Oratory is a lost art. Sure, some were windbags like Everett. But it was a form of entertainment. People used to go to the Courthouse just to watch the attorneys argue their cases. Today, I’ve done my best work in mostly empty courtrooms.
Television changed all of that. There are psychological studies that show we were once equally adept at assimilating information in the auditory and visual areas. Now, the preponderance of learning is done visually.
IMO, one of the best things people can do for themselves, their families, and their country is to get rid of the television.
I’ll admit that I’m torn about whether it is fair to call Everett a windbag. Part of me says “yeah, he was” and part of me says it’s not really fair.
Even Lincoln, whose pithiness at Gettysburg tends to make Everett look like a windbag by comparison, seemed to hold Everett and his oratory in very high regard. The rest of the country seems to have tended to share that high opinion of the man as well.
Hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving, my friend.