102
AOTIIOKS AXl) OllATOUS.
To liopo nntl holiness In Hod."
Anil another
"Your voIcoIukb lips of tlowvi art; 11 lug
pnwcliurs!
Knelt cup n pulpit, cvciy Iwif n lmok:
SiipphliiK to m fancy nunicron tcni lu-rs,
l'mm loiielli'M nook."
All the grout forces iihnut us act silent,
ly, "Still waters run deep." The nttrac
lion of gravitation in silence holds the
earth from burslir.g into atoms. The
arrows of light and heat are shot silontl)
from their great quiver and execute their
missions. In vivid contrast to the mete
or that falls hissing to the ground, the
stars in silence marshall their hosts
through their eternal courses. Of them
llio Psalmist sas
" The heavens declare the yilory of God ;
and the Armament showeth his handi
work. There is no speech or language
where their voice is not hoard. Day unto
day uunrolh speech and night unto night
showeth knowledge." C 31.
AUTHORS AND ORATORS.
Two classes of men are foremost among
the iutluencos, which, operating genera
tion after genera' ion, have been slowly
raising mankind from a state of harhar.
ism and ignorance into a state of civiliza
tion and refinement. Two classOb of men
do more than all other influences to ele.
vate human morals manners and customs
Two classes of men do more limit he.
roes and armies lo build up nations or
overthrow them. Those men are authors
and orators, nearly alike in some respects
widely diHeronl in others, and my object
will be to draw a comparison between
them.
At first thought it would soom t It tit
there is little ground for any comparison
between the author and the orator
The one writes; the olhei speaks
The object of each is to give expression
to his thoughts, and thus to wield an in
lliioiicc over his lollou mi n or w in theii
nppiohntion or praise It would not sct-m
at llikl thought, thai the man who could
give expression to his thoughts on paper
could not as well give expression to thorn
in a speech; but the fact is, men arc very
seldom found who can both writo and
speak with equal facility.
There is a groat ditVorenco between
writing and speaking, and tills dilletencc
is found to be far greater than we would
at Iks l suppose, when we come to study
carefully the natures and works of the
most renowned authors and orators.
The author does his work in the soli,
tude ol his own room. No assembly of
people inspire, cheer, or seem to be close
ly sympathizing with him. If he receive
any enthusiasm at all, it must come fiom
the contemplation of his subject. The
presence of a largo audience seems to stim
ulate, and give tension to the thoughts of
the orator, but not so the author. "The on.
ly I'ogusiis ho has to boast," says llazlitb
" is the hobby horse of his own Ihougnls
and lancies."
But the orator does his work in public.
He is never moie at home than when
standing before a crowd of people. Shut
him up in his own room and his great
power is gone. Charles Fox was a brilli
ant genius, a power when in the House ol
Commons, but his history of England is
decidedly lame. When away from the
audience which seemed in a certain degree
lo inspire him, his power and genius were
not essentially greater than that of many
another man. Do you think that Daniel
Vobsior, shut up in his own study-roonn
could have written out those lofty senti
inonls which wo find in his reply to Mr.
llayno? No. Those sentiments seem to
be the spontaneous utterances of a soul
ovorllowing with patriotism, and of a
mind that would convince other minds
by grappling with the mighty question
which is oven threatening in its solution
the dismemberment of the Union.
OT course 3Ir. Webster had oaiefully
considered his suited and had weighed
all his arguments pro con and in his own
inaxbue intellect before ho delivered his
speech, but then the language which
.