Then, too, the imminent emergency, when a man is overboard,
and must sink or swim, sharpens, concentrates, and invigorates the mind,
and causes matters of thought and sentiment to assume shape and
expression, though, perhaps, it seemed hopeless to express them, just
before you rose to speak. Yet I question much whether public speaking
tends to elevate the orator, intellectually or morally; the effort, of
course, being to say what is immediately received by the audience, and to
produce an effect on the instant. I don't quite see how an honest man
can be a good and successful orator; but I shall hardly undertake to
decide the question on my merely post-prandial experience.
The Mayor toasted his guests by their professions,--the merchants, for
instance, the bankers, the solicitors,--and while one of the number
responded, his brethren also stood up, each in his place, thus giving
their assent to what he said. I think the very worst orator was a major
of Artillery, who spoke in a meek, little, nervous voice, and seemed a
good deal more discomposed than probably he would have been in the face
of the enemy. The first toast was "The Ladies," to which an old bachelor
responded.
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