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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 1, 1883

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 9, No. 9.

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Two Words.

One man's manner may be more effective than another's oratory. William Pitt once made an attack on Sir William Baker, a member of the House of Commons, in which he charged him with having made a large sum of money by a fraudulent contract.
Baker rose quietly and said, "The honorable gentleman is a great orator, and has made a long and serious charge against me. I am no orator, and therefore shall only answer him in two words: Prove it."
Having thus spoken, he sat down amid the applause of the members. His brief reply gained the ear of the House, and his manner satisfied all that the charge was a calumny. Two words had refuted the orator's harangue.