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diff --git a/17318.txt b/17318.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f91e3e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/17318.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11839 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Public Speaking, by Clarence Stratton + +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: Public Speaking + +Author: Clarence Stratton + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17318] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUBLIC SPEAKING *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + PUBLIC SPEAKING + + BY + CLARENCE STRATTON; PH.D. + + DIRECTOR OF ENGLISH + IN HIGH SCHOOL + + CLEVELAND + + + + + NEW YORK + HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1920 + BY + HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY + _January, 1924_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER +I. SPEECH +II. THE VOICE +III. WORDS AND SENTENCES +IV. BEGINNING THE SPEECH +V. CONCLUDING THE SPEECH +VI. GETTING MATERIAL +VII. PLANNING THE SPEECH +VIII. MAKING THE OUTLINE OR BRIEF +IX. EXPLAINING +X. PROVING AND PERSUADING +XI. REFUTING +XII. DEBATING +XIII. SPEAKING UPON SPECIAL OCCASIONS +XIV. DRAMATICS +APPENDIX A +APPENDIX B +INDEX + + + + +To +C.C.S. + + + + +PUBLIC SPEAKING + +CHAPTER I + +SPEECH + + +Importance of Speech. There never has been in the history of the world +a time when the spoken word has been equaled in value and importance +by any other means of communication. If one traces the development of +mankind from what he considers its earliest stage he will find that +the wandering family of savages depended entirely upon what its +members said to one another. A little later when a group of families +made a clan or tribe the individuals still heard the commands of the +leader, or in tribal council voiced their own opinions. The beginnings +of poetry show us the bard who recited to his audiences. Drama, in all +primitive societies a valuable spreader of knowledge, entertainment, +and religion, is entirely oral. In so late and well-organized +communities as the city republics of Greece all matters were discussed +in open assemblies of the rather small populations. + +Every great epoch of the world's progress shows the supreme importance +of speech upon human action--individual and collective. In the Roman +Forum were made speeches that affected the entire ancient world. +Renaissance Italy, imperial Spain, unwieldy Russia, freedom-loving +England, revolutionary France, all experienced periods when the power +of certain men to speak stirred other men into tempestuous action. + +The history of the United States might almost be written as the +continuous record of the influence of great speakers upon others. The +colonists were led to concerted action by persuasive speeches. The +Colonial Congresses and Constitutional Convention were dominated by +powerful orators. The history of the slavery problem is mainly the +story of famous speeches and debates. Most of the active +representative Americans have been leaders because of their ability to +impress their fellows by their power of expressing sentiments and +enthusiasms which all would voice if they could. Presidents have been +nominated and candidates elected because of this equipment. + +During the Great War the millions of the world were as much concerned +with what some of their leaders were saying as with what their other +leaders were doing.[1] + +Speech in Modern Life. There is no aspect of modern life in which the +spoken work is not supreme in importance. Representatives of the +nations of the world deciding upon a peace treaty and deliberating +upon a League of Nations sway and are swayed by speech. National +assemblies--from the strangely named new ones of infant nations to the +century-old organizations--speak, and listen to speeches. In state +legislatures, municipal councils, law courts, religious organizations, +theaters, lodges, societies, boards of directors, stockholders' +meetings, business discussions, classrooms, dinner parties, social +functions, friendly calls--in every human relationship where two +people meet there is communication by means of speech. + +[Footnote 1: See _Great American Speeches_, edited by Clarence +Stratton, Lippincott and Company.] + +Scientific invention keeps moving as rapidly as it can to take +advantage of this supreme importance. Great as was the advance marked +by the telegraph, it was soon overtaken and passed by the convenience +of the telephone. The first conveys messages at great distance, but it +fails to give the answer at once. It fails to provide for the rapid +_interchange_ of ideas which the second affords. Wireless telegraphy +has already been followed by wireless telephony. The rapid intelligent +disposal of the complicated affairs of our modern world requires more +than mere writing--it demands immediate interchange of ideas by means +of speech. + +Many people who in their habitual occupations are popularly said to +write a great deal do nothing of the sort. The millions of typists in +the world do no writing at all in the real sense of that word; they +merely reproduce what some one else has actually composed and +dictated. This latter person also does no actual writing. He speaks +what he wants to have put into writing. Dictating is not an easily +acquired accomplishment in business--as many a man will testify. +Modern office practice has intensified the difficulty. It may be +rather disconcerting to deliver well-constructed, meaningful sentences +to an unresponsive stenographer, but at any rate the receiver is +alive. But to talk into the metallic receiver of a mechanical +dictaphone has an almost ridiculous air. Men have to train themselves +deliberately to speak well when they first begin to use these +time-saving devices. Outside of business, a great deal of the material +printed in periodicals and books--sometimes long novels--has been +delivered orally, and not written at all by its author. Were anything +more needed to show how much speech is used it would be furnished by +the reports of the telephone companies. In one table the number of +daily connections in 1895 was 2,351,420. In 1918 this item had +increased to 31,263,611. In twenty-three years the calls had grown +fifteen times as numerous. In 1882 there were 100,000 subscriber +stations. In 1918 this number had swelled to 11,000,000. + +Subordinates and executives in all forms of business could save +incalculable time and annoyance by being able to present their +material clearly and forcefully over the telephone, as well as in +direct face-to-face intercourse. + +The Director of high schools in a large municipality addressed a +circular letter to the business firms of the city, asking them to +state what is most necessary in order to fit boys for success in +business. Ninety-nine per cent laid stress on the advantage of being +able to write and speak English accurately and forcibly. + +Testimony in support of the statement that training in speaking is of +paramount importance in all careers might be adduced from a score of +sources. Even from the seemingly far-removed phase of military +leadership comes the same support. The following paragraph is part of +a letter issued by the office of the Adjutant-General during the +early months of the participation of this country in the Great War. + + "A great number of men have failed at camp because of + inability to articulate clearly. A man who cannot impart his + idea to his command in clear distinct language, and with + sufficient volume of voice to be heard reasonably far, is not + qualified to give command upon which human life will depend. + Many men disqualified by this handicap might have become + officers under their country's flag had they been properly + trained in school and college. It is to be hoped therefore + that more emphasis will be placed upon the basic principles + of elocution in the training of our youth. Even without + prescribed training in elocution a great improvement could be + wrought by the instructors in our schools and colleges, + regardless of the subjects, by insisting that all answers be + given in a loud, clear, well rounded voice which, of course, + necessitates the opening of the mouth and free movement of + the lips. It is remarkable how many excellent men suffer from + this handicap, and how almost impossible it is to correct + this after the formative years of life." + +Perhaps the most concise summary of the relative values of exercise in +the three different forms of communication through language was +enunciated by Francis Bacon in his essay entitled _Studies_, published +first in 1597: "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and +writing an exact man." + +Speech and Talk. The high value here placed upon speech must not be +transferred to mere talk. The babbler will always be justly regarded +with contempt. Without ideas, opinions, information, talk becomes the +most wasteful product in the world, wasteful not only of the time of +the person who insists upon delivering it, but more woefully and +unjustifiably wasteful of the time and patience of those poor victims +who are forced to listen to it. Shakespeare put a man of this +disposition into _The Merchant of Venice_ and then had his discourse +described by another. + + "Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any + man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid + in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day 'ere you find + them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search." + +But the man who has ideas and can best express them is a leader +everywhere. He does the organizing, he makes and imparts the plans, he +carries his own theories and beliefs into execution, he is the +intrusted agent, the advanced executive. He can act for himself. He +can influence others to significant and purposeful action. The +advantages that come to men who can think upon their feet, who can +express extempore a carefully considered proposition, who can adapt +their conversation or arguments to every changing condition, cannot be +emphasized too strongly. + +Speech an Acquired Ability. We frequently regard and discuss speech as +a perfectly natural attribute of all human beings. In some sense it +is. Yet an American child left to the care of deaf-mutes, never +hearing the speech of his own kind, would not develop into a speaker +of the native language of his parents. He doubtless would be able to +imitate every natural sound he might hear. He could reproduce the cry +or utterance of every animal or bird he had ever heard. But he would +no more speak English naturally than he would Arabic. In this sense, +language is not a natural attribute as is hunger. It is an imitative +accomplishment acquired only after long years of patient practice and +arduous effort. Some people never really attain a facile mastery of +the means of communication. Some mature men and women are no more +advanced in the use of speech than children of ten or fifteen. The +practice is life-long. The effort is unceasing. + +A child seems to be as well adapted to learning one language as another. +There may be certain physical formations or powers inherited from a race +which predispose the easier mastery of a language, but even these +handicaps for learning a different tongue can be overcome by imitation, +study, and practice. Any child can be taught an alien tongue through +constant companionship of nurse or governess. The second generation of +immigrants to this country learns our speech even while it may continue +the tongue of the native land. The third generation--if it mix +continuously with speakers of English--relinquishes entirely the +exercise of the mother tongue. The succeeding generation seldom can +speak it, frequently cannot even understand it. + +Training to Acquire Speech Ability. The methods by which older persons +may improve their ability to speak are analogous to those just +suggested as operative for children, except that the more mature the +person the wider is his range of models to imitate, of examples from +which to make deductions; the more resources he has within himself and +about him for self-development and improvement. A child's vocabulary +increases rapidly through new experiences. A mature person can create +new surroundings. He can deliberately widen his horizon either by +reading or association. The child is mentally alert. A man can keep +himself intellectually alert. A child delights in his use of his +powers of expression. A man can easily make his intercourse a source +of delight to himself and to all with whom he comes in contact. A +child's imagination is kept stimulated continually. A man can +consciously stimulate either his imagination or his reason. In the +democracy of childhood the ability to impress companions depends to a +great extent upon the ability to speak. There is no necessity of +following the parallel any farther. + +Good speakers, then, are made, not born. Training counts for as much +as natural ability. In fact if a person considers carefully the +careers of men whose ability to speak has impressed the world by its +preeminence he will incline to the conclusion that the majority of +them were not to any signal extent born speakers at all. In nearly all +cases of great speakers who have left records of their own progress in +this powerful art their testimony is that without the effort to +improve, without the unceasing practice they would have always +remained no more marked for this so-called gift than all others. + +Overcoming Drawbacks. According to the regularly repeated tradition +the great Greek orator, Demosthenes, overcame impediments that would +have daunted any ordinary man. His voice was weak. He lisped, and his +manner was awkward. With pebbles in his mouth he tried his lungs +against the noise of the dashing waves. This strengthened his voice +and gave him presence of mind in case of tumult among his listeners. +He declaimed as he ran uphill. Whether these traditions be true or +not, their basis must be that it was only by rigorous training that he +did become a tolerable speaker. The significant point, however, is +that with apparent handicaps he did develop his ability until he +became great. + +Charles James Fox began his parliamentary career by being decidedly +awkward and filling his speeches with needless repetitions, yet he +became renowned as one of Great Britain's most brilliant speakers and +statesmen. + +Henry Clay clearly describes his own exercises in self-training when +he was quite a grown man. + + "I owe my success in life to one single fact, namely, at the + age of twenty-seven I commenced, and continued for years, the + practice of daily reading and speaking upon the contents of + some historical or scientific book. These offhand efforts + were made sometimes in a corn field, at others in the + forests, and not infrequently in some distant barn with the + horse and ox for my auditors. It is to this early practice in + the art of all arts that I am indebted to the primary and + leading impulses that stimulated me forward, and shaped and + molded my entire destiny." + +Abraham Lincoln never let pass any opportunity to try to make a +speech. His early employers, when called upon after his fame was won +to describe his habits as a young man, admitted that they might have +been disposed to consider him an idle fellow. They explained that he +was not only idle himself but the cause of idleness in others. Unless +closely watched, he was likely to mount a stump and, to the intense +delight of his fellow farm hands, deliver a side-splitting imitation +of some itinerant preacher or a stirring political harangue. + +The American whose reputation for speech is the greatest won it more +through training than by natural gift. + + "I could not speak before the school," said Daniel Webster. + ... "Many a piece did I commit to memory and rehearse in my + room over and over again, but when the day came, and the + schoolmaster called my name, and I saw all eyes turned upon + my seat, I could not raise myself from it.... Mr. Buckminster + always pressed and entreated, most winningly, that I would + venture, but I could never command sufficient resolution. + When the occasion was over I went home and wept bitter tears + of mortification." + +Results of Training. The significance of all these illustrations is +that no great speaker has come by his ability without careful and +persistent training. No molder of the world's destinies springs fully +equipped from the welter of promiscuous events. He has been training +for a long time. On the other hand the much more practical lesson to +be derived from these biographical excerpts is that these men started +from ordinary conditions to make themselves into forceful thinkers +with powers of convincing expression. They overcame handicaps. They +strengthened their voices. They learned how to prepare and arrange +material. They made themselves able to explain topics to others. They +knew so well the reasons for their own belief that they could convince +others. + +In a smaller way, to a lesser degree, any person can do the same +thing, and by the same or similar methods. Barring some people who +have physical defects or nervous diseases, any person who has enough +brains to grasp an idea, to form an opinion, or to produce a thought, +can be made to speak well. The preceding sentence says "barring some +people who have physical defects" because not all so handicapped at +the beginning need despair of learning to improve in speaking ability. +By systems in which the results appear almost miraculous the dumb are +now taught to speak. Stutterers and stammerers become excellent +deliverers of speeches in public. Weak voices are strengthened. +Hesitant expressions are made coherent. Such marvels of modern science +belong, however, to special classes and institutions. They are cited +here to prove that in language training today practically nothing is +impossible to the teacher with knowledge and patience in educating +students with alertness and persistence. + +Practical Help. This book attempts to provide a guide for such +teachers and students. It aims to be eminently practical. It is +intended to help students to improve in speech. It assumes that those +who use it are able to speak their language with some facility--at +least they can pronounce its usual words. That and the realization +that one is alive, as indicated by a mental openness to ideas and an +intellectual alertness about most things in the universe, are all that +are absolutely required of a beginner who tries to improve in +speaking. Practically all else can be added unto him. + +As this volume has a definite aim it has a simple practical basis. It +will not soar too far above the essentials. It tries not to offer an +elaborate explanation of an enthymeme when the embryonic speaker's +knees are knocking together so loudly that he can not hear the +instructor's correcting pronunciation of the name. It takes into +account that when a beginner stands before an audience--and this is +true not only the first time--even his body is not under his control. +Lips grow cold and dry; perspiration gushes from every pore of the +brow and runs down the face; legs grow weak; eyes see nothing; hands +swell to enormous proportions; violent pains shoot across the chest; +the breath is confined within the lungs; from the clapper-like tongue +comes only a faint click. Is it any wonder that under such physical +agonies the mind refuses to respond--rather, is incapable of any +action whatever? + +Speech Based on Thought and Language. Every speech is a result of the +combination of thought and language, of material and expression. It +would be quite possible to begin with considerations of the thought +content of speeches--the material; but this book begins with the +other;--the language, the expression. If this order have no other +advantage, it does possess this one;--that during the informal +discussions and expressions of opinion occasioned by the early +chapters and exercises, members of the class are attaining a feeling +of ease in speaking among themselves which will later eradicate a +great deal of the nervousness usually experienced when speaking +_before_ the class. In addition, some attention to such topics as +voice, tone, pronunciation, common errors, use of the dictionary, +vocabulary, may instil habits of self-criticism and observation which +may save from doubt and embarrassing mistakes later. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Recall some recent speech you heard. In parallel columns make lists +of its excellences and deficiencies. + +2. Give the class an account of the occasion, the purpose of the +speaker, and his effect upon his audience, or upon you. + +3. Explain how children learn to speak. + +4. From your observation give the class an account of how young +children enlarge their vocabularies. + +5. Using the material of this chapter as the basis of your remarks, +show the value of public speaking. + +6. Of what value is public speaking to women? + +7. What effects upon speeches by women will universal suffrage have? + +8. Choose some profession--as law, engineering--and show how an +ability to speak may be of value in it. + +9. Choose some business position, and show how an ability to speak is +a decided advantage in it. + +10. What is the best method of acquiring a foreign language? For +example, how shall the alien learn English? + +11. Choose some great man whom you admire. Show how he became a +speaker. Or give an account of one of his speeches. + +12. Show the value of public speaking to a girl--in school; in +business; in other careers. + +13. Explain the operation of a dictaphone. + +14. How can training in public speaking help an applicant for a +position? + +15. Explain the sentence quoted from Bacon's essay on studies. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE VOICE + + +Organs of Speech. Although the effects produced by the human voice are +myriad in their complexity, the apparatus involved in making the +sounds which constitute speech is extremely simple. In construction it +has been usually compared to an organ pipe, a comparison justifiable +for imparting a non-technical understanding of its operation. + +An organ pipe is a tube in which a current of air passing over the +edge of a piece of metal causes it to vibrate, thus putting into +motion the column of air in the pipe which then produces a note. The +operating air is forced across the sounding piece of metal from a +bellows. The tube in which the thin sounding plate and the column of +air vibrate acts as a resonator. The resulting sound depends upon +various sizes of the producing parts. If the tube is quite long the +sound is low in pitch. If the tube is short the sound is high. +Stopping the end of the pipe or leaving it open alters the pitch. A +stopped pipe gives a note an octave lower than an open pipe of the +same length. The amount of the vibrating plate which is allowed to +move also determines the pitch of a note. If the air is under great +pressure the note is loud. If the air is under little pressure the +note is soft. + +It is quite easy to transfer this explanation to the voice-producing +apparatus in the human body. + +To the bellows correspond the lungs from which the expelled air is +forced upwards through the windpipe. The lungs are able to expel air +regularly and gently, with no more expense of energy than ordinary +breathing requires. But the lungs can also force air out with +tremendous power--power enough to carry sound over hundreds of yards. +In ordinary repose the outward moving breath produces no sound +whatever, for it meets in its passage no obstruction. + +Producing Tone. At the upper end of the windpipe is a triangular +chamber, the front angle of which forms the Adam's apple. In this are +the vocal cords. These cords are two tapes of membrane which can be +brought closely together, and by muscular tension stretched until +passing air causes them to vibrate. They in turn cause the air above +them to vibrate, much as the air in an organ pipe vibrates. Thus tone +is produced. + +The air above the vocal cords may fill all the open spaces above the +larynx--the throat, the mouth, the nasal cavity in the head, the +nostrils. This rather large amount of air, vibrating freely, produces +a sound low in pitch. The larger the cavities are made the lower the +pitch. You can verify this by producing a note. Then place your finger +upon your Adam's apple. Produce a sound lower in pitch. Notice what +your larynx does. Sing a few notes down the scale or up to observe the +same principle of the change of pitch in the human voice. + +Producing Vowels. If the mouth be kept wide open and no other organ be +allowed to modify or interrupt the sound a vowel is produced. In +speech every part of the head that can be used is brought into action +to modify these uninterrupted vibrations of vocal cords and air. The +lips, the cheeks, the teeth, the tongue, the hard palate, the soft +palate, the nasal cavity, all cooeperate to make articulate speech. + +As in its mechanism, so in the essence of its modifications, the human +voice is a marvel of simplicity. If the mouth be opened naturally and +the tongue and lips be kept as much out of the way as in ordinary +breathing, and then the vocal cords be made to vibrate, the resulting +sound will be the vowel _a_ as in _father_. If now, starting from that +same position and with that same vowel sound, the tongue be gradually +raised the sound will be modified. Try it. The sound will pass through +other vowels. Near the middle position it will sound like _a_ in +_fate_; and when the tongue gets quite close to the roof of the mouth +without touching it the vowel will be the _e_ of _feet_. Others--such +as the _i_ of _it_--can be distinguished clearly. + +Starting again from that same open position and with that same vowel +sound, _ah_, if the tongue be allowed to lie flat, but the lips be +gradually closed and at the same time rounded, the sound will pass +from _ah_ to the _o_ of _hope_, then on to the _oo_ of _troop_. The +_oa_ of _broad_ and other vowels can be distinguished at various +positions. + +By moving lips and tongue at the same time an almost infinite variety +of vowel sounds can be made. + +Producing Consonants. In order to produce consonant sounds the other +parts of the speaking apparatus are brought into operation. Everyone +of them has some function in the formation of some consonant by +interrupting or checking the breath. A student, by observing or +feeling the motions of his mouth can easily instruct himself in the +importance of each part if he will carefully pronounce a few times all +the various consonant sounds of the language. + +The lips produce the sounds of _p_, _b_, _wh_, and _w_. The lips and +teeth produce the sounds of _f_, _v_. The tongue and teeth together +make the sounds of _th_ and _dh_. The tongue in conjunction with the +forward portion of the hard palate produces several sounds--_t_, _d_, +_s_, _z_, _r_, and _l_. The tongue operating against or near the rear +of the hard palate pronounces _ch_, _j_, _sh_, _zh_, and a different +_r_. To make the consonant _y_ the tongue, the hard palate, and the +soft palate operate. The tongue and soft palate make _k_ and _g_. A +strong breathing makes the sound of _h_. By including the nasal +passages in conjunction with some of the other parts here listed the +so-called nasals, _m_, _n_, and _ng_, are made. According to the organ +involved our consonant sounds are conveniently grouped as labials +(lips), dentals (teeth), linguals (tongue), palatals (palate), and +nasals (nose). + +The correct position and action of the vocal organs are of supreme +importance to all speakers. Many an inveterate stammerer, stutterer, +or repeater can be relieved, if not cured, of the embarrassing +impediment by attention to the position of his speech organs and by +careful, persistent practice in their manipulation. In fact every +speaker must be cognizant of the placement of these parts if he +desires to have control over his speech. Frequently it is such correct +placement rather than loud noise or force which carries expressions +clearly to listeners. + +While it is true that singing will strengthen the lungs and help in +control of breath, it is not always the fact--as might be +expected--that singing will develop the speaking voice. Not every +person who can sing has a pleasant or forceful voice in ordinary +discourse. In singing, to secure purity of musical tone, the vowels +are likely to be disproportionately dwelt upon. Thus we have the +endless _la-la-la_ and _ah-ah_ of so many vocal show-pieces. The same +practice leads to the repeated criticism that it makes no difference +whether a song be in English or a foreign language--the listeners +understand just as much in either case. + +In speaking effectively the aim and method are the exact opposite. +When a man speaks he wants to be listened to for the meaning of what +he is uttering. There are so many words in the language with the same +or similar vowel sounds that only the sharpest discrimination by means +of consonants permits of their being intelligible. The speaker, +therefore, will exercise the greatest care in pronouncing consonants +distinctly. As these sounds usually begin and end words, and as they +are produced by rather sudden checks or interruptions, they can be +made to produce a wave motion in the air which will carry the entire +word safely and clearly beyond the ear into the understanding. In +public speaking no amount of care and attention bestowed upon +pronouncing consonants can be spared. + +Tone. The most marked quality of a person's voice is its tone. It will +be enough for the purposes of this manual to assert that the tone +should be both clear and agreeable. In public speaking the first of +these is all important, though an absence of the second qualification +may almost neutralize all the advantages of the first. Clearness may +be impaired by several causes. The speaker may feel that his throat +closes up, that he becomes choked. His tongue may become stiff and +"cleave to the roof of his mouth"--as the feeling is popularly +described. He may breathe so energetically that the escaping or +entering air makes more noise than the words themselves. He may be +more or less conscious of all these. The others he may not discover +for himself. The instructor or members of the class will inform him of +their presence. Set jaws will prevent him from opening his mouth wide +enough and operating his lips flexibly enough to speak with a full +tone. A nasal quality results mainly from lack of free resonance in +the head and nose passages. Adenoids and colds in the head produce +this condition. It should be eradicated by advice and practice. + +Usually whatever corrections will make the tone clearer will also make +it more agreeable. The nasal pessimistic whine is not a pleasant +recommendation of personality. High, forced, strident tones produce +not only irritation in the listener but throat trouble for the +speaker. + +Articulate--that is, connected--speech may be considered with +reference to four elements, all of which are constantly present in any +spoken discourse. + +Speed. First, there is the speed of delivery. An angry woman can utter +more words in a minute than any one wants to hear. The general +principle underlying all speech delivery is that as the audience +increases in number the rapidity of utterance should be lessened. +Those who are accustomed to addressing large audiences, or to speaking +in the open air, speak very slowly. A second consideration is the +material being delivered. Easily grasped narrative, description, and +explanation, simply phrased and directly constructed, may be delivered +much more rapidly than involved explanation, unfamiliar phraseology, +long and intricate sentence constructions, unusual material, abstract +reasoning, and unwelcome sentiments. The beginnings of speeches move +much more slowly than later parts. A speaker who intends to lead an +audience a long distance, or to hold the attention for a long time, +will be extremely careful not to speak at the beginning so rapidly +that he leaves them far behind. + +This does not mean that a speaker must drawl his words. One of our +national characteristics is that we shorten our words in pronouncing +them--_ing_ generally loses the _g, does not_ has become _doesn't_ and +quite incorrectly _don't, yes_ is _yeeh_, etc. In many cases nothing +more is required than the restoration of the word to its correct form. +Some words can easily be lengthened because of the significance of +their meanings. Others must be extended in order to carry. The best +method of keeping down the rate of delivery is by a judicious use of +pauses. Pauses are to the listener what punctuation marks are to the +reader. He is not conscious of their presence, but he would be left +floundering if they were absent. Some of the most effective parts of +speeches are the pauses. They impart clearness to ideas, as well as +aiding in emphasis and rhythm. + +Pitch. A second quality of speech is its pitch. This simply means its +place in the musical scale. Speaking voices are high, medium, or low. +Unfortunate tendencies of Americans seem to be for women to pitch +their voices too high, with resultant strain and unpleasantness, and +for men to pitch their voices too low, with resultant growls and +gruffness. The voices of young children should be carefully guarded in +this respect; so should the changing voices of growing boys. To secure +a good pitch for the speaking voice the normal natural pitch of usual +conversation should be found. Speech in that same pitch should be +developed for larger audiences. Frequently a better pitch can be +secured by slightly lowering the voice. If the natural pitch be too +low for clearness or agreeableness it should be slightly raised--never +more than is absolutely necessary. + +No connected group of words should be delivered in a monotonously +level pitch. The voice must rise and fall. These changes must answer +intelligently to the meaning of the material. Such variations are +called inflections. The most disagreeable violations of required +inflections are raising the voice where it should fall--as at the +completion of an idea, and letting it drop where it should remain +up--as before the completion of an idea, frequently answering to a +comma. Other variations of pitch depend upon emphasis. + +Emphasis. Emphasis is giving prominence to a word or phrase so that +its importance is impressed upon a listener. This result is most +easily secured by contrast. More force may be put into its delivery +than the rest of the speech. The word may be made louder or not so +loud. The voice may be pitched higher or lower. The word may be +lengthened. Pauses will make it prominent. In speaking, combinations +of these are employed to produce emphasis. + +While all qualities of speech are important, emphasis is of cardinal +value. Listeners will never recall everything that a speaker has said. +By a skilful employment of emphasis he will put into their +consciousness the main theme of his message, the salient arguments of +his contention, the leading motives of action. Here again is that +close interdependence of manner and material referred to in the +preceding chapter. In later chapters will be discussed various methods +of determining and securing emphasis of larger sections than mere +words and phrases. + +Phrasing. Somewhat related to emphasis is phrasing. This is the +grouping together of words, phrases, clauses, and other units so that +their meaning and significance may be easily grasped by a listener. As +has been already said, pauses serve as punctuation marks for the +hearer. Short pauses correspond to commas, longer ones to colons and +semi-colons, marked ones to periods. Speakers can by pauses clearly +indicate the conclusions of sections, the completion of topics, the +passage from one part of the material to another, the transfer of +attention from one subject to its opposite. Within smaller range +pauses can add delightful variety to delivery as they can signally +reinforce the interpretation. No speaker should fall into the habit of +monotonously letting his pauses mark the limit of his breath capacity, +nor should he take any regular phrase, clause, or sentence length to +be indicated by pauses. In this as in all other aspects variety is the +charm of speech. + +Enunciation. No matter what handicaps a person may have he may +overcome them to secure a distinct, agreeable enunciation. Care in +enunciating words will enable a speaker to be heard almost anywhere. +It is recorded that John Fox, a famous preacher of South Place Chapel, +London, whose voice was neither loud nor strong, was heard in every +part of Covent Garden Theatre, seating 3500, when he made +anti-corn-law orations, by the clearness with which he pronounced the +final consonants of the words he spoke. + +One of the orators best known to readers is Edmund Burke, whose +speeches are studied as models of argumentative arrangement and style. +Yet in actual speech-making Burke was more or less a failure because +of the unfortunate method of his delivery. Many men markedly inferior +in capacity to Burke overcame disadvantageous accidents, but he was +frequently hurried and impetuous. Though his tones were naturally +sonorous, they were harsh; and he never divested his speech of a +strong Irish accent. Then, too, his gestures were clumsy. These facts +will explain to us who read and study leisurely these masterpieces +why they failed of their purpose when presented by their gifted but +ineffective author. + +Pronunciation. Enunciation depends to a great degree upon +pronunciation. The pronunciation of a word is no fixed and +unchangeable thing. Every district of a land may have its peculiar +local sounds, every succeeding generation may vary the manner of +accenting a word. English people today pronounce _schedule_ with a +soft _ch_ sound. _Program_ has had its accent shifted from the last to +the first syllable. Many words have two regularly heard +pronunciations--_neither, advertisement, Elizabethan, rations, +oblique, route, quinine_, etc. Fashions come and go in pronunciation +as in all other human interests. Some sounds stamp themselves as +carelessnesses or perversions at once and are never admitted into +educated, cultured speech. Others thrive and have their day, only to +fade before some more widely accepted pronunciation. The first rule in +pronunciation is to consult a good dictionary. This will help in most +cases but not in all, for a dictionary merely records all accepted +sounds; only partly can it point out the better of disputed sounds by +placing it first. Secondly, speech is a living, growing, changing +thing. Dictionaries drop behind the times surprisingly rapidly. The +regularly accepted sound may have come into general use after the +dictionary was printed. New activities, unusual phases of life may +throw into general conversation thousands of unused, unheard words. +This was true of the recent Great War, when with little or no +preparation thousands of military, industrial, naval, and +aeronautical terms came into daily use. Discussions still flutter +mildly around _cantonment_ and _rations_, and a score of others. + +Next to authoritative books, the best models are to be secured from +the speech of authorities in each branch to which the term +specifically belongs. Thus the military leaders have made the +pronunciation of _oblique_ with the long _i_ the correct one for all +military usages. The accepted sound of _cantonments_ was fixed by the +men who built and controlled them. As it is not always possible for +the ordinary person to hear such authorities deliver such terms in +discourse one can merely say that a familiarity with correct +pronunciation can be secured only like liberty--at the price of +eternal vigilance. + +Constant consultation of the dictionary and other books of recognized +reference value, close observance of the speech of others, scrutiny of +one's own pronunciation, mental criticism of others' slips, and +determination to correct one's own errors, are the various methods of +attaining certainty of correct delivery of word sounds. + +Poise. When a speaker stands before an audience to address its members +he should be perfectly at ease. Physical ease will produce an effect +upon the listeners. Mental ease because of mastery of the material +will induce confidence in the delivery. Bodily eccentricities and +awkwardness which detract from the speech itself should be eradicated +by strenuous practice. Pose and poise should first command respectful +attention. The body should be erect, but not stiff. Most of the +muscles should be relaxed. The feet should be naturally placed, not +so far apart as to suggest straddling, not so close together as to +suggest the military stand at "attention." + +What should be done with the hands? Nothing. They should not be +clasped; they should not be put behind the back; they should not be +jammed into pockets; the arms should not be held akimbo; they should +not be folded. Merely let the arms and hands hang at the sides +naturally. + +Gestures. Should a speaker make gestures? Certainly never if the +gesture detracts from the force of an expression, as when a preacher +pounds the book so hard that the congregation cannot hear his words. +Certainly yes, when the feeling of the speaker behind the phrase makes +him enforce his meaning by a suitable movement. In speaking today +fewer gestures are indulged in than years ago. There should never be +many. Senseless, jerky, agitated pokings and twitchings should be +eradicated completely. Insincere flourishes should be inhibited. +Beginners should beware of gestures until they become such practised +masters of their minds and bodies that physical emphasis may be added +to spoken force. + +A speaker should feel perfectly free to change his position or move +his feet during his remarks. Usually such a change should be made to +correspond with a pause in delivery. In this way it reinforces the +indication of progress or change of topic, already cited in discussing +pauses. + +Delivery. A speaker should never begin to talk the very instant he has +taken his place before his audience. He should make a slight pause to +collect the attention before he utters his salutation (to be +considered later) and should make another short pause between it and +the opening sentences of his speech proper. After he has spoken the +last word he should not fling away from his station to his seat. This +always spoils the effect of an entire address by ruining the +impression that the last phrase might have made. + +As for the speech itself, there are five ways of delivering it: + +1. To write it out in full and read it. + +2. To write it out in full and commit it to memory. + +3. To write out and memorize the opening and closing sentences and +other especially important parts, leaving the rest for extempore +delivery. + +4. To use an outline or a brief which suggests the headings in logical +order. + +5. To speak without manuscript or notes. + +Reading the Speech. The first of these methods--to read the speech +from a prepared manuscript--really changes the speech to a lecture or +reading. True, it prevents the author from saying anything he would +not say in careful consideration of his topic. It assures him of +getting in all he wants to say. It gives the impression that all his +utterances are the result of calm, collected thinking. On the other +hand, so few people can read from a manuscript convincingly that the +reproduction is likely to be a dull, lifeless proceeding in which +almost anything might be said, so little does the material impress the +audience. This method can hardly be considered speech-making at all. + +Memorizing the Speech. The second method--of repeating memorized +compositions--is better. It at least seems alive. It has an appearance +of direct address. It possesses the other advantages of the first +method--definite reasoning and careful construction. But its dangers +are grave. Few people can recite memorized passages with the personal +appeal and direct significance that effective spoken discourse should +have. Emphasis is lacking. Variety is absent. The tone becomes +monotonous. The speech is so well committed that it flows too easily. +If several speakers follow various methods, almost any listener can +unerringly pick the memorized efforts. Let the speaker in delivery +strive for variety, pauses, emphasis; let him be actor enough to +simulate the feeling of spontaneous composition as he talks, yet no +matter how successful he may be in his attempts there will still be +slight inconsistencies, trifling incongruities, which will disturb a +listener even if he cannot describe his mental reaction. The secret +lies in the fact that written and spoken composition differ in certain +details which are present in each form in spite of the utmost care to +weed them out. + +Memorizing Parts. The third manner can be made effective if the +speaker can make the gap just described between written and spoken +discourse extremely narrow. If not, his speech will appear just what +it is--an incongruous patchwork of carefully prepared, reconsidered +writing, and more or less spontaneously evolved speaking. + +Speaking from Outline or Brief. The fourth method is by far the best +for students training themselves to become public speakers. After a +time the brief or outline can be retained in the mind, and the speaker +passes from this method to the next. A brief for an important law case +in the United States Supreme Court is a long and elaborate instrument. +But a student speaker's brief or outline need not be long. + +Directions, models, and exercises for constructing and using outlines +will be given in a later chapter. + +The Best Method. The last method is unquestionably the best. Let a man +so command all the aspects of a subject that he fears no breakdown in +his thoughts, let him be able to use language so that he need never +hesitate for the best expression, let him know the effect he wants to +make upon his audience, the time he has to do it in, and he will know +by what approaches he can best reach his important theme, what he may +safely omit, what he must include, what he may hurry over, what he +must slowly unfold, what he may handle lightly, what he must treat +seriously; in short, he will make a great speech. This manner is the +ideal towards which all students, all speakers, should strive. + +Attributes of the Speaker. Attributes of the speaker himself will aid +or mar his speech. Among those which help are sincerity, earnestness, +simplicity, fairness, self-control, sense of humor, sympathy. All +great speakers have possessed these traits. Reports upon significant +speakers describing their manner emphasize them. John Bright, the +famous English parliamentarian of the middle of the last century, is +described as follows: + + His style of speaking was exactly what a conventional + demagogue's ought not to be. It was pure to austerity; it was + stripped of all superfluous ornament. It never gushed or + foamed. It never allowed itself to be mastered by passion. + The first peculiarity that struck the listener was its superb + self-restraint. The orator at his most powerful passages + appeared as if he were rather keeping in his strength than + taxing it with effort. + + JUSTIN MCCARTHY: _History of Our Own Time_ + +In American history the greatest speeches were made by Abraham +Lincoln. In Cooper Union, New York, he made in 1860 the most powerful +speech against the slave power. The _New York Tribune_ the next day +printed this description of his manner. + +Mr. Lincoln is one of nature's orators, using his rare powers solely +to elucidate and convince, though their inevitable effect is to +delight and electrify as well. We present herewith a very full and +accurate report of this speech; yet the tones, the gestures, the +kindling eye, and the mirth-provoking look defy the reporter's skill. +The vast assemblage frequently rang with cheers and shouts of +applause, which were prolonged and intensified at the close. No man +ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York +audience. + +Shakespeare's Advice. Some of the best advice for speakers was written +by Shakespeare as long ago as just after 1600, and although it was +intended primarily for actors, its precepts are just as applicable to +almost any kind of delivered discourse. Every sentence of it is full +of significance for a student of speaking. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, +is airing his opinions about the proper manner of speaking upon the +stage. + +HAMLET'S SPEECH + +Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on +the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as +lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much +with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, +tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must +acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. Oh, it +offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear +a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the +groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but +inexplicable dumb-shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped +for o'erdoing Termagant. It out-herods Herod. Pray you, avoid it. + +Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. +Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special +observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything +so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the +first and now, was and is, to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to +nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the +very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this +overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, +cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one +must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theater of others. Oh, there +be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that +highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of +Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted +and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made +men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. + +Oh, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns speak no +more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will +themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to +laugh too, though in the meantime some necessary question of the play +be then to be considered. That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful +ambition in the fool that uses it. Go make you ready. + + +EXERCISES + + +1. 'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff. + +2. The first sip of love is pleasant; the second, perilous; the third, +pestilent. + +3. Our ardors are ordered by our enthusiasms. + +4. She's positively sick of seeing her soiled, silk, Sunday dress. + +5. The rough cough and hiccough plowed me through. + +6. She stood at the gate welcoming him in. + +7. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion. + +8. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers: if Peter Piper picked +a peck of pickled peppers, where is the peck of pickled peppers that +Peter Piper picked? + +9. Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted +thistles. If Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted a sieve of +unsifted thistles, where is the sieve of unsifted thistles that +Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted? + +10. Alone, alone, all, all alone, + Alone on a wide, wide sea! + +11. The splendor falls on castle walls, + And snowy summits old in story. + +12. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow + Creeps in this petty pace from day to day + To the last syllable of recorded time. + +13. The moan of doves in immemorial elms, + And murmurings of innumerable bees. + +14. The Ladies' Aid ladies were talking about a conversation they had +overheard, before the meeting, between a man and his wife. + +"They must have been at the Zoo," said Mrs. A.; "because I heard her +mention 'a trained deer.'" + +"Goodness me!" laughed Mrs. B. "What queer hearing you must have! They +were talking about going away, and she said, 'Find out about the +train, dear.'" + +"Well, did anybody ever!" exclaimed Mrs. C. "I am sure they were +talking about musicians, for she said, 'a trained ear,' as distinctly +as could be." + +The discussion began to warm up, and in the midst of it the lady +herself appeared. They carried the case to her promptly, and asked for +a settlement. + +"Well, well, you do beat all!" she exclaimed, after hearing each one. +"I'd been out in the country overnight and was asking my husband if it +rained here last night." + +15. Learning condemns beyond the reach of hope + The careless lips that speak of s[)o]ap for soap; + Her edict exiles from her fair abode + The clownish voice that utters r[)o]ad for road; + Less stern to him who calls his coat a c[)o]at, + And steers his boat believing it a b[)o]at. + She pardoned one, our classic city's boast, + Who said at Cambridge, m[)o]st instead of most, + But knit her brows and stamped her angry foot + To hear a Teacher call a root a r[)o]ot. + +16. Hear the tolling of the bells-- + Iron bells! + What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! + In the silence of the night, + How we shiver with affright + At the melancholy menace of their tone! + For every sound that floats + From the rust within their throats + Is a groan. + And the people--ah, the people-- + They that dwell up in the steeple, + All alone, + And who, tolling, tolling, tolling, + In that muffled monotone, + Feel a glory in so rolling + On the human heart a stone-- +They are neither man nor woman-- +They are neither brute nor human-- + They are Ghouls: + And their king it is who tolls; + And he rolls, rolls, rolls, + Rolls + A Paean from the bells! + And his merry bosom swells + With the paean of the bells! + And he dances, and he yells; + Keeping time, time, time, + In a sort of Runic rhyme, + To the paean of the bells-- + Of the bells. + +17. Collecting, projecting, + Receding and speeding, + And shocking and rocking, + And darting and parting. + And threading and spreading, + And whizzing and hissing, + And dripping and skipping, + And hitting and splitting, + And shining and twining, + And rattling and battling, + And shaking and quaking, + And pouring and roaring, + And waving and raving, + And tossing and crossing, + And flowing and going, + And running and stunning, + And foaming and roaming, + And dinning and spinning, + And dropping and hopping, + And working and jerking, + And guggling and struggling, + And heaving and cleaving, + And moaning and groaning; + + And glittering and frittering, + And gathering and feathering, + And whitening and brightening, + And quivering and shivering, + And hurrying and skurrying, + And thundering and floundering; + + Dividing and gliding and sliding, + And falling and brawling and sprawling, + And driving and riving and striving, + And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling, + And sounding and bounding and rounding, + And bubbling and troubling and doubling, + And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling, + And clattering and battering and shattering; + + Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting, + Delaying and straying and playing and spraying, + Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing, + Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling, + And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming, + And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing, + And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping, + And curling and whirling and purling and twirling, + And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping, + And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing; + And so never ending, but always descending, + Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending, + All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar; + And this way the water comes down at Lodore. + +18. Sister Susie's sewing shirts for soldiers, + Such skill at sewing shirts our shy young + Sister Susie shows. + Some soldiers send epistles + Say they'd rather sleep in thistles + Than the saucy, soft, short shirts for soldiers + Sister Susie sews. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WORDS AND SENTENCES + + +Vocabularies. The collection of words a person can command either in +use or understanding is a vocabulary. Every person has three distinct +ones: his reading vocabulary, his writing vocabulary, his speaking +vocabulary. Of these, the reading vocabulary is the largest. There are +thousands of words he recognizes in reading and although he might not +be able to construct a dictionary definition for everyone, he has a +sufficiently clear idea to grasp the meaning. In this rude +approximation to sense he is aided by the context, but for all +practical purposes he understands the word. If he were writing, +carefully taking time to note exactly what he was expressing, he might +recall that word and so consciously put it into a sentence. He might +use it in exactly the same sense in which he had seen it in print. But +never in the rush of ideas and words in spoken discourse would he risk +using a word he knew so slightly. If nothing more, he would beware of +mispronunciation. + +Thus a person could easily deduce from his reading that a _hangar_ is +a building to house airplanes. He might--to avoid repeating the word +_shed_ too frequently--use it in writing. But until he was absolutely +certain of its significance and its sound he would hardly venture to +say it to other men. + +Spoken discourse is so alive, it moves so rapidly, that it is never so +precise, so varied in its choice of words, as written material. The +phraseology of written discourse sounds slightly or markedly stilted, +bookish, if repeated by the tongue. This difference--though it may +appear almost trifling--is apparent to everyone. Its recognition can +be partly illustrated by the fact that after President Lowell and +Senator Lodge had debated on the topic, the League of Nations, in +Boston and were shown the reports of their speeches, each made changes +in certain expressions. The version for print and reading is a little +more formal than the delivered sentences. The Senator said, "I want" +but preferred to write "I wish"; then he changed "has got to be" into +"must," and "nothing to see" into "nothing visible." + +One might say that all three vocabularies should correspond, but there +is no real need of this. So long as people read they will meet +thousands of words for which they have no need in speaking. Everybody +must be able to understand the masterpieces of the past with their +archaic (old-fashioned) words like _eftsoons_ or _halidom_, but no one +need use such expressions now. So there is no discredit in the fact +that one's speaking vocabulary is more restricted than his reading +vocabulary. + +New Ideas, New Words. It is true, however, that an educated person +should never rest content with the size of his usable speaking +vocabulary. The addition of every new word is likely to indicate the +grasp of a new idea. Likewise, every new idea is almost certain to +require its individual terms for expression. An enlarging vocabulary +is the outward and visible sign of an inward and intellectual growth. +No man's vocabulary can equal the size of a dictionary, the latest of +which in English is estimated to contain some 450,000 words. Life may +be maintained upon a surprisingly meager group of words, as travelers +in foreign lands can testify. Shakespeare's vocabulary is said to have +included as many as 15,000 words. Figures for that of the average +person vary considerably. + +Increasing the Vocabulary. The method of increasing a vocabulary is a +quite simple process. Its procedure is a fascinating exercise. It +covers four steps. When a new word is encountered it should be noticed +with keen attention. If heard, its pronunciation will be fixed upon +the ear. If seen, its spelling should be mastered at once. The next +step is to consult a dictionary for either spelling or pronunciation. +Then all its meanings should be examined. Still the word is not yours +until you have used it exactly. This you should do at the first +opportunity. If the opportunity seems long in coming make it for +yourself by discussing with some one the topic with which it was used +or frankly discuss the word itself. How many unfamiliar words have you +heard or seen recently? How many do you easily use now in your own +remarks? You might find it a good plan to take a linguistic inventory +every night. A little practice in this will produce amazingly +interesting and profitable results in both use and understanding. A +keenness for words will be rapidly developed. Word-lists of all kinds +will take on entirely new meanings. A spontaneous receptivity will +develop into permanent retention of words and phrases. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Tell of some new word you have added to your vocabulary recently. +Explain when you met it, how it happened to impress you, what you +learned of it. + +2. In studying a foreign language how did you fix in your mind the +words which permanently stuck there? + +3. Look over a page in a dictionary. Report to the class on some +interesting material you find. + +4. Make a list of ten slang or technical expressions. Explain them in +exact, clear language. + +5. Find and bring to class a short printed passage, which because of +the words, you cannot understand. Unusual books, women's fashion +magazines, technical journals, books of rules for games, financial +reports, contain good examples. + +6. How much do you know about any of the following words? + +chassis fuselage orthodox sable +comptometer germicide plebescite self-determination +covenant layman purloin soviet +ethiopian morale querulous vers libre +farce nectar renegade zoom + +7. Comment on the words in the following extracts: + + "Of enchanting crimson brocade is the slipover blouse which + follows the lines of the French cuirasse. Charmingly simple, + this blouse, quite devoid of trimming, achieves smartness by + concealing the waistline with five graceful folds." + + "The shift bid consists in bidding a suit, of which you have + little or nothing, with the ultimate object of transferring + later to another declaration, which is perfectly sound. The + idea is to keep your adversaries from leading this suit up + to your hand, which they will likely avoid doing, thinking + that you are strong in it." + + "While sentiment is radically bearish on corn there is so + little pressure on the market other than from shorts that a + majority of traders are inclined to go slow in pressing the + selling side on breaks until the situation becomes more + clearly defined. The weekly forecast for cool weather is + regarded as favorable for husking and shelling, and while + there was evening up on the part of the pit operators for the + double holiday, some of the larger local professionals went + home short expecting a lower opening Tuesday." + +8. Make a list of ten new words you have learned recently. + +Suffixes and Prefixes. Definite steps for continuous additions can be +mapped out and covered. Careful attention to prefixes and suffixes +will enlarge the vocabulary. + +PREFIXES + +1. a = on, in, at, to; _abed, aboard, afield, afire_ + +2. ab (a, abs) = from, away; _absent, abstract, abdicate_ + +3. ad, etc. = to, in addition to; _adapt, admit, adduce_ + +4. ante = before, _anteroom, antebellum_ + +5. anti = against, opposite; _anticlimax, antipodes, antipathy_ + +6. bi= two; _bicycle, biennial, biped, biplane_ + +7. circum = around, about; _circumnavigate, circumscribe, +circumvent_ + +8. con (col, com, co, cor, etc.) = with, together; _consent, +collect, cooerdinate, composite, conspiracy_ + +9. contra (counter) = against; _contradict, counteract, countermand_ + +10. de = down, from, away; _depose, desist, decapitate, +denatured_ + +11. demi, hemi, semi = half; _demi-tasse, hemisphere, semiannual, +semitransparent_ + +12. di (dis) = twice, double; _dissyllable_ + +13. dis (di, dif) = apart, away, not; _distract, diverge, diversion, +disparage_ + +14. en (em) = in, on, into; _engrave, embody, embrace_ + +15. extra = beyond; _extraordinary, extravagant_ + +16. hyper = above; _hypercritical_ + +17. in (il, im, ir) = in, into, not; _inclose, illustrate, irrigate, +inform, illiterate, impious, irregular_ + +18. ex (e, ec, ef) = out of, from, beyond, thoroughly, formerly +but not now; _exclude, excel, ex-senator._ + +19. inter = between, among; _intercede, interchange, interfere, +interurban, interlude_ + +20. mis = wrongly, badly; _miscalculate, misspell, misadventure_ + +21. mono = one; _monoplane_ + +22. per = through, thoroughly, by; _perchance, perfect, per-adventure_ + +23. poly = many; _polygon, polytheism_ + +24. post = behind, after; _postgraduate, post-mortem, postlude_, +_postscript, post-meridian_ (P.M.) + +25. pre = before (in time, place, or order); _preeminent, predict, +prefer, prefix, prejudge, prejudice_ + +26. preter = beyond; _preternatural_ + +27. pro = before, forth, forward; _proceed, prosecute_ + +28. pro = siding with; _pro-ally_ + +29. re = back, again; _recover, renew, recall_ + +30. sub, etc. = under; _submerge, subscribe, subterranean, +subterfuge_ + +31. super (sur) = over, above; _superintend, supercargo_ + +32. trans (tra) = across; _translate, transmit, transfer_ + +33. vice (vis) = instead of; _vice-president, vice-admiral_ + +SUFFIXES + +1. ee, er = one who; _absentee_, _profiteer_, _mower_ + +2. ard, art= term of disparagement; _drunkard_, _braggart_ + +3. esque = like; _statuesque_ + +4. ism = state of being; _barbarism_, _atheism_ + +5. et, let = little; _brooklet_, _bracelet_, _eaglet_ + +6. ling = little, young; _duckling_, _gosling_ + +7. kin = little; _lambkin_, _Peterkin_ + +8. stead = a place; _bedstead_, _homestead_, _instead_ + +9. wright = a workman; _wheelwright_ + +Thesaurus. Besides frequently consulting a good modern dictionary a +student speaker should familiarize himself with a _Thesaurus_ of words +and phrases. This is a peculiarly useful compilation of expressions +according to their meaning relations. A dictionary lists words, then +gives their meanings. A Thesaurus arranges meanings, then gives the +words that express those ideas. The value of such a book can be best +illustrated by explaining its use. + +Suppose a speaker is going to attack some principle, some act, some +party. He knows that his main theme will be denunciation of something. +In the index of a Thesaurus he looks under _denunciation_, finding two +numbers of paragraphs. Turning to the first he has under his eye a +group of words all expressing shades of this idea. There are further +references to other related terms. Let us look at the first group, +taken from Roget's _Thesaurus_. + +MALEDICTON, curse, imprecation, denunciation, execration, anathema, +ban, proscription, excommunication, commination, fulmination. + +Cursing, scolding, railing, Billingsgate language. + +_V_. To curse, accurse, imprecate, scold, rail, execrate. + +To denounce, proscribe, excommunicate, fulminate. + +_Adj_. Cursing, &c, cursed, &c. + +THREAT, menace, defiance, abuse, commination, intimidation. + +_V_. To threaten, menace, defy, fulminate; to intimidate. + +_Adj_. Threatening, menacing, minatory, abusive. + +The second reference leads us farther. It presents the expressions +dealing with the methods and results of _denunciation_, providing +hundreds of words and phrases to use in various ways. It does even +more, for in a parallel column it gives a list of opposites for the +words indicating _condemnation_. This more than doubles its value. +Finally having reached the word _punishment_ it lists its cognates +until the idea _penalty_ is reached, where it balances that idea with +_reward_ and its synonyms. A portion of this section follows. + +LAWSUIT, suit, action, cause, trial, litigation. + +Denunciation, citation, arraignment, persecution, indictment, +impeachment, apprehension, arrest, committal, imprisonment. + +Pleadings, writ, summons, plea, bill, affidavit, &c. + +Verdict, sentence, judgment, finding, decree, arbitrament, +adjudication, award. + +_V_. To go to law; to take the law of; to appeal to the law; to join +issue; file a bill, file a claim. + +To denounce, cite, apprehend, arraign, sue, prosecute, bring to trial, +indict, attach, distrain, to commit, give in charge or custody; throw +into prison. + +To try, hear a cause, sit in judgment. + +To pronounce, find, judge, sentence, give judgment; bring in a +verdict; doom, to arbitrate, adjudicate, award, report. + +ACQUITTAL, absolution, _see_ Pardon, 918, clearance, discharge, +release, reprieve, respite. + +Exemption from punishment; impunity. + +_V_. To acquit, absolve, clear, discharge, release, reprieve, respite. + +_Adj_. Acquitted, &c. + +Uncondemned, unpunished, unchastised. + +CONDEMNATION, conviction, proscription; death warrant. + +Attainder, attainment. + +_V_. To condemn, convict, cast, find guilty, proscribe. + +_Adj_. Condemnatory, &c. + +PUNISHMENT, chastisement, castigation, correction, chastening, +discipline, infliction, etc. + +An observer will see at once just how far these lists go and what must +supplement them. They do not define, they do not discriminate, they do +not restrict. They are miscellaneous collections. A person must +consult the dictionary or refer to some other authority to prevent +error or embarrassment in use. For instance, under the entry +_newspaper_ occurs the attractive word _ephemeris_. But one should be +careful of how and where he uses that word. + +Another exercise which will aid in fixing both words and meanings in +the mind and also help in the power of recalling them for instant use +is to make some kind of word-list according to some principle or +scheme. One plan might be to collect all the words dealing with the +idea of _book_. Another might be to take some obvious word root and +then follow it and other roots added to it through all its forms, +meanings, and uses. One might choose _tel_ (distant) and _graph_ +(record) and start with _telegraph_. _Telephone_ will introduce +_phone_, _phonograph_; they will lead on to _dictaphone_, +_dictagraph_; the first half links with _dictation_; that may lead as +far away as _dictatorial_. In fact there is no limit to the extent, +the interest, and the value of these various exercises. The single aim +of all of them should be, of course, the enlargement of the speaking +vocabulary. Mere curiosities, current slang, far-fetched metaphors, +passing foreign phrases, archaisms, obsolete and obsolescent terms, +too new coinages, atrocities, should be avoided as a plague. + +Consistent, persistent, insistent word-study is of inestimable value +to a speaker. And since all people speak, it follows that it would +benefit everybody. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Explain what is meant by each entry in the foregoing list. + +2. List some verbal curiosities you have met recently. Examples: "Mr. +Have-it-your-own-way is the best husband." "He shows a great deal of +stick-to-it-iveness." + +3. What should be the only condition for using foreign expressions? +Can you show how foreign words become naturalized? Cite some foreign +words used in speech. + +4. Are archaic (old-fashioned), obsolete (discarded), and obsolescent +(rapidly disappearing) terms more common in speech or books? Explain +and illustrate. + +Synonyms. As has already been suggested, a copious vocabulary must not +be idle in a person's equipment. He must be able to use it. He must be +able to discriminate as to meaning. This power of choosing the exact +word results from a study of synonyms. It is a fact that no two words +mean _exactly_ the same thing. No matter how nearly alike the two +meanings may appear to be, closer consideration will unfailingly show +at least a slight difference of dignity, if nothing more--as _red_ and +_crimson_, _pure_ and _unspotted_. Synonyms, then, are groups of words +whose meanings are almost the same. These are the words which give so +much trouble to learners of our language. A foreigner is told that +_stupid_ means _dull_, yet he is corrected if he says _a stupid +knife_. Many who learn English as a native tongue fail to comprehend +the many delicate shades of differences among synonyms. + +In this matter, also, a dictionary goes so far as to list synonyms, +and in some cases, actually adds a discussion to define the various +limits. For fuller, more careful discrimination a good book of +synonyms should be consulted. Except for some general consideration of +words which everyone is certain to use or misuse, it is better to +consult a treatise on synonyms when need arises than to study it +consecutively. In consultation the material will be fixed by instant +use. In study it may fade before being employed; it may never be +required. + +The subjoined paragraphs show entries in two different volumes upon +synonyms: + + Adjacent, adjoining, contiguous. Adjacent, in Latin, + _adjiciens_, participle of _adjicio_, is compounded of _ad_ + and _jacio_, to lie near. _Adjoining_, as the word implies, + signifies being joined together. Contiguous, in French + _contigu_, Latin _contiguus_, comes from _contingo_, or + _con_ and _tango_, signifying to touch close. + + What is _adjacent_ may be separated altogether by the + intervention of some third object; what is _adjoining_ must + touch in some part; and what is _contiguous_ must be fitted + to touch entirely on one side. Lands are _adjacent_ to a + house or town; fields are _adjoining_ to each other; and + houses _contiguous_ to each other. + + CRABBE: _English Synonyms_ + + Victory: Synonyms: achievement, advantage, conquest, mastery, + success, supremacy, triumph. _Victory_ is the state resulting + from the overcoming of an opponent or opponents in any + contest, or from the overcoming of difficulties, obstacles, + evils, etc., considered as opponents or enemies. In the + latter sense any hard-won _achievement_, _advantage,_ or + _success_ may be termed a victory. In _conquest_ and + _mastery_ there is implied a permanence of state that is not + implied in _victory_. _Triumph_, originally denoting the + public rejoicing in honor of a _victory_, has come to signify + also a peculiarly exultant, complete, and glorious _victory_. + Compare _conquer_. Antonyms: defeat, destruction, + disappointment, disaster, failure, frustration, miscarriage, + overthrow, retreat, rout. + + FERNALD: _English Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions_ + +Antonyms. Notice that this second paragraph adds a new +word-list--_antonyms_. To reinforce the understanding of what a thing +is, it is desirable to know what it is not, or what its opposite is. +This kind of explanation or description is especially valuable to a +speaker. He can frequently impress an audience more definitely by +explaining the opposite of what he wants them to apprehend. At times +the term is not the extreme opposite; it is merely the negative of the +other. Logically the other side of _white_ is _not white_, while the +antonym is the extreme _black_. Trained speakers use with great effect +the principle underlying such groups of words. When Burke argued +before the House of Commons for a plan to secure harmony with the +American colonies he described the scheme he considered necessary by +showing what it should not be. "No partial, narrow, contracted, +pinched, occasional system will be at all suitable to such an object." +Describing the peace he hoped would be secured he used this principle +of opposites. "Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be +hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations, +not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle +in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend on the juridical +determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the +shadowy boundaries of a complex government." + +We are told by an investigator that one of the reasons for a +Frenchman's keen insight into the capabilities of his language is the +early training received in schools covering differences among words. +This continual weighing of the meaning or the suitability of an +expression is bound to result in a delicate appreciation of its value +as a means of effective communication. In all mental action the sense +of contrast is an especially lively one. In a later chapter this +principle, as applied to explanation and argument, will be discussed. +Just here, the point is that the constant study of contrasts will +sharpen the language sense and rapidly enlarge the vocabulary. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Put down a group of five words having similar meanings. Explain the +differences among them. + +2. Choose any word. Give its exact opposite. + +3. From any short paragraph copy all the nouns. In a parallel column +put opposites or contrasts. + +4. Do the same for the adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. + +5. Write down all the common nouns which correspond to _a man_, _a +girl_, _a leader_, _a house_, _a costume_, _a crime_. + +Composition of the English Language. Turning now from the means of +improving the speaker's language equipment let us pass to some remarks +upon his use of words. The English language is the largest, the most +varied in the universe. Almost entirely free from difficulties of +inflection and conjugation, with a simplified grammar, and a great +freedom of construction, it suffers from only two signal +drawbacks--its spelling and its pronunciation. While it has preserved +to a great degree its original Anglo-Saxon grammar, it has enriched +its vocabulary by borrowings from everywhere. Its words have no +distinctive forms, so every foreign word can usually be naturalized by +a mere change of sound. No matter what their origin, all belong to one +family now; _gnu_ is as much English as _knew_, _japan_ as _pogrom_, +_fete_ as _papoose_, _batik_ as _radii_, _ohm_ as _marconigram_, +_macadamized_ as _zoomed_. Most of the modern borrowings--as just +illustrated--were to serve for new things or ideas. But there was one +time when a great reduplication of the vocabulary occurred. After the +French conquered England in 1066, English and Norman-French were +spoken side by side. The resultant tongue, composed of both, offered +many doubles for the same idea. In some instances the fashionable and +aristocratic French word marked a difference of meaning as is clearly +indicated by such pairs as _beef_ and _ox_, _veal_ and _calf, mutton_ +and _sheep_, _pork_ and _pig_. In many other cases words of French and +English origin are separated by differences less distinct. Such are +_love_ and _affection_, _worship_ and _adoration_. A speaker must take +thought of such groups, and consciously endeavor to use the more +appropriate for his purpose. + +Anglo-Saxon and Romance. It may help him to remember that the +Anglo-Saxon words are the more homely, the closer to our everyday +feelings and experiences, the expression of our deepest ideas and +sentiments, the natural outspoken response to keen emotion. On the +other hand, the Romance words--as they are called, whether from the +French or directly from the Latin--are likely to be longer; they +belong generally to the more complicated relationships of society and +government; they are more intellectual in the sense that they +represent the operations of the brain rather than the impulses of the +heart. They deal with more highly trained wills, with more abstruse +problems; they reason, they argue, they consider; they are +philosophical, scientific, legal, historical. Listen to a soldier +relate his war experiences. What will his vocabulary be? Listen to a +diplomat explaining the League of Nations. What will his vocabulary +be? Have you ever heard a speaker who gave you the impression that all +his words ended in _tion_? This was because his vocabulary was +largely Romance. + +The inferences from the foregoing are perfectly plain. Subject and +audience will determine to a large extent what kinds of words a +speaker will choose. The well-equipped speaker will be master of both +kinds; he will draw from either as occasion offers. He will not insult +one audience by talking below their intelligence, nor will he bore +another by speaking over their heads. + +General and Specific Terms. Effective speaking depends to a large +extent upon the inclusion of specific terms as contrasted with general +terms. "Glittering generalities" never make people listen. They mean +nothing because they say too much. Study the following selections to +see how the concrete phraseology used makes the material more telling, +how it enforces the meaning. Pick out the best expressions and explain +why they are better than more general terms. In the first, note how +the last sentence drives home the meaning of the first two. Listeners +may understand the first two, they remember the last. + + Civil and religious liberty in this country can be preserved + only through the agency of our political institutions. But + those institutions alone will not suffice. It is not the ship + so much as the skilful sailing that assures the prosperous + voyage. + + GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS: _The Public Duty of Educated + Men_, 1877 + +Describe the significance of the best expressions in the following +speech made in Parliament by Thomas Babington Macaulay. + + All those fierce spirits whom you hallooed on to harass us + now turn round and begin to worry you. The Orangeman raises + his war-whoop; Exeter Hall sets up its bray; Mr. Macneill + shudders to see more costly cheer than ever provided for the + Priest of Baal at the table of the Queen; and the Protestant + operatives of Dublin call for impeachments in exceedingly bad + English. But what did you expect? Did you think when, to + serve your turn, you called the devil up that it was as easy + to lay him as to raise him? Did you think when you went on, + session after session, thwarting and reviling those whom you + knew to be in the right, and flattering all the worst + passions of those whom you knew to be in the wrong, that the + day of reckoning would never come? It has come. There you + sit, doing penance for the disingenuousness of years. + +Why was the style of the extract below especially good for the evident +purpose and audience? Why did the author use names for the candidates? + + When an American citizen is content with voting merely, he + consents to accept what is often a doubtful alternative. His + first duty is to help shape the alternative. This, which was + formerly less necessary, is now indispensable. In a rural + community such as this country was a hundred years-ago, + whoever was nominated for office was known to his neighbors, + and the consciousness of that knowledge was a conservative + influence in determining nominations. But in the local + elections of the great cities of today, elections that + control taxation and expenditure, the mass of the voters vote + in absolute ignorance of the candidates. The citizen who + supposes that he does all his duty when he votes, places a + premium upon political knavery. Thieves welcome him to the + polls and offer him a choice, which he has done nothing to + prevent, between Jeremy Diddler and Dick Turpin. The party + cries for which he is responsible are: "Turpin and Honesty," + "Diddler and Reform." And within a few years, as a result of + this indifference to the details of public duty, the most + powerful politicians in the Empire State of the Union was + Jonathan Wild, the Great, the captain of a band of + plunderers. + + GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS: _The Public Duty of Educated + Men_, 1877 + +Appropriate Diction. The final test of any diction is its +appropriateness. The man who talks of dignified things as he would of +a baseball game--unless he is doing it deliberately for humor, +caricature, or burlesque--is ruining his own cause. The man who +discusses trifles in the style of philosophy makes himself an +egregious bore. As Shakespeare said, "Suit the action to the word, the +word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep +not the modesty of nature." + +Beware of the flowery expression; avoid metaphorical speech; flee from +the lure of the overwrought style. In the first place it is so +old-fashioned that audiences suspect it at once. It fails to move +them. It may plunge its user into ridiculous failure. In the +excitement of spontaneous composition a man sometimes takes risks. He +may--as Pitt is reported to have said he did--throw himself into a +sentence and trust to God Almighty to get him out. But a beginner had +better walk before he tries to soar. If he speaks surely rather than +amazingly his results will be better. The temptation to leave the +ground is ever present in speaking. + +A Parliamentary debater describing the Church of England wound up in a +flowery conclusion thus: "I see the Church of England rising in the +land, with one foot firmly planted in the soil, the other stretched +toward Heaven!" + +An American orator discussing the character of Washington discharged +the following. + + The higher we rise in the scale of being--material, + intellectual, and moral--the more certainly we quit the + region of the brilliant eccentricities and dazzling contrasts + which belong to a vulgar greatness. Order and proportion + characterize the primordial constitution of the terrestrial + system; ineffable harmony rules the heavens. All the great + eternal forces act in solemn silence. The brawling torrent + that dries up in summer deafens you with its roaring + whirlpools in March; while the vast earth on which we dwell, + with all its oceans and all its continents and its thousand + millions of inhabitants, revolves unheard upon its soft axle + at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, and rushes + noiselessly on its orbit a million and a half miles a day. + Two storm-clouds encamped upon opposite hills on a sultry + summer's evening, at the expense of no more electricity, + according to Mr. Faraday, than is evolved in the + decomposition of a single drop of water, will shake the + surrounding atmosphere with their thunders, which, loudly as + they rattle on the spot, will yet not be heard at the + distance of twenty miles; while those tremendous and + unutterable forces which ever issue from the throne of God, + and drag the chariot wheels of Uranus and Neptune along the + uttermost path-ways of the solar system, pervade the + illimitable universe in silence. + +Of course, today, nobody talks like that. At least no one should. + +Trite Expressions. Less easily guarded against is the delivery of +trite expressions. These are phrases and clauses which at first were +so eloquent that once heard they stuck in people's minds, who then in +an endeavor themselves to be emphatic inserted continually into their +speeches these overworked, done-to-death expressions, which now +having been used too frequently have no real meaning. One of the most +frequently abused is "of the people, by the people, for the people." +Others are words and phrases made popular by the war. Many are no more +than jargon--meaningless counterfeits instead of the legal tender of +real speech. It is amazing to notice how persistently some of them +recur in the remarks of apparently well-trained men who should know +better than to insert them. The following were used by a prominent +United States political leader in a single speech. He could; easily +have replaced them by living material or dispensed with them entirely. + +Jot or tittle; the plain unvarnished truth; God forbid; the jackal +press; that memorable occasion; tooth and nail; the God of our +fathers; the awful horrors of Valley Forge; the blood-stained heights +of Yorktown; tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of +Askalon; peace with honor; the Arabian Nights; Munchausen; the +fathers; our globe-encircling domain; I am a Democrat; the pirates of +the Barbary Coast; Democratic gospel pure and undefiled; Janus-faced +double; Good Lord, good devil; all things to all men; God-fearing +patriots; come what may; all things are fair in love or war; the +silken bowstring; the unwary voter; bait to catch gudgeons; to live by +or to die by; these obsequious courtiers; Guttenburg; rubber stamp; at +all hazards; the most unkindest cut of all. + +With the artificiality, the stiltedness of the foregoing contrast the +simplicity, the sincerity of these two extracts from Abraham Lincoln. + + And now, if they would listen--as I suppose they will not--I + would address a few words to the Southern people. + + I would say to them: You consider yourselves a reasonable and + a just people; and I consider that in the general qualities + of reason and justice you are not inferior to any other + people. Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you do so + only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no + better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to pirates or + murderers, but nothing like it to "Black Republicans." In all + your contentions with one another, each of you deems an + unconditional condemnation of "Black Republicanism" as the + first thing to be attended to. Indeed, such condemnation of + us seems to be an indispensable prerequisite--license, so to + speak--among you to be admitted or permitted to speak at all. + Now can you or not be prevailed upon to pause and to consider + whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves? + Bring forward your charges and specifications, and then be + patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. + + _Cooper Union Speech_, 1860 + + My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my + feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the + kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived + a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an + old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. + I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, + with a task before me greater than that which rested upon + Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who + ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I + cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain + with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope + that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I + hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an + affectionate farewell. + + _Farewell Address at Springfield_, 1861 + +Kinds of Sentences. What kinds of sentences shall a speaker construct +as he speaks? That there is a difference between those a person +composes when he writes and those the same person is likely to evolve +when he speaks is realized by everyone. We hear that a speaker is +"booky," or conversational, that he is stilted or lively, that he is +too formal, that his discourse is dull and flat. To a great degree +these criticisms are based upon the sentence structure. + +The Simple Sentence. The simple sentence contains only one subject and +one predicate. The complex sentence contains one independent clause +and at least one subordinate clause. The compound sentence contains +two or more independent clauses. It would be good advice to urge the +employment of the simple sentence were it not for the fact that a long +succession of sentences constructed exactly alike, making the same +impression of form and sound and length, is likely to produce a deadly +monotony of emphasis and pause, an impression of immaturity on the +part of the speaker and of lack of skill in molding his phrases. Yet, +in the main, the simple sentence is a valuable kind to know how to +deliver. Containing but a single thought it is likely to make a +definite impression upon a listener. It offers him not too much to +grasp. It leads him a single step along the way. It speaks clearly, +concisely. Its advantages follow from its qualities. At the beginning +of addresses it is especially efficient in leading the audience at the +same rate--slowly, it should be--as the speaker. In intricate +explanation, in close reasoning, in matters of paramount importance, +it should be employed. + +Management of the short, simple sentence in written prose is +difficult. In spoken discourse, as well, it is so easy to fall into +the First Primer style that while the advantages of the use of the +simple sentence are great, the ability to produce good sentences in +succession must be developed. + +The Complex Sentence. The complex sentence offers a good form for +introducing pertinent, minor details, which are necessary, yet which +do not merit inclusion in the general level of the speech. Aided by +proper pitch and inflection of the voice, they can be skilfully +subordinated to main ideas, yet introduced so adroitly that they at +times relieve attention, at others briefly explain, at others keep +adding up in a series the effect of which is a large total. Frequently +such sentences indicate clearly the progress of the discussion. A +topic introduced in a subordinate clause may later be raised to more +importance without abruptness, for hearers are already familiar with +it. A topic already treated may be recalled by citation in a later +clause. So various parts of a speech may be closely knit together to +present a coherent, progressive, unified whole. + +In easily grasped general, descriptive, narrative, explanatory +material, complex sentences will allow the covering of a wide field, +or a long time, in short order by condensing facts into the few words +of subordinate clauses. + +The Compound Sentence. Somewhat like the use of complex sentences for +general material is the use of compound ones for informal topics, +familiar discourse, easy address, lighter material. Valuable, too, is +this form for the speaker who knows accurately the meaning of +conjunctions, who can avoid the stringing together of what should be +simple sentences by a dozen senseless _ands_. A good rule for the +beginner is to allow no _ands_ in his speeches except those so +imbedded in phrases--husband and wife, now and then, principal and +interest--that he cannot avoid them. Let him never speak such +sentences as, "I came to this meeting and discovered only when I got +here that I was scheduled to speak." Let him be careful of beginning +sentence's with _and_ after he has made a pause. + +The Exclamatory Sentence. Many speakers yield to the temptation to +strive for effect by delivering exclamatory sentences--sometimes only +clauses and phrases so enunciated. The disposition to do this is born +of the desire to be emphatic. Strong feeling makes one burst out in +ejaculation. Used sparingly this form may be extremely effective. Used +too frequently it reduces a speech to a mere series of ejaculations of +little more value than a succession of grunts, groans, and sobs. +Exclamatory sentences seldom convey much meaning. They indicate +emotion. But a speech, to be worth listening to, must convey ideas. + +The Interrogative Sentence. A second sentence which may be classed +with the preceding is the interrogative. There is a disposition on the +part of speakers to ask direct questions of the audience. Frequently +the rhetorical question--which is one asked because the answer is the +quite apparent fact the speaker wants to impress upon his hearers--is +an effective method of making a seemingly personal appeal to sluggish +intellects or lazy wills. The interrogative form has the same +disadvantage as the exclamatory. Except when its answer is perfectly +plain it transfers no meaning. It would be easily possible for a +speaker with no ideas at all, no knowledge of a topic, to engage time +and attention by merely constructing a series of questions. At the +conclusion the audience would wonder why in the world he spoke, for he +had so little to say. + +Long and Short Sentences. So far as long and short sentences are +concerned some general rules have already been hinted at in dealing +with other kinds. The advantages of the short sentence are mainly +those of clearness, directness, emphasis. Its dangers are monotony, +bareness, over-compactness. The advantages of the long--that is, quite +long--sentence, are rather difficult to comprehend. A wordy sentence +is likely to defeat its own purpose. Instead of guiding it will lose +its hearer. Somewhat long sentences--as already said--will serve in +general discussions, in rapidly moving descriptive and narrative +passages, in rather simple explanation and argument. No one can state +at just what number of words a short sentence becomes medium, and when +the division of medium becomes long. Yet there must be some limits. A +sentence in _Les Miserables_ includes nearly one thousand words in +both French original and English translation. John Milton produced +some extraordinarily long sentences. But these are in written +discourse. Some modern speakers have come dangerously near the limit. +In one printed speech one sentence has four hundred ten words in it; a +later one goes to five hundred forty. This second would fill about +half a column of the usual newspaper. Surely these are much too long. +A speaker can frequently make a long sentence acceptable by breaking +it up into shorter elements by sensible pauses. Yet the general +direction must surely be: avoid sentences which are too long. + +Variety. The paramount rule of sentence structure in speech-making is +certainly: secure variety. Long, medium, short; declarative, +exclamatory, interrogative; simple, loose, periodic; use them all as +material permits and economy of time and attention prescribes. With +the marvelous variety possible in English sentence structure, no +person with ideas and language at command need be a monotonous +speaker. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Criticize this selection for its diction and sentence structure. +What excellences has it? What can you find fault with? Does its date +explain it? + + "The books in the library, the portraits, the table at which + he wrote, the scientific culture of the land, the course of + agricultural occupation, the coming-in of harvests, fruit of + the seed his own hand had scattered, the animals and + implements of husbandry, the trees planted by him in lines, + in copses, in orchards by thousands, the seat under the noble + elm on which he used to sit to feel the southwest wind at + evening, or hear the breathings of the sea, or the not less + audible music of the starry heavens, all seemed at first + unchanged. The sun of a bright day from which, however, + something of the fervors of midsummer were wanting, fell + temperately on them all, filled the air on all sides with the + utterances of life, and gleamed on the long line of ocean. + Some of those whom on earth he loved best, still were there. + The great mind still seemed to preside; the great presence to + be with you; you might expect to hear again the rich and + playful tones of the voice of the old hospitality. Yet a + moment more, and all the scene took on the aspect of one + great monument, inscribed with his name, and sacred to his + memory. And such it shall be in all the future of America! + The sensation of desolateness, and loneliness, and darkness, + with which you see it now, will pass away; the sharp grief of + love and friendship will become soothed; men will repair + thither as they are wont to commemorate the great days of + history; the same glance shall take in, and same emotions + shall greet and bless, the Harbor of the Pilgrims and the + Tomb of Webster." + + RUFUS CHOATE: _A Discourse Commemorative of Daniel + Webster_, 1853 + +2. What is the effect of the questions in the following? Are the +sentences varied? If the occasion was momentous, what is the style? + + "And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been + in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten + years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been + pleased to solace themselves and the house? Is it that + insidious smile with which our petition has been lately + received? Trust it not, Sir; it will prove a snare to your + feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask + yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition + comports with those warlike preparations which cover our + water and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to + a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so + unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to + win back our love?" + + PATRICK HENRY: _Speech in the Virginia Convention_, + 1775 + +3. List the concrete details given below. What effect have they? What +elements give the idea of the extent of the Colonies' fisheries? Are +the sentences long or short? Does their success justify them? + + "Look at the manner in which the people of New England have + of late carried on the whale fishery. Whilst we follow them + among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them + penetrating into the deepest frozen recess of Hudson's Bay + and Davis' Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath + the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the + opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the + antipodes, and engaged under the frozen Serpent of the South. + Falkland Islands, which seemed too remote and romantic an + object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and + resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry. + Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than + the accumulated winter of both the poles. We know that whilst + some of them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the + coast of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their + gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is + vexed by their fisheries; no climate that is not witness to + their toil. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the + activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of + English enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of + hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by, + this recent people; a people who are still, as it were, but + in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of + manhood." + + EDMUND BURKE: _Conciliation with America_, 1775 + +4. Is the following clear? What kind of sentence is it? What minor +phrase? Is this phrase important? Why? Why did Lincoln repeat this +sentence, practically with no change, twelve times in a single speech? + + "The sum of the whole is that of our thirty-nine fathers who + framed the original Constitution, twenty-one--a clear + majority of the whole--certainly understood that no proper + division of local from Federal authority, nor any part of the + Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to control + slavery in the Federal Territories." + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Cooper Union Speech_, 1860 + +5. Is the following well phrased? What makes it so? Is any expression +too strong? Do you object to any? How many of the words would you be +likely not to use? + + "It is but too true that there are many whose whole scheme of + freedom is made up of pride, perverseness, and insolence. + They feel themselves in a state of thraldom; they imagine + that their souls are cooped and cabined in, unless they have + some man, or some body of men, dependent on their mercy. The + desire of having some one below them descends to those who + are the very lowest of all; and a Protestant cobbler, debased + by his poverty, but exalted by his share of the ruling + church, feels a pride in knowing it is by his generosity + alone that the peer, whose footman's instep he measures, is + able to keep his chaplain from a gaol. This disposition is + the true source of the passion which many men, in very humble + life, have taken to the American war. Our subjects in + America; our colonies; our dependents. This lust of party + power is the liberty they hunger and thirst for; and this + Siren song of ambition has charmed ears that we would have + thought were never organized to that sort of music." + + EDMUND BURKE: _Speech at Bristol_, 1780 + +6. Describe the effects of the questions in the next. How is sentence +variety secured? What effects have the simple, declarative sentences? + + "And from what have these consequences sprung? We have been + involved in no war. We have been at peace with all the world. + We have been visited with no national calamity. Our people + have been advancing in general intelligence, and, I will add, + as great and alarming as has been the advance of political + corruption among the mercenary corps who look to government + for support, the morals and virtue of the community at large + have been advancing in improvement. What, I again repeat, is + the cause?" + + JOHN C. CALHOUN: _Speech on the Force Bill_, 1833 + +7. What quality predominates in the following? Does it lower the tone +of the passage too much? Is the interrogative form of the last +sentence better than the declarative? Why? Has the last observation +any close connection with the preceding portion? Can it be justified? + + "Modesty is a lovely trait, which sets the last seal to a + truly great character, as the blush of innocence adds the + last charm to youthful beauty. When, on his return from one + of his arduous campaigns in the Seven Years' War, the Speaker + of the Virginia Assembly, by order of the House, addressed + Colonel Washington in acknowledgment of his services, the + youthful hero rose to reply; but humility checked his + utterance, diffidence sealed his lips. 'Sit down, Colonel + Washington,' said the Speaker; 'the House sees that your + modesty is equal to your merit, and that exceeds my power of + language to describe.' But who ever heard of a modest + Alexander or a modest Caesar, or a modest hero or statesman + of the present day?--much as some of them would be improved + by a measure of that quality." + + EDWARD EVERETT: _Character of Washington_, 1858 + +8. Look up the meaning of every unfamiliar expression in this extract. +Is the quotation at the end in good taste? Give reasons for your +answer. For what kinds of audiences would this speech be fitting? + + "The remedy for the constant excess of party spirit lies, and + lies alone, in the courageous independence of the individual + citizen. The only way, for instance, to procure the party + nomination of good men, is for every self-respecting voter to + refuse to vote for bad men. In the medieval theology the + devils feared nothing so much as the drop of holy water and + the sign of the cross, by which they were exorcised. The evil + spirits of party fear nothing so much as bolting and + scratching. _In hoc signo vinces_. If a farmer would reap a + good crop, he scratches the weeds out of his field. If we + would have good men upon the ticket, we must scratch bad men + off. If the scratching breaks down the party, let it break: + for the success of the party, by such means would break down + the country. The evil spirits must be taught by means that + they can understand. 'Them fellers,' said the captain of a + canal-boat of his men, 'Them fellers never think you mean a + thing until you kick 'em. They feel that, and understand.'" + + GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS: _The Public Duty of Educated + Men_, 1877 + +9. Describe the quality of the next extract. What is its style? Are +repetitions allowable? What then of variety? Point out contrasts of +words and phrases. + + "What, then it is said, would you legislate in haste? Would + you legislate in times of great excitement concerning matters + of such deep concern? Yes, Sir, I would; and if any bad + consequences should follow from the haste and excitement, let + those be answerable who, when there was no need to haste, + when there existed no excitement, refused to listen to any + project of reform; nay, made it an argument against reform + that the public mind was not excited.... I allow that hasty + legislation is an evil. But reformers are compelled to + legislate fast, just because bigots will not legislate early. + Reformers are compelled to legislate in times of excitement, + because bigots will not legislate in times of tranquillity." + + THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: _On the Reform Bill_, + 1832 + +10. Describe the diction of the next extract. Describe the prevailing +kind of sentences. Do you approve of these in such an instance? +Explain your answer. Does it remind you--in tone--of any other passage +already quoted in this book? What is your opinion of the style? + + "There has been a change of government. It began two years + ago, when the House of Representatives became Democratic by a + decisive majority. It has now been completed. The Senate + about to assemble will also be Democratic. The offices of + President and Vice-President have been put into the hands of + Democrats. What does the change mean? That is the question + that is uppermost in our minds today. That is the question I + am going to try to answer in order, if I may, to interpret + the occasion. + + "This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. + Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of + humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the + balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who + shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail to try? I + summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men + to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they + will but counsel and sustain me." + + WOODROW WILSON: _Inaugural_, 1918 + +11. Consider sentence length in the following: Which words are +significant? How is concreteness secured? + + "Ours is a government of liberty by, through, and under the + law. No man is above it and no man is below it. The crime of + cunning, the crime of greed, the crime of violence, are all + equally crimes, and against them all alike the law must set + its face. This is not and never shall be a government either + of plutocracy or of a mob. It is, it has been, and it will be + a government of the people; including alike the people of + great wealth, of moderate wealth, the people who employ + others, the people who are employed, the wage worker, the + lawyer, the mechanic, the banker, the farmer; including them + all, protecting each and everyone if he acts decently and + squarely, and discriminating against any one of them, no + matter from what class he comes, if he does not act squarely + and fairly, if he does not obey the law. While all people are + foolish if they violate or rail against the law, wicked as + well as foolish, but all foolish--yet the most foolish man in + this Republic is the man of wealth who complains because the + law is administered with impartial justice against or for + him. His folly is greater than the folly of any other man who + so complains; for he lives and moves and has his being + because the law does in fact protect him and his property." + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Spokane, 1903 + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BEGINNING THE SPEECH + + +Speech-making a Formal Matter. Every speech is more or less a formal +affair. The speaker standing is separated from the other persons +present by his prominence. He is removed from them by standing while +they sit, by being further away from them than in ordinary +conversation. The greater the distance between him and his listeners +the more formal the proceeding becomes. When a person speaks "from the +floor" as it is called, that is, by simply rising at his seat and +speaking, there is a marked difference in the manner of his delivery +and also in the effect upon the audience. In many gatherings, speeches +and discussions "from the floor" are not allowed at all, in others +this practice is the regular method of conducting business. Even in +the schoolroom when the student speaks from his place he feels less +responsibility than when he stands at the front of the room before his +classmates. As all formal exercises have their regular rules of +procedure it will be well to list the more usual formulas for +beginnings of speeches. + +The Salutation. In all cases where speeches are made there is some +person who presides. This person may be the Vice-President of the +United States presiding over the Senate, the Speaker of the House of +Representatives, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme +Court, the president of a city board of aldermen, the judge of a +court, the president of a corporation, of a lodge, of a church +society, of a club, the pastor of a church, the chancellor or provost +or dean of a college, the principal of a school, the chairman of a +committee, the toastmaster of a banquet, the teacher of a class. The +first remark of a speaker must always be the recognition of this +presiding officer. + +Then there are frequently present other persons who are distinct from +the ordinary members of the audience, to whom some courtesy should be +shown in this salutation. Their right to recognition depends upon +their rank, their importance at the time, some special peculiar reason +for separating them from the rest of the audience. The speaker will +have to decide for himself in most cases as to how far he will +classify his hearers. In some instances there is no difficulty. +Debaters must recognize the presiding officer, the judges if they be +distinct from the regular audience, the members of the audience +itself. Lawyers in court must recognize only the judge and the +"gentlemen of the jury." In a debate on the first draft for the League +of Nations presided over by the Governor of Massachusetts, Senator +Lodge's salutation was "Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, My +Fellow Americans." The last was added unquestionably because patriotic +feeling was so strong at the time that reference to our nationality +was a decidedly fitting compliment, and also perhaps, because the +speaker realized that his audience might be slightly prejudiced +against the view he was going to advance in criticizing the League +Covenant. At times a formal salutation becomes quite long to include +all to whom recognition is due. At a university commencement a speaker +might begin: "Mr. Chancellor, Members of the Board of Trustees, +Gentlemen of the Faculty, Candidates for Degrees, Ladies and +Gentlemen." + +Other salutations are Your Honor, Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Madame +President, Madame Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Stevenson, Sir, Mr. +Toastmaster, Mr. Moderator, Honorable Judges, Ladies, Gentlemen, +Fellow Citizens, Classmates, Fellow Workers, Gentlemen of the Senate, +Gentlemen of the Congress, Plenipotentiaries of the German Empire, My +Lord Mayor and Citizens of London; Mr. Mayor, Mr. Secretary, Admiral +Fletcher and Gentlemen of the Fleet; Mr. Grand Master, Governor +McMillan, Mr. Mayor, My Brothers, Men and Women of Tennessee. + +The most important thing about the salutation is that it should never +be omitted. To begin to speak without having first recognized some +presiding officer and the audience stamps one immediately as +thoughtless, unpractised, or worse still--discourteous. + +Having observed the propriety of the salutation the speaker should +make a short pause before he proceeds to the introduction of his +speech proper. + +Length of the Introduction. There was a time when long elaborate +introductions were the rule, and textbooks explained in detail how to +develop them. The main assumption seems to have been that the farther +away from his topic the speaker began, the longer and more indirect +the route by which he approached it, the more sudden and surprising +the start with which it was disclosed to the audience, the better the +speech. Such views are no longer held. One of the criticisms of the +speeches of the English statesman, Burke, is that instead of coming at +once to the important matter under consideration--and all his speeches +were upon paramount issues--he displayed his rhetorical skill and +literary ability before men impatient to finish discussion and provide +for action by casting their votes. If a student will read the +beginning of Burke's famous _Speech on Conciliation_ he will readily +understand the force of this remark, for instead of bringing forward +the all-important topic of arranging for colonial adjustment Burke +uses hundreds of words upon the "flight of a bill for ever," his own +pretended superstitiousness and belief in omens. So strong is the +recognition of the opposite practice today that it is at times +asserted that speeches should dispense with introductions longer than +a single sentence. + +Purpose of the Introduction. So far as the material of the speech is +concerned the introduction has but one purpose--to bring the topic of +the succeeding remarks clearly and arrestingly before the audience. It +should be clearly done, so that there shall be no misunderstanding +from the beginning. It should be arrestingly done, so that the +attention shall be aroused and held from this announcement even until +the end. A man should not declare that he is going to explain the +manufacture of paper-cutters, and then later proceed to describe the +making of those frames into which rolls of wrapping paper are fitted +underneath a long cutting blade, because to most people the +expression "paper-cutters" means dull-edged, ornamental knives for +desks and library tables. His introduction would not be clear. On the +other hand if a minister were to state plainly that he was going to +speak on the truth that "it is more blessed to give than to receive" +his congregation might turn its attention to its own affairs at once +because the topic promises no novelty. But if he declares that he is +going to make a defense of selfishness he would surely startle his +hearers into attention, so that he could go on to describe the +personal satisfaction and peace of mind which comes to the doers of +good deeds. A speaker could arrest attention by stating that he +intended to prove the immorality of the principle that "honesty is the +best policy," if he proceeded to plead for that virtue not as a +repaying _policy_ but as an innate guiding principle of right, no +matter what the consequences. In humorous, half-jesting, ironical +material, of course, clearness may be justifiably sacrificed to +preserving interest. The introduction may state the exact opposite of +the real topic. + +When nothing else except the material of the introduction need be +considered, it should be short. Even in momentous matters this is +true. Notice the brevity of the subjoined introduction of a speech +upon a deeply moving subject. + + Gentlemen of the Congress: + + The Imperial German Government on the 31st day of January + announced to this Government and to the Governments of the + other neutral nations that on and after the 1st day of + February, the present month, it would adopt a policy with + regard to the use of submarines against all shipping seeking + to pass through certain designated areas of the high seas, to + which it is clearly my duty to call your attention. + + WOODROW WILSON, 1917 + +The following, though much longer, aims to do the same thing--to +announce the topic of the speech clearly. Notice that in order to +emphasize this endeavor to secure clearness the speaker declares that +he has repeatedly tried to state his position in plain English. He +then makes clear that he is not opposed to _a_ League of Nations; he +is merely opposed to the terms already submitted for the one about to +be formed. This position he makes quite clear in the last sentence +here quoted. + + Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, My Fellow Americans: + + I am largely indebted to President Lowell for this + opportunity to address this great audience. He and I are + friends of many years, both Republicans. He is the president + of our great university, one of the most important and + influential places in the United States. He is also an + eminent student and historian of politics and government. He + and I may differ as to methods in this great question now + before the people, but I am sure that in regard to the + security of the peace of the world and the welfare of the + United States we do not differ in purposes. + + I am going to say a single word, if you will permit me, as to + my own position. I have tried to state it over and over + again. I thought I had stated it in plain English. But there + are those who find in misrepresentation a convenient weapon + for controversy, and there are others, most excellent people, + who perhaps have not seen what I have said and who possibly + have misunderstood me. It has been said that I am against + any League of Nations. I am not; far from it. I am anxious to + have the nations, the free nations of the world, united in a + league, as we call it, a society, as the French call it, but + united, to do all that can be done to secure the future peace + of the world and to bring about a general disarmament. + + SENATOR HENRY CABOT LODGE in a debate in Boston, + 1919 + +The Introduction and the Audience. When we turn from the material of +the introduction or the speech we naturally consider the audience. +Just as the salutations already listed in this chapter indicate how +careful speakers are in adapting their very first words to the special +demands of recognition for a single audience, so a study of +introductions to speeches which have been delivered will support the +same principle. A speech is made to affect a single audience, +therefore it must be fitted as closely as possible to that audience in +order to be effective. A city official invited to a neighborhood +gathering to instruct citizens in the method of securing a children's +playground in that district is not only wasting time but insulting the +brains and dispositions of his listeners if he drawls off a long +introduction showing the value of public playgrounds in a crowded +city. His presence before that group of people proves that they accept +all he can tell them on that topic. He is guilty of making a bad +introduction which seriously impairs the value of anything he may say +later concerning how this part of the city can induce the municipal +government to set aside enough money to provide the open space and the +apparatus. Yet this speech was made in a large American city by an +expert on playgrounds. + +People remembered more vividly his wrong kind of opening remarks than +they did his advice concerning a method of procedure. + +Effect of the Introduction upon the Audience. Many centuries ago a +famous and successful Roman orator stipulated the purpose of an +introduction with respect to the audience. Cicero stated that an +introduction should render its hearers "_benevolos, attentos, +dociles_"; that is, kindly disposed towards the speaker himself, +attentive to his remarks, and willing to be instructed by his +explanations or arguments. Not everyone has a pleasing personality +but he can strive to acquire one. He can, perhaps, not add many +attributes to offset those nature has given him, but he can always +reduce, eradicate, or change those which interfere with his reception +by others. Education and training will work wonders for people who are +not blessed with that elusive quality, charm, or that winner of +consideration, impressiveness. Self-examination, self-restraint, +self-development, are prime elements in such a process. Great men have +not been beyond criticism for such qualities. Great men have +recognized their value and striven to rid themselves of hindrances and +replace them by helps. + +Every reader is familiar with Benjamin Franklin's account of his own +method as related in his _Autobiography_, yet it will bear quotation +here to illustrate this point: + + While I was intent on improving my language, I met with an + English Grammar (I think it was Greenwood's), at the end of + which there were two little sketches of the arts of rhetoric + and logic, the latter "finishing with a specimen of a + dispute in the Socratic method; and soon after I procured + Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein there are + many instances of the same method. I was charmed with it, + adopted it, dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive + argumentation, and put on the humble inquirer and doubter.... + I found this method safest for myself and very embarrassing + to those against whom I used it; therefore I took a delight + in it, practised it continually, and grew very artful and + expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into + concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee, + entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not + extricate themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither + myself nor my cause always deserved. I continued this method + some few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the + habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; + never using, when I advanced anything that may possibly be + disputed, the words _Certainly, Undoubtedly_, or any others + that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather + say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it + appears to me, or _I should think it so or so_, for such and + such reasons; or _I imagine it to be so_; or _it is so if I + am not mistaken_. This habit, I believe, has been of great + advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my + opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have been + from time to time engaged in promoting; and as the chief ends + of conversation are to _inform_ or to be _informed_, to + _please_ or to _persuade_, I wish well-meaning, sensible men + would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, + assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to + create opposition, and to defeat everyone of those purposes + for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or receiving + information or pleasure. For if you would inform, a positive + and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may + provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you + wish information and improvement from the knowledge of + others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly + fixed in your present opinions, modest, sensible men who do + not love disputation will probably leave you undisturbed in + the possession of your error. And by such a manner you can + seldom hope to recommend yourself in _pleasing_ your hearers, + or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire. Pope says, + judiciously: + + "Men should be taught as if you taught them not, + And things unknown propos'd as things forgot;" + + farther recommending to us + + "To speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence." + +Of course an audience must be induced to listen. The obligation is +always with the speaker. He is appealing for consideration, he wants +to affect the hearers, therefore he must have at his command all the +resources of securing their respectful attention. He must be able to +employ all the legitimate means of winning their attention. A good +speaker will not stoop to use any tricks or devices that are not +legitimate. A trick, even when it is successful, is still nothing but +a trick, and though it secure the temporary attention of the lower +orders of intellect it can never hold the better minds of an audience. +Surprises, false alarms, spectacular appeals, may find their +defenders. One widely reputed United States lawyer in speaking before +audiences of young people used to advance theatrically to the edge of +the stage, and, then, pointing an accusing finger at one part of the +audience, declare in loud ringing tones, "You're a sneak!" It is +questionable whether any attempt at arousing interest could justify +such a brusque approach. Only in broadly comic or genuinely humorous +addresses can it be said that the end justifies the means. + +When the audience has been induced to listen, the rest should be easy +for the good speaker. Then comes into action his skill at explanation, +his ability to reason and convince, to persuade and sway, which is the +speaker's peculiar art. If they will listen to him, he should be able +to instruct them. The introduction must, so far as this last is +concerned, clear the way for the remainder of the speech. The methods +by which such instruction, reasoning, and persuasion are effected best +will be treated later in this book. + +Having covered the preceding explanation of the aims and forms of +introductions, let us look at a few which have been delivered by +regularly practising speech-makers before groups of men whose +interest, concern, and business it was to listen. All men who speak +frequently are extremely uneven in their quality and just as irregular +in their success. One of the best instances of this unevenness and +irregularity was Edmund Burke, whose career and practice are bound to +afford food for thought and discussion to every student of the power +and value of the spoken word. Some of Burke's speeches are models for +imitation and study, others are warnings for avoidance. At one time +when he felt personally disturbed by the actions of the House of +Commons, because he as a member of the minority could not affect the +voting, he began a speech exactly as no man should under any +circumstances. No man in a deliberative assembly can be excused for +losing control of himself. Yet Burke opened his remarks with these +plain words. + + "Mr. Speaker! I rise under some embarrassment occasioned by a + feeling of delicacy toward one-half of the House, and of + sovereign contempt for the other half." + +This is childish, of course. A man may not infrequently be forced by +circumstances to speak before an audience whose sentiments, opinions, +prejudices, all place them in a position antagonistic to his own. How +shall he make them well-disposed, attentive, willing to be instructed? +The situation is not likely to surround a beginning speaker, but men +in affairs, in business, in courts, must be prepared for such +circumstances. One of the most striking instances of a man who +attempted to speak before an antagonistic group and yet by sheer power +of his art and language ended by winning them to his own party is in +Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_ when Mark Antony speaks over his dead +friend's body. Brutus allows it, but insists on speaking to the people +first that he may explain why he and his fellow conspirators +assassinated the great leader. It was a mistake to allow a person from +the opposite party to have the last word before the populace, but that +is not the point just here. Brutus is able to explain why a group of +noble Romans felt that for the safety of the state and its +inhabitants, they had to kill the rising favorite who would soon as +King rule them all. When he ceases speaking, the citizens approve the +killing. Mark Antony perceives that, so at the beginning of his speech +he seems to agree with the people. Caesar was his friend, yet Brutus +says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. Thus the +skilful orator makes the populace well-disposed towards him, then +attentive. + +Having secured those things he proceeds slowly and unobtrusively to +instruct them. It takes only a few lines until he has made them +believe all he wants them to; before the end of his oration he has +them crying out upon the murderers of their beloved Caesar, for whose +lives they now thirst. Yet only ten minutes earlier they were loudly +acclaiming them as deliverers of their country. The entire scene +should be analyzed carefully by the student. It is the second scene of +the third act of the play. + +In actual life a man would hardly have to go so far as seemingly to +agree with such opposite sentiments as expressed in this situation +from a stage tragedy. It is general knowledge that during the early +years of the American Civil War England sympathized with the southern +states, mainly because the effective blockade maintained by the North +prevented raw cotton from reaching the British mills. Henry Ward +Beecher attempted to present the union cause to the English in a +series of addresses throughout the country. When he appeared upon the +platform in Liverpool the audience broke out into a riot of noise +which effectively drowned all his words for minutes. The speaker +waited until he could get in a phrase. Finally he was allowed to +deliver a few sentences. By his patience, his appeal to their English +sense of fair play, and to a large degree by his tolerant sense of +humor, he won their attention. His material, his power as a speaker +did all the rest. + + It is a matter of very little consequence to me, personally, + whether I speak here tonight or not. [_Laughter and cheers._] + But one thing is very certain, if you do permit me to speak + here tonight, you will hear very plain talking. [_Applause + and hisses_.] You will not find me to be a man that dared to + speak about Great Britain three thousand miles off, and then + is afraid to speak to Great Britain when he stands on her + shores. [_Immense applause and hisses_.] And if I do not + mistake the tone and temper of Englishmen they had rather + have a man who opposes them in a manly way [_applause from + all parts of the hall_] than a sneak that agrees with them in + an unmanly way. [_Applause and "Bravo!"_] Now, if I can carry + you with me by sound convictions, I shall be immensely glad + [_applause_]; but if I cannot carry you with me by facts and + sound arguments, I do not wish you to go with me at all; and + all that I ask is simply fair play. [_Applause, and a voice: + "You shall have it too."_.] + + Those of you who are kind enough to wish to favor my + speaking--and you will observe that my voice is slightly + husky, from having spoken almost every night in succession + for some time past--those who wish to hear me will do me the + kindness simply to sit still and to keep still; and I and my + friends the Secessionists will make the noise. [_Laughter._] + + HENRY WARD BEECHER, in speech at Liverpool, 1863 + +The beginning of one of Daniel Webster's famous speeches was a triumph +of the deliverer's recognition of the mood of an audience. In the +Senate in 1830 feeling had been running high over a resolution +concerning public lands. Innocent enough in its appearance, this +resolution really covered an attempt at the extension of the slavery +territory. Both North and South watched the progress of the debate +upon this topic with almost held breath. Hayne of South Carolina had +spoken upon it during two days when Webster rose to reply to him. The +Senate galleries were packed, the members themselves were stirred up +to the highest pitch of keen intensity. Nearly the entire effect of +Webster's statement and argument for the North depended upon the +effect he could make upon the Senators at the very opening of his +speech. + +Webster began in a low voice, with a calm manner, to speak very +slowly. In a second he had soothed the emotional tension, set all the +hearers quite at ease, and by the time the Secretary had read the +resolution asked by Webster, he had them in complete control. His task +was to make them attentive, but more especially, ready to be +instructed. + + Mr. President: When the mariner has been tossed for many days + in thick weather and on an unknown sea, he naturally avails + himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest glance + of the sun, to take his latitude and ascertain how far the + elements have driven him from his true course. Let us imitate + this prudence; and, before we float farther on the waves of + this debate, refer to the point from which we departed, that + we may, at least, be able to conjecture where we now are. I + ask for the reading of the resolution before the Senate. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _Reply to Hayne_, 1830 + +Linking the Introduction to Preceding Speeches. So many speeches are +replies to preceding addresses that many introductions adapt +themselves to their audiences by touching upon such utterances. In +debates, in pleas in court, in deliberative assemblies, this is more +usually the circumstance than not. The following illustrates how +courteously this may be done, even when it serves merely to make all +the clearer the present speaker's position. In moments of tensest +feeling great speakers skilfully move from any one position or +attitude to another as Patrick Henry did. While you are regarding +these paragraphs as an example of introduction do not overlook their +vocabulary and sentences. + + Mr. President: No man thinks more highly than I do of the + patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy + gentlemen who have just addressed the house. But different + men often see the same subject in different lights; and, + therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to + those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a + character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my + sentiments freely, and without reserve. This is no time for + ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful + moment to the country. For my own part, I consider it as + nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery. And in + proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the + freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can + hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility + which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my + opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I + should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my + country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of + Heaven, which I revere above all earthly things. + + Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the + illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a + painful truth, and listen to the song of that Siren till she + transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, + engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we + disposed to be of the number of those who having eyes see + not, and having ears hear not, the things which so nearly + concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever + anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole + truth; to know the worst and to provide for it. + + PATRICK HENRY in the Virginia Convention, 1775 + +Difficulties of Introductions. People who are scheduled to make +speeches are heard to declare that they know exactly what they want to +say but they do not know how to begin. Another way they have of +expressing this is that they do not know how to bring their material +before their hearers. Undoubtedly the most difficult parts of speeches +are the beginnings and conclusions. In Chapter II one of the methods +of preparing for delivery recognized this difference by recording that +one way is to memorize the beginning and ending, the opening and +closing sentences. Practised speakers are more likely not to fix too +rigidly in their minds any set way for starting to speak. They realize +that a too carefully prepared opening will smack of the study. The +conditions under which the speech is actually delivered may differ so +widely from the anticipated surroundings that a speaker should be able +to readjust his ideas instantly, seize upon any detail of feeling, +remark, action, which will help him into closer communication with his +audience. Many practised speakers, therefore, have at their wits' ends +a dozen different manners, so that their appearance may fit in best +with the circumstances, and their remarks have that air of easy +spontaneity which the best speaking should have. Thus, sometimes, the +exactly opposite advice of the method described above and in Chapter +II is given. A speaker will prepare carefully his speech proper, but +leave to circumstances the suggestion of the beginning he will use. +This does not mean that he will not be prepared--it means that he will +be all the more richly furnished with expedients. A speaker should +carefully think over all the possibilities under which his speech will +be brought forward, then prepare the best introduction to suit each +set. + +Spirit of the Introduction. The combination of circumstances and +material will determine what we shall call the spirit of the +introduction. In what spirit is the introduction treated? There are as +many different treatments as there are human feelings and sentiments. +The spirit may be serious, informative, dignified, scoffing, +argumentative, conversational, startling, humorous, ironic. The +student should lengthen this list by adding as many other adjectives +as he can. + +The serious treatment is always effective when it is suitable. There +is a conviction of earnestness and sincerity about the speech of a man +who takes his subject seriously. Without arousing opposition by too +great a claim of importance for his topic he does impress its +significance upon listeners. This seriousness must be justified by the +occasion. It must not be an attempt to bolster up weakness of ideas or +commonplaceness of expression. It must be straightforward, manly, +womanly. Notice the excellent effect of the following which +illustrates this kind of treatment. + + MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR: I was desired by one of + the court to look into the books, and consider the question + now before them concerning Writs of Assistance. I have + accordingly considered it, and appear not only in obedience + to your order, but likewise in behalf of the inhabitants of + this town, who have presented another petition, and out of + regard to the liberties of the subject. And I take this + opportunity to declare, that whether under a fee or not (for + in such a cause as this I despise a fee) I will to my dying + day oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given + me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand and + villainy on the other, as this Writ of Assistance is. + + It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the + most destructive of English liberty and the fundamental + principles of law, that ever was found in an English + law-book. + + JAMES OTIs: _On Writs of Assistance_, 1761 + +Informative and argumentative introductions are quite usual. They +abound in legislative bodies, business organizations, and courts of +law. Having definite purposes to attain they move forward as directly +and clearly as they can. In such appearances a speaker should know how +to lead to his topic quickly, clearly, convincingly. Introductions +should be reduced to a minimum because time is valuable. Ideas count; +mere talk is worthless. + +Attempts at humorous speeches are only too often the saddest +exhibitions of life. The mere recital of "funny stories" in succession +is in no sense speech-making, although hundreds of misguided +individuals act as though they think so. Nor is a good introduction +the one that begins with a comic incident supposedly with a point pat +to the occasion or topic, yet so often miles wide of both. The funny +story which misses its mark is a boomerang. Even the apparently +"sure-fire" one may deliver a disturbing kick to its perpetrator. The +grave danger is the "o'er done or come tardy off" of Hamlet's advice +to the players. Humor must be distinctly marked off from the merely +comic or witty, and clearly recognized as a wonderful gift bestowed on +not too many mortals in this world. The scoffing, ironic introduction +may depend upon wit and cleverness born in the head; the humorous +introduction depends upon a sympathetic instinct treasured in the +heart. Look back at the remarks made by Beecher to his turbulent +disturbers in Liverpool. Did he help his cause by his genial +appreciation of their sentiments? + +The student should study several introductions to speeches in the +light of all the preceding discussions so that he may be able to +prepare his own and judge them intelligently. Printed speeches will +provide material for study, but better still are delivered remarks. If +the student can hear the speech, then see it in print, so much the +better, for he can then recall the effect in sound of the phrases. + +Preparing and Delivering Introductions. Actual practice in preparation +and delivery of introductions should follow. These should be delivered +before the class and should proceed no farther than the adequate +introduction to the hearers of the topic of the speech. They need not +be so fragmentary as to occupy only three seconds. By supposing them +to be beginnings of speeches from six to fifteen minutes long these +remarks may easily last from one to two minutes. + +Aside from the method of its delivery--pose, voice, speed, vocabulary, +sentences--each introduction should be judged as an actual +introduction to a real speech. Each speaker should keep in mind these +questions to apply during his preparation. Each listener should apply +them as he hears the introduction delivered. + +Is the topic introduced gracefully? +Is it introduced clearly? +Is the introduction too long? +Does it begin too far away from the topic? +Is it interesting? +Has it any defects of material? +Has it any faults of manner? +Can any of it be omitted? +Do you want to hear the entire speech? +Can you anticipate the material? +Is it adapted to its audience? +Is it above their heads? +Is it beneath their intelligences? + +Topics for these exercises in delivering introductions should be +furnished by the interests, opinions, ideas, experiences, ambitions of +the students themselves. Too many beginning speakers cause endless +worry for themselves, lower the quality of their speeches, bore their +listeners, by "hunting" for things to talk about, when near at hand in +themselves and their activities lie the very best things to discuss. +The over-modest feeling some people have that they know nothing to +talk about is usually a false impression. In Elizabethan England a +young poet, Sir Phillip Sidney, decided to try to tell his sweetheart +how much he loved her. So he "sought fit words, studying inventions +fine, turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow, some fresh +and fruitful showers upon my sunburnt brain." But "words came halting +forth" until he bit his truant pen and almost beat himself for spite. +Then said the Muse to him, "Fool, look in thy heart and write." And +without that first word, this is the advice that should be given to +all speakers. "Look in your heart, mind, life, experiences, ideas, +ideals, interests, enthusiasms, and from them draw the material of +your speeches--_yours_ because no one else could make that speech, so +essentially and peculiarly is it your own." + +The following may serve as suggestions of the kind of topic to choose +and the various methods of approaching it. They are merely hints, for +each student must adapt his own method and material. + + +EXERCISES + +1. By a rapid historical survey introduce the discussion that women +will be allowed to vote in the United States. + +2. By a historical survey introduce the topic that war will cease upon +the earth. + +3. Using the same method introduce the opposite. + +4. Using some history introduce the topic that equality for all men is +approaching. + +5. Using the same method introduce the opposite. + +6. Starting with the amount used introduce an explanation of the +manufacture of cotton goods. Any other manufactured article may be +used. + +7. Starting with an incident to illustrate its novelty, or speed, or +convenience, or unusualness, lead up to the description or explanation +of some mechanical contrivance. + +Dictaphone +Adding machine +Comptometer +Wireless telegraph +Knitting machine +Moving picture camera +Moving picture machine +Self-starter +Egg boiler +Newspaper printing press +Power churn +Bottle-making machine +Voting machine +Storm in a play +Pneumatic tube +Periscope, etc. + +8. Describe some finished product (as a cup of tea, a copper cent) as +introduction to an explanation of its various processes of +development. + +9. Start with the opinion that reading should produce pleasure to +introduce a recommendation of a book. + +10. Start with the opinion that reading should impart information to +introduce a recommendation of a book. + +11. Start with the money return a business or profession offers to +introduce a discussion advising a person to follow it or not. + +12. Beginning with the recent war lead up to the topic that military +training should be a part of all regular education. + +13. Beginning from the same point introduce the opposite. + +14. Beginning with an item--or a fictitious item--from a newspaper +recounting an accident lead up to workmen's compensation laws, or +preventive protective measures in factories, or some similar topic. + +15. Using a personal or known experience introduce some topic dealing +with the survival of superstitions. + +16. Choosing your own material and treatment introduce some theme +related to the government, or betterment of your community. + +17. Introduce a topic dealing with the future policy of your city, +county, state, or nation. + +18. Lead up to the statement of a change you would like to recommend +strongly for your school. + +19. In as interesting a manner as possible lead up to a statement of +the business or profession you would like to follow. + +20. Introduce a speech in which you intend to condemn something, by +dealing with your introductory material ironically. + +21. Imagine that you are presiding at a meeting of some club, society, +or organization which has been called to discuss a definite topic. +Choose the topic for discussion and deliver the speech bringing it +before the session. + +22. You have received a letter from a member of some organization who +suggests that a society to which you belong join with it in some kind +of contest or undertaking. Present the suggestion to your society. + +23. You believe that soma memorial to the memory of some person should +be established in your school, lodge, church, club. Introduce the +subject to a group of members so that they may discuss it +intelligently. + +24. Introduce some topic to the class, but so phrase your material +that the announcement of the topic will be a complete surprise to the +members. Try to lead them away from the topic, yet so word your +remarks that later they will realize that everything you said applies +exactly to the topic you introduce. + +25. Lead up to the recital of some mystery, or ghostly adventure. + +26. Lead up to these facts. "For each 10,000 American-born workmen in +a steel plant in eight years, 21 were killed; and for each non-English +speaking foreign born, 26 were killed. Non-English speaking show 65 +permanently disabled as compared with 28 who spoke English. Of +temporarily disabled only 856 spoke English as compared with 2035 who +did not." + +27. Introduce the topic: Training in public speaking is valuable for +all men and women. + +28. In a genial manner suitable to the season's feelings introduce +some statement concerning New Year's resolutions. + +29. Frame some statement concerning aviation. Introduce it. + +30. Introduce topics or statements related to the following: + +The eight-hour day. +The principles of Socialism. +Legitimate methods of conducting strikes. +Extending the Monroe Doctrine. +Studying the classics, or modern languages. +Private fortunes. +College education for girls. +Direct presidential vote. +A good magazine. +Some great woman. +Sensible amusements. +Fashions. +Agriculture. +Business practice. +Minimum wages. +Equal pay for men and women. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CONCLUDING THE SPEECH + + +Preparing the Conclusion. No architect would attempt to plan a +building unless he knew the purpose for which it was to be used. No +writer of a story would start to put down words until he knew exactly +how his story was to end. He must plan to bring about a certain +conclusion. The hero and heroine must be united in marriage. The +scheming villain must be brought to justice. Or if he scorn the usual +ending of the "lived happily ever after" kind of fiction, he can plan +to kill his hero and heroine, or both; or he can decide for once that +his story shall be more like real life than is usually the case, and +have wickedness triumph over virtue. Whatever he elects to do at the +conclusion of his story, whether it be long or short, the principle of +his planning is the same--he must know what he is going to do and +adequately prepare for it during the course of, previous events. + +One other thing every writer must secure. The ending of a book must be +the most interesting part of it. It must rise highest in interest. It +must be surest of appeal. Otherwise the author runs the risk of not +having people read his book through to its conclusion, and as every +book is written in the hope and expectation that it will be read +through, a book which fails to hold the attention of its readers +defeats its own purpose. + +The foregoing statements are self-evident but they are set down +because their underlying principles can be transferred to a +consideration of the preparation of conclusions for speeches. + +Is a Conclusion Necessary? But before we use them let us ask whether +all speeches require conclusions. + +There are some people--thoughtless, if nothing worse--who habitually +end letters by adding some such expression as "Having nothing more to +say, I shall now close." Is there any sense in writing such a +sentence? If the letter comes only so far and the signature follows, +do not those items indicate that the writer has nothing more to say +and is actually closing? Why then, when a speaker has said all he has +to say, should he not simply stop and sit down? Will that not indicate +quite clearly that he has finished his speech? What effect would such +an ending have? + +In the first place the speaker runs the risk of appearing at least +discourteous, if not actually rude, to his audience. To fling his +material at them, then to leave it so, would impress men and women +much as the brusque exit from a group of people in a room would or the +slamming of a door of an office. + +In the second place the speaker runs the graver risk of not making +clear and emphatic the purpose of his speech. He may have been quite +plain and effective during the course of his explanation or argument +but an audience hears a speech only once. Can he trust to their +recollection of what he has tried to impress upon them? Will they +carry away exactly what he wants them to retain? Has he made the main +topics, the chief aim, stand out prominently enough? Can he merely +stop speaking? These are quite important aspects of a grave +responsibility. + +In the third place--though this may be considered less important than +the preceding--the speaker gives the impression that he has not +actually "finished" his speech. No one cares for unfinished articles, +whether they be dishes of food, pieces of furniture, poems, or +speeches. Without unduly stressing the fact that a speech is a +carefully organized and constructed product, it may be stated that it +is always a profitable effort to try to round off your remarks. A good +conclusion gives an impression of completeness, of an effective +product. Audiences are delicately susceptible to these impressions. + +Twenty-two centuries ago Aristotle, in criticizing Greek oratory, +declared that the first purpose of the conclusion was to conciliate +the audience in favor of the speaker. As human nature has not changed +much in the ages since, the statement still holds true. + +Speakers, then, should provide conclusions for all their speeches. + +Although the entire matter of planning the speech belongs to a later +chapter some facts concerning it as they relate to the conclusion must +be set down here. + +Relation of the Conclusion to the Speech. The conclusion should +reflect the purpose of the speech. It should enforce the reason for +the delivery of the speech. As it emphasizes the purpose of the speech +it should be in the speaker's mind before he begins to plan the +development of his remarks. It should be kept constantly in his mind +as he delivers his material. A train from Chicago bound for New York +is not allowed to turn off on all the switches it meets in its +journey. A speaker who wants to secure from a jury a verdict for +damages from a traction company does not discuss presidential +candidates. He works towards his conclusion. A legislator who wants +votes to pass a bill makes his conclusion and his speech conform to +that purpose. In all likelihood, his conclusion plainly asks for the +votes he has been proving that his fellow legislators should cast. A +school principal pleading with boys to stop gambling knows that his +conclusion is going to be a call for a showing of hands to pledge +support of his recommendations. A labor agitator knows that his +conclusion is going to be an appeal to a sense of class prejudice, so +he speaks with that continually in mind. An efficiency expert in shop +management knows that his conclusion is going to enforce the saving in +damages for injury by accident if a scheme of safety devices be +installed, so he speaks with that conclusion constantly in his mind. +In court the prosecuting attorney tells in his introduction exactly +what he intends to prove. His conclusion shows that he has proved what +he announced. + +One is tempted to say that the test of a good speech, a well-prepared +speech, is its conclusion. How many times one hears a speaker +floundering along trying to do something, rambling about, making no +impression, not advancing a pace, and then later receives from the +unfortunate the confession, "I wanted to stop but I didn't know how to +do it." No conclusion had been prepared beforehand. It is quite as +disturbing to hear a speaker pass beyond the place where he could have +made a good conclusion. If he realizes this he slips into the state of +the first speaker described in this paragraph. If he does not realize +when he reaches a good conclusion he talks too long and weakens the +effect by stopping on a lower plane than he has already reached. This +fault corresponds to the story teller whose book drops in interest at +the end. The son of a minister was asked whether his father's sermon +the previous Sunday had-not had some good points in it. The boy +replied, "Yes, three good points where he should have stopped." + +Length of the Conclusion. It must not be inferred from anything here +stated concerning the importance of the conclusion that it need be +long. A good rule for the length of the conclusion is the same rule +that applies to the length of the introduction. It should be just long +enough to do best what it is intended to do. As in the case of the +introduction, so for the conclusion, the shorter the better, if +consistent with clearness and effect. If either introduction or +conclusion must deliberately be reduced the conclusion will stand the +most compression. A conclusion will frequently fail of its effect if +it is so long that the audience anticipates its main points. It fails +if it is so long that it adds nothing of clearness or emphasis to the +speech itself. It will end by boring if it is too long for the +importance of its material. It will often produce a deeper, more +lasting impression by its very conciseness. Brevity is the soul of +more than mere humor. A brief remark will cut deeper than a long +involved sentence. The speaker who had shown that the recent great +war fails unless the reconstruction to be accomplished is worthy +needed no more involved conclusion than the statement, "It is what we +do tomorrow that will justify what we did yesterday." + +Coupled with this matter of effect is the length of the speech itself. +Short speeches are likely to require only short conclusions. Long +speeches more naturally require longer conclusions. + +Consider the following conclusions. Comment upon them. It would be +interesting to try to decide the length of the speeches from which +they are taken, then look at the originals, all of which are easily +procurable at libraries. + + That is in substance my theory of what our foreign policy + should be. Let us not boast, not insult any one, but make up + our minds coolly what it is necesary to say, say it, and then + stand to it, whatever the consequences may be. + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Waukesha, 1903 + +The foregoing is quite matter-of-fact. It contains no emotional appeal +at all. Yet even a strong emotional feeling can be put into a short +conclusion. From the date and the circumstances surrounding the next +the reader can easily picture for himself the intense emotion of the +audience which listened to these words from the leader of the free +states against the South. + + Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false + accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of + destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. + Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith + let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Cooper Union Speech_, 1860 + +While the student planning his own speech must determine exactly what +he shall put into his conclusion--depending always upon his material +and his purpose--there are a few general hints which will help him. + +The Retrospective Conclusion. A conclusion may be entirely +retrospective. This means merely that it may refer back to the remarks +which have been delivered in the body of the speech. A speaker does +this to emphasize something he has already discussed by pointing out +to his audience that he wants them to remember that from what he has +said. Conclusions of this kind usually have no emotional appeal. They +are likely to be found in explanatory addresses, where the clearness +of the exposition should make hearers accept it as true. If a man has +proven a fact--as in a law court--he does not have to make an appeal +to feeling to secure a verdict. Juries are supposed to decide on the +facts alone. This kind of conclusion emphasizes, repeats, clarifies, +enforces. The first of the following is a good illustration of one +kind of conclusion which refers to the remarks made in the speech +proper. Notice that it enforces the speaker's opinions by a calm +explanation of his sincerity. + + I want you to think of what I have said, because it + represents all of the sincerity and earnestness that I have, + and I say to you here, from this platform, nothing that I + have not already stated in effect, and nothing I would not + say at a private table with any of the biggest corporation + managers in the land. + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Fitchburg, 1902 + +The next, while it is exactly the same kind in material, adds some +elements of stronger feeling. Yet in the main it also enforces the +speaker's opinion by a clear explanation of his action. From this +conclusion alone we know exactly the material and purpose of the +entire speech. + + Sir, I will detain you no longer. There are some parts of + this bill which I highly approve; there are others in which I + should acquiesce; but those to which I have now stated my + objections appear to me so destitute of all justice, so + burdensome and so dangerous to that interest which has + steadily enriched, gallantly defended, and proudly + distinguished us, that nothing can prevail upon me to give it + my support. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _The Tariff_, 1824 + +The Anticipatory Conclusion. Just as a conclusion may be +retrospective, so it may be anticipatory. It may start from the +position defined or explained or reached by the speech and look +forward to what may happen, what must be done, what should be +instituted, what should be changed, what votes should be cast, what +punishment should be inflicted, what pardons granted. The student +should make a list of all possible things in the future which could be +anticipated in the conclusions of various speeches. If one will think +of the purposes of most delivered speeches he will realize that this +kind of conclusion is much more frequent than the previous kind as so +many speeches anticipate future action or events. Dealing with +entirely different topics the three following extracts illustrate this +kind of conclusion. Washington was arguing against the formation of +parties in the new nation, trying to avert the inevitable. + + There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful + checks upon the administration of the government, and serve + to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain + limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical + cast, patriotism may look with indulgence if not with favor + upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular + character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not + to be encouraged. From their natural tendency it is certain + there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary + purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the + effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and + assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform + vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead + of warming, it should consume. + + GEORGE WASHINGTON: _Farewell Address_, 1796 + +With the dignity and the calmness of the preceding, contrast the +Biblical fervor of the next--the magnanimous program of the reuniter +of a divided people. + + With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness + in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive + on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's + wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and + for his widow and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and + cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with + all nations. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Second Inaugural_, 1865 + +In totally different circumstances the next conclusion was delivered, +yet it bears the same aspect of anticipation. There is not a single +hint in it of the material of the speech which preceded it, it takes +no glance backward, it looks forward only. Its effectiveness comes +from the element of leadership, that gesture of pointing the way for +loyal Americans to follow. + + No nation as great as ours can expect to escape the penalty + of greatness, for greatness does not come without trouble and + labor. There are problems ahead of us at home and problems + abroad, because such problems are incident to the working out + of a great national career. We do not shrink from them. Scant + is our patience with those who preach the gospel of craven + weakness. No nation under the sun ever yet played a part + worth playing if it feared its fate overmuch--if it did not + have the courage to be great. We of America, we, the sons of + a nation yet in the pride of its lusty youth, spurn the + teachings of distrust, spurn the creed of failure and + despair. We know that the future is ours if we have in us the + manhood to grasp it, and we enter the new century girding our + loins for the contest before us, rejoicing in the struggle, + and resolute so to bear ourselves that the nation's future + shall even surpass her glorious past. + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Philadelphia, 1902 + +Grave times always make men look into the future. All acts are judged +and justified after they are performed. All progress depends upon this +straining the vision into the darkness of the yet-to-be. Upon the eve +of great struggles anticipation is always uppermost in men's minds. In +the midst of the strife it is man's hope. In the next extract, only +one sentence glances backward. + + For us there is but one choice. We have made it. Woe be to + the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way in + this day of high resolution when every principle we hold + dearest is to be vindicated and made secure for the + salvation of the nations. We are ready to plead at the bar + of history, and our flag shall wear a new luster. Once more + we shall make good with our lives and fortunes the great + faith to which we were born, and a new glory shall shine in + the face of our people. + + WOODROW WILSON: _Flag Day Address_, 1917 + +Retrospective and Anticipatory Conclusion. While it does not occur so +frequently as the two kinds just illustrated it is possible for a +conclusion to be both retrospective and anticipatory--to look both +backward and forward. The conclusion may enforce what the speech has +declared or proved, then using this position as a safe starting point +for a new departure, look forward and indicate what may follow or what +should be done. The only danger in such an attempt is that the dual +aspect may be difficult to make effective. Either one may neutralize +the other. Still, a careful thinker and master of clear language may +be able to carry an audience with him in such a treatment. The +division in the conclusion between the backward glance and the forward +vision need not be equal. Here again the effect to be made upon the +audience, the purpose of the speech, must be the determining factor. +Notice how the two are blended in the following conclusion from a much +read commemorative oration. + + And now, friends and fellow-citizens, it is time to bring + this discourse to a close. + + We have indulged in gratifying recollections of the past, in + the prosperity and pleasures of the present, and in high + hopes for the future. But let us remember that we have + duties and obligations to perform, corresponding to the + blessings which we enjoy. Let us remember the trust, the + sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance which we have + received from our fathers. Let us feel our personal + responsibility, to the full extent of our power and + influence, for the preservation of the principles of civil + and religious liberty. And let us remember that it is only + religion, and morals, and knowledge, that can make men + respectable, under any form of government.... + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _Completion of Bunker Hill + Monument_, 1843 + +Conclusions are classified in general under three headings: 1. +Recapitulation; 2. Summary; 3. Peroration. + +The Recapitulation. The first of these--recapitulation--is exactly +defined by the etymology of the word itself. Its root is Latin +_caput_, head. So recapitulation means the repetition of the heads or +main topics of a preceding discussion. Coming at the end of an +important speech of some length, such a conclusion is invaluable. If +the speaker has explained clearly or reasoned convincingly his +audience will have been enlightened or convinced. Then at the end, to +assure them they are justified in their knowledge or conviction, he +repeats in easily remembered sequence the heads which he has treated +in his extended remarks. It is as though he chose from his large +assortment a small package which he does up neatly for his audience to +carry away with them. Frequently, too, the recapitulation corresponds +exactly to the plan as announced in the introduction and followed +throughout the speech. This firmly impresses the main points upon the +brains of the hearers. + +A lawyer in court starts by announcing that he will prove a certain +number of facts. After his plea is finished, in the conclusion of his +speech, he recapitulates, showing that he has proved these things. A +minister, a political candidate, a business man, a social worker--in +fact, every speaker will find such a clear-cut listing an informative, +convincing manner of constructing a conclusion. This extract shows a +clear, direct, simple recapitulation. + + To recapitulate what has been said, we maintain, first, that + the Constitution, by its grants to Congress and its + prohibitions on the states, has sought to establish one + uniform standard of value, or medium of payment. Second, + that, by like means, it has endeavored to provide for one + uniform mode of discharging debts, when they are to be + discharged without payment. Third, that these objects are + connected, and that the first loses much of its importance, + if the last, also, be not accomplished. Fourth, that, reading + the grant to Congress and the prohibition on the States + together, the inference is strong that the Constitution + intended to confer an exclusive power to pass bankrupt laws + on Congress. Fifth, that the prohibition in the tenth section + reaches to all contracts, existing or future, in the same way + that the other prohibition, in the same section, extends to + all debts, existing or future. Sixth, that, upon any other + construction, one great political object of the Constitution + will fail of its accomplishment. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _Ogden vs. Saunders_, 1827 + +The Summary. The second kind--a summary--does somewhat the same thing +that the recapitulation does, but it effects it in a different matter. +Note that the recapitulation _repeats_ the main headings of the +speech; it usually uses the same or similar phrasing. + +The summary does not do this. The summary condenses the entire +material of the speech, so that it is presented to the audience in +shortened, general statements, sufficient to recall to them what the +speaker has already presented, without actually repeating his previous +statements. This kind of conclusion is perhaps more usual than the +preceding one. It is known by a variety of terms--summing up, resume, +epitome, review, precis, condensation. + +In the first of the subjoined illustrations notice that the words +"possible modes" contain practically all the speech itself. So the +four words at the end, "faction, corruption, anarchy, and despotism," +hold a great deal of the latter part of the speech. These expressions +do not repeat the heads of divisions; they condense long passages. The +extract is a summary. + + I have thus presented all possible modes in which a + government founded upon the will of an absolute majority will + be modified; and have demonstrated that, in all its forms, + whether in a majority of the people, as in a mere democracy, + or in a majority of their representatives, without a + constitution, to be interpreted as the will of the majority, + the result will be the same: two hostile interests will + inevitably be created by the action of the government, to be + followed by hostile legislation, and that by faction, + corruption, anarchy, and despotism. + + JOHN C. CALHOUN: _Speech on the Force Bill, 1833_ + +From the following pick out the expressions which summarize long +passages of the preceding speech. Amplify them to indicate what they +might cover. + + I firmly believe in my countrymen, and therefore I believe + that the chief thing necessary in order that they shall work + together is that they shall know one another--that the + Northerner shall know the Southerner, and the man of one + occupation know the man of another occupation; the man who + works in one walk of life know the man who works in another + walk of life, so that we may realize that the things which + divide us are superficial, are unimportant, and that we are, + and must ever be, knit together into one indissoluble mass by + our common American brotherhood. + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Chattanooga, 1902 + +The Peroration. A peroration is a conclusion which--whatever may be +its material and treatment--has an appeal to the feelings, to the +emotions. It strives to move the audience to act, to arouse them to an +expression of their wills, to stir them to deeds. It usually comes at +the end of a speech of persuasion. It appeals to sentiments of right, +justice, humanity, religion. It seldom merely concludes a speech; it +looks forward to some such definite action as casting a vote, joining +an organization or movement, contributing money, going out on strike, +returning to work, pledging support, signing a petition. + +These purposes suggest its material. It is usually a direct appeal, +personal and collective, to all the hearers. Intense in feeling, +tinged with emotion, it justifies itself by its sincerity and honesty +alone. Its apparent success is not the measure of its merit. Too +frequently an appeal to low prejudices, class sentiment and prejudice, +base motives, mob instincts will carry a group of people in a certain +direction with as little sense and reason as a flock of sheep display. +Every student can cite a dozen instances of such unwarranted and +unworthy responses to skilful perverted perorations. Answering to its +emotional tone the style of a peroration is likely to rise above the +usual, to become less simple, less direct. In this temptation for the +speaker lies a second danger quite as grave as the one just indicated. +In an attempt to wax eloquent he is likely to become grandiloquent, +bombastic, ridiculous. Many an experienced speaker makes an unworthy +exhibition of himself under such circumstances. One specimen of such +nonsense will serve as a warning. + +When the terms for the use of the Panama Canal were drawn up there +arose a discussion as to certain kinds of ships which might pass +through the canal free of tolls. A treaty with Great Britain prevented +tolls-exemption for privately owned vessels. In a speech in Congress +upon this topic one member delivered the following inflated and +inconsequential peroration. Can any one with any sanity see any +connection of the Revolutionary War, Jefferson, Valley Forge, with a +plain understanding of such a business matter as charging tolls for +the use of a waterway? To get the full effect of this piece of +"stupendous folly"--to quote the speaker's own words--the student +should declaim it aloud with as much attempt at oratorical effect as +its author expended upon it. + + Now, may the God of our fathers, who nerved 3,000,000 + backwoods Americans to fling their gage of battle into the + face of the mightiest monarch in the world, who guided the + hand of Jefferson in writing the charter of liberty, who + sustained Washington and his ragged and starving army amid + the awful horrors of Valley Forge, and who gave them complete + victory on the blood-stained heights of Yorktown, may He + lead members to vote so as to prevent this stupendous + folly--this unspeakable humiliation of the American republic. + +When the circumstances are grave enough to justify impassioned +language a good speaker need not fear its effect. If it be suitable, +honest, and sincere, a peroration may be as emotional as human +feelings dictate. So-called "flowery language" seldom is the medium of +deep feeling. The strongest emotions may be expressed in the simplest +terms. Notice how, in the three extracts here quoted, the feeling is +more intense in each succeeding one. Analyze the style. Consider the +words, the phrases, the sentences in length and structure. Explain the +close relation of the circumstances and the speaker with the material +and the style. What was the purpose of each? + + Sir, let it be to the honor of Congress that in these days of + political strife and controversy, we have laid aside for once + the sin that most easily besets us, and, with unanimity of + counsel, and with singleness of heart and of purpose, have + accomplished for our country one measure of unquestionable + good. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _Uniform System of Bankruptcy_, 1840 + +Lord Chatham addressed the House of Lords in protest against the +inhumanities of some of the early British efforts to suppress the +American Revolution. + + I call upon that right reverend bench, those holy ministers + of the Gospel, and pious pastors of our Church--I conjure + them to join in the holy work, and vindicate the religion of + their God. I appeal to the wisdom and law of this learned + bench, to defend and support the justice of their country. I + call upon the Bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of + their lawn; upon the learned Judges, to interpose their + purity upon the honor of your Lordships, to reverence the + dignity of your ancestors and to maintain your own. I call + upon the spirit and humanity of my country, to vindicate the + national character. I invoke the genius of the Constitution. + From the tapestry that adorns these walls the immortal + ancestor of this noble Lord frowns with indignation at the + disgrace of his country.... + + I again call upon your Lordships, and the united powers of + the state, to examine it thoroughly and decisively, and to + stamp upon it an indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. + And I again implore those holy prelates of our religion to do + away with these iniquities from among us! Let them perform a + lustration; let them purify this House, and this country, + from this sin. + + My Lords, I am old and weak, and at present unable to say + more; but my feelings and indignation were too strong to have + said less. I could not have slept this night in my bed, nor + reposed my head on my pillow, without giving vent to my + eternal abhorrence of such preposterous and enormous + principles. + +At about the same time the same circumstances evoked several famous +speeches, one of which ended with this well-known peroration. + + 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! + + PATRICK HENRY in the Virginia Convention, 1775 + +Preparing and Delivering Conclusions. Students cannot very well be +asked to prepare and deliver conclusions to speeches which do not yet +exist, so there is no way of devising conclusions until later. But +students should report upon conclusions to speeches they have recently +listened to, and explain to the class their opinions concerning their +material, methods, treatment, delivery, effect. The following +questions will help in judging and criticizing: + +Was the conclusion too long? +Was it so short as to seem abrupt? +Did it impress the audience? +How could it have been improved? +Was it recapitulation, summary, peroration? +Was it retrospective, anticipatory, or both? +What was its relation to the main part of the speech? +Did it refer to the entire speech or only a portion? +What was its relation to the introduction? +Did the speech end where it began? +Did it end as it began? +Was the conclusion in bad taste? +What was its style? +What merits had it? +What defects? +What suggestions could you offer for its improvement? +With reference to the earlier parts of the speech, how was it delivered? + +The following conclusions should be studied from all the angles +suggested in this chapter and previous ones. An air of reality will be +secured if they are memorized and spoken before the class. + + +EXERCISES + + +1. There are many qualities which we need alike in private + citizen and in public man, but three above all--three for the + lack of which no brilliancy and no genius can atone--and + those three are courage, honesty, and common sense. + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Antietam, 1903 + +2. Poor Sprat has perished despite his splendid tomb in the + Abbey. Johnson has only a cracked stone and a worn-out + inscription (for the Hercules in St. Paul's is + unrecognizable) but he dwells where he would wish to + dwell--in the loving memory of men. + + AUGUSTINE BIRRELL: _Transmission of Dr. Johnson's + Personality_, 1884 + +3. So, my fellow citizens, the reason I came away from + Washington is that I sometimes get lonely down there. There + are so many people in Washington who know things that are not + so, and there are so few people who know anything about what + the people of the United States are thinking about. I have to + come away and get reminded of the rest of the country. I have + to come away and talk to men who are up against the real + thing and say to them, "I am with you if you are with me." + And the only test of being with me is not to think about me + personally at all, but merely to think of me as the + expression for the time being of the power and dignity and + hope of the United States. + + WOODROW WILSON: _Speech to the American Federation + of Labor_, 1917 + +4. But if, Sir Henry, in gratitude for this beautiful tribute + which I have just paid you, you should feel tempted to + reciprocate by taking my horses from my carriage and dragging + me in triumph through the streets, I beg that you will + restrain yourself for two reasons. The first reason is--I + have no horses; the second is--I have no carriage. + + SIMEON FORD: _Me and Sir Henry_ (Irving), 1899 + +5. Literature has its permanent marks. It is a connected growth + and its life history is unbroken. Masterpieces have never + been produced by men who have had no masters. Reverence for + good work is the foundation of literary character. The + refusal to praise bad work or to imitate it is an author's + professional chastity. + + Good work is the most honorable and lasting thing in the + world. Four elements enter into good work in literature:-- + + An original impulse--not necessarily a new idea, but a new + sense of the value of an idea. + + A first-hand study of the subject and material. + + A patient, joyful, unsparing labor for the perfection of + form. + + A human aim--to cheer, console, purify, or ennoble the life + of the people. Without this aim literature has never sent an + arrow close to the mark. + + It is only by good work that men of letters can justify their + right to a place in the world. The father of Thomas Carlyle + was a stone-mason, whose walls stood true and needed no + rebuilding. Carlyle's prayer was: "Let me write my books as + he built his houses." + + HENRY VAN DYKE: _Books, Literature and the People_, + 1900 + +6. All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical + to the profane herd of those vulgar and mechanical + politicians who have no place among us--a sort of people who + think that nothing exists but what is gross and material; and + who, therefore, far from being qualified to be directors of + the great movement of empire, are unfit to turn a wheel in + the machine. But to men truly initiated and rightly taught, + these ruling and master principles, which in the opinion of + such men as I have mentioned have no substantial existence, + are in truth everything and all in all. Magnanimity in + politics is not seldom the truest wisdom: and a great empire + and little minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our + station, and glow with zeal to fill our places as becomes our + situation and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our public + proceedings on America with the old warning of the church, + _Sursum corda!_ We ought to elevate our minds to the + greatness of that trust to which the order of Providence has + called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high calling, + our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious + empire; and have made the most extensive, and the only + honorable conquests, not by destroying, but by promoting the + wealth, the number, the happiness of the human race. Let us + get an American revenue as we have got an American empire. + English privileges have made it all that it is; English + privileges alone will make it all it can be. + + In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now (_quod + felix faustumque sit!_) lay the first stone of the Temple of + Peace; and I move you;-- + + That the colonies and plantations of Great Britain in North + America, consisting of fourteen separate governments, and + containing two millions and upwards of free inhabitants, have + not had the liberty and privilege of electing and sending any + knights and burgesses, or others, to represent them in the + high court of Parliament. + + EDMUND BURKE: _Conciliation with America_, 1775 + +7. Now, Mr. Speaker, having fully answered all the arguments of + my opponents, I will retire to the cloak-room for a few + moments, to receive the congratulations of admiring mends. + + JOHN ALLEN in a speech in Congress + +8. Relying then on the patronage of your good will, I advance + with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever + you become sensible how much better choice it is in your + power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the + destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, + and give them a favorable issue for your peace and + prosperity. + + THOMAS JEFFERSON, _First Inaugural_, 1801 + +9. My friends, this is wholly an unprepared speech. I did not + expect to be called or to say a word when I came here. I + supposed I was merely to do something toward raising a flag. + I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. But I have + said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be + the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN at Philadelphia, 1861 + +10. I have spoken plainly because this seems to me the time when + it is most necessary to speak plainly, in order that all the + world may know that even in the heat and ardor of the + struggle and when our whole thought is of carrying the war + through to its end we have not forgotten any ideal or + principle for which the name of America has been held in + honor among the nations and for which it has been our glory + to contend in the great generations that went before us. A + supreme moment of history has come. The eyes of the people + have been opened and they see. The hand of God is laid upon + the nations. He will show them favor, I devoutly believe, + only if they rise to the clear heights of His own justice and + mercy. + + WOODROW WILSON in a speech to Congress, 1917 + +11. This is what I have to say--ponder it; something you will + agree with, something you will disagree with; but think about + it, if I am wrong, the sooner the wrong is exposed the better + for me--this is what I have to say: God is bringing the + nations together. We must establish courts of reason for the + settlement of controversies between civilized nations. We + must maintain a force sufficient to preserve law and order + among barbaric nations; and we have small need of an army + for any other purpose. We must follow the maintenance of law + and the establishment of order and the foundations of + civilization with the vitalizing forces that make for + civilization. And we must constantly direct our purpose and + our policies to the time when the whole world shall have + become civilized; when men, families, communities, will yield + to reason and to conscience. And then we will draw our sword + Excalibur from its sheath and fling it out into the sea, + rejoicing that it is gone forever. + + LYMAN ABBOTT: _International Brotherhood_, 1899 + +12. I give you, gentlemen, in conclusion, this sentiment: "The + Little Court-room at Geneva--where our royal mother England, + and her proud though untitled daughter, alike bent their + heads to the majesty of Law and accepted Justice as a greater + and better arbiter than Power." + + WILLIAM M. EVARTS: _International Arbitration_, 1872 + +13. You recollect the old joke, I think it began with Preston of + South Carolina, that Boston exported no articles of native + growth but granite and ice. That was true then, but we have + improved since, and to these exports we have added roses and + cabbages. Mr. President, they are good roses, and good + cabbages, and I assure you that the granite is excellent hard + granite, and the ice is very cold ice. + + EDWARD EVERETT HALE: _Boston_, 1880 + +14. Long live the Republic of Washington! Respected by mankind, + beloved of all its sons, long may it be the asylum of the + poor and oppressed of all lands and religions--long may it be + the citadel of that liberty which writes beneath the Eagle's + folded wings, "We will sell to no man, we will deny to no + man, Right and Justice." + + Long live the United States of America! Filled with the free, + magnanimous spirit, crowned by the wisdom, blessed by the + moderation, hovered over by the guardian angel of + Washington's example; may they be ever worthy in all things + to be defended by the blood of the brave who know the rights + of man and shrink not from their assertion--may they be each + a column, and altogether, under the Constitution, a perpetual + Temple of Peace, unshadowed by a Caesar's palace, at whose + altar may freely commune all who seek the union of Liberty + and Brotherhood. + + Long live our Country! Oh, long through the undying ages may + it stand, far removed in fact as in space from the Old + World's feuds and follies, alone in its grandeur and its + glory, itself the immortal monument of Him whom Providence + commissioned to teach man the power of Truth, and to prove to + the nations that their Redeemer liveth. + + JOHN W. DANIEL: _Washington_, 1885 + +15. When that great and generous soldier, U.S. Grant gave back to + Lee, crushed, but ever glorious, the sword he had surrendered + at Appomattox, that magnanimous deed said to the people of + the South: "You are our brothers." But when the present ruler + of our grand republic on awakening to the condition of war + that confronted him, with his first commission placed the + leader's sword in the hands of those gallant Confederate + commanders, Joe Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee, he wrote between + the lines in living letters of everlasting light the words: + "There is but one people of this Union, one flag alone for + all." + + The South, Mr. Toastmaster, will feel that her sons have been + well given, that her blood has been well spilled, if that + sentiment is to be indeed the true inspiration of our + nation's future. God grant it may be as I believe it will. + + CLARE HOWELL: _Our Reunited Country_, 1898 + +16. Two years ago last autumn, we walked on the sea beach + together, and with a strange and prophetic kind of poetry, he + likened the scene to his own failing health, the falling + leaves, the withered sea-weed, the dying grass upon the + shore, and the ebbing tide that was fast receding from us. He + told me that he felt prepared to go, for he had forgiven his + enemies, and could even rejoice in their happiness. Surely + this was a grand condition in which to step from this world + across the threshold to the next! + + JOSEPH JEFFERSON: _In Memory of Edwin Booth_, 1893 + +17. A public spirit so lofty is not confined to other lands. You + are conscious of its stirrings in your soul. It calls you to + courageous service, and I am here to bid you obey the call. + Such patriotism may be yours. Let it be your parting vow that + it shall be yours. Bolingbroke described a patriot king in + England; I can imagine a patriot president in America. I can + see him indeed the choice of a party, and called to + administer the government when sectional jealousy is fiercest + and party passion most inflamed. I can imagine him seeing + clearly what justice and humanity, the national law and the + national welfare require him to do, and resolved to do it. I + can imagine him patiently enduring not only the mad cry of + party hate, the taunt of "recreant" and "traitor," of + "renegade" and "coward," but what is harder to bear, the + amazement, the doubt, the grief, the denunciation, of those + as sincerely devoted as he to the common welfare. I can + imagine him pushing firmly on, trusting the heart, the + intelligence, the conscience of his countrymen, healing angry + wounds, correcting misunderstandings, planting justice on + surer foundations, and, whether his party rise or fall, + lifting his country heavenward to a more perfect union, + prosperity, and peace. This is the spirit of a patriotism + that girds the commonwealth with the resistless splendor of + the moral law--the invulnerable panoply of states, the + celestial secret of a great nation and a happy people. + + GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS: _The Public Duty of Educated + Men_, 1877 + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +GETTING MATERIAL + + +The Material of Speeches. So far this book has dealt almost entirely +with the manner of speaking. Now it comes to the relatively more +important consideration of the material of speech. Necessary as it is +that a speaker shall know how to speak, it is much more valuable that +he shall know what to speak. We frequently hear it said of a speaker, +"It wasn't what he said, it was the way he said it," indicating +clearly that the striking aspect of the delivery was his manner; but +even when this remark is explained it develops frequently that there +was some value in the material, as well as some charm or surprise or +novelty in the method of expression. In the last and closest analysis +a speech is valuable for what it conveys to its hearers' minds, what +it induces them to do, not what temporary effects of charm and +entertainment it affords. + +Persons of keen minds and cultivated understandings have come away +from gatherings addressed by men famous as good speech-makers and +confessed to something like the following: "I was held spellbound all +the time he was talking, but for the life of me, I can't tell you one +thing he said or one idea he impressed upon me." A student should +judge speeches he hears with such things in mind, so that he can hold +certain ones up as models, and discard others as "horrible examples." + +It should be the rule that before a man attempts to speak he should +have something to say. This is apparently not always the case. Many a +man tries to say something when he simply has nothing at all to say. +Recall the description of Gratiano's talk, quoted earlier in this +book. + +A speaker then must have material. He must get material. The clergyman +knows that he must deliver about a hundred sermons a year. The lawyer +knows he must go into court on certain days. The lecturer must +instruct his various audiences. The business man must address +executive boards, committees, conventions, customers. The student must +address classes, societies. The beginner in speech training must seize +every opportunity to talk. Certainly the natural reserve stock of +ideas and illustrations will soon be exhausted, or it will grow so +stale that it will be delivered ineffectively, or it will be +unsuitable to every occasion. A celebrated Frenchman, called upon +unexpectedly to speak, excused himself by declaring, "What is suitable +to say I do not know, and what I know is not suitable." + +Getting Material. There are three ways of getting material. The first +is by observation, the second by interview, the third by reading. + +Observation. The value of securing material by observation is apparent +at first glance. That which you have experienced you know. That which +you have seen with your own eyes you can report correctly. That which +has happened to you you can relate with the aspect of absolute truth. +That which you have done you can teach others to do. That which has +touched you you can explain correctly. That which you know to be the +fact is proof against all attack. + +These are the apparent advantages of knowledge gained at first hand. +The faculty of accurate observation is one of the most satisfying that +can enter into a person's mental equipment. It can be trained, +broadened, and made more and more accurate. In some trades and +professions it is an indispensable part of one's everyday ability. The +faculty may be easily developed by exercise and test for accuracy. + +Everyone acknowledges the weight and significance of material gained +by observation. In America especially we accord attention and regard +to the reports and accounts made by men who have done things, the men +who have experienced the adventures they relate. There is such a +vividness, a reality, a conviction about these personal utterances +that we must listen respectfully and applaud sincerely. Magazines and +newspapers offer hundreds of such articles for avid readers. Hundreds +of books each year are based upon such material. + +With all its many advantages the field of observation is limited. Not +every person can experience or see all he is interested in and wants +to talk about. We must choose presidents but we cannot observe the +candidates themselves and their careers. We must have opinions about +the League of Nations, the Mexican situation, the radical labor +movements, the changing taxes, but we cannot observe all phases of +these absorbing topics. If we restrict speeches to only what we can +observe we shall all be uttering merely trivial personalities based +upon no general knowledge and related to none of the really important +things in the universe. + +Nor is it always true that the person who does a thing can report it +clearly and accurately. Ask a woman or girl how she hemstitches a +handkerchief, or a boy how he swims or throws a curve, and note the +involved and inaccurate accounts. If you doubt this, explain one of +these to the class. It is not easy to describe exactly what one has +seen, mainly because people do not see accurately. People usually see +what they want to see, what they are predisposed to see. Witnesses in +court, testifying upon oath concerning an accident, usually produce as +many different versions as there are pairs of eyes. Books upon +psychology report many enlightening and amusing cases of this defect +of accurate observation in people.[1] + +The two negative aspects of material secured in this first manner--1, +limited range of observation, 2, inaccuracy of observation--placed +beside the advantages already listed will clearly indicate in what +subjects and circumstances this method should be relied upon for +securing material for speeches. + +[Footnote 1: Good cases are related by Swift, E.J.: _Psychology and +the Day's Work_.] + + +EXERCISES + +1. Make a list of recent articles based upon observation which you +have seen or read in newspapers and magazines. + +2. With what kind of material does each deal? + +3. Which article is best? Why? + +4. List four topics upon which your observation has given you +material which could be used in a speech. + +5. What kind of speech? A speech for what purpose? + +6. Consider and weigh the value of your material. + +7. Why is it good? + +8. What limits, or drawbacks has it? + +9. What could be said against it from the other side? + +Interview. If a person cannot himself experience or observe all he +wants to use for material his first impulse will be to interview +people who have had experience themselves. In this circumstance the +speaker becomes the reporter of details of knowledge furnished by +others. The value of this is apparent at once. Next to first-hand +knowledge, second-hand knowledge will serve admirably. + +Every newspaper and magazine in the world uses this method because its +readers' first query, mental or expressed, of all its informative +articles is "Is this true?" If the author is merely repeating the +experience of an acknowledged expert in the field under discussion, +the value of the interview cannot be questioned. In this case the +resulting report is almost as good as the original testimony or +statement of the man who knows. + +The first requisite, therefore, of material gathered in such a manner +is that it be reproduced exactly as first delivered. The man who told +a woman that a critic had pronounced her singing "heavenly" had good +intentions but he was not entirely accurate in changing to that +nattering term the critic's actual adjective "unearthly." The +frequency with which alleged statements published in the daily press +are contradicted by the supposed utterers indicates how usual such +misrepresentation is, though it may be honestly unintentional. The +speaker before an audience must be scrupulously correct in quoting. +This accuracy is not assured unless a stenographic transcript be taken +at the time the information is given, or unless the person quoted +reads the sentiments and statements credited to him and expresses his +approval. + +Signed statements, personal letters, printed records, photographs, +certified copies, and other exhibits of all kinds are employed to +substantiate material secured from interviews and offered in speeches. +If you notice newspaper accounts of lectures, political speeches, +legislative procedure, legal practice, you will soon become familiar +with such usages as are described by the expressions, filing as part +of the record, taking of a deposition in one city for use in a lawsuit +in another, Exhibit A, photograph of an account book, statement made +in the presence of a third party, as recorded by a dictaphone, etc. + +The first danger in securing material by the personal interview is the +natural error of misunderstanding. The second danger is the natural +desire--not necessarily false, at that--to interpret to the user's +benefit, the material so secured, or to the discredit of all views +other than his own. It is so easy, so tempting, in making out a strong +case for one's own opinions to omit the slight concession which may +grant ever so little shade of right to other beliefs. Judicious +manipulation of any material may degenerate into mere juggling for +support. Quotations and reports, like statistics, can be made to prove +anything, and the general intellectual distrust of mere numbers is +cleverly summed up in the remark, "Figures can't lie, but liars can +figure." + +To have the material accepted as of any weight or value the person +from whom it is secured must be recognized as an authority. He must be +of such eminence in the field for which his statements are quoted as +not only to be accepted by the speaker using his material but as +unqualifiedly recognized by all the opponents of the speaker. His +remarks must have the definiteness of the expert witness whose +testimony in court carries so much weight. To secure due +consideration, the speaker must make perfectly clear to his audience +the position of his authority, his fitness to be quoted, his +unquestioned knowledge, sincerity, and honesty. + +Knowledge secured in this manner may be used with signal effect in a +speech, either to supply all the material or to cover certain +portions. If you listen to many speeches (and you should), notice how +often a speaker introduces the result of his interviews--formal or +merely conversational--with persons whose statement he is certain will +impress his audience. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Make a list of five topics of which you know so little that you +would have to secure information by interviews. + +2. Of these choose two, define your opinion or feeling in each, and +tell to whom you could apply for material. + +3. Choose one dealing with some topic of current interest in your +locality; define your own opinion or feeling, and tell to whom you +could apply for material. + +4. Explain exactly why you name this person. + +5. Prepare a set of questions to bring out material to support your +position. + +6. Prepare some questions to draw out material to dispose of other +views. + +7. Interview some person upon one of the foregoing topics or a +different one, and in a speech present this material before the class. + +8. In general discussion comment on the authorities reported and the +material presented. + +Reading. The best way and the method most employed for gathering +material is reading. Every user of material in speeches must depend +upon his reading for the greatest amount of his knowledge. The old +expression "reading law" shows how most legal students secured the +information upon which their later practice was based. Nearly all real +study of any kind depends upon wide and careful reading. + +Reading, in the sense here used, differs widely from the entertaining +perusal of current magazines, or the superficial skimming through +short stories or novels. Reading for material is done with a more +serious purpose than merely killing time, and is regulated according +to certain methods which have been shown to produce the best results +for the effort and time expended. + +The speaker reads for the single purpose of securing material to serve +his need in delivered remarks. He has a definite aim. He must know how +to serve that end. Not everyone who can follow words upon a printed +page can read in this sense. He must be able to read, understand, +select, and retain. The direction is heard in some churches to "read, +mark, learn, and inwardly digest." This is a picturesque phrasing of +the same principles. + +You must know how to read. Have you often in your way through a book +suddenly realized at the bottom of a page that you haven't the +slightest recollection of what your eye has been over? You may have +felt this same way after finishing a chapter. People often read poetry +in this manner. This is not really reading. The speaker who reads for +material must concentrate. If he reaches the bottom of a page without +an idea, he must go back to get it. It is better not to read too +rapidly the first time, in order to save this repetition. The ability +to read is trained in exactly the same way as any other ability. +Accuracy first, speed later. Perhaps the most prevalent fault of +students of all kinds is lack of concentration. + +Understanding. After reading comes understanding. To illustrate this, +poetry again might be cited, for any one can _read_ poetry, though +many declare they cannot understand it. The simplest looking prose may +be obscure to the mind which is slow in comprehending. When we read we +get general ideas, cursory impressions; we catch the drift of the +author's meaning. Reading for material must be more thorough than +that. It must not merely believe it understands; it must preclude the +slightest possibility of misunderstanding. + +A reader who finds in a printed speech approval of a system of +_representation_ but a condemnation of a system of _representatives_ +must grasp at once, or must work out for himself, the difference +between these two: the first meaning a relationship only, the second +meaning men serving as delegates. When he meets an unusual word like +_mandatory_, he must not be content to guess at its significance by +linking it with _command_ and _mandate_, for as used in international +affairs it means something quite definite. To secure this complete +understanding of all his reading he will consult consistently every +book of reference. He should read with a good dictionary at his elbow, +and an atlas and an encyclopedia within easy reach. If he is able to +talk over with others what he reads, explaining to them what is not +clear, he will have an excellent method of testing his own +understanding. The old-fashioned practice of "saying lessons over" at +home contributed to this growth of a pupil's understanding. + +Selecting. Third, the reader for material must know how to select. As +he usually reads to secure information or arguments for a certain +definite purpose, he will save time by knowing quickly what not to +read. All that engages his attention without directly contributing to +his aim is wasting time and energy. He must learn how to use books. If +he cannot handle alphabetized collections quickly he is wasting time. +If he does not know how material is arranged he will waste both time +and energy. He must know books. + +Every printed production worthy of being called a book should have an +index. Is the index the same as the table of contents? The table of +contents is printed at the beginning of the volume. It is a synopsis, +by chapter headings or more detailed topics, of the plan of the book. +It gives a general outline of the contents of the book. You are +interested in public speaking. You wonder whether a book contains a +chapter on debating. Does this one? You notice that a speaker used a +series of jerky gesticulations. You wonder whether this book contains +a chapter upon gestures. Does it? + +The table of contents is valuable for the purposes just indicated. It +appears always at the beginning of a work. If the work fills more than +one volume, the table of contents is sometimes given for all of them +in the first; sometimes it is divided among the volumes; sometimes +both arrangements are combined. + +The table of contents is never so valuable as the index. This always +comes at the end of the book. If the work is in more than one volume +the index comes at the _end of the last volume_. What did you learn of +the topic _gestures_ in this book from your reference to the table of +contents? Now look at the index. What does the index do for a topic? +If a topic is treated in various parts of a long work the volumes are +indicated by Roman numerals, the pages by ordinary numerals. + +Interpret this entry taken from the index of _A History of the United +States_ by H.W. Elson. + + Slavery, introduced into Virginia, i, 93; in South Carolina, + 122; in Georgia, 133; in New England, 276; in the South, 276; + during colonial period, iii, 69, 70; in Missouri, 72; + attacked by the Abolitionists, 142-6; excluded from + California, 184; character of, in the South, 208 _seq_.; + population, iv, 82; abolished in District of Columbia, in new + territories, 208; abolished by Thirteenth Amendment, 320, + 321. + +Retaining Knowledge. The only valid test of the reader's real +equipment is what he retains and can use. How much of what you read do +you remember? The answer depends upon education, training in this +particular exercise, and lapse of time. What method of remembering do +you find most effective in your own case? To answer this you should +give some attention to your own mind. What kind of mind have you? Do +you retain most accurately what you see? Can you reproduce either +exactly or in correct substance what you read to yourself without any +supporting aids to stimulate your memory? If you have this kind of +mind develop it along that line. Do not weaken its power by letting it +lean on any supports at all. If you find you can do without them, do +not get into the habit of taking notes. If you can remember to do +everything you should do during a trip downtown don't make a list of +the items before you go. If you can retain from a single reading the +material you are gathering, don't make notes. Impress things upon your +memory faculty. Develop that ability in yourself. + +Have you a different kind of mind, the kind which remember best what +it tells, what it explains, what it does? Do you fix things in your +brain by performing them? Does information become rooted in your +memory because you have imparted it to others? If so you should secure +the material you gather from your reading by adapting some method +related to the foregoing. You may talk it over with some one else, you +may tell it aloud to yourself, you may imagine you are before an +audience and practise impressing them with what you want to retain. +Any device which successfully fixes knowledge in your memory is +legitimate. You should know enough about your own mental processes to +find for yourself the best and quickest way. It is often said of +teachers that they do not actually feel that they _know_ a subject +until they have tried to teach it to others. + +Taking Notes. Another kind of mind recalls or remembers material it +has read when some note or hint suggests all of it. This kind of mind +depends upon the inestimably valuable art of note-taking, a method +quite as worthy as the two just considered if its results justify its +employment. Note-taking does not mean a helter-skelter series of +exclamatory jottings. It means a well-planned, regularly organized +series of entries so arranged that reference to any portion recalls +vividly and exactly the full material of the original. Books and +speeches are well planned. They follow a certain order. Notes based +upon them should reproduce that plan and show the relative value of +parts. + +When completed, such notes, arranged in outline form, should enable +the maker to reproduce the extended material from which they were +made. If he cannot do that, his reading and his note-taking were to +little purpose. A speaker who has carefully written out his full +speech and delivers it form the manuscript can use that speech over +and over again. But that does not indicate that he really _knows_ much +about the topic he is discussing. He did know about it once. But the +man who from a series of notes can reconstruct material worked up long +before proves that he has retained his knowledge of it. Besides, this +method gives him the chance to adapt his presentation to the changing +conditions and the new audience. + +In using this method, when a particularly important bit of information +is met, it should be set down very carefully, usually verbatim, as it +may be quoted exactly in the speech. This copy may be made upon the +paper where the regular notes are being entered so that it may be +found later embodied in the material it supports. Or it may later be +cut from this sheet to be shifted about and finally fixed when +planning the speech, or preparing the outline (discussed in the next +two chapters). Many practised speech-makers copy such material upon +the regularly sized library catalog cards (3 by 5 inches), some +distinguishing by the colors of cards the various kinds of material, +such as arguments supporting a position, opposite arguments, +refutation, statistics, court judgments, etc. The beginner will find +for himself what methods he can use best. Of course he must never let +his discriminating system become so elaborate that he consumes +unjustifiable time and thought in following its intricate plan. + +In all cases of quotations--either verbatim or in resume--the +authority must be noted. Author, official title or position, title of +work, circumstances, date, volume, page, etc., should be clearly set +down. In law cases the date is especially important as so frequently +the latest decision reverses all the earlier ones. For convenience of +filing and handling these items are placed at the top of the card. + + Monroe Doctrine--Meaning + + W. Wilson--Hist. Amer. People, V, 245 + + The U.S. had not undertaken to maintain an actual formal + protectorate over the S. Amer. states, but it did frankly + undertake to act as their nearest friend in the settlement of + controversies with European nations, and no President, + whether Rep. or Dem., had hesitated since this critical + dispute concerning the boundaries of Brit. Guiana arose to + urge its settlement upon terms favorable to Venezuela. + +The following notes were made by a student in preparation for a speech +upon the opposition to the Covenant of the League of Nations. These +excerpts are from the notes upon the newspaper reports of the debate +in Boston in 1919 between Senator Lodge and President Lowell of +Harvard. Notice how accurately they suggest the material of the +original. The numbers represent the paragraph numbers. + + + [Sidenote: Monroe Doctrine.] + + 35. Monroe Doctrine a fence that cannot be extended by taking + it down. + + 36. Monroe Doctrine a corollary of Washington's foreign + policy. + + 37. Geographical considerations on which Monroe Doctrine + rested still obtain. + + 38. Systems of morality and philosophy are not transient, + because they rest on verities. + + 39. Monroe Doctrine rests on law of self-preservation. + + 40. Offers a larger reservation of Monroe Doctrine as third + constructive criticism. + + SENATOR LODGE + + [Sidenote: What a League should provide.] + + 3. Wants to consider what such a league must contain. + + 4. Must have provision for obligatory arbitration. + + 5. Obligation not to resort to war must be compulsory. + + 6. Compulsion must be such that no nation will venture to + incur it. + + 7. Nation that does not submit to arbitration must be treated + as outlaw. + + 8. If decisions of arbitrations are clear and generally + considered just, a nation desiring to wage war should be + prevented. + + 9. Points of contact are not points of friction except when + made too infrequent. + + 10. Travel, intercourse, frequent meetings help amicable + adjustments. + + 11. League should provide councils where men can meet and + talk over differences. + + 12. Penalty for violating agreements should be automatic. + + 13. All should be obliged to make war on attacking nation. + + PRESIDENT LOWELL. + +Using the Library. A reader must know how to use libraries. This means +he must be able to find books by means of the card catalogs. These are +arranged by both authors and subjects. If he knows the author of a +book or its title he can easily find the cards and have the book +handed to him. Very often he will seek information upon topics +entirely new to him. In this case he must look under the entry of the +topic for all the books bearing upon his. From the titles, the brief +descriptions, and (sometimes) the tables of contents upon the cards he +can select intelligently the books he needs. For instance, if he is +searching for arguments to support a new kind of city government he +could discard at once several books cataloged as follows, while he +could pick unerringly the four which might furnish him the material he +wants. These books are listed under the general topic "Cities." + + _The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. Old English Towns. + Municipal Administration. The Modern City and its Problems. + Personality of American Cities. Historic Towns of the + Southern States. Romantic Germany. Cities of Italy. American + Municipal Progress_. + +Cross references are also valuable. In addition to books cataloged +under the topic consulted, others grouped under other subjects may +contain related information. Here are three actual cross references +taken from a library catalog. + + Land: Ownership, rights, and rent. See also conservation, + production, agriculture. + + Laboring classes: Morals and habits. See also ethics, + amusements, Sunday. + + Church. See also church and state, persecutions. + +The continual use of a library will familiarize a student with certain +classes of books to which he may turn for information. If he is +permitted to handle the books themselves upon the shelves he will soon +become skilful in using books. Many a trained speaker can run his eye +over titles, along tables of contents, scan the pages, and unerringly +pick the heart out of a volume. Nearly all libraries now are arranged +according to one general plan, so a visitor who knows this scheme can +easily find the class of books he wants in almost any library he uses. +This arrangement is based upon the following decimal numbering and +grouping of subject matter. + + +LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION + +000 to 090, _General works_. Bibliography. Library economy. +Cyclopedias. Collections. Periodicals. Societies, museums. Journalism, +newspapers. Special libraries, polygraphy. Book rarities. + +100 to 190, _Philosophy_. Metaphysics. Special topics. Mind and body. +Philosophic systems. Mental faculties, psychology. Logic, dialectics. +Ethics. Ancient philosophers. Modern. + +200 to 290, _Religion_. Natural Theology. Bible. Doctrinal dogmatics, +theology. Devotional, practical. Homiletic, pastoral, parochial. +Church, institutions, work. Religious history. Christian churches and +sects. Ethnic, non-christian. + +300 to 390, _Sociology_. Statistics. Political science. Political +economy. Law. Administration. Associations, institutions. Education. +Commerce, communication. Customs, costumes, folklore. + +400 to 490, _Philology_. Comparative. English. German. French. +Italian. Spanish. Latin. Greek. Minor literatures. + +500 to 590, _Natural science_. Mathematics, Astronomy. Physics. +Chemistry. Geology. Paleontology. Biology. Botany. Zooelogy. + +600 to 690, _Useful arts_. Medicine. Engineering. Agriculture. +Domestic economy. Communication, commerce. Chemic technology. +Manufactures. Mechanic trades. Building. + +700 to 790, _Fine arts_. Landscape gardening. Architecture. Sculpture. +Drawing, decoration, design. Painting. Engraving. Photography. Music. +Amusements. + +800 to 890, _Literature_ (same order as under _Philology_, 400). + +900 to 990, _History_. Geography and travels. Biography. Ancient +history. Modern Europe. Asia. Africa. North America. South America. +Oceanica and polar regions. + +M. DEWEY: _Decimal Classification_ + +Using Periodicals. In the section on taking notes the direction was +given that in citing legal decisions the latest should be secured. +Why? That same principle applies to citing any kind of information in +a speech. Science, history, politics, government, international +questions, change so rapidly in these times that the fact of yesterday +is the fiction of today, and _vice versa._ A speaker must be up to +date in his knowledge. This he can be only by consulting current +periodicals. He cannot read them all so he must use the aids provided +for him. The best of these is the _Reader's Guide to Periodical +Literature_ issued every month and kept in the reference room of all +libraries. In it, arranged under both subject and author's name, are +listed the articles which have appeared in the various magazines. The +December issue contains the entries for the entire year. A group of +topics from a recent monthly issue will show its value to the speaker +securing material. + + Eastern Question. British case in the East. H. Sidebotham, + Asia 19:261-1263 Mr '19.--England and her eastern policy. H. + Sidebotham. Asia, 19:158-161. F '19.--Khanates of the Middle + East. Ikbal Ali Shah. Contemp. 115:183-187 F '19.--More + secret treaties in the Near East. L. Stoddard. Maps. World's + Work. 37: 589-591. Mr '19.--Part of the United States in the + Near East. R of Rs 59:305-306 Mr '19.--Should America act as + trustee of the Near East? Asia, 19:141-144 F'19. + +By this time the student speaker will have that mental alertness +referred to early in this book. He will be reading regularly some +magazine--not to pass the time pleasantly--but to keep himself posted +on current topics and questions of general interest, in which the +articles will direct him to other periodicals for fuller treatment of +the material he is gathering. The nature of some of these is suggested +here. + + _The Outlook_, "An illustrated weekly journal of current + events." + + _Current Opinion_, Monthly. Review of the World, Persons in + the Foreground, Music and Drama, Science and Discovery, + Religion and Social Ethics, Literature and Art, The + Industrial World, Reconstruction. + + _The Literary Digest_, Weekly. Topics of the Day, Foreign + Comment, Science and Invention, Letters and Art, Religion and + Social Service, Current Poetry, Miscellaneous, Investments + and Finance. + + _The Independent_, an illustrated weekly. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Describe to the class the contents of a recent issue of a magazine. +Concentrate upon important departments, articles, or policies, so that +you will not deliver a mere list. + +2. Tell how an article in some periodical led you to read more widely +to secure fuller information. + +3. Explain why you read a certain periodical regularly. + +4. Speak upon one of the following topics: + +Freak magazines. +My magazine. +Policies of magazines. +Great things magazines have done. +Technical magazines. +Adventures at a magazine counter. +Propaganda periodicals. + +5. Explain exactly how you study. + +6. How would you secure an interview with some person of prominence? + +7. Is the "cramming" process of studying a good one? + +8. Is it ever justifiable? + +9. Explain how, why, and when it may be used by men in their +profession. + +10. Give the class an idea of the material of some book you have read +recently. + +11. Explain how reading a published review or hearing comments on a +book induced you to read a volume which proved of value to you. + +12. Can you justify the reading of the last part only of a book? +Consider non-fiction. + +13. For preserving clippings, notes, etc., which method is +better--cards filed in boxes or drawers, scrap-books, or slips and +clippings grouped in envelopes? + +14. Report to the class some information upon one of the following. +Tell exactly how and where you secured your information. + +Opium traffic in China. +Morphine habit in the United States. +Women in literature. +A drafted army as compared with a volunteer army. +Orpheum as a theater name. +Prominent business women. +War time influence of D'Annunzio. +Increasing cost of living. +Secretarial courses. +The most beautiful city of the American continent. +Alfalfa. +Women surgeons. +The blimp. +Democracy in Great Britain compared with that of the United States. +The root of the Mexican problem. +San Marino. +Illiteracy in the United States. +How women vote. + +(NOTE.--The teacher should supply additions, substitutes, and +modifications.) + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +PLANNING THE SPEECH + + +Selecting Material. It can be assumed, by the time you have reached +this point in the study and practice of making speeches, that you have +words to express your thoughts and some fair skill of delivery, that +you know something about preparing various kinds of introductions and +conclusions, that you know how your own mind operates in retaining new +information, and that you know how to secure material for various +purposes. Either clearly assimilated in your brain or accurately noted +upon paper you have all the ideas that are to appear in your speech. + +The Length of the Speech. Look over this material again. Consider it +carefully in your thoughts, mentally deciding how long a time or how +many words you will devote to each topic or entry. Can you from such a +practical consideration determine how long in time your speech will +be? Are you limited by requirements to a short time as were the Four +Minute Speakers? Have you been allotted a half hour? Will you hold +your audience longer? + +These may appear simple things, but they cover the first essential of +planning any speech. It should be just the correct length--neither too +long nor too short. Many beginners--timid, hesitant, untrained--will +frequently fill too short a time, so that they must drill themselves +into planning longer productions. On the other hand, it may be stated, +as a general criticism, that many speakers talk too long. + +A United States Senator, in order to block the vote on a bill he was +opposing, decided to speak until Congress had to adjourn, so he +deliberately planned to cover a long time. He spoke for some +twenty-two hours. Of course he did not say much, nor did he talk +continuously; to get rests, he requested the clerk to call the roll, +and while the list was being marked, he ate and drank enough to +sustain him. Technically his speech was uninterrupted, for he still +had the floor. Though we may not approve of such methods of +legislative procedure we must see that for this speech the first +element of its plan was its length. + +Keep this consideration of time always in mind. Speakers always ask +how long they are to speak, or they stipulate how much time they +require. Legislative bodies frequently have limiting rules. Courts +sometimes allow lawyers so much time. A minister must fit his sermon +to the length of the service. A business man must not waste his +hearers' time. A lecturer must not tire his audience. In Congress +members must be given chances to eat. In Parliament, which meets in +the evening, men grow anxious for bed. + +Making the Speech too Long. The rule is fundamental, yet it is +violated continually. I have known of instances when four men, asked +to present material in a meeting announced months in advance as +lasting two hours, have totally disregarded this fact, and prepared +enough material to consume over an hour each. In such cases the +presiding officer should state to each that he will be allowed exactly +thirty minutes and no more. He may tap on the table after twenty-five +have elapsed to warn the speaker to pass to his conclusion, and at the +expiration of the time make him bring his remarks to a close and give +way to the next speaker. There is no unfairness in this. The real +offense is committed by the speaker who proves himself so +inconsiderate, so discourteous of the conditions that he places +himself in such an embarrassing circumstance. He deserves only justice +tempered by no mercy. I have heard the first of two speakers who were +to fill an hour of a commemorative service in a church talk on for an +hour and ten minutes, boring the congregation to fidgety restlessness +and completely preventing the second speaker--the more important--from +delivering a single word. + +Mark Twain tells how he went to church one hot night to hear a city +mission worker describe his experiences among the poor people of the +crowded districts who, though they needed help, were too modest or +proud to ask for it. The speaker told of the suffering and bravery he +found. Then he pointed out that the best gifts to charity are not the +advertised bounties of the wealthy but the small donations of the less +fortunate. His appeals worked Mark Twain up to great enthusiasm and +generosity. He was ready to give all he had with him--four hundred +dollars--and borrow more. The entire congregation wanted to offer all +it had. But the missionary kept on talking. The audience began to +notice the heat. It became hotter and hotter. They grew more and more +uncomfortable. Mark's generosity began to shrink. It dwindled to less +and less as the speech lengthened until when the plate did finally +reach him, he stole ten cents from it. He adds that this simply proves +how a little thing like a long-winded speech can induce crime. + +Plan your speech so that it will be the proper length. + +Discarding Material. This first consideration very likely indicates to +you that you have much more material than you can use in the time +allowed or assigned you. You must discard some. Strange as it may +seem, this is one of the must difficult directions to carry out. It +seems such a waste of time and material to select for actual +presentation so small a part of all you have carefully gathered. There +is always the temptation to "get it all in somehow." Yet the direction +must remain inflexible. You can use only part of it. You must +carefully select what will serve your purpose. What is the purpose of +your speech? What is the character of your audience? These two things +will determine to a large extent, what and how much you must +relinquish. Your finished speech will be all the better for the +weeding-out process. Better still, in all your preliminary steps for +subsequent speeches you will become skilful in selecting while you are +gathering the material itself. Finally you will become so practised +that you will not burden yourself with waste, although you will always +secure enough to supply you with a reserve supply for assurance and +emergency. + +Relation of Material to the Purpose of the Speech. A few examples will +show the wide application of this principle. A boy who has explained +to his father the scholarship rules of his school concerning athletes +will discard a great deal of that material when he addresses a student +gathering. A speaker on child labor in a state where women have voted +for a long time will discard much of the material presented in a +neighboring state where general franchise has just been granted. If in +a series of remarks you want to emphasize the thrilling experience you +have had with a large fish which jerked you out of a boat, you would +not include such material as the trip on the train to the lake where +you had your adventure. Why not? + +These are humble instances, but the principle of selection is the same +for all speeches. + +A man who was asked to lecture on Mark Twain knew the contents of the +thirty published volumes written by him, all the biographies, +practically every article written about him; he had conversed with +people who had known him; he had visited scenes of his life; yet when +he planned to talk for an hour he had to reject everything except two +striking periods of his life with their effects upon his writing. + +Burke, in one great effort, declared he had no intention of dealing +with the _right_ of taxation; he confined himself merely to the +_expediency_ of Great Britain's revenue laws for America. Other great +speakers have--in their finished speeches--just as clearly indicated +the plans they have decided to follow. Such definite announcements +determine the material of many introductions. + + My task will be divided under three different heads: first, + The Crime Against Kansas, in its origin and extent; secondly, + The Apologies for the Crime; and, thirdly, The True Remedy. + + CHARLES SUMNER: _The Crime against Kansas_, 1856 + + Mr. President and Fellow Citizens of New York: + + The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly old + and familiar; nor is there anything new in the general use I + shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, it will be + in the mode of presenting the facts, and the inferences and + observations following that presentation. In his speech last + autumn at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in the _New York + Times_, Senator Douglas said: "Our fathers, when they framed + the government under which we live, understood this question + just as well, and even better, than we do now." + + I fully indorse this, and I adopt it as a text for this + discourse. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and + an agreed starting-point for a discussion between Republicans + and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It + simply leaves the inquiry: What was the understanding those + fathers had of the question mentioned? + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Cooper Union Speech_, 1860 + +Indicating the Plan in the Speech. In some finished and long speeches +parts of the plan are distributed to mark the divisions in the +progress of the development. The next quotation shows such an +insertion. + + And now sir, against all these theories and opinions, I + maintain-- + + 1. That the Constitution of the United States is not a + league, confederacy, or compact between the people of the + several States in their sovereign capacities; but a + government proper, founded on the adoption of the people, and + creating direct relations between itself and individuals. + + 2. That no State authority has power to dissolve these + relations; that nothing can dissolve them but revolution; and + that, consequently, there can be no such thing as secession + without revolution. + + 3. That there is a supreme law, consisting of the + Constitution of the United States, and acts of Congress + passed in pursuance of it, and treaties; and that, in cases + not capable of assuming the character of a suit in law or + equity, Congress must judge of, and finally interpret, this + supreme law so often as it has occasion to pass acts of + legislation; and in cases capable of assuming, and actually + assuming, the character of a suit, the Supreme Court of the + United States is the final interpreter. + + 4. That an attempt by a State to abrogate, annul, or nullify + an act of Congress, or to arrest its operation within her + limits, on the ground that, in her opinion, such law is + unconstitutional, is a direct usurpation on the just powers + of the general Government, and on the equal rights of other + States; a plain violation of the Constitution, a proceeding + essentially revolutionary in its character and tendency. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _The Constitution Not a Compact + between Sovereign States_, 1833 + +Such a statement to the audience is especially helpful when the +speaker is dealing with technical subjects, or material with which +most people are not usually and widely conversant. Scientific +considerations always become clearer when such plans are simply +constructed, clearly announced, and plainly followed. + + So far as I know, there are only three hypotheses which ever + have been entertained, or which well can be entertained, + respecting the past history of Nature. I will, in the first + place, state the hypotheses, and then I will consider what + evidence bearing upon them is in our possession, and by what + light of criticism that evidence is to be interpreted. Upon + the first hypothesis, the assumption is, that phenomena of + Nature similar to those exhibited by the present world have + always existed; in other words, that the universe has existed + from all eternity in what may be broadly termed its present + condition. + + The second hypothesis is, that the present state of things + has had only a limited duration; and that, at some period in + the past, a condition of the world, essentially similar to + that which we now know, came into existence, without any + precedent condition from which it could have naturally + proceeded. The assumption that successive states of Nature + have arisen, each without any relation of natural causation + to an antecedent state, is a mere modification of this second + hypothesis. + + The third hypothesis also assumes that the present state of + things has had but a limited duration; but it supposes that + this state has been evolved by a natural process from an + antecedent state, and that from another, and so on; and, on + this hypothesis, the attempt to assign any limit to the + series of past changes is, usually, given up. + + THOMAS H. HUXLEY: _Lectures on Evolution_, 1876 + + +EXERCISES + +1. According to what methods are the foregoing plans arranged? Which +division in Sumner's speech was the most important? Was he trying to +get his listeners to do anything? What do you think that object was? + +2. In Lincoln's speech do you think he planned the material +chronologically? Historically? What reasons have you for your answer? + +3. Which of Webster's four parts is the most important? Give reasons +for your answer. + +4. Which hypothesis (what does the word mean?) did Huxley himself +support? What induces you to think thus? Is this plan in any respect +like Sumner's? Explain your answer. + +5. Make a list of the ways in which material of speeches may be +arranged. + +Arrangement. Importance. If you have several topics to cover in a +single speech where would you put the most important? First or last? +Write upon a piece of paper the position you choose. You have given +this plan some thought so you doubtlessly put down the correct +position. What did you write? First? That is usually the answer of +nine pupils out of every ten. Are you with the majority? If you wrote +that the most important topic should be treated first, you are wrong. +The speech would be badly planned. Think for a moment. Which should be +the most important part of a story or a play? The beginning or the +ending? If it is the early part, why should any one read on to the end +or stay for the curtain to come down the last time? So in speeches the +importance of topics should always increase as the speech proceeds. +This, then, is a principle of planning. Arrange your topics in an +ascending order of importance. Work up to what is called the climax. + +The list you made in response to direction 5 given above should now be +presented to the class and its contents discussed. What kind of +material is likely to be arranged according to each of your +principles? You have put down the chronological order, or the order of +time, or some similar phrase. Just what do you mean by that? Do you +mean, begin with the earliest material and follow in chronological +order down to the latest? Could the reverse order ever be used? Can +you cite some instance? Is contrast a good order to follow in +planning? Cite material which could be so arranged. Would an +arrangement from cause to effect be somewhat like one based on time? +Explain your answer. Under what circumstances do you think the +opposite might be used--from effect to cause? + +While there are almost countless methods of arrangements--for any one +used in one part of a speech may be combined with any other in some +different portion--the plan should always be determined by three +fundamental matters; the material itself, the audience to which it is +to be presented, and the effect the speaker wants to produce. + +Even during this preliminary planning of the speech the author must be +careful that when his arrangement is decided upon it possesses the +three qualities necessary to every good composition. These three are +unity, coherence, and emphasis. + +Unity. Unity explains itself. A speech must be about one single thing. +A good speech produces one result. It induces action upon one single +point. It allows no turning aside from its main theme. It does not +stray from the straight and narrow road to pick flowers in the +adjacent fields, no matter how enticing the temptation to loiter may +be. In plain terms it does not admit as part of its material anything +not closely and plainly connected with it. It does not step aside for +everything that crops into the speaker's mind. It advances steadily, +even when not rapidly. It does not "back water." It goes somewhere. + +To preserve unity of impression a speaker must ruthlessly discard all +material except that which is closely associated with his central +intention. He must use only that which contributes to his purpose. The +same temptation to keep unrelated material--if it be good in +itself--will be felt now as when the other unsuitable material was set +aside. + +This does not prevent variety and relief. Illustrative and interesting +minor sections may be, at times must be, introduced. But even by their +vividness and attractiveness they must help the speech, not hinder it. +The decorations and ornaments must never be allowed to detract from +the utility of the composition. + +Unity may be damaged by admitting parts not in the direct line of the +theme. It may be violated by letting minor portions become too long. +The illustration may grow so large by the introduction of needless +details that it makes the listeners forget the point it was designed +to enforce. Or it may be so far-fetched as to bear no real relation to +the thread of development. Here lies the pitfall of the overworked +"funny," story, introduced by "that reminds me." Too often it is not +humorous enough to justify repetition; or--what is worse--it does not +fit into the circumstances. Another fault of many speakers is +over-elaboration of expression, not only for non-essentials, but in +the important passages as well. Involved language demands explanation. +The attempts to clear up what should have been simply said at first +may lead a speaker to devote too many words to a single point. + +This matter of unity must not be misunderstood as prohibiting the +inclusion of more than one topic in a speech. A legislator in urging +the repeal of a law might have several topics, such as how the law was +passed, its first operations, its increasing burdens upon people, the +disappearance of the necessity for it, better methods of securing the +same or better results, etc., yet all grouped about the motivating +theme of securing the repeal of the law. To emphasize the greatness of +a man's career a speaker might introduce such topics as his obscure +origin, his unmarked youth, the spur that stimulated his ambition, his +early reverses, provided that they contribute to the impression +intended, to make vivid his real achievements. + +In early attempts at delivering speeches don't be afraid to pause at +certain places to consider whether what you are about to say really +contributes to the unity or destroys it. Aside from helping you to +think upon your feet, this mental exercise will help your speech by +making you pause at times--a feature of speaking often entirely +disregarded by many persons. + +Coherence. The second quality a finished composition should have is +coherence. If you know what _cohere_ and _cohesion_ mean (perhaps you +have met these words in science study) you have the germ of the term's +meaning. It means "stick-together-itive-ness." The parts of a speech +should be so interrelated that every part leads up to all that +follows. Likewise every part develops naturally from all that goes +before, as well as what immediately precedes. There must be a +continuity running straight through the material from start to finish. +Parts should be placed where they fit best. Each portion should be so +placed--at least, in thought--that all before leads naturally and +consistently up to it, and it carries on the thread to whatever +follows. This prevents rude breaks in the development of thought. +Skilfully done, it aids the hearer to remember, because so easily did +the thought in the speech move from one point to another, that he can +carry the line of its progression with him long after. So the +attainment of coherence in a speech contributes directly to that +desired end--a deep impression. + +Incoherent speeches are so mainly because of absence of plan, whether +they be short or long, conversational or formal. + +Emphasis. The third quality a speech should have is emphasis. Applied +to a connected sequence of words this means that what is of most +importance shall stand out most forcefully; that what is not so +important shall show its subordinate relation by its position, its +connection with what goes before and after; that what is least +important shall receive no emphasis beyond its just due. Such +manipulation requires planning and rearranging, careful weighing of +the relative importance of all portions. Recall what was said of the +place of the most important part. + +Throughout the speech there must also be variety of emphasis. It would +not be fitting to have everything with a forceful emphasis upon it. To +secure variation in emphasis you must remember that in speeches the +best effects will be made upon audiences by offering them slight +relief from too close attention or too impressive effects. If you +observe the plans finally followed by good speakers you will be able +to see that they have obeyed this suggestion. They have the power to +do what is described as "swaying the audience." In its simplest form +this depends upon varying the emphasis. + +In making an appeal for funds for destitute portions of Europe a +telling topic would surely be the sufferings of the needy. Would it be +wise to dwell upon such horrors only? Would a humorous anecdote of the +happy gratitude of a child for a cast-off toy be good to produce +emphasis? Which would make the most emphatic ending--the absolute +destitution, the amount to be supplied, the relief afforded, or the +happiness to donors for sharing in such a worthy charity? You can see +how a mere mental planning, or a shuffling of notes, or a temporary +numbering of topics will help in clearing up this problem of how to +secure proper and effective emphasis. + +Making the First Plan. It would be a helpful thing at this point in +the planning to make a pencil list of the topics to be included. This +is not a final outline but a mere series of jottings to be changed, +discarded, and replaced as the author considers his material and his +speech. It is hardly more than an informal list, a scrap of paper. In +working with it, don't be too careful of appearances. Erase, cross +out, interline, write in margins, draw lines and arrows to carry +portions from one place to another, crowd in at one place, remove from +another, cut the paper sheets, paste in new parts, or pin slips +together. Manipulate your material. Mold it to suit your purposes. +Make it follow your plan. By this you will secure a good plan. If +this seems a great deal to do, compare it with the time and energy +required to learn how to swim, how to play a musical instrument, how +to "shoot" in basketball, how to act a part in a play. + +Knowing how to speak well is worth the effort. Every time you plan a +speech these steps will merge into a continuous process while you are +gathering the material. In informal discussion upon topics you are +familiar with, you will become able to arrange a plan while you are +rising to your feet. + +Transitions. As this preliminary plan takes its form under your +careful consideration of the material you will decide that there are +places between topics or sections which will require bridging over in +order to attain coherence and emphasis. These places of division +should be filled by transitions. A transition is a passage which +carries over the meaning from what precedes to what follows. It serves +as a connecting link. It prevents the material from falling apart. It +preserves the continuity of ideas. A transition may be as short as a +single word, such as _however_, _consequently_, _nevertheless_. It may +be a sentence. It may grow into a paragraph. + +The purpose of transitions--to link parts together--may induce +beginners to consider them as of little importance since they +manifestly add no new ideas to the theme. This opinion is entirely +erroneous. Even in material for reading, transitions are necessary. In +material to be received through the ear they are the most valuable +helps that can be supplied to have the listener follow the +development. They mark the divisions for him. They show that a +certain section is completed and a new one is about to begin. They +show the relation in meaning of two portions. + +The shorter forms of transitions--words and phrases--belong rather to +the expression, the language, of the speech than to this preliminary +planning. + +A speaker should never fail to use such phrases as _on the other +hand_, _continuing the same line of reasoning_, _passing to the next +point_, _from a different point of view_, because they so clearly +indicate the relation of two succeeding passages of a speech. + +In planning, the speaker frequently has to consider the insertion of +longer transitions--paragraphs or even more extended passages. Just +how such links appear in finished speeches the following extracts +show. In the first selection Washington when he planned his material +realized he had reached a place where he could conclude. He wanted to +add more. What reason should he offer his audience for violating the +principle discussed in the chapter on conclusions? How could he make +clear to them his desire to continue? We cannot assert that he +actually did this, but he might have jotted down upon the paper +bearing a first scheme of his remarks the phrase, "my solicitude for +the people." That, then, was the germ of his transition paragraph. +Notice how clearly the meaning is expressed. Could any hearer fail to +comprehend? The transition also announces plainly the topic of the +rest of the speech. + + Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your + welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the + apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me + on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn + contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some + sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no + inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me + all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. + These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you + can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting + friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his + counsels. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your + indulgent reception of my sentiment on a former and not + dissimilar occasion. + + GEORGE WASHINGTON: _Farewell Address_, 1796 + +The next selection answers to a part of the plan announced in a +passage already quoted in this chapter. Notice how this transition +looks both backward and forward: it is both retrospective and +anticipatory. If you recall that repetition helps to emphasize facts, +you will readily understand why a transition is especially valuable if +it adheres to the same language as the first statement of the plan. In +a written scheme this might have appeared under the entry, "pass from +1 to 2; list 4 apologies for crime." This suggests fully the material +of the passage. + + And with this exposure I take my leave of the Crime against + Kansas. Emerging from all the blackness of this Crime, where + we seem to have been lost, as in a savage wood, and turning + our backs upon it, as upon desolation and death, from which, + while others have suffered, we have escaped, I come now to + the Apologies which the Crime has found.... + + They are four in number, and fourfold in character. The first + is the Apology tyrannical; the second, the Apology imbecile; + the third, the Apology absurd; and the fourth, the Apology + infamous. That is all. Tyranny, imbecility, absurdity, and + infamy all unite to dance, like the weird sisters, about this + Crime. + + The Apology tyrannical is founded on the mistaken act of + Governor Reeder, in authenticating the Usurping Legislature, + etc. + + CHARLES SUMNER: _The Crime against Kansas_, 1856 + +The beginning speaker should not hesitate to make his transitions +perfectly clear to his audience. When they add to the merely bridging +use the additional value of serving as short summaries of what has +gone before and as sign posts of what is to follow, they are trebly +serviceable. The attempt to be clear will seldom be waste of time or +effort. The obvious statements of the preceding selections, the use of +figures, are excellent models for speakers to imitate. With practice +will come skill in making transitions of different kinds, in which the +same purposes will be served in various other ways, in what may be +considered more finished style. The next extracts represent this kind +of transition. + + Sir, like most questions of civil prudence, this is neither + black nor white, but gray. The system of copyright has great + advantages and great disadvantages; and it is our business to + ascertain what these are, and then to make an arrangement + under which the advantages may be as far as possible secured, + and the disadvantages as far as possible excluded. The charge + which I bring against my honorable and learned friend's bill + is this, that it leaves the advantages nearly what they are + at present, and increases the disadvantages at least + fourfold. + + THOMAS B. MACAULAY: _Copyright Bill_, 1841 + + One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro + race. No enterprise seeking the material, civil, or moral + welfare of this section can disregard this element of our + population and reach the highest success. I but convey to + you, Mr. President and Directors, the sentiment of the masses + of my race when I say that in no way have the value and + manhood of the American Negro been more fittingly and + generously recognized than by the managers of this + magnificent Exposition at every stage of its progress. It is + a recognition that will do more to cement the friendship of + the two races than any occurrence since the dawn of our + freedom. + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON in a speech at the Atlanta + Exposition, 1895 + +Thinking before You Speak. While students may feel that the steps +outlined here demand a great deal of preparation before the final +speech is delivered, the explanation may be given that after all, this +careful preparation merely carries out the homely adage--think before +you speak. If there were more thinking there would be at once better +speaking. Anybody can talk. The purpose of studying is to make one a +better speaker. The anticipation of some relief may be entertained, +for it is comforting to know that after one has followed the processes +here explained, they move more rapidly, so that after a time they may +become almost simultaneous up to the completion of the one just +discussed--planning the speech. It is also worth knowing that none of +this preliminary work is actually lost. Nor is it unseen. It appears +in the speech itself. The reward for all its apparent slowness and +exacting deliberation is in the clearness, the significance of the +speech, its reception by the audience, its effect upon them, and the +knowledge by the speaker himself that his efforts are producing +results in his accomplishments. + +All speakers plan carefully for speeches long in advance. + +A famous alumnus of Yale was invited to attend a banquet of Harvard +graduates. Warned that he must "speak for his dinner" he prepared more +than a dozen possible beginnings not knowing of course, in what manner +the toastmaster would call upon him. The remainder of his speech was +as carefully planned, although not with so many possible choices. Note +that from each possible opening to the body of the speech he had to +evolve a graceful transition. + +Edmund Burke, in his great speech on conciliation with the American +colonies, related that some time before, a friend had urged him to +speak upon this matter, but he had hesitated. True, he had gone so far +as to throw "my thoughts into a sort of parliamentary form"--that is, +he made a plan or an outline, but the passage of a certain bill by the +House of Commons seemed to have taken away forever the chance of his +using the material. The bill, however, was returned from the House of +Lords with an amendment and in the resulting debate he delivered the +speech he had already planned. + +Daniel Webster said that his reply to Hayne had been lying in his desk +for months already planned, merely waiting the opportunity or need for +its delivery. + +Henry Ward Beecher, whose need for preliminary preparation was reduced +to its lowest terms, and who himself was almost an instantaneous +extemporizer, recognized the need for careful planning by young +speakers and warned them against "the temptation to slovenliness in +workmanship, to careless and inaccurate statement, to repetition, to +violation of good taste." + +Slovenliness in planning is as bad as slovenliness in expression. + + +EXERCISES + +Choose any topic suggested in this book. Make a short preliminary plan +of a speech upon it. Present it to the class. Consider it from the +following requirements: + +1. Does it show clearly its intention? + +2. How long will the speech be? + +3. Too long? Too short? + +4. For what kind of audience is it intended? + +5. Has it unity? + +6. Has it coherence? + +7. Where are transitions most clearly needed? + +8. What suggestions would you make for rearranging any parts? + +9. What reasons have you for these changes? + +10. Is proper emphasis secured? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MAKING THE OUTLINE OR BRIEF + + +Orderly Arrangement. A speech should have an orderly arrangement. The +effect upon an audience will be more easily made, more deeply +impressed, more clearly retained, if the successive steps of the +development are so well marked, so plainly related, that they may be +carried away in a hearer's understanding. It might be said that one +test of a good speech is the vividness with which its framework is +discernible. Hearers can repeat outlines of certain speeches. Those +are the best. Of others they can give merely confused reports. These +are the badly constructed ones. + +The way to secure in the delivered speech this delight of orderly +arrangement is by making an outline or brief. Most pupils hate to make +outlines. The reason for this repugnance is easily understood. A +teacher directs a pupil to make an outline before he writes a +composition or delivers a speech. The pupil spends hours on the list +of entries, then submits his finished theme or address. He feels that +the outline is disregarded entirely. Sometimes he is not even required +to hand it to the instructor. He considers the time he has spent upon +the outline as wasted. It is almost impossible to make him feel that +his finished product is all the better because of this effort spent +upon the preliminary skeleton, so that in reality his outline is not +disregarded at all, but is judged and marked as embodied in the +finished article. Most students carry this mistaken feeling about +outlines to such an extent that when required to hand in both an +outline and a finished composition they will write in haphazard +fashion the composition first, and then from it try to prepare the +outline, instead of doing as they are told, and making the outline +first. It is easier--though not as educating or productive of good +results--to string words together than it is to do what outline-making +demands--to think. + +Professional Writers' Use of Outlines. Professional writers realize +the helpfulness of outline-making and the time it saves. Many a +magazine article has been sold before a word of the finished +manuscript was written. The contributor submitted an outline from +which the editor contracted for the finished production. Many a play +has been placed in the same form. Books are built up in the same +manner. The ubiquitous moving-picture scenario is seldom produced in +any other manner. + +Macaulay advised a young friend who asked how to keep his brain active +to read a couple of solid books, making careful outlines of their +material at the same time. One of these should be--if possible--a work +in a foreign tongue, so that the strangeness of the language would +necessitate slow, careful reading and close thinking. All good +students know that the best way to prepare for an examination is to +make outlines of all the required reading and study. + +It is just because the making of the outline demands such careful +thinking that it is one of the most important steps in the production +of a speech. + +The Outline in the Finished Speech. If the outline really shows in the +finished speech, let us see if we can pick the entries out from a +portion of one. Edmund Burke in 1775 tried to prevent Great Britain +from using coercive measures against the restive American colonies. +Many Englishmen were already clamoring for war when Burke spoke in +Parliament upon conciliating the Colonies. + + I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in my + detail, is admitted in the gross; but that quite a different + conclusion is drawn from it. America, gentlemen say, is a + noble object. It is an object well worth fighting for. + Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of + gaining them. Gentlemen in this respect will be led to their + choice of means by their complexions and their habits. Those + who understand the military art, will of course have some + predilection for it. Those who wield the thunder of the + state, may have more confidence in the efficacy of arms. But + I confess, possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is + much more in favor of prudent management, than of force; + considering force not as an odious, but a feeble instrument, + for preserving a people so numerous, so active, so growing, + so spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate + connexion with us. + + First, Sir, permit me to observe, that the use of force alone + is but _temporary_. It may subdue for a moment; but it does + not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is + not governed which is perpetually to be conquered. + + My next objection is its _uncertainty_. Terror is not always + the effect of force; and an armament is not a victory. If you + do not succeed, you are without resource; for, conciliation + failing, force remains; but, force failing, no further hope + of reconciliation is left. Power and authority are sometimes + bought by kindness; but they can never be begged as alms by + an impoverished and defeated violence. + + A further objection to force is, that you _impair the object_ + by your very endeavors to preserve it. The thing you fought + for is not the thing which you recover; but depreciated, + sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. Nothing less will + content me, than _whole America_. I do not choose to consume + its strength along with our own; because in all parts it is + the British strength that I consume. I do not choose to be + caught by a foreign enemy at the end of this exhausting + conflict, and still less in the midst of it. I may escape; + but I can make no assurance against such an event. Let me + add, that I do not choose wholly to break the American + spirit; because it is the spirit that has made the country. + + Lastly, we have no sort of _experience_ in favor of force as + an instrument in the rule of our colonies. Their growth and + their utility has been owing to methods altogether different. + Our ancient indulgence has been said to be pursued to a + fault. It may be so. But we know if feeling is evidence that + our fault was more tolerable than our attempt to mend it; and + our sin far more salutary than our penitence. + + These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining that high + opinion of untried force, by which many gentlemen, for whose + sentiments in other particulars I have great respect, seem to + be so greatly captivated. But there is still behind a third + consideration concerning this object, which serves to + determine my opinion on the sort of policy which ought to be + pursued in the management of America, even more than its + population and its commerce, I mean its _temper and + character_. + + EDMUND BURKE: _Conciliation with America_, 1775 + +Reconstructing the Outline. In the preliminary arrangement Burke knew +that he was going to give his reasons against the use of military +force. In his first plan he may not have decided just where he was +going to place his four arguments. So they very likely appeared as +four topic entries: + +Against use of force. + 1. temporary + 2. uncertain + 3. damages America + 4. no experience + +Notice that these are jottings to suggest the germs of the arguments. +When Burke revised this section he may have changed the expression to +indicate more certainty. + +Force should not be used against the colonies, because: + 1. it is only temporary + 2. it is uncertain in its results + 3. it would damage the wealth of the colonies + 4. it is based on no experience of Great Britain with + colonies + +Of course, a practised statesman would not have to analyze farther, +perhaps not so far, but to illustrate for a student how he might build +up his outline, let us analyze one degree farther. Just what is meant +by such terms as _temporary, uncertain?_ Under each statement, then, +might be added a detailed explanation. The finished part of the +outline would then appear somewhat like this. + +Force should not be used against the colonies, because: + 1. it is only temporary, for + _a._ though it subdue for a time, it would have to + be used again. + + 2. it is uncertain in its results, for + _a._ Great Britain might not subdue the colonies. + + 3. it would damage the wealth of the colonies, for + _a._ we would fight to retain a wealthy land, yet + after the war we should have a ruined one. + + 4. it is based on no experience of Great Britain with + colonies, for + _a._ Great Britain has always been indulgent + rather than severely strict. + +Speaking or writing from such a detailed outline as this, consider how +much thinking has already been done. With these entries under his eye +the speaker need think only of the phrasing of his remarks. He would +feel perfectly certain that he would not wander from his theme. Notice +how the ideas can be emphasized. The suggestion of damage can be +expressed in _impair the object_, and in _depreciated, sunk, wasted, +consumed_. + +So far this outline--though it covers all its own material--does not +indicate the place at which it shall be used in the speech. It could +be used near the conclusion where Burke planned to answer all the +supporters of plans other than his own. That would be a good place for +it. But Burke found a better one. He separated this from his other +remarks against his opponents, and brought it in much earlier, thereby +linking it with what it most concerned, emphasizing it, and disposing +of it entirely so far as his speech was concerned. He had just +enumerated the wealth of the colonies as represented by their +commerce. He knew that the war party would argue, "If America is so +wealthy, it is worth fighting for." That was the place, then, to +refute them. To introduce his material he had to make clear the +transition from the colonial wealth to his arguments. Notice how +plainly the first paragraph quoted here does this. Having given his +four reasons against the use of force, notice that he must bring his +audience back to the theme he has been discussing. The last paragraph +does this in a masterly manner. He has cited two facts about the +colonies. To make understanding doubly certain he repeats +them--population and commerce--and passes to the next, plainly +numbering it as the third. + +This recital of the process is not an account of what actually took +place in Burke's preparation, but it will give to the student the +method by which great speakers _may_ have proceeded; we do know that +many did follow such a scheme. No amateur who wants to make his +speeches worth listening to should omit this helpful step of outline +or brief making. Whether he first writes out his speeches in full, or +composes them upon his feet, every speaker should prepare an outline +or brief of his material. This is a series of entries, so condensed +and arranged as to show the relative significance of all the parts of +the speech in the proper order of development. + +Outline, Brief, Legal Brief. An outline contains entries which are +merely topics, not completed statements or sentences. + +A brief contains completed statements (sentences). + +A legal brief is a formally prepared document (often printed) +submitted to a certain court before a case is tried, showing the +material the lawyer intends to produce, citing all his authorities, +suggesting interpretations of laws and legal decisions to support his +contentions, and giving all his conclusions. It is prepared for the +use of the court, to reduce the labor in examining records, etc. +Practice in the drawing up of such briefs is an important phase of +legal study. + +The Outline. An outline may recall to a person's mind what he already +has learned, but it is seldom definite and informative enough to be as +helpful as a brief. A good distinction of the two--besides the one +respecting the forms already given--is that the outline represents the +point of view of the speaker while the brief represents that of the +hearer. Consider again the analyses of Burke in this chapter. Notice +that the first list does not give nearly so clear an idea of what +Burke actually said as the third. A person seeing only the first might +_guess_ at what the speaker intended to declare. A person who looked +at the third could not fail to _know exactly_ the opinions of the +speaker and the arguments supporting them. + +Pupils frequently make this kind of entry: + +Introduction--Time + Place + Characters + +The main objections to such an outline are that it tells nothing +definite, and that it might fit a thousand compositions. Even an +outline should say more than such a list does. + +In one edition of Burke's speech the page from which the following is +quoted is headed "Brief." Is it a brief? + +Part II. How to deal with America. + + A. Introduction. + B. First alternative and objections. + C. Second alternative and objections. + D. Third alternative. + E. Introduction. + F. Considerations. + + 1. Question one of policy, not of abstract right. + 2. Trade laws. + 3. Constitutional precedents. + 4. Application of these. + +The Brief. One of the shortest briefs on record was prepared by +Abraham Lincoln for use in a suit to recover $200 for the widow of a +Revolutionary veteran from an agent who had retained it out of $400 +pension money belonging to her. It formed the basis of his speech in +court. + + No contract.--Not professional services.--Unreasonable + charge.--Money retained by Def't not given to + Pl'ff.--Revolutionary War.--Describe Valley Forge + privations.--Pl'ff's husband.--Soldier leaving for + army.--_Skin Def't_.--Close. + +The following will give some idea of the form and definiteness of +briefs for debate. + +CAPITAL PUNISHMENT + +_Resolved:_ That capital punishment should be abolished.[1] + +_Brief for the Affirmative_ + +I. Capital punishment is inexpedient. + (_a_) It is contrary to the tendency of civilization. + (_b_) It fails to protect society. + (1) It does not prevent murder. + (2) New crimes follow hard on executions. + (_c_) It makes punishment uncertain. + (1) Many criminals are acquitted who would + be convicted if the penalty were imprisonment. + (_d_) It is not reformatory. + +II. Capital punishment is immoral. + (_a_) It rests on the old idea of retribution. + (_b_) It tends to weaken the sacredness of human life. + (_c_) It endangers the lives of innocent people. + (_d_) Executions and the sensational newspaper + accounts which follow have a corrupting influence. + +III. Capital punishment is unjust. + (_a_) Its mistakes are irremediable. + (_b_) Many men are criminals from force of + circumstances. + (1) From heredity. + (2) From environment. + (_c_) Inequalities in administration are marked. + (1) In some states men are hung, in others + imprisoned for the same crime. + +[Footnote 1: Taken from Brookings and Ringwalt: _Briefs for Debate_, +Longmans, Green and Co., where specific references of material for +many of the topics are given, as well as general references for the +entire subject.] + + (2) Many jurors have conscientious scruples + against condemning a man to death. + (3) Men of wealth and influence are rarely + convicted. + +IV. The abolition of capital punishment has been followed + by satisfactory results, + (_a_) In Europe. + (1) Russia. + (2) Switzerland. + (3) Portugal. + (4) Belgium. + (5) Holland. + (6) Finland. + (_b_) In the United States. + (1) Michigan. + (2) Rhode Island. + (3) Maine. + (4) Wisconsin. + +_Brief for the Negative_ + +I. Capital punishment is permissible. + (_a_) It has the sanction of the Bible. + (1) Genesis ix, 2-6. + (_b_) It has the sanction of history. + (1) It has been in vogue since the beginning + of the world. + (_c_) It has the sanction of reason. + (1) The most fitting punishment is one equal + and similar to the injury inflicted. + +II. Capital punishment is expedient. + (_a_) It is necessary to protect society from anarchy + and private revenge. + (1) Death is the strongest preventative of + crime. + (_b_) No sufficient substitute has been offered. + (1) Life imprisonment is a failure. + (2) Few serve the sentence. + (_c_) Its abolition has not been successful. + (1) In Rhode Island. + (2) In Michigan. +III. The objections made to capital punishment are not + sound. + (_a_) Prisons are not reformatory. + (_b_) The fact that crimes have decreased in some + places where executions have stopped is + not a valid argument. + (1) All causes which increase the moral well-being + of the race decrease crime. + (_c_) The objection that the innocent suffer is not + strong. + (1) The number of innocent thus suffering is + inconsiderable when compared with the + great number of murders prevented. + (_d_) The objection that the penalty is uncertain may + be overcome by making it certain. + +A few paragraphs back it was said that an outline or brief shows the +relative significance of all the parts of a speech. This is done by a +systematic use of margins and symbols. From the quoted forms in this +chapter certain rules can easily be deduced. + +Margins. The speech will naturally divide into a few main parts. These +can be designated by spaces and general titles such as introduction, +body, development, main argument, answer to opposing views, +conclusion. Other captions will be suggested by various kinds of +material. Main topics next in importance are placed the farthest to +the left, making the first margin. A reader can run his eye down this +line and pick out all the main topics of equal importance. Entries +just subordinate to these are put each on a separate line, starting +slightly to the right. This separation according to connection and +value is continued as long as the maker has any minor parts to +represent in the brief. It should not be carried too far, however, for +the purpose of the entries is to mark clearness and accuracy. If the +helping system becomes too elaborate and complicated it destroys its +own usefulness. + +It is perfectly plain that such an outline might be made and be quite +clear, without the addition of any symbols at all, especially if it +was short. + +Discrimination in the use of words is secured by + +The study of synonyms + antonyms + homonyms +and care in employing them. + +Symbols. Some scheme of marking the entries is a great help. There is +no fixed system. Every student may choose from among the many used. If +there are many main topics it might be a mistake to use Roman numerals +(I, XVIII) as few people can read them quickly enough to follow their +sequence. Capital letters may serve better to mark the sequences, but +they do not indicate the numerical position. For instance, most of us +do not know our alphabets well enough to translate a main topic marked +N into the fourteenth point. By combinations of Roman numerals, +capitals, usual (Arabic) numerals, small letters, parentheses, enough +variety to serve any student purpose can easily be arranged. + +The following are samples of systems used. + + _Specimen_ 1 + + Introduction + Argument + +I-------------------------------------------------- + A------------------------------------------------ + 1---------------------------------------------- + _a_-------------------------------------------- + _b_-------------------------------------------- + _c_-------------------------------------------- + (1)---------------------------------------- + (2)---------------------------------------- + (3)---------------------------------------- + 2---------------------------------------------- + B------------------------------------------------ + 1---------------------------------------------- + 2---------------------------------------------- +II------------------------------------------------- + Conclusion + + + _Specimen_ 2 + +A-------------------------------------------------- + I------------------------------------------------ + _a_---------------------------------------------- + 1-------------------------------------------- + 2-------------------------------------------- + _b_---------------------------------------------- + II----------------------------------------------- + _a_---------------------------------------------- + _b_---------------------------------------------- + _c_---------------------------------------------- + 1-------------------------------------------- + 2-------------------------------------------- + 3-------------------------------------------- + + _Specimen_ 3 + +1-------------------------------------------------- + 1^1---------------------------------------------- + 2^1---------------------------------------------- + _a_^1-------------------------------------------- + _b_^1-------------------------------------------- + _c_^1-------------------------------------------- +2-------------------------------------------------- + 1^2---------------------------------------------- + 2^2---------------------------------------------- + _a_^2-------------------------------------------- + _b_^2-------------------------------------------- + _c_^2-------------------------------------------- +3-------------------------------------------------- + 1^3---------------------------------------------- + 2^3---------------------------------------------- + +Tabulations. With unusual kinds of material and for special purposes +there may be value in evolving other forms of outlines. A technically +trained person accustomed to reading tabulated reports with hosts of +figures to interpret might find a statistical statement at times +better suited to his needs. Such tabulations are not any easier to +prepare than the regular brief. In fact to most people they are +infinitely more difficult to get into form and almost beyond speedy +comprehension afterwards. The following is a good illustration of a +simple one well adapted to the speaker's purpose--a report of the +objections to the first published covenant of the League of Nations. +He knew the material of his introduction and conclusion so well that +he did not represent them in his carefully arranged sheet. The form +was submitted as regular work in a public speaking class and was +spoken from during more than forty minutes. + +CRITICISMS OF PROPOSED COVENANT OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS + +1.--Draft indefinite and loosely written. Lg Lo Sp Tt Br Hu +2.--Should have clause-limiting powers + to those specifically granted. Lo +3.--Proportion of votes required for + action of Council not generally + stated--should be unanimous. Lg Sp Tt Hu +4.--Should have clause reserving the + Monroe Doctrine. Lg Lo Sp Tt Br Hu +5.--Should state that no nation can be + required to become a mandatory + without its consent. Lg Lo Br Hu +6.--Should have provision for + withdrawals. Lg Lo Sp Tt Hu +7.--Jurisdiction of League over internal + affairs (immigration, tariffs, + coastwise trade) should be + expressly excluded. Lg Br Hu +8.--Terms of admission of other nations + too strict. Br +9.--Basis of representation not fair. Br +10.--Provision should be made for + expansion of nations by peaceable + means. Br +11.--Each nation should have right to + decide whether it will follow + advice of Council as to use of + force. Br +12.--Each nation should have right to + determine whether it will boycott + delinquent nations. Br + Note:--items 11 and 12 are apparently + directed against Art. + XVI containing the Ipso Facto + clause and Art. X. +13.--Should not guarantee the integrity + and independence of all members + of the league. Lg Hu + +Above criticisms taken from published statements of + + Messrs. Lodge + Lowell + Spencer + Taft + Bryan + Hughes +(denoted respectively Lg, Lo, Sp, Tt, Br and Hu). + +Authorities in the Brief. Authorities for the statements made in the +brief may be put into parentheses, if they are to be included. Such +further devices will suggest themselves to students. In addition to +such markings as here listed, some men who use many outlines emphasize +upon them details which they may have to find quickly by underlining +the symbol or first word with colored pencil. Such a device is +especially valuable to a technical expert whose system could be +uniform through the outlines of all his reports, etc. Or a lecturer +with so much time to fill may mark upon the outline 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, to +indicate to himself that his material is being covered at a proper +rate to correspond with the time. He might put in _15 min._ or _30 +min._ or _45 min._ if he was to speak for an hour. The first division +is the better, for he might be required to condense a twenty-minute +speech to ten. + +Selections for Briefing. Before the student makes many briefs of his +own he should work in the other direction by outlining material +already in existence so that he can be assured he knows main topics +from minor ones, important issues from subordinate reasons, headings +from examples. If all the members of the class outline the same +material the resulting discussion will provide additional exercise in +speaking in explanation or support of an interpretation. After the +teacher and class together have made one, the students should work +independently. + + +EXERCISES + +Besides the extracts quoted here others should be supplied. Editorials +from a single issue of a newspaper can easily be secured by the entire +class for this work. A chapter from a book may be assigned. + +1. INCIDENTS OF GOVERNMENT TRADING + + An expert before the President's street railway commission of + inquiry testified that he disapproved of public ownership and + operation theoretically, but approved it practically, because + it was the quickest and surest way of making people sick of + it. Otherwise he thought that education of the public out of + its favor for high costs and low profits by public utilities + would require a generation, and the present emergency calls + for prompt relief. + + New York City has just resolved to build with its own funds a + Coney Island bathhouse, and has on file an offer to build it + with private money at a cost of $300,000, with a guarantee of + 15-cent baths. Accepting no responsibility for the merits of + the private bidder's proposal, it does not appear likely that + the city can supply cheaper baths or give more satisfaction + to bathers than a management whose profits were related to + its efforts to please patrons. On the other hand, it is sure + that the city's financial embarrassment is due to supplying + many privileges at the cost of the taxpayers, which might + have been supplied both more cheaply and better by private + enterprise with profit than by the city without profit, and + with the use of ill-spared public funds. + + New York does not stand alone in these misadventures, which + are warnings against trading by either local or national + government. Take, for example, the manner in which the army + is disposing of its surplus blankets, as reported from + Boston. A Chicago firm which wished to bid was permitted to + inspect three samples of varying grades, but a guarantee that + the goods sold would correspond to the samples was refused. + The bales could neither be opened nor allowed to be opened, + nor would information be given whether the blankets in the + bales were cotton, wool, or mixed, whether single or double, + whether bed blankets or regulation army blankets. The + likelihood that the Government will get the worth of its + blankets is small. There may be unknown reasons for such + uncommercial procedure, but what shall be said of the fact + that at the same time that these blankets are being sold the + Interior Department is asking for bids to supply 10,000 + blankets for the Indians? The reason for buying more when + there is an embarrassing over-supply is that the + specifications call for the words "Interior Department" to be + woven into the blankets. To an outsider it would seem that + the words might be indelibly stamped on the old blankets of + similar description, and that the departure from custom would + be better than the loss on the old blankets and the increased + expenditure for the new blankets. + + The reason for mentioning such incidents is that there are so + many more of which the public never hears. Their combined + educative effect would be great, but it is wasted without + publicity. Since the public is not unanimous against public + ownership and operation, there must be a considerable number + of persons who are proof against anything but a catastrophe + greater than the prostration of the railway and utility + industries. That is an expansive way of education, but + perhaps Dr. Cooley, Dean of the University of Michigan, is + right in his view that the method is necessary to prevent a + greater calamity by persistence in the error. + + _New York Times_, July 21, 1919 + +2. Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth on + this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and + dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. + + Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that + nation or any nation so conceived or so dedicated, can long + endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We + have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final + resting place for those who here gave their lives that that + nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that + we should do this. + + But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot + consecrate--we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, + living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far + above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little + note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never + forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, + to be here dedicated to the unfinished work which they who + fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for + us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before + us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion + to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of + devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall + not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall + have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the + people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from + the earth. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Gettysburg Address_, 1865 + +3. Every thoughtful and unprejudiced mind must see that such an + evil as slavery will yield only to the most radical + treatment. If you consider the work we have to do, you will + not think us needlessly aggressive, or that we dig down + unnecessarily deep in laying the foundations of our + enterprise. A money power of two thousand millions of + dollars, as the prices of slaves now range, held by a small + body of able and desperate men; that body raised into a + political aristocracy by special constitutional provisions; + cotton, the product of slave labor, forming the basis of our + whole foreign commerce, and the commercial class thus + subsidized; the press bought up, the pulpit reduced to + vassalage, the heart of the common people chilled by a bitter + prejudice against the black race; our leading men bribed, by + ambition, either to silence or open hostility;--in such a + land, on what shall an Abolitionist rely? On a few cold + prayers, mere lip-service, and never from the heart? On a + church resolution, hidden often in its records, and meant + only as a decent cover for servility in daily practice? On + political parties, with their superficial influence at best, + and seeking ordinarily only to use existing prejudices to the + best advantage? Slavery has deeper root here than any + aristocratic institution has in Europe; and politics is but + the common pulse-beat, of which revolution is the + fever-spasm. Yet we have seen European aristocracy survive + storms which seemed to reach down to the primal strata of + European life. Shall we, then, trust to mere politics, where + even revolution has failed? How shall the stream rise above + its fountain? Where shall our church organizations or parties + get strength to attack their great parent and moulder, the + slave power? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed + it, Why hast thou made me thus? The old jest of one who + tried to lift himself in his own basket, is but a tame + picture of the man who imagines that, by working solely + through existing sects and parties, he can destroy slavery. + Mechanics say nothing, but an earthquake strong enough to + move all Egypt can bring down the pyramids. + + Experience has confirmed these views. The Abolitionists who + have acted on them have a "short method" with all + unbelievers. They have but to point to their own success, in + contrast with every other man's failure. To waken the nation + to its real state, and chain it to the consideration of this + one duty, is half the work. So much have we done. Slavery has + been made the question of this generation. To startle the + South to madness, so that every step she takes, in her + blindness, is one step more toward ruin, is much. This we + have done. Witness Texas and the Fugitive Slave Law. + + WENDELL PHILLIPS: _The Abolition Movement_, 1853 + +4. Until just a few years ago flying was popularly regarded as a + dangerous hobby and comparatively few had faith in its + practical purposes. But the phenomenal evolutions of the + aircraft industry during the war brought progress which would + otherwise have required a span of years. With the cessation + of hostilities considerable attention has been diverted to + the commercial uses of aircraft, which may conveniently be + classified as mail-and passenger-service. + + Men who first ventured the prediction that postal and express + matter would one day be carried through the air were branded + as dreamers. Parts of that dream became a reality during + 1918, and a more extensive aerial-mail program will be + adopted this year. The dispatch with which important + communications and parcels are delivered between large cities + has firmly established its need. + + Large passenger-carrying aircraft are now receiving + pronounced attention. Lately developed by the Navy is a + flying-boat having a wing area of 2,400 square feet, equipped + with three Liberty motors and weighing 22,000 pounds with a + full load. It is the largest seaplane in the world, and on a + recent test-trip from Virginia to New York carried fifty-one + passengers. At the present moment the public is awaiting the + thrilling details of the first flight between Europe and + America, which has just occurred as a result of the keen + international rivalry involved between the various entrants. + + The British are now constructing a super-triplane fitted with + six 500 horse-power engines. Originally intended to carry + 10,000 pounds of bombs and a crew of eight over a distance of + 1,200 miles, the converted machine is claimed to be able to + carry approximately one hundred passengers. It has a wing + span of 141 feet and a fuselage length of 85 feet. + + What about the power plants of the future aircraft? Will the + internal-combustion engine continue to reign supreme, or will + increasing power demands of the huge planes to come lead to + the development of suitable steam-engines? Will the use of + petroleum continue to be one of the triumphs of aviation, or + will the time come when substitutes may be successfully + utilized? + + For aerial motive-power, the principal requirements are: + great power for weight with a fairly high factor of safety, + compactness, reliability of operation under flying + conditions, and safety from fire. Bulk and weight of + steam-driven equipment apparently impose severe restrictions + upon its practical development for present aircraft purposes, + but who is willing to classify its future use as an + absurdity? + + Steam operation in small model airplanes is no innovation. + Langley, in 1891-1895, built four model airplanes, one driven + by carbonic-acid gas and three by steam-engines. One of the + steam-driven models weighed thirty pounds, and on one + occasion flew a distance of about three thousand feet. In + 1913 an Englishman constructed a power plant weighing about + two pounds which consisted of a flash boiler and + single-acting engine. This unit employed benzolin, impure + benzine, as fuel, and propelled a model plane weighing five + pounds. + + _Power Plant Engineering_, Chicago, June 1, 1919 + +Making a Brief. The next step after making outlines or briefs of +material already organized is to make your own from material you +gather. Speeches you have already prepared or considered as fit for +presentation will supply you with ideas if you cannot work up new +material in a short time. At first you will be more concerned with the +form than the meaning of the entries, but even from the first you +should consider the facts or opinions for which each topic or +statement stands. Weigh its importance in the general scheme of +details. Consider carefully its suitability for the audience who may +be supposed to hear the finished speech. Discard the inappropriate. +Replace the weak. Improve the indefinite. Be sure your examples and +illustrations are apt. + +Be wary about statistics. In listening to an address many people begin +to distrust as soon as figures are mentioned. Statistics will +illustrate and prove assertions, but they must be used judiciously. Do +not use too many statistics. Never be too detailed. In a speech, +$4,000,000 sounds more impressive than $4,232,196.96. Use round +numbers. Never let them stand alone. Show their relationship. Burke +quotes exact amounts to show the growth of the commerce of +Pennsylvania, but he adds that it had increased fifty fold. A hearer +will forget the numbers; he will remember the fact. + +Similar reasons will warn you concerning the use of too many dates. +They can be easily avoided by showing lapses of time--by saying, +"fifty years later," or "when he was forty-six years old," or "this +condition was endured only a score of months." + +The chapters on introductions, conclusions, and planning material will +have suggested certain orders for your briefs. Glance back at them for +hints before you attempt to make the general scheme. Let two factors +determine your resultant development--the nature of the material +itself and the effect you want to produce. + +In argumentative speeches a usual, as well as excellent, order is +this: + +1. Origin of the question. The immediate cause for discussion. + +2. History of the question. + +3. Definition of terms. + +4. Main arguments. + +5. Conclusion. + +Why is the proposition worth discussing at this present time? Why do +you choose it? Why is it timely? What is its importance? Why is a +settlement needed? Any of these would fall under the first heading. + +Has the matter engaged attention prior to the present? Has it changed? +Was any settlement ever attempted? What was its result? + +Are any of the words and phrases used likely to be misunderstood? Are +any used in special senses? Do all people accept the same meaning? +Good illustrations of this last are the ideas attached to _socialism_, +_anarchist_, _soviet_, _union_. + +To illustrate: the question of woman suffrage was brought into public +interest once more by the advance woman has made in all walks of life +and by the needs and lessons of the great war. To make clear how its +importance had increased a speaker might trace its history from its +first inception. As applied to women, what does "suffrage" mean +exactly--the right to vote in all elections, or only in certain ones? +Does it carry with it the right to hold office? Would the voting +qualifications be the same for women as for men? Then would follow the +arguments. + +How could this scheme be used for a discussion of the Monroe Doctrine? +For higher education? For education for girls? For child working laws? +For a league of nations? For admitting Asiatic laborers to the United +States? For advocating the study of the sciences? For urging men to +become farmers? For predicting aerial passenger service? For a +scholarship qualification in athletics? For abolishing railroad grade +crossings? For equal wages for men and women? + + +EXERCISES + +Make the completed brief for one or more of the preceding. + +Briefs should be made for propositions selected from the following +list. + +1. The President of the United States should be elected by the direct +vote of the people. + +2. The States should limit the right of suffrage to persons who can +read and write. + +3. The President of the United States should be elected for a term of +seven years, and be ineligible to reelection. + +4. A great nation should be made the mandatory over an inferior +people. + +5. Students should be allowed school credit for outside reading in +connection with assigned work, or for editing of school papers, or for +participation in dramatic performances. + +6. This state should adopt the "short ballot." + +7. The present rules of football are unsatisfactory. + +8. Coaching from the bench should be forbidden in baseball. + +9. Compulsory military drill should be introduced into all educational +institutions. + +10. Participation in athletics lowers the scholarship of students. + +11. Pupils should receive credit in school for music lessons outside. + +12. The United States should abandon the Monroe Doctrine. + +13. In jury trials, a three-fourths vote should be enough for the +rendering of a verdict. + +14. Strikes are unprofitable. + +15. Commercial courses should be offered in all high schools. + +16. Employers of children under sixteen should be required to provide +at least eight hours of instruction a week for them. + +17. Current events should be studied in all history or civics courses. + +18. The practice of Christmas giving should be discontinued. + +19. School buildings should be used as social centers. + +20. Bring to class an editorial and an outline of it. Put the outline +upon the board, or read it to the class. Then read the editorial. + +Speaking from the Brief. Now that the brief is finished so that it +represents exactly the material and development of the final speech, +how shall it be used? To use it as the basis of a written article to +be memorized is one method. Many speakers have employed such a method, +many today do. The drawbacks of such memorizing have already been +hinted at in an early chapter. If you want to grow in mental grasp, +alertness, and power as a result of your speech training avoid this +method. No matter how halting your first attempts may be, do not get +into the seemingly easy, yet retarding habit of committing to memory. +Memorizing has a decided value, but for speech-making the memory +should be trained for larger matters than verbal reproduction. It +should be used for the retention of facts while the other brain +faculties are engaged in manipulating them for the best effect and +finding words to express them forcefully. Memory is a helpful faculty. +It should be cultivated in connection with the powers of understanding +and expression, but it is not economical to commit a speech verbatim +for delivery. The remarks will lack flexibility, spontaneity, and +often direct appeal. There is a detached, mechanical air about a +memorized speech which helps to ruin it. + +With the outline before you, go over it carefully and slowly, mentally +putting into words and sentences the entries you have inserted. You +may even speak it half aloud to yourself, if that fixes the treatment +more firmly in your mind. Then place the brief where you can reach it +with your eye, and speak upon your feet. Some teachers recommend doing +this before a mirror, but this is not always any help, unless you are +conscious of awkward poses or gestures or movements, or facial +contortions. Say the speech over thus, not only once but several +times, improving the phraseology each time, changing where convenient +or necessary, the emphasis, the amount of time, for each portion. + +Self-criticism. Try to criticize yourself. This is not easy at first, +but if you are consistent and persistent in your efforts you will be +able to judge yourself in many respects. If you can induce some friend +whose opinion is worth receiving either to listen to your delivery or +to talk the whole thing over with you, you will gain much. In +conference with the teacher before your delivery of the speech such +help will be given. As you work over your brief in this manner you +will be delighted to discover suddenly that you need refer to it less +and less frequently. Finally, the outline will be in your mind, and +when you speak you can give your entire attention to the delivery and +the audience. + +Do not be discouraged if you cannot retain all the outline the first +times you try this method. Many a speaker has announced in his +introduction, "I shall present four reasons," and often has sat down +after discussing only three. Until you can dispense entirely with the +brief keep it near you. Speak from it if you need it. Portions which +you want to quote exactly (such as quotations from authorities) may be +memorized or read. In reading be sure you read remarkably well. Few +people can read interestingly before a large audience. Keep your +papers where you can get at them easily. Be careful not to lose your +place so that you will have to shuffle them to get the cue for +continuing. Pauses are not dangerous when they are made deliberately +for effect, but they are ruinous when they betray to the audience +forgetfulness or embarrassment on the part of the speaker. Anticipate +your need. Get your help before you actually need it, so that you can +continue gracefully. + +Results. This method, followed for a few months, will develop speaking +ability. It produces results suited to modern conditions of all kinds +of life. It develops practically all the mental faculties and personal +attributes. It puts the speaker directly in touch with his audience. +It permits him to adapt his material to an occasion and audience. It +gives him the opportunity to sway his hearers and used legitimately +for worthy ends, this is the most worthy purpose of any speech. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +EXPLAINING + + +The part which explanation plays in all phases of life is too apparent +to need any emphasis here. It is to a great extent the basis of all +our daily intercourse, from explaining to a teacher why a lesson has +not been prepared, to painstakingly explaining to a merchant why a +bill has not been paid. An instructor patiently explains a problem to +a class, and a merchant explains the merits of an article or the +operation of a device to his customers. The politician explains why he +should be elected. The financier explains the returns from stock and +bond purchases. The President explains to the Senate the reason for +treaty clauses. The minister explains the teachings of his faith to +his congregation. You can make this list as long as the varied +activities of all life. + +Exposition. This kind of discourse, the purpose of which is +explanation, is also called exposition. Has it any relation to the +underlying idea of the term _exposition_ as applied to a great +exhibition or fair? Its purpose is plainly information, the +transmission of knowledge. While description and narration exist +primarily to entertain, exposition exists to convey information. +Description and narration may be classed as literature of +entertainment; exposition as literature of knowledge. It answers such +questions as how? why? for what purpose? in what manner? by what +method? It can sometimes be used to convince a person with opposing +views, for frequently you hear a man to whom the explanation of a +belief has been made, exclaim, "Oh, if that's what you mean, I agree +with you entirely." All instruction, all directions of work, all +scientific literature, are in foundation expository. In its simplest, +most disconnected form, exposition gives its value to that most +essential volume, the dictionary. + +Make a list of other kinds of books which are mainly or entirely +expository in character. + +Difficulties in Exposition. Such are the purpose and use of +exposition. The difficulty of producing good exposition is evident +from those two factors. As it, exists everywhere, as it purposes to +inform, its first requisite is clearness. Without that quality it is +as nothing. When you direct a stranger how to reach a certain building +in your town, of what value are your remarks unless they are clear? +When a scientist writes a treatise on the topic of the immortality of +man, of what value are his opinions unless his statements are clear? +All the other qualities which prose may and should possess sink into +subordinate value in exposition when compared with clearness. Because +of all three phases of exposition--its universal use, its informative +purpose, its essential clarity--exposition is an all-important topic +for the consideration and practice of the public speaker. In its +demand for clearness lies also its difficulty. Is it easy to tell the +exact truth, not as a moral exercise, but merely as a matter of +exactness? Why do the careless talkers speak so often of "a sort of +pink" or "a kind of revolving shaft" or tack on at the end of phrases +the meaningless "something" or "everything" except that even in their +unthinking minds there is the hazy impression--they really never have +a well-defined idea--that they have not said exactly what they want to +say? + +Clear Understanding. Here then is the first requisite for the public +speaker. He must have no hazy impressions, no unthinking mind, no +ill-defined ideas, no inexactness. He must have a clear understanding +of all he tries to tell to others. Without this the words of a speaker +are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Or he may deliver a great +roar of words signifying nothing. This is the fault with most +recitations of pupils in school--they do not get a clear understanding +of the material assigned to them for mastery. As a test of the degree +of understanding, the recitation method serves admirably. The lecture +method of instruction--clear though the presentation may be--offers no +manner of finding out, until the final examination, how much the pupil +actually understands. So far, in public speaking, the only way of +learning that the student understands the principles and can apply +them is to have him speak frequently to indicate his ability. Can you +not name among your associates and friends those whose explanations +are lucid, concise, direct, unconfusing, and others whose attempts at +exposition are jumbled, verbose, unenlightening? + +Have you not criticized certain teachers by remarking "they may know +their own subjects all right, but they couldn't impart their knowledge +to the class"? + +Command of Language. What was lacking in their case? Certainly, to be +charitable, we cannot say they lacked a clear understanding of their +own topic. It must have been something else. That second element, +which is at times almost entirely absent when the first is present, is +the command of language. Many a man knows a great deal but is +incapable of transmitting his knowledge. He lacks the gift of +expression. He has not cultivated it--for it can be cultivated. The +man whose desire or vocation forces him to make the effort to speak +will train himself in methods of communication, until he arrives at +comfort and fluency. + +The district manager of a large electric company related that as he +would sit at a meeting of the directors or committee of a large +corporation and realized that the moment was approaching when he would +be called upon to speak he would feel his senses grow confused, a +sinking feeling amounting almost to faintness would sweep over him. +Strong in his determination to do the best he could for his company he +would steady his nerves by saying to himself, "You know more about +this matter than any of these men. That's why you are here. Tell them +what you know so plainly that they will understand as well as you do." +There was, you see, the reassurance of complete understanding of the +subject coupled with the endeavor to express it clearly. These two +elements, then, are of supreme significance to the public speaker. +Even to the person who desires to write well, they are all-important. +To the speaker they are omnipresent. The effect of these two upon the +intellectual development is marked. The desire for clear +understanding will keep the mind stored with material to assimilate +and communicate. It will induce the mind continually to manipulate +this material to secure clarity in presentation. This will result in +developing a mental adroitness of inestimable value to the speaker, +enabling him to seize the best method instantaneously and apply it to +his purposes. At the same time, keeping always in view the use of this +material as the basis of communicating information or convincing by +making explanations, he will be solicitous about his language. Words +will take on new values. He will be continually searching for new ones +to express the exact differences of ideas he wants to convey. He will +try different expressions, various phrases, changed word orders, to +test their efficacy and appropriateness in transferring his meaning to +his hearers. Suggestions offered in the chapter of this book on words +and sentences will never cease to operate in his thinking and +speaking. There will be a direct result in his ability as a speaker +and a reflex result upon his ability as a thinker. What is more +encouraging, he will realize and appreciate these results himself, and +his satisfaction in doing better work will be doubled by the delight +in knowing exactly how he secured the ends for which he strove. + +Methods of Explaining. In order to make a matter clear, to convey +information, a speaker has at his disposal many helpful ways of +arranging his material. Not all topics can be treated in all or even +any certain one of the following manners, but if the student is +familiar with certain processes he will the more easily and surely +choose just that one suited to the topic he intends to explain and +the circumstances of his exposition. + +Division. One of these methods is by division. A speaker may separate +a topic or term into the parts which comprise it. For instance, a +scientist may have to list all the kinds of electricity; a Red Cross +instructor may divide all bandages into their several kinds; an +athletic coach may have to explain all the branches of sports in order +to induce more candidates to appear for certain events; a banker may +have to divide financial operations to make clear an advertising +pamphlet soliciting new lines of business, such as drawing up of +wills. + +The ability to do this is a valuable mental accomplishment as well as +an aid to speaking. In dividing, care must be taken to make the +separations according to one principle for any one class. It would not +result in clearness to divide all men according to height, and at the +same time according to color. This would result in confusion. Divide +according to height first, then divide the classes so formed according +to color if needed--as might be done in military formation. Each +group, then, must be distinctly marked off from all other groups. In +scientific and technical matters such division may be carried to the +extreme limit of completeness. Complete division is called +classification. + +Partition. In non-scientific compositions such completeness is seldom +necessary. It might even defeat the purpose by being too involved, by +including too many entries, and by becoming difficult to remember. +Speakers seldom have need of classification, but they often do have +to make divisions for purposes of explanation. This kind of grouping +is called partition. It goes only so far as is necessary for the +purpose at the time. It may stop anywhere short of being complete and +scientifically exact. All members of the large class not divided and +listed are frequently lumped together under a last heading such as +_all others, miscellaneous, the rest, those not falling under our +present examination_. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Classify games. Which principle will you use for your first main +division--indoor and outdoor games, or winter and summer games, or +some other? + +2. Classify the races of men. What principle would you use? + +3. How would you arrange the books in a private library? + +4. Classify the forms of theatrical entertainments. Is your list +complete? + +5. Classify branches of mathematics. The entries may total over a +hundred. + +6. Classify the pupils in your school. + +7. Classify the people in your school. Is there any difference? + +8. Classify the following: + +The political parties of the country. +Methods of transportation. +Religions. +Magazines. +The buildings in a city. +Aircraft. +Desserts. +Canned goods. + +Skill in division is valuable not only as a method of exposition but +it is linked closely with an effective method of proving to be +explained in the next chapter--the method of residues. Can you recall +any extracts given in this book in which some form of division is +used? Is this form of material likely to be more important in +preparation or in the finished speech? Explain your opinion--in other +words, present a specimen of exposition. + +Definition. One of the simplest ways of explaining is to define a +term. Dictionary definitions are familiar to everyone. In a great +many instances the dictionary definition is by means of synonyms. +While this is a convenient, easy method it is seldom exact. Why? +Recall what you learned concerning the meanings of synonyms. Do they +ever exactly reproduce one another's meanings? There is always a +slight degree of inaccuracy in definition by synonym, sometimes a +large margin of inexactness. Is the following a good definition? + + A visitor to a school began his address: "This morning, + children, I propose to offer you an epitome of the life of + St. Paul. It may be perhaps that there are among you some too + young to grasp the meaning of the word _epitome_. _Epitome_, + children, is in its signification synonymous with synopsis!" + + London Tid-Bits + +Logical Definition. An exact definition is supplied by the logical +definition. In this there are three parts--the term to be defined, +the class (or genus) to which it belongs, and the distinguishing +characteristics (differentia) which mark it off from all the other +members of that same class. You can represent this graphically by +inclosing the word _term_ in a small circle. Around this draw a larger +circle in which you write the word _class_. Now what divides the term +from the class in which it belongs? Indicate the line around the +_term_ as _distinguishing characteristics_, and you will clearly see +how accurate a logical definition is. The class should be just larger +than the term itself. The main difficulty is in finding exact and +satisfying distinguishing characteristics. There are some terms which +are so large that no classes can be found for them. Others cannot be +marked by acceptable distinguishing characteristics, so it is not +possible to make logical definitions for all terms. Consider such +words as _infinity, electricity, gravity, man_. + +The words of the definition should be simple, more readily understood +than the term to be defined. + +Term Class Distinguishing characteristics + +A biplane is an airplane with two sets of supporting + surfaces. + +A waitress is a woman who serves meals. + +Narration is that form of discourse which relates events. + +A word is a combination of suggesting an idea. + letters +A dictionary is a book of definitions. + +A corporal is an army officer just higher than a private. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Make logical definitions for the following: + +A dynamo A circle A hammer +A curiosity Lightning A trip-hammer +Moving picture camera Democracy A lady +Curiosity An anarchist A Lady +A door A sky-scraper Man + +2. Analyze and comment on the following definitions: + +Man is a two-legged animal without feathers. +Life is an epileptic fit between two nothings. +Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains. +The picture writings of the ancient Egyptians are called hieroglyphics. +A fly is an obnoxious insect that disturbs you in the morning when you + want to sleep. +Real bravery is defeated cowardice. +A brigantine is a small, two-masted vessel, square rigged on both + masts, but with a fore-and-aft mainsail and the mainmast considerably + longer than the foremast. +A mushroom is a cryptogamic plant of the class _Fungi_; particularly + the agaricoid fungi and especially the edible forms. +Language is the means of concealing thought. +A rectangle of equal sides is a square. +Hyperbole is a natural exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis. + +Amplified Definition. While such definitions are the first positions +from which all interpretations must proceed, in actual speech-making +explanations of terms are considerably longer. Yet the form of the +true logical definition is always imbedded--in germ at least--in the +amplified statement. + + Again, democracy will be, in a large sense, individualistic. + That ideal of society which seeks a disciplined, obedient + people, submissive to government and unquestioning in its + acceptance of orders, is not a democratic ideal. You cannot + have an atmosphere of "implicit obedience to authority" and + at the same time and in the same place an atmosphere of + democratic freedom. There is only one kind of discipline + that is adequate to democracy and that is self-discipline. + An observant foreigner has lately remarked, somewhat + paradoxically, that the Americans seemed to him the best + disciplined people in the world. In no other country does a + line form itself at a ticket office or at the entrance to a + place of amusement with so little disorder, so little delay, + and so little help from a policeman. In no other country + would an appeal of the government for self-control in the use + of food or fuel, for a restriction of hours of business, for + "gas-less Sundays," have met with so ready, so generous and + so sufficient a response. Our American lads, alert, + adaptable, swiftly-trained, self-directed, have been quite + the equal of the continental soldiers, with their longer + technical training and more rigorous military discipline. In + these respects the English, and especially the British + colonial soldiers have been much like our own. Democracy, + whether for peace or for war, in America or in England, + favors individuality. Independence of thought and action on + the part of the mass of the people are alike the result of + democracy and the condition of its continuance and more + complete development, and it is visibly growing in England as + the trammels of old political and social class control are + being thrown off. + + EDWARD P. CHEYNEY: _Historical Tests of Democracy_ + + What is a constitution? Certainly not a league, compact, or + confederacy, but a fundamental law. That fundamental + regulation which determines the manner in which the public + authority is to be executed, is what forms the constitution + of a state. Those primary rules which concern the body + itself, and the very being of the political society, the form + of government, and the manner in which power is to be + exercised--all, in a word, which form together the + constitution of a state--these are the fundamental laws. + This, Sir, is the language of the public writers. But do we + need to be informed, in this country, what a constitution + is? Is it not an idea perfectly familiar, definite, and well + settled? We are at no loss to understand what is meant by the + constitution of one of the States; and the Constitution of + the United States speaks of itself as being an instrument of + the same nature. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _The Constitution Not a Compact + between Sovereign States_, 1833 + +Particulars of a General Statement. A general statement made at the +beginning of a paragraph or section, serving as the topic sentence, +may then be explained by breaking the general idea up into details and +particulars. This may partake of the nature of both definition and +partition, as the terms may be explained and their component parts +listed. Note that in the following selection the first sentences state +the topic of the passage which the succeeding sentences explain by +discussing the phrase _variety of evils_. + + So likewise a passionate attachment of one nation for another + produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite + nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common + interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and + infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the + former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the + latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It + leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of + privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure + the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting + with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting + jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the + parties from whom equal privileges are withheld, and it gives + to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote + themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray, or + sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, + sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearances + of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference + for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the + base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption or + infatuation. + + GEORGE WASHINGTON: _Farewell Address_, 1796 + +Examples. A statement may be explained by giving examples. The speaker +must be sure that his example fits the case exactly; that it is +typical--that is, it must serve as a true instance of all cases under +the statement, not be merely an exception; that it is perfectly clear; +that it impresses the audience as unanswerable. The example may be +either actual or suppositious, but it must illustrate clearly and +accurately. The use of examples is a great aid in explanation. John C. +Calhoun expressed the value very distinctly in one of his speeches. + + I know how difficult it is to communicate distinct ideas on + such a subject, through the medium of general propositions, + without particular illustration; and in order that I may be + distinctly understood, though at the hazard of being + tedious, I will illustrate the important principle which I + have ventured to advance, by examples. + +By the use of an example he does make himself distinctly understood. + + Let us, then, suppose a small community of five persons, + separated from the rest of the world; and, to make the + example strong, let us suppose them all to be engaged in the + same pursuit, and to be of equal wealth. Let us further + suppose that they determine to govern the community by the + will of a majority; and, to make the case as strong as + possible, let us suppose that the majority, in order to + meet the expenses of the government, lay an equal tax, say + of one hundred dollars on each individual of this little + community. Their treasury would contain five hundred + dollars. Three are a majority; and they, by supposition, + have contributed three hundred as their portion, and the + other two (the minority), two hundred. The three have the + right to make the appropriations as they may think proper. + The question is, How would the principle of the absolute and + unchecked majority operate, under these circumstances, in + this little community? + + JOHN C. CALHOUN: _Speech on The Force Bill_, 1833 + +The example should be taken from the same phase of life as the +proposition it explains. As Calhoun was discussing governmental +regulation he supposed an example from majority rule. In the next the +topic is copyright, so the illustration is not taken from patents. In +introducing your own examples avoid the trite, amateurish expression +"take, for instance." + + Now, this is the sort of boon which my honorable and learned + friend holds out to authors. Considered as a boon to them, + it is a mere nullity; but, considered as an impost on the + public, it is no nullity, but a very serious and pernicious + reality. I will take an example. Dr. Johnson died fifty-six + years ago. If the law were what my honorable and learned + friend wishes to make it, somebody would now have the + monopoly of Dr. Johnson's works. Who that somebody would be + it is impossible to say; but we may venture to guess. I + guess, then, that it would have been some bookseller, who + was the assign of another bookseller, who was the grandson + of a third bookseller, who had bought the copyright from + Black Frank, the doctor's servant and residuary legatee, in + 1785 or 1786. Now, would the knowledge that this copyright + would exist in 1841 have been a source of gratification to + Johnson? Would it have stimulated his exertions? Would it + have once drawn him out of his bed before noon? Would it + have once cheered him under a fit of the spleen? Would it + have induced him to give us one more allegory, one more life + of a poet, one more imitation of Juvenal? I firmly believe + not. I firmly believe that a hundred years ago, when he was + writing our debates for the _Gentleman's Magazine_, he would + very much rather have had twopence to buy a plate of shin of + beef at a cook's shop underground. + + THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: _Copyright_, 1841 + +Comparison. Unfamiliar matter may be made plain by showing how it +resembles something already clearly understood by the audience. This +is comparison. It shows how two things are alike. The old geographies +used to state that the earth is an oblate spheroid, then explain that +term by comparison with an orange, pointing out the essential +flattening at the poles. In any use of comparison the resemblance must +be real, not assumed. Many a speaker has been severely criticized for +his facts because he asserted in comparison similarities that did not +exist. + +Contrast. When the _differences_ between two things are carefully +enumerated the process is termed contrast. This is often used in +combination with comparison, for no two things are exactly alike. They +may resemble each other in nearly all respects, so comparison is +possible and helpful up to a certain limit. To give an exact idea of +the remainder the differences must be pointed out; that requires +contrast. + +In contrast the opposing balance of details does not have to depend +necessarily on a standard familiar to the audience. It may be an +arrangement of opposite aspects of the same thing to bring out more +vividly the understanding. In his _History of the English People_, +Green explains the character of Queen Elizabeth by showing the +contrasted elements she inherited from her mother, Anne Boleyn, and +her father, Henry VIII. Such a method results not only in added +clearness, but also in emphasis. The plan may call for half a +paragraph on one side, the second half on the other; or it may cover +two paragraphs or sections; or it may alternate with every detail--an +affirmative balanced by a negative, followed at once by another pair +of affirmative and negative, or statement and contrast, and so on +until the end. The speaker must consider such possibilities of +contrast, plan for his own, and indicate it in his brief. + +Nearly any speech will provide illustrations of the methods of +comparison and contrast. Burke's _Conciliation with America_ has +several passages of each. + +Cause to Effect. Explanations based on progressions from cause to +effect and the reverse are admirably suited to operations, movements, +changes, conditions, elections. An exposition of a manufacturing +process might move from cause to effect. A legislator trying to secure +the passage of a measure might explain its operation by beginning with +the law (the cause) and tracing its results (the effect). So, too, a +reformer might plead for a changed condition by following the same +method. A speaker dealing with history or biography might use this +same plan. + +Effect to Cause. In actual events, the cause always precedes the +effect, but in discussion it is sometimes better not to follow natural +or usual orders. Many explanations gain in clearness and effect by +working backwards. A voter might begin by showing the condition of a +set of workmen (an effect), then trace conditions backward until he +would end with a plea for the repeal of a law (the cause). A student +might explain a low mark on his report by starting with the grading +(the effect) and tracing backwards all his struggles to an early +absence by which he missed a necessary explanation by the teacher. A +doctor might begin a report by stating the illness of several persons +with typhus; then trace preceding conditions step by step until he +reached the cause--oysters eaten by them in a hotel were kept cool by +a dealer's letting water run over them. This water in its course had +picked up the disease germs--the cause. Many crimes are solved by +moving from effect to cause. A lawyer in his speeches, therefore, +frequently follows this method. + +Both these methods are so commonly employed that the student can cite +instances from many speeches he has heard or books he has read. + +Time Order. Somewhat similar to the two preceding arrangements of +exposition are the next two based on time. The first of these is the +natural time order, or chronological order. In this the details follow +one another as events happened. It is to be noted, however, that not +any group of succeeding details will make a good exposition of this +sort. The parts must be closely related. They must be not merely +_sequential_ but _consequential_. Dictionary definitions will explain +the difference in meaning of those two words. This method is somewhat +like the order from cause to effect, but it is adapted to other kinds +of topics and other purposes of explanation. It is excellently suited +to historical material, or any related kind. It is the device usually +employed in explaining mechanical or manufacturing processes. In mere +frequency of occurrence it is doubtlessly the most common. + +Time Order Reversed. The student who starts to cast his expositions +into this scheme should judge its fitness for his particular purpose +at the time. It will often become apparent upon thought that instead +of the natural chronological order the exact opposite will suit +better. This--time order reversed--explains itself as the arrangement +from the latest occurrence back through preceding events and details +until the earliest time is reached. It is quite like the arrangement +from effect back to cause. It might be used to explain the legal +procedure of a state or nation, to explain treaty relations, to +explain the giving up of old laws. The movements of a man accused of +crime might be explained in this way. An alibi for a person might be +built up thus. The various versions of some popular story told over +and over again through a long period of years might be explained after +such a manner. + +Although the time order reversed is not so common as the chronological +order it does occur many times. + +Place. Certain material of exposition demands the order of place. This +means that the details of the explanation are arranged according to +the position of objects. If you have written many descriptions you +are familiar with the problems brought up by such an order. A few +illustrations will make it clear. A man on the street asks you how to +reach a certain point in the city. On what plan do you arrange your +directions? According to their place? You start to explain to a friend +the general lay-out of New York, or Chicago, or San Francisco. How do +you arrange the details of your exposition? You attempt to convey to +another person the plan of some large building. What arrangement is +inevitable? How do books on sports explain the baseball field, the +football gridiron, the tennis court, the golf links? When +specifications for a building are furnished to the contractor, what +principle of arrangement is followed? If an inventor gives +instructions to a pattern-maker for the construction of a model, what +plan does he follow? Would a man discussing drawings for a new house +be likely to formulate his explanations on this scheme? + +You see, then, how well suited such an arrangement is to a variety of +uses. In such expository passages the transition and connecting words +are mainly expressions of place and relative position such as _to the +right, above, below, to the rear, extending upwards at an angle of +sixty degrees, dividing equally into three sections._ Such indications +must never be slighted in spoken explanations. They keep the material +clear and exact in the hearer's comprehension. The speaker, remember, +can never assume that his audience is bound to understand him. His +task is to be so clear that no single individual can fail to +understand him. + +Importance. It has already been stated--in the chapter on +planning--that topics may be arranged in the order of their +importance. This same scheme may be used in delivery of expository +matter. A hearer will follow the explanation if he be led gradually up +the ascent; he will remember most clearly the latter part of the +passage. If this include the prime factor of the information he will +retain it longest and most clearly. You should listen to speeches of +explanations critically to judge whether the plans are good. Should +you make a list of the number of times any of the plans here set down +appears you will be struck by the fact that while other orders are +quite frequent, this last principle of leading up to the most +important outranks all the others. It may be simply a form of one of +the others previously enumerated in which time order, or contrast, or +cause to effect is followed simply because that does bring the most +important last in the discussion. Such an arrangement answers best to +the response made to ideas by people in audiences. It is a principle +of all attempts to instruct them, to appeal to them, to stimulate +them, to move them, that the successive steps must increase in +significance and impressiveness until the most moving details be laid +before them. Analyze for yourself or for the class a few long +explanations you have listened to, and report whether this principle +was followed. Does it bear any relation to concluding a speech with a +peroration? + +Combinations of Methods. While any one of the foregoing methods may be +used for a single passage it is not usual in actual practice to find +one scheme used throughout all the explanatory matter of the speech. +In the first place, the attention of the audience would very likely +become wearied by the monotony of such a device. Certain parts of the +material under explanation seem to require one treatment, other +portions require different handling. Therefore good speakers usually +combine two or more of these plans. + +Partition could hardly be used throughout an entire speech without +ruining its interest. It occurs usually early to map out the general +field or scope. Definition also is likely to be necessary at the +beginning of an explanation to start the audience with clear ideas. It +may be resorted to at various times later whenever a new term is +introduced with a meaning the audience may not entirely understand. +Both partition and definition are short, so they are combined with +other forms. Examples, likewise, may be introduced anywhere. + +The two most frequently closely combined are comparison and contrast. +Each seems to require the other. Having shown how two things or ideas +are alike, the speaker naturally passes on to secure more definiteness +by showing that with all their likenesses they are not exactly the +same, and that the differences are as essential to a clear +comprehension of them as the similarities. So usual are they that many +people accept the two words as meaning almost the same thing, though +in essence they are opposites. + +The other orders cannot be used in such close combinations but they +may be found in varying degrees in many extended speeches of +explanation as the nature of the material lends itself to one +treatment or another. A twelve-hundred word discussion of _The Future +of Food_ uses examples, contrasted examples, effect to cause, cause to +effect (the phrase beginning a paragraph is "there is already evidence +that this has resulted in a general lowering "), while the succeeding +parts grow in significance until the last is the most important. A +great English statesman in a speech lasting some three hours on a +policy of government employed the following different methods at +various places where he introduced expository material--partition (he +claimed it was classification, but he listed for consideration only +three of the essential five choices), contrast, comparison, time, +example, place, cause to effect. Some of these methods of arranging +explanatory matter were used several times. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Explain a topic by giving three examples. The class should comment +upon their value. + +2. Explain to the class some mechanical operation or device. The class +after listening should decide which method the speaker used. + +3. Explain some principle of government or society following the time +order. + +4. With a similar topic follow time reversed. + +5. With a similar topic use comparison only. + +6. Follow an arrangement based on contrast only. + +7. In explaining a topic combine comparison and contrast. + +8. Explain some proverb, text, or quotation. The class should discuss +the arrangement. + +9. Choose some law or government regulation. Condemn or approve it in +an explanation based on cause to effect. + +10. With the same or a similar topic use effect to cause. + +11. Explain to the class the plan of some large building or group of +buildings. Is your explanation easily understood? + +12. Explain why a certain study fits one for a particular vocation. +Use the order of importance. + +13. Give an idea of two different magazines, using comparison and +contrast. + +14. Explain some game. Time order? + +15. How is a jury trial conducted? + +16. Explain the principles of some political party. + +17. Speak for four minutes upon exercise in a gymnasium. + +18. Tell how a school paper, or daily newspaper, or magazine is +conducted. + +19. What is slang? + +20. Explain one of your hobbies. + +21. Classify and explain the qualities of a good speaker. Order of +importance? + +22. Explain some natural phenomenon. + +23. Explain the best method for studying. + +24. Contrast business methods. + +25. From some business (as stock selling) or industry (as automobile +manufacturing) or new vocation (as airplaning) or art (as acting) or +accomplishment (as cooking) choose a group of special terms and +explain them in a connected series of remarks. + +26. Why is superstition so prevalent? The class should discuss the +explanations presented. + +27. "The point that always perplexes me is this: I always feel that if +all the wealth was shared out, it would be all the same again in a few +years' time. No one has ever explained to me how you can get over +that." Explain clearly one of the two views suggested here. + +28. Explain the failure of some political movement, or the defeat of +some nation. + +29. Select a passage from some book, report, or article, couched in +intricate technical or specialized phraseology. Explain it clearly to +the class. + +30. Ben Jonson, a friend of Shakespeare's, wrote of him, "He was not +of an age, but for all time." What did he mean? + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PROVING AND PERSUADING + + +What Argumentation Is. It is an old saying that there are two sides to +every question. Any speaker who supports some opinion before an +audience, who advances some theory, who urges people to do a certain +thing, to vote a certain way, to give money for charitable purposes, +recognizes the opposite side. In trying to make people believe as he +believes, to induce them to act as he advises, he must argue with +them. Argumentation, as used in this book, differs widely from the +informal exchange of opinions and views indulged in across the dinner +table or on the trolley car. It does not correspond with the usual +meaning of argue and argument which both so frequently suggest +wrangling and bickering ending in ill-tempered personal attacks. +Argumentation is the well-considered, deliberate means employed to +convince others of the truth or expediency of the views advocated by +the speaker. Its purpose is to carry conviction to the consciousness +of others. This is its purpose. Its method is proof. Proof is the body +of facts, opinions, reasons, illustrations, conclusions, etc., +properly arranged and effectively presented which makes others accept +as true or right the proposition advanced by the speaker. Of course, +argumentation may exist in writing but as this volume is concerned +with oral delivery, the word speaker is used in the definition. So +much for the purpose and nature of argumentation. + +Use of Argumentation. Where is it used? Everywhere, in every form of +human activity. Argumentation is used by a youngster trying to induce +a companion to go swimming and by a committee of world statesmen +discussing the allotment of territory. In business a man uses it from +the time he successfully convinces a firm it should employ him as an +office boy until he secures the acceptance of his plans for a +combination of interests which will control the world market. Lawyers, +politicians, statesmen, clergymen, live by argumentation. In the life +of today, which emphasizes so markedly the two ideas of individuality +and efficiency, argumentation is of paramount importance. + +Any person can argue, in the ordinary sense of stating opinions and +views, in so far as any one can converse. But to produce good, +convincing argumentation is not so easy as that. The expression of +personal preferences, opinions, ideas, is not argumentation, although +some people who advance so far as to become speakers before audiences +seem never to realize that truth, and display themselves as pretending +to offer argumentation when they are in reality doing no more than +reciting personal beliefs and suggestions. + +Cite instances of speakers who have indulged in such personal opinions +when they might or should have offered arguments. + +While argumentation is not so easily assembled as running conversation +is, it may be made quite as fascinating as the latter, and just as +surely as a person can have his conversational ability developed so +can a person have his argumentative power strengthened. + +Conviction. What should be the first requisite of a speaker of +argumentation? Should it be conviction in the truth or right of the +position he takes and the proposition he supports? At first thought +one would answer emphatically "yes." A great deal of discredit has +been brought upon the study of argumentation by the practice of +speakers to pretend to have opinions which in reality they do not +sincerely believe. The practical instance is the willingness of paid +lawyers to defend men of whose guilt they must be sure. Such criticism +does not apply to cases in which there are reasonable chances for +opposing interpretations, nor to those cases in which our law decrees +that every person accused of crime shall be provided with counsel, but +to those practices to which Lincoln referred when he recommended the +lawyer not to court litigation. Nor should this criticism deter a +student of public speaking from trying his skill in defense of the +other side, when he feels that such practice will help him in weighing +his own arguments. In every instance of this highly commendable double +method of preparation which the author has seen in classrooms, the +speaker, after his speech has been commented upon, has always declared +his real position and explained why he advocated the opposite. Even +school and college debating has been criticized in the same way for +becoming not an attempt to discover or establish the truth or right of +a proposition, but a mere game with formal rules, a set of scoring +regulations, and a victory or defeat with consequent good or bad +effects upon the whole practice of undergraduate debating. If such +contests are understood in their true significance, as practice in +training, and the assumption of conviction by a student is not +continued after graduation so that he will in real life defend and +support opinions he really does not believe, the danger is not so +great. The man who has no fixed principles, who can argue equally +glibly on any side of a matter, whose talents are at any man's command +of service, is untrustworthy. Convictions are worthy elements in life. +A man must change his stand when his convictions are argued away, but +the man whose opinions shift with every new scrap of information or +influence is neither a safe leader nor a dependable subordinate. + +For the sake of the training, then, a student _may_ present arguments +from attitudes other than his own sincere conviction, but the practice +should be nothing more than a recognized exercise. + +Because of its telling influence upon the opinion of others let us, +without further reservation, set down that the first essential of a +good argument is the ability to convince others. Aside from the +language and the manner of delivery--two elements which must never be +disregarded in any speech--this ability to convince others depends +upon the proof presented to them in support of a proposition. The +various kinds and methods of proof, with matters closely related to +them, make up the material of this chapter. + +The Proposition. In order to induce argument, there must be a +proposition. A proposition in argument is a statement--a declarative +sentence--concerning the truth or expediency of which there may be +two opinions. Notice that not every declarative statement is a +proposition for argument. "The sun rises" is not a statement about +which there can be any varying opinions. It is not a proposition for +argument. But "Missionaries should not be sent to China," and "John +Doe killed Simon Lee," are statements admitting of different opinions +and beliefs. They are propositions for argument. No sane person would +argue about such a statement as "Missionaries are sent to China," nor +would any one waste time on such a statement as "Some day a man named +John Doe will kill a man named Simon Lee." + +Although in common language we speak of arguing a question the student +must remember that such a thing is impossible. You cannot argue about +a question. Nor can you argue about a subject or a topic. The only +expression about which there can be any argument is a proposition. The +question must be answered. The resulting statement is then proved or +disproved. The topic must be given some definite expression in a +declarative sentence before any real argument is possible. Even when +the matter of argument is incorrectly phrased as a topic or question +you will find almost immediately in the remarks the proposition as a +sentence. "Should women vote?" may be on the posters announcing an +address, but the speaker will soon declare, "Women should vote in all +elections in the United States upon the same conditions that men do." +That is the proposition being argued; the question has been answered. + +Kinds of Propositions. Certain kinds of propositions should never be +chosen for argumentation. Many are incapable of proof, so any speech +upon them would result in the mere repetition of personal opinions. +Such are: The pen is mightier than the sword; Business men should not +read poetry; Every person should play golf; Ancient authors were +greater than modern authors. Others are of no interest to contemporary +audiences and for that reason should not be presented. In the Middle +Ages scholars discussed such matters as how many angels could stand on +the point of a needle, but today no one cares about such things. + +Propositions of Fact. Propositions fall into the two classes already +illustrated by the statements about missionaries in China and the +killing of Simon Lee. The second--John Doe killed Simon Lee--is a +proposition of fact. All argument about it would tend to prove either +the affirmative or the negative. One argument would strive to prove +the statement a fact. The other argument would try to prove its +opposite the actual fact. Facts are accomplished results or finished +events. Therefore propositions of fact refer to the past. They are the +material of argument in all cases at law, before investigation +committees, and in similar proceedings. Lincoln argued a proposition +of fact when he took Douglas's statement, "Our fathers, when they +framed the government under which we live, understood this question +just as well, and even better, than we do now," and then proved by +telling exactly how they voted upon every measure dealing with slavery +exactly what the thirty-nine signers of the Constitution did believe +about national control of the practice. Courts of law demand that +pleadings "shall set forth with certainty and with truth the matters +of fact or of law, the truth or falsity of which must be decided to +decide the case." + +Propositions of Policy. Notice that the other proposition--Missionaries +should not be sent to China--is not concerned with a fact at all. It +deals with something which should or should not be done. It deals with +future conduct. It depends upon the value of the results to be secured. +It looks to the future. It deals with some principle of action. It is a +question of expediency or policy. It induces argument to show that one +method is the best or not the best. Propositions of expediency or policy +are those which confront all of us at every step in life. Which college +shall a boy attend? What kind of work shall a woman enter? How large +shall taxes be next year? Which candidate shall we elect? How shall we +better the city government? How shall I invest my money? What kind of +automobile shall I buy? What kind of will shall I make? + +The answers to all such questions make propositions of expediency or +policy upon which arguments are being composed and delivered every +day. + +In choosing propositions for argument avoid, 1, those which are +obviously truth; 2, those in which some ambiguous word or term covers +the truth; 3, those in which the truth or error is practically +impossible of proof; 4, those involving more than one main issue; 5, +those which do not interest the audience. + +Wording the Proposition. The proposition should be accurately worded. +In law if the word _burglary_ is used in the indictment, the defense, +in order to quash the charge, need show merely that a door was +unlocked. The phrasing should be as simple and concise as possible. +The proposition should not cover too wide a field. Although these +directions seem self-evident they should be kept in mind continually. + +When the proposition is satisfactory to the maker of the argument he +is ready to begin to build his proof. In actual speech-making few +arguments can be made as convincing as a geometrical demonstration but +a speaker can try to make his reasoning so sound, his development so +cogent, his delivery so convincing, that at the end of his speech, he +can exclaim triumphantly, "Quod erat demonstrandum." + +Burden of Proof. Every argument presupposes the opposite side. Even +when only one speaker appears his remarks always indicate the +possibility of opposite views in the minds of some of the hearers. The +affirmative and negative are always present. It is frequently asserted +that the burden of proof is on the negative. This is no more correct +than the opposite statement would be. The place of the burden of proof +depends entirely upon the wording of the proposition and the statement +it makes. In general the burden of proof is upon the side which +proposes any change of existing conditions, the side which supports +innovations, which would introduce new methods. With the passage of +time the burden of proof may shift from one side to the other. There +was a time when the burden of proof was upon the advocates of woman +suffrage; today it is undoubtedly upon the opponents. At one period +the opponents of the study of Latin and Greek had the burden of proof, +now the supporters of such study have it. Other topics upon which the +burden of proof has shifted are popular election of Senators, +prohibition, League of Nations, self-determination of small nations, +the study of vocations, civics, and current topics in schools, an +all-year school term, higher salaries for teachers, the benefits of +labor unions, Americanization of the foreign born. + +Evidence. One of the best ways of proving a statement is by giving +evidence of its truth. Evidence is made up of facts which support any +proposition. In court a witness when giving testimony (evidence) is +not allowed to give opinions or beliefs--he is continually warned to +offer only what he knows of the fact. It is upon the facts marshaled +before it that the jury is charged to render its verdict. + +Direct Evidence. Evidence may be of two kinds--direct and indirect. +This second, especially in legal matters, is termed circumstantial +evidence. Direct evidence consists of facts that apply directly to the +proposition under consideration. If a man sees a street car passenger +take a wallet from another man's pocket and has him arrested at once +and the wallet is found in his pocket, that constitutes direct +evidence. Outside criminal cases the same kind of assured testimony +can be cited as direct evidence. + +Circumstantial Evidence. In most cases in court such direct evidence +is the exception rather than the rule, for a man attempting crime +would shun circumstances in which his crime would be witnessed. +Indirect evidence--circumstantial evidence--is much more usual. It +lacks the certainty of direct evidence, yet from the known facts +presented it is often possible to secure almost the same certainty as +from direct evidence. In serious crimes, such as murder, juries are +extremely cautious about convicting upon circumstantial evidence. +There are many chances of error in making chains of evidence. In +indirect evidence a group of facts is presented from which a +conclusion is attempted. Suppose a boy had trouble with a farmer and +had been heard to threaten to get even. One day the man struck him +with a whip as he passed on the road. That night the farmer's barn was +set on fire. Neighbors declared they saw some one running from the +scene. Next day the boy told his companions he was glad of the loss. +Circumstantial evidence points to the boy as the culprit. Yet what +might the facts be? + +In presenting arguments get as much direct evidence as possible to +prove your statements. When direct evidence cannot be secured, link +your indirect evidence so closely that it presents not a single weak +link. Let the conclusion you draw from it be the only possible one. +Make certain no one else can interpret it in any other way. + +When you present evidence be sure it completely covers your +contention. Be sure it is clear. Be sure it fits in with all the other +facts and details presented. Do not let it conflict with usual human +experience. Consider the sources of your evidence. If you do not, you +can be certain your audience will. Are your sources reliable? Is the +information authoritative? Is it first-hand material, or merely +hearsay? Is it unprejudiced? Many of the other facts for evidence have +already been suggested in the chapter on getting material. + +Two General Methods of Reasoning. Frequently the evidence to be used +in argumentation must be interpreted before it can be of any value, +especially when dealing with propositions of expediency or policy. +There are two general methods of reasoning. One is the inductive +method, the other the deductive. + +Inductive Reasoning. When we discover that a certain operation +repeated many times always produces the same result we feel justified +in concluding that we can announce it as a universal law. After +thousands of falling bodies have been measured and always give the +same figures, scientists feel that they may state the law that all +falling bodies acquire an acceleration of 32.2 feet per second. This +illustrates the inductive method of reasoning. In this system we +reason from the specific instance to the general law, from the +particular experiment to the universal theory, from the concrete +instance to the wide principle. + +All modern science is based upon this method--the experimental one. +All general theories of any kind today must--to be accepted--be +supported by long and careful consideration of all possible and +probable circumstances. The theory of evolution as applied to the +living things upon the earth is the result of countless observations +and experiments. + +Hasty Generalization. The speaker cannot himself examine all the +specific instances, he cannot consider all the illustrations which +might support his position, but he must be careful of a too hasty +generalization. Having talked with a dozen returned soldiers he may +not declare that all American army men are glad to be out of France, +for had he investigated a little further he might have found an equal +number who regret the return to this land. He must base his general +statement on so many instances that his conclusion will convince not +only him, but people disposed to oppose his view. He must be better +prepared to show the truth of his declaration than merely to dismiss +an example which does not fit into his scheme by glibly asserting that +"exceptions prove the rule." He must show that what seems to +contradict him is in nature an exception and therefore has nothing at +all to do with his rule. Beginning speakers are quite prone to this +fault of too hasty generalization. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Write down five general theories or statements which have been +established by inductive reasoning. + +2. Is there any certainty that they will stand unchanged forever? + +3. Under what circumstances are such changes made? + +4. Can you cite any accepted laws or theories of past periods which +have been overturned? + + +Deductive Reasoning. After general laws have been established, either +by human experience or accepted inductive reasoning, they may be cited +as applying to any particular case under consideration. This passing +from the general law to the particular instance is deductive +reasoning. Deductive reasoning has a regular form called the +syllogism. + +Major premise. All men are mortal. +Minor premise. Socrates is a man. +Conclusion. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. + +If the three parts of a syllogism are correct it has absolute +convincing power. Most attempts to disprove its statement attack the +first two statements. Although it carries such an air of certainty it +is likely to many errors in use. An error like this is common: + +All horses are animals. +All cows are animals. +Therefore, all cows are horses. + +Explain the fallacy in this syllogism. + +Quite as frequently the incorrect syllogism is of this kind. + +The edge of a stream is a bank. +A bank is a financial institution. +Therefore, the edge of a stream is a financial institution. + +You will comment upon this that its evident silliness would prevent +any speaker from using such a form in serious argument. But recall +that in the discussion of any idea a term may get its meaning slightly +changed. In that slight change of meaning lurks the error illustrated +here, ready to lead to false reasoning and weakening of the argument. +Certain words of common use are likely to such shifting +meanings--_republic, equality, representative, monarchy, socialistic_. +Any doubtful passage in which such an error is suspected should be +reduced to its syllogistic form to be tested for accuracy. + +A representative of the people must vote always as they would vote. +A Congressman is a representative of the people. +Therefore, Congressmen must vote always as the people who elect them + would vote. + +Is not the expression, _representative of the people_, here used in +two different senses? + +When an argument is delivered, one of the premises--being a statement +which the speaker assumes everyone will admit as true--is sometimes +omitted. This shortened form is called an enthymeme. + + Smith will be a successful civil engineer for he is a + superior mathematician. + +Supply the missing premise. Which is it? + +In the bald, simple forms here set down, the syllogism and enthymeme +are hardly suited to delivery in speeches. They must be amplified, +explained, emphasized, in order to serve a real purpose. The following +represent better the way a speaker uses deductive reasoning. + + The appointing power is vested in the President and Senate; + this is the general rule of the Constitution. The removing + power is part of the appointing power; it cannot be + separated from the rest. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _The Appointing and Removing + Power_, 1835 + +Then Daniel Webster stated in rather extended form the conclusion that +the Senate should share in the removing proceedings. + + Sir, those who espouse the doctrines of nullification + reject, as it seems to me, the first great principle of all + republican liberty; that is, that the majority _must_ + govern. In matters of common concern, the judgment of a + majority _must_ stand as the judgment of the whole. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _Reply to Calhoun_, 1853 + +Then, he argues, as these revenue laws were passed by a majority, they +must be obeyed in South Carolina. + +Methods of Proof. In extended arguments, just as in detailed +exposition, many different methods of proof may be employed. + +Explanation. Often a mere clear explanation will induce a listener to +accept your view of the truth of a proposition. You have heard men +say, "Oh, if that is what you mean, I agree with you entirely. I +simply didn't understand you." When you are about to engage in +argument consider this method of exposition to see if it will suffice. +In all argument there is a great deal of formal or incidental +explanation. + +Authority. When authority is cited to prove a statement it must be +subjected to the same tests in argument as in explanation. Is the +authority reliable? Is he unprejudiced? Does his testimony fit in with +the circumstances under consideration? Will his statements convince a +person likely to be on the opposing side? Why has so much so-called +authoritative information concerning conditions in Europe been so +discounted? Is it not because the reporters are likely to be +prejudiced and because while what they say may be true of certain +places and conditions it does not apply to all the points under +discussion? The speaker who wants the support of authority will test +it as carefully as though its influence is to be used against him--as +indeed, it frequently is. + +Examples. Where examples are used in argumentation they must serve as +more than mere illustrations. In exposition an illustration frequently +explains, but that same example would have no value in argument +because while it illustrates it does not prove. A suppositious example +may serve in explanation; only a fact will serve as proof. The more +inevitable its application, the more clinching its effect, the better +its argumentative value. Notice how the two examples given below prove +that the heirs of a literary man might be the very worst persons to +own the copyrights of his writings since as owners they might suppress +books which the world of readers should be able to secure easily. +While these examples illustrate, do they not also prove? + + I remember Richardson's grandson well; he was a clergyman in + the city of London; he was a most upright and excellent man; + but he had conceived a strong prejudice against works of + fiction. He thought all novel-reading not only frivolous but + sinful. He said--this I state on the authority of one of his + clerical brethren who is now a bishop--he said that he had + never thought it right to read one of his grandfather's + books. + + I will give another instance. One of the most instructive, + interesting, and delightful books in our language is + Boswell's _Life of Johnson_. Now it is well known that + Boswell's eldest son considered this book, considered the + whole relation of Boswell to Johnson, as a blot in the + escutcheon of the family. + + THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: _Copyright_, 1841 + +Analogy. In argument by analogy the speaker attempts to prove that +because certain things are known to be true in something that can be +observed they are likely to be true in something else which in so far +as it can be observed is quite like the first. We continually argue by +analogy in daily life. Lincoln was really using analogy when he +replied to the urging to change his army leaders during the Civil War, +that he didn't think it wise to "swap horses while crossing a +stream." Scientists use this method to draw conclusions when it is +impossible to secure from actual observation or experiment a certain +last step in the reasoning. The planet Mars and the earth are similar +in practically all observable matters; they are about the same +distance from the sun, they have the same surface conditions. The +earth has living creatures upon it. Hence--so goes the reasoning of +analogy--Mars is probably inhabited. Reasoning by analogy is used to +prove that universal suffrage is good for the United States because it +has been good for one particular state. A student may argue by analogy +that the elective system should be introduced into all high schools, +because it has been followed in colleges. It may be asserted that a +leading bank president will make a good university president, because +he has managed one complex institution. The essence of all good +reasoning by analogy is that the two things considered must be so +nearly alike in all that is known that the presumption of belief is +that they must also be alike in the one point the arguer is trying to +establish. This is the test he must apply to his own analogy +arguments. + + Our community frowns with indignation upon the profaneness + of the duel, having its rise in this irrational point of + honor. Are you aware that you indulge the same sentiment on + a gigantic scale, when you recognize this very point of + honor as a proper apology for war? We have already seen that + justice is in no respect promoted by war. Is true honor + promoted where justice is not? + + CHARLES SUMNER: _The True Grandeur of Nations_, + 1845 + +Residues. The method of residues is frequently employed when the +speaker is supporting a policy to be carried out, a measure to be +adopted, a change to be instituted, or a law to be passed. Granting +the assumption that something must be done he considers all the +various methods which may be employed, disposes of them one by one as +illegal, or unsuited, or clumsy, or inexpedient, leaving only one, the +one he wants adopted, as the one which must be followed. + +This is a good practical method of proof, provided the speaker really +considers _all_ the possible ways of proceeding and does show the +undesirability of all except the one remaining. + +A speaker pleading for the installation of a commission form of city +control might list all the possible ways of city government, a +business manager, a mayor, a commission. By disposing completely of +the first two, he would have proven the need for the last. A good +speaker will aways go farther than merely to reach this kind of +conclusion. He will, in addition to disproving the unworthy choices, +strongly support his residue, the measure he wants adopted. In +supporting amounts of taxes, assessments, etc., this method may be +used. One amount can be proven so large as to cause unrest, another so +small as to be insufficient, a third to produce a total just large +enough to meet all anticipated expenses with no surplus for +emergencies; therefore the correct amount must be just larger than +this but not reaching an amount likely to produce the result caused by +the first considered. Used in trials of criminal cases it eliminates +motives until a single inevitable remainder cannot be argued away. +This may be the clue to follow, or it may be the last one of all +suspected persons. Burke considered several possible ways of dealing +with the American colonies; one he dismissed as no more than a "sally +of anger," a second could not be operated because of the distance, a +scheme of Lord North's he proved would complicate rather than settle +matters, to change the spirit of America was impossible, to prosecute +it as criminal was inexpedient, therefore but one way remained, to +conciliate the spirit of discontent by letting the colonies vote their +own taxes. It is interesting that what Burke described as the sally of +anger was the way the matter was actually settled--Great Britain had +to give up the American colonies. + +This method is also called elimination. + +Cause to Effect. Just as the explainer may pass from cause to effect +so may the arguer. Other names for this method are antecedent +probability and _a priori_ argument. In argument from a known cause an +effect is proven as having occurred or as likely to occur. In solving +crime this is the method which uses the value of the motives for crime +as known to exist in the feelings or sentiments of a certain accused +person. A person trying to secure the passage of a certain law will +prove that it as the cause will produce certain effects which make it +desirable. Changed conditions in the United States will be brought +forward as the cause to prove that the Federal government must do +things never contemplated by the framers of the Constitution. Great +military organization as the cause of the recent war is used now in +argument to carry on the plea for the securing of peace by +disarmament. + +The main difficulty in reasoning from cause to effect is to make the +relationship so clear and so close that one thing will be accepted by +everybody as the undisputed cause of the alleged effect. + +Effect to Cause. In reasoning from effect to cause the reverse method +is employed. This is also termed argument from sign or the _a +posteriori_ method. In it, from some known effect the reasoning proves +that it is the result of a certain specified cause. Statistics +indicating business prosperity might be used as the effect from which +the arguer proves that they are caused by a high protective tariff. A +speaker shows the good effects upon people to prove that certain +laws--claimed as the causes--should be extended in application. +Arguments from effect to cause may be extremely far reaching; as every +effect leads to some cause, which is itself the effect of some other +cause, and so on almost to infinity. The good speaker will use just +those basic causes which prove his proposition--no more. + +In actual practice the two forms of reasoning from cause to effect and +from effect to cause are frequently combined to make the arguments all +the more convincing. Grouped together they are termed causal +relations. + +Persuasion. When a speaker has conclusively proven what he has stated +in his proposition, is his speech ended? In some cases, yes; in many +cases, no. Mere proof appeals to the intellect only; it settles +matters perhaps, but leaves the hearer cold and humanly inactive. He +may feel like saying, "Well, even if what you say is true, what are +you going to do about it?" Mathematical and scientific proofs exist +for mere information, but most arguments delivered before audiences +have a purpose. They try to make people do something. A group of +people should be aroused to some determination of purposeful thought +if not to a registered act at the time. In days of great stress the +appeal to action brought the immediate response in military +enlistments; in enrollment for war work; in pledges of service; in +signing membership blanks and subscription blanks; in spontaneous +giving. + +Persuasion Produces a Response. The end of most argumentative speaking +is to produce a response. It may be the casting of a vote, the joining +of a society, the repudiation of an unworthy candidate, the +demonstrating of the solidarity of labor, the affiliating with a +religious sect, the changing of a mode of procedure, the purchasing of +a new church organ, the wearing of simpler fashions, or any of the +thousand and one things a patient listener is urged to do in the +course of his usual life. + +When the speaker passes on from mere convincing to appealing for some +response he has passed from argumentation to persuasion. Nearly every +argumentative speech dealing with a proposition of policy shows first +what ought to be done, then tries to induce people to do it, by +appealing as strongly as possible to their practical, esthetic, or moral +interests. All such interests depend upon what we call sentiments or +feelings to which worthy--note the word _worthy_--appeals may +legitimately be addressed. Attempts to arouse unworthy motives by +stirring up ignorance and prejudice are always to be most harshly +condemned. Such practices have brought certain kinds of so-called +persuasion into well-deserved contempt. The high sounding spell-binder +with his disgusting spread-eagleism cannot be muzzled by law, but he may +be rendered harmless by vacant chairs and empty halls. Real eloquence is +not a thing of noise and exaggeration. Beginning speakers should avoid +the tawdry imitation as they would a plague. + +Elements of Persuasion. What elements may aid the persuasive power of +a speech? First of all, the occasion may be just the right one. The +surroundings may have prepared the audience for the effect the speaker +should make if he knows how to seize upon the opportunity for his own +purpose. The speaker must know how to adapt himself to the +circumstances present. In other cases, he must be able to do the much +more difficult thing--adapt the circumstances to his purpose. + +Secondly, the subject matter itself may prepare for the persuasive +treatment in parts. Everyone realizes this. When emotional impulses +are present in the material the introduction of persuasion is +inevitable and fitting, if not overdone. + +Thirdly, the essence of persuasion depends upon the speaker. All the +good characteristics of good speaking will contribute to the effect of +his attempts at persuasion. A good speaker is sincere to the point of +winning respect even when he does not carry conviction. He is in +earnest. He is simple and unaffected. He has tact. He is fair to every +antagonistic attitude. He has perfect self-control. He does not lose +his temper. He can show a proper sense of humor. He has genuine +sympathy. And finally--perhaps it includes all the preceding--he has +personal magnetism. + +With such qualities a speaker can make an effective appeal by means of +persuasion. If upon self-criticism and self-examination, or from +outside kindly comment, he concludes he is lacking in any one of these +qualities he should try to develop it. + + +EXERCISES + +Prepare and deliver speeches upon some of the following or upon +propositions suggested by them. If the speech is short, try to employ +only one method of proof, but make it convincing. Where suitable, add +persuasive elements. + +1. Make a proposition from one of the following topics. Deliver an +argumentative speech upon it. The next election. Entrance to college. +Child labor. The study of the classics. The study of science. + +2. Recommend changes which will benefit your school, your club or +society, your church, your town, your state. + +3. The Japanese should be admitted to the United States upon the same +conditions as other foreigners. + +4. Men and women should receive the same pay for the same work done. + +5. All church property should be taxed. + +6. All laws prohibiting secular employment on Sunday should be +repealed. + +7. The purely protective tariff should be withdrawn from goods the +manufacture of which has been firmly established in this country. + +8. Large incomes should be subject to a graduated income tax. + +9. Employers should not be forced to recognize labor unions. + +10. Immigration into the United States of persons who cannot read or +write some language should be prohibited, except dependents upon such +qualified entrants. + +11. An amendment should be added to the Constitution providing for +uniform marriage and divorce laws throughout the entire country. + +12. A city is the best place for a college. + +13. Military training should be obligatory in all public schools. + +14. Colleges and universities should reduce the attention paid to +athletics. + +15. The negro in the South should be disfranchised. + +16. The number of Representatives in Congress should be reduced. + +17. Moving pictures should be used in schools. + +18. Street car systems should be owned and operated by municipalities. + +19. Education should be compulsory until the completion of high +school. + +20. Athletes whose grade is below 75% should be debarred from all +participation until the marks are raised. + +21. The Federal government should own and operate the telegraph and +telephone systems. + +22. The state should provide pensions for indigent mothers of children +below the working age. + +23. The study of algebra (or some other subject) in the high school +should be elective. + +24 The initiative should be adopted in all states. + +25. The referendum should be adopted in all states. + +26. All governmental officials should be subject to recall. + +27. The public should support in all ways the movement of labor to +secure the closed shop system. + +28. Railroad crossings should be abolished. + +29. The Federal government should pass laws controlling all prices of +foodstuffs. + +30. A trial before a group of competent judges should be substituted +for trial by jury. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +REFUTING + + +Answering the Other Side. It has been said already that even in a +single argumentative speech some account must be taken of the +possibility among the audience of the belief in other views. A speaker +must always assume that people will believe otherwise than he does. +In such cases as debate or questioning after a speech is made, this +opposing side will very clearly be brought out, so that any person +training for any kind of public speaking will give much attention to +the contentions of others in order to strengthen his own convictions +as displayed in his speeches. + +A sincere thinker may believe that trial before a group of competent +judges is a better procedure than trial by jury. Were he to speak upon +such a proposition he would realize that he would meet at once the +solid opposition of the general opinion that jury trials, sanctioned +by long practice, are in some mysterious way symbolic of the liberty +and equality of mankind. Before he could expect to arouse sympathetic +understanding he would have to answer all the possible objections and +reasons against his new scheme. This he would do by refutation, by +disproving the soundness of the arguments against his scheme. He could +cite the evident and recorded injustices committed by juries. He could +bring before them the impossibility of securing an intelligent +verdict from a group of farmers, anxious to get to their farms for +harvest, sitting in a case through July, while the days passed in +lengthy examinations of witnesses--one man was on the stand eight +days--and the lawyers bandied words and names like socialist, pagan, +bolsheviki, anarchy, ideal republic, Aristotle, Plato, Herbert +Spencer, Karl Marx, Tolstoi, Jane Addams, Lenin. Then when he felt +assured he had removed all the reasons for supporting the present jury +system he could proceed to advance his own substitute. + +Need and Value of Refutation. In all argumentation, therefore, +refutation is valuable and necessary. By it opposing arguments are +reasoned away, their real value is determined, or they are answered +and demolished if they are false or faulty. To acquire any readiness +as a speaker or debater a person must pay a great deal of attention to +refutation. It has also an additional value. It has been stated that +every argumentative speaker must study the other side of every +question upon which he is to speak. One great debater declared that if +he had time to study only one side of a proposition or law case he +would devote that time to the other side. Study your own position from +the point of view of the other side. Consider carefully what arguments +that side will naturally advance. In fact, try to refute your own +arguments exactly as some opponent would, or get some friend to try to +refute your statements. Many a speaker has gained power in reasoning +by having his views attacked by members of his family who would +individually and collectively try to drive him into a corner. In +actual amount, perhaps you will never deliver as much refutation of +an opponent as you will conjure up in your mind against your own +speeches. Perhaps, also, this great amount advanced by you in testing +your own position will prevent your opponents from ever finding in +your delivered arguments much against which they can pit their own +powers of refutation. + +In judging your own production you will have to imagine yourself on +the other side, so the methods will be the same for all purposes of +self-help or weakening of an opponent's views. + +Contradiction Is Not Refutation. In the first place contradiction is +not refutation. No unsupported fact or statement has any value in +argumentation. Such expressions as "I don't believe, I don't think so, +I don't agree" introduce not arguments, but personal opinions. You +must, to make your refutation valuable, _prove_ your position. Never +allow your attempts at refutation to descend to mere denial or +quibbling. Be prepared to support, to prove everything you say. + +Three Phases of Refutation. In general, refutation consists of three +phases: + +1. The analysis of the opposite side. +2. The classification of the arguments according to importance. +3. The answering of only the strongest points. + +Analysis of Opposing Side for Accuracy. In the first analysis, you +will probably examine the opposing statements to test their accuracy. +Mere slips, so evident that they deceive no one, you may disregard +entirely, but gross error of fact or conclusion you should note and +correct in unmistakably plain terms. The kind of statement which +gives insufficient data should be classed in analysis with this same +kind of erroneous statement. A shoe dealer in arguing for increased +prices might quote correctly the rising cost of materials, but if he +stopped there, you in refutation should be able to show that profits +had already risen to 57%, and so turn his own figures against him. +Another class of refutation similar to this is the questioning of +authorities. Something concerning this has already been said. In a +recent trial a lawyer cast doubt upon the value of a passage read from +a book by declaring its author could never have written such a thing. +In refutation the opposing lawyer said, "You will find that passage on +page 253 of his _Essays and Letters."_ Public speakers, realizing that +errors of statement are likely to be the first to be picked out for +correction, and recognizing the damaging effect of such conviction in +error of fact and testimony, are extremely careful not to render +themselves liable to attack upon such points. Yet they may. We are +told by Webster's biographers that in later periods of his life he was +detected in errors of law in cases being argued before the court, and +refuted in statement. To catch such slips requires two things of the +successful speaker. He must be in possession of the facts himself. He +must be mentally alert to see the falsity and know how to answer it. + +Begging the Question. The expression "begging the question" is often +heard as a fallacy in argument. In its simplest form it is similar to +inaccurate statement, for it includes assertions introduced without +proof, and the statement of things as taken for granted without +attempting to prove them, yet using them to prove other statements. +Sometimes, also, a careless thinker, through an extended group of +paragraphs will end by taking as proven exactly the proposition he +started out to prove, when close analysis will show that nowhere +during the discussion does he actually prove it. As this is frequent +in amateur debates, students should be on their guard against it. + +Ignoring the Question. The same kind of flimsy mental process results +in ignoring the question. Instead of sticking closely to the +proposition to be proved the speaker argues beside the point, proving +not the entire proposition but merely a portion of it. Or in some +manner he may shift his ground and emerge, having proven the wrong +point or something he did not start out to consider. An amateur +theatrical producer whose playhouse had been closed by the police for +violating the terms of his license started out to defend his action, +but ended by proving that all men are equal. In fact he wound up by +quoting the poem by Burns, "A Man's a Man for A' That." Such a +shifting of propositions is a frequent error of speakers. It occurs so +often that one might be disposed to term it a mere trick to deceive, +or a clever though unscrupulous device to secure support for a weak +claim. One of the first ways for the speaker to avoid it is to be able +to recognize it when it occurs. One of the most quoted instances of +its effective unmasking is the following by Macaulay. + + The advocates of Charles, like the advocates of other + malefactors against whom overwhelming evidence is produced, + generally decline all controversy about the facts, and + content themselves with calling testimony to character. He + had so many private virtues! And had James the Second no + private virtues! Was Oliver Cromwell, his bitterest enemies + themselves being judges, destitute of private virtues? And + what, after all, are the virtues ascribed to Charles? A + religious zeal, not more sincere than that of his son, and + fully as weak and narrow-minded, and a few of the ordinary + household decencies which half the tombstones in England + claim for those who lie beneath them. A good father! A good + husband! Ample apologies indeed for fifteen years of + persecution, tyranny, and falsehood! + + We charge him with having broken his coronation oath; and we + are told that he kept his marriage vow! We accuse him of + having given up his people to merciless inflictions of the + most hot-headed and hard-hearted of prelates; and the + defence is, that he took his little son on his knee and + kissed him! We censure him for having violated the articles + of the Petition of Right, after having, for good and + valuable consideration, promised to observe them; and we are + informed that he was accustomed to hear prayers at six + o'clock in the morning! It is to such considerations as + these, together with his Vandyke dress, his handsome face, + and his peaked beard, that he owes, we verily believe, most + of his popularity with the present generation. + +Appealing to Prejudice or Passions. The question is also ignored when +the speaker appeals to the prejudices or passions of his audience +(_argumentum ad populum_). Persons of some intellect resent this as +almost an insult if they are in the audience, yet it is often resorted +to by speakers who would rather produce the effect they desire by the +use of any methods, right or wrong. Its use in court by unscrupulous +lawyers to win decisions is checked by attempts on the part of judges +to counteract it in their charges to the jury, but its influence may +still persist. Mark Antony in Shakespere's play, _Julius Caesar_, used +it in his oration over the dead body of Caesar to further his own +ends. + +Taking Advantage of Ignorance. Just as a speaker may take advantage of +the prejudices and passions of an audience, so he may take advantage +of their ignorance. Against the blankness of their brains he may hurl +unfamiliar names to dazzle them, cite facts of all kinds to impress +them, show a wide knowledge of all sorts of things, "play up to them" +in every way, until they become so impressed that they are ready to +accept as truth anything he chooses to tell them. Any daily paper will +provide examples of the sad results of the power of this kind of +fallacious reasoning. The get-rich-quick schemes, the worthless stock +deals, the patent medicine quacks, the extravagantly worded claims of +new religions and faddist movements, all testify to the power this +form of seemingly convincing argument has over the great mass of the +ignorant. + +The Fallacy of Tradition. In discussing the burden of proof it was +said that such burden rests upon the advocate of change, or novel +introductions, etc. This tendency of the people at large to be rather +conservative in practice links with the fallacy of tradition, the +belief that whatever is, is right. In many cases such a faith is worse +than wrong, it is pernicious. Many of the questions concerning +relations of modern society--as capital and labor--are based upon this +fallacy. Henry Clay was guilty of it when he announced, "Two hundred +years of legislation have sanctioned and sanctified negro slaves as +property." The successful way to dispose of such a fallacy is +illustrated by William Ellery Channing's treatment of this statement. + + But this property, we are told, is not to be questioned on + account of its long duration. "Two hundred years of + legislation have sanctioned and sanctified negro slaves as + property." Nothing but respect for the speaker could repress + criticism on this unhappy phraseology. We will trust it + escaped him without thought. But to confine ourselves to the + argument from duration; how obvious the reply! Is injustice + changed into justice by the practice of the ages? Is my + victim made a righteous prey because I have bowed him to the + earth till he cannot rise? For more than two hundred years + heretics were burned, and not by mobs, not by lynch law, but + by the decrees of the councils, at the instigation of + theologians, and with the sanction of the laws and religions + of nations; and was this a reason for keeping up the fires, + that they had burned two hundred years? In the Eastern world + successive despots, not for two hundred years, but for twice + two thousand have claimed the right of life and death over + millions, and, with no law but their own will, have + beheaded, bowstrung, starved, tortured unhappy men without + number who have incurred their wrath; and does the lapse of + so many centuries sanctify murder and ferocious power? + +Attacking a Speaker's Character or Principles. Sometimes a speaker who +finds himself unable to attack the truth of a proposition, or the +arguments cited to support it, changes his tactics from the +subject-matter to the opponent himself and delivers an attack upon his +character, principles, or former beliefs and statements. This is +called the _argumentum ad hominem_. In no sense is it really argument; +it is irrelevant attack, and should be answered in a clear accurate +demonstration of its unsuitability to the topic under consideration. +It is unworthy, of course, but it is a tempting device for the speaker +who can combine with it an appeal to the prejudices or passions of his +audience. + +The author has seen the entire population of Rome agitated because in +a Senatorial debate one speaker attacked the family reputation of one +of his opponents--a matter which, even if true, certainly had nothing +to do with the bill under discussion. Political campaigns used to be +disgraced by a prevalence of such appeals for votes. We may pride +ourselves upon an advance in such matters, but there is still too much +of it to let us congratulate ourselves upon our political good +manners. You cannot ascribe bad faith to a man who argues now from a +different attitude from the one he formerly supported. Changes of +conviction are frequent in all matters. A man must be judged by the +reasons he gives for his position at any one time. Many a person, who +ten years ago would have argued against it, now believes a League of +Nations possible and necessary. Many a person who a few years back +could see no advantage in labor organizations is anxious now to join +an affiliated union. + +If you find the suggestion of such an attack in any of your own +speeches, cast it out. If it is ever used against you, refute it by +the strength of arguments you deliver in support of your position. +Remove all assertions which do not relate to the debated topic. Make +your audience sympathize with your repudiation of the remarks of your +opponent, even though he has succeeded in delivering them. + +Fallacies of Causal Relationship. The various fallacies that may be +committed under the relation of cause and effect are many. Just +because something happened prior to something else (the effect), the +first may be mistakenly quoted as the cause. Or the reverse may be the +error--the second may be assumed to be the effect of the first. The +way to avoid this fallacy was suggested in the discussion of +explanation by means of cause and effect where the statement was made +that two events must not be merely _sequential_, they must be +_consequential_. In argument the slightest gap in the apparent +relationship is likely to result in poor reasoning, and the consequent +fallacy may be embodied in the speech. When people argue to prove that +superstitions have come true, do they present clear reasoning to show +conclusively that the alleged cause--such as sitting thirteen at +table--actually produced the effect of a death? Do they _establish_ a +close causal relationship, or do they merely _assert_ that after a +group of thirteen had sat at table some one did die? Mathematically, +would the law of chance or probability not indicate that such a thing +would happen a little less surely if the number had been twelve, a +little more surely if fourteen? + +Common sense, clear headedness, logical reasoning, and a wide +knowledge of all kinds of things will enable a speaker to recognize +these fallacies, anticipate them, and successfully refute them. + +Methods of Refuting. Having found the fallacies in an argument you +should proceed to refute them. Just how you can best accomplish your +purpose of weakening your opponent's position, of disposing of his +arguments, of answering his contentions, must depend always upon the +particular circumstances of the occasion, of the material presented, +of the attitude of the judges or audience, of your opponent himself, +and of the purpose you are striving to accomplish. Practice, +knowledge, skill, will in such cases all serve your end. You should be +able to choose, and effectively use the best. It is impossible to +anticipate and provide for all the possibilities, but a few of the +most common probabilities and the methods of dealing with them can be +here set down. + +Courteous Correction. In case of apparent error or over-sight you will +do well to be courteous rather than over-bearing and dictatorial in +your correction. Never risk losing an advantage by driving your +audience into sympathy for your opponent by any manner of your own. A +newspaper discussing the objections made to the covenant of the League +of Nations points out an over-sight in this way: "How did Senator Knox +happen to overlook the fact that his plan for compulsory arbitration +is embodied in Article XII of the proposed covenant?" + +Refuting Incorrect Analogy. The caution was given that reasoning from +analogy must show the complete correspondence in all points possible +of the known from which the reasoning proceeds to the conclusion about +the unknown, which then is to be accepted as true. Unless that +complete correspondence is established firmly the speaker is likely to +have his carefully worked out analogy demolished before his eyes. +Notice how such refutation is clearly demonstrated in the following. + + So it does; but the sophistry here is plain enough, although + it is not always detected. Great genius and force of + character undoubtedly make their own career. But because + Walter Scott was dull at school, is a parent to see with joy + that his son is a dunce? Because Lord Chatham was of a + towering conceit, must we infer that pompous vanity portends + a comprehensive statesmanship that will fill the world with + the splendor of its triumphs? Because Sir Robert Walpole + gambled and swore and boozed at Houghton, are we to suppose + that gross sensuality and coarse contempt of human nature + are the essential secrets of a power that defended liberty + against tory intrigue and priestly politics? Was it because + Benjamin Franklin was not college-bred that he drew the + lightning from heaven and tore the scepter from the tyrant? + Was it because Abraham Lincoln had little schooling that his + great heart beat true to God and man, lifting him to free a + race and die for his country? Because men naturally great + have done great service in the world without advantages, + does it follow that lack of advantage is the secret of + success? + + GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS: _The Public Duty of Educated + Men_, 1877 + +Reducing Proof to Absurdity. A very good way of showing the +unreliability of an opposing argument is to pretend to accept it as +valid, then carrying it on to a logical conclusion, to show that its +end proves entirely too much, or that it reduces the entire chain of +reasoning to absurdity. This is, in fact, called _reductio ad +absurdum_. At times the conclusion is so plainly going to be absurd +that the refuter need not carry its successive steps into actual +delivery. In speaking to large groups of people nothing is better than +this for use as an effective weapon. It gives the hearers the feeling +that they have assisted in the damaging demonstration. It almost +seems as though the speaker who uses it were merely using--as he +really is--material kindly presented to him by his opponent. So the +two actually contribute in refuting the first speaker's position. + + Congress only can declare war; therefore, when one State is + at war with a foreign nation, all must be at war. The + President and the Senate only can make peace; when peace is + made for one State, therefore, it must be made for all. + + Can anything be conceived more preposterous, than that any + State should have power to nullify the proceedings of the + general government respecting peace and war? When war is + declared by a law of Congress, can a single State nullify + that law, and remain at peace? And yet she may nullify that + law as well as any other. If the President and Senate make + peace, may one State, nevertheless, continue the war? And + yet, if she can nullify a law, she may quite as well nullify + a treaty. + + DANIEL WEBSTER: _The Constitution Not a Compact + between Sovereign States_, 1833 + +Lincoln could always use this method of _reductio ad absurdum_ most +effectively because he seldom failed to accentuate the absurdity by +some instance which made clear to the least learned the force of his +argument. Many of his best remembered quaint and picturesque phrases +were embodied in his serious demolition of some high-handed +presumption of a political leader. + + Under all these circumstances, do you really feel yourselves + justified to break up this government unless such a court + decision as yours is shall be at once submitted to as a + conclusive and final rule of political action? But you will + not abide the election of a Republican President! In that + supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and + then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will + be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my + ear, and mutters through his teeth, "Stand and deliver, or I + shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!" + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Cooper Union Speech_, 1860 + +Amplifying and Diminishing. Finally a good method of refuting the +claim of importance made for an opposing proposition is by amplifying +and diminishing. In plain terms this depends upon contrast in which +you reduce the value of the opposing idea and emphasize the value of +your own. An excellent use for this is as a rapid summary at the end +of your speech, where it will leave in the hearer's mind an impression +of the comparative value of the two views he has heard discussed, with +an inevitable sense of the unquestioned worth of one above the other. +Burke sums up his extended refutations of Lord North's plan for +dealing with America in these telling contrasts. + + Compare the two. This I offer to give you is plain and + simple; the other full of perplexed and intricate mazes. + This is mild; that harsh. This found by experience effectual + for its purposes; the other is a new project. This is + universal; the other calculated for certain colonies only. + This is immediate in its conciliatory operation; the other + remote, contingent, full of hazard. Mine is what becomes the + dignity of a ruling people--gratuitous, unconditional--and + not held out as a matter of bargain and sale. + + EDMUND BURKE: _Conciliation with America_, 1775 + +Position of Refutation in the Speech. The position of refutation in +the finished speech will depend always upon the nature of the +proposition, the exact method of the refutation, and the audience. If +you are making the only speech upon the proposition and you feel that +the audience may have a slight prejudice against what you are about to +urge, you may gain adherents at once by refuting at the beginning the +possible arguments in their minds. By this procedure you will clear +the field for your own operations. To change the figure of speech, you +erase from the slate what is already written there, so that you may +place upon it your own speech and its convictions. + +If you are debating and the speaker just before you has evidently made +the judges accept his arguments, again you might remove that +conviction by refutation before you proceed to build up your own side. +If your regular arguments meet his squarely, proceed as you had +planned, but be sure when any reasoning you offer nullifies any he has +delivered, that you call the attention of the audience to the fact +that you have wiped out his score. In this way your constructive +argument and refutation will proceed together. You will save valuable +time. + +Constructive Argument Is More Valuable than Refutation. Often the +rebuttal speeches of debate, coming at the close of the regular debate +speeches, seem reserved for all the refutation. This is certainly the +place for much refutation, certainly not all. The last speakers of the +rebuttal speeches should never rest content with leaving only +refutation in the hearers' minds. If they do, the debate may leave the +condition entirely where it was at the beginning, for theoretically +every argument advanced by either side has been demolished by the +other. After the rebuttal the last points left with the judges should +be constructive arguments. + +In a single speech the refutation may be delivered in sections as the +demands of coherence and the opportunities for emphasis may suggest. +Here again, always make the last section a constructive one with +arguments in support of your proposition. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DEBATING + + +The Ideal of Debating. A long time ago so admirable a man as William +Penn stated the high ideal of all real debating whether practised in +the limited range of school interests or in the extended field of +life's activities. + + In all debates let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an + unjust interest; and endeavor to gain, rather than to expose + thy antagonist. + +The quotation states exactly the true aim of all debating--the +conclusion of the right, the truth rather than the securing of a +decision over an opponent. The same rules which animate the true lover +of sports, the clear distinction which is instilled into all +participants of amateur athletics of the meanings and significance of +the two terms _sportsman_ and _sport_, can be carried over to apply to +school activities in debating. Honest differences of opinion among +people upon countless questions will always furnish enough material +for regular debating so that no one need ever do violence to his +convictions. + +Value of Debate. One of the greatest educational values of practice in +debate is that the ability it develops can be applied instantly in the +life beyond the schoolroom, that it operates in every person's daily +life. There are differences in the manner in which debating is +carried on in the two places, but practice in the earlier will result +in skill and self-confidence in the second. + +Debate in Actual Life. The most marked difference between debates in +the two phases of life is the difference of form. In academic circles +debate is a well-regulated game between matched sides. In actual life +only in certain professions are the rules well defined. In most cases +the debating is disguised under different forms, though the essential +purposes and methods are the same. + +Debate between lawyers in courts--technically termed pleading--is the +most formal of all professional debating. Its regulations are found in +the stabilized court procedure which every lawyer must master and +obey. + +Much looser than the formal debate of the court room is the +speech-making of the legislative organization from the lowest township +board meeting up to the Senate of the United States. Of course the +members of such bodies are regulated by certain restrictions, but the +speeches are not likely to be curbed in time as are academic +performances, nor are the speakers likely to follow a prearranged +order, nor are they always equally balanced in number, nor do they +agree so carefully upon "team work." Sometimes in a legislative body +the first speaker may be on the negative side, which is quite contrary +to all the rules of regularly conducted debates. All the speakers may +also be on one side of a measure, the opposing side not deigning to +reply, resting secure in the knowledge of how many votes they can +control when the real test of power comes. + +Most informal of all are the general discussions in which business +matters are decided. In these the speeches are never so set as in the +two preceding kinds. The men are less formal in their relations and +addresses to one another. The steps are less marked in their changes. +Yet underneath the seeming lack of regulation there is the framework +of debate, for there is always present the sense of two sides upon +every proposition, whether it be the purchase of new office equipment +for a distant agent, an increase of salary for employees, or the +increase of capitalization. Certain speakers support some proposition. +Others oppose it until they are convinced and won over to the +affirmative side, or until they are out-voted. + +Two men seated in an office may themselves be debaters, audience, and +judges of their own argumentative opinions. They may in themselves +fill all the requirements of a real debate. They deliver the speeches +on the affirmative and negative sides. Each listens to the arguments +of his opponent. And finally, the pair together give a decision upon +the merits of the arguments presented. + +On all such occasions the speakers need and use just those qualities +which classroom training has developed in them--knowledge of material, +plan of presentation, skill in expression, conviction and persuasion +of manner, graceful acceptance of defeat. + +Debating Demands a Decision. Debating goes one step farther than +merely argumentative speaking. Debating demands a decision upon the +case, it requires a judgment, a registered action. Again in this +respect it is like a game. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Make a list of propositions which have been debated or might be +debated in a courtroom. + +2. Make another list of propositions which have been debated or might +be debated in legislative bodies. + +3. Make a list of propositions which might be debated in business. + +4. As far as is possible, indicate the decisions upon them. + +5. Choose some proposition on which there is considerable difference +of opinion in the class. Make a list of those who favor and those who +oppose. Speak upon the proposition, alternating affirmative and +negative. + +6. Discuss the speeches delivered in the fifth exercise. + +Persons Involved in a Debate. Who are the persons involved in a +regular debate? They are the presiding officer, the speakers +themselves, the audience, the judges. + +The Presiding Officer. Every debate has a presiding officer. The +Vice-President of the United States is the presiding officer of the +Senate. The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House of +Representatives. If you will refer to Chapter IV on _Beginning the +Speech_ you will see several other titles of presiding officers. In +school debates the head of the institution may act in that capacity, +or some person of note may be invited to preside. In regular classroom +work the instructor may serve as presiding officer, or some member of +the class may be chosen or appointed. The latter method is the +best--after the instructor has shown by example just what the duties +of such a position are. + +The presiding officer should announce the topic of debate in a short +introductory speech. He should read the names of the speakers on the +affirmative and those on the negative side. He should stipulate the +terms of the debate--length of each speech, time for rebuttal, order +of rebuttal, method of keeping speakers within time limits, conditions +of judgment (material, presentation, etc.), announce the judges, and +finally introduce the first speaker; then the subsequent speakers. At +the close he might refer to the fact of the debate's being ended, he +might rehearse the conditions of judgment, and request the judges to +retire to consider their decision. Practice varies as to who shall +deliver the decision of the judges to the audience. Sometimes the +chairman elected by the judges announces the decision. Sometimes the +judges hand the decision to the presiding officer who announces it. + +The Debaters. Beyond saying that the speakers must do their best, +there is nothing to be added here about their duty in the debate +except to issue one warning to them in connection with the next +personal element to be considered--the audience. + +The Audience. Debaters must remember that in practically no +circumstances outside legislative bodies are the audience and the +judges ever the same. Debaters argue to convince the judges--not the +entire audience, who are really as disconnected from the decision of +the debate as are the straggling spectators and listeners in a +courtroom detached from the jury who render the verdict of guilty or +not guilty. The debater must therefore speak for the judges, not for +his audience. Many a debating team has in the course of its speeches +won all the applause only to be bitterly disappointed in the end by +hearing the decision awarded to the other side. Recall the warnings +given in the previous chapters against the tempting fallacies of +appealing to crowd feelings and prejudices. + +In classroom debates it is a good distribution of responsibility to +make all the members not participating in the speaking act as judges +and cast votes in rendering a decision. This makes the judges and the +audience one. Moreover it changes the mere listener into a +discriminating judge. If the instructor cares to carry this matter of +responsibility one step farther, he can ask the members of the class +to explain and justify their votes. + +The audience, when it is also the judge, has the responsibility of +careful attention, analysis, and comparison. It is too much to expect +usual general audiences to refuse to be moved by unworthy pleas and +misrepresentations, to accord approval only to the best speakers and +the soundest arguments. But surely in a class of public speakers any +such tricks and schemes should be received with stolid frigidity. +Nothing is so damaging to appeals to prejudice, spread-eagleism, and +fustian bombast as an impassive reception. + +The Judges. In any debate the judges are of supreme importance. They +decide the merits of the speakers themselves. The judges are of +infinitely more importance than the audience. In interscholastic +debates men of some prominence are invited to act as judges. In the +instructions to them it should be made clear that they are not to +decide which side of a proposition they themselves approve. They are +to decide which group of speakers does the best work. They should try +to be merely the impersonal registers of comparative merit. They +should sink their own feelings as every teacher must when he hears a +good speech from one of his own students supporting something to which +the instructor is opposed. Good judges of debates realize this and +frequently award decisions to speakers who support opposite positions +to their personal opinions. They must not be like the judges in an +interscholastic debate who announced their decision thus, "The judges +have decided that China must not be dismembered." That was an +interesting fact perhaps, but it had nothing to do with their duty as +judges of that debate. + +In business, the buyer, the head of the department, the board of +directors, constitute the judges who render the decision. In +legislative assemblies the audience and judges are practically +identical, for after the debate upon a measure is concluded, those who +have listened to it render individual verdicts by casting their votes. +In such cases we frequently see decisions rendered not upon the merits +of the debate, but according to class prejudice, personal opinion, or +party lines. This is why so many great argumentative speeches were +accounted failures at the time of their delivery. Delivered to secure +majority votes they failed to carry conviction to the point of +changing immediate action, and so in the small temporary sense they +were failures. In legal trials the jury is the real judge, although by +our peculiar misapplication of the term a different person entirely is +called judge. In court the judge is in reality more often merely the +presiding officer. He oversees the observance of all the rules of +court practice, keeps lawyers within the regulations, instructs the +jury, receives the decision from them, and then applies the law. +Every lawyer speaks--not to convince the judge--but to convince the +jury to render a decision in his favor. + +Scholastic Debating. Choosing the Proposition. In school debating the +proposition may be assigned by the instructor or it may be chosen by +him from a number submitted by the class. The class itself may choose +by vote a proposition for debate. In interscholastic debating the +practice now usually followed is for one school to submit the +proposition and for the second school to decide which side it prefers +to support. In any method the aim should be to give neither side any +advantage over the other. The speakers upon the team may be selected +before the question of debate is known. It seems better, when +possible, to make the subject known first and then secure as speakers +upon both sides, students who have actual beliefs upon the topic. Such +personal conviction always results in keener rivalry. + +Time Limits. Since no debate of this kind must last too long, time +restrictions must be agreed upon. In every class, conditions will +determine these terms. Three or four speakers upon each side make a +good team. If each is allowed six minutes the debate should come well +within an hour and still allow some time for voting upon the +presentations. It should be distinctly understood that a time limit +upon a speaker must be observed by him or be enforced by the presiding +officer. + +The speakers upon one side will arrange among themselves the order in +which they will speak but there should be a clear understanding +beforehand as to whether rebuttal speeches are to be allowed. + +Rebuttal Speeches. Rebuttal speeches are additional speeches allowed +to some or all the speakers of a debating team after the regular +argumentative speeches have been delivered. In an extended formal +debate all the speakers may thus appear a second time. In less lengthy +discussions only some of them may be permitted to appear a second +time. As the last speaker has the advantage of making the final +impression upon the judges it is usual to offset this by reversing the +order of rebuttal. In the first speeches the negative always delivers +the last speech. Sometimes the first affirmative speaker is allowed to +follow with the single speech in rebuttal. If the team consist of +three speakers and all are allowed to appear in rebuttal the entire +order is as follows. + +_First Part Rebuttal_ + +First affirmative First negative +First negative First affirmative +Second affirmative Second negative +Second negative Second affirmative +Third affirmative Third negative +Third negative Third affirmative + +If not all the speakers are to speak in rebuttal the team itself +decides which of its members shall speak for all. + +Preparation. The proposition should be decided on and the teams +selected long enough in advance to allow for adequate preparation. +Every means should be employed to secure sufficient material in +effective arrangement. Once constituted, the team should consider +itself a unit. Work should be planned in conference and distributed +among the speakers. At frequent meetings they should present to the +side all they are able to find. They should lay out a comprehensive +plan of support of their own side. They should anticipate the +arguments likely to be advanced by the other, and should provide for +disposing of them if they are important enough to require refuting. It +is a good rule for every member of a debating team to know all the +material on his side, even though part of it is definitely assigned to +another speaker. + +This preliminary planning should be upon a definite method. A good +outline to use, although some parts may be discarded in the debate +itself, is the following simple one. + + I. State the proposition clearly. + 1. Define the terms. + 2. Explain it as a whole. + II. Give a history of the case. + 1. Show its present bearing or aspect. +III. State the issues. + IV. Prove. + V. Refute. + VI. Conclude. + +Finding the Issues. In debating, since time is so valuable, a speaker +must not wander afield. He must use all his ability, all his material +to prove his contention. It will help him to reject material not +relevant if he knows exactly what is at issue between the two sides. +It was avoiding the issue to answer the charge that Charles I was a +tyrant by replying that he was a good husband. Unless debaters realize +exactly what must be proven to make their position secure, there will +be really no debate, for the two sides will never meet in a clash of +opinion. They will pass each other without meeting, and instead of a +debate they will present a series of argumentative speeches. This +failure to state issues clearly and to support or refute them +convincingly is one of the most common faults of all debating. In +ordinary conversation a frequently heard criticism of a discussion or +speech or article is "But that was not the point at issue at all." +These issues must appear in the preliminary plans, in the finished +brief, and in the debate itself. + + The only point in issue between us is, how long after an + author's death the State shall recognize a copyright in his + representatives and assigns; and it can, I think, hardly be + disputed by any rational man that this is a point which the + legislature is free to determine in the way which may appear + to be most conducive to the general good. + + THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: _Copyright_, 1841 + + Mr. President, the very first question that challenges our + attention in the matter of a league of nations is the + question of whether a war in Europe is a matter of concern + to the United States. The ultraopponents of any league of + nations assert that European quarrels and European battles + are no concern of ours. If that be true, we may well pause + before obligating ourselves to make them our concern. Is it + true? + + SENATOR P.J. MCCUMBER: _The League of Nations_, + 1919 + +The best method of finding the issues is to put down in two columns +the main contentions of both sides. By eliminating those entries which +are least important and those which have least bearing upon the +present case the issues may be reduced to those which the debate +should cover. Any possible attempt to cloud the issues on the part of +the opposing side can thus be forestalled. All the speakers on one +side should participate in this analysis of the proposition to find +and state the issues. + +The New York _Tribune_, by parallel columns, brought out these chief +points of difference between the Paris plan and Senator Knox's for the +League of Nations. + +THE KNOX PLAN THE PARIS PLAN + +League formed of all, not Under Article VII it is provided +a portion, of the nations of that no state shall be +the world. admitted unless it is able to + give guaranties of its intention + to observe its international + obligations and conform + to the principles + prescribed by the League + in regard to it's naval and + military forces and armaments. + +War to be declared an Article XVI provides that +international crime, and any should any of the high +nation engaging in war, except contracting parties break +in self-defense when covenants under Article XII +actually attacked, to be punished (relating to arbitration) it +by the world as an shall be deemed to have committed +international criminal. an act of war against + the League, which undertakes + to exercise economic + pressure; and it is to be the + duty of the executive council + to recommend what military + or naval force the members + of the League shall contribute + to be used to protect + the covenants of the League. + +The Monroe Doctrine to None of these matters is +be safeguarded; also our mentioned specifically, but +immigration policy and our President Wilson has said +right to expel aliens. that the League will "extend + the Monroe Doctrine to the + whole world" and that domestic + and internal questions + are not a concern of the + League. + +Our right to maintain military Article VIII says: "The +and naval establishments executive council shall also +and coaling stations, determine for the consideration +and our right to fortify the and action of the several +Panama Canal and our governments what military +frontiers to be safeguarded. equipment and armament is + fair and reasonable and in + proportion to the scale of + forces laid down in the program + of disarmament, and + these limits when adopted + shall not be exceeded without + the permission of the executive + council." + +An international court to Article XIV provides for +be empowered by the League the establishment of a "permanent +to call upon the signatory court of international +Powers to enforce its decrees justice," but its powers are +against unwilling states by limited to hearing and determining +force, economic pressure, or "any matter +otherwise. The constitution which the parties recognize +of the League to provide, as suitable for submission to +however, that decrees against it for arbitration" under +an American Power shall be Article XIII. +enforced by the nations of +this hemisphere, and decrees +against a country of the +eastern hemisphere by the +Powers of that hemisphere. + +Team Work. With the plan agreed upon by the speakers, the brief made +out, and the material distributed, each speaker can go to work in +earnest to prepare his single speech. The best method has been +outlined in this book. His notes should be accurate, clear, easily +manipulated. His quotations should be exact, authoritative. By no +means should he memorize his speech. Such stilted delivery would +result in a series of formal declamations. With his mind stocked with +exactly what his particular speech is to cover, yet familiar enough +with the material of his colleagues to use it should he need it, the +debater is ready for the contest. + +Manipulating Material. The speakers on a side should keep all their +material according to some system. If cards are used, arguments to be +used in the main debate might be arranged in one place, material for +rebuttal in another, quotations and statistics in still another. Then +if the other side introduces a point not anticipated it should be easy +to find the refuting or explaining material at once to counteract its +influence in the next speech, if it should be disposed of at once. If +slips of paper are used, different colors might indicate different +kinds of material. Books, papers, reports, to be used should always be +within available distance. While a speaker for the other side is +advancing arguments the speaker who will follow him should be able to +change, if necessary, his entire plan of defense or attack to meet the +manoeuver. He should select from the various divisions upon the +table the material he needs, and launch at once into a speech which +meets squarely all the contentions advanced by his predecessor. This +instantaneous commandeering of material is likely to be most usual in +rebuttal, but a good debater must be able to resort to it at a +second's notice. + +The First Affirmative Speaker. The first affirmative speaker must +deliver some kind of introduction to the contentions which his side +intends to advance. It is his duty to be concise and clear in this. He +must not use too much time. If the proposition needs defining and +applying he must not fail to do it. He must not give the negative the +opportunity to explain and apply to its own purposes the meaning of +the proposition. He should state in language which the hearers will +remember exactly what the issues are. He can help his own side by +outlining exactly what the affirmative intends to prove. He may +indicate just what portions will be treated by his colleagues. He +should never stop with merely introducing and outlining. Every speaker +must advance proof, the first as well as the others. If the +preliminary statements by the first affirmative speaker are clearly +and convincingly delivered, and if he places a few strong, supporting +reasons before the judges, he will have started his side very well +upon its course of debating. The last sentences of his speech should +drive home the points he has proved. + +The First Negative Speaker. The first negative speaker either agrees +with the definitions and application of the proposition as announced +by the first affirmative speaker or he disagrees with them. If the +latter, the mere statement of his disagreement is not sufficient. +Contradiction is not proof. He must refute the definition and +application of the proposition by strong reasoning and ample proof. If +his side does not admit the issues as already presented he must +explain or prove them away and establish in their place the issues his +side sees in the discussion. When the two sides disagree concerning +the issues there is a second proposition erected for discussion at +once and the argument upon this second matter may crowd out the +attempted argument upon the main proposition. To obviate such shifting +many schools have the sides exchange briefs or statements of issues +before the debate so that some agreement will be reached upon +essentials. + +In addition to the matters just enumerated the first negative speaker +should outline the plan his side will follow, promising exactly what +things will be established by his colleagues. If he feels that the +first affirmative speaker has advanced proofs strong enough to require +instant refutation he should be able to meet those points at once and +dispose of them. If they do not require immediate answering, or if +they may safely be left for later refutation in the regular rebuttal, +he may content himself with simply announcing that they will be +answered. He should not allow the audience to believe that his side +cannot meet them. + +He must not give the impression that he is evading them. If he has to +admit their truth, let him frankly say so, showing, if possible, how +they do not apply or do not prove all that is claimed for them, or +that though they seem strong in support of the affirmative the +negative side has still stronger arguments which by comparison refute +at least their effect. + +The first negative speaker should not stop with mere refutation. If +the first affirmative has advanced proofs, and the first negative +disposes of them, the debate is exactly where it was at the beginning. +The negative speaker must add convincing arguments of his own. It is a +good thing to start with one of the strongest negative arguments in +the material. + +The Second Affirmative and Second Negative Speakers. The second +affirmative and the second negative speakers have very much the same +kind of speech to make. Taking the immediate cues from the preceding +speaker each may at first pay some attention to the remarks of his +opponent. Here again there must be quickly decided the question +already brought up by the first negative speech--shall arguments be +refuted at once or reserved for such treatment in rebuttal? When this +decision is made the next duty of each of these second speakers is to +advance his side according to the plan laid down by his first +colleague. He must make good the advance notice given of his team. + +Each position of a debater has its peculiar tasks. The middle speaker +must not allow the interest aroused by the first to lag. If anything, +his material and manner must indicate a rise over the opening speech. + + +He must start at the place where the first speaker stopped and carry +on the contention to the place at which it has been agreed he will +deliver it to the concluding speaker for his side. If this connection +among all the speeches of one side is quite plain to the audience an +impression of unity and coherence will be made upon them. This will +contribute to the effect of cogent reasoning. They will realize that +instead of listening to a group of detached utterances they have been +following a chain of reasoning every link of which is closely +connected with all that precedes and follows. + +The Concluding Affirmative Speaker. The concluding affirmative speaker +must not devote his entire speech to a conclusion by giving an +extensive summary or recapitulation. He must present arguments. +Realizing that this is the last chance for original argument from his +side he may be assigned the very strongest argument of all to deliver, +for the effect of what he says must last beyond the concluding speech +of the negative. It would likewise be a mistake for him to do nothing +more than argue in his concluding speech. Several persons have +intervened since his first colleague outlined their side and announced +what they would prove. It is his duty to show that the affirmative has +actually done what it set out to do. By amplifying and diminishing he +may also show how the negative had not carried out its avowed +intention of disproving the affirmative's position and proving +conclusively its own. The concluding speech for the affirmative is an +excellent test of a debater's ability to adapt himself to conditions +which may have been entirely unforeseen when the debate began, of his +keenness in analyzing the strength of the affirmative and exposing +the weakness of the negative, of his power in impressing the arguments +of his colleagues as well as his own upon the audience, and of his +skill in bringing to a well-rounded, impressive conclusion his side's +part in the debate. + +The Concluding Negative Speaker. The concluding negative speaker must +judge whether his immediate predecessor, the concluding affirmative +speaker, has been able to gain the verdict of the judges. If he fears +that he has, he must strive to argue that conviction away. He too must +advance proof finally to strengthen the negative side. He must make +his speech answer to his first colleague's announced scheme, or if +some change in the line of development has been necessitated, he must +make clear why the first was replaced by the one the debaters have +followed. If the arguments of the negative have proved what it was +declared they would, the last speaker should emphasize that fact +beyond any question in any one's mind. Finally he should save time for +a fitting conclusion. This brings the debate proper to a close. + +Restrictions in Rebuttal. In rebuttal--if it be provided--the main +restrictions are two. The speeches are shorter than the earlier ones. +No new lines of argument may be introduced. Only lines of proof +already brought forward may be considered. Since the speeches are +shorter and the material is restricted there is always the disposition +to use rebuttal speeches for refutation only. This is a mistake. +Refute, but remember always that constructive argument is more likely +to win decisions than destructive. Dispose of as many points of the +opponents as possible, but reiterate the supporting reasons of your +own. Many speakers waste their rebuttals by trying to cover too many +points. They therefore have insufficient time to prove anything, so +they fall back upon bare contradiction and assertion. Such +presentations are mere jumbles of statements. Choose a few important +phases of the opposing side's contention. Refute them. Choose the +telling aspects of your own case. Emphasize them. + +Manner in Debating. Be as earnest and convincing in your speeches as +you can. Never yield to the temptation to indulge in personalities. +Recall that other speakers should never be mentioned by name. They are +identified by their order and their side, as "The first speaker on the +affirmative" or "The speaker who preceded me," or "My colleague," or +"My opponent." Avoid using these with tones and phrases of sarcasm and +bitterness. Be fair and courteous in every way. Never indulge in such +belittling expressions as "No one understands what he is trying to +prove. He reels off a string of figures which mean nothing." Never +indulge in cheap wit or attempts at satiric humor. + +Prepare so adequately, analyze so keenly, argue so logically, speak so +convincingly, that even when your side loses, your opponents will have +to admit that you forced them to do better than they had any idea they +could. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SPEAKING UPON SPECIAL OCCASIONS + + +Speech-making in the Professions. If a student enter a profession in +which speech-making is the regular means of gaining his livelihood--as +in law, religion, or lecturing--he will find it necessary to secure +training in the technical methods applying to the particular kind of +speech-making in which he will indulge. This book does not attempt to +prepare any one for mastery of such special forms. The student will, +however, be helping himself if he examines critically every delivery +of a legal argument, sermon, or lecture he hears, for many of the +rules illustrated by them and the impressions made by their speakers, +can be transferred as models to be imitated or specimens to be avoided +in his own more restricted and less important world. + +Speaking upon Special Occasions. Every American may be called upon to +speak upon some special occasion. If he does well at his first +appearance he may be invited or required by circumstances to speak +upon many occasions. The person who can interest audiences by +effective delivery of suitable material fittingly adapted to the +particular occasion is always in demand. Within the narrower confines +of educational institutions the opportunities for the student to +appear before his schoolmates are as numerous as in real life. Some +preliminary knowledge coupled with much practice will produce deep +satisfaction upon successful achievement and result in rapid steps of +self-development. + +Without pretending to provide for all possible circumstances in which +students and others may be called upon to speak, this chapter will +list some of the special occasions for which speeches should be +prepared. + +Speeches of Presiding Officers. On practically all occasions there is +a presiding officer whose chief duty is to introduce to the audience +the various speakers. The one great fault of speeches of introduction +is that they are too long. The introducer sincerely means not to +consume too much time, but in the endeavor to do justice to the +occasion or the speaker he becomes involved in his remarks until they +wander far from his definite purpose. He wearies the audience before +the important speaker begins. An introducer should not become so +unconscious of his real task as to fall into this error. In other +cases the fault is not so innocent. Many a person called upon to +introduce a speaker takes advantage of the chance to express his own +opinions. He drops into the discourtesy of using for his own ends a +condition of passive attention which was not created for him. One +large audience which had assembled to hear a lecturer was kept from +listening to him while for twenty minutes the introducer aired his own +pet theories. Of course members of the audience discussed among +themselves the inappropriateness of such remarks, but it is doubtful +whether any criticism reached the offender. + +A newspaper recently had the courage to voice the feelings of +audiences. + + It seems that a good deal of the time of the audience at the + Coliseum the other night was taken by those who introduced + the speakers of the evening. We are told in one account of + the meeting that the audience was at times impatient of + these preliminaries and even howled once or twice for those + it had come to hear.... We are informed that all those + introducing the speakers said something about not having + risen to speak at length, and that one of them protested his + inability to speak with any facility. Both these professions + are characteristic of those introducing speakers of the + evening. Yet, strangely enough, the same always happens. + That is, the preliminaries wear the audience out before the + people it came to hear can get at it. + +In introducing a speaker never be too long-winded. Tactfully, +gracefully, courteously, put before the audience such facts as the +occasion, the reason for the topic of the speech, the fitness and +appropriateness of the choice of the speaker, then present the man or +woman. Be extremely careful of facts and names. A nominating speaker +at a great political convention ruined the effect of a speech by +confusedly giving several first names to a distinguished man. It is +embarrassing to a speaker to have to correct at the very beginning of +his remarks a misstatement made by the presiding officer. But a man +from one university cannot allow the audience to identify him with +another. The author of a book wants its title correctly given. A +public official desires to be associated in people's minds with the +department he actually controls. + +The main purpose of a speech of introduction is to do for the +succeeding speaker what the chapter on beginning the speech +suggested--to render the audience attentive and well-disposed, to +introduce the topic, and in addition to present the speaker. + +Choosing a Theme. The speaker at a special occasion must choose the +theme with due regard to the subject and the occasion. Frequently his +theme will be suggested to him, so that it will already bear a close +relation to the occasion when he begins its preparation. The next +matter he must consider with extreme care is the treatment. Shall it be +serious, informative, argumentative, humorous, scoffing, ironic? To +decide this he must weigh carefully the significance of the occasion. +Selecting the inappropriate manner of treatment means risking the +success of the speech. Recall how many men and speeches you have heard +criticized as being "out of harmony with the meeting," or "not in +spirit with the proceedings," and you will realize how necessary to +the successful presentation is this delicate adjustment of the speech +to the mood of the circumstances. + +The After-dinner Speech. When men and women have met to partake of +good food under charming surroundings and have enjoyed legitimate +gastronomic delights it is regrettable that a disagreeable element +should be added by a series of dull, long-winded, un-appropriate +after-dinner speeches. The preceding adjectives suggest the chief +faults of those persons who are repeatedly asked to speak upon such +occasions. They so often miss the mark. Because after-dinner speaking +is so informal it is proportionally difficult. When called upon, a +person feels that he must acknowledge the compliment by saying +something. This, however, is not really enough. He must choose his +theme and style of treatment from the occasion. If the toastmaster +assign the topic he is safe so far as that is concerned, but he must +still be careful of his treatment. + +A speaker at a dinner of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in which +membership is awarded for rank in cultural as contrasted with +practical, technical studies, seized upon the chance to deliver a +rather long, quite detailed legal explanation of the parole system for +convicted offenders against laws. At a dinner given by the +Pennsylvania Society in a state far from their original homes the +members were praised to the skies for preserving the love of their +native state and marking their identity in a district so distant and +different. This was quite appropriate for an introduction but the +speaker then turned abruptly to one of his political speeches and +berated the foreigner in America for not becoming at once an entirely +made-over citizen. The speech contradicted its own sentiments. A wrong +emphasis was placed upon its material. A disquieting impression was +made upon the Pennsylvanians. At the conclusion they felt that they +were guilty for having kept the love of their native soil; according +to the tone of the speaker they should have accepted their new +residence and wiped out all traces of any early ties. + +An after-dinner speaker should remember that dinners are usually marks +of sociability, goodfellowship, congratulation, celebration, +commemoration. Speeches should answer to such motives. The apt +illustration, the clever twist, the really good story or anecdote, the +surprise ending, all have their places here, if they are used with +grace, good humor, and tact. This does not preclude elements of +information and seriousness, but such matters should be introduced +skilfully, discussed sparingly, enforced pointedly. + +The Commemorative Speech. Besides dinners, other gatherings may +require commemorative addresses. These speeches are longer, more +formal. The success of a debating team, the successful season of an +athletic organization, the termination of a civic project, the +election of a candidate, the celebration of an historic event, the +tribute to a great man, suggest the kinds of occasions in which +commemorative addresses should be made. + +Chosen with more care than the after-dinner speaker, the person on +such an occasion has larger themes with which to deal, a longer time +for their development, and an audience more surely attuned to +sympathetic reception. He has more time for preparation also. In minor +circumstances, such as the first three or four enumerated in the +preceding paragraph, the note is usually congratulation for victory. +Except in tone and length these speeches are not very different from +after-dinner remarks. But when the occasion is more dignified, the +circumstances more significant, addresses take on a different aspect. +They become more soberly judicial, more temperately laudatory, more +feelingly impressive. At such times public speaking approaches most +closely to the old-fashioned idea of oratory, now so rapidly passing +away, in its attempt to impress upon the audience the greatness of the +occasion in which it is participating. The laying of a corner-stone, +the completion of a monument or building, a national holiday, the +birthday of a great man, the date of an epoch-marking event, bring +forth eulogistic tributes like Webster's speech at Bunker Hill, +Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Secretary Lane's Flag Day speech. + +False Eloquence. The beginner will not have many opportunities of +delivering such remarkable addresses, but in his small sphere he will +have chances to do similar things. He must beware of several faults of +which the unwary are usually guilty. Recognizing the wonderful +eloquence of the masterpieces of such kinds of address he may want to +reproduce its effects by imitating its apparent methods. Nothing could +be worse. The style of the great eulogy, born of the occasion and the +speaker, becomes only exaggerated bombast and nonsense from the lips +of a student. Exaggeration, high sounding terms, flowery language, +involved constructions, do not produce eloquence in the speaker. They +produce discomfort, often smiles of ridicule, in the audience. Many a +student intending to cover himself with glory by eulogizing the +martyred McKinley or the dead Roosevelt has succeeded only in covering +himself with derision. Simplicity, straightforwardness, fair +statement, should be the aims of beginning speakers upon such +occasions. + +Speeches of Presentation and Acceptance. Standing between the two +classes of speeches just discussed are speeches of presentation and +acceptance. In practically all circumstances where such remarks are +suitable there are present mingled feelings of celebration and +commemoration. There is joy over something accomplished, and +remembrance of merit or success. So the person making a speech of +presentation must mingle the two feelings as he and the audience +experience them. Taking his cue from the tone of the occasion he must +fit his remarks to that mood. He may be as bright and sparkling and as +amusing as a refined court jester. He may be as impressive and serious +as a judge. The treatment must be determined by the circumstances. + +The speaker who replies must take his cue from the presenter. While +the first has the advantage of carrying out his plan as prepared, the +second can only dimly anticipate the theme he will express. At any +rate he cannot so surely provide his beginning. That must come +spontaneously from the turn given the material by his predecessor, +although the recipient may pass by a transition to the remarks he +prepared in advance. + +The observations which obtain in the presentation and acceptance of a +material object--as a book, a silver tea set, a medal, an art +gallery--apply just as well to the bestowal and acceptance of an +honor, such as a degree from a university, an office, an appointment +as head of a committee or as foreign representative, or membership in +a society. Speeches upon such occasions are likely to be more formal +than those delivered upon the transfer of a gift. The bestower may +cite the reasons for the honor, the fitness of the recipient, the +mutual honors and obligations, and conclude with hopes of further +attainments or services. The recipient may reply from a personal +angle, explaining not only his appreciation, but his sense of +obligation to a trust or duty, his methods of fulfilling his +responsibilities, his modestly phrased hope or belief in his ultimate +success. + +The Inaugural Speech. In this last-named respect the speech of the +recipient of an honor is closely related to the speech of a person +inaugurated to office. This applies to all official positions to which +persons are elected or appointed. The examples which will spring into +students' minds are the inaugural speeches of Presidents of the United +States. A study of these will furnish hints for the newly installed +incumbent of more humble positions. In material they are likely to be +retrospective and anticipatory. They trace past causes up to present +effects, then pass on to discuss future plans and methods. Every +officer in his official capacity has something to do. Newspaper +articles will give you ideas of what officials should be doing. The +office holder at the beginning of his term should make clear to his +constituency, his organization, his class, his society, his school, +just what he intends to try to do. He must be careful not to +antagonize possible supporters by antagonistic remarks or opinions. He +should try to show reason and expediency in all he urges. He should +temper satisfaction and triumph with seriousness and resolve. Facts +and arguments will be of more consequence than opinions and promises. +The speech should be carefully planned in advance, clearly expressed, +plainly delivered. Its statements should be weighed, as everyone of +them may be used later as reasons for support or attack. To avoid such +consequences the careful politician often indulges in glittering +generalities which mean nothing. A student in such conditions should +face issues squarely, and without stirring up unnecessary antagonism, +announce his principles clearly and firmly. If he has changed his +opinion upon any subject he may just as well state his position so +that no misunderstanding may arise later. + +In the exercise of his regular activities a person will have many +opportunities to deliver this kind of speech. + +The Nominating Speech. Recommendation of himself by a candidate for +office does not fall within the plan of this book. Students, however, +may indulge in canvassing votes for their favorite candidates, and +this in some instances, leads to public speaking in class and mass +meetings, assemblies, and the like. Of similar import is the +nominating speech in which a member of a society, committee, meeting, +offers the name of his candidate for the votes of as many as will +indorse him. In nominating, it is a usual trick of arrangement to give +first all the qualifications of the person whose election is to be +urged, advancing all reasons possible for the choice, and uttering his +name only in the very last words of the nominating speech. This plan +works up to a cumulative effect which should deeply impress the +hearers at the mention of the candidate's name. + +In nominating speeches and in arguments supporting a candidate the +deliverer should remember two things. Constructive proof is better +than destructive attack; assertion of opinion and personal preference +is not proof. If it seems necessary at times to show the fitness of +one candidate by contrast with another, never descend to +personalities, never inject a tone of personal attack, of cheap wit, +of ill-natured abuse. If such practices are resorted to by others, +answer or disregard them with the courteous attention they deserve, no +more. Do not allow yourself to be drawn into any discussion remote +from the main issue--the qualifications of your own candidate. If you +speak frequently upon such a theme--as you may during an extended +campaign--notice which of your arguments make the strongest +impressions upon the hearers. Discard the weaker ones to place more +and more emphasis upon the convincing reasons. Never fail to study +other speakers engaged in similar attempts. American life every day +provides you with illustrations to study. + +The Speech in Support of a Measure. When, instead of a candidate, you +are supporting some measure to be adopted, some reform to be +instituted, some change to be inaugurated, your task is easier in one +respect. There will be less temptation to indulge in personal matters. +You will find it easier to adhere to your theme. In such attempts to +mold public opinion--whether it be the collective opinion of a small +school class, or a million voters--you will find opportunities for the +inclusion of everything you know of the particular subject and of all +human nature. Convinced yourself of the worthiness of your cause, bend +every mental and intellectual effort to making others understand as +you do, see as you do. If your reasoning is clear and converting, if +your manner is direct and sincere, you should be able to induce others +to believe as you do. + +The Persuasive Speech. In public speaking upon occasions when votes +are to be cast, where reforms are to be instituted, where changes are +to be inaugurated, you have not finished when you have turned the +mental attitude, and done no more. You must arouse the will to act. +Votes must be cast for the measure you approve. The reform you urge +must be financed at once. The change must be registered. To accomplish +such a purpose you must do more than merely prove; you must persuade. + +In the use of his power over people to induce them to noble, +high-minded action lies the supreme importance of the public speaker. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Choose some recent event which you and your friends might celebrate +by a dinner. As toastmaster, deliver the first after-dinner remarks +drawing attention to the occasion and introducing some one to speak. + +2. Deliver the after-dinner speech just introduced. + +3. Introduce some other member of the class, who is not closely +connected with the event being celebrated, and who therefore is a +guest. + +4. Deliver this speech, being careful to make your remarks correspond +to the preceding. + +5. A debating team has won a victory. Deliver the speech such a +victory deserves. + +6. An athletic team has won a victory. As a non-participant, present +the trophy. + +7. An athletic team has finished a season without winning the +championship. Speak upon such a result. + +8. The city or state has finished some great project. Speak upon its +significance. + +9. Address an audience of girls or women upon their right to vote. + +10. Speak in approval of some recently elected official in your +community. + +11. Choose some single event in the history of your immediate +locality. Speak upon it. + +12. Deliver a commemorative address suitable for the next holiday. + +13. Bring into prominence some man or woman connected with the past of +your community. + +14. An unheralded hero. + +15. "They also serve who only stand and wait." + +16. "Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war." + +17. Deliver the speech to accompany the presentation of a set of +books. + +18. Present to your community some needed memorial park, building, or +other monument. + +19. Accept the gift for the community. + +20. Challenge another class to debate. + +21. Urge upon some organization support of some civic measure. + +22. As a representative of the students present some request to the +authorities. + +23. A meeting has been called to hear you because of your association +with some organization or movement. Deliver the speech. + +24. Some measure or movement is not being supported as it should be. A +meeting of people likely to be interested has been called. Address the +meeting. + +25. Appeal to your immediate associates to support some charitable +work. + +26. Some organization has recently started a new project. Speak to it +upon its task. + +27. An organization has successfully accomplished a new project. +Congratulate it. + +28. Some early associate of yours has won recognition or success or +fame away from home. He is about to return. Speak to your companions +showing why they should honor him. + +29. Choose some person or event worthy of commemoration. Arrange a +series of detailed topics and distribute them among members of the +class. Set a day for their presentation. + +30. Choose a chairman. On the appointed day have him introduce the +topic and the speakers. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DRAMATICS + + +Difference between Public Speaking and Acting. In practically all the +aspects of public speaking you deliver your own thoughts in your own +words. In dramatic presentation you deliver the words already written +by some one else; and in addition, while you are delivering these +remarks you speak as though you were no longer yourself, but a totally +different person. This is the chief distinction between speaking in +public and acting. While you must memorize the lines you deliver when +you try to act like a character other than yourself, speeches in +dramatic production are not like usual memorized selections. Usually a +memorized selection does not express the feelings or opinions of a +certain character, but is likely to be descriptive or narrative. Both +prose and verse passages contain more than the uttered words of a +single person. + +As preparation for exercise in dramatics, whether simple or elaborate, +training in memorizing and practice in speaking are extremely +valuable. Memorizing may make the material grow so familiar that it +loses its interest for the speaker. Pupils frequently recite committed +material so listlessly that they merely bore hearers. Such a +disposition to monotony should be neutralized by the ability to speak +well in public. + +Naturalness and Sincerity. When you speak lines from a play inject as +much naturalness and sincerity into your delivery as you can command. +Speak the words as though they really express your own ideas and +feelings. If you feel that you must exaggerate slightly because of the +impression the remark is intended to make, rely more upon emphasis +than upon any other device to secure an effect. Never slip into an +affected manner of delivering any speech. No matter what kind of +acting you have seen upon amateur or professional stage, you must +remember that moderation is the first essential of the best acting. +Recall what Shakespeare had Hamlet say to the players. + +Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus: but use all +gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind +of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give +it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, +periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split +the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of +nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise. + +Character Delineation. In taking part in a play you must do more than +simply recite words spoken by some one other than yourself. You must +really act like that person. This adds to the simple delivery of +speeches all those other traits by which persons in real life are +different from one another. Such complete identification of your +personality with that of the person you are trying to represent in a +play is termed character delineation, or characterization. + +You may believe that you cannot represent an Indian chief or a British +queen, or an Egyptian slave, or a secret service agent, but if you +will recall your childish pastime of day-dreaming you will see at once +that you have quite frequently identified yourself with some one else, +and in that other character you have made yourself experience the +strangest and most thrilling adventures. When you study a role in a +scene or play, use your imagination in that same manner. In a short +time it will be easy for you to think as that other character would. +Then you have become identified with him. The first step in your +delineation has been taken. + +Visualize in your mind's eye--your imagination--the circumstances in +which that character is placed in the play. See yourself looking, +moving, acting as he would. Then talk as that character would in those +circumstances. Make him react as he would naturally in the situations +in which the dramatist has placed him. + +Let us try to make this more definite. Suppose a boy is chosen to act +the part of an old man. An old man does not speak as rapidly as a boy +does. He will have to change the speed of his speech. But suppose the +old man is moved to wrath, would his words come slowly? Would he speak +distinctly or would he almost choke? + +The girl who is delineating a foreign woman must picture her accent +and hesitation in speaking English. She would give to her face the +rather vacant questioning look such a woman would have as the English +speech flits about her, too quickly for her to comprehend all of it. + +The girl who tries to present a British queen in a Shakespeare play +must not act as a pupil does in the school corridor. Yet if that queen +is stricken in her feelings as a mother, might not all the royal +dignity melt away, and her Majesty act like any sorrowing woman? + + +EXERCISES + +You are sitting at a table or desk. The telephone rings. You pick up +the receiver. A person at the other end invites you to dinner. Deliver +your part of the conversation. + +1. Speak in your own character. + +2. Speak as a busy, quick-tempered old man in his disordered office. + +3. Speak as a tired wife who hasn't had a relief for weeks from the +drudgery of house-work. + +4. Speak as a young debutante who has been entertained every day for +weeks. + +5. Speak as the office boy. + +6. Speak as an over-polite foreigner. + +7. Delineate some other kind of person. + +Improvisations are here given first because such exercises depend upon +the pupil's original interpretation of a character. The pupil is +required to do so much clear thinking about the character he +represents that he really creates it. + +Dialogues. As it is easier to get two people to speak naturally than +where more are involved we shall begin conversation with dialogues. +Each character will find the lines springing spontaneously from the +situation. In dramatic composition any speech delivered by a character +is called a line, no matter how short or long it is. + +As you deliver the dialogues suggested by the exercises try to make +your speeches sound natural. Talk as real people talk. Make the +remarks conversational, or colloquial, as this style is also termed. +What things will make conversation realistic? In actual talk, people +anticipate. Speakers do not wait for others to finish. They interrupt. +They indicate opinions and impressions by facial expression and slight +bodily movements. Tone changes as feelings change. + +Try to make your remarks convey to the audience the circumstances +surrounding the dialogue. Let the conversation make some point clear. +Before you begin, determine in your own mind the characterization you +intend to present. + +Situation. A girl buys some fruit from the keeper of a stand at a +street corner. + +What kind of girl? Age? Manner of speaking? Courteous? Flippant? +Well-bred? Slangy? Working girl? Visitor to town? + +What kind of man? Age? American? Foreigner? From what country? +Dialect? Disposition? Suspicious? Sympathetic? + +Weather? Season of year? Do they talk about that? About themselves? +Does the heat make her long for her home in the country? Does the cold +make him think of his native Italy or Greece? Will her remarks change +his short, gruff answers to interested questions about her home? Will +his enthusiasm for his native land change her flippancy to interest in +far-off romantic countries? How would the last detail impress the +change, if you decide to have one? Might he call her back and force +her to take a gift? Might she deliver an impressive phrase, then dash +away as though startled by her exhibition of sympathetic feeling? + +These are mere suggestions. Two pupils might present the scene as +indicated by these questions. Two others might show it as broadly +comic, and end by having the girl--at a safe distance--triumphantly +show that she had stolen a second fruit. That might give him the cue +to end in a tirade of almost inarticulate abuse, or he might stand in +silence, expressing by his face the emotions surging over him. And his +feeling need not be entirely anger, either. It might border on +admiration for her amazing audacity, or pathetic helplessness, or +comic despair, or determination to "get even" next time. + +Before you attempt to present any of the following suggestive +exercises you should consider every possibility carefully and decide +definitely and consistently all the questions that may arise +concerning every detail. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Let a boy come into the room and try to induce a girl (the mistress +of a house) to have a telephone installed. Make the dialogue realistic +and interesting. + +2. Let a girl demonstrate a vacuum cleaner (or some other appliance) +to another girl (mistress of a house). + +3. Let a boy apply for a position to a man in an office. + +4. Let a boy dictate a letter to a gum-chewing, fidgety, harum-scarum +stenographer. + +5. Let this stenographer tell the telephone girl about this. + +6. Show how a younger sister might talk at a baseball or football game +to her slightly older brother who was coerced into bringing her with +him. + +7. Show a fastidious woman at a dress goods counter, and the tired, +but courteous clerk. Do not caricature, but try to give an air of +reality to this. + +8. Show how two young friends who have not seen each other for weeks +might talk when they meet again. + +9. Deliver the thoughts of a pupil at eleven o'clock at night trying +to choose the topic for an English composition due the next morning. +Have him talk to his mother, or father, or older brother, or sister. + +10. A foreign woman speaking and understanding little English, with a +ticket to Springfield, has by mistake boarded a through train which +does not stop there. The conductor, a man, and woman try to explain to +her what she must do. + +11. Let three different pairs of pupils represent the girl and the +fruit seller cited in the paragraphs preceding these exercises. + +12. A young man takes a girl riding in a new automobile. Reproduce +parts of the ride. + +13. Two graduates of your school meet after many years in a distant +place. Reproduce their reminiscenses. + +14. A woman in a car or coach has lost or misplaced her transfer or +ticket. Give the conversation between her and the conductor. + +15. Let various pairs of pupils reproduce the conversations of patrons +of moving pictures. + +16. Suggest other characters in appropriate situations. Present them +before the class. + +Characters Conceived by Others. In all the preceding exercises you +have been quite unrestricted in your interpretation. You have been +able to make up entirely the character you presented. Except for a few +stated details of sex, age, occupation, nature, no suggestions were +given of the person indicated. Delineation is fairly easy to +construct when you are given such a free choice of all possibilities. +The next kind of exercise will involve a restriction to make the +acting a little more like the acting of a role in a regular play. Even +here, however, a great deal is left to the pupil's thought and +decision. + +How much chance there may be for such individual thought and decision +in a finished play written by a careful dramatist may be illustrated +by _Fame and the Poet_ by Lord Dunsany. One of the characters is a +Lieutenant-Major who calls upon a poet in London. Nothing is said +about his costume. In one city an actor asked the British consul. He +said officers of the army do not wear their uniforms except when in +active service, but on the British stage one great actor had by his +example created the convention of wearing the uniform. In another city +at exactly the same time the author himself was asked the same +question. He said that by no means should the actor wear a uniform. + +In the next exercises you are to represent characters with whom you +have become acquainted in books. You will therefore know something +about their dispositions, their appearance, and their actions. Your +task will be to give life-like portraits which others will recognize +as true to their opinions of these same people. For all who have read +the books the general outlines will be identical. The added details +must not contradict any of the traits depicted by the authors. +Otherwise they may be as original as you can imagine. + +In the _Odyssey_, the great old Greek poem by Homer, the wandering +hero, Odysseus (also called Ulysses), is cast up by the sea upon a +strange shore. Here he meets Nausicaa (pronounced Nau-si'-ca-a) who +offers to show him the way to the palace of her father, the Bang. But +as she is betrothed she fears that if she is seen in the company of an +unknown man some scandalous gossip may be carried to her sweetheart. +So she directs that when they near the town Odysseus shall tarry +behind, allowing her to enter alone. In this naive incident this much +is told in detail by the poet. We are not told whether any gossip does +reach the lover's ears. He does not appear in the story. We are not +told even his name. Nor are we told how either she or he behaved when +they first met, after she had conducted the stranger to the palace. + +If you enact this scene of their meeting you will first have to find a +name for him. You are free to create all the details of their behavior +and conversation. Was he angry? Was he cool towards her? Had he heard +a false account? + +Before attempting any of the following exercises decide all the +matters of interpretation as already indicated in this chapter. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Molly Farren tries to get news of Godfrey Cass from a Stable-boy. +_Silas Marner_. + +2. The two Miss Gunns talk about Priscilla Lammeter. _Silas Marner_. + +3. The Wedding Guest meets one of his companions. _The Ancient +Mariner_. + +4. Nausicaa tells her betrothed about Odysseus. _Odyssey_. + +5. Reynaldo in Paris tries to get information about Laertes. +_Hamlet_. + +6. Fred tells his wife about Scrooge and Crachit. _A Christmas Carol_. + +7. Jupiter tells a friend of the finding of the treasure. _The Gold +Bug_. + +8. Two women who know David Copperfield talk about his second +marriage. _David Copperfield_. + +Memorized Conversations. You can approach still more closely to the +material of a play if you offer in speech before your class certain +suitable portions from books you are reading or have read. These +selections may be made from the regular class texts or from +supplementary reading assignments. In studying these passages with the +intention of offering them before the class you will have to think +about two things. First of all, the author has in all probability, +somewhere in the book, given a fairly detailed, exact description of +the looks and actions of these characters. If such a description does +not occur in an extended passage, there is likely to be a series of +statements scattered about, from which a reader builds up an idea of +what the character is like. The pupil who intends to represent a +person from a book or poem must study the author's picture to be able +to reproduce a convincing portrait. + +The audience will pass over mere physical differences. A young girl +described in a story as having blue eyes may be acted by a girl with +brown, and be accepted. But if the author states that under every kind +remark she made there lurked a slight hint of envy, that difficult +suggestion to put into a tone must be striven for, or the audience +will not receive an adequate impression of the girl's disposition. + +So, too, in male characters. A boy who plays old Scrooge in _A +Christmas Carol_ may not be able to look like him physically, but in +the early scenes he must let no touch of sympathy or kindness creep +into his voice or manner. + +It is just this inability or carelessness in plays attempting to +reproduce literary works upon the stage that annoys so many +intelligent, well-read people who attend theatrical productions of +material which they already know. When _Vanity Fair_ was dramatised +and acted as _Becky Sharp_, the general comment was that the +characters did not seem like Thackeray's creations. This was even more +apparent when _Pendennis_ was staged. + +If you analyze and study characters in a book from this point of view +you will find them becoming quite alive to your imagination. You will +get to know them personally. As you vizualize them in your imagination +they will move about as real people do. Thus your reading will take on +a new aspect of reality which will fix forever in your mind all you +glance over upon the printed page. + +Climax. The second thing to regard in choosing passages from books to +present before the class is that the lines shall have some point. +Conversation in a story is introduced for three different purposes. It +illustrates character. It exposes some event of the plot. It merely +entertains. Such conversation as this last is not good material for +dramatic delivery. It is hardly more than space filling. The other two +kinds are generally excellent in providing the necessary point to +which dramatic structure always rises. You have heard it called a +climax. So then you should select from books passages which provide +climaxes. + +One dictionary defines climax: "the highest point of intensity, +development, etc.; the culmination; acme; as, he was then at the +climax of his fortunes." In a play it is that turning-point towards +which all events have been leading, and from which all following +events spring. Many people believe that all climaxes are points of +great excitement and noise. This is not so. Countless turning-points +in stirring and terrible times have been in moments of silence and +calm. Around them may have been intense suspense, grave fear, +tremendous issues, but the turning-point itself may have been passed +in deliberation and quiet. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Choose from class reading--present or recent--some passage in +conversation. Discuss the traits exhibited by the speakers. Formulate +in a single statement the point made by the remarks. Does the interest +rise enough to make the passage dramatic? + +2. Several members of the class should read certain passages from +books, poems, etc. The class should consider and discuss the +characterization, interest, point, climax. + +3. Read Chapters VI and VII of _Silas Marner_ by George Eliot. Are the +characters well marked? Is the conversation interesting in itself? +Does the interest rise? Where does the rise begin? Is there any +suspense? Does the scene conclude properly? If this were acted upon a +stage would any additional lines be necessary or desirable? + +4. Read the last part of Chapter XI of _Silas Marner_. What is the +point? + +5. Memorize this dialogue and deliver it before the class. Did the +point impress the class? + +6. Consider, discuss, and test passages from any book which the +members of the class know. + +7. Present before the class passages from any of the following: + +Dickens _A Christmas Carol_ + _A Tale of Two Cities_ + _David Copperfield_ +George Eliot _Silas Marner_ + _The Mill on the Floss_ +Scott _Ivanhoe_ + _Kenilworth_ + _The Lady of the Lake_ +Mark Twain _Huckleberry Finn_ + _The Prince and the Pauper_ +O. Henry _Short Stories_ +Thackeray _Vanity Fair_ + _Henry Esmond_ + _Pendennis_ +Kipling _Captains Courageous_ + _Stalkey and Co_. +Hugo _Les Miserables_ +Tennyson _Idylls of the King_ + _The Princess_ +Arnold _Sohrab and Rustum_ +Stevenson _Treasure Island_ +Gaskell _Cranford_ +Carroll _Alice in Wonderland_ +Kingsley _Westward Ho!_ +Barrie _Sentimental Tommy_ + +Characters in Plays. In acting regular plays you may find it necessary +to follow either of the preceding methods of characterization. The +conception of a character may have to be supplied almost entirely by +some one outside the play. Or the dramatist may be very careful to +set down clearly and accurately the traits, disposition, actions of +the people in his plays. In this second case the performer must try to +carry out every direction, every hint of the dramatist. In the first +case, he must search the lines of the play to glean every slightest +suggestion which will help him to carry out the dramatist's intention. +Famous actors of characters in Shakespeare's plays can give a reason +for everything they show--at least, they should be able to do so--and +this foundation should be a compilation of all the details supplied by +the play itself, and stage tradition of its productions. + +In early plays there are practically no descriptions of the +characters. Questions about certain Shakespeare characters will never +be solved to the satisfaction of all performers. For instance, how old +is Hamlet in the tragedy? How close to madness did the dramatist +expect actors to portray his actions? During Hamlet's fencing match +with Laertes in the last scene the Queen says, "He's fat, and scant of +breath." Was she describing his size, or meaning that he was out of +fencing trim? + +Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Julius Caesar a detailed +description of the appearance and manner of acting of one of the chief +characters of the tragedy. + + Let me have men about me that are fat; + Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights: + Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; + He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. + * * * * * + Would he were fatter! But I fear him not: + Yet if my name were liable to fear, + I do not know the man I should avoid + So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much; + He is a great observer, and he looks + Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no plays, + As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music; + Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort + As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit + That could be mov'd to smile at any thing. + +In _As You Like It_ when the two girls are planning to flee to the +forest of Arden, Rosalind tells how she will disguise herself and act +as a man. This indicates to the actress both costume and behavior for +the remainder of the comedy. + + Were it not better, + Because that I am more than common tall, + That I did suit me all points like a man? + A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh, + A boar-spear in my hand; and--in my heart + Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will-- + We'll have a swashing and a martial outside, + As many other mannish cowards have + That do outface it with their semblances. + +In many cases Shakespeare clearly shows the performer exactly how to +carry out his ideas of the nature of a man during part of the action. +One of the plainest instances of this kind of instruction is in +_Macbeth_. The ambitious thane's wife is urging him on to murder his +king. Her advice gives the directions for the following scenes. + + O never + Shall sun that morrow see! + Your face, my thane, is as a book where men + May read strange matters. To beguile the time, + Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, + Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, + But be the serpent under't. He that's coming + Must be provided for: and you shall put + This night's great business into my dispatch; + Which shall to all our nights and days to come + Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. + +Modern dramatists are likely to be much more careful in giving advice +about characterization. They insert a large number of stage directions +covering this matter. Speed of delivery, tone and inflection, as well +as underlying feeling and emotion are minutely indicated. + + DUCHESS OF BERWICK + + Mr. Hopper, I am very angry with you. You have taken Agatha + out on the terrace, and she is so delicate. + + HOPPER + + [_At left of center_] Awfully sorry, Duchess. We went out + for a moment and then got chatting together. + + DUCHESS + + [_At center_] Ah, about dear Australia, I suppose? + + HOPPER + + Yes. + + DUCHESS + + Agatha, darling! [_Beckons her over._] + + AGATHA + + Yes, mamma! + + DUCHESS + + [_Aside_] _Did Mr. Hopper definitely--_ + + AGATHA + + Yes, mamma. + + DUCHESS + + And what answer did you give him, dear child? + + AGATHA + + Yes, mamma. + + DUCHESS + + [_Affectionately_] My dear one! You always say the right + thing. Mr. Hopper! James! Agatha has told me everything. How + cleverly you have both kept your secret. + + HOPPER + + You don't mind my taking Agatha off to Australia, then, + Duchess? + + DUCHESS + + [_Indignantly_] To Australia? Oh, don't mention that + dreadful vulgar place. + + HOPPER + + But she said she'd like to come with me. + + DUCHESS + + [_Severely_] Did you say that, Agatha? + + AGATHA + + Yes, mamma. + + DUCHESS + + Agatha, you say the most silly things possible. + +Descriptions of Characters. In addition to definite directions at +special times during the course of the dialogue, modern writers of +plays describe each character quite fully at his first entrance into +the action. This gives the delineator of each role a working basis for +his guidance. Such directions carefully followed out assure the tone +for the whole cast. They keep a subordinate part always in the proper +relation to all others. They make certain the impression of the whole +story as a consistent artistic development. They prevent +misunderstandings about the author's aim. They provide that every +character shall appear to be swayed by natural motives. They remove +from the performance all suggestions of unregulated caprice. + +Dramatists vary in the exactness and minuteness of such descriptive +character sketches, but even the shortest and most general is +necessary to the proper appreciation of every play, even if it is +being merely read. When a student is assimilating a role for +rehearsing or acting, these additions of the author are as important +as the lines themselves. + + +EXERCISES + +Analyze the following. Discuss the suitability of various members of +the class for each part. Which details do you think least essential? + +1. He is a tall, thin, gaunt, withered, domineering man of sixty. When +excited or angry he drops into dialect, but otherwise his speech, +though flat, is fairly accurate. He sits in an arm-chair by the empty +hearth working calculations in a small shiny black notebook, which he +carries about with him everywhere, in a side pocket. + +2. When the curtain rises a man is seen climbing over the balcony. His +hair is close cut; his shirt dirty and blood-stained. He is followed by +another man dressed like a sailor with a blue cape, the hood drawn +over his head. Moonlight. + +3. Enter Dinah Kippen quickly, a dingy and defiant young woman +carrying a tablecloth. She is a nervous creature, driven half-mad by +the burden of her cares. Conceiving life, necessarily, as a path to be +traversed at high speed, whenever she sees an obstacle in her way, +whether in the physical or in the moral sphere, she rushes at it +furiously to remove it or destroy it. + +4. Mrs. Rhead, a woman of nearly sixty, is sitting on the sofa, +crocheting some lace, which is evidently destined to trim petticoats. +Her hair is dressed in the style of 1840, though her dress is of the +1860 period. + +5. The song draws nearer and Patricia Carleon enters. She is dark and +slight, and has a dreamy expression. Though she is artistically +dressed, her hair is a little wild. She has a broken branch of some +flowering tree in her hand. + +6. Enter a Neat-herd, followed by King Alfred, who is miserably clad +and shivering from cold; he carries a bow and a few broken arrows. A +log fire is burning smokily in a corner of the hut. + +7. Enter from the right Ito, the cynic philosopher, book in hand. + +8. The rising of the curtain discovers the two Miss Wetherills--two +sweet old ladies who have grown so much alike it would be difficult +for a stranger to tell the one from the other. The hair of both is +white, they are dressed much alike, both in some soft lavender colored +material, mixed with soft lace. + +9. Newte is a cheerful person, attractively dressed in clothes +suggestive of a successful follower of horse races. He carries a white +pot hat and tasselled cane. His gloves are large and bright. He is +smoking an enormous cigar. + +10. She is young, slender, graceful; her yellow hair is in disorder, +her face the color of ruddy gold, her teeth white as the bones of the +cuttle-fish, her eyes humid and sea-green, her neck long and thin, +with a necklace of shells about it; in her whole person something +inexpressibly fresh and glancing, which makes one think of a creature +impregnated with sea-salt dipped in the moving waters, coming out of +the hiding-places of the rocks. Her petticoat of striped white and +blue, torn and discolored, falls only just below the knees, leaving +her legs bare; her bluish apron drips and smells of the brine like a +filter; and her bare feet in contrast with the brown color that the +sun has given her flesh, are singularly pallid, like the roots of +aquatic plants. And her voice is limpid and childish; and some of the +words that she speaks seem to light up her ingenuous face with a +mysterious happiness. + +Studying Plays. In nearly every grade of school and college, plays are +either read or studied. The usual method of study is to read the lines +of the play in rotation about the class, stopping at times for +explanations, definitions, impressions, general discussions. Such +minute analysis may extend to the preparation of outlines and +diagrams. The methods used to get pupils to know plays are almost as +varied as teachers. After such analytical study has been pursued it is +always a stimulating exercise to get another impression of the +play--not as mere poetry or literature, but as acted drama. + +This may be accomplished in a short time by very simple means. Pupils +should memorize certain portions and then recite them before the +class. Neither costumes nor scenery will be required. All the members +of the class have in their minds the appearances of the surroundings +and the persons. What they need is to _hear_ the speeches the +dramatist put into the hearts and mouths of his characters. + +The best presentation would be the delivery of the entire play running +through some four or five class periods. If so much time cannot be +allotted to this, only certain scenes need be delivered. The teacher +might assign the most significant ones to groups of pupils, allowing +each group to arrange for rehearsals before appearing before the +class. In some classes the pupils may be trusted to arrange the entire +distribution of scenes and roles. When their preliminary planning has +been finished, they should hand to the teacher a schedule of scenes +and participants. + +Whenever a play is read or studied, pupils will be attracted more by +some passages than by others. A teacher may dispense with all +assignments. The pupils could be directed merely to arrange their own +groups, choose the scenes they want to offer, and to prepare as they +decide. In such a voluntary association some members of the class +might be uninvited to speak with any group. These then might find +their material in prologue, epilogue, chorus, soliloquy, or inserted +songs. Nearly every play contains long passages requiring for their +effect no second speaker. Shakespeare's plays contain much such +material. All the songs from a play would constitute a delightful +offering. Nothing in all the acted portion of _Henry V_ is any better +than the stirring speeches of the Chorus. _Hamlet_ has three great +soliloquies for boys. _Macbeth_ contains the sleepwalking scene for +girls. Milton's _Comus_ is made up of beautiful poetic passages. Every +drama studied or read for school contains enough for every member of a +class. + +Some pupils may object that unless an exact preliminary assignment is +made, two or more groups may choose the same scene. Such a probable +happening, far from being a disadvantage to be avoided, is a decided +advantage worthy of being purposely attempted. Could anything be more +stimulating than to see and hear two different casts interpret a +dramatic situation? Each would try to do better than the other. Each +would be different in places. From a comparison the audience and +performers would have all the more light thrown upon what they +considered quite familiar. + +It would be a mistake to have five quartettes repeat the same scene +over and over again. Yet if twenty pupils had unconsciously so chosen, +three presentations might be offered for discriminating observation. +Then some other portion could be inserted and later the first scene +could be gone through twice. + +Assigning Roles. Teacher and pupils should endeavor to secure variety +of interest in roles. At first, assignments are likely to be +determined by apparent fitness. The quiet boy is not required to play +the part of the braggart. The retiring girl is not expected to +impersonate the shrew. In one or two appearances it may be a good +thing to keep in mind natural aptitude. + +Then there should be a departure from this system. Educational +development comes not only from doing what you are best able to do, +but from developing the less-marked phases of your disposition and +character. The opposite practice should be followed, at least once. +Let the prominent class member assume a role of subdued personality. +Let the timid take the lead. Induce the silent to deliver the majority +of the speeches. You will be amazed frequently to behold the best +delineations springing from such assignments. + +Such rehearsing of a play already studied should terminate the minute +analysis in order to show the material for what it is--actable drama. +It will vivify the play again, and make the characters live in your +memory as mere reading never will. You will see the moving people, the +grouped situations, the developed story, the impressive climax, and +the satisfying conclusion. + +In dealing with scenes from a long play--whether linked or +disconnected--pupils will always have a feeling of incompleteness. In +a full-length play no situation is complete in itself. It is part of a +longer series of events. It may finish one part of the action, but it +usually merely carries forward the plot, passing on the complication +to subsequent situations. + +Short Plays. To deal with finished products should be the next +endeavor. There are thousands of short plays suitable for class +presentation in an informal manner. Most of them do not require +intensive study, as does a great Greek or English drama, so their +preparation may go on entirely outside the classroom. It should be +frankly admitted that the exercises of delivering lines "in character" +as here described is not acting or producing the play. That will come +later. These preliminary exercises--many or few, painstaking or +sketchy--are processes of training pupils to speak clearly, +interestingly, forcefully, in the imagined character of some other +person. The pupil must not wrongly believe that he is acting. + +Though the delivery of a complete short play may seem like a +performance, both participants and audience must not think of it so. +It is class exercise, subject to criticism, comment, improvement, +exactly as all other class recitations are. + +Since the entire class has not had the chance to become familiar with +all the short plays to be presented, some one should give an +introductory account of the time and place of action. There might be +added any necessary comments upon the characters. The cast of +characters should be written upon the board. + +This exercise should be exactly like the preceding, except that it +adds the elements of developing the plot of the play, creating +suspense, impressing the climax, and satisfactorily rounding off the +play. In order to accomplish these important effects the participants +will soon discover that they must agree upon certain details to be +made most significant. This will lead to discussions about how to make +these points stand out. In the concerted attempt to give proper +emphasis to some line late in the play it will be found necessary to +suppress a possible emphasis of some line early in the action. To +reinforce a trait of some person, another character may have to be +made more self-assertive. + +To secure this unified effect which every play should make the persons +involved will have to consider carefully every detail in lines and +stage directions, fully agree upon what impression they must strive +for, then heartily cooeperate in attaining it. They must forget +themselves to remember always that "the play's the thing." + +The following list will suggest short plays suitable for informal +classroom training in dramatics. Most of these are also general enough +in their appeal to serve for regular production upon a stage before a +miscellaneous audience. + +Aldrich, T.B. _Pauline Pavlovna_ +Baring, M. _Diminutive Dramas_ +Butler, E.P. _The Revolt_ +Cannan, G. _Everybody's Husband_ +Dunsany, Lord _Tents of the Arabs_ + The Lost Silk Hat + Fame and the Poet_ +Fenn and Pryce. _'Op-o-Me-Thumb_ +Gale, Z. _Neighbors_ +Gerstenberg, A. _Overtones_ +Gibson, W. W. Plays in Collected Works +Gregory, Lady. _Spreading the News + The Workhouse Ward + Coats,_ etc. +Houghton, S. _The Dear Departed_ +Jones, H. A. _Her Tongue_ +Kreymborg, A. _Mannikin and Minnikin_ +Moeller, P. _Pokey_ +Quintero, J. and S.A. _A Sunny Morning_ +Rice, C. _The Immortal Lure_ +Stevens, T.W. _Ryland_ +Sudermann, H. _The Far-Away Princess_ +Tchekoff, A. _A Marriage Proposal_ +Torrence, R. _The Rider of Dreams_ +Walker, S. _Never-the-Less_ +Yeats, W.B. _Cathleen Ni Houlihan_ + +Producing Plays. Any class or organization which has followed the +various forms of dramatics outlined thus far in this chapter will find +it an easy matter to succeed in the production of a play before an +audience. + +The Play. The first thing to decide upon is the play itself. This +choice should be made as far in advance of performance as is possible. +Most of the work of producing a play is in adequate preparation. Up to +this time audiences have been members of the class, or small groups +with kindly dispositions and forbearing sympathies. A general audience +is more critical. It will be led to like or dislike according to the +degree its interest is aroused and held. It will be friendly, but more +exacting. The suitability of the play for the audience must be +regarded. A comedy by Shakespeare which delights and impresses both +performers and audience is much more stimulating and educating than a +Greek tragedy which bores them. + +The Stage. The second determining factor is the stage. What is its +size? What is its equipment? Some plays require large stages; others +fit smaller ones better. A large stage may be made small, but it is +impossible to stretch a small one. + +Equipment for a school stage need not be elaborate. Artistic ingenuity +will do more than reckless expenditure. The simplest devices can be +made to produce the best effects. The lighting system should admit of +easy modification. For example, it should be possible to place lights +in various positions for different effects. It should be possible to +get much illumination or little. + +Scenery. No scenery should be built when the stage is first erected. +If a regular scene painter furnishes the conventional exterior, +interior, and woodland scenery, the stage equipment is almost ruined +for all time. It is ridiculous that a lecturer, a musician, a school +principal, and a student speaker, should appear before audiences in +the same scenery representing a park or an elaborate drawing-room. The +first furnishings for a stage should be a set of beautiful draped +curtains. These can be used, not only for such undramatic purposes as +those just listed, but for a great many plays as well. + +No scenery should be provided until the first play is to be presented. +Certain plays can be adequately acted before screens arranged +differently and colored differently for changes. When scenery must be +built it should be strongly built as professional scenery is. It +should also be planned for future possible manipulation. Every +director of school dramatics knows the delight of utilizing the same +material over and over again. Here is one instance. An interior set, +neutral in tones and with no marked characteristics of style and +period, was built to serve in Acts I and V of _A Midsummer Night's +Dream_. Hangings, furniture, costumes gave it the proper appearance. +Later it was used in _Ulysses_. It has also housed Moliere's _Doctor +in Spite of Himself_ (_Le Medecin Malgre Lui_) and _The Wealthy +Upstart_ (_Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_), Carrion and Aza's _Zaragueeta_, +Sudermann's _The Far-Away Princess_, Houghton's _The Dear Departed_. +The wooden frames on the rear side were painted black, the canvas +panels tan, to serve in _Twelfth Night_ for the drinking scene, Act +II, scene 3. With Greek shields upon the walls it later pictured the +first scene of _The Comedy of Errors_. With colorful border designs +attached and oriental furniture it set a Chinese play. + +A definite series of dimensions should be decided upon, and all +scenery should be built in relation to units of these sizes. As a +result of this, combinations otherwise impossible can be made. +Beginners should avoid putting anything permanent upon a stage. The +best stage is merely space upon which beautiful pictures may be +produced. Beware of adopting much lauded "new features" such as +cycloramas, horizonts, until you are assured you need them and can +actually use them. In most cases it is wise to consult some one with +experience. + +In considering plays for presentation you will have to think of +whether your performers and your stage will permit of convincing +production. Remembering that suggestion is often better than realism, +and knowing that beautiful curtains and colored screens are more +delightful to gaze upon than cheap-looking canvas and paint, and +knowing that action and costume produce telling effects, decide what +the stage would have to do for the following scenes. + + +EXERCISES + +1. Read scene 2 of _Comus_ by Milton. Should the entire masque be +acted out-of-doors? If presented on an indoors stage what should the +setting be? Inside the palace of Comus? How then do the Brothers get +in? How do Sabrina and her Nymphs arise? From a pool, a fountain? +Might the stage show an exterior? Would the palace be on one side? The +edge of the woods on the other? Would the banks of the river be at the +rear? Would such an arrangement make entrances, exits, acting, +effective? Explain all your opinions. + +Read one of the following. Devise a stage setting for it. Describe it +fully. If you can, make a sketch in black and white or in color, +showing it as it would appear to the audience. Or make a working plan, +showing every detail. Or construct a small model of the set, making +the parts so that they will stand. Or place them in a box to reproduce +the stage. Use one-half inch to the foot. + +2. _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, scene 1. Interior? Exterior? Color? +Lighting? + +3. _Hamlet_, Act I, scene 5. Castle battlements? A graveyard? Open +space in country some distance from castle? + +4. _Comus_, scene 3. + +5. _The Tempest_, Act I, scene 1. + +6. _Twelfth Night_, Act II, scene 3. + +7. _Romeo and Juliet_, Act I, scene I. + +8. _Julius Caesar_, Act III, scene 2. + +9. In a long, high-vaulted room, looking out upon a Roman garden where +the cypresses rise in narrowing shafts from thickets of oleander and +myrtle, is seated a company of men and women, feasting. + +WILLIAM SHARP: _The Lute-Player_ + +10. A room, half drawing-room, half study, in Lewis Davenant's house +in Rockminister. Furniture eighteenth century, pictures, china in +glass cases. An April afternoon in 1860. + +GEORGE MOORE: _Elizabeth Cooper_ + +11. An Island off the West of Ireland. Cottage kitchen, with nets, +oil-skins, spinning wheel, some new boards standing by the wall, etc. + +J.M. SYNGE: _Riders to the Sea_ + +12. Loud music. After which the Scene is discovered, being a +Laboratory or Alchemist's work-house. Vulcan looking at the registers, +while a Cyclope, tending the fire, to the cornets began to sing. + +BEN JONSON: _Mercury Vindicated_ + +13. Rather an awesome picture it is with the cold blue river and the +great black cliffs and the blacker cypresses that grow along its +banks. There are signs of a trodden slope and a ferry, and there's a +rough old wooden shelter where passengers can wait; a bell hung on the +top with which they call the ferryman. + +CALTHROP AND BARKER: _The Harlequinade_ + +Long before any play is produced there should be made a sketch or plan +showing the stage settings. If it is in color it will suggest the +appearance of the actual stage. One important point is to be noted. +Your sketch or model is merely a miniature of the real thing. If you +have a splotch of glaring color only an inch long it will appear in +the full-size setting about two feet long. A seemingly flat surface +three by five inches in the design will come out six by ten feet +behind the footlights. + +Casting the Play. When the play is selected, the roles must be cast. +To select the performers, one of many different methods may be +followed. The instructor of the class or the director of the +production may assign parts to individuals. When this person knows the +requirements of the roles and the abilities of the members, this +method always saves time and effort. By placing all the responsibility +upon one person it emphasizes care in choosing to secure best results. +At times a committee may do the casting. Such a method prevents +personal prejudice and immature judgments from operating. It splits +responsibility and requires more time than the first method. It is an +excellent method for seconding the opinions of a director who does not +know very well the applicants for parts. The third method is by +"try-outs." In this the applicants show their ability. This may be +done by speaking or reciting before an audience, a committee, or the +director. It may consist of acting some role. It may be the delivery +of lines from the play to be acted. It may be in a "cast reading" in +which persons stand about the stage or room and read the lines of +characters in the play. If there are three or four applicants for one +part, each is given a chance to act some scene. In this manner all the +roles are filled. + +There are two drawbacks to this scheme which is the fairest which can +be devised. It consumes a great deal of time. Some member of the class +or organization best fitted to play a role may not feel disposed to +try for it. Manifestly he should be the one selected. But it appears +unfair to disregard the three boys who have made the effort while he +has done nothing. Yet every role should be acted in the very best +manner. For the play's sake, the best actor should be assigned the +part. A pupil may try for a part for which he is not at all suited, +while he could fill another role better than any one who strives to +get it. + +In a class which has been trained in public speaking or dramatics as +this book suggests, it should be no difficult task to cast any play, +whether full-length or one act. Performers must always be chosen +because of the possible development of their latent abilities rather +than for assured attainments. + +These qualities must be sought for in performers of roles--obedience, +dependableness, mobility, patience, endurance. + +Rehearsing. A worthy play which is well cast is an assured success +before its first rehearsal. + +The entire group should first study the whole play under the +director's comment. It is best to have each actor read his own part. +The behavior of a minor character in the second act may depend upon a +speech in the first. The person playing that role must seize upon that +hint for his own interpretation. + +It might be a good thing to have every person "letter perfect," that +is, know all his speeches, at the first rehearsal. Practically, this +never occurs. Reading from the book or the manuscript, a performer +"walks through" his part, getting at the same time an idea of where he +is to stand, how to move, how to speak, what to do, where to enter, +when to cross the stage. All such directions he should jot down upon +his part. Then memorizing the lines will fix these stage directions in +his mind. He will be assimilating at the same time lines and +"business." "Business" on the stage is everything done by a character +except speaking lines. + +At all rehearsals the director is in absolute charge. His word is +final law. This does not mean that members of the cast may not discuss +things with him, and suggest details and additions. They must be +careful to choose a proper time to do such things. They should never +argue, but follow directions. Time outside rehearsals may be devoted +to clearing up points. Of course an actor should never lose his +temper. Neither should the director. Both of these bits of advice are +frequently almost beyond observation of living human beings. Yet they +are the rules. + +Rehearsals should be frequent rather than long. Acts should be +rehearsed separately. Frequently only separate portions should be +repeated. Combinations should be made so as not to keep during long +waits characters with only a few words. Early portions will have to be +repeated more frequently than later ones to allow the actors to get +into their characterizations. Tense, romantic, sentimental, comic +scenes may have to be rehearsed privately until they are quite good +enough to interest other members of the cast. + +The time for preparation will depend upon general ability of the cast, +previous training, the kind of play, the amount of leisure for study +and rehearsing. In most schools a full-length play may be crowded into +four weeks. Six or seven weeks are a better allowance. + +During first rehearsals changes and corrections should be made when +needed. Interruptions should be frequent. Later there should be no +interruptions. Comments should be made at the end of a scene and +embodied in an immediate repetition to fix the change in the actors' +minds. Other modifications should be announced before rehearsal, and +embodied in the acting that day. + +The acting should be ready for an audience a week before the date set +for the performance. During the last rehearsals, early acts should be +recalled and repeated in connection with later ones, so that time and +endurance may be counted and estimated. During these days rehearsals +must go forward without any attention from the director. He must be +giving all his attention to setting, lighting, costumes, properties, +furniture, and the thousand and one other details which make play +producing the discouraging yet fascinating occupation it is. Such +repetition without constant direction will develop a sense of +independence and cooeperation in the actors and assistants which will +show in the enthusiasm and ease of the performance. Stage hands and +all other assistants must be trained to the same degree of reliability +as the hero and heroine. Nothing can be left to chance. Nothing can be +unprovided until the last minute. The dress rehearsal must be exactly +like a performance, except that the audience is not present, or if +present, is a different one. In schools, an audience at the dress +rehearsal is usually a help to the amateur performers. + +Results. A performance based on such principles and training as here +suggested should be successful from every point of view. + +The benefits to the participants are many. They include strengthening +of the power to memorize, widening of the imagination through +interpretation of character, familiarity with a work of art, training +in poise, utilization of speaking ability, awakening of +self-confidence, and participation in a worthy cooeperative effort. + +In a broader sense such interest in good, acted plays is an +intellectual stimulus. As better plays are more and more effectively +presented the quality of play production in schools will be improved, +and both pupils and communities will know more and more of the world's +great dramatic literature. + + + + +APPENDICES + +APPENDIX A + +_Additional Exercises in Exposition_ + + +1. The value of public speaking. + +2. How Lincoln became a great speaker. + +3. Studies in a good school course. + +4. Purposes of studying geometry. + +5. Explain the reasons for studying some subject. + +6. An ideal school. + +7. Foreign language study. + +8. Forming habits. + +9. Sailing against the wind. + +10. How to play some game. Give merely the rules or imagine the game +being played. + +11. Difference between football in America and in England. + +12. Exercise or athletics? + +13. Results of military training. + +14. The gambling instinct. + +15. Parliamentary practice. + +16. How to increase one's vocabulary. + +17. Is the story of _The Vicar of Wakefield_ too good to be true? + +18. The defects of some book. + +19. Reading fiction. + +20. Magazines in America. + +21. Explain fully what a novel is, or a farce, or an allegory, or a +satire. + +22. Why slang is sometimes justifiable. + +23. A modern newspaper. + +24. Select two foreign magazines. Compare and contrast them. + +25. Essential features of a good short story. + +26. Why evening papers offer so many editions. + +27. How to find a book in a public library. + +28. The difference between public speaking and oratory. + +29. Public speaking for the lawyer, the clergyman, the business man. + +30. Qualities of a book worth reading. + +31. Some queer uses of English. + +32. History in the plays of Shakespeare. + +33. How to read a play. + +34. Mistakes in books or plays. + +35. Defects of translations. + +36. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." + +37. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." + +38. "You never miss the water till the well runs dry." + +39. "Penny wise, pound foolish." + +40. Select any proverb. Explain it. + +41. Choose a short quotation from some poem. Explain it. + +42. Explain some technical operation. + +43. Explain some mechanical process. + +44. A range factory. + +45. Making electric bulbs. + +46. How moving pictures are made and reproduced. + +47. Explain some simple machine. + +48. A new application of electricity. + +49. Weather forecasting. + +50. Scientific or practical value of polar expeditions. + +51. Changes of the tide. + +52. An eclipse. + +53. The principle of some such appliance as the thermometer, the +barometer, the microscope, the air-brake, the block signal. + +54. Developing a negative. + +55. How the player piano is operated. + +56. How the cash register prevents dishonesty. + +57. How a new fruit is produced--as seedless orange. + +58. Mimeographing. + +59. The value of Latin for scientific terms. + +60. The value of certain birds, worms, insects. + +61. The life history of some queer animal, or insect, or plant. + +62. How accuracy is secured. + +63. The human eye and the camera. + +64. The fireless cooker. + +65. Choose some half dozen terms from any trade or business and +explain them. To sell short, margin, bull, bear, lamb. Proscenium, +apron, flies, baby spot, strike. Fold in eggs, bring to a boil, +simmer, percolate, to French. File, post, carry forward, remit, +credit, receivership. Baste, hem, rip, overcast, box pleat, batik, +Valenciennes. + +66. Building a musical program. + +67. Commercial art. + +68. Catch phrases in advertising. + +69. Principles of successful advertising. + +70. The Linotype machine. + +71. How I made my first appearance as a public speaker. + +72. Real conversation. + +73. Mere talk. + +74. The business woman. + +75. A slump in a certain business or industry. + +76. The Red Cross in war. + +77. The Red Cross in peace. + +78. Compare the principles of two political parties. + +79. A fire alarm. + +80. Why automobiles are licensed. + +81. The powers and duties of some city or county official. + +82. The advantages that this locality offers for certain industries or +kinds of agriculture. + +83. Society fads. + +84. The ideal office holder. + +85. New systems of government. + +86. Various forms of socialism. + +87. Collecting a debt by law. + +88. Explain some legal procedure as suggested by some term, as +mandamus, injunction, demurrer, habeas corpus, nolle prosequi. + +89. Explain the composition and work of the Grand Jury. + +90. The efficiency expert. + +91. A new profession. + +92. The advantages of a trolley car with both entrance and exit at the +front end. + +93. Labor-saving devices. + +94. A supercargo. + +95. Scientific shop management. + +96. Hiring and discharging employees. + +97. Applying for a business position. + +98. Causes of some recent labor strike. + +99. A labor union operates as a trust. + +100. Efficiency in the kitchen. + +101. Speeding up the work. + +102. Planning a factory. + +103. Making cheap automobiles. + +104. Uses of paper. + +105. New methods of furnishing houses. + +106. Making the home beautiful. + +107. New building materials. + +108. Designing and building a boat. + +109. The lay-out of a shipyard. + +110. Rules for planting. + +111. City government. + +112. Better methods of city government. + +113. How a trial is conducted. + +114. The juvenile court. + +115. Post office savings banks. + +116. Geographic advantages of this locality. + +117. Results of irrigation. + +118. How the farmer controls world prices. + +119. Relation between some distant event and the price of some article +in the corner store. + +120. New businesses in America with their reasons for existence. + +121. The latest improvement in this locality. + +122. Why certain cities are destined to increase in population. + +123. Model homes. + +124. Housing the inhabitants of large cities. + +125. The operation of a subway. + +126. Automobile trucks instead of freight trains. + +127. How Lincoln became President. + +128. Why Webster did not become President. + +129. The dead-letter office. + +130. The Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of +Great Britain. + +131. How the United States secured Porto Rico. + +132. A free trade policy. + +133. Commercial reciprocity. + +134. The protective tariff. + +135. Explain the application of some tax, as income, single, +inheritance. + +136. How the constitutionality of a law is determined. + +137. How laws are made by Congress. + +138. The Congressional Record. + +139. The Monroe Doctrine. + +140. The attitude of foreign nations toward the Monroe Doctrine. + +141. Differences between the Chinese and the Japanese. + +142. The failure of the Hague Tribunal. + +143. The part of the United States in a league of nations. + +144. Reasons for the conditions in Mexico. + +145. Our country's duty toward Mexico. + +146. The so-called Yellow Peril. + +147. Trans-oceanic air travel. + +148. Evolution of the airship. + +149. The geodetic survey. + +150. The census bureau. + + + + +APPENDIX B + +_Additional Exercises in Argumentation_ + + +1. Find in a magazine or newspaper some article in which conviction is +the prime factor. + +2. Find in a magazine or newspaper some article in which persuasion is +most used. + +3. Give examples from recent observation of discussions which were not +argument as the term is used in this book. + +4. Explain how arguments upon a topic of current interest would differ +in material and treatment for three kinds of audiences. + +5. The education of the American negro should be industrial not +cultural. + +6. To the Cabinet of the United States there should be added a +Secretary of Education with powers to control all public education. + +7. Separate high schools for boys and girls should be maintained. + +8. It is better to attend a small college than a large one. + +9. Women should be eligible to serve as members of the school board. + +10. Pupils should be marked by a numerical average rather than by a +group letter. + +11. At least two years of Latin should be required for entrance to +college. + +12. The honor system should be introduced in all examinations in high +schools and colleges. + +13. The study of algebra should be compulsory in high school. + +14. Courses in current topics, based upon material in newspapers, +should be offered in all high schools. + +15. Every high school should require the study of local civics or +local industries. + +16. Regular gymnastic work is more beneficial than participation in +organized athletics. + +17. Girls should study domestic science. + +18. The kindergarten should be removed from our educational system. + +19. Coeducation in schools and colleges is better than segregation. + +20. Secret societies should be prohibited in high schools. + +21. A magazine or newspaper which copies material from one in which it +first appears should be required by law to compensate the author. + +22. Moving picture exhibitions should be more strictly regulated. + +23. An exposition produces decided advantages for the city in which it +is held. + +24. A county fair is a decided benefit to a rural community. + +25. All young men in this country should receive military training for +a period of one year. + +26. This city should provide employment for the unemployed. + +27. Motor delivery trucks should be substituted for horse-drawn +wagons. + +28. Labor unions are justified in insisting upon the re-employment of +members discharged for a cause which they deem unjust. + +29. Farmers should study scientific agriculture. + +30. Capital and labor should be required by law to settle their +disputes by appeals to a legally constituted court of arbitration +whose decisions should be enforced. + +31. In time of peace no member of a labor union should be a member of +a regularly organized military force. + +32. Overtime work should be paid for at the same rate as regular work. + +33. All work should be paid for according to the amount done rather +than by time. + +34. Employers are justified in insisting upon the "open shop." + +35. Trade unions are justified in limiting the number of persons +allowed to enter a trade. + +36. This state should establish a minimum working wage for women. + +37. The street railway company should pave and keep in repair all +streets in which its cars are operated. + +38. More definite laws concerning the sale of milk should be passed. + +39. This city should institute government by a commission. + +40. This city should institute and maintain an adequate system of +public playgrounds. + +41. This city should provide more free recreations for its citizens. + +42. City government should be conducted by a highly paid municipal +expert hired for the purpose of controlling city affairs exactly as he +would a large business organization. + +43. A public building for community interests is a better memorial for +a city to erect than the usual monument or statue. + +44. Voting machines should be used in all cities. + +45. All public utilities should be owned and operated by the city. + +46. Judges should not be elected by popular vote. + +47. A representative should vote according to the opinions of his +constituency. + +48. This state should provide old-age pensions. + +49. Laws should be passed making it impossible to dispose of more than +one million dollars by will. + +50. The pure food law should be strictly enforced. + +51. Every state should have a state university in which tuition for +its inhabitants should be absolutely free. + +52. The Governor of a state should not have the pardoning power. + +53. No children below the age of sixteen should be allowed to work in +factories. + +54. Laws concerning the sale of substitutes for butter should be made +more stringent. + +55. Sunday closing laws should be repealed. + +56. The railroads of the United States should be allowed to pool their +interests. + +57. The present method of amending the Constitution of the United +States should be changed. + +58. This government should insist upon a strict adherence to the +Monroe Doctrine. + +59. The American Indian has been unjustly treated. + +60. Railroads should be under private ownership but subject to +government control. + +61. An educational test should be required of all persons desiring to +enter this country. + +62. The United States should own and control the coal mines of the +country. + +63. Members of the House of Representatives should be chosen to +represent industries, workers, and professions, rather than +geographical divisions. + +64. Woman suffrage carries with it the right to hold office except +where expressly forbidden in existing laws and constitutions. + +65. Instead of an extension of suffrage to all women there should be a +restriction from the previous inclusion of all men. + +66. All raw materials should be admitted to this country free of duty. + +67. All departments of the government should be under the Civil +Service Act. + +68. The Civil War pension policy was a wise one. + +69. The United States should build and maintain a large navy. + +70. A high protective tariff keeps wages high. + +71. Letter postage should be reduced to one cent. + +72. Laws governing marriage and divorce should be made uniform by +Congress. + +73. The present restriction upon Chinese immigration should be +modified to admit certain classes. + +74. The standing army of the United States should be increased. + +75. This government should establish a system of shipping subsidies. + +76. Repeated failure to vote should result in the loss of the right of +suffrage. + +77. The United States should not enter into any league of nations. + +78. The defeated central powers of Europe should be admitted to full +membership in the League of Nations. + +79. Japan should be prevented from owning or controlling any territory +upon the continent which belonged to China. + +80. Great Britain should establish Egypt as an independent country. + +81. Ireland should be organized as a Dominion similar to Canada and +Australia. + +82. The United States should establish a protectorate over Mexico. + +83. This country should demand from Germany an indemnity equal to our +expenses in the war. + +84. The former Kaiser of Germany and his state officials responsible +for the World War of 1914 should be tried by an international court. + +85. All European nations should agree to disarmament. + +86. Foreign missions should be discontinued. + +87. The Jews of the world should colonize Palestine. + +88. Commercial reciprocity should be established between the United +States and South America. + +89. This country has no need to fear any aggression from any Asiatic +race. + +90. The government system of Great Britain is more truly +representative than that of the United States. + +91. A railroad should pay ten thousand dollars to the family of any +employee who meets death by accident while on duty. + +92. There is no such thing possible as "Christian warfare." + +93. Vivisection should be prohibited. + +94. The dead should be cremated. + +95. Cigarettes should not be sold to boys under eighteen. + +96. Children under fourteen should not be allowed to appear upon the +stage. + +97. Socialism is the best possible solution of all labor problems. + +98. The Soviet system of government has details applicable to certain +conditions in America. + +99. No person should be forced to undergo vaccination. + +100. Labor interests can be served best by the formation of a separate +political party. + + + + +INDEX + + +ABBOTT, Lyman, 118 + +Abolition Movement, The, 185 + +acceptance, speech of, 284 + +acquired ability, 6 + +acting, 291 + +after-dinner speech, 281 + +Allen, John, 116 + +amplified definition, 203 + +amplifying and diminishing, 255 + +analogy, 233 + +analogy, incorrect, 252 + +analysis, 244 + +Anglo-Saxon, 51 + +anticipatory conclusion, 102, 105 + +Antony, Mark, 81 + +antonyms, 48 + +_a posteriori_ argument, 237 + +appealing to prejudice or passions, 247 + +appropriate diction, 54 + +_a priori_ argument, 236 + +argumentation, 218 + +_argumentum ad hominem_, 249 + +_argumentum ad populum_, 247 + +Aristotle, 97 + +arrangement, 151, 164 + +assigning roles, 312 + +attacking speaker's character, 249 + +attributes of speaker, 29 + +audience in debate, 262 + +authorities, 180, 232 + + +BACON, 5 + +Beecher, Henry Ward, 82, 83, 162 + +begging the question, 245 + +Birrell, Augustine, 114 + +brief, 28, 170 + +brief, making a, 187 + +brief, speaking from the, 191 + +briefing, selections for, 180 + +Bright, John, 29 + +burden of proof, 225 + +Burke, Edmund, 23, 65, 66, 80, 116, +162, 167, 172, 255 + +business, 322 + + +CALHOUN, John C., 66, 108, 206 + +capital punishment, brief, 173 + +cards, 134-5 + +casting a play, 320 + +causal relation, 237 + +cause to effect, 209, 236 + +Channing, William Ellery, 249 + +character delineation, 292 + +characters, description of, 307 + +characters in plays, 303 + +Chatham, Lord, 111 + +Cheyney, Edward P., 204 + +Choate, Rufus, 63 + +choosing a theme, 281 + +Cicero, 77 + +circumstantial evidence, 226 + +classification, 199 + +Clay, Henry, 249 + +climax, 301 + +coherence, 154 + +commemorative speech, 283 + +comparison, 208 + +complex sentence, 59 + +composition of the English language, 50 + +compound sentence, 60 + +conclusion, length, 99 + +consonants, 17 + +constructive argument, 256 + +contradiction, 244 + +contrast, 208 + +conversations, memorized, 300 + +conviction, 220 + +Crabbe, _English Synonyms_, 48 + +cross references, 137 + +Curtis, George William, 52, 54, 67, 120, 253 + + +DANIEL, John W., 119 + +debaters, 262 + +debating, 258 + +decision in debate, 260 + +deductive reasoning, 229 + +definition, 201 + +delineation of character, 292 + +delivery, 26 + +delivery of introductions, 89 + +Demosthenes, 8 + +description of characters, 307 + +Dewey, M., 139 + +dialogue, 294 + +_differentia_, 201 + +diminishing, amplifying and, 255 + +direct evidence, 226 + +discarding material, 146 + +division, 199 + +dramatics, 291 + +drawbacks, 8 + +dress rehearsal, 323 + +Dunsany, Lord, 298 + + +EFFECT to cause, 210, 237 + +elimination, 236 + +eloquence, false, 284 + +Elson, H.W., 131 + +emphasis, 22, 155 + +enthymeme, 231 + +enunciation, 23 + +Evarts, William M., 118 + +Everett, Edward, 67 + +evidence, 226 + +examples, 206, 232 + +exclamatory sentence, 60 + +explaining, 194 + +explanation, 232 + +exposition, 194 + +experience, 122 + + +FALLACIES, 251 + +false eloquence, 284 + +Fernald, _English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions_, 48 + +finding the issues, 267 + +Ford, Simeon, 114 + +Fox, Charles James, 9 + +Fox, John, 23 + +Franklin, Benjamin, 77 + + +GENERAL terms, 52 + +genus, 201 + +gestures, 26 + +getting material, 122 + +Gettysburg Address, 183 + +Gratiano, 6 + + +HALE, Edward Everett, 118 + +Hamlet's advice to players, 31 + +hasty generalization, 228 + +Hayne, 162 + +Henry, Patrick, 64, 84, 85, 112 + +Homer, 298 + +Howell, Clark, 119 + +Huxley, Thomas H., 150 + + +IDEAS and words, 38 + +ignoring the question, 246 + +importance, 212 + +importance of speech, 1 + +improvisation, 294 + +inaugural speech, 285 + +Incidents of Government Trading, 181 + +incorrect analogy, 252 + +increasing the vocabulary, 39 + +index, 130 + +inductive reasoning, 228 + +interrogative sentence, 61 + +interview, 125 + +introduction, length, 72 + +introduction, purpose, 73 + +introduction and audience, 76 + +invention and speech, 3 + +issues, 267 + + +JEFFERSON, Joseph, 120 + +Jefferson, Thomas, 117 + +judges, 268 + +_Julius Caesar_, 81 + + +KINDS of propositions, 822 + +Knox, Philander, 269 + + +LANGUAGE, 12, 197 + +League of Nations, 269 + +legal brief, 170 + +length of speech, 143 + +library, 136 + +library classification, 138 + +Lincoln, Abraham, 9, 30, 57, 65, 100, 103, 117, 148, 172, 183, 255 + +list of short plays, 314 + +long sentences, 61 + +Lodge, Henry Cabot, 76, 135 + +logical definition, 201 + +Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, 136 + + +MACAULAY, Thomas Babington, 52, 68, 160, 208, 233, 246, 268 + +making a brief, 187 + +manner in debate, 277 + +margins, 175 + +material of speeches, 121 + +McCumber, P.J., 268 + +memorized conversations, 300 + +memorizing, 28, 191 + +methods of explaining, 198 + +military leadership, 5 + + +NATURALNESS, 292 + +nominating speech, 287 + +notes, 133 + + +OBSERVATION, 122 + +organs of speech, 14 + +organ pipe, 14 + +Otis, James, 88 + +outline, 28,164 + + +PANAMA Canal, 110 + +particulars of general statement, 205 + +partition, 199 + +Penn, William, 258 + +periodicals, 139 + +peroration, 109 + +persuading, 218 + +persuasion, 237 + +persuasive speech, 288 + +Phillips, Wendell, 185 + +phrasing, 22 + +pitch, 21 + +place, 211 + +plan, 156 + +plays, characters in, 303 + +plays, producing, 315 + +plays, short, 313 + +plays, studying, 310 + +poise, 25 + +pose, 25 + +_Power Plant Engineering_, 187 + +prefixes, 41 + +preparation for debate, 266 + +preparing introductions, 89 + +preparing the conclusion, 95 + +presentation and acceptance, speeches of, 284 + +presiding officer, 261 + +presiding officers, 279 + +producing plays, 315 + +pronunciation, 24 + +proof, 232 + +proposition, 221, 265 + +propositions of fact, 223 + +propositions of policy, 223 + +proving, 218 + + +READING, 128 + +reading the speech, 27 + +rebuttal, restrictions, 276 + +rebuttal speeches, 266 + +recapitulation, 106 + +reducing to absurdity, 258 + +_reductio ad absurdum_, 253 + +refuting, 242, 251 + +rehearsing, 321 + +residues, 234 + +results of training, 10 + +retrospective conclusion, 101, 105 + +Roget's _Thesaurus_, 43 + +roles, assigning, 312 + +Romance, 51 + +Roosevelt, Theodore, 69, 100, 101, 104, 109, 114 + + +SANITATION, 70 + +scenery, 816 + +scholastic debating, 265 + +selecting material, 130 + +selections for briefing, 180 + +self-criticism, 192 + +sentences, 58 + +Shakespeare, 304 + +short plays, 313 + +short sentences, 61 + +Sidney, Sir Phillip, 90 + +simple sentence, 58 + +sincerity, 292 + +singing, 18 + +speakers in debate, 272 + +speaking from the brief, 191 + +speaking from the floor, 70 + +special occasions, speaking upon, 278 + +specific terms, 52 + +specimen brief, capital punishment, 173 + +speech in modern life, 2 + +speed, 20 + +stage, 316 + +statistics, 187 + +studying plays, 310 + +suffixes, 43 + +summary, 107 + +Sumner, Charles, 148, 160, 234 + +support of a measure, 288 + +syllogism, 229 + +symbols, 176 + +synonyms, 46 + + +TABLE of contents, 130 + +tabulations, 178 + +talk, 5 + +taking notes, 133 + +team work, 271 + +theme, choosing a, 281 + +Thesaurus, 43 + +thinking, 161 + +thought, 12 + +time limit in debates, 265 + +time order, 210 + +time order reversed, 211 + +tone, 15, 19 + +tradition, 248 + +transitions, 157 + +trite expressions, 55 + +Twain, Mark, 145 + + +UNDERSTANDING, 129, 196 + +unity, 152 + + +VAN DYKE, Henry, 115 + +vocabularies, 37 + +voice, 14 + +vowels, 16 + + +WASHINGTON, Booker T., 161 + +Washington, George, 103, 159, 206 + +Webster, Daniel, 10, 83, 84, 102, 106, 107, 111, 149, 205, 231, 254 + +Wilson, Woodrow, 69, 75, 105, 114, 117 + +wording the proposition, 224 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Public Speaking, by Clarence Stratton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUBLIC SPEAKING *** + +***** This file should be named 17318.txt or 17318.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/1/17318/ + 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