ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Yankee and the Dutchman's Dog, The..................................................

ix.

[ocr errors]

24

74

[blocks in formation]

Part Ninth.

100

CHOICE SELECTIONS

No. 9.

SINCERITY THE SOUL OF ELOQUENCE.—GOETHE.

How shall we learn to sway the minds of men
By eloquence?-to rule them, or persuade ?—
Do you seek genuine and worthy fame?
Reason and honest feeling want no arts
Of utterance, ask no toil of elocution!

And, when you speak in earnest, do you need

A search for words? Oh! these fine holiday phrases,
In which you robe your worn-out commonplaces,
These scraps of paper which you crimp and curl
And twist into a thousand idle shapes,

These filigree ornaments, are good for nothing,-
Cost time and pains, please few, impose on no one;
Are unrefreshing as the wind that whistles,
In autumn, 'mong the dry and wrinkled leaves.
If feeling does not prompt, in vain you strive.
If from the soul the language does not come,
By its own impulse, to impel the hearts
Of hearers with communicated power,

In vain you strive, in vain you study earnestly!
Toil on forever, piece together fraginents,
Cook up your broken scraps of sentences,
And blow, with puffing breath, a struggling light,
Glimmering confusedly now, now cold in ashes;
Startle the school-boys with your metaphors,-
And, if such food may suit your appetite,
Win the vain wonder of applauding children,—
But never hope to stir the hearts of men,
And mould the souls of many into one,

By words which come not native from the heart!

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »