)
The Commoner.
ii
TONE 24, 1910
C"'
n advocate of the strenuous life and
a mighty hunter b elephants and
trusts. Mr. Bryan, to judge from
last night, is an advocate of the re
ligious life, and a mighty hunter
against trusts and trickery, and
against the degrading theory of the
monkey origin of man.
"Mr. Bryan is now on his way to
the great world missionary confer
ence in Edinburgh next month as
one of thirty-six delegates "from the
great Presbyterian church of North
America. He made a pause in his
journey to deliver his lecture, en
titled 'The Prince of Peace The
lecture, like the lecturer,1 is a great
traveler. It first saw the light in
1904, and has since been a light to
ma'ny audiences in many lands from
Canada to Cairo, from Mexico to
Manila, from New Jersey to old .Jeru
salem, from Bombay until its latest,
but I hope not its last, scintillation
in Belfast.
"I had the pleasure of meeting Mr.
Bryan on his way through Belfast
on his way to his latest, though per
haps not his last, presidential cam
paign. He seems to me to be one
.of those men who, like good wine
if there be such, which many doubt
improve by age or get younger
the more strenuous the life they
lead. I admit I only saw him for a
few minutes coming off the Ardros
san boat, and then he seemed to me
a, much older man than he appeared
last night, and I can scarcely imag
ine that a run from Ardrossan to
Belfast would have taken the fresh
ness out of such a seasoned voyager.
ii, may be that the anxieties of the
coming fight .might have- imparted
some lines in his. face.
'
.- "At any rate, when he ascended
the platform of the Assembly hall
I could scarcely imagine that the
hale, hearty, and jocund-looking-
gentleman who beamed on us in the
full play of evening dress was the
same gentleman whom I met only a
year or two ago. As I looked at him
I . could not help imagining that he
must have discovered the secret of
happiness, as well as the secret of
perpetual youth, or at least of that
jocundity which is supposed to be a
special attribute of youth.
"In my younger days, when my
mind and eye were filled with por
traits and caricatures of Abraham
Lincoln, I regarded all-Americans as
lank, livery, cadaverous-looking gen
tlemen, with firm, half-shaven jaws,
surmounting a chin decorated with a
goatee that seemed to be like nothing
on earth that I had been accustomed
to. Ago destroys the illusions or
delusions of youth. It has been my
good fortune to meet hundreds of
Americans in my mature years, but
if I may judge from them, the Yan
kee body and beard that I associated
with Americans in my youth are as
extinct as the Dodo. The majority
of Americans that I have met have
been representatives of strong, vigor
ous manhood, rotund, rubicund, well
lined and well livered, with whom
good digestion seemed to wait on
appetite, and health on both.
. "Mr. Bryan is one of those. He
looks every inch a man, from the
sole of his boots to the top of his
head. He seems to carry a fine
head on substantial shoulders and
body; a man on whom cares and
life sat lightly, a man who is nefther
wearied of the world, nor worried
by it, a man who looks the optimist
he says he is. And what he says on
that point I have no hesitation in be
lieving. "Coming to the lecture, It Is diffi
cult to .characterize it. It was practi
cally a sermon, relieved by touches
of humor, but punctuated by ap
plause which the audience found it
impossible to resist. It was really
a defense and vindication of Chris
tian belief, thought and life, present
ed from tho point of view of a be
liever, with all tho force of intellec
tual and moral conviction, with a
freshness of illustration and forci
bleness of presentation that was not
only captivating, but convincing. As
to the oratory, its great charm was
that one never thought of oratory at
all. It seemed just like a simple talk,
words and ideas flowed as from a
limitless fountain, smooth and clear,
and without any apparent effort.
Listening to Mr. Bryan one could
not help recalling memories of our
own John Bright. No one who heard
that great orator could fail to bo
impressed by the beauty of the lan
guage, the limpid clearness of tho
sentences, the pleasant play of voice
and features, the fprcefulness and
ease of the delivery and the sim
plicity with which great truths were
pressed homo by arguments, illustra
tions, facts, and experience that it
was only when the orator sat down
and one had time to take a compre
hensive view of the whole matter
and manner that he began to realize
the full brilliancy of the orator and
the beauty and charm of the oration.
So was it with me last night. I
could think of nothing for the mo
ment but the charm of the delivery,
tho freshness of the Illustrations, the
beauty and forcefulness of tho
thought and the expression. It was
only when all was over, and I had
time to contemplate the lecture as
a' whole, that I was able fully to
realize that I had been listening to
one of the greatest orators of the
age, discussing the greatest theme
that could interest humanity with
a nobility of thought and feeling,
with a1 beautiful simplicity and ease
that was. the perfection of art, and
with a manifest sincerity and earn
estness that elevated alike the lec
turer and the lecture."
A LAYMAN'S SERMON
The high-toned and stimulating
address which Mr. Bryan delivered
in the Bradford Mechanics' Institute
is a good assurance that the star to
which Emerson advised us to hitch
our wagons has not suffered from the
comets. Probably every nation In
turn has produced some fine enthu
siast to keep in view this beacon
of all mankind's wanderings. Since
the death of Mr. Gladstone the dic
tates of idealism have been rather at
a discount on the public platforms
of this country, and at the first blush
it seems a little strange that the ac
cents should be evoked anew by the
representative of a country which is
commonly thought of as embodying
to an unparalleled extent the wor
ship of the almighty dollar. Yet
here is, of course, nothing new in
the paradox. More than sixty years
have passed since Emerson urged the
Young American to obey his heart
and be the nobility of the land. The
same community which has produced
the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers
also nourished that greatest of the
modern transcendentalists and such
a unique example of democratic
statesmanship as Abraham Lincoln.
Mr. Bryan, too, proclaims himself
on the side of the angels, and no
one could listen to his earnest de
fense of generous ideas enforced by
many a shrewd and pregnant saying
without feeling him to be a man
of Insight and conviction. Such
testimony is no small matter. Here
is one who bears all the lineaments
of a strong- man, who has seen the
life of communities In many lands,
has participated, at close quarters in
t vicissitudes of his own, and his
verdict is soberly but firmly optimis
tic and altruistic. Such an assur
ance can not fall to bring encourage
ment to some who in their narrower
range aro apt to bo sicklied o'er with
tho pale cast of thought. And leav
ing aside tho factor of personality,
aro not tho evidences which Mr.
Bryan cites for belief In a sure if
gradual betterment irrefutable the
spread of education, tho democrati
sation of government, the sharpening
of tho moral sense among individuals
and communities? Tho spread of
those vivifying ideas among larger
bodies sometimes seems to lower tho
average expression of them; but, of
course, it is a real gain that tho
judgments of what is right and fair
in society and what it behooves a
man to bo and to do should no long
er bo confined to speakers and writ
ers bonr in tho broadcloth, but
should circulate through warehouse
and workshop. That is tho tendency
of tho age, and, as Mr. Bryan con
tends, It can not fail to be of promise
for progress in tho best sense.
In tho endeavor to attach a string
to his kite to frame a working rule
of good citizenship Mr. Bryan sup
plied a corrective to the mercantile
view of life, an error which is not
confined to any class. Ho is enough
of an American to believe that tho
dollars do matter considerably, but
too much of a humanist to believo
in the millennium through a redis
tribution of them. An Edison may
bring within reach of the commu
nity facilities and benefits which aro
almost priceless, measured in coin
of tho realm; so may a great sur
geon like Lister or a great entrepre
neur like Lesseps. The worth of the
services which individuals may ren
der to the community is in some In
stances Incalculable. But quite cer
tainly these magnificent donors are
the exceptions, and Mr. .Bryan recom
mends as the only safe rule in mon
etary matters the resolve to give
good value for all that is received.
This Ideal of service running over
tho bushel will, he conceives, reduce
the main chance to its proper pro
portions. It is Mazzini's counsel
over agalp, that democracy will be
aved not by insisting on its rights,
out on its duties, and the message
Is no doubt timely. It leaves aside
the difficult question whether there is
any just and reliable measure of ox
change between the utility of service
rendered and the means of material
enjoyment, but it does so by pro
pounding a doctrine which If faith
fully followed would render the oth
er superfluous, it Is still,. of course,
a counsel of perfection, but therein
It certainly does not differ from all
tho Utopias of the political perfec
tionists. The socialistic state would
assuredly fall to pieces very speedily
unless in the great majority of in
stances its component officials ob
served Mr. Bryan's principle to give
better than they got. Its advocates
reply that the knowledge that they
were working for the common good
would be a sufficient inducement to
guarantee that result. It is a very
comfortable assurance; but although
It may bo true, as Mr. Bryan argues,
that a change of vision may sudden
ly transfigure the whole motive and
mood of a man, such conversions
do not commonly come about by acts
of parliament, fn all the history of
the world hitherto they have been
the response of his intuitions to
some call of the mind or the spirit,
some recognition of tho worth of an
ideal. The Yorkshire Observer.
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