Article November 1, 1900 Issue

Cured by Applause

Youth's Companion

Louis Blanc, the eloquent Frenchman, lost his voice, not as Falstaff did, "with halloing and singing of anthems," but through dread of an English audience. He found it again by aid of the welcome the audience gave him, which was so hearty as to cast out all fear. Mr. John Bigelow tells the story, as related to him by Monsieur Blanc, in his "Life of Samuel J. Tilden. After the fall of the government in 1848, Louis Blanc became an exile in London. When he had acquired a tolerable command of the English language, he was invited to deliver a lecture in English. On the appointed day, he dined with Hepworth Dixon, then editor of the London Athenaum. The prospect of meeting a distinguished London audience and attempting to talk to them in what was to him a foreign tongue, made him so nervous that during the dinner he suddenly lost his voice, and could speak only in a whisper. He was in despair. The audience would be made up of the most distinguished in London society. There seemed to be but one course to pursue—to tell the truth and dismiss them. It was decided that he should show himself on the stage and let the audience see, if they could not hear, that he was unable to speak audibly. Dixon went with him and made Blanc's excuses. When he had done, Blanc stepped forward to verify his friend's statement. Dixon's remarks had been received with sympathetic applause, but when Blanc appeared the applause was deafening. When it had subsided, he attempted to say a few words, mainly to show his voiceless condition. But to his surprise, and to the delight of the audience, his voice sounded clearer and louder than ever before in a public assembly. He went on for two hours without the least inconvenience. The applause with which he was received had expelled the nervousness which alone was responsible for his vocal feebleness.—Youth's Companion.

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