cast. We exult in the reflection that though we count by thousands the miles which separate us from our birthplace, still our country is the same. We are no exiles, meeting on the banks of a foreign river to swell its waters with our homesick tears. Here floats the same banner which rustled above our boyish heads, except that its mighty folds are wider, and its glittering stars increased in number.

"The sons of New England are found in every state of the broad republic; in the East, the South, and the unbounded West, their blood mingles freely with every kindred current. We have but changed our chamber in the paternal mansion; in all its rooms we are at home, and all who inhabit it are our brothers. To us the Union has but one domestic hearth; its household gods are all the same. Upon us, then, peculiarly, devolves the duty of feeding the fires upon that kindly hearth, of guarding with pious care those sacred household gods.

"We cannot do with less than the whole Union; to us it admits of no division. In the veins of our children flow Northern and Southern blood; how shall it be separated? Shall we put asunder the best affections of the heart, the noblest instincts of our nature? We love the land of our adoption; so do we that of our birth. Let us ever be true to both, and always exert ourselves in maintaining the unity of our country, the integrity of the republic.

"Accursed, then, be the hand put forth to loosen the golden chord of union; thrice accursed the traitorous lips which shall propose its severance."

As an example of impassioned speech, reaching the Demosthenian heights of sublimity and pathos,

the short address of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, after the celebrated battle which had been fought there, deservedly holds a high rank. The beauty of the sentiment is so well fitted and clothed in proper words, and set off with such appropriate figures, that it is a model of the art that stands. without a superior in ancient or modern times. Mr. Lincoln spoke as follows:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that those

dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The excellence of the speech consists in its strict compliance with the laws of oratory, to wit, expressing the choicest sentiments in the choicest language. The loftiness of the sentiments set forth will appear to everyone, while the elegance of the language is no less apparent. There is great force in alluding to the origin of our government being likened to a "conception" of its founders; the idea is followed by one equally familiar, and that is a "dedication." The beauty of this thought is enhanced from the nature of the ceremonies taking place, the dedication of a cemetery. The orator then follows up the figure, and finally inverts the thought, so to speak, turns to the reverse side of the image, as it were, and there points out the duty of those present rather to consider themselves dedicated to the grand idea of the occasion. The simplicity of the language used is one of its chief beauties, and the well-sustained climax in which the orator holds that they cannot dedicate, they cannot consecrate, they cannot hallow that ground is a masterpiece of the art.

CHAPTER IV.

Embellishment.—PERSONAL, HISTORICAL, RHETORICAL AND LOCAL ALLUSIONS.-QUOTATION, ITS USES AND ABUSES.

THE various figures noticed in the preceding chapter serve the purpose of ornamenting the discourse as well as enforcing the views of the speaker. There are many other ways of embellishing, ornamenting and illustrating the ideas of the orator as well as by the mere use of figures. Entire subjects may be introduced in order to afford an opportunity of heightening the effect of the oration; matters which serve, so to speak, as braces and studding to which ornaments of language may be attached; subjects which increase the surface upon which fanciful carvings may be placed; niches in the oratorical edifice to receive the creations of the orator's imagination.

Men might speak for hours upon such a subject as the tariff, devoting their attention to tables and statistics showing its use or uselessness, without exciting much interest, but an allusion to some pronounced advocate or opponent of the system, if made with grace and fluency, would awaken en

thusiasm.

The affairs of mankind are usually controlled

and directed by master spirits in war, politics, or religion, and hence the public ear is more apt to remember the eloquence, prowess, or ability of the men engaged in the contest, than the measures adopted, or the events themselves.

So, too, with the land or state of one's birth. It seems inherent in our nature to keep it in fond remembrance. Any allusion to it by a speaker is watched with sensitive interest. Hence one of the happiest methods of embellishing a speech is by introducing pleasant pictures of places made familiar by their connection with past events, and of men made famous by great actions.

The pages of oratory abound in examples illustrative of these statements. The subjects introduced are not only interesting in themselves, but the allusions abound in metaphor, simile, and every conceivable grace of the art.

Edmund Burke, in the course of a debate on American taxation, drew this eloquent picture of one of his contemporaries, Charles Townsend, a prominent statesman in his day, who must have been of more than ordinary influence to have elicited this noble and discriminating characterization. He said: "For even then, sir, even before the splendid orb was entirely set, and while the western horizon was in a blaze with his descending glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens arose another luminary, and for his hour became lord of the ascendant.