He was exactly five feet six inches in height, and six feet five inches in

circumference. His head was a perfect sphere, and of such stupendous dimensions,

that Dame Nature, with all her sex's ingenuity, would have been puzzled to

construct a neck capable of supporting it; wherefore she wisely declined the

attempt, and settled it firmly on the top of his backbone, just between the

shoulders. His body was of an oblong form, particularly capacious at bottom;

which was wisely ordered by Providence, seeing that he was a man of sedentary

habits, and very averse to the idle labor of walking.

 

The foregoing is too long for the platform, but it is so good-humored, so full

of delightful exaggeration, that it may well serve as a model of humorous

character picturing, for here one inevitably sees the inner man in the outer.

 

Direct description for platform use may be made vivid by the _sparing_ use of

the "historical present." The following dramatic passage, accompanied by the

most lively action, has lingered in the mind for thirty years after hearing Dr.

T. De Witt Talmage lecture on "Big Blunders." The crack of the bat sounds clear

even today:

 

Get ready the bats and take your positions. Now, give us the ball. Too low.

Don't strike. Too high. Don't strike. There it comes like lightning. Strike!

Away it soars! Higher! Higher! Run! Another base! Faster! Faster! Good! All

around at one stroke!

 

Observe the remarkable way in which the lecturer fused speaker, audience,