6
THE BATTALION.
w^do not experience we find it difficult to believe. Those
who have never heard eloquence find it difficult to believe
that it ever was indeed heard, and it is quite impossible to
them to realize its power.
Now we have in our modern time of “all reason,” very
larg-e numbers indeed of such people, but anciently its great
power was not denied by anyone; for it was knowing’ly un
derstood, believed and felt.
Eloquence, like the highest forms bf poetry, can only
be felt or uttered by the heart or tongue of faith. It is
the born child of belief; it is the fountain of fire shooting
forth from the furnace of the soul. And now, in conse
quence of this character of profound faith, one could not
think that an age like our present one would want such a
thing as eloquence. No, indeed! It is too deep for their
shallowness; but the past age was devoted to just such
interest.
What eloquence accomplishes is a very broad point to
consider, and is too broad to discuss to a finish; however,
some beautifully poetical and artful things can be said con
cerning its effects. Orators are very “uncomfortable cous
ins.” What tales are told us of their eyes glancing over
and around an assembly! Eyes so full of magnetic power
that they were said to be like lightning,, and not to be
withstood. When we read of such, how fabulous it all
sounds! But ,such were its effects.
There were times when the orator delves so deeply that
his hearers no more knew the meaning of much that was
said than we know of the meaning of the notes that wander
from the organ down the thrilled aisles of the cathedral.