
hand inserted in the breast of the coat, with exaggerated facial
expression, and studied posture, would make a speaker to-day an object
of ridicule.

This applies equally to speech in the law court, pulpit, on the lecture
platform, and in other departments of public address. The implicit
demand everywhere is that the speaker should say what he has to say
naturally, simply, and concisely.