THOMAS F. MARSHALL The word, if it had occurred, would have seemed absurdly disparaging. He was, in fact, neither flippant nor hurried. His movement had the simple but resistless impetus springing from the free play of his faculties. His style was racy and at the same time lofty. He touched nothing that he did not elevate as well as assimilate. He made everything his own and trans figured himself. I have heard many of the great orators of our time in both hemi spheres, but taking all in all, I have never heard one who, in my opinion, was his equal. Although Marshall as I said at the outset, made a slight impression on his time, he made a decided impression on the oratory of his time, particularly the oratory of the South and West, which still bears the impress of his manner, though sometimes (I will not say, generally) the contortions are more apparent than the inspiration. The effect might put one in mind of the grotesque imitations of Moslem architecture in those parts of Germany once overrun by the Turk, wherein copies of the airy minarets of St. Sophia may be seen crowning alike the stable and the church. But the attempt to imitate Tom Marshall, however unsuc cessful, deserves not to be mentioned harshly. The attempt is natural enough; and so is the failure. He was inimitable." That entire self-possession of which Mr. Shipman spoke was one of the many attrac tions of the orator. Many stories are told of his readiness in meeting an interruption, from among which I will select two — one of them in a broad vein of humor, the other very lofty. While speaking, during a presidential campaign in a large eastern city, he was suddenly assailed by a torrent of abuse from an Irishman, who bore upon his face the indelible stamp of his nativity. Mar shall waited patiently until he had ceased, then with the light of sudden recognition illumining his face he bent forward and peering down quizzically at the miscreant exclaimed, "Ah! it is me ould frind Pat
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Murphy who spells God with a little 'g' and Murphy with a great big 'M.' " In the roar of laughter which greeted the sally poor Pat was permitted to slink back in the crowd and regret his folly. The other incident occurred at Buffalo during the exciting presidential campaign of 1840, and has been many times referred to as the most brilliant remark of its kind ever made, and is even now occasionally used with great success to silence similar interruptions. During his speech some one in the rear of the room persistently shouted, "Louder, sir, louder," at intervals, with the evident intention of annoying the speaker. Perceiving the object of his tor mentor, Marshall, after a fresh interrup tion, raised his arm gracefully, and in his most solemn manner said: "Sir, when the angel Gabriel shall place one foot upon the land and one upon the sea, and sound a blast upon his historic horn to notify the living and the resurrected dead that time is no more, I haven't the least doubt that even the solemnity of that awful scene will be interrupted by some infernal fool from Buffalo starting up and shouting, "Louder, sir, louder." The effect was electrical, and when the cheering subsided he was able to proceed without interruption. But this quality, brilliant as it was, was not the predominating faculty of his intel lect. He was a debator with the highest powers of logic and an opponent to be dreaded not only before juries and popular assemblies, but in the more august presence of the higher courts as well. But still, per haps, his greatest efforts as a lawyer were before juries. To defend a human being seemed to enlist the ardent sympathy of his nature and spur him to the accomplish ment of masterpieces of eloquence. It gave, moreover, free rein to an appeal to the passions and the impulses which are fixed in the moral fibre of man. Such appeals to such passions require greater skill, tact and eloquence, and give wider scope to the powers of an orator sometimes than do the
