Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/368

340 T. W. Davenport. ened by leaving off the first adjective, and later, among all but the hopelessly rude, the black disappeared. An immense crowd gathered at the capital city on the 4th of July, 1860, to partake with Baker of its glorious memories, and it seemed mutual— a spontaneous evolution of spirit, fus- ing them into one. The past of the nation was there; the dramatis personae of the Revolution was before them on the stage, and the Grand Old Man, beautiful, graceful, sublime, was introducing them to his auditors. Until then they had only heard of the Revolution and the great actors in it — now they had seen them and partaken of their spirit. When Colonel Baker arrived in Oregon, the Democrats were well supplied with public speakers of ability, chief among them by popular judgment being Delazon Smith, of Linn County, and his admirers were inclined to compare him with Baker. Such comparisons, however, are generally futile, for how can things essentially different in quality be com- pared? Mountains can be compared as to height and breadth and figure, but when the words greater and greatest are applied to men gifted in speech which may have more hues than a rainbow, there is little meaning to them. Delazon was, without doubt, an able stump speaker and an effective politi- cal campaigner. Hie had a clear, sonorous voice and dis- tinct enunciation ; had a good, firm face and sturdy form, was not lacking in language, warmed up to climactic utterance and energy, but with all these fine qualities, the spirit and mes- sage of his speeches touched only a part of his audience, for they did not involve the higher, nobler parts of man's nature. He had a more sonorous and far-reaching voice than Baker, but the '^Yox humana" is something more than sound and' conveys more than words with a dictionary meaning. It can convey feeling; may be a vehicle for soul transmission, and has a timbre characteristic of the speaker which words cannot describe, but which makes an echo or response in brain regions inaccessible to the mere declaimer. These soul overtones which accompany the voice, psychologize the audience beyond the power of words. Little can be known, by reading a speech.