James Russell Lowell, when concluding an after-dinner speech in England,
made a happy hit by introducing the story of a Methodist preacher at a
camp-meeting, of whom he had heard when he was young. He was preaching on
Joshua ordering the sun to stand still: "My hearers," he said, "there are
three motions of the sun; the first is the straightforward or direct motion
of the sun, the second is the retrograde or backward motion of the sun,
and the third is the motion mentioned in our text--'the sun stood still.'
Now, gentlemen, I do not know whether you see the application of that story
to after-dinner oratory. I hope you do. The after-dinner orator at first
begins and goes straight forward--that is the straightforward motion of the
sun; next he goes back and begins to repeat himself a little, and that is
the retrograde or backward motion of the sun; and at last he has the good
sense to bring himself to an end, and that is the motion mentioned in our
text of the sun standing still."