OCR Text |
Show OF DAVID SWING, a writer in the Albany Journal says that his "awkwardness not seldom draws a smile over the face of one who is not accustomed to his presence; and as a traveler bearing a romantic ideal is said to have exclaimed at his first view of the Nile, "is that all!" so must many who have gone to see and hear this celebrated pulpit orator for the first time have exclaimed, as he stole into his seat with his eyes resting on the floor rather than on the congregation, and his unclassic figure seeming anxious to vanish out of sight, "is that Swing!" His voice is no gift from Apollo. Until the moment of embarrassment is past and the soul of the speaker comes to his relief, and thought and poetry begin to wreathe their vital charms around him, and inspire his vocal organs, his voice is both weak and unusual and to not a few even disagreeable. He makes none of the oratorical climaxes so popular with the listening crowd. He is rarely impassioned. No listener is thrilled, but everyone is pleased and deeply impressed, without being able to know just why." |