tent he was
dignified. . . . He spoke with effectiveness--and to move the judgment
as well as the emotion of men. There was a world of meaning and emphasis
in the long, bony finger of the right hand as he dotted the ideas on the
minds of his hearers. . . . He always stood squarely on his feet. . . .
He neither touched nor leaned on anything for support. He never ranted,
never walked backward and forward on the platform. . . . As he proceeded
with his speech, the exercise of his vocal organs altered somewhat the
pitch of his voice. It lost in a measure its former acute and shrilling
pitch and mellowed into a more harmonious and pleasant sound. His form
expanded, and notwithstanding the sunken breast, he rose up a splendid
and imposing figure. . . . His little gray eyes flashed in a face aglow
with the fire of his profound thoughts; and his uneasy movements
and diffident manner sunk themselves beneath the wave of righteous
indignation that came sweeping over him."(4)

A wonderful dramatic contrast were these two men, each in his way so
masterful, as they appeared in the famous debates. By good fortune we
have a portrait of Douglas the orator, from the pen of Mrs. Stowe,
who had observed him with reluctant admiration from the gallery of
the Senate. "This Douglas is the very ideal of vitality. Short, broad,
thick-set, every inch of him has its own alertness and motion. He has
a good head, thick black hair, heavy black brows, and a keen face. His
figure would be an unfortunate one were it not for the animation that
constantly pervades it. As it is it rather gives poignancy to his
peculiar appearance; he has a small handsome hand, moreover, and
a graceful as well as forcible mode of using it. . . . He has two
requisites of a debater, a melodious voice and clear, sharply defined
enunciation. His forte in debating is his power of mystifying the
point. With the most offhand assured airs in the world, and a certain
appearance of honest superiority, like one who has a regard for you and
wishes to set you right on one or two little matters, he proceeds to
set up some point which is not that in question, but only a family
connection of it, and this point he attacks with the very best of logic
and language; he charges upon it, horse and foot, runs it down, tramples
it in the dust, and then turns upon you with 'See, there is your
argument. Did I not tell you so? You see it is all stuff.' And if you
have allowed yourself to be so dazzl