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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18095-8.txt b/18095-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc34c94 --- /dev/null +++ b/18095-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2901 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Successful Methods of Public Speaking, by +Grenville Kleiser + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Successful Methods of Public Speaking + +Author: Grenville Kleiser + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [EBook #18095] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Suzanne Lybarger, Martin Pettit +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING + + + + +_By Grenville Kleiser_ + + +Inspiration and Ideals +How to Build Mental Power +How to Develop Self-Confidence in Speech and Manner +How to Read and Declaim +How to Speak in Public +How to Develop Power and Personality in Speaking +Great Speeches and How to Make Them +How to Argue and Win +Humorous Hits and How to Hold an Audience +Complete Guide to Public Speaking +Talks on Talking +Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases +The World's Great Sermons +Mail Course in Public Speaking +Mail Course in Practical English +How to Speak Without Notes +Something to Say: How to Say It +Successful Methods of Public Speaking +Model Speeches for Practise +The Training of a Public Speaker +How to Sell Through Speech +Impromptu Speeches: How to Make Them +Word-Power: How to Develop It +Christ: The Master Speaker +Vital English for Speakers and Writers + + + + +Successful Methods of Public Speaking + +BY GRENVILLE KLEISER + +_Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity School, Yale +University. Author of "How to Speak in Public," "Great Speeches and How +to Make Them," "Complete Guide to Public Speaking," "How to Build Mental +Power," "Talks on Talking," etc., etc._ + +[Illustration: Publisher's logo] + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + +NEW YORK AND LONDON + +1919 + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY + +GRENVILLE KLEISER + +[_Printed in the United States of America_] + +Published, February, 1920 + +Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the +Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910 + + + + +PREFACE + + +As you carefully study the successful methods of public speakers, as +briefly set forth in this book, you will observe that there is nothing +that can be substituted for personal sincerity. Unless you thoroughly +believe in the message you wish to convey to others, you are not likely +to impress them favorably. + +It was said of an eminent British orator, that when one heard him speak +in public, one instinctively felt that there was something finer in the +man than in anything he said. + +Therein lies the key to successful oratory. When the truth of your +message is deeply engraved on your own mind; when your own heart has +been touched as by a living flame; when your own character and +personality testify to the innate sincerity and nobility of your life, +then your speech will be truly eloquent, and men will respond to your +fervent appeal. + + GRENVILLE KLEISER. + +New York City, +August, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +PREFACE v + +SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 11 + +STUDY OF MODEL SPEECHES 55 + +HISTORY OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 91 + +EXTRACTS FOR STUDY, WITH LESSON TALK 117 + +HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC 145 + + + + +SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING + + +You can acquire valuable knowledge for use in your own public speaking +by studying the successful methods of other men. This does not mean, +however, that you are to imitate others, but simply to profit by their +experience and suggestions in so far as they fit in naturally with your +personality. + +All successful speakers do not speak alike. Each man has found certain +things to be effective in his particular case, but which would not +necessarily be suited to a different type of speaker. + +When, therefore, you read the following methods of various men, ask +yourself in each case whether you can apply the ideas to advantage in +your own speaking. Put the method to a practical test, and decide for +yourself whether it is advisable for you to adopt it or not. + + +Requirements of Effective Speaking + +There are certain requirements in public speaking which you and every +other speaker must observe. You must be grammatical, intelligent, lucid, +and sincere. These are essential. You must know your subject thoroughly, +and have the ability to put it into pleasing and persuasive form. + +But beyond these considerations there are many things which must be left +to your temperament, taste, and individuality. To compel you to speak +according to inflexible rules would make you not an orator but an +automaton. + +The temperamental differences in successful speakers have been very +great. One eminent speaker used practically no gesture; another was in +almost constant action. One was quiet, modest, and conversational in his +speaking style; another was impulsive and resistless as a mountain +torrent. + +It is safe to say that almost any man, however unpretentious his +language, will command a hearing in Congress, Parliament, or elsewhere, +if he gives accurate information upon a subject of importance and in a +manner of unquestioned sincerity. + +You will observe in the historical accounts of great orators, that +without a single exception they studied, read, practised, conversed, and +meditated, not occasionally, but with daily regularity. Many of them +were endowed with natural gifts, but they supplemented these with +indefatigable work. + + +Well-known Speakers and Their Methods + +_Chalmers_ + +There is a rugged type of speaker who transcends and seemingly defies +all rules of oratory. Such a man was the great Scottish preacher +Chalmers, who was without polished elocution, grace, or manner, but who +through his intellectual power and moral earnestness thrilled all who +heard him. + +He read his sermons entirely from manuscripts, but it is evident from +the effects of his preaching that he was not a slave to the written word +as many such speakers have been. While he read, he retained much of his +freedom of gesture and physical expression, doubtless due to familiarity +with his subject and thorough preparation of his message. + + +_John Bright_ + +You can profitably study the speeches of John Bright. They are +noteworthy for their simplicity of diction and uniform quality of +directness. His method was to make a plain statement of facts, enunciate +certain fundamental principles, then follow with his argument and +application. + +His choice of words and style of delivery were most carefully studied, +and his sonorous voice was under such complete control that he could +speak at great length without the slightest fatigue. Many of his +illustrations were drawn from the Bible, which he is said to have known +better than any other book. + + +_Lord Brougham_ + +Lord Brougham wrote nine times the concluding parts of his speech for +the defense of Queen Caroline. He once told a young man that if he +wanted to speak well he must first learn to talk well. He recognized +that good talking was the basis of effective public speaking. + +Bear in mind, however, that this does not mean you are always to confine +yourself to a conversational level. There are themes which demand large +treatment, wherein vocal power and impassioned feeling are appropriate +and essential. But what Lord Brougham meant, and it is equally true +to-day, was that good public speaking is fundamentally good talking. + + +_Edmund Burke_ + +Edmund Burke recommended debate as one of the best means for developing +facility and power in public speaking. Himself a master of debate, he +said, "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our +skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This amiable conflict with +difficulty obliges us to have an intimate acquaintance with our subject, +and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer +us to be superficial." + +Burke, like all great orators, believed in premeditation, and always +wrote and corrected his speeches with fastidious care. While such men +knew that inspiration might come at the moment of speaking, they +preferred to base their chances of success upon painstaking preparation. + + +_Massillon_ + +Massillon, the great French divine, spoke in a commanding voice and in a +style so direct that at times he almost overwhelmed his hearers. His +pointed and personal questions could not be evaded. He sent truth like +fiery darts to the hearts of his hearers. + +I ask you to note very carefully the following eloquent passage from a +sermon in which he explained how men justified themselves because they +were no worse than the multitude: + +"On this account it is, my brethren, that I confine myself to you who at +present are assembled here; I include not the rest of men, but consider +you as alone existing on the earth. The idea which occupies and +frightens me is this: I figure to myself the present as your last hour +and the end of the world; that the heavens are going to open above your +heads; our Savior, in all His glory, to appear in the midst of the +temple; and that you are only assembled here to wait His coming; like +trembling criminals on whom the sentence is to be pronounced, either of +life eternal or of everlasting death; for it is vain to flatter +yourselves that you shall die more innocent than you are at this hour. +All those desires of change with which you are amused will continue to +amuse you till death arrives, the experience of all ages proves it; the +only difference you have to expect will most likely be a larger balance +against you than what you would have to answer for at present; and from +what would be your destiny were you to be judged this moment, you may +almost decide upon what will take place at your departure from life. +Now, I ask you (and connecting my own lot with yours I ask with dread), +were Jesus Christ to appear in this temple, in the midst of this +assembly, to judge us, to make the dreadful separation betwixt the goats +and sheep, do you believe that the greatest number of us would be placed +at His right hand? Do you believe that the number would at least be +equal? Do you believe there would even be found ten upright and +faithful servants of the Lord, when formerly five cities could not +furnish so many? I ask you. You know not, and I know it not. Thou alone, +O my God, knowest who belong to Thee. But if we know not who belong to +Him, at least we know that sinners do not. Now, who are the just and +faithful assembled here at present? Titles and dignities avail nothing, +you are stript of all these in the presence of your Savior. Who are +they? Many sinners who wish not to be converted; many more who wish, but +always put it off; many others who are only converted in appearance, and +again fall back to their former courses. In a word, a great number who +flatter themselves they have no occasion for conversion. This is the +party of the reprobate. Ah! my brethren, cut off from this assembly +these four classes of sinners, for they will be cut off at the great +day. And now appear, ye just! Where are ye? O God, where are Thy chosen? +And what a portion remains to Thy share." + + +_Gladstone_ + +Gladstone had by nature a musical and melodious voice, but through +practise he developed an unusual range of compass and variety. He could +sink it to a whisper and still be audible, while in open-air meetings he +could easily make himself heard by thousands. + +He was courteous, and even ceremonious, in his every-day meeting with +men, so that it was entirely natural for him to be deferential and +ingratiating in his public speaking. He is an excellent illustration of +the value of cultivating in daily conversation and manner the qualities +you desire to have in your public address. + + +_John Quincy Adams_ + +John Quincy Adams read two chapters from the Bible every morning, which +accounted in large measure for his resourceful English style. He was +fond of using the pen in daily composition, and constantly committed to +paper the first thoughts which occurred to him upon any important +subject. + + +_Fox_ + +The ambition of Fox was to become a great political orator and debater, +in which at last he succeeded. His mental agility was manifest in his +reply to an elector whom he had canvassed for a vote, and who offered +him a halter instead. "Oh thank you," said Fox, "I would not deprive you +of what is evidently a family relic." + +His method was to take each argument of an opponent, and dispose of it +in regular order. His passion was for argument, upon great or petty +subjects. He availed himself of every opportunity to speak. "During five +whole sessions," he said, "I spoke every night but one; and I regret +that I did not speak on that night, too." + + +_Theodore Parker_ + +Theodore Parker always read his sermons aloud while writing them, in +order to test their "speaking quality." His opinion was that an +impressive delivery depended particularly upon vigorous feeling, +energetic thinking, and clearness of statement. + + +_Henry Ward Beecher_ + +Henry Ward Beecher's method was to practise vocal exercises in the open +air, exploding all the vowel sounds in various keys. This practise duly +produced a most flexible instrument, which served him throughout his +brilliant career. He said: + +"I had from childhood impediments of speech arising from a large palate, +so that when a boy I used to be laughed at for talking as if I had a +pudding in my mouth. When I went to Amherst, I was fortunate in passing +into the hands of John Lovell, a teacher of elocution, and a better +teacher for my purpose I can not conceive of. His system consisted in +drill, or the thorough practise of inflections by the voice, of gesture, +posture and articulation. Sometimes I was a whole hour practising my +voice on a word--like justice. I would have to take a posture, +frequently at a mark chalked on the floor. Then we would go through all +the gestures, exercising each movement of the arm and throwing open the +hand. All gestures except those of precision go in curves, the arm +rising from the side, coming to the front, turning to the left or +right. I was drilled as to how far the arm should come forward, where it +should start from, how far go back, and under what circumstances these +movements should be made. It was drill, drill, drill, until the motions +almost became a second nature. Now, I never know what movements I shall +make. My gestures are natural, because this drill made them natural to +me. The only method of acquiring effective elocution is by practise, of +not less than an hour a day, until the student has his voice and himself +thoroughly subdued and trained to get right expression." + + +_Lord Bolingbroke_ + +Lord Bolingbroke made it a rule always to speak well in daily +conversation, however unimportant the occasion. His taste and accuracy +at last gave him a style in ordinary speech worthy to have been put +into print as it fell from his lips. + + +_Lord Chatham_ + +Lord Chatham, despite his great natural endowments for speaking, devoted +a regular time each day to developing a varied and copious vocabulary. +He twice examined each word in the dictionary, from beginning to end, in +his ardent desire to master the English language. + + +_John Philpot Curran_ + +The well-known case of John Philpot Curran should give encouragement to +every aspiring student of public speaking. He was generally known as +"Orator Mum," because of his failure in his first attempt at public +speaking. But he resolved to develop his oratorical powers, and devoted +every morning to intense reading. In addition, he regularly carried in +his pocket a small copy of a classic for convenient reading at odd +moments. + +It is said that he daily practised declamation before a looking-glass, +closely scrutinizing his gesture, posture, and manner. He was an earnest +student of public speaking, and eventually became one of the most +eloquent of world orators. + + +_Balfour_ + +Among present-day speakers in England Mr. Balfour occupies a leading +place. He possesses the gift of never saying a word too much, a habit +which might be copied to advantage by many public speakers. His habit +during a debate is to scribble a few words on an envelop, and then to +speak with rare facility of English style. + + +_Bonar Law_ + +Bonar Law does not use any notes in the preparation of a speech, but +carefully thinks out the various parts, and then by means of a series of +"mental rehearsals" fixes them indelibly in his mind. The result of this +conscientious practise has made him a formidable debater and extempore +speaker. + + +_Asquith_ + +Herbert H. Asquith, who possesses the rare gift of summoning the one +inevitable word, and of compressing his speeches into a small space of +time, speaks with equal success whether from a prepared manuscript or +wholly extempore. His unsurpassed English style is the result of many +years reading and study of prose masterpieces. "He produces, wherever +and whenever he wants them, an endless succession of perfectly coined +sentences, conceived with unmatched felicity and delivered without +hesitation in a parliamentary style which is at once the envy and the +despair of imitators." + + +_Bryan_ + +William Jennings Bryan is by common consent one of the greatest public +speakers in America. He has a voice of unusual power and compass, and +his delivery is natural and deliberate. His style is generally forensic, +altho he frequently rises to the dramatic. He has been a diligent +student of oratory, and once said: + +"The age of oratory has not passed; nor will it pass. The press, instead +of displacing the orator, has given him a larger audience and enabled +him to do a more extended work. As long as there are human rights to be +defended; as long as there are great interests to be guarded; as long +as the welfare of nations is a matter for discussion, so long will +public speaking have its place." + + +_Roosevelt_ + +Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most effective of American public +speakers, due in large measure to intense moral earnestness and great +stores of physical vitality. His diction was direct and his style +energetic. He spoke out of the fulness of a well-furnished mind. + + +Success Factors in Platform Speaking + +Constant practise of composition has been the habit of all great +orators. This, combined with the habit of reading and re-reading the +best prose writers and poets, accounts in large measure for the +felicitous style of such men as Burke, Erskine, Macaulay, Bolingbroke, +Phillips, Everett and Webster. + +I can not too often urge you to use your pen in daily composition as a +means to felicity and facility of speech. The act of writing out your +thoughts is a direct aid to concentration, and tends to enforce the +habit of choosing the best language. It gives clearness, force, +precision, beauty, and copiousness of style, so valuable in +extemporaneous and impromptu speaking. + + +ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEMORIZING SPEECHES + +Some of the most highly successful speakers carefully wrote out, +revised, and committed to memory important passages in their speeches. +These they dexterously wove into the body of their addresses in such a +natural manner as not to expose their method. + +This plan, however, is not to be generally recommended, since few men +have the faculty of rendering memorized parts so as to make them appear +extempore. If you recite rather than speak to an audience, you may be a +good entertainer, but just to that degree will you impair your power and +effectiveness as a public speaker. + +There are speakers who have successfully used the plan of committing to +memory significant sentences, statements, or sayings, and skilfully +embodying them in their speeches. You might test this method for +yourself, tho it is attended with danger. + +If possible, join a local debating society, where you will have +excellent opportunity for practise in thinking and speaking on your +feet. Many distinguished public speakers have owed their fluency of +speech and self-confidence to early practise in debate. + + +THE VALUE OF REPETITION + +Persuasion is a task of skill. You must bring to your aid in speaking +every available resource. An effective weapon at times is a "remorseless +iteration." Have the courage to repeat yourself as often as may be +necessary to impress your leading ideas upon the minds of your hearers. +Note the forensic maxim, "tell a judge twice whatever you want him to +hear; tell a special jury thrice, and a common jury half a dozen times, +the view of a case you wish them to entertain." + + +THE NEED OF SELF-CONFIDENCE + +Whatever methods of premeditation you adopt in the preparation of a +speech, having planned everything to the best of your ability, dismiss +from your mind all anxiety and all thought about yourself. + +Right preparation and earnest practise should give you a full degree of +confidence in your ability to perform the task before you. When you +stand at last before the audience, it should be with the assurance that +you are thoroughly equipped to say something of real interest and +importance. + + +THE POWER OF PERSONALITY + +Personality plays a vital part in a speaker's success. Gladstone +described Cardinal Newman's manner in the pulpit as unsatisfactory if +considered in its separate parts. "There was not much change in the +inflection of his voice; action there was none; his sermons were read, +and his eyes were always on his book; and all that, you will say, is +against efficiency in preaching. Yes; but you take the man as a whole, +and there was a stamp and a seal upon him, there was solemn music and +sweetness in his tone, there was a completeness in the figure, taken +together with the tone and with the manner, which made even his delivery +such as I have described it, and tho exclusively with written sermons, +singularly attractive." + + +THE DANGER OF IMITATION + +It is a fatal mistake, as I have said, to set out deliberately to +imitate some favorite speaker, and to mold your style after his. You +will observe certain things and methods in other speakers which will fit +in naturally with your style and temperament. To this extent you may +advantageously adopt them, but always be on your guard against anything +which might in the slightest degree impair your own individuality. + + +Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk + +FEATURES OF AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS + + +You will find useful material for study and practise in the speech which +follows, delivered by Lord Rosebery at the Unveiling of the Statue of +Gladstone at Glasgow, Scotland, October 11th, 1902. + +The English style is noteworthy for its uniform charm and naturalness. +There is an unmistakable personal note which contributes greatly to the +effect of the speaker's words. + +This eloquent address is a model for such an occasion, and a good +illustration of the work of a speaker thoroughly familiar with his +theme. It has sufficient variety to sustain interest, dignity in keeping +with the subject, and a note of inspiration which would profoundly +impress an audience of thinking men. It is a scholarly address. + +Note the concise introductory sentences. Repeat them aloud and observe +how easily they flow from the lips. Notice the balance and variety of +successive sentences, the stately diction, and the underlying tone of +deep sincerity. + +Examine every phrase and sentence of this eloquent speech. Study the +conclusion and particularly the closing paragraph. When you have +thoroughly analyzed the speech, stand up and render it aloud in +clear-cut tones and appropriately dignified style. + + +SPEECH FOR STUDY + +AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF GLADSTONE + +(_Address of Lord Rosebery_) + +I am here to-day to unveil the image of one of the great figures of our +country. It is right and fitting that it should stand here. A statue of +Mr. Gladstone is congenial in any part of Scotland. But in this Scottish +city, teeming with eager workers, endowed with a great University, a +center of industry, commerce, and thought, a statue of William Ewart +Gladstone is at home. + +But you in Glasgow have more personal claims to a share in the +inheritance of Mr. Gladstone's fame. I, at any rate, can recall one +memory--the record of that marvelous day in December, 1879, nearly +twenty-three years ago, when the indomitable old man delivered his +rectorial address to the students at noon, a long political speech in +St. Andrew's Hall in the evening, and a substantial discourse on +receiving an address from the Corporation at ten o'clock at night. Some +of you may have been present at all these gatherings, some only at the +political meeting. If they were, they may remember the little incidents +of the meeting--the glasses which were hopelessly lost and then, of +course, found on the orator's person--the desperate candle brought in, +stuck in a water-bottle, to attempt sufficient light to read an extract. +And what a meeting it was--teeming, delirious, absorbed! Do you have +such meetings now? They seem to me pretty good; but the meetings of that +time stand out before all others in my mind. + +This statue is erected, not out of the national subscription, but by the +contributions from men of all creeds in Glasgow and in the West. I must +then, in what I have to say, leave out altogether the political aspect +of Mr. Gladstone. In some cases such a rule would omit all that was +interesting in a man. There are characters, from which if you +subtracted politics, there would be nothing left. It was not so with +Mr. Gladstone. + +To the great mass of his fellow-countrymen he was of course a statesman, +wildly worshipped by some, wildly detested by others. But, to those who +were privileged to know him, his politics seemed but the least part of +him. The predominant part, to which all else was subordinated, was his +religion; the life which seemed to attract him most was the life of the +library; the subject which engrossed him most was the subject of the +moment, whatever it might be, and that, when he was out of office, was +very rarely politics. Indeed, I sometimes doubt whether his natural bent +was toward politics at all. Had his course taken him that way, as it +very nearly did, he would have been a great churchman, greater perhaps +than any that this island has known; he would have been a great +professor, if you could have found a university big enough to hold him; +he would have been a great historian, a great bookman, he would have +grappled with whole libraries and wrestled with academies, had the fates +placed him in a cloister; indeed it is difficult to conceive the career, +except perhaps the military, in which his energy and intellect and +application would not have placed him on a summit. Politics, however, +took him and claimed his life service, but, jealous mistress as she is, +could never thoroughly absorb him. + +Such powers as I have indicated seem to belong to a giant and a prodigy, +and I can understand many turning away from the contemplation of such a +character, feeling that it is too far removed from them to interest +them, and that it is too unapproachable to help them--that it is like +reading of Hercules or Hector, mythical heroes whose achievements the +actual living mortal can not hope to rival. Well, that is true enough; +we have not received intellectual faculties equal to Mr. Gladstone's, +and can not hope to vie with him in their exercise. But apart from them, +his great force was character, and amid the vast multitude that I am +addressing, there is none who may not be helped by him. + +The three signal qualities which made him what he was, were courage, +industry, and faith; dauntless courage, unflagging industry, a faith +which was part of his fiber; these were the levers with which he moved +the world. + +I do not speak of his religious faith, that demands a worthier speaker +and another occasion. But no one who knew Mr. Gladstone could fail to +see that it was the essence, the savor, the motive power of his life. +Strange as it may seem, I can not doubt that while this attracted many +to him, it alienated others, others not themselves irreligious, but who +suspected the sincerity of so manifest a devotion, and who, reared in +the moderate atmosphere of the time, disliked the intrusion of religious +considerations into politics. These, however, though numerous enough, +were the exceptions, and it can not, I think, be questioned that Mr. +Gladstone not merely raised the tone of public discussion, but quickened +and renewed the religious feeling of the society in which he moved. + +But this is not the faith of which I am thinking to-day. What is present +to me is the faith with which he espoused and pursued great causes. +There also he had faith sufficient to move mountains, and did sometimes +move mountains. He did not lightly resolve, he came to no hasty +conclusion, but when he had convinced himself that a cause was right, +it engrossed him, it inspired him, with a certainty as deep-seated and +as imperious as ever moved mortal man. To him, then, obstacles, +objections, the counsels of doubters and critics were as nought, he +pressed on with the passion of a whirlwind, but also with the steady +persistence of some puissant machine. + +He had, of course, like every statesman, often to traffic with +expediency, he had always, I suppose, to accept something less than his +ideal, but his unquenchable faith, not in himself--tho that with +experience must have waxed strong--not in himself but in his cause, +sustained him among the necessary shifts and transactions of the moment, +and kept his head high in the heavens. + +Such faith, such moral conviction, is not given to all men, for the +treasures of his nature were in ingots, and not in dust. But there is, +perhaps, no man without some faith in some cause or some person; if so, +let him take heart, in however small a minority he may be, by +remembering how mighty a strength was Gladstone's power of faith. + +His next great force lay in his industry. I do not know if the +aspersions of "ca' canny" be founded, but at any rate there was no "ca' +canny" about him. From his earliest school-days, if tradition be true, +to the bed of death, he gave his full time and energy to work. No doubt +his capacity for labor was unusual. He would sit up all night writing a +pamphlet, and work next day as usual. An eight-hours' day would have +been a holiday to him, for he preached and practised the gospel of work +to its fullest extent. He did not, indeed, disdain pleasure; no one +enjoyed physical exercise, or a good play, or a pleasant dinner, more +than he; he drank in deep draughts of the highest and the best that life +had to offer; but even in pastime he was never idle. He did not know +what it was to saunter, he debited himself with every minute of his +time; he combined with the highest intellectual powers the faculty of +utilizing them to the fullest extent by intense application. Moreover, +his industry was prodigious in result, for he was an extraordinarily +rapid worker. Dumont says of Mirabeau, that till he met that marvelous +man he had no idea of how much could be achieved in a day. "Had I not +lived with him," he says, "I should not know what can be accomplished in +a day, all that can be comprest into an interval of twelve hours. A day +was worth more to him than a week or a month to others." Many men can be +busy for hours with a mighty small product, but with Mr. Gladstone +every minute was fruitful. That, no doubt, was largely due to his +marvelous powers of concentration. When he was staying at Dalmeny in +1879 he kindly consented to sit for his bust. The only difficulty was +that there was no time for sittings. So the sculptor with his clay model +was placed opposite Mr. Gladstone as he worked, and they spent the +mornings together, Mr. Gladstone writing away, and the clay figure of +himself less than a yard off gradually assuming shape and form. Anything +more distracting I can not conceive, but it had no effect on the busy +patient. And now let me make a short digression. I saw recently in your +newspapers that there was some complaint of the manners of the rising +generation in Glasgow. If that be so, they are heedless of Mr. +Gladstone's example. It might be thought that so impetuous a temper as +his might be occasionally rough or abrupt. That was not so. His +exquisite urbanity was one of his most conspicuous graces. I do not now +only allude to that grave, old-world courtesy, which gave so much +distinction to his private life; for his sweetness of manner went far +beyond demeanor. His spoken words, his letters, even when one differed +from him most acutely, were all marked by this special note. He did not +like people to disagree with him, few people do; but, so far as manner +went, it was more pleasant to disagree with Mr. Gladstone than to be in +agreement with some others. + +Lastly, I come to his courage--that perhaps was his greatest quality, +for when he gave his heart and reason to a cause, he never counted the +cost. Most men are physically brave, and this nation is reputed to be +especially brave, but Mr. Gladstone was brave among the brave. He had +to the end the vitality of physical courage. When well on in his ninth +decade, well on to ninety, he was knocked over by a cab, and before the +bystanders could rally to his assistance, he had pursued the cab with a +view to taking its number. He had, too, notoriously, political courage +in a not less degree than Sir Robert Walpole. We read that George II, +who was little given to enthusiasm, would often cry out, with color +flushing into his cheeks, and tears sometimes in his eyes, and with a +vehement oath:--"He (Walpole) is a brave fellow; he has more spirit than +any man I ever knew." + +Mr. Gladstone did not yield to Walpole in political and parliamentary +courage--it was a quality which he closely observed in others, and on +which he was fond of descanting. But he had the rarest and choicest +courage of all--I mean moral courage. That was his supreme +characteristic, and it was with him, like others, from the first. A +contemporary of his at Eton once told me of a scene, at which my +informant was present, when some loose or indelicate toast was proposed, +and all present drank it but young Gladstone. In spite of the storm of +objurgation and ridicule that raged around him, he jammed his face, as +it were, down in his hands on the table and would not budge. Every +schoolboy knows, for we may here accurately use Macaulay's well-known +expression, every schoolboy knows the courage that this implies. And +even by the heedless generation of boyhood it was appreciated, for we +find an Etonian writing to his parents to ask that he might go to Oxford +rather than Cambridge, on the sole ground that at Oxford he would have +the priceless advantage of Gladstone's influence and example. Nor did +his courage ever flag. He might be right, or he might be wrong--that is +not the question here--but when he was convinced that he was right, not +all the combined powers of Parliament or society or the multitude could +for an instant hinder his course, whether it ended in success or in +failure. Success left him calm, he had had so much of it; nor did +failures greatly depress him. The next morning found him once more +facing the world with serene and undaunted brow. There was a man. The +nation has lost him, but preserves his character, his manhood, as a +model, on which she may form if she be fortunate, coming generations of +men. With his politics, with his theology, with his manifold graces and +gifts of intellect, we are not concerned to-day, not even with his warm +and passionate human sympathies. They are not dead with him, but let +them rest with him, for we can not in one discourse view him in all his +parts. To-day it is enough to have dealt for a moment on three of his +great moral characteristics, enough to have snatched from the fleeting +hour a few moments of communion with the mighty dead. + +History has not yet allotted him his definite place, but no one would +now deny that he bequeathed a pure standard of life, a record of lofty +ambition for the public good as he understood it, a monument of +life-long labor. Such lives speak for themselves, they need no statues, +they face the future with the confidence of high purpose and endeavor. +The statues are not for them but for us, to bid us be conscious of our +trust, mindful of our duty, scornful of opposition to principle and +faith. They summon us to account for time and opportunity, they embody +an inspiring tradition, they are milestones in the life of a nation. The +effigy of Pompey was bathed in the blood of his great rival: let this +statue have the nobler destiny of constantly calling to life worthy +rivals of Gladstone's fame and character. + +Unveil, then, that statue. Let it stand to Glasgow in all time coming +for faith, fortitude, courage, industry, qualities apart from intellect +or power or wealth, which may inspire all her citizens however humble, +however weak; let it remind the most unthinking passer-by of the +dauntless character which it represents, of his long life and honest +purpose; let it leaven by an immortal tradition the population which +lives and works and dies around this monument. + + + + +STUDY OF MODEL SPEECHES + +MODEL SPEECHES, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR STUDY + + +There is no better way for you to improve your own public speaking than +to analyze and study the speeches of successful orators. + +First read such speeches aloud, since by that means you fit words to +your lips and acquire a familiarity with oratorical style. + +Then examine the speaker's method of arranging his thoughts, and the +precise way in which they lead up and contribute to his ultimate object. + +Carefully note any special means employed--story, illustration, appeal, +or climax,--to increase the effectiveness of the speech. + + +_John Stuart Mill_ + +Read the following speech delivered by John Stuart Mill, in his tribute +to Garrison. Note the clear-cut English of the speaker. Observe how +promptly he goes to his subject, and how steadily he keeps to it. +Particularly note the high level of thought maintained throughout. This +is an excellent model of dignified, well-reasoned, convincing speech. + +"Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,--The speakers who have preceded me +have, with an eloquence far beyond anything which I can command, laid +before our honored guest the homage of admiration and gratitude which we +all feel due to his heroic life. Instead of idly expatiating upon things +which have been far better said than I could say them, I would rather +endeavor to recall one or two lessons applicable to ourselves, which +may be drawn from his career. A noble work nobly done always contains in +itself not one but many lessons; and in the case of him whose character +and deeds we are here to commemorate, two may be singled out specially +deserving to be laid to heart by all who would wish to leave the world +better than they found it. + +"The first lesson is,--Aim at something great; aim at things which are +difficult; and there is no great thing which is not difficult. Do not +pare down your undertaking to what you can hope to see successful in the +next few years, or in the years of your own life. Fear not the reproach +of Quixotism or of fanaticism; but after you have well weighed what you +undertake, if you see your way clearly, and are convinced that you are +right, go forward, even tho you, like Mr. Garrison, do it at the risk +of being torn to pieces by the very men through whose changed hearts +your purpose will one day be accomplished. Fight on with all your +strength against whatever odds and with however small a band of +supporters. If you are right, the time will come when that small band +will swell into a multitude; you will at least lay the foundations of +something memorable, and you may, like Mr. Garrison--tho you ought not +to need or expect so great a reward--be spared to see that work +completed which, when you began it, you only hoped it might be given to +you to help forward a few stages on its way. + +"The other lesson which it appears to me important to enforce, amongst +the many that may be drawn from our friend's life, is this: If you aim +at something noble and succeed in it, you will generally find that you +have succeeded not in that alone. A hundred other good and noble things +which you never dreamed of will have been accomplished by the way, and +the more certainly, the sharper and more agonizing has been the struggle +which preceded the victory. The heart and mind of a nation are never +stirred from their foundations without manifold good fruits. In the case +of the great American contest these fruits have been already great, and +are daily becoming greater. The prejudices which beset every form of +society--and of which there was a plentiful crop in America--are rapidly +melting away. The chains of prescription have been broken; it is not +only the slave who has been freed--the mind of America has been +emancipated. The whole intellect of the country has been set thinking +about the fundamental questions of society and government; and the new +problems which have to be solved and the new difficulties which have to +be encountered are calling forth new activity of thought, and that great +nation is saved probably for a long time to come, from the most +formidable danger of a completely settled state of society and +opinion--intellectual and moral stagnation. This, then, is an additional +item of the debt which America and mankind owe to Mr. Garrison and his +noble associates; and it is well calculated to deepen our sense of the +truth which his whole career most strikingly illustrates--that tho our +best directed efforts may often seem wasted and lost, nothing coming of +them that can be pointed to and distinctly identified as a definite gain +to humanity, tho this may happen ninety-nine times in every hundred, the +hundredth time the result may be so great and dazzling that we had +never dared to hope for it, and should have regarded him who had +predicted it to us as sanguine beyond the bounds of mental sanity. So +has it been with Mr. Garrison." + +It will be beneficial for your all-round development in speaking to +choose for earnest study several speeches of widely different character. +As you compare one speech with another, you will more readily see why +each subject requires a different form of treatment, and also learn to +judge how the speaker has availed himself of the possibilities afforded +him. + + +_Judge Story_ + +The speech which follows is a fine example of elevated and impassioned +oratory. Judge Story here lauds the American Republic, and employs to +advantage the rhetorical figures of exclamation and interrogation. + +As you examine this speech you will notice that the speaker himself was +moved by deep conviction. His own belief stamped itself upon his words, +and throughout there is the unmistakable mark of sincerity. + +You are impressed by the comprehensive treatment of the subject. The +orator here speaks out of a full mind, and you feel that you would +confidently trust yourself to his leadership. + +"When we reflect on what has been and what is, how is it possible not to +feel a profound sense of the responsibilities of this Republic to all +future ages? What vast motives press upon us for lofty efforts! What +brilliant prospects invite our enthusiasm! What solemn warnings at once +demand our vigilance and moderate our confidence! The Old World has +already revealed to us, in its unsealed books, the beginning and the +end of all marvelous struggles in the cause of liberty. + +"Greece! lovely Greece! 'the land of scholars and the nurse of arms,' +where sister republics, in fair processions chanted the praise of +liberty and the good, where and what is she? For two thousand years the +oppressors have bound her to the earth. Her arts are no more. The last +sad relics of her temples are but the barracks of a ruthless soldiery; +the fragments of her columns and her palaces are in the dust, yet +beautiful in ruins. + +"She fell not when the mighty were upon her. Her sons united at +Thermopylæ and Marathon; and the tide of her triumph rolled back upon +the Hellespont. She was conquered by her own factions--she fell by the +hands of her own people. The man of Macedonia did not the work of +destruction. It was already done by her own corruptions, banishments, +and dissensions. Rome! whose eagles glanced in the rising and setting +sun, where and what is she! The Eternal City yet remains, proud even in +her desolation, noble in her decline, venerable in the majesty of +religion, and calm as in the composure of death. + +"The malaria has but traveled in the parts won by the destroyers. More +than eighteen centuries have mourned over the loss of the empire. A +mortal disease was upon her before Cæsar had crossed the Rubicon; and +Brutus did not restore her health by the deep probings of the +senate-chamber. The Goths, and Vandals, and Huns, the swarms of the +North, completed only what was begun at home. Romans betrayed Rome. The +legions were bought and sold, but the people offered the tribute-money. + +"And where are the republics of modern times, which cluster around +immortal Italy? Venice and Genoa exist but in name. The Alps, indeed, +look down upon the brave and peaceful Swiss in their native fastnesses; +but the guaranty of their freedom is in their weakness, and not in their +strength. The mountains are not easily crossed, and the valleys are not +easily retained. + +"When the invader comes, he moves like an avalanche, carrying +destruction in his path. The peasantry sink before him. The country, +too, is too poor for plunder, and too rough for a valuable conquest. +Nature presents her eternal barrier on every side, to check the +wantonness of ambition. And Switzerland remains with her simple +institutions, a military road to climates scarcely worth a permanent +possession, and protected by the jealousy of her neighbors. + +"We stand the latest, and if we fall, probably the last experiment of +self-government by the people. We have begun it under circumstances of +the most auspicious nature. We are in the vigor of youth. Our growth has +never been checked by the oppression of tyranny. Our Constitutions never +have been enfeebled by the vice or the luxuries of the world. Such as we +are, we have been from the beginning: simple, hardy, intelligent, +accustomed to self-government and self-respect. + +"The Atlantic rolls between us and a formidable foe. Within our own +territory, stretching through many degrees of latitude, we have the +choice of many products, and many means of independence. The government +is mild. The press is free. Religion is free. Knowledge reaches, or may +reach every home. What fairer prospects of success could be presented? +What means more adequate to accomplish the sublime end? What more is +necessary than for the people to preserve what they themselves have +created? + +"Already has the age caught the spirit of our institutions. It has +already ascended the Andes, and snuffed the breezes of both oceans. It +has infused itself into the life-blood of Europe, and warmed the sunny +plains of France and the lowlands of Holland. It has touched the +philosophy of Germany and the North, and, moving onward to the South, +has opened to Greece the lesson of her better days. + +"Can it be that America under such circumstances should betray herself? +That she is to be added to the catalog of republics, the inscription +upon whose ruin is, 'They were but they are not!' Forbid it, my +countrymen! forbid it, Heaven! I call upon you, fathers, by the shades +of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, +by all you are, and all you hope to be, resist every attempt to fetter +your consciences, or smother your public schools, or extinguish your +system of public instruction. + +"I call upon you, mothers, by that which never fails in woman, the love +of your offspring, to teach them as they climb your knees or lean on +your bosoms, the blessings of liberty. Swear them at the altar, as with +their baptismal vows, to be true to their country, and never forsake +her. I call upon you, young men, to remember whose sons you are--whose +inheritance you possess. Life can never be too short, which brings +nothing but disgrace and oppression. Death never comes too soon, if +necessary, in defense of the liberties of our country." + +You can advantageously read aloud many times a speech like the +foregoing. Stand up and read it aloud once a day for a month, and you +will be conscious of a distinct improvement in your own command of +persuasive speech. + + +_W. J. Fox_ + +The following is a specimen of masterly oratorical style, from a sermon +preached in London, England, by W. J. Fox: + +"From the dawn of intellect and freedom Greece has been a watchword on +the earth. There rose the social spirit to soften and refine her chosen +race, and shelter as in a nest her gentleness from the rushing storm of +barbarism; there liberty first built her mountain throne, first called +the waves her own, and shouted across them a proud defiance to +despotism's banded myriads, there the arts and graces danced around +humanity, and stored man's home with comforts, and strewed his path +with roses, and bound his brows with myrtle, and fashioned for him the +breathing statue, and summoned him to temples of snowy marble, and +charmed his senses with all forms of eloquence, and threw over his final +sleep their veil of loveliness; there sprung poetry, like their own +fabled goddess, mature at once from the teeming intellect, gilt with +arts and armour that defy the assaults of time and subdue the heart of +man; there matchless orators gave the world a model of perfect +eloquence, the soul the instrument on which they played, and every +passion of our nature but a tone which the master's touch called forth +at will; there lived and taught the philosophers of bower and porch, of +pride and pleasure, of deep speculation, and of useful action, who +developed all the acuteness and refinement, and excursiveness, and +energy of mind, and were the glory of their country when their country +was the glory of the earth." + + +_William McKinley_ + +An eloquent speech, worthy of close study, is that of William McKinley +on "The Characteristics of Washington." As you read it aloud, note the +short, clear-cut sentences used in the introduction. Observe how the +long sentence at the third paragraph gives the needed variation. +Carefully study the compact English style, and the use of forceful +expressions of the speaker, as "He blazed the path to liberty." + +"Fellow Citizens:--There is a peculiar and tender sentiment connected +with this memorial. It expresses not only the gratitude and reverence of +the living, but is a testimonial of affection and homage from the dead. + +"The comrades of Washington projected this monument. Their love inspired +it. Their contributions helped to build it. Past and present share in +its completion, and future generations will profit by its lessons. To +participate in the dedication of such a monument is a rare and precious +privilege. Every monument to Washington is a tribute to patriotism. +Every shaft and statue to his memory helps to inculcate love of country, +encourage loyalty, and establish a better citizenship. God bless every +undertaking which revives patriotism and rebukes the indifferent and +lawless! A critical study of Washington's career only enhances our +estimation of his vast and varied abilities. + +"As Commander-in-chief of the Colonial armies from the beginning of the +war to the proclamation of peace, as president of the convention which +framed the Constitution of the United States, and as the first President +of the United States under that Constitution, Washington has a +distinction differing from that of all other illustrious Americans. No +other name bears or can bear such a relation to the Government. Not only +by his military genius--his patience, his sagacity, his courage, and his +skill--was our national independence won, but he helped in largest +measure to draft the chart by which the Nation was guided; and he was +the first chosen of the people to put in motion the new Government. His +was not the boldness of martial display or the charm of captivating +oratory, but his calm and steady judgment won men's support and +commanded their confidence by appealing to their best and noblest +aspirations. And withal Washington was ever so modest that at no time +in his career did his personality seem in the least intrusive. He was +above the temptation of power. He spurned the suggested crown. He would +have no honor which the people did not bestow. + +"An interesting fact--and one which I love to recall--is that the only +time Washington formally addrest the Constitutional Convention during +all its sessions over which he presided in this city, he appealed for a +larger representation of the people in the National House of +Representatives, and his appeal was instantly heeded. Thus was he ever +keenly watchful of the rights of the people in whose hands was the +destiny of our Government then as now. + +"Masterful as were his military campaigns, his civil administration +commands equal admiration. His foresight was marvelous; his conception +of the philosophy of government, his insistence upon the necessity of +education, morality, and enlightened citizenship to the progress and +permanence of the Republic can not be contemplated even at this period +without filling us with astonishment at the breadth of his comprehension +and the sweep of his vision. His was no narrow view of government. The +immediate present was not the sole concern, but our future good his +constant theme of study. He blazed the path of liberty. He laid the +foundation upon which we have grown from weak and scattered Colonial +governments to a united Republic whose domains and power as well as +whose liberty and freedom have become the admiration of the world. +Distance and time have not detracted from the fame and force of his +achievements or diminished the grandeur of his life and work. Great +deeds do not stop in their growth, and those of Washington will expand +in influence in all the centuries to follow. + +"The bequest Washington has made to civilization is rich beyond +computation. The obligations under which he has placed mankind are +sacred and commanding. The responsibility he has left, for the American +people to preserve and perfect what he accomplished, is exacting and +solemn. Let us rejoice in every new evidence that the people realize +what they enjoy, and cherish with affection the illustrious heroes of +Revolutionary story whose valor and sacrifices made us a nation. They +live in us, and their memory will help us keep the covenant entered into +for the maintenance of the freest Government of earth. + +"The nation and the name Washington are inseparable. One is linked +indissolubly with the other. Both are glorious, both triumphant. +Washington lives and will live because of what he did for the exaltation +of man, the enthronement of conscience, and the establishment of a +Government which recognizes all the governed. And so, too, will the +Nation live victorious over all obstacles, adhering to the immortal +principles which Washington taught and Lincoln sustained." + + +_Edward Everett_ + +The following extract from "The Foundation of National Character," by +Edward Everett, is a fine example of patriotic appeal. Read it aloud, +and note how the orator speaks with deep feeling and stirs the same +feeling in you. This impression is largely due to the simple, sincere, +right-onward style of the speaker,--qualities of his own well-known +character. + +It will amply repay you to read this extract aloud at least once a day +for a week or more, so that its superior elements of thought and style +may be deeply imprest on your mind. + +"How is the spirit of a free people to be formed, and animated, and +cheered, but out of the storehouse of its historic recollections? Are we +to be eternally ringing the changes upon Marathon and Thermopylæ; and +going back to read in obscure texts of Greek and Latin, of the exemplars +of patriotic virtue? + +"I thank God that we can find them nearer home, in our own soil; that +strains of the noblest sentiment that ever swelled in the breast of man, +are breathing to us out of every page of our country's history, in the +native eloquence of our mother-tongue,--that the colonial and +provincial councils of America exhibit to us models of the spirits and +character which gave Greece and Rome their name and their praise among +nations. + +"Here we ought to go for our instruction;--the lesson is plain, it is +clear, it is applicable. When we go to ancient history, we are +bewildered with the difference of manners and institutions. We are +willing to pay our tribute of applause to the memory of Leonidas, who +fell nobly for his country in the face of his foe. + +"But when we trace him to his home, we are confounded at the reflection, +that the same Spartan heroism, to which he sacrificed himself at +Thermopylæ, would have led him to tear his own child, if it had happened +to be a sickly babe,--the very object for which all that is kind and +good in man rises up to plead,--from the bosom of his mother, and carry +it out to be eaten by the wolves of Taygetus. + +"We feel a glow of admiration at the heroism displayed at Marathon by +the ten thousand champions of invaded Greece; but we can not forget that +the tenth part of the number were slaves, unchained from the workshops +and doorposts of their masters, to go and fight the battles of freedom. + +"I do not mean that these examples are to destroy the interest with +which we read the history of ancient times; they possibly increase that +interest by the very contrast they exhibit. But they warn us, if we need +the warning, to seek our great practical lessons of patriotism at home; +out of the exploits and sacrifices of which our own country is the +theater; out of the characters of our own fathers. + +"Them we know,--the high-souled, natural, unaffected, the citizen +heroes. We know what happy firesides they left for the cheerless camp. +We know with what pacific habits they dared the perils of the field. +There is no mystery, no romance, no madness, under the name of chivalry +about them. It is all resolute, manly resistance for conscience and +liberty's sake not merely of an overwhelming power, but of all the force +of long-rooted habits and native love of order and peace. + +"Above all, their blood calls to us from the soil which we tread; it +beats in our veins; it cries to us not merely in the thrilling words of +one of the first victims in this cause--'My sons, scorn to be +slaves!'--but it cries with a still more moving eloquence--'My sons, +forget not your fathers!'" + + +_John Quincy Adams_ + +John Quincy Adams, in his speech on "The Life and Character of +Lafayette," gives us a fine example of elevated and serious-minded +utterance. The following extract from this speech can be studied with +profit. Particularly note the use of sustained sentences, and the happy +collocation of words. The concluding paragraph should be closely +examined as a study in impressive climax. + +"Pronounce him one of the first men of his age, and you have yet not +done him justice. Try him by that test to which he sought in vain to +stimulate the vulgar and selfish spirit of Napoleon; class him among the +men who, to compare and seat themselves, must take in the compass of all +ages; turn back your eyes upon the records of time; summon, from the +creation of the world to this day, the mighty dead of every age and +every clime,--and where, among the race of merely mortal men, shall one +be found who, as the benefactor of his kind, shall claim to take +precedence of Lafayette? + +"There have doubtless been in all ages men whose discoveries or +inventions in the world of matter, or of mind, have opened new avenues +to the dominion of man over the material creation; have increased his +means or his faculties of enjoyment; have raised him in nearer +approximation to that higher and happier condition, the object of his +hopes and aspirations in his present state of existence. + +"Lafayette discovered no new principle of politics or of morals. He +invented nothing in science. He disclosed no new phenomenon in the laws +of nature. Born and educated in the highest order of feudal nobility, +under the most absolute monarchy of Europe; in possession of an +affluent fortune, and master of himself and of all his capabilities, at +the moment of attaining manhood the principle of republican justice and +of social equality took possession of his heart and mind, as if by +inspiration from above. + +"He devoted himself, his life, his fortune, his hereditary honors, his +towering ambition, his splendid hopes, all to the cause of Liberty. He +came to another hemisphere to defend her. He became one of the most +effective champions of our independence; but, that once achieved, he +returned to his own country, and thenceforward took no part in the +controversies which have divided us. + +"In the events of our Revolution, and in the forms of policy which we +have adopted for the establishment and perpetuation of our freedom, +Lafayette found the most perfect form of government. He wished to add +nothing to it. He would gladly have abstracted nothing from it. Instead +of the imaginary Republic of Plato, or the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, he +took a practical existing model in actual operation here, and never +attempted or wished more than to apply it faithfully to his own country. + +"It was not given to Moses to enter the promised land; but he saw it +from the summit of Pisgah. It was not given to Lafayette to witness the +consummation of his wishes in the establishment of a Republic and the +extinction of all hereditary rule in France. His principles were in +advance of the age and hemisphere in which he lived.... The prejudices +and passions of the people of France rejected the principle of inherited +power in every station of public trust, excepting the first and highest +of them all; but there they clung to it, as did the Israelites of old +to the savory deities of Egypt. + +"When the principle of hereditary dominion shall be extinguished in all +the institutions of France; when government shall no longer be +considered as property transmissible from sire to son, but as a trust +committed for a limited time, and then to return to the people whence it +came; as a burdensome duty to be discharged, and not as a reward to be +abused;--then will be the time for contemplating the character of +Lafayette, not merely in the events of his life, but in the full +development of his intellectual conceptions, of his fervent aspirations, +of the labors, and perils, and sacrifices of his long and eventful +career upon earth; and thenceforward till the hour when the trumpet of +the Archangel shall sound to announce that time shall be no more, the +name of Lafayette shall stand enrolled upon the annals of our race high +on the list of pure and disinterested benefactors of mankind." + +I have selected these extracts for your convenient use, as embodying +both thought and style worthy of your careful study. Read them aloud at +every opportunity, and you will be gratified at the steady improvement +such practise will make in your own speaking power. + + + + +HISTORY OF PUBLIC SPEAKING + +MEN WHO HAVE MADE HISTORY IN PUBLIC SPEAKING--AND THEIR METHODS + + +The great orators of the world did not regard eloquence as simply an +endowment of nature, but applied themselves diligently to cultivating +their powers of expression. In many cases there was unusual natural +ability, but such men knew that regular study and practise were +essential to success in this coveted art. + +The oration can be traced back to Hebrew literature. In the first +chapter of Deuteronomy we find Moses' speech in the end of the fortieth +year, briefly rehearsing the story of God's promise, and of God's anger +for their incredulity and disobedience. + +The four orations in Deuteronomy, by Moses, are highly commended for +their tenderness, sublimity and passionate appeal. You can +advantageously read them aloud. + +The oration of Pericles over the graves of those who fell in the +Peloponnesian War, is said to have been the first Athenian oration +designed for the public. + +The agitated political times and the people's intense desire for +learning combined to favor the development of oratory in ancient Greece. +Questions of great moment had to be discust and serious problems solved. +As the orator gradually became the most powerful influence in the State, +the art of oratory was more and more recognized as the supreme +accomplishment of the educated man. + + +_Demosthenes_ + +Demosthenes stands preeminent among Greek orators. His well-known +oration "On the Crown," the preparation of which occupied a large part +of seven years, is regarded as the oratorical masterpiece of all +history. + +It is encouraging to the student of public speaking to recall that this +distinguished orator at first had serious natural defects to overcome. +His voice was weak, he stammered in his speech, and was painfully +diffident. These faults were remedied, as is well-known, by earnest +daily practise in declaiming on the sea-shore, with pebbles in the +mouth, walking up and down hill while reciting, and deliberately seeking +occasions for conversing with groups of people. + +The chief lesson for you to draw from Demosthenes is that he was +indefatigable in his study of the art of oratory. He left nothing to +chance. His speeches were characterized by deliberate forethought. He +excelled other men not because of great natural ability but because of +intelligent and continuous industry. He stands for all time as the most +inspiring example of oratorical achievement, despite almost insuperable +difficulties. + + +_Cicero_ + +The fame of Roman oratory rests upon Cicero, whose eloquence was second +only to that of Demosthenes. He was a close student of the art of +speaking. He was so intense and vehement by nature that he was obliged +in his early career to spend two years in Greece, exercising in the +gymnasium in order to restore his shattered constitution. + +His nervous temperament clung to him, however, since he made this +significant confession after long years of practise in public speaking. +"I declare that when I think of the moment when I shall have to rise and +speak in defense of a client, I am not only disturbed in mind, but +tremble in every limb of my body." + +It is well to note here that a nervous temperament may be a help rather +than a hindrance to a speaker. Indeed, it is the highly sensitive nature +that often produces the most persuasive orator, but only when he has +learned to conserve and properly use this valuable power. + +Cicero was a living embodiment of the comprehensive requirements laid +down by the ancients as essential to the orator. He had a knowledge of +logic, ethics, astronomy, philosophy, geometry, music, and rhetoric. +Little wonder, therefore, that his amazing eloquence was described as a +resistless torrent. + + +_Luther_ + +Martin Luther was the dominating orator of the Reformation. He combined +a strong physique with great intellectual power. "If I wish to compose, +or write, or pray, or preach well," said he, "I must be angry. Then all +the blood in my veins is stirred, my understanding is sharpened, and all +dismal thoughts and temptations are dissipated." What the great Reformer +called "anger," we would call indignation or earnestness. + + +_John Knox_ + +John Knox, the Scotch reformer, was a preeminent preacher. His pulpit +style was characterized by a fiery eloquence which stirred his hearers +to great enthusiasm and sometimes to violence. + + +_Bossuet_ + +Bossuet, regarded as the greatest orator France has produced, was a +fearless and inspired speaker. His style was dignified and deliberate, +but as he warmed with his theme his thought took fire and he carried his +hearers along upon a swiftly moving tide of impassioned eloquence. When +he spoke from the text, "Be wise, therefore, O ye Kings! be instructed, +ye judges of the earth!" the King himself was thrilled as with a +religious terror. + +To ripe scholarship Bossuet added a voice that was deep and sonorous, an +imposing personality, and an animated style of gesture. Lamartine +described his voice as "like that of the thunder in the clouds, or the +organ in the cathedral." + + +_Bourdaloue_ + +Louis Bourdaloue, styled "the preacher of Kings, and the King of +preachers," was a speaker of versatile powers. He could adapt his style +to any audience, and "mechanics left their shops, merchants their +business, and lawyers their court house" in order to hear him. His high +personal character, simplicity of life, and clear and logical utterance +combined to make him an accomplished orator. + + +_Massillon_ + +Massillon preached directly to the hearts of his hearers. He was of a +deeply affectionate nature, hence his style was that of tender +persuasiveness rather than of declamation. He had remarkable spiritual +insight and knowledge of the human heart, and was himself deeply moved +by the truths which he proclaimed to other men. + + +_Lord Chatham_ + +Lord Chatham's oratorical style was formed on the classic model. His +intellect, at once comprehensive and vigorous, combined with deep and +intense feeling, fitted him to become one of the highest types of +orators. He was dignified and graceful, sometimes vehement, always +commanding. He ruled the British parliament by sheer force of eloquence. + +His voice was a wonderful instrument, so completely under control that +his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, and his full tones completely +filled the House. He had supreme self-confidence, and a sense of +superiority over those around him which acted as an inspiration to his +own mind. + + +_Burke_ + +Burke was a great master of English prose as well as a great orator. He +took large means to deal with large subjects. He was a man of immense +power, and his stride was the stride of a giant. He has been credited +with passion, intensity, imagination, nobility, and amplitude. His style +was sonorous and majestic. + + +_Sheridan_ + +Sheridan became a foremost parliamentary speaker and debater, despite +early discouragements. His well-known answer to a friend, who adversely +criticized his speaking, "It is in me, and it shall come out of me!" has +for years given new encouragement to many a student of public speaking. +He applied himself with untiring industry to the development of all his +powers, and so became one of the most distinguished speakers of his +day. + + +_Charles James Fox_ + +Charles James Fox was a plain, practical, forceful orator of the +thoroughly English type. His qualities of sincerity, vehemence, +simplicity, ruggedness, directness and dexterity, combined with a manly +fearlessness, made him a formidable antagonist in any debate. Facts, +analogies, illustrations, intermingled with wit, feeling, and ridicule, +gave charm and versatility to his speaking unsurpassed in his time. + + +_Lord Brougham_ + +Lord Brougham excelled in cogent, effective argument. His impassioned +reasoning often made ordinary things interesting. He ingratiated himself +by his wise and generous sentiments, and his uncompromising solicitude +for his country. + +He always succeeded in getting through his protracted and parenthetical +sentences without confusion to his hearers or to himself. He could see +from the beginning of a sentence precisely what the end would be. + + +_John Quincy Adams_ + +John Quincy Adams won a high place as a debater and orator in his speech +in Congress upon the right of petition, delivered in 1837. A formidable +antagonist, pugnacious by temperament, uniformly dignified, a profound +scholar,--his is "a name recorded on the brightest page of American +history, as statesman, diplomatist, philosopher, orator, author, and, +above all a Christian." + + +_Patrick Henry_ + +Patrick Henry was a man of extraordinary eloquence. In his day he was +regarded as the greatest orator in America. In his early efforts as a +speaker he hesitated much and throughout his career often gave an +impression of natural timidity. He has been favorably compared with Lord +Chatham for fire, force, and personal energy. His power was largely due +to a rare gift of lucid and concise statement. + + +_Henry Clay_ + +The eloquence of Henry Clay was magisterial, persuasive, and +irresistible. So great was his personal magnetism that multitudes came +great distances to hear him. He was a man of brilliant intellect, +fertile fancy, chivalrous nature, and patriotic fervor. He had a clear, +rotund, melodious voice, under complete command. He held, it is said, +the keys to the hearts of his countrymen. + + +_Calhoun_ + +The eloquence of John Caldwell Calhoun has been described by Daniel +Webster as "plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise; sometimes +impassioned, still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking +far for illustrations, his power consisted in the plainness of his +propositions, in the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and +energy of his manner." + +He exerted unusual influence over the opinions of great masses of men. +He had remarkable power of analysis and logical skill. Originality, +self-reliance, impatience, aggressiveness, persistence, sincerity, +honesty, ardor,--these were some of the personal qualities which gave +him dominating influence over his generation. + + +_Daniel Webster_ + +Daniel Webster was a massive orator. He combined logical and +argumentative skill with a personality of extraordinary power and +attractiveness. He had a supreme scorn for tricks of oratory, and a +horror of epithets and personalities. His best known speeches are those +delivered on the anniversary at Plymouth, the laying of the corner-stone +of Bunker Hill monument, and the deaths of Jefferson and Adams. + + +_Edward Everett_ + +Edward Everett was a man of scholastic tastes and habits. His speaking +style was remarkable for its literary finish and polished precision. His +sense of fitness saved him from serious faults of speech or manner. He +blended many graces in one, and his speeches are worthy of study as +models of oratorical style. + + +_Rufus Choate_ + +Rufus Choate was a brilliant and persuasive extempore speaker. He +possest in high degree faculties essential to great oratory--a capacious +mind, retentive memory, logical acumen, vivid imagination, deep +concentration, and wealth of language. He had an extraordinary personal +fascination, largely due to his broad sympathy and geniality. + + +_Charles Sumner_ + +Charles Sumner was a gifted orator. His delivery was highly impressive, +due fundamentally to his innate integrity and elevated personal +character. He was a wide reader and profound student. His style was +energetic, logical, and versatile. His intense patriotism and +argumentative power, won large favor with his hearers. + + +_William E. Channing_ + +William Ellery Channing was a preacher of unusual eloquence and +intellectual power. He was small in stature, but of surpassing grace. +His voice was soft and musical, and wonderfully responsive to every +change of emotion that arose in his mind. His eloquence was not forceful +nor forensic, but gentle and persuasive. + +His monument bears this high tribute: "In memory of William Ellery +Channing, honored throughout Christendom for his eloquence and courage +in maintaining and advancing the great cause of truth, religion, and +human freedom." + + +_Wendell Phillips_ + +Wendell Phillips was one of the most graceful and polished orators. To +his conversational style he added an exceptional vocabulary, a clear and +flexible voice, and a most fascinating personality. + +He produced his greatest effects by the simplest means. He combined +humor, pathos, sarcasm and invective with rare skill, yet his style was +so simple that a child could have understood him. + + +_George William Curtis_ + +George William Curtis has been described in his private capacity as +natural, gentle, manly, refined, simple, and unpretending. He was the +last of the great school of Everett, Sumner, and Phillips. + +His art of speaking had an enduring charm, and he completely satisfied +the taste for pure and dignified speech. His voice was of silvery +clearness, which carried to the furthermost part of the largest hall. + + +_Gladstone_ + +Gladstone was an orator of preeminent power. In fertility of thought, +spontaneity of expression, modulation of voice, and grace of gesture, he +has had few equals. He always spoke from a deep sense of duty. When he +began a sentence you could not always foresee how he would end it, but +he always succeeded. He had an extraordinary wealth of words and command +of the English language. + +Gladstone has been described as having eagerness, self-control, mastery +of words, gentle persuasiveness, prodigious activity, capacity for work, +extreme seriousness, range of experience, constructive power, mastery of +detail, and deep concentration. "So vast and so well ordered was the +arsenal of his mind, that he could both instruct and persuade, stimulate +his friends and demolish his opponents, and do all these things at an +hour's notice." + +He was essentially a devout man, and unquestionably his spiritual +character was the fundamental secret of his transcendent power. A keen +observer thus describes him: + +"While this great and famous figure was in the House of Commons, the +House had eyes for no other person. His movements on the bench, restless +and eager, his demeanor when on his legs, whether engaged in answering a +simple question, expounding an intricate Bill, or thundering in vehement +declamation, his dramatic gestures, his deep and rolling voice with its +wide compass and marked northern accent, his flashing eye, his almost +incredible command of ideas and words, made a combination of +irresistible fascination and power." + + +_John Bright_ + +John Bright won a foremost place among British orators largely because +of his power of clear statement and vivid description. His manner was at +once ingratiating and commanding. + +His way of putting things was so lucid and convincing that it was +difficult to express the same ideas in any other words with equal force. +One of the secrets of his success, it is said, was his command of +colloquial simile, apposite stories, and ready wit. + +Mr. Bright always had himself well in hand, yet his style at times was +volcanic in its force and impetuosity. He would shut himself up for days +preparatory to delivering a great speech, and tho he committed many +passages to memory, his manner in speaking was entirely free from +artifice. + + +_Lincoln_ + +Lincoln's power as a speaker was due to a combination of rugged gifts. +Self-reliance, sympathy, honesty, penetration, broad-mindedness, +modesty, and independence,--these were keynotes to his great character. + +The Gettysburg speech of less than 300 words is regarded as the greatest +short speech in history. + +Lincoln's aim was always to say the most sensible thing in the clearest +terms, and in the fewest possible words. His supreme respect for his +hearers won their like respect for him. + +There is a valuable suggestion for the student of public speaking in +this description of Lincoln's boyhood: "Abe read diligently. He read +every book he could lay his hands on, and when he came across a passage +that struck him, he would write it down on boards if he had no paper, +and keep it there until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look +at it, repeat it. He had a copy book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he +put down all things, and thus preserved them." + + +_Daniel O'Connell_ + +Daniel O'Connell was one of the most popular orators of his day. He had +a deep, sonorous, flexible voice, which he used to great advantage. He +had a wonderful gift of touching the human heart, now melting his +hearers by his pathos, then convulsing them with his quaint humor. He +was attractive in manner, generous in feeling, spontaneous in +expression, and free from rhetorical trickery. + +As you read this brief sketch of some of the world's great orators, it +should be inspiring to you as a student of public speaking to know +something of their trials, difficulties, methods and triumphs. They have +left great examples to be emulated, and to read about them and to study +their methods is to follow somewhat in their footsteps. + +Great speeches, like great pictures, are inspired by great subjects and +great occasions. When a speaker is moved to vindicate the national +honor, to speak in defense of human rights, or in some other great +cause, his thought and expression assume new and wonderful power. All +the resources of his mind--will, imagination, memory, and emotion,--are +stimulated into unusual activity. His theme takes complete possession of +him and he carries conviction to his hearers by the force, sincerity, +and earnestness of his delivery. It is to this exalted type of oratory I +would have you aspire. + + + + +EXTRACTS FOR STUDY, WITH LESSON TALK + +EXAMPLES OF ORATORY AND HOW TO STUDY THEM + + +It will be beneficial to you in this connection to study examples of +speeches by the world's great orators. I furnish you here with a few +short specimens which will serve this purpose. Carefully note the +suggestions and the numbered extract to which they refer. + +1. Practise this example for climax. As you read it aloud, gradually +increase the intensity of your voice but do not unduly elevate the key. + +2. Study this particularly for its suggestive value to you as a public +speaker. + +3. Practise this for fervent appeal. Articulate distinctly. Pause after +each question. Do not rant or declaim, but speak it. + +4. Study this for its sustained sentences and dignity of style. + +5. Analyze this for its strength of thought and diction. Note the +effective repetition of "I care not." Commit the passage to memory. + +6. Read this for elevated and patriotic feeling. Render it aloud in +deliberate and thoughtful style. + +7. Particularly observe the judicial clearness of this example. Note the +felicitous use of language. + +8. Read this aloud for oratorical style. Fit the words to your lips. +Engrave the passage on your mind by frequent repetition. + +9. Study this passage for its profound and prophetic thought. Render it +aloud in slow and dignified style. + +10. Practise this for its sustained power. The words "let him" should be +intensified at each repetition, and the phrase "and show me the man" +brought out prominently. + +11. Study this for its beauty and variety of language. Meditate upon it +as a model of what a speaker should be. + +12. Note the strength in the repeated phrase "I will never say." Observe +the power, nobility and courage manifest throughout. The closing +sentence should be read in a deeply earnest tone and at a gradually +slower rate. + +13. Read this for its purity and strength of style. Note the effective +use of question and answer. + +14. Study this passage for its common sense and exalted thought. Note +how each sentence is rounded out into fulness, until it is imprest upon +your memory. + + +Extracts for Study + +SPECIMENS OF ELOQUENCE + +_A Study in Climax_ + + +1. My lords, these are the securities which we have in all the +constituent parts of the body of this House. We know them, we reckon +them, rest upon them, and commit safely the interests of India and of +humanity into your hands. Therefore it is with confidence that, ordered +by the Commons, + +I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great Britain in +Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust he has betrayed. + +I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great Britain, whose +national character he has dishonored. + +I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose laws, rights, +and liberties he has subverted, whose properties he has destroyed, +whose country he has laid waste and desolate. + +I impeach him in the name and by virtue of those eternal laws of justice +which he has violated. + +I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly +outraged, injured, and opprest in both sexes, in every age, rank, +situation, and condition of life.--_Impeachment of Warren Hastings:_ +EDMUND BURKE. + + +_Suggestions to the Public Speaker_ + +2. I am now requiring not merely great preparation while the speaker is +learning his art but after he has accomplished his education. The most +splendid effort of the most mature orator will be always finer for being +previously elaborated with much care. There is, no doubt, a charm in +extemporaneous elocution, derived from the appearance of artless, +unpremeditated effusion, called forth by the occasion, and so adapting +itself to its exigencies, which may compensate the manifold defects +incident to this kind of composition: that which is inspired by the +unforeseen circumstances of the moment, will be of necessity suited to +those circumstances in the choice of the topics, and pitched in the tone +of the execution, to the feelings upon which it is to operate. These are +great virtues: it is another to avoid the besetting vice of modern +oratory--the overdoing everything--the exhaustive method--which an +off-hand speaker has no time to fall into, and he accordingly will take +only the grand and effective view; nevertheless, in oratorical merit, +such effusions must needs be very inferior; much of the pleasure they +produce depends upon the hearer's surprize that in such circumstances +anything can be delivered at all, rather than upon his deliberate +judgment, that he has heard anything very excellent in itself. We may +rest assured that the highest reaches of the art, and without any +necessary sacrifice of natural effect, can only be attained by him who +well considers, and maturely prepares, and oftentimes sedulously +corrects and refines his oration. Such preparation is quite consistent +with the introduction of passages prompted by the occasion, nor will the +transition from one to the other be perceptible in the execution of the +practised master.--_Inaugural Discourse:_ LORD BROUGHAM. + + +_A Study in Fervent Appeal_ + +3. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, +peace, peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next +gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of +resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we +here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life +so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and +slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may +take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!--_The War +Inevitable:_ PATRICK HENRY. + + +_A Study in Dignity and Style_ + +4. In retiring as I am about to do, forever, from the Senate, suffer me +to express my heartfelt wishes that all the great and patriotic objects +of the wise framers of our Constitution may be fulfilled; that the high +destiny designed for it may be fully answered; and that its +deliberations, now and hereafter, may eventuate in securing the +prosperity of our beloved country, in maintaining its rights and honor +abroad, and upholding its interests at home. I retire, I know, at a +period of infinite distress and embarrassment. I wish I could take my +leave of you under more favorable auspices; but without meaning at this +time to say whether on any or on whom reproaches for the sad condition +of the country should fall, I appeal to the Senate and to the world to +bear testimony to my earnest and continued exertions to avert it, and to +the truth that no blame can justly attach to me.--_Farewell Address:_ +HENRY CLAY. + + +_A Study in Strength and Diction_ + +5. For myself, I believe there is no limit fit to be assigned to it by +the human mind, because I find at work everywhere, on both sides of the +Atlantic, under various forms and degrees of restriction on the one +hand, and under various degrees of motive and stimulus on the other, in +these branches of the common race, the great principle of the freedom of +human thought, and the respectability of individual character. I find +everywhere an elevation of the character of man as man, an elevation of +the individual as a component part of society. I find everywhere a +rebuke of the idea that the many are made for the few, or that +government is anything but an agency for mankind. And I care not beneath +what zone, frozen, temperate, or torrid; I care not of what complexion, +white, or brown; I care not under what circumstances of climate or +cultivation--if I can find a race of men on an inhabited spot of earth +whose general sentiment it is, and whose general feeling it is, that +government is made for man--man, as a religious, moral, and social +being--and not man for government, there I know that I shall find +prosperity and happiness.--_The Landing at Plymouth:_ DANIEL WEBSTER. + + +_A Study in Patriotic Feeling_ + +6. Friends, fellow citizens, free, prosperous, happy Americans! The men +who did so much to make you are no more. The men who gave nothing to +pleasure in youth, nothing to repose in age, but all to that country +whose beloved name filled their hearts, as it does ours, with joy, can +now do no more for us; nor we for them. But their memory remains, we +will cherish it; their bright example remains, we will strive to imitate +it; the fruit of their wise counsels and noble acts remains, we will +gratefully enjoy it. + +They have gone to the companions of their cares, of their dangers, and +their toils. It is well with them. The treasures of America are now in +heaven. How long the list of our good, and wise, and brave, assembled +there! How few remain with us! There is our Washington; and those who +followed him in their country's confidence are now met together with him +and all that illustrious company.--_Adams and Jefferson:_ EDWARD EVERETT. + + +_A Study in Clearness of Expression_ + +7. I can not leave this life and character without selecting and +dwelling a moment on one or two of his traits, or virtues, or +felicities, a little longer. There is a collective impression made by +the whole of an eminent person's life, beyond, and other than, and apart +from, that which the mere general biographer would afford the means of +explaining. There is an influence of a great man derived from things +indescribable, almost, or incapable of enumeration, or singly +insufficient to account for it, but through which his spirit transpires, +and his individuality goes forth on the contemporary generation. And +thus, I should say, one grand tendency of his life and character was to +elevate the whole tone of the public mind. He did this, indeed, not +merely by example. He did it by dealing, as he thought, truly and in +manly fashion with that public mind. He evinced his love of the people +not so much by honeyed phrases as by good counsels and useful service, +_vera pro gratis_. He showed how he appreciated them by submitting sound +arguments to their understandings, and right motives to their free will. +He came before them, less with flattery than with instruction; less with +a vocabulary larded with the words humanity and philanthropy, and +progress and brotherhood, than with a scheme of politics, an +educational, social and governmental system, which would have made them +prosperous, happy and great.--_On the Death of Daniel Webster:_ +RUFUS CHOATE. + + +_A Study of Oratorical Style_ + +8. And yet this small people--so obscure and outcast in condition--so +slender in numbers and in means--so entirely unknown to the proud and +great--so absolutely without name in contemporary records--whose +departure from the Old World took little more than the breath of their +bodies--are now illustrious beyond the lot of men; and the Mayflower is +immortal beyond the Grecian Argo or the stately ship of any victorious +admiral. Tho this was little foreseen in their day, it is plain now how +it has come to pass. The highest greatness surviving time and storm is +that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, +generals and admirals, with the pomp of courts and the circumstance of +war, in the gradual lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers +of truth, the poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates +human nature and teaches the rights of man, so that government of the +people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the +earth, such harbingers can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads +coextensive with the cause they served.--_The Qualities that Win:_ +CHARLES SUMNER. + + +_A Study in Profound Thinking_ + +9. There is something greater in the age than its greatest men; it is +the appearance of a new power in the world, the appearance of the +multitude of men on the stage where as yet the few have acted their +parts alone. This influence is to endure to the end of time. What more +of the present is to survive? Perhaps much of which we now fail to note. +The glory of an age is often hidden from itself. Perhaps some word has +been spoken in our day which we have not designed to hear, but which is +to grow clearer and louder through all ages. Perhaps some silent thinker +among us is at work in his closet whose name is to fill the earth. +Perhaps there sleeps in his cradle some reformer who is to move the +church and the world, who is to open a new era in history, who is to +fire the human soul with new hope and new daring. What else is to +survive the age? That which the age has little thought of, but which is +living in us all; I mean the soul, the immortal spirit. Of this all ages +are the unfoldings, and it is greater than all. We must not feel, in +the contemplation of the vast movements in our own and former times, as +if we ourselves were nothing. I repeat it, we are greater than all. We +are to survive our age, to comprehend it, and to pronounce its +sentence.--_The Present Age:_ W. E. CHANNING. + + +_A Study of Sustained Power_ + +10. Now, blue-eyed Saxon, proud of your race, go back with me to the +commencement of the century, and select what statesman you please. Let +him be either American or European; let him have a brain the result of +six generations of culture; let him have the ripest training of +university routine; let him add to it the better education of practical +life; crown his temples with the silver locks of seventy years, and show +me the man of Saxon lineage for whom his most sanguine admirer will +wreathe a laurel, rich as embittered foes have placed on the brow of +this negro,--rare military skill, profound knowledge of human nature, +content to blot out all party distinctions, and trust a state to the +blood of its sons,--anticipating Sir Robert Peel fifty years, and taking +his station by the side of Roger Williams, before any Englishman or +American had won the right; and yet this is the record which the history +of rival states makes up for this inspired black of St. +Domingo.--_Toussaint L'Ouverture:_ WENDELL PHILLIPS. + + +_Study in Beauty of Language_ + +11. He faced his audience with a tranquil mien and a beaming aspect that +was never dimmed. He spoke, and in the measured cadence of his quiet +voice there was intense feeling, but no declamation, no passionate +appeal, no superficial and feigned emotion. It was simple colloquy--a +gentleman conversing. Unconsciously and surely the ear and heart were +charmed. How was it done?--Ah! how did Mozart do it, how Raffael? + +The secret of the rose's sweetness, of the bird's ecstacy, of the +sunset's glory--that is the secret of genius and of eloquence. What was +heard, what was seen, was the form of noble manhood, the courteous and +self-possest tone, the flow of modulated speech, sparkling with +matchless richness of illustration, with apt allusion and happy anecdote +and historic parallel, with wit and pitiless invective, with melodious +pathos, with stinging satire, with crackling epigram and limpid humor, +like the bright ripples that play around the sure and steady prow of the +resistless ship. Like an illuminated vase of odors, he glowed with +concentrated and perfumed fire. The divine energy of his conviction +utterly possest him, and his + + "Pure and eloquent blood + Spoke in his cheek, and so distinctly wrought, + That one might almost say his body thought." + +Was it Pericles swaying the Athenian multitude? Was it Apollo breathing +the music of the morning from his lips?--No, no! It was an American +patriot, a modern son of liberty, with a soul as firm and as true as was +ever consecrated to unselfish duty, pleading with the American +conscience for the chained and speechless victims of American +inhumanity.--_Eulogy of Wendell Phillips:_ GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. + + +_A Study in Powerful Delivery_ + +12. I thank you very cordially, both friends and opponents, if opponents +you be, for the extreme kindness with which you have heard me. I have +spoken, and I must speak in very strong terms of the acts done by my +opponents. I will never say that they did it from passion; I will never +say that they did it from a sordid love of office; I have no right to +use such words; I have no right to entertain such sentiments; I +repudiate and abjure them; I give them credit for patriotic motives--I +give them credit for those patriotic motives which are incessantly and +gratuitously denied to us. I believe we are all united in a fond +attachment to the great country to which we belong; to the great empire +which has committed to it a trust and function from Providence, as +special and remarkable as was ever entrusted to any portion of the +family of man. When I speak of that trust and that function I feel that +words fail. I can not tell you what I think of the nobleness of the +inheritance which has descended upon us, of the sacredness of the duty +of maintaining it. I will not condescend to make it a part of +controversial politics. It is a part of my being, of my flesh and blood, +of my heart and soul. For those ends I have labored through my youth and +manhood, and, more than that, till my hairs are gray. In that faith and +practise I have lived, and in that faith and practise I shall +die.--_Midlothian Speech:_ WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. + + +_A Study in Purity of Style_ + +13. Is this a reality? or is your Christianity a romance? is your +profession a dream? No, I am sure that your Christianity is not a +romance, and I am equally sure that your profession is not a dream. It +is because I believe this that I appeal to you with confidence, and that +I have hope and faith in the future. I believe that we shall see, and at +no very distant time, sound economic principles spreading much more +widely among the people; a sense of justice growing up in a soil which +hitherto has been deemed unfruitful; and, which will be better than +all--the churches of the United Kingdom--the churches of Britain +awaking, as it were, from their slumbers, and girding up their loins to +more glorious work, when they shall not only accept and believe in the +prophecy, but labor earnestly for its fulfilment, that there shall come +a time--a blessed time--a time which shall last forever--when "nation +shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any +more."--_Peace:_ JOHN BRIGHT. + + +_A Study in Common Sense and Exalted Thought_ + +14. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole +subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an +object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never +take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no +good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied +still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, +the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will +have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were +admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in this +dispute there is still no single good reason for precipitate action. +Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who +has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust +in the best way all our present difficulty. In your hands, my +dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, are the momentous +issues of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no +conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath +registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the +most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it.--_The First +Inaugural Address:_ ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + + + + +HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC[1] + +BY GRENVILLE KLEISER + +[Footnote 1: A talk given before The Public Speaking Club of America.] + +The art of public speaking is so simple that it is difficult. There is +an erroneous impression that in order to make a successful speech a man +must have unusual natural talent in addition to long and arduous study. + +Consequently, many a person, when asked to make a speech, is immediately +subjected to a feeling of fear or depression. Once committed to the +undertaking, he spends anxious days and sleepless nights in mental +agony, much as a criminal is said to do just prior to his execution. +When at last he attempts his "maiden effort," he is almost wholly unfit +for his task because of the needless waste of thought and energy +expended in fear. + +Elbert Hubbard once confided to me that when he made deliberate +preparation for an elaborate speech,--which was seldom,--it was +invariably a disappointment. To push a great speech before him for an +hour or more used up most of his vitality. It was like making a speech +while attempting to carry a heavy burden on the back. + + +HOW THE SPEAKER MUST PREPARE HIMSELF + +There is, of course, certain preparation necessary for effective public +speaking. The so-called impromptu speech is largely the product of +previous knowledge and study. What the speaker has read, what he has +seen, what he has heard,--in short, what he actually knows, furnishes +the available material for his use. + +As the public speaker gains in experience, however, he learns to put +aside, at the time of speaking, all conscious thought of rules or +methods. He learns through discipline how to abandon himself to the +subject in hand and to give spontaneous expression to all his powers. + +_Primarily, then, the public speaker should have a well-stored mind._ He +should have mental culture in a broad way; sound judgment, a sense of +proportion, mental alertness, a retentive memory, tact, and common +sense,--these are vital to good speaking. + +_The physical requirements of the public speaker_ comprise good health +and bodily vigor. He must have power of endurance, since there will be +at times arduous demands upon him. It is worthy of note that most of the +world's great orators have been men with great animal vitality. + +The student of public speaking should give careful attention to his +personal appearance, which includes care of the teeth. His clothes, +linen, and the evidence of general care and cleanliness, will play an +important part in the impression he makes upon an audience. + +_Elocutionary training is essential._ Daily drill in deep breathing, +articulation, pronunciation, voice culture, gesture, and expression, are +prerequisites to polished speech. Experienced public speakers of the +best type know the necessity for daily practise. + +_The mental training of the public speaker_, so often neglected, should +be regular and thorough. A reliable memory and a vivid imagination are +his indispensable allies. + +_The moral side of the public speaker_ will include the development of +character, sympathy, self-confidence and kindred qualities. To be a +leader of other men, a speaker must have clear, settled, vigorous views +upon the subject under consideration. + +So much, briefly, as to the previous preparation of the speaker. + + +HOW THE SPEAKER MUST PREPARE HIS SPEECH + +_As to the speech itself, the speaker first chooses a subject._ This +will depend upon the nature of the occasion and the purpose in view. He +proceeds intelligently to gather material on his selected theme, +supplementing the resources of his own mind with information from books, +periodicals, and other sources. + +_The next step is to make a brief_, or outline of his subject. A brief +is composed of three parts, called the introduction, the discussion or +statement of facts, and the conclusion. Principal ideas are placed +under headings and subheadings. + +_The speaker next writes out his speech in full_, using the brief as the +basis of procedure. The discipline of writing out a speech, even tho the +intention is to speak without notes, is of inestimable value. It is one +of the best indications of the speaker's thoroughness and sincerity. + +When the speech has at last been carefully written out, revised, and +approved, should it be committed word for word to memory, or only in +part, or should the speaker read from the manuscript? + + +THE PART MEMORY PLAYS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING + +Here circumstances must govern. _The most approved method is to fix the +thoughts clearly in mind, and to trust to the time of speaking for +exact phraseology._ This method requires, however, that the speaker +rehearse his speech over and over again, changing the form of the words +frequently, so as to acquire facility in the use of language. + +_The great objection to memoriter speaking is that it limits and +handicaps the speaker._ He is like a schoolboy "saying his piece." He is +in constant danger of running off the prescribed track and of having to +begin again at some definite point. + +The most effective speaker to-day is the one who can think clearly and +promptly on his feet, and can speak from his personality rather than +from his memory. Untrammelled by manuscript or effort of memory, he +gives full and spontaneous expression to his powers. On the other hand, +a speech from memory is like a recitation, almost inevitably stilted +and artificial in character. + + +THE STUDY OF WORDS AND IDEAS + +Those who would become highly proficient in public speaking should form +the dictionary habit. It is a profitable and pleasant exercise to study +lists of words and to incorporate them in one's daily conversation. Ten +minutes devoted regularly every day to this study will build the +vocabulary in a rapid manner. + +The study of words is really a study of ideas,--since words are symbols +of ideas,--and while the student is increasing his working vocabulary, +in the way indicated, he is at the same time furnishing his mind with +new and useful ideas. + +_One of the best exercises for the student of public speaking is to read +aloud daily, taking care to read as he would speak._ He should choose +one of the standard writers, such as Stevenson, Ruskin, Newman, or +Carlyle, and while reading severely criticize his delivery. Such reading +should be done standing up and as if addressing an audience. This simple +exercise will, in the course of a few weeks, yield the most gratifying +results. + +It is true that "All art must be preceded by a certain mechanical +expertness," but as the highest art is to conceal art, a student must +learn eventually to abandon thought of "exercises" and "rules." + + +ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF THE PUBLIC SPEAKER + +The three greatest qualities in a successful public speaker are +simplicity, directness, and deliberateness. + +Lincoln had these qualities in preeminent degree. His speech at +Gettysburg--the model short speech of all history--occupied about three +minutes in delivery. Edward Everett well said afterward that he would +have been content to make the same impression in three hours which +Lincoln made in that many minutes. + +The great public speakers in all times have been earnest and diligent +students. We are familiar with the indefatigable efforts of Demosthenes, +who rose from very ordinary circumstances, and goaded by the realization +of great natural defects, through assiduous self-training eventually +made the greatest of the world's orations, "The Speech on the Crown." + +Cicero was a painstaking disciple of the speaker's art and gave himself +much to the discipline of the pen. His masterly work on oratory in which +he commends others to write much, remains unsurpassed to this day. + +John Bright, the eminent British orator, always required time for +preparation. He read every morning from the Bible, from which he drew +rich material for argument and illustration. A remarkable thing about +him was that he spoke seldom. + +Phillips Brooks was an ideal speaker, combining simplicity and sympathy +in large degree. He was a splendid type of pulpit orator produced by +broad spiritual culture. + +Henry Ward Beecher had unique powers as a dramatic and eloquent speaker. +In his youth he hesitated in his speech, which led him to study +elocution. He himself tells of how he went to the woods daily to +practise vocal exercises. + +He was an exponent of thorough preparation, never speaking upon a +subject until he had made it his own by diligent study. Like Phillips +Brooks, he was a man of large sympathy and imagination--two faculties +indispensable to persuasive eloquence. + +It was his oratory that first brought fame to Gladstone. He had a superb +voice, and he possest that fighting force essential to a great public +debater. When he quitted the House of Commons in his eighty-fifth year +his powers of eloquence were practically unimpaired. + +Wendell Phillips was distinguished for his personality, conversational +style, and thrilling voice. He had a wonderful vocabulary, and a +personal magnetism which won men instantly to him. It is said that he +relied principally upon the power of truth to make his speaking +eloquent. He, too, was an untiring student of the speaker's art. + +As we examine the lives and records of eminent speakers of other days, +we are imprest with the fact that they were sincere and earnest +students of the art in which they ultimately excelled. + + +LEARNING TO THINK ON YOUR FEET + +One of the best exercises for learning to think and speak on the feet is +to practise daily giving one minute impromptu talks upon chosen +subjects. A good plan is to write subjects of a general character, on +say fifty or more cards, and then to speak on each subject as it is +chosen. + +This simple exercise will rapidly develop facility of thought and +expression and give greatly increased self-confidence. + +It is a good plan to prepare more material than one intends to use--at +least twice as much. It gives a comfortable feeling of security when one +stands before an audience, to know that if some of the prepared matter +evades his memory, he still has ample material at his ready service. + +There is no more interesting and valuable study than that of speaking in +public. It confers distinct advantages by way of improved health, +through special exercise in deep breathing and voice culture; by way of +stimulated thought and expression; and by an increase of self-confidence +and personal power. + +Men and women in constantly increasing numbers are realizing the +importance of public speaking, and as questions multiply for debate and +solution the need for this training will be still more widely +appreciated, so that a practical knowledge of public speaking will in +time be considered indispensable to a well-rounded education. + + +Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk + +THE STYLE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT + +The speeches of Mr. Roosevelt commend themselves to the student of +public speaking for their fearlessness, frankness, and robustness of +thought. His aim was deliberate and effective. + +His style was generally exuberant, and the note of personal assertion +prominent. He was direct in diction, often vehement in feeling, and one +of his characteristics was a visible satisfaction when he drove home a +special thought to his hearers. + +It is hoped that the extract reprinted here, from Mr. Roosevelt's famous +address, "The Strenuous Life," will lead the student to study the speech +in its entirety. The speech will be found in "Essays and Addresses," +published by The Century Company. + + +THE STRENUOUS LIFE[2] + +BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT + +[Footnote 2: Extract from speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, +April 10, 1899. From the "Strenuous Life. Essays and Addresses" by +Theodore Roosevelt. The Century Co., 1900.] + + +In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the +State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently +and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American +character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the +doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor +and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to +the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink +from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these +wins the splendid ultimate triumph. + +A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from +lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as +little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what +every self-respecting American demands from himself and his sons shall +be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you would teach +the boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in +their eyes--to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? You men of +Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your +share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you +neither preach nor practise such a doctrine. You work, yourselves, and +you bring up your sons to work. If you are rich and are worth your salt +you will teach your sons that tho they may have leisure, it is not to be +spent in idleness; for wisely used leisure merely means that those who +possess it, being free from the necessity of working for their +livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of +non-remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in +historical research--work of the type we most need in this country, the +successful carrying out of which reflects most honor upon the nation. We +do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies +victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt +to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in +the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse +never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by +effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has +been stored up effort in the past. A man can be freed from the necessity +of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked +to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright and the +man still does actual work tho of a different kind, whether as a writer +or a general, whether in the field of politics or in the field of +exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good fortune. But if +he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a +period, not of preparation, but of more enjoyment, he shows that he is +simply a cumberer on the earth's surface, and he surely unfits himself +to hold his own with his fellows if the need to do so should again +arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, +and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow +it for serious work in the world. + +In the last analysis a healthy State can exist only when the men and +women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the +children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk +difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to +wrest triumph from toil and risk. The man must be glad to do a man's +work, to dare and endure and to labor; to keep himself, and to keep +those dependent upon him. The woman must be the housewife, the helpmeet +of the homemaker, the wise and fearless mother of many healthy children. +In one of Daudet's powerful and melancholy books he speaks of "the fear +of maternity, the haunting terror of the young wife of the present day." +When such words can be truthfully written of a nation, that nation is +rotten to the heart's core. When men fear work or fear righteous war, +when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well +it is that they should vanish from the earth, where they are fit +subjects for the scorn of all men and women who are themselves strong +and brave and high-minded. + +As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base +untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice +happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to +dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even tho checkered by +failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy +much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows +not victory nor defeat. If in 1861 the men who loved the Union had +believed that peace was the end of all things, and war and strife the +worst of all things, and had acted up to their belief, we would have +saved hundreds of lives, we would have saved hundreds of millions of +dollars. Moreover, besides saving all the blood and treasure we then +lavished, we would have prevented the heartbreak of many women, the +dissolution of many homes, and we would have spared the country those +months of gloom and shame when it seemed as if our armies marched only +to defeat. We could have avoided all this suffering simply by shrinking +from strife. And if we had thus avoided it, we would have shown that we +were weaklings, and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations +of the earth. Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers, the +men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln, and bore sword or rifle in the +armies of Grant! Let us, the children of the men who proved themselves +equal to the mighty days, let us the children of the men who carried the +great Civil War to a triumphant conclusion, praise the God of our +fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were rejected; that the +suffering and loss, the blackness of sorrow and despair were +unflinchingly faced, and the years of strife endured; for in the end the +slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic +placed once more as a helmeted queen among nations.... + +The Army and Navy are the sword and shield which this nation must carry +if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth--if she is not +to stand merely as the China of the western hemisphere. Our proper +conduct toward the tropic islands we have wrested from Spain is merely +the form which our duty has taken at the moment. Of course, we are bound +to handle the affairs of our own household well. We must see that there +is civic good sense in our home administration of city, State and +nation. We must strive for honesty in office, for honesty toward the +creditors of the nation and of the individual, for the widest freedom of +individual initiative where possible, and for the wisest control of +individual initiative where it is hostile to the welfare of the many. +But because we set our own household in order we are not thereby excused +from playing our part in the great affairs of the world. A man's first +duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his +duty to the State; for if he fails in this second duty, it is under the +penalty of ceasing to be a freeman. In the same way, while a nation's +first duty is within its own borders it is not thereby absolved from +facing its duties in the world as a whole; and if it refuses to do so, +it merely forfeits its right to struggle for a place among the peoples +that shape the destiny of mankind. + + +I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the +life of ease, but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth +century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand +idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if +we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their +lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and +stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the +domination of the world. Let us, therefore, boldly face the life of +strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold +righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, +to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us +shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, +provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only +through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall +ultimately win the goal of true national greatness. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS + + * * * * * + +HOW TO Develop Self-Confidence IN SPEECH AND MANNER + +By GRENVILLE KLEISER + +_Author of "How to Argue and Win."_ + + +In all fields of endeavor there are thousands of people who are forced +to remain in the background because they lack self-confidence in speech +and manner--the very fundamental of success. For just such people +Grenville Kleiser has written his book "How to Develop Self-Confidence +in Speech and Manner." + +The work deals with methods of correction for self-consciousness, with +manners as a power in the making of men, with the value of a cultivated +and agreeable voice, with confidence in society and business. A series +of suggestions is given for an every-day cultivation of these qualities. + + "Embodies in a most encouraging and practical way all that is + needed to make one who is naturally timid or fearful in speech and + manner, self-poised, calm, dignified and confident of himself. It + must be said that the method proposed is one of sober self-estimate + and persistent effort along well considered lines of thought and + action, designed to eradicate this uneasiness."--_Times Dispatch_, + Richmond, Va. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.50, Net; by mail, $1.65_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + * * * * * + +_ELSIE JANIS, the wonderful protean actress, says:--"I can not speak in +too high praise of the opening remarks. If carefully read, will greatly +assist. Have several books of choice selections, but I find some in +'Humorous Hits' never before published."_ + + +HUMOROUS HITS + +AND HOW TO HOLD AN AUDIENCE + +By GRENVILLE KLEISER + +_Author of "How to Argue and Win."_ + + +This is a choice, new collection of effective recitations, sketches, +stories, poems, monologues; the favorite numbers of world-famed +humorists such as James Whitcomb Riley, Eugene Field, Mark Twain, Finley +Peter Dunne, W. J. Lampton, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Chas. Batell Loomis, +Wallace Irwin, Richard Mansfield, Bill Nye, S. E. Kiser, Tom Masson, and +others. It is the best book for home entertainment, and the most useful +for teachers, orators, after-dinner speakers, and actors. + +In this book, Mr. Kleiser also gives practical suggestions on how to +deliver humorous or other selections so that they will make the +strongest possible impression on the audience. + +_Cloth 12mo, 316 pages. Price, $1.25, Net; Post-paid, $1.37_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Successful Methods of Public Speaking, by +Grenville Kleiser + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC *** + +***** This file should be named 18095-8.txt or 18095-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/9/18095/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Suzanne Lybarger, Martin Pettit +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Successful Methods of Public Speaking + +Author: Grenville Kleiser + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [EBook #18095] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Suzanne Lybarger, Martin Pettit +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> + +<h1>SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING</h1> +<hr /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="index"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#SUCCESSFUL_METHODS_OF_PUBLIC_SPEAKING"><span class="smcap">Successful Methods of Public Speaking</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#STUDY_OF_MODEL_SPEECHES"><span class="smcap">Study of Model Speeches</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#HISTORY_OF_PUBLIC_SPEAKING"><span class="smcap">History of Public Speaking</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#EXTRACTS_FOR_STUDY_WITH_LESSON_TALK"><span class="smcap">Extracts for Study, with Lesson Talk</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#HOW_TO_SPEAK_IN_PUBLIC1"><span class="smcap">How to Speak in Public</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#ADVERTISEMENTS"><span class="smcap">Advertisements</span></a></li> +</ul> +</div> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<table border='1' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='5' summary='Books by Grenville Kleiser'> + <tr align='center'> + <td><i><b>By Grenville Kleiser</b></i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Inspiration and Ideals<br /> +How to Build Mental Power<br /> +How to Develop Self-Confidence in Speech and Manner<br /> +How to Read and Declaim<br /> +How to Speak in Public<br /> +How to Develop Power and Personality in Speaking<br /> +Great Speeches and How to Make Them<br /> +How to Argue and Win<br /> +Humorous Hits and How to Hold an Audience<br /> +Complete Guide to Public Speaking<br /> +Talks on Talking<br /> +Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases<br /> +The World's Great Sermons<br /> +Mail Course in Public Speaking<br /> +Mail Course in Practical English<br /> +How to Speak Without Notes<br /> +Something to Say: How to Say It<br /> +Successful Methods of Public Speaking<br /> +Model Speeches for Practise<br /> +The Training of a Public Speaker<br /> +How to Sell Through Speech<br /> +Impromptu Speeches: How to Make Them<br /> +Word-Power: How to Develop It<br /> +Christ: The Master Speaker<br /> +Vital English for Speakers and Writers</td> + </tr> + +</table> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h1>Successful Methods of Public Speaking</h1> + +<h2>BY GRENVILLE KLEISER</h2> + +<p class='center'><i>Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity<br /> School, Yale +University. Author of "How to Speak<br /> in Public," "Great Speeches and How +to Make<br /> Them," "Complete Guide to Public Speak-<br />ing," "How to Build Mental +Power,"<br /> "Talks on Talking," etc., etc.</i></p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<p class="center"><a name="logo.png" id="logo.png"></a><img src="images/logo.png" width='150' height='141' alt="Publisher's logo" /></p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</h3> + +<h4>NEW YORK AND LONDON</h4> + +<h4>1919</h4> + +<hr class='smler' /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1920, <span class="smcap">by</span></h4> + +<h4>GRENVILLE KLEISER</h4> + +<h4>[<i>Printed in the United States of America</i>]</h4> + +<h4>Published, February, 1920</h4> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4>Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the +Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910</h4> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p>As you carefully study the successful methods of public speakers, as +briefly set forth in this book, you will observe that there is nothing +that can be substituted for personal sincerity. Unless you thoroughly +believe in the message you wish to convey to others, you are not likely +to impress them favorably.</p> + +<p>It was said of an eminent British orator, that when one heard him speak +in public, one instinctively felt that there was something finer in the +man than in anything he said.</p> + +<p>Therein lies the key to successful oratory. When the truth of your +message is deeply engraved on your own mind; when your own heart has +been touched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> as by a living flame; when your own character and +personality testify to the innate sincerity and nobility of your life, +then your speech will be truly eloquent, and men will respond to your +fervent appeal.</p> + +<p class='right'><span class="smcap">Grenville Kleiser</span>.</p> + +<p>New York City,<br />August, 1919.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SUCCESSFUL_METHODS_OF_PUBLIC_SPEAKING" id="SUCCESSFUL_METHODS_OF_PUBLIC_SPEAKING"></a>SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING</h2> + +<p>You can acquire valuable knowledge for use in your own public speaking +by studying the successful methods of other men. This does not mean, +however, that you are to imitate others, but simply to profit by their +experience and suggestions in so far as they fit in naturally with your +personality.</p> + +<p>All successful speakers do not speak alike. Each man has found certain +things to be effective in his particular case, but which would not +necessarily be suited to a different type of speaker.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, you read the following methods of various men, ask +yourself in each case whether you can apply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> the ideas to advantage in +your own speaking. Put the method to a practical test, and decide for +yourself whether it is advisable for you to adopt it or not.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>Requirements of Effective Speaking</h3> + +<p>There are certain requirements in public speaking which you and every +other speaker must observe. You must be grammatical, intelligent, lucid, +and sincere. These are essential. You must know your subject thoroughly, +and have the ability to put it into pleasing and persuasive form.</p> + +<p>But beyond these considerations there are many things which must be left +to your temperament, taste, and individuality. To compel you to speak +according to inflexible rules would make you not an orator but an +automaton.</p> + +<p>The temperamental differences in successful speakers have been very +great.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> One eminent speaker used practically no gesture; another was in +almost constant action. One was quiet, modest, and conversational in his +speaking style; another was impulsive and resistless as a mountain +torrent.</p> + +<p>It is safe to say that almost any man, however unpretentious his +language, will command a hearing in Congress, Parliament, or elsewhere, +if he gives accurate information upon a subject of importance and in a +manner of unquestioned sincerity.</p> + +<p>You will observe in the historical accounts of great orators, that +without a single exception they studied, read, practised, conversed, and +meditated, not occasionally, but with daily regularity. Many of them +were endowed with natural gifts, but they supplemented these with +indefatigable work.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Well-known Speakers and Their Methods</h3> + +<h4><i>Chalmers</i></h4> + +<p>There is a rugged type of speaker who transcends and seemingly defies +all rules of oratory. Such a man was the great Scottish preacher +Chalmers, who was without polished elocution, grace, or manner, but who +through his intellectual power and moral earnestness thrilled all who +heard him.</p> + +<p>He read his sermons entirely from manuscripts, but it is evident from +the effects of his preaching that he was not a slave to the written word +as many such speakers have been. While he read, he retained much of his +freedom of gesture and physical expression, doubtless due to familiarity +with his subject and thorough preparation of his message.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>John Bright</i></h4> + +<p>You can profitably study the speeches of John Bright. They are +noteworthy for their simplicity of diction and uniform quality of +directness. His method was to make a plain statement of facts, enunciate +certain fundamental principles, then follow with his argument and +application.</p> + +<p>His choice of words and style of delivery were most carefully studied, +and his sonorous voice was under such complete control that he could +speak at great length without the slightest fatigue. Many of his +illustrations were drawn from the Bible, which he is said to have known +better than any other book.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Lord Brougham</i></h4> + +<p>Lord Brougham wrote nine times the concluding parts of his speech for +the defense of Queen Caroline. He once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> told a young man that if he +wanted to speak well he must first learn to talk well. He recognized +that good talking was the basis of effective public speaking.</p> + +<p>Bear in mind, however, that this does not mean you are always to confine +yourself to a conversational level. There are themes which demand large +treatment, wherein vocal power and impassioned feeling are appropriate +and essential. But what Lord Brougham meant, and it is equally true +to-day, was that good public speaking is fundamentally good talking.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Edmund Burke</i></h4> + +<p>Edmund Burke recommended debate as one of the best means for developing +facility and power in public speaking. Himself a master of debate, he +said, "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our +skill. Our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> antagonist is our helper. This amiable conflict with +difficulty obliges us to have an intimate acquaintance with our subject, +and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer +us to be superficial."</p> + +<p>Burke, like all great orators, believed in premeditation, and always +wrote and corrected his speeches with fastidious care. While such men +knew that inspiration might come at the moment of speaking, they +preferred to base their chances of success upon painstaking preparation.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Massillon</i></h4> + +<p>Massillon, the great French divine, spoke in a commanding voice and in a +style so direct that at times he almost overwhelmed his hearers. His +pointed and personal questions could not be evaded. He sent truth like +fiery darts to the hearts of his hearers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>I ask you to note very carefully the following eloquent passage from a +sermon in which he explained how men justified themselves because they +were no worse than the multitude:</p> + +<p>"On this account it is, my brethren, that I confine myself to you who at +present are assembled here; I include not the rest of men, but consider +you as alone existing on the earth. The idea which occupies and +frightens me is this: I figure to myself the present as your last hour +and the end of the world; that the heavens are going to open above your +heads; our Savior, in all His glory, to appear in the midst of the +temple; and that you are only assembled here to wait His coming; like +trembling criminals on whom the sentence is to be pronounced, either of +life eternal or of everlasting death; for it is vain to flatter +yourselves that you shall die more innocent than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> you are at this hour. +All those desires of change with which you are amused will continue to +amuse you till death arrives, the experience of all ages proves it; the +only difference you have to expect will most likely be a larger balance +against you than what you would have to answer for at present; and from +what would be your destiny were you to be judged this moment, you may +almost decide upon what will take place at your departure from life. +Now, I ask you (and connecting my own lot with yours I ask with dread), +were Jesus Christ to appear in this temple, in the midst of this +assembly, to judge us, to make the dreadful separation betwixt the goats +and sheep, do you believe that the greatest number of us would be placed +at His right hand? Do you believe that the number would at least be +equal? Do you believe there would even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> be found ten upright and +faithful servants of the Lord, when formerly five cities could not +furnish so many? I ask you. You know not, and I know it not. Thou alone, +O my God, knowest who belong to Thee. But if we know not who belong to +Him, at least we know that sinners do not. Now, who are the just and +faithful assembled here at present? Titles and dignities avail nothing, +you are stript of all these in the presence of your Savior. Who are +they? Many sinners who wish not to be converted; many more who wish, but +always put it off; many others who are only converted in appearance, and +again fall back to their former courses. In a word, a great number who +flatter themselves they have no occasion for conversion. This is the +party of the reprobate. Ah! my brethren, cut off from this assembly +these four classes of sinners, for they will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> cut off at the great +day. And now appear, ye just! Where are ye? O God, where are Thy chosen? +And what a portion remains to Thy share."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Gladstone</i></h4> + +<p>Gladstone had by nature a musical and melodious voice, but through +practise he developed an unusual range of compass and variety. He could +sink it to a whisper and still be audible, while in open-air meetings he +could easily make himself heard by thousands.</p> + +<p>He was courteous, and even ceremonious, in his every-day meeting with +men, so that it was entirely natural for him to be deferential and +ingratiating in his public speaking. He is an excellent illustration of +the value of cultivating in daily conversation and manner the qualities +you desire to have in your public address.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>John Quincy Adams</i></h4> + +<p>John Quincy Adams read two chapters from the Bible every morning, which +accounted in large measure for his resourceful English style. He was +fond of using the pen in daily composition, and constantly committed to +paper the first thoughts which occurred to him upon any important +subject.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Fox</i></h4> + +<p>The ambition of Fox was to become a great political orator and debater, +in which at last he succeeded. His mental agility was manifest in his +reply to an elector whom he had canvassed for a vote, and who offered +him a halter instead. "Oh thank you," said Fox, "I would not deprive you +of what is evidently a family relic."</p> + +<p>His method was to take each argument of an opponent, and dispose of it +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> regular order. His passion was for argument, upon great or petty +subjects. He availed himself of every opportunity to speak. "During five +whole sessions," he said, "I spoke every night but one; and I regret +that I did not speak on that night, too."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Theodore Parker</i></h4> + +<p>Theodore Parker always read his sermons aloud while writing them, in +order to test their "speaking quality." His opinion was that an +impressive delivery depended particularly upon vigorous feeling, +energetic thinking, and clearness of statement.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Henry Ward Beecher</i></h4> + +<p>Henry Ward Beecher's method was to practise vocal exercises in the open +air, exploding all the vowel sounds in various keys. This practise duly +produced a most flexible instrument, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> served him throughout his +brilliant career. He said:</p> + +<p>"I had from childhood impediments of speech arising from a large palate, +so that when a boy I used to be laughed at for talking as if I had a +pudding in my mouth. When I went to Amherst, I was fortunate in passing +into the hands of John Lovell, a teacher of elocution, and a better +teacher for my purpose I can not conceive of. His system consisted in +drill, or the thorough practise of inflections by the voice, of gesture, +posture and articulation. Sometimes I was a whole hour practising my +voice on a word—like justice. I would have to take a posture, +frequently at a mark chalked on the floor. Then we would go through all +the gestures, exercising each movement of the arm and throwing open the +hand. All gestures except those of precision go in curves, the arm +rising<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> from the side, coming to the front, turning to the left or +right. I was drilled as to how far the arm should come forward, where it +should start from, how far go back, and under what circumstances these +movements should be made. It was drill, drill, drill, until the motions +almost became a second nature. Now, I never know what movements I shall +make. My gestures are natural, because this drill made them natural to +me. The only method of acquiring effective elocution is by practise, of +not less than an hour a day, until the student has his voice and himself +thoroughly subdued and trained to get right expression."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Lord Bolingbroke</i></h4> + +<p>Lord Bolingbroke made it a rule always to speak well in daily +conversation, however unimportant the occasion. His taste and accuracy +at last gave him a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> style in ordinary speech worthy to have been put +into print as it fell from his lips.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Lord Chatham</i></h4> + +<p>Lord Chatham, despite his great natural endowments for speaking, devoted +a regular time each day to developing a varied and copious vocabulary. +He twice examined each word in the dictionary, from beginning to end, in +his ardent desire to master the English language.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>John Philpot Curran</i></h4> + +<p>The well-known case of John Philpot Curran should give encouragement to +every aspiring student of public speaking. He was generally known as +"Orator Mum," because of his failure in his first attempt at public +speaking. But he resolved to develop his oratorical powers, and devoted +every morning to intense reading. In addition, he regularly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> carried in +his pocket a small copy of a classic for convenient reading at odd +moments.</p> + +<p>It is said that he daily practised declamation before a looking-glass, +closely scrutinizing his gesture, posture, and manner. He was an earnest +student of public speaking, and eventually became one of the most +eloquent of world orators.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Balfour</i></h4> + +<p>Among present-day speakers in England Mr. Balfour occupies a leading +place. He possesses the gift of never saying a word too much, a habit +which might be copied to advantage by many public speakers. His habit +during a debate is to scribble a few words on an envelop, and then to +speak with rare facility of English style.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Bonar Law</i></h4> + +<p>Bonar Law does not use any notes in the preparation of a speech, but +carefully thinks out the various parts, and then by means of a series of +"mental rehearsals" fixes them indelibly in his mind. The result of this +conscientious practise has made him a formidable debater and extempore +speaker.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Asquith</i></h4> + +<p>Herbert H. Asquith, who possesses the rare gift of summoning the one +inevitable word, and of compressing his speeches into a small space of +time, speaks with equal success whether from a prepared manuscript or +wholly extempore. His unsurpassed English style is the result of many +years reading and study of prose masterpieces. "He produces, wherever +and whenever he wants them, an endless succession of perfectly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> coined +sentences, conceived with unmatched felicity and delivered without +hesitation in a parliamentary style which is at once the envy and the +despair of imitators."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Bryan</i></h4> + +<p>William Jennings Bryan is by common consent one of the greatest public +speakers in America. He has a voice of unusual power and compass, and +his delivery is natural and deliberate. His style is generally forensic, +altho he frequently rises to the dramatic. He has been a diligent +student of oratory, and once said:</p> + +<p>"The age of oratory has not passed; nor will it pass. The press, instead +of displacing the orator, has given him a larger audience and enabled +him to do a more extended work. As long as there are human rights to be +defended; as long as there are great interests to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> guarded; as long +as the welfare of nations is a matter for discussion, so long will +public speaking have its place."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Roosevelt</i></h4> + +<p>Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most effective of American public +speakers, due in large measure to intense moral earnestness and great +stores of physical vitality. His diction was direct and his style +energetic. He spoke out of the fulness of a well-furnished mind.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>Success Factors in Platform Speaking</h3> + +<p>Constant practise of composition has been the habit of all great +orators. This, combined with the habit of reading and re-reading the +best prose writers and poets, accounts in large measure for the +felicitous style of such men as Burke, Erskine, Macaulay, Bolingbroke, +Phillips, Everett and Webster.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>I can not too often urge you to use your pen in daily composition as a +means to felicity and facility of speech. The act of writing out your +thoughts is a direct aid to concentration, and tends to enforce the +habit of choosing the best language. It gives clearness, force, +precision, beauty, and copiousness of style, so valuable in +extemporaneous and impromptu speaking.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEMORIZING SPEECHES</h3> + +<p>Some of the most highly successful speakers carefully wrote out, +revised, and committed to memory important passages in their speeches. +These they dexterously wove into the body of their addresses in such a +natural manner as not to expose their method.</p> + +<p>This plan, however, is not to be generally recommended, since few men +have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> the faculty of rendering memorized parts so as to make them appear +extempore. If you recite rather than speak to an audience, you may be a +good entertainer, but just to that degree will you impair your power and +effectiveness as a public speaker.</p> + +<p>There are speakers who have successfully used the plan of committing to +memory significant sentences, statements, or sayings, and skilfully +embodying them in their speeches. You might test this method for +yourself, tho it is attended with danger.</p> + +<p>If possible, join a local debating society, where you will have +excellent opportunity for practise in thinking and speaking on your +feet. Many distinguished public speakers have owed their fluency of +speech and self-confidence to early practise in debate.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<h3>THE VALUE OF REPETITION</h3> + +<p>Persuasion is a task of skill. You must bring to your aid in speaking +every available resource. An effective weapon at times is a "remorseless +iteration." Have the courage to repeat yourself as often as may be +necessary to impress your leading ideas upon the minds of your hearers. +Note the forensic maxim, "tell a judge twice whatever you want him to +hear; tell a special jury thrice, and a common jury half a dozen times, +the view of a case you wish them to entertain."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE NEED OF SELF-CONFIDENCE</h3> + +<p>Whatever methods of premeditation you adopt in the preparation of a +speech, having planned everything to the best of your ability, dismiss +from your mind all anxiety and all thought about yourself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>Right preparation and earnest practise should give you a full degree of +confidence in your ability to perform the task before you. When you +stand at last before the audience, it should be with the assurance that +you are thoroughly equipped to say something of real interest and +importance.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE POWER OF PERSONALITY</h3> + +<p>Personality plays a vital part in a speaker's success. Gladstone +described Cardinal Newman's manner in the pulpit as unsatisfactory if +considered in its separate parts. "There was not much change in the +inflection of his voice; action there was none; his sermons were read, +and his eyes were always on his book; and all that, you will say, is +against efficiency in preaching. Yes; but you take the man as a whole, +and there was a stamp and a seal upon him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> there was solemn music and +sweetness in his tone, there was a completeness in the figure, taken +together with the tone and with the manner, which made even his delivery +such as I have described it, and tho exclusively with written sermons, +singularly attractive."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE DANGER OF IMITATION</h3> + +<p>It is a fatal mistake, as I have said, to set out deliberately to +imitate some favorite speaker, and to mold your style after his. You +will observe certain things and methods in other speakers which will fit +in naturally with your style and temperament. To this extent you may +advantageously adopt them, but always be on your guard against anything +which might in the slightest degree impair your own individuality.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk</h3> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4>FEATURES OF AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS</h4> + +<p>You will find useful material for study and practise in the speech which +follows, delivered by Lord Rosebery at the Unveiling of the Statue of +Gladstone at Glasgow, Scotland, October 11th, 1902.</p> + +<p>The English style is noteworthy for its uniform charm and naturalness. +There is an unmistakable personal note which contributes greatly to the +effect of the speaker's words.</p> + +<p>This eloquent address is a model for such an occasion, and a good +illustration of the work of a speaker thoroughly familiar with his +theme. It has sufficient variety to sustain interest, dignity in keeping +with the subject, and a note of inspiration which would profoundly +im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>press an audience of thinking men. It is a scholarly address.</p> + +<p>Note the concise introductory sentences. Repeat them aloud and observe +how easily they flow from the lips. Notice the balance and variety of +successive sentences, the stately diction, and the underlying tone of +deep sincerity.</p> + +<p>Examine every phrase and sentence of this eloquent speech. Study the +conclusion and particularly the closing paragraph. When you have +thoroughly analyzed the speech, stand up and render it aloud in +clear-cut tones and appropriately dignified style.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4>SPEECH FOR STUDY</h4> + +<h4>AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF GLADSTONE</h4> + +<h4>(<i>Address of Lord Rosebery</i>)</h4> + +<p>I am here to-day to unveil the image of one of the great figures of our +country.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> It is right and fitting that it should stand here. A statue of +Mr. Gladstone is congenial in any part of Scotland. But in this Scottish +city, teeming with eager workers, endowed with a great University, a +center of industry, commerce, and thought, a statue of William Ewart +Gladstone is at home.</p> + +<p>But you in Glasgow have more personal claims to a share in the +inheritance of Mr. Gladstone's fame. I, at any rate, can recall one +memory—the record of that marvelous day in December, 1879, nearly +twenty-three years ago, when the indomitable old man delivered his +rectorial address to the students at noon, a long political speech in +St. Andrew's Hall in the evening, and a substantial discourse on +receiving an address from the Corporation at ten o'clock at night. Some +of you may have been present at all these gatherings, some only at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +political meeting. If they were, they may remember the little incidents +of the meeting—the glasses which were hopelessly lost and then, of +course, found on the orator's person—the desperate candle brought in, +stuck in a water-bottle, to attempt sufficient light to read an extract. +And what a meeting it was—teeming, delirious, absorbed! Do you have +such meetings now? They seem to me pretty good; but the meetings of that +time stand out before all others in my mind.</p> + +<p>This statue is erected, not out of the national subscription, but by the +contributions from men of all creeds in Glasgow and in the West. I must +then, in what I have to say, leave out altogether the political aspect +of Mr. Gladstone. In some cases such a rule would omit all that was +interesting in a man. There are characters, from which if you +subtracted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> politics, there would be nothing left. It was not so with +Mr. Gladstone.</p> + +<p>To the great mass of his fellow-countrymen he was of course a statesman, +wildly worshipped by some, wildly detested by others. But, to those who +were privileged to know him, his politics seemed but the least part of +him. The predominant part, to which all else was subordinated, was his +religion; the life which seemed to attract him most was the life of the +library; the subject which engrossed him most was the subject of the +moment, whatever it might be, and that, when he was out of office, was +very rarely politics. Indeed, I sometimes doubt whether his natural bent +was toward politics at all. Had his course taken him that way, as it +very nearly did, he would have been a great churchman, greater perhaps +than any that this island has known; he would have been a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> great +professor, if you could have found a university big enough to hold him; +he would have been a great historian, a great bookman, he would have +grappled with whole libraries and wrestled with academies, had the fates +placed him in a cloister; indeed it is difficult to conceive the career, +except perhaps the military, in which his energy and intellect and +application would not have placed him on a summit. Politics, however, +took him and claimed his life service, but, jealous mistress as she is, +could never thoroughly absorb him.</p> + +<p>Such powers as I have indicated seem to belong to a giant and a prodigy, +and I can understand many turning away from the contemplation of such a +character, feeling that it is too far removed from them to interest +them, and that it is too unapproachable to help them—that it is like +reading of Hercules or Hector,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> mythical heroes whose achievements the +actual living mortal can not hope to rival. Well, that is true enough; +we have not received intellectual faculties equal to Mr. Gladstone's, +and can not hope to vie with him in their exercise. But apart from them, +his great force was character, and amid the vast multitude that I am +addressing, there is none who may not be helped by him.</p> + +<p>The three signal qualities which made him what he was, were courage, +industry, and faith; dauntless courage, unflagging industry, a faith +which was part of his fiber; these were the levers with which he moved +the world.</p> + +<p>I do not speak of his religious faith, that demands a worthier speaker +and another occasion. But no one who knew Mr. Gladstone could fail to +see that it was the essence, the savor, the motive power of his life. +Strange as it may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> seem, I can not doubt that while this attracted many +to him, it alienated others, others not themselves irreligious, but who +suspected the sincerity of so manifest a devotion, and who, reared in +the moderate atmosphere of the time, disliked the intrusion of religious +considerations into politics. These, however, though numerous enough, +were the exceptions, and it can not, I think, be questioned that Mr. +Gladstone not merely raised the tone of public discussion, but quickened +and renewed the religious feeling of the society in which he moved.</p> + +<p>But this is not the faith of which I am thinking to-day. What is present +to me is the faith with which he espoused and pursued great causes. +There also he had faith sufficient to move mountains, and did sometimes +move mountains. He did not lightly resolve, he came to no hasty +conclusion, but when he had con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>vinced himself that a cause was right, +it engrossed him, it inspired him, with a certainty as deep-seated and +as imperious as ever moved mortal man. To him, then, obstacles, +objections, the counsels of doubters and critics were as nought, he +pressed on with the passion of a whirlwind, but also with the steady +persistence of some puissant machine.</p> + +<p>He had, of course, like every statesman, often to traffic with +expediency, he had always, I suppose, to accept something less than his +ideal, but his unquenchable faith, not in himself—tho that with +experience must have waxed strong—not in himself but in his cause, +sustained him among the necessary shifts and transactions of the moment, +and kept his head high in the heavens.</p> + +<p>Such faith, such moral conviction, is not given to all men, for the +treasures of his nature were in ingots, and not in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> dust. But there is, +perhaps, no man without some faith in some cause or some person; if so, +let him take heart, in however small a minority he may be, by +remembering how mighty a strength was Gladstone's power of faith.</p> + +<p>His next great force lay in his industry. I do not know if the +aspersions of "ca' canny" be founded, but at any rate there was no "ca' +canny" about him. From his earliest school-days, if tradition be true, +to the bed of death, he gave his full time and energy to work. No doubt +his capacity for labor was unusual. He would sit up all night writing a +pamphlet, and work next day as usual. An eight-hours' day would have +been a holiday to him, for he preached and practised the gospel of work +to its fullest extent. He did not, indeed, disdain pleasure; no one +enjoyed physical exercise, or a good play, or a pleasant din<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>ner, more +than he; he drank in deep draughts of the highest and the best that life +had to offer; but even in pastime he was never idle. He did not know +what it was to saunter, he debited himself with every minute of his +time; he combined with the highest intellectual powers the faculty of +utilizing them to the fullest extent by intense application. Moreover, +his industry was prodigious in result, for he was an extraordinarily +rapid worker. Dumont says of Mirabeau, that till he met that marvelous +man he had no idea of how much could be achieved in a day. "Had I not +lived with him," he says, "I should not know what can be accomplished in +a day, all that can be comprest into an interval of twelve hours. A day +was worth more to him than a week or a month to others." Many men can be +busy for hours with a mighty small product, but with Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> Gladstone +every minute was fruitful. That, no doubt, was largely due to his +marvelous powers of concentration. When he was staying at Dalmeny in +1879 he kindly consented to sit for his bust. The only difficulty was +that there was no time for sittings. So the sculptor with his clay model +was placed opposite Mr. Gladstone as he worked, and they spent the +mornings together, Mr. Gladstone writing away, and the clay figure of +himself less than a yard off gradually assuming shape and form. Anything +more distracting I can not conceive, but it had no effect on the busy +patient. And now let me make a short digression. I saw recently in your +newspapers that there was some complaint of the manners of the rising +generation in Glasgow. If that be so, they are heedless of Mr. +Gladstone's example. It might be thought that so impetuous a temper as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +his might be occasionally rough or abrupt. That was not so. His +exquisite urbanity was one of his most conspicuous graces. I do not now +only allude to that grave, old-world courtesy, which gave so much +distinction to his private life; for his sweetness of manner went far +beyond demeanor. His spoken words, his letters, even when one differed +from him most acutely, were all marked by this special note. He did not +like people to disagree with him, few people do; but, so far as manner +went, it was more pleasant to disagree with Mr. Gladstone than to be in +agreement with some others.</p> + +<p>Lastly, I come to his courage—that perhaps was his greatest quality, +for when he gave his heart and reason to a cause, he never counted the +cost. Most men are physically brave, and this nation is reputed to be +especially brave,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> but Mr. Gladstone was brave among the brave. He had +to the end the vitality of physical courage. When well on in his ninth +decade, well on to ninety, he was knocked over by a cab, and before the +bystanders could rally to his assistance, he had pursued the cab with a +view to taking its number. He had, too, notoriously, political courage +in a not less degree than Sir Robert Walpole. We read that George II, +who was little given to enthusiasm, would often cry out, with color +flushing into his cheeks, and tears sometimes in his eyes, and with a +vehement oath:—"He (Walpole) is a brave fellow; he has more spirit than +any man I ever knew."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gladstone did not yield to Walpole in political and parliamentary +courage—it was a quality which he closely observed in others, and on +which he was fond of descanting. But he had the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> rarest and choicest +courage of all—I mean moral courage. That was his supreme +characteristic, and it was with him, like others, from the first. A +contemporary of his at Eton once told me of a scene, at which my +informant was present, when some loose or indelicate toast was proposed, +and all present drank it but young Gladstone. In spite of the storm of +objurgation and ridicule that raged around him, he jammed his face, as +it were, down in his hands on the table and would not budge. Every +schoolboy knows, for we may here accurately use Macaulay's well-known +expression, every schoolboy knows the courage that this implies. And +even by the heedless generation of boyhood it was appreciated, for we +find an Etonian writing to his parents to ask that he might go to Oxford +rather than Cambridge, on the sole ground that at Ox<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>ford he would have +the priceless advantage of Gladstone's influence and example. Nor did +his courage ever flag. He might be right, or he might be wrong—that is +not the question here—but when he was convinced that he was right, not +all the combined powers of Parliament or society or the multitude could +for an instant hinder his course, whether it ended in success or in +failure. Success left him calm, he had had so much of it; nor did +failures greatly depress him. The next morning found him once more +facing the world with serene and undaunted brow. There was a man. The +nation has lost him, but preserves his character, his manhood, as a +model, on which she may form if she be fortunate, coming generations of +men. With his politics, with his theology, with his manifold graces and +gifts of intellect, we are not concerned to-day, not even with his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> warm +and passionate human sympathies. They are not dead with him, but let +them rest with him, for we can not in one discourse view him in all his +parts. To-day it is enough to have dealt for a moment on three of his +great moral characteristics, enough to have snatched from the fleeting +hour a few moments of communion with the mighty dead.</p> + +<p>History has not yet allotted him his definite place, but no one would +now deny that he bequeathed a pure standard of life, a record of lofty +ambition for the public good as he understood it, a monument of +life-long labor. Such lives speak for themselves, they need no statues, +they face the future with the confidence of high purpose and endeavor. +The statues are not for them but for us, to bid us be conscious of our +trust, mindful of our duty, scornful of opposition to principle and +faith. They summon us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> to account for time and opportunity, they embody +an inspiring tradition, they are milestones in the life of a nation. The +effigy of Pompey was bathed in the blood of his great rival: let this +statue have the nobler destiny of constantly calling to life worthy +rivals of Gladstone's fame and character.</p> + +<p>Unveil, then, that statue. Let it stand to Glasgow in all time coming +for faith, fortitude, courage, industry, qualities apart from intellect +or power or wealth, which may inspire all her citizens however humble, +however weak; let it remind the most unthinking passer-by of the +dauntless character which it represents, of his long life and honest +purpose; let it leaven by an immortal tradition the population which +lives and works and dies around this monument.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="STUDY_OF_MODEL_SPEECHES" id="STUDY_OF_MODEL_SPEECHES"></a>STUDY OF MODEL SPEECHES</h2> + +<h3>MODEL SPEECHES, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR STUDY</h3> + +<p>There is no better way for you to improve your own public speaking than +to analyze and study the speeches of successful orators.</p> + +<p>First read such speeches aloud, since by that means you fit words to +your lips and acquire a familiarity with oratorical style.</p> + +<p>Then examine the speaker's method of arranging his thoughts, and the +precise way in which they lead up and contribute to his ultimate object.</p> + +<p>Carefully note any special means employed—story, illustration, appeal, +or climax,—to increase the effectiveness of the speech.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>John Stuart Mill</i></h4> + +<p>Read the following speech delivered by John Stuart Mill, in his tribute +to Garrison. Note the clear-cut English of the speaker. Observe how +promptly he goes to his subject, and how steadily he keeps to it. +Particularly note the high level of thought maintained throughout. This +is an excellent model of dignified, well-reasoned, convincing speech.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,—The speakers who have preceded me +have, with an eloquence far beyond anything which I can command, laid +before our honored guest the homage of admiration and gratitude which we +all feel due to his heroic life. Instead of idly expatiating upon things +which have been far better said than I could say them, I would rather +endeavor to recall one or two lessons applicable to our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>selves, which +may be drawn from his career. A noble work nobly done always contains in +itself not one but many lessons; and in the case of him whose character +and deeds we are here to commemorate, two may be singled out specially +deserving to be laid to heart by all who would wish to leave the world +better than they found it.</p> + +<p>"The first lesson is,—Aim at something great; aim at things which are +difficult; and there is no great thing which is not difficult. Do not +pare down your undertaking to what you can hope to see successful in the +next few years, or in the years of your own life. Fear not the reproach +of Quixotism or of fanaticism; but after you have well weighed what you +undertake, if you see your way clearly, and are convinced that you are +right, go forward, even tho you, like Mr. Garrison, do it at the risk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +of being torn to pieces by the very men through whose changed hearts +your purpose will one day be accomplished. Fight on with all your +strength against whatever odds and with however small a band of +supporters. If you are right, the time will come when that small band +will swell into a multitude; you will at least lay the foundations of +something memorable, and you may, like Mr. Garrison—tho you ought not +to need or expect so great a reward—be spared to see that work +completed which, when you began it, you only hoped it might be given to +you to help forward a few stages on its way.</p> + +<p>"The other lesson which it appears to me important to enforce, amongst +the many that may be drawn from our friend's life, is this: If you aim +at something noble and succeed in it, you will generally find that you +have suc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>ceeded not in that alone. A hundred other good and noble things +which you never dreamed of will have been accomplished by the way, and +the more certainly, the sharper and more agonizing has been the struggle +which preceded the victory. The heart and mind of a nation are never +stirred from their foundations without manifold good fruits. In the case +of the great American contest these fruits have been already great, and +are daily becoming greater. The prejudices which beset every form of +society—and of which there was a plentiful crop in America—are rapidly +melting away. The chains of prescription have been broken; it is not +only the slave who has been freed—the mind of America has been +emancipated. The whole intellect of the country has been set thinking +about the fundamental questions of society and government; and the new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +problems which have to be solved and the new difficulties which have to +be encountered are calling forth new activity of thought, and that great +nation is saved probably for a long time to come, from the most +formidable danger of a completely settled state of society and +opinion—intellectual and moral stagnation. This, then, is an additional +item of the debt which America and mankind owe to Mr. Garrison and his +noble associates; and it is well calculated to deepen our sense of the +truth which his whole career most strikingly illustrates—that tho our +best directed efforts may often seem wasted and lost, nothing coming of +them that can be pointed to and distinctly identified as a definite gain +to humanity, tho this may happen ninety-nine times in every hundred, the +hundredth time the result may be so great and dazzling that we had +never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> dared to hope for it, and should have regarded him who had +predicted it to us as sanguine beyond the bounds of mental sanity. So +has it been with Mr. Garrison."</p> + +<p>It will be beneficial for your all-round development in speaking to +choose for earnest study several speeches of widely different character. +As you compare one speech with another, you will more readily see why +each subject requires a different form of treatment, and also learn to +judge how the speaker has availed himself of the possibilities afforded +him.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Judge Story</i></h4> + +<p>The speech which follows is a fine example of elevated and impassioned +oratory. Judge Story here lauds the American Republic, and employs to +advantage the rhetorical figures of exclamation and interrogation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>As you examine this speech you will notice that the speaker himself was +moved by deep conviction. His own belief stamped itself upon his words, +and throughout there is the unmistakable mark of sincerity.</p> + +<p>You are impressed by the comprehensive treatment of the subject. The +orator here speaks out of a full mind, and you feel that you would +confidently trust yourself to his leadership.</p> + +<p>"When we reflect on what has been and what is, how is it possible not to +feel a profound sense of the responsibilities of this Republic to all +future ages? What vast motives press upon us for lofty efforts! What +brilliant prospects invite our enthusiasm! What solemn warnings at once +demand our vigilance and moderate our confidence! The Old World has +already revealed to us, in its unsealed books, the beginning and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +end of all marvelous struggles in the cause of liberty.</p> + +<p>"Greece! lovely Greece! 'the land of scholars and the nurse of arms,' +where sister republics, in fair processions chanted the praise of +liberty and the good, where and what is she? For two thousand years the +oppressors have bound her to the earth. Her arts are no more. The last +sad relics of her temples are but the barracks of a ruthless soldiery; +the fragments of her columns and her palaces are in the dust, yet +beautiful in ruins.</p> + +<p>"She fell not when the mighty were upon her. Her sons united at +Thermopylæ and Marathon; and the tide of her triumph rolled back upon +the Hellespont. She was conquered by her own factions—she fell by the +hands of her own people. The man of Macedonia did not the work of +destruction. It was already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> done by her own corruptions, banishments, +and dissensions. Rome! whose eagles glanced in the rising and setting +sun, where and what is she! The Eternal City yet remains, proud even in +her desolation, noble in her decline, venerable in the majesty of +religion, and calm as in the composure of death.</p> + +<p>"The malaria has but traveled in the parts won by the destroyers. More +than eighteen centuries have mourned over the loss of the empire. A +mortal disease was upon her before Cæsar had crossed the Rubicon; and +Brutus did not restore her health by the deep probings of the +senate-chamber. The Goths, and Vandals, and Huns, the swarms of the +North, completed only what was begun at home. Romans betrayed Rome. The +legions were bought and sold, but the people offered the tribute-money.</p> + +<p>"And where are the republics of mod<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>ern times, which cluster around +immortal Italy? Venice and Genoa exist but in name. The Alps, indeed, +look down upon the brave and peaceful Swiss in their native fastnesses; +but the guaranty of their freedom is in their weakness, and not in their +strength. The mountains are not easily crossed, and the valleys are not +easily retained.</p> + +<p>"When the invader comes, he moves like an avalanche, carrying +destruction in his path. The peasantry sink before him. The country, +too, is too poor for plunder, and too rough for a valuable conquest. +Nature presents her eternal barrier on every side, to check the +wantonness of ambition. And Switzerland remains with her simple +institutions, a military road to climates scarcely worth a permanent +possession, and protected by the jealousy of her neighbors.</p> + +<p>"We stand the latest, and if we fall,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> probably the last experiment of +self-government by the people. We have begun it under circumstances of +the most auspicious nature. We are in the vigor of youth. Our growth has +never been checked by the oppression of tyranny. Our Constitutions never +have been enfeebled by the vice or the luxuries of the world. Such as we +are, we have been from the beginning: simple, hardy, intelligent, +accustomed to self-government and self-respect.</p> + +<p>"The Atlantic rolls between us and a formidable foe. Within our own +territory, stretching through many degrees of latitude, we have the +choice of many products, and many means of independence. The government +is mild. The press is free. Religion is free. Knowledge reaches, or may +reach every home. What fairer prospects of success could be presented? +What means more ade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>quate to accomplish the sublime end? What more is +necessary than for the people to preserve what they themselves have +created?</p> + +<p>"Already has the age caught the spirit of our institutions. It has +already ascended the Andes, and snuffed the breezes of both oceans. It +has infused itself into the life-blood of Europe, and warmed the sunny +plains of France and the lowlands of Holland. It has touched the +philosophy of Germany and the North, and, moving onward to the South, +has opened to Greece the lesson of her better days.</p> + +<p>"Can it be that America under such circumstances should betray herself? +That she is to be added to the catalog of republics, the inscription +upon whose ruin is, 'They were but they are not!' Forbid it, my +countrymen! forbid it, Heaven! I call upon you, fathers, by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> shades +of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, +by all you are, and all you hope to be, resist every attempt to fetter +your consciences, or smother your public schools, or extinguish your +system of public instruction.</p> + +<p>"I call upon you, mothers, by that which never fails in woman, the love +of your offspring, to teach them as they climb your knees or lean on +your bosoms, the blessings of liberty. Swear them at the altar, as with +their baptismal vows, to be true to their country, and never forsake +her. I call upon you, young men, to remember whose sons you are—whose +inheritance you possess. Life can never be too short, which brings +nothing but disgrace and oppression. Death never comes too soon, if +necessary, in defense of the liberties of our country."</p> + +<p>You can advantageously read aloud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> many times a speech like the +foregoing. Stand up and read it aloud once a day for a month, and you +will be conscious of a distinct improvement in your own command of +persuasive speech.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>W. J. Fox</i></h4> + +<p>The following is a specimen of masterly oratorical style, from a sermon +preached in London, England, by W. J. Fox:</p> + +<p>"From the dawn of intellect and freedom Greece has been a watchword on +the earth. There rose the social spirit to soften and refine her chosen +race, and shelter as in a nest her gentleness from the rushing storm of +barbarism; there liberty first built her mountain throne, first called +the waves her own, and shouted across them a proud defiance to +despotism's banded myriads, there the arts and graces danced around +human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>ity, and stored man's home with comforts, and strewed his path +with roses, and bound his brows with myrtle, and fashioned for him the +breathing statue, and summoned him to temples of snowy marble, and +charmed his senses with all forms of eloquence, and threw over his final +sleep their veil of loveliness; there sprung poetry, like their own +fabled goddess, mature at once from the teeming intellect, gilt with +arts and armour that defy the assaults of time and subdue the heart of +man; there matchless orators gave the world a model of perfect +eloquence, the soul the instrument on which they played, and every +passion of our nature but a tone which the master's touch called forth +at will; there lived and taught the philosophers of bower and porch, of +pride and pleasure, of deep speculation, and of useful action, who +developed all the acuteness and re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>finement, and excursiveness, and +energy of mind, and were the glory of their country when their country +was the glory of the earth."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>William McKinley</i></h4> + +<p>An eloquent speech, worthy of close study, is that of William McKinley +on "The Characteristics of Washington." As you read it aloud, note the +short, clear-cut sentences used in the introduction. Observe how the +long sentence at the third paragraph gives the needed variation. +Carefully study the compact English style, and the use of forceful +expressions of the speaker, as "He blazed the path to liberty."</p> + +<p>"Fellow Citizens:—There is a peculiar and tender sentiment connected +with this memorial. It expresses not only the gratitude and reverence of +the living,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> but is a testimonial of affection and homage from the dead.</p> + +<p>"The comrades of Washington projected this monument. Their love inspired +it. Their contributions helped to build it. Past and present share in +its completion, and future generations will profit by its lessons. To +participate in the dedication of such a monument is a rare and precious +privilege. Every monument to Washington is a tribute to patriotism. +Every shaft and statue to his memory helps to inculcate love of country, +encourage loyalty, and establish a better citizenship. God bless every +undertaking which revives patriotism and rebukes the indifferent and +lawless! A critical study of Washington's career only enhances our +estimation of his vast and varied abilities.</p> + +<p>"As Commander-in-chief of the Colonial armies from the beginning of the +war<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> to the proclamation of peace, as president of the convention which +framed the Constitution of the United States, and as the first President +of the United States under that Constitution, Washington has a +distinction differing from that of all other illustrious Americans. No +other name bears or can bear such a relation to the Government. Not only +by his military genius—his patience, his sagacity, his courage, and his +skill—was our national independence won, but he helped in largest +measure to draft the chart by which the Nation was guided; and he was +the first chosen of the people to put in motion the new Government. His +was not the boldness of martial display or the charm of captivating +oratory, but his calm and steady judgment won men's support and +commanded their confidence by appealing to their best and noblest +aspirations. And withal Wash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>ington was ever so modest that at no time +in his career did his personality seem in the least intrusive. He was +above the temptation of power. He spurned the suggested crown. He would +have no honor which the people did not bestow.</p> + +<p>"An interesting fact—and one which I love to recall—is that the only +time Washington formally addrest the Constitutional Convention during +all its sessions over which he presided in this city, he appealed for a +larger representation of the people in the National House of +Representatives, and his appeal was instantly heeded. Thus was he ever +keenly watchful of the rights of the people in whose hands was the +destiny of our Government then as now.</p> + +<p>"Masterful as were his military campaigns, his civil administration +commands equal admiration. His foresight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> was marvelous; his conception +of the philosophy of government, his insistence upon the necessity of +education, morality, and enlightened citizenship to the progress and +permanence of the Republic can not be contemplated even at this period +without filling us with astonishment at the breadth of his comprehension +and the sweep of his vision. His was no narrow view of government. The +immediate present was not the sole concern, but our future good his +constant theme of study. He blazed the path of liberty. He laid the +foundation upon which we have grown from weak and scattered Colonial +governments to a united Republic whose domains and power as well as +whose liberty and freedom have become the admiration of the world. +Distance and time have not detracted from the fame and force of his +achievements or diminished the grand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>eur of his life and work. Great +deeds do not stop in their growth, and those of Washington will expand +in influence in all the centuries to follow.</p> + +<p>"The bequest Washington has made to civilization is rich beyond +computation. The obligations under which he has placed mankind are +sacred and commanding. The responsibility he has left, for the American +people to preserve and perfect what he accomplished, is exacting and +solemn. Let us rejoice in every new evidence that the people realize +what they enjoy, and cherish with affection the illustrious heroes of +Revolutionary story whose valor and sacrifices made us a nation. They +live in us, and their memory will help us keep the covenant entered into +for the maintenance of the freest Government of earth.</p> + +<p>"The nation and the name Washington are inseparable. One is linked +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>dissolubly with the other. Both are glorious, both triumphant. +Washington lives and will live because of what he did for the exaltation +of man, the enthronement of conscience, and the establishment of a +Government which recognizes all the governed. And so, too, will the +Nation live victorious over all obstacles, adhering to the immortal +principles which Washington taught and Lincoln sustained."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Edward Everett</i></h4> + +<p>The following extract from "The Foundation of National Character," by +Edward Everett, is a fine example of patriotic appeal. Read it aloud, +and note how the orator speaks with deep feeling and stirs the same +feeling in you. This impression is largely due to the simple, sincere, +right-onward style<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> of the speaker,—qualities of his own well-known +character.</p> + +<p>It will amply repay you to read this extract aloud at least once a day +for a week or more, so that its superior elements of thought and style +may be deeply imprest on your mind.</p> + +<p>"How is the spirit of a free people to be formed, and animated, and +cheered, but out of the storehouse of its historic recollections? Are we +to be eternally ringing the changes upon Marathon and Thermopylæ; and +going back to read in obscure texts of Greek and Latin, of the exemplars +of patriotic virtue?</p> + +<p>"I thank God that we can find them nearer home, in our own soil; that +strains of the noblest sentiment that ever swelled in the breast of man, +are breathing to us out of every page of our country's history, in the +native eloquence of our mother-tongue,—that the colonial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> and +provincial councils of America exhibit to us models of the spirits and +character which gave Greece and Rome their name and their praise among +nations.</p> + +<p>"Here we ought to go for our instruction;—the lesson is plain, it is +clear, it is applicable. When we go to ancient history, we are +bewildered with the difference of manners and institutions. We are +willing to pay our tribute of applause to the memory of Leonidas, who +fell nobly for his country in the face of his foe.</p> + +<p>"But when we trace him to his home, we are confounded at the reflection, +that the same Spartan heroism, to which he sacrificed himself at +Thermopylæ, would have led him to tear his own child, if it had happened +to be a sickly babe,—the very object for which all that is kind and +good in man rises up to plead,—from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> bosom of his mother, and carry +it out to be eaten by the wolves of Taygetus.</p> + +<p>"We feel a glow of admiration at the heroism displayed at Marathon by +the ten thousand champions of invaded Greece; but we can not forget that +the tenth part of the number were slaves, unchained from the workshops +and doorposts of their masters, to go and fight the battles of freedom.</p> + +<p>"I do not mean that these examples are to destroy the interest with +which we read the history of ancient times; they possibly increase that +interest by the very contrast they exhibit. But they warn us, if we need +the warning, to seek our great practical lessons of patriotism at home; +out of the exploits and sacrifices of which our own country is the +theater; out of the characters of our own fathers.</p> + +<p>"Them we know,—the high-souled,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> natural, unaffected, the citizen +heroes. We know what happy firesides they left for the cheerless camp. +We know with what pacific habits they dared the perils of the field. +There is no mystery, no romance, no madness, under the name of chivalry +about them. It is all resolute, manly resistance for conscience and +liberty's sake not merely of an overwhelming power, but of all the force +of long-rooted habits and native love of order and peace.</p> + +<p>"Above all, their blood calls to us from the soil which we tread; it +beats in our veins; it cries to us not merely in the thrilling words of +one of the first victims in this cause—'My sons, scorn to be +slaves!'—but it cries with a still more moving eloquence—'My sons, +forget not your fathers!'"</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>John Quincy Adams</i></h4> + +<p>John Quincy Adams, in his speech on "The Life and Character of +Lafayette," gives us a fine example of elevated and serious-minded +utterance. The following extract from this speech can be studied with +profit. Particularly note the use of sustained sentences, and the happy +collocation of words. The concluding paragraph should be closely +examined as a study in impressive climax.</p> + +<p>"Pronounce him one of the first men of his age, and you have yet not +done him justice. Try him by that test to which he sought in vain to +stimulate the vulgar and selfish spirit of Napoleon; class him among the +men who, to compare and seat themselves, must take in the compass of all +ages; turn back your eyes upon the records of time; summon, from the +creation of the world to this day, the mighty dead of every age and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +every clime,—and where, among the race of merely mortal men, shall one +be found who, as the benefactor of his kind, shall claim to take +precedence of Lafayette?</p> + +<p>"There have doubtless been in all ages men whose discoveries or +inventions in the world of matter, or of mind, have opened new avenues +to the dominion of man over the material creation; have increased his +means or his faculties of enjoyment; have raised him in nearer +approximation to that higher and happier condition, the object of his +hopes and aspirations in his present state of existence.</p> + +<p>"Lafayette discovered no new principle of politics or of morals. He +invented nothing in science. He disclosed no new phenomenon in the laws +of nature. Born and educated in the highest order of feudal nobility, +under the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> absolute monarchy of Europe; in possession of an +affluent fortune, and master of himself and of all his capabilities, at +the moment of attaining manhood the principle of republican justice and +of social equality took possession of his heart and mind, as if by +inspiration from above.</p> + +<p>"He devoted himself, his life, his fortune, his hereditary honors, his +towering ambition, his splendid hopes, all to the cause of Liberty. He +came to another hemisphere to defend her. He became one of the most +effective champions of our independence; but, that once achieved, he +returned to his own country, and thenceforward took no part in the +controversies which have divided us.</p> + +<p>"In the events of our Revolution, and in the forms of policy which we +have adopted for the establishment and perpetuation of our freedom, +Lafayette<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> found the most perfect form of government. He wished to add +nothing to it. He would gladly have abstracted nothing from it. Instead +of the imaginary Republic of Plato, or the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, he +took a practical existing model in actual operation here, and never +attempted or wished more than to apply it faithfully to his own country.</p> + +<p>"It was not given to Moses to enter the promised land; but he saw it +from the summit of Pisgah. It was not given to Lafayette to witness the +consummation of his wishes in the establishment of a Republic and the +extinction of all hereditary rule in France. His principles were in +advance of the age and hemisphere in which he lived.... The prejudices +and passions of the people of France rejected the principle of inherited +power in every station of public trust, excepting the first and highest +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> them all; but there they clung to it, as did the Israelites of old +to the savory deities of Egypt.</p> + +<p>"When the principle of hereditary dominion shall be extinguished in all +the institutions of France; when government shall no longer be +considered as property transmissible from sire to son, but as a trust +committed for a limited time, and then to return to the people whence it +came; as a burdensome duty to be discharged, and not as a reward to be +abused;—then will be the time for contemplating the character of +Lafayette, not merely in the events of his life, but in the full +development of his intellectual conceptions, of his fervent aspirations, +of the labors, and perils, and sacrifices of his long and eventful +career upon earth; and thenceforward till the hour when the trumpet of +the Archangel shall sound to announce that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> time shall be no more, the +name of Lafayette shall stand enrolled upon the annals of our race high +on the list of pure and disinterested benefactors of mankind."</p> + +<p>I have selected these extracts for your convenient use, as embodying +both thought and style worthy of your careful study. Read them aloud at +every opportunity, and you will be gratified at the steady improvement +such practise will make in your own speaking power.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="HISTORY_OF_PUBLIC_SPEAKING" id="HISTORY_OF_PUBLIC_SPEAKING"></a>HISTORY OF PUBLIC SPEAKING</h2> + +<h3>MEN WHO HAVE MADE HISTORY IN PUBLIC SPEAKING—AND THEIR METHODS</h3> + +<p>The great orators of the world did not regard eloquence as simply an +endowment of nature, but applied themselves diligently to cultivating +their powers of expression. In many cases there was unusual natural +ability, but such men knew that regular study and practise were +essential to success in this coveted art.</p> + +<p>The oration can be traced back to Hebrew literature. In the first +chapter of Deuteronomy we find Moses' speech in the end of the fortieth +year, briefly rehearsing the story of God's promise, and of God's anger +for their incredulity and disobedience.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>The four orations in Deuteronomy, by Moses, are highly commended for +their tenderness, sublimity and passionate appeal. You can +advantageously read them aloud.</p> + +<p>The oration of Pericles over the graves of those who fell in the +Peloponnesian War, is said to have been the first Athenian oration +designed for the public.</p> + +<p>The agitated political times and the people's intense desire for +learning combined to favor the development of oratory in ancient Greece. +Questions of great moment had to be discust and serious problems solved. +As the orator gradually became the most powerful influence in the State, +the art of oratory was more and more recognized as the supreme +accomplishment of the educated man.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Demosthenes</i></h4> + +<p>Demosthenes stands preeminent among Greek orators. His well-known +oration "On the Crown," the preparation of which occupied a large part +of seven years, is regarded as the oratorical masterpiece of all +history.</p> + +<p>It is encouraging to the student of public speaking to recall that this +distinguished orator at first had serious natural defects to overcome. +His voice was weak, he stammered in his speech, and was painfully +diffident. These faults were remedied, as is well-known, by earnest +daily practise in declaiming on the sea-shore, with pebbles in the +mouth, walking up and down hill while reciting, and deliberately seeking +occasions for conversing with groups of people.</p> + +<p>The chief lesson for you to draw from Demosthenes is that he was +indefatigable in his study of the art of oratory. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> left nothing to +chance. His speeches were characterized by deliberate forethought. He +excelled other men not because of great natural ability but because of +intelligent and continuous industry. He stands for all time as the most +inspiring example of oratorical achievement, despite almost insuperable +difficulties.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Cicero</i></h4> + +<p>The fame of Roman oratory rests upon Cicero, whose eloquence was second +only to that of Demosthenes. He was a close student of the art of +speaking. He was so intense and vehement by nature that he was obliged +in his early career to spend two years in Greece, exercising in the +gymnasium in order to restore his shattered constitution.</p> + +<p>His nervous temperament clung to him, however, since he made this +significant confession after long years of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> practise in public speaking. +"I declare that when I think of the moment when I shall have to rise and +speak in defense of a client, I am not only disturbed in mind, but +tremble in every limb of my body."</p> + +<p>It is well to note here that a nervous temperament may be a help rather +than a hindrance to a speaker. Indeed, it is the highly sensitive nature +that often produces the most persuasive orator, but only when he has +learned to conserve and properly use this valuable power.</p> + +<p>Cicero was a living embodiment of the comprehensive requirements laid +down by the ancients as essential to the orator. He had a knowledge of +logic, ethics, astronomy, philosophy, geometry, music, and rhetoric. +Little wonder, therefore, that his amazing eloquence was described as a +resistless torrent.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Luther</i></h4> + +<p>Martin Luther was the dominating orator of the Reformation. He combined +a strong physique with great intellectual power. "If I wish to compose, +or write, or pray, or preach well," said he, "I must be angry. Then all +the blood in my veins is stirred, my understanding is sharpened, and all +dismal thoughts and temptations are dissipated." What the great Reformer +called "anger," we would call indignation or earnestness.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>John Knox</i></h4> + +<p>John Knox, the Scotch reformer, was a preeminent preacher. His pulpit +style was characterized by a fiery eloquence which stirred his hearers +to great enthusiasm and sometimes to violence.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Bossuet</i></h4> + +<p>Bossuet, regarded as the greatest orator France has produced, was a +fearless and inspired speaker. His style was dignified and deliberate, +but as he warmed with his theme his thought took fire and he carried his +hearers along upon a swiftly moving tide of impassioned eloquence. When +he spoke from the text, "Be wise, therefore, O ye Kings! be instructed, +ye judges of the earth!" the King himself was thrilled as with a +religious terror.</p> + +<p>To ripe scholarship Bossuet added a voice that was deep and sonorous, an +imposing personality, and an animated style of gesture. Lamartine +described his voice as "like that of the thunder in the clouds, or the +organ in the cathedral."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Bourdaloue</i></h4> + +<p>Louis Bourdaloue, styled "the preacher of Kings, and the King of +preachers," was a speaker of versatile powers. He could adapt his style +to any audience, and "mechanics left their shops, merchants their +business, and lawyers their court house" in order to hear him. His high +personal character, simplicity of life, and clear and logical utterance +combined to make him an accomplished orator.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Massillon</i></h4> + +<p>Massillon preached directly to the hearts of his hearers. He was of a +deeply affectionate nature, hence his style was that of tender +persuasiveness rather than of declamation. He had remarkable spiritual +insight and knowledge of the human heart, and was himself deeply moved +by the truths which he proclaimed to other men.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Lord Chatham</i></h4> + +<p>Lord Chatham's oratorical style was formed on the classic model. His +intellect, at once comprehensive and vigorous, combined with deep and +intense feeling, fitted him to become one of the highest types of +orators. He was dignified and graceful, sometimes vehement, always +commanding. He ruled the British parliament by sheer force of eloquence.</p> + +<p>His voice was a wonderful instrument, so completely under control that +his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, and his full tones completely +filled the House. He had supreme self-confidence, and a sense of +superiority over those around him which acted as an inspiration to his +own mind.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Burke</i></h4> + +<p>Burke was a great master of English prose as well as a great orator. He +took large means to deal with large subjects.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> He was a man of immense +power, and his stride was the stride of a giant. He has been credited +with passion, intensity, imagination, nobility, and amplitude. His style +was sonorous and majestic.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Sheridan</i></h4> + +<p>Sheridan became a foremost parliamentary speaker and debater, despite +early discouragements. His well-known answer to a friend, who adversely +criticized his speaking, "It is in me, and it shall come out of me!" has +for years given new encouragement to many a student of public speaking. +He applied himself with untiring industry to the development of all his +powers, and so became one of the most distinguished speakers of his +day.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Charles James Fox</i></h4> + +<p>Charles James Fox was a plain, practical, forceful orator of the +thoroughly English type. His qualities of sincerity, vehemence, +simplicity, ruggedness, directness and dexterity, combined with a manly +fearlessness, made him a formidable antagonist in any debate. Facts, +analogies, illustrations, intermingled with wit, feeling, and ridicule, +gave charm and versatility to his speaking unsurpassed in his time.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Lord Brougham</i></h4> + +<p>Lord Brougham excelled in cogent, effective argument. His impassioned +reasoning often made ordinary things interesting. He ingratiated himself +by his wise and generous sentiments, and his uncompromising solicitude +for his country.</p> + +<p>He always succeeded in getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> through his protracted and parenthetical +sentences without confusion to his hearers or to himself. He could see +from the beginning of a sentence precisely what the end would be.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>John Quincy Adams</i></h4> + +<p>John Quincy Adams won a high place as a debater and orator in his speech +in Congress upon the right of petition, delivered in 1837. A formidable +antagonist, pugnacious by temperament, uniformly dignified, a profound +scholar,—his is "a name recorded on the brightest page of American +history, as statesman, diplomatist, philosopher, orator, author, and, +above all a Christian."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Patrick Henry</i></h4> + +<p>Patrick Henry was a man of extraordinary eloquence. In his day he was +regarded as the greatest orator in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> America. In his early efforts as a +speaker he hesitated much and throughout his career often gave an +impression of natural timidity. He has been favorably compared with Lord +Chatham for fire, force, and personal energy. His power was largely due +to a rare gift of lucid and concise statement.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Henry Clay</i></h4> + +<p>The eloquence of Henry Clay was magisterial, persuasive, and +irresistible. So great was his personal magnetism that multitudes came +great distances to hear him. He was a man of brilliant intellect, +fertile fancy, chivalrous nature, and patriotic fervor. He had a clear, +rotund, melodious voice, under complete command. He held, it is said, +the keys to the hearts of his countrymen.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Calhoun</i></h4> + +<p>The eloquence of John Caldwell Calhoun has been described by Daniel +Webster as "plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise; sometimes +impassioned, still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking +far for illustrations, his power consisted in the plainness of his +propositions, in the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and +energy of his manner."</p> + +<p>He exerted unusual influence over the opinions of great masses of men. +He had remarkable power of analysis and logical skill. Originality, +self-reliance, impatience, aggressiveness, persistence, sincerity, +honesty, ardor,—these were some of the personal qualities which gave +him dominating influence over his generation.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Daniel Webster</i></h4> + +<p>Daniel Webster was a massive orator.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> He combined logical and +argumentative skill with a personality of extraordinary power and +attractiveness. He had a supreme scorn for tricks of oratory, and a +horror of epithets and personalities. His best known speeches are those +delivered on the anniversary at Plymouth, the laying of the corner-stone +of Bunker Hill monument, and the deaths of Jefferson and Adams.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Edward Everett</i></h4> + +<p>Edward Everett was a man of scholastic tastes and habits. His speaking +style was remarkable for its literary finish and polished precision. His +sense of fitness saved him from serious faults of speech or manner. He +blended many graces in one, and his speeches are worthy of study as +models of oratorical style.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Rufus Choate</i></h4> + +<p>Rufus Choate was a brilliant and persuasive extempore speaker. He +possest in high degree faculties essential to great oratory—a capacious +mind, retentive memory, logical acumen, vivid imagination, deep +concentration, and wealth of language. He had an extraordinary personal +fascination, largely due to his broad sympathy and geniality.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Charles Sumner</i></h4> + +<p>Charles Sumner was a gifted orator. His delivery was highly impressive, +due fundamentally to his innate integrity and elevated personal +character. He was a wide reader and profound student. His style was +energetic, logical, and versatile. His intense patriotism and +argumentative power, won large favor with his hearers.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>William E. Channing</i></h4> + +<p>William Ellery Channing was a preacher of unusual eloquence and +intellectual power. He was small in stature, but of surpassing grace. +His voice was soft and musical, and wonderfully responsive to every +change of emotion that arose in his mind. His eloquence was not forceful +nor forensic, but gentle and persuasive.</p> + +<p>His monument bears this high tribute: "In memory of William Ellery +Channing, honored throughout Christendom for his eloquence and courage +in maintaining and advancing the great cause of truth, religion, and +human freedom."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Wendell Phillips</i></h4> + +<p>Wendell Phillips was one of the most graceful and polished orators. To +his conversational style he added an exceptional vocabulary, a clear and +flexible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> voice, and a most fascinating personality.</p> + +<p>He produced his greatest effects by the simplest means. He combined +humor, pathos, sarcasm and invective with rare skill, yet his style was +so simple that a child could have understood him.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>George William Curtis</i></h4> + +<p>George William Curtis has been described in his private capacity as +natural, gentle, manly, refined, simple, and unpretending. He was the +last of the great school of Everett, Sumner, and Phillips.</p> + +<p>His art of speaking had an enduring charm, and he completely satisfied +the taste for pure and dignified speech. His voice was of silvery +clearness, which carried to the furthermost part of the largest hall.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Gladstone</i></h4> + +<p>Gladstone was an orator of preeminent power. In fertility of thought, +spontaneity of expression, modulation of voice, and grace of gesture, he +has had few equals. He always spoke from a deep sense of duty. When he +began a sentence you could not always foresee how he would end it, but +he always succeeded. He had an extraordinary wealth of words and command +of the English language.</p> + +<p>Gladstone has been described as having eagerness, self-control, mastery +of words, gentle persuasiveness, prodigious activity, capacity for work, +extreme seriousness, range of experience, constructive power, mastery of +detail, and deep concentration. "So vast and so well ordered was the +arsenal of his mind, that he could both instruct and persuade, stimulate +his friends and demolish his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> opponents, and do all these things at an +hour's notice."</p> + +<p>He was essentially a devout man, and unquestionably his spiritual +character was the fundamental secret of his transcendent power. A keen +observer thus describes him:</p> + +<p>"While this great and famous figure was in the House of Commons, the +House had eyes for no other person. His movements on the bench, restless +and eager, his demeanor when on his legs, whether engaged in answering a +simple question, expounding an intricate Bill, or thundering in vehement +declamation, his dramatic gestures, his deep and rolling voice with its +wide compass and marked northern accent, his flashing eye, his almost +incredible command of ideas and words, made a combination of +irresistible fascination and power."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>John Bright</i></h4> + +<p>John Bright won a foremost place among British orators largely because +of his power of clear statement and vivid description. His manner was at +once ingratiating and commanding.</p> + +<p>His way of putting things was so lucid and convincing that it was +difficult to express the same ideas in any other words with equal force. +One of the secrets of his success, it is said, was his command of +colloquial simile, apposite stories, and ready wit.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bright always had himself well in hand, yet his style at times was +volcanic in its force and impetuosity. He would shut himself up for days +preparatory to delivering a great speech, and tho he committed many +passages to memory, his manner in speaking was entirely free from +artifice.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>Lincoln</i></h4> + +<p>Lincoln's power as a speaker was due to a combination of rugged gifts. +Self-reliance, sympathy, honesty, penetration, broad-mindedness, +modesty, and independence,—these were keynotes to his great character.</p> + +<p>The Gettysburg speech of less than 300 words is regarded as the greatest +short speech in history.</p> + +<p>Lincoln's aim was always to say the most sensible thing in the clearest +terms, and in the fewest possible words. His supreme respect for his +hearers won their like respect for him.</p> + +<p>There is a valuable suggestion for the student of public speaking in +this description of Lincoln's boyhood: "Abe read diligently. He read +every book he could lay his hands on, and when he came across a passage +that struck him, he would write it down on boards if he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> no paper, +and keep it there until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look +at it, repeat it. He had a copy book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he +put down all things, and thus preserved them."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Daniel O'Connell</i></h4> + +<p>Daniel O'Connell was one of the most popular orators of his day. He had +a deep, sonorous, flexible voice, which he used to great advantage. He +had a wonderful gift of touching the human heart, now melting his +hearers by his pathos, then convulsing them with his quaint humor. He +was attractive in manner, generous in feeling, spontaneous in +expression, and free from rhetorical trickery.</p> + +<p>As you read this brief sketch of some of the world's great orators, it +should be inspiring to you as a student of public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> speaking to know +something of their trials, difficulties, methods and triumphs. They have +left great examples to be emulated, and to read about them and to study +their methods is to follow somewhat in their footsteps.</p> + +<p>Great speeches, like great pictures, are inspired by great subjects and +great occasions. When a speaker is moved to vindicate the national +honor, to speak in defense of human rights, or in some other great +cause, his thought and expression assume new and wonderful power. All +the resources of his mind—will, imagination, memory, and emotion,—are +stimulated into unusual activity. His theme takes complete possession of +him and he carries conviction to his hearers by the force, sincerity, +and earnestness of his delivery. It is to this exalted type of oratory I +would have you aspire.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="EXTRACTS_FOR_STUDY_WITH_LESSON_TALK" id="EXTRACTS_FOR_STUDY_WITH_LESSON_TALK"></a>EXTRACTS FOR STUDY, WITH LESSON TALK</h2> + +<h3>EXAMPLES OF ORATORY AND HOW TO STUDY THEM</h3> + +<p>It will be beneficial to you in this connection to study examples of +speeches by the world's great orators. I furnish you here with a few +short specimens which will serve this purpose. Carefully note the +suggestions and the numbered extract to which they refer.</p> + +<p>1. Practise this example for climax. As you read it aloud, gradually +increase the intensity of your voice but do not unduly elevate the key.</p> + +<p>2. Study this particularly for its suggestive value to you as a public +speaker.</p> + +<p>3. Practise this for fervent appeal. Articulate distinctly. Pause after +each question. Do not rant or declaim, but speak it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>4. Study this for its sustained sentences and dignity of style.</p> + +<p>5. Analyze this for its strength of thought and diction. Note the +effective repetition of "I care not." Commit the passage to memory.</p> + +<p>6. Read this for elevated and patriotic feeling. Render it aloud in +deliberate and thoughtful style.</p> + +<p>7. Particularly observe the judicial clearness of this example. Note the +felicitous use of language.</p> + +<p>8. Read this aloud for oratorical style. Fit the words to your lips. +Engrave the passage on your mind by frequent repetition.</p> + +<p>9. Study this passage for its profound and prophetic thought. Render it +aloud in slow and dignified style.</p> + +<p>10. Practise this for its sustained power. The words "let him" should be +intensified at each repetition, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> phrase "and show me the man" +brought out prominently.</p> + +<p>11. Study this for its beauty and variety of language. Meditate upon it +as a model of what a speaker should be.</p> + +<p>12. Note the strength in the repeated phrase "I will never say." Observe +the power, nobility and courage manifest throughout. The closing +sentence should be read in a deeply earnest tone and at a gradually +slower rate.</p> + +<p>13. Read this for its purity and strength of style. Note the effective +use of question and answer.</p> + +<p>14. Study this passage for its common sense and exalted thought. Note +how each sentence is rounded out into fulness, until it is imprest upon +your memory.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Extracts for Study</h3> + +<h3>SPECIMENS OF ELOQUENCE</h3> + +<h4><i>A Study in Climax</i></h4> + +<p>1. My lords, these are the securities which we have in all the +constituent parts of the body of this House. We know them, we reckon +them, rest upon them, and commit safely the interests of India and of +humanity into your hands. Therefore it is with confidence that, ordered +by the Commons,</p> + +<p>I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great Britain in +Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust he has betrayed.</p> + +<p>I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great Britain, whose +national character he has dishonored.</p> + +<p>I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose laws, rights, +and liberties he has subverted, whose prop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>erties he has destroyed, +whose country he has laid waste and desolate.</p> + +<p>I impeach him in the name and by virtue of those eternal laws of justice +which he has violated.</p> + +<p>I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly +outraged, injured, and opprest in both sexes, in every age, rank, +situation, and condition of life.—<i>Impeachment of Warren Hastings:</i> +<span class="smcap">Edmund Burke</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Suggestions to the Public Speaker</i></h4> + +<p>2. I am now requiring not merely great preparation while the speaker is +learning his art but after he has accomplished his education. The most +splendid effort of the most mature orator will be always finer for being +previously elaborated with much care. There is, no doubt, a charm in +extemporaneous elocution, derived from the appearance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> of artless, +unpremeditated effusion, called forth by the occasion, and so adapting +itself to its exigencies, which may compensate the manifold defects +incident to this kind of composition: that which is inspired by the +unforeseen circumstances of the moment, will be of necessity suited to +those circumstances in the choice of the topics, and pitched in the tone +of the execution, to the feelings upon which it is to operate. These are +great virtues: it is another to avoid the besetting vice of modern +oratory—the overdoing everything—the exhaustive method—which an +off-hand speaker has no time to fall into, and he accordingly will take +only the grand and effective view; nevertheless, in oratorical merit, +such effusions must needs be very inferior; much of the pleasure they +produce depends upon the hearer's surprize that in such circumstances +any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>thing can be delivered at all, rather than upon his deliberate +judgment, that he has heard anything very excellent in itself. We may +rest assured that the highest reaches of the art, and without any +necessary sacrifice of natural effect, can only be attained by him who +well considers, and maturely prepares, and oftentimes sedulously +corrects and refines his oration. Such preparation is quite consistent +with the introduction of passages prompted by the occasion, nor will the +transition from one to the other be perceptible in the execution of the +practised master.—<i>Inaugural Discourse:</i> <span class="smcap">Lord Brougham</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Fervent Appeal</i></h4> + +<p>3. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, +peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next +gale that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of +resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we +here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life +so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and +slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may +take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!—<i>The War +Inevitable:</i> <span class="smcap">Patrick Henry</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Dignity and Style</i></h4> + +<p>4. In retiring as I am about to do, forever, from the Senate, suffer me +to express my heartfelt wishes that all the great and patriotic objects +of the wise framers of our Constitution may be fulfilled; that the high +destiny designed for it may be fully answered; and that its +deliberations, now and hereafter, may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> eventuate in securing the +prosperity of our beloved country, in maintaining its rights and honor +abroad, and upholding its interests at home. I retire, I know, at a +period of infinite distress and embarrassment. I wish I could take my +leave of you under more favorable auspices; but without meaning at this +time to say whether on any or on whom reproaches for the sad condition +of the country should fall, I appeal to the Senate and to the world to +bear testimony to my earnest and continued exertions to avert it, and to +the truth that no blame can justly attach to me.—<i>Farewell Address:</i> +<span class="smcap">Henry Clay</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Strength and Diction</i></h4> + +<p>5. For myself, I believe there is no limit fit to be assigned to it by +the human mind, because I find at work everywhere, on both sides of the +Atlantic, under va<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>rious forms and degrees of restriction on the one +hand, and under various degrees of motive and stimulus on the other, in +these branches of the common race, the great principle of the freedom of +human thought, and the respectability of individual character. I find +everywhere an elevation of the character of man as man, an elevation of +the individual as a component part of society. I find everywhere a +rebuke of the idea that the many are made for the few, or that +government is anything but an agency for mankind. And I care not beneath +what zone, frozen, temperate, or torrid; I care not of what complexion, +white, or brown; I care not under what circumstances of climate or +cultivation—if I can find a race of men on an inhabited spot of earth +whose general sentiment it is, and whose general feeling it is, that +government is made for man—man, as a relig<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>ious, moral, and social +being—and not man for government, there I know that I shall find +prosperity and happiness.—<i>The Landing at Plymouth:</i> <span class="smcap">Daniel +Webster</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Patriotic Feeling</i></h4> + +<p>6. Friends, fellow citizens, free, prosperous, happy Americans! The men +who did so much to make you are no more. The men who gave nothing to +pleasure in youth, nothing to repose in age, but all to that country +whose beloved name filled their hearts, as it does ours, with joy, can +now do no more for us; nor we for them. But their memory remains, we +will cherish it; their bright example remains, we will strive to imitate +it; the fruit of their wise counsels and noble acts remains, we will +gratefully enjoy it.</p> + +<p>They have gone to the companions of their cares, of their dangers, and +their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> toils. It is well with them. The treasures of America are now in +heaven. How long the list of our good, and wise, and brave, assembled +there! How few remain with us! There is our Washington; and those who +followed him in their country's confidence are now met together with him +and all that illustrious company.—<i>Adams and Jefferson:</i> <span class="smcap">Edward +Everett</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Clearness of Expression</i></h4> + +<p>7. I can not leave this life and character without selecting and +dwelling a moment on one or two of his traits, or virtues, or +felicities, a little longer. There is a collective impression made by +the whole of an eminent person's life, beyond, and other than, and apart +from, that which the mere general biographer would afford the means of +explaining. There is an influence of a great man de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>rived from things +indescribable, almost, or incapable of enumeration, or singly +insufficient to account for it, but through which his spirit transpires, +and his individuality goes forth on the contemporary generation. And +thus, I should say, one grand tendency of his life and character was to +elevate the whole tone of the public mind. He did this, indeed, not +merely by example. He did it by dealing, as he thought, truly and in +manly fashion with that public mind. He evinced his love of the people +not so much by honeyed phrases as by good counsels and useful service, +<i>vera pro gratis</i>. He showed how he appreciated them by submitting sound +arguments to their understandings, and right motives to their free will. +He came before them, less with flattery than with instruction; less with +a vocabulary larded with the words humanity and philanthropy, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +progress and brotherhood, than with a scheme of politics, an +educational, social and governmental system, which would have made them +prosperous, happy and great.—<i>On the Death of Daniel Webster:</i> +<span class="smcap">Rufus Choate</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study of Oratorical Style</i></h4> + +<p>8. And yet this small people—so obscure and outcast in condition—so +slender in numbers and in means—so entirely unknown to the proud and +great—so absolutely without name in contemporary records—whose +departure from the Old World took little more than the breath of their +bodies—are now illustrious beyond the lot of men; and the Mayflower is +immortal beyond the Grecian Argo or the stately ship of any victorious +admiral. Tho this was little foreseen in their day, it is plain now how +it has come to pass. The highest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> greatness surviving time and storm is +that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, +generals and admirals, with the pomp of courts and the circumstance of +war, in the gradual lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers +of truth, the poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates +human nature and teaches the rights of man, so that government of the +people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the +earth, such harbingers can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads +coextensive with the cause they served.—<i>The Qualities that Win:</i> +<span class="smcap">Charles Sumner</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Profound Thinking</i></h4> + +<p>9. There is something greater in the age than its greatest men; it is +the appearance of a new power in the world, the appearance of the +multitude of men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> on the stage where as yet the few have acted their +parts alone. This influence is to endure to the end of time. What more +of the present is to survive? Perhaps much of which we now fail to note. +The glory of an age is often hidden from itself. Perhaps some word has +been spoken in our day which we have not designed to hear, but which is +to grow clearer and louder through all ages. Perhaps some silent thinker +among us is at work in his closet whose name is to fill the earth. +Perhaps there sleeps in his cradle some reformer who is to move the +church and the world, who is to open a new era in history, who is to +fire the human soul with new hope and new daring. What else is to +survive the age? That which the age has little thought of, but which is +living in us all; I mean the soul, the immortal spirit. Of this all ages +are the unfoldings, and it is greater<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> than all. We must not feel, in +the contemplation of the vast movements in our own and former times, as +if we ourselves were nothing. I repeat it, we are greater than all. We +are to survive our age, to comprehend it, and to pronounce its +sentence.—<i>The Present Age:</i> W. E. <span class="smcap">Channing</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study of Sustained Power</i></h4> + +<p>10. Now, blue-eyed Saxon, proud of your race, go back with me to the +commencement of the century, and select what statesman you please. Let +him be either American or European; let him have a brain the result of +six generations of culture; let him have the ripest training of +university routine; let him add to it the better education of practical +life; crown his temples with the silver locks of seventy years, and show +me the man of Saxon lineage for whom his most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> sanguine admirer will +wreathe a laurel, rich as embittered foes have placed on the brow of +this negro,—rare military skill, profound knowledge of human nature, +content to blot out all party distinctions, and trust a state to the +blood of its sons,—anticipating Sir Robert Peel fifty years, and taking +his station by the side of Roger Williams, before any Englishman or +American had won the right; and yet this is the record which the history +of rival states makes up for this inspired black of St. +Domingo.—<i>Toussaint L'Ouverture:</i> <span class="smcap">Wendell Phillips</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>Study in Beauty of Language</i></h4> + +<p>11. He faced his audience with a tranquil mien and a beaming aspect that +was never dimmed. He spoke, and in the measured cadence of his quiet +voice there was intense feeling, but no decla<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>mation, no passionate +appeal, no superficial and feigned emotion. It was simple colloquy—a +gentleman conversing. Unconsciously and surely the ear and heart were +charmed. How was it done?—Ah! how did Mozart do it, how Raffael?</p> + +<p>The secret of the rose's sweetness, of the bird's ecstacy, of the +sunset's glory—that is the secret of genius and of eloquence. What was +heard, what was seen, was the form of noble manhood, the courteous and +self-possest tone, the flow of modulated speech, sparkling with +matchless richness of illustration, with apt allusion and happy anecdote +and historic parallel, with wit and pitiless invective, with melodious +pathos, with stinging satire, with crackling epigram and limpid humor, +like the bright ripples that play around the sure and steady prow of the +resistless ship. Like an illuminated vase of odors, he glowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> with +concentrated and perfumed fire. The divine energy of his conviction +utterly possest him, and his</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Pure and eloquent blood</div> +<div>Spoke in his cheek, and so distinctly wrought,</div> +<div>That one might almost say his body thought."</div></div> +</div> + +<p>Was it Pericles swaying the Athenian multitude? Was it Apollo breathing +the music of the morning from his lips?—No, no! It was an American +patriot, a modern son of liberty, with a soul as firm and as true as was +ever consecrated to unselfish duty, pleading with the American +conscience for the chained and speechless victims of American +inhumanity.—<i>Eulogy of Wendell Phillips:</i> <span class="smcap">George William +Curtis</span>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Powerful Delivery</i></h4> + +<p>12. I thank you very cordially, both friends and opponents, if opponents +you be, for the extreme kindness with which you have heard me. I have +spoken, and I must speak in very strong terms of the acts done by my +opponents. I will never say that they did it from passion; I will never +say that they did it from a sordid love of office; I have no right to +use such words; I have no right to entertain such sentiments; I +repudiate and abjure them; I give them credit for patriotic motives—I +give them credit for those patriotic motives which are incessantly and +gratuitously denied to us. I believe we are all united in a fond +attachment to the great country to which we belong; to the great empire +which has committed to it a trust and function from Providence, as +special and remarkable as was ever entrusted to any portion of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +family of man. When I speak of that trust and that function I feel that +words fail. I can not tell you what I think of the nobleness of the +inheritance which has descended upon us, of the sacredness of the duty +of maintaining it. I will not condescend to make it a part of +controversial politics. It is a part of my being, of my flesh and blood, +of my heart and soul. For those ends I have labored through my youth and +manhood, and, more than that, till my hairs are gray. In that faith and +practise I have lived, and in that faith and practise I shall +die.—<i>Midlothian Speech:</i> <span class="smcap">William Ewart Gladstone</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Purity of Style</i></h4> + +<p>13. Is this a reality? or is your Christianity a romance? is your +profession a dream? No, I am sure that your Christianity is not a +romance, and I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> equally sure that your profession is not a dream. It +is because I believe this that I appeal to you with confidence, and that +I have hope and faith in the future. I believe that we shall see, and at +no very distant time, sound economic principles spreading much more +widely among the people; a sense of justice growing up in a soil which +hitherto has been deemed unfruitful; and, which will be better than +all—the churches of the United Kingdom—the churches of Britain +awaking, as it were, from their slumbers, and girding up their loins to +more glorious work, when they shall not only accept and believe in the +prophecy, but labor earnestly for its fulfilment, that there shall come +a time—a blessed time—a time which shall last forever—when "nation +shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any +more."—<i>Peace:</i> <span class="smcap">John Bright</span>.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<h4><i>A Study in Common Sense and Exalted Thought</i></h4> + +<p>14. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole +subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an +object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never +take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no +good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied +still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, +the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will +have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were +admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in this +dispute there is still no single good reason for precipitate action. +Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who +has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust +in the best way all our present difficulty. In your hands, my +dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, are the momentous +issues of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no +conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath +registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the +most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it.—<i>The First +Inaugural Address:</i> <span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln</span>.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="HOW_TO_SPEAK_IN_PUBLIC1" id="HOW_TO_SPEAK_IN_PUBLIC1"></a>HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Grenville Kleiser</span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A talk given before The Public Speaking Club of America.</p></div> + +<p>The art of public speaking is so simple that it is difficult. There is +an erroneous impression that in order to make a successful speech a man +must have unusual natural talent in addition to long and arduous study.</p> + +<p>Consequently, many a person, when asked to make a speech, is immediately +subjected to a feeling of fear or depression. Once committed to the +undertaking, he spends anxious days and sleepless nights in mental +agony, much as a criminal is said to do just prior to his execution. +When at last he attempts his "maiden effort," he is almost wholly unfit +for his task because of the needless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> waste of thought and energy +expended in fear.</p> + +<p>Elbert Hubbard once confided to me that when he made deliberate +preparation for an elaborate speech,—which was seldom,—it was +invariably a disappointment. To push a great speech before him for an +hour or more used up most of his vitality. It was like making a speech +while attempting to carry a heavy burden on the back.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>HOW THE SPEAKER MUST PREPARE HIMSELF</h3> + +<p>There is, of course, certain preparation necessary for effective public +speaking. The so-called impromptu speech is largely the product of +previous knowledge and study. What the speaker has read, what he has +seen, what he has heard,—in short, what he actually knows, furnishes +the available material for his use.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>As the public speaker gains in experience, however, he learns to put +aside, at the time of speaking, all conscious thought of rules or +methods. He learns through discipline how to abandon himself to the +subject in hand and to give spontaneous expression to all his powers.</p> + +<p><i>Primarily, then, the public speaker should have a well-stored mind.</i> He +should have mental culture in a broad way; sound judgment, a sense of +proportion, mental alertness, a retentive memory, tact, and common +sense,—these are vital to good speaking.</p> + +<p><i>The physical requirements of the public speaker</i> comprise good health +and bodily vigor. He must have power of endurance, since there will be +at times arduous demands upon him. It is worthy of note that most of the +world's great orators have been men with great animal vitality.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>The student of public speaking should give careful attention to his +personal appearance, which includes care of the teeth. His clothes, +linen, and the evidence of general care and cleanliness, will play an +important part in the impression he makes upon an audience.</p> + +<p><i>Elocutionary training is essential.</i> Daily drill in deep breathing, +articulation, pronunciation, voice culture, gesture, and expression, are +prerequisites to polished speech. Experienced public speakers of the +best type know the necessity for daily practise.</p> + +<p><i>The mental training of the public speaker</i>, so often neglected, should +be regular and thorough. A reliable memory and a vivid imagination are +his indispensable allies.</p> + +<p><i>The moral side of the public speaker</i> will include the development of +character, sympathy, self-confidence and kin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>dred qualities. To be a +leader of other men, a speaker must have clear, settled, vigorous views +upon the subject under consideration.</p> + +<p>So much, briefly, as to the previous preparation of the speaker.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>HOW THE SPEAKER MUST PREPARE HIS SPEECH</h3> + +<p><i>As to the speech itself, the speaker first chooses a subject.</i> This +will depend upon the nature of the occasion and the purpose in view. He +proceeds intelligently to gather material on his selected theme, +supplementing the resources of his own mind with information from books, +periodicals, and other sources.</p> + +<p><i>The next step is to make a brief</i>, or outline of his subject. A brief +is composed of three parts, called the introduction, the discussion or +statement of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> facts, and the conclusion. Principal ideas are placed +under headings and subheadings.</p> + +<p><i>The speaker next writes out his speech in full</i>, using the brief as the +basis of procedure. The discipline of writing out a speech, even tho the +intention is to speak without notes, is of inestimable value. It is one +of the best indications of the speaker's thoroughness and sincerity.</p> + +<p>When the speech has at last been carefully written out, revised, and +approved, should it be committed word for word to memory, or only in +part, or should the speaker read from the manuscript?</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE PART MEMORY PLAYS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING</h3> + +<p>Here circumstances must govern. <i>The most approved method is to fix the +thoughts clearly in mind, and to trust</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> <i>to the time of speaking for +exact phraseology.</i> This method requires, however, that the speaker +rehearse his speech over and over again, changing the form of the words +frequently, so as to acquire facility in the use of language.</p> + +<p><i>The great objection to memoriter speaking is that it limits and +handicaps the speaker.</i> He is like a schoolboy "saying his piece." He is +in constant danger of running off the prescribed track and of having to +begin again at some definite point.</p> + +<p>The most effective speaker to-day is the one who can think clearly and +promptly on his feet, and can speak from his personality rather than +from his memory. Untrammelled by manuscript or effort of memory, he +gives full and spontaneous expression to his powers. On the other hand, +a speech from memory is like a recitation, almost in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>evitably stilted +and artificial in character.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE STUDY OF WORDS AND IDEAS</h3> + +<p>Those who would become highly proficient in public speaking should form +the dictionary habit. It is a profitable and pleasant exercise to study +lists of words and to incorporate them in one's daily conversation. Ten +minutes devoted regularly every day to this study will build the +vocabulary in a rapid manner.</p> + +<p>The study of words is really a study of ideas,—since words are symbols +of ideas,—and while the student is increasing his working vocabulary, +in the way indicated, he is at the same time furnishing his mind with +new and useful ideas.</p> + +<p><i>One of the best exercises for the student of public speaking is to read +aloud daily, taking care to read as he would speak.</i> He should choose +one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> standard writers, such as Stevenson, Ruskin, Newman, or +Carlyle, and while reading severely criticize his delivery. Such reading +should be done standing up and as if addressing an audience. This simple +exercise will, in the course of a few weeks, yield the most gratifying +results.</p> + +<p>It is true that "All art must be preceded by a certain mechanical +expertness," but as the highest art is to conceal art, a student must +learn eventually to abandon thought of "exercises" and "rules."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF THE PUBLIC SPEAKER</h3> + +<p>The three greatest qualities in a successful public speaker are +simplicity, directness, and deliberateness.</p> + +<p>Lincoln had these qualities in preeminent degree. His speech at +Gettysburg—the model short speech of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> history—occupied about three +minutes in delivery. Edward Everett well said afterward that he would +have been content to make the same impression in three hours which +Lincoln made in that many minutes.</p> + +<p>The great public speakers in all times have been earnest and diligent +students. We are familiar with the indefatigable efforts of Demosthenes, +who rose from very ordinary circumstances, and goaded by the realization +of great natural defects, through assiduous self-training eventually +made the greatest of the world's orations, "The Speech on the Crown."</p> + +<p>Cicero was a painstaking disciple of the speaker's art and gave himself +much to the discipline of the pen. His masterly work on oratory in which +he commends others to write much, remains unsurpassed to this day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>John Bright, the eminent British orator, always required time for +preparation. He read every morning from the Bible, from which he drew +rich material for argument and illustration. A remarkable thing about +him was that he spoke seldom.</p> + +<p>Phillips Brooks was an ideal speaker, combining simplicity and sympathy +in large degree. He was a splendid type of pulpit orator produced by +broad spiritual culture.</p> + +<p>Henry Ward Beecher had unique powers as a dramatic and eloquent speaker. +In his youth he hesitated in his speech, which led him to study +elocution. He himself tells of how he went to the woods daily to +practise vocal exercises.</p> + +<p>He was an exponent of thorough preparation, never speaking upon a +subject until he had made it his own by diligent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> study. Like Phillips +Brooks, he was a man of large sympathy and imagination—two faculties +indispensable to persuasive eloquence.</p> + +<p>It was his oratory that first brought fame to Gladstone. He had a superb +voice, and he possest that fighting force essential to a great public +debater. When he quitted the House of Commons in his eighty-fifth year +his powers of eloquence were practically unimpaired.</p> + +<p>Wendell Phillips was distinguished for his personality, conversational +style, and thrilling voice. He had a wonderful vocabulary, and a +personal magnetism which won men instantly to him. It is said that he +relied principally upon the power of truth to make his speaking +eloquent. He, too, was an untiring student of the speaker's art.</p> + +<p>As we examine the lives and records of eminent speakers of other days, +we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> are imprest with the fact that they were sincere and earnest +students of the art in which they ultimately excelled.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>LEARNING TO THINK ON YOUR FEET</h3> + +<p>One of the best exercises for learning to think and speak on the feet is +to practise daily giving one minute impromptu talks upon chosen +subjects. A good plan is to write subjects of a general character, on +say fifty or more cards, and then to speak on each subject as it is +chosen.</p> + +<p>This simple exercise will rapidly develop facility of thought and +expression and give greatly increased self-confidence.</p> + +<p>It is a good plan to prepare more material than one intends to use—at +least twice as much. It gives a comfortable feeling of security when one +stands before an audience, to know that if some of the prepared matter +evades his mem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>ory, he still has ample material at his ready service.</p> + +<p>There is no more interesting and valuable study than that of speaking in +public. It confers distinct advantages by way of improved health, +through special exercise in deep breathing and voice culture; by way of +stimulated thought and expression; and by an increase of self-confidence +and personal power.</p> + +<p>Men and women in constantly increasing numbers are realizing the +importance of public speaking, and as questions multiply for debate and +solution the need for this training will be still more widely +appreciated, so that a practical knowledge of public speaking will in +time be considered indispensable to a well-rounded education.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<h3>Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk</h3> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE STYLE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT</h3> + +<p>The speeches of Mr. Roosevelt commend themselves to the student of +public speaking for their fearlessness, frankness, and robustness of +thought. His aim was deliberate and effective.</p> + +<p>His style was generally exuberant, and the note of personal assertion +prominent. He was direct in diction, often vehement in feeling, and one +of his characteristics was a visible satisfaction when he drove home a +special thought to his hearers.</p> + +<p>It is hoped that the extract reprinted here, from Mr. Roosevelt's famous +address, "The Strenuous Life," will lead the student to study the speech +in its entirety. The speech will be found in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> "Essays and Addresses," +published by The Century Company.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'> </p> + +<h3>THE STRENUOUS LIFE<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By Theodore Roosevelt</span></h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Extract from speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, +April 10, 1899. From the "Strenuous Life. Essays and Addresses" by +Theodore Roosevelt. The Century Co., 1900.</p></div> + +<p>In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the +State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently +and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American +character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the +doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor +and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to +the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink +from danger, from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these +wins the splendid ultimate triumph.</p> + +<p>A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from +lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as +little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what +every self-respecting American demands from himself and his sons shall +be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you would teach +the boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in +their eyes—to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? You men of +Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your +share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you +neither preach nor practise such a doctrine. You work, yourselves, and +you bring up your sons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> to work. If you are rich and are worth your salt +you will teach your sons that tho they may have leisure, it is not to be +spent in idleness; for wisely used leisure merely means that those who +possess it, being free from the necessity of working for their +livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of +non-remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in +historical research—work of the type we most need in this country, the +successful carrying out of which reflects most honor upon the nation. We +do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies +victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt +to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in +the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse +never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> nothing save by +effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has +been stored up effort in the past. A man can be freed from the necessity +of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked +to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright and the +man still does actual work tho of a different kind, whether as a writer +or a general, whether in the field of politics or in the field of +exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good fortune. But if +he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a +period, not of preparation, but of more enjoyment, he shows that he is +simply a cumberer on the earth's surface, and he surely unfits himself +to hold his own with his fellows if the need to do so should again +arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, +and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow +it for serious work in the world.</p> + +<p>In the last analysis a healthy State can exist only when the men and +women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the +children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk +difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to +wrest triumph from toil and risk. The man must be glad to do a man's +work, to dare and endure and to labor; to keep himself, and to keep +those dependent upon him. The woman must be the housewife, the helpmeet +of the homemaker, the wise and fearless mother of many healthy children. +In one of Daudet's powerful and melancholy books he speaks of "the fear +of maternity, the haunting terror of the young wife of the present day." +When such words can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> be truthfully written of a nation, that nation is +rotten to the heart's core. When men fear work or fear righteous war, +when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well +it is that they should vanish from the earth, where they are fit +subjects for the scorn of all men and women who are themselves strong +and brave and high-minded.</p> + +<p>As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base +untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice +happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to +dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even tho checkered by +failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy +much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows +not victory nor defeat. If in 1861 the men who loved the Union had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +believed that peace was the end of all things, and war and strife the +worst of all things, and had acted up to their belief, we would have +saved hundreds of lives, we would have saved hundreds of millions of +dollars. Moreover, besides saving all the blood and treasure we then +lavished, we would have prevented the heartbreak of many women, the +dissolution of many homes, and we would have spared the country those +months of gloom and shame when it seemed as if our armies marched only +to defeat. We could have avoided all this suffering simply by shrinking +from strife. And if we had thus avoided it, we would have shown that we +were weaklings, and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations +of the earth. Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers, the +men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln, and bore sword or rifle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> in the +armies of Grant! Let us, the children of the men who proved themselves +equal to the mighty days, let us the children of the men who carried the +great Civil War to a triumphant conclusion, praise the God of our +fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were rejected; that the +suffering and loss, the blackness of sorrow and despair were +unflinchingly faced, and the years of strife endured; for in the end the +slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic +placed once more as a helmeted queen among nations....</p> + +<p>The Army and Navy are the sword and shield which this nation must carry +if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth—if she is not +to stand merely as the China of the western hemisphere. Our proper +conduct toward the tropic islands we have wrested from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> Spain is merely +the form which our duty has taken at the moment. Of course, we are bound +to handle the affairs of our own household well. We must see that there +is civic good sense in our home administration of city, State and +nation. We must strive for honesty in office, for honesty toward the +creditors of the nation and of the individual, for the widest freedom of +individual initiative where possible, and for the wisest control of +individual initiative where it is hostile to the welfare of the many. +But because we set our own household in order we are not thereby excused +from playing our part in the great affairs of the world. A man's first +duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his +duty to the State; for if he fails in this second duty, it is under the +penalty of ceasing to be a freeman. In the same way, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> a nation's +first duty is within its own borders it is not thereby absolved from +facing its duties in the world as a whole; and if it refuses to do so, +it merely forfeits its right to struggle for a place among the peoples +that shape the destiny of mankind.</p> + +<hr class='smler' /> + +<p>I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the +life of ease, but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth +century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand +idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if +we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their +lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and +stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the +domination of the world. Let us, therefore, boldly face the life of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold +righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, +to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us +shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, +provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only +through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall +ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="ADVERTISEMENTS" id="ADVERTISEMENTS"></a>ADVERTISEMENTS</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h3>HOW TO</h3> + +<h2>Develop Self-Confidence IN SPEECH AND MANNER</h2> + +<h3>By GRENVILLE KLEISER</h3> + +<h4><i>Author of "How to Argue and Win."</i></h4> + +<p>In all fields of endeavor there are thousands of people who are forced +to remain in the background because they lack self-confidence in speech +and manner—the very fundamental of success. For just such people +Grenville Kleiser has written his book "How to Develop Self-Confidence +in Speech and Manner."</p> + +<p>The work deals with methods of correction for self-consciousness, with +manners as a power in the making of men, with the value of a cultivated +and agreeable voice, with confidence in society and business. A series +of suggestions is given for an every-day cultivation of these qualities.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Embodies in a most encouraging and practical way all that is +needed to make one who is naturally timid or fearful in speech and +manner, self-poised, calm, dignified and confident of himself. It +must be said that the method proposed is one of sober self-estimate +and persistent effort along well considered lines of thought and +action, designed to eradicate this uneasiness."—<i>Times Dispatch</i>, +Richmond, Va.</p></blockquote> + +<p class='center'><i>12mo, Cloth. $1.50, Net; by mail, $1.65</i></p> + +<h3>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers</h3> + +<h4>NEW YORK <span class="smcap">and</span> LONDON</h4> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>ELSIE JANIS, the wonderful protean actress, says:—"I can not speak in +too high praise of the opening remarks. If carefully read, will greatly +assist. Have several books of choice selections, but I find some in +'Humorous Hits' never before published."</i></p> + +<hr class='smler' /> + +<h2>HUMOROUS HITS</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">And How to Hold an Audience</span></h3> + +<h3>By GRENVILLE KLEISER</h3> + +<h4><i>Author of "How to Argue and Win."</i></h4> + +<p>This is a choice, new collection of effective recitations, sketches, +stories, poems, monologues; the favorite numbers of world-famed +humorists such as James Whitcomb Riley, Eugene Field, Mark Twain, Finley +Peter Dunne, W. J. Lampton, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Chas. Batell Loomis, +Wallace Irwin, Richard Mansfield, Bill Nye, S. E. Kiser, Tom Masson, and +others. It is the best book for home entertainment, and the most useful +for teachers, orators, after-dinner speakers, and actors.</p> + +<p>In this book, Mr. Kleiser also gives practical suggestions on how to +deliver humorous or other selections so that they will make the +strongest possible impression on the audience.</p> + +<p class='center'><i>Cloth 12mo, 316 pages. Price, $1.25, Net; Post-paid, $1.37</i></p> + +<h3>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers</h3> + +<h4>NEW YORK <span class="smcap">and</span> LONDON</h4> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Successful Methods of Public Speaking, by +Grenville Kleiser + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC *** + +***** This file should be named 18095-h.htm or 18095-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/9/18095/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Suzanne Lybarger, Martin Pettit +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/18095-h/images/logo.png b/18095-h/images/logo.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfaf51b --- /dev/null +++ b/18095-h/images/logo.png diff --git a/18095.txt b/18095.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a964a42 --- /dev/null +++ b/18095.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2901 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Successful Methods of Public Speaking, by +Grenville Kleiser + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Successful Methods of Public Speaking + +Author: Grenville Kleiser + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [EBook #18095] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Suzanne Lybarger, Martin Pettit +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING + + + + +_By Grenville Kleiser_ + + +Inspiration and Ideals +How to Build Mental Power +How to Develop Self-Confidence in Speech and Manner +How to Read and Declaim +How to Speak in Public +How to Develop Power and Personality in Speaking +Great Speeches and How to Make Them +How to Argue and Win +Humorous Hits and How to Hold an Audience +Complete Guide to Public Speaking +Talks on Talking +Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases +The World's Great Sermons +Mail Course in Public Speaking +Mail Course in Practical English +How to Speak Without Notes +Something to Say: How to Say It +Successful Methods of Public Speaking +Model Speeches for Practise +The Training of a Public Speaker +How to Sell Through Speech +Impromptu Speeches: How to Make Them +Word-Power: How to Develop It +Christ: The Master Speaker +Vital English for Speakers and Writers + + + + +Successful Methods of Public Speaking + +BY GRENVILLE KLEISER + +_Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity School, Yale +University. Author of "How to Speak in Public," "Great Speeches and How +to Make Them," "Complete Guide to Public Speaking," "How to Build Mental +Power," "Talks on Talking," etc., etc._ + +[Illustration: Publisher's logo] + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + +NEW YORK AND LONDON + +1919 + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY + +GRENVILLE KLEISER + +[_Printed in the United States of America_] + +Published, February, 1920 + +Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the +Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910 + + + + +PREFACE + + +As you carefully study the successful methods of public speakers, as +briefly set forth in this book, you will observe that there is nothing +that can be substituted for personal sincerity. Unless you thoroughly +believe in the message you wish to convey to others, you are not likely +to impress them favorably. + +It was said of an eminent British orator, that when one heard him speak +in public, one instinctively felt that there was something finer in the +man than in anything he said. + +Therein lies the key to successful oratory. When the truth of your +message is deeply engraved on your own mind; when your own heart has +been touched as by a living flame; when your own character and +personality testify to the innate sincerity and nobility of your life, +then your speech will be truly eloquent, and men will respond to your +fervent appeal. + + GRENVILLE KLEISER. + +New York City, +August, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +PREFACE v + +SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 11 + +STUDY OF MODEL SPEECHES 55 + +HISTORY OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 91 + +EXTRACTS FOR STUDY, WITH LESSON TALK 117 + +HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC 145 + + + + +SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING + + +You can acquire valuable knowledge for use in your own public speaking +by studying the successful methods of other men. This does not mean, +however, that you are to imitate others, but simply to profit by their +experience and suggestions in so far as they fit in naturally with your +personality. + +All successful speakers do not speak alike. Each man has found certain +things to be effective in his particular case, but which would not +necessarily be suited to a different type of speaker. + +When, therefore, you read the following methods of various men, ask +yourself in each case whether you can apply the ideas to advantage in +your own speaking. Put the method to a practical test, and decide for +yourself whether it is advisable for you to adopt it or not. + + +Requirements of Effective Speaking + +There are certain requirements in public speaking which you and every +other speaker must observe. You must be grammatical, intelligent, lucid, +and sincere. These are essential. You must know your subject thoroughly, +and have the ability to put it into pleasing and persuasive form. + +But beyond these considerations there are many things which must be left +to your temperament, taste, and individuality. To compel you to speak +according to inflexible rules would make you not an orator but an +automaton. + +The temperamental differences in successful speakers have been very +great. One eminent speaker used practically no gesture; another was in +almost constant action. One was quiet, modest, and conversational in his +speaking style; another was impulsive and resistless as a mountain +torrent. + +It is safe to say that almost any man, however unpretentious his +language, will command a hearing in Congress, Parliament, or elsewhere, +if he gives accurate information upon a subject of importance and in a +manner of unquestioned sincerity. + +You will observe in the historical accounts of great orators, that +without a single exception they studied, read, practised, conversed, and +meditated, not occasionally, but with daily regularity. Many of them +were endowed with natural gifts, but they supplemented these with +indefatigable work. + + +Well-known Speakers and Their Methods + +_Chalmers_ + +There is a rugged type of speaker who transcends and seemingly defies +all rules of oratory. Such a man was the great Scottish preacher +Chalmers, who was without polished elocution, grace, or manner, but who +through his intellectual power and moral earnestness thrilled all who +heard him. + +He read his sermons entirely from manuscripts, but it is evident from +the effects of his preaching that he was not a slave to the written word +as many such speakers have been. While he read, he retained much of his +freedom of gesture and physical expression, doubtless due to familiarity +with his subject and thorough preparation of his message. + + +_John Bright_ + +You can profitably study the speeches of John Bright. They are +noteworthy for their simplicity of diction and uniform quality of +directness. His method was to make a plain statement of facts, enunciate +certain fundamental principles, then follow with his argument and +application. + +His choice of words and style of delivery were most carefully studied, +and his sonorous voice was under such complete control that he could +speak at great length without the slightest fatigue. Many of his +illustrations were drawn from the Bible, which he is said to have known +better than any other book. + + +_Lord Brougham_ + +Lord Brougham wrote nine times the concluding parts of his speech for +the defense of Queen Caroline. He once told a young man that if he +wanted to speak well he must first learn to talk well. He recognized +that good talking was the basis of effective public speaking. + +Bear in mind, however, that this does not mean you are always to confine +yourself to a conversational level. There are themes which demand large +treatment, wherein vocal power and impassioned feeling are appropriate +and essential. But what Lord Brougham meant, and it is equally true +to-day, was that good public speaking is fundamentally good talking. + + +_Edmund Burke_ + +Edmund Burke recommended debate as one of the best means for developing +facility and power in public speaking. Himself a master of debate, he +said, "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our +skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This amiable conflict with +difficulty obliges us to have an intimate acquaintance with our subject, +and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer +us to be superficial." + +Burke, like all great orators, believed in premeditation, and always +wrote and corrected his speeches with fastidious care. While such men +knew that inspiration might come at the moment of speaking, they +preferred to base their chances of success upon painstaking preparation. + + +_Massillon_ + +Massillon, the great French divine, spoke in a commanding voice and in a +style so direct that at times he almost overwhelmed his hearers. His +pointed and personal questions could not be evaded. He sent truth like +fiery darts to the hearts of his hearers. + +I ask you to note very carefully the following eloquent passage from a +sermon in which he explained how men justified themselves because they +were no worse than the multitude: + +"On this account it is, my brethren, that I confine myself to you who at +present are assembled here; I include not the rest of men, but consider +you as alone existing on the earth. The idea which occupies and +frightens me is this: I figure to myself the present as your last hour +and the end of the world; that the heavens are going to open above your +heads; our Savior, in all His glory, to appear in the midst of the +temple; and that you are only assembled here to wait His coming; like +trembling criminals on whom the sentence is to be pronounced, either of +life eternal or of everlasting death; for it is vain to flatter +yourselves that you shall die more innocent than you are at this hour. +All those desires of change with which you are amused will continue to +amuse you till death arrives, the experience of all ages proves it; the +only difference you have to expect will most likely be a larger balance +against you than what you would have to answer for at present; and from +what would be your destiny were you to be judged this moment, you may +almost decide upon what will take place at your departure from life. +Now, I ask you (and connecting my own lot with yours I ask with dread), +were Jesus Christ to appear in this temple, in the midst of this +assembly, to judge us, to make the dreadful separation betwixt the goats +and sheep, do you believe that the greatest number of us would be placed +at His right hand? Do you believe that the number would at least be +equal? Do you believe there would even be found ten upright and +faithful servants of the Lord, when formerly five cities could not +furnish so many? I ask you. You know not, and I know it not. Thou alone, +O my God, knowest who belong to Thee. But if we know not who belong to +Him, at least we know that sinners do not. Now, who are the just and +faithful assembled here at present? Titles and dignities avail nothing, +you are stript of all these in the presence of your Savior. Who are +they? Many sinners who wish not to be converted; many more who wish, but +always put it off; many others who are only converted in appearance, and +again fall back to their former courses. In a word, a great number who +flatter themselves they have no occasion for conversion. This is the +party of the reprobate. Ah! my brethren, cut off from this assembly +these four classes of sinners, for they will be cut off at the great +day. And now appear, ye just! Where are ye? O God, where are Thy chosen? +And what a portion remains to Thy share." + + +_Gladstone_ + +Gladstone had by nature a musical and melodious voice, but through +practise he developed an unusual range of compass and variety. He could +sink it to a whisper and still be audible, while in open-air meetings he +could easily make himself heard by thousands. + +He was courteous, and even ceremonious, in his every-day meeting with +men, so that it was entirely natural for him to be deferential and +ingratiating in his public speaking. He is an excellent illustration of +the value of cultivating in daily conversation and manner the qualities +you desire to have in your public address. + + +_John Quincy Adams_ + +John Quincy Adams read two chapters from the Bible every morning, which +accounted in large measure for his resourceful English style. He was +fond of using the pen in daily composition, and constantly committed to +paper the first thoughts which occurred to him upon any important +subject. + + +_Fox_ + +The ambition of Fox was to become a great political orator and debater, +in which at last he succeeded. His mental agility was manifest in his +reply to an elector whom he had canvassed for a vote, and who offered +him a halter instead. "Oh thank you," said Fox, "I would not deprive you +of what is evidently a family relic." + +His method was to take each argument of an opponent, and dispose of it +in regular order. His passion was for argument, upon great or petty +subjects. He availed himself of every opportunity to speak. "During five +whole sessions," he said, "I spoke every night but one; and I regret +that I did not speak on that night, too." + + +_Theodore Parker_ + +Theodore Parker always read his sermons aloud while writing them, in +order to test their "speaking quality." His opinion was that an +impressive delivery depended particularly upon vigorous feeling, +energetic thinking, and clearness of statement. + + +_Henry Ward Beecher_ + +Henry Ward Beecher's method was to practise vocal exercises in the open +air, exploding all the vowel sounds in various keys. This practise duly +produced a most flexible instrument, which served him throughout his +brilliant career. He said: + +"I had from childhood impediments of speech arising from a large palate, +so that when a boy I used to be laughed at for talking as if I had a +pudding in my mouth. When I went to Amherst, I was fortunate in passing +into the hands of John Lovell, a teacher of elocution, and a better +teacher for my purpose I can not conceive of. His system consisted in +drill, or the thorough practise of inflections by the voice, of gesture, +posture and articulation. Sometimes I was a whole hour practising my +voice on a word--like justice. I would have to take a posture, +frequently at a mark chalked on the floor. Then we would go through all +the gestures, exercising each movement of the arm and throwing open the +hand. All gestures except those of precision go in curves, the arm +rising from the side, coming to the front, turning to the left or +right. I was drilled as to how far the arm should come forward, where it +should start from, how far go back, and under what circumstances these +movements should be made. It was drill, drill, drill, until the motions +almost became a second nature. Now, I never know what movements I shall +make. My gestures are natural, because this drill made them natural to +me. The only method of acquiring effective elocution is by practise, of +not less than an hour a day, until the student has his voice and himself +thoroughly subdued and trained to get right expression." + + +_Lord Bolingbroke_ + +Lord Bolingbroke made it a rule always to speak well in daily +conversation, however unimportant the occasion. His taste and accuracy +at last gave him a style in ordinary speech worthy to have been put +into print as it fell from his lips. + + +_Lord Chatham_ + +Lord Chatham, despite his great natural endowments for speaking, devoted +a regular time each day to developing a varied and copious vocabulary. +He twice examined each word in the dictionary, from beginning to end, in +his ardent desire to master the English language. + + +_John Philpot Curran_ + +The well-known case of John Philpot Curran should give encouragement to +every aspiring student of public speaking. He was generally known as +"Orator Mum," because of his failure in his first attempt at public +speaking. But he resolved to develop his oratorical powers, and devoted +every morning to intense reading. In addition, he regularly carried in +his pocket a small copy of a classic for convenient reading at odd +moments. + +It is said that he daily practised declamation before a looking-glass, +closely scrutinizing his gesture, posture, and manner. He was an earnest +student of public speaking, and eventually became one of the most +eloquent of world orators. + + +_Balfour_ + +Among present-day speakers in England Mr. Balfour occupies a leading +place. He possesses the gift of never saying a word too much, a habit +which might be copied to advantage by many public speakers. His habit +during a debate is to scribble a few words on an envelop, and then to +speak with rare facility of English style. + + +_Bonar Law_ + +Bonar Law does not use any notes in the preparation of a speech, but +carefully thinks out the various parts, and then by means of a series of +"mental rehearsals" fixes them indelibly in his mind. The result of this +conscientious practise has made him a formidable debater and extempore +speaker. + + +_Asquith_ + +Herbert H. Asquith, who possesses the rare gift of summoning the one +inevitable word, and of compressing his speeches into a small space of +time, speaks with equal success whether from a prepared manuscript or +wholly extempore. His unsurpassed English style is the result of many +years reading and study of prose masterpieces. "He produces, wherever +and whenever he wants them, an endless succession of perfectly coined +sentences, conceived with unmatched felicity and delivered without +hesitation in a parliamentary style which is at once the envy and the +despair of imitators." + + +_Bryan_ + +William Jennings Bryan is by common consent one of the greatest public +speakers in America. He has a voice of unusual power and compass, and +his delivery is natural and deliberate. His style is generally forensic, +altho he frequently rises to the dramatic. He has been a diligent +student of oratory, and once said: + +"The age of oratory has not passed; nor will it pass. The press, instead +of displacing the orator, has given him a larger audience and enabled +him to do a more extended work. As long as there are human rights to be +defended; as long as there are great interests to be guarded; as long +as the welfare of nations is a matter for discussion, so long will +public speaking have its place." + + +_Roosevelt_ + +Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most effective of American public +speakers, due in large measure to intense moral earnestness and great +stores of physical vitality. His diction was direct and his style +energetic. He spoke out of the fulness of a well-furnished mind. + + +Success Factors in Platform Speaking + +Constant practise of composition has been the habit of all great +orators. This, combined with the habit of reading and re-reading the +best prose writers and poets, accounts in large measure for the +felicitous style of such men as Burke, Erskine, Macaulay, Bolingbroke, +Phillips, Everett and Webster. + +I can not too often urge you to use your pen in daily composition as a +means to felicity and facility of speech. The act of writing out your +thoughts is a direct aid to concentration, and tends to enforce the +habit of choosing the best language. It gives clearness, force, +precision, beauty, and copiousness of style, so valuable in +extemporaneous and impromptu speaking. + + +ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEMORIZING SPEECHES + +Some of the most highly successful speakers carefully wrote out, +revised, and committed to memory important passages in their speeches. +These they dexterously wove into the body of their addresses in such a +natural manner as not to expose their method. + +This plan, however, is not to be generally recommended, since few men +have the faculty of rendering memorized parts so as to make them appear +extempore. If you recite rather than speak to an audience, you may be a +good entertainer, but just to that degree will you impair your power and +effectiveness as a public speaker. + +There are speakers who have successfully used the plan of committing to +memory significant sentences, statements, or sayings, and skilfully +embodying them in their speeches. You might test this method for +yourself, tho it is attended with danger. + +If possible, join a local debating society, where you will have +excellent opportunity for practise in thinking and speaking on your +feet. Many distinguished public speakers have owed their fluency of +speech and self-confidence to early practise in debate. + + +THE VALUE OF REPETITION + +Persuasion is a task of skill. You must bring to your aid in speaking +every available resource. An effective weapon at times is a "remorseless +iteration." Have the courage to repeat yourself as often as may be +necessary to impress your leading ideas upon the minds of your hearers. +Note the forensic maxim, "tell a judge twice whatever you want him to +hear; tell a special jury thrice, and a common jury half a dozen times, +the view of a case you wish them to entertain." + + +THE NEED OF SELF-CONFIDENCE + +Whatever methods of premeditation you adopt in the preparation of a +speech, having planned everything to the best of your ability, dismiss +from your mind all anxiety and all thought about yourself. + +Right preparation and earnest practise should give you a full degree of +confidence in your ability to perform the task before you. When you +stand at last before the audience, it should be with the assurance that +you are thoroughly equipped to say something of real interest and +importance. + + +THE POWER OF PERSONALITY + +Personality plays a vital part in a speaker's success. Gladstone +described Cardinal Newman's manner in the pulpit as unsatisfactory if +considered in its separate parts. "There was not much change in the +inflection of his voice; action there was none; his sermons were read, +and his eyes were always on his book; and all that, you will say, is +against efficiency in preaching. Yes; but you take the man as a whole, +and there was a stamp and a seal upon him, there was solemn music and +sweetness in his tone, there was a completeness in the figure, taken +together with the tone and with the manner, which made even his delivery +such as I have described it, and tho exclusively with written sermons, +singularly attractive." + + +THE DANGER OF IMITATION + +It is a fatal mistake, as I have said, to set out deliberately to +imitate some favorite speaker, and to mold your style after his. You +will observe certain things and methods in other speakers which will fit +in naturally with your style and temperament. To this extent you may +advantageously adopt them, but always be on your guard against anything +which might in the slightest degree impair your own individuality. + + +Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk + +FEATURES OF AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS + + +You will find useful material for study and practise in the speech which +follows, delivered by Lord Rosebery at the Unveiling of the Statue of +Gladstone at Glasgow, Scotland, October 11th, 1902. + +The English style is noteworthy for its uniform charm and naturalness. +There is an unmistakable personal note which contributes greatly to the +effect of the speaker's words. + +This eloquent address is a model for such an occasion, and a good +illustration of the work of a speaker thoroughly familiar with his +theme. It has sufficient variety to sustain interest, dignity in keeping +with the subject, and a note of inspiration which would profoundly +impress an audience of thinking men. It is a scholarly address. + +Note the concise introductory sentences. Repeat them aloud and observe +how easily they flow from the lips. Notice the balance and variety of +successive sentences, the stately diction, and the underlying tone of +deep sincerity. + +Examine every phrase and sentence of this eloquent speech. Study the +conclusion and particularly the closing paragraph. When you have +thoroughly analyzed the speech, stand up and render it aloud in +clear-cut tones and appropriately dignified style. + + +SPEECH FOR STUDY + +AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF GLADSTONE + +(_Address of Lord Rosebery_) + +I am here to-day to unveil the image of one of the great figures of our +country. It is right and fitting that it should stand here. A statue of +Mr. Gladstone is congenial in any part of Scotland. But in this Scottish +city, teeming with eager workers, endowed with a great University, a +center of industry, commerce, and thought, a statue of William Ewart +Gladstone is at home. + +But you in Glasgow have more personal claims to a share in the +inheritance of Mr. Gladstone's fame. I, at any rate, can recall one +memory--the record of that marvelous day in December, 1879, nearly +twenty-three years ago, when the indomitable old man delivered his +rectorial address to the students at noon, a long political speech in +St. Andrew's Hall in the evening, and a substantial discourse on +receiving an address from the Corporation at ten o'clock at night. Some +of you may have been present at all these gatherings, some only at the +political meeting. If they were, they may remember the little incidents +of the meeting--the glasses which were hopelessly lost and then, of +course, found on the orator's person--the desperate candle brought in, +stuck in a water-bottle, to attempt sufficient light to read an extract. +And what a meeting it was--teeming, delirious, absorbed! Do you have +such meetings now? They seem to me pretty good; but the meetings of that +time stand out before all others in my mind. + +This statue is erected, not out of the national subscription, but by the +contributions from men of all creeds in Glasgow and in the West. I must +then, in what I have to say, leave out altogether the political aspect +of Mr. Gladstone. In some cases such a rule would omit all that was +interesting in a man. There are characters, from which if you +subtracted politics, there would be nothing left. It was not so with +Mr. Gladstone. + +To the great mass of his fellow-countrymen he was of course a statesman, +wildly worshipped by some, wildly detested by others. But, to those who +were privileged to know him, his politics seemed but the least part of +him. The predominant part, to which all else was subordinated, was his +religion; the life which seemed to attract him most was the life of the +library; the subject which engrossed him most was the subject of the +moment, whatever it might be, and that, when he was out of office, was +very rarely politics. Indeed, I sometimes doubt whether his natural bent +was toward politics at all. Had his course taken him that way, as it +very nearly did, he would have been a great churchman, greater perhaps +than any that this island has known; he would have been a great +professor, if you could have found a university big enough to hold him; +he would have been a great historian, a great bookman, he would have +grappled with whole libraries and wrestled with academies, had the fates +placed him in a cloister; indeed it is difficult to conceive the career, +except perhaps the military, in which his energy and intellect and +application would not have placed him on a summit. Politics, however, +took him and claimed his life service, but, jealous mistress as she is, +could never thoroughly absorb him. + +Such powers as I have indicated seem to belong to a giant and a prodigy, +and I can understand many turning away from the contemplation of such a +character, feeling that it is too far removed from them to interest +them, and that it is too unapproachable to help them--that it is like +reading of Hercules or Hector, mythical heroes whose achievements the +actual living mortal can not hope to rival. Well, that is true enough; +we have not received intellectual faculties equal to Mr. Gladstone's, +and can not hope to vie with him in their exercise. But apart from them, +his great force was character, and amid the vast multitude that I am +addressing, there is none who may not be helped by him. + +The three signal qualities which made him what he was, were courage, +industry, and faith; dauntless courage, unflagging industry, a faith +which was part of his fiber; these were the levers with which he moved +the world. + +I do not speak of his religious faith, that demands a worthier speaker +and another occasion. But no one who knew Mr. Gladstone could fail to +see that it was the essence, the savor, the motive power of his life. +Strange as it may seem, I can not doubt that while this attracted many +to him, it alienated others, others not themselves irreligious, but who +suspected the sincerity of so manifest a devotion, and who, reared in +the moderate atmosphere of the time, disliked the intrusion of religious +considerations into politics. These, however, though numerous enough, +were the exceptions, and it can not, I think, be questioned that Mr. +Gladstone not merely raised the tone of public discussion, but quickened +and renewed the religious feeling of the society in which he moved. + +But this is not the faith of which I am thinking to-day. What is present +to me is the faith with which he espoused and pursued great causes. +There also he had faith sufficient to move mountains, and did sometimes +move mountains. He did not lightly resolve, he came to no hasty +conclusion, but when he had convinced himself that a cause was right, +it engrossed him, it inspired him, with a certainty as deep-seated and +as imperious as ever moved mortal man. To him, then, obstacles, +objections, the counsels of doubters and critics were as nought, he +pressed on with the passion of a whirlwind, but also with the steady +persistence of some puissant machine. + +He had, of course, like every statesman, often to traffic with +expediency, he had always, I suppose, to accept something less than his +ideal, but his unquenchable faith, not in himself--tho that with +experience must have waxed strong--not in himself but in his cause, +sustained him among the necessary shifts and transactions of the moment, +and kept his head high in the heavens. + +Such faith, such moral conviction, is not given to all men, for the +treasures of his nature were in ingots, and not in dust. But there is, +perhaps, no man without some faith in some cause or some person; if so, +let him take heart, in however small a minority he may be, by +remembering how mighty a strength was Gladstone's power of faith. + +His next great force lay in his industry. I do not know if the +aspersions of "ca' canny" be founded, but at any rate there was no "ca' +canny" about him. From his earliest school-days, if tradition be true, +to the bed of death, he gave his full time and energy to work. No doubt +his capacity for labor was unusual. He would sit up all night writing a +pamphlet, and work next day as usual. An eight-hours' day would have +been a holiday to him, for he preached and practised the gospel of work +to its fullest extent. He did not, indeed, disdain pleasure; no one +enjoyed physical exercise, or a good play, or a pleasant dinner, more +than he; he drank in deep draughts of the highest and the best that life +had to offer; but even in pastime he was never idle. He did not know +what it was to saunter, he debited himself with every minute of his +time; he combined with the highest intellectual powers the faculty of +utilizing them to the fullest extent by intense application. Moreover, +his industry was prodigious in result, for he was an extraordinarily +rapid worker. Dumont says of Mirabeau, that till he met that marvelous +man he had no idea of how much could be achieved in a day. "Had I not +lived with him," he says, "I should not know what can be accomplished in +a day, all that can be comprest into an interval of twelve hours. A day +was worth more to him than a week or a month to others." Many men can be +busy for hours with a mighty small product, but with Mr. Gladstone +every minute was fruitful. That, no doubt, was largely due to his +marvelous powers of concentration. When he was staying at Dalmeny in +1879 he kindly consented to sit for his bust. The only difficulty was +that there was no time for sittings. So the sculptor with his clay model +was placed opposite Mr. Gladstone as he worked, and they spent the +mornings together, Mr. Gladstone writing away, and the clay figure of +himself less than a yard off gradually assuming shape and form. Anything +more distracting I can not conceive, but it had no effect on the busy +patient. And now let me make a short digression. I saw recently in your +newspapers that there was some complaint of the manners of the rising +generation in Glasgow. If that be so, they are heedless of Mr. +Gladstone's example. It might be thought that so impetuous a temper as +his might be occasionally rough or abrupt. That was not so. His +exquisite urbanity was one of his most conspicuous graces. I do not now +only allude to that grave, old-world courtesy, which gave so much +distinction to his private life; for his sweetness of manner went far +beyond demeanor. His spoken words, his letters, even when one differed +from him most acutely, were all marked by this special note. He did not +like people to disagree with him, few people do; but, so far as manner +went, it was more pleasant to disagree with Mr. Gladstone than to be in +agreement with some others. + +Lastly, I come to his courage--that perhaps was his greatest quality, +for when he gave his heart and reason to a cause, he never counted the +cost. Most men are physically brave, and this nation is reputed to be +especially brave, but Mr. Gladstone was brave among the brave. He had +to the end the vitality of physical courage. When well on in his ninth +decade, well on to ninety, he was knocked over by a cab, and before the +bystanders could rally to his assistance, he had pursued the cab with a +view to taking its number. He had, too, notoriously, political courage +in a not less degree than Sir Robert Walpole. We read that George II, +who was little given to enthusiasm, would often cry out, with color +flushing into his cheeks, and tears sometimes in his eyes, and with a +vehement oath:--"He (Walpole) is a brave fellow; he has more spirit than +any man I ever knew." + +Mr. Gladstone did not yield to Walpole in political and parliamentary +courage--it was a quality which he closely observed in others, and on +which he was fond of descanting. But he had the rarest and choicest +courage of all--I mean moral courage. That was his supreme +characteristic, and it was with him, like others, from the first. A +contemporary of his at Eton once told me of a scene, at which my +informant was present, when some loose or indelicate toast was proposed, +and all present drank it but young Gladstone. In spite of the storm of +objurgation and ridicule that raged around him, he jammed his face, as +it were, down in his hands on the table and would not budge. Every +schoolboy knows, for we may here accurately use Macaulay's well-known +expression, every schoolboy knows the courage that this implies. And +even by the heedless generation of boyhood it was appreciated, for we +find an Etonian writing to his parents to ask that he might go to Oxford +rather than Cambridge, on the sole ground that at Oxford he would have +the priceless advantage of Gladstone's influence and example. Nor did +his courage ever flag. He might be right, or he might be wrong--that is +not the question here--but when he was convinced that he was right, not +all the combined powers of Parliament or society or the multitude could +for an instant hinder his course, whether it ended in success or in +failure. Success left him calm, he had had so much of it; nor did +failures greatly depress him. The next morning found him once more +facing the world with serene and undaunted brow. There was a man. The +nation has lost him, but preserves his character, his manhood, as a +model, on which she may form if she be fortunate, coming generations of +men. With his politics, with his theology, with his manifold graces and +gifts of intellect, we are not concerned to-day, not even with his warm +and passionate human sympathies. They are not dead with him, but let +them rest with him, for we can not in one discourse view him in all his +parts. To-day it is enough to have dealt for a moment on three of his +great moral characteristics, enough to have snatched from the fleeting +hour a few moments of communion with the mighty dead. + +History has not yet allotted him his definite place, but no one would +now deny that he bequeathed a pure standard of life, a record of lofty +ambition for the public good as he understood it, a monument of +life-long labor. Such lives speak for themselves, they need no statues, +they face the future with the confidence of high purpose and endeavor. +The statues are not for them but for us, to bid us be conscious of our +trust, mindful of our duty, scornful of opposition to principle and +faith. They summon us to account for time and opportunity, they embody +an inspiring tradition, they are milestones in the life of a nation. The +effigy of Pompey was bathed in the blood of his great rival: let this +statue have the nobler destiny of constantly calling to life worthy +rivals of Gladstone's fame and character. + +Unveil, then, that statue. Let it stand to Glasgow in all time coming +for faith, fortitude, courage, industry, qualities apart from intellect +or power or wealth, which may inspire all her citizens however humble, +however weak; let it remind the most unthinking passer-by of the +dauntless character which it represents, of his long life and honest +purpose; let it leaven by an immortal tradition the population which +lives and works and dies around this monument. + + + + +STUDY OF MODEL SPEECHES + +MODEL SPEECHES, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR STUDY + + +There is no better way for you to improve your own public speaking than +to analyze and study the speeches of successful orators. + +First read such speeches aloud, since by that means you fit words to +your lips and acquire a familiarity with oratorical style. + +Then examine the speaker's method of arranging his thoughts, and the +precise way in which they lead up and contribute to his ultimate object. + +Carefully note any special means employed--story, illustration, appeal, +or climax,--to increase the effectiveness of the speech. + + +_John Stuart Mill_ + +Read the following speech delivered by John Stuart Mill, in his tribute +to Garrison. Note the clear-cut English of the speaker. Observe how +promptly he goes to his subject, and how steadily he keeps to it. +Particularly note the high level of thought maintained throughout. This +is an excellent model of dignified, well-reasoned, convincing speech. + +"Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,--The speakers who have preceded me +have, with an eloquence far beyond anything which I can command, laid +before our honored guest the homage of admiration and gratitude which we +all feel due to his heroic life. Instead of idly expatiating upon things +which have been far better said than I could say them, I would rather +endeavor to recall one or two lessons applicable to ourselves, which +may be drawn from his career. A noble work nobly done always contains in +itself not one but many lessons; and in the case of him whose character +and deeds we are here to commemorate, two may be singled out specially +deserving to be laid to heart by all who would wish to leave the world +better than they found it. + +"The first lesson is,--Aim at something great; aim at things which are +difficult; and there is no great thing which is not difficult. Do not +pare down your undertaking to what you can hope to see successful in the +next few years, or in the years of your own life. Fear not the reproach +of Quixotism or of fanaticism; but after you have well weighed what you +undertake, if you see your way clearly, and are convinced that you are +right, go forward, even tho you, like Mr. Garrison, do it at the risk +of being torn to pieces by the very men through whose changed hearts +your purpose will one day be accomplished. Fight on with all your +strength against whatever odds and with however small a band of +supporters. If you are right, the time will come when that small band +will swell into a multitude; you will at least lay the foundations of +something memorable, and you may, like Mr. Garrison--tho you ought not +to need or expect so great a reward--be spared to see that work +completed which, when you began it, you only hoped it might be given to +you to help forward a few stages on its way. + +"The other lesson which it appears to me important to enforce, amongst +the many that may be drawn from our friend's life, is this: If you aim +at something noble and succeed in it, you will generally find that you +have succeeded not in that alone. A hundred other good and noble things +which you never dreamed of will have been accomplished by the way, and +the more certainly, the sharper and more agonizing has been the struggle +which preceded the victory. The heart and mind of a nation are never +stirred from their foundations without manifold good fruits. In the case +of the great American contest these fruits have been already great, and +are daily becoming greater. The prejudices which beset every form of +society--and of which there was a plentiful crop in America--are rapidly +melting away. The chains of prescription have been broken; it is not +only the slave who has been freed--the mind of America has been +emancipated. The whole intellect of the country has been set thinking +about the fundamental questions of society and government; and the new +problems which have to be solved and the new difficulties which have to +be encountered are calling forth new activity of thought, and that great +nation is saved probably for a long time to come, from the most +formidable danger of a completely settled state of society and +opinion--intellectual and moral stagnation. This, then, is an additional +item of the debt which America and mankind owe to Mr. Garrison and his +noble associates; and it is well calculated to deepen our sense of the +truth which his whole career most strikingly illustrates--that tho our +best directed efforts may often seem wasted and lost, nothing coming of +them that can be pointed to and distinctly identified as a definite gain +to humanity, tho this may happen ninety-nine times in every hundred, the +hundredth time the result may be so great and dazzling that we had +never dared to hope for it, and should have regarded him who had +predicted it to us as sanguine beyond the bounds of mental sanity. So +has it been with Mr. Garrison." + +It will be beneficial for your all-round development in speaking to +choose for earnest study several speeches of widely different character. +As you compare one speech with another, you will more readily see why +each subject requires a different form of treatment, and also learn to +judge how the speaker has availed himself of the possibilities afforded +him. + + +_Judge Story_ + +The speech which follows is a fine example of elevated and impassioned +oratory. Judge Story here lauds the American Republic, and employs to +advantage the rhetorical figures of exclamation and interrogation. + +As you examine this speech you will notice that the speaker himself was +moved by deep conviction. His own belief stamped itself upon his words, +and throughout there is the unmistakable mark of sincerity. + +You are impressed by the comprehensive treatment of the subject. The +orator here speaks out of a full mind, and you feel that you would +confidently trust yourself to his leadership. + +"When we reflect on what has been and what is, how is it possible not to +feel a profound sense of the responsibilities of this Republic to all +future ages? What vast motives press upon us for lofty efforts! What +brilliant prospects invite our enthusiasm! What solemn warnings at once +demand our vigilance and moderate our confidence! The Old World has +already revealed to us, in its unsealed books, the beginning and the +end of all marvelous struggles in the cause of liberty. + +"Greece! lovely Greece! 'the land of scholars and the nurse of arms,' +where sister republics, in fair processions chanted the praise of +liberty and the good, where and what is she? For two thousand years the +oppressors have bound her to the earth. Her arts are no more. The last +sad relics of her temples are but the barracks of a ruthless soldiery; +the fragments of her columns and her palaces are in the dust, yet +beautiful in ruins. + +"She fell not when the mighty were upon her. Her sons united at +Thermopylae and Marathon; and the tide of her triumph rolled back upon +the Hellespont. She was conquered by her own factions--she fell by the +hands of her own people. The man of Macedonia did not the work of +destruction. It was already done by her own corruptions, banishments, +and dissensions. Rome! whose eagles glanced in the rising and setting +sun, where and what is she! The Eternal City yet remains, proud even in +her desolation, noble in her decline, venerable in the majesty of +religion, and calm as in the composure of death. + +"The malaria has but traveled in the parts won by the destroyers. More +than eighteen centuries have mourned over the loss of the empire. A +mortal disease was upon her before Caesar had crossed the Rubicon; and +Brutus did not restore her health by the deep probings of the +senate-chamber. The Goths, and Vandals, and Huns, the swarms of the +North, completed only what was begun at home. Romans betrayed Rome. The +legions were bought and sold, but the people offered the tribute-money. + +"And where are the republics of modern times, which cluster around +immortal Italy? Venice and Genoa exist but in name. The Alps, indeed, +look down upon the brave and peaceful Swiss in their native fastnesses; +but the guaranty of their freedom is in their weakness, and not in their +strength. The mountains are not easily crossed, and the valleys are not +easily retained. + +"When the invader comes, he moves like an avalanche, carrying +destruction in his path. The peasantry sink before him. The country, +too, is too poor for plunder, and too rough for a valuable conquest. +Nature presents her eternal barrier on every side, to check the +wantonness of ambition. And Switzerland remains with her simple +institutions, a military road to climates scarcely worth a permanent +possession, and protected by the jealousy of her neighbors. + +"We stand the latest, and if we fall, probably the last experiment of +self-government by the people. We have begun it under circumstances of +the most auspicious nature. We are in the vigor of youth. Our growth has +never been checked by the oppression of tyranny. Our Constitutions never +have been enfeebled by the vice or the luxuries of the world. Such as we +are, we have been from the beginning: simple, hardy, intelligent, +accustomed to self-government and self-respect. + +"The Atlantic rolls between us and a formidable foe. Within our own +territory, stretching through many degrees of latitude, we have the +choice of many products, and many means of independence. The government +is mild. The press is free. Religion is free. Knowledge reaches, or may +reach every home. What fairer prospects of success could be presented? +What means more adequate to accomplish the sublime end? What more is +necessary than for the people to preserve what they themselves have +created? + +"Already has the age caught the spirit of our institutions. It has +already ascended the Andes, and snuffed the breezes of both oceans. It +has infused itself into the life-blood of Europe, and warmed the sunny +plains of France and the lowlands of Holland. It has touched the +philosophy of Germany and the North, and, moving onward to the South, +has opened to Greece the lesson of her better days. + +"Can it be that America under such circumstances should betray herself? +That she is to be added to the catalog of republics, the inscription +upon whose ruin is, 'They were but they are not!' Forbid it, my +countrymen! forbid it, Heaven! I call upon you, fathers, by the shades +of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, +by all you are, and all you hope to be, resist every attempt to fetter +your consciences, or smother your public schools, or extinguish your +system of public instruction. + +"I call upon you, mothers, by that which never fails in woman, the love +of your offspring, to teach them as they climb your knees or lean on +your bosoms, the blessings of liberty. Swear them at the altar, as with +their baptismal vows, to be true to their country, and never forsake +her. I call upon you, young men, to remember whose sons you are--whose +inheritance you possess. Life can never be too short, which brings +nothing but disgrace and oppression. Death never comes too soon, if +necessary, in defense of the liberties of our country." + +You can advantageously read aloud many times a speech like the +foregoing. Stand up and read it aloud once a day for a month, and you +will be conscious of a distinct improvement in your own command of +persuasive speech. + + +_W. J. Fox_ + +The following is a specimen of masterly oratorical style, from a sermon +preached in London, England, by W. J. Fox: + +"From the dawn of intellect and freedom Greece has been a watchword on +the earth. There rose the social spirit to soften and refine her chosen +race, and shelter as in a nest her gentleness from the rushing storm of +barbarism; there liberty first built her mountain throne, first called +the waves her own, and shouted across them a proud defiance to +despotism's banded myriads, there the arts and graces danced around +humanity, and stored man's home with comforts, and strewed his path +with roses, and bound his brows with myrtle, and fashioned for him the +breathing statue, and summoned him to temples of snowy marble, and +charmed his senses with all forms of eloquence, and threw over his final +sleep their veil of loveliness; there sprung poetry, like their own +fabled goddess, mature at once from the teeming intellect, gilt with +arts and armour that defy the assaults of time and subdue the heart of +man; there matchless orators gave the world a model of perfect +eloquence, the soul the instrument on which they played, and every +passion of our nature but a tone which the master's touch called forth +at will; there lived and taught the philosophers of bower and porch, of +pride and pleasure, of deep speculation, and of useful action, who +developed all the acuteness and refinement, and excursiveness, and +energy of mind, and were the glory of their country when their country +was the glory of the earth." + + +_William McKinley_ + +An eloquent speech, worthy of close study, is that of William McKinley +on "The Characteristics of Washington." As you read it aloud, note the +short, clear-cut sentences used in the introduction. Observe how the +long sentence at the third paragraph gives the needed variation. +Carefully study the compact English style, and the use of forceful +expressions of the speaker, as "He blazed the path to liberty." + +"Fellow Citizens:--There is a peculiar and tender sentiment connected +with this memorial. It expresses not only the gratitude and reverence of +the living, but is a testimonial of affection and homage from the dead. + +"The comrades of Washington projected this monument. Their love inspired +it. Their contributions helped to build it. Past and present share in +its completion, and future generations will profit by its lessons. To +participate in the dedication of such a monument is a rare and precious +privilege. Every monument to Washington is a tribute to patriotism. +Every shaft and statue to his memory helps to inculcate love of country, +encourage loyalty, and establish a better citizenship. God bless every +undertaking which revives patriotism and rebukes the indifferent and +lawless! A critical study of Washington's career only enhances our +estimation of his vast and varied abilities. + +"As Commander-in-chief of the Colonial armies from the beginning of the +war to the proclamation of peace, as president of the convention which +framed the Constitution of the United States, and as the first President +of the United States under that Constitution, Washington has a +distinction differing from that of all other illustrious Americans. No +other name bears or can bear such a relation to the Government. Not only +by his military genius--his patience, his sagacity, his courage, and his +skill--was our national independence won, but he helped in largest +measure to draft the chart by which the Nation was guided; and he was +the first chosen of the people to put in motion the new Government. His +was not the boldness of martial display or the charm of captivating +oratory, but his calm and steady judgment won men's support and +commanded their confidence by appealing to their best and noblest +aspirations. And withal Washington was ever so modest that at no time +in his career did his personality seem in the least intrusive. He was +above the temptation of power. He spurned the suggested crown. He would +have no honor which the people did not bestow. + +"An interesting fact--and one which I love to recall--is that the only +time Washington formally addrest the Constitutional Convention during +all its sessions over which he presided in this city, he appealed for a +larger representation of the people in the National House of +Representatives, and his appeal was instantly heeded. Thus was he ever +keenly watchful of the rights of the people in whose hands was the +destiny of our Government then as now. + +"Masterful as were his military campaigns, his civil administration +commands equal admiration. His foresight was marvelous; his conception +of the philosophy of government, his insistence upon the necessity of +education, morality, and enlightened citizenship to the progress and +permanence of the Republic can not be contemplated even at this period +without filling us with astonishment at the breadth of his comprehension +and the sweep of his vision. His was no narrow view of government. The +immediate present was not the sole concern, but our future good his +constant theme of study. He blazed the path of liberty. He laid the +foundation upon which we have grown from weak and scattered Colonial +governments to a united Republic whose domains and power as well as +whose liberty and freedom have become the admiration of the world. +Distance and time have not detracted from the fame and force of his +achievements or diminished the grandeur of his life and work. Great +deeds do not stop in their growth, and those of Washington will expand +in influence in all the centuries to follow. + +"The bequest Washington has made to civilization is rich beyond +computation. The obligations under which he has placed mankind are +sacred and commanding. The responsibility he has left, for the American +people to preserve and perfect what he accomplished, is exacting and +solemn. Let us rejoice in every new evidence that the people realize +what they enjoy, and cherish with affection the illustrious heroes of +Revolutionary story whose valor and sacrifices made us a nation. They +live in us, and their memory will help us keep the covenant entered into +for the maintenance of the freest Government of earth. + +"The nation and the name Washington are inseparable. One is linked +indissolubly with the other. Both are glorious, both triumphant. +Washington lives and will live because of what he did for the exaltation +of man, the enthronement of conscience, and the establishment of a +Government which recognizes all the governed. And so, too, will the +Nation live victorious over all obstacles, adhering to the immortal +principles which Washington taught and Lincoln sustained." + + +_Edward Everett_ + +The following extract from "The Foundation of National Character," by +Edward Everett, is a fine example of patriotic appeal. Read it aloud, +and note how the orator speaks with deep feeling and stirs the same +feeling in you. This impression is largely due to the simple, sincere, +right-onward style of the speaker,--qualities of his own well-known +character. + +It will amply repay you to read this extract aloud at least once a day +for a week or more, so that its superior elements of thought and style +may be deeply imprest on your mind. + +"How is the spirit of a free people to be formed, and animated, and +cheered, but out of the storehouse of its historic recollections? Are we +to be eternally ringing the changes upon Marathon and Thermopylae; and +going back to read in obscure texts of Greek and Latin, of the exemplars +of patriotic virtue? + +"I thank God that we can find them nearer home, in our own soil; that +strains of the noblest sentiment that ever swelled in the breast of man, +are breathing to us out of every page of our country's history, in the +native eloquence of our mother-tongue,--that the colonial and +provincial councils of America exhibit to us models of the spirits and +character which gave Greece and Rome their name and their praise among +nations. + +"Here we ought to go for our instruction;--the lesson is plain, it is +clear, it is applicable. When we go to ancient history, we are +bewildered with the difference of manners and institutions. We are +willing to pay our tribute of applause to the memory of Leonidas, who +fell nobly for his country in the face of his foe. + +"But when we trace him to his home, we are confounded at the reflection, +that the same Spartan heroism, to which he sacrificed himself at +Thermopylae, would have led him to tear his own child, if it had happened +to be a sickly babe,--the very object for which all that is kind and +good in man rises up to plead,--from the bosom of his mother, and carry +it out to be eaten by the wolves of Taygetus. + +"We feel a glow of admiration at the heroism displayed at Marathon by +the ten thousand champions of invaded Greece; but we can not forget that +the tenth part of the number were slaves, unchained from the workshops +and doorposts of their masters, to go and fight the battles of freedom. + +"I do not mean that these examples are to destroy the interest with +which we read the history of ancient times; they possibly increase that +interest by the very contrast they exhibit. But they warn us, if we need +the warning, to seek our great practical lessons of patriotism at home; +out of the exploits and sacrifices of which our own country is the +theater; out of the characters of our own fathers. + +"Them we know,--the high-souled, natural, unaffected, the citizen +heroes. We know what happy firesides they left for the cheerless camp. +We know with what pacific habits they dared the perils of the field. +There is no mystery, no romance, no madness, under the name of chivalry +about them. It is all resolute, manly resistance for conscience and +liberty's sake not merely of an overwhelming power, but of all the force +of long-rooted habits and native love of order and peace. + +"Above all, their blood calls to us from the soil which we tread; it +beats in our veins; it cries to us not merely in the thrilling words of +one of the first victims in this cause--'My sons, scorn to be +slaves!'--but it cries with a still more moving eloquence--'My sons, +forget not your fathers!'" + + +_John Quincy Adams_ + +John Quincy Adams, in his speech on "The Life and Character of +Lafayette," gives us a fine example of elevated and serious-minded +utterance. The following extract from this speech can be studied with +profit. Particularly note the use of sustained sentences, and the happy +collocation of words. The concluding paragraph should be closely +examined as a study in impressive climax. + +"Pronounce him one of the first men of his age, and you have yet not +done him justice. Try him by that test to which he sought in vain to +stimulate the vulgar and selfish spirit of Napoleon; class him among the +men who, to compare and seat themselves, must take in the compass of all +ages; turn back your eyes upon the records of time; summon, from the +creation of the world to this day, the mighty dead of every age and +every clime,--and where, among the race of merely mortal men, shall one +be found who, as the benefactor of his kind, shall claim to take +precedence of Lafayette? + +"There have doubtless been in all ages men whose discoveries or +inventions in the world of matter, or of mind, have opened new avenues +to the dominion of man over the material creation; have increased his +means or his faculties of enjoyment; have raised him in nearer +approximation to that higher and happier condition, the object of his +hopes and aspirations in his present state of existence. + +"Lafayette discovered no new principle of politics or of morals. He +invented nothing in science. He disclosed no new phenomenon in the laws +of nature. Born and educated in the highest order of feudal nobility, +under the most absolute monarchy of Europe; in possession of an +affluent fortune, and master of himself and of all his capabilities, at +the moment of attaining manhood the principle of republican justice and +of social equality took possession of his heart and mind, as if by +inspiration from above. + +"He devoted himself, his life, his fortune, his hereditary honors, his +towering ambition, his splendid hopes, all to the cause of Liberty. He +came to another hemisphere to defend her. He became one of the most +effective champions of our independence; but, that once achieved, he +returned to his own country, and thenceforward took no part in the +controversies which have divided us. + +"In the events of our Revolution, and in the forms of policy which we +have adopted for the establishment and perpetuation of our freedom, +Lafayette found the most perfect form of government. He wished to add +nothing to it. He would gladly have abstracted nothing from it. Instead +of the imaginary Republic of Plato, or the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, he +took a practical existing model in actual operation here, and never +attempted or wished more than to apply it faithfully to his own country. + +"It was not given to Moses to enter the promised land; but he saw it +from the summit of Pisgah. It was not given to Lafayette to witness the +consummation of his wishes in the establishment of a Republic and the +extinction of all hereditary rule in France. His principles were in +advance of the age and hemisphere in which he lived.... The prejudices +and passions of the people of France rejected the principle of inherited +power in every station of public trust, excepting the first and highest +of them all; but there they clung to it, as did the Israelites of old +to the savory deities of Egypt. + +"When the principle of hereditary dominion shall be extinguished in all +the institutions of France; when government shall no longer be +considered as property transmissible from sire to son, but as a trust +committed for a limited time, and then to return to the people whence it +came; as a burdensome duty to be discharged, and not as a reward to be +abused;--then will be the time for contemplating the character of +Lafayette, not merely in the events of his life, but in the full +development of his intellectual conceptions, of his fervent aspirations, +of the labors, and perils, and sacrifices of his long and eventful +career upon earth; and thenceforward till the hour when the trumpet of +the Archangel shall sound to announce that time shall be no more, the +name of Lafayette shall stand enrolled upon the annals of our race high +on the list of pure and disinterested benefactors of mankind." + +I have selected these extracts for your convenient use, as embodying +both thought and style worthy of your careful study. Read them aloud at +every opportunity, and you will be gratified at the steady improvement +such practise will make in your own speaking power. + + + + +HISTORY OF PUBLIC SPEAKING + +MEN WHO HAVE MADE HISTORY IN PUBLIC SPEAKING--AND THEIR METHODS + + +The great orators of the world did not regard eloquence as simply an +endowment of nature, but applied themselves diligently to cultivating +their powers of expression. In many cases there was unusual natural +ability, but such men knew that regular study and practise were +essential to success in this coveted art. + +The oration can be traced back to Hebrew literature. In the first +chapter of Deuteronomy we find Moses' speech in the end of the fortieth +year, briefly rehearsing the story of God's promise, and of God's anger +for their incredulity and disobedience. + +The four orations in Deuteronomy, by Moses, are highly commended for +their tenderness, sublimity and passionate appeal. You can +advantageously read them aloud. + +The oration of Pericles over the graves of those who fell in the +Peloponnesian War, is said to have been the first Athenian oration +designed for the public. + +The agitated political times and the people's intense desire for +learning combined to favor the development of oratory in ancient Greece. +Questions of great moment had to be discust and serious problems solved. +As the orator gradually became the most powerful influence in the State, +the art of oratory was more and more recognized as the supreme +accomplishment of the educated man. + + +_Demosthenes_ + +Demosthenes stands preeminent among Greek orators. His well-known +oration "On the Crown," the preparation of which occupied a large part +of seven years, is regarded as the oratorical masterpiece of all +history. + +It is encouraging to the student of public speaking to recall that this +distinguished orator at first had serious natural defects to overcome. +His voice was weak, he stammered in his speech, and was painfully +diffident. These faults were remedied, as is well-known, by earnest +daily practise in declaiming on the sea-shore, with pebbles in the +mouth, walking up and down hill while reciting, and deliberately seeking +occasions for conversing with groups of people. + +The chief lesson for you to draw from Demosthenes is that he was +indefatigable in his study of the art of oratory. He left nothing to +chance. His speeches were characterized by deliberate forethought. He +excelled other men not because of great natural ability but because of +intelligent and continuous industry. He stands for all time as the most +inspiring example of oratorical achievement, despite almost insuperable +difficulties. + + +_Cicero_ + +The fame of Roman oratory rests upon Cicero, whose eloquence was second +only to that of Demosthenes. He was a close student of the art of +speaking. He was so intense and vehement by nature that he was obliged +in his early career to spend two years in Greece, exercising in the +gymnasium in order to restore his shattered constitution. + +His nervous temperament clung to him, however, since he made this +significant confession after long years of practise in public speaking. +"I declare that when I think of the moment when I shall have to rise and +speak in defense of a client, I am not only disturbed in mind, but +tremble in every limb of my body." + +It is well to note here that a nervous temperament may be a help rather +than a hindrance to a speaker. Indeed, it is the highly sensitive nature +that often produces the most persuasive orator, but only when he has +learned to conserve and properly use this valuable power. + +Cicero was a living embodiment of the comprehensive requirements laid +down by the ancients as essential to the orator. He had a knowledge of +logic, ethics, astronomy, philosophy, geometry, music, and rhetoric. +Little wonder, therefore, that his amazing eloquence was described as a +resistless torrent. + + +_Luther_ + +Martin Luther was the dominating orator of the Reformation. He combined +a strong physique with great intellectual power. "If I wish to compose, +or write, or pray, or preach well," said he, "I must be angry. Then all +the blood in my veins is stirred, my understanding is sharpened, and all +dismal thoughts and temptations are dissipated." What the great Reformer +called "anger," we would call indignation or earnestness. + + +_John Knox_ + +John Knox, the Scotch reformer, was a preeminent preacher. His pulpit +style was characterized by a fiery eloquence which stirred his hearers +to great enthusiasm and sometimes to violence. + + +_Bossuet_ + +Bossuet, regarded as the greatest orator France has produced, was a +fearless and inspired speaker. His style was dignified and deliberate, +but as he warmed with his theme his thought took fire and he carried his +hearers along upon a swiftly moving tide of impassioned eloquence. When +he spoke from the text, "Be wise, therefore, O ye Kings! be instructed, +ye judges of the earth!" the King himself was thrilled as with a +religious terror. + +To ripe scholarship Bossuet added a voice that was deep and sonorous, an +imposing personality, and an animated style of gesture. Lamartine +described his voice as "like that of the thunder in the clouds, or the +organ in the cathedral." + + +_Bourdaloue_ + +Louis Bourdaloue, styled "the preacher of Kings, and the King of +preachers," was a speaker of versatile powers. He could adapt his style +to any audience, and "mechanics left their shops, merchants their +business, and lawyers their court house" in order to hear him. His high +personal character, simplicity of life, and clear and logical utterance +combined to make him an accomplished orator. + + +_Massillon_ + +Massillon preached directly to the hearts of his hearers. He was of a +deeply affectionate nature, hence his style was that of tender +persuasiveness rather than of declamation. He had remarkable spiritual +insight and knowledge of the human heart, and was himself deeply moved +by the truths which he proclaimed to other men. + + +_Lord Chatham_ + +Lord Chatham's oratorical style was formed on the classic model. His +intellect, at once comprehensive and vigorous, combined with deep and +intense feeling, fitted him to become one of the highest types of +orators. He was dignified and graceful, sometimes vehement, always +commanding. He ruled the British parliament by sheer force of eloquence. + +His voice was a wonderful instrument, so completely under control that +his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, and his full tones completely +filled the House. He had supreme self-confidence, and a sense of +superiority over those around him which acted as an inspiration to his +own mind. + + +_Burke_ + +Burke was a great master of English prose as well as a great orator. He +took large means to deal with large subjects. He was a man of immense +power, and his stride was the stride of a giant. He has been credited +with passion, intensity, imagination, nobility, and amplitude. His style +was sonorous and majestic. + + +_Sheridan_ + +Sheridan became a foremost parliamentary speaker and debater, despite +early discouragements. His well-known answer to a friend, who adversely +criticized his speaking, "It is in me, and it shall come out of me!" has +for years given new encouragement to many a student of public speaking. +He applied himself with untiring industry to the development of all his +powers, and so became one of the most distinguished speakers of his +day. + + +_Charles James Fox_ + +Charles James Fox was a plain, practical, forceful orator of the +thoroughly English type. His qualities of sincerity, vehemence, +simplicity, ruggedness, directness and dexterity, combined with a manly +fearlessness, made him a formidable antagonist in any debate. Facts, +analogies, illustrations, intermingled with wit, feeling, and ridicule, +gave charm and versatility to his speaking unsurpassed in his time. + + +_Lord Brougham_ + +Lord Brougham excelled in cogent, effective argument. His impassioned +reasoning often made ordinary things interesting. He ingratiated himself +by his wise and generous sentiments, and his uncompromising solicitude +for his country. + +He always succeeded in getting through his protracted and parenthetical +sentences without confusion to his hearers or to himself. He could see +from the beginning of a sentence precisely what the end would be. + + +_John Quincy Adams_ + +John Quincy Adams won a high place as a debater and orator in his speech +in Congress upon the right of petition, delivered in 1837. A formidable +antagonist, pugnacious by temperament, uniformly dignified, a profound +scholar,--his is "a name recorded on the brightest page of American +history, as statesman, diplomatist, philosopher, orator, author, and, +above all a Christian." + + +_Patrick Henry_ + +Patrick Henry was a man of extraordinary eloquence. In his day he was +regarded as the greatest orator in America. In his early efforts as a +speaker he hesitated much and throughout his career often gave an +impression of natural timidity. He has been favorably compared with Lord +Chatham for fire, force, and personal energy. His power was largely due +to a rare gift of lucid and concise statement. + + +_Henry Clay_ + +The eloquence of Henry Clay was magisterial, persuasive, and +irresistible. So great was his personal magnetism that multitudes came +great distances to hear him. He was a man of brilliant intellect, +fertile fancy, chivalrous nature, and patriotic fervor. He had a clear, +rotund, melodious voice, under complete command. He held, it is said, +the keys to the hearts of his countrymen. + + +_Calhoun_ + +The eloquence of John Caldwell Calhoun has been described by Daniel +Webster as "plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise; sometimes +impassioned, still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking +far for illustrations, his power consisted in the plainness of his +propositions, in the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and +energy of his manner." + +He exerted unusual influence over the opinions of great masses of men. +He had remarkable power of analysis and logical skill. Originality, +self-reliance, impatience, aggressiveness, persistence, sincerity, +honesty, ardor,--these were some of the personal qualities which gave +him dominating influence over his generation. + + +_Daniel Webster_ + +Daniel Webster was a massive orator. He combined logical and +argumentative skill with a personality of extraordinary power and +attractiveness. He had a supreme scorn for tricks of oratory, and a +horror of epithets and personalities. His best known speeches are those +delivered on the anniversary at Plymouth, the laying of the corner-stone +of Bunker Hill monument, and the deaths of Jefferson and Adams. + + +_Edward Everett_ + +Edward Everett was a man of scholastic tastes and habits. His speaking +style was remarkable for its literary finish and polished precision. His +sense of fitness saved him from serious faults of speech or manner. He +blended many graces in one, and his speeches are worthy of study as +models of oratorical style. + + +_Rufus Choate_ + +Rufus Choate was a brilliant and persuasive extempore speaker. He +possest in high degree faculties essential to great oratory--a capacious +mind, retentive memory, logical acumen, vivid imagination, deep +concentration, and wealth of language. He had an extraordinary personal +fascination, largely due to his broad sympathy and geniality. + + +_Charles Sumner_ + +Charles Sumner was a gifted orator. His delivery was highly impressive, +due fundamentally to his innate integrity and elevated personal +character. He was a wide reader and profound student. His style was +energetic, logical, and versatile. His intense patriotism and +argumentative power, won large favor with his hearers. + + +_William E. Channing_ + +William Ellery Channing was a preacher of unusual eloquence and +intellectual power. He was small in stature, but of surpassing grace. +His voice was soft and musical, and wonderfully responsive to every +change of emotion that arose in his mind. His eloquence was not forceful +nor forensic, but gentle and persuasive. + +His monument bears this high tribute: "In memory of William Ellery +Channing, honored throughout Christendom for his eloquence and courage +in maintaining and advancing the great cause of truth, religion, and +human freedom." + + +_Wendell Phillips_ + +Wendell Phillips was one of the most graceful and polished orators. To +his conversational style he added an exceptional vocabulary, a clear and +flexible voice, and a most fascinating personality. + +He produced his greatest effects by the simplest means. He combined +humor, pathos, sarcasm and invective with rare skill, yet his style was +so simple that a child could have understood him. + + +_George William Curtis_ + +George William Curtis has been described in his private capacity as +natural, gentle, manly, refined, simple, and unpretending. He was the +last of the great school of Everett, Sumner, and Phillips. + +His art of speaking had an enduring charm, and he completely satisfied +the taste for pure and dignified speech. His voice was of silvery +clearness, which carried to the furthermost part of the largest hall. + + +_Gladstone_ + +Gladstone was an orator of preeminent power. In fertility of thought, +spontaneity of expression, modulation of voice, and grace of gesture, he +has had few equals. He always spoke from a deep sense of duty. When he +began a sentence you could not always foresee how he would end it, but +he always succeeded. He had an extraordinary wealth of words and command +of the English language. + +Gladstone has been described as having eagerness, self-control, mastery +of words, gentle persuasiveness, prodigious activity, capacity for work, +extreme seriousness, range of experience, constructive power, mastery of +detail, and deep concentration. "So vast and so well ordered was the +arsenal of his mind, that he could both instruct and persuade, stimulate +his friends and demolish his opponents, and do all these things at an +hour's notice." + +He was essentially a devout man, and unquestionably his spiritual +character was the fundamental secret of his transcendent power. A keen +observer thus describes him: + +"While this great and famous figure was in the House of Commons, the +House had eyes for no other person. His movements on the bench, restless +and eager, his demeanor when on his legs, whether engaged in answering a +simple question, expounding an intricate Bill, or thundering in vehement +declamation, his dramatic gestures, his deep and rolling voice with its +wide compass and marked northern accent, his flashing eye, his almost +incredible command of ideas and words, made a combination of +irresistible fascination and power." + + +_John Bright_ + +John Bright won a foremost place among British orators largely because +of his power of clear statement and vivid description. His manner was at +once ingratiating and commanding. + +His way of putting things was so lucid and convincing that it was +difficult to express the same ideas in any other words with equal force. +One of the secrets of his success, it is said, was his command of +colloquial simile, apposite stories, and ready wit. + +Mr. Bright always had himself well in hand, yet his style at times was +volcanic in its force and impetuosity. He would shut himself up for days +preparatory to delivering a great speech, and tho he committed many +passages to memory, his manner in speaking was entirely free from +artifice. + + +_Lincoln_ + +Lincoln's power as a speaker was due to a combination of rugged gifts. +Self-reliance, sympathy, honesty, penetration, broad-mindedness, +modesty, and independence,--these were keynotes to his great character. + +The Gettysburg speech of less than 300 words is regarded as the greatest +short speech in history. + +Lincoln's aim was always to say the most sensible thing in the clearest +terms, and in the fewest possible words. His supreme respect for his +hearers won their like respect for him. + +There is a valuable suggestion for the student of public speaking in +this description of Lincoln's boyhood: "Abe read diligently. He read +every book he could lay his hands on, and when he came across a passage +that struck him, he would write it down on boards if he had no paper, +and keep it there until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look +at it, repeat it. He had a copy book, a kind of scrap-book, in which he +put down all things, and thus preserved them." + + +_Daniel O'Connell_ + +Daniel O'Connell was one of the most popular orators of his day. He had +a deep, sonorous, flexible voice, which he used to great advantage. He +had a wonderful gift of touching the human heart, now melting his +hearers by his pathos, then convulsing them with his quaint humor. He +was attractive in manner, generous in feeling, spontaneous in +expression, and free from rhetorical trickery. + +As you read this brief sketch of some of the world's great orators, it +should be inspiring to you as a student of public speaking to know +something of their trials, difficulties, methods and triumphs. They have +left great examples to be emulated, and to read about them and to study +their methods is to follow somewhat in their footsteps. + +Great speeches, like great pictures, are inspired by great subjects and +great occasions. When a speaker is moved to vindicate the national +honor, to speak in defense of human rights, or in some other great +cause, his thought and expression assume new and wonderful power. All +the resources of his mind--will, imagination, memory, and emotion,--are +stimulated into unusual activity. His theme takes complete possession of +him and he carries conviction to his hearers by the force, sincerity, +and earnestness of his delivery. It is to this exalted type of oratory I +would have you aspire. + + + + +EXTRACTS FOR STUDY, WITH LESSON TALK + +EXAMPLES OF ORATORY AND HOW TO STUDY THEM + + +It will be beneficial to you in this connection to study examples of +speeches by the world's great orators. I furnish you here with a few +short specimens which will serve this purpose. Carefully note the +suggestions and the numbered extract to which they refer. + +1. Practise this example for climax. As you read it aloud, gradually +increase the intensity of your voice but do not unduly elevate the key. + +2. Study this particularly for its suggestive value to you as a public +speaker. + +3. Practise this for fervent appeal. Articulate distinctly. Pause after +each question. Do not rant or declaim, but speak it. + +4. Study this for its sustained sentences and dignity of style. + +5. Analyze this for its strength of thought and diction. Note the +effective repetition of "I care not." Commit the passage to memory. + +6. Read this for elevated and patriotic feeling. Render it aloud in +deliberate and thoughtful style. + +7. Particularly observe the judicial clearness of this example. Note the +felicitous use of language. + +8. Read this aloud for oratorical style. Fit the words to your lips. +Engrave the passage on your mind by frequent repetition. + +9. Study this passage for its profound and prophetic thought. Render it +aloud in slow and dignified style. + +10. Practise this for its sustained power. The words "let him" should be +intensified at each repetition, and the phrase "and show me the man" +brought out prominently. + +11. Study this for its beauty and variety of language. Meditate upon it +as a model of what a speaker should be. + +12. Note the strength in the repeated phrase "I will never say." Observe +the power, nobility and courage manifest throughout. The closing +sentence should be read in a deeply earnest tone and at a gradually +slower rate. + +13. Read this for its purity and strength of style. Note the effective +use of question and answer. + +14. Study this passage for its common sense and exalted thought. Note +how each sentence is rounded out into fulness, until it is imprest upon +your memory. + + +Extracts for Study + +SPECIMENS OF ELOQUENCE + +_A Study in Climax_ + + +1. My lords, these are the securities which we have in all the +constituent parts of the body of this House. We know them, we reckon +them, rest upon them, and commit safely the interests of India and of +humanity into your hands. Therefore it is with confidence that, ordered +by the Commons, + +I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great Britain in +Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust he has betrayed. + +I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great Britain, whose +national character he has dishonored. + +I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose laws, rights, +and liberties he has subverted, whose properties he has destroyed, +whose country he has laid waste and desolate. + +I impeach him in the name and by virtue of those eternal laws of justice +which he has violated. + +I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly +outraged, injured, and opprest in both sexes, in every age, rank, +situation, and condition of life.--_Impeachment of Warren Hastings:_ +EDMUND BURKE. + + +_Suggestions to the Public Speaker_ + +2. I am now requiring not merely great preparation while the speaker is +learning his art but after he has accomplished his education. The most +splendid effort of the most mature orator will be always finer for being +previously elaborated with much care. There is, no doubt, a charm in +extemporaneous elocution, derived from the appearance of artless, +unpremeditated effusion, called forth by the occasion, and so adapting +itself to its exigencies, which may compensate the manifold defects +incident to this kind of composition: that which is inspired by the +unforeseen circumstances of the moment, will be of necessity suited to +those circumstances in the choice of the topics, and pitched in the tone +of the execution, to the feelings upon which it is to operate. These are +great virtues: it is another to avoid the besetting vice of modern +oratory--the overdoing everything--the exhaustive method--which an +off-hand speaker has no time to fall into, and he accordingly will take +only the grand and effective view; nevertheless, in oratorical merit, +such effusions must needs be very inferior; much of the pleasure they +produce depends upon the hearer's surprize that in such circumstances +anything can be delivered at all, rather than upon his deliberate +judgment, that he has heard anything very excellent in itself. We may +rest assured that the highest reaches of the art, and without any +necessary sacrifice of natural effect, can only be attained by him who +well considers, and maturely prepares, and oftentimes sedulously +corrects and refines his oration. Such preparation is quite consistent +with the introduction of passages prompted by the occasion, nor will the +transition from one to the other be perceptible in the execution of the +practised master.--_Inaugural Discourse:_ LORD BROUGHAM. + + +_A Study in Fervent Appeal_ + +3. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, +peace, peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next +gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of +resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we +here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life +so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and +slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may +take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!--_The War +Inevitable:_ PATRICK HENRY. + + +_A Study in Dignity and Style_ + +4. In retiring as I am about to do, forever, from the Senate, suffer me +to express my heartfelt wishes that all the great and patriotic objects +of the wise framers of our Constitution may be fulfilled; that the high +destiny designed for it may be fully answered; and that its +deliberations, now and hereafter, may eventuate in securing the +prosperity of our beloved country, in maintaining its rights and honor +abroad, and upholding its interests at home. I retire, I know, at a +period of infinite distress and embarrassment. I wish I could take my +leave of you under more favorable auspices; but without meaning at this +time to say whether on any or on whom reproaches for the sad condition +of the country should fall, I appeal to the Senate and to the world to +bear testimony to my earnest and continued exertions to avert it, and to +the truth that no blame can justly attach to me.--_Farewell Address:_ +HENRY CLAY. + + +_A Study in Strength and Diction_ + +5. For myself, I believe there is no limit fit to be assigned to it by +the human mind, because I find at work everywhere, on both sides of the +Atlantic, under various forms and degrees of restriction on the one +hand, and under various degrees of motive and stimulus on the other, in +these branches of the common race, the great principle of the freedom of +human thought, and the respectability of individual character. I find +everywhere an elevation of the character of man as man, an elevation of +the individual as a component part of society. I find everywhere a +rebuke of the idea that the many are made for the few, or that +government is anything but an agency for mankind. And I care not beneath +what zone, frozen, temperate, or torrid; I care not of what complexion, +white, or brown; I care not under what circumstances of climate or +cultivation--if I can find a race of men on an inhabited spot of earth +whose general sentiment it is, and whose general feeling it is, that +government is made for man--man, as a religious, moral, and social +being--and not man for government, there I know that I shall find +prosperity and happiness.--_The Landing at Plymouth:_ DANIEL WEBSTER. + + +_A Study in Patriotic Feeling_ + +6. Friends, fellow citizens, free, prosperous, happy Americans! The men +who did so much to make you are no more. The men who gave nothing to +pleasure in youth, nothing to repose in age, but all to that country +whose beloved name filled their hearts, as it does ours, with joy, can +now do no more for us; nor we for them. But their memory remains, we +will cherish it; their bright example remains, we will strive to imitate +it; the fruit of their wise counsels and noble acts remains, we will +gratefully enjoy it. + +They have gone to the companions of their cares, of their dangers, and +their toils. It is well with them. The treasures of America are now in +heaven. How long the list of our good, and wise, and brave, assembled +there! How few remain with us! There is our Washington; and those who +followed him in their country's confidence are now met together with him +and all that illustrious company.--_Adams and Jefferson:_ EDWARD EVERETT. + + +_A Study in Clearness of Expression_ + +7. I can not leave this life and character without selecting and +dwelling a moment on one or two of his traits, or virtues, or +felicities, a little longer. There is a collective impression made by +the whole of an eminent person's life, beyond, and other than, and apart +from, that which the mere general biographer would afford the means of +explaining. There is an influence of a great man derived from things +indescribable, almost, or incapable of enumeration, or singly +insufficient to account for it, but through which his spirit transpires, +and his individuality goes forth on the contemporary generation. And +thus, I should say, one grand tendency of his life and character was to +elevate the whole tone of the public mind. He did this, indeed, not +merely by example. He did it by dealing, as he thought, truly and in +manly fashion with that public mind. He evinced his love of the people +not so much by honeyed phrases as by good counsels and useful service, +_vera pro gratis_. He showed how he appreciated them by submitting sound +arguments to their understandings, and right motives to their free will. +He came before them, less with flattery than with instruction; less with +a vocabulary larded with the words humanity and philanthropy, and +progress and brotherhood, than with a scheme of politics, an +educational, social and governmental system, which would have made them +prosperous, happy and great.--_On the Death of Daniel Webster:_ +RUFUS CHOATE. + + +_A Study of Oratorical Style_ + +8. And yet this small people--so obscure and outcast in condition--so +slender in numbers and in means--so entirely unknown to the proud and +great--so absolutely without name in contemporary records--whose +departure from the Old World took little more than the breath of their +bodies--are now illustrious beyond the lot of men; and the Mayflower is +immortal beyond the Grecian Argo or the stately ship of any victorious +admiral. Tho this was little foreseen in their day, it is plain now how +it has come to pass. The highest greatness surviving time and storm is +that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, +generals and admirals, with the pomp of courts and the circumstance of +war, in the gradual lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers +of truth, the poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates +human nature and teaches the rights of man, so that government of the +people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the +earth, such harbingers can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads +coextensive with the cause they served.--_The Qualities that Win:_ +CHARLES SUMNER. + + +_A Study in Profound Thinking_ + +9. There is something greater in the age than its greatest men; it is +the appearance of a new power in the world, the appearance of the +multitude of men on the stage where as yet the few have acted their +parts alone. This influence is to endure to the end of time. What more +of the present is to survive? Perhaps much of which we now fail to note. +The glory of an age is often hidden from itself. Perhaps some word has +been spoken in our day which we have not designed to hear, but which is +to grow clearer and louder through all ages. Perhaps some silent thinker +among us is at work in his closet whose name is to fill the earth. +Perhaps there sleeps in his cradle some reformer who is to move the +church and the world, who is to open a new era in history, who is to +fire the human soul with new hope and new daring. What else is to +survive the age? That which the age has little thought of, but which is +living in us all; I mean the soul, the immortal spirit. Of this all ages +are the unfoldings, and it is greater than all. We must not feel, in +the contemplation of the vast movements in our own and former times, as +if we ourselves were nothing. I repeat it, we are greater than all. We +are to survive our age, to comprehend it, and to pronounce its +sentence.--_The Present Age:_ W. E. CHANNING. + + +_A Study of Sustained Power_ + +10. Now, blue-eyed Saxon, proud of your race, go back with me to the +commencement of the century, and select what statesman you please. Let +him be either American or European; let him have a brain the result of +six generations of culture; let him have the ripest training of +university routine; let him add to it the better education of practical +life; crown his temples with the silver locks of seventy years, and show +me the man of Saxon lineage for whom his most sanguine admirer will +wreathe a laurel, rich as embittered foes have placed on the brow of +this negro,--rare military skill, profound knowledge of human nature, +content to blot out all party distinctions, and trust a state to the +blood of its sons,--anticipating Sir Robert Peel fifty years, and taking +his station by the side of Roger Williams, before any Englishman or +American had won the right; and yet this is the record which the history +of rival states makes up for this inspired black of St. +Domingo.--_Toussaint L'Ouverture:_ WENDELL PHILLIPS. + + +_Study in Beauty of Language_ + +11. He faced his audience with a tranquil mien and a beaming aspect that +was never dimmed. He spoke, and in the measured cadence of his quiet +voice there was intense feeling, but no declamation, no passionate +appeal, no superficial and feigned emotion. It was simple colloquy--a +gentleman conversing. Unconsciously and surely the ear and heart were +charmed. How was it done?--Ah! how did Mozart do it, how Raffael? + +The secret of the rose's sweetness, of the bird's ecstacy, of the +sunset's glory--that is the secret of genius and of eloquence. What was +heard, what was seen, was the form of noble manhood, the courteous and +self-possest tone, the flow of modulated speech, sparkling with +matchless richness of illustration, with apt allusion and happy anecdote +and historic parallel, with wit and pitiless invective, with melodious +pathos, with stinging satire, with crackling epigram and limpid humor, +like the bright ripples that play around the sure and steady prow of the +resistless ship. Like an illuminated vase of odors, he glowed with +concentrated and perfumed fire. The divine energy of his conviction +utterly possest him, and his + + "Pure and eloquent blood + Spoke in his cheek, and so distinctly wrought, + That one might almost say his body thought." + +Was it Pericles swaying the Athenian multitude? Was it Apollo breathing +the music of the morning from his lips?--No, no! It was an American +patriot, a modern son of liberty, with a soul as firm and as true as was +ever consecrated to unselfish duty, pleading with the American +conscience for the chained and speechless victims of American +inhumanity.--_Eulogy of Wendell Phillips:_ GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. + + +_A Study in Powerful Delivery_ + +12. I thank you very cordially, both friends and opponents, if opponents +you be, for the extreme kindness with which you have heard me. I have +spoken, and I must speak in very strong terms of the acts done by my +opponents. I will never say that they did it from passion; I will never +say that they did it from a sordid love of office; I have no right to +use such words; I have no right to entertain such sentiments; I +repudiate and abjure them; I give them credit for patriotic motives--I +give them credit for those patriotic motives which are incessantly and +gratuitously denied to us. I believe we are all united in a fond +attachment to the great country to which we belong; to the great empire +which has committed to it a trust and function from Providence, as +special and remarkable as was ever entrusted to any portion of the +family of man. When I speak of that trust and that function I feel that +words fail. I can not tell you what I think of the nobleness of the +inheritance which has descended upon us, of the sacredness of the duty +of maintaining it. I will not condescend to make it a part of +controversial politics. It is a part of my being, of my flesh and blood, +of my heart and soul. For those ends I have labored through my youth and +manhood, and, more than that, till my hairs are gray. In that faith and +practise I have lived, and in that faith and practise I shall +die.--_Midlothian Speech:_ WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. + + +_A Study in Purity of Style_ + +13. Is this a reality? or is your Christianity a romance? is your +profession a dream? No, I am sure that your Christianity is not a +romance, and I am equally sure that your profession is not a dream. It +is because I believe this that I appeal to you with confidence, and that +I have hope and faith in the future. I believe that we shall see, and at +no very distant time, sound economic principles spreading much more +widely among the people; a sense of justice growing up in a soil which +hitherto has been deemed unfruitful; and, which will be better than +all--the churches of the United Kingdom--the churches of Britain +awaking, as it were, from their slumbers, and girding up their loins to +more glorious work, when they shall not only accept and believe in the +prophecy, but labor earnestly for its fulfilment, that there shall come +a time--a blessed time--a time which shall last forever--when "nation +shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any +more."--_Peace:_ JOHN BRIGHT. + + +_A Study in Common Sense and Exalted Thought_ + +14. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole +subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an +object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never +take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no +good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied +still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, +the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will +have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were +admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in this +dispute there is still no single good reason for precipitate action. +Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who +has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust +in the best way all our present difficulty. In your hands, my +dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, are the momentous +issues of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no +conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath +registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the +most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it.--_The First +Inaugural Address:_ ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + + + + +HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC[1] + +BY GRENVILLE KLEISER + +[Footnote 1: A talk given before The Public Speaking Club of America.] + +The art of public speaking is so simple that it is difficult. There is +an erroneous impression that in order to make a successful speech a man +must have unusual natural talent in addition to long and arduous study. + +Consequently, many a person, when asked to make a speech, is immediately +subjected to a feeling of fear or depression. Once committed to the +undertaking, he spends anxious days and sleepless nights in mental +agony, much as a criminal is said to do just prior to his execution. +When at last he attempts his "maiden effort," he is almost wholly unfit +for his task because of the needless waste of thought and energy +expended in fear. + +Elbert Hubbard once confided to me that when he made deliberate +preparation for an elaborate speech,--which was seldom,--it was +invariably a disappointment. To push a great speech before him for an +hour or more used up most of his vitality. It was like making a speech +while attempting to carry a heavy burden on the back. + + +HOW THE SPEAKER MUST PREPARE HIMSELF + +There is, of course, certain preparation necessary for effective public +speaking. The so-called impromptu speech is largely the product of +previous knowledge and study. What the speaker has read, what he has +seen, what he has heard,--in short, what he actually knows, furnishes +the available material for his use. + +As the public speaker gains in experience, however, he learns to put +aside, at the time of speaking, all conscious thought of rules or +methods. He learns through discipline how to abandon himself to the +subject in hand and to give spontaneous expression to all his powers. + +_Primarily, then, the public speaker should have a well-stored mind._ He +should have mental culture in a broad way; sound judgment, a sense of +proportion, mental alertness, a retentive memory, tact, and common +sense,--these are vital to good speaking. + +_The physical requirements of the public speaker_ comprise good health +and bodily vigor. He must have power of endurance, since there will be +at times arduous demands upon him. It is worthy of note that most of the +world's great orators have been men with great animal vitality. + +The student of public speaking should give careful attention to his +personal appearance, which includes care of the teeth. His clothes, +linen, and the evidence of general care and cleanliness, will play an +important part in the impression he makes upon an audience. + +_Elocutionary training is essential._ Daily drill in deep breathing, +articulation, pronunciation, voice culture, gesture, and expression, are +prerequisites to polished speech. Experienced public speakers of the +best type know the necessity for daily practise. + +_The mental training of the public speaker_, so often neglected, should +be regular and thorough. A reliable memory and a vivid imagination are +his indispensable allies. + +_The moral side of the public speaker_ will include the development of +character, sympathy, self-confidence and kindred qualities. To be a +leader of other men, a speaker must have clear, settled, vigorous views +upon the subject under consideration. + +So much, briefly, as to the previous preparation of the speaker. + + +HOW THE SPEAKER MUST PREPARE HIS SPEECH + +_As to the speech itself, the speaker first chooses a subject._ This +will depend upon the nature of the occasion and the purpose in view. He +proceeds intelligently to gather material on his selected theme, +supplementing the resources of his own mind with information from books, +periodicals, and other sources. + +_The next step is to make a brief_, or outline of his subject. A brief +is composed of three parts, called the introduction, the discussion or +statement of facts, and the conclusion. Principal ideas are placed +under headings and subheadings. + +_The speaker next writes out his speech in full_, using the brief as the +basis of procedure. The discipline of writing out a speech, even tho the +intention is to speak without notes, is of inestimable value. It is one +of the best indications of the speaker's thoroughness and sincerity. + +When the speech has at last been carefully written out, revised, and +approved, should it be committed word for word to memory, or only in +part, or should the speaker read from the manuscript? + + +THE PART MEMORY PLAYS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING + +Here circumstances must govern. _The most approved method is to fix the +thoughts clearly in mind, and to trust to the time of speaking for +exact phraseology._ This method requires, however, that the speaker +rehearse his speech over and over again, changing the form of the words +frequently, so as to acquire facility in the use of language. + +_The great objection to memoriter speaking is that it limits and +handicaps the speaker._ He is like a schoolboy "saying his piece." He is +in constant danger of running off the prescribed track and of having to +begin again at some definite point. + +The most effective speaker to-day is the one who can think clearly and +promptly on his feet, and can speak from his personality rather than +from his memory. Untrammelled by manuscript or effort of memory, he +gives full and spontaneous expression to his powers. On the other hand, +a speech from memory is like a recitation, almost inevitably stilted +and artificial in character. + + +THE STUDY OF WORDS AND IDEAS + +Those who would become highly proficient in public speaking should form +the dictionary habit. It is a profitable and pleasant exercise to study +lists of words and to incorporate them in one's daily conversation. Ten +minutes devoted regularly every day to this study will build the +vocabulary in a rapid manner. + +The study of words is really a study of ideas,--since words are symbols +of ideas,--and while the student is increasing his working vocabulary, +in the way indicated, he is at the same time furnishing his mind with +new and useful ideas. + +_One of the best exercises for the student of public speaking is to read +aloud daily, taking care to read as he would speak._ He should choose +one of the standard writers, such as Stevenson, Ruskin, Newman, or +Carlyle, and while reading severely criticize his delivery. Such reading +should be done standing up and as if addressing an audience. This simple +exercise will, in the course of a few weeks, yield the most gratifying +results. + +It is true that "All art must be preceded by a certain mechanical +expertness," but as the highest art is to conceal art, a student must +learn eventually to abandon thought of "exercises" and "rules." + + +ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF THE PUBLIC SPEAKER + +The three greatest qualities in a successful public speaker are +simplicity, directness, and deliberateness. + +Lincoln had these qualities in preeminent degree. His speech at +Gettysburg--the model short speech of all history--occupied about three +minutes in delivery. Edward Everett well said afterward that he would +have been content to make the same impression in three hours which +Lincoln made in that many minutes. + +The great public speakers in all times have been earnest and diligent +students. We are familiar with the indefatigable efforts of Demosthenes, +who rose from very ordinary circumstances, and goaded by the realization +of great natural defects, through assiduous self-training eventually +made the greatest of the world's orations, "The Speech on the Crown." + +Cicero was a painstaking disciple of the speaker's art and gave himself +much to the discipline of the pen. His masterly work on oratory in which +he commends others to write much, remains unsurpassed to this day. + +John Bright, the eminent British orator, always required time for +preparation. He read every morning from the Bible, from which he drew +rich material for argument and illustration. A remarkable thing about +him was that he spoke seldom. + +Phillips Brooks was an ideal speaker, combining simplicity and sympathy +in large degree. He was a splendid type of pulpit orator produced by +broad spiritual culture. + +Henry Ward Beecher had unique powers as a dramatic and eloquent speaker. +In his youth he hesitated in his speech, which led him to study +elocution. He himself tells of how he went to the woods daily to +practise vocal exercises. + +He was an exponent of thorough preparation, never speaking upon a +subject until he had made it his own by diligent study. Like Phillips +Brooks, he was a man of large sympathy and imagination--two faculties +indispensable to persuasive eloquence. + +It was his oratory that first brought fame to Gladstone. He had a superb +voice, and he possest that fighting force essential to a great public +debater. When he quitted the House of Commons in his eighty-fifth year +his powers of eloquence were practically unimpaired. + +Wendell Phillips was distinguished for his personality, conversational +style, and thrilling voice. He had a wonderful vocabulary, and a +personal magnetism which won men instantly to him. It is said that he +relied principally upon the power of truth to make his speaking +eloquent. He, too, was an untiring student of the speaker's art. + +As we examine the lives and records of eminent speakers of other days, +we are imprest with the fact that they were sincere and earnest +students of the art in which they ultimately excelled. + + +LEARNING TO THINK ON YOUR FEET + +One of the best exercises for learning to think and speak on the feet is +to practise daily giving one minute impromptu talks upon chosen +subjects. A good plan is to write subjects of a general character, on +say fifty or more cards, and then to speak on each subject as it is +chosen. + +This simple exercise will rapidly develop facility of thought and +expression and give greatly increased self-confidence. + +It is a good plan to prepare more material than one intends to use--at +least twice as much. It gives a comfortable feeling of security when one +stands before an audience, to know that if some of the prepared matter +evades his memory, he still has ample material at his ready service. + +There is no more interesting and valuable study than that of speaking in +public. It confers distinct advantages by way of improved health, +through special exercise in deep breathing and voice culture; by way of +stimulated thought and expression; and by an increase of self-confidence +and personal power. + +Men and women in constantly increasing numbers are realizing the +importance of public speaking, and as questions multiply for debate and +solution the need for this training will be still more widely +appreciated, so that a practical knowledge of public speaking will in +time be considered indispensable to a well-rounded education. + + +Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk + +THE STYLE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT + +The speeches of Mr. Roosevelt commend themselves to the student of +public speaking for their fearlessness, frankness, and robustness of +thought. His aim was deliberate and effective. + +His style was generally exuberant, and the note of personal assertion +prominent. He was direct in diction, often vehement in feeling, and one +of his characteristics was a visible satisfaction when he drove home a +special thought to his hearers. + +It is hoped that the extract reprinted here, from Mr. Roosevelt's famous +address, "The Strenuous Life," will lead the student to study the speech +in its entirety. The speech will be found in "Essays and Addresses," +published by The Century Company. + + +THE STRENUOUS LIFE[2] + +BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT + +[Footnote 2: Extract from speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, +April 10, 1899. From the "Strenuous Life. Essays and Addresses" by +Theodore Roosevelt. The Century Co., 1900.] + + +In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the +State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently +and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American +character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the +doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor +and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to +the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink +from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these +wins the splendid ultimate triumph. + +A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from +lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as +little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what +every self-respecting American demands from himself and his sons shall +be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you would teach +the boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in +their eyes--to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? You men of +Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your +share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you +neither preach nor practise such a doctrine. You work, yourselves, and +you bring up your sons to work. If you are rich and are worth your salt +you will teach your sons that tho they may have leisure, it is not to be +spent in idleness; for wisely used leisure merely means that those who +possess it, being free from the necessity of working for their +livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of +non-remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in +historical research--work of the type we most need in this country, the +successful carrying out of which reflects most honor upon the nation. We +do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies +victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt +to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in +the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse +never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by +effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has +been stored up effort in the past. A man can be freed from the necessity +of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked +to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright and the +man still does actual work tho of a different kind, whether as a writer +or a general, whether in the field of politics or in the field of +exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good fortune. But if +he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a +period, not of preparation, but of more enjoyment, he shows that he is +simply a cumberer on the earth's surface, and he surely unfits himself +to hold his own with his fellows if the need to do so should again +arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, +and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow +it for serious work in the world. + +In the last analysis a healthy State can exist only when the men and +women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the +children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk +difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to +wrest triumph from toil and risk. The man must be glad to do a man's +work, to dare and endure and to labor; to keep himself, and to keep +those dependent upon him. The woman must be the housewife, the helpmeet +of the homemaker, the wise and fearless mother of many healthy children. +In one of Daudet's powerful and melancholy books he speaks of "the fear +of maternity, the haunting terror of the young wife of the present day." +When such words can be truthfully written of a nation, that nation is +rotten to the heart's core. When men fear work or fear righteous war, +when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well +it is that they should vanish from the earth, where they are fit +subjects for the scorn of all men and women who are themselves strong +and brave and high-minded. + +As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base +untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice +happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to +dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even tho checkered by +failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy +much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows +not victory nor defeat. If in 1861 the men who loved the Union had +believed that peace was the end of all things, and war and strife the +worst of all things, and had acted up to their belief, we would have +saved hundreds of lives, we would have saved hundreds of millions of +dollars. Moreover, besides saving all the blood and treasure we then +lavished, we would have prevented the heartbreak of many women, the +dissolution of many homes, and we would have spared the country those +months of gloom and shame when it seemed as if our armies marched only +to defeat. We could have avoided all this suffering simply by shrinking +from strife. And if we had thus avoided it, we would have shown that we +were weaklings, and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations +of the earth. Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers, the +men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln, and bore sword or rifle in the +armies of Grant! Let us, the children of the men who proved themselves +equal to the mighty days, let us the children of the men who carried the +great Civil War to a triumphant conclusion, praise the God of our +fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were rejected; that the +suffering and loss, the blackness of sorrow and despair were +unflinchingly faced, and the years of strife endured; for in the end the +slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic +placed once more as a helmeted queen among nations.... + +The Army and Navy are the sword and shield which this nation must carry +if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth--if she is not +to stand merely as the China of the western hemisphere. Our proper +conduct toward the tropic islands we have wrested from Spain is merely +the form which our duty has taken at the moment. Of course, we are bound +to handle the affairs of our own household well. We must see that there +is civic good sense in our home administration of city, State and +nation. We must strive for honesty in office, for honesty toward the +creditors of the nation and of the individual, for the widest freedom of +individual initiative where possible, and for the wisest control of +individual initiative where it is hostile to the welfare of the many. +But because we set our own household in order we are not thereby excused +from playing our part in the great affairs of the world. A man's first +duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his +duty to the State; for if he fails in this second duty, it is under the +penalty of ceasing to be a freeman. In the same way, while a nation's +first duty is within its own borders it is not thereby absolved from +facing its duties in the world as a whole; and if it refuses to do so, +it merely forfeits its right to struggle for a place among the peoples +that shape the destiny of mankind. + + +I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the +life of ease, but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth +century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand +idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if +we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their +lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and +stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the +domination of the world. Let us, therefore, boldly face the life of +strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold +righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, +to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us +shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, +provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only +through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall +ultimately win the goal of true national greatness. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS + + * * * * * + +HOW TO Develop Self-Confidence IN SPEECH AND MANNER + +By GRENVILLE KLEISER + +_Author of "How to Argue and Win."_ + + +In all fields of endeavor there are thousands of people who are forced +to remain in the background because they lack self-confidence in speech +and manner--the very fundamental of success. For just such people +Grenville Kleiser has written his book "How to Develop Self-Confidence +in Speech and Manner." + +The work deals with methods of correction for self-consciousness, with +manners as a power in the making of men, with the value of a cultivated +and agreeable voice, with confidence in society and business. A series +of suggestions is given for an every-day cultivation of these qualities. + + "Embodies in a most encouraging and practical way all that is + needed to make one who is naturally timid or fearful in speech and + manner, self-poised, calm, dignified and confident of himself. It + must be said that the method proposed is one of sober self-estimate + and persistent effort along well considered lines of thought and + action, designed to eradicate this uneasiness."--_Times Dispatch_, + Richmond, Va. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.50, Net; by mail, $1.65_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + * * * * * + +_ELSIE JANIS, the wonderful protean actress, says:--"I can not speak in +too high praise of the opening remarks. If carefully read, will greatly +assist. Have several books of choice selections, but I find some in +'Humorous Hits' never before published."_ + + +HUMOROUS HITS + +AND HOW TO HOLD AN AUDIENCE + +By GRENVILLE KLEISER + +_Author of "How to Argue and Win."_ + + +This is a choice, new collection of effective recitations, sketches, +stories, poems, monologues; the favorite numbers of world-famed +humorists such as James Whitcomb Riley, Eugene Field, Mark Twain, Finley +Peter Dunne, W. J. Lampton, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Chas. Batell Loomis, +Wallace Irwin, Richard Mansfield, Bill Nye, S. E. Kiser, Tom Masson, and +others. It is the best book for home entertainment, and the most useful +for teachers, orators, after-dinner speakers, and actors. + +In this book, Mr. Kleiser also gives practical suggestions on how to +deliver humorous or other selections so that they will make the +strongest possible impression on the audience. + +_Cloth 12mo, 316 pages. Price, $1.25, Net; Post-paid, $1.37_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Successful Methods of Public Speaking, by +Grenville Kleiser + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF PUBLIC *** + +***** This file should be named 18095.txt or 18095.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/9/18095/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Suzanne Lybarger, Martin Pettit +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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