COL. HIGGINSON 'S LECTURE.

Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, of the class of 1841, lectured in Sever 11, yesterday afternoon, under the auspices of the Harvard Union on "Orators and Oratory." Col. Higginson 's address was partly reminiscent, partly recommendatory of methods of speaking, and thoroughly interesting. President Charles Grilk of the Union introduced Col. Higginson. who spoke in part as follows:

The whole subject of orators and oratory contains much of great importance to you all. As future voters of this country you should have interest in oratory. To be able to stand on your feet and hold your own, to object to a wrong, to advance a right; all these you must do. The great men whom I have known exerted an influence and you are now to succeed them. That generation has passed off the stage. You must take their place.

I can not dwell upon all the men of whom I speak, nor can I talk of all the forms of oratory that show the habits of men in dealing with their fellow men. You represent a race which, while it does not produce the first quality of oratory as yet, still has the vigor and energy of oratory for its own. We can only admire, not closely imitate, the fine oratory of other peoples. I have seen Victor Hugo, even though he read his speech, cause in his audience the rise and swell of an enthusiasm of applause such as I have never seen in an English-speaking audience.

In the two or three representative speakers of my childhood there were visible two or three things which are not to be found now. The old type of sonorous oratory has almost gone. In those days men thought they must speak in a sort of architectural way. There was something put upon the speech. It was not sure that everything lay in the speech itself.

So in Webster you will mark something little skin to the methods of today. I never had the good fortune to hear Mr. Webster. I saw him only once, but the inborn power of oratory that stood in his massive figure I could take for granted. I saw him standing on a corner and I can not remember that he was doing anything but the people in passing looked at him as if he were Bunker Hill monument.

With Mr. Everett there was none of this personality. He had great personal beauty and the most perfectly attuned classic manner. It is possible for you to form a very good conception of him by the law of negatives from the person and oratory of his son, Wm. Everett. Mr. Everett always made the most careful preparation for his speeches and would arrange his watch or glass with the utmost nicety.

There could hardly be a greater contrast to Webster and Everett than Rufus Choate. He was of that great mysterious individuality which those old families of New England hold within themselves. His powers of language and of the use of the most familiar and unfamiliar words were unequalled. His hold on a jury was that of absolute magnetism. All this school of oratory was swept away by the advance of the antislavery movement and its champion Wendell Phillips. A single public meeting made him an outlaw for life. He felt he should not have been a platform speaker, but a member of the United States Senate. How that was I can not tell, but it always imparted a touch of tenderness to me to feel that he had made a sacrifice for what he loved. In the anti-slavery school there was something that made oratory. Phillips was only one of its eloquent men. He it was who brought completely into fashion the simple, eloquent style of today.

You are to confront a community that has been trained under that influence. How are you to deal with them? Of course for a man who wishes to make a speech, the first essential is to have his audience follow him. He must then have something to say. Something which must be said. To say this you will want to make some preparation. I should say that this should be of the simplest form. Think over what you want to say; then select three or four points. Let these form a logical order in your mind if possible. If the logical order be impossible, take some other natural order. Then think out for each of these points some good illustration or story. Even a little humor at times is good, but be careful how you use it. While you are making the acquaintance of your audience it is well to say something that will make them feel that you are human.

Then stop and leave the rest to be moulded in your own mind. Do not write it out. I should advise you never to take a piece of paper before your audience. Remember that if you are to speak without notes everything depends upon the condition of your brain. Keep your mind fresh. Don 't be discouraged after you have made your speech. Practice is the thing you need. The results of public speaking are enormous.

Of all the forms of intellectual effort public speaking is the most fascinating. And it is the most transitory of all influences. But I urge you to give your thought to oratory. Above all I urge you to use your influence in a cause which shall make it worth using.