Note 18 — Chapter X · THE ATHENS OF SOUTH AMERICA

Mr. W. L. Scruggs, sometime American minister to Bogotá, writes in the same sense. “Most of the educated classes,” he says, “have, or think they have, the literary faculty. They are particularly fond of writing what they call poetry, and of making post-prandial speeches. The average collegian will write poetry18 by the yard or speak impromptu by the hour. He never shows the least embarrassment before an audience, and is rarely at a loss for a word. The adjectives and adverbs flow in sluices of unbroken rhythm, and the supply of euphonious words and hyperbolic phrases seems inexhaustible. He always gesticulates vehemently, and somehow it seems to become him well; for no matter how little there may be in what he says, somebody is sure to applaud and encourage him.”