HARDWOOD RECORD 



13 



wood, scarcely wider than a ray; the con- 

 tour is well-rounded; otherwise there is little 

 contrast between the spring and autumn 

 zones. The pores of the wood are difficult 

 to see. even with a lens, and the rays aro 



of its Biblical association with Zaccheus. 

 Many European sycamores were planted by 

 religious persons during the middle ages 

 because of the belief that they were the 

 tree thus referred to in the Bible. 



It is alleged that the character of the wood 

 afforded by the American sycamores is usual- 

 ly more complicated in growth and more 

 cross-grained than that of the European 

 trees. However, it is also alleged that the 

 structure is more beautiful and that the wood 

 stands well and is more highly valued for 

 cabinet work and small articles in the for- 

 eign trade, than the tree of home growth. 



ArrE.\RANCE OF SYCAMORE BARK 



small lines or flakes which are readily dis- 

 tinguishable by reason of their luster, more 

 than by their color. 



It is only with the practical exhaustion of 

 any considerable growth of sycamore ^hat its 

 value for high-class furniture and interior 

 finish is recognized. The price the wood 

 eventually commanded, and its supply belcom- 

 ing insufficient to the demands of the trade, 

 the plug tobacco box makers were forced 

 to the use of other woods, and now aie very 

 largely substituting red gum. The tree is 

 remarkably free from defects in its main 

 stem, save shake, which often obtains in the 

 butt cut. 



The sycamore stands for curiosity because 



BL'D. KOIJAGE AXD FRUIT OF SYCAMORE. 



The size of the American sycamore is also 

 much larger than the European, and a tree 

 fifty inches in diameter at the base and sev- 

 enty feet to the first limb is not an unusual 

 size either in Indiana or Ohio. 



Strode's Stuff. 



Speech George Burgess and I Made. 



You see that while I did not know for 

 sure, I thought I might be called on to speak 

 a piece down at Memphis, just for the sake 

 of old times; so on the sleeper I cast about 

 to see if I had stored away in my brain any- 

 where a thought that would look well when 

 brought out into the light of electric lamps 

 — to see if I had any music in my soul that 

 would sound well to the accompaniment of 

 the popping of champagne corks. 



I haven 't had much experience in public 

 speaking: but I have had enough to know 

 that an after-dinner talk in Memphis must 

 not be dry and statistical. There are places 

 where a dry and statistical speech is all 

 right. A country audience thinks that a 

 political speech that does not bristle with 

 facts and figures doesn't amount to much. 

 The people, under some circumstances, want 

 their facts and figures in strong doses, and 

 I have known speakers to make the mistake 



o- unloading that kind of a speech on such 

 a crowd as the Memphis lumbermen, — when 

 what the audience wanted was a laugh to 

 aid digestion. 



Bob Burdette was once, through a mis- 

 take of somebody, sent to a town to deliver 

 his lecture on "The Rise and Fall of the 

 Mustache," when the town had been billed 

 for a certain bishop known as a dry and 

 heavy rhetorician, without a particle of hu- 

 n'or in his makeup. The train was late, so 

 Mr. Burdette was hurried directly to the 

 opera-house, and no questions asked. He 

 found an audience of honest, dull, country 

 folks assembled, with their faces all set for 

 a learned discourse on something or other. 

 Mr. Burdette worked hard, but the audience 

 remained silent. His best jokes failed to 

 raise a smile, and after two hours of effort, 

 with his collar hanging limp, and beads of 

 perspiration standing on his forehead, he 

 gave it up. Nobody had laughed. 



As the vexed and bewildered humorist was 

 leaving the opera-house, an old farmer ap- 

 proached and said: "Say, Bishop, that was 

 the funniest speech I ever heard a bishop 

 make. Wliy, do you know, there were times 

 when I came pretty nigh laughing right in 

 your face." 



An audience in sympathy is necessary. You 

 must not inflict a heavy speech on an audi- 

 ence that wishes to be amused, nor vice 

 versa, and pitching a speech in a key to suit 

 the humor of an audience is the secret of 

 many a speaker's reputation. 



So I tried to think of something light, as 

 1 lay in the sleeper on the way to Memphis, 

 but without much success. 



There was an old poem I had written about 

 ilemphis several years ago, which had fallen 

 rather flat at the time, if I could remember 

 it, I could paim it off as written for this 

 occasion. I found I could remember most of 

 it, and then X went to sleep. I thought I 

 «ould wake early and go over my speech in 

 my mind. I did not know what subject would 

 be assigned to me, but that did not make 

 much difference. 



Billy Bennett was on the car, however, 

 and he got up as soon as I did. We passei.1 

 the time in conversation until Memphis was 

 reached. 



Believes in Impromptu Speeches. 



Now I am a great believer in impromptu 

 speeches — carefully prepared and committed 

 to memory in advance. 



When we arrived at Jlemphis, Earl Palmer 

 dropped in, and Ed McConnell — and others — 

 and I saw I would have no opportunity to 

 go over my speech; so I went to a public 

 stenogiapher and dictated a brief address, 

 short and dignified, and included the poem, 

 as I could remember it, and put it in my 

 pocket. Then I dismissed the matter from 

 my mind. 



But in putting up some papers for mail- 

 ing to the paper, I inadvertently got my 

 speech mixed with them, and mailed it also. 

 I never missed it at all, and I enjoyed the 

 banquet hugely. 



There is no danger that you will miss any- 

 thing, or leave it out, or forget it, if your 

 speech is written. There it is, right before 

 you, and as long as the faculty of sight is 

 unimpaired you can read it. 



When you see a man who looks as if he 

 has the cholera morbus and is sick at his 

 stomach, it is pretty certain that he expects 

 to be called on to make a speech and is 

 going over it in his mind — to make certain 

 that he will remember it. I was free from 

 all that, and as I looked about me at the 

 suffering faces at the speakers' end of the 

 table I was happy, for was not my speech 

 carefully written out and in my pocket? And 

 I could certainly read it. True, the light 

 was a bit dim, but I guessed I would have 

 no trouble. Still, as they were getting pret- 

 ty well down the programme to myself, I 

 thought I would take the speech out and 

 try the light. 



