A teacher of elocution from New Jersey went to hear Mr. Beecher,
and when the sermon was closed he crowded himself up to the
front and said, “Mr. Beecher, I am an elocution teacher from
the State of New Jersey. I came over to hear the greatest
American preacher, but I am disappointed, disappointed.” “What
is the matter now?” said Beecher. “Well, sir, I counted eighty
grammatical mistakes in your sermon.” Beecher replied, “Is that
all? I would have wagered this old hat there were over eight
hundred if you had not told me.” That is a philosophical way
of looking at it, and treating deservedly a self-inflated and
imposing upstart of a critic. Beecher could at times read human
nature intuitively.
(624)
=Critical Faculty, The=--See ORIGINALITY.