How Mark Twain Used Today’s Evocative Word – ENCHANTING to get ’em evocatin’
Original illustration by Mark Anderson for Conor’s book – What Mark Twain Learned Me ’bout public Speakin’
“It was a heartbreaking delight, full of pathos, laughter, and tears, all mixed together; and we called the roll of the boys and girls that we picnicked and sweet-hearted with so many years ago, and there were hardly half a dozen of them left; the rest were in their graves; and we went up there on the summit of that hill, a treasured place in my memory, the summit of Holiday’s Hill, and looked out again over that magnificent panorama of the Mississippi River, sweeping along league after league, a level green paradise on one side, and retreating capes and promontories as far as you could see on the other, fading away in the soft, rich lights of the remote distance.
I recognized then that I was seeing now the most ENCHANTING river view the planet could furnish. I never knew it when I was a boy; it took an educated eye that had travelled over the globe to know and appreciate it; and John said, “Can you point out the place where Bear Creek used to be before the railroad came?” I said, “Yes, it ran along yonder.” “And can you point out the swimming-hole?” “Yes, out there.” And he said, “Can you point out the place where we stole the skiff?” Well, I didn’t know which one he meant.“
Published in What Mark Twain Learned Me ’bout Public Speakin’ by Conor Cunneen.
Chapter III : Relate to your Audience
Original SOURCE: Mark Twain Speeches: Sixty-Seventh Birthday
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This website is hosted by keynote speaker, consultant and author Conor Cunneen – IrishmanSpeaks. Conor is author of What Mark Twain Learned Me ’bout Public Speakin’
Conor Cunneen – IrishmanSpeaks