KING 1 
 
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Class IU42JH 
 
 Book. " ^ 3 1 
 
 Copyright!! . 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
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ORAL READING & 
 PUBLIC SPEAKING 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN R. PELSMA, Ph.M. 
 
 Professor of Public Speaking, Oklahoma A. & M. College 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 RICHARD G. BADGER 
 
 THE GORHAM PRESS 
 
Copyright, 1918, by John R. Pelsma 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 -f|J# 
 
 
 Made in the United States of America 
 
 The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A., 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book is a fundamental treatise covering the whole 
 field of oral expression except dramatics. It is intended as a 
 text-book for high schools, academies, normal schools, and 
 also for elementary college courses. The entire manuscript 
 was completed four years ago. Most of it has stood the 
 class room test for twelve years. Part I deals with oral 
 reading and the technique of expression, Part II treats of 
 the various forms of public speaking, and Part III contains 
 selections for reading and speaking. The text is complete in 
 itself; no supplementary books need be purchased by the 
 student. The book will thus prove invaluable to teachers 
 who do not have access to a large public speaking library. 
 
 There is a growing conviction on the part of educators 
 that in most of the preparatory schools our methods of 
 teaching English need revision, and that in all the schools 
 the class-work in English needs vitalizing; that since we 
 speak hundreds of times where we write once, relatively more 
 attention should be given to oral English than has been the 
 case in the past two decades. 
 
 In 1913 the Illinois Teachers' Association carried on an 
 experiment which proved that classes in English devoting 
 an hour a week to oral expression were, at the end of the 
 year, not only more proficient in writing English than the 
 parallel classes devoting all their time to written composi- 
 tion, but at the same time acquired the ability to speak ef- 
 fectively before an audience. 
 
 To meet this need the present volume has been prepared. 
 It is intended not alone for teachers who are conducting 
 separate classes in public speaking, but for all teachers of 
 English. When used as a text in connection with the regu- 
 
viii Preface 
 
 lar class-work in English, all parts of the book would not 
 necessarily be used by a single teacher with a particular 
 class ; but since the text is a complete treatise, teachers may 
 use it for all the work in oral English that should be in- 
 corporated in the regular four years of a high school course 
 in English. The best results are secured when the technique 
 in Part I is assigned simultaneously with the practical speak- 
 ing as outlined in Part II. When students make extempore 
 speeches they more readily appreciate the value of the drill 
 in technique. When the book is used with separate classes 
 in oral expression, the whole text would naturally be cov- 
 ered in one semester or in a whole year's course. 
 
 The author feels very grateful to the many publishers and 
 authors who have so generously given permission to use se- 
 lections and quotations from their productions. Special ac- 
 knowledgment is due Houghton, Mifflin Co. {Longfellow, 
 Whittier, Lowell, Emerson, Holmes, Hay, Coolbrith, Taylor, 
 Thaxter) ; Charles Scribners Sons {Lanier, Field, Stevens- 
 son, Holland) ; D. Appleton & Co. {Bryant, Halleck) ; P. J. 
 Kennedy & Co. {Ryan) ; Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co. {Mil- 
 ler) ; W. B. Conkley Co. {Wilcox); Mitchell Kennerley 
 {Whitman) ; and Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. {Foss). 
 
 The author also wishes to express his indebtedness to the 
 many excellent books on public speaking now on the market ; 
 to Professor E. D. Shurter for his valuable criticism ; to 
 his worthy instructors, including Professors H. B. Gough of 
 DePauw, S. S. Curry, School of Expression, S. H. Clark 
 and F. M. Blanchard of Chicago, I. L. Winter of Harvard, 
 and Miss G. E. Johnson of Wisconsin ; to his many interest- 
 ing students for valuable suggestions, and to his wife for her 
 encouragement and assistance. J. R. P. 
 
 Stillwater^ Oklahoma, 
 Februarv 1, 1918. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART ONE— ORAL READING 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter I. Introduction 15 
 
 Definitions — Value of Oral English — Who Needs Oral Eng- 
 lish?— How May the Ability to Read and Speak Well Be 
 Acquired? — Who Can Become a Good Reader and Speaker? 
 
 Chapter II. Phonology 23 
 
 Definitions — Technique of the Voice — Control of the 
 Voice — Breathing — Respiratory Co-ordination — Exercises in 
 Breathing and Voice Control. 
 
 Chapter III. Voice Culture 35 
 
 Definitions — Cultivation of the Voice — Vocal Exercises — 
 Placing the Voice — Tone Projection — Lisping — Stammering — 
 Care of the Voice. 
 
 Chapter IV. Enunciation and Pronunciation .... 46 
 
 Definitions — Table of Elementary English Sounds — Table 
 of Vowel Elements — Table of Consonant Elements — Enuncia- 
 tion — Pronunciation — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter V. Melody 64 
 
 Definitions — Table of Voice Types — Pitch — Compass — Key 
 — Exercises — Inflection — General Law of Inflection — Appli- 
 cation of General Law — Faults in Speech Melody — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter VI. Force 90 
 
 Definitions — Loudness— Volume — Intensity — Stress — Exer- 
 cises. 
 
 Chapter VII. Movement 106 
 
 Time — Rate — Pause — Transition — Quality — Rhythm — Sug- 
 gestions as to Reading Poetry. 
 
 ix 
 
x Contents 
 
 page: 
 Chapter VIII. Emphasis 122 
 
 Ways of Emphasizing — Rules of Emphasis — Climax — 
 
 Cautions — Exercises. 
 
 * 
 
 Chapter IX. Quality 134 
 
 Definitions — Atmosphere — Dominant Voice Qualities — In- 
 tellectual, Spiritual, and Vital Voices — Tone-Color — Emotions 
 — Word-coloring — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter X. Vocal Interpretation of Literature .... 153 
 
 Definitions — Vocal Interpretation — Classification — Thought 
 Analysis — Written Work — Directions and Questions for 
 Written Work — Specific Illustrations. 
 
 PART TWO— PUBLIC SPEAKING 
 
 Chapter I. General Observations 167 
 
 Introduction — General Preparation — Special Preparation — 
 Writing the Speech — Length of the Speech — Stage-fright — 
 Study and Practice. 
 
 Chapter II. Essential Elements — The Audience . . . ' . 184 
 General Characteristics — Kinds — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter III. Essential Elements — The Speech .... 193 
 
 Material — Style — Unity — Clearness — Force — Elegance — Ex- 
 ercises. 
 
 Chapter IV. Essential Elements — The Speaker .... 209 
 
 Physical Qualities — Mental Qualities — Moral Qualities — 
 Styles of Delivery — Power — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter V. Physical Expression 228 
 
 Purpose — Universality — Natural Gestures — Classification of 
 Gestures — Mechanics of Gesture — On the Platform — A Clos- 
 ing Word — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter VI. Forms of Public Address 248 
 
 The Essay — The Oration— Reproductions — The Popular 
 Lecture — Exercises. 
 
Contents xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter VII. Methods of Preparing and Delivering a Speech 260 
 
 Reading a Speech — Speaking Memoriter — Speaking Extem- 
 pore — Combined Method — Speaking Impromptu — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter VIII. Extempore Speaking 265 
 
 In Secondary Schools — Can Extempore Speaking be 
 Acquired ? — Outline — Exercises. 
 
 Chapter IX. Debating 276 
 
 Introduction — Definitions — Proof — Evidence — Argument — 
 Structure — Delivery — Manner of Delivery — Judges — Ethics 
 of Debating — Exercises. 
 
 PART THREE 
 
 Selections for Practice 295 
 
 Poetry 299 
 
 Prose 401 
 
 Selections appear in the Index under Title and Author 
 
PART ONE 
 ORAL READING 
 
ORAL READING AND 
 PUBLIC SPEAKING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Definitions. Oral English treats of the science and art 
 of reading and speaking the English language effectively. 
 It formulates the fundamental laws and principles of ex- 
 pressing vocally our thoughts and emotions. It may be 
 possible to express the thoughts of others, but quite im- 
 possible to express emotions not our own. The printed 
 page, at best, can record only the ideas and thoughts of the 
 writer. What the author felt is purely conjectural on our 
 part. Sympathetic experience is our best interpreter. 
 
 Oral English may be divided into two main divisions : 
 1. Oral Reading and 2. Public Speaking. 
 
 Oral Reading relates to the verbal reproduction and sym- 
 pathetic expression of the ideas and emotions of another. 
 The ideas and thoughts of an author can be made our own, 
 and these can be reproduced in the exact language of the 
 writer or speaker, but the emotions of another can be only 
 suggested. A reader can interpret the meaning of the 
 printed page and express this meaning to his auditors ; and 
 may to a limited extent feel emotions similar to those of 
 the writer or speaker, and be able to arouse concordant emo- 
 tions in his audience through proper voice modulations and 
 appropriate physical expression. 
 
 15 
 
16 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Public Speaking presupposes an audience, and refers to 
 the expression of our own thoughts and emotions. Private 
 conversation and public speaking differ only in the number 
 of auditors. Effective speaking, whether private or pub- 
 lic, must be governed in manner and character by the size 
 and nature of the audience. 
 
 Value of Oral English. Ruskin says, "If I could have 
 a son or daughter possessed of but one accomplishment in 
 life, it should be that of good reading." 
 
 The human race always has had some method of communi- 
 cation. At first only inarticulate sounds and simple signs 
 were used. Man's expression became more varied as his 
 thoughts and emotions became more complex. Mankind has 
 profited from many inventions, but from none other so much 
 as from the invention of articulate language. There is a 
 striking analogy between the development of speech and 
 of the general intelligence in the human race and in the in- 
 dividual. Vocal expression- preceded by many aeons a writ- 
 ten language. The child learns to talk many years before 
 he learns to write, and after he has learned to do both, he 
 speaks a thousand words to writing one. In actual prac- 
 tice, the communication of thought and feeling is, for the 
 most part, by word of mouth. 
 
 Literary Value. Poetry and song spring spontaneously 
 from the heart. The poem and the lyric, to be appreciated, 
 must be recited and sung. "Literature is not in the book. 
 She has to do with the living speech of men. Her language 
 is that of the lips. Her life is in the song and ballad, the 
 story and the oration, the epic and the drama, as they 
 sound and are heard of men. We, too, no less than the 
 scientist, must get behind the book to that of which the 
 book is but the record and notation, the mere tablet of 
 memory — to enchanted speech. Where there is no enchant- 
 ment there is no literature," says Percival Chubb. Litera- 
 ture is life. It must not merely be read but lived. It is 
 
Introduction 17 
 
 sensuous, and to be appreciated must be heard. Like a bar 
 of music, it must be played and sung before its beauty and 
 melody can thrill the heart. 
 
 The great literary masterpieces can never be appreciated 
 fully without being heard. Manifestly this is true of ora- 
 torical literature, which is addressed to a hearer and not 
 to a reader ; and it is quite as true of the idealized lan- 
 guage of poetry. To Shakespeare, as Professor Corson 
 points out in his little book, Tiie Voice and Spiritual Edu- 
 cation, "language was for the ear, not the eye. The writ- 
 ten word was to him what it was to Socrates, 'the mere 
 image or phantom of the living and animated word.' Read- 
 ing must supply all the deficiencies of written or printed 
 language. How comparatively little is addressed to the 
 eye, in print or manuscript, of what has to be addressed 
 to the ear of a reader! There are no indications of tone, 
 quality of voice, inflection, pitch, time, or any other of the 
 vocal functions demanded for a full intellectual and spir- 
 itual interpretation. A poem is not truly a poem until it 
 is voiced by an accomplished reader who adequately has 
 assimilated it — in whom it has to some extent, been born 
 again, according to his individual spiritual constitution 
 and experience." % 
 
 The art of printing has caused language to be overmuch 
 transferred from its true domain, the sense of hearing, to 
 the sense of sight. Then, too, the multiplication of books, 
 magazines, and newspapers in modern times, has encour- 
 aged silent reading. The practice of the olden time, when 
 the family gathered together to hear a book read by some 
 one of their number, gave the family a unit now largely 
 lost. The picture of Longfellow is realized rarely to-day 
 when a member of the household is asked to 
 
 . . . read from the treasured volume 
 
 The poem of thy choice, 
 And lend to the rhyme of the poet 
 
 The beauty of thy voice. 
 
18 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 .And the night shall be filled with music, 
 And the cares that infest the day 
 
 Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, 
 And as silently steal away. 
 
 Emotional Value. From the first year in the primary to 
 the last year in the college, the student daily has opportu- 
 nities for impression, but few opportunities for expression. 
 The child longs to express his ideas, emotions, his images ; 
 the adult is "cold and moveless as a stone." It is thought 
 that a practical man should not express, but suppress his 
 emotions. The result is that he soon learns that he is wholly 
 incapacitated to enjoy a beautiful painting, good music, fine 
 literature, or a summer sunset. Nature's laws cannot be 
 violated with impunity. 
 
 Proper emotions should be developed, cultivated. The 
 man who is merely a "thinking machine" is only half a man. 
 As we learn to sing by singing, we learn to smile by smil- 
 ing. We learn to be happy by making others happy; we 
 learn to love by loving. We must express what is within 
 us. Who has not been thrilled through and through by a 
 beautiful song, by a selection well read? Actors are fre- 
 quently moved to tears by the sound of their own voices. 
 We must express our iaeas, our thoughts, our ideals, or they 
 will suffocate within. Says Professor S. H. Clark, "I be- 
 lieve there is no better way to inculcate the love of litera T 
 ture than by having the pupil read it aloud. We talk 
 glibly of the sonorous rhythm of Milton's verse, but can- 
 not quote a line. We talk of the fertile imagination and 
 sublime passion of Shakespeare, but how many of us ever 
 pick him up for an hour's reading? We talk of the tender- 
 ness, of the homeliness of the lyrics of Burns, but never 
 read them." 
 
 Cultural Value. Jane Addams says, "The person of the 
 highest culture is the one who is able to put himself in the 
 place of the greatest number of other persons." Self iden- 
 
Introduction 19 
 
 tification with the characters in a drama, or the personi- 
 fication of the monologue develops the highest instincts and 
 the noblest motives in a child. The boy and girl must be 
 permitted to live their ideals found in literature. The abil- 
 ity to see, feel, and will as our associates ; to appreciate the 
 beauties in life through the eyes and ears of the masters, 
 is the acme of culture. Beauty and pleasure must be 
 shared. No life can develop without expression. 
 
 Professor Edward Dowden, in his New Studies in Lit- 
 erature, says, "Few persons now-a-days seem to realise 
 how powerful an instrument of culture may be found in 
 modern^ intelligent, and sympathetic reading aloud. The 
 reciter and the elocutionist of late have done much to rob 
 us of this which is one of the finest of the fine arts. A mon- 
 grel something which, at least with the inferior adepts, is 
 neither good reading nor yet veritable acting, but which 
 sets agape the half-educated with the wonder of its airs 
 and attitudinizing, its pseudo-heroics and pseudo-pathos, 
 has usurped the place of the art of true reading aloud, and 
 has made the word 'recitation' a terror to quiet folk who 
 are content with intelligence and refinement." 
 
 Social Value. "Education is social efficiency." "No 
 man liveth unto himself alone." Our joys magnify many 
 fold, when told, our sorrows decrease when poured into a 
 sympathetic ear. The ability to converse fluently, agree- 
 ably, accurately, with a well modulated voice is the outward 
 sign of a cultured mind. The voice is the thermometer of 
 the soul. Again, could not a long lonely hour be shortened 
 by reading a poem, a story to a sick friend? Why is not 
 this done more frequently? We are ashamed of letting 
 others know how poorly we read ! 
 
 Educational Value. Not long ago one of the world's 
 greatest athletes died at the age of thirty. Large external 
 muscles do not insure longevity. Strong internal muscles 
 are of greater importance — muscles of respiration and as- 
 
20 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 similation — muscles of life. A knowledge of their develop- 
 ment is of vital interest to every boy and girl. 
 
 Our memory is quickened by using the sense of hearing 
 and the kinesthetic sense as well as that of sight. Selec- 
 tions read aloud are retained in memory longer than those 
 read silently. 
 
 Confidence in your ability to express yourself in good, 
 pure, forceful English will encourage you to undertake tasks 
 that you would otherwise hesitate in attempting. 
 
 The student who can express well what is within him 
 usually stands at the head in every branch in school. 
 
 Vocational Value. Recently a Wall Street business man 
 said to a group of college students : "Unless you acquire 
 in your college course the ability to write and speak effec- 
 tively, it will not be worth the time and money spent upon 
 it." Every applicant for a business position must stand 
 a satisfactory test in the use of correct oral English. Who 
 wants a teacher with a rasping, throaty, shrill, irritating 
 voice ; a stammering, hesitating, mumbling clerk ; bashful, 
 forceless, lisping salesman; or a weak-voiced, ineffective, 
 "throaty" preacher or lawyer? 
 
 Thousands of men and women have put themselves on 
 record as saying, "Oh, if I could only make a good speech 
 to-day! the occasion is the opportunity of my life." 
 
 The ability to express effectively one's own thoughts and 
 to interpret vocally the thoughts of others is an inestimable 
 asset in the struggle for supremacy in the economic world. 
 To be able to speak to a purpose, clearly, distinctly, grace- 
 fully and forcefully is an open sesame to leadership. 
 
 Who Needs Orae English? Only those who expect to 
 live a Robinson Crusoe life can afford to omit a knowledge 
 of the theory and practice of the art of reading and speak- 
 ing. If you expect to communicate with your associates, 
 you need a pleasing conversation ; if you intend to convince 
 
Introduction 21 
 
 them, you need a logical and forceful address ; if you desire 
 to persuade them, you need an effective delivery; briefly, 
 -if you wish to be a man among men, take the advice of 
 Martin Luther, "He who speaks well is a man" 
 
 How May the Ability to Read and Speak Well be 
 Acquired? By following the laws and principles of vocal 
 expression patiently and intelligently; by persistently prac- 
 ticing under competent criticism. Practice alone does not 
 make perfect; but practice under criticism. Be your own 
 critic to a large degree. Heed well the suggestions made 
 by your instructor. Remember that what is worth doing 
 at all is worth doing well. One of the Swabodian principles 
 of muscular development demands that when you exercise 
 or lift a weight you must lift all you can if you desire to 
 grow strong physically. Exercise with light weights may 
 be sufficient to retain your health, but it will not develop 
 your muscle. So it is with reading and speaking. Every 
 time you speak or read do your very best; otherwise you 
 may hold your own, but you will not become more efficient. 
 
 Who Can Become a Good Reader and Speaker? Every 
 person with an ordinary intelligence and a normal physique. 
 Perhaps, you should possess a few other qualities. A desire 
 — a will — strong enough to overcome your vocal defects if 
 you have any; confidence in yourself and faith in your 
 purpose in life, and enough perseverance to conquer as oth- 
 ers have, who have gone this way before you. 
 
 A friend who lived on a farm adjoining that of Byron 
 King relates an incident connected with the latter's early 
 life. One day Dr. King came over to borrow a wheelbarrow. 
 It took him one-half hour to make known his errand. Dr. 
 King inherited about all the vocal defects in the catalog. 
 Through the wise teaching of a friend and by persistent 
 and heroic effort, he overcame them all. Dr. Byron King 
 is now president of the King School of Oratory and a 
 
22 Oral Readvng and Public Speaking 
 
 reader and speaker of unusual power and eloquence. The 
 old story of Demosthenes has had many modern parallels. 
 Certainly the masters of the art of speech, both ancient 
 and modern, did not become masters without laborious and 
 long-continued training. Such training was the lifelong 
 work of the Greek and Roman orators. Curran, the cele- 
 brated Irish orator, was so handicapped in his youth that 
 he was called "stuttering Jack Curran." He said of him- 
 self, "My friends despaired of my ever making a speaker, 
 but I would not give it up." Says one of his friends, "He 
 turned his shrill and stumbling brogue into a flexible, sus- 
 tained, and finely modulated voice; his action became free 
 and forcible; and he acquired perfect readiness in thinking 
 on his legs." With reference both to matter and manner, 
 Webster said of himself: "When I was a young man, and 
 for several years after I had acquired a respectable degree 
 of eminence in my profession, my style was bombastic in 
 the extreme. Some kind friend was good enough to point 
 out that fact to me, and I determined to correct it, if labor 
 could do it. Whether it has been corrected or not, no small 
 part of my life has been spent in the attempt." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 PHONOLOGY 
 
 Definitions. Phonology is the science of vocal sound. 
 It treats of the physical laws involved in the production of 
 sound, and the physiological laws governing all the organs 
 of speech. 
 
 Sound is the auditory sensation produced by the vibra- 
 tions of air or some other media. These vibrations in the 
 media are the result of the vibration of some object. For 
 example, a violin string is touched. The string moves to 
 and fro causing condensations and rarefactions in the air ; 
 these waves set in motion the ear-drum, and it, in turn, com- 
 municates these vibrations to the inner ear where very small 
 delicate cords are set in sympathetic vibration. This is 
 communicated to the brain by the auditory nerve. 
 
 Each string of a violin is said to have a certain pitch. 
 Pitch depends on the number of vibrations per second. The 
 number of vibrations depends on the length, thickness, and 
 tension of the string. The volume, or loudness, of the sound 
 depends on the amplitude or distance the string vibrates, 
 which in turn is caused by the force of the blow given the 
 string. The quality, or character of the sound is dependent 
 on the overtones, the texture of the string, and the resonance 
 of the frame work of the violin. 
 
 However, the violin is too simple in construction to serve 
 as a basis of explanation of the human voice. There is no 
 instrument made in exact imitation of the human speech 
 apparatus. The single reed-pipe of a church organ is a 
 near approach in principle, and serves well as an illustration 
 of its general structure. Again, the cornet serves very well 
 
 23 
 
M 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 when the lips are made to represent the vocal cords. 
 
 Before making this comparison, however, it will be neces- 
 sary to explain briefly the technique of the voice. 
 
 Technique of the Voice. In order to understand how 
 the voice is produced it will be important to sketch briefly 
 the anatomy of the vocal apparatus. 
 
 Frontal cavity 
 
 Hard palate 
 Soft palate 
 
 Tongue 
 
 'Root" of tongue 
 Base of tongue 
 
 Hyoid bone 
 
 Sphenoidal cavity 
 Nasal cavities 
 
 Uvula 
 
 Throat chamber 
 
 Larynx 
 Vocal cords 
 Cricoid cartilage 
 
 Median section of the head and neck, giving general side view of the organs 
 of speech and the resonators above the larynx. 
 
 The larynx, the most important organ in voice produc- 
 tion, consists of cartilages, muscles, vocal bands, true and 
 false mucous membrane, ligaments, etc. It is situated be- 
 tween the hyoid bone above and the trachea below. For a 
 complete description see any standard text on physiology. 
 
Phonology -' £5 
 
 With reference to the voice, the most important part of 
 the larynx is the vocal bands. They are the chief sound 
 producers. The false vocal cords lie above the true cords. 
 They fold over the latter in coughing, swallowing, etc. The 
 vocal cords are attached to the arytenoid cartilages which 
 move freely on their base, swivel-Jike, and the movements and 
 tension of the vocal cords are produced by adjustments of 
 these cartilages. The hyoid bone is at the top Gf the larynx. 
 It has no definite function in sound production except as it 
 affords attachment for the muscles of the tongue. 
 
 The glottis is the chink or opening between the true vocal 
 cords. 
 
 The tongue is a very important organ in phonation and 
 articulation. Its wonderful ability of adjustments in shape 
 and position in the mouth cavity determines the greater 
 number of modifications of tone resonance. 
 
 The uvula is the small curtain which closes the back of 
 the mouth. It and the soft palate determine the direction 
 the breath takes when it comes from the pharynx. If 
 dropped, the air goes partly through the nose, as in sound- 
 ing the letter "m." If raised, very little passes through the 
 nose. Snoring is caused by the vibration of this curtain. 
 
 The teeth, hard and soft palates, and the lips modify the 
 resonance and aid materially in phonation. 
 
 In comparing the voice to a single reed-pipe of a church 
 organ, three general analogies are noted : I. A box or wind- 
 chest into which the air is forced by the bellows ; II. A reed 
 or vibrator which is the source of the sound; and III. A 
 resonator, or resonance chamber, aiding in modifying the 
 volume and quality of the sound. 
 
 The air is pumped into the wind-chest of the organ and 
 as it meets resistance, it is under considerable pressure. 
 The only outlet is through the narrow slit between the edges 
 of the vibrator or "reed." The air, in passing between" the 
 free edges of the vibrator, causes these edges to oscillate in 
 such a manner that they open and close this narrow slit at 
 
26 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 regular intervals ; thus transmitting to the surrounding air 
 a series of sound waves of the same frequency. The air 
 chamber or resonator above the "reed," by virtue of its 
 resonating property, favors those vibrations that are adap- 
 table to the size of the hollow interior. Those vibrations 
 that are favored are re-enforced; those that are not, are 
 suppressed. Each pipe of the organ is so constructed as to 
 favor, or harmonize the vibrations of its own "reed." 
 
 In the human body the lungs act as the wind-chest. Air 
 is drawn into them and placed under pressure. It can 
 escape only through the narrow slit between two elastic 
 tissue membranes — the vocal cords — which form the "reed" 
 of our vocal machinery. The free elastic edges of these 
 cords vibrate and communicate these waves to the air cham- 
 ber above them in the same manner as the "reed" of the 
 organ transmits the sound to the resonator. The resonator 
 of the voice is the throat, mouth, and nose. 
 
 So far there is a great similarity between the single reed- 
 pipe of the organ and the human voice mechanism. Some 
 of the differences must now be noted: 1. The vibrator in 
 the organ always produces the same vibrations ; the vocal 
 cords can be regulated at will to perform the function of 
 many organ "reeds." 2. The resonator of the organ is as 
 unchangeable as its vibrator. The resonating chamber in 
 the human voice is adjustable and with proper care may be 
 made to re-enforce, modify and harmonize the sound waves 
 of all the minute shades of tones produced by the vocal 
 cords, normally ranging through two octaves. 
 
 The human voice may be compared, in effect, to the en- 
 tire church organ. Though the range of pitch is not so 
 great, the voice is capable of an infinitely greater variety of 
 vibrations and character of tone within its limited range. 
 It is claimed that Madame Mara, within her range of three 
 octaves, could produce 2100 changes of pitch,' which would 
 represent a successive change in the length of the vocal 
 bands of approximately 1/17000 of an inch. 
 
Phonology 27 
 
 Control of the Voice. The production and control of 
 vocal sound is a very complex process. The ability to co- 
 ordinate this complicated apparatus, more delicate than 
 any instrument ever manufactured, capable of producing in- 
 calculable modulations ; so attuned that it responds auto- 
 matically and unconsciously to* our mental perception, — 
 demands our utmost care and attention. 
 
 First of all, it must be observed that this complex ma- 
 chinery is co-ordinated by the nervous system. Parts are 
 under direct control of the will and parts are involuntary. 
 This complex machinery must be made to respond to our 
 mental percepts, that is, to the ideas we have to be expressed. 
 Without a definite, conscious effort this complex mechanism 
 must respond to our wishes. Hence, (1) definite mental 
 images and proper sound-perceptions develop; (2) the ca- 
 pacity and conscious control of the breath; and (3) control 
 of the vocal cords, resonance mechanism and other organs 
 of articulation; and (4) the harmonious involuntary adjust- 
 ment of all these processes. 
 
 Breathing. Voice is vocalized breath. In ordinary 
 breathing we inhale and exhale the breath with approximate 
 regularity. In reading or speaking, however, we inhale 
 quickly and exhale slowly, converting the exhalations into 
 vocal sounds. Now, as a fundamental prerequisite in the use 
 of the voice, we must learn to perform properly this inhaling 
 and exhaling process. How often do we hear people who 
 gasp for breath while talking, or who "get out of breath" 
 before finishing a clause or sentence. There is lacking either 
 sufficient breath-quantity, or breath-control, or both. The 
 proper management of the vocal organs requires that the 
 voice have due support and control. This involves the ne- 
 cessity of deep breathing. 
 
 There are three ways of breathing whereby the chest 
 capacity is enlarged and the lungs filled with air: Clavicu- 
 lar, or collar-bone breathing; costal, or rib breathing; and 
 
28 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 diaphragmatic, or abdominal breathing. 
 
 In clavicular breathing, the upper ribs are raised, the 
 breastbone is thrust forward, and the shoulders and collar- 
 bones are elevated. By this method, only the upper part of 
 the lungs is inflated; but the exclusive use of this method 
 (which may sometimes be required temporarily by disease 
 and permanently by tight lacing), is as bad for the voice as 
 it is for the health. In the first place, proper vocal support 
 is lacking. The lungs in this kind of breathing can be filled 
 only partially, and hence there is not sufficient reserve sup- 
 ply of air to produce a sustained tone. Secondly, it pre- 
 vents vocal control. As the shoulders and collar-bones are 
 forced upward, they press against the vocal organs, causing 
 a constriction of the throat; this necessitates an attempt to 
 control the breath in the throat, which was never intended 
 for such purpose; and this, in turn, causes the breath to 
 come in spurts, making the voice trembly, jerky, wheezy, 
 or "throaty." It rasps the vocal cords, and often results 
 in a huskiness known as "clergyman's sore throat." 
 
 In costal, or rib brea tiling the lower or floating ribs are 
 distended sideways, employing the middle portion of the 
 lungs in breathing. This method provides a larger cavity 
 than does clavicular breathing, and thus makes it possible 
 to produce a fuller, rounded, and more sustained tone. It 
 should be employed in connection with the lower portion of 
 the lungs, or deep breathing. 
 
 In diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing, the diaphragm 
 contracts, moves downward, while at the same time the ab- 
 dominal muscles expand the lower chest laterally, thus creat- 
 ing a large cavity for the air to enter. This is the method of 
 breathing that the singer or speaker must adopt. Deep 
 breathing is absolutely essential for a strong, pure, resonant, 
 sustained tone. It furnishes a reserve supply of air for a 
 sustained tone. It allows the throat freedom for proper 
 relaxation and control. It permits one to control the voice 
 from the diaphragm, and this is frequently necessary, as in 
 
Phonology 29 
 
 ringing, dynamic utterance. 
 
 Physicians and writers on hygiene have shown, from sta- 
 tistics carefully compiled, that comparatively few persons 
 breathe correctly; that is, so manipulate the diaphragm 
 that the breathing apparatus is used in the way best suited 
 to physical development. 
 
 Do you use the lower part of your lungs in breathing? 
 If not, you should learn to do so, for the muscles controlling 
 respiration are both involuntary and voluntary, that is, we 
 can by conscious attention acquire the habit of deep breath- 
 ing. In forming this habit, give primary attention to the 
 diaphragm, and the rib breathing will take care of itself; 
 think of filling the lower part of the lungs. Place the hands 
 above the hips, press firmly as you inhale, and you can soon 
 discover whether or not you are using the diaphragm in 
 breathing. 
 
 Respiratory Co-ordination. The delicate adjustment of 
 mental-perception, breath-control, and the voice mechanism, 
 must not be overlooked in cultivating a good speaking or 
 singing voice. Mental attitude has much to do with this 
 adjustment. 
 
 The amount of air which can be forced into the lungs is 
 estimated ordinarily as 330 cubic inches. The quantity 
 used in quiet respiration is about 30 cubic inches. This is 
 called tidal air. The quantity that can be added to this by 
 taking a deep breath is about 100 cubic inches. This is 
 called complemental air. The quantity that can be expelled 
 by a forceful expiration is about 100 cubic inches. This is 
 called supplemental air. The quantity that cannot be ex- 
 pelled at all is about 100 cubic inches, and is called re- 
 served air. 
 
 One very important fact that should always be borne in 
 mind is that all reading and speaking should be done with 
 at least 200 cubic inches of air in the lungs. This demands 
 frequent inhalations while speaking. When shall you take 
 
SO Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 breath? Whenever you can do so; each time there is a 
 rhythmic pause in the thought expressed. Again, the chest 
 should always remain expanded. The upper part of your 
 chest should never be permitted to sink. As you use the 
 lower part of the chest and diaphragm in respiration, there 
 is no necessity of any movement in the upper chest region. 
 This upper chest should be moved in pantomime only and not 
 for the purpose of respiration. It must be used for the pur- 
 pose of resonance. It acts like a drum. This chest reso- 
 nance is essential to the production of pure, clear, forceful, 
 resonant tones. The early collapse of the chest leads gen- 
 erally to dropping the sound at the end of phrases and gasp- 
 ing for breath at the pauses, two very common defects in 
 reading and speaking. 
 
 Get into the habit of breathing through the nose with 
 mouth closed when not using the vocal cords. When you 
 speak or sing, breathe through your mouth. 
 
 The lungs must perform two functions : breathing ( 1 ) to 
 support life, and (2) to produce pure tone. Some have great 
 difficulty in harmonizing these. Life breathing goes on con- 
 tinually ; it is paramount in importance and the speaker 
 must adjust his voice breathing to this. 
 
 The following are some simple- exercises for practice. 
 Two cautions in connection with practicing these and other 
 exercises that follow farther on should be carefully noted. 
 First, do not overdo the exercises. Never strain the lungs 
 or the vocal organs to the point of weariness or exhaustion. 
 Learn proper relaxation as well as effort ; the proper use 
 of the throat, for example, requires relaxation of the muscles, 
 quite as much as contraction. And secondly, systematic 
 and persistent practice is the thing that counts. Take ten 
 minutes, say, twice a day, and practice the breathing and 
 vocal exercises, and keep at it until faults are overcome and 
 new habits formed. It is the moderate and continued prac- 
 tice that counts. You cannot practice in an hour what 
 should be distributed through regularly recurring periods 
 
Phonology 31 
 
 during a week. Without overstraining, then, or without too 
 prolonged effort at any time, practice the following breath- 
 , ing exercises : 
 
 EXERCISES IN BREATHING AND VOICE CULTURE 
 
 I. Lie on your back on a couch and breathe normally, 
 quietly. This may be done in the morning before you get 
 up. Your body will then be free from all tight fitting cloth- 
 ing. You will discover that you breathe in the middle of the 
 body, not near your collar bone. 
 
 II. Now take in just a little more air than is needed. 
 Hold it a few seconds and then let go completely. 
 
 III. Take in more air ; hold it a little longer, and again 
 relax completely — let go all at once. 
 
 IV. Repeat I, II and III breathing through your mouth. 
 
 V. Sit erect in a chair and make yourself breathe in just 
 the same way you did while lying down, repeating II, III, 
 and IV. 
 
 VI. Now stand erect and perform II and III. 
 
 This may be difficult at first, especially is it difficult for 
 many girls. But intercostal, combined with diaphragmatic 
 breathing must be secured, or you may as well give up all 
 hopes of ever becoming a reader, a speaker, or a singer. 
 
 VII. Now open your mouth about an inch; keep tongue 
 lying flat and with no feeling of weight, between the lower 
 teeth, the tip touching the lower front teeth. Now open 
 your mouth in the back as well as in the front; open your 
 throat as wide as possible ; and while you are doing all this 
 take in a good, deep breath, and be sure your waist-band 
 seems to tighten. .By placing your hands on your hips you 
 may be able to detect this lateral expansion. Now let the 
 breath escape slowly, and control the escape by the dia- 
 phragm and not by closing the epiglottis. 
 
 VIII. Repeat VII, but as you let the breath escape say, 
 "ah," as lightly as you can, and then relax completely. Be 
 sure this sound is cut off short — just a little, little tap — not 
 
32 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 a prolonged ah — ah — ah, When you relax let go com- 
 pletely, and your breath will escape normally. It requires 
 an effort to inhale, not to exhale. 
 
 IX. Repeat VIII twenty times. You may get dizzy at 
 first, but if this exercise is practiced a short time daily you 
 will soon become accustomed to the excess of oxygen. 
 
 There are four points that should be carefully observed: 
 1. Be sure that your tongue lies perfectly flat, especially 
 in the back. £. Be sure that your mouth opens in the back 
 as well as in front. Let your jaw drop. This can be detected 
 by observing that the lower lip covers the lower front teeth. 
 Again, if you will place your finger against the side of your 
 face just in front of the ear you will notice a depression 
 forming as you open your mouth. 3. When you give the 
 sound of "ah" you must know that the breath is checked by 
 the diaphragm and not by closing the epiglottis. The breath 
 must never be held by any stoppage in the throat. 4. The 
 open throat is essential. In the initial stage of the yawn the 
 throat opens properly, and the jaw drops down in the cor- 
 rect way. This feeling of relaxation should be felt in per- 
 forming the above exercises. 
 
 X. Pant like a dog, only be sure your tongue stays at its 
 proper place — flat on the floor of the mouth. 
 
 XI. Repeat with one breath, the following line from 
 Browning: "Boot, saddle, to horse, and away." Have four 
 distinct diaphragmatic impulses. 
 
 XII. Laugh: Ha, ha, ha; ha, ha, ha. Note that you 
 breathe naturally with the diaphragm when you laugh, and 
 that the quick spurts of air causing the laughing sound are 
 controlled by the diaphragm. 
 
 XIII. To make sure that you are vocalizing all your 
 breath, use this test : Take a deep breath and at your ordi- 
 nary rate read as many lines as you can of the following: 
 
 Collecting, proj ecting, 
 Receding and speeding, 
 And shocking and rocking, 
 
Phonology 33 
 
 And darting and partings 
 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. 
 
 XIV. Practice for pure tone: 
 
 1. f'Yo ho, lads! Yo, ho. yo, ho!" 
 The captain calls to all below, 
 ''Joy, joy to all, for we must go, 
 Yo ho, lads ! Yo, ho ! yo, ho !" 
 
 2. O hark, O hear ! how thin and clear, 
 
 And thinner, clearer, farther going! 
 O sweet and far from cliff and scar 
 
 The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 
 Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: 
 Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 
 
 3. Since to all earthly work an end must come, our words of 
 farewell to a fellow-workman should not alone be those of grief 
 
34 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 that man's common lot has come to him; but of pride and joy that 
 his task has been done worthily. Powerful men so weave them- 
 selves into their hour that, for the moment, it all but seems the 
 world will stop when they depart. Yet, it does not stop or even 
 pause. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 VOICE CULTURE 
 
 Definitions. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of 
 tone — I. Pure, and II. Impure. 
 
 I. A Pure tone is one that contains only harmonious 
 overtones, and in which all the breath is vocalized. 
 
 II. An Impure tone is one that contains discordant sec- 
 ondary vibrations. These secondary vibrations usually 
 come from meeting obstructions in the resonating cavities in 
 their passage from the vocal cords. 
 
 The Pure tone may be said to be Normal, Oral, Falsetto, 
 Orotund, or Pectoral. 
 
 1. The Normal tone is one used in ordinary conversa- 
 tion. It has a pure, clear resonance. 
 
 2. The Oral is thin, feeble, — with the center of resonance 
 in the forward part of the mouth. 
 
 3. The Falsetto is shrill and clear; it is known as "the 
 false voice." It is heard where the voice is said to "break." 
 The vocal cords are tightly pressed together at one end, 
 permitting only part of their length to vibrate. In a culti- 
 vated voice there is no break in passing from the lower to 
 the upper register. 
 
 4. The Orotund is clear, smooth, and voluminous, with 
 the resonance in the upper chest. 
 
 5. The Pectoral is a deep, hollow, sepulchral tone, with 
 ,the resonance in the lower part of the chest. 
 
 The Impure tones are: Aspirate, Guttural, and Nasal. 
 
 1. The Aspirate is a breathy, hissing, whispered tone. 
 
 2. The Guttural is harsh, raspy, grating, and often 
 throaty. . 
 
 35 
 
36 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 S. The Nasal is a twanging, head tone with the centre 
 of resonance in the nasal cavities. 
 
 Cultivation of the Voice. It may be talking is such 
 a common thing that little attention is paid to the control 
 and cultivation of the voice for conversational and public 
 speaking purposes. 
 
 There are many beautiful women with dazzling complex- 
 ions and graceful carriage who when they open their mouths 
 to speak destroy the first flattering impression they have 
 made by a vulgar quality of voice. Again, there are those 
 who, in personal appearance, might be called plain, but who 
 have such pleasant and melodious voices that hosts of ad- 
 mirers are alwa}^s in waiting to be thrilled to admiration by 
 the sound of their pure, distinct, cultured, and agreeable 
 accents. 
 
 As an attraction for charming, a sweet, melodious voice is 
 invaluable and often outweighs many physical shortcomings. 
 
 The voice is a wonderful instrument, but it must be prop- 
 erly used to render its greatest service. By nature, nearly 
 all our voices are clear and pure. When we were children 
 we breathed naturally, and barring natural impediments, 
 spoke with clear, pure, pleasing accent. Modern social cus- 
 toms and the stress and strain incident to getting ahead of 
 the other fellow is daily occasioning many defective voices. 
 Back to nature is the cry of the voice specialist as truly as 
 that of the social reformer. 
 
 To control the breath properly, and to co-ordinate men- 
 tal images, breath, and resonance, are the two fundamental 
 principles in vocal culture. The muscles of the vocal cords 
 are so completely involuntary that we never pay any direct 
 attention to them. They will deport properly if we establish 
 the necessary co-ordination. Remember that the active cen- 
 ter of breath control is the diaphragm. You should practice 
 the exercises suggested until the mental percepts or emo- 
 tions co-ordinate and regulate the amount of breath; open 
 
Voice Culture 37 
 
 the jaw and throat, and the proper movements of the tongue, 
 lips, and soft palate are made to express these percepts or 
 emotions ; and you should learn to do this unconscious of 
 these vocal adjustments. Correct habits must be formed. 
 The earlier the better. You see some object on the ground 
 in the distance; you think of picking it up. Immediately 
 you take the proper steps, stop when you reach it and stoop 
 to pick it up. You are not conscious of these movements. 
 You have learned to co-ordinate your mental percepts with 
 your muscular organization. In the same way you must 
 unconsciously control your speaking apparatus ; so that 
 when you have an idea, the diaphragm, vocal cords, jaw, 
 tongue, etc., will express your idea without thought as to 
 just what part each one performs. The best speaker and 
 reader is he who performs his work properly with the least 
 expenditure of energy. 
 
 While performing an exercise to correct any defect, center 
 your mind upon that part. If you do not speak clearly be- 
 cause your teeth are too close together, center your thoughts 
 on this opening. In practicing any exercise, do not be 
 afraid of over-doing it just a little. A tree that has been 
 bent the wrong way for a number of years needs to be bent, 
 not straight, but far over in the opposite direction for a 
 short time, so that if let entirely alone it will assume a nat- 
 ural and erect position. 
 
 Think while you perform the exercise. Doing it listlessly 
 and in a half-hearted manner will represent just that much 
 loss of time. Constantly watch your speech whenever and 
 wherever you speak. To repeat these exercises for a few 
 days will not correct a defect that has been growing on you 
 for years ; but faithful and patient practice will be rewarded. 
 
 The conscientious and competent teacher will tell you of 
 your most prominent defect and suggest what exercises 
 should be followed in your particular case. The same rem- 
 edy cannot be prescribed in each case, for the defects are 
 not all alike. However, proper breath control, the open 
 
38 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 throat, relaxed condition of the muscles of the throat and 
 neck, a loose jaw and a flexible tongue will remedy about all 
 the vocal defects that are not due to actual malformations. 
 Some of the exercises are mere devices, which, when prop- 
 erly used, will aid ; but do not confound them in importance 
 with the fundamental law of co-ordination. Learn to breathe 
 properly and to relax the muscles of the throat as sug- 
 gested in Chapter II. Unless this is observed, no amount 
 of facial contortions will ever improve your tone. A good 
 singing teacher may be able to aid you greatly in teaching 
 you how to breathe properly. 
 
 VOCAL EXERCISES 
 
 I. Lips. Some people never use the lips in articulation. 
 Flexibility and control may be cultivated by practicing the 
 following exercises: 
 
 I. Open the mouth and bring the lips together quickly 
 and firmly ; then compress the breath against lips and cheeks, 
 resisting with these muscles finally forcing the lips open. 
 
 £. Pronounce oo with the lips rounded, and projected as 
 far as possible. 
 
 3. Pronounce ee, drawing the lips sideways as far as 
 possible. 
 
 4. Repeat rapidly : e-ah-oo ; oo-ah-e ; e-oo-ah. 
 
 II. Jaw. A most common fault is that of talking, as we 
 say, with the mouth shut. If one does not drop the lower 
 jaw enough to let the tone pass freely, the voice is either 
 muffled or swallowed. Cultivate the mouth-opening habit. 
 
 1. Relax the lower jaw. Move from side to side and 
 forward and back. Repeat while singing ah in a single key. 
 
 2. Drop the back part of the jaw as far as possible and 
 repeat, very slowly at first, and gradually faster at each 
 repetition, we-wich-wach-walk. 
 
 III. Tongue. In cases where one is really "tongue- 
 tied," a surgeon may be needed to clip the small cord at- 
 
Voice Culture 39 
 
 tached to the lower part of the tongue. But many faults 
 of speech arise from the improper use, or lack of use, of this 
 organ. A blurred articulation, for example, may come from 
 using the middle part of the tongue, instead of the very tip ; 
 and failure to let the tongue lie low in the mouth makes one 
 "mouth" his words, or obstructs the vocal passage so as to 
 produce a nasal tone. 
 
 1. Open the mouth, keeping the tongue flat; then thrust 
 the tongue out straight and draw it back as far as possible 
 several times. 
 
 2. With the very tip of the tongue touch, in turn, the 
 lower teeth, upper teeth, and the roof of the mouth. 
 
 3. Pass the tip of the tongue forward between the teeth, 
 and then draw the whole tongue vigorously backward, as if 
 trying to swallow it. 
 
 IV. Correcting a Nasal Tone. When the tongue is 
 raised behind and the soft palate lowered so as to nearly or 
 quite meet it, the breath is directed upward and passes 
 chiefly through the nose, producing the nasal tone or twang 
 which is a deplorably common fault in America. To correct 
 this, attention must be given to two things: (1) Lowering 
 the tongue and raising the soft palate, so that there may be 
 a free passageway from the pharynx to the front part of 
 the mouth; and (2) projecting the tone forward in the 
 mouth, — a matter that is referred to under another topic. 
 
 1. With the aid of a mirror look at the back part of the 
 mouth. Inhale through the nostrils, with the mouth wide 
 open and the tongue still and flat: this will cause the soft 
 palate to fall. Now exhale through the mouth, and note the 
 rise of the soft palate. 
 
 2. Look in a mirror and with the mouth wide open go 
 through the movement of gaping. Practice this until you 
 can raise and lower the soft palate at will. 
 
 3. With soft palate raised sing ah and oh in pure, pro- 
 jected tone. 
 
 4. With the thumb and fore-finger close the nostrils and 
 
40 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 repeat "0 precious hours, 9 ' first in normal (nasal) tone, then 
 in a pure tone, that is, sending the vocalization wholly 
 through the mouth. Repeat with the nostrils open. 
 
 V. The Guttural or Throaty Voice. This arises from a 
 constriction of the throat muscles, and the process of cor- 
 rection lies in coaxing the muscles gradually in and about 
 the throat into a state of relaxation. Take a deep breath, 
 open the mouth widely in every way, open the throat by a 
 relaxation of all the muscles, and vocalize, in turn, in a 
 single breath, each of the open vowel sounds, such as ah, aw, 
 oh, oo. Let the sounds float out, without effort at first. 
 Think of the voice as coming from the lungs, and not from 
 the throat. Note the quality of the tone, as you give these 
 vowel sounds, and gradually acquire the habit of opening 
 the voice channels so that the sound is free and unobstructed 
 — pure. 
 
 VI. The Aspirate, Breathy Voice. When all the air is 
 not vocalized, the voice is said to be "breathy." It is often 
 due to taking into the lungs too much air before speaking, 
 so that it cannot be controlled properly. The remedy lies 
 in applying to the vocal cords just enough air to produce 
 the given sound. 
 
 1. Inhale deeply. Exhale in saying ah. Apply the air 
 very gently to the vocal cords and use as little air as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 2. Count from one to ten in a whisper; then in a pure 
 vocal tone. 
 
 3. Read the following stanza. Try to read it with one 
 expiration. 
 
 At midnight, in his guarded tent, 
 
 The Turk lay dreaming of the hour 
 When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, 
 
 Should tremble at his power. 
 In dreams, through camp and court he bore 
 The trophies of a conqueror ; 
 
 In dreams, his song of triumph heard; 
 
Voice Culture 41 
 
 Then wore his monarch's signet-ring; 
 Then pressed that monarch's throne — a king; 
 As wild his thoughts, and gay of wing, 
 As Eden's garden-bird* 
 
 Placing the Voice. — -Among other classifications, vocal 
 sounds are distinguished as being head tones or chest tones. 
 The head tone, whereby the head is the center of resonance, 
 is the ordinary conversational tone, and is expressive of un- 
 emotional matter which is addressed to the intellect: hence it 
 is sometimes called the intellective voice. In the chest tone, 
 the center of resonance is deeper. This type of voice is 
 properly employed in the expression of ideas of breadth, 
 bigness, grandeur, sublimity, or solemnity. But both the 
 head and the chest tones require that the voice be projected 
 properly from the resonance chamber; that it be given due 
 carrying power; that it neither be swallowed, (the squeezed- 
 back voice), nor forced by the position of the tongue and 
 mouth cavity to bang against the roof of the mouth (the 
 hard, or quacky tone), nor made to rebound because of the 
 mouth's being partially closed. 
 
 A successful plan to place the voice properly is to imagine 
 it coming from your diaphragm and hitting gently the hard 
 palate just back of the front teeth. 
 
 Tone Projection. To make a tone carry well it must 
 come from the mouth unobstructed by secondary vibrations 
 of the false cords, soft palate, tongue, teeth, etc. It must 
 have good support from the diaphragm which sends it out on 
 its journey. Imagine it hitting the hard palate just back 
 of the front teeth and going right through and coming out 
 between your eyes. This will insure the proper face reson- 
 ance so essential to the re-enforcement of the tone. 
 
 I. Give the short sound of a (as in flat), first with the 
 chest tone, then with the metallic hard tone, then with a 
 pure, clear resonant head tone, deflecting the center of 
 resonance to the hard palate just behind the front teeth. 
 
4$ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 II. Count from one to twenty, prolonging the "n's" and 
 feel the vibration of the face, especially at the base of the 
 nose. 
 
 III. Repeat ten times with strong projecting force in a 
 pure clear ringing tone, observing proper breath control: 
 ah, mo, po ; to, po, ee. 
 
 IV. Repeat in the same way: ring, sing, thing, wing; 
 bend, end, lend, mend, rend, send, tend, wend. 
 
 V. Prolong with a musical quality and clear resonance 
 the repetition of "bells" in the following lines from Poe : 
 
 Hear the mellow wedding bells — 
 Golden bells ! 
 What a world of happiness their harmony foretells ! 
 Through the balmy air of night 
 How they ring out their delight 
 From the molten-golden notes, 
 
 And all in tune! — 
 Oh, from out the sounding cells, 
 What a gush of euphony voluminously wells ! 
 How it swells ! 
 'How it dwells 
 On the future ! how it tells 
 Of the rapture that impels 
 To the swinging and the ringing 
 Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, 
 Bells, bells, bells — 
 To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells ! 
 
 Lisping. This is merely the confirmed habit of advancing 
 the tip of the tongue too far in articulating the sibilant 
 consonants. Care should be exercised with small children 
 who exhibit a tendency to lisp. The proper position of the 
 tongue required to make the sound s and z should be shown 
 them. 
 
 Stammering. This defect is due to lack of control over 
 the muscles of articulation, and seldom to any anatomical 
 defect. Just as it is necessary to learn to walk, so every- 
 
Voice Culture 43 
 
 body must learn to speak. It is not a natural gift. Some 
 people have never succeeded in co-ordinating the movements 
 of the organs of speech. Especially is this lack of control 
 obvious when attempting words beginning with fc, p, t, or d, 
 and generally when the next sound is a consonant, as, bl, br, 
 pr, etc. 
 
 Some children have a tendency to repeat the initial letter 
 in their efforts to pronounce the word, — this is called stut- 
 tering. This defect usually begins at five years of age or 
 earlier, and seldom lasts later than twenty. Sickness, fear, 
 embarrassment may be assigned as causes. The principal 
 active causes are: 
 
 I. Pressing lips tightly together. 
 
 II. Pressing the lips too tightly against the teeth. 
 
 III. Not opening the glottis so that the air may pass 
 through. 
 
 IV. Tension in the lower jaw. 
 
 V. Pressing the tongue too tightly against the teeth or 
 palate. 
 
 A young child who begins to stammer should be told to 
 speak slowly and thoughtfully, assuring him that he has 
 nothing to fear; for embarrassment frequently makes many 
 stammer who under normal conditions never show this defect. 
 A strong determination to be cured; the exercise of more 
 self-control and self-reliance, and a patient, persistent effort 
 to speak slowly and to articulate distinctly, will go far to 
 remove this defect. When proper articulation is impossible, 
 stop. Take a deep breath, and then slowly force out the 
 word. Speak in a slow, rhythmic measure; stammerers sel- 
 dom have any difficulty in singing. To accompany each 
 word with some physical movement is often a great aid. It 
 is said that Demosthenes overcame this defect by reciting 
 poems while running up hill. 
 
 ' 
 
 Care or the Voice. Breathing through the nose should 
 be enforced upon children at a very early age. It is of great 
 
44 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 value to the nose itself and protects the vocal cords. Some 
 tribes of the American Indian enforce this rule by tying up 
 the babies' mouths while they are not being fed. The child 
 should be taught deep breathing and correct phonological 
 co-ordination. 
 
 When girls and boys have reached the age when their 
 voices undergo a very rapid change, no strain should be 
 placed on them by vigorous training, either speaking or 
 singing. At the age of seventeen, girls and boys may begin 
 rigorous vocal training. 
 
 The bright glare of the sun is fatal to the eye sight. The 
 noise of cannon and deafening machinery is not good for the 
 delicate ear. Likewise, those who have any regard for the 
 voice should not indulge in shouting or screaming themselves 
 hoarse, whatever the excitement may be. 
 
 Vocal malformations can often be modified by the sur- 
 geon, and the sooner this is done the better; especially such 
 as clipping the small membrane under the tongue to correct 
 a lack of flexibility of the tongue; clipping of the uvula to 
 correct a nasal tone; and the removal of adenoids to in- 
 crease the purity of resonance. Catarrh and other nasal 
 affections usually can be remedied through nasal vibration 
 and the application of salt water to the mucous lining-of the 
 nose. Proper diet is an essential factor, also. 
 
 Do not speak in a room where the atmosphere is over- 
 heated or vitiated with dust, smoke, and disease germs. A 
 cold will destroy a good voice more quickly, perhaps, than 
 anything else except smoking and alcoholic drinks. 
 
 Use a medium tone when you are obliged to speak for a 
 long time. Trying to make yourself heard above the noise 
 of the street or train has a tendency to coarsen the delicate 
 tones of the speaking voice. A speaker should exercise great 
 care not to expose himself to damp or cold air immediately 
 after exercising his voice. The neck should never be muffled. 
 
 If the sympathetic nervous system suppresses the free 
 flow of saliva when you first begin to speak, and your tongue 
 
Voice Culture 45 
 
 clings to the roof of your mouth, just a sip of water may 
 effect temporary relief; but do not get into the habit of 
 drinking when on the platform. Unless you are very much 
 excited the saliva may be made to fltfw by chewing a bit of 
 paper before you begin to speak. 
 
 It is never too late to cultivate a good speaking voice. If 
 your voice be of a shrill, rasping, thick, nasal, high-pitched, 
 or of indistinct quality, you can accomplish a -wonderful 
 change if you set about the task with the characteristic de- 
 termination which a desire to be attractive incites. The 
 voices of the American girl and boy are noted for being un- 
 pleasant in quality. The nervous temperament that is 
 characteristically American has a great deal to do with the 
 tense, strident tones that are heard so frequently. Climate 
 is sometimes indirectly the cause of an unpleasant voice. 
 But, on the whole, we must confess that we alone are at fault 
 for our vocal shortcomings and should immediately set about 
 developing a good voice and refrain from doing those things 
 destructive to its highest possible development. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 ENUNCIATION AND PRONUNCIATION 
 
 Definitions. The exact meaning of the terms enuncia- 
 tion and articulation are not agreed upon by phonologists. 
 Articulation comes from the Latin articular e (to join to- 
 gether) and usually refers to the position the vocal organs 
 assume in speaking; also to the joining together of the ele- 
 mentary sounds, especially consonants, into syllables and 
 words. 
 
 Enunciation is a more general term and refers to the dis- 
 tinct utterance of all elementary sounds, especially the vowel 
 sounds. 
 
 The words enunciation and articulation are generally used 
 synonymously. 
 
 Pronunciation deals with the correct utterance of the ele- 
 mentary sounds, with the proper accent and the syllabifica- 
 tion of a word. 
 
 Elementary Sounds. Ordinarily the elementary sounds 
 are divided into vowel (voco, to call) and consonant (con- 
 sonant, sounding with). 
 
 The vowel sounds are made by an uninterrupted flow of 
 the tone. The consonant sounds are obstructed and modi- 
 fied by the articulatory organs. 
 
 Again, the elementary sounds used in pronunciation may 
 be divided into* I. Tonics or Vocals, II. Subtonics or Sub- 
 vocals, and III. Atonies, or Aspirates. 
 
 Tonics are unobstructed tones. Vowels and diphthongs 
 belong to this class. 
 
 Subtonics are tones modified by the articulatory organs. 
 
 Atonies are without tone, or are mere breath modified by 
 
 46 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 
 
 47 
 
 the articulatory organs. 
 
 As to formation, consonant sounds may be divided into : 
 
 I. Labials, formed chiefly by the lips. 
 
 II. Linguals, formed chiefly by the* tongue. 
 
 III. Palatals, formed chiefly by the soft palate. 
 
 IV. Nasals, made by the free escape of vocalized breath 
 through the nostrils. 
 
 I. TABLE OF ELEMENTARY ENGLISH SOUNDS 
 
 Tonics 
 
 Subtonics 
 
 Atonies 
 
 Single v.owel sounds 
 
 Labials 
 
 a (short) at 
 
 B 
 
 ban 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 pin 
 
 a (before r) fare 
 
 M 
 
 (nasal) 
 
 man 
 
 
 F 
 
 fit 
 
 a (long Italian) are 
 
 V 
 
 vote 
 
 
 
 Wh why 
 
 a (short Italian) ask 
 
 W 
 
 will 
 
 
 
 
 
 a (broad Italian) all 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e" (long) because 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e (short) end 
 
 
 
 
 Linguals 
 
 
 e" (like a) there 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I (short) It 
 
 R 
 
 rate 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 tin 
 
 (short) n5t 
 
 L 
 
 long 
 
 
 
 Ch 
 
 church 
 
 ii (short) but 
 
 D 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 sin 
 
 oo (long) moon 
 
 N 
 
 (nasal) nut 
 
 
 Th 
 
 thin 
 
 oo (short) wood 
 
 J 
 Z 
 
 just 
 zinc 
 
 
 
 Sh 
 
 shun 
 
 Compound sounds, or 
 
 Th 
 
 this 
 
 
 
 
 
 diphthongs 
 
 Zh 
 
 vision 
 
 
 
 
 
 a (long) made 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e (long) eve 
 I (long) Ice 
 
 Palatals 
 
 o (long) sole 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u. (long) mute 
 
 G 
 
 go 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 king 
 
 ou as in round 
 
 Ng 
 
 (nasal) 
 
 song 
 
 
 H 
 
 how 
 
 oi as in noise 
 
 Y 
 
 yes 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 queen 
 
 a (6) what 
 6 (a) orb 
 e (a) eight 
 
 I (e) police 
 i (e) bird 
 o (oo) do 
 
 o (do) wolf 
 6 (ii) son 
 U (oo) rude 
 
 u (66) full 
 
 y (i) fly 
 
 y (I) hymn 
 
 y (e) myrtle 
 
48 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 II. TABLE OF VOWEL ELEMENTS 
 
 Position and Shape of Tongue 
 
 , 
 
 Front 
 
 Middle 
 
 Back 
 
 High 
 
 g bs- 
 
 g end 
 
 60 moon 
 
 High and wide 
 
 I It 
 
 
 06 wood 
 
 Glide 
 
 e = e-I eve 
 
 a = e-i ate 
 
 u = I-6o mute 
 
 Medium 
 
 
 ah (natural) 
 
 u but 
 
 Glide 
 
 
 
 o=u-oo old 
 
 Low 
 
 
 a ask 
 
 6 6n 
 
 Low and wide 
 
 a at 
 
 a arm 
 
 a all 
 
 Glide 
 
 
 I = a-I Ice 
 
 ou = a-60 house 
 
 Glide 
 
 
 
 oi = a-I voice 
 
 III. TABLE OF CONSONANT ELEMENTS 
 
 Place of Articulation 
 
 Oral 
 
 Momen- 
 tary 
 
 Surd Sonant 
 
 Contin- 
 uous 
 
 Surd Sonant 
 
 Nasal 
 
 Contin- 
 uous 
 
 Sonant 
 
 Lips 
 
 Lip and teeth 
 
 Tongue and teeth 
 
 Tongue and hard palate (forward) . . . 
 
 Tongue and hard palate (back) 
 
 Tongue, hard palate, and soft palate. 
 
 Tongue and soft palate 
 
 Various places 
 
 t 
 ch 
 
 k 
 h 
 
 f 
 
 th(in) 
 s 
 sh 
 
 th(y) 
 z; r 
 zh; r 
 
 y;i 
 
 ng 
 
 Tables II. and III. These tables show the position and 
 shape of the tongue in forming the elementary English 
 sounds. There are nine positions of the tongue, — the front, 
 the middle, and back ; also high, medium, and low. In giving 
 the sound of "e" in because, the front or tip of the tongue ap- 
 proaches the hard palate. In the sound "1" in it, it has the 
 same position but it broadens out. In the mixed sound of 
 "e" in eve, it glides from "e" to "i." The sound of "ah" is 
 called natural because the tongue lies in a natural, restful 
 position in the mouth, It is a sound common to all lan- 
 guages ; and is one of the first sounds the baby makes — ■ 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 49 
 
 mama, papa, etc. 
 
 In all the sounds modified by raising the back of the 
 tongue, the lips are rounded. The lips should not be moved 
 in making the other sounds. 
 
 Enunciation. Clear-cut enunciation is the basis of all 
 effective oral expression, for it is obvious that a reader must 
 first of all be heard. And to be heard, the elementary sounds 
 that make up our language must be brought out clearly. 
 Mere loudness is insufficient, for in nine cases out of ten, 
 when a speaker cannot be heard, it is due, not to weakness 
 of voice, but to weakness of articulation. Attention has been 
 called previously to the need of cultivating the mouth-open- 
 ing habit. Besides this, we need an active and precise use of 
 the articulatory organs. We get into slovenly habits of 
 speech. We cramp the throat muscles and swallow the 
 sound. We mumble. We talk through the nose. We roll 
 the tongue about in the act of speaking — "flannel-mouthed." 
 We close the jaw and talk through the teeth. We close the 
 lips and sputter. "In just articulation," says Gilbert Aus- 
 tin, "the words are not hurried over, nor precipitated syl- 
 lable over syllable ; nor, as it were, melted together into a 
 mass of confusion ; they are neither abridged nor prolonged, 
 nor swallowed nor forced, nor shot from the mouth ; they are 
 not trailed nor drawled, nor let slip out carelessly, so as to 
 drop unfinished. They are delivered from the lips as beau- 
 tiful coins newly issued from the mint, deeply and accurately 
 impressed, perfectly finished." 
 
 Now, good articulation involves the three processes of (1) 
 sounding distinctly the consonants, (2) separating the sylla- 
 bles, and (3) separating the words. 
 
 And first, one must attain power over the consonants. 
 Some one has said, "Take care of the consonants, and the 
 vowels will take care of themselves." The common trouble 
 is, not lack of power over the consonants, but a lack of the 
 exercise of such power. Aside from such real impediments 
 
50 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 in speech that may need the aid of a surgeon, any one can, 
 by sufficient attention and practice, learn to speak or read 
 clearly, and at the same time naturally. If you lisp, giving 
 the th sound for s, you must learn to get control of the tip of 
 the tongue, in giving the s sound. If you close the jaw and 
 whistle the s's, or do not close the lips in sounding b, p, v, or 
 fail to bring out distinctly the initial or final consonants in 
 a word, — whenever any special trouble in articulation is dis- 
 covered, practice this until the fault is corrected. A little 
 attention to this matter of sounding the consonants will 
 show the number and variety of muscular movements, in and 
 about the mouth, required for the proper enunciation of a 
 word like civilization. In enunciating such a word as this, 
 the common fault is lack of time-taking for bringing out the 
 syllables distinctly. 
 
 In articulation, then, primary attention must be directed 
 to the syllabication, rather than to the word as a whole. 
 Many syllables are composed of several elementary sounds, 
 although they may strike the ear as a single sound. The 
 word man has three and strands has seven elementary sounds 
 (elements), and proper articulation requires that each of 
 these sounds be brought out distinctly. Do not say jog- 
 raphy for geography, artic for arctic, Amerka for Amer- 
 ica, acrost for across, genelmun for gentleman, etc. 
 
 Again, the words should be clearly separated. Careless 
 readers and speakers are apt to give phrases or sentences as 
 a single word; "Light and dark" is given as lighten dark; 
 "that will do," as that'll doo; "Don't you" as don chew; 
 and "what are you going to do" as whachegondo. Such 
 slovenly articulation is astonishingly common, and, as has 
 been said, it stands in the way of securing the primary 
 requisite of effective utterance, that of being understood. 
 In those rare cases where a child has been trained to articu- 
 late clearly, each word coming out clear-cut, like a coin 
 fresh from the mint, how easily is he understood, and with 
 what pleasure he is heard ! 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 51 
 
 In practice for overcoming faults of articulation, as in 
 overcoming any fault, it is well to overdo at first. In the 
 exercises that follow, therefore, be over*precise, if you please, 
 so that you bring out clearly every elementary sound. (The 
 elementary sounds in our language have been estimated as 
 forty-four in number.) 
 
 Pronunciation. While Enunciation refers to distinct- 
 ness in speech, Pronunciation refers to correctness. Cor- 
 rectness in speech generally is a recognized mark of culture. 
 A person often is judged by his pronunciation: his speech 
 either commends or betrays him. Since pronunciation is a 
 matter of custom, uniform correctness is rarely attained by 
 any individual, and yet wide departures from the prevailing 
 usage grate upon the ear, just as misspelled words disturb 
 the eye, and we variously characterize one's pronunciation 
 as "pedantic," "peculiar," "provincial," or "bad." These 
 adjectives represent the two extremes of faulty pronuncia- 
 tion: the careless and provincial on the one hand, and the 
 unusual and precise on the other. He who pronounces for 
 as fur, since as sence, window as winder, now as naow, catch 
 as ketch, from as frum, and so on, represents the provincial 
 class that usually has the further faults of slovenly articu- 
 lation and bad grammar. On the other hand, we have the 
 over-precise, affectedly cultured class — not infrequently 
 represented by the country school teacher — that pronounces 
 neither as mther, pretty as pretty, nature as natyoor, laugh 
 as lawf, and so on. But while an over-precise and pedantic 
 pronunciation is a common fault, carelessness and incor- 
 rectness are far more common. 
 
 The test of good pronunciation is the common practice 
 of the best speakers. True, this test is not always easy of 
 application, but with the aid of a modem dictionary, the 
 best usage can be discovered and acquired. As was remarked 
 above, pronunciation is a matter of custom ; it is a matter of 
 having uniformity for the sake of convenience. While we 
 
52 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 have in America no one locality that can properly assume 
 to set the standard of correct English pronunciation, we 
 have, after all, a generally recognized standard of speech; 
 and the main point is, our pronunciation should not reveal 
 an ignorance of this standard, especially with respect to 
 words in common use. 
 
 Exercises. Table I gives the elementary sounds. Tables 
 II and III show the relative position of the articulating 
 organs in the enunciation of each sound. These tables, 
 especially Table II, will enable the pupil who has not a 
 "good ear" for sound to depend on the "feel" of the tongue 
 to aid him in securing a correct enunciation. 
 
 Practice on these elementary sounds until the vocal or- 
 gans assume the proper and natural positions unconsciously. 
 Some students need much practice on certain difficult sounds. 
 
 LIST OF WORDS FOR PRACTICE 
 
 
 
 Long Italian a 
 
 
 calm 
 
 heart 
 
 aunt 
 
 laugh 
 
 lava 
 
 palm 
 
 father 
 
 half 
 
 launch 
 
 haunt 
 
 balm 
 
 spar 
 
 almond 
 
 laundry 
 
 flaunt 
 
 psalm 
 
 car 
 
 gape 
 Short Italiai 
 
 guard 
 n a 
 
 daunt 
 
 ask 
 
 grasp 
 
 sofa 
 
 bath 
 
 command 
 
 pass 
 
 slant 
 
 botany 
 
 class 
 
 America 
 
 grass 
 
 after 
 
 idea 
 
 basket 
 
 master 
 
 cast 
 
 pastor 
 
 fast 
 
 Short a 
 
 dance 
 
 advance 
 
 at 
 
 add 
 
 man 
 
 pan 
 
 bade 
 
 cat 
 
 fat 
 
 ran 
 
 can 
 
 sad 
 
 back 
 
 an 
 
 rat 
 
 cash 
 
 bang 
 
 am 
 
 and 
 
 tan 
 
 nap 
 
 bank 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 
 
 
 
 Coalescent 
 
 e 
 
 
 her 
 
 were 
 
 serge 
 
 earn, 
 
 earth 
 
 fern 
 
 verse 
 
 learn 
 
 germ 
 
 girl 
 
 sir 
 
 perch 
 
 verge 
 
 churn 
 
 mirth 
 
 first 
 
 dirty 
 
 bird 
 
 Long u 
 
 pearl 
 
 certain 
 
 due 
 
 new 
 
 Tuesday 
 
 dispute 
 
 illume 
 
 tune 
 
 tube 
 
 institute 
 
 music 
 
 pure 
 
 suit 
 
 tutor 
 
 pursue 
 
 student 
 
 human 
 
 iute 
 
 duty 
 
 tumult 
 
 excuse 
 
 use 
 
 Final Combination's 
 
 Bring out very clearly — overdoing it — the final sounds 
 in the following words : 
 
 bold 
 
 regaled 
 
 gulf 
 
 wolf 
 
 silk 
 
 bulk 
 
 helm 
 
 film 
 
 help 
 
 gulp 
 
 tells 
 
 gains 
 
 runs 
 
 streams 
 
 climes 
 
 halls 
 
 fault 
 
 melt 
 
 delve 
 
 revolve 
 
 claimed 
 
 blamed 
 
 land 
 
 hand 
 
 bank 
 
 link 
 
 dance 
 
 hence 
 
 want 
 
 paint 
 
 chasm 
 
 schism 
 
 clasp 
 
 grasp 
 
 vast 
 
 lest 
 
 fact 
 
 reject 
 
 open 
 
 weapon 
 
 taken 
 
 waken 
 
 brighten 
 
 able 
 
 double 
 
 ample 
 
 topple 
 
 troubled 
 
 doubled 
 
 cradled 
 
 saddled 
 
 canst 
 
 midst 
 
 didst 
 
 against 
 
 wouldest 
 
 children 
 
 surpassest 
 
 standeth 
 
 rounded 
 
 Syllabification 
 
 Bring out clearly, and separate distinctly, the syllables 
 in the following words : 
 
54 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 abominably 
 
 absolutely 
 
 accessory 
 
 accurately 
 
 adequately 
 
 angularly 
 
 apocalyptic 
 
 appropriateness 
 
 authoritatively 
 
 antipathy 
 
 articulately 
 
 atmospherical 
 
 chronological 
 
 circumlocution 
 
 citizenship 
 
 colloquially 
 
 congratulatory 
 
 constitutionality 
 
 deterioration 
 
 disinterestedly 
 
 disingenuousness 
 
 generally 
 
 hospitable 
 
 idiosyncrasy 
 
 incalculably 
 
 incommensurability 
 
 incomparably 
 
 immediately 
 
 indisputable 
 
 indissolubly 
 
 inexplicable 
 
 institution 
 
 inviolability 
 
 irrefragability 
 
 justifiableness 
 
 lugubrious 
 
 momentarily 
 
 monocotyledonous 
 
 multiplication 
 
 mythological 
 
 necessarily 
 
 pacificatory 
 
 substantiate 
 
 susceptibility 
 
 superiority 
 
 temporarily 
 
 miintelligibility 
 
 valedictorian 
 
 Difficult Combinations 
 
 Articulate clearly the following, with over-precision, if 
 you please, only aim for absolute distinctness : 
 
 1. Reading and writing are arts of striking importance. 
 £. Make clean our hearts. 
 3. A big black bug hit a big black bear. 
 Bring a bit of buttered brown bread. 
 
 Bring me some ice, not some mice. 
 
 Some shun sunshine, but why should you shun sun- 
 
 4. 
 5. 
 6. 
 
 shine ? 
 
 7. Accomplished speakers display aptitude in properly 
 applying the principles of aspiration and inspiration. 
 
 8. Goodness centers in the heart. 
 
 9. He saw six slim, sleek, slender saplings. 
 
 10. Henry Hingham has hung his harp on the hook 
 where he hithereto hung his hope. 
 
 11. Jasper, the jolly juror, justly joked John, the 
 journalist. 
 
 1 2. Nine neutral nations negotiated numerous nuptials. 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 55 
 
 13. Obstructionists and oppressors often opposed these 
 operations. 
 
 14. Querulous quips were quoted* by quiet Queenie 
 Quelp. 
 
 15. She sells sea-shells; should he sell sea-shells? 
 
 16. They fell like leaves and fill long lists. 
 
 17. Milestones mark the march of time. 
 
 18. Willow wands waved weirdly in wild wintry winds. 
 
 19. Flags fluttered fretfully from foreign fortifications 
 and fleets. 
 
 20. Our forefathers fought fearlessly for freedom. 
 
 21. Opportunities for benefitting the unfortunate and 
 comforting the afflicted are offered often to affluence. 
 
 22. Rejoice with them, though then and there they and 
 theirs will be greater than thee and thine. 
 
 23. To-morrow try to talk truly and truthfully. 
 
 24. Breathe with care, do not mouth thy words. 
 
 25. Both were loath to travel the length of the sixth 
 path to reach the fourth booth. 
 
 26. Seated on shore, she sees ships with shining sails 
 on the shimmering sea. 
 
 27. The chief cheerfully chose the choicest chair. 
 
 28. I did not say, wig, heart, ear, hair, and all, but 
 whig, art, hear, air, and hall. 
 
 29. Richard chanted in church like a cherub. 
 
 30. The yarns of the ubiquitous Yankee used to be 
 humorous, yet you yawned. 
 
 31. Dora, defending sound doctrines, discomfited the 
 disputants. 
 
 32. No man need know need in this new nation. 
 
 33. Kittens cunningly crept across the cotton coverlet. 
 
 34. Little likeliness, laughed the low lawyer, that legi- 
 bility and liability are linked indissolubry, 
 
 35. He spoke reasonably, philosophically, disinterest- 
 edly, and yet particularly, of the unceremoniousness of their 
 communic ability, and peremptorily, authoritatively, unhesi- 
 
56^ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 tatingly, declared it to be wholly inexplicable. 
 
 36. Taciturn and talkative pupils are troublesome to 
 teachers. 
 
 37. The pink flowers grew rank on the dank bank near 
 the river's brink. 
 
 38. Rude, rocky, rural roads run round rocky ranges. 
 
 39. Round the rough and rugged rocks the ragged ras- 
 cals rudely ran. 
 
 40. A lily lying all alone along the lane. 
 
 41. Pillercatter, tappekiller, kitterpaller, patterkiller, 
 caterpillar. • 
 
 4£. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a 
 woodchuck would chuck wood? 
 
 43. Peter Prangle, the prickly, prangly pear picker 
 picked three pecks of prickly, prangly pears from the 
 prickly, prangly pear trees on the pleasant prairies. 
 
 44. 
 
 The Cataract strong then plunges along, 
 Striking and raging as if a war waging, 
 Rising and leaping, sinking and creeping, 
 Showering and springing, flying and flinging, 
 
 Writhing and ringing. 
 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. 
 
 — Robert Southey. 
 
 The foregoing exercises are intended to bring out an extra 
 effort for precision. But in reading there is such a thing 
 as overpreciseness, — the "prunes, prisms, and potatoes" ar- 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 57 
 
 ticulation sometimes affected by the country school teacher. 
 In good reading one should never call attention to the 
 articulation as such, but he should, nevertheless, be dis- 
 tinct. Without overpreciseness, now, but at the same time 
 with clear articulation, read the following: 
 
 1. 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 spake my lines. — Shake- 
 speare. 
 
 2. Nature has proved that the great silent Samuel shall not 
 be silent too long. — Carlyle. 
 
 3. From the dark portals of the Star Chamber, and in the 
 stern text of the Acts of Uniformity, the pilgrims received a com- 
 mission more important than any that ever bore the royal seal. — 
 Everett. 
 
 4. When_thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst 
 whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt 
 stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 
 thee whither thou wouldest not. — St. John, xxi, 18. 
 
 5. Break, break, break, 
 
 At the foot of thy crags, O sea ! 
 But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
 Will never come back to me. — Tennyson. 
 
 6. The splendor falls on castle walls, 
 
 And snowy summits old in story; 
 The long light shakes across the lakes, 
 And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 7. And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the 
 Ephraimites : and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which 
 were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said 
 unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; then said 
 they unto him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth: for 
 he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him 
 and slew him at the passages of the Jordan : and there fell at that 
 time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. — Judges, 
 xii, 5, 6. 
 
58 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 8. When I consider how my light is spent 
 
 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 
 And that one talent which is death to hide 
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 
 To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
 My true account, lest he returning chide,— 
 Doth God exact day-labour, light denied? 
 I fondly ask; — But patience, to prevent 
 That murmur, soon replies; God doth not need 
 Either man's work, or His own gifts: who best 
 Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state 
 Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest: — 
 They also serve who only stand and wait. 
 
 On His Blindness. Milton. 
 
 9- To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to 
 make is an excellent preparative. From the moment you lose 
 sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy until you step on 
 the opposite shore, and are launched at once into the bustle and 
 novelties of another world. 
 
 Sketch Book. Irving. 
 
 10. - Look how the floor of heaven 
 
 Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: 
 There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold'st, 
 But in his motion like an angel sings, 
 Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim, — 
 Such harmony is in immortal souls; 
 But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
 Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 
 Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare. 
 
 11. Once more: speak clearly, if you speak at all; 
 Carve every word before you let it fall; 
 Don't, like a lecturer or dramatic star, 
 
 Try overhard to roll the British R; 
 Do put your accents in the proper spot; 
 Don't — let me beg you — don't say "How?" for "What?" 
 And when you stick on conversation's burrs, 
 Don't strew the pathway with those dreadful urs. 
 Urania. O. W. Holmes. 
 
 Pronounce the following words ; note carefully the exact 
 vowel and consonant sounds : 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 
 
 59 
 
 abdomen 
 
 address 
 
 alternate , 
 
 asphalt 
 
 abject 
 
 adept 
 
 amenable 
 
 associate 
 
 abstemious 
 
 adieu 
 
 aniline 
 
 athlete 
 
 accept 
 
 advertisement 
 
 antarctic 
 
 attorney 
 
 acclimate 
 
 again 
 
 apparatus 
 
 auxiliary 
 
 accurate 
 
 aggrandizement apparent 
 
 awry 
 
 across 
 
 ailment 
 
 applicable 
 
 bade 
 
 acumen 
 
 albumen 
 
 aquiline 
 
 balm 
 
 adamantine 
 
 allied 
 
 Arab 
 
 banquet 
 
 adult 
 
 allopathist 
 
 area 
 
 bayonet 
 
 because 
 
 bounteous 
 
 candelabrum 
 
 chasten 
 
 been 
 
 bouquet 
 
 canine 
 
 chastisement 
 
 believe 
 
 bravado 
 
 canyon 
 
 Chicago 
 
 betroth 
 
 brigand 
 
 carmine 
 
 clangor 
 
 bicycle 
 
 bronchitis 
 
 catch 
 
 clapboard 
 
 bijou 
 
 bulwark 
 
 cayenne 
 
 clearly 
 
 biography 
 
 buoy 
 
 cello 
 
 clematis 
 
 bitumen 
 
 burlesque 
 
 cerement 
 
 clique 
 
 blackguard 
 
 calisthenics 
 
 chalybeate 
 
 coadjutor 
 
 blouse 
 
 calm 
 
 chasm 
 
 cognomen 
 
 column 
 
 contents 
 
 creek 
 
 depot 
 
 combatant 
 
 contrary 
 
 Daniel 
 
 designate 
 
 commandant 
 
 contumely 
 
 daguerreotyp 
 
 e desperado 
 
 comment 
 
 conversant 
 
 data 
 
 despicable 
 
 communist 
 
 corps 
 
 decade 
 
 desuetude 
 
 compeer 
 
 coterie 
 
 deaf 
 
 detail 
 
 composite 
 
 courier 
 
 decadence 
 
 dictionary 
 
 condolence 
 
 courtesy 
 
 defalcate 
 
 direct 
 
 consummate 
 
 coyote 
 
 deficit 
 
 disciplinary 
 
 contemplate 
 
 cow 
 
 demoniacal 
 
 discourse 
 
 disputant 
 
 egregious 
 
 equitable 
 
 exquisite 
 
 divan 
 
 education 
 
 escapade 
 
 extant 
 
 docile 
 
 elongate 
 
 every 
 
 eyrie 
 
 dog 
 
 encore 
 
 examine 
 
 facade 
 
60 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 dolorous 
 
 enervate 
 
 excess 
 
 facet 
 
 domain 
 
 England 
 
 exemplary 
 
 factory 
 
 doth 
 
 English 
 
 exigencies 
 
 faucet 
 
 due 
 
 enquiry 
 
 exist 
 
 February 
 
 duke 
 
 envelope 
 
 exploit 
 
 fecund 
 
 duty 
 
 epoch 
 
 exponent 
 
 feline 
 
 feminine 
 
 finance 
 
 forehead 
 
 gentlemen 
 
 ferocity 
 
 financier 
 
 fungi 
 
 genuine 
 
 fertile 
 
 flageolet 
 
 gape 
 
 gibbet 
 
 fetish 
 
 forensic 
 
 gather 
 
 gigantic 
 
 fiasco 
 
 fragmentary 
 
 generic 
 
 God 
 
 fidelity 
 
 frontier 
 
 genial 
 
 gondola 
 
 government 
 
 hiccough 
 
 hover 
 
 implacable 
 
 granary 
 
 hideous 
 
 humble 
 
 importune 
 
 gratis 
 
 history 
 
 humor 
 
 incentive 
 
 grimace 
 
 homage 
 
 hygiene 
 
 incomparable 
 
 grovel 
 
 homeopathic 
 
 hypocrisy 
 
 indefatigable 
 
 gymnasium 
 
 horizon 
 
 idea 
 
 indisputably 
 
 harass 
 
 hospitable 
 
 Illinois 
 
 indissoluble 
 
 hearth 
 
 hostage 
 
 illustrate 
 
 inexplicable 
 
 height 
 
 hostile 
 
 imbecile 
 
 inquiries 
 
 heinous 
 
 hovel 
 
 impious 
 
 integral 
 
 interested 
 
 jocose 
 
 languor 
 
 lineament 
 
 interesting 
 
 jocund 
 
 larynx 
 
 listen 
 
 interpolate 
 
 jugular 
 
 laugh 
 
 literature 
 
 intrinsic 
 
 just 
 
 launch 
 
 lithography 
 
 inveigle 
 
 juvenile 
 
 learned 
 
 livelong 
 
 iodine 
 
 kept 
 
 legend 
 
 Lodi 
 
 irrefragable 
 
 kiln 
 
 lenient 
 
 lower 
 
 Italian 
 
 kinetics 
 
 lettuce 
 
 lozenge 
 
 Iowa 
 
 laboratory 
 
 legate 
 
 lugubrious 
 
 jaunty 
 
 lamentable 
 
 licorice 
 
 lyceum 
 
 magazine 
 
 molecule 
 
 nephew 
 
 now 
 
 manufactory 
 
 municipal 
 
 nepotism 
 
 oasis 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 
 
 61 
 
 maritime 
 
 museum 
 
 neuralgia 
 
 oaths 
 
 matinee 
 
 mustache 
 
 new 
 
 oath 
 
 mediocre 
 
 nape 
 
 New Orleans 
 
 obesity 
 
 memory 
 
 nascent 
 
 niche 
 
 object 
 
 mineralogy 
 
 national 
 
 nicotine 
 
 objurgatory 
 
 mischievous 
 
 nature 
 
 nomenclature 
 
 obligatory 
 
 misconstrue 
 
 nauseate 
 
 nothing 
 
 oblique 
 
 mobile 
 
 necessarily 
 
 none 
 
 occult 
 
 odor 
 
 ornate 
 
 peremptory 
 
 precedents 
 
 office 
 
 orotund 
 
 piano 
 
 premature 
 
 often 
 
 orthoepy 
 
 piquant 
 
 prestige 
 
 oleomargarine oust 
 
 plagiarism 
 
 pretense 
 
 on 
 
 pageant 
 
 plague 
 
 pretty 
 
 opponent 
 
 palmistry 
 
 pomegranate 
 
 primarily 
 
 orchid 
 
 parliament 
 
 prairie 
 
 principle 
 
 ordeal 
 
 patriotism 
 
 predecessor 
 
 progress 
 
 ordnance 
 
 patron 
 
 preface 
 
 proscenium 
 
 orgies 
 
 patronize 
 
 precedence 
 
 protestation 
 
 puissance 
 
 receptivity 
 
 research 
 
 • 
 route 
 
 pyramidal 
 
 recess 
 
 resource 
 
 root 
 
 quadrupedal 
 
 recluse 
 
 respite 
 
 routine 
 
 quay 
 
 reconnaissance 
 
 revocable 
 
 salutatory 
 
 querulous 
 
 recreant 
 
 rhythm 
 
 sandwich 
 
 quiescent 
 
 refutable 
 
 rid 
 
 sapient 
 
 quinsy 
 
 regime 
 
 rinse 
 
 satiety 
 
 qui vive 
 
 remonstrate 
 
 Rio Grande 
 
 schedule 
 
 radish 
 
 reptile 
 
 romance 
 
 secretary 
 
 rapine 
 
 requiem 
 
 roof 
 
 senile 
 
 sergeant 
 
 soporific 
 
 suite 
 
 toward 
 
 serpentine 
 
 sovereign 
 
 suggest 
 
 transact 
 
 simultaneous 
 
 splenetic 
 
 supererogatory travail 
 
 since 
 
 spontaneity 
 
 superfluous 
 
 tremendous 
 
 sinecure 
 
 squalor 
 
 taunt 
 
 tribunal 
 
62 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 sirup 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 tenet 
 
 tribune 
 
 sojourn 
 
 stalwart 
 
 tepid 
 
 trilobite 
 
 solitaire 
 
 steady 
 
 testimony 
 
 truculent 
 
 sonorous 
 
 substantiate 
 
 tiny 
 
 truth 
 
 sophistry 
 
 succinct 
 
 topography 
 
 tyrannic 
 
 umbrella 
 
 vehement 
 
 viscount 
 
 wound 
 
 unanimity 
 
 veracity 
 
 visor 
 
 Worcester 
 
 uninteresting 
 
 Versailles 
 
 Wellesley 
 
 wrath 
 
 untoward 
 
 verbose 
 
 wharf 
 
 wreathe 
 
 urbanity 
 
 versatile 
 
 which 
 
 wreak • - 
 
 usage 
 
 version 
 
 whistle 
 
 yacht 
 
 usurp 
 
 via 
 
 whole 
 
 youth 
 
 vagary 
 
 vicar 
 
 whooping 
 
 youths 
 
 vaseline 
 
 victory 
 
 with 
 
 Zaccheus 
 
 vaudeville 
 
 virulent 
 
 wont 
 
 zoology 
 
 A test in pronunciation: 
 
 This rather curious piece of composition was once placed 
 upon a blackboard at a teachers' institute, and a prize, a 
 Webster's Dictionary, was offered to any person who could 
 read and pronounce every word correctly. The book was 
 not carried off, however, as twelve was the lowest number 
 of mistakes in the pronunciation made: 
 
 "A sacrilegious son of Belial, who suffered from bron- 
 chitis, having exhausted his finances, in order to make good 
 the deficit, resolved to ally himself to a comely, lenient, and 
 docile young lady of the Malay or Caucasian race. He 
 accordingly purchased a calliope and a coral necklace of a 
 chameleon hue, and securing a suite of rooms at a principal 
 hotel he engaged the head waiter as a coadjutor. He then 
 dispatched a letter of the most exceptional caligraphy ex- 
 tant, inviting the young lady to a matinee. She revolted 
 at the idea, refused to consider herself sacrificeable to his 
 desires, and sent a polite note of refusal ; on receiving which 
 he procured a carbine and a bowie-knife, said that he would 
 
Enunciation and Pronunciation 63 
 
 not now forge letters hymeneal with the queen, went to an 
 isolated spot, severed his jugular vein and discharged the 
 contents of the carbine into his abdomen. The debris was 
 removed by the coroner." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 MELODY 
 
 Definitions. Melody in speech may be denned as a 
 pleasing succession of changes in pitch. 
 
 Pitch is a term applied to the position of the tone rela- 
 tive to the key-note. It is dependent on the number of 
 vibrations per second. The greater the number of vibra- 
 tions the higher the pitch. The number of vibrations is 
 dependent on the tension, thickness and length of the vi- 
 brating body. 
 
 In the production of vocal sound, our vocal cords vibrate 
 with a certain rapidity. And the pitch of our voice de- 
 pends on the thickness, length, and tension of these cords. 
 The pitch is also slightly modified by the size of the reso- 
 nating chambers, but this seldom does more than sharp or 
 flat a certain note. 
 
 Compass. The human voice has a certain range which 
 lies between the highest and lowest limits. In the ordinary 
 individual, this range seldom reaches two octaves. The con- 
 ventional voice seldom varies more than one octave, and the 
 reading voice is usually limited to a range of two or three 
 notes. 
 
 Key. The predominating tone or pitch of the voice in 
 speaking is called the key. It may also be defined as the 
 average pitch the individual uses ; this ordinarily varies 
 from the high soprano voice of girls to the bass voice of 
 boys. Your normal key should be a tone near which you 
 can speak with greatest ease. 
 
 Inflection. Inflection refers to the bend or wave of the 
 voice above or below the key. The Slide denotes a pro- 
 
 64 
 
Melody 
 
 65 
 
 longed inflection extending over a number of words. Ca- 
 dence is a term usually applied to the inflection at the close 
 of a sentence. 
 
 A reader, then, must ask himself, "Do I speak in a key 
 that is most conducive to ease and effectiveness? Can I 
 readily go above or below my normal key?" An habitual 
 key, it should be remembered, is not necessarily a natural 
 one. Many people habitually speak in either a high or a 
 low key, rather than in the middle range. One who speaks 
 in a high, thin, squeaky tone, represents the one extreme, 
 while one who speaks as from the bottom of a well, repre- 
 sents the other extreme. Either extreme is a fault. The 
 
66 Qral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 most pleasing voices , use neither the upper register — the 
 "head tone" — nor the lower register — the "chest tone" — to 
 the exclusion of the other, but readily pass from one to 
 the other, as the thought and emotion may require. 
 
 Ease, variety, and strength depend on using the middle 
 or average key ; we then have a common point above and 
 below which the voice is allowed to play. The importance 
 of this free and easy play of the voice in reading and speak- 
 ing cannot be overestimated. Inflection, emphasis, climax, 
 and modulation generally depend upon it. 
 
 The normal key will vary with the individual. Physio- 
 logical conditions will determine what the key of one's voice 
 shall be. The point is, are you using to the best advantage 
 the key-range that nature has given you? Probably the 
 more common fault is exhibited by those who habitually 
 use about the highest pitch of their key-range. The high, 
 shrill tone of the average American girl is frequently re- 
 marked upon by foreigners. Such voices are not only un- 
 pleasant to hear, but they lack strength, "body," and the 
 power of sustained force. If your voice is too high-pitched, 
 you must acquire an habitually lower key. The only way 
 to do this is — to lower it. Find the desired note on a musi- 
 cal instrument and speak to it. Relax the throat muscles 
 and roll the voice out from the chest. Think of its coming, 
 if you please, from the diaphragm. Watch yourself in con- 
 versation and a\o not allow the voice to rise into a high, 
 compressed pitch. On the other hand, if you speak down 
 "in the shoes" so that the tone is habitually swallowed, learn 
 to raise the key, project the tone, and get it out. 
 
 Again, key should vary with the matter. The manuals 
 of elocution give an elaborate classification of degrees in 
 pitch, with rules as to how matter, expressive of a given 
 function, fits into a certain "degree," but all this is largely 
 dogmatic and artificial. The main object should be to 
 conceive and feel the thought, and then to use the key best 
 adapted for its expression. We know, for example, that in 
 
Melody 67 
 
 explanatory or narrative matter the key is higher than in 
 the expression of deep feeling. In the one case, the sole 
 object is to get something lying easily in the speaker's mind 
 into the mind of a hearer; in the other case the impression 
 lies deeper, and for its adequate expression a deeper note 
 must perforce be struck. This is a single phase of the mat- 
 ter. On the other hand, uncontrolled mental states — as an 
 outburst of indignation — produce a nervous and muscular 
 tension which naturally results in a high key. Note the dif- 
 ference in the pitch of the tone of a pig that gets his leg 
 caught in a fence, and the pitch of his voice when grunting 
 contentedly in his pen. When you are excited your muscles 
 become contracted, including your throat muscles, your 
 pitch will be high, whether it be grief, joy, or pain. On the 
 other hand, when the muscles of your body are relaxed, the 
 throat muscles will be relaxed, and your pitch will naturally 
 be low. The point is to get control and variety of pitch; 
 the rest can best be left to the requirements of the varied 
 and changing emotions of a given selection. 
 
 Old age is frequently characterized by a high, or even 
 falsetto tone. As Shakespeare says, 
 
 His big, manly voice, 
 Turning again towards childish treble, pipes 
 And whistles in his sound. 
 
 There was a time, now happily passed, when it was 
 thought that when a man read the lines spoken by a lady 
 that he must imitate her voice and consequently used the 
 falsetto tone. Sometimes for the sake of ridicule and fun 
 this is still. heard in vaudeville acts, but never by those who 
 wish to interpret properly a selection of literature. Neither 
 should one use the high pitched voice of the child in reading 
 what Little Boy Blue said in the following stanza : 
 
 "Now don't you go till I come," he said; 
 
 "And don't you make any noise !" 
 So toddling off to his trundle-bed 
 He dreamt of the pretty toys. — Field. 
 
68 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 For convenience it is well to speak of degrees of pitch as 
 high, middle, and low. There is no absolute standard, for 
 voices vary with different individuals. What would be a low 
 pitch for some would be high for others. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Go to a piano and find your normal key. Run up and 
 down the scale and register your range. Refer to the table 
 in this chapter and find out what your singing voice is. If 
 you do not know much about music get some one to assist 
 you. 
 
 II. Sing the scale up and down : do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, 
 ti, do. 
 
 III. Sing the scale by counting: one, two, etc. 
 
 IV. Run the scale by counting. Do not prolong the 
 words as in singing. 
 
 two, 
 
 V. Say: One, three, 
 
 four, 
 
 five, 
 
 six, 
 
 seven, 
 
 etc. 
 three, 
 
 VI. Say: One, two, four, 
 
 five, 
 
 six, 
 
 etc. 
 
 VII. Continue with a variety of cadence. 
 
 VIII. Read the first line of each of these couplets four 
 notes higher than the second: 
 
 I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty; 
 
 I woke and found that life was Duty. — Hooper. 
 
 "O, father! I see a gleaming light; oh say, what may it be?" 
 But the father answered never a word; a frozen corpse was he. 
 
 — Longfellow. 
 
Melody 69 
 
 IX. Read the following selections and make an effort to 
 have a difference of at least four notes between the high key 
 and the middle key, and a difference of at least four notes 
 between the middle key and the low key. The aid of some 
 musical instrument will prove serviceable: 
 
 HIGH KEY 
 
 1. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 
 
 The flying cloud, the frosty light; 
 The year is dying in the night. 
 Ring out, wild bells,, and let him die. 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 2. Sing loud, O bird in the tree, 
 
 O bird, sing loud in the sky, 
 And honey bees blacken the clover seas, 
 There are none of you glad as I. 
 
 — Ina Coolbrith. 
 3. 
 "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, 
 
 upstarting; 
 "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian 
 
 shore ! 
 Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath 
 
 spoken ! 
 Leave my loneliness unbroken ! quit the bust above my door ! 
 Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off 
 
 my door." 
 
 Quoth the raven: "Nevermore!" 
 The Raven. Poe. 
 
 4. 
 
 Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are ! 
 And glory to our sovereign liege, King Henry of Navarre! 
 Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance, 
 Through thy corn-fields green and sunny vines, O pleasant 
 
 land of France ! 
 And thou, Rochelle — our own Rochelle — proud city of the 
 
 waters, 
 Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters : 
 As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy, 
 For cold and stiff and still are they who wrought thy walls 
 
 annoy. 
 
70 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah ! a single field hath turned the chance of war ! 
 
 Hurrah ! hurrah ! for Ivry and Henry of Navarre ! 
 
 The Battle of Ivry. Macaulay. 
 
 MIDDLE KEY 
 
 1. To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather 
 than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, 
 not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think 
 quietly, talk gently, act frankly ; to listen to stars and birds, babes 
 and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, 
 await occasions, hurry never ; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbid- 
 den and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be 
 my symphony. 
 
 My Symphony. William Henry Channing. 
 
 2. Oh, if I could only make you see 
 The clear blue eyes, the tender smile, 
 The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace, 
 The woman's soul and the angel's face, 
 That are beaming on me all the while! 
 
 I need not speak these foolish words ; 
 Yet one word tells you all I would say, — 
 She is my mother; you will agree 
 That all the rest may be thrown away. 
 
 — Alice Cary. 
 
 3. If I were a man, a young man, and knew what I know to- 
 
 day, 
 I would look into the eyes of Life undaunted 
 
 By any fate that might threaten me. 
 I would give to the world what the world most wanted 
 
 Manhood that knows it can do and be; 
 
 Courage that dares and faith that can see 
 
 Clear into the depth of the human soul, 
 
 And find God there, and the ultimate goal, 
 If I were a man, a young man, and knew what I know to-day. 
 If I Were a Young Man. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 
 
 4. The little Road says Go, 
 
 The little House says Stay; 
 And oh, it's bonny here at home, 
 But I must go away. 
 
Melody 71 
 
 The little Road, like me,, 
 
 Would seek and turn and know; 
 And forth I must, to learn the things 
 The little Road would show ! 
 The House and The Road. Josephine Peabody. 
 
 LOW KEY 
 
 1. 
 
 'Tis midnight's holy hour, — and silence now 
 Is brooding like a gentle spirit, o'er 
 The still and pulseless world. Hark ! on the winds 
 The bell's deep tones are swelling, — 'tis the knell 
 Of the departed year. 
 The Closing Year. George D. Prentice. 
 
 2. Then, with ej^es that saw not, I kissed her; 
 
 And she, kissing back, could not know 
 That my kiss was given to her sister, 
 
 Folded close under deepening snow. 
 The First Snow-Fail. James R. Lowell. 
 
 3. 
 
 At last the thread was snapped: her head was bowed; 
 
 Life dropped the distaff strough his hands serene; 
 And loving neighbors smoothed her careful shroud, 
 
 While death and winter closed the autumn scene. 
 The Closing Scene. Thomas Buchanan Read. 
 
 4. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the 
 hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is 
 silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as 
 they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away — they have en- 
 dured but an instant — and a light, half-subdued laughter floats 
 from them as they depart. 
 
 Masque of the Red Death. Edgar A. Poe. 
 
 5. All is peace; and God has granted you this sight of your 
 country's happiness, ere you slumber in the grave. He has al- 
 lowed you to behold and to partake of the reward of your patriotic 
 toils; and he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet 
 you here and in the name of the present generation, in the name 
 of your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you ! 
 
 Bunker Hill Oration. Webster. 
 
78 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Inflection. By inflection, in its broad sense, is meant 
 the various bends or waves of the voice above and below the 
 dominant key. Its uses are to aid in bringing out the 
 thought, to express the relationship between the ideas in a 
 discourse, and, in general, to give the "lights and shades" 
 to expression in reading. While the inflections of a well- 
 modulated voice are infinite in number — gradual or abrupt, 
 long or short — the principal movements are as follows: 
 The Falling Inflection ( x ), the Rising Inflection ( ' ), the 
 Sustained Inflection ( -), the Falling Circumflex ( A ), the 
 Rising Circumflex ( v ), the Falling Slide ( \ ), and the 
 Rising Slide ( / ). 
 
 Inflections are not conventional devices, but are expres- 
 sive of the mind and emotion of the reader or speaker. 
 Now, a given passage may be spoken with different inflec- 
 tions, according to the interpretation of the individual 
 reader, but similar shades of meaning will always find expres- 
 sion through similar inflections. One's meaning is often ex- 
 pressed far more clearly by the inflections used, than by 
 the mere words uttered. If, for example, you see a friend 
 evidently making preparations to leave the house, and you 
 ask, "Are you going to town?" for the purpose of receiving 
 information, you would naturally use a rising inflection on 
 "town." If surprised at your friend's leaving, you would 
 use a still wider rising inflection. If, now, you had asked 
 the question several times and received no answer, and felt 
 impatient thereat and demanded your right to an answer, 
 then, on repeating the question, you would naturally use 
 a pronounced falling inflection, — as if to say, "I want to 
 know if you are going to town, and that's all there is to it." 
 Hence the General Law of inflection is : When the thought 
 is complete, the voice falls; when the thought is incomplete, 
 the voice rises. That is, the completeness or incomplete- 
 ness of the thought, not the form of the sentence or the 
 punctuation, determines the inflection. Nothing could be 
 more misleading than to suppose that the voice always falls 
 
Melody 73 
 
 at the period, for a sentence may be grammatically complete, 
 but incomplete in thought. However, since the purpose of 
 punctuation is to aid in determining the thought, a period 
 usually denotes that the thought is complete. 
 
 Now, there are various applications of the General Law 
 as above stated. Let us notice some of them. 
 
 I. The falling inflection denotes affirmation, determina- 
 tion, positiveness, assertion, — completeness. Such com- 
 pleteness may be either final or momentary. If final, the 
 thought is concluded at that point, and this is indicated by 
 the fall of the voice, as in the following examples : 
 
 1. I expect to pass through this life but once\ If there is 
 any kindness or any good thing I can do to my fellow-beings, let 
 me do it now. I shall pass this way but once". 
 
 , —William Penn. 
 
 2. And Morley was dead; to begin with*. — Dickens. 
 
 3. Man's inhumanity to man, 
 
 Makes countless thousands mourn. — Burns. 
 
 4. If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
 Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, 
 
 I would not draw them: I would have my bond. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 II. Momentary completeness arises whenever we wish to 
 give a strong affirmative emphasis to a word, although this 
 word does not really complete a statement. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. The charge is utterly, totally and meanly false. 
 
 — Grattan. 
 
 2. True eloquence does not consist in speech. Words and 
 phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot com- 
 pass it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the outbreak of a foun- 
 tain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires', with 
 spontaneous*, original, native force. — Werster. 
 
 3. I am one among the thousands who loved Henry Grady, 
 and I stand among the millions who lament his death. I loved 
 
74 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 him in the promise of his glowing youth, when across my boyish 
 vision he walked with winning grace from easy effort, to success. 
 I loved him in the flush of his splendid manhood, when a nation 
 hung upon his words, — and now I love him best of alf as he lies 
 under the December skies, with face as tranquil and with smile 
 as sweet as patriarch ever wore. — Graves. 
 
 4. I am astonished, shocked, to hear such principles con- 
 fessed, to hear them avowed in this House x , or even in this coun- 
 try! Principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman^, and unchris- 
 tian*' ! — Sble cted. 
 
 The falling inflection at pauses of momentary complete- 
 ness, as indicated in the foregoing examples, gives the com- 
 bined effect of emphasis and positiveness. Used with dis- 
 cretion, it is very effective. Used to excess, the delivery be- 
 comes heavy and monotonous, and sacrifices the on-move- 
 ment of the thought. 
 
 III. A series of words or phrases equally emphatic in 
 theory takes the rising inflection, except the last. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. Property' character, reputation, everything was sacrificed. 
 
 2. Charity beareth all things', hopeth all things, endureth all 
 things. 
 
 IV. . Incompleteness of thought arises in a variety of 
 forms. Generally speaking, conditional, doubtful, obvious, 
 or negative ideas denote incompleteness, and hence should 
 be followed with the rising inflection. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. If we fail, it can be no worse for us. 
 
 2. I will wait for you in the corridor, if you do not stay too 
 long.' 
 
 3. It is in studying as in eating — he that does it gets benefit, 
 not he that sees it done/ 
 
 4. He may be an honest man'; he says he is. 
 
 5. I cannot promise definitely, but I think you may rely upon 
 getting it' , 
 
 6. It is not necessary to be rich in order to be happy. We are 
 
Melody 75 
 
 apt to think that a man must be great, that he must be famous, 
 that he must be wealthy. That is all a mistake/ It is not neces- 
 sary to be rich? to be great? to be famous? to be powerful? in order 
 to be happy? 
 
 — Ingersoll. 
 
 V. A loose sentence is usually delivered with the Fall- 
 ing Inflection at intermediate pauses , except the clause pre- 
 ceding the last, when the Rising Inflection is used. The 
 reason for this general rule is, that by using the rising in- 
 flection on next to the last clause, the effect is to connect all 
 the preceding clauses with the very close. • 
 
 It is sometimes said that the falling inflection, used at 
 the pauses in the following examples, is a partial fall only, 
 as distinguished from the complete fall that denotes the 
 conclusion of thought. That is, there are degrees of in- 
 flection that will represent the various degrees of relation- 
 ship between ideas. It would be impossible, as well as un- 
 desirable, to give an exposition of these various degrees on 
 the printed page. Here again the speaker's mind must be 
 the guide. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. To-day men point to Marengo in wonderment. They laud 
 the power and foresight that so skilfully planned the battle, but 
 they forget that Napoleon failed; they forget that he was de- 
 feated ; they forget that a general only v thirty years old made 
 a victory of the great conqueror's defeat, and that a gamin of 
 Paris put to shame- the Child of Destiny. — Anonymous. 
 
 2. 
 Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
 In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; 
 Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom 
 
 or blight, 
 Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the 
 
 right/ 
 And the choice goes by forever ? twixt that darkness and that 
 
 light. — Lowell. 
 
 3. A little consideration of what takes place around us every 
 
76 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 day would show us that a higher law than that of our wills regu- 
 lates events"; that our painful labors are unnecessary and fruit- 
 less; that only in our simple, easy, spontaneous action are we 
 strong' and by contenting ourselves with obedience we become 
 divine. — Emerson. 
 
 VI. In a periodic sentence, the Rising Inflection should 
 usually be given at the intermediate pauses. The construc- 
 tion of a periodic sentence is especially adapted to oratori- 
 cal discourse, its leading idea, the climax, being reserved 
 till the close. The thought is onlooking, and the rising 
 inflection aids the thought-movement onward to the climax. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. If men cared less for wealth and fame, 
 
 And less for battle-fields and glory; 
 If, writ in human hearts, a name 
 
 Seemed better than in song and story; 
 If men, instead of nursing pride, 
 
 Would learn to hate it and abhor it; 
 If more relied on love to guide, 
 
 The world would be the better for it. 
 
 If men were wise in little things 
 
 Affecting less in all their dealings — 
 If hearts had fewer rusted strings 
 
 To isolate their kindly feelings; 
 If men, when Wrong beats down the Right, 
 
 Would strike together and restore it;' 
 If Right made Might in every fight, 
 
 The world would be the better for it. 
 The World Would Be Better for It. M. N. Cobb. 
 
 2. It was not his olive valleys and orchard groves that made 
 the Greece of the Greek; it was not for his apple orchards or 
 potato fields that the farmer of New England or New York 
 marched to Bunker Hill, to Bennington, to Saratoga. A man's 
 country is not a certain area of land^ but it is a principle; and 
 patriotism is loyalty to that principle. 
 
 Duty of Educated Men. Curtis. 
 
 VII. In alternative and antithetical expressions, the first 
 part usually takes the Rising, the second part the Falling, 
 
Melody 77 
 
 Inflection. That is, contrasted ideas require contrasted in- 
 flections. 
 Examples : 
 
 1. Shall we fight, or shall we fly? 
 
 2. ' For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor 
 angels nor principalities' nor powers, nor things present' nor 
 things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
 Christ Jesus, our Lord. — Romans viii, 38, 39. 
 
 3. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is 
 sown in dishonour/ it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness^ 
 it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body^ it is raised a 
 spiritual body. — I Corinthians xv, 42-44. 
 
 4. Contrast now the circumstances of your life and mine, 
 JEschines, and then ask these people whose fortunes they would 
 each of them prefer. You taught reading' I went to school ; you 
 performed initiations', I received thein ; you danced in the chorus' 
 I furnished it"; you were assembly clerkj I was speaker : you acted 
 third parts^ I heard you; you broke down, and I hissed; you have 
 worked as a statesman for the enemy' I for my country*. 
 
 On the Crown. Demosthenes. 
 
 The Circumflexes. The Circumflexes consist of a com- 
 bination of the rising and falling inflections on a single syl- 
 lable or word. We have the Falling Circumflex ( A ), where 
 the rising inflection is followed by the falling. The Rising 
 Circumflex ( v ), when the falling inflection is followed by 
 the rising. The Double Rising Circumflex (/v), when the 
 falling circumflex is followed by the rising. The Double 
 Falling Circumflex ( v\ ) is the union of two falling cir- 
 cumflexes. 
 
 Usage. The rising circumflex may be used in expressing 
 emphasis and to point the thought forward, as, "You say 
 he is going?" This is equivalent to saying, "You say he is 
 going, do you?" The falling circumflex may indicate de- 
 light and surprise, as, "Oh, how are you?" 
 
 The circumflex is often used in irony, sarcasm, raillery, 
 
78 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 contempt, duplicity. Beware of one who habitually speaks 
 with a zigz&g inflection. His character is no straighter than 
 his accent. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. You think you are smart, don't you? 
 
 2. You will send your child, will you', into a room where the 
 table is loaded with sweet wine' and fruit- — some poisoned, some 
 not? — you will say to him, "Choose freely, my little child! It is 
 good for you to have freedom of choice; it forms your character 
 — your individuality! If you take the wrong cup or the wrong 
 berry, you will die before the day is over, but you will have ac- 
 quired the dignity of a Free child." — Ruskin. 
 
 3. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft 
 In the Rialto you have rated me 
 About my moneys and my usances : 
 
 Still have I borne it with a patient shrug; 
 
 For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. . . • 
 
 Well, then, it now appears you need my help: 
 
 Go to, then; you come to me, and you say, 
 
 Shylock, we would have moneys. . . . 
 
 What should I say to you ? Should I not say, 
 
 Hath a dog money ? Is it possible 
 
 A cur can lend three thousand ducats? Or 
 
 Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key, 
 
 With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 
 
 Say this, — 
 
 Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; 
 
 You spurn'd me such a day; another time 
 
 You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies 
 
 I'll lend you thus much moneys? 
 
 — The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene III. 
 
 4. O Rome! Rome! thou hast been a tender nurse to me. 
 Ay ! thou hast given to that poor, gentle, timid shepherd-lad, who 
 never knew a harsher tone than a flute-note, muscles of iron and 
 a heart of flint; taught him to drive the sword through plaited 
 mail and links of rugged brass, and warm it in the marrow of his 
 foe: — to gaze into the glaring eye-balls of the fierce Numidian 
 lion even as a boy upon a laughing girl! 
 
 Sparticus to the Gladiators. Kellogg. 
 
Melody 79 
 
 The Slides. The Slides are prolonged inflections. The 
 voice is carried through a series of words, phrases, clauses, 
 or sentences, usually from below the key to and above it, 
 or vice versa. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 lesson? 
 your 
 study 
 
 Key 
 
 to 
 going 
 you 
 Are 
 I 
 am 
 
 studying 
 
 Key 
 
 my 
 
 lesson. 
 
 Usage. The principal uses of the slides are: 
 I. A definite question takes the Rising Slide. A definite 
 question is one that can be answered by yes or no. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1 . Are you coming home ? 
 
 £, Is it that summer's forsaken our valleys, 
 
 And grim, surly winter is here ? — Burns. 
 
 3. Hast thou forgot me, then ?/ and do I seem 
 Now in thine eyes so foul? — Milton. 
 
 4. Are we to go on cudgelling, and cudgelling, and cudgelling 
 men's ears with coarse processes ? Are we to consider it a special 
 providence when any good comes from our preaching or our teach- 
 ing? Are we never to study how skillfully to pick the lock of 
 curiosity; to unfasten the door of fancy; to throw wide open the 
 
SO Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 halls of emotion, and to kindle the light of inspiration in the souls 
 of men ? Is there any reality in oratory ? It is all real. — Beecher. 
 
 II. An indefinite question takes the FaUmg Slide. An in- 
 definite question is one that cannot be answered by yes or no. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. What can this man say? What can he do? Where can he 
 
 go? 
 
 2. Why was the French Revolution so bloody and destructive ? 
 Why was our Revolution of 1641 comparatively mild? Why was 
 our Revolution in 1688 milder still? Why was the American 
 Revolution, considered as an internal movement, the mildest of 
 all? 
 
 3. Shut now the volume of history, and tell me, on any prin- 
 ciple of human probability, what shall be the fate of this hand- 
 ful of adventurers? Tell me, man of military science, in how 
 many months were they all swept off by the thirty ^savage tribes 
 enumerated within the early limits of New England? Tell me, 
 politician, how long did this shadow of a colony, on which your 
 conventions and treaties had not smiled, languish on the distant 
 coast? 
 
 Melodic Change in Pitch. In inflection there is a grad- 
 ual and definite rise or fall of the voice; usually this change 
 is made in a syllable of a word. In reading and speaking 
 it is essential that there be a great variety of changes of 
 pitch in the same sentence, as well as inflectional changes. 
 
 Imagine listening to a song that had all whole notes and 
 these all on the same line on the staff! Some people talk 
 like that; many more read like that. When in earnest con- 
 versation, we usually have a pleasing variety of pitch, but 
 it is very difficult to secure such variety when reading. In 
 practicing the following, suppose that the space between 
 each line represents one note on the musical staff. It does 
 not matter so much just where the change of pitch comes, 
 but it is very important that you do have a change of pitch 
 of some kind. No two readers woulfl likely agree on the 
 melodic changes in any selection. 
 
Melody 81 
 
 Examples : 
 
 Sol- but 
 
 ebbs 
 like the way like 
 
 swells its 
 
 1. Love tide. 
 
 bi- 
 
 Brutus was am- 
 
 he 
 
 But says tious. 
 
 
 cheer- em- 
 
 pre- i- use- 
 
 ful nent- a ful 
 
 A man is ly man. 
 
 
 All all 
 
 the and its 
 
 world's men women 
 
 a and merely 
 
 stage, players. 
 
82 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 
 
 
 
 foot of 
 
 thy 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 at the 
 
 
 
 
 
 Break, 
 
 break, 
 
 break, 
 
 
 
 
 crags, 
 
 OSea! 
 
 of a day 
 
 Will never 
 
 tender grace that 
 
 come 
 
 is 
 
 back 
 
 But the dead 
 
 to me. 
 
 FAULTS IN SPEECH MELODY 
 
 General Monotone. The monotone is a comparatively 
 unvarying change of pitch in reading or speaking. It is 
 sticking to one tone all the time. This droning tone is often 
 heard in the pulpit and everybody feels like taking a nap. 
 Cultivate an "agile" tone, not one that is "stiff." Varia- 
 tion is restful to the speaker as well as to the audience. 
 Most of us have been given good voices, but we do not use 
 them. Everything is read and spoken on a dead level. 
 Singing is good practice in learning to get away from the 
 monotone in speaking, but the best way is to will to make 
 your voice more agile. 
 
 There is no greater fault in reading than the habitual 
 monotone. But do not run up and down the scale as you 
 read or speak just for the sake of changing; let there be 
 a mental reason for the change. The thought and emotion 
 must determine not only your key, but your change in pitch. 
 
 A Monotony of the Rising Inflection. The effect is a 
 continuous flow of words without any breaks or stops. The 
 
Melody 83 
 
 audience feels impelled to say "Give us a rest!" It is fre- 
 quently noticed that this habit is carried to such ridiculous 
 extremes that those speakers who swing into a "ministerial" 
 or "oratorical" tone, will close a speech or address with the 
 rising inflection. The hearers are left suspended, as it were, 
 in mid-air, and must come down of their own accord, after 
 they realize that the speaker has" concluded. The habit has 
 its origin, no doubt, in the use of the rising inflection for 
 voicing an appeal, — a characteristic of oratory proper. 
 But it is sadly overworked, even by prominent and successful 
 orators. Young would-be orators imitate and perpetuate 
 the fault, just as young preachers imitate the faults of 
 their elders. Avoid it. 
 
 A Monotony of the Falling Inflection. We have seen the 
 use of the falling inflection in expressing "momentary com- 
 pleteness," — in giving added emphasis, strong affirmation, 
 positiveness. For such purposes it is widely serviceable in 
 oratory. But the proper use of the falling inflection is a 
 very different matter from its habitual and almost constant 
 use. Many speakers never seem to see farther than the 
 length of a phrase or clause, and at well-nigh every pause 
 the voice goes down, no matter what the phrase relation may 
 be. This habit gives a scrappy, disconnected, heavy and 
 tedious effect to speech. Avoid it. 
 
 Using a Semitone Instead of a Complete Downward 
 Slide at the End of a Sentence. Speakers, especially min- 
 isters, often drop their voices a semitone instead of a full 
 note. This defect is usually accompanied with a prolonga- 
 tion and a rise in pitch on the final sound. There are a num- 
 ber of variations of this fault, but all result in a pathetic, 
 plaintive, wail or whine that is neither pleasing nor effective. 
 Drop your voice at least a whole tone, and make a definite, 
 straight, downward inflection when the thought is complete, 
 or at a full pause. 
 
 Dropping the Voice so Suddenly or so Low That the Last 
 Syllable is Husky or Inaudible, This may arise either from 
 
84 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 an excessive fall of the voice on the final word or syllable, 
 or from delivering the syllable or word preceding the close 
 in so low a key that there is no room in the compass for a 
 further distinct fall. The fault may be corrected by keep- 
 ing the voice up — or raising it if need be — on the syllable 
 or word preceding the close, and thus preparing for the 
 complete and normal fall. 
 
 The High Pitch. It is natural to speak in a low key 
 when talking to a friend, and when we address a large crowd 
 we think it is necessary not only to speak louder but to 
 raise the key. This results from the fact that we have 
 only a certain amount of breath to use, and desiring to in- 
 crease the amplitude of the vibrations of our cords, we bring 
 them closer together so as to vocalize all our breath. This 
 produces a tension on the cords resulting in a higher pitch. 
 But remember that the carrying power of a voice is not de- 
 pendent on pitch. Again, those who speak i» this high key 
 seldom have a great range of pitch at this high level, and 
 this accounts for the lack of agility of tone in so many 
 speakers when before an audience. 
 
 exercises ' 
 
 I. Read the sentence, Do you have your lesson? first as 
 a rhetorical, and then as an ordinary question. 
 
 II. Read the following: 
 
 1. Questioning: Do you like this book? 
 
 2. Hesitation : Yes — I — guess — so. 
 
 3. Begging-' Lend me your pencil. 
 
 4. Positiveness : Yes, I like this book. 
 
 5. Irony: Give you money? The idea. 
 
 6. Conciliation: Come, let us be friends. 
 
 III. Othello: "Indeed? ay, indeed! Discern'st thou 
 aught in that? Is he honest?" 
 
 Iago: "Honest, my lord?" 
 Othello: "Honest? Ay, honest." 
 
Melody 85 
 
 IV. It is said that a certain actor read Iago's part in 
 -this manner: "Honest? My Lord?" How does this dif- 
 fer in meaning from this : "Honest', my Lord ?" 
 
 V. Mark the inflections in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 
 in Part III. 
 
 VI. Determine the difference in meaning: 
 
 1. Shall I tell a story or a narrative? 
 
 2. Shall I tell a story or a narrative ? 
 
 VII. Plot out the melody in the following: 
 
 1. The mate for beauty 
 
 Should be a man, and not a money chest! — Lytton. 
 
 2,. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not 
 escape calumny. — Shakespeare. 
 
 3. In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves 
 For a bright manhood, there is no such word 
 As "fail." — Lytton. 
 
 4. We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow ; 
 Our wise sons, no doubt, will think us so. — Pope. 
 
 5. I find earth not gray but rosy, heaven not grim but fair of 
 
 hue. 
 Do I stoop ? I pluck a posy. Do I stand and stare ? All's 
 blue. — Browning. 
 
 VIII. Tell a short, humorous story. Observe the change 
 of pitch. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE 
 
 Determine the proper Key, Inflection, Slides, and Melody 
 in the following: 
 
 I. "I've done now," said Sam, with slight embarrassment; 
 "I've been a-writin'." 
 
 "So I see," replied Mr. Weller. "Not to any young 'ooman, I 
 hope, Sammy." 
 
 "Why, it's no use a-sayin' it ain't," replied Sam. "It's a 
 walentine." 
 
 "A what?" exclaimed Mr. Weller, apparently horror-stricken 
 .by the word. 
 
86 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 "A walentine," replied Sam. 
 
 "Samivel, Samivel," said Mr. Weller, in reproachful accents, "I 
 didn't think you'd ha' done it." — Dickens. 
 
 II. Has he maintained his own charges ? Has he proved what 
 he alleged? — Webster. 
 
 III. Does the road wind up hill all the way? 
 
 Yes, to the very end. 
 Will the day's j ourney take the whole long day ? 
 From morn to night, my friend. 
 
 IV. I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Ti- 
 tus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? 
 Walked we not in the same steps ? — Bible. 
 
 V. "Is it possible you can forgive me for the miserable lies 
 I have uttered?" asked John, almost unconscious of the words he 
 was speaking. "Is it possible you can forgive me for uttering 
 these lies, Dorothy?" he repeated. — Major. 
 
 VI. We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
 In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
 
 We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
 Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 
 Life is but a means unto an end; that end, — 
 Beginning, mean, and end to all things, — God. — Bailey. 
 
 VII. We are not trying to give an improper advantage to the 
 poor man because he is poor; to the man of small means because 
 he has not larger means, for that is not in accordance with the 
 spirit of this government; but We are striving to see that the man 
 of small means has exactly as good a chance, so far as we can 
 obtain it for him, as the man of larger means — that there shall be 
 equality of opportunity for the one as for the other, because that 
 is the principle upon which our government is founded. — Roose- 
 velt. 
 
 VIII. Neither blindness, nor gout, nor age, nor penury, nor 
 domestic afflictions, nor political disappointments, nor abuse, nor 
 proscription, nor even neglect, had power to disturb his sedate and 
 majestic patience. — Selected. 
 
 IX. Come, read to me some poem, 
 
 Some simple and heartfelt lay, 
 That shall soothe this restless feeling, 
 And banish the thoughts of day. 
 
 — - 
 
Melody 87 
 
 Not from the grand old masters, 
 
 Not from the bards sublime, 
 Whose distant footsteps echo 
 
 Through the corridors of Time. 
 
 For, like strains of martial music, 
 
 Their mighty thoughts suggest 
 Life's endless toil and endeavor; 
 
 And to-night I long for rest. 
 
 Then read from the treasured volume 
 
 The poem of thy choice, 
 And lend to the rhyme of the poet 
 
 The beauty of thy voice. 
 
 And the night shall be filled with music, 
 
 And the cares, that infest the day, 
 Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, 
 
 And as silently steal away. 
 The Day is Done. Longfellow. 
 
 first VOICE 
 
 X. "Ah me — the scorching sand ! 
 
 The cloudless, burned-out blue ! 
 The choking air on every hand, 
 
 That the rain drops never through !" 
 
 SECOND VOICE 
 
 "The oasis was fair, 
 
 The green palm-tree with its dates, 
 And the breath of the far-off ocean-air, 
 
 Where the restful harbor waits." 
 
 FIRST VOICE 
 
 "Ah me — the weary way ! 
 
 The burden heavy to bear! 
 The short', swift nights that die to-day, 
 
 The silence everywhere !" 
 
 SECOND VOICE 
 
 "The oasis will rise 
 
 Over the sand-swept ring ; 
 In music under cool, starry skies 
 
 Will ripple the running spring." 
 
88 i Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 FIRST VOICE 
 
 "Ah me — the scorching sand! 
 
 The cloudless, burned-out blue ! 
 The choking air on every hand, 
 
 That the rain drops never through !" 
 The Desert. Anna C. Brackett. 
 
 XI. I lived first in a little house, and lived there very well, 
 
 I thought the world was small and round, and made of 
 pale blue shell. 
 
 I lived next in a little nest, nor needed any other, 
 I thought the world was made of straw, and brooded to 
 my mother. 
 
 One day I fluttered from the nest to see what I could find. 
 I said: "The world is made of leaves, I have been very 
 blind." 
 
 At length I flew beyond the tree, quite fit for grown-up 
 
 labors, 
 I don't know how the world is made, and neither do my 
 
 neighbors ! 
 Bird Thoughts. Author Not Known. 
 
 XII. My home was a dungeon, — how could that be, 
 When loftiest ceilings rose stately and free? 
 Love roamed in the forest or sat by the sea, 
 And through the long hours was nothing to me. 
 
 My home is a palace, — how can that be, 
 When through the rude rafters the stars I can see?- 
 Love knocked at my window and bade me be free. 
 I followed him gladly to share this with thee. 
 Then and Now. Rena H. Ingham. 
 
 XIII. In 1861 when Lincoln was a candidate for re-election, 
 a friend spoke to him of a member of his Cabinet who was a can- 
 didate also. Mr. Lincoln said that he did not concern himself 
 much about that. It was important to the country that the depart- 
 ment over which his rival presided should be administered with 
 vigor and energy, and whatever would stimulate the Secretary to 
 
 such action would do good. "R ," said he, "you were brought 
 
 up on a farm, were you not? Then you know what a chin- fly is. 
 My brother and I" he added, "were once plowing corn on a 
 
Melody 89 
 
 Kentucky f arm,, I driving the horse, and he holding the plow. The 
 horse was lazy ; but on one occasion rushed across the field so that 
 I, with my long legs, could scarcely keep pace with him. On 
 reaching the end of the furrow, I found an enormous chin-fly 
 fastened upon him, and knocked him off. My brother asked me 
 what I did that for. I told him I didn't want the old horse bitten 
 in that way. 'Why,' said my brother, 'that's all that made him 
 
 go!' Now," said Mr. Lincoln, "if Mr. has a presidential 
 
 chin- fly biting him, I'm not going to knock him off if it will make 
 his department go." 
 
 — B. F. Carpenter. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 FORCE 
 
 This property of voice is dependent primarily on the. am- 
 plitude of the vibrations of the vocal cords. When a violin 
 string is struck, it makes a sound. If it is struck harder, 
 it will vibrate with a greater amplitude and make a louder 
 sound. The vocal cords are like the violin strings ; the more 
 forcefully the breath is thrown against the cords, the greater 
 the amplitude and the louder the tone. 
 
 There are several properties of force when applied to 
 expression, — Loudness, Volume, Intensity, and Stress. 
 
 Loudness. This property is the direct result of the am- 
 plitude of the vocal cords and proper resonance. As a vocal 
 quality, it is of great importance. Who has not been sadly 
 disappointed in a reader or speaker because of being unable 
 to hear what was said? One extreme is about as bad as an- 
 other ; speak so that you can be distinctly heard, but not 
 too loud. Do not speak with the same degree of loudness 
 all the time. As in pitch, avoid monotony. 
 
 A student often asks, "How can I make my voice carry?" 
 The carrying power of the voice does not depend on mere 
 loudness of tone — not alone on the amount of breath that 
 is expended, but also on the amount of breath that still re- 
 mains in the lungs. The first thing you do in trying to 
 make one hear you at a distance is to take in a deep breath, 
 — you instinctively want more breath support. Hence 
 breathe often and deeply. When reading, always retain as 
 much air in your lungs as possible. 
 
 The degree of loudness is governed by mental concept 
 
 90 
 
Force 91 
 
 rather than by emotions. When the mind contrasts two ob- 
 jects, this contrast may be expressed by using different 
 degrees of loudness. 
 Example : 
 
 From every hill, by every sea, 
 In shouts proclaim the great decree, 
 "All chains are burst, all men are free !" 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! 
 
 The first part should be said in a low tone ; the second in a 
 strong, loud tone. 
 
 Again, in interpreting a selection, it is necessary to be 
 governed by the meaning to be expressed, as: 
 
 "Halt!" — the dust brown ranks stood fast; 
 "Fire I" — out blazed the rifle blast. 
 
 The words of command should be spoken louder than the 
 explanations which follow. 
 
 A high key and a loud tone frequently go together; they 
 both result from an excited mental state. Therefore, pas- 
 sions such as aesthetic joy, defiance, alarm, terror, or rage 
 require a louder tone than timidity, contentment, pathos, 
 reverence, or veneration. 
 
 EXERCISES IN LOUDNESS 
 
 Say Halt to one person, to ten, to fifty, to one thou- 
 sand, — as loud as you can. 
 
 Soft tone: 
 
 J. Softly! She is lying 
 With her lips apart. 
 Softly ! She is dying 
 Of a broken heart. 
 
 II. O balmy breath that dost almost persuade 
 
 Justice to break her sword ! Once more, once more. 
 Be this when thou art dead and I will kill thee. 
 
92 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 And love thee after. Once more, and this the last; 
 So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep, 
 But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly; 
 It strikes where it doth love. She awakes. 
 Othello. Shakespeare. 
 
 III. Jean Valjean listened but there was no sound; he pushed 
 the door with the tip of his finger lightly. He heard from the 
 end of the room the calm and regular breathing of the sleeping 
 bishop. Suddenly he stopped, for he was close to the bed; he had 
 reached it sooner than he had anticipated. 
 
 Jean Valjean. Victor Hugo. 
 
 Medium tone: 
 
 I. Whither, 'midst falling dew, 
 
 While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, 
 Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 
 
 Thy solitary way? 
 
 Vainly the fowler's eye 
 Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
 As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, 
 
 Thy figure floats along. 
 
 Seek'st thou the plashy brink 
 Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, ' 
 Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 
 
 On the chafed ocean side? 
 To a Waterfowl. Bryant. 
 
 II. How often is it the case, that when impossibilities have 
 come to pass, and dreams have condensed their misty substances 
 into tangible reality, we find ourselves calm and even coldly self- 
 possessed, amid circumstances which it would have been a de- 
 lirium of joy or agony to anticipate. 
 
 — Hawthorne. 
 Loud tone: 
 
 I. Awake, awake ! — 
 
 Ring the alarum-bell. — Murder and treason ! — 
 Banquo and Donalbain ! — Malcolm ! awake ! 
 Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
 And look on death itself! up, up, and see 
 The great doom's image ! — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
 As from our graves rise up, and walk like sprites, 
 To countenance this horror. Ring the bell. 
 
 Macbeth. Shakespeare. 
 
i 
 
 
 
 JBr£^b^ 
 
 
 ^(■Bh^^BSeImb 
 
 
 jdpN* 
 
 
 
 2 -£*■*-....-_-*." 
 
 --....- ' -" *- " ^-^K^ffi: 
 
 DEMOSTHENES 
 
 From 'painting by Lecomte Du Nouy 
 
Force 93 
 
 II. "Young mair, ahoy!" 
 "What is it?" 
 "Beware ! beware ! The rapids are below you !" 
 
 — Gough. 
 
 III. What ho, my jovial mates! come on! we'll frolic it 
 Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine. 
 
 IV. Meanwhile the criers were calling the defendant at the 
 four corners of the lists. "Oyes ! Oyes ! Oyes ! Richard Dray- 
 ton, duke of Nottingham, come to this combat in which ye be 
 enterprised to discharge your sureties this day before your liege, 
 the King, and to encounter in your defense Henry Mansfield, 
 knight, the challenger. Oyes ! Oyes ! Oyes ! Let the defend- 
 ant come." — Scott. 
 
 Volume. Technically, volume refers to the relative quan- 
 tity of breath used in the vocalization of a given word or 
 phrase. It expresses the quantity, fullness or roundness of 
 the tone. A voice of great volume will have an open throat, 
 and as the sound rolls out, it must seem to fill the room. 
 
 The volume natural to individual voices differs greatly, 
 but one should learn to use discrimination in this regard, as 
 in other elements of expression. When a word or phrase 
 indicates wide extent or large dimensions, or stands for 
 solidity or weight, we should express this concept of large- 
 ness in the delivery. The small, delicate, or trivial is ex- 
 pressed with less volume than the large, ponderous, or ex- 
 pansive. We would, therefore, speak of a mountain daisy in 
 a lighter, thinner tone than in speaking of a mountain. 
 
 Increased volume requires a lower key and the chest tone. 
 A pure, clear, full tone is a desirable attribute to a good 
 voice. Practice the following exercises in a loud, clear tone. 
 Be sure that the voice rolls out easily and that the throat is 
 not cramped. Avoid having a breathy tone ; vocalize all the 
 breath. 
 
94 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Exercises in Volume 
 Small Volume: 
 
 I. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, 
 And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 
 He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head ; 
 And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. 
 
 My Shadow. R. L. Stevenson. 
 
 II. "It's time for me to go to that there buryin'-ground, sir," 
 he returned with a wild look. 
 
 "Lie down and tell me. What burying-ground, Jo?" 
 "Where they laid- him that was gobd to me; very good indeed, 
 he wos. It's time for me to go down to that buryin'-ground, sir, 
 and ask to be put along with him. I wants to go there and be 
 buried. He used fur to say to me, 'I am as poor as you to-day, 
 Jo,' he ses. I wants to tell him that I am as poor as him, now, 
 and have come there to be laid along with him." — Dickens. 
 
 Great Volume: 
 
 I. Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of hosts. 
 
 II. Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll! 
 Ten thousand , fleets sweep over thee in vain. 
 
 — Lord Byron. 
 
 III. Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State; 
 Sail on, O Union, strong and great. 
 Humanity with all its fears, 
 
 With all its hopes of future years, 
 Is hanging breathless on thy fate. 
 The Building of the Ship. Longfellow. 
 
 IV. Lift up your heads, O ye Gates; and be ye lifted up, ye 
 everlasting doors ; and the King of Glory shall come in. 
 
 Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the 
 Lord mighty in battle. He is the King of Glory. 
 
 — Bible. 
 
 Intensity. Force and intensity sometimes are used in- 
 terchangeably. Intensity may be said to be that division of 
 force which manifests the degree of energy with which we 
 read and speak. Intensity is not limited physically to the 
 
Force 95 
 
 amplitude of the vibration of the vocal cords, but it is the 
 manifestation of the thought and emotional life as expressed 
 by the entire body. Intensity of tone is not dependent on 
 mere loudness. One may speak with the greatest of intensity 
 and not speak above a whisper. 
 
 Intensity denotes strength — a reserve power. Too often 
 the student speaks as though he spoke from the "teeth out." 
 This does not indicate strength. There seems to be nothing 
 back of the voice. It appears all on the surface. It may be 
 a loud tone, and perchance, have a great volume, but it is 
 like a drum — all hollow within. 
 
 While under great emotional excitement of anger, or sor- 
 row, the muscles of the body become tense ; so do the muscles 
 governing the vocal cords. These cords may be so tightly 
 drawn together that they scarcely vibrate at all. 
 
 Intensity is audible earnestness. The student should 
 never confuse mere loudness or volume of voice with intensity 
 of tone. Guard against restricting the throat when ex- 
 pressing great earnestness. This will cause your voice to 
 "break." A pure, clear tone is far more forceful and pow- 
 erful and effective than a sharp, squeaky one. Read and 
 speak as though you meant every word you said. Show by 
 your degree of force the tenderness, pity, love, admiration, 
 indignation within you. Get some "pep," as the boys say; 
 wake up; get busy — do not read as though it were a task 
 or as though you were hired to read, or speak. Show ani- 
 mation, life, interest. 
 
 The first thing essential is thoroughly to understand the 
 selection read. You must grasp the author's ideas as well 
 as you can, and permit yourself to be moved to sympathy, or 
 hate, joy, or sorrow, as the case may be. To do this it is 
 essential that you know the circumstances under which the 
 poem was written or the speech was made. 
 
 A teacher can often, through suggestion, make more defi- 
 nite the purpose of the writer, and throw such side-lights on 
 the selection as will stimulate the pupil's imagination and 
 
96 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 feeling. For example, the following words were uttered by 
 Henry W. Grady in 1886, in the course of a speech at Bos- 
 ton. Mr. Grady was speaking, if not to a hostile audience, 
 at least to a critical one. There was at that time before 
 Congress a bill that proposed to have the Federal Govern- 
 ment take charge of national elections, as was done during 
 the Reconstruction period. The opening quotation in the 
 following selection was taken from a special message to 
 Congress by President Harrison. With all these facts and 
 attendant circumstances in mind, the following becomes 
 charged with more force in the utterance than might other- 
 wise appear: 
 
 The question is asked repeatedly: "When will the black man 
 in the South cast a free ballot? When will he have the civil 
 rights that are his?" 
 
 When will the black man cast a free ballot? When ignorance 
 anywhere is not dominated by the will of the intelligent; when 
 the laborer anywhere casts a ballot unhindered by his boss ; when 
 the strong and the steadfast do not everywhere control the suff- 
 rage of the weak and the shiftless. Then, but not till then, will 
 
 the ballot be free The negro can never control in the 
 
 South, and it would be well if partisans in the North would 
 understand this. You may pass your force bills, but they will 
 not avail; for never again will a single state, North or South, be 
 delivered to the control of an ignorant and inferior race. We 
 wrested our state government from negro supremacy when the 
 Federal drum-beat rolled closer to the ballot-box and when Fed- 
 eral bayonets hedged it about closer than will ever again be 
 permitted in a free community. But if Federal cannon thun- 
 dered in every voting district of the South, we would still find, 
 in the mercy of God, the means and the courage to prevent its 
 re-establishment. 
 
 Again, force should change with the varied emotions. All 
 force is no force, for herein, as in other elements of expres- 
 sion, a hearer is impressed through contrasts. It is easy 
 for one to acquire the habit of reading everything, regard- 
 less of the content, in a general monotone, — a habit that is 
 not uncommon even with experienced readers in reading their 
 
Force 97 
 
 own productions : some prevailing though indefinite and in- 
 appropriate emotion dominates the whole delivery. Some- 
 times this is due to non-appreciation of the varying emo- 
 tions of a discourse, and again it is simply a habit. A reader 
 must learn to appreciate and give free expression to the play 
 and interplay of emotions. Of course, the emotions that 
 come during the rendition of a given selection will rarely, if 
 ever, be exactly the same for different individuals. This, 
 however, cannot excuse patent incongruities between the 
 thought and its expression, such as being loud and harsh, 
 rather than soft and tender, expressing anger where pathos 
 is required, or failing to express the transition from one 
 emotion to another. If we remember that emotions come 
 and go, as the ideas march forward; that now one emotion 
 becomes predominant, now another; that at times, in almost 
 any selection, occurs the purely intellectual, where little 
 force is required, — we may know that one can rarely render 
 a selection with a single, continuous emotion and read "nat- 
 urally." 
 
 Degrees of Intensity. For convenience, four degrees of 
 intensity are suggested: Subdued, Moderate, Energetic, and 
 Strong. 
 
 In the exercises that follow, remember that only the gen- 
 eral "atmosphere" is suggested. This does not mean that 
 every word should be expressed in that degree. Again, re- 
 member that strong intensity may be expressed best in a loud 
 tone in some selections, but in others, a very low tone should 
 be used. 
 
 EXERCISES IN INTENSITY 
 
 Subdued degree: 
 
 I. Sweet and low, sweet and low, 
 
 Wind of the western sea, 
 Low, low, breathe and blow, 
 
 Wind of the western sea ! 
 Over the rolling waters go, 
 Come from the dying moon, and blow, 
 
98 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Blow him again to me ; 
 While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. 
 The Princess. Tennyson. 
 
 II. Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, 
 
 As his corpse to the rampart we hurried; 
 Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
 O'er the grave where our hero we buried. 
 The Burial of Sir John Moore. Chas. Wolfe. 
 
 III. O hark, O hear ! how thin and clear, 
 
 And thinner, clearer, farther going; 
 O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, 
 The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 IV. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
 them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth 
 that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower 
 of the field, so he flourisheth : for the wind passeth over it, and it is 
 gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. — Bible. 
 
 V. O sweet and strange it seems to me, that ere this day is 
 
 done, 
 The voice that now is speaking, may be beyond the sun. 
 Forever and forever, — all in a blessed home, — 
 And there to wait a little while, till you and Effie come. 
 To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your breast, — 
 And the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at 
 
 rest. 
 The May Queen. Tennyson. 
 
 Moderate Degree: 
 
 I. It's easy enough to look pleasant, 
 When life flows along like a song. 
 But the man that's worth while 
 
 Is the man who can smile 
 
 When everything goes dead wrong. 
 
 — Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 
 
 II. Is there not an amusement, having an affinity with the 
 drama, which might be usefully introduced among us? I mean, 
 Recitation. A work of genius, recited by a man of fine taste, en- 
 thusiasm, and powers of elocution, is a very pure and high grati- 
 
Force 99 
 
 fication. Were this art cultivated and encouraged, great numbers, 
 now insensible to the most beautiful compositions, might be waked 
 up to their excellence and power. It is not easy to conceive of a 
 more effectual way of spreading a refined taste through a com- 
 munity. The drama undoubtedly appeals more strongly to the 
 passions than recitation ; but the latter brings out the meaning of 
 the author more. Shakespeare, worthily recited, would be better 
 understood than on the stage. Recitation, sufficiently varied, so as 
 to include pieces of chaste wit, as well as of pathos, beauty, and 
 sublimity ^ is adapted to our present intellectual progress. — Chan- 
 
 NING. 
 
 III. My doctren is to lay aside 
 Contensions, and be satisfied; 
 
 Jest do your best, and praise er blame 
 That f oilers that, counts jest the same. 
 I've alius noticed great success 
 Is mixed with troubles, more er less, 
 And it's the man who does the best 
 That gits more kicks than all the rest. 
 
 — James Whitcomb Riley. 
 
 IV. She is not fair to outward view, 
 
 As many maidens be; 
 Her loveliness I never knew 
 
 Until she smiled on me; 
 Oh, then I saw her eye was bright — 
 A well of love, a spring of light. 
 
 But now her looks are coy and cold ; 
 
 To mine they ne'er reply ; 
 And yet I cease not to behold 
 
 The love-light in her eye ; 
 Her very frowns are better far 
 Than smiles of other maidens are ! 
 She is Not Fair to Outward View. Hartley Coleridge. 
 
 V. Flower in the crannied wall, 
 
 I pluck you out of your crannies, 
 Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
 Little flower — but if I could understand 
 What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
 I should know what God and man is. 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
100 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 VI. "My boy, the first thing you want to learn — if you haven't 
 learned to do it already — is to tell the truth. The pure, sweet, re- 
 freshing, wholesome truth. For one thing it will save you so much 
 trouble. Oh, heaps of trouble. And no end of hard work. And a 
 terrible strain upon your memory. Sometimes — and when I say 
 sometimes I mean a great many times — it is hard to tell the truth 
 the first time. But when you have told it, there is an end of it. 
 You have won the victory; the fight is over. Next time you tell 
 the truth." 
 
 Energetic degree: 
 
 I. It was a lover and his lass, 
 
 With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino ! 
 That o'er the green cornfield did pass 
 In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time, 
 When birds do sing hey-ding-a-ding ; 
 Sweet lovers love the spring. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 II. Blessings on thee, little man, 
 Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan ! 
 With thy turned-up pantaloons, 
 And thy merry whistled tunes; 
 
 With thy red lip, redder still 
 Kissed by strawberries on the hill ; 
 With the sunshine on thy face, 
 Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace. 
 From my heart I give thee joy; 
 I was once a barefoot boy! 
 The Barefoot Boy. Whittier. 
 
 III. Oh ! when the heart is full — when bitter thoughts 
 Come crowding thickly up for utterance, 
 
 And the poor, common words of courtesy 
 
 Are such a very mockery — how much 
 
 The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer. 
 
 — Willis. 
 
 IV. Here I stand ready for impeachment or trial: I dare ac- 
 cusation. I defy the honorable gentleman; I defy the govern- 
 ment ; I defy the whole phalanx ; let them come forth. I tell the 
 ministers I will neither give them quarter nor take it. I am here 
 
Force 101 
 
 to lay the shattered remains of my constitution on the floor of this 
 House in defense of the liberties of my country. 
 
 Invective Against Corry. Henry Grattan. 
 
 V. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask your- 
 selves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with 
 those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our 
 land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and re- 
 conciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be recon- 
 ciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us 
 not be deceived, sir. These are the implements of war and sub- 
 jugation — the last arguments to which kings resort. — Patrick 
 Henry. 
 
 Strong degree: 
 
 I. Must I budge? Must I observe you? Must I stand and 
 crouch under your testy humor? — Shakespeare. 
 
 II. When officers and men have given up all hope of relief, 
 and are bravely awaiting a horrible death, Jessie Brown, a cor- 
 poral's wife, made doubly sensitive to sound by sickness, hears the 
 far-off music of the Scotch regiments sent to their succor, and 
 shouts : 
 
 "The Highlanders ! Oh, dinna ye hear 
 
 The slogan far awa' ? 
 The MacGregors ! Oh, I ken it weel ; 
 
 It is the grandest of them a'. 
 
 "God bless the bonny Highlanders ! 
 
 We're saved! we're saved!" she cried; 
 And fell on her knees, and thanks to God 
 Poured forth, like a full flood-tide. 
 The Relief of Luchnow. Robert T. S. Lowell. 
 
 III. Dost thou come here to whine ? 
 
 To outface me by leaping in her grave? 
 Be buried quick with her, and so will I ; 
 And, if thou prate of mountains, let them 
 Throw millions of acres on us, till our ground, 
 Singeing his pate against the burning zone, 
 Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thou'lt mouth, 
 I'll rant as well as thou. 
 Hamlet. Shakespeare. 
 
102 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 IV. Oh, save me, Hubert, save me ! 
 
 For Heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound. 
 Nay, hear me, Hubert, drive these men away, 
 And I will sit as quiet as a lamb. 
 Oh, spare mine eyes, 
 
 Though to no use but still to look upon you. 
 King John. Shakespeare. 
 
 V. Too hard to bear ! why did they take me thence ? 
 O God Almighty, blessed Saviour, Thou 
 
 That didst uphold me on my lonely isle, 
 Uphold me, Father, in my loneliness 
 A little longer ! aid me, give me strength, 
 Not to tell her, never to let her know. 
 Help me not to break in upon her peace. 
 My children too ! must I not speak to these ? 
 They know me not. I should betray myself, 
 Never: no father's kiss for me, — the girl 
 So like her mother, and the boy, my son. 
 Enoch Arden. Tennyson. 
 
 Stress. Stress refers to the manner of apptying the force 
 to the emphatic syllable or word. There are two main di- 
 visions of stress. It is called radical stress when the greatest 
 force is applied at the beginning of the important word, and 
 final stress when there is a gradual increase of force cul- 
 minating on the last part of the word. 
 
 1. Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! 
 Rescue my castle before the hot day 
 Brightens to blue from its silvery gray. 
 
 2. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more. 
 
 Note that in reading the first illustration there was an ex- 
 plosion of the breath on the initial syllable which gradually 
 diminished. The glottis is forcefully kept closed until there 
 is a great pressure beneath it, when it is thrown open like a 
 cork popping out of a bottle. 
 
 In the second illustration, the force is applied gradually 
 and finally swells into a strong emphasis. 
 
 Radical stress is used in all forms of animated expression ; 
 
Force 103 
 
 it signifies life and action. It shows decision. Final stress 
 is used in expressing determination and impatience. Some- 
 times it characterizes a drawling delivery. 
 
 Again, this emphasis may be placed in the middle and 
 characterizes the pathetic voice, and the whine. The radical 
 and final may be united into a compound stress which is used 
 to express irony and sarcasm. 
 
 Care should be used against overdeveloping this abrupt- 
 ness. This causes a jerky, dogmatic delivery. Practice the 
 following exercises with a view of developing the ability to 
 express the thought appropriately: 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Sound "ah" with a Radical stress ; with, a Final stress. 
 
 II. Say "no" so that it expresses an emphatic negative ; 
 so that it shows impatience ; so that it shows sorrow. 
 
 III. Use the word "yes" in the same way. 
 
 Radical stress: 
 
 I. The charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false ! 
 
 — Grattan. 
 
 II. "Now, upon the rebels, charge !" shouts the red-coat officer. 
 They spring forward at the same bound. Look ! their bayonets 
 almost touch the muzzles of their rifles. At this moment the voice 
 of the unknown rider was heard: "Now let them have it! Fire!" 
 
 — Charles Sheppard. 
 
 III. Freedom calls you ! Quick, be ready, — 
 
 Think of what your sires have been; 
 Onward, onward ! Strong and steady, 
 Drive the tyrant to his den ; 
 On, and let the watchword be, 
 Country, home, and liberty! 
 The Polish War Song. J. G. Percival. 
 
 IV. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my 
 hand and my heart to this vote! Sir, before God I believe the 
 hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole 
 heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I 
 
104 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 hope in this life, I am now ready to stake upon it ; and I leave off 
 as I began, that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the 
 declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of 
 God, it shall be my dying sentiment: — Independence now, and 
 Independence forever. — Webster. 
 
 V. Stand ! the ground's your own, my braves ! 
 
 Will ye give it up to slaves? 
 Will ye look for greener graves? 
 
 Hope ye mercy still? 
 What's the mercy despots feel? 
 Hear it in that battle-peal! 
 Read it on your bristling steel! 
 Ask it, — ye who will. 
 Warren's Address. John Pierpont. 
 
 Final Stress: 
 
 I. King Henry. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, 
 once more; 
 Or close the wall up with our English dead! 
 In peace there's nothing so becomes a man 
 As modest stillness and humility: 
 But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
 Then imitate the action of the tiger; 
 Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, 
 Disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage; 
 Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; 
 Let it pry through the portage of the head, 
 
 Like the brass cannon 
 
 Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; 
 
 Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit 
 
 To his full height! — On, on, ye noblest English, 
 
 Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof! 
 
 Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders, 
 
 Have in these parts from morn till even fought, 
 
 And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument. . . . 
 
 I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, 
 
 Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: 
 
 Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge, 
 
 Cry — God for Harry ! England ! and Saint George ! 
 
 Henry V. Shakespeare. 
 
Force 105 
 
 II. You've set me talking, sir; I'm sorry; 
 
 It makes me wild to think of the change ! 
 What do you care for a beggar's story? 
 
 Is it amusing? You find it strange? 
 I had a mother so proud of me ! 
 
 'Twas well she died before — Do you know 
 If the happy spirits in heaven can see 
 
 The ruin and wretchedness here below? 
 The Vagabonds. John T. Trowbridge. 
 
 III. It is often said that time is wanted for the duties of re- 
 ligion. The calls of business, the press of occupation, the cares 
 of life, will not suffer me, says one, to give that time to the duties 
 of piety which otherwise I would gladly bestow. Say you this 
 without a blush? You have no time, then, for the special service 
 of that great Being whose goodness alone has drawn out to its 
 present length your cobweb thread of life, whose care alone has 
 continued you in possession of that unseen property which you 
 call your time. 
 
 — Buckingham. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MOVEMENT 
 
 One great element in reading as well as speaking is move- 
 ment. The two general divisions are Time and Rhythm. 
 
 TIME 
 
 Time, as an element in expression, refers to the duration 
 of utterance. The principal phases are: Rate, Pause, 
 Transition, and Quantity. 
 
 Rate. Rate refers to the general rapidity of reading 
 and speaking. Within certain limits this is a matter of 
 relativity. It varies with the individual temperament, and 
 with the subject matter. As to the nature of the selection, 
 three divisions of rate are generally recognized: Slow, 
 Medium, and Rapid. 
 
 Hear the tolling of the bells — 
 
 Iron bells ! 
 What a world of solemn thought their monody compels ! 
 
 The slow tolling of the bells is in unison with the slow 
 march of the funeral procession. Deliberate movement per- 
 vades the entire stanza. To show haste and impatience in 
 such a selection would be very much out of place. Sorrow, 
 gloom, reverence, sublimity, command, calling, usually are 
 indicative of a slow rate. 
 
 On the other hand, the lines, 
 
 Hear the loud alarum bells — 
 
 Brazen bells ! 
 What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells ! 
 106 
 
Movement 107 
 
 suggest a rapid rate. They recall to our minds the burning 
 of a building, and every one is running and moving rapidly. 
 The lines, 
 
 Hear the mellow wedding bells, 
 
 Golden bells ! 
 What a world of happiness their harmony foretells ! 
 
 require a medium rate. Everything is as it should be. 
 Everybody is joyous and carefree. 
 
 Thus we see that the thought and emotional content of a 
 selection determines the general rate that should be used in 
 reading and speaking. 
 
 Haste can frequently be shown without actually reading 
 rapidly. A quick decisive attack on a word and a quick 
 accent will do much to suggest the element of rapidity. 
 
 Again, when you have a word picture to present to the 
 audience, do not go too rapidly. Give them time to picture 
 it out in their minds. Do not make the transitions rapidly. 
 
 Cautions. I. Over-rapid utterance — usually the more 
 common fault — should be avoided. In the first place, one 
 should read slowly enough to enunciate clearly. Further- 
 more, reading must be sufficiently deliberate to enable a 
 hearer to get the thought as the reader proceeds. By ac- 
 quiring the habit of a deliberate, measured utterance, one 
 can often increase many fold his power and effectiveness in 
 oral expression. Time-taking on significant words and 
 phrases is absolutely necessary and essential in order, first, 
 that the reader may express adequately their meaning and 
 emotional content, and also in order that a hearer may 
 comprehend fully and feel the thought and emotion the 
 words are intended to convey. 
 
 II. On the other hand, a dragging or drawling utterance 
 should be avoided. Sometimes the expression may be so slow 
 and labored that a hearer must needs wait on the reader and 
 he feels like saying, "Move along." Such a reader must 
 acquire more energy and movement in his rendering. 
 
108 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 III. A well-balanced, even movement, whether fast or 
 slow, should be acquired. Reference is now made, not so 
 much to a selection as a whole, — for a uniform rate through- 
 out a whole selection is rarely desirable, — but rather to 
 proper rate-proportion in sentence-delivery. It is the habit 
 of some readers to give the first part of a sentence with 
 medium or slow rate ; then to snap out the closing words — 
 often the most significant part of the sentence — or vice 
 versa. The utterance moves by fits and jerks, like a horse 
 that has not learned to pull steadily. A well-timed, balanced 
 movement should be appreciated and acquired. 
 
 Pause. The pause denotes the time spent between syl- 
 lables, words, phrases, or sentences. Language is made up 
 of groups of words expressing single ideas, and any dis- 
 course is intelligible only through its integral ideas. A 
 group of words that expresses a single thought or feeling, 
 describes a single event, or pictures a single scene, is called 
 a phrase. Good reading requires that these word-groups be 
 indicated by pausing between them. Phrasing is vocal punc- 
 tuation (indicated by vertical lines, thus : / /) ; it is 
 
 usually identical with grammatical punctuation, though not 
 necessarily so. The thought, and not the grammatical con- 
 struction, determines the pause. 
 
 A common fault in phrasing is too frequent pausing. This 
 arises from word-reading, rather than phrase-reading. In 
 word-reading the reader tends to utter a word as soon as he 
 sees it, regardless of its relation to other words in the sen- 
 tence. But it usually requires several words to express a 
 complete idea or picture. In phrase-reading one looks ahead 
 of the vocal utterance and groups the words for the proper 
 expression of the successive ideas. 
 
 Good sight-reading absolutely requires that the eyes al- 
 ways precede the voice by a number of words, so that the 
 mind has time to understand the ideas. Wrong phrasing is 
 also illustrated in the "sing-song" style of reading poetry, 
 
Movement 109 
 
 where a pause is made at the end of each line, regardless of 
 the sense; and again, when there is little or no pausing be- 
 tween phrases, every sentence being given in a single breath, 
 and hence no discrimination between the ideas. A reader 
 must learn to realize that a pause between the thought- 
 phrases is a necessary part of the thought-expression ; that 
 such pause is "a silence filled with significance — a time to 
 reflect upon what is past and to prepare for what is to 
 come." Pauses will vary in frequency and length according 
 to the reader's conception of relationship. 
 
 To illustrate : Take the sentence, "John Keys the lawyer 
 says he is guilty." These words can be grouped so as to 
 express at least a half-dozen different thoughts. It usually 
 is a safe plan to take in additional breath at each pause. 
 
 Since punctuation marks are used to help the reader in- 
 terpret the meaning, they should be observed carefully. Not 
 in the old-time way of counting one at a comma, two at a 
 semicolon, and four at a period; though that rule encour- 
 aged a mechanical expression, it was better than the plan 
 used by many to-day — not to pause at all until at the end of 
 the selection. Punctuation marks, especially the comma, 
 are being used less and less. At the present time, they are 
 seldom used unless their omission makes the meaning 
 doubtful. 
 
 Many times you must pause where there is no punctua- 
 tion. To illustrate: In Tennyson's The Coming of Arthur 
 we read, "And Arthur rode a simple knight among his 
 knights." This portrays a unique scene, indeed, unless we 
 pause after "rode." 
 
 In the lines, 
 
 "And as the greatest only are. 
 In his simplicity sublime/' 
 
 "only" modifies v "greatest." Hence the group is "And the 
 greatest only," and not "and the greatest only are." 
 
 In the lines from Robert Browning's Home Thoughts, 
 From Abroad: 
 
110 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Hark,/ where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge/ 
 Leans to the field/ and scatters on the clover/ 
 Blossoms and dewdrops — / at the bent spray's edge — / 
 That's the wise thrush: 
 
 Some never pause until after dewdrops. This makes 
 "clover" modify "blossoms." "Clover" is the object of "on" 
 and "blossoms and dewdrops" are the objects of "scatter"; 
 hence a pause must be made after clover to bring out this 
 correct relationship. 
 
 Let the student determine the reason for the suggested 
 phrasing in the following example, then read by pausing 
 only as indicated: 
 
 I. A thing of beauty/ is a joy forever. — Keats. 
 
 The proper study of mankind/ is man. — Pope. 
 
 The more we work/ the more we win. — Mackey. 
 
 II. The night/ has a thousand eyes,/ 
 
 And the day/ but one;/ 
 Yet the light of the bright world dies 
 With the dying sun. 
 
 The mind/ has a thousand eyes,/* 
 
 And the heart/ but one;/ 
 Yet the light of a whole life dies 
 
 When love is done. 
 
 — Bourdillon. 
 
 III. If you and I — / just you and I — / 
 
 Should laugh/ instead of worry;/ 
 If we should grow — /just you and I — / 
 
 Kinder and lighter hearted,/ 
 Perhaps in some near by-and-by 
 
 A good time might get started;/ 
 Then what a happy time 'twould be 
 For you and me,/ for you and me. 
 
 — Selected. 
 
 Transition. In reading, transition refers to the changes 
 in expression that take place in passing from one shade of 
 thought or feeling to another. It is, in a sense, phrasing 
 
Movement 111 
 
 on a large scale, and requires proper discrimination as to 
 thought-values. The transition from one completed idea to 
 another, from a literal statement to an illustration, from the 
 mental to the emotional, from one part of a description to 
 another, — must be indicated distinctly in the delivery. The 
 larger groups, as represented by the paragraph, require 
 transitions of wider intervals. At such places the reader 
 says to himself, "We now take up a new line of thought," 
 or "Here is another phase of this idea," as the case may be. 
 The reader must take time to adjust his mind to the change, 
 and he must in some way indicate the change to a hearer. 
 To accomplish this, the time-element is employed in taking a 
 relatively long pause, aided, usually, by a change in rate, 
 key, and tone. It should be noted that well-marked, easy, 
 natural transitions in reading, besides showing changes in 
 the thought, aid much in breaking up a general monotony. 
 
 The disjunctives "but," "if," "however," etc., usually 
 herald a transition. In the sentence, "He is brave, generous, 
 loving, but he is not trustworthy," a pause should be made 
 after "but," the voice lowered in tone and the clause read 
 with a slower movement. 
 
 A change in thought must always be accompanied by ap- 
 propriate voice modulation. Study the following illustrative 
 examples with special reference to the proper expression of 
 the transitions : 
 
 I. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. — Job. 
 
 II. The little toy dog is covered with dust 
 But sturdy and staunch he stands. — Field. 
 
 III. If you should transfer the amount of your reading day 
 by day from the newspapers to the standard authors — but who 
 dare speak of such a thing. — Emerson. 
 
 IV. The combat deepens. On, ye brave, 
 Who rush to glory or the grave! 
 Wave, Munich ! all thy banners wave, 
 
 And charge with all thy chivalry! 
 
112 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Ah ! few shall part where many meet ! 
 The snow shall be their winding sheet, 
 And every turf beneath their feet 
 Shall be a soldier's sepulcher. 
 Hohenlinden. Thomas Campbell. 
 
 V. While all enjoy the balmy air, the bright sunshine, the 
 social pleasantries of wit and humor, and the like; these are not 
 the fundamental impulses of life. — A. Tompkins/ 
 
 Quantity. This element represents the time given to the 
 utterance of the sounds, syllables, and words of a sentence. 
 For the sake of convenience, three degrees should be recog- 
 nized: — Long, Medium, and Short. 
 
 Long quantity is used to express emphasis, reverence, 
 pathos, laziness, and sometimes in expressing an onomato- 
 poeic idea. Medium quantity is used in ordinary expres- 
 sion. Short quantity is used in joy, laughter, commands 
 and ideas of haste. 
 
 Note the difference in the quantity of the words in reading 
 the following: 
 
 I. O, a wonderful stream is the rive Time 
 
 As it runs through the realm of tears, 
 With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme, 
 And a boundless sweep and a surge sublime, 
 As it blends with the Ocean of Years. 
 The Isle of Long Ago. Taylor. 
 
 II. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams 
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee, 
 And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes 
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. 
 
 And so all the night-tide I lie down by the side 
 Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, 
 In her sepulcher there by the sea, 
 In her tomb by the sounding sea. 
 Annabel Lee. Poe. 
 
 III. I come from haunts of coot and hern, 
 
 I make a sudden sally, 
 And sparkle out among the fern, 
 To bicker down a valley. 
 
Movement 113 
 
 By thirty hills I hurry down, 
 Or slip between the ridges, 
 By twenty thorps, a little town, 
 And half a hundred bridges. 
 The Brook. Tennyson. 
 
 IV. A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 
 
 A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 
 And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 
 Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet. 
 Paul Revere's Ride. Longfellow. 
 
 V. There is a tide in the affairs of men 
 
 Which, when taken at its flood, leads on to fortune; 
 Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
 Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 
 Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare. 
 
 VI. Handsome women without religion are like flowers with- 
 out perfume. — Heine. 
 
 Remember, only long vowels and the nasal sounds may be 
 prolonged to advantage. 
 
 Cautions. One thing must be guarded against in read- 
 ing selections in slow rate. Do not overdo the long quan- 
 tity of the syllables. In reading a solemn selection, or one 
 deeply emotional, there is often a prolongation on the sounds, 
 but the greater time consumed in reading a slow selection 
 lies in the relative length of the pause between the words 
 and phrases, not in the quantity, or the length of time it 
 takes to say the words. Avoid a d-r-a-w-1-i-n-g, 1-a-z-y tone 
 unless you desire directly to express imitatively this char- 
 acteristic. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 Copy the following selections and mark the pauses with 
 the bar (/) ; the long quantity of the sounds, syllables, or 
 words with a dash ( — ) above them. Also, note the tran- 
 sitions. 
 
 Give reasons for the kinds of rate, and for the pause and 
 quantity in the selections. 
 
114 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 SLOW RATE. 
 
 (From 60 to 100 words a minute.) 
 
 I. Eternity, — thou pleasing, dreadful thought. — Addison. 
 
 II. Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, 
 
 Tears from the depth of some divine despair 
 Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, 
 In looking on the happy Autumn-fields 
 And thinking of the days that are no more. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 III. I cannot make him dead! 
 
 His fair sunshiny head 
 Is ever bounding round my study chair; 
 Yet when my eyes, now dim 
 With tears, I turn to him, 
 The vision vanishes, — he is not there. 
 My Child. John Pierpont. 
 
 IV. What's the use of all the moiling, 
 
 All the haste to get ahead? 
 You that are so busy toiling 
 By to-morrow may be dead. 
 Why keep trying, trying, trying, 
 Why not halt and call a truce? 
 You will presently be dying 
 
 In the harness! What's the use? 
 The Idler. S. E.. Kiser. 
 
 V. The hours pass slowly by — nine, ten, eleven, — -how sol- 
 emnly the last stroke of the clock floats out upon the still- air. 
 It dies gently away, swells out again in the distance, and seems 
 to be caught up by spirit-voices of departed years, until the air 
 is filled with melancholy strains. It is the requiem of the dying 
 year. — Selected. 
 
 VI. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness ! 
 
 This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth 
 The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, 
 And bears his blushing honors thick upon him: 
 The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; 
 And — when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
 His greatness is a-ripening — nips his root, 
 And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, 
 
Movement 115 
 
 Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, 
 This many summers in a sea of glory; 
 But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride 
 At length broke under me ; and now has left me, 
 Weary and old with service, to the mercy 
 Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me. 
 Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye: 
 I feel my heart new opened. O, how wretched 
 Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors ! 
 There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, 
 That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, 
 More pangs and fears than wars or women have : 
 And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 
 Never to hope again. 
 Henry VIII. Shakespeare. 
 
 MEDIUM RATE. 
 (From 125 to 175 words a minute.) 
 
 I. The little gate was reached at last, 
 
 Half hid in lilacs down the lane; 
 She pushed it wide, and, as she passed, 
 A wistful look she backward cast, 
 And said, "Auf wiedersehen." 
 
 Auf Wiedersehen. s Lowell. 
 
 • 
 II. I have just about concluded, 
 
 After figgerin' quite a spell, 
 That appearances don't govern, 
 And that blood don't alius tell. 
 Appearances Don't Govern. Pfrimmer. 
 
 III. A good life: To think what is true, to feel what is beau- 
 tiful, and to deserve what is good. — Plato. 
 
 IV. Reason thus with life, 
 
 If I lose thee, I lose a thing 
 
 That none but fools would keep. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 V. Give us, oh, give us, the man who sings at his work ! He 
 will do more in the same time, — he will do it better, — he will per- 
 severe longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he 
 marches to music. The very stars are said to make harmony as 
 they revolve in their spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheer- 
 
116 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 fulness, altogether past calculation in its powers of endurance. 
 Efforts, to be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous, a 
 spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful be- 
 cause bright. 
 
 Work. Carlyle. 
 
 VI. Read, not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and 
 take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh 
 and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swal- 
 lowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some 
 books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not 
 curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence 
 and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and 
 extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in less 
 important argument, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled 
 books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. 
 
 Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writ- 
 ing an exact man ; and therefore, if a man write little, he had 
 need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have 
 a present wit; and if he read little he had need have much cun- 
 ning, to seem to know that he doth not. 
 
 Essays Of Studies. Bacon. 
 
 RAPID RATE. 
 
 (From 200 to 250 words a minute.) 
 
 I. Pick it up quick, Jack. • 
 
 II. Haste, thee, nymph, and bring with thee 
 
 Jest and youthful jollity, 
 Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles, 
 Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles, 
 Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
 And love to dwell in dimples sleek; 
 Come, and trip it as ye go, 
 On the light fantastic toe. 
 L' Allegro. Milton. 
 
 III. I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; 
 
 I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three; 
 "Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew; 
 "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through; 
 Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest, 
 And into the midnight we galloped abreast. 
 How They Brought the Good News from Ghent. Browning. 
 
Movement 117 
 
 IV. What do you say? "If it's painful, why so often do it?" 
 I suppose you call that a joke — one of your club-jokes. As I 
 say, I only wish I'd any money of my own. If there is anything 
 that humbles a poor woman, it is coming to a man's pocket for 
 every farthing. It's dreadful ! — D. W. Jerrold. 
 
 V. The mustang flew, and we urged him on; " 
 
 There was one chance left — and you have but one — 
 Halt, jump to the ground, and shoot your horse, 
 Crouch under his carcass, and take your chance; 
 And if the steers, in their frantic course, 
 Don't batter you both to pieces at once, 
 You may thank your star; if not, good-by 
 To the quickening kiss and the long-drawn sigh, 
 And the open air, and the open sky, 
 In Texas, down by the Rio Grande. 
 Lasca. Desprez. 
 
 VI. I just must talk! I must talk all the time! Of course I 
 talk entirely too much — no one knows that better than I do — yet 
 I can't help it! I know that my continual cackling is dreadful, 
 and I know exactly when it begins to bore people, but somehow I 
 can't stop myself. Aunt Patsey says I am simply fearful and 
 just like a girl she used to know, who lived down East, a Miss 
 Polly Blanton, who talked all the time; told everything, every- 
 thing she knew, everything she had ever heard; and then when 
 she could think of nothing else, boldly began on the family 
 secrets. Well, I believe I am just like that girl — because I am 
 constantly telling things about our domestic life which is by no 
 means pleasant. Pa and ma lead an awful kind of existence — 
 live just like cats and dogs. Now I ought never to tell that, 
 yet somehow it will slip out in spite of myself. 
 
 The Buzz-Saw Girl. Douglass Sherley. 
 
 RHYTHM 
 
 The second great division of movement is rhythm. The 
 universe abounds in rhythm, pulsations, beats ; such as the 
 twitter of song-birds, the chirping of insects, the roar of the 
 ocean waves, the throbs of the heart. 
 
 This methodic throb of life is expressed both in poetry 
 and in prose, and it must be heard to be appreciated. 
 Rhythm in speech is a more or less regularly recurring ac- 
 
US Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 cent or impulse of the voice. Loudness, pitch and duration 
 are the three foremost means employed to mark this accent. 
 In music and in lyric poetry these modulations come at 
 regular intervals. In other forms of poetry and in prose 
 it is not so regular. 
 
 Rhythm may be likened to waves as they roll toward the 
 shore. They are not all the same height, shape, or distance 
 apart, nor do they move with the same rapidity. This 
 modification has its' counterpart in speech, song, and in the 
 written line. The height of the waves, or accent, indicates 
 the degree of intensity. The distance apart, or the duration 
 expresses deliberation and strength. The rapidity denotes 
 the degree of excitement; and the shape expresses dignity if 
 regular, or triviality and instability if irregular. 
 
 Note the rhythm in the following lines from Tennyson's 
 Brook: 
 
 I slip', I slide^ I gloont^ I glance, 
 Among" my skimming swallows: 
 
 I make" the nettled sunbeams dance 
 Against" my sandy shallows ; 
 
 The rhythm is short, quick, but regular, suggestive of the 
 movement of the brook. 
 
 Again, note the rhythm of the following from Wolfe's 
 The Burial of Sir John Moore: 
 
 We buried him darkly at dead of night^ 
 
 The sod' with our bayonets turning, 
 By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 
 
 And the lantern dimly burning. 
 
 The duration of accent is longer and not regular, indicative 
 of the solemnity and uncertainty of their expedition. 
 
 The following lines from a Russian poem express the 
 reverence, the majesty, and the. strength in the long regular 
 rhythm : 
 
Movement 119 
 
 Being above all beings! Mighty One, 
 Whom none can comprehend, and none explore, 
 Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone,— 
 Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, — 
 Being whom we call God, and know no more! 
 
 Suggestions as to Reading Poetry. Sense must never 
 be sacrificed to sound ; however, the sound is more important 
 in poetry than in prose. A few examples must suffice to 
 illustrate. 
 
 In the line, 
 
 The minstrel was infirm and old, — 
 
 there is no accented syllable in the second foot. In reading, 
 this should be touched lightly. If emphasis were placed on 
 "was," it would be mere sing-song. 
 
 The last of all the bards was he 
 To sing' of border chivalry. 
 
 The last measure is not complete. It should be somewhat 
 prolonged and a secondary accent given to the ry, making 
 it chivalry. Guard against overdoing this. In, 
 
 The quality of mercy is not strained, 
 
 the ity cannot be prolonged. When in doubt stick to the 
 sense. 
 
 In the lines, 
 
 ' / e 
 
 Work, work, work, 
 Till the brain' begins' to swim^ 
 
 both lines have the same meter; and it should take no longer 
 to read the second line than the first. 
 But in the lines, 
 
 ' Break, break, break, 
 On thy cold gray stones', O, sea ! 
 
 the "break" cannot be prolonged. If it is, the meaning is 
 destroyed. 
 
 Time of duration is not the only element in rhythm; the 
 
120 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 degree of emphasis must also be considered. Poetry must 
 be read, not sung. To avoid sing-song, subordinate the 
 meter to the idea to be expressed. Again, the other extreme 
 is often taken, i. e., to disregard the meter altogether. The 
 union of the meaning and the measure is the secret of good 
 poetic reading. 
 
 Observe the rhythm in the following extracts, and justify 
 the kind used : 
 
 I. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
 
 wicked, 
 Nor standeth in the way of. sinners, 
 Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers: 
 But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; 
 And on his law doth he meditate day and night. 
 And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of 
 
 water, 
 That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, 
 Whose leaf also doth not wither; 
 And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 
 Psalms. David. 
 
 II. O, how our organ can speak with its many and wonder- 
 ful voices ! — 
 
 Play on the soft lute of love, blow the loud trumpet of 
 war, 
 
 Sing with the high sesquialter, or, drawing its full dia- 
 pason, 
 
 Shake all the air with the grand storm of. its pedals and 
 stops. — Story. 
 
 III. Let me live in a house by the side of the road, 
 
 Where the race of men go by — 
 The men who are good, the men who are bad, 
 
 As good and as bad as I. 
 I would not sit in the scorner's seat, 
 
 . Or hurl the cynic's ban ; 
 Let me live in a house by the side of the road 
 And be a friend to man. 
 The House by the Side of the Road. S. W. Foss. 
 
 IV. The mossy marbles rest 
 
 On the lips that he had pressed 
 
Movement 121 
 
 In their bloom, 
 And the name he loved to hear 
 Has been carved for many a year 
 On the tomb. 
 The Last Leaf. Holmes. 
 
 V. Alas for him who never sees 
 
 The stars shine through his cypress trees — 
 
 Who hopeless lays his dead away. 
 
 Nor looks to see the breaking day 
 
 Across the mournful marbles play; 
 
 Who has not learned, in hours of faith, 
 
 The truth to flesh and sense unknown, — 
 
 That life is ever lord of death, 
 
 And love can never lose its own. 
 Snow Bound. Whittier. 
 
 VI. How often is the case, that when impossibilities have 
 come to pass, and dreams have condensed their misty substances 
 into tangible reality, we find ourselves calm and even coldly 
 self-possessed, amid circumstances which it would have been a 
 delirium of joy or anger to anticipate. — Hawthorne. 
 
 VII. Some one has said, in derision, that the old men of the 
 South, sitting down amid their ruins, reminded him of "the Span- 
 ish hidalgos sitting in the porches of the Alhambra and looking 
 out to sea for the return of their lost Armada." There is pathos 
 but no derision in this picture to me. These men were our 
 fathers. Their lives were stainless. Their hands were daintily 
 cast, and the civilization they builded in tender and engaging 
 grace hath not been equalled. The scenes amid which they 
 moved, as princes among men, have vanished forever. A grosser 
 and more material day has come, in which their gentle hands 
 can garner but scantily and their guileless hearts fend but 
 feebly. — Grady. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EMPHASIS 
 
 In reading a phrase or a clause, there is usually one word 
 that expresses the central idea; in reading a sentence, one 
 or more words convey the main thought of the sentence ; and 
 in reading a paragraph, some one word or sentence usually 
 contains the principal thought of the paragraph. To read 
 with due discrimination, these words that bear the burden of 
 the thought should be pointed out to a hearer through and 
 by the vocal expression. This is the work of emphasis. 
 Emphasis, then, is the art of giving the individual words 
 the relative importance requisite to make the thought easy 
 to seize by a listener. Now, to express this relative impor- 
 tance, a good reader will not only emphasize important 
 words, but he will also trip lightly over the unimportant 
 words. It will readily be seen, therefore, that Emphasis is 
 a very essential element of expression. If you take the sen- 
 tence, He is going with my friend, and emphasize by turn 
 each word, as many different meanings will be expressed as 
 there are words in the sentence. The effect of a misplaced 
 emphasis is plainly seen if the word "lies" should be empha- 
 sized in the following line from Wordsworth : 
 
 Heaven lies about us in our infancy. 
 
 Where we have no emphasis, we have no interpretation of 
 the author's thought, and also a hum-drum, monotonous 
 reading, which is not uncommon even with many people of 
 intelligence. Too much emphasis, on the other hand, only 
 detracts from the places where emphasis is chiefly needed. 
 Again, many readers use a misplaced or habitual emphasis. 
 
 122 
 
Emphasis \ 123 
 
 / . 
 This fault frequently appears in the reading of poetry and 
 also in the "sing-song" in prose rendition; the hymn reading 
 of many preachers consists merely in singing all hymns to a 
 single tune. 
 
 Now, there are no invariable rules governing the selection 
 of words upon which emphasis shall be placed. Where it 
 shall fall in a given sentence depends upon the interpretation 
 of that sentence by the individual reader. The trouble is, 
 however, that many a reader will fail to use the voice in a 
 way to express the meaning of a passage as he sees it. The 
 common faults that were mentioned in the preceding para- 
 graph suggest that it is of practical importance to learn 
 how to emphasize, and so train the voice to obey the mincfc. 
 To this end two things are essential to correct emphasis: 
 first, a clear understanding of the thought to be expressed ; 
 second, a thorough and practical knowledge of the various 
 modes of emphasis. These modes are often found in com- 
 bination, but the best results will be secured by practicing 
 them at first separately. 
 
 Ways or Emphasizing. There are many ways of empha- 
 sizing a word or phrase; the five principal ones are, (1) by 
 stress, (2) by intensity, (3) by time, (4) by pause, (5) by 
 inflection. 
 
 I. Emphasis of Stress. Attention can be called to a 
 syllable, a word, or a clause by speaking it more loudly. 
 This is the usual way of emphasizing, and is used so fre- 
 quently that the term emphasis is often associated only with 
 this one form of calling attention to the important words. 
 
 II. Emphasis by Intensity. This form is often more 
 effective than the stress-emphasis. It is usually expressed 
 by lowering the voice and at the same time putting more 
 feeling back of it. In the sentence "War is hell," the word 
 "hell" should be emphasized, not by a loud tone, nor by only 
 lowering the voice ; but b} T lowering the voice and hitting it 
 hard. This is more effective than by yelling it at the top of 
 
124 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 your voice. Take the sentence, "The merchants say to you, 
 — the constitutionalists say to you, — the Americans say to 
 you, — and I, / now say, and say to your beard, sir, — you are 
 not an honest man," emphasis could be expressed most force- 
 fully by dropping the voice just above a whisper on the last 
 clause and then putting into it much earnestness. 
 
 III. Emphasis by T'vme, or Quantity. Words or 
 phrases carrying the principal idea require relatively more 
 time than do those of less importance. There are times 
 when ideas of magnitude, length, etc., may be most appro- 
 priately emphasized by prolonging the important words. In 
 the following sentence note how the thought is brought out 
 by dwelling upon the italicized words and phrases : 
 
 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon 
 this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 
 to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
 
 IV. Emphasis by Pause. This mode of calling atten- 
 tion to a word or phrase is based on the fact that, if a 
 pause is made before the important word which is to be 
 emphasized, the mind will wait in expectancy of the com- 
 pletion of the sentence and will more carefully note that 
 word when it does come. Also, that a pause "after the im- 
 portant word will call attention to that word, because the 
 mind will have time to think about the word just spoken. 
 The emphatic pause is considered by some the strongest 
 method of emphasis. 
 
 Read the following sentences, pausing at the dashes, and 
 note the effect: 
 
 1. The one rule for attaining perfection in any art is — prac- 
 tice. 
 
 2. Quoth the raven — "nevermore." 
 
 3. In this — God's — world, dost thou think there is no jus- 
 tice? 
 
 4. My answer would be — a blow. 
 
 5. This — shall slay them both. 
 
Emphasis 125 
 
 V. Emphasis by Inflection. A word is emphasized by 
 inflection when it is inflected in a manner different from the 
 normal. A change in pitch is the chief element in subordi- 
 nation. The mind naturally associates a change of thought 
 relationship with a change in inflection. Either the rising 
 or falling inflection may be used ; but the falling inflection is 
 more often employed. A downward inflection and a pause at 
 the end of the word is not an unusual combination ; espe- 
 cially in sentences like these: 
 
 \ \ v 
 
 "Inhuman wretch, take that, and that, and that." 
 
 "There was a South of slavery and secession — that South is 
 dead." 
 
 This form of emphasis cannot be used exclusively in a 
 selection as it would render the delivery heavy and jerky. 
 It is best not to let your voice fall from the key note ; it 
 should be first raised so that there can be a longer sweep 
 of the inflection, and a distinct delivery still be maintained. 
 
 There are degrees in all methods of emphasis. Some 
 words are to be merely touched by the voice; others are to 
 be emphasized; and others should be given still greater em- 
 phasis. The most effective emphasis is frequently a combi- 
 nation of two or more modes. Such as, Pause and Inflec- 
 tion ; Stress and Inflection ; Pause and Stress ; Pause and 
 Intensity ; Time and Stress ; Time, Pause, and Stress. 
 
 Rules of Emphasis. I. The key-word or words of a 
 sentence should be discovered and emphasized. The follow- 
 ing tests should be applied to discover the logical relation of 
 the words: 1. What words are indispensable to the 
 thought? 2. What words must a person hear to tell what 
 you are talking about? S. What words can, by rearrange- 
 ment, be made the climax of the sentence? 
 
 Study the following examples and note the key-words as 
 italicized : 
 
126 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Centuries ago, on the rock-bound coast of Massachusetts Bay, 
 one night there was a wedding. The sky was the roof that 
 covered the high contracting parties, and the stars, painted by 
 the finger of God, were the fresco-work; the music was that of 
 the singing night-bird and the surge of the gray old ocean; 
 the bidden guests were the Puritan fathers and the Puritan 
 mothers; the unbidden guests were the dusky savages; the bride 
 and the bridegroom were the meeting-house and the school-house, 
 and from that marriage there was born a child. They christened 
 it New England civilization. — Frye. 
 
 II. Subordinate the modifying or qualifying words, 
 phrases, and clauses. Keep the relatively unimportant ideas 
 in the background ; the more important should be made to 
 stand out boldly. 
 
 A study in subordination: 
 
 Speak the speech (I pray you), as I pronounced it to you, 
 trippingly oh tne 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 tn"e very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) 
 the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a tem- 
 perance tKat may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the 
 soul to hear a robustious, periwigpated fellow tear a passion to 
 tatters, to very rags, to split tne ears of tKe 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. 
 
 III. Ideas compared or contrasted should be empha- 
 sized. This is a very important rule, and should always 
 be carefully observed. Sometimes the antithesis is implied, 
 only one part of the contrast being expressed. The oppos- 
 ing term must be supplied mentally. Note numbers 7 and 8. 
 
 Practice the following: 
 
 1. Let us be sacrificers not butchers. — Shakespeare. 
 
 2. I have found you an argument, I am not obliged to find 
 you an understanding. — S. Johnson. 
 
 3. Our good business ,15% not to see what lies dimly at 
 
Emphasis 127 
 
 a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. — Carlyle. 
 
 4. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. — 
 Bible. 
 
 5: There are sifts of commission; and sins of omission. 
 
 6. With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firm- 
 ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. — Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 7. I trust I am speaking to a gentleman. 
 
 8. He never took a cold bath. 
 
 IV. Words once emphasized should not be emphasized 
 again unless repeated for the purpose of emphasis. When 
 these words are repeated, it is well to vary the mode of 
 emphasis, or else effect a climax. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. I have seen the gleam from the headlight of some giant 
 engine rushing onward through the darkness, heedless of oppo- 
 sition, fearless of danger; and I thought it was grand. I have 
 seen the light come over the eastern hills in glory, driving the 
 lazy darkness before it, till leaf and tree and blade of grass 
 glittered in the myriad diamonds of the morning ray; and I 
 thought that was grand. I have seen the light that leaped at 
 midnight athwart the storm-swept sky, shivering over chaotic 
 clouds, 'mid howling winds, till cloud and darkness and shadow- 
 haunted earth flashed into midday splendor; and I knew that 
 was grand. But the grandest thing, next to the radiance that 
 flows from the Almighty Throne, is the light of a noble and 
 beautiful life, wrapping itself in benediction round the destinies 
 of men, and finding its home in the bosom of the everlasting 
 God. — Graves. 
 
 2. They were American soldiers. So are we. They were 
 fighting an American battle. So are we. They were climbing 
 up a mountain. So are we. The great heart of their leader gave 
 them time, and they conquered. The great heart of our country 
 will give us time, and we shall triumph. — Curtis. 
 
 V. Distinguish between emphasis of a single word and 
 that which should be distributed to the whole of a phrase 
 or clause. Throwing the entire emphasis on one or two 
 
128 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 adjectives, or on the adjective rather than on the noun, is 
 a common fault. 
 Example : 
 
 Our fathers raised their flag against a power to which Rome, 
 in the height of her glory, is not to be compared; a power that 
 has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her posses- 
 sions and military posts; whose morning drum-beat, following 
 the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth 
 with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of 
 England. — Webster. 
 
 Climax. Climax is the artistic building up of a dramatic 
 effect by means of increased emphasis. The climactic ar- 
 rangement of the author's thoughts and ideas affords a very 
 effective means of arousing the emotions. It is often used 
 in oratory in making an appeal. Each succeeding emphasis 
 should be stronger than the last, though all need not be of 
 the same kind. 
 
 Appropriately express the thought relationship in the 
 following examples. Be sure that it has an accumulative 
 effect. The Stress-emphasis is usually used in the climax. 
 Sometimes the Stress-emphasis is used on all words except 
 the last, Intensity-emphasis being used on the last word 
 or phrase. This is often very dramatic. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 1. Mr. Calhoun, while in the Senate one day, made a speech 
 in which he stated that he was Henry Clay's master. Mr. Clay 
 arose, shaking his finger at Mr. Calhoun, and said in tones and 
 looks in which were concentrated the greatest scorn and defiance : 
 "He my master! He my master! He my master! Sir, / 
 would not own him for my slave !" 
 
 2. If I were an American as I am an Englishman, and a for- 
 eign troop were landed in my country, I would never lay down 
 my arms. Never ! Never! Never ! — Burke. 
 
 3. The merchants say to you, — the constitutionalists say to 
 you, — the Americans say to you, — and I, I now say, and say to 
 your beard, Sir, — You are not an honest man. — Curran. 
 
Emphasis 129 
 
 4. You remember the story J. Russell Lowell tells of Web- 
 ster, when we in Massachusetts were about to break up the Whig 
 party. Webster came home to Faneuil Hall to protest. Draw- 
 ing himself up to his loftiest proportions, his brow charged with 
 thunder, he exclaimed: "Gentlemen, I am a Whig, a Massachu- 
 setts Whig, a revolutionary Whig, a constitutional Whig, a Fan- 
 euil Hall Whig, and if you break up the Whig party, where am I 
 to go?" "And," says Lowell, "we all held our breath wondering 
 where he could go." 
 
 Eulogy on O'Connell. Phillips. 
 
 5. When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from 
 
 sleep, 
 And the water began to heave and the weather to moan, 
 And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew, 
 And a wave like a wave that is raised by an earthquake grew, 
 Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and 
 
 their flags, 
 And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd 
 
 navy of Spain, 
 And the little Revenge herself went down by the island 
 
 crags, 
 To be lost evermore in the main. 
 The Revenge. Tennyson. 
 
 A FEW CAUTIONS 
 
 I. Avoid emphasizing too much, or none at all, or at 
 random. 
 
 That voice all modes of passion can express 
 Which marks the proper word with proper stress; 
 But none emphatic can that speaker call 
 Who lays an equal emphasis on all. 
 
 II. Avoid emphasizing the next to the last word in a 
 sentence irrespective of the thought expressed. This lends 
 to the "ministerial" tone so much disliked. 
 
 III. Avoid emphasizing a word at certain regular inter- 
 vals. This is characteristic of the "darky preacher tone." 
 
 IV. Avoid using only one kind of emphasis. Practice all 
 methods. No one mode will be best at all times. 
 
 V. Avoid a monotonous chant. Plutarch relates that 
 
130 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Julius Caesar, while yet a youth, hearing some person read 
 in a chanting tone, said: "Are you reading or singing? 
 If you sing, you sing badly ; if you read, you- nevertheless 
 sing." 
 
 After all, formal rules are of little value. Unless the 
 reader" gets the thought, he will be unable to emphasize 
 properly. Still, there are some who may know when to 
 emphasize but are unable to pull the right strings so as to 
 manipulate the machinery. But it is very important that 
 we know how to emphasize and that we do emphasize. As 
 Professor S. H. Clark says: "One's emphasis is the gauge 
 of one's ability to understand. Whatever else a man may 
 be he is not a reader if he fails to emphasize correctly. 
 One who emphasizes correctly is more likeiy to do justice 
 to his author in other regards. Nothing else betrays our 
 ignorance of the text like bad emphasis." 
 
 Exercises : 
 
 Practice the following, using each of the five principal 
 methods of emphasis on as many examples as possible. Then 
 decide which would be most effective. 
 
 I. To be or not to be — that is the question: 
 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
 The slings arid arrows of outrageous fortune, 
 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
 And, by opposing, end them? — To die — to sleep — 
 No more; and, By a sleep, to say we end 
 The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
 That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation 
 Devoutly to be wished. To die — to sleep — 
 To sleep? — perchance to dream — aye, there's the rub! 
 For, in that sleep of death, what dreams may come 
 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
 Must give us pause! There's the respect 
 That makes calamity of so long life: 
 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
 The pangs of disprized love the law's delay, 
 
Emphasis 131 
 
 The insolence of office, and the spurns 
 The patient merit of the unworthy takes — 
 When he himself might his quietus make 
 With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, 
 To groan and swea£ under a weary life, 
 But that the dread of something after death — 
 The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
 No traveller returns — puzzles the will, 
 And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
 Than fly to others that we fcwow not o/7 
 Thus conscience does make cowards of us o/Z: 
 And */ms the native hue of resolution 
 Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 
 And enterprises of grea£ pi£/i and moment, 
 With f/ii* regard, their currents turn awry, 
 And Zo$e the name of action. 
 Hamlet's Soliloquy. Shakespeare. 
 
 II. Talent is something, but fac£ is everything. Talent is 
 serious, sober, grave and respectable; tact is aZZ that, and more 
 too. It is not a s£.rJ/i sense, but it is the life of all the five. It 
 is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell 
 and the lively touch ; it is the interpreter of all riddles, the sur- 
 mounter of all difficulties, the remover of all obstacles. It is use- 
 ful in all places and at all times; it is useful in solitude, for it 
 shows a man his way into the world; it is useful in society, for 
 it shows him his way through the world. Talent is power, tact 
 is skill; talent is weight, tact is momentum; talent knows what 
 to do, tact knows how to do it; talent makes a man respectable, 
 tact will make him respected; talent is wealth, tact is ready 
 money. — London Atlas. 
 
 III. So live, that when thy summons comes to join 
 The innumerable caravan, that moves 
 To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take 
 His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
 Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, 
 Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed 
 By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, 
 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 
 Thanatopsis. Bryant. 
 
132 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 IV. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 
 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; 
 He leadeth me beside the still waters. 
 He restoreth my soul. 
 He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for His 
 
 name's sake. 
 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
 
 death, 
 I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me. 
 Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. 
 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine 
 
 enemies ; 
 Thou hast anointed my head with oil; 
 My cup runneth over. 
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days 
 
 of my life; 
 And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 
 Psalms xxiii. David. 
 
 V. When I came to my castle, for so I think I called it ever 
 after this, I fled into it like one pursued; whether I went over 
 by the ladder as first contrived, or went in at the hole in the 
 rock, which I called a door, I cannot remember; no, nor could 
 I remember the next morning; for never frighted hare fled to 
 cover, or fox to earth, with more terror of mind than I to this 
 retreat. — Defoe. 
 
 VI. I said, "The past is dead, 
 
 I will bury it deep and still 
 With a tablet over its head — • . 
 
 'Of the dead one may speak no ill.' ,: 
 
 I dug down in the loam, 
 
 I sealed up the grave with prayer; 
 
 But the past was the first one home, 
 And waited to greet me there. 
 Tine Past. Jeannette Bliss Gillespy. 
 
 VII. In the following poem, note that the key-word 
 in the first stanza is "arrow"; and in the second "song." 
 In the last stanza, do not omit emphasizing "oak" and 
 "heart of a friend." , 
 
Emphasis 133 
 
 I shot an arrow into the air, 
 It fell to earth, I knew not where; 
 For, so swiftly it flew, the sight 
 Could not follow it in its flight. 
 
 I breathed a song into the air, 
 It fell to earth, I knew not where; 
 For who has sight so keen and strong 
 That it can follow the flight of song? 
 
 Long, long afterward, in an oak 
 I found the arrow, still unbroke; 
 And the song from beginning to end 
 I found again in the heart of a friend. 
 The Arrow and the Song. Longfellow. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 QUALITY 
 
 The three chief characteristics of tone are pitch, force 
 and quality. The first two have been considered. We have 
 seen that pitch depends on the number of vibrations per 
 second, and force on the amplitude of the vibration; quality 
 is dependent on the character of the vibrations. 
 
 Every sound wave has two kinds of vibrations, the funda- 
 mental, the vibration of the entire string; and secondary 
 vibrations, the movement of definite parts of the string. 
 The number and arrangement of these overtones deter- 
 mine the quality of the sound. 
 
 In the human voice this character is very complex. As 
 we have seen, the voice is not made by the vocal cords 
 alone, but is modified by the resonating cavities. Hence 
 these cavities, to a large degree, determine the quality of the 
 sound. And, thirdly, the texture of the vibrating surfaces 
 aids in modifying the nature of the sound. This is some- 
 times called "timbre." 
 
 The form of the resonating chambers and the texture 
 of its walls can be slightly modified at will; but under nor- 
 mal circumstances this condition remains the same, thus 
 permitting each individual to possess a quality of voice 
 peculiar to himself alone. But if you put a pebble in your 
 mouth or in some other manner change the size or shape 
 of the resonating chambers, your voice will change its char- 
 acter. 
 
 Most people can name the kind of instrument when they 
 hear a certain note struck upon it. A note of the same 
 pitch and force played on a violin can easily be told from 
 
 134 
 
Quality 135 
 
 the same one played on the organ or flute. Why? Even 
 two violins do not have the same quality. A Stradivarius 
 violin has a much sweeter tone than our modern make. The 
 difference lies in the texture of the wood rather than in 
 the size of the resonating surfaces. 
 
 A flute is said to have fourteen overtones, a violin twenty- 
 one. This accounts for the richness of the tone of the 
 violin. 
 
 The human voice is capable of producing a very great 
 variety of overtones. The character or shape of the second- 
 ary vibrations of the voice is modified unconsciously by the 
 emotions. Hence by the quality of voice is meant that 
 subtle change in the tone produced sympathetically in ex- 
 pressing the various emotions. 
 
 Atmosphere. By atmosphere is meant the general qual- 
 ity of voice used in interpreting a literary selection, or a 
 part of a selection. It is the "setting" or general spirit of 
 the piece as a whole. 
 
 Kinds. Co-ordinate with the three phases of mental ac- 
 tivity — the intellect, the emotions, and the will — we may 
 characterize three main divisions of atmosphere. These 
 three divisions are also co-ordinate with the three chief 
 purposes in expressing thought. Every sentence that is 
 spoken or written appeals to one or more of these phases 
 of the mind. Every sentence is expressed for the purpose 
 of (1) giving information, (2) awakening emotions, or 
 (3) arousing to action, or the making of a choice — the 
 volitional type. 
 
 Broadly speaking, the Essay (descriptive, narrative, ex- 
 pository, or argumentative) is a type of the intellectual 
 quality. True literature (poetry and the best of prose) 
 belongs to the second group. The oration belongs to the 
 third division. Frequently a selection will contain all three 
 elements ; but usually one predominates. In poetry the 
 emotional element is never wholly absent, even in those 
 
136 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 poems usually termed "descriptive," e.g., The Bells, by 
 Poe. 
 
 It might be helpful at times to speak of a selection as 
 having an "atmosphere," or general tone of sadness, joy, 
 animation, sublimity, smoothness, meditation, humor, etc. 
 What is called "local coloring" of a selection will aid in 
 determining its atmosphere. Where is the scene laid? 
 What were the circumstances which gave rise to the selec- 
 tion? Is it an expression of the author's own experience? 
 Did he "sing because he was happy," or because he got two 
 dollars per line? 
 
 Dominant Voice Qualities. As the voice is the index 
 of the soul, and since "out of the abundance of the heart 
 the mouth speaketh," we find three qualities of voice to 
 correspond to the three types of expression: 
 
 I. The intellectual voice is used t;o interpret the intel- 
 lectual type of selection. It is used in descriptive matter, 
 in imparting information ; it is the didactic voice ; it is the 
 voice the teacher often uses in explaining a problem to her 
 class. This quality is characterized by a clear, hard, dis- 
 tinct, metallic resonance. It is often high pitched and lacks 
 agreeable modulations and flexibility. The intellectual 
 voice has been called a "white" voice; it belongs to the 
 analytical mind, and is used much by the debater. The 
 intellectual gestures are used. This quality is used largely 
 in ordinary conversation. 
 
 II. The spiritual voice expresses feeling. It is charac- 
 terized by a soft, smooth, musical, and inflectional tone. Lit- 
 erature is read in this tone. It is "colored" and modulated 
 to express the various emotions of the author. Beauty is 
 expressed by the spiritual voice; it is the persuasive tone; 
 it is used in animated discourse, and whenever the heart is 
 touched as well as the mind. The open hand is used in 
 gesturing. A great range of pitch is demanded. A spir- 
 itual quality should be cultivated by every one. "Her voice 
 
Quality 137 
 
 was ever soft, gentle and low, — an excellent thing in 
 woman." An expressive, agreeable, well-modulated voice 
 is a priceless possession. Manliness is not characterized by 
 a rough, grouchy, lion-like, bull-dog voice. The spiritual 
 voice is indicative of refinement and culture. 
 
 III. The vital voice is characterized by a full, deep, 
 strong, loud tone; the pitch is often low and re-enforced 
 by chest resonance. It is the voice of command, the voice 
 of the leader, the orator. This type is used to arouse; 
 it stirs men to action; but it must not be degraded into a 
 harsh, throaty, raspy, brute tone. It must be clear, pure, 
 powerful, earnest, and express ideas and thoughts of great 
 weight and importance. This quality is used in Carlyle's 
 The Triumph of Truth (See Part III). Most orations con- 
 tain all three of the general qualities. Gesturing with a 
 clinched hand is not rare; however, the entire body must 
 be sympathetically expressive of the earnestness of feeling 
 dominated by a strong will. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE TYPES 
 
 Intellectual. 
 
 I. Love all, trust a few, 
 Do wrong to none ; be able for thine enemy 
 Rather in. power, than use ; and keep they friend 
 Under thy own life's key ; be check'd for silence, 
 But never tax'd for speech. 
 
 All's Well That Ends Well. Shakespeare. 
 
 II. Truth is always congruous, and agrees with itself; every 
 truth in the universe agrees with every other truth in the uni- 
 verse ; whereas falsehoods not only disagree with truth but usually 
 quarrel among themselves. — Daniel Webster. 
 
 Emotional. 
 
 I. Is this a dagger which I see before me, 
 
 The handle toward my hand ? Come, let me clutch thee. 
 
 I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 
 
 Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 
 
 To feeling as to sight? or art thou but 
 
 A dagger of the mind, a false creation, 
 
138 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? 
 I see thee yet, in form as palpable 
 As this which now I draw. 
 Macbeth. Shakespeare. 
 
 II. We buried the old year in silence and sadness. To many 
 it brought misfortune and affliction. The wife hath given her 
 husband and the husband his wife at its stern behest; the father 
 hath consigned to its cold arms the son in whom his life centered, 
 and the mother hath torn from her bosom her tender babe and 
 buried it in her heart in the cold, cold ground. — Edward Brooks. 
 
 Volitional. 
 
 I. Ye sons of Freedom, wake to glory! 
 
 Hark ! Hark ! what myriads bid you rise ! 
 Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary, 
 
 Behold their tears, and hear their cries. 
 Shall hateful tyrants, (mischief breeding, 
 
 With hireling hosts, a ruffian band), 
 
 Affright and desolate the land, 
 While peace and liberty lie bleeding? 
 The Marseilles Hymn. DeL'Isle. 
 
 II. If ye are brutes, then stand here like fat oxen waiting 
 for the butcher's knife; if ye are men, fellow me! strike down 
 yon sentinel, and gain the mountain-passes, and there do bloody 
 work as did your sires at old Thermopylae! — Elijah Kellogg. 
 
 Tone-Color. Tone-color is the emotional modulation of 
 a pure tone. Since it is related directly to the emotions, 
 it may be well to take a general survey of them. 
 
 Emotions. Our feelings control our actions. We are 
 always in some mood. Life is a succession of emotions. 
 They are the big things. Literature is the expression of the 
 emotions in language. Just what are emotions and how 
 do they come about? Consult some good psychology. How- 
 ever, all that is vital to the reader is how to express his 
 own. No satisfactory analysis of emotions has ever been 
 made. There are very many and so many degrees of each 
 kind that you might as well attempt to count *all the pos- 
 sible colors, shades, and tints used by the artist. Broadly 
 
Quality 
 
 139 
 
 speaking, they may be divided into positive and negative. 
 The positive emotions have a beneficial effect on the sys- 
 tem; they cause expansion, quicken the action of the heart, 
 increase respiration and stimulate all normal functions of 
 the body. The effect on the voice is to increase the rate, 
 extend the pitch and brighten and purify the quality of 
 tone. S\\ 
 
 The negative emotions poison the system, exhaust the 
 nervous supply, and depress all vital functions. They en- 
 courage harsh, unpleasant tones, lower the pitch, enfeeble 
 the volume and retard the rate. 
 
 Following is a classification of the more common positive 
 emotions, with the corresponding negative: 
 
 Positive. 
 
 Negative. 
 
 pleasure 
 
 — pain 
 
 sympathy 
 
 — antipathy 
 
 
 
 compassion 
 
 — disdain 
 
 contentment 
 
 — discontentment 
 
 mercy 
 
 — aversion 
 
 cheerfulness 
 
 — depression 
 
 pity 
 
 — disgust 
 
 merriment 
 
 — disappointment 
 
 ease 
 
 — anxiety 
 
 gladness 
 
 — sadness 
 
 boldness 
 
 — timidity 
 
 delight 
 
 — melancholy , 
 
 assurance 
 
 — alarm 
 
 happiness 
 
 — sorrow 
 
 bravery 
 
 — fear 
 
 j°y 
 
 — grief 
 
 courage 
 
 — cowardice 
 
 bliss 
 
 — distress 
 
 heroism 
 
 — terror 
 
 rapture 
 
 — despondency 
 
 
 
 ecstasy 
 
 — misery 
 
 self-esteem 
 
 — humility 
 
 
 
 conceit 
 
 — modesty 
 
 like 
 
 — dislike 
 
 hauteur 
 
 — lowliness 
 
 admiration 
 
 — scorn 
 
 vanity 
 
 — meekness 
 
 love 
 
 — hate 
 
 pride 
 
 — shame 
 
 honor 
 
 — ridicule 
 
 complacency 
 
 - — regret 
 
 reverence 
 
 — abhorrence 
 
 elation 
 
 — remorse 
 
 adoration 
 
 — repugnance 
 
 arrogance 
 
 — dejection 
 
 idolization 
 
 — profanation 
 
 exaltation 
 
 ■ — anguish 
 
 Positive. 
 
 Negative. 
 
140 
 
 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Positive. 
 
 Negative. 
 
 Positive. Negative. 
 
 resignation — i 
 
 uneasiness 
 
 
 faith 
 
 — worry 
 
 confidence — 
 
 suspicion 
 
 
 hope 
 
 — despair 
 
 belief — < 
 
 doubt 
 
 
 triumph 
 
 — desperation 
 
 trust — < 
 
 Iread 
 
 
 
 
 The following are not contrasted: 
 
 
 Positive. 
 
 Negative. 
 
 Positive. 
 
 Negative. 
 
 firmness 
 
 longing 
 
 annoyance 
 
 fury 
 
 determination 
 
 yearning 
 
 vexation 
 
 
 defiance 
 
 
 indignation 
 
 ill-will 
 
 
 surprise 
 
 resentment 
 
 envy 
 
 attention 
 
 wonder 
 
 anger 
 
 jealousy 
 
 interest 
 
 astonishment 
 
 revenge 
 
 greed 
 
 enthusiasm 
 
 awe 
 
 wrath 
 
 avarice 
 
 desire 
 
 
 ra 
 
 ge 
 
 
 The foregoing lists contain about one hundred and 
 twenty-five emotions. The classification is, of course, far 
 from complete. A single word frequently represents a dozen 
 different shades of emotions. There are at least twenty 
 varieties of love. 
 
 In changes in pitch or rate, as we have seen, readers and 
 speakers are usually very monotonous ; they do not exercise 
 a great range of voice. In like manner the average person 
 seldom permits himself a great range of emotional life. 
 Stoicism is characteristic of our commercialized nation. 
 No, you must not wear your heart on your sleeve, weep 
 with the trials of a moving picture heroine, or giggle at the 
 funny pictures in the colored supplement of the newspaper 
 so that you can be heard a block away. That, however, is 
 not sentiment, but sentimentalism. It is said that the foun- 
 tains of joy and of tears lie close together. The man or 
 woman who feels most, lives most. Unless you can experi- 
 ence the emotions of the author, you cannot express them; 
 not any more than you can express the thoughts of the 
 
< *» 
 
 o «* 
 
 Si 
 
Quality 141 
 
 author without understanding them. Vivid imagination will 
 aid you in putting yourself into a proper mood. And when 
 you feel the emotion your voice will naturally assume the 
 right pitch, resonance, and quality, if it is a trained voice. 
 The motto always is, "From within out." If your emotions 
 are not genuine — only assumed, — the audience will know 
 you are shamming and you will appear "stagy" and "af- 
 fected" and "sickly sentimental." And ever remember that 
 on the platform the adage runs, "Laugh and the world 
 laughs with you, weep and they laugh at you." You do .not 
 gain sympathy by giving way to your grief, but by your 
 struggle to overcome your grief. The audience sympathizes 
 with a man who struggles, not with the man who lets go. In 
 rendering dramatic selections, or when a speaker is about to 
 be overcome with his emotions of sorrow or anger, let him 
 pause until he gets control of himself and his voice. This 
 silence is tremendously eloquent. The trembling voice, with 
 a "tear in the throat" resonance, is an expression of weak- 
 ness, not of strength. Never use a quivering voice nor pro- 
 long the last syllable of a sentence after dropping it a semi- 
 tone. This error is often made by ministers who imagine 
 they have an effective "pleading voice." 
 
 External Aids. Assuming appropriate facial and 
 physical attitudes of emotion you desire to express, will 
 often aid greatly in mentally appreciating that particular 
 emotion. If you desire to express joy, stand erect, chest 
 out, put on a smile, and while in this attitude, thmk the 
 joyous idea you wish to express. 
 
 In love, sympathy, devotion, and kindred emotions, the 
 pitch is above normal, with an interested, earnest facial ex- 
 pression. Surprise, wonder, and amazement are portrayed 
 facially by elevated eyebrows, and open eyes and mouth. In 
 sorrow, shame, anxiety, etc., the face assumes a dejected 
 look, the muscles being relaxed or drawn down. Pride, 
 courage, etc., demand an erect head, chest out, body firm, 
 
142 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 eyes open, and a strong clear voice. 
 
 But do not forget that merely assuming these external 
 attitudes is worse than useless unless they are the expression 
 of the mental state within. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF TONE-COLOR 
 
 Happiness : 
 
 The year's at the spring, 
 The day's at the morn; 
 Morning's at seven; 
 The hill-side's dew-pearled; 
 The lark's on the wing; 
 The snail's on the thorn; 
 God's in his heaven — 
 All's right with the world. 
 Pippa Passes. Browning. 
 
 Sorrow: 
 
 My days are in the yellow leaf, 
 
 The flowers of love and fruit are gone : 
 The worm, the canker, and the grief, 
 Are mine alone. 
 Latest Verses. Byron. 
 
 A dmiration : 
 
 O sacred forms, how proud you look! 
 How high you lift your heads into the sky ! 
 How huge you are ! how mighty and how free ! 
 Ye are the things that tower, that shine, — whose smile 
 Makes glad, whose frown is terrible, whose forms, 
 Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear 
 Of awe divine. 
 Tell to His Native Hills. Knowles. 
 
 Scorn : » 
 
 The leper raised not the gold from the dust: 
 "Better to me the poor man's crust 
 Better the blessing of the poor 
 Though I turn me empty from his door." 
 Vision of Sir Launfal. Lowell. 
 
Quality 143 
 
 Adoration: 
 
 Being above all beings ! Mighty One, 
 
 Whom none can comprehend, and none explore, 
 
 Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone — 
 Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, — - 
 Being whom we call God, and know no more ! 
 God. . G. R. Derzhaven. 
 
 Hate: 
 
 Thou hast had shelter under my roof, and warmth at my 
 hearth; thou hast returned evil for good; thou hast smitten and 
 slain the thing that loved me and was mine; now hear thy pun- 
 ishment. I curse thee ! and thou art cursed ! May thy love be 
 blasted — may thy name be blackened — may the infernals mark 
 thee — may thy heart wither and scorch — may thy last hour re- 
 call to thee the prophet voice of the sage of Vesuvius. 
 
 Last Days of Pompeii. Lytton. 
 
 Pity: 
 
 Alas ! for the rarity 
 Of Christian charity 
 Under the sun ! 
 O, it was pitiful ! 
 Near a whole city full, 
 Home she had none. 
 The Bridge of Sighs. Hood. 
 
 Disgust: 
 
 What, shall one of us, 
 That struck the foremost man in all the world 
 But for supporting robbers, shall we now 
 Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, 
 And sell the mighty space of our large honours 
 For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? 
 I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
 Than such a Roman! 
 Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare. 
 
 Courage: 
 
 "Who dares" — this was the patriot's cry, 
 As striding from the desk he came — 
 "Come out with me in Freedom's name, 
 For her to live, for her to die !" 
 
144 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 A hundred hands flung up reply, 
 A hundred voices answered, "£." 
 The Revolutionary Rising. Read. 
 
 Cowardice : 
 
 Sir Lucius — Well, here they're coming. 
 
 Acres — Sir Lucius, — if I wa'n't with you, I should almost think 
 I was afraid, — if my valor should leave me! — valor will come 
 and go. 
 
 Sir Lucius — Then pray keep it fast, while you have it. 
 
 Acres — Sir Lucius, — I doubt it is going — yes my valor is cer- 
 tainly going ! — it is sneaking off ! — I feel it oozing out, as it were, 
 at the palms of my hands. 
 
 The Rivals. Sheridan. 
 
 Pride : 
 
 Oh, and proudly stood she up ! 
 
 Her heart within her did not fail; 
 She looked into Lord Ronald's eyes, 
 And told him all her nurse's tale. 
 Lady Clare. Tennyson. 
 
 Regret: 
 
 O, Cromwell, Cromwell! 
 Had I served my God with half the zeal 
 I served my king, he would not in mine age 
 Have left me naked to mine enemies. 
 Henry VIII. Shakespeare. 
 
 Hope : 
 
 Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; 
 Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; 
 Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
 Into each life some rain must fall, 
 Some days must be dark and dreary. 
 The Rainy Day. Longfellow. 
 
 Despair: ^ 
 
 Oh! somewhere, somewhere, God unknown exist. and be! 
 
 I am dying; I am alone; I must have thee. 
 God ! God ! my sense, my soul, my all, dies in the cry ; — 
 Sawest thou the faint star flame and fall ? Ah ! it was I. 
 Last Appeal (The Infidel's Prayer). Myers. 
 
Quality 145 
 
 Defiance: 
 
 But here I stand and scoff you; here I fling 
 Hatred and full defiance in your face ! 
 Your Consul's merciful; — For this all thanks. 
 He dares not touch a hair of Catiline ! 
 Catiline's Defiance. George Croly. 
 
 Awe: 
 
 O change ! O wondrous change ! 
 
 Burst are the prison-bars ! 
 This moment there so low, 
 So agonized, and now, 
 
 Beyond the stars ! 
 The Pauper's Death-bed. Southey. 
 
 Anger: 
 
 In an absolute frenzy of wrath, I turned at once upon him, 
 who had thus interrupted me, and seized him violently by the 
 collar. He was attired, as I had expected, in a costume alto- 
 gether similar to my own. "Scoundrel," I cried, in a voice husky 
 with rage, while every syllable I uttered seemed as new fuel to 
 my fury; "scoundrel! imposter ! accursed villain! you shall not — 
 you shall not dog me unto death ! Follow me, or I stab you where 
 you stand!" 
 
 William Wilson. Poe. 
 
 Greed: 
 
 Ah! could they see 
 These bags of ducats, and that precious pile 
 Of ingots, and those bars of solid gold, 
 Their eyes, methinks, would water. What a comfort 
 It is to see my moneys in a heap 
 All safely lodged under my very roof. 
 Here's a fat bag: let me untie the mouth of it. 
 What eloquence ! What beauty ! What expression ! 
 Could Cicero so plead? Could Helen look 
 One half so charming? 
 The Miser Fitly Punished. Osborne. 
 
 Jealousy : 
 
 By the world, 
 I think my wife be honest, and think she is not; 
 I think thou art j ust, and think thou art not ; 
 
146 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 I'll have some proof: My name, that was as fresh 
 As Dina's visage, is now begrim'd and black 
 As mine own face, — If there be cords, or knives, 
 Poison, or fire, or suffocating steam, ' 
 I'll not endure it, — Would I were satisfied. 
 Othello. Shakespeare. 
 
 Word-Coloring. Word-coloring is suiting the sound to 
 the sense of a word or phrase. There are many words in 
 our language which in themselves suggest definite voice 
 modulations. Such as, buzz, swish, hiss, hum, bang, boom, 
 ping-pong, honk-honk, toot, neigh, bow-wow, etc. Give to 
 such words their characteristic vocal color. 
 
 Again, there is another class of words that can be ex- 
 pressed emotionally by touching them with appropriate em- 
 phasis. Such as far, long, high, wide, etc. These should be 
 given a time emphasis, suggesting their appropriate quali- 
 ties. Words like quick, jerk, kick, should never be drawn 
 out. Tiny, little, narrow, etc., are given a "small" quality 
 of tone, while harsh, angry, rough, etc., suggest a guttural 
 tone. Words like home, God, mother, should be spoken with 
 love, reverence, and veneration. 
 
 Thus we see that word-coloring, while it may include 
 onomatopoeia, is a great deal more than mere imitation. Its 
 use is to express the emotional significance of words over 
 and beyond their literal meaning. Says Cicero, in his De 
 Oratore, "The tones of the voice, like musical chords, are so 
 wound up as to be responsive to every touch, sharp, flat, 
 quick, slow, loud, gentle. Anger, fear, violence, pleasure, 
 trouble, each has its own tone for expression." The quality 
 of the voice should reveal an appreciation of what words 
 mean, as they are uttered. And so with phrases, clauses, 
 and sentences. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 In practicing the following examples, first create the gen- 
 eral atmosphere by putting yourself in the proper mental 
 
Quality ^147 
 
 attitude. If intellectual, imagine yourself explaining some- 
 thing. If emotional, feel the emotions. If volitional, seek 
 to stir some one to action. 
 
 I. Read the following selections in all three different 
 ways: 
 
 1. Whoever you are, be noble; 
 
 Whatever you do, do well; 
 Whenever you speak, speak kindly, — 
 Give joy wherever you dwell. — Ruskin. 
 
 2. Heaven is not reached by a single bound, 
 But we mount the ladder by which we climb ; 
 From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
 
 And mount to its summit round by round. — Holland. 
 
 II. Note how a preacher should vary the general at- 
 mosphere with the different purposes during the course of 
 the morning services : 
 
 1. (Announcements.) Mrs. Blank will entertain the King's 
 Daughters at her home Friday evening at 8 o'clock. 
 
 Mr. Blank will sing a solo at the evening services. 
 
 2. (Prayer.) The day returns and brings us the petty round 
 of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to perform them with 
 laughter and kind faces; help us to play the man; let cheerful- 
 ness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our busi- 
 ness all this day; bring us to our resting beds weary and content 
 and undishonored ; and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. — 
 Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
 3. (Part of sermon.) Remember, Christ will not reject 
 thee; though thou mayest reject Him. There is the cup of mercy 
 put to thy lip by the hand of Jesus. I know, if thou feelest 
 the need, Satan may tempt thee not to drink, but he will not 
 prevail; thou wilt put thy lip feebly and faintly, perhaps, to it. 
 But, oh, do but sip ! and the first draught shall give thee bliss ; 
 and the deeper thou shalt drink the more heaven shalt thou know. 
 — Charles Spurgeon. 
 
 III. Determine the atmosphere of the following, and 
 
148 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 express in appropriate tone-color. Name the emotions — if 
 any — suggested. 
 
 1. He that loves a rosy cheek, 
 
 Or a coral lip admires, 
 Or from star-like eyes doth seek 
 
 Fuel to maintain his fires; 
 
 As old Time makes these decay, 
 
 So his flames must waste away. 
 
 Disdain Returned. Thomas Garew. 
 
 2. Tender-hearted stroke a nettle, 
 
 And it stings you for your pains; 
 Grasp it like a man of mettle, 
 
 And it soft as silk remains. 
 'Tis the same with common natures; 
 
 Use 'em kindly, they rebel; 
 But be rough as nutmeg-graters, 
 
 And the rogues obey you well. 
 
 — Written on a Window in Scotland. 
 
 3. And this man 
 
 Is now become a god ; and Cassius is 
 A wretched creature, and must bend his body, 
 If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. 
 He had a fever when he was in Spain, 
 And, when the fit was on him, I did mark 
 How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake: 
 His coward lips did from their color fly; 
 Arid that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, 
 Did lose its luster. 
 Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare. 
 
 4. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, 
 chapels had been churches and poor men's cottages princes' 
 palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: 
 I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than to 
 be one of the twenty to follow my own teaching. The brain 
 may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a 
 cold decree. 
 
 Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare. 
 
 5. O wad some power the giftie gie us, 
 To see oursel's as ithers see us ! 
 
Quality 149 
 
 It wad frae monie a blunder free us, 
 An' foolish notion. 
 To a Louse. Burns. 
 
 6. I have had playmates, I have had companions, 
 
 In my days of childhood, in my joyful school days; 
 All, all are gone, — the old familiar faces. 
 The Old Familiar Faces. Charles Lamb. 
 
 7. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 
 Is the immediate jewel of their souls: 
 
 Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 
 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ; 
 But he that niches from me my good name, 
 Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
 And makes me poor indeed. 
 Othello. Shakespeare. 
 
 8. No family is too poor to have the table covered with a 
 clean white cloth, ornamented with flowers in their season, and 
 made inviting with refined manners and cheerful intercourse. — 
 
 Gen. J. W. Phelps. 
 
 9. I had a dream, which was not all a dream. 
 The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars 
 Did wander darkling in the eternal space, 
 Rayless and pathless, and the icy earth 
 
 Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; 
 Morn came, and went, and came, and brought no day. 
 And men forgot their passions in the dread 
 Of this their desolation; and all hearts 
 Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light. 
 Darkness. Lord Byron. 
 
 10. Portia — A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine. 
 
 The court awards it and the law doth give it. 
 Shyloch — Most rightful judge. 
 Portia — And you must cut the flesh from off his breast; 
 
 The law allows it and the court awards it. 
 Shyloch — Most learned judge! A sentence! 
 
 Come, prepare! 
 Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare. 
 
 11. Tone-color is essential to the true expression of poetry. 
 Without this, it speaks to the intellect only, not to the heart. 
 
150 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 If there is word-painting, express this by the tone, but do not 
 exaggerate. Suggest rather than imitate. Where elevation of 
 thought is required, let it be obtained by elevation of feeling, 
 giving tone-color not by loudness, swagger, or display of art. — 
 Selected. 
 
 12. Hark! I hear the bugles of the enemy! They are on 
 their march along the bank of the river. We must retreat in- 
 stantly, or be cut off from our boats. I see the head of their 
 column already rising over the height. Our only safety is in 
 the screen of this hedge. Keep close to it; be silent; and stoop 
 as you run. For the boats ! Forward ! — Kleiser. 
 
 13. "Jo, my poor fellow!" 
 
 "I hear you, sir, in the dark, but I'm a gropin' — a gropin'; 
 let me catch hold of your hand." 
 "Jo, can you say what I say?" 
 
 "I'll say anything as you say, sir, for I know it's good." 
 "our father." 
 
 "Our Father. — That's very good, sir." 
 "which art in heaven." 
 
 "Art in Heaven. — Is the light a comin', sir?" 
 "It is close at hand, hallowed be thy name." 
 "Hallowed be — thy — name." 
 Death of Little Jo. Dickens; 
 
 14. He that has light within his own clear breast, 
 May sit in darkness and enjoy bright day; 
 But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, 
 Benighted walks under the mid-day sun. 
 
 Comus. John Milton. 
 
 15. "O, bury me not in the deep, deep sea!" 
 These words came low and mournfully 
 From the lips of a youth who lay 
 
 On his cabin couch, at the close of day. 
 
 He had wasted and pined, 'til o'er his brow 
 The death-shade had slowly pass'd; and now, 
 When the land and his fond-loved home were nigh, 
 They had gather'd around to see him die. 
 The Ocean Burial. Captain Wm. H. Saunders, U. S. A. 
 
 16. Let me go where'er I will 
 
 I hear a sky-born music still: 
 
Quality 151 
 
 It sounds from all things old,, 
 
 It sounds from all things young, 
 
 From all that's fair, from all that's foul, 
 
 Peals out a cheerful song. 
 
 It is not only in the rose, 
 It is not only in the bird, 
 Not only where the rainbow glows, 
 Nor in the song of woman heard, 
 But in the darkest, meanest things 
 There always, always something sings. 
 The Poet R. W. Emerson. 
 
 17. Do unto another what you would he should do unto you; 
 and do not unto another what you would not like if done to 
 yourself. Thou needest only this law alone. It is the founda- 
 tion and principle of all the rest. — Confucius. 
 
 18. There should be no selfish devotion to private interests. 
 We are born not for ourselves only, but for our kindred and 
 fatherland. We owe duties not only to those who have benefited, 
 but those who have wronged us. We should render to all their 
 due; and justice is due even to the lowest of mankind. — Cicero. 
 
 19. With klingle, klangle, klingle, 
 Way down the dusty dingle, 
 The cows are coming home; 
 
 Now sweet and clear, and faint and low, 
 The airy tinklings come and go, 
 Like chiming from some far-off tower, 
 Or pattering of an April shower 
 That makes the daisies grow — 
 
 Ko-kling, ko-klang, koklinglelingle. 
 
 Way down the darkening dingle 
 
 The cows come slowly home. 
 When the Cows Come Home. Agnes E. Mitchell. 
 
 20. You are the evening cloud floating in the sky of my 
 
 dreams. 
 I paint you and fashion you ever with my love longings. 
 You are my own, my own, Dweller in my endless dreams. 
 
 With the shadow of my passion have I darkened your eyes, 
 Haunter of the depth of my gaze ! 
 
15£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 I have caught you and wrapped you, my love, in the net 
 
 of my music; 
 You are my own, my own, Dweller in my deathless dreams. 
 
 — Rabindranath Tagore. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 VOCAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 
 
 Definition. Literature in its broadest sense may be 
 said to include all that is written or printed. But in its 
 usual and more restricted meaning, it embodies only the 
 genuine thought life and emotional life of the race. Mr. 
 Arlo Bates says, "Literature is the adequate expression of 
 genuine and typical emotion." It is one of the fine arts ; and 
 as such must express the ideal in mankind. To be the highest 
 form of literature, it must be emotional, universal, genuine, 
 sincere, and true to life. In reading literature, we live the 
 life of the race. A selection is beautiful and enjoyed by us 
 only when it expresses a phase of life comprehended within 
 our experience. It must voice our thoughts, our emotions, 
 our experience. 
 
 Vocal Interpretation. To interpret the thoughts, 
 emotions, and the action of others adequately, is impossible 
 through silent reading. We may gather the thought life of 
 the race in this way, but the emotional phase escapes us; 
 and, as we have seen, this is the only expression of true 
 literature. Hence poetry and the best of prose must be 
 read aloud to be appreciated by ourselves, and it is the only 
 way we may be able to interpret it to others. 
 
 Classification. In the study of a selection with a view 
 to its vocal interpretation, the classification on the basis of 
 purpose suggested in the previous chapter, will be adequate 
 for the present. A more detailed classification is presented 
 in Part II, Chapter VI. Through the study of literature 
 
 153 
 
154 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 the student will have familiarized himself with many other 
 classifications. 
 
 Thought Analysis. The first step in the study of any 
 selection is to understand it; the second step is to repro- 
 duce it. 
 
 No selection can be read or spoken properly until under- 
 stood. To determine the author's thoughts is frequently 
 no easy task, if not altogether an impossible one. To re- 
 produce in our own emotional life what the author felt, is 
 still more difficult. Nevertheless, the aim of the reader 
 should ever be to apperceive the author's meaning and feel- 
 ing and express the same to others to the best of his ability. 
 He should not be content until he has exhausted all resources 
 at his command. 
 
 Words on the printed page are meaningless and dumb 
 until the reader conceives and voices the meaning. The 
 reader is the author's interpreter. The first thing, then, is 
 to interpret properly the author's meaning. While it is 
 desirable to acquire facility in reading at first sight, the 
 best interpretative reading, even of the most simple prose, 
 requires close study in advance of oral expression. For a 
 student of reading, at any rate, such preliminary study, 
 with a view of comprehending and assimilating the thought 
 and feeling of a selection, should alwaj^s precede any at- 
 tempt at the oral expression. This general suggestion is 
 presented in detail in the following directions. 
 
 Let each pupil prepare a written report on his analysis 
 of an assigned selection. Each report should be reviewed 
 with its author, and sometimes with the entire class. Such 
 reports should be continued until the class has a thorough 
 grasp of the requirements of thought analysis. Such re- 
 ports should be required at intervals throughout the year 
 to guard against superficial study. Keep in mind that good 
 reading requires close, accurate, vigorous thinking, and the 
 lack of this care in reading, in turn, gives rise to most of 
 
Vocal Interpretation of Literature 155 
 
 the troubles that pupils have with other studies. 
 
 Written Work. Just how much of the following outline 
 should be required in written form will vary with each selec- 
 tion and with the progress of the class : this must be left to 
 the discretion of a wise teacher. Usually, it will not be de- 
 sirable to require answers to Section VI. handed in. Far 
 better, however, to study only a few selections intensely 
 than to skim over many. 
 
 Questions and Directions eor a Written Report Pre- 
 liminary to Its Orae Presentation 
 
 i. the author 
 
 1. Who was the author? 
 
 2. Tell briefly what you know of his life. 
 
 3. Name some of his best productions. 
 
 4. What was his temperament? Was he thoughtful, 
 melancholy, pleasant, kind, sociable, sorrowful, cynical, op- 
 timistic, pessimistic? 
 
 5. What were the immediate circumstances in his life 
 that led him to write the selection, or deliver the speech? 
 
 II. THE ATMOSPHERE, OR GENERAL SETTING 
 
 1. Where is the scene laid? When? 
 
 2. Local color, — surroundings, characters interested, 
 etc. 
 
 8. When the selection was written or spoken, was the 
 author in a happy mood, or was he sorrowful, penitent, 
 angry, hopeful, or what emotion best describes his feelings? 
 
 4. Is the general purpose of the selection didactic, emo- 
 tional, or volitional? 
 
 5. Of what incidents or emotions in your past life does 
 this remind you? 
 
156 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 HI. GENERAL ANALYSIS 
 
 1. Classify the selection. Is it a lyric poem, essay, ora- 
 tion, lecture, monologue, or what? 
 
 2. What is the theme of the selection? This frequently 
 is not the subject. 
 
 3. What is the embodiment, if any? That is, what 
 mechanism or means does the. author use to convey this 
 theme? 
 
 4. Do the paragraphs or stanzas mark the natural 
 thought divisions? 
 
 5. Determine the central thought in each logical para- 
 graph. 
 
 6. Name the rhythm. Is it appropriate? Why? 
 
 7. What general picture comes to your mind when you 
 read this selection? 
 
 8. What scenes can you most vividly imagine? Are they 
 visual, auditory, motor, or what? 
 
 IV. DETAILED ANALYSIS 
 
 1. Determine the meaning of each word and phrase; ex- 
 plain all historical, geographical, and classical allusions. 
 
 2. Determine the meaning of each sentence. Paraphrase 
 the more difficult sentences. 
 
 3. What word, phrase, or clause in each sentence ex- 
 presses the principal idea? 
 
 4. What words or phrases lend themselves to word-col- 
 oring? 
 
 V. MECHANICAL AIDS 
 
 1. Copy the entire selection, or such parts as may be 
 deemed expedient. 
 
 2. What successive words should be grouped together? 
 That is, where should the pauses come? 
 
 3. Indicate these pauses by vertical bars (|). This 
 should include stops at the end of the sentence. Use one 
 
Vocal Interpretation of Literature 157 
 
 (|), two (||), or three (|||) bars to indicate the relative 
 length of the pauses. 
 
 4. What word, words, phrase, or clause in each sentence 
 conveys the principal idea? the new idea? the compared or 
 contrasted ideas? Underscore such words. Degrees of 
 emphasis may be indicated by the number of lines used. 
 
 5. Recall the various rules for inflection and mark the 
 inflected words appropriately. 
 
 6. How many climaxes are there? Are they all of the 
 same degree? Indicate them with this sign: < 
 
 VI. EXPRESSION 
 
 1. What is the normal key of this selection? (High, 
 medium, or low.) 
 
 2. What general movement is appropriate? (Fast, 
 medium, or slow. ) 
 
 3. What degree of intensity should be used? of loudness? 
 of volume? Why? 
 
 4. What general quality of voice is demanded? (Intel- 
 lectual, spiritual, or vital.) 
 
 5. What changes of pitch are suggested in the various 
 sentences ? 
 
 6. Indicate changes of thought by changes in pitch, 
 movement, volume, loudness, intensity, quality, etc. 
 
 7. Place yourself in the author's position. Use your 
 imagination to place yourself there. Look at the selection 
 from his point of view as much as you can. 
 
 8. Read or speak the selection as though you were in the 
 author's place. But do not imitate him. Be yourself. Do 
 not be satisfied with one reading, or with ten. Master the 
 selection. Reproduce it the best you can. 
 
 Just how much of the above outline should be required in 
 written form will vary with each selection and with the 
 progress of each pupil. The pupil should determine this in 
 
158 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 consultation with the instructor. Usually it will not be 
 expedient to present written answers to Section VI. 
 
 A Specific Illustration 
 (A written report by a pupil) 
 
 CROSSING THE BAR 
 
 I. The Author. 
 
 1 and £. Alfred Tennyson was born at Somersby, Eng- 
 land, in 1809; and died at Farringford, Isle of Wight, in 
 1892. He attended Oxford College, but did not seem to 
 enjoy college life. He began writing poetry at a very early 
 age, and a great future was predicted for him. 
 
 3. Some of his best known poems are: Two Voices, 
 Idylls of the King, The Princess, In Memoriam, Charge of 
 the Light Brigade, Maud, and Enoch Arden. 
 
 4. He was always very thoughtful and frequently very 
 sad, though kind and loving. He was not very sociable and 
 had few intimate friends. The people of England loved him 
 as we love our poet, Longfellow. At the death of Words- 
 worth (1850), he was made Poet Laureate of England. 
 
 5. Illness and old age. 
 
 II. The Atmosphere. 
 
 1 and 2. Crossing the Bar was written a few years be- 
 fore he died. One October morning in 1889, he drove to 
 Aldsworth by the seaside. There he heard the "moaning of 
 the bar" which was still on his mind when he returned to his 
 home in Farringford. He was not very well and went to bed. 
 His nurse was sitting by his bedside sharing to a # degree the 
 general anxiety about the patient when she suddenly said 
 to him, "You have written a great many poems, sir, but I 
 have never heard anybody say that there is a hymn among 
 them all. I wish, sir, you would write a hymn while you are 
 lying on your sick bed; it might help and comfort many a 
 poor sufferer." 
 
 The next morning, when the nurse had taken her quiet 
 
Vocal Interpretation of Literature 159 
 
 place at the bedside, the poet handed her a scrap of paper, 
 saying, "Here is the hymn you wished me to write." She 
 took the paper from his hands with expressions of grateful 
 thanks. It proved to be Crossing the Bar. 
 
 The entire poem had flashed on his mind in a moment. 
 The hymn was sung at his funeral, and he requested that it 
 be always placed at the end of all editions of his poems. 
 
 3. Tennyson had gained a great personal victory over 
 doubt and throughout his life had always expressed a pro- 
 found faith in the immortality of the soul; not a blind faith, 
 but a personal assurance that left not the least doubt in his 
 mind. 
 
 4. This hope he desired to impress on all those who 
 were to pass through the ."boundless deep" as he had. It is 
 profoundly emotional. 
 
 5. I wonder if I am as trusting as Tennyson? I re- 
 member once when I was sick and thought I was going to 
 die, etc. 
 
 III. General Analysis. 
 
 1. The poem is a philosophical lyric. 
 
 2. The theme is Faith. 
 
 3. He compares his soul to a ship, which is about to sail 
 into the Infinite Personality. Death is the Bar; the moan- 
 ing is Fear and Doubt; the Pilot is that Divine and Unseen 
 who is always guiding us. 
 
 4. No. All four stanzas may be considered as one para- 
 graph. 
 
 5. When I die it will be with the calm assurance that I 
 shall meet God face to face. 
 
 6. The meter is in the main iambic tetrameter. The 
 occasional spondaic foot and the irregular number of feet 
 to the verse, and now and then a catalectic verse may be 
 suggestive of the sentiment expressed. 
 
 7 and 8. This selection does not lend itself to imagery 
 as many do ; but there comes to us a picture of a ship ready 
 to sail, with the waves at rest, and no dashing of angry 
 
160 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 waves against the shore. Also that of a dying man. The 
 noise of the waves is auditory. The other images are visual. 
 
 IV. Detailed Analysis. 
 
 1, % and 3. (Obviously a detailed statement is not neces- 
 sary in this suggestive outline.) 
 
 4. Especially the following words and phrases should be 
 appropriately colored: Clear call, moaning, moving seems 
 asleep, too full, deep, and dark. 
 
 V. Mechanical Aids. 
 
 Sunset and eveliirig star, i 
 
 And one cle~ar call for me! II 
 And may there be| no moaning of the bar I 
 
 When 7|put out to sea. I 
 
 But such a tide as moving seems asleep,! 
 
 Too full for sound and fdam v , I 
 When that which drew from out the boundless deep I 
 
 Turns again home\ III 
 
 Twilight and evening bell,! 
 
 And after that the dar£!ll v 
 
 And may there be no sadness of farewell 
 
 When I embark. I 
 
 For though from out the bourne of Time and Place 
 
 The flood may bear me far," I 
 I hope to see my Pilot face to face I 
 
 When Illhave crossedllthe bar". 
 
 VI. Expression. 
 1. Low key. 
 
 % Slow movement; and with some passages, as "moving 
 seems asleep," still slower. 
 
 3. Medium degree. There is no suggestion of any un- 
 usual excitement, agony, or suffering. 
 
 4. A spiritual, meditative quality, and with intense tone- 
 coloring. 
 
 5. The first sentence has a medium pitch, followed with 
 a long downward slide, including the next two lines. This 
 selection demands a great variety of pitch and long inflec- 
 
Vocal Interpretation of Literature 161 
 
 tional slides. Appropriately express the triumphant tone 
 in the last two lines. 
 
 6. Change of pitch can best be expressed vocally. 
 
 (Do not be satisfied with such a selection until it has been 
 thoroughly memorized and read over many, many times in prac- 
 tice by each pupil.) 
 
 SOME GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 
 
 If there be adequate analysis of a selection for the 
 thought, the reader should naturally convey the thought 
 without undue effort, or straining for effect, or conscious 
 attention to the mechanism of speech. We are speaking 
 now, of course, of synthetic reading, and not of the pre- 
 liminary or incidental training for skill and facility in tech- 
 nique. But however much, or little, practice in vocal tech- 
 nique one may have had, good reading, it will readily be 
 granted by all, requires that the reader give us the thought. 
 And whenever a pupil does not do that, the teacher must 
 needs recall to his mind this primary requisite by such 
 queries and suggestions as,' "What is the thought here?" 
 "You do not make us see this picture." "Explain this to 
 me in your own words, without reference to the language the 
 author uses." Thus must the pupil's attention be directed, 
 again and again, to the fact that words in themselves are 
 meaningless until he gets from them the author's thought, 
 and that even then they are meaningless to a hearer until he 
 (the reader) conveys the meaning. 
 
 What test shall be applied in determining if the reader 
 "conveys the meaning" ? We say that one should read "nat- 
 urally." And what do we mean by that? Simply that a 
 reader should use the same meaning of imparting and im- 
 pressing thought that he uses in ordinary conversation. It 
 should be his best conversation, to be sure, and even then 
 one's "natural" method of talking can be vastly improved; 
 but the point is this : in good reading there should be no 
 noticeable departure from the animated directness, variety, 
 
162 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 and spontaneity of one's best method of talking. What 
 proportion of our teachers of reading keep this fact in mind 
 as a guiding principle? And is it true as it is often asserted, 
 that if a reader comprehends thoroughly the thought to be 
 conveyed, he will read "naturally"? Listen to the college 
 graduate read from a newspaper, or a college professor 
 reading his lectures, or a preacher reading Scripture ox a 
 hymn, or an author, it may be, reading from his own works, 
 and note the wide departure from clearness and discrimi- 
 nateness, effectiveness and naturalness. And yet, in the 
 cases cited, the readers know, we must assume, the thought 
 they would convey. Mere mechanical reading must be 
 avoided. The mechanics of oral expression must always be 
 used as a means, not an end. Over-much talk about enun- 
 ciation, inflection, emphasis, etc., is not advisable on general 
 principles. Individual cases need specific remedies'. "The 
 trouble with most of our reading is that it dissociates itself 
 entirely from any relation with conversation, whereas it is 
 precisely the same spontaneous thinking that makes both 
 intelligent," says Professor Clark in his treatise on How to 
 Teach Reading. 
 
 The natural, or conversational method of reading is fre- 
 quently impeded by the mechanical directions of the teacher. 
 Proper position, however, must not be entirely neglected. 
 The pupil should always face the class. If this practice 
 were begun in the first grades and continued through the 
 high school, stage fright would be a thing of the past. The 
 book should be held easily in the left hand, and held high 
 enough that the head may be held erect. The throat muscles 
 must never be restricted by bending the head over the book. 
 The student should read to the audience and not to himself. 
 His eyes should play back and forth from the page to the 
 audience, not just glance up occasionally, as if to make 
 sure that the audience had not all slipped from the room. 
 The head should be held erect so that in looking straight at 
 the audience, all that is necessary is to move the eye and 
 
Vocal Interpretation of Literature 163 
 
 not the head. This practice will be a great help in carrying 
 out the basic principle that the most effective reading is 
 simply heightened conversation. 
 
 The following quotation from Professor Corson from his 
 book entitled, The Voice and Spiritual Education, seems 
 very pertinent: "What chiefly affects a cultivated hearer, 
 in 'elocution' is the conspicuous absence of spiritual as- 
 similation on the part of the reader. At best, he voices 
 only what the eye of an ordinary reader should take in, and 
 leaves the all-important part to the face, arms, legs, and 
 various attitudes of the body. But the spiritual in litera- 
 ture must be addressed to the ear. . . . Reading is not 
 acting. It is the acting which usually accompanies the 
 reading or recitation of the professional elocutionist which 
 cultivated people especially dislike. When they wish to see 
 acting, they prefer going to the theatre. When they listen 
 to reading, they want serious interpretative vocalization; 
 only that and nothing more is necessary, unless it be a spon- 
 taneous and graceful movement of the hands, occasionally, 
 as one makes in animated conversation." 
 
PART TWO 
 PUBLIC SPEAKING 
 
CHAPTER I 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 Introduction. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeri- 
 tus of Harvard University, in a recent address said : "The 
 primary characteristic of an educated man is his ability to 
 speak and to write his own language effectively. Never in 
 the history of the country has there been a time when oral 
 address has had so much use and influence as it has to-da}'." 
 
 Two little children if reared alone in a forest would invent 
 some means of communication. Their language, like the 
 language of the savage, would be, for the most part, by 
 means of vocal inflections and gestures ; since these have 
 always expressed sensations and emotions. Ideas are ex- 
 pressed by articulate words, and the savage does not have 
 many ideas. We should master at least one language. Some 
 men can write and speak sixty and even seventy languages ; 
 but, it is .very doubtful if you have ever heard the names of 
 these men. It is far more important that you learn to mas- 
 ter one language so that you can write and speak it with 
 clearness, force and elegance. 
 
 Definition. Public Speaking differs from Oral Reading 
 in that the language of the speaker is his own. The ar- 
 rangement of the thought expressed is also left to the 
 speaker. 
 
 The first essential is that the speaker acquire and main- 
 tain the right notion about speaking — the right mental 
 attitude toward the message and his audience. Remember 
 that speaking is simply talking to an assembly of individuals. 
 It is presumed that you have something to say to such an 
 
 167 
 
168 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 assembly. You must know clearly and understand thor- 
 oughly what you have to say and then you must convey your 
 own thoughts and emotions to the minds of your hearers. 
 In other words, the same principle that was laid down for 
 reading applies to speaking: Get the thought, give the 
 thought. 
 
 General Preparation. The ability to get the thought 
 and to give the thought most effectively does not come by a 
 wish or the sway of a fairy's wand. It comes through "in- 
 spiration, respiration, and perspiration." Who has not 
 listened to some eloquent speaker who mastered, his audi- 
 ence, held them spell-bound by his knowledge and power, 
 and has not said, "Oh, I would give almost anything if I 
 could only speak like that !" But do not think for a moment 
 that that man has not passed through years of preparation. 
 Beecher, when once asked how long it took him to prepare a 
 certain sermon, replied, "Twenty years." 
 
 Knowledge. First of all have something to say. Who 
 cares to listen to a man who does not know what he is talk- 
 ing about? Socrates struck a fundamental key-note in de- 
 livery when he said, "all men are sufficiently eloquent in that 
 which they understand." Men everywhere listened to Christ. 
 Wherever he went a multitude followed him, "for he spake 
 as one having authority." The man who is the greatest bore 
 in modern society is the walking phonograph. All that is 
 necessary to start him going is to touch a spring, and lo, 
 like Tennyson's brook — 
 
 Men may come and men may go, 
 But I go on forever. 
 
 When he has once said all he knows, he starts all over again. 
 Lowell suggested this addition to the Beatitudes, "Blessed 
 is he who hath nothing to say — and cannot be persuaded to 
 say it" 
 
General Observations 169 
 
 Vocabulary. Secondly, an adequate vocabulary is abso- 
 lutely essential so that this knowledge can be expressed 
 clearly and adequately. Every workman must have good 
 serviceable tools ; every orator must, likewise, have his tools 
 — good serviceable words. A large vocabulary is needed to 
 enable the speaker to express shades of meaning and to in- 
 sure variety and force in expression. Says Professor Palmer 
 in his Self -Cultivation in English: 
 
 Why, then, do we hesitate to swell our words to meet our 
 needs? It is a nonsense question. There is no reason. We are 
 simply lazy ; too lazy to make ourselves comfortable. We let 
 our vocabularies be limited, and get along rawly without the 
 refinements of human intercourse, without refinements in our 
 own thoughts; for thoughts are almost as dependent on words 
 as words on thoughts. For example, all exasperation we lump 
 together as "aggravating/' not considering whether they may 
 not rather be displeasing, annoying, offensive, disgusting, irri- 
 tating, or even maddening; and without observing, too, that in 
 our reckless usage we have burned up a word which might be 
 convenient when we should need to mark some shading of the 
 word "increase." Like the bad cook, we seize the frying pan 
 whenever we need to fry, broil, roast, or stew, and then we won- 
 der why all our dishes taste alike while in the next house the 
 food is appetizing. It is all unnecessary. Enlarge the vocab- 
 ulary. Let any one who wants to see himself grow, resolve to 
 adopt two new words each week. It will not be long before the 
 endless and enchanting variety of the world will begin to re- 
 flect itself in his speech, and in his mind as well. I know that 
 when we use a word for the first time we are startled, as if a 
 firecracker went off in our neighborhood. We look about hastily, 
 to see if any one has noticed. But finding that no one has, we 
 may be emboldened. A word used three times slips off the 
 tongue with entire naturalness. Then it is ours forever, and 
 with it some phase of life which had been lacking hitherto. y 
 
 Diction. The workman must have tools, but without a 
 knowledge of the use of these tools he might do more harm 
 than good. Many a man has wounded his friend by speak- 
 ing a word which he did not know how to use properly ; and 
 many a political speaker has harmed his cause more than 
 
170 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 he helped it, by an improper use of words and combinations 
 of words which were not understood as he intended. 
 
 Read the best books and magazines ; listen to good 
 speeches ; get the dictionary habit ; study synonyms ; write 
 out carefully whatever you put on paper. Accuracy of ex- 
 pression comes only through careful, persistent practice. 
 This is Benjamin Franklin's testimony: 
 
 About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. 
 It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I 
 bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with 
 it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to 
 imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, mak- 
 ing short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by 
 a few days, and then, without looking at the book, tried to com- 
 plete the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at 
 length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any 
 suitable words that should come to hand. 
 
 Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered 
 some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted 
 a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, 
 which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I 
 had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for 
 words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the 
 measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid 
 me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also 
 have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master 
 of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into 
 verse, and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the 
 prose, turned them back again. 
 
 Practice. Lose no opportunity to speak. Ease, ac- 
 curacy, force are the result of practice. Whenever called 
 upon, speak. But be sure you are well prepared and stop as 
 soon as you are no longer interesting. Join some literary 
 society and never neglect to carry out your part of the 
 program. Let it be known in your school and community 
 that you are a man that can be depended upon to carry 
 out his share of the program and you will soon have many 
 
General Observations 171 
 
 opportunities to speak. 
 
 It was a cardinal principle with Fox that to reach and 
 maintain perfection it was necessary to speak constantly; 
 and referring to this he said, "During five whole sessions I 
 spoke every night but one, and I regret that I did not speak 
 that night too !" 
 
 Henry Clay, handicapped in his youth by an imperfect 
 education, attributed his success in life to the habit of daily 
 reading and speaking the contents of some historical or 
 scientific book. "It is to this early practice of the art of 
 all arts," he used to say, "that I am indebted for the pri- 
 mary and leading impulses that stimulated my progress and 
 have shaped and molded my entire destiny." 
 
 Sargent S. Prentiss testifies that he owed more to early 
 practice in a debating society than to any other form of 
 discipline. In a letter to his brother he wrote: "Let me 
 particularly recommend you to cultivate the faculty of ex- 
 pressing your own ideas in the best and most effective 
 manner. . . . There are hundreds and perhaps thousands 
 of men in the United States who exceed Henry Clay in 
 information on all subjects; but his superiority consists in 
 the power and adroitness with which he brings his informa- 
 tion to bear. I would again praise before any other ac- 
 quisition that of expressing forcibly and with ease any idea 
 which the mind may contain. This faculty is attained with 
 difficulty in after-life, but with ease at college, and nowhere 
 so well as in the debating societies of such institutions." 
 
 Special Preparation. Never rely wholly on your gen- 
 eral preparation. Always make the best special prepara- 
 tion your time and skill will permit. Demosthenes spent 
 so many weeks and even months over his speeches that his 
 enemies said they smelt of the lamp. It was Lincoln who 
 said, "I always assume that my audiences are in many 
 things wiser than I am, and I say the most sensible thing 
 I can to them." 
 
172 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Subject. When you are given a choice of subject, be 
 careful to select one suited to the occasion, and one you can 
 present creditably to your audience. It should not be too 
 general as, Democracy, Nature, Education, Freedom, etc. 
 It must be within your own experience and the comprehen- 
 sion of the audience. Select a topic of which you already 
 know something; some topic in which you are deeply inter- 
 ested; some topic upon which you can tell something that is 
 new or at least has not been rehashed a hundred times to the 
 same audience. As one social worker advised a young min- 
 ister when he invited him to address the inmates of a local 
 prison, "Please don't preach on the prodigal son ; that is all 
 they have heard for the last six months." If possible, speak 
 on one small phase of a general subject. 
 
 Analyze Your Subject. After having decided on the 
 subject take a mental inventory of what you know about it 
 — think it through. Read your own mind before you read 
 what others have said. If you do not you will become a mere 
 parrot. Think out the main divisions of your speech and 
 the subdivisions. Write them down. Attempt a logical 
 arrangement when this tentative outline and mental analysis 
 is completed. 
 
 Gather Definite Material. Consult such books and maga- 
 zines as bear directly on the subject. A modern, standard 
 encyclopedia will be helpful in gaining a general view -of 
 many biographical, political, historical, and scientific sub- 
 jects, but ordinarily an encyclopedia treats a subject only 
 in its broad outlines. The World and Tribune almanacs, 
 issued annually, contain many detailed facts relating to 
 national and state governments, to general, commercial, in- 
 dustrial, and political statistics, and to abstracts of current 
 events and legislation. The Congressional Record gives the 
 proceedings of Congress, and Jones's Finding List shows 
 where, in the various government publications, different sub- 
 jects are discussed. On questions of the day, Poole's Index 
 
General Observations 173 
 
 to Periodical Literature should be consulted for references 
 to magazine articles, etc. ; the Cumulative Index to Periodical 
 Literature contains titles of leading review and magazine 
 articles for the previous month ; and Jones's Index to Legal 
 Periodical Literature contains titles on legal, political, and 
 constitutional subjects. 
 
 In the field of history Larned's History for Ready Ref- 
 erence and Topical Reading is a very useful compilation of 
 historical and biographical topics ; and Channing and Hart's 
 Guide to the Study of American History contains a com- 
 plete bibliography of United States history, together with 
 suggestions to aid the investigator in his search for books 
 pertaining to his subject. 
 
 References in the fields of politics, economics, and soci- 
 ology are Bowker and Iles's Readers 9 Guide in Economic, 
 Social, and Political Science, a classified bibliography of 
 American, English, French, and German works, with de- 
 scriptive notes ; The Annual Register, a review of public 
 events at home and abroad, containing summaries of foreign 
 politics ; The Statesman's Year-Book, & statistical and his- 
 torical annal of the states of the world ; McPherson's Hand- 
 book of Politics, a record, issued biennially, of important 
 political action, legislative and executive, national and 
 state; and Bliss's Encyclopedia of Social Reforms, an ex- 
 position of the leading social questions of the day. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, desired statistics on com- 
 merce, banks, debts, shipping, taxes, etc., may be found in 
 the Statistical Abstract of the United States, issued an- 
 nually by the Bureau of Statistics, Washington ; Poor's 
 Manual of Railroads gives statistics of steam and electric 
 railways and railway corporations in the United States and 
 Canada; and Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics is a stand- 
 ard compilation of statistics for the world. 
 
 In going through a mass of material the student must 
 learn to discriminate quickly as to what should be read and 
 what should be passed over, — to note at a glance what he 
 
174 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 wants and what he does not want. Some method in note 
 taking should be followed. An excellent plan is to take the 
 notes on one side of uniform slips of paper. These can be 
 arranged later in a logical order. Always put down the 
 page and volume of the magazine or book. You are sure to 
 want to refer to it again. 
 
 Final Outline. After spending all the time you can af- 
 ford gathering material, make a complete outline. This 
 outline will vary with the nature of your subject, the kind 
 of public address, the purpose of your speech, the manner 
 of delivering it, etc. Usually you will have an Introduction, 
 a Body, and a Conclusion. If the speech is very brief — a 
 few minutes — and if others have spoken on the same general 
 topic, omit the introduction and conclusion. 
 
 Final Preparation. Next write your speech following 
 closely your outline, or if it is to be extemporaneous, think 
 it through carefully several times, commit to memory the 
 outline, and if you are adequately prepared, dive in; you 
 never learn to swim by walking along the bank. 
 
 Writing Your Speech. Formal addresses should be writ- 
 ten and memorized carefully. They are usually very brief. 
 Everybody knows that there are times when one can write 
 better than at other times. You must get into a good mood; 
 The best way is to read some good author whose style you 
 like, just before you start writing your speech. Get up 
 early some morning and write. Follow your prepared out- 
 line carefully. Before you get through you will find your- 
 self getting tired and your inspiration leaving you. Stop. 
 Wait a day if you have time, and after hurriedly reading 
 what you have written, complete it. Lay this aside for a 
 few days. Much that you have written will appear trivial 
 to you — leave this out. You may want to take out about 
 one-half. Work it over and over. A winning contest ora- 
 tion should be gone over at least twenty times. When you 
 
General Observations 175 
 
 get through revising, it will not look very much like the 
 first draft. Do not think that "first impressions are best" 
 when you write speeches. 
 
 Read it aloud. Note how it sounds. You will find that 
 you are violating the principle of euphony in many places ; 
 pick out the offending words and by consulting a book of 
 synonyms you will be able to substitute better ones. Read 
 it to a friend. He may be able to see defects that escaped 
 your notice. 
 
 After it is as perfect as you can make it, memorize it. 
 
 Start Early. This advice may appear unnecessary; but 
 the fact remains that more poor speeches are delivered and 
 more contests lost because the speaker did not begin in time, 
 than because of lack of ability. Begin as early as you can. 
 Some college students have been known to have begun their 
 orations two years before they expected to enter the contest. 
 Again, some students begin memorizing their speeches three 
 days before the contest and they wonder why they failed! 
 Experience has proved that the man who gets an early start 
 is the man who is most likely to win. 
 
 Practical Suggestions. Some pupils have too formal 
 an idea of public speaking. They imagine that nothing 
 short of a crowded auditorium would do for an audience to 
 practice upon. You began extempore, and even the more 
 or less formal ways of delivering a speech, in the Kinder- 
 garten. When you answered the teacher's questions, you 
 were using the extempore or memoriter method. 
 
 Then let it be suggested first of all that the earlier you 
 begin this work the better. Your classmates will make a 
 very good audience. Pupils in reading in the grades should 
 be taught to face the class. If this method were pursued 
 throughout the grades and the high school, boys and girls 
 would not feel embarrassed when they are obliged to appear 
 before a class of students in college. In answering questions 
 in the class, observe all the suggestions in this book, — use 
 
176 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 a clear voice, speak so that you can be heard, speak to the 
 point, use the. best style of language you can, and the 
 many other qualities necessary for a good speech. 
 
 The teacher will request in connection with your daily 
 recitations in English literature, history, chemistry, etc., 
 that you make reports upon certain specific topics. Make it 
 a point to use this as an opportunity for practice, for ef- 
 fectiveness. Strive to hold the attention of every boy and 
 girl. Make that report as interesting and instructive as you 
 can. In giving these reports always face the class and 
 speak from notes, or follow some other method of delivering 
 a speech. It is presumed, however, that those who read this 
 book will have a special class in Reading or Speaking. In 
 that event, the exercises following each chapter will be 
 helpful. 
 
 Organize and take an active interest in some debating 
 society, or public speaking club. A history club is an ex- 
 cellent thing for high school boys and girls. This will give 
 you an excellent opportunity to prepare and deliver a more 
 elaborate address and to an appreciative audience. Enter 
 all contests in public speaking to which you are eligible. 
 Suppose you do lose out. Try again next time and make 
 better preparation; and if you do the chances will be that 
 you will win. If you win, do not rest on your oars ; there 
 are new, greater, and more difficult victories ahead of you; 
 make ready for them. If you lose, whatever else you do, do 
 not become discouraged. 
 
 The Length of a Speech. You may be able to judge 
 accurately the passing of time when some one else is speak- 
 ing; but you are inclined to forget all about time when you, 
 yourself, are on the floor. Usually, yes, nine times out of 
 ten, the speaker talks too long — he overruns the time set by 
 the program. Make up your mind that you will be the 
 one of the ten who never will. 
 
 When you are asked to speak ten minutes, speak ten min- 
 

 General Observations 177 
 
 utes ; if five minutes, speak five minutes. Go over your 
 speech enough times so that you know precisely what you 
 can say and what you must omit. Again, if you are ex- 
 pected to speak ten minutes, do not say almost anything 
 just to fill out the time. Your aim should be: How much 
 can I crowd into my ten-minute limit? If you desire to be 
 a popular speaker, there are two things you must never lose 
 sight of: (1) observe strictly the time limit; (2) be depend- 
 able. If you are scheduled to appear upon a certain pro- 
 gram, be there. Here are a few commandments for the pub- 
 lic speaker: 
 
 "Stand up, so you can be seen; speak up, so you can be 
 heard ; shut up, so you will be liked." 
 
 The second is like unto the first: 
 
 "Say it in as few words as you can; when you have said 
 it hold your tongue." 
 
 Stage-Fright. It is quite impossible to diagnose that 
 common malady known as stage-fright. Usually it afflicts 
 the speaker during the first few seconds, or first few min- 
 utes, of his speech. Most speakers have it, in varying de- 
 grees. Preachers tell us, for example, that even after long 
 experience, they never begin their weekly sermons without 
 the most intense nervousness. True, experiences vary. 
 Gladstone, when asked if he never became nervous before 
 speaking, said that he often did in opening a debate, but 
 never in replying. Says Sir John Byers in The British 
 Medical Journal of recent date: 
 
 No great orator has ever lived who did not feehvery nervous 
 before rising to his feet. I have often seen the legs of one of 
 the most effective and heart-stirring speakers in the House of 
 Lords, to whom that assembly never failed to listen, shake like 
 an aspen leaf during the delivery of the first few sentences of his 
 speech ; and should the young speaker feel his tongue grow twice 
 too big for his mouth, and curl itself inextricably round one of 
 his canine teeth, he may console himself with the conviction that 
 
178 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 he possesses one at least of the characteristic qualities of a great 
 speaker. 
 
 An amusing feature of this matter is, that young speakers 
 are apt to think that they are the only ones that become 
 seriously embarrassed. And right here is the lesson : trained 
 speakers learn to control their embarrassment. It should 
 be remembered that a nervous tension, if brought under con- 
 trol, may prove a help rather than a hindrance to the 
 speaker, for it puts a nerve-force into his delivery that 
 might otherwise be wanting. How attain that control? 
 There is no way but through practice in speaking to audi- 
 ences. Continued practice, if it does not eliminate all em- 
 barrassment, gradually does reduce the earlier terrors. The 
 practice should, of course, be directed along right lines. 
 Nervousness may be aided much by a feeling of mental and 
 physical preparedness. Have the speech thoroughly in hand 
 long enough beforehand to give both mind and body a rest. 
 Students often make the mistake of worrying over a speech 
 up to the very moment of its delivery. This method is 
 suicidal. Even speakers of experience sometimes fail to 
 realize how much the success or failure of a speech depends 
 upon physical conditions. To undergo the severe nervous 
 strain of public speaking, mind and body should be fresh. 
 The day preceding an athletic event the trained contestant 
 either rests or exercises very moderately. So, if a speech is 
 to be given at night, say, the speaker should wholly lay it 
 aside during the afternoon and go for a walk or go to sleep 
 — do anything but exhaust faculties that will be needed in 
 the evening. , 
 
 Control is also effected through the communicative, con- 
 versational attitude, as one rises to speak, and by an exer- 
 cise of the will. A good plan is to take a few deep breaths. 
 Give your nerves plenty of oxygen and you will not feel so 
 shaky. Certain drugs are sometimes prescribed by phy- 
 sicians to steady the nerves by equalizing the circulation, 
 
General Observations 179 
 
 but these should be avoided. Rather cultivate self-con- 
 fidence. 
 
 Self-fear is quite as often a cause of stage-fright as is a 
 fear of the audience. Encourage a feeling that you and 
 your audience are getting on well together. Self-confidence 
 is not undue conceit, or "brag, brass, and bluster" ; it is 
 having the courage of one's convictions. It is that self- 
 reliance which enables one to rise to the occasion. It is that 
 confidence which leads the speaker to say to himself, "I know 
 what I want to say and I am able to say it." 
 
 Study and Practice. Like every other art, public 
 speaking demands long-continued -study and practice. The 
 most proficient always feel there is room for improvement; 
 and like other things in life, if one is earnestly striving to 
 reach an ideal, there is hope for him; if he thinks he has 
 reached it, he is lost. The complex art of public address 
 cannot be learned quickly, and should never be taken up as 
 a plaything. If you expect to be a speaker, make a business 
 of the study, as you would of anything else worth learning. 
 Do not dabble in it. A little dabbling with the technique 
 given in this book is useless. It is because we have so many 
 dabblers that we have so many bunglers. And by way of 
 repetition, — do not expect to correct in a month a fault 
 that is the habit of years. Certain incurable defects may be 
 fatal, certain natural qualities are desirable, though not 
 indispensable; the rest is work, — thorough preparation and 
 continual practice. 
 
 The drill on technique and the daily practice on some 
 speech may be irksome, but the student should undertake it 
 as he does any other task, — do it and make it count for 
 something. If you have a declamation, an oration, or an 
 argument to deliver, drill on the oral presentation. Speak 
 to an imaginary audience. Invite your friends in and com- 
 pel them to listen. Do not be afraid of drilling too much. 
 Students often talk about getting "stale" who do not even 
 
180 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 enunciate clearly. An expert in technique to criticize and 
 suggest is desirable, but not indispensable. Sometimes a 
 friend who is not over-fastidious, has no dogmatic stand- 
 ards, and can judge of general effectiveness, is the most 
 valuable sort of critic. Take all the advice offered and — 
 do not always act on it. A little experience will enable you 
 to judge of its value; you will soon learn to know your lead- 
 ing faults yourself; and unless you are to surrender your 
 individuality, you must be the final judge. And then, when 
 the occasion arrives, put your technique in the background ; 
 let mental and moral earnestness be the predominant proc- 
 esses ; and let the practice in technique unconsciously repeat 
 itself in the final effort. Do not fail to make conscientious 
 and thorough preparation for all those occasions, so fre- 
 quent under the conditions of American life and government, 
 when you will be called upon to speak: and thereby make 
 general preparation for those times, unforeseen yet also 
 frequent — those social or political crises in the affairs of a 
 community, a State, or a Nation — when the public speaker 
 must create, mould, and direct public opinion that conduces 
 to right thinking and right acting. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Select five subjects appropriate for addresses to a 
 group of high school boys urging them to attend college. 
 
 II. Select five subjects appropriate for addresses to "a 
 group of high school girls urging them to attend college. 
 
 III. Suppose you were invited to address the Business 
 Men's Club of your city; select five appropriate topics. 
 
 IV. Select five subjects for each of the following oc- 
 casions : 
 
 1. A group of high school boys urging them to at- 
 tend. 
 
 A a business school; B an agricultural college. 
 
 2. A group of high school girls urging them to attend 
 
General Observations 181 
 
 A a business school; B a school of household sci- 
 ence. 
 
 3. The young people's society in your church. 
 
 4. The Mothers' Club in your city. 
 
 5. The Local Grange. 
 
 6. High School Commencement. 
 
 7. Soldiers' Reunion. 
 
 8. Alumni Association. 
 
 9. The County Medical Association. 
 
 10. The County Bar Association. 
 
 11. The Local Labor Union. 
 
 IS. The State Bankers' Association. 
 
 V. Get twenty references on one of the above subjects 
 from various periodicals and other sources mentioned in the 
 text. 
 
 VI. Determine your reading, writing, and speaking vo- 
 cabulary. 
 
 Take a dictionary and count the words on every fiftieth 
 page, 1, those you understand, 2, those you could use in 
 writing, 3, those with which you are very familiar — your 
 speaking vocabulary. 
 
 Then multiply each of these b}^ fifty and you will approxi- 
 mate the number of words in 3 T our various vocabularies. 
 
 VII. Study synonyms. Memorize five synonyms for 
 each of the following words : Answer, apart, ascend, awful, 
 beauty, better, cheer, clear, compel, delight, direct, emerge, 
 hope, infer, inspect, mean, plain, respect, stingy, strong, 
 true, use, vague, wise, wish. 
 
 VIII. Memorize five antonvms to each of the words listed 
 in No. VII. 
 
 IX. Make another list of twenty-five words and give five 
 synonyms and five antonyms to each of these. 
 
 X. Use the following words correctly in sentences : 
 Anger, fury, indignation; ask, inquire, interrogate; bait, 
 
 allurement, temptation; begin, commence, initiate; bewail, 
 lament, deplore ; bewitch, enchant, fascinate ; bid, offer, pro- 
 
182 Oral Reading and Public Speaking j 
 
 pose; birth, nobility, aristocracy; blessing, benison, benedic- 
 tion; bloody, murderous, sanguinary; blue, azure, cerulean; 
 body, company, corporation ; bold, brave, resolute ; boldness, 
 courage, fortitude; boldness, impudence, audacity; bough, 
 branch, ramification; bow, obeisance, salutation; breed, en- 
 gender, propagate ; bright, luminous, incandescent ; bright, 
 brilliant, effulgent ; bright, cheerful, animated ; brink, verge, 
 margin; bulk, size, magnitude; burdensome, oppressive, on- 
 erous ; busy, engaged, occupied ; care, anxiety, solicitude ; 
 choice, preference, predilection; cold, indifferent, apathetic; 
 craft, subtlety, artifice; dear, precious, valuable; deem, sur- 
 mise, apprehend; downfall, destruction, demolition; draw, 
 allure, attract; dread, dismay, consternation; dull, stupid, 
 obtuse. 
 
 XI. The first words of the following series are domesti- 
 cated old words of Romanesque origin, and the last words 
 are Latin and Greek derivatives of recent and scholastic 
 introduction. Let each student be assigned a part or all of 
 this list and ( 1 ) state the distinction, if any, in the meaning 
 of each duplicate, (2) decide which word is preferable, and 
 (3) bring in sentences either choosing between the two words 
 or using both in the same sentence. 
 
 Adroitness, dexterity ; agreed, unanimous ; aim, scope ; as- 
 sail, impugn; banishment, exile; box, chest; calm, quiet; 
 calumny, defamation ; chain, concatenation ; change, altera- 
 tion ; comfort, console ; company, society ; copy, transcribe ; 
 decay, decadence; discern, discriminate; discovery, detec- 
 tion; dissemble, dissimulation; envious, invidious; exact, ex- 
 tort ; exact, precise ; feign, simulate ; guerdon, remunera- 
 tion ; haughty, supercilious ; inquest, inquisition ; invective, 
 diatribe ; leisure, vacation ; mean, pusillanimous ; number, 
 enumerate; plot, conspiracy; poison, venom; porch, vesti- 
 bule; praise, eulogy (or panegyric); pray, supplicate; re- 
 proach, opprobrium; restrain, inhibit; revere, venerate; 
 revolt, rebellion ; sample, example ; sense, consciousness ; 
 silent, reticent (or taciturn) ; slander, defamation; training, 
 
General Observations 183 
 
 discipline ; try, attempt ; unavoidable, inevitable ; valid, con- 
 clusive; vanishing, evanescent; variety, diversification; 
 venal, mercenary ; vex, irritate ; vie, emulate ; voluble, fluent ; 
 wait, attend. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS— THE AUDIENCE 
 
 There are three distinct factors involved in Public Speak- 
 ing: (1) The Audience, (2) The Speech, and (8) The 
 Speaker. In other words, The Occasion, The Oration, and 
 The Orator; or to whom you speak, what, and how. 
 
 General Characteristics. The orator prepares and 
 delivers his speech for the sole purpose of influencing *a body 
 of men and women. It is, therefore, essential that he have 
 some knowledge of the crowd he expects to influence. The 
 greater the knowledge of the audience, the greater his 
 chances for success. Upon the audience depend both the 
 orator and the oration. The audience is the, objective 
 point ; it is the determining and guiding influence. 
 
 The speaker must know not only human nature in the 
 individual, but human nature in the aggregate. The col- 
 lective mind has certain attributes which differ from the 
 individual mind. A man in the crowd thinks and acts dif- 
 ferently from the man alone. Arguments which might con- 
 vince a man in the street might be wholly ineffectual when 
 presented from a platform to a large crowd. Men in a 
 crowd think in terms of the race. Like a chemical, the 
 compound is different from the separate elements composing 
 it. Strange as it may appear at first thought, even men and 
 women are not influenced in the same manner. Women are 
 the conservators of the race more than are the men. Each 
 woman is the embodiment of the specific characteristics at- 
 tributed to the crowd. The individual woman is much more 
 like a crowd all by herself than the individual man. A man 
 
 184 
 
Essential Elements — The Audience 185 
 
 by himself must be convinced, you must reason with him, and 
 the more intellectual he is the more dependence must be 
 placed on arguments to cause him to act. Women are by 
 nature more emotional than men, and when alone can be 
 persuaded to act by arousing the emotions rather than by 
 appealing to reason. From this it must be concluded that 
 whatever would persuade the individual woman would per- 
 suade the crowd. And it is generally admitted that this is 
 not an easy task. 
 
 A few of the more specific attributes of the ordinary audi- 
 ence of interest to the orator are : 
 
 I. Conservatism. The attitude of the audience toward 
 a speaker is like that of a man from Missouri — he needs to 
 be shown. It demands that the speaker establish his con- 
 tention. It reserves the right to remain neutral until con- 
 vinced and persuaded to think and act otherwise. From 
 fundamental and basic principles the crowd is not easily 
 moved, but it can be moved easily along these lines. Hence 
 the speaker should always appeal to such basic traditional 
 sentiments as home, love, life, revenge, the flag, etc. The 
 crowd far more than the individual is influenced by the un- 
 conscious substratum formed by heredity. The crowd de- 
 lights to hark back through the ages, and answer the "call 
 of the wild." The crowd is always a generation or two be- 
 hind the reformer. 
 
 II. Irresponsibility. The crowd mind does not feel any 
 individual responsibility. Selfism disappears. It seems to 
 feel that whatever it does will be justified by the community, 
 by society; for the entire community appears to be a com- 
 mon participant. 
 
 III. Suggestibility. The audience is usually in a recep- 
 tive mood and shows a readiness to entertain suggestions 
 from a leader — the orator. What one does, all are likely 
 to participate in. The crowd is as easily led to do heroic 
 
186 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 deeds as cowardly ones, This mobility is manifest only in 
 transient matters. On hereditary and racial matters it is 
 conservative. The crowd mind, in many respects, resembles 
 a person hypnotized. Suggestion, if properly made, is 
 equivalent to action, especially if made by the operator — 
 the orator; except in matters of traditional and vital im- 
 portance to the race. 
 
 IV. Intelligence. The audience, is never so intelligent as 
 the average members composing it. It possesses rather 
 those attributes which might be called the highest common 
 factor of the attributes of the individual members. The 
 crowd reasons very little. The orator must ever remember 
 that the audience never thinks more than is necessary. 
 
 V. Imagination. What the crowd lacks in reasoning is 
 supplied by a vivid imagination. Childlike, it reasons little, 
 but revels in the concrete image ; it delights in pictures — 
 word pictures. It demands simplicity. Imagery is the key 
 word which unlocks the crowd mind. The tremendous suc- 
 cess of the moving picture shows attests this fact. Hence 
 the value of figures of speech in an oration. All things seem 
 possible to the crowd; to a vivid imagination there is no 
 such word as failure. Impossibility is not in the vocabulary 
 of the crowd. 
 
 VI. Exaggeration. Because of this power of imagina- 
 tion, the crowd always exaggerates, personifies. It deifies a 
 hero. It demands virtues in its characters on the stage that 
 the individual does not demand on the street. The speaker 
 must satisfy this characteristic of the crowd by expressing 
 himself with no uncertain emphasis. Actors always "make 
 up" so that under the glare of the electric lights their faces 
 will appear natural. So the speaker never hesitates to ex- 
 aggerate a fact from the platform. He must paint a crime, 
 or a sin in the most Stygean colors so that it will appear 
 natural to the audience. This exaggeration from the plat- 
 
Essential Elements — The Audience 187 
 
 form is not compromising with the truth; for if the plain 
 matter of fact truth be told from the platform, it will not 
 be truthful when interpreted by the audience — for the crowd 
 will always underestimate, will always discount what it 
 hears. The orator should not hesitate to paint evil as black 
 as possible, nor virtue as white. 
 
 VII. Impatience. Childlike, a crowd must do some- 
 thing. It is restless. It demands action, and it desires an 
 expression of this attribute in the speaker. The orator must 
 not stop to rest ; he must keep his audience busy. Attention 
 cannot be long sustained on one point. Variety, therefore, 
 must be the watchword of the speaker. 
 
 VIII. Leadership. The crowd desires to be led, and 
 cringes at the feet of the dictator. It respects the strength 
 of a master. The type of the hero dear to the crowd will 
 always bear the stamp of a Caesar. This call for leadership 
 must be supplied by the orator. And the crowd stands 
 ready to honor the man who will assume this position. But 
 remember, no weakling need apply. The speaker must, 
 therefore, prove worthy of this leadership; he must prove 
 himself master; the crowd will tolerate no other. How may 
 a man qualify for this position? Follow in the footprints 
 of those who have gone before. 
 
 A few of the most prominent characteristics of the crowd 
 have been suggested. Now let us see how this knowledge 
 may be utilized. 
 
 When a group of people assemble, they are all individual 
 units. Each is busy with his own thoughts. The speaker 
 must follow a simple pedagogical principle of the class reci- 
 tation — make all think of the same thing at the same time. 
 The speaker must unify the ideas of those gathered to- 
 gether. Until this is done, this group of people cannot, 
 strictly speaking, be called a "crowd." This constitutes 
 the first step of the orator. 
 
188 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 A number of different methods, or devices, are used to 
 accomplish this. One is to have everybody sit close to- 
 gether. Each person must become aware of ' the bodily 
 presence of his fellows. If one person must touch another, 
 so much the better. This bodily contact, this subconscious 
 awareness of the presence of other individuals, causes the 
 individual to forget self, and to be absorbed with the com- 
 mon thought of the crowd. The best speaker in the world 
 cannot make much of an impression on an audience com- 
 posed of a dozen individuals scattered over a room that 
 would hold a thousand. 
 
 A second method often used is to have them all join in 
 doing something in concert. Singing a song, reading in 
 concert, is a very common device found in our churches, 
 and always insisted upon by "revivalists." The ritualism 
 used in some of our churches follows this plan. 
 
 A third method of creating a "crowd" spirit is to get all 
 the audience to cheer during the first part of the perform- 
 ance. This justifies some speakers in their invariable habit 
 of telling a humorous story, or making some remark "to 
 bring the house down," at the beginning of their speech. 
 
 A fourth method is to present to the audience some idea 
 that will strike a "sympathetic cord" and thus create a 
 common feeling; something that will impress all the indi- 
 viduals in the same way. Such ideas and feelings are 
 aroused by using appropriately such words as : Liberty, 
 Democracy, Honest toil, Christ, Washington, etc. To refer 
 to the glories of our republic, the chivalry of the South, the 
 beauty of the ladies present, the grandeur of our great state, 
 will always bring a cheer or some expression of approval 
 from the audience. 
 
 By various methods a general audience is moulded into a 
 crowd by unifying them — having them think of the same 
 thing and do the same thing at the same time. 
 
 We cannot enter into a discussion of the psychology of 
 action, except to state that when the mind is in possession 
 
Essential Elements — The Audience 189 
 
 of a single idea it will act. When two or more ideas are 
 struggling at the same time for supremacy in the mind, 
 there is a confusion and the will refuses to act. Indecision 
 is the result of conflicting images. But if there is only one 
 dominating idea, one that overshadows all others, and 
 thereby practically excludes all others, the result is action. 
 One idea and only one should be the watchword of the 
 speaker. 
 
 The man who is hypnotized will usually do what the op- 
 erator suggests because he has no other thoughts except 
 that one. We often hear people say, "I did so and so be- 
 cause I did not stop to think." The deed was done because 
 there was only one dominant idea and emotion as the result 
 of a single impression. If time for reflection had been taken, 
 the confusion of ideas would doubtless have prevented 
 the act. 
 
 The orator must take the crowd, which, like a child, revels 
 in images, draw a picture so lucid and realistic, so clear and 
 natural, that the audience sees but one side of the question 
 at issue. This is frequently accomplished by presenting 
 ideas of home, love, revenge, happiness, virtue, etc. The 
 crowd will always respond to strong emotional impulses 
 such as fear, pride, sorrow, etc. Remember a crowd should 
 be loved into doing what the speaker desires. A second 
 thing that the speaker must never forget is that the speaker 
 himself must see the pictures he paints and feel the emotions 
 he expresses. 
 
 Kinds. Besides observing the attributes of the crowd, 
 the orator must consider carefully the various kinds of 
 audiences. 
 
 I. Purpose. Crowds assemble for certain definite pur- 
 poses : (1) to be entertained, (2) to be informed, (3) to be 
 persuaded. Though one purpose predominates, all may be 
 present. In any event, the purpose in assembling must be 
 respected by the speaker. 
 
1 90 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 II. Quality. The speaker must also bear in mind the 
 quality of his audience, such as nationality, occupation, 
 social status, religion, mentality, etc. The message, lan- 
 guage, delivery, will vary with each group. Power of adap- 
 tation spells success. 
 
 III. Size. You cannot speak to a few in the same man- 
 ner as you can to a thousand. The style of delivery, volume, 
 action — must be appropriate to the number addressed. 
 Preachers often speak to a congregation of fifty in a small 
 church with the same volume as though they were addressing 
 five thousand in the open air. That may account for the 
 fact that some preachers have only an audience of fifty. 
 Again, some speak to only a handful on Sunday because 
 their voices carry only to about that many. 
 
 IV. Location. Gauge your voice by the size and shape 
 of the room and its general acoustic properties. It requires 
 less effort to be understood in the Christian Science Temple 
 in Boston, seating over 5,000 people, than in many town 
 halls seating fifty. The building having the best acoustic 
 properties should have the following proportional dimen- 
 sions : three times the length equaling four times the width 
 equaling six times the height ; that is the length, width, and 
 height should be in the ratio of 4 :3 :2. The interior should 
 be plain. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Study a church audience and report to the class. 
 What ideas move the audience? What did you remember 
 of the sermon? 
 
 II. Study a street crowd. Note all the general char- 
 acteristics. Report to the class. 
 
 III. Why is not the group of boys and girls who gather 
 in a room before school begins a "crowd"? 
 
 IV. While waiting for the play to begin, clap your 
 hands. How many followed your suggestion? 
 
Essential Elements — The Audience 191 
 
 V. Why is it difficult to speak when some persons in the 
 audience whisper? 
 
 VI. Which is better for the success of a church service, 
 a room that is very warm or one that is very cold? 
 
 VII. Why do many political speakers take off their 
 coats when they speak? 
 
 VIII. Have you ever heard a speaker use slang? What 
 was the immediate effect on the audience? 
 
 IX. Why does an audience always cheer when the 
 speaker says, "There are no better people to be found on 
 the face of the earth than right here in this city"? 
 
 X. Why are some men cowards when in camp and brave 
 on the field of battle? 
 
 XI. On one occasion, when Hon. W. J. Bryan was 
 speaking to a packed house, the floor began to sink. The 
 crowd was about to stampede from the building when Mr. 
 Bryan told them that the plank which gave way could not 
 have been a Democratic plank or it would have remained 
 firm. The crowd cheered. He then told them to leave the 
 building quietly, which they did. Explain in terms of the 
 psychology of the crowd. 
 
 XII. In a murder trial, would twelve educated men give 
 a different verdict from that of twelve ignorant men? Ex- 
 plain. 
 
 XIII. Why does a candidate for office say in his cam- 
 paign speeches, "When I am elected, I'll do so and so"; in- 
 stead of, "If I am elected I'll do so and so"? 
 
 XIV. Why do doctors who are specialists for the insane 
 very frequently become insane themselves? 
 
 XV. Why is it that when we read an advertisement a 
 hundred times that X's medicine cures catarrh, we imagine 
 that everybody says so? We thus become convinced and 
 buy for ourselves. 
 
 XVI. Account for the widespread adoption of certain 
 hideous and unsanitary fashions. 
 
 XVII. Account for the popular belief in the unluckiness 
 
192 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 of the number "13" ; the popularity of the term "cut it out," 
 "I should worry," and other street terms. 
 
 XVIII. Why will all the boys of a school "cut classes" 
 when one boy alone would not be guilty? 
 
 XIX. Can a group of high school boys and girls be as 
 easily led to do a good deed as to do a bad one? 
 
 XX. Which sermon will bring the largest collection for 
 the poor, a convincing array of statistics, or a vivid picture 
 of poverty taken from life? Illustrate. 
 
 XXI. Enumerate all the ways in which a crowd is like 
 a child. Give concrete examples to illustrate your state- 
 ments. f!!!f 
 
 XXII. A certain political speaker was a candidate for 
 governor of the state. He began his speeches by saying 
 that he was an ordinary man ; that he did not consider him- 
 self the best nor the worst man in the state ; that he had but 
 an ordinary education; was not much of an orator, etc. 
 Criticize such addresses from your knowledge of the charac- 
 teristics of the crowd. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS— THE SPEECH 
 
 Having a definite audience to address, what shall be said 
 and wherewithal shall it be clothed? 
 
 I. Material. Something to say ! This, indeed, is im- 
 portant. The audience will overlook many imperfections 
 and weaknesses in a speaker, if he brings them a message 
 worth while. Many audiences ought to be able to recover 
 damages from a speaker for having wasted their timet 
 
 The audience has a right to demand four things as to 
 subject matter: 
 
 1. That It Be Truthful. A liar on the platform is as 
 little worthy of respect as by the fireside. The audience 
 demands of the speaker a greater degree of virtue than is 
 required from one in private life. It is not what a man 
 thinks on the platform, but what he knows, that receives 
 recognition. "The orator is thereby an orator, that he 
 keeps his feet ever on a fact. Then only is he invincible," 
 says Emerson. Ex-President F. L. Patton of Princeton 
 suggests the following as the four essentials for a good 
 speech: . "Facts, great facts, human facts, related facts." 
 
 2. That It Be Purposeful. Have a message. Not every 
 man can originate new ideas ; but we do demand that the 
 speaker express himself in a new and original way. A man 
 who can take a commonplace subject and point out to us 
 new beauties, and picture to us new relationships and clothe 
 them all in an attractive garb will be listened to by the 
 world. "Knowledge is power." Always speak to the point. 
 Stick to your text. Say what you have to say in the clear- 
 
 193 
 
194 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 est, briefest, most logical manner possible — and then stop. 
 Speakers who aim at nothing invariably hit it. 
 
 S. That It Be Appropriate. Carefully select your ma- 
 terial. Do not try to crowd all you know into a five-minute 
 speech. Sift out and retain what will be most appropriate 
 to that particular audience. The food that cured the 
 butcher killed the baker. And many a speaker has figura- 
 tively killed himself by not selecting carefully ideas adapted 
 to the occasion. Not only must you say what is true, but 
 "how and when and where." If people desire entertainment 
 and have assembled for that purpose, tell them about funny 
 things. If they desire information, satisfy their intellectual 
 thirst. If they are there to be aroused to duty, speak to 
 them concerning those things which will make each man say, 
 as the Athenians said after listening to Demosthenes, "Let 
 us march against Phillip." 
 
 4. That It Be Interesting. Material well adapted should 
 be interesting. The question to yourself will be, "What is 
 it that these people care to know? Are these boys inter- 
 ested in the story of David and his sling, or in the genealogy 
 of the Gershonites?" Professor J. B. Esenwein relates an 
 incident of the frank expression of a small boy who doubtless 
 voiced the sentiment of the rest, when he interrupted a long, 
 uninteresting Sunday school address by saying, "Oh, pshaw, 
 let's sing number thirty-six." "The virtue of books is to be 
 readable, of an orator to be interesting," says Emerson. 
 
 II. Style. By Style is meant the manner of wording 
 the material of the speech ; the diction of the orator. Some 
 of the qualities mentioned in this chapter are not distinc- 
 tively oratorical qualities, but belong to all forms of written 
 discourse. They are included here for the purpose of com- 
 prehensiveness in treatment and by way of review. 
 
 There are four principal attributes of Style: Unity, 
 Clearness, Force, and Elegance. 
 
 1. Unity. This term connotes the general form or 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 195 
 
 structure of the speech. In order to insure unity, the fol- 
 lowing points must be observed: 
 
 A. Outline. Outline everything you write. This is the 
 greatest aid in unity. This will insure a logical and climacti- 
 cal sequence. Some students prefer to sit down and begin to 
 write, putting down the ideas as they happen to come to 
 their minds. This haphazard way will never lead to the best 
 results. 
 
 B. Proportion. The Introduction should be about one- 
 tenth of your speech. The Conclusion should be about one- 
 tenth. Do not consume a great portion of your time writ- 
 ing or speaking about unimportant matter, so that you will 
 not have sufficient time left for the important things. 
 
 C. Sequence. When ideas are arranged in proper or- 
 der, they are said to possess logical sequence. One idea 
 must naturally grow out of and follow another. Ideas of 
 co-ordinate rank should be paralleled. Subordinate ideas 
 must be arranged under their proper heads. Without first 
 forming an outline, this is impossible. 
 
 D. Coherence. Not only must the ideas be arranged 
 logically, but they must be properly joined, connected. 
 They must "hang together." Have one central idea in 
 your theme, and never lose sight of it. Do not branch off 
 on another line entirely. Stick to the main track. There 
 should be a continuous thread extending throughout your 
 entire product from the first sentence in the introduction 
 to the last sentence in the conclusion. 
 
 E. Transitions. Do not make the step from one main 
 idea to the other too abrupt. Let one gradually prepare 
 for the next. This is a strong point in unity. Sudden 
 turns of thought are not conducive to clearness. 
 
 2. Clearness. This is an intellectual quality. It is an 
 essential quality in all forms of discourse; but especially 
 in the speech. If you do not understand an author the 
 first time you read a paragraph, you can read it again, 
 
196 Oral Reading and Public S 'peaking 
 
 and even again if necessary. But you cannot say to the 
 orator, "Stop a moment, please, tell that over again. I 
 didn't quite catch your meaning!" And yet how often 
 we are tempted to do so. Senator Beveridge once said, 
 "As to style, seek only to be clear; nothing else is impor- 
 tant." "Clearness at any cost" was the motto of the great 
 preacher and thinker, Joseph Cook. Clearness demands: 
 
 A. Clear Thinking. There can be no clear speaking 
 without clear thinking. When a thought comes to your 
 mind which you desire to express, revolve it in your mind, 
 look at it from all angles ; be conscious of the fact that you, 
 yourself, understand it. 
 
 B. i Simplicity. A simple style lends to clearness. Do 
 not try to show how learned you are by using big words. 
 The result will likely be that you will thereby expose your 
 ignorance. "Never be grandiloquent when you want to 
 drive home a searching truth. Don't whip with a switch 
 that has the leaves on, if you want it to tingle," said 
 Beecher. But it is not always the size of the word that 
 counts. Some long words are more familiar to your audi- 
 ence than some short words. Speak on the level and in 
 the diction of your audience. It is said of Webster that 
 in addressing a jury he never used words he was not rea- 
 sonably sure they all understood. 
 
 "Root, hog, or die," is more effective than "Queen City 
 quadruped, perforate the mother earth with thy proboscis, 
 or forever cease to exist." 
 
 In this famous passage of Sterne, which is said to be the 
 most musical in our language, nearly all the words are 
 Saxon: 
 
 "The accusing spirit that flew up to Heaven's chancery with 
 the oath, blushed as he gave it in, and the recording angel, as he 
 wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the words and blotted it out 
 forever." 
 
 Rev. Billy Sunday uses this pertinent illustration when 
 replying to his critics for the language he uses: 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 197 
 
 "Where you put salt it kills the bacteria that cause decay. If 
 a man were to take a piece of meat and smell it and look dis- 
 gusted, and his little boy were to say, 'What's the matter with it, 
 pop?' and he were to say, 'It is undergoing a process of decom- 
 position in the formation of new chemical compounds,' the boy 
 would be all in. But if the father were to say, 'It's rotten,' then 
 the boy would understand and hold his nose. 'Rotten' is a good 
 Anglo-Saxon word and you do not have to go to the dictionary to 
 find out what it means. Some of you preachers had better look 
 out or the devil will get away with some of your members before 
 they can find out what you mean by your sermons." 
 
 C. Definiteness. Don't talk all around your subject. 
 Go straight to the point. Be exact. Study synonyms and 
 learn the precise meanings of words. The motto of the 
 speaker must be, "Not that people may understand, but 
 that they must." 
 
 In the present hustle and bustle of American life, we do 
 not feel that we can afford to listen to men who need an 
 hour to say what might be said in five minutes. 
 
 The difference between definiteness and circumlocution is 
 illustrated in a conversation between two negroes when one 
 asked the other what "a bawn owater" is ? The reply was : 
 
 "Don't you know what a bawn owater is? Why, sah, you and 
 I would say, 'Two an' two mak' f o' ' ; but a bawn owater would 
 say, 'When in de coase ob human events it becomes nec'sa' or 
 exped'ent to coalesce two integers and two moh integers, the re- 
 sult — I declah it boldly an' without feah or favah — the result by 
 simple arithmetical calculation termed addition is fo'.' That's a 
 bawn owater, sah." 
 
 D. Concreteness. This term is opposed to what is ab- 
 stract. It usually is the result of the question, "For in- 
 stance?" When we desire to make our discourse clear, we 
 usually give an illustration. Abstract arguments should 
 always be clarified by referring to some specific example — 
 an incident, a story. Lincoln was very fond of illustrating 
 his points with good stories. Do not indulge continually 
 in "platitudes and glittering generalities." Put your ar- 
 
198 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 gument into "some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, 
 which men can see and handle and carry home." Figures 
 of speech are another form of coricreteness. Christ often 
 spoke in parables when he desired to make his meaning 
 clear. All oratory should contain figures of speech. Avoid 
 mixed figures. "The metaphor," said Aristotle, "is the ora- 
 tor's figure, the simile is the poet's." 
 
 E. Restatement. Very frequently a sentence may be 
 repeated to advantage by telling it again in different words. 
 However, it is usually a confession on the part of the 
 speaker that he fears he was not very clear in the first 
 place. Yet obscure thoughts may be understood by certain 
 persons if told one way and by others if told in some other 
 manner. 
 
 Example : 
 
 "I do not know where her hair (the hair of a woman of 
 fashion) comes from. I could never find out. That is, her other 
 hair, her public, her Sunday hair. I do not mean the hair she 
 goes to bed with. Why you ought to know the hair I mean. It 
 is the thing she calls a switch and which resembles a switch as 
 much as it resembles a brick bat or a shot gun, or any other 
 thing you correct people with." — Mark Twain. 
 
 3. Force. Force is an emotional quality. It is the 
 chief element in persuasion. There are a great many rhetor- 
 ical elements which contribute to Force; but the most im- 
 portant are: 
 
 A. Strength. A sentence should be strong. This prop- 
 erty is obtained by putting the important idea in the sen- 
 tence in the most prominent place. This is usually at the 
 end; sometimes at the beginning. The last word in a sen- 
 tence resounds in the mind of the hearer longer than any 
 other, for there is usually a downward inflection and a 
 pause at the end. Strength is also acquired by choosing 
 words with a definite meaning. The periodic sentence, if not 
 used too frequently, often adds strength, 
 
 B. Climax. Words and sentences should be so arranged 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 199 
 
 that the weakest come first. When the weakest and least 
 important come last, we have what is called an anti-climax. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 a. "I not only did not say this, but I did not even write it; I 
 not only did not write it, but took no part in the embassy; I not 
 only took no part in the embassy, but used no persuasion with the 
 Thebans." 
 
 b. "He was loyal to his family, loyal to his friends, loyal to 
 his countrymen, loyal to his God." 
 
 Arrange your speech climactically. Drive home one 
 truth after another, each more forceful than the last ; like 
 one rill after another, and stream after stream, all flowing 
 into a great torrent which bursts into a mighty cataract in 
 your conclusion. 
 
 C. Brevity. Brevity is the soul of force. Omit all use- 
 less verbiage from your discourse. Still do not trim it so 
 as to make it sound choppy. But remember that "a fool 
 is known by his multitude of words." This is time of the 
 sentence and of the entire speech. Omit conjunctions when- 
 ever possible. A short pointed arrow penetrates deepest. 
 Southey said, "It is with words as with sunbeams ; the more 
 they are condensed, the deeper they burn." Note the vigor 
 in this line from Browning: 
 
 Boot, saddle, to horse and away. 
 
 D. Iteration. When words or sentences are very im- 
 portant they may be repeated often, adding much to the 
 emphasis. It was Mr. Dooley who wrote, "I belave anny- 
 thing at all, if ye only tell it to me often enough." Napo- 
 leon said that there was only one figure in rhetoric of much 
 importance — repetition. The thing affirmed comes by repe- 
 tition to fix itself in the mind in such a way that in the 
 end it is accepted as a demonstrated fact. Iteration may 
 occur in the same sentence, as : To become perfect you 
 must study, study, study. Also, 
 
200 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Work — work — work 
 
 Till the brain begins to swim. 
 Work — work — work 
 
 Till the eyes are heavy and dim. 
 Seam and gusset and band, 
 
 Band and gusset and seam, — 
 Till over the buttons I fall asleep 
 
 And sew them on in a dream! — Hood. 
 
 E. Comparison. This includes analogy and antithe- 
 sis. Comparison is also an element of clearness. We are 
 all impressed with resemblances and contrasts. We always 
 reason from the known to the unknown. Objects look 
 blacker or whiter by comparison. Contrasted colors are 
 intensified. Antithesis is most forceful if arranged in bal- 
 anced form. 
 
 Example: * 
 
 I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than 
 to dwell in the tents of wickedness. — Bible. 
 
 F. Direct Discourse. This gives opportunity for ac- 
 tion. It eliminates the middleman. A story loses much of 
 its force and humor if removed from its original setting. 
 He said that he was Casar, is not as strong as, He said, "I 
 am Caesar." 
 
 G. Rhetorical Question. In asking questions, you invite 
 the audience to participate in your discussion. These ques- 
 tions should usually be in such form as to be answered by 
 "yes" or "no," and the answers so obvious that they need 
 not be given by the speaker. They are merely forceful 
 declarations in interrogative form. 
 
 Example : 
 
 How long, O Catiline ! wilt thou trifle with our patience ? How 
 long shalt thou baffle justice in thy mad career? To what ex- 
 treme wilt thou carry thy audacity? Art thou nothing daunted 
 by the nightly watch posted to secure the Palatium? Nothing, 
 by the city guards? Nothing, by the rally of all good citizens? 
 Nothing, by the assembling of the Senate in this fortified place? 
 Nothing, by the averted looks of all here present? — Cicero. 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 201 
 
 H. Interjection. A sudden burst of emotion fre- 
 quently thrills an audience to the bone. One word is often 
 more forceful than a whole paragraph. Interjections must 
 only be used to express deep feeling. 
 
 I. Imagery. Some words and phrases bring to the mind 
 definite images; others do not. Prepositions and conjunc- 
 tions rarely do. The image is not as clear in general as in 
 particular terms. The word "fruit" does not bring to the 
 mind a definite image, but "apples" does. Such words as 
 "civilization," "house," "evil," are not as forceful as "cities," 
 "plows," "school-house," and "stealing." 
 
 For the orator, imagery is power. Let no man aspire 
 to be an orator who has not a vivid imagination. "Trope 
 and metaphor" must flow readily from his tongue. Slang 
 is a form of abused imagery. Note the force of this figure 
 of Grattan's : "I never will be satisfied as long as the mean- 
 est cottager in Ireland has a link of the British chain cling- 
 ing to his rags. He may be naked ; he shall not be in irons !" 
 Note, also, the antithesis and balance in the last sentence. 
 
 J. Loftiness. Especially in the oration, when you are 
 speaking of profound, universal principles, your language 
 must harmonize with your ideas. In your sublime efforts 
 never stoop to the sordid and despicable. Slang never finds 
 its way into an oration. Clothe your ideas in appropriate 
 words. A diamond does not show its brilliancy in a clay 
 setting. Do not speak of the "nation's pocket-book," but 
 of a "nation's wealth," not of "houses," but of "homes" 
 and "mansions." 
 
 When, however, you desire to be less formal and more 
 pertinent, take off your gloves and go in with bare fists. 
 In a volume, The Real Billy Sunday, by Rev. E. P. Brown, 
 is related the reply by Mr. Sunday to some ministers who 
 requested that he tone down his remarks. To them he said, 
 "Why, if I did that I wouldn't have any more people to 
 preach to than you have." 
 
 The subject, occasion, purpose, and audience will deter- 
 
202 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 mine your selection of words and phrases. But, by all 
 means, be consistent. 
 
 K. Adroitness. Frequently a speaker can secure his ends 
 by selecting carefully and diplomatically such words and 
 phrases as to express what he desired in a circuitous manner. 
 Members in Congress and lawyers at the bar have been able 
 frequently to indulge in personalities in such a way that 
 they cut deep, and at the same time shielded the author. 
 The real truth penetrates slowly, but when it does, it sinks 
 deeply. Often it might be better and far more effective to 
 tell a man "to join the Ananias Club," or that he is "a 
 lineal descendant of the impenitent man on the cross," or 
 that he has a "brain storm," than to call him a "liar," "a 
 thief," or "crazy." 
 
 An implied antithesis suggested by emphasis, a certain 
 inflection, or accent may convey a meaning entirely dif- 
 ferent, and be much more effective when spoken than if the 
 same words appeared in print; as, "He won't do a thing to 
 you. You are such a brave man !" "I did not say that you 
 were a liar, I only said you did not tell the truth." 
 
 4. Elegance. This quality of style appeals to the 
 aesthetic sense: man's sense of beauty, of form, and of 
 harmony. It pleases, interests and fascinates ; hence is of 
 great value to the orator. 
 
 A. Smoothness. Some speakers mar their language by 
 making it jerky. They use too many short sentences; are 
 often too epigrammatic. Cicero, who loved a smooth and 
 copious style, said that he never heard a Lacedaemonian 
 orator. "If there is a tide in his soul, there will be a flow 
 in his eloquence, and he will not dam it up in pools by too 
 frequent periods." Have both short and long sentences. 
 The average number of words at present is about twenty- 
 five. Emerson has about twenty; and Maeaulay about 
 twenty-three. During the 15th century sentences often 
 averaged sixty words. 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 203 
 
 Gravity, sublimity, and the picturesque demand long 
 sentences. Simplicity, passion, assertion, vigor, find ex- 
 pression in short sentences. 
 
 B. Rhythm. A periodic recurrence of a beat or accent 
 aids greatly to impress the hearers. The Greek and Roman 
 orators paid especial attention to this point. Quintilian 
 said that some of the ancient orations might be set to music. 
 The student should familiarize himself with the writings of 
 Shakespeare, Milton, Hawthorne, Erskine, Grady, parts of 
 the Bible, and thus mould his style into patterns of rhythm 
 and beauty. 
 
 Rhythm has a great emotional value as well as an aes- 
 thetic. Audiences are frequently moved profoundly by the 
 rhythmic cadence in the style of some orators. 
 
 Rhythm is mainly a matter of judgment and taste, not 
 of rule. Note the difference of rhythm in the following 
 sentences : 
 
 In the afternoon about two o'clock we made ready. 
 
 About two o'clock in the afternoon we made ready. 
 
 C. Balance. The word balance is self-explanatory. It 
 signifies adjustment, correspondence, poise, sanity. As an 
 element of elegance and effectiveness in literary style, it is 
 very important. It is a great aid to quickness in under- 
 standing, for it is a mental law that similarity of thought 
 must be accompanied by similarity or balance in form, as 
 any change of form tends to distract the attention. An- 
 tithesis and balance make an effective combination. 
 
 Examples : 
 
 a. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the 
 testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. — Psalms, 
 xix, 7. 
 
 b. Thus the successors of the old Cavaliers had turned dema- 
 gogues; the successors of the old Roundheads had turned 
 courtiers. 
 
 c. What does he do, this hero in gray with a heart of gold? 
 Does he sit down in sullenness and despair? Not for a day. 
 
£04 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Surely God, who had stripped him of his prosperity, inspired him 
 in his adversity. As ruin was never before so overwhelming, 
 never was restoration swifter. The soldier stepped from the 
 trenches into the furrow; horses that had charged Federal guns 
 marched before the plow; and fields that ran red with human 
 blood in April were green with the harvest in June. — Grady. 
 
 D. Alliteration. This consists in the repetition of the 
 same initial sound in successive words. It is more fre- 
 quently found in poetry than in prose. Still some of our 
 great modern orators revel in its use — Ingersoll, Beecher, 
 Grady, Prentiss, and many others. To a limited extent it 
 adds a definite and striking beauty not otherwise obtained, 
 but it fails in its purpose if it be overdone. However, with- 
 out "alliteration's artful aid," we would no more hear the 
 melodious music of the sobbing seas, the whispering winds, 
 the tossing tempests, and our ear might cease to linger 
 lovingly on the words of the orator. 
 
 E. Euphony. Sentences should be constructed with 
 due regard to a pleasant effect upon the ear. But do not 
 sacrifice substance to sound. Avoid the use of words or 
 combinations of words which are difficult to pronounce; as, 
 despicable, indissoluble, sufficeth, etc. Collections of harsh, 
 guttural sounds or words, a succession of sibilant sounds, 
 or words beginning with the same sound, — all of these should 
 be avoided studiously. 
 
 Examples : a. He spoke in innocent tongues. 
 
 b. He seemed to secure such an excess of similar sibi- 
 lance in his successive sentences that they seldom sounded 
 sufficiently sane. 
 
 Do not use words that rhyme when writing prose; as, 
 
 Her hair was fair, but she showed little care about the 
 way she would wear it. 
 
 Compare the following two lines with respect to euphony: 
 
 Drink to me only with thy eyes. 
 
 Drink to me only with thine eyes. 
 
 Sonorous sounds such as o, m, n, l, should be given pref- 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 205 
 
 erence over t, d, b, and s. Too many s's make too much 
 of a hissing goose out of the orator. 
 
 F. Variety. Avoid using the same or kindred words in 
 the same sentence. Study books on synonyms. Enlarge 
 your vocabulary so that you can make appropriate substi- 
 tutions. Note the following: 
 
 The commander ordered the general to order the soldiers 
 to preserve order. A better way would be: The com- 
 mander directed the general to see that the soldiers pre- 
 served order. 
 
 G. Floridity. This was at one time the mark of the 
 orator. Words bristling with meaning are to be preferred 
 to picturesque and flowing language. Rufus Choate once 
 gave this advice to a student: "You don't want a diction 
 gathered from the newspapers, but you want one whose 
 every word is full freighted with suggestion and association, 
 with beauty and power." "Certainly the greatest and wisest 
 conceptions that ever issued from the mind of man," says 
 South, "have been couched under, and delivered in a few, 
 close, homey, and significant words." 
 
 However, there is an unmistakable charm in such ora- 
 tions as those of Ingersoll, Grady, Beecher, Sheridan, who 
 love to revel in metaphoric and melodic expressions, and 
 paint pictures in vivid colors appealing to the senses as 
 well as to the emotions and the intellect. They somehow 
 seize the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, and in some 
 way, we know not why, we are ready to believe and obey. 
 "How was it done? Ah! how did Mozart do it, how Ra- 
 phael? The secret of the rose's sweetness, of the bird's 
 ecstasy, of the sunset's glory — that is the secret of genius 
 and eloquence." 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Bring to the class an example secured from your gen- 
 eral reading illustrating each of the following qualities of 
 style: Concreteness, restatement, climax, direct discourse, 
 
206 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 rhetorical question, rhythm, alliteration. 
 
 II. Study one of the orations in Part III and note all 
 the qualities of style you can discover. 
 
 III. Secure examples of five different qualities of style 
 from next Sunday's sermon or from some other public 
 speech. 
 
 IV. What qualities of style are illustrated in the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 1. He was still handsome, this great-hearted friend of ours, 
 although disease had whitened his face and made necessary a 
 supporting cane. When I came away, he took my hand in his 
 and said, half jestingly, half earnestly, "Good-bye. God bless 
 you !" I tried to smile but couldn't. 
 
 2. At Oxford Johnson resided during about three years. 
 He was poor, even to raggedness; and his appearance excited 
 a mirth and a pity which were equally intolerable to his haughty 
 spirit. He was driven from the quadrangle of Christ Church 
 by the sneering looks which the members of that aristocratical 
 society cast at the holes in his shoes. Some charitable person 
 placed a new pair at his door, but he spurned them away in a 
 fury. — Macaulay. 
 
 3. But the gentleman inquires why he was made the object 
 of such a reply? why was he singled out? If an attack has 
 been made on the East, he, he assures us, did not begin it: it 
 was made by the gentleman from Missouri. Sir, I answered the 
 gentleman's speech because I happened to hear it; and because, 
 also, I chose to give an answer to that speech, which, if unan- 
 swered, I thought most likely to produce injurious impressions. 
 I did not stop to inquire who was the original drawer of the bill. 
 I found a responsible indorsee before me, and it was my purpose 
 to hold him liable, and to bring him to his just responsibility 
 without delay. — Webster. 
 
 4. The last stick on her andirons snaps asunder, and falls 
 outward. Two faintly smoking brands stand there. Grand- 
 father lays them together, and they flame up. The two smokes 
 are one united flame. "Even so let it be in heaven," says grand- 
 father. 
 
 5. When dead winter comes, how wondrous look the hills in 
 their white robes ! The round red ball of the sun looks through 
 
Essential Elements — The Speech 207 
 
 the frosty stream. The far-off firth gleams strange and ghostly, 
 with a sense of mysterious distance. The mountain loch is a 
 sheet of blue, on which you may disport in perfect solitude from 
 morn to night, with the hills white on all sides, save where the 
 broken snow shows the rusted leaves of the withered bracken. 
 
 6. Mounted in the field and at the head of his troops, a 
 glimpse of Lee was an inspiration. His figure was as distinctive 
 as that of Napoleon. The black slouch hat, the cavalry boots, 
 the dark cape, the plain gray coat without an ornament but the 
 three stars on the collar, the calm, victorious face, the splendid 
 manly figure on the gray war-horse, — he looked every inch the 
 true knight — the grand, invincible champion of a great principle. 
 
 7. The lettuce is to me a most interesting study. Lettuce 
 is like conversation: it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that 
 you scarcely notice the bitter in it. Lettuce, like most talkers, 
 is, however, apt to run rapidly to seed. Blessed is that sort 
 which comes to a head, and so remains, like few people I know; 
 growing more solid, and satisfactory, and tender at the same 
 time, and whiter at the center, and crisp in their maturity. Let- 
 tuce, like conversation, requires a good deal of oil, to avoid 
 friction and keep the company smooth; a pinch of Attic salt, 
 a dash of pepper, a quantity of mustard and vinegar, by all 
 means, but so mixed that you will notice no sharp contrasts, and 
 a trifle of sugar. You can put anything, and the more things the 
 better, into salad, as into a conversation, but everything depends 
 upon the skill of mixing. I feel that I am in the best society 
 when I am with lettuce. It is the select circle of vegetables. — 
 C. D. Warner. 
 
 8. The maxim that no people ought to be free till they are 
 fit to use their freedom, is worthy of the fool in the old story, 
 who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to 
 swim. If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and 
 good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever. 
 
 9- Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbors' house lest he be 
 weary of thee, and so hate thee. 
 
 A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a 
 maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow. — Bible. 
 
 10. Let us at least have this to say: We too have kept the 
 faith of the fathers. We took Cuba by the hand. We delivered 
 her from her age-long bondage. We welcomed her to the family 
 
208 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 of nations. We set mankind an example never beheld before of. 
 moderation in victory. We led hesitating and halting Europe 
 to the deliverance of their beleaguered ambassadors in China. 
 We marched through a hostile country — a country cruel and 
 barbarous — without anger or revenge. We returned benefit for 
 injury and pity for cruelty. We made the name of America 
 beloved in the East as in the West. We kept faith with the 
 Philippine people. We kept faith with our own history. We 
 kept our national honor unsullied. The flag which we received 
 without a rent we handed down without a stain. — A. J. Bever- 
 idge. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS— THE SPEAKER 
 
 "Eloquence," said Webster, "must exist in the man, in the 
 subject, and in the occasion." The latter two of these ele- 
 ments of eloquence have been discussed in preceding chap- 
 ters. The third great factor in public speaking is the 
 speaker himself. A good speech, however well prepared, 
 will be ineffectual unless well delivered. In treating of de- 
 livery we must refer, by way of review, to certain matters 
 that were discussed more fully in Part I. 
 
 I. Physical Qualities. "A man may have the bow of 
 Ulysses, but of what use is it, if he has not the strength to 
 bend it to do his will? His arrows may be of silver and 
 gold-tipped ; they may be winged with the feathers of the 
 very bird of Paradise; but if he cannot draw them to the 
 head and send them home to the mark, of what value are 
 they to him?" The crowd demands a leader. This leader 
 must always be an embodiment of strength. Elements of 
 strength as related to physical qualities are: 
 
 1. Physique. Men of all ages whose tread has made 
 the world tremble with their eloquence have been men with 
 brawny frames, and great power of physical and mental 
 endurance. With few exceptions, those who have not had 
 large physiques have had close-knit ones. Burke, Fox, 
 Mirabeau, Brougham, Webster, Chalmers, Curran, O'Con- 
 n ell, John Bright, Gladstone, Beecher, Bryan, — were all 
 men of powerful frames and iron nerves. 
 
 If nature has given you a strong physique, make the 
 most of it; develop it and make it still stronger. However, 
 
 209 
 
210 Oral Reading and Public Speaking > 
 
 there have been mighty powers on the platform who did 
 not enjoy this natural advantage. John Randolph had a 
 small, short body perched upon long, crane-like legs ; but 
 every one in the House of Representatives listened to him 
 when he spoke. Wilberforce had a dwarfish body and a 
 weak, shrill voice ; but he became a power in Parliament. 
 Richard Sheil, the Irish orator, had a pigmy body, and 
 Summerfield, one of America's most magical preachers, was 
 an invalid all his life. 
 
 2. Voice. Even more than a powerful frame the orator 
 needs a good voice. Oh, the magic, the charm, the power, 
 in a strong, well modulated voice ! Lord Chatham and 
 William Pitt became leaders in Parliament because of their 
 voices. Burke, far more brilliant in intellect, had far less 
 immediate influence because he lacked a good voice. Thomas 
 Jefferson was never considered an able orator because he 
 could not control his voice. Mirabeau, O'Connell, and Web- 
 ster controlled assemblies by their powerful throats ; Glad- 
 stone, Bryan, Clay and Grady by their "silver tongues'." 
 When Bryan traveled in Japan, a native who could not un- 
 derstand English heard him deliver an address and gave this 
 tribute to his eloquence: "His voice sounded like music." 
 
 Since the voice is such an important factor in making a 
 successful speaker, too much pains cannot be taken in cul- 
 tivating it to its highest possibility. It is to be regretted, 
 to say the least, that among men who depend on public 
 speaking for their bread and for their success, — preachers, 
 lawyers, lecturers, — so many are satisfied with a poor voice, 
 throaty and harsh, droning and monotonous, with an abom- 
 inable minor inflection. What a power some men could be, 
 if they only had good voices ! Why do they not cultivate 
 them? This is the answer: Either ignorance or indolence. 
 
 But wherein lies the charm of a good voice? The chief 
 elements are: 
 
 A. Distinctness. By all means secure a clear, distinct 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 211 
 
 articulation. It is said that Monvel, the French actor, had 
 scarcely any voice, not even teeth, and yet every one in 
 the audience could hear every word. The secret was dis- 
 tinct articulation. Loudness is not distinctness. Many 
 speakers can make themselves heard in every part of the 
 room when they whisper. How did they acquire this abil- 
 ity? By whispering*. When in your room imagine you have 
 a large audience. Speak to them just as you would if 
 you were on the platform, only do not use your vocal 
 cords. Make a special effort to make yourself clear. There 
 is perhaps no better method to cultivate distinctness than 
 to practice whispering with an effort to make your words 
 carry. Besides, you will not disturb those in the same build- 
 ing. 
 
 B. Purity. This quality is very essential. No husk- 
 iness, throatiness, raspiness, breathiness, mouthing, lisping, 
 can be tolerated in a good speaker. The voice should be 
 clear as the tone of a silver bell. 
 
 C. Melody. A voice should have modulations in change 
 of pitch, inflections, a pleasing accent, and a musical 
 cadence. Cultivate a range of at least one octave, and 
 use it when you speak. Do not hang on to one note as 
 though fearful that if you once got off you would lose it 
 forever. 
 
 D. Volume. Speak so you can be heard. Some speak- 
 ers begin in such a low tone that they are not heard by 
 one-half of the audience. If you are not heard, you can- 
 not be understood; then why speak at all? Gauge your 
 voice so as to make those in the back row hear what you 
 say, then every one between } T ou and the back row will be 
 able to hear you. Do not yell, but speak. Some people 
 imagine that a low, coarse voice like that of a bull or the 
 sound of a bass drum is essential. Not at all. Neither 
 do you want a high, shrill, rafter-splitting scream. A 
 normal voice is best — one that will permit the speaker to 
 raise or lower the pitch, and to increase or decrease the 
 
212 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 volume. The secret of power in many speakers lies in their 
 ability to adapt the character of their voices to the ideas 
 and emotions impressed ; and the range of the emotions is as 
 great as the gamut of human experience. 
 
 E. Tone-color, or the emotional modulation of the voice, 
 is the result of harmonizing sympathetically the four ele- 
 ments just mentioned. "Ninety-nine men in every hundred 
 in the crowded profession will probably never rise above 
 mediocrity because the training of the voice is entirely ne- 
 glected and considered of no importance," wrote Mr. Glad- 
 stone. 
 
 3. Personal Appearance. It may be difficult and fre- 
 quently impossible to develop a robust and commanding 
 physique ; but there is little excuse for the public speaker 
 to disregard his personal appearance. If the speaker desires 
 to make the best impression, he should make the most of him- 
 self. His clothes should be neat, well-fitting and plain. 
 Flashy jewelry should not be worn. Immaculate linen, and 
 care of hands, nails and hair, are matters not too trifling 
 to be scrupulously observed by the speaker. 
 
 II. Mental Qualities. Our great orators were ro- 
 bust physically; they likewise had giant intellects. Some 
 of the mental qualities absolutely essential for a great 
 speaker are: 
 
 1. Memory. Facts and figures must be constantly at 
 the speaker's command. Train your memory. Some of 
 our most eloquent men have made it a rule to commit to 
 memory some choice bit of literature every week. When 
 delivering a memorized selection have it so well in mind that 
 you do not need to think of what is coming next. This 
 reaching out after the next thought ruins any delivery. 
 Cultivate a good memory. Much practice and following 
 correct principles will bring wonderful improvement. Here 
 are a few rules on memory: 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 213 
 
 A. Get rid of the idea that your memory is not as good 
 as it was years ago. 
 
 B. Center your thoughts exclusively on the task at hand. 
 Use your will. 
 
 C. Repeat often. 
 
 D. Learn familiar matter, if not too long, as a whole. 
 Do not take it a line at a time. Many useless associations 
 of ideas are thus formed. 
 
 E. Unfamiliar and difficult matter should be repeated un- 
 til memorized. 
 
 F. Use imagery wherever possible, but do not encumber 
 your mind with useless pictures. 
 
 G. Rest after work. Allow the mind to rest after a se- 
 lection is mastered. 
 
 H. Use all the avenues at your command. Do not try 
 to learn a selection silently. If it is a reading or an oration, 
 by all means repeat it aloud each time. There is no econ- 
 omy in writing out the selection you desire to memorize. 
 
 I. Learn it well before you discard the manuscript. 
 After a wrong word or association is once fixed in the mind, 
 it requires much effort to correct or to eliminate it. 
 
 J. Trust your memory and so go on the platform with 
 confidence. 
 
 %. Imagination. The difference between an indifferent 
 speaker and an eloquent orator depends largely on a differ- 
 ence in imagination. "It is not by naked, bold statement of 
 facts, but by pictures that make them see the facts that 
 assemblies are moved." To develop a vivid imagination, 
 think concisely, observe minutely, study the works of imag- 
 inative writers, picture to yourself in detail the ideas im- 
 pressed by these writers. 
 
 3. Will. The mind as will causes you to act or to make 
 a choice. You may be convinced that a thing should be 
 done, and yet not do it. Self as will must be aroused to 
 
£14 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 action. A strong, controlled will power can be developed 
 by doing the things you know to be expedient and right. 
 Your reasoning powers decide what is right and then your 
 will must compel you to do the right thing. Hence, the 
 necessity for strong will power in every individual, not only 
 to do things that should be done, but to refrain from doing 
 the things that should not be done. 
 
 In the first place, you must practice and drill upon the 
 fundamental exercises in this book. You may soon lose 
 interest in them. At first they are new and interesting, soon 
 they lose their novelty and then you must bring the will to 
 bear and compel yourself to keep at it. In the second place, 
 when topics for speeches are assigned to you, your inclina- 
 tion will be to put off from day to day and depend on the 
 spur of the moment for your thoughts. Do not do it. Get 
 busy at once. Just say to yourself, "I have a strong will. 
 I can do the things that I should do. I am no weakling. 
 I may not have a giant's body, but I have a strong will. 
 I know I ought to begin at once, and / will do so. 9 * It has 
 been said that what we call a strong will power in ourselves, 
 we often call stubbornness in others. Stubbornness is a 
 determination to do a thing just to be contrary; — usually 
 to keep on doing something after we are convinced that we 
 are wrong. But that is a very different thing from will 
 power. A fearless determination to do the right thing 
 has made many a speaker a power in his community. This 
 evidence of will power is illustrated in Garrison when he said, 
 "I am in earnest : I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — 
 I will not retract a single inch — and I will be heard." And 
 he was heard. 
 
 Infinite power dawned in man 
 
 When God created Will. 
 
 Eternal growth consumes its plan, 
 
 Details its laws fulfill; 
 
 High purpose vaults life's endless span; 
 
 But all is strength through drill. 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 215 
 
 4. Sense of Humor. "A man without a sense of humor," 
 declares an anonymous writer, "is occasionally to be re- 
 spected, often to be feared, and nearly always to be avoided." 
 Wit and humor are closely related. Wit is intellectual, hu- 
 mor emotional ; wit is a perception of resemblance, humor 
 a perception of contrast, of discrepancy, of incongruity. 
 Both afford a pleasurable surprise, a gentle shock. Wit, 
 being intellectual, suffers by repetition. Humor is a feeling 
 and can always be revived. A statement that is humorous, 
 when recalled, may provoke as much and often more laugh- 
 ter than when first heard or seen. Humor, it has been said, 
 is laughing with the other man ; wit is laughing at him. We 
 laugh at the unusual, but it must contain an element of 
 truth ; at strange combinations — a cow sitting on a thistle, 
 whistling like a bird; unusual relationships — cow jumping 
 over the moon; at the unexpected, a jack-in-a-box; at sud- 
 den turns of thought; as, Teacher (to a pupil in a class of 
 English History)— "Mr. Smith, who followed Henry VIII?" 
 Mr. Smith — "Anne Bolinsky" ; at exaggerations — a mule 
 with one ear sticking through a tree top and birds sitting 
 on it, the other lopping on the ground and boys skating on it. 
 
 The ability to conceive and mentally to construct un- 
 usual and unique relationships between ideas is a rare gift. 
 Again, it is not enough to say interesting things, but to say 
 them in an interesting manner. A witty and apt retort, a 
 bit of irony, sarcasm, or ridicule, is at times more effectual 
 than a whole speech. Avoid personal sarcasm. Do not 
 antagonize your audience. You want to win them. "More 
 flies are caught with sugar than with vinegar." 
 
 Avoid being funny. Some speakers make themselves 
 ridiculous, yes, at times disgusting, who have no sense of 
 humor and are always trying to say something "cute" or 
 "smart." And yet how we do admire a man who can at least 
 once in a while leave the dry sands of his discourse and give 
 us a cool drink, by permitting us to bring together two ideas 
 not usually associated! Says Goethe: "There is nothing 
 
216 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 commonplace which could not be made to appear humorous 
 if quaintly expressed." 
 
 5. Common Sense. Use good judgment. If you have 
 not 'good judgment, at least use the best you have. Inter- 
 ruptions will frequently occur while you are speaking. If 
 you exercise good sense, you will not show your annoyance 
 as the preacher did when a little boy in his congregation 
 was attracting attention by rapidly twisting his head from 
 side to side, by saying, "Boy, if you do not quit that I will 
 come down there and twist your head off." A more sensible 
 retort and surely more effective was spoken by another min- 
 ister who, while preaching on the text, "Thou art weighed in 
 the balance and found wanting," was interrupted by a num- 
 ber of persons getting up and leaving the church. When 
 the next person arose to leave the speaker said, "That is 
 right — as soon as you are weighed you may pass out." No 
 more left. The average speaker requires not genius, but 
 common sense. 
 
 III. Moral Qualities. "If I should make the shortest 
 list of qualifications for an orator," said Emerson, "I should 
 begin with manliness." 
 
 1. Character. It is said of Sheridan, England's most 
 brilliant orator, that he might have ruled Europe had he 
 only possessed a trustworthy character. Do not pretend, — 
 be. "Let no sneak try to be an orator," said Beecher. A 
 man who does not back up by his life what he preaches had 
 better plow corn. Had Luther's words been contradicted 
 by his life they would never have rung through the world 
 like the blast of a trumpet. "There can be no true elo- 
 quence," says Emerson, "unless there is a man behind the 
 speech." . . . Again, "What care I what you say, when 
 what you do stands over my head and thunders in my ear 
 so loud that I cannot hear what you say." 
 
Essential Elements — 7"he Speaker £17 
 
 2. Sincerity. The word sincere was derived from the 
 practice of filling up flaws in furniture with wax, whence 
 sine cera came to mean pure, not adulterated. Earnestness 
 is one of the most essential elements in securing power in 
 delivery. Sincerity is the mental basis of earnestness. A 
 liar is not believed even when he does tell the truth. If you 
 have no faith in your message, do not imagine for a moment 
 that you can make any one else believe in it. Remember 
 you cannot fool all the people all the time. "I have heard," 
 says Emerson, "an experienced counsellor say that he never 
 feared the effect upon a jury of a lawyer who does not be- 
 lieve in his heart that his client ought to have a verdict. If 
 he does not believe in it, his unbelief will appear to the jury, 
 despite all his protestations, and will become their unbelief." 
 
 3. fearlessness. Develop a backbone, if you have none. 
 The orator is a leader. A coward can never lead. Be sure 
 that you are right, then maintain your position. A man 
 who swerves with every change of the wind will never be- 
 come an orator. We enjoy listening to a man who has con- 
 victions and is fearless in expressing them. Fearlessness 
 grows out of the conviction that you know that you know, 
 and a conscious approval that 3 T our convictions are truths. 
 
 4. Perseverance. Our most successful orators have been 
 men of indomitable perseverance and untiring industry. It 
 is perspiration not inspiration, industry not ingeniousness, 
 work not birth, that will make the orator of the future. 
 These are the words of Salvini, the great actor, to his pupil : 
 "Above all, study, study, study. All the genius in the world 
 will not help you along with any art, unless you become a 
 hard student." 
 
 5. Trustworthiness. Be dependable. There are few 
 things which will detract more from a speaker's success and 
 popularity than faithlessness. Be a man of your word. If 
 you say you will speak at such a time and at such a place, 
 
218 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 do so; be on time and be prepared. The best way to form 
 this habit is to begin now in your class work. If a speech 
 is due, have it prepared the best you can. Offer no excuse, 
 make no apologies. "Back of nearly every excuse for work 
 not done, lies, if the whole truth were told, weakness or 
 negligence." After school days are over you may receive an 
 invitation to speak upon some occasion. You may also be 
 conscious of the fact that you were second or third in 
 choice, and may be tempted to say to yourself, "I don't want 
 a second-hand invitation, I'll not accept it." But don't say 
 it. Accept. Do the best you can, though the time for pre- 
 paration may be short. Sooner or later invitations will 
 come to you first hand. Prove to 3^our community that you 
 are reliable, that you are dependable, that you are a friend 
 indeed because you were a friend in need. These moral 
 qualities have proved an essential factor in the success of 
 many a business and professional man, and they will like- 
 wise be of inestimable service to the speaker. 
 
 IV. Style of Delivery. There is no one style of de- 
 livery. Each great orator and speaker has had a style all 
 his own, but there are certain underlying principles which 
 govern all styles. A speaker's delivery should be: 
 
 1. Natural. Do not be affected, stagy, or act like a 
 mechanically constructed toy; — be natural. This does not 
 mean that you should exhibit all your peculiar eccentricities 
 £>n the stage that you may show on the street. Do not 
 imagine that when you speak a selection by Webster you 
 must imitate his voice and his mannerisms. If you are re- 
 hearsing the production of another, speak it as you would 
 have spoken it on that particular occasion. Had John B. 
 Gough tried to imitate the style, of Beecher, we would never 
 have heard of Mr. Gough. Do not try to become a Billy 
 Sunday. His style does very well for Billy Sunday, but it 
 is quite possible that you will be able to express yourself 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 219 
 
 on most subjects on a platform less than twenty by forty 
 feet. 
 
 Talking through the nose or teeth, or in the throat, or 
 at the walls, may seem natural to many ; but these are mat- 
 ters of habit rather than of nature. Students who in their 
 school or college course first give attention to the manner 
 of their speech, bring to the stud}' certain habits. These 
 habits may be good or bad. The good habits need develop- 
 ing and strengthening; the bad represent sundry faults, 
 some curable, many needing to be eradicated and supplanted, 
 all capable of improvement. Now, these bad habits are not 
 natural, in the sense that they are true exponents of nature. 
 They are, rather, a cultivated unnaturalness. We must 
 therefore be careful not to confound habit with nature, 
 peculiarity with individuality. On this "being natural" fal- 
 lac}> Professor Hiram Corson, in his little book, The Voice 
 and Spiritual Education, says : " 'Enter into the spirit of 
 what you read, read naturally, and you will read well,' is 
 about the sum and substance of what Archbishop Whately 
 teaches on the subject, in his Elements of Rhetoric. Simi- 
 lar advice might with equal propriety be given to a clumsy, 
 stiff-jointed clodhopper in regard to dancing, 'Enter into 
 the spirit oi the dance, dance naturally, and you will dance 
 well.' The more he might enter into the spirit of the dance, 
 the more he might emphasize his stiff-jointedness and clod- 
 hopperishness." 
 
 Many students seek instruction in oratory who seem to 
 imagine that the teacher can furnish them with some patent 
 device whereby they will become proficient in the art. Ban- 
 ish from your mind any thought that this or that "system," 
 this or that "method," will make you an orator, or even — 
 what is far more to our purpose — an effective public speaker. 
 No method but your own — the expression of your individu- 
 ality — will ever make } t ou any sort of a speaker other than 
 a parrot or a machine. Be yourself, not a mere imitator. 
 Certain principles are fundamental, but expression will be 
 
£20 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 as varied as individualities. Avoid any "system" that would 
 cast all speakers in the same mould. Aim not to become a 
 Demosthenes or Cicero, a Webster or Clay, but aim for the 
 best and most effective expression of Yourself. Above all, 
 eschew any ambition to become "eloquent," as the term is 
 commonly used, — "to soar among the constellations and 
 strew the floor with star-dust." Keep your feet upon the 
 earth, the audience will more likely be able to follow you. 
 
 Study the ways and style of delivery of our great orators, 
 past and present; listen to all you possibly can. If a cer- 
 tain minister or speaker pleases you, listen to him, absorb 
 his style, but do not imitate it. Adopt those characteristics 
 which especially please you, reject certain mannerisms which 
 you think detract from his effectiveness. Thus, slowly and 
 surely, you will develop a style, personal, natural, and ef- 
 fective. 
 
 %. Conversational. This is a style suitable for most 
 occasions, — a straightforward heart to heart talk. Speak 
 with interest, vivacity, earnestness and naturalness, just as 
 you would in animated conversation. This style must be 
 modified and intensified on the platform, just as everything 
 on the platform must be slightly exaggerated ; but the point 
 is, that if the audience is to be impressed by your thoughts, 
 convinced of your convictions, and persuaded to your be- 
 liefs, its attention should not be distracted by a method of 
 communication outside of ordinary experience. If here and 
 there a speaker who has special qualities of force or attrac- 
 tiveness attains a certain measure of success by another 
 method, it does not affect the truth of this underlying prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 Then, too, the conversational style of delivery accords 
 with modern taste; for oratory, like other arts, may have a 
 certain type or style, varying with changing conditions. 
 The style of popular oratory has undergone a marked 
 change in this country — from the heavy and bombastic to 
 
4 
 S 6 
 
 §■» 
 
 6 3 
 
 K o 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 221 
 
 the simple and direct — within the past twenty-five years. It 
 was Wendell Phillips who more than any other one man first 
 set the fashion whicih has largely done away with barn- 
 storming and haranguing. George William Curtis describes 
 his manner as that of a "gentleman conversing." Says 
 Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson : 
 
 The keynote to the oratory of Wendell Phillips lay in this: 
 that it was essentially conversational — the conversational raised 
 to the highest power. Perhaps no orator ever spoke with so 
 little apparent effort, or began so entirely on the plane of his 
 average hearers. It was as if he simply repeated, in a little 
 louder tone, what he had just been saying to some familiar friend 
 at his elbow. The colloquialism was never realized, but it was 
 familiarity without loss of dignity. Then, as the argument went 
 on, the voice grew deeper, the action more animated, and the 
 sentences came in a long, sonorous swell, still easy and graceful, 
 but powerful as the soft stretch of a tiger's paw. 
 
 Again, the style of one's speech will vary with the occa- 
 sion and the audience. One's style of conversation varies 
 with the formality of the occasion and the intelligence of 
 the hearer or hearers. And so it is in public speaking — 
 and especially in extempore speaking. "Personal grapple" 
 with an audience demands a style suited to that particular 
 audience. Hence the power of adaptability needs to be de- 
 veloped. This cannot be attained through rules, but the 
 student should, so far as possible, practice adapting himself 
 to different audiences. The danger of the over-academic 
 style, which frequently prevents the college-bred man from 
 reaching the popular ear, should be guarded against sedu- 
 lously. 
 
 Always speak on a level with your audience ; not down to, 
 nor up to, but on a level with^as complete an adaptation 
 as possible. The preacher, for example, who makes a suc- 
 cessful after-dinner speech will not deliver a sermon. He 
 will have the purpose of his address in mind, in the one case 
 as well as in the other, but the same style would ordinarily 
 
2%Q Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 be unsuited to both types of address. The unimpassioned 
 argument that a lawyer might properly deliver to a court 
 would fail to reach the aA^erage jury. The scientist address- 
 ing a body of fellow-scientists would naturally use a diction 
 ill adapted to speaking on the same subject to a popular 
 audience. The style of a Sunday-school address would 
 rarely be suited to that of a political speech. And so we 
 might go on multiplying illustrations, for they are as num- 
 erous as the audiences one may be called upon to address. 
 
 3. Dramatic. Some speakers love to energize their ef- 
 forts until they resemble the actor on the stage. They "act 
 out" their thoughts ; their gestures are many and violent. 
 Frequently they stand upon chairs, lie down on the plat- 
 form, etc. This style is attractive to a majority of the 
 people, especially to the less educated class. But the "ar- 
 tist" in public speaking need not resort to such physical 
 contortions to interest his audience. However, there are 
 times when a touch of "dramatic eloquence" may be made 
 very effective. Even Beecher occasionally resorted to im- 
 personation to make his points clear and impressive. But 
 when the dramatic style is employed, it should always be 
 spontaneous,— natural. 
 
 V. Power. What is the secret of power in the speaker? 
 Have you not asked yourself this question, as you listened 
 to an eloquent address which held you spellbound, or to an 
 evangelist who brought thousands of men and women to 
 their knees? What is the secret? Not even the orator him- 
 self can explain the secret of his power. This is not only 
 true of the art of speaking, but it is true of music, painting, 
 and even the military art. When Napoleon was once asked 
 how he managed to win so many victories, he replied : "Mon 
 Dieu, it is natural to me ; I was made so !" Eloquence is 
 like the wind, we can feel its presence, but know not "whence 
 it cometh nor whither it goeth." A few of the elements of 
 power are: 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 223 
 
 1. Personal Magnetism. This element to some degree is 
 always present in the orator and effective speaker; but it 
 is difficult to analyze. Professor Kleiser says, "It is a pat- 
 ent influence in swaying and moving an audience, and is 
 associated with geniality, sympathy, frankness, manliness, 
 persuasiveness and an attractive personal appearance. 
 There is a purely animal magnetism, which passes from 
 speaker to audience and back again, swiftly and silently. 
 This magnetic quality is sometimes found in the voice, in 
 the eye, or may be reflected in the whole personality of the 
 speaker." It is found in men who have deep convictions, 
 strong likes and dislikes and are fearless in expressing them. 
 It is found in men of whom we say, "There is a man with 
 a strong personality.'" 
 
 Worry and fear are the greatest foes to securing a strong 
 personal magnetism. A firm, determined will is the greatest 
 help. Any one who will discipline his mind and bod}* may 
 possess personal magnetism, but the discipline must be daily, 
 — yes, hourly. Learn to look people in the eyes when you 
 speak to them on the streets or from the platform, and 
 make them look at you; for the eyes — "the windows of the 
 soul" — are a most important factor in the development and 
 the impress of personality. In a recent address to a grad- 
 uating class, Ex-President Charles H. Eliot of Harvard 
 University said: "There is a subtle power latent in each 
 one of you, w r hich few have developed, but which w T hen devel? 
 oped might make a man irresistible. It is called personal 
 magnetism. I advise you to master it." 
 
 2. Earnestness. The basic element of earnestness is sin- 
 cerity. Believe what you say and then say it as though you 
 believed it. Earnestness requires (1) a thorough knowl- 
 edge of your subject, (2) a sincere faith in that subject, and 
 (3) an unswerving determination to implant in others that 
 knowledge and that faith. Betterton, the actor, gave this 
 reason to the Lord Bishop of London, why the clergy had so 
 
224 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 little influence with the people : "The actor speaks of things 
 imaginary as though they were real; the preacher too often 
 speaks of things real as though they were imaginary." Do 
 not speak "from the teeth outward," but from the heart. 
 Mr. W. Mathews says, "It is not enough that the speaker 
 utter profound or weighty truths ; he must show by all pos- 
 sible forms of expression, — by voice, looks, and gestures — 
 that they are truths, living, vital truths to him." 
 
 When rendering the selection of some one else, learn the 
 circumstances which occasioned it. Get the historical set- 
 ting, if you can. Try to identify yourself with the speaker 
 and the occasion. Your imagination must be called upon 
 to aid you in this. Picture to yourself as vividly as you can 
 the scenes you describe; do not speak mere words. Unless 
 you see the picture and feel the emotions you will never get 
 your audience to see nor to act. Do not forget that the 
 thought must be clear and vivid in the speaker's mind at 
 the moment of utterance. Effective speaking is simply the 
 science and art of thinking out loud. Reverend Joseph 
 Parker, the great London preacher, was once asked by a 
 clergyman to aid him in getting a charge. Mr. Parker 
 asked him to preach a sermon. In the midst of its delivery 
 he was interrupted with the pertinent comment, "Now, I 
 know why you do not have a parish; you are speaking to 
 get something off your mind and not into mine." The trouble 
 with many speakers who excuse themselves when their de- 
 livery is poor, by saying that they did not get into their 
 subject, is that the subject did not get into them. Luther 
 said that he could never preach nor pray unless he first 
 became indignant. It is often necessary to be provoked or 
 antagonized before one is stimulated into doing one's best. 
 Some students are very poor speakers until they become an- 
 gry, and then they have a remarkable command of language 
 and speak with great force. 
 
 The audience is often an added inspiration to earnestness. 
 It is difficult to do vour best without some inspiration from 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 225 
 
 a sympathetic audience. But in your practice do not de- 
 pend upon this. Imagine that you have a large audience; 
 speak as though you are commanding one, and some day 
 you may. Forget self. Be conscious only of your subject 
 and a desire to get the subject into your audience. Do 
 not let your earnestness depend upon the occasion, but mas- 
 ter the occasion through earnestness. Be prepared; be con- 
 fident that you have your speech well in hand. Speak it as 
 though you meant it. Loudness is not earnestness. Talma, 
 the French actor, said that he had studied forty years to 
 be energetic without noise. 
 
 3. Progress. Get somewhere. Say something worth 
 while each moment, or quit. Get at your point, make it, then 
 stop. 
 
 Begin in a tone just loud enough to be heard by every 
 one in the audience. But be sure that you are heard. It 
 is said of Henry Gratton that he "could not utter a half- 
 dozen sentences without getting into such a passion and 
 indulging in such violent gestures that it was quite unsafe 
 for any member to sit within reach of his right arm." Such 
 violence, especially at the beginning, is not recommended. 
 Dr. Leif child's rule is a better one, "Begin low; go on slow; 
 rise higher; take fire." It is natural that you should take 
 some time to get warmed up, but be sure that you do get a 
 little fire in you and let it burn brighter and brighter until 
 you close. In the delivery, as in the composition, everything 
 must be done climactically. Your enthusiasm must be on 
 the increase until you close. In a long speech you may have 
 a number of climaxes, but the close of each succeeding cli- 
 max should find you more in earnest, more enthusiastic. 
 Get somewhere ; never let the interest in your speech fag for 
 a moment. This does not mean constant pounding under 
 a running fire. Interest and attention can be secured only 
 by appropriate transition. At the beginning of each main 
 division there should be a lull, not unlike a well-ordered con- 
 
226 Oral Reading arid-Public Speaking 
 
 versation, when the subject under discussion is changed. 
 The speaker starts out with about the same composure and 
 deliberation he did at the beginning of his speech. Short 
 periods of silence, rising from a transition of ideas, are in- 
 cident to a normal conversation and are an important fac- 
 tor in holding the attention of the audience. 
 
 4. Control. "He who reigns within himself, rules his 
 person, desires, and fears, is more than a king." Emotions 
 must be checked, not choked. Power is not expressed by 
 ranting, by a loud, tearful, tremulous voice, by abundant 
 gesticulations, by sobs, nor by uncontrolled expression of 
 the feeling within. Power is expressed by exhibiting a re- 
 served strength. Like an army, its strength is shown by the 
 men in reserve, not the number on the picket line. The 
 audience sympathizes with a man who struggles, not the 
 man who gives up. Control your passions^, your anger; ha- 
 tred, sorrow, joy, and sympathy; let it be seen in your eyes, 
 the lines in your face, the color of your cheek, the trembling 
 of your body. The Bible speaks of "unutterable joy" and 
 "voiceless prayer." Those persons who themselves are cool 
 when at white heat, are most likely to set the audience on 
 fire. The three friends who sat down by Job for seven days 
 and nights without uttering a word were more eloquent in 
 their silence than all the subsequent complainings and la- 
 mentations. 
 
 Mathews says, in his Oratory and Orators, "When a 
 speaker who is deeply moved, using a gentler mode of ex- 
 pression than the facts might warrant, appears thus to stifle 
 his feeling and studiously to keep them within bounds, the 
 effect of this partial concealment is to give them an ap- 
 pearance of greater intensity and strength." Silence is 
 often more eloquent than words. That man has the greatest 
 expression of power who does not express all of it, and lets 
 the audience feel that there is still more in him. What the 
 audience sees is merely the overflow. Still waters run deep- 
 
Essential Elements — The Speaker 227 
 
 est; and an empty vessel makes most sound. 
 
 5. Physical Expression. This element, mentioned here 
 for completeness in classification, is of such importance to 
 the speaker that a separate chapter will be devoted to it. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Select similar stanzas from some long poem and ex- 
 periment on yourself as to the best way to memorize it. 
 
 1. Read it over silently. 
 
 2. Read it silently but move your lips. 
 
 3. Read it aloud. 
 
 4. Have a friend read it to you. 
 
 5. Read it silently but repeat each line until committed, 
 memorizing it sentence by sentence. 
 
 6. Write it over and over. 
 
 II. Let each member of the class tell a funny story. 
 Let the class tell whether it illustrates Wit or Humor. 
 
 III. Look steadily at an object for three minutes. 
 
 IV. Let each member of the class relate his efforts in 
 trying to look into the eyes of some person to whom he will 
 speak to-morrow. 
 
 V. Select some good oration from Part III. for practice 
 in a direct, conversational, natural style. 
 
 VI. Describe ten scenes which made you laugh while ob- 
 serving moving-pictures. 
 
 VII. Describe five scenes that made you feel sad. 
 
 VIII. Why do you laugh when one man accidentally 
 steps on the corns of a fellow actor on the stage? 
 
 IX. What emotions are aroused in you when an actor 
 sings a parody of Home, Sweet Home? 
 
 X. Make a full report on the next great speaker who 
 comes to your town. What features impressed you most? 
 What were his main faults? 
 
CHAPTER V 
 PHYSICAL EXPRESSION 
 
 Definition. Physical expression, or gesture, is any 
 movement of the body that expresses the thoughts and emo- 
 tions of the individual. It is a myological language, a silent, 
 visual, powerful auxiliary to the human voice. 
 
 All movements of the body are not gestures. Such me- 
 chanical movements as breathing, walking, buttoning one's 
 coat, "babbling with the hands," and scores of other move- 
 ments arising from physical necessity, mental embarrass- 
 ment, or bodily discomfort are ordinarily not auxiliaries or 
 substitutes for the voice ; but are premeditated, voluntary, 
 muscular actions that always detract from delivery. 
 
 Gestures, then, may be said to be those spontaneous, in- 
 voluntary movements of the eyes, forehead, lips, head, arms, 
 hands, feet, chest, trunk, or any part or parts of the body 
 that aid in expressing the thoughts and emotions of the 
 speaker. These physical manifestations are always soul- 
 inspired and should always re-enforce vocal delivery. 
 
 Purpose. As articulate speech antedated writing, so the 
 muscular language preceded articulate speech. Delsarte 
 states that thoughts are expressed by articulate speech, feel- 
 ings by inflections, and emotions by gestures. 
 
 The mentality of animals and savages is limited, for the 
 most part, to feelings and emotions. Their expression is 
 likewise limited to vocal inflections and physical action. 
 As races rise in intelligence, their articulate language be- 
 comes more developed, and inflections and gesticulation de- 
 crease. The Chinese language, for example, is very inflec- 
 
 228 
 
Physical Expression %%9 
 
 tional. One word may have a dozen different meanings, 
 depending on how it is pronounced. Savages have only a 
 few hundred words in their vocabulary, but have an elab- 
 orate myological language. When civilized men permit their 
 emotions to dominate their intelligence, they resort to many 
 and violent physical expressions. Observe a man when he 
 is angry, happy, in despair, or in pain. 
 
 Gesture, then, is primarily the language of the emotions. 
 And as emotions are a large factor in influencing the crowd 
 mind, the orator who desires to persuade his audience can 
 ill afford not to master and use this valuable language. 
 Again, on the thought side, gesture is an inestimable aux- 
 iliary. The speaker should, as a rule, exhaust his vocal 
 resources to make his meaning clear before resorting to 
 gesture. But as words are seldom adequate to express our 
 thoughts and certainly are weak instruments to convey our 
 emotions, the orator should never hesitate to call to his aid, 
 "all the resources of the living man." 
 
 Demosthenes epigrammatically said that the first three 
 qualities of the orator were "action." It is said that the 
 Greeks were so adept in the use of their facial muscles when 
 speaking, that jurists are known to have requested the ad- 
 vocates to wear masks or speak in a dark room so that the 
 bench might not be persuaded to decide a case as the result 
 of this emotional expression instead of being convinced by 
 the logic of their arguments. 
 
 Every speaker who is energetic, earnest, and enthusiastic 
 is bound to expend some of this energy in physical action. 
 Again, if he has an impression, it will seek expression in 
 some way ; if his thoughts will not form into words readily, 
 this energy is diffused over the body, resulting in the many 
 meaningless and involuntary movements of the body. Why 
 not direct and develop these detracting movements, these 
 useless and undesirable exhibitions of nervousness, and this 
 surplus energy into actions that are mighty auxiliaries to 
 the human voice? 
 
230 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Universality. The fundamental principles of physical 
 expression have been the same for all ages and for all races. 
 Heart throbs have found expression in sculpture and paint- 
 ing, and we read the history of civilization in these silent 
 but unmistakable memorials. Human emotions have but one 
 expression. The leprous beggar in the streets of Damascus 
 holds out his hand in just the same way as does a New York 
 rent collector; and the unfriendly demonstration of a worm- 
 eating Bushman is as easily interpreted as the same inhos- 
 pitable salutation of a Broadway policeman. 
 
 In 1893, the year of the World's Fair in Chicago, a num- 
 ber of Hottentots were brought from Africa. Being unable 
 to find an interpreter who spoke their language, which con- 
 sists of only a few hundred words, they were sent to the 
 Baltimore (Maryland) Deaf and Dumb Asylum. The result 
 is corroborated by reliable authority that the students in 
 the asylum and the savages had little difficulty in under- 
 standing each other, and all engaged in a very animated 
 conversation. 
 
 It is said that a barbarian prince, after seeing a Roman 
 play, begged the Emperor to permit him to take with him 
 the leading actor, as a silent interpreter to the many vis- 
 itors he was obliged to entertain but could not converse with. 
 
 To become a master of this silent coadjutor to the living 
 voice, has been the ambition of every speaker of note 
 throughout the history of the world. 
 
 The Source or Information. Why not present "cut 
 and dried" formulas for every thought and emotion as many 
 elocution manuals try to do, which tell us just where the 
 feet should stand, how the fingers kink, where the palm 
 should land, and when the eyes should blink? Physical ex- 
 pression is not learned in that way. But fine speakers and 
 actors were developed by such systems? Perhaps. But 
 have you ever seen a patent medicine that did not have 
 some "restored" patient who loudly proclaimed the cura- 
 
Physical Expression 231 
 
 tive virtues of the nostrum? 
 
 Physical expression is an art — a fine art, and it can best 
 be taught, like all other arts, not by memorizing rules, but 
 by the sound pedagogical principle of Comenius : "We 
 learn to do by doing." Gesture must be a spontaneous, in- 
 voluntary expression. If too circumscribed and prescribed, 
 it becomes mechanical, affected, and non-expressive. 
 
 But the novice in this art, like the young painter or sculp- 
 tor or musician, must have some guide, some pattern, some 
 aid, some criticism. This is very true. Then how and 
 where may this be obtained? Observe. Study. Learn. 
 Study the works of our great painters and sculptors who 
 have expressed on canvas and in bronze and stone the emo- 
 tional life of the human race. Observe nature, animals, 
 children, men, and women when they express their hear!: 
 throbs, unpolluted and unveneered by the formalities of so- 
 cial conventions. If you wish to study the expression of 
 sorrow, follow a widow to the newly heaped grave of her 
 only son. Would you secure the physical expression of an- 
 ger, study a dog fight or observe the physical expression 
 of two "back-alley brats" settling their disputes by resort- 
 ing to primitive methods; if you desire to know how joy 
 may be objectively expressed, watch the victorious fans at 
 a football game. Delsarte formulated his great principles 
 of physical expression by visiting, not the fashionable boule- 
 vards of Paris, but the poor tenement homes and the hos- 
 pitals where men were dying and where nature comes into 
 her own. 
 
 But many do not have the opportunity to get information 
 first hand, and many more who are already victims of the 
 American hot-house system of education, want a short-cut 
 route to the fundamental principles of this universal lan- 
 guage, and desire definite rules and suggestions to guide 
 them in correcting wrong habits already formed. And, if 
 we seem to be inconsistent and appear to deviate from merely 
 
232 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 stating general principles and suggest a few detailed direc- 
 tions, it is for the purpose of aiding the latter. 
 
 Natural Gestures. Frequently the statement is heard, 
 — gesture naturally. This advice needs modification. Ges- 
 tures must be natural in that they must be spontaneous, 
 and have their origin from a mental desire to call on the 
 body to ara the voice. They must be genuine, for gestures 
 made by rule or by rote will never result in grace, beauty, 
 or effectiveness. On the other hand, since frequently the 
 natural gesture merely follows the line of least resistance, 
 it is usually very awkward and inartistic. It is not nature, 
 but nature perverted. Little children gesture spontaneously 
 and naturally, but seldom gracefully. The shoemaker when 
 making a speech will naturally permit his arms to swing 
 upward and outward — the direction his hands daily take 
 when pulling the thread through the leather. The black- 
 smith will naturally gesture with a measured downward 
 stroke of the clenched fist. A young minister was observed 
 having but one gesture when enthused — his right hand made 
 a short quick pass from right to left in front of his body. 
 It was learned that his early life had been spent in the cot- 
 ton field. The arms of the pugilist take the character of a 
 punch rather than the stroke of the carpenter. Many of 
 the circular, base-ball, full-arm swings of Rev. Billy Sunday 
 will always be a link connecting him to his early profession. 
 Natural gestures are seldom examples of grace and beauty. 
 As in the voice, so with the gesture — if nature is correct, 
 good; if not, proper modifications and changes must be se- 
 cured through training. 
 
 Classification. Numerous classifications of gestures are 
 extant. The following is brief, useful, and comprehensive: 
 
 I. Intellectual. These aid in expressing the thought, 
 and will be considered under 1, Descriptive, 2, Locative, 
 3, Emphatic, and 4, Question. 
 
 II. Emotional. These aid in expressing the emotions, 
 
Physical Expression £33 
 
 primarily, and are sometimes called emotionally-manifestive. 
 There are as many forms as there are distinct and separate 
 emotions that are physically expressive. 
 
 1. Descriptive Action. The use of this gesture is to stim- 
 ulate the imagination, both of the speaker and of the hearer, 
 in more clearly perceiving objects or scenes spoken of, but 
 not present to the view. The first essential is that the pic- 
 ture he describes be very vividly outlined on the canvas of 
 the speaker's own imagination; second, that he be true to 
 this scene, consistent in his delineation; and, third, that it 
 be suggestive and not literal. Each one of these points will 
 bear some amplification. 
 
 You cannot tell what you do not know, express what 
 you do not understand; neither can you portray a scene 
 that is not minutely and distinctly photographed on your 
 own mind. 
 
 Be consistent. Suppose you are describing a battle scene. 
 Do not place the cavalry on top of the infantry, but some- 
 where beyond; and when in the progress of battle, do 
 not have the cavalry on one side charge upon its own in- 
 fantry. Lay the scene, if possible, on the platform a little 
 to your right or left and a little in front of you — at an 
 angle of 45 degrees. Avoid placing your scene in the audi- 
 ence or back of you. If you are following the eagle in its 
 flight, point up and out at the same angle. Scenes that 
 take place at a distance demand that you do not point to 
 them as though they were within three feet of you. Again, 
 do not combine impersonation with description. When you 
 are impersonating some one, you may act as he might 
 under the circumstances, but when you are telling what he 
 did, you must portray the scene at some distance from you, 
 where both your audience and you may look at it. When 
 you call the attention of the audience to an object, your 
 eyes will first move in that direction ; immediately your head, 
 body, and hand must follow your eyes. You must look in 
 
234 Oral Reading and Public Speaking/ 1 
 
 the direction you point, but do not continue to do so ; your 
 eyes must turn back again to the audience. Remember you 
 are speaking to the audience and wish to call their attention 
 to your picture. Your eyes maj^ flit, back and forth a few 
 times between them and your object. In description never 
 call attention to yourself. When you do that, the audience 
 sees you and loses sight of the picture. For example, when 
 describing the flight of an eagle, do not flap your hands 
 as though they were wings and you the bird. The imagina- 
 tion of your hearers will create a better eagle with you out 
 of the picture. Neither do as the boy did, when telling 
 about the mouth of a hydra-headed monster, by pointing 
 to his own mouth. Although telling how Napoleon walked 
 along the banks of the Seine with his hands behind his back, 
 you have not the liberty to play the part of the Emperor 
 by folding your hands behind you. It is possible that our 
 imaginative picture of Napoleon might lose some of its ma- 
 jesty by your impersonation. 
 
 Descriptive gestures should be suggestive. In tracing the 
 history of gestures, we find first what may be called the 
 colossal or effusive age, when gestures were many and elab- 
 orate. Then came the realistic age — the period of realism, 
 when everything was to be true to nature, and every gesture 
 literal. We have now advanced to the suggestive age, 
 when a few waves of the hand are, frequently, all that is 
 needed to present the basic outline of the picture, leaving 
 the details to the imagination of the crowd; like a modern 
 school of painters, who make a few fundamental strokes 
 with their brushes, and behold! a picture is before you. 
 Your imagination has supplied the details. 
 
 Sometimes a scene may be presented in detail by a 
 speaker, making it dramatic and very effective. It is ab- 
 surd, however, to "act out" the literal meaning of figura- 
 tive language. In the statement "Go back with me to the 
 commencement of this century, etc.," do not turn around 
 and point backward. A prospective orator at a recent de- 
 
Physical Expression 235 
 
 clamation contest was observed to trace with his hands the 
 circumference of an imaginary circle parallel with the floor 
 when he recited the words, "He ascended the ladder of fame 
 round by round." When speaking of love, do not place 
 your hand on your heart. 
 
 2. Locative Gestures. These are used to point out or 
 refer to persons or objects that actually may be seen by the 
 audience, or in suggesting geographical directions. For 
 the former, the index finger is appropriate. For the latter, 
 the open hand may be used. Example: "Thou art the 
 man." The index finger would be used. "To the south of 
 us lies Mexico, perhaps the home of the brave, but not 
 the land of the free." Here the open hand would be ap- 
 propriate. 
 
 3. Emphatic Gestures. Gesture for emphasis is most 
 commonly used by the public speaker. It aids the vocal ex- 
 pression by impressing upon the eye as well as. the ear the 
 important parts of a sentence. The essentials are a quick 
 downward stroke of the arm and hand. The length of the 
 stroke depends on the amount of emphasis; it usually does 
 not proceed below the waist line. There should be no re- 
 bound, a habit of many speakers. When you make an em- 
 phatic gesture, do not permit your body to be pulled over 
 to one side. Remain erect. Both hands may be used when 
 great emphasis is desired. If only a few gestures are made, 
 use the right hand only. The Greeks did not use the left 
 hand independently of the right. In fact, the left was merely 
 used as an aid to the right, when used at all. Their form 
 of dress — a cloak thrown loosely over the left shoulder 
 and arm — prevented a free use of this arm for expression. 
 We are not so handicapped. Do not indicate emphasis by 
 pounding the desk or striking the fist of one hand into the 
 palm of the other. "Let your moderation be known unto 
 all men." 
 
 4. Question Gestures. Frequently a rhetorical question 
 
£36 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 or a direct question is asked of the audience. The desired 
 gesture is made by extending the right hand or both hands 
 as you would if you were asking for the loan of a dollar 
 and expected to get it. The palm of the hand should be 
 up and the gesture should be completed on the important 
 word of the question, usually the last word. The appeal 
 is a modification of this gesture, often made with both hands. 
 
 Emotional Gestures. These express the feelings and 
 emotions of the individual .; their office is "the revelation of 
 hidden meanings." Words feebly express emotions, yet this 
 important mental condition must be expressed in some way. 
 
 Your first expressive gesture was a smile, in response to 
 a smile that was just as sweet. It was an expression of 
 contentment, of satisfaction with your early environment. 
 From that day to this you have daily made manifest the 
 emotional life within you. Now, you lowered your eye- 
 brows, pulled down the corners of your mouth, pressed 
 your teeth tightly together, doubled up your fists, took 
 one step forward — to show to your friends that you were 
 angry. At another time, your eyebrows were raised, your 
 eyes were opened wide, your mouth ajar, your hands partly 
 raised, your body bent backward — to express your great 
 surprise or astonishment. 
 
 On or off the platform you are continually exhibiting 
 your moods and feelings ; and doing it more truthfully than 
 with your tongue. You may say you are brave, but the 
 trembling lip, the quaking knee, the haunted eye, the ner- 
 vous step, — prove that you are not brave. We often read 
 where young maidens when asked if they loved, said, "No," 
 with their lips, but their eyes said, "Yes." 
 
 On the platform you cannot fool an audience. You may 
 say you are sincere, in earnest, and deeply concerned; but 
 unless you really are, insincerity and indifference speak 
 from every muscle of your body, and far more loudly than 
 your words. When you are really sad, you will naturally 
 
Physical Expression 237 
 
 take on the physical signs, or external manifestation. No 
 one needs to tell you how to twist your mouth or curl your 
 nose. Nature will take care of that, if you will permit her 
 to do so. Again, it is important to note that the rule 
 works the other way. If you wish to be sad, assume the 
 physical attitude, and you will soon feel the emotion. In 
 a dark night, just start to run and imagine something 
 is after you, and see how long it will be until you feel 
 frightened. 
 
 General Principles. I. From Within Out. All ges- 
 tures must have their impulse in the mind. Never permit 
 yourself to "beat the air" or go through all kinds of con- 
 tortions in a vain attempt to express what you do not un- 
 derstand or feel. You must want to gesture. Any gesture 
 stuck into a speech at regular intervals because your 
 teacher told you to do so, is artificial, unnatural, ineffec- 
 tive, and never reinforces the delivery. However, slight im- 
 pulses should at times be encouraged and developed into a 
 graceful coadjutor to delivery. 
 
 II. Gestures Should Be Made from the Chest as a Center. 
 The impulse must originate in the mind, and as it struggles 
 for expression through the hand, it must travel through 
 the shoulder, arm, wrist, hand, fingers, consecutively. This 
 impulse should be observed to pass as a wave along the arm. 
 Again, the gesture is made outward, not toward the chest; 
 also, downward and upward from the chest. 
 
 III. The Curve Is the Line of Grace and Beauty. Avoid 
 angular movements. The preparatory movements should 
 always be in a curved line. The downward stroke of the 
 emphatic gesture may be quite direct. The stroke departs 
 from the curve and approximates the straight line in pro- 
 portion to the force of the gesture used. Avoid the pump- 
 handle movement of the arm and an inflexible wrist. Do not 
 extend your arms at right angles to your body, like a 
 clothes rack. 
 
238 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 IV. A Gesture Either Precedes or Accompanies the Vocal 
 Expression. Descriptive and locative gestures usually pre- 
 cede the vocal expression. Example : "I bid you, Go !" 
 The force of the gesture is increased if the finger points 
 to the open door prior to the utterance of the word "Go." 
 The added force is the result of the mental suspense. The 
 emphatic and the question gestures are usually given simul- 
 taneously with the vocal utterance, since they are only 
 auxiliaries to the voice. 
 
 V. Every Part of the Body Must Act Harmoniously. The 
 eye must not say one thing and the hands another and the 
 feet something else. Neither can one part act alone. Each 
 division of the body must play its part in every gesture 
 no matter how trivial. You cannot stand like a drunkard 
 and look and speak like a king. The width of your "base" 
 must be in proportion to the scope of your gesture. 
 
 The Mechanics of Gesture. There are three parts to 
 most gestures: I. the Preparation, II. the Execution, and 
 III. the Return. These divisions are best explained by 
 taking an example: "They were souls that stood alone." 
 In wishing to emphasize the word "alone," with a downward 
 stroke, the preparation consists in first conceiving the idea ; 
 the entire body must join the hand in preparing for this 
 gesture. As the impulse travels down the arm, the arm 
 takes on life at the shoulder; the elbow is bent, the fore- 
 arm curves slightly inward and moves upward, the wrist 
 leading; the hand, with fingers slightly curved, is raised 
 about on the level with the head. This is the preparation. 
 The execution comes with a quick, straight downward 
 stroke, until the hand is on a level with the waist line. In 
 this stroke the wrist stiffens and the entire arm becomes 
 quite rigid. The impulse goes out through the fingers, 
 which straighten out. This final ictus, or kick, of the fin- 
 gers must not be omitted. Remember that the impulse is 
 to be sent out to the audience, and not lodged in the elbow 
 
Physical Expression 239 
 
 or wrist, with a resulting- lifeless hand. The hand should 
 be opened toward the audience, — palm, thumb, and fingers 
 — neither perpendicularly nor horizontally, neither rigid 
 nor lifeless. In the return the muscles of the arm and wrist 
 are relaxed and the arm falls back to the side of the body 
 in a natural position. The return must not show a "lifeless" 
 arm. It must not fall so as to slap against the side of the 
 body, and jingle the keys or coins in your pocket. 
 
 The preparation should be slow and begin on the first 
 word, "They," and rise until the word "stood" is reached. 
 There will be an emphatic pause before the word "alone" ; 
 during this pause the hand must be poised in the air ; in the 
 execution of the stroke the word "alone" is spoken with em- 
 phasis. 
 
 The question gesture is made in about the same way ex- 
 cept that the arm is not raised on high and the hand is 
 turned supine while being extended. These gestures are not 
 easy in execution and require much practice to attain grace 
 and ease. 
 
 Time well the preparation. Most novices begin too soon 
 and raise the hand too rapidly. There should be no "re- 
 bound" on the stroke. One gesture can often be used as 
 a preparation for a second. Thus one gesture may be made 
 to glide into another. Seldom should the arm or hand re- 
 main suspended in the air for any length of time. Keep 
 your hands in motion or let them hang quietly by your side. 
 
 The preparation is important and is in itself significant. 
 Roosevelt, in using this gesture, slowly raises his hand above 
 his head, making a long preparation ; and during this period 
 the audience is holding its breath because that hand must 
 come down, and it usually does very forcefully upon some 
 very important and emphatic phrase. 
 
 Planes of Gestures. Three horizontal planes are usu- 
 ally recognized: I. Elevated plane with the head as the 
 center; II. the Horizontal plane with the chest as the cen- 
 
240 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 ter; and III. the Downward plane with the waist line as the 
 center. 
 
 Vertically, nearly all the gestures should be made midway 
 between the front and side. The question gesture is made 
 more dirjectly in front. 
 
 On the Platform. You are seated on the platform, or, 
 perchance, you may be called from the audience. In either 
 case, the moment you rise from your seat, you begin to 
 speak — with your body. It is possible that while still seated 
 upon the platform, you expressed your personality; and 
 impressed the audience favorably or prejudiced them, 
 against you. Sit erect in your chair, feet flat upon the 
 floor, knees close together. Do not show the soles of your 
 shoes to your audience. Gentlemen may put one knee over 
 the other, but not the ankle of one foot on top of the knee 
 of the other leg. Practice getting out of your chair grace- 
 fully. Usually just after rising, make a slight bow to the 
 presiding officer and at the same time say, "Mr. Chairman." 
 The chairman remains standing until he has acknowledged 
 your salutation. Should the chairman call you to the plat- 
 form from the audience, it is sometimes best not to address 
 the chair until after you are in position to speak. 
 
 Walk easily, spiritedly, and quietly to the center of the 
 stage, and, ordinarily, stop when about three feet from the 
 front edge. Do not walk in a straight line, but curve 
 slightly inward, so as to approach the front of the stage 
 directly from the rear. Guard against overdoing the curve. 
 Do not march like a soldier on parade, nor, cat-like, tiptoe 
 to your position. 
 
 You are standing before the audience; shall you bow? 
 Not unless you are a celebrity and you are greeted with 
 "prolonged and enthusiastic applause." When the 'applause 
 ceases, or if there is no applause, as soon as you find your- 
 self in a position to speak, wait a second, take a good, deep 
 breath (it will relieve your embarrassment), and take a good 
 
Physical Expression 241 
 
 look at your audience. Stand erect, chest out, head up, 
 hands hanging loosely by your side, one foot slightly in 
 advance of the other — and you are ready to say, "Ladies 
 and Gentlemen," in a pure, clear, deliberate, intelligent and 
 respectful manner. Never begin speaking before you are in 
 position. Always face your audience squarely. Do not 
 present a side view. Avoid turning your head from side 
 to side without turning your entire body, including your 
 feet. Avoid keeping your feet still and swaying your body 
 from side to side, like a little school girl who swings her 
 body in unison with the rhythm of her selection. This sway- 
 ing is encouraged when neither foot is in advance of the 
 other. Do not shift too often, neither should you stand 
 like a wooden Indian before a cigar store. When you come 
 to a transition in your thought, indicate this by changing 
 your position. If your right foot is in advance of the left, 
 step forward with your left foot, or step backward with 
 your right. One step is usually sufficient. Take two steps 
 for a very important transition. Your weight should be 
 on your rear foot when delivering unemotional matter, but 
 when you become in earnest always move your weight to 
 the front foot. 
 
 When addressing the right half of the audience, it is well 
 to face the far corner of the room. Your right foot should 
 be in advance of the left and you will gesture with your 
 right hand or with both hands. When in this position, 
 never gesture toward the left half of the audience. This 
 compels the right hand to cross in front of the body and 
 also makes you twist your body, presenting a side view to 
 the audience. 
 
 Do not hang on one hip, leaning over like a tired horse. 
 Avoid raising both heels from the floor at the same time, 
 or bending your ankle and standing on the edge of your 
 foot. The most difficult task the young speaker has to 
 accomplish is to keep his hands in view of the audience. 
 His feet seem to him conspicuous enough ; but his hands ! 
 
242 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 He just must do something with them, so he puts them in 
 his pockets, behind his back, folds them in front of him, 
 twists the lapel of his coat, or his watch chain — instead of 
 letting them fall where the attraction of gravity will take 
 them. 
 
 It has been well said that no man can consider himself 
 a speaker until he can stand still. Stand quiet until the 
 motion of your body directly aids your vocal expression ; 
 and when that time comes, do not give a "hunch" with your 
 shoulder, or a jerk with your hand, but let that impulse 
 develop into a graceful and helpful gesture. 
 
 The number of gestures depends on your temperament, 
 your earnestness and the nature of the thought or feeling 
 you desire to express. But by all means seek a variety of 
 gestures. Do not use the same one a number of times in 
 succession. 
 
 Your action should not be so distinctively individualistic 
 and eccentric as to identify you whenever you speak. 
 
 Do not pace the platform,. Those who do, have the ap- 
 pearance of a tiger trying to get out of his cage. But if 
 you find it necessary to take a few steps, be sure that it is 
 done while you are speaking, or "walk on .the lines" as the 
 actors say ; but do not take your eyes from the audience to 
 look where you step. Do not lean on the desk beside you. 
 But it is permissible to rest lightly one or both hands on 
 a table or desk when it gives you a "restful" appearance. 
 
 If you want your coat buttoned, attend to it before you 
 get on the platform; and do not change your mind about 
 it after you begin speaking. If you must use your hand- 
 kerchief, take it from your pocket or from the desk while 
 you are speaking, calling as little attention to it as possible. 
 Remember that any motion that does not directly aid you 
 detracts from your effectiveness. 
 
 When you have completed your speech, make a slight bow 
 to your audience and quietly resume your seat. 
 
Physical Expression 243 
 
 A Closing Word. Some will say that all such minute 
 directions are nonsense. "If I have anything to say, I get 
 up and say it; and if I must remember all the mechanical 
 rules suggested while on the platform, I couldn't think of 
 anything to say." That is the greatest deception on the 
 American platform to-day. Students appear before the 
 public to speak before they have mastered the first principle 
 of public speaking, and some even think themselves adepts. 
 The same logic would place before a suffering public young 
 musicians before they had mastered their first lesson on 
 the piano, or before they could sing the scale. Usually in 
 music we are willing to drill upon fundamental technique 
 until it becomes automatic, until our fingers unconsciously 
 go to the right key as soon as the eye sees the note. He 
 who desires to become a speaker, must master the simple 
 rules of the platform and practice them until they become 
 automatic ; and when he has done that, he is ready to devote 
 all his time to the thought side of his speech and his action 
 on the platform will be properly performed ; and he will then 
 be on the right road to becoming a successful speaker. If 
 you could see yourself, while on the stage, as others see you, 
 you would be more willing to improve your physical ex- 
 pression. 
 
 The intellectual gestures, which are more mechanical than 
 the emotional, may well be practiced before a mirror for the 
 attainment of graceful and effective movements. Delsarte, 
 physical culture, gymnastic exercise, are valuable to prac- 
 tice in your room, to make your body more flexible, grace- 
 ful, and powerful; but do not impose these physical calis- 
 thenics upon the audience while speaking. 
 
 After all, the training of students in physical expression 
 should, for the most part, be negative. Tell them what to 
 avoid — what not to do. Direct their movements ; do not 
 create them. Ideal bodily expression is suggested in the 
 lines ; 
 
244 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 "His pure and eloquent blood 
 Spoke in his cheek, and, so distinctly wrought, 
 That one might almost say his body thought." 
 
 CALISTHENICS PREPARATORY TO GESTURE 
 
 I. Stand erect, chest prominent, body in easy poise. 
 
 II. Dangle the hands, and shake the arms freely from 
 the shoulders (a) at the side; (b) held horizontally in front, 
 and (c) horizontally at the side. 
 
 III. Rotate the body on the hip-joints, letting the arms 
 and hands swing freely. Begin slowly, turning the trunk 
 and head as much as possible, then gradually accelerate 
 until the movement is as rapid and energetic as possible. 
 
 IV. Raise the upper arm slowly, the forearm and hand 
 trailing. Now unfold the arm and hand by consciously vital- 
 izing in turn the forearm, wrist, palm, fingers, the hand 
 opening at about the level of the hips and midway between 
 the front and side. Practice this with the right arm and 
 hand, then the left, then both together. 
 
 V. The same as No. IV, except that the hands are to be 
 unfolded at about the level of the shoulders. 
 
 VI. Practice the foregoing unfolding movement, first 
 with one arm and hand, and then with both together, the 
 hands unfolding directly in front at first ; then, in succession, 
 during five or six repetitions, end the movement at varying 
 angles between the front and the side. 
 
 VII. Move your arm and hand up and down, your wrist 
 preceding, letting your hand and fingers bend as the hair of 
 a brush when painting. 
 
 VIII. Imagine you are raising a pound ball held in the 
 palm of the hand; raise it to a level with the head, then cast 
 it down, letting it roll out of the palm and over the fingers. 
 
 IX. Practice turning from side to side. First turn your 
 eyes to the right, then turn your face in that direction, step 
 back with the right foot and as you do so swing your body 
 toward the right and at the same time turn the left heel 
 
Physical Expression 245 
 
 outward. 
 
 X. Turn toward the left in a similar manner. 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR DRILL IN MECHANICS OF GESTURE 
 
 I. Descriptive Gesture: 
 
 1. The hawk swooped down to the ground and carried away a 
 little chick. 
 
 2. Two armies were encamped on opposite sides of the river. 
 The. Federals here., the Constitutionalists, there. A mile down 
 the river was a lake. Overhead the sun looked down on the silver 
 stream as it flowed peacefully towards its goal. 
 
 3. I had rather have lived in a hut with the vines growing 
 over the door and the grapes growing purple in the kisses of the 
 autumn sun, with my loving wife knitting by my side as the day 
 died out of the sky. 
 
 Happiness and Liberty. Ingersoll. 
 
 4. The assassin enters, through the window already prepared, 
 into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces the 
 lonely hall half-lighted by the moon. He winds up the ascent of 
 the stairs and reaches the door of the chamber. He enters and 
 beholds his victim before him. The face of the innocent sleeper 
 is turned from the murderer, and the beams of the moon, resting 
 on the gray locks of the aged temples, show him where to strike. 
 The fatal blow is given. The murderer retreats, retraces his 
 steps to the window, passes out through it as he came in, and 
 escapes. 
 
 The White Murder Trial. Webster. 
 
 5. She cut his bonds. He stood upright, looked round with 
 ,a laugh of wild exultation, clapped his hands together, sprang 
 
 from the ground as if in transport on finding himself at liberty. 
 He looked so wild that Jeanie trembled at what she had done. 
 
 "Let me out," said the young savage. 
 
 "I wanna, unless you promise — " 
 
 "Then I'll make you glad to let us both out." 
 
 He seized the lighted candle and threw it among the flax, 
 which was instantly in a flame. Jeanie screamed and ran out of 
 the room; the prisoner rushed passed her, threw open a window 
 in the passage, jumped into the garden, sprang over its inclosure, 
 bounded through the woods like a deer, and gained the seashore. 
 
246 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Meantime, the fire was extinguished; but the prisoner was sought 
 in vain. 
 
 The Heart of Midlothian. Scott. 
 
 6. The dog now aroused himself and sat on his haunches, his 
 ears moving quickly backward and forwards. He kept his eyes 
 fixed on me with a look so strange that he concentrated all my 
 attention to himself. Slowly he rose up, all his hair bristling, 
 and stood perfectly rigid, and with the same wild stare. I had 
 no time, however, to examine the dog. Presently my servant 
 emerged from his room; and if I ever saw horror in the human 
 face, it was then. He passed by me quickly, saying, in a whis- 
 per, "Run, run ! it is after me !" He gained the door to the land- 
 ing, pulled it open, and rushed forth. I followed him into the 
 landing involuntarily, calling him to stop; but, without heeding 
 me, he bounded down the stairs, clinging to the banisters, and 
 taking several steps at a time. I heard, where I stood, the street 
 door open, — heard it clap to. I was left alone in the haunted 
 house. 
 
 The Haunted and the Haunters. • Poe. 
 
 7. A granite cliff on either shore: 
 
 A highway poised in air; 
 Above the wheels of traffic roar; 
 Below, the fleets sail fair; — 
 
 And in and out, forever more, 
 
 The surging tides of ocean pour, 
 And past the towers the white gulls soar, 
 And winds the sea-clouds bear. 
 The Brooklyn Bridge. Proctor. 
 
 8. "And now depart! and when 
 
 Thy heart is heavy, and thine eyes are dim, 
 Lift up thy prayer beseechingly to Him 
 
 Who, from the tribes of men, ( . 
 
 Selected thee to feel his chastening rod, 
 Depart! O leper! and forget not God!" 
 The Leper. Willis. 
 
 II. Locative Gesture: 
 
 1. Go! you will find the door open. 
 
 2. I mean you, and you, and you. 
 
 3. Do you see the bird on that twig? 
 
Physical Expression 247 
 
 4. The South is the land of promise. 
 
 5. Thou art the man. 
 
 III". Emphatic Gesture: 
 
 1. I demand to know the truth. 
 
 2. Jack, you are not my friend. 
 
 3. I love him because he is truthful. 
 
 4. I will never stoop to conquer. 
 
 5. "Too low they build who build beneath the stars." 
 
 6. "This restless world is full of chances." 
 
 7. "My answer will be a blow." 
 
 8. "The motive is unworthy." 
 
 9. "Truth gives wings to strength." 
 
 10. "Trust men and they will be true to you." 
 
 IV. Question Gesture: 
 
 1. Must I stand here and beg? 
 
 2. Is wisdom better than rubies? 
 
 3. Is wisdom the principal thing? 
 
 4. Have I not proved this proposition ? 
 
 5. Must I lend you a dollar? 
 
 V. Emotional Gesture: 
 
 1. Let a number of students get on the stage and look in- 
 tently at some object. Have criticisms come from the class. 
 
 2. Bring to the class a written report of your observa- 
 tions of the "foot work" of some speaker. 
 
 8. Observe a group of children playing. Imitate before 
 the class the physical expression of some one child and have 
 the class determine the mood illustrated. 
 
 4. Have each student in turn express bodily certain gen- 
 eral types of emotions, as : Joy, Grief, Love, Hate, Cour- 
 age, Fear, Hope, Despair, Defiance, Anger, Surprise. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FORMS OF PUBLIC ADDRESS 
 
 Numerous and varied have been the classifications of pub- 
 lic addresses. The classification here used is both historic 
 and psychologic. Public speech is primarily a mental pro- 
 cess — one mind must influence other minds. The method 
 employed is largely dependent on the purpose of the ad- 
 dress : what is the main object of the speaker in making 
 the speech ? And this chief purpose must never be lost sight 
 of by the speaker. The speaker may desire I. to give in- 
 formation ; II. to arouse the emotions ; III. to move men to 
 action; or to make a choice; or IV. a combination of these 
 purposes. 
 
 I. The Essay. This form of public speaking is primar- 
 ily intellectual. It is that form of public address wherein 
 is used such material, style of composition, and manner of 
 delivery as will convey best to the minds of the listeners the 
 information the speaker has to impart. The purpose is to 
 convince. The essay is usually read from a manuscript, 
 however, the purpose of the address, not the manner of de- 
 livery, determines its classification. It may be 1. descrip- 
 tive, 2. expository, 3. narrative, or 4. argumentative. It is 
 descriptive when it delineates the attributes of an object 
 with respect to some one period of time. It is a vocal pho- 
 tograph. The description may be so vivid, so artistic as to 
 arouse various emotions and actions ; but that is a secondary 
 effect, not a primary purpose. It is narrative when it re- 
 lates the succession of events. The purpose is to tell what 
 happened. It is expository when some subject is outlined 
 
 248 
 
Forms of Public Address £49 
 
 and developed. It formulates a logical definition, describing 
 its limitations, and is usually applied to some abstract sub- 
 ject. Exposition explains and teaches. It is argumen- 
 tative when its aim is to take certain facts and principles 
 to discover other facts and principles not yet known. It 
 is a process of reasoning used to convince the mind of the 
 truth or falsity of a certain proposition. Argumentation 
 is the process of reaching out after the unknown, a search 
 after the truth. The evidence used, the process employed, 
 and the resulting conclusion or inference is called proof. 
 The argumentative essay usually will have for its introduc- 
 tion a definition of terms, a history of the question under 
 discussion, and the partition or general divisions. The body 
 consists of an outline of the merits and demerits of the prop- 
 osition. The conclusion should state the writer's final con- 
 victions in the matter and a brief summary of the points 
 which determined his decision, or the conclusion he has 
 reached after a thorough and impartial investigation. 
 
 The argumentative essay is not unlike a debate, but both 
 sides usually are presented by the writer. Remember when 
 writing an essay always to have a definite audience or a 
 particular class of readers in mind. In Part III of this 
 volume will be found some examples of the essay type of 
 address. 
 
 II. The Oration. The purpose of the oration is to move 
 the will. When the will is stimulated, it functions in two 
 ways — through action and by choosing. The orator's duty 
 is not completed when he has convinced his hearers or 
 aroused their emotions : he must persuade them to act or 
 make a decision. Now, the will is moved through the me- 
 dium of the emotions ; the emotions are excited by ideas 
 operating on the mind. Any idea clearly, concisely and 
 fully comprehended by the intellect awakens in the indi- 
 vidual certain emotions which correspond to that idea. 
 When the emotions dominate the will, expression of the idea 
 
250 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 is attempted if possible; if an objective expression is not 
 possible at that time, a resolution is formed to carry out 
 that impulse at some future time. Thus we see that the 
 oratorical process is indirect, intricate, and difficult. 
 
 The definite means employed by the orator will be dis- 
 cussed in other chapters. But it should be borne clearly 
 in mind that the presentation of a convincing array of 
 facts, the portrayal of vivid pictures, the tapping of the 
 fountains of the emotions, the swaying of the crowd from 
 joy to tears, from tears to joy, from anger to humility, 
 from humility to anger, adding fuel to fire, compelling the 
 crowd to see but one definite picture and to feel one definite 
 emotion at a time, until the cumulative effect is manifested 
 in positive voluntary action, — this is the task of the orator. 
 All this and nothing less. "Oratory," says Beecher, "is 
 the art of influencing conduct with truth sent home by all 
 the resources of the living man." There is, perhaps, no bet- 
 ter model of oratory, also illustrating the sequel of a success- 
 ful effort in this field, than the funeral oration of Mark 
 Antony over the body of Julius Caesar. About all the "re- 
 sources of the living man" were utilized, and the result proved 
 the wisdom of the means employed when the mob, overwhelmed 
 by the single idea of revenge, carried out the wishes of the 
 orator. 
 
 Suggested Outline. First of all, when you attempt to 
 write an oration, do not write an essay ; remember that an 
 oration appeals to the will through the emotions, and that 
 it is not primarily argumentative. In writing an essay, you 
 describe, narrate, or explain; in a debate, you argue, prove, 
 and convince; but when you deliver an oration, you assert 
 and persuade. Remember, again, that the orator is a leader, 
 and as such the people have confidence in him ; that when 
 a statement is made, it is presumed that the orator has 
 thought out the whole problem, considered all sides of the 
 question, and is now giving the result of his deliberation; 
 and the audience does not care to be carried through all the 
 
Forms of Public Address • 251 
 
 diverse and devious ways along which the speaker himself 
 passed to arrive at the conviction which he now holds, but 
 is ready to listen to his conclusions. 
 
 Subject. An oration should be written upon some fun- 
 damental and universal subject, some theme which will move 
 men to action. You can write an essay on "Radium," 
 "Flying Machines," etc. ; but for an oration you want a 
 subject like "Child Labor," or "The Influence of the 
 Mother." It must be some phase of Duty, Happiness, or 
 Virtue. If you write on a subject like "Robert E. Lee," 
 be careful not to make it biographical. Your oration for 
 contest purposes should be typical, and therefore should 
 be patterned after the other forms of orations. 
 
 The model oration must have an appropriate introduc- 
 tion, in length about one-tenth of the entire production. 
 It may be a general statement bearing directly on the theme, 
 or it may present an interesting, graphic picture germane 
 to the subject. In this the oration and essay differ little. 
 
 The body of the oration, about eight times the length of 
 the introduction, should be divided into two parts: 1. the 
 problem, 2. the solution. The problem deals with some 
 present need, something which formerly existed or which 
 should now be changed, some wrong that should be righted. 
 It presents a dark picture, and the blacker this can be 
 painted the better. The solution solves the problem ; ex- 
 plains the remedy for the past or present ills. It portrays 
 a bright picture, the whiter the better. The conclusion is 
 an appeal to the audience to accept the orator's solution 
 of the problem. 
 
 To illustrate: Suppose* the subject is "George Washing- 
 ton." The introduction will dwell on heroes, the value of 
 great men, etc. ; or, perhaps, will present a picture of a 
 young surveyor, or a description of a vine-clad mansion 
 on a Virginia plantation. Since the purpose of an intro- 
 duction is to gain the good will of the audience and to 
 arouse interest, the particular type is not essential. The 
 
252 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 problem might narrate the critical political situation of 
 the Colonists at the beginning of the American Revolution, 
 and the dangers threatening the new Federation. The so- 
 lution would explain how Washington solved this problem, 
 overcame the existing evils, and became a mighty factor in 
 establishing the United States, discussing especially such 
 traits of Washington as were exercised in solving the prob- 
 lems before him. The conclusion would be an appeal to the 
 audience to accept the judgment of the orator in his selec- 
 tion of those characteristics, and an encouragement to 
 cultivate similar virtues in solving their own problems. 
 
 Again, "An Unknown Hero." Problem: The awful con- 
 dition of the lepers on Molokai Island, and their need of a 
 friend. Solution: Father Damien's sacrifice in going to 
 their assistance and ameliorating their condition. Conclu- 
 sion: "Go thou and do likewise" to fellow-beings in distress, 
 and exercise the virtues of the Unknown Hero. 
 
 Again, take some social, economical, or political subject; 
 as, "Modern Moloch." Problem: Frightful condition of 
 child labor. Solution : Equal suffrage, or Socialism, or any 
 other remedy which may seem adequate. Conclusion: Vote 
 right, or apply the remedy suggested. 
 
 Time usually permits of but one big problem and one 
 appropriate solution. There can be no fixed ratio relative 
 to the problem and solution. Sometimes the problem is 
 by far the more important; sometimes the problem may 
 almost be conceded ; it may be an evil so prominent that it 
 is universally recognized and admitted, hence should be 
 touched on lightly. Again, the solution may often be granted 
 if the problem is manifest. However, an appropriate prob- 
 lem and adequate solution must always be in evidence in 
 some degree. 
 
 Since an oration is designed to persuade the hearer to 
 perform some act, there must necessarily be something to 
 be changed. The will is not stimulated to activity without 
 an incentive. The audience must be made conscious that 
 
Forms of Public Address -. £53 
 
 present conditions are not satisfactory. But this is not 
 sufficient. A reasonable remedy must be advanced or the 
 will still refuses to act. The appeal must strike home ; to 
 be effective, it must be made as personal as possible. 
 
 Read carefully the oration in Part III of this book en- 
 titled "The Field of Conflict," by James F. Rippy. 
 
 Orations may be given the following subdivisions : 
 
 1. Forensic. The term "forensic" comes from the Latin 
 "forensis," the forum, or market place; the court-room 
 where every Roman could speak in defense of himself or his 
 friend. It is usually an attempt to arrive at some conclu- 
 sion concerning facts that have occurred in the past. Hence 
 it is often called the oratory of the bar, and is to some de- 
 gree argumentative in character. However, it is the pur- 
 pose of the lawyer to persuade the jury or judge to vote 
 in favor of his client. The final result is immediate action. 
 Study in this connection Daniel Webster's "Jury Address" 
 and Robert Emmett's "Vindication." 
 
 Formal debating, separately. treated in Chapter IX, is a 
 special form of forensic oratory and has for a long time 
 been recognized as a very important phase of public speak- 
 ing. It is an intellectual battle, and most of our great 
 speakers received their early training in debating societies. 
 
 2. Deliberative. The oratory of the assembly. Any 
 speech made with the purpose of inducing an audience to 
 accept or reject a given policy for the future may be called 
 a deliberative speech. This includes not only speeches made 
 in congressional and parliamentary assemblies, but in all 
 deliberative bodies such as synods, conferences, and other 
 public meetings. Examples : "Freedom or Slavery," by 
 Patrick Henry ; and ' "Gettysburg Address," by Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 3. Pulpit. This is the oratory of the Church. More 
 sermons are delivered in the United States in a week than 
 
254 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 any other form of public address. Most of the preaching 
 to-day is expository in outline; but most of the evangelical 
 sermons follow this plan. That is, "Christ" is the subject 
 for each sermon. After an appropriate introduction some 
 form of sin is the theme, which is the problem. After this 
 has been denounced in no uncertain terms, the solution is 
 advanced. Christ came to save men from sin. In the con- 
 clusion we have an appeal to the audience to accept the so- 
 lution to the problem ; and they are urged to receive Christ 
 into their own lives to cleanse them from their sins. Ex- 
 amples : "The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them," by 
 Phillips Brooks. 
 
 4. Demonstrative, or Occasional, includes a miscella- 
 neous group of public address dealing with affairs of the 
 present time. The principal subdivisions are: A. Eulogy, 
 B. Commemorative Address, C. Political or Campaign 
 Speech, D. Short Address, or informal "talks," and E. 
 After-Dinner Speech. For illustrative examples, see Part 
 III. 
 
 A. The Eulogy. This is a very common form of address. 
 Be careful that the eulogies are not made too biographical. 
 They are in the main a recount of such qualities of a great 
 man as served to make him famous. Remember that the 
 general setting or the atmosphere of the Eulogy must har- 
 monize with the occasion. Death is an occasion for kind 
 words and lofty, reverential ideas. Your style need not be 
 direct nor commonplace, but should be chaste, lofty, and 
 beautiful. 
 
 B. The Commemorative Address. These occasional ad- 
 dresses are very popular and sometimes quite formal. Un- 
 der this heading may be grouped the following divisions : 
 
 a. Anniversaries. Commemorating such events as birth- 
 days of great men, noted battles, important discoveries, na- 
 tional holidays, etc. 
 
Forms of Public Address 255 
 
 b. Dedications. These addresses are given at the laying 
 of the corner stone of buildings, celebrating the completion 
 of a church, a monument, or a hall, etc. 
 
 c. Unveilings. These are occasioned by the presenta- 
 tion of a statue, a fountain, or a painting, to the public or 
 to some organization. 
 
 d. Commencement Address. This is a very familiar 
 form of public address delivered to graduating classes and 
 their friends. 
 
 e. Miscellaneous Types. Speeches of Welcome, of Fare- 
 well, of Introduction, of Acceptation, Nomination, and 
 many other forms may be enumerated. 
 
 The style of composition does not differ greatly from that 
 used in the Eulogy. The diction should be exalted, and in 
 keeping with the occasion. Two main lines of thought are 
 usually followed, (1) An exposition or a narration of the 
 events, and (2) An estimate of the significance and impor- 
 tance of the occasion. Illustrative types may be found in 
 Part III. 
 
 C. The Political Speech. This form is familiar to every 
 boy and girl. It is the "stump" speech heard with biennial 
 regularity. The purpose is to secure the votes of the peo- 
 ple at the next election. Since the election does not take 
 place at the close of the speech, this form is more argu- 
 mentative than sermons or most jury addresses. Though 
 appeals to the emotions are not lacking, vivid pictures fade 
 as days pass by ; but good, sound reasoning, plain, solid 
 facts invite thought and stand the test of time. It enables 
 the voter to compare the arguments advanced by the vari- 
 ous candidates at his leisure. If the voter is a man of 
 judgment and not too biased, he must eventually decide 
 to vote for the man presenting the most plausible argument, 
 and not for the "barn stormer" and the "spellbinder." The 
 following illustration from an article in the Reader Maga- 
 zine, by Mr. Herbert Quick, in October, 1907, needs no 
 comment : 
 
£56 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 This "natural orator" [speaking of a gubernatorial campaign 
 in Georgia] was the handsome, eloquent, convivial, jovial, and 
 kind-hearted lieutenant governor, Dr. R. M. Cunningham, who 
 challenged Mr. Comer to a joint debate, and fared as did the 
 first opponent of Tom Johnson, of Cleveland, in Johnson's first 
 campaign. In both cases it was a spellbinder against the man 
 with the bludgeon of facts. Dr. Cunningham felt at once that 
 new standards of discussion had been set up. His eloquent trib- 
 utes to the beauty of Alabama's women and the chivalry of her 
 sons were as fine as heart could wish. Comer stuck to freight 
 rates. Cunningham cried out in polished periods for good 
 roads. Everybody is for good roads, said Comer, but how about 
 the pass evil and the lobby? Cunningham drew tears as he 
 spoke for the "old veterans." Comer replied that he was one 
 of them, while Cunningham was not; but how about reciprocal 
 demurrage? Then Cunningham came over to Comer's platform, 
 and demanded more reform than did Comer. Comer, clinging 
 to his man like a bulldog, replied that this was unconstitutional 
 nonsense. Gradually it dawned on the spellbinder that some- 
 thing was walking remorselessly over him, trampling out his 
 political life, and that the something was Braxton Bragg Comer, 
 the man who could not make a speech. Comer carried sixty of 
 the sixty-seven counties of the state, and won by twenty thou- 
 sand votes. 
 
 D. The Short Address. Many informal talks are made 
 every day — five- or ten-minute speeches. These, as a rule, 
 have no introduction and no formal conclusion. The ob- 
 ject is to present in as brief and succinct a manner as pos- 
 sible some one point. These short speeches have become of 
 the utmost importance in our busy life. Legislation is 
 decided in committee rooms, not on the floor of our legisla- 
 tive halls. So important, indeed, is this type of address that 
 the next chapter treats of it exclusively. 
 
 E. After-Dinner Speeches. If you are going to take a 
 leading part in the community in which you live you fre- 
 quently will be called upon to give an after-dinner speech. 
 
 To give a speech of this character is no easy task. Study 
 carefully some good after-dinner addresses. Henry W. 
 Grady, Mark Twain, and Henry Van Dyke are good speak- 
 
Forms of Public Address 257 
 
 ers to follow. 
 
 It is presumed by all on such an occasion that everybody 
 is contented, happy, and in a jovial mood. Do not preach 
 to your hearers. They expect to be entertained and amused. 
 They do not care to do any hard thinking. So give them 
 something light and diverting, but do not be silly. Many 
 begin with a story. Some end with a story; some have 
 nothing but stories all the way through. Suppose you vary 
 this program a little. Begin without a story. You might 
 have a few appropriate ones to illustrate a point now and 
 then, but be sure they are not too familiar. Nothing else 
 that you can say would be quite so complete a failure as to 
 have your speech filled with stories that everybody knows. 
 A good story is not easy to find, and very difficult to tell 
 successfully. Watch the magazines and newspapers for 
 good jokes; keep a number on tap; they will be of great 
 service to you as a speaker on various occasions. 
 
 Though you do not want to give anything heavy at such 
 a time, do, by all means, say something worth while; but 
 tell it in a pleasing way. To speak briefly, to make a good 
 point, to be entertaining, are the essentials of a good after- 
 dinner speech. 
 
 5. Contest Orations. These orations are so widely dif- 
 ferent from the other groups that they constitute a distinct 
 and separate class. (1) They partake of all the other 
 forms ; they represent the essence of the other four groups. 
 (2) They are prepared for an exceedingly formal and typi- 
 cal occasion. (3) Though they resemble a real oration, 
 the ultimate purpose is to win the vote of the judges. (4) 
 But while the occasion is a contest in excellence, it should 
 be remembered that the judges must be won as part of the 
 audience. 
 
 Follow the general outline suggested in this chapter under 
 the topic, The Oration. 
 
258 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 III. The Reproduction. In this group are placed 
 those forms of public address that are delivered by some 
 one other than the author; though sometimes a writer 
 "speaks" his own selections, or "stars" in his own plays. 
 The purpose of this group is to arouse the emotions. Our 
 literary masterpieces are used for this purpose. 
 
 The subdivisions are 1. declamation, 2. story-telling, 3. 
 reading; dramatic monolog where one person takes the part 
 of a number of characters, 4. dramatics, or acting; plays 
 where each person represents a single character. 
 
 IV. The Popular Lecture. This is sometimes called 
 the Chautauqua lecture. It is frequently didactic in the 
 main ; but in order to draw and hold a crowd, the lecturer 
 presents his thought in a popular style, interweaving bits 
 of humor, interesting anecdotes, some poetry, appealing to 
 the emotions, and often makes a direct attempt to reach 
 the will. The successful popular lecture may be said to 
 have a variety of purposes, and appeals to the intellect, 
 the emotions, and the will. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Distinguish between the Essay and the Oration. Be- 
 tween the Lecture and the After-Dinner Speech. Between 
 the various kinds of orations. 
 
 II. Write a descriptive essay of 500 words characteriz- 
 ing in the blackest terms a man who deserves all you may 
 be able to call him. 
 
 III. Write a descriptive essay of 500 words character- 
 izing a man of the opposite type-upraise him in the most 
 flattering terms. 
 
 IV. Write a eulogy of a man or woman you have inti- 
 mately known. 
 
 V. Have each student be prepared to tell two good 
 pointed stories. Have them first name the point they wish 
 
Forms of Public Address 259 
 
 to illustrate with the stories. Both stories to illustrate 
 the same point. 
 
 VI. Have each student give a three-minute talk on "The 
 Need of Orations To-day." 
 
 VII. Have each student prepare a contest oration of 
 1,000 words of some national character of his own choos- 
 ing — observing the suggestions made in this chapter con- 
 cerning the Introduction, Problem, Solution, and Conclu- 
 sion. 
 
 VIII. Write an oration on one of the following subjects; 
 
 1. International Peace. 
 
 2. Need of Modern Business Ethics. 
 
 3. Law and the Lawyer. 
 
 4. Equal Suffrage. 
 
 5. The Voice of the People. 
 
 6. Tammany. 
 
 7. Africa in America. 
 
 8. Waste in Education. 
 
 9. Political Machines. 
 10. Child Labor. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 METHODS OF PREPARING AND DELIVERING A 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 When a man is called upon to make a speech, — whether 
 he fortunately has something to say or unfortunately has 
 to say something, — he has a selection of five ways : 
 I. It may be written and then read. 
 II. It may be written and memorized. 
 III. It may be spoken extempore. 
 
 IV. It may be partly written and partly extemporized. 
 V. It may be impromptu. 
 
 I. Reading a Speech. Advantages. On occasions when 
 the speaker must be exceedingly careful what he says and 
 how he says it, this is the safest plan. He cannot then be 
 misquoted, whether intentionally or carelessly. The inex- 
 perienced speaker had better write out his speech and learn 
 to read it well than to attempt any other method and fail. 
 This method is the easiest. Usually speeches read from 
 manuscript are worth listening to, as they have been very 
 carefully prepared. Scientific discoveries are usually thus 
 presented to the public. 
 
 Disadvantages. It is difficult to interest an audience when 
 reading a paper. In the first place, a reader is hampered 
 in adequate physical expression. Again, he cannot adjust 
 his speech to the tenor of the audience. To be a success, 
 he must be able to judge accurately his audience before he 
 speaks. Certain events may occur after the writing of his 
 paper and before its reading which necessitate a change in 
 manuscript on short notice; or part of it may be wholly 
 
 260 
 
Methods of Preparing and Delivering a Speech 261 
 
 inappropriate. 
 
 Caution. If reading from manuscript seems necessary or 
 advisable, cultivate the ability to read well. Look at your 
 audience as much as possible while reading, and for as long 
 a time as possible. Hold up your, manuscript almost on a 
 level with and within easy distance from your eyes, so that 
 you can look at your audience by merely turning your eyes 
 slightly upward. In shorty make your reading a personal 
 message, and allow the manuscript to interfere as little as 
 possible with a personal grapple with your audience. 
 
 II. Speaking Memoriter. Advantages. This method 
 gives the most artistic results. It is a safe and popular 
 method for beginners. It has all the advantages of the first 
 method and only a few of the disadvantages. This method 
 was and is used by some of our most able orators. - Demos- 
 thenes used it whenever time permitted. Caesar used it at 
 the trial of the friends of Catiline; Webster used it in his 
 Plymouth and Bunker Hill orations, and in his Eulogy on 
 Adams and Jefferson. Everett and Wendell Phillips wrote 
 many of their orations and memorized them. 
 
 Disadvantages. It is an enormous tax upon the memory. 
 It takes much practice to "speak" a selection creditably. 
 Even the best memories are at times treacherous. 
 
 Cautions. Commit the idea and thought as well as the 
 words. Deliver your speech as though it were extempora- 
 neous — do not let the audience know that it is memorized. 
 Do not use this method except when you have plenty of 
 time and the production is not too long. Avoid repeating 
 it so often that the delivery becomes mechanical and life- 
 less. 
 
 III. Speaking Extempore. Advantages. This form of 
 speaking requires careful preparation, a memorized outline, 
 leaving the exact language for expression "upon the spur 
 of the moment." This permits a hand-to-hand grapple with 
 the audience. The speaker can take advantage of any cir- 
 
262 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 cumstances requiring a modification of his prepared mate- 
 rial. He must think as he speaks, thus avoiding a mechan- 
 ical repetition of words. If his speech has not been well 
 adapted to the audience, he can modify it as the occasion 
 demands. He can take advantage of opportunities to speak 
 when he might not have time to prepare a manuscript. We 
 are living in an age when a short, business-like speech is 
 most in demand. The extempore method also permits the 
 orator to profit by the inspiration of the audience. Most 
 of our gems of oratory were produced in this way; flashes 
 of brilliant eloquence come, as Webster said, "if they come 
 at all, like the outbreak of a fountain from the earth, or 
 the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, orig- 
 inal, native force." The extempore method cultivates defi- 
 nite thinking and accurate speaking. Become a good ex- 
 tempore speaker. 
 
 Disadvantages. Extempore speaking is likely to be ill- 
 prepared, repetitious. Beginners frequently have their 
 minds and vocal powers practically paralyzed when they ap- 
 pear before an audience — they can neither think nor speak. 
 Many students while thinking of what to say have very little 
 time left to garb their thoughts properly; hence their dic- 
 tion and style are poor. Not following a carefully con- 
 structed outline, they wander "like the chaff before the 
 wind.'/ 
 
 Cautions. Prepare about four times as much materialas 
 you think you will need. Have a well prepared and thor- 
 oughly memorized outline. Never carry a scrap of paper 
 before your audience. Do not think that all you need is a 
 "gift of gab" ; many a speaker is more wordy than brainy. 
 Speak slowly at first; construct your sentences carefully. 
 A large, ready vocabulary is absolutely essential. Prac- 
 tice, PRACTICE. 
 
 IV. Combined Method. Advantages. There are a num- 
 ber of combinations: (1) To read part of the speech and 
 
Methods of Preparing and Delivering a Speech 263 
 
 to give from memory the most important portions. (£) To 
 read part and to extemporize part. (3) To memorize the 
 introduction, conclusion and a few choice paragraphs in the 
 body of the speech and to extemporize the rest. This last 
 combination has been used with remarkable success by many 
 of our most brilliant speakers : Cicero, John Bright, Pitt, 
 Gladstone, Beecher, and many others. It carries with it 
 about all the advantages enumerated under the first three 
 methods. 
 
 Disadvantages. It requires great skill to pass from the 
 extemporized to the memorized portions without being de- 
 tected by the audience. The speaker usually "recites" in 
 a quality of style different from that in which he "speaks." 
 
 Cautions. Begin by committing the introductions and 
 conclusions ; then memorize large bits of your written speech. 
 Memorize choice extracts from noted authors — a few lines 
 of descriptive matter, a choice combination of effective ad- 
 jectives, etc. You can often use these to advantage. Cul- 
 tivate a fluent and graceful transition from the one style 
 to the other. 
 
 V. Speaking Impromptu. Advantages. Speaking with- 
 out any special preparation is not an easy task. It de- 
 mands a broad general preparation. But he who has this 
 foundation frequently can make effective speeches when 
 others are obliged to keep silent. To be able to analyze 
 quickly and to marshal your thoughts together at a mo- 
 ment's notice is a power admired and longed for by all pub- 
 lic speakers. Few, however, reach the point where they 
 care to rely upon their general preparation on important 
 occasions. Preachers and other speakers who are fre- 
 quently called upon for a sermon or speech on short notice 
 should carry a few good outlines for addresses continually 
 in mind. 
 
 Disadvantages. The impromptu method has too many 
 disadvantages for enumeration. Those who wait for the 
 
264 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 "inspiration of the moment" find out when too late that the 
 moment has come without the inspiration. Special prepara- 
 tion should always be made if time permits. You have no 
 right to impose on the audience in this way. The people 
 in the audience have a right to the best you can give them. 
 Cautions. Alwa}^s keep a few good speeches "on tap." 
 You often are called upon when you least expect it. Keep 
 a few good stories, a few salient ideas, a paragraph from 
 some good speech, which with little modification you can 
 adapt to meet many emergencies. Many a man has been 
 admired for his ability to extemporize or speak impromptu 
 when he was speaking a set speech or repeating a partly 
 memorized prayer. However, the speaker is not always 
 conscious of doing this. Choice bits of your own com- 
 position may have been memorized years ago and these will 
 naturally and spontaneously come to your mind ; and all you 
 need to do is to recall the thought and they will clothe 
 themselves in the same choice language as upon a previous 
 and more formal occasion. Channing said, "The day of 
 inspiration has gone by. Everything which I have ever 
 said which was worth remembering, was all carefully pre- 
 pared." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 EXTEMPORE SPEAKING 
 
 Quintilian said, "the richest fruit of all our study, and the 
 most ample recompense for the extent of our labor is the 
 faculty of speaking extempore. Not that I make it an ob- 
 ject that an orator should prefer to speak extempore; I 
 only wish that he should be able to do so." 
 
 Since the ability to speak extemporaneously is consid- 
 ered the best all-round method, and since it is demanded es- 
 pecially in our day and time, let us give it a little more 
 detailed attention. 
 
 Extempore Speaking in Secondary Schools. Can ex- 
 tempore speaking advantageously be taught to pupils in 
 high schools ? Yes ; but, of course, any plan adopted must 
 be suited to the ages of the pupils. The reason that many 
 teachers who try to teach this method do not succeed as 
 well as they should like, is largely due to their lack of faith 
 in this manner of speaking. They give up too soon. Re- 
 sults do not appear at once. Like the cultivation of all 
 life habits, it takes time. The ability to think logically 
 while before an audience, and to select automatically and 
 instantaneously the right words to express one's thoughts 
 does not come "over night." 
 
 Can Extempore Speaking be Acquired? Can this 
 method of speaking be taught at all? Or is it a gift, a 
 natural endowment, like brown eyes? Here is some testi- 
 mony. Professor Bredif says that "Pericles never wrote 
 his orations. Like Aristotle, Themistocles, and other an- 
 cient orators, he improvised after laborious meditation." 
 
 265 
 
266 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Cicero usually used the memoriter method, but when pressed 
 for time resorted to the extempore. 
 
 Of the group of famous parliamentary orators in Eng- 
 land during the eighteenth century, William Pitt, Lord 
 Mansfield, and Charles James Fox all used the extempore 
 method. Mr. Pitt, along with his gifts, natural and ac- 
 quired, had a marked susceptibility for being aroused by the 
 occasion. His overwhelming spontaneity and high personal 
 character swept everything before him. It is said that such 
 was the excitement when he spoke that it was impossible to 
 report him, and the speech which in its delivery and pub- 
 lication overthrew Walpole's ministry was reduced to writ- 
 ing by Dr. Johnson. 
 
 Mansfield was pre-eminent as an extempore speaker. At 
 an early age he gave promise of that ready command of 
 his mother tongue which was later shown in his speeches. 
 This was secured by a constant translation and retrans- 
 lation of Greek and Roman orators, which also gave him 
 a knowledge of the principles of eloquence, a study which 
 he began to pursue with all diligence upon his entry into 
 the university. This he continued after beginning his law 
 studies, especially in the practice of extempore speaking, 
 for which he prepared himself with such fullness and accu- 
 racy that his notes were useful to him in after life, both at 
 the bar and on the bench. 
 
 The fame of Fox as a parliamentary orator and debater 
 is well known, although he began awkwardly and abounded 
 in repetitions. He was an extempore speaker solely. Ora- 
 torically, Fox's ambition was to become a powerful debater, 
 "one who goes out in all weathers," instead of carrying with 
 him to the House a set speech drawn up beforehand. In 
 this course he persevered until he became the acknowledged 
 leader of the Whig party in the House of Commons. He 
 answered well to his own definition of an orator, — "one 
 who can give immediate, instantaneous expression to his 
 thoughts." He mastered his subject and accumulated facts. 
 
Extempore Speaking £67 
 
 How he used these facts depended upon the mood of the 
 assembly that he rose to address. Burke affirmed him to be 
 "the most brilliant and accomplished debater the world ever 
 saw." 
 
 Of English parliamentary orators, the two most illus- 
 trious examples are: John Bright and William Gladstone. 
 Bright began by committing his speeches to memory, but he 
 soon abandoned this method as both clumsy and exhausting. 
 
 Turning now to American orators, we find that the most 
 famous representative of the early period of our history, 
 Patrick Henry, never wrote a line of his speeches. The 
 sparks of his eloquence flew hot from the anvil of his 
 thought. He owed his success to early practice in con- 
 versation and public speaking, and to the courage and read- 
 iness with which he met a crisis. 
 
 We are apt to think the great triumvirate — Calhoun, 
 Clay, and Webster — as less ready in purely extemporaneous 
 speech than the average legislator of to-day, and yet each 
 of these three great orators showed a gradual development 
 in facility as extempore speakers. Calhoun cultivated ex- 
 tempore speaking with great success while in the law school 
 at Litchfield, and he pursued this method in the "iron logic" 
 of his speeches in Congress. Clay, too, early practiced the 
 extempore method in a debating club at Richmond, and 
 his yet earlier practice with cornfield or woods as an audi- 
 ence is well known. Webster, "a steam engine in breeches," 
 often prepared his speeches with great care; but when 
 pressed for time, as in many of his great cases at the bar, 
 he spoke from carefully prepared notes. 
 
 Sargent S. Prentiss, "the most eloquent of all Southern- 
 ers," says Wendell Phillips, was at his best only when speak- 
 ing extempore. Wendell Phillips himself was an adept at 
 the art; so was Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 Here is the testimony of four modern speakers : 
 
 Hon. B. R. Tillman, United States Senator from South 
 Carolina: "I get chock full of ideas and facts, and then 
 
268 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 turn loose without much thought or preparation. I very 
 often think over what I am going to say, and then, when I 
 get on my feet, never think of what I intended to say. Prac- 
 tice has enabled me to speak with more ease and without 
 getting excited, but I doubt if my speeches are as effective 
 as when they are belched forth like lava from a volcano." 
 
 Hon. William J. Bryan: "I first read all I can on the 
 subject to be discussed, examining the question from all 
 standpoints; then prepare an outline dividing the subject 
 into heads and subheads ; then fill in the details. I seldom 
 write a speech complete. Where I have the subject thor- 
 oughly in hand, it is easier to use the language which comes 
 at the moment than to remember set phraseology." 
 
 Dr. Lyman Abbott in a recent number of the OwtlooJc 
 states that there were two literary societies at New York 
 University. He and his brother belonged to one of them. 
 "It was here," says Dr. Abbott, "I first learned to think 
 upon my feet, and so laid the foundation for my lifelong 
 habit of extemporaneous speech. For the essential condi- 
 tion of really extemporaneous speech is ability to think 
 upon one's feet. Without that ability the extemporaneous 
 address is either a memoriter, though unwritten, oration, 
 or a rambling and discursive talk unfreighted with any 
 thought. The value of the old-time debating societies in 
 village, school, and college appears to me to be underesti- 
 mated in our times. 4 In the Westminster debating socie- 
 ties,' says Alfred Austin in his autobiography, 'I at least 
 acquired a facility, sometimes an extemporaneous facility, 
 of utterance that has been useful to me, I think, all through 
 life.' " 
 
 But, says the student, these are great orators. That is 
 true, but they acquired their power through a long course 
 of practice. So may you. Some have an easier task than 
 others, but often those who have the most to overcome have 
 become the most proficient in the art. If you cannot become 
 as brilliant as Webster, as powerful as Mirabeau, as fluent 
 
Extempore Speaking 269 
 
 as Grady, or as eloquent as Ingersoll, become the best you 
 
 can. 
 
 Outline. The special preparation for a speech, dis- 
 cussed in a former chapter, should be followed in preparing 
 to deliver a speech extempore. Here is a suggested outline: 
 I. Introduction 
 
 1 
 
 2 . 
 
 II. Discussion 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 C. 
 
 2 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 C 
 
 3 
 
 A 
 
 B. 
 
 C 
 
 III. Conclusion 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 In preparing an outline for a speech, use only a few sub- 
 divisions. Do not subdivide and re-subdivide ad infinitum 
 for an extemporaneous speech. Remember the outline must 
 be memorized. Use, therefore, only words, phrases, or short 
 sentences. Such an outline is not a brief, such as you pre- 
 pare for a debate, which requires each subdivision to be 
 a complete sentence. 
 
 Introduction. An appropriate introduction is essen- 
 tial. The purpose of an introduction is two-fold: I. To 
 gain the good will of the audience, and II. to arouse an 
 
270 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 interest in your subject. This may be accomplished by 
 any of the following ways : 
 
 I. Personal. Begin by telling the audience something 
 about yourself — an expression of appreciation of the honor 
 that has been conferred on you by being permitted to speak, 
 etc. But never, never offer an apology for not having pre- 
 pared a good speech. 
 
 II. Anecdote. Tell some appropriate story, but never 
 tell a story for amusement only. 
 
 III. Illustration. Describe some scene, or narrate some 
 incident which makes a direct and adequate setting for your 
 speech. 
 
 IV. Quotation. Quote a few lines from some great 
 writer, or a stanza of some poem which is connected directly 
 with your theme. 
 
 V. General. Speak of your subject in very general 
 terms ; as you often do in writing an expository essay. 
 
 VI. Explanatory. Tell how you intend treating your 
 subject; what the divisions are, etc. 
 
 VII. Purpose. Explain why you intend speaking. This 
 is a very usual beginning. 
 
 Discussion. The main speech should be arranged logi- 
 cally and climactically, and should contain one central idea. 
 It must have unity, order, and movement. Make your point. 
 Beecher once said, "I always aim at* somebody in my audi- 
 ence ; I may not always hit him, but I try to hit something." 
 Continually ask yourself: What is the purpose of this 
 speech? What do I expect to accomplish by it? What rea- 
 son is there for my speaking at all? Have I a definite mes- 
 sage? Am I saying something or am I talking beside the 
 subject? Is the audience interested in what I say? What 
 can I say that will make a definite impress on my hearers, 
 and what will they remember of my speech to-morrow? 
 Would the great majority of my hearers agree, when I have 
 finished as to the one central point I wished to make? 
 
Extempore Speaking £71 
 
 Conclusion. The aim of the conclusion is completeness 
 and strength. Every speech should appear complete, 
 rounded out, not just sawed off. On the other hand, do not 
 just talk until some one tells you to stop. 
 
 The conclusion may be: 
 
 I. Personal, II. Summary, III. Quotation, or IV. Horta- 
 tory. 
 
 Memorize Your Outline. Think through the speech 
 silently. Fix in your mind just what you desire to say 
 upon that particular subdivision. Do not refer to your 
 notes while on the platform, except for statistics ; and even 
 then it is never wise to repeat a long array of figures while 
 speaking. If you use figures, give them in round numbers. 
 Say there are over twelve thousand; do not say there are 
 eleven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven. When 
 you get through about all the audience remembers will be 
 "Twenty-seven." Colonel Higginson says : 
 
 "Never carry a scrap of paper before an audience. If 
 you read your address altogether, that is very different. 
 It is the combination that injures. So long as a man is 
 absolutely without notes, he is not merely thrown on his own 
 resources, but his hearers see and know that he is ; their 
 sympathy goes along with him; they wish him to go trium- 
 phantly through. But if they once see that he is relying 
 partly on the stilts and leading strings of his memoranda, 
 their sympathy languishes. It is like the difference between 
 a man who walks a tight rope boldly, trusting wholly to his 
 balance pole, and the man who is looking about every mo- 
 ment for something by which to steady himself. What is 
 the aim of your notes? You fear that without them you 
 may lose your thread, or your logical connection, or some 
 valuable fact or illustration. But you may be sure that 
 neither thread nor logic, fact nor argument is so important 
 to the audience as that they should be kept in entire sym- 
 pathy with yourself, that the magnetic contact, or what- 
 ever we call it, should be unbroken. The chances are that 
 
£7£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 nobody will miss what you leave out, if you forget anything ; 
 but you will lose much if you forego the continuous and 
 confiding attention given to a speaker who is absolutely 
 free." 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 It is a very wise plan to permit pupils, as far as is prac- 
 tical, to correlate their work in Oral English with the other 
 branches they study, or to connect the voice technique in 
 Part I of this volume with exercises in extempore speaking. 
 Suppose you are reading a selection from Browning, assign 
 to students certain topics for oral reports as : 
 
 I. A brief sketch of the author's life. 
 
 II. A character study. 
 
 III. Anecdotes of the author (short talks by two or 
 three students). 
 
 IV. Memoriter recitation of selections from the author's 
 works (by different members of the class). 
 
 V. If the reading lesson is a selection from a longer 
 story or poem, let one pupil give an abstract of the whole, 
 with illustrative quotations. 
 
 VI. Short quotations from the author, by various mem- 
 bers of the class. 
 
 The topics are merely suggestive. Definite assignments 
 and other topics can be worked out readily by the teacher. 
 
 Topics for Extempore Speeches. It is well to limit 
 these to three minutes or five minutes. Never permit a pupil 
 to "ramble" in his speeches. Encourage him to crowd the 
 best he has into a few minutes. Also, in this way more will 
 be able to speak in a day. It is well at times to have general 
 criticism from the class after each speech. 
 
 The pupils should be prepared to answer the following 
 questions about each speech: I. Was it effective? II. Did 
 he hold your attention throughout? III. What was his pur- 
 pose? IV. What was his central idea? V. Was it appro- 
 priate for the audience he imagined? or was it appropriate 
 
Extempore Speaking 273 
 
 to the class as an audience? VI. If argumentative, what 
 main objection did he overcome? VII. What item in his 
 speech was the best, cleverest, most appropriate, most in- 
 teresting, etc.? VIII. What part was not well prepared? 
 What would he have better said? IX. How about the com- 
 position of the speech? X. What were the good qualities, 
 and what were the defects in his delivery? 
 
 I. SUGGESTED TOPICS 
 
 1. Give a short talk to the students of the class urging 
 them to continue their work, A. in college, B. in a business 
 school. 
 
 2. To a group of high school girls, urging them to go to 
 a Ladies' Seminary. 
 
 3. To a group of farmers, urging them to send their 
 sons A. to college ; B. to an agricultural school, C. to a 
 business school. 
 
 4. To a mothers' club, urging the members to send their 
 daughters to A. the state university; B. to a denominational 
 school; C. to a "finishing" school. 
 
 5. To a group of business men urging them to send 
 their sons A. to college, B. to a business school. 
 
 6. To a group of town boys urging them to join the 
 Y.M.C.A. 
 
 7. To a group of town girls urging them to join the 
 Y.W.C.A. 
 
 8. To a meeting of the W.C.T.U. on the subject of sa- 
 loons. 
 
 9. To a meeting of bar-tenders on the subject of saloons. 
 
 10. To a group of prisoners in the county jail. 
 
 11. To the students urging them to join a literary so- 
 ciety. 
 
 Remember that the arguments which might convince a 
 boy to go to college might be the very reason the father 
 might wish to keep him from college. Adapt your speech 
 to the audience. 
 
274 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 II. 'other suggested topics 
 
 1. Wrong is Finally Punished. 
 
 2. Obey the Still Small Voice. 
 
 3. Health is Preferable to Wealth. 
 
 4. Know Thyself. 
 
 5. Knowledge is Power. 
 
 6. An Empty *Sack Cannot Stand Upright, 
 
 7. Cultivate Roses but not on your Noses. 
 
 8. Opportunity. 
 
 9. Animals' Reason. 
 
 10. The Best Magazine. 
 
 11. Athletics. 
 
 12. Success; What is It? 
 
 13. Still Waters Run Deepest. 
 
 14. Why I am a Democrat. 
 
 15. The American Flag. 
 
 16. . The Business Man. 
 
 17. The Militia. 
 
 18. Ghosts. 
 
 19. The "Four Hundred." 
 
 20. The Number Thirteen. 
 
 21. Mothers' Day. 
 
 22. "I Should Worry." 
 
 23. How to Read Books. 
 
 24. The City Slums. 
 
 25. Public Opinion. 
 
 26. Honesty is the Best Policy. 
 
 27. Culture vs. Riches. 
 
 28. Be on Time. 
 
 29. Heroism Means Immortality. 
 
 30. Success Means Hard Work. 
 
 31. Optimism Wins. 
 
 32. The Polite Clerk. 
 
 33. The Young Man in Love. 
 
 34. America's Greatest Orator. 
 
 35. America's Greatest Statesman. 
 
 36. America's Greatest Soldier. 
 
 37. America's Greatest Artist. 
 
Extempore Speaking 275 
 
 38. America's Greatest Woman. 
 
 39. The True Philanthropist. 
 
 40. The Fool-Killer Still Has a Job. 
 
 41. The Best Book I ever Read. 
 
 42. My Favorite Poem. 
 
 43. Why Some People Have no Friends. 
 
 44. The First Girl I Loved. 
 
 45. Handsome is as Handsome Does. 
 
 46. Who's Who and Why. 
 
 47. How I Spent my Vacation. 
 
 48. A Picture on Memory's Wall. 
 
 49. The Man Who Can Say No. 
 
 50. "I Thank You." 
 
 A good plan is to permit the student to speak for five 
 minutes, and then for the next three minutes, while still on 
 the floor, to answer questions presented by the class. This 
 plan demands adequate preparation and is a good drill in 
 thinking quickly and accurately while on one's feet. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 DEBATING 
 
 Introduction. No form of public speaking can equal 
 debating in importance. He who has the ability to arrange 
 logically and adequately and to present clearly and force- 
 fully truths that convince and persuade, is indeed a master 
 among men. 
 
 The treatment of this subject in a single chapter will 
 necessarily be confined to a statement of essential elements, 
 with some brief suggestions as to methods. Some standard 
 text on argumentation and debate should be used with a 
 class, whenever time permits. 
 
 Definitions. Argumentation is the kind of speech or 
 writing which aims to establish the truth or the falsity of 
 a proposition. 
 
 A Debate is a formal arrangement agreed upon by two 
 or more persons to discuss under set rules opposite sides 
 of a proposition. These formal principles and rules will be 
 tersely outlined in this chapter. 
 
 Facts are entities and relationships as they actually ex- 
 ist in the universe. 
 
 Opinions are merely man's conception of these facts. 
 When our opinions agree with the facts they are called 
 truths. 
 
 A proposition is the expression of relationship between 
 two or more facts. It is a statement that something is or 
 is not. You cannot debate a single fact. You must debate 
 a proposition. 
 
 An assertion is an affirmation or denial without ex- 
 
 276 
 
Debating 277 
 
 pressed or logical grounds. 
 
 Assumptions are truths accepted without proof. 
 
 Presumptions are statements considered true until proved 
 otherwise. 
 
 Proof is sufficient reason for asserting a proposition as 
 true. It includes evidence and argument. 
 
 I. Evidence. Evidence is any matter from which an 
 inference may be drawn. It is the basis of proof. There 
 are three sources of evidence: 1. Experience, 2. Testimonial, 
 and 3. Circumstantial. 
 
 1. Much of the evidence we use in arguing comes from 
 our personal knowledge of facts. These facts we have learned 
 A. through Observation, and B. through Experiment. 
 
 2. The second great source of material comes to us from 
 what others have found out, or from witnesses, as they are 
 often called. Such testimonial evidence varies in value, 
 as is pointed out below. 
 
 Expert Testimony is the opinion of a person of recognized 
 standing in his profession upon matters relative to his spe- 
 cial line of work which makes him competent to form an 
 accurate judgment. A person whose expert testimony is 
 generally accepted is said to be an authority. 
 
 Evidence from authority should stand the following tests : 
 
 A. Is the witness physically and mentally qualified? 
 
 B. Is he unprejudiced? 
 
 C. Has he had sufficient opportunity to know the facts? 
 
 D. Is he generally considered an authority in this par- 
 ticular field? 
 
 Testimony that is especially valuable: 
 
 A. That used by ^n opposing witness. 
 
 B. Concurrent testimony — or testimony substantiated 
 by other authorities. 
 
 C. Unwilling testimony — or that which is given against 
 one's own interest. 
 
 D. Negative testimony — or the omission of facts which 
 
£78 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 would have been mentioned had they existed. 
 
 E. Undesigned testimony — an unintentional admission of 
 circumstances which were meant to have been kept secret. 
 
 F. Consistent testimony — consistent (1) with itself, (£) 
 with other facts, (3) with ordinary experience. 
 
 3. The third source of evidence is circumstantial. This 
 is secured through a process of reasoning. The value of evi- 
 dence secured in this way depends upon (1) the basic facts 
 from which we draw inferences, and (£) the correctness of 
 the reasoning process. 
 
 II. Argument. Argument is the process of gaining the 
 unknown from the known evidence. In debating, the meth- 
 ods used in convincing the minds of the audience of the va- 
 lidity of your conclusions are, 1. Constructive proof, and 2. 
 Refutation. 
 
 1. Constructive Proof. Constructive arguments may be 
 either A. Direct, or argument from authority, or B. Indi- 
 rect, or through a process of reasoning. There are two 
 kinds of reasoning, a. Inductive, and b. Deductive. 
 
 a. When we reason Inductively we gather all the facts 
 possible and then arrive at general truths or laws govern- 
 ing these particular facts. There are two general kinds 
 of inductive reasoning, (I) Causal relationship, and (II) 
 Resemblance, or Example. 
 
 (I) Causal Relationship. This is a very common method 
 of reasoning. The two main divisions are: (1) From cause 
 to effect, technically called Antecedent Probability; and 
 (2) from effect to cause, often called Argument from Sign. 
 The best way to make this clear is to give examples. We 
 reason from cause to effect when we say that one result 
 of the moving picture shows is that they lead boys to be- 
 come bandits. We reason from effect to cause when we 
 say that the cause of the great number of unemployed in 
 
Debating 279 
 
 the United States was our practically unrestricted Euro- 
 pean immigration. 
 
 (1) The tests to be applied to argument from cause to 
 effect are: 
 
 (A) Is the assumed cause adequate to produce the 
 effect? 
 
 (B) Are there other causes which might prevent the 
 assumed cause from producing the effect in question? 
 
 (2) The tests for effect to cause are: 
 
 (A) Is the cause adequate to produce the effect? 
 
 (B) Could any other cause have produced the effect? 
 
 (C) Was there no force to prevent the operation of 
 the assumed cause? 
 
 (D) Is the assumed cause not merely another effect of a 
 common cause? 
 
 (II) Resemblance, or Example. There are two divisions 
 of this mode of reasoning: (1) Generalization, and (2) 
 Analogy. 
 
 (1) Generalization is a very common mode of reason- 
 ing. We observe a great many facts and, finding certain 
 things true about some of them, we conclude they are also 
 true of the others. For example: We observe that some 
 high school boys are industrious, and conclude that all high 
 school boys are industrious. 
 
 The tests for generalization are : 
 
 (A) Have enough examples been observed to warrant 
 the generalization ? 
 
 (B) Were these examples observed, typical? 
 
 (C) Are we reasonably sure that there are no excep- 
 tions ? 
 
 (£) Analogy. When two individual objects resemble 
 each other in a certain number of points, Ave infer that they 
 resemble each other in other points. Example: A student 
 is known to loaf and fails to make a pass in his examina- 
 tion. We infer that if the second student loafs he, too, will 
 fail to pass. 
 
280 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 The tests for analogy are: 
 
 (A) Are the details of comparison vital to the question 
 at issue? 
 
 (B) Do the points of resemblance outweigh the points 
 of difference? 
 
 (C) Is the fact known to be true of the analogous case 
 more likely to be true of the case in question? 
 
 (D) Are the assertions on which the resemblance is 
 based true? 
 
 b. We reason Deductively when we take a general truth 
 and apply it to particular cases. The usual form of de- 
 duction is the syllogism. This example was first used by 
 Aristotle : 
 
 All men are mortal. (Major Premise.) 
 Socrates is a man. (Minor Premise.) 
 Therefore, Socrates is mortal. (Conclusion.) 
 Usually one of the premises is omitted; we then have 
 what is called an enthymeme. As, Socrates is mortal be- 
 cause he is a man. 
 
 Another form sometimes used in debate is the constructive 
 dilemma. Example : If a man acts in accordance with his 
 own judgment, he will be criticized; and if he is guided by 
 the opinions of others he will be criticized. But he must 
 either act in accordance with his own judgment, or be 
 guided by the opinions of others. Therefore, in any case 
 he will be criticized. The logical dilemma is not so sim- 
 ple in construction as many debaters think. To construct 
 a good dilemma is very difficult. As the word is used in 
 every day life, we are said to be in a dilemma when there are 
 but two courses of action open to us, and when both of 
 these lead to unpleasant results. 
 
 %. Refutation. By refutation, or rebuttal, is meant 
 weakening or destroying the contention of the opposition. 
 We speak of anticipatorial rebuttal when the debater antic- 
 ipates what the opponent may advance and answers it be- 
 
Debating 281 
 
 fore it is made; a very effective rebuttal. We speak of 
 direct rebuttal when the debater answers his opponent after 
 the opponent has stated his argument. There are two meth- 
 ods of refutation: A. General, and B. Special. 
 
 A. General. The two means usually employed are: a. 
 Attacking the evidence, and b. Detecting the fallacies. 
 
 a. Little need be said on the refutation of the evidence. 
 If the evidence is not true, all there is to do is to show 
 that the authority is untrustworthy since it fails to meet 
 the tests suggested under evidence, or that the evidence 
 is contrary to fact. 
 
 b. Fallacies. Any unsound mode of arguing is a fal- 
 lacy. It will be impossible even to enumerate all possible 
 fallacies ; but a few of the principal ones are : 
 
 (I) Ambiguity of Language. This fallacy arises from 
 (1) using ambiguous terms, and (2) ambiguous construc- 
 tions. An example of the first is met frequently when 
 (A) two words are given the same meaning; as, socialists 
 and sociologists; (B) two meanings are given to the same 
 word; as, mob (A destructive group of people and A 
 large group of people) ; and (C) when meanings are im- 
 plied which do not belong to the word; as, A man said he 
 did not need to be a good speaker in going to Congress 
 for he was told they elected a speaker of the House. 
 
 Secondly, in ambiguous construction we have an example 
 in the telegram a large ranch owner wired to his friend, 
 "If in need of mules don't forget me." 
 
 (II) Errors in Inductive Reasoning. These may be di- 
 vided into : 
 
 (1) Non Causa Pro Causa. (Not the reason for the 
 cause.) Two events may be closely associated but the one 
 may not be the cause of the other. As hard times and the 
 election of a certain man for president of the United States. 
 
 (£) Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. (After this, therefore 
 because of it. ) Example : A man is sick, takes quinine, gets 
 
282 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 well. The quinine made him well. 
 
 (3) The Effect May, in Part, Be Due to Other Causes. 
 Example: High cost of living is due to the trusts. 
 
 (4) Hasty Generalization. This fallacy comes from the 
 violation of the tests for generalization. Example: Radium 
 cured a number of patients who had cancer. Therefore, 
 Radium is a specific for cancer. Also, a certain man said 
 he was always happy when April came, for he had noticed 
 for forty years that, whenever April came, he lived the rest 
 of the year. 
 
 (5) False Analogy. Due to a violation of the tests for 
 analogy. Example: Compulsory arbitration would be suc- 
 cessful in the United States because it is successful in New 
 Zealand. 
 
 (Ill) Errors m Deductive Reasoning. 
 
 (1) Begging the Question. {Petitio prkicipii.) The 
 most common method is to argue in a circle: assuming the 
 truth of a premise, and from this premise deducing a conclu- 
 sion, and then using this conclusion to establish the premise 
 assumed in the beginning. Example: The reason the man 
 did not die was due to his longevity. Also, the soul is im- 
 mortal because the rational element in mankind can never 
 die. 
 
 (2) Ignoring the Question. (Ignoratio elenchi.) There 
 are a great many methods of ignoring the main issue. The 
 debater must ever be on his guard to detect this fallacy in 
 his opponent and as far as possible to avoid it himself. 
 
 Some of the most common ways of ignoring the question 
 are: 
 
 (A) Shifting Ground. Frequently an opponent no 
 sooner is cornered on one proposition than he hedges to 
 another issue ; he will not meet the issue squarely. To illus- 
 trate: A lawyer who dwells upon the crime rather than 
 upon the guilt of the prisoner is "shifting ground." 
 
 (B) Part Proof. Proving only one phase of the ques- 
 tion, and maintaining that the entire question has been 
 
Debating 283 
 
 proved. Example: Concluding that Mexico should be an- 
 nexed to the United States because such action would bene- 
 fit the Mexicans. 
 
 (C) Argumentum ad Populum. Appealing to the pas- 
 sion and prejudice rather than to reason. Example: An- 
 tony's speech at Caesar's funeral. 
 
 (D) Ad Ignorantiam. Assuming that a certain prop- 
 osition is correct because the contradictory has not been 
 proved. Example: The soul is immortal because it has 
 never been proved to be mortal. 
 
 (E) Ad Hominem. Arguing against the character of 
 the opponent rather than the principles he advocates. Ex- 
 ample: Socialism is opposed to the church, because Carl 
 Marx, one of the early advocates of socialism, was a mate- 
 rialist. 
 
 (¥) Avoiding the Issue. To begin proving one thing 
 and finish by having proved something altogether different. 
 
 (G) Making Objections. Finding some fault with the 
 issue. Every plan has some defects ; hence merely pointing 
 out a few objections does not prove that it should not be 
 adopted. 
 
 (3) Fallacy of Composition and Division. Arguing 
 that what is true of a part is true of the whole, and vice 
 versa. Example: Hydrogen and oxygen are both gases, 
 therefore water which is composed of these two elements 
 must be a gas. The church is a good institution; Mr. 
 Blank is a member of the church, therefore a good man. 
 
 (4) Non Sequiter. (Does not follow.) This fallacy 
 is due to a violation of one or more of the rules of the syl- 
 logism. 
 
 B. Special Form of Refutation. 
 
 a. Reductio ad Absurdum. One of the most effective 
 means of refutation is that of reducing an argument to an 
 absurdity. The debater assumes for a moment that a given 
 proposition is true, and then points out the absurd results 
 
284 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 to which it leads. By reason of its simplicity and direct- 
 ness, together with the humor that frequently accompanies 
 it, this method is usually very effective. 
 
 b. The Destructive Dilemma. As it is ordinarily used, 
 the dilemma is really a special form of Reductio ad Ab- 
 surdum. It arises from the attempt to show that the oppo- 
 nent's proposition must lead to two and only two alterna- 
 tives, and that both lead to absurd results. The opponent 
 is thus placed as it is commonly said, "between the horns 
 of a dilemma." 
 
 A dilemmatic argument may be attacked in three ways 
 (1) "escape between the horns," i.e., present a third alter- 
 native; (2) "taken by the horns," i.e., denying the premises; 
 and (3) offering a "rebuttal dilemma." 
 
 c. Method of Residues. This may be used as a con- 
 structive argument. All possible solutions to a problem are 
 enumerated. At least one must be the proper solution. All 
 but one are proved absurd or wrong. Therefore the remain- 
 ing one is the proper solution. Burke used this method in his 
 speech on Conciliation with the American Colonies. 
 
 d. Exposing Inconsistencies in your opponent's argu- 
 ment. This is not an uncommon fallacy in debating, and 
 should be watched. 
 
 STRUCTURE 
 
 Proposition. Secure a good question for debate, observ- 
 ing the following points. A good debating question requires 
 these essentials: 
 
 I. It must have an affirmative statement. 
 
 II. It must be stated briefly and in clear, unambiguous 
 language. 
 
 III. It should be debatable. 
 
 IV. It must not be too broad. 
 
 V. It must have only one central idea. 
 
 VI. It should be profitable to study. 
 
 VII. It should be interesting to the audience. 
 
Debating £85 
 
 Analysis. Study both sides of the proposition. Briefs 
 are absolutely necessary. Never attempt to debate without 
 making a comprehensive brief ; merely an outline will not do. 
 A brief should contain, first, three or four leading propo- 
 sitions, logically arranged, that cover the field of the argu- 
 ment, and each proposition reading as a reason for the ques- 
 tion under discussion ; then, each of these leading proposi- 
 tions should be followed by subheads giving reasons and 
 evidence to support the major heading. 
 
 The first speaker on the affirmative will present in his 
 introduction the following points, which include the steps 
 in analysis: 
 
 I. Briefly, the origin and history of the question. 
 
 II. Definition of terms. 
 
 III. Exclusion of irrelevant matter. 
 
 IV. Statement of mutually admitted matter. 
 
 V. The special issues. 
 
 Special Issues. It is not desirable that a definite scheme 
 be followed in determining the special issues in a proposition 
 for debate ; but the following plan will aid as a check for be- 
 ginners. 
 
 The affirmative may prove: 
 
 I. Cause for action, or evils in the present system, or 
 necessity for a change. 
 
 II. Method of action, or remedy for evils, or feasibility 
 of plan. 
 
 III. Practicability of method, and best plan. 
 
 The Negative may prove: 
 
 I. No adequate cause for action, or, that evils do not 
 exist, or no need for proposed changes. 
 
 II. Method not adequate, or evils incurable, or plan 
 not adequate. 
 
 III. Method impracticable, or better plan. 
 
286 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Main Discussion. Confine your discussion to a few major 
 issues. Avoid unimportant matter. Never read into a ques- 
 tion a far-fetched, unusual, or technical meaning. Meet the 
 proposition squarely. Convince the judges that you are 
 willing to play fair and have no intention of quibbling over 
 doubtful terms. 
 
 The chief speaker of the negative may accept or reject 
 the affirmative's interpretation. If he differs he should men- 
 tion this in the beginning of his speech. 
 
 Every speech should have a beginning, a middle, and a 
 conclusion; these should be joined together "skillfully. 
 Make each major issue stand out clearly. Make your 
 speech show up logically, and climactically. 
 
 The affirmative has the initial burden of proof. The 
 burden of proof may be shifted to the negative as the de- 
 bate progresses. "He who affirms must prove." When the 
 negative speakers advance a better plan, the burden of proof 
 lies upon them to prove this plan superior. It is not in- 
 cumbent on the affirmative to prove that the plan advanced 
 by them is superior to every other plan, or even superior 
 to any plan mentioned by the negative ; but superior to the 
 plan the negative uphold — this may be the present plan or 
 a new plan. 
 
 Unsupported assertions by either side are worthless. The 
 use of "We think — ," "I believe, — " "Authorities agree," 
 etc., indicates poor debating. Guard your grammar and 
 diction. Have a clear, vigorous, unified, direct, unpreten- 
 tious style. 
 
 Conclusion. Summarize the points made by the opposi- 
 tion and also your own points. A good method is to make 
 parallel comparisons. Emphasize your main points; hold 
 them up clearly at the close. If your side has scored a 
 good point during the debate, do not let the judges forget 
 it. 
 
 Rebuttal. It is a general rule in debating that no new 
 argument can be introduced in the rebuttal speech. Addi- 
 
Debating 287 
 
 tional proof, however, may be offered in answer to any at- 
 tack upon any argument that was presented in the speaker's 
 main speech. 
 
 The principal rule for good rebuttal is : Answer only the 
 strong arguments against you. In debating any question 
 there are various and sundry arguments more or less re- 
 lated to the question, but which are not vital enough to 
 demand any particular attention, if, indeed, any attention 
 at all. A debater should try to avoid a scattering effect 
 in rebuttal work — hitting at various points without really 
 delivering a solid shot at some vital point. The best form 
 of rebuttal is the strengthening of your argument wher- 
 ever it has been attacked ; recalling the minds of the hearers 
 to the main issues ; showing that you have proved your 
 case; showing that your proof is better than that of your 
 opponent ; that the lines of argument that you have offered 
 are vital to the discussion, and that they have been estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Refutation should be scattered throughout the debate. 
 Whenever a debater is preparing his constructive case, he 
 should anticipate the argument that may be advanced in re- 
 ply, and provide against it. Anticipatory rebuttal is very 
 effective. It is a good plan to allow a few minutes at the 
 beginning of each man's speech for refutation of his oppo- 
 nent's arguments. Destroy first the argument of the oppo- 
 sition and the audience will be more easily convinced of the 
 merits of your contention. 
 
 No one who intends to win a debate will think of entering 
 the contest without a score of rebuttal cards. Each card 
 should have a brief reply to one point that may be advanced 
 by the opposition. Each card should be topically labelled 
 and bear detailed reference. 
 
 Delivery. Manner. The main speeches are usually 
 memorized; especially when the contest is keen. Do not 
 memorize the rebuttal speeches ; but use the information 
 
288 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 you have on your rebuttal cards. Keep these cards in your 
 hands. 
 
 The style of delivery should be that of a simple, fervent, 
 and aggressive conversation. Do not "elocute," "orate," or 
 talk as though you were "speaking a piece." There should 
 be no marked difference between the style of your main and 
 your rebuttal speeches. 
 
 Prepare speeches of sufficient length so that you are not 
 compelled to stop before the one-minute warning bell is 
 sounded. Stop promptly at the sound of the second bell 
 — completing your sentence if you are in the midst of a 
 short one. No one listens to you after the second bell, 
 everybody is wondering if you do not know the purpose of 
 the bell. To show surprise or disgust when the stopping 
 signal is given is extremely bad form. It proves that you 
 have not made careful preparation. 
 
 Speak to the audience, not to the judges. Stand erect, 
 move only to show transitions. Do not pace the platform. 
 Use only a few direct, emphatic, spontaneous gestures. 
 Speakers should be free from all personal show in dress 
 and manner. Show your argument, not yourself. 
 
 Judges. If possible secure as many as five competent 
 judges. Few things are so discouraging to a debater as to 
 speak before incompetent, prejudiced judges. Secure men 
 who know a debate when they hear one. The mere fa.ct that 
 a man holds a professorship in a college or is a school 
 superintendent does not qualify him to judge a debate. A 
 man may be very intelligent in many respects and not know 
 anything about music. Likewise he may know very little 
 about debating. 
 
 The following plan of judging a debate overcomes some 
 of the objections of the usual method of voting simply 
 for the affirmative or the negative side: (1) Select three 
 men who are especially qualified for their respective parts. 
 (£) One judge will decide which side wins in delivery. A 
 
Debating 289 
 
 second judge will decide which side wins in Argumentation. 
 A third judge will decide which side wins in General Effec- 
 tiveness. (3) The relative points awarded to each side by 
 the respective judges are: For Delivery, 2 points; for 
 Argumentation, 3 points ; for General Effectiveness, 4 
 points. The side having the highest total number of points 
 wins the debate. The decision when read would stand: 
 — 9, or 2 — 7, or 3 — 6, or 4 — 5, as the case might be. 
 
 The advantage of this plan over the old and inadequate 
 method will readily be seen. 
 
 We trust the time will soon come when it will not be con- 
 sidered essential to have judges in a debate. 
 
 ETHICS OF DEBATING 
 
 There are two cardinal principles of debating which 
 should always be kept in mind and put into practice. These 
 are: (1) Be honest, and (2) Be respectful to your oppo- 
 nent and to his arguments. 
 
 The necessity for honesty arises in two ways : in the pres- 
 entation of your own argument, and in the handling of that 
 of your opponent. The form of statement of your argu- 
 ment should be absolutely your own ; that is, it should be in 
 your own language, and not copied from some one else. 
 Ideas may be borrowed; as a matter of fact, all of us bor- 
 row arguments by the wholesale ; but the point is, the way 
 of stating these arguments should be your own work. Of 
 course, if the language of another is stated as quoted mat- 
 ter, that is admissible. Again, whenever you have occasion 
 to restate an argument of your opponent, state it fairly. 
 In this respect the amateur in debate needs especially to 
 watch himself. In the first place, it is foolish to say that 
 your opponent said so and so, when your hearers know 
 better. Any appearance of unfairness in the handling of 
 your opponent's argument only prejudices the hearers 
 against your own argument. 
 
 (2) Good debating means a search for and presentation 
 
290 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 of the truth on each side of a given question. In a really 
 debatable question all of the truth is never on one side. 
 The very idea that a thing is debatable assumes that there 
 is another side. Hence, your opponents and their argu- 
 ments should always be treated with respect. Young de- 
 baters frequently make the mistake of opposing everything 
 that is said on the other side, and attempt to annihilate am 
 opponent instead of showing him his errors. It is said of 
 Lincoln that he often surprised young attorneys by the 
 fair and strong statement of his opponent's case. When- 
 ever a debater uses such expressions as "He gets up here and 
 foolishly asserts so and so," "He harps about this point," 
 etc., it shows that he has a wrong idea of what debating 
 really is, and the wrong attitude toward those on the other 
 side. Other exhibitions along the same lines are shown 
 when a speaker dramatically challenges his opponents by 
 turning from the audience and addresses them alone, ac- 
 companied, perhaps, by a quasi-withering look or gesture ; 
 or flaunts an authority in their faces ; or otherwise con- 
 ducts himself in an hysterical manner when there is no spe- 
 cial cause for excitement, and when his argument would be 
 far more effective if presented in a more respectful and 
 dignified manner. 
 
 Finally, the debaters should remember that the judges are 
 more competent to pass upon the total effect of the argu- 
 ment on each side than are the debaters themselves. The 
 right principle to proceed on is to do the best you can in 
 presenting your argument, and leave the decision absolutely 
 to the judges. Here again reference is had more partic- 
 ularly to the debates of the Interscholastic League. Wrang- 
 ling over decisions is unsportsmanlike, and accomplishes 
 nothing. The debater should take to heart the advice fre- 
 quently given in other contests, "Be a good sport." And 
 in debating, as in other things in life, it is fine training for 
 one to learn how to lose as well as how to win. 
 
Debating 291 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Make a brief outline of this chapter. 
 
 II. Name the arguments and fallacies in the following: 
 
 1. The cat upset the pitcher. I saw her tracks on the 
 table. 
 
 2. There was a heavy rain last night, the roads will be 
 too muddy for the automobile. 
 
 3. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. 
 
 4. That boy is a rogue because his father is a rogue. 
 
 5. All dogs have brown eyes. I examined the eyes of 
 twenty dogs, and each one had brown eyes. 
 
 6. Immigrants should be debarred from the United 
 States because we would then be free from all labor troubles. 
 
 7. There must be a God, because I love Him. 
 
 8. That bad boy whispers because he is mean. 
 
 9. I don't believe what that man preaches because he 
 is not honest. 
 
 10. Men are not happy. Those who are single have no 
 wives to take care of them. Those who are married have 
 wives to take care of. Since all men are either single or 
 are married, men are not happy. 
 
 11. No cat has two tails. Every cat has one tail more 
 than no cat. Hence every cat has three tails. 
 
 12. Hans is a great beer drinker, for the Germans are 
 great beer drinkers. 
 
 13. Knowledge is power, for Bacon said so. 
 
 14. Are you the only rogue in your family? 
 
 III. Arguing from Resemblance, prove the truth or 
 falsity of the following propositions : 
 
 1. Honesty is the best policy. 
 
 2. Irrigation greatly increases the value of the land. 
 
 3. Unclean milk is a menace to public health. 
 
 4. Animals reason. 
 
 IV. Cite a case of circumstantial evidence which caused 
 you to change one of your plans during the past month. 
 
292 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 V. Name five people who would be considered author- 
 ity on farming. 
 
 VI. Give an example of unwilling testimony that you 
 have heard ; of undesigned testimony ; of negative testi- 
 mony. 
 
 VII. Discover in your newspaper or magazine an exam- 
 ple of each form of argument mentioned in this chapter. 
 
 VIII. Discover in your newspaper or magazine an ex- 
 ample of each fprm of fallacy outlined in this chapter. 
 
 IX. Test the following propositions for debate: 
 
 1. There should be no electives in the first two years of 
 high school. 
 
 2. In criminal trials, three-fourths of the jury should 
 be competent to render a verdict. 
 
 3. All saloons should be under the control of the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 4. All Christian churches in the City of 
 
 should be united. 
 
 5. All high school interscholastic athletic games should 
 be abolished. 
 
 6. Oral English should be one of the required studies in 
 the high school. 
 
 7. The French Revolution was justifiable. 
 
 8. A lawyer should not defend a man whom he knows to 
 be guilty. 
 
 9. The truth should always be spoken. 
 
 10. Church property should be taxed. 
 
 11. Pupils should be furnished free text books by the 
 State. 
 
 12. The study of Latin and Greek is a waste of time. 
 
 13. The most successful business men are not strictly 
 honest. 
 
 X. Bring to the class ten questions for debate that will 
 stand the tests. 
 
PART THREE 
 SELECTIONS 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 In the preparation of Part III of this volume the author 
 was guided by the following principles : 
 
 I. Every selection must have true literary merit. Some 
 selections are old. They have stood the test of time and 
 have come out pure gold. This alone makes them immor- 
 tal. Those who make the plea that a selection is "hack- 
 neyed*' because it has become a universal favorite cannot 
 be taken seriously. Still, the modernity of a selection does 
 not prevent its possessing literary value. 
 
 II. Every selection must read or speak well. Many ex- 
 cellent selections were not included because they do not lend 
 themselves readily to oral interpretation. 
 
 III. Every selection is typical. Aside from its intrinsic 
 value as a literary gem, it illustrates some principle in 
 Parts One and Two of the text. 
 
 IV. Every selection was chosen with a view of its adapt- 
 ability to the age, ability, and experience of the students who 
 will use the text. The selections have all been tested by 
 actual practice in the school room. 
 
 The selections are not all of the same degree of difficulty 
 of interpretation : neither have the pupils of the same grade 
 like ability. Again, a student should at times be encouraged 
 to dive where he may be free of the fear of striking bottom. 
 
 The classification of a group of selections of this char- 
 acter is of no great importance. However, two principles 
 have determined the order of arrangement: (1) The main 
 purpose of each selection, and (2) the degree of the diffi- 
 culty of its delivery. 
 
 With the best of arrangement before him. any teacher is 
 doomed to failure who blindly follows a text, and does not 
 
 295 
 
296 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 take the liberty of adapting the material offered to the 
 needs of the particular class and to the capacity of the 
 individual. Again, the following selections have been found 
 sufficient in number and variety to meet the demands of the 
 average class and the limited time usually allotted to the 
 study of Oral English. But a prudent teacher need not con- 
 fine himself to the selections here presented if more appro- 
 priate material is at his command. And it is not an unwise 
 policy to encourage the pupils to be on the lookout for good 
 selections as they appear from time to time in the papers 
 and magazines. Permit them to bring their discoveries to 
 the class and to read them orally. 
 
 Brief statements are made introducing most of the selec- 
 tions, — facts that might not be accessible to the average 
 student, but essential to an intelligent oral interpretation. 
 The general remarks made relative to the delivery are 
 merely suggestive, but it is hoped that they may be found 
 helpful. A more detailed analysis obviously would defeat 
 the purpose of the author, — that of creating in the pupil 
 the power of literary interpretation, individual discrimina- 
 tion, and self-expression. 
 
THE POEM 
 
 By Stokely S. Fisher 
 
 The poem is a picture of the heart ; 
 
 The fixed memorial of some fleeting mood 
 Or sentiment; a sketch, true-drawn if crude, 
 Of common life in home or street or mart, 
 Of human nature wrought with perfect art 
 To perfect beauty, all with power endued, 
 Holding suggestion whereby is renewed 
 Experience of the past, to make it part 
 Of every man's inheritance. From years 
 That die true poetry bears on their gifts 
 
 To younger time ; it paints, that all may see, 
 The spiritual vision of the seers: 
 Before all eyes in every age it lifts 
 Its growing portrait of humanity ! 
 
THE BUGLE SONG 
 
 By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 1892, 
 England. 
 
 This poem, from The Princess (published 1847), was inspired 
 by the scenery and echoes of Lake Killarney (Ireland), which 
 Tennyson visited in 1842. The light from a setting sun, the 
 legendary tales associated with old ruins of Ross Castle, the 
 boatman's bugle notes echoing from Eagle's Nest and the neigh- 
 boring peaks, and the faint, elusive, elfish reverberations as they 
 die away "on hill or field or river," — all make a charming at- 
 mosphere for the poet to be reminded of the echo of the human 
 soul which does not die away, but grows "for ever and forever." 
 
 This is one of the most beautiful lyrics in the English lan- 
 guage. Tennyson, himself, enjoyed reading this poem aloud. 
 The poet commands the bugle to blow — then there is a pause; 
 next he commands the echoes to answer, and while they answer 
 he tells what happens to the echo. In the last stanza contrast 
 the first two lines with the second two as though the disjunctive 
 "but" were between them. Emphasize "they," "faint," "Our," 
 and "grow." 
 
 Qet a clear, imaginative picture of the scene. There are many 
 auditory images and many opportunities for word-coloring. 
 
 The splendor falls on castle walls 
 
 And snowy summits old in story ; 
 The long light shakes across the lakes, 
 And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 
 Blow, bugle — blow! set the wild echoes flying! 
 Blow, bugle! Answer, echoes! dying, dying, dying. 
 
 ii 
 
 O hark! O hear, how thin and clear, 
 And thinner, clearer, farther going! 
 299 
 
300 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 O sweet and far from cliff and scar 
 The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! 
 Blow! lejt us hear the purple glens replying. 
 Blow, bugle! Answer, echoes! dying, dying, dying. 
 
 in 
 
 O love, they die in yon rich sky ! 
 
 They faint on hill, or field, or river; 
 Our echoes roll from soul to soul, 
 And grow for ever and for ever. 
 Blow, bugle — blow! set the wild echoes flying! 
 And answer, echoes — answer! dying, dying, dying. 
 
HOME THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD 
 
 By Robert Browning, Poet. B. 1812, England; d. 1889, Ven- 
 ice, Italy. 
 
 In April, 1840, while in Italy, in a momentary weariness of 
 his adoration of the Italian scenery, Mr. Browning remembers the 
 English landscape with its hedge-rows, its orchard blossoms and 
 its thrush-songs, long enough to give us his only gem of the nat- 
 ural scenery of his native land. Joyous and enthusiastic admi- 
 ration is the dominating emotion. There is no longing. Brown- 
 ing was too well content where he was to be really yearning to 
 get back to England. 
 
 Oh, to be in England now that April's there, 
 
 And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware, 
 
 That the lowest boughs and the brush-wood sheaf 
 
 Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, 
 
 While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough 
 
 In England— now! 
 
 And after April, when May follows 
 
 And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows ! 
 
 Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge 
 
 Leans to the field and scatters on the clover 
 
 Blossoms and dewdrops — at the bent spray's edge — 
 
 That's the wise thrush : he sings each song twice over 
 
 Lest you should think he never could recapture 
 
 The first fine careless rapture! 
 
 And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, 
 
 All will be gay when noontide wakes anew 
 
 The buttercups, the little children's dower 
 
 — Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower! 
 
 301 
 
LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT 
 
 By Cardinal John Henry Newman, Theologian, Author and 
 Poet. B. 1801, London; d. 1890, Birmingham, England. 
 
 Cardinal Newman was a profound student of religion. In 
 early life he was a Calvinistic protestant. In 1845 he united with 
 the Catholic church. There was a continual struggle throughout 
 his long life, for "light." 
 
 Movement is slow and deliberate. In the first stanza empha- 
 size "distant"; in the second, "Thou," "choose," "see." Bring 
 out strongly the contrast in ideas presented in the second stanza. 
 In the third stanza do not pause after "still," "on" nor "till." 
 Use the spiritual voice throughout. The emotional atmosphere 
 is trust. 
 
 Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, 
 
 Lead Thou me on ; 
 The night is dark, and I am far from home, 
 
 Lead Thou me on; 
 Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
 The distant scene ; one step's enough for me. 
 
 I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou 
 
 Shouldst lead me on; 
 I loved to choose and see my path; but now 
 
 Lead Thou me on; 
 I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
 Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years. 
 
 in 
 
 So long Thy power has blessed me, sure it still 
 Will lead me on 
 302 
 
Lead, Kindly Light 303 
 
 O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 
 
 The night is gone; 
 And with the morn those angel faces smile 
 Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile! 
 
 rv 
 
 Meanwhile, along the narrow, rugged path 
 
 Thyself have trod, 
 Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, 
 
 Home to my God, 
 To rest forever after earthly strife 
 In the calm light of everlasting life. 
 
THE SANDPIPER 
 
 By Celia Thaxter, Poet. B. 1836, New Hampshire; d. 1894, 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 Mrs. Thaxter's home was by the sea, and for many years she 
 lived on the Isles of Shoals, ten miles from the main land. The 
 first stanza is an expression of childish glee as she watches the 
 sandpiper. Appropriately characterize the descriptive scene in 
 the second. The third and fourth stanzas are more meditative 
 and command a spiritual voice; a slower rate is also desired. In 
 the first line of the last stanza emphasize "tonight," and "thou" 
 in the fourth line. Have a decided rising slide on the last line. 
 
 Across the narrow beach we flit, 
 
 One little sandpiper and I, 
 And fast I gather, bit by bit, 
 
 The scattered driftwood bleached and dry. 
 The wild waves reach their hands for it, 
 
 The wild wind raves, the tide runs high, 
 As up and down the beach we flit, — 
 
 One little sandpiper and I. 
 
 n 
 
 Above our heads the sullen clouds 
 
 Scud black and swift across the sky; 
 Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds 
 
 Stand out the white lighthouses high. 
 Almost as far as eye can reach 
 
 I see the close-reefed vessels fly, 
 As fast we flit along the beach, 
 
 One little sandpiper and I. 
 304 
 
The Sandpiper 305 
 
 m 
 
 I watch him as he skims along, 
 
 Uttering his sweet and mournful cry. 
 He starts not at my fitful song, 
 
 Or flash of fluttering drapery. 
 He has no thought of any wrong; 
 
 He scans me with a fearless eye. 
 Stanch friends are we, well tried and strong, 
 
 The little sandpiper and I. 
 
 IV 
 
 Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night, 
 
 When the loosed storm breaks furiously? 
 My driftwood fire will burn so bright! 
 
 To what warm shelter canst thou fly? 
 I do not fear for thee, though wroth 
 
 The tempest rushes through the sky, 
 For are we not God's children both, 
 
 Thou, little sandpiper, and I? 
 
THE SONG OF THE CAMP 
 
 By Bayard Taylor, Author and Poet. B. 1825, Pennsylvania; 
 d. 1878, Germany. 
 
 The incident occasioning this love lyric occurred during the 
 Crimean War (1854-1856); with Russia on the one hand, and 
 Turkey with her allies, France, England, and Sardinia, on the 
 other. The English and French began besieging Sebastopol 
 early in the Spring of 1855. On Sept. 8th, a final and suc- 
 cessful assault was made on the Russian redoubts, the MalakofF 
 and the Redan, but with a loss of 10,000 of the allied troops. 
 
 Mr. Taylor never succeeded in keeping the didactic element 
 from his poetry. It predominates in this selection. This story 
 is full of spirit and with many sudden changes in tone-color. 
 The guardsman's words in the third stanza are spoken in a tone 
 of permission, not of indifference. In the sixth, express climac- 
 tically the progress of the song, and also the transition in the 
 last line. The last line of the eighth might be thus expanded: 
 "How the English soldiers remember their loved ones." The 
 fierce assault of September 8th is portrayed in the ninth; and 
 should be rendered accordingly. Observe the touching remi- 
 niscence in the tenth; the tender command in the first two, and 
 the philosophic truism in the last two lines of the eleventh. 
 
 "Give us a song!" the soldiers cried, 
 The outer trenches guarding, 
 
 When the heated guns of the camps allied 
 Grew weary of bombarding. 
 
 n 
 
 The dark Redan, in silent scoff, 
 
 Lay, grim and threatening, under; 
 
 And the tawny mound of the MalakofF 
 No longer belched its thunder. 
 306 
 
The Song of the Camp 307 
 
 m 
 
 There was a pause. A guardsman said: 
 "We storm the forts to-morrow; 
 
 Sing while we may, another day 
 Will bring enough of sorrow." 
 
 rv 
 
 They lay along the battery's side, 
 
 Below the smoking cannon; 
 Brave hearts, from Severn and from Clyde, 
 
 And from the banks of Shannon. 
 
 They sang of love, and not of fame ; 
 
 Forgot was Britain's glory: 
 Each heart recalled a different name, 
 
 But all sang "Annie Laurie." 
 
 VI 
 
 Voice after voice caught up the song, 
 
 Until its tender passion 
 Rose like an anthem, rich and strong, — 
 
 Their battle-eve confession. 
 
 vn 
 
 Dear girl, her name he dared not speak, 
 But, as the song grew louder, 
 
 Something upon the soldier's cheek 
 Washed off the stains of powder. 
 
 vm 
 
 Beyond the darkening ocean burned 
 The bloody sunset's embers, 
 
 While the Crimean valleys learned 
 How English love remembers. 
 
308 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 IX 
 
 And once again a fire of hell 
 
 Rained on the Russian quarters, 
 
 With scream of shot, and burst of shell, 
 And bellowing of the mortars! 
 
 And Irish Nora's eyes are dim 
 For a singer, dumb and gory; 
 
 And English Mary mourns for him 
 Who sang of "Annie Laurie." 
 
 XI 
 
 Sleep, soldiers ! still in honored rest 
 Your truth and valor wearing: 
 
 The bravest are the tenderest, — 
 The loving are the daring. 
 
PATRICK HENRY DELIVERING HIS CELEBRATED SPEECH 
 
 From painting by Peter Rothermel 
 
THE CALF-PATH 
 
 By Sam Walter Foss, Author and Poet. B. 1858, New Hamp- 
 shire; d. 1911, Massachusetts. 
 
 This selection is a sermon in verse. It has little to do with 
 the emotions. The metropolis to which Mr. Foss refers is 
 Boston, and the crooked trail over which now goes "the traffic 
 of a continent" is Washington Street. It is a story with a 
 moral attached. Tell it as a story. It is intellectual throughout. 
 
 One day through the primeval wood 
 
 A calf walked home as good calves should, 
 
 But made a trail all bent askew, 
 
 A crooked trail, as all calves do. 
 
 Since then three hundred years have fled, 
 
 And I infer the calf is dead. 
 
 n 
 
 But still he left behind his trail, 
 
 And thereby hangs my moral tale. 
 
 The trail was taken up next day 
 
 By a lone dog that passed that way, 
 
 And then a wise bell-wether sheep 
 
 Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep ; 
 
 And drew the flock behind him, too, 
 
 As good bell-wethers always do. 
 
 And from that day, o'er hill and glade, 
 
 Through those old woods a path was made. 
 
 m 
 
 And many men wound in and out, 
 And dodged and turned and bent about, 
 309 
 
310 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 And uttered words of righteous wrath 
 Because 'twas such a crooked path; 
 But still they followed — do not laugh — 
 The first migrations of that calf, 
 And through the winding wood-way stalked, 
 Because he wobbled when he walked. 
 
 IV 
 
 This forest path became a lane 
 That bent and turned and turned again ; 
 This crooked lane became a road, 
 Where many a poor horse with his load 
 Toiled on beneath the burning sun, 
 And traveled some three miles in one. 
 And thus a century and a half 
 They trod the footsteps of that calf. 
 
 The years passed on in swiftness fleet, 
 The road became a village street; 
 And this, before men were aware, 
 A city's crowded thoroughfare. 
 And soon the central street was this 
 Of a renowned metropolis ! 
 And men two centuries and a half 
 Trod in the footsteps of that calf. 
 
 VI 
 
 Each day a hundred thousand rout 
 Followed the zigzag calf about, 
 And o'er his crooked journey went 
 The traffic of a continent. 
 A hundred thousand men were led 
 By one calf near three centuries dead. 
 They followed still his crooked way, 
 And lost one hundred years a day; 
 
The Calf-Path 311 
 
 For thus such reverence is lent 
 To well-established precedent. 
 
 VII 
 
 A moral lesson this might teach 
 Were I ordained and called to preach ; 
 For men are prone to go it blind 
 Along the calf-paths of the mind, 
 And work away from sun to sun 
 To do what other men have done. 
 
 VIII 
 
 They follow in the beaten track, 
 And out and in, and forth and back, 
 And still their devious course pursue, 
 To keep the path that others do. 
 They keep the path a sacred groove, 
 Along which all their lives they move ; 
 But how the wise old wood-gods laugh, 
 Who saw the first primeval calf. 
 Ah, many things this tale might teach — 
 But I am not ordained to preach. 
 
THE DAFFODILS 
 
 By William Wordsworth, Poet. B. 1770, England; d. 1850, 
 England. 
 
 Dorothy Wordsworth, sister and constant companion of the 
 poet, in her diary, writes of their visit on April 15, 1802, to 
 Gowbarrow Park, Ullswater, England. 
 
 "I never saw daffodils so beautiful. They grew among the 
 grassy stones, about and above them; some rested their heads 
 upon these stones, as on a pillow for weariness; and the rest 
 tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily 
 laughed with the wind that blew directly over the lake to them." 
 With this picture flashing upon his "inward eye," Wordsworth 
 wrote this beautiful poem two years later. 
 
 Suggest the mental attitude of the poet in the first two lines 
 by a sustained inflection and long quantity. Express the sur- 
 prise manifest at the beginning of the third line and the delight 
 in seeing the flowers. In the second stanza group the words 
 "shine and twinkle"; emphasize "They" to show the similarity 
 between the stars and the daffodils. Note the change from a 
 joyful to a thoughtful mood in the last two lines of the third 
 stanza, and vice versa in the last two lines of the last stanza. 
 
 I wandered lonely as a cloud 
 
 That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 
 
 When all at once I saw a crowd, 
 
 A host, of golden daffodils ; 
 
 Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 
 
 Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 
 
 n 
 
 Continuous as the stars that shine 
 And twinkle on the milky way, 
 They stretch'd in never-ending line 
 312 
 
The Daffodils 313 
 
 Along the margin of the bay; 
 Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 
 Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 
 
 m 
 
 The waves beside them danced; but they 
 
 Out-did the sparkling waves in glee; 
 
 A poet could not but be gay, 
 
 In such a jocund company; 
 
 I gazed — and gazed — but little thought 
 
 What wealth the show to me had brought; 
 
 rv 
 
 For oft, when on my couch I lie 
 In vacant or in pensive mood, 
 They flash upon that inward eye 
 Which is the bliss of solitude; 
 And then my heart with pleasure fills, 
 And dances with the daffodils. 
 
MY SHADOW 
 
 By Robert Louis Stevenson, Author and Poet. B. 1850, Scot- 
 land; d. 1894, Samoa Island. 
 
 This is one of the selections from A Child's Garden of Verses 
 (published in 1885), and is a story in verse. Impersonate the 
 child's enthusiasm and interest. Use time-emphasis on "taller," 
 and appropriate word-color on "little." There is a touch of 
 childish conceit and ridicule in the third stanza, and a little 
 boasting in the last. Get the child view-point. 
 
 I 
 
 I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, 
 And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 
 He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; 
 And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. 
 
 n 
 
 The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow — 
 Not at all like proper children which is always very slow; 
 For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, 
 And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all. 
 
 in 
 He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, 
 And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. 
 He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see ; 
 I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to 
 me! 
 
 rv 
 
 One morning very early, before the sun was up, 
 I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup ; 
 But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, 
 Had stayed at home behind me, and was fast asleep in bed. 
 
 314 
 
LITTLE BOY BLUE 
 
 By Eugene Field, Poet and Journalist. B. 1850, Missouri; 
 d. 1895, Illinois. 
 
 From A Little Booh of Western Verse (1889). This beauti- 
 ful lyric is written in the minor key, a melody of mingled love 
 and sorrow, occasioned by the death of Mr. Field's own little 
 son. This burst of grief voices the sorrow of many a bereaved 
 parent. 
 
 Remember that it is a father speaking. Do not impersonate 
 the child in the second stanza. Note the transition in the last 
 two lines of the stanza; and emphasize "many," "long" and 
 "true." 
 
 The little toy dog is covered with dust, 
 
 But sturdy and staunch he stands ; 
 And the little toy soldier is red with rust, 
 
 And his musket moulds in his hands. 
 Time was when the little toy dog was new 
 
 And the soldier was passing fair, 
 And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue 
 
 Kissed them and put them there. 
 
 n 
 
 "Now don't you go till I come," he said, 
 
 "And don't you make any noise!" 
 So toddling off to his trundle-bed 
 
 He dreamt of the pretty toys. 
 And as he was dreaming, an angel song 
 
 Awakened our Little Boy Blue, — 
 Oh, the years are many, the years are long, 
 
 But the little toy friends are true. 
 
 315 
 
316 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 m 
 
 Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand, 
 
 Each in the same old place, 
 Awaiting the touch of a little hand, 
 
 The smile of a little face. 
 And they wonder, as waiting these long years through. 
 
 In the dust of that little chair, 
 What has become of our Little Boy Blue, 
 
 Since he kissed them and put them there. 
 
TEARS, IDLE TEARS 
 
 By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 1892, 
 England. 
 
 This is another poem taken from The Princess. Poetic genius 
 often tries to express the inexpressible. This "feeling of sad- 
 ness and longing" frequently comes from a sight that is in itself 
 anything but sad, — the "happy autumn fields." This indeter- 
 minate longing which comes to the sensitive soul who can reach 
 beyond the material world is not unlike the emotions St. Paul 
 speaks of as "groanings that can not be uttered." "This poem," 
 says Tennyson, "was written at Tintern when the woods were 
 yellowing with autumn seen through the ruined windows. It is 
 what I have always felt even from a boy, and what as a boy I 
 called the 'passion of the past.' And so it is with me now; 
 it is the distance that charms me in the landscape, in the pic- 
 ture, and the past, and not the immecliate to-day in which I 
 move." 
 
 Slow meditative movement; long downward inflections should 
 be used. Its rhythm is so perfect that we do not feel the ab- 
 sence of the rhyme, a contribution to English lyrics peculiarly 
 Tennyson's. This poem represents Melancholy personified. 
 
 Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean. 
 Tears from the depth of some divine despair 
 Rise in the heart and gather to the eyes, 
 In looking on the happy autumn fields, 
 And thinking of the days that are no more. 
 
 Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, 
 That brings our friends up from the under world, 
 Sad as the last which reddens over one 
 317 
 
318 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 That sinks with all we love below the verge! 
 So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more. 
 
 in 
 
 Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns 
 
 The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds 
 
 To dying ears, when unto dying eyes 
 
 The casement slowly grows a glimmering square; 
 
 So sad, so strange, the days that are no more. 
 
 IV 
 
 Dear as remembered kisses after death, 
 And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned 
 On lips that are for others ; deep as love, 
 Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; 
 O Death in Life, the days that are no more. 
 
BREAK, BREAK, BREAK 
 
 By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 1892, 
 England. 
 
 Upon the reverse side of the leaf from a note-book on which 
 this poem was written, was the sentence: "Made in a Lincoln- 
 shire lane at 5 o'clock in the morning between blossoming 
 hedges." But Tennyson was not thinking of the hedge-rows, but 
 of a grave at Clevedon beside the sea where his beloved friend, 
 Arthur Hallam, lay buried. 
 
 This poem is a fore-runner of In Memoriam, and expresses 
 the overwhelming grief of the poet for his bosom friend who 
 died in 1833. The movement is slow throughout, with long 
 downward inflections. Suggest the dull monotonous "break" of 
 the waves against the rocks. The second stanza suggests a con- 
 trast, but there is no annoyance shown at this interruption in 
 his thoughts. The comparison makes his grief all the more 
 poignant. 
 
 I 
 
 Break, break, break, 
 
 On thy cold, gray stones, O Sea! 
 
 And I would that my tongue could utter 
 The thoughts that arise in me. 
 
 n 
 
 Oh, well for the fisherman's boy 
 
 That he shouts with his sister at play ! 
 
 Oh, well for the sailor-lad 
 
 That he sings in his boat on the bay! 
 
 . m 
 
 And the stately ships go on, 
 
 To the haven under the hill; 
 But oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, 
 
 And the sound of a voice that is still ! 
 319 
 
320 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 IV 
 
 Break, break, break, 
 
 At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! 
 But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
 
 Will never come back to me. 
 
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! 
 
 By Walt Whitman, Author and Poet. B. 1819, New York; 
 d. 1892, New Jersey. 
 
 Mr. Whitman became a volunteer nurse in the army hospitals 
 in Washington in 1862. This frequently brought him in touch 
 with President Lincoln whom he learned to love as a father. 
 President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. This poem is the 
 overflow of a heart that not only throbbed its own deep personal 
 loss, but voiced the heart-sobs of a nation in her hour of tears. 
 
 The first four lines express the exultation of the safe return 
 of the Ship of State; the next four mark a transition and ex- 
 press a deep sorrow for the dead Captain. The second stanza 
 is an anxious appeal to the Captain. The third stanza is a 
 subjective monolog expressing the grief that is so keenly felt by 
 all. The fifth line is not a joyous command. The last four 
 lines might be paraphrased thus: If you people wish to rejoice, 
 because the Nation is safe, go and ring your bells ; but for me, 
 I shall mourn for our leader and personal friend. 
 
 O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, 
 
 The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is 
 
 won, 
 The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 
 While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and dar- 
 ing; 
 But O heart! heart! heart! 
 O the bleeding drops of red, 
 
 Where on the deck my Captain lies, 
 Fallen cold and dead. 
 
 O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 
 Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills. 
 
 321 
 
3££ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths — for you the shores 
 
 a-crowding, 
 For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces 
 turning ; 
 Here Captain! dear father! 
 This arm beneath your head! 
 
 It is some dream that on the deck, 
 You've fallen cold and dead. 
 
 in 
 
 My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, 
 My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, 
 The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed 
 
 and done, 
 From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; 
 Exult O shores, and ring O bells! 
 But I with mournful tread, 
 
 Walk the deck my Captain lies, 
 Fallen cold and dead. 
 
THE RECESSIONAL 
 
 By Rudyard Kipling, Poet and Author. B. 1864, Bombay, 
 India; now living in England. 
 
 Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1897. The 
 London Times wrote tOvMr. Kipling for a poem on the Jubilee. 
 He made many attempts before he finally produced "The Reces- 
 sional," which within a few months became a universal favorite. 
 
 To understand this poem it is necessary to picture the pomp 
 and pageantry of this great Jubilee. "Native princes from the 
 Far East, ambassadors from the royal houses of Europe, the 
 vast military and naval displays, the magnificent civic celebra- 
 tion by procession, public services, and bonfires, — all united to 
 pour out a nation's adulation and praise to England's greatest 
 Queen." During this celebration of England's prowess and 
 while the armies were returning, the navies melting away, the 
 kings departing, the bonfires dying out, and the entire nation 
 was "drunk with sight of power," — Kipling wished to remind 
 the people that they must not forget the great King of Kings. 
 
 This is a prayer. An anxious appeal to the "God of Hosts" 
 for His watchful care over the destiny of the nation. Long 
 inflections must be used, since the poem is intensely emotional. 
 Make the last two lines of each stanza a passionate plea, — an 
 expression of anxiety, awe and adoration. 
 
 God of our fathers, known of old — 
 Lord of our far-flung battle line- 
 Beneath Whose awful Hand we hold 
 
 Dominion over palm and pine — 
 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
 Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 
 
 The tumult and the shouting dies — 
 The captains and the kings depart — 
 323 
 
SM Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice, 
 
 An humble and a contrite heart. 
 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
 Lest we forget — lest we forget! 
 
 m 
 
 Far-called our navies melt away — 
 
 On dune and headland sinks the fire — 
 
 Lo, all our pomp of yesterday 
 Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! 
 
 Judge of the nations, spare us yet, 
 
 Lest we forget — lest we forget! 
 
 rv 
 
 If, drunk with sight of power, we loose 
 
 Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe- 
 Such boasting as the Gentiles use 
 
 Or lesser breeds without the Law — 
 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
 Lest we forget — lest we forget! 
 
 For heathen heart that puts her trust 
 In reeking tube and iron shard — 
 
 All valiant dust that builds on dust, 
 
 And guarding calls not Thee to guard — 
 
 For frantic boast and foolish word, 
 
 Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord! Amen! 
 
COLUMBUS 
 
 By Cincinnatus Heine Miller (Joaquin Miller), Author and 
 Poet. B. 1841, Indiana; d. 1913, California. 
 
 The story of Columbus and his crew is too well known to need 
 repetition. The following poem, in a recent critical article in 
 the London Atheneum, received this commendation: "In point 
 of power, workmanship and feeling, among all the poems written 
 by Americans, we are inclined to give first place to the Port of 
 Ships (Columbus) by Joaquin Miller." 
 
 The poet vividly contrasts the fear, discouragement and utter 
 hopelessness of the mate as spokesman for the crew with the 
 faith, firmness and relentless persistence of the Admiral. The 
 feeling of discouragement and firmness is climactically intensi- 
 fied in the first four stanzas. Use a downward inflection on the 
 last "on" at the end of each stanza. Observe the sudden tran- 
 sition in the last line of the third, and the fourth line of the 
 fifth stanza. Express in appropriate tone-quality the discour- 
 agement of the mate and the determination of the Admiral, and 
 the note of triumph in the fourth, fifth and sixth lines of the last 
 stanza. 
 
 Behind him lay the gray Azores, 
 
 Behind the Gates of Hercules ; 
 Before him not the ghost of shores, 
 
 Before him only shoreless seas. 
 The good mate said : "Now we must pray, 
 
 For lo ! the very stars are gone. 
 Brave Adm'rl, speak; what shall I say?" 
 
 "Why say: 'Sail on! sail on! sail on!'" 
 
 n 
 
 "My men grow mutinous day by day; 
 
 My men grow ghastly, wan and weak." 
 325 
 
326 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 The stout mate thought of home; a spray 
 Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 
 
 "What shall I say, brave Adm'rl, say 
 If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" 
 
 "Why, you shall say at break of day: 
 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! sail on!' " 
 
 in 
 
 They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, 
 
 Until at last the blanched mate said: 
 "Why, not ,even God would know 
 
 Should I and all my men fall dead. 
 These very winds forget their way, 
 
 For God from these dread seas is gone. 
 Now speak, brave Adm'rl ; speak and say — " 
 
 He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!" 
 
 rv 
 
 They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate 
 
 "This mad sea shows its teeth to-night. 
 He curls his lip, he lies in wait, 
 
 With lifted teeth, as if to bite! 
 Brave Adm'rl, say but one good word; 
 
 What shall we do when hope is gone?" 
 The words leapt as a leaping sword : 
 
 "Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!" 
 
 Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, 
 
 And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 
 Of all dark nights And then a speck — 
 
 A light ! A light ! A light ! A light ! 
 It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! 
 
 It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. 
 He gained a world; he gave that world 
 
 Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!" 
 
EXCELSIOR 
 
 By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Author and Poet. B. 
 1807, Maine; d. 1882, Massachusetts. 
 
 This poem was written September 28, 1841. A New York 
 journal, bearing the seal of the State of New York, — "a shield, 
 with a rising sun, and the motto in heraldic Latin, 'Excelsior/ '' 
 suggested to Mr. Longfellow the writing of this poem. ' His 
 imagination immediately pictured a youth scaling the Alpine 
 mountains with a pennant affixed to his alpenstock, bearing the 
 word "Excelsior." It is the symbol of inspiration and sacrifice. 
 Edgar Allan Poe says: "It depicts the earnest, upward impulse 
 of the soul — an impulse not to be subdued even in Death. Des- 
 pising danger, resisting pleasure, the }'outh, bearing the banner 
 inscribed 'Excelsior !' (higher still) struggles through all diffi- 
 culties to an Alpine summit. Warned to be content with the 
 elevation attained, his cry is still, 'Excelsior !' There is yet an 
 immortal height to be surmounted — an ascent in Eternity. The 
 poet holds in view the idea of never-ending progress." 
 
 Great care should be exercised in reading this selection. Ob- 
 serve the various moods in the different stanzas. The refrain 
 "Excelsior !" must be spoken so as to represent the various emo- 
 tions of the youth, which differ in nearly every stanza. The 
 word "Excelsior!" may be made the basis of a good drill by 
 having a pupil express the word as characteristic of the differ- 
 ent moods and have the class determine for which stanza it 
 was intended. 
 
 The shades of night were falling fast, 
 As through an Alpine village passed 
 A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, 
 A banner with the strange device — 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 327 
 
328 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 n 
 
 His brow was sad; his eye beneath 
 Flashed like a falchion from its sheath; 
 And like a silver clarion rung 
 The accents of that unknown tongue — 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 in 
 In happy homes he saw the light 
 Of household fires gleam warm and bright, 
 Above, the spectral glaciers shone, 
 And from his lips escaped a groan — 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 rv 
 
 "Try not the pass," the old man said: 
 "Dark lowers the tempest overhead; 
 The roaring torrent is deep and wide !" 
 And loud that clarion voice replied, 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 "Oh, stay," the maiden said, "and rest 
 Thy weary head upon this breast!" 
 A tear stood in his bright blue eye, 
 But still he answered with a sigh, 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 VI 
 
 "Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! 
 Beware the awful avalanche!" 
 This was the peasant's last good night. 
 A voice replied, far up the height, 
 Excelsior ! 
 
Excelsior 329 
 
 vn 
 
 At break of day, as heavenward 
 The pious monks of St. Bernard 
 Uttered the oft-repeated prayer, 
 A voice cried through the startled air, 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 vm 
 
 A traveler, by the faithful hound, 
 Half-buried in the snow was found, 
 Still grasping in his hand of ice 
 That banner with the strange device, 
 Excelsior ! 
 
 IX 
 
 There in the twilight cold and gray, 
 Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay 
 And from the sky, serene and far, 
 A voice fell, like a falling star — 
 Excelsior ! 
 
THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD 
 
 By Sam Walter Foss, Author and Poet. B. 1858, New Hamp- 
 shire; d. 191 I, Massachusetts. 
 
 This selection, though comparatively new, has been received 
 with great enthusiasm. The sentiment of the poem — that of 
 friendship— was suggested to the poet by this line from Homer, 
 "He was a friend to man, and lived in a house by the side of 
 the road." Read with real enthusiasm and sincerity. This 
 poem contains a sentiment we can well afford to cultivate. 
 
 There are hermit souls that live withdrawn 
 
 In the peace of their self-content; 
 There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart, 
 
 In a fellowless firmament. 
 There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths 
 
 Where highways never ran; 
 But let me live by the side of the road 
 
 And be a friend to man. 
 
 Let me live in a house by the side of the road, 
 
 Where the race of men go by — 
 The men who are good and the men who are bad. 
 
 As good and as bad as I. 
 I would not sit in the scorner's seat, 
 
 Or hurl the cynic's ban; 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road 
 
 And be a friend to man. 
 330 
 
The House by the Side of the Road 331 
 
 m 
 
 I see from my house by the side of the road, 
 
 By the side of the highway of life, 
 The men who press with the ardor of hope, 
 
 The men who are faint with the strife. 
 But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears — 
 
 Both parts of an infinite plan; 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road 
 
 And be a friend to man. 
 
 rv 
 
 I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead, 
 
 And mountains of wearisome height; 
 That the road passes on through the long afternoon, 
 
 And stretches away to the night. 
 But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice, 
 
 And weep with the strangers that moan, 
 Nor live in my house by the side of the road 
 
 Like a man who dwells alone. 
 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road 
 
 Where the race of men go by — 
 They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are 
 strong, 
 
 Wise, foolish — so am I. 
 Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat, 
 
 Or hurl the cynic's ban? — 
 Let me live in my house by the side of the road 
 
 And be a friend to man. 
 
AN INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP 
 
 By Robert Browning, Poet. B. 1818, England; d. 1889, 
 Italy. 
 
 This touching story is a good example of one of Browning's 
 monologues. A Frenchman is telling the incident to one or more 
 of his countrymen. The whole story centers around the Spartan 
 bravery of the boy-messenger. Let this emotion pervade the en- 
 tire selection. Express the deep concern in "You're wounded"; 
 and the wounded pride in "I'm killed, sire !" 
 
 You know we French stormed Ratisbon 
 
 A mile or so away, 
 On a little mound, Napoleon 
 
 Stood on our storming-day; 
 With neck out-thrust, you fancy how, 
 
 Legs wide, arms locked behind, 
 As if to balance the prone brow, 
 
 Oppressive with its mind. 
 
 Just as perhaps he mused, "My plans 
 
 That soar, to earth may fall. 
 Let once my army-leader, Lannes, 
 
 Waver at yonder wall," — 
 Out 'twixt the battery-smokes there flew 
 
 A rider, bound on bound 
 Full-galloping; nor bridle drew 
 
 Until he reached the mound. 
 332 
 
An Incident of the French Camp 
 
 m 
 
 Then off there flung in smiling joy, 
 
 And held himself erect 
 By just his horse's mane, a boy: 
 
 You hardly could suspect — 
 So tight he kept his lips compressed, 
 
 Scarce any blood came through — 
 You looked twice ere you saw his breast 
 
 Was all but shot in two. 
 
 IV 
 
 "Well," cried he, "Emperor, by God's grace 
 
 We've got you Ratisbon! 
 The marshal's in the market-place, 
 
 And you'll be there anon 
 To see your flag-bird flap his vans 
 
 Where I, to heart's desire, 
 Perched him!" The chief's eye flashed; his plans 
 
 Soared up again like fire. 
 
 The chief's eye flashed; but presently 
 
 Softened itself, as sheathes 
 A film the mother eagle's eye 
 
 When her bruised eaglet breathes. 
 "You're wounded!" "Nay," his soldier's pride 
 
 Touched to the quick, he said: 
 "I'm killed, sire !" and, his chief beside, 
 
 Smiling, the boy fell dead. 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE AT 
 BALAKLAVA 
 
 By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 
 1892, Isle of Wight. 
 
 In the Crimean War between England and Russia, the Rus- 
 sians had advanced to threaten Balaklava. Their redoubts ex- 
 tended for about one-half mile along two adjacent ridges, with 
 the main army at one end of the valley between. Lord Raglan, 
 in command of the English forces, decided to move against the 
 Russians. On Oct. 25, 1854, he ordered his heavy cavalry to 
 advance. Next the light cavalry was ordered into rank. The 
 Russians were amazed at first and did not dream that the light 
 cavalry was really charging down upon them. But soon the 
 Russian guns poured forth a murderous cross fire from both 
 sides, from the front and even in the rear. The English suc- 
 ceeded in breaking through one line of the Russian infantry, 
 before a retreat was ordered. Only 195 out of 673 succeeded 
 in returning to the place they had left twenty minutes before. 
 
 One evening two months later, Tennyson wrote this poem to 
 let the soldiers know "that those who sit at home love and honor 
 them." 
 
 Note how the rhythm and meter is suggested by the galloping 
 horses. Also, that the commands and the immediate action are 
 intellectual and not emotional, and are therefore expressed in 
 short and abrupt accents. 
 
 In the second stanza observe the emphasis on "man," "knew," 
 and "do," but not on "die." It was not their duty to die. 
 
 The next three stanzas are narrative with an accumulative 
 interest and intensity toward the close of the fourth stanza, fol- 
 lowed by the first important transition in the line. 
 "Then they rode back; but not — 
 Not the six hundred." 
 This transition should be marked with a change of movement 
 in pitch and quality of tone. Express the word "hell" with 
 energetic intensity. 
 
 The last stanza marks another important transition. This 
 
 334 
 
The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava 335 
 
 stanza should be expressed with dignity, and with deep sympathy 
 and admiration. The entire poem is a dirge, but radiates with 
 honor for the brave men. 
 
 Half a league, half a league, 
 Half a league onward, 
 All in the valley of Death 
 
 Rode the six hundred. 
 "Forward, the Light Brigade ! 
 Charge for the guns !" he said : 
 Into the valley of Death 
 
 Rode the six hundred. 
 
 "Forward, the Light Brigade !" 
 Was there a man dismay'd? 
 Not tho' the soldier knew 
 Some one had blunder'd: 
 Theirs not to make reply, 
 Theirs not to reason why, — 
 Theirs but to do and die: 
 Into the valley of Death 
 Rode the six hundred. 
 
 in 
 
 Cannon to right of them, 
 Cannon to left of them, 
 Cannon in front of them 
 
 Volleyed and thundered; 
 Storm'd at with shot and shell, 
 Boldly they rode and well, 
 Into the jaws of Death, 
 Into the mouth of Hell, 
 
 Rode the six hundred. „ 
 
336 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 IV 
 
 Flashed all their sabres bare, 
 Flashed as they turned in air, 
 Sabring the gunners there, 
 Charging an army, while 
 
 All the world wondered: 
 Plunged in the battery-smoke, 
 Right through the line they broke: 
 Cossack and Russian 
 Reeled from the sabre-stroke 
 Shattered and sundered. 
 Then they rode back, but not — 
 Not the Six Hundred. 
 
 Cannon to right of them, 
 Cannon to left of them, 
 Cannon behind them 
 
 Volleyed and thundered; 
 Stormed at with shot and shell, 
 While horse and hero fell, 
 They that had fought so well 
 Came from the jaws of Death 
 Back from the mouth of Hell 
 All that was left of them, 
 
 Left of Six Hundred. 
 
 VI 
 
 When can their glory fade? 
 Oh, the wild charge they made ! 
 
 All the world wondered. 
 Honor the charge they made! 
 Honor the Light Brigade, 
 
 Noble Six Hundred. 
 
POLISH WAR SONG 
 
 By James Gates Percival, Scientist and Poet. B. 1795, Con- 
 necticut; d. 1856, Wisconsin. 
 
 Sobieski was king of Poland from 1674-1696; and was one 
 of the greatest warriors of the 19th century. General Kosciusko 
 (Kos-choosh'-ko) died in 1817, having frequently defeated Rus- 
 sian armies ten times greater than his own. The partition of 
 Poland as rearranged by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was 
 not satisfactory to Poland. On November 29, 1830, an insur- 
 rection broke out in Warsaw, and for a short time the Russians 
 were again driven from Poland. This poem represents the 
 Polish battle cry for independence on this occasion. 
 
 The selection is an oration in verse. It is an appeal to the 
 will. Express every line with vigor and enthusiasm, just as 
 though you actually were arousing men to fall into battle line. 
 Use the vital voice, as the selection is volitional throughout. 
 Come in strong on the last line, and on the last word. 
 
 Freedom calls you ! Quick, be ready, — 
 
 Rouse ye in the name of God, — 
 Onward, onward, strong and steady, — 
 Dash to earth the oppressor's rod. 
 Freedom calls, ye brave ! 
 Rise and spurn the name of slave. 
 
 Grasp the sword! — its edge is keen, 
 Seize the gun ! — its ball is true : 
 Sweep the land from tyrant clean, — 
 
 Haste, and scour it through and through ! 
 Onward, onward! Freedom cries, 
 Rush to arms, — the tyrant flies. 
 337 
 
338 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 in 
 
 By the souls of patriots gone, 
 
 Wake, — arise, — your fetters break, 
 Kosciusko bids you on, — 
 Sobieski cries awake! 
 
 Rise, and front the despot czar, 
 Rise, and dare the unequal war. 
 
 IV 
 
 Freedom calls you! Quick, be ready, — 
 Think of what your sires have been, 
 Onward, onward ! strong and steady, 
 Drive the tyrant to his den. 
 
 On, and let the watchword be, 
 Country, home, and liberty ! 
 
CATILINE'S REPLY 
 
 By George Croly, Author and Clergyman. B. 1780, Ireland; 
 d. I860, Ireland. 
 
 Catiline failing to gain the consulship of Rome through suf- 
 frage, conspired to secure control by force of arms. This sup- 
 posed speech was a reply to Cicero's oration Catiline Denounced. 
 After his banishment, Catiline joined his army, was defeated in 
 battle and killed. 
 
 Catiline was a man of great influence and power. His threats 
 are not vain boasts ; he believed he could carry them out, for on 
 his side were many men of great influence, men who commanded 
 great resources and large armies. 
 
 Conscript Fathers: 
 I do not rise to waste the night in words ; 
 Let that Plebeian talk, 't is not my trade. 
 But here I stand for right, — let him show proofs, — 
 For Roman right, though none, it seems, dare stand 
 To take their share with me. Ay, cluster there ! 
 Cling to your master, judges, Romans, slaves ! 
 His charge is false, I dare him to his proofs. 
 You have my answer. Let my actions speak. 
 
 ii 
 
 But this I will avow, that I have scorned, 
 And still do scorn, to hide my sense of wrong. 
 Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword, 
 Or lays the bloody scourge upon my back, 
 Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts 
 The gates of honor on me — turning out 
 The Roman from his birthright; and for what? 
 
 339 
 
340 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 To fling your offices to every slave! 
 
 Vipers, that creep where man disdains to climb, 
 
 And, having wound their loathsome track to the top 
 
 Of this huge, mouldering monument of Rome, 
 
 Hang hissing at the nobler man below! 
 
 in 
 
 Come, consecrated Lictors, from your thrones, 
 Fling down your sceptres, take the rod and axe, 
 And make the murder as you make the law! 
 Banished from Rome ! What's banished, but set free 
 From daily contact of the things I loathe? 
 "Tried and convicted traitor!" Who says this? 
 Who'll prove it — at his peril — on my head? 
 Banished! I thank you for 't. It breaks my chain! 
 I held some slack allegiance till this hour, 
 But now my sword's my own. Smile on, my Lords ! 
 I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, 
 Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs, 
 I have within my heart's hot cells shut up, 
 To leave you in your lazy dignities. 
 But here I stand and scoff you ! here I fling 
 Hatred and full defiance in your face! 
 Your consul's merciful, for this all thanks ! 
 He dares not touch a hair of Catiline ! 
 
 IV 
 
 "Traitor!" I go ; but, I return ! This— trial? 
 Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs 
 To stir a fever in the blood of age, 
 Or make the infant's sinews strong as steel. 
 This day's the birth of sorrow! this hour's work 
 Will breed proscriptions ! Look to your hearths, my Lords ! 
 For there, henceforth, shall sit for household gods, 
 Shapes hot from Tartarus, all shames and crimes! 
 
Catiline's Reply 341 
 
 Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn ; 
 Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup ; 
 Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe, 
 Making wild sport of your blazing thrones ; 
 Till Anarchy comes down on you like night, 
 And Massacre seals Rome's eternal grave ! 
 
 I go ! but not to leap the gulf alone. 
 I go ! but wjien I come, 't will be the burst 
 Of ocean in the earthquake, rolling back 
 In swift and mountainous ruin. Fare you well! 
 You build my funeral-pile ; but your best blood 
 Shall quench its flame ! — Back, slaves ! — 
 I will return ! 
 
BRUTUS ON THE DEATH OF LUCRETIA 
 
 By John Howard Payne, Actor and Playwright. B. 1791,. 
 New York; d. 1852, Tunis, Tripoli. 
 
 A son of Tarquin the Proud, King of Rome, caused the death 
 of Lucretia. Lucius Junius Brutus fired by a desired for re- 
 venge gathered together an army composed of the best blood of 
 Rome and drove the Tarquins from the city. A republican form 
 of government was then established and Brutus became one of 
 the two first consuls (B.C. 1509). This poem is a part of 
 Scene 4, Act III of the play called Brutus. Brutus convokes 
 the citizens by the following speech. 
 
 Thus, thus, my friends ! fast as our breaking hearts 
 Permitted utterance, we have told our story; 
 And now, to say one word of the imposture, 
 The mask necessity has made me wear. 
 When the ferocious malice of your king, — 
 King, do I call him? — when the monster, Tarquin, 
 Slew, as most of you may well remember, 
 My father, Marcus, and my elder brother, 
 Envying at once their virtues and their wealth, 
 How could I hope a shelter from his power, 
 But in the false face I have worn so long? 
 
 Would you know why I summoned you together? 
 Ask ye what brings me here? Behold this dagger 
 Clotted with gore ! Behold that frozen corse { 
 See where the lost Lucretia sleeps in death ! 
 She was the mark and model of the time, 
 
 342 
 
Brutus on the Death of Lucretia 343 
 
 The mould in which each female face was formed, 
 
 The very shrine and sacristy of virtue ! 
 
 The worthiest of the worthy ! Not the Nymph 
 
 Who met old Numa in his hallowed walks, 
 
 And whispered in his ear her strains divine, 
 
 Can I conceive beyond her. The young choir 
 
 Of vestal virgins bent to her. 'T is wonderful, 
 
 Amid the darnel, hemlock, and base weeds, 
 
 Which now spring rife from the luxurious compost 
 
 Spread o'er the realm, how this sweet lily rose ; 
 
 How, from the shade of those ill neighboring plants, 
 
 Her father sheltered her, that not a leaf 
 
 Was blighted, but, arrayed in purest grace, 
 
 Bloomed in unsullied beauty. Such perfections 
 
 Might have called back the torpid breast of age 
 
 To "long-forgotten rapture; such a mind 
 
 Might have abashed the boldest libertine, 
 
 And turned desire to reverential love 
 
 And holiest affection. O my countrymen ! 
 
 You all can witness when that she went forth 
 
 It was a holiday in Rome; old age 
 
 Forgot its crutch, labor its task, — all ran, 
 
 And mothers, turning to their daughters, cried, 
 
 "There, there's Lucretia !" — Now, look ye, where she lies ! 
 
 That beauteous flower, that innocent sweet rose, 
 
 Torn up by ruthless violence, — gone! gone! gone! 
 
 in 
 
 Say would ye seek instructions? would ye know 
 What ye should do? Ask ye yon conscious walls 
 Which saw his poisoned brother, saw the crime 
 Committed there, and they will cry, Revenge ! 
 Ask yonder senate-house, whose stones are purple 
 With human blood, and it will cry, Revenge ! 
 Go to the tomb where lies his murdered wife, 
 And the poor queen, who loved him as her son, 
 
344 Oral Reading and Public Sjteakmg 
 
 Their unappeased ghosts will shriek, Revenge! 
 The temples of the gods, the all-viewing heavens, 
 The gods themselves shall justify the cry, 
 And swell the general sound, Revenge ! Revenge ! 
 
 IV 
 
 And we will be revenged, my countrymen! 
 Brutus shall lead you on ; Brutus, a name 
 Which will, when you're revenged, be dearer to him 
 Than all the noblest titles earth can boast. 
 Brutus your king? No, fellow-citizens! 
 If mad ambition in this guilty frame 
 Had strung one kingly fibre, yea, but one, 
 By all the gods ! this dagger which I hold 
 Should rip it out, though it entwined my heart. 
 
 Now, take the body up. Bear it before us 
 To Tarquin's palace; there we'll light our torches, 
 And, in the blazing conflagration, rear 
 A pile for these chaste relics, that shall send 
 Her soul among the stars. On! On! Brutus leads you! 
 On to the Forum! Brutus shall set you free! 
 
THE SEMINOLE'S DEFIANCE 
 
 By George Washington Patten, Soldier and Author. B. 1808, 
 Rhode Island; d. 1882, Maine. 
 
 This selection is taken from a volume of poems Voices from 
 the Border (1867). Mr. Patten was a soldier in the Seminole 
 Wars. In 1835 the wife of Osceola, the famous Seminole chief, 
 was reclaimed as a fugitive negro slave. Osceola threatened re- 
 venge. For this he was cast into prison for a year. When freed 
 he began the attacks on the whites, opening the second Semi- 
 nole War. 
 
 This poem is an expression of the undaunted chief's hatred, 
 scorn, and defiance of the white man. 
 
 Blaze, with your serried columns ! 
 
 I will not bend the knee ! 
 The shackles ne'er again shall bind 
 
 The arm which now is free. 
 I've mailed it with the thunder, 
 
 When the tempest muttered low; 
 And where it falls, ye well may dread 
 
 The lightning of its blow! 
 
 n 
 
 I've scared ye in the city, 
 
 I've scalped ye on the plain; 
 Go, count your chosen where they fell 
 
 Beneath my leaden rain! 
 I scorn your proffered treaty! 
 
 The pale-face I defy ! 
 Revenge is stamped upon my spear, 
 
 And "blood" my battle-cry! 
 345 
 
346 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 m 
 
 Some strike for hope of booty ; 
 
 Some to defend their all; 
 I battle for the joy I have 
 
 To see the white man fall; 
 I love, among the wounded, 
 
 To hear his dying moan, 
 And catch, while chanting at his side, 
 
 The music of his groan. 
 
 IV 
 
 Ye've trailed me through the forest.' 
 
 Ye've tracked me o'er the stream! 
 And, struggling through the Everglade, 
 
 Your bristling bayonets gleam; 
 But I stand as should the warrior, 
 
 With his rifle and his spear; 
 The scalp of vengeance still is red, 
 
 And warns ye, come not here ! 
 
 Think ye to find my homestead? — 
 
 I gave it to the fire. 
 My tawny household do you seek? — 
 
 I am a childless sire. 
 But, should you crave life's nourishment, 
 
 Enough I have and good; 
 I live on hate, — 'tis all my bread ; 
 
 Yet light is not my food. 
 
 vi 
 
 I loathe ye in my bosom! 
 
 I scorn ye with mine eye! 
 And I'll taunt ye with my latest breath, 
 
The Seminole's Defiance 347 
 
 And fight ye till I die! 
 I ne'er will ask for quarter, 
 
 And I ne'er will be your slave; 
 But I'll swim the sea of slaughter 
 
 Till I sink beneath its wave! 
 
•THE SWORD OF ROBERT LEE 
 
 By Rev. Abram J. Ryan, Priest and Poet. B. 1839, Vir- 
 ginia; d. 1886, Kentucky. 
 
 Father Ryan was a chaplain in the Confederate Army and 
 a great friend and admirer of Robert E. Lee. The poem is a 
 pean of praise, and was written soon after the close of the 
 Civil War. 
 
 Honor, praise and loyalty characterize this selection through- 
 out. The meter and the general style are not different from the 
 preceding poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava." 
 Love, devotion and triumph appear in every stanza. Speak in a 
 full round tone. The closing stanza marks a transition, but not 
 a general contrast. 
 
 I 
 
 Forth from its scabbard, pure and bright, 
 
 Flashed the sword of Lee! 
 Far in the front of the deadly fight, 
 High o'er the brave in the cause of Right, 
 Its stainless sheen, like a beacon light, 
 
 Led us to Victory. 
 
 n 
 
 Out of its scabbard, where, full long, 
 
 It slumbered peacefully, 
 Roused from its rest by the battle's song, 
 Shielding the feeble, smiting the strong, * 
 Guarding the right, avenging the wrong, 
 
 Gleamed the sword of Lee. 
 
 m 
 
 Forth from its scabbard, high in air 
 Beneath Virginia's sky — 
 
 348 
 
The Sword of Robert Lee 349 
 
 And they who saw it gleaming there, 
 And knew who bore it, knelt to swear 
 That where that sword led they would dare 
 To follow — and to die. 
 
 IV 
 
 Out of its scabbard! Never hand 
 
 Waved sword from stain as free, 
 Nor purer sword led braver band, 
 Nor braver bled for a brighter land, 
 Nor brighter land had a cause so grand, 
 Nor cause a chief like Lee ! 
 
 Forth from its scabbard ! How we prayed 
 
 That sword might victor be ; 
 And when our triumph was delayed, 
 And many a heart grew sore afraid, 
 We still hoped on while gleamed the blade 
 
 Of noble Robert Lee. 
 
 VI 
 
 Forth from its scabbard all in vain 
 Bright flashed the sword of Lee; 
 
 'Tis shrouded now in its sheath again, 
 
 It sleeps the, sleep of our noble slain, 
 
 Defeated, yet without a stain, 
 Proudly and peacefully. 
 
HOW DID YOU DIE? 
 
 / 
 
 By Edmund Vance Cooke, Author, Lecturer, and Poet. B. 
 1866, Canada; now resides in Ohio. 
 
 This poem is full of life and action. Read it with plenty of 
 vim and optimism. Read it as one man giving advice and en- 
 couragement to another. This is not a plea for immediate 
 action, but just some plain wholesome advice. 
 
 Did you tackle the trouble that came your way, 
 
 With a resolute heart and cheerful? 
 Or hide your face from the light of day, 
 
 With a craven soul and fearful? 
 Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce, 
 
 Or a trouble is what you make it ; 
 And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts, 
 
 But, only, how did you take it? 
 
 n 
 
 You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that? 
 
 Come up with a smiling face. 
 It's nothing against you to fall down flat, 
 
 But to lie there — that's the disgrace. 
 The harder you're thrown, why, the higher you bounce ; 
 
 Be proud of your blackened eye! 
 It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts ; 
 
 It's how did you fight — and why? 
 
 in 
 
 And though you be done to the death, what then ? 
 If you battled the best you could, 
 350 
 
How Bid You Die? 351 
 
 If you played your part in the world of men, 
 
 Why, the Critic will call it good. 
 Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce, 
 
 And whether he's slow or spry, 
 It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts, 
 
 But only how did you die? 
 
THE MOTHERS OF MEN 
 
 By Cincinnatus Heine Miller (Joaquin Miller), Author and 
 Poet. B. 1841, Indiana; d. 1913, California. 
 
 The first stanza is intellectual. Bring out clearly the last 
 line. The second stanza must be strongly contrasted with the 
 third which is deeply reverential. This is also true respecting 
 the first two and the last two lines in the fourth stanza. The 
 emotional atmosphere of the poem is reverence. 
 
 The bravest battle that ever was fought ! 
 
 Shall I tell you where and when ? 
 On the map of the world you will find it not- 
 
 'Twas fought by the mothers of men. 
 
 n 
 
 Nay, not with the cannon or battle shot, 
 
 With the sword or noble pen ; 
 Nay, not with eloquent words or thought 
 
 From the mouths of wonderful men! 
 
 m 
 
 But deep in the walled-up woman's heart — 
 Of a woman that would not yield, 
 
 But bravely, silently, bore her part — 
 Lo, there is that battle field! 
 
 rv 
 
 No marshalling troop, no bivouac song, 
 No banner to gleam and wave; 
 
 But, oh, these battles that last so long — • 
 From babyhood to the grave. 
 352 
 
The Mothers of Men 353 
 
 Yet faithful still as a bridge of stars, 
 The fight in her walled-up town — 
 
 Fights on and on in the endless wars, 
 Then silent, unseen, goes down. 
 
WHEN SPRING DAYS COME 
 
 By John Kendrick Bangs, Author and Poet. B. 1862, New 
 York; now resides in Maine. 
 
 This lyric gem expresses an appreciation for the Beautiful. 
 It is subjective, and replete with visual and auditory imagery. 
 It first appeared in Harper's Weekly, March 22, 1913. 
 
 When Spring days come and I have naught to do, 
 
 I love to rest beneath some spreading tree, 
 And gaze aloft into the heavens blue, 
 And think of all the wonders sweet and true 
 
 A gracious Father hath prepared for me — 
 The earth all fair, upon whose verdant breast 
 
 I lie at rest; 
 The freshness of the air ; the songs of birds ; 
 The crooning music of the distant herds ; 
 
 The lovely mysteries 
 
 Of budding trees ; 
 The dawning beauties of the garden close, 
 The violet, the daffodil and rose ; 
 The misty hills now greening in the sun; 
 The twilight lengthening when day is done. 
 
 These things divine 
 
 All, all are mine, 
 
 Whatever may annoy, 
 To see, to use, and fitly to enjoy — 
 Wherefore in Spring I love to rest and brood 
 
 On Gratitude ! 
 
 354 
 
UP-HILL 
 
 By Christina Georgina Rossetti, Poet. B. 1830, London, 
 England; d. 1894, England. 
 
 In her private life, the writer experienced many ups and 
 downs. This dialogue is a page from her own history. 
 
 Use two voices. The first is that of the traveler, anxious and 
 weary. The answering voice is calm, firm, assuring, and of a 
 deeper melody. 
 
 I 
 
 Does the road wind up-hill all the way? 
 
 "Yes, to the very end." 
 Will the journey take the whole long day? 
 
 "Prom morn to night, my friend." 
 
 n 
 
 But, is there for night a resting-place? 
 
 "A roof when the dark hours begin." 
 May not darkness hide it from my face? 
 
 "You cannot miss that Inn." 
 
 m 
 
 Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? 
 
 "Those who have gone before." 
 Must I knock, or call when just in sight? 
 
 "They wait you at the door." 
 
 IV 
 
 Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? 
 
 "Of rest you shall find the sum." 
 Will there be beds for all who seek? 
 
 "Yea, beds for all who come." 
 355 
 
L'ENVOI 
 
 By Rudyard Kipling, Poet and Author. B. 1864, India; now 
 living in England. 
 
 This metaphorical poem presents no difficulties vocally. Use 
 a conversational style with plenty of animation and enthusiasm. 
 The author has evidently felt the weight of unjust criticism of 
 his art while writing for money, and longs for the time when 
 only the Master shall judge his efforts. 
 
 When earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are 
 
 twisted and dried, 
 When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic 
 
 has died, 
 We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an 
 
 ason or two, 
 Till the Master of all Good Workmen shall set us to work 
 
 anew! 
 
 And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in 
 
 a golden chair; 
 They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of 
 
 comets' hair; 
 They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, 
 
 and Paul ; 
 They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired 
 
 at all! 
 
 m 
 
 And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master 
 shall blame; 
 
 356 
 
L'Envoi 357 
 
 And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work 
 for fame; 
 
 But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his sep- 
 arate star, 
 
 Shall draw the Thing as he sees it for the God of Things as 
 they are. 
 
THE LAST LEAF 
 
 By Oliver Wendell Holmes, Author and Poet. B. 1809, Mass- 
 achusetts; d. 1894, Massachusetts. 
 
 The repassing of an old Revolutionary War veteran (Major 
 Thomas Melville) by his home one day, suggested to Mr. Holmes 
 this poem. He is supposed to have been of the party who threw 
 the tea overboard in the Boston Harbor. The smile with which 
 Mr. Holmes greeted this veteran meant no disrespect; but his 
 cocked hat, knee breeches and buckled shoes did appear some- 
 what out of style. This selection was a great favorite with 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Contrast the second and third stanzas, also the fifth and 
 sixth. In the third stanza, do not stress "seems," as there is no 
 doubt implied. A touch of humor creeps into the last three 
 stanzas; a smile of compassion, but not of ridicule. 
 
 I saw him once before 
 As he passed by the door, 
 
 And again 
 The pavement stones resound, 
 As he totters o'er the ground 
 
 With his cane. 
 
 n 
 
 They say that in his prime, 
 Ere the pruning-knife of time 
 
 Cut him down, 
 Not a better man was found 
 By the Crier on his round 
 
 Through the town. 
 358 
 
The Last Leaf 359 
 
 in 
 
 But now he walks the streets, 
 And he looks at all he meets, 
 
 Sad and wan, 
 And he shakes his feeble head, 
 That it seems as if he said 
 
 "They are gone!" 
 
 IV 
 
 The mossy marbles rest 
 On the lips that he has prest 
 
 In their bloom, 
 And the names he loved to hear 
 Have been carved for many a year 
 
 On the tomb. 
 
 My grandmamma has said — 
 Poor old lady, she is dead 
 
 Long ago, — 
 That he had a Roman nose, 
 And his cheek was like a rose 
 
 In the snow. 
 
 VI 
 
 But now his nose is thin, 
 And it rests upon his chin 
 
 Like a staff, 
 And a crook is in his back, 
 And a melancholy crack 
 
 In his laugh. 
 
360 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 vn 
 
 I know it is a sin 
 
 For me to sit and grin 
 
 At him here. 
 But the old three-cornered hat 
 And the breeches, and all that 
 
 Are so queer! 
 
 VIII 
 
 And if I should live to be 
 The last leaf upon the tree 
 
 In the spring, 
 Let them smile as I do now 
 At the old forsaken bough 
 
 Where I cling. 
 
THE HEIGHT OF THE RIDICULOUS 
 
 By Oliver Wendell Holmes/ Author and Poet. B. 1809, Mass- 
 achusetts; d. 1894, Massachusetts. 
 
 This is one of his early poems, published in 1836. It is a 
 narrative, of the intellectual type, and has a droll humor. We 
 are pleased to state that it has no historical background. 
 
 The fifth, sixth and seventh stanzas must be read climacti- 
 cally. The last stanza must be read very soberly, with an af- 
 fected grief — this gives to it a more profound sense of humor, 
 and will make it appear all the more "ridiculous." 
 
 I wrote some lines once on a time 
 
 In wondrous merry mood, 
 And thought, as usual, men would say 
 
 They were exceeding good. 
 
 They were so queer, so very queer, 
 I laugh'd as I would die; 
 
 Albeit, in a general way, 
 A sober man am I. 
 
 m 
 
 I call'd my servant, and he came: 
 How kind it was of him, 
 
 To mind a slender man like me, 
 He of the mighty limb! 
 
 IV 
 
 "These to the printer," I exclaim'd, 
 And, in my humorous way, 
 361 
 
362 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 I added (as a trifling jest), 
 "There'll be the devil to pay." 
 
 He took the paper, and I watch'd, 
 
 And saw him peep within: 
 At the first line he read, his face 
 
 Was all upon the grin. 
 
 VI 
 
 He read the next ; the grin grew broad, 
 
 And shot from ear to ear; 
 He read the third; a chuckling noise 
 
 I now began to hear. 
 
 vn 
 
 The fourth; he broke into a roar; 
 
 The fifth, his waistband split; 
 The sixth, he burst five buttons off, 
 
 And tumbled in a fit. 
 
 vm 
 
 Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye, 
 I watch'd that wretched man, 
 
 And since, I never dare to write 
 As funny as I can. 
 
FOR A' THAT AND A' THAT 
 
 By Robert Burns, Poet. B. 1759, Scotland; d. 1796, Scot- 
 land. 
 
 It is said that Bobby Burns one evening was invited to enter- 
 tain the guests of a wealthy lord, with his poems and songs. 
 When he came to the Mansion he was requested to go to the 
 kitchen for something to eat, as he was not considered worthy 
 to feast with the lord and his distinguished guests. While in 
 the kitchen nursing his indignation at his treatment, he wrote 
 this famous poem. When he was finally called upon to enter- 
 tain the guests he sang the song he had just written. 
 
 In January, 1795, Burns in a letter to Mr. George Thomson 
 of Edinburgh, wrote him as follows : "I do not give you this 
 song for your book, but merely by way of vive la bagatelle; for 
 the piece is really not poetry, but will be allowed to be two or 
 three pretty good prose thoughts inverted into rhyme." 
 
 Throughout the selection there is an under current of re- 
 sentment, of indignation, of scorn. Bring out clearly and force- 
 fully the contrasted passages which express the scorn for the 
 rich and the admiration for the poor. 
 
 In reading, retain the Scotch accent as much as possible. 
 Be sure to understand the meaning of each sentence. The 
 following glossary of Scotch words and their English equiva- 
 lents may assist : Wha for who, a' for all, gowd for gold, hamely 
 for homely, hodden gray for homespun, undyed woolen cloth, 
 gie for give, sae for so, birkie for clever fellow, ca'd for called, 
 coof for blockhead, mak for make, aboon for above, guid for 
 good, maunna for must not, warld for world, fa* for afford, bear 
 the gree for be the victors. 
 
 Is there, for honest poverty, 
 
 That hangs his head, and a' that? 
 
 The coward slave, we pass him by, 
 We dare be poor for a' that! 
 363 
 
364 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 Our toils obscure, and a' that; 
 
 The rank is but the guinea-stamp, 
 The man's the gowd for a' that. 
 
 n 
 
 What though on namely fare we dine, 
 
 Wear hodden gray and a' that; 
 Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, 
 
 A man's a man, for a' that ! 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 Their tinsel show, and a' that; 
 The honest man, though e'er sae poor, 
 
 Is king o' men for a' that! 
 
 m 
 
 Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, 
 
 Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; 
 Though hundreds worship at his word, 
 
 He's but a coof for a' that: 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 His riband, star, and a' that; 
 The man of independent mind, 
 
 He looks and laughs at a' that! 
 
 IV 
 
 A king can mak a belted knight, 
 
 A marquis, duke, and a' that; 
 But an honest man's aboon his might, 
 
 Guid faith he maunna fa' that! 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 Their dignities, and a' that, 
 The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, 
 
 Are higher rank than a' that. 
 
For A* that and A 9 that 365 
 
 Then let us pray that come it may — 
 
 As come it will for a' that — 
 That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth 
 
 May bear the gree, and a' that; 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 It's coming yet for a' that. 
 That man to man, the warld o'er, 
 
 Shall brothers be for a' that. 
 
JIM BLUDSO 
 
 By Hon. John Hay, Statesman, Author, and Poet. B. 1838, 
 Indiana; d. 1905, New Hampshire. 
 
 This poem was first published May 13, 1871, in Every Sat- 
 urday of Boston. The same year it was reprinted with a num- 
 ber of other poems by Mr. Hay in a pamphlet called "Pike 
 County Ballads." 
 
 Imagine an old river pilot seated in a chair surrounded by 
 a few interested companions. Retain the local-color and the 
 colloquial dialect, a sort of swaggering, boastful "drawl," of the 
 boatman. The movement is slow — though at times the old pilot 
 becomes very animated, carried away by his own enthusiasm, 
 especially in the fifth and sixth stanzas. 
 
 Wall, no ! I can't tell whar he lives, 
 
 Because he don't live, you see; 
 Leastways, he's got out of the habit 
 
 Of livin' like you and me. 
 Whar have you been for the last three year 
 
 That you haven't heard folks tell 
 How Jimmy Bludso passed in his checks 
 
 The night of the Prairie Belle? 
 
 He weren't no saint, — them engineers 
 
 Is all pretty much alike, — 
 One wife in Natchez-under-the-Hill 
 
 And another one here, in Pike; 
 A keerless man in his talk was Jim, 
 
 And an awkward hand in a row, 
 But he never flunked, and he never lied,- 
 
 I reckon he never knowed how. 
 366 
 
Jim Bludso 367 
 
 m 
 
 And this was all the religion he had, — 
 
 To treat his engine well; 
 Never be passed on the river; 
 
 To mind the pilot's bell; 
 And if ever the Prairie Belle took fire, — 
 
 A thousand times he swore, 
 He'd hold her nozzle agin the bank 
 
 Till the last soul got ashore. 
 
 * IV 
 
 All boats has their day on the Mississip, 
 
 And her day come at last, — 
 The Movastar was a better boat, 
 
 But the Belle she wouldn't be passed. 
 And so she came stearin' along that night, 
 
 The oldest craft on the line, 
 With the nigger squat on her safety-valve, 
 
 And her furnace crammed, rosin and pine. 
 
 The fire bust out as she clared the bar, 
 
 And burnt a hole in the night, 
 And quick as a flash she turned, and made 
 
 For that wilier-bank on the right, 
 There was runnin' and cursin', but Jim yelled out 
 
 Over all the infernal roar, 
 "I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank 
 
 Till the last galoot's ashore." 
 
 VI 
 
 Thro' the hot, black breath of the burnin' boat 
 
 Jim Bludso's voice was heard, 
 And they all had trust in his cussedness, 
 
 And know'd he would keep his word. 
 
Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 And sure's you're born, they all got off 
 
 Afore the smoke-stacks fell. 
 And Bludso's ghost went up alone 
 
 In the smoke of the "Prairie Belle." 
 
 vn 
 
 He warn't no saint- — but at jedgment 
 
 I'd run my chance with Jim 
 'Longside of some pious gentlemen 
 
 That wouldn't shook hands with him. 
 He seen his duty, a dead sure thing, — 
 
 And went for it thar and then; 
 And Christ ain't a-going to be too hard 
 
 On a man who died for men. 
 
WHEN DE CO'N PONE'S HOT 
 
 By Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poet. B. 1872, Ohio; d. 1906, 
 Ohio. 
 
 This poem should be read with the characteristic dialect of 
 the negro, and with a real appreciation of the old-fashioned 
 co'n pone made by a Southern mammy. 
 
 Dey is times in life when nature 
 
 Seems to slip a cog an' go, 
 Jes' a-rattlin' down creation, 
 
 Lak an ocean's overflow; 
 When de worl' jes' stahts a-spinnin' 
 
 Lak a picaninny's top, 
 An' yo' cup o' joy is brimmin' 
 
 'Twell it seems about to slop, 
 An' you feel jes' lak a racah, 
 
 Dat is trainin' fu' to trot — 
 When yo' mammy says de blessin' 
 
 An' de co'n pone's hot. 
 
 When you sit down at de table, 
 
 Kin' o' weary lak an' sad, 
 An you'se jes' a little tiahed 
 
 An' purhaps a little mad; 
 How yo' gloom tu'ns into gladness, 
 
 How yo' joy drives out de doubt 
 When de oven do' is opened, 
 
 An' de smell comes po'in' out; 
 Why, de 'lectric light o' Heaven 
 369 
 
370 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Seems to settle on de spot, 
 When yo' mammy says de blessin' 
 An' de co'n pone's hot. 
 
 in 
 
 When de cabbage pot is steamin' 
 
 An' de bacon good an' fat, 
 When de chittlins is a-sputter'n' 
 
 So's to show you whah dey's at; 
 Tek away yo' sody biscuit, 
 
 Tek away yo' cake an' pie, 
 Fu' de glory time is comin', 
 
 An' it's 'proachin' mighty nigh, 
 An' you want to jump an' hollah, 
 
 Dough you know you'd bettah not, 
 When yo' mammy says de blessin' 
 
 An' de co'n pone's hot. 
 
 IV 
 
 y 
 I have hyeahd o' lots o' sermons, 
 
 An' I've hyeahd o' lots o' prayers, 
 An' I've listened to some singin' 
 
 Dat has tuck me up de stairs 
 Of de Glory-Lan' an' set me 
 
 Jes' below de Mastah's th'one, 
 An' have lef my hea't a-singin' 
 
 In a happy aftah tone ; 
 But dem wu'ds so sweetly murmured 
 
 Seem to tech de softes' spot, 
 When my mammy says de blessin' 
 
 An' de co'n pone's hot. 
 
LEEDLE DUTCH BABY 
 
 By James Whitcomb Riley, Poet and Public Reader. B. 1849, 
 Indiana; d. 1916. 
 
 This selection represents Dutch dialect and should be im- 
 personated when read. 
 
 Leedle Dutch baby haff come ter town! 
 Jabber und jump till der day gone down — 
 Jabber und sphlutter und sphlit hees jaws — 
 Vot a Dutch baby dees Londsmon vas ! 
 I dink dose mout' vas leedle too vide 
 Ober he laugh fon dot altso-side ! 
 Haff got blenty off deemple und vrown? — 
 Hey ! leedle Dutchman come ter town ! 
 
 n 
 
 Leedle Dutch baby, I dink me proud 
 Ober your fader can schquall dot loud 
 Ven he vas leedle Dutch baby like you 
 Und yoost don't gare, like he alvays do ! — 
 Guess ven dey vean him on beer, you bet 
 Dot's der because dot he aind veaned yet ! — 
 Vot you said off he dringk you down? — 
 Hey ! leedle Dutchman come ter town ! 
 
 in 
 
 Leedle Dutch baby, yoost schquall away — 
 Schquall fon preskfast till yisterday! 
 Better you all time gry und shout 
 Dan shmile me vonce fon der coffin out ! 
 371 
 
372 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Vot I gare off you keek my nose 
 Downside-up, mit your heels und toes — 
 Downside-up oder oopside-down? — 
 Hey! leedle Dutchman come ter town! 
 
THE LOW-BACKED CAR 
 
 By Samuel Lover, Novelist, Artist, Musician and Poet. B. 
 1797, Ireland; d. 1868, Island of Jersey. 
 
 This familiar love-ballad should be read with the characteris- 
 tic Irish brogue. 
 
 I 
 
 When first I saw sweet Peggy, 
 
 'Twas on a market day: 
 A low-backed car she drove, and sat 
 
 Upon a truss of hay; 
 But when that hay was blooming grass, 
 
 And decked with flowers of spring, 
 No flower was there that could compare 
 
 With the blooming girl I sing. 
 As she sat in the low-backed car, 
 The man at the turnpike bar 
 Never asked for the toll, 
 But just rubbed his owld poll, 
 And looked after the low-backed car. 
 
 In battle's wild commotion, 
 
 The proud and mighty Mars 
 With hostile scythes demands his tithes 
 
 Of death in warlike cars; 
 While Peggy, peaceful goddess, 
 
 Has darts in her bright eye, 
 That knock men down in the market town 
 
 As right and left they fly; 
 While she sits in her low-backed car, 
 373 
 
374 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 Than battle more dangerous far, — 
 For the doctor's art 
 Cannot cure the heart, 
 
 That is hit from that low-backed car. 
 
 m 
 
 Sweet Peggy round her car, sir, 
 
 Has strings of ducks and geese, 
 But the scores of hearts she slaughters 
 
 By far outnumber these ; 
 While she among her poultry sits, 
 
 Just like a turtle-dove, 
 Well worth the cage, I do engage, 
 
 Of the blooming god of love; 
 While she sits in her low-backed car, 
 The lovers come near and far, 
 And envy the chicken 
 That Peggy is pickin' 
 As she sits in her low-backed car. 
 
 IV 
 
 Oh, I'd rather own that car, sir, 
 
 With Peggy by my side, 
 Than a coach and four, and gold galore, 
 
 And a lady for my bride; 
 For the lady would sit forninst me, 
 
 On a cushion made with taste, 
 While Peggy would sit beside me, 
 
 With my arm around her waist, 
 While we drove in the low-backed car 
 To be married by Father Maher; 
 Oh, my heart would beat high 
 At her glance and her sigh, 
 Though it beat in a low-backed car, 
 
THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE LAWYER 
 
 A lawyer in the Common Pleas, 
 Who was esteemed a mighty wit, 
 Upon the strength of a chance hit 
 Amid a thousand flippancies, 
 And his occasional bad jokes 
 
 In bullying, bantering, browbeating, 
 Ridiculing, and maltreating 
 Women or other timid folks, — 
 In a late cause resolved to hoax 
 A clownish Yorkshire farmer, — one 
 Who, by his uncouth look and gait, 
 Appeared expressly meant by Fate 
 To be quizzed and played upon. 
 
 So, having tipped the wink to those 
 
 In the back rows, 
 Who kept their laughter bottled down 
 
 Until our wag should draw the cork, 
 He smiled jocosely on the clown, 
 
 And went to work. 
 
 m 
 
 "Well, Farmer Numskull, how go calves at York?" 
 "Why — not, sir, as they do wi' you, 
 But on four legs instead of two." 
 
 "Officer !" cried the legal elf, 
 
 Piqued at the laugh against himself, 
 375 
 
376 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 "Do, pray, keep silence down below there. 
 Now look at me, clown, and attend: 
 Have I not seen you somewhere, friend?" 
 
 "Ye-es — very like ; I often go there." 
 
 rv 
 
 "Our rustic's waggish — quite laconic," 
 The lawyer cried, with grin sardonic: 
 "I wish I'd known this prodigy, 
 This genius of the clods, when I, 
 
 On circuit, was at York residing. 
 Now, Farmer, do for once speak true: 
 Mind, you're on oath; so tell me, — you 
 Who doubtless think yourself so clever, — 
 Are there as many fools as ever 
 
 In the West Riding?" 
 "Why, no, sir, no: we've got our share, 
 But not so many as when you were there." 
 
'S'MATTER? 
 
 BY CARL G. EAHT 
 
 I'm feelin' sorta blue to-night, 
 
 Jes' seems like tricks ain't goin' right; 
 
 Yet, so f r as I can see, 
 
 Not a goldarn thing has happened t' me. 
 
 The "blues" they air a peculiar thing, 
 Jes' ups of a suddn't and busts in the ring 
 Like a bull in th' china-shop, 
 An' knocks fr'm 'neath ye every prop. 
 
 But jes' th' same, I'll rock along, 
 
 An' purty soon again a song 
 
 Will spring to my lips — you see 
 
 Not a goldarn thing has happened t' me. 
 
 377 
 
EVENING BELLS 
 
 BY TOM MOORE 
 
 John B. Goff, the great orator, said: "Practice 'bell tones'; 
 they will give the voice clearness, vibration, music, and power." 
 
 Pronounce "Toll," making the "T" hard and "o" deep and 
 prolong the "1." When we give a bell stroke, there is a long, 
 diminishing vibration. This sound can be made on "1, m, n, r." 
 The "bell tones" must be heard throughout the entire poem. 
 
 Those evening bells ! Those evening bells ! 
 How many a tale their music tells 
 Of youth and home, and that sweet time, 
 When first I heard their pleasing chime ! 
 
 II 
 
 Those happy hours have passed away, 
 And many a heart that then was gay 
 Within the tomb now darkly dwells, 
 And hears no more those evening bells. 
 
 in 
 
 And so 'twill be when I am gone, 
 That tuneful peal will still ring on! 
 While other bards will walk these dells 
 And sing your praise, sweet evening bells. 
 
 378 
 
A FANCY FROM FONTENELLE 
 
 BY AUSTIN DOBSON 
 
 I 
 
 The Rose in the garden slipped her bud, 
 And she laughed in the pride of her youthful blood, 
 As she thought of the Gardener standing by — 
 "He is old — so old! And he soon must die!" 
 
 The full Rose waxed in the warm June air, 
 As she spread and spread till her heart lay bare; 
 And she laughed once more as she heard his tread — 
 "He is older now! He will soon be dead!" 
 
 in 
 
 But the breeze of the morning blew, and found 
 That' the leaves of the blown Rose strewed the ground; 
 And he came at noon, that Gardener old, 
 And he raked them gently under the mould. 
 
 IV 
 
 And I wove the thing to a random rhyme: 
 For the Rose is Beauty; the Gardener, Time. 
 
 379 
 
THE LOST CHORD 
 
 BY ADELAIDE A. PROCTER 
 
 Seated one day at the organ, 
 I was weary and ill at ease, 
 
 And my fingers wandered idly 
 Over the noisy keys. 
 
 ii 
 
 I do not know what I was playing, 
 Or what I was dreaming then; 
 
 But I struck one chord of music, 
 Like the sound of a great Amen. 
 
 in 
 
 It flooded the crimson twilight, 
 Like the close of an angel's psalm, 
 
 And it lay on my fevered spirit 
 With a touch of infinite calm. 
 
 IV 
 
 It quieted pain and sorrow, 
 Like love overcoming strife; 
 
 It seemed the harmonious echo 
 From our discordant life. 
 380 
 
The Lost Chord 381 
 
 It linked all perplexed meanings 
 
 Into one perfect peace, 
 And trembled away into silence 
 
 As if it were loath to cease. 
 
 VI 
 
 I have sought, but I seek it vainly, 
 That one lost chord divine, 
 
 That came from the soul of the organ 
 And entered into mine. 
 
 VII 
 
 It may be that Death's bright angel 
 Will speak in that chord again; 
 
 It may be that only in heaven 
 I shall hear that grand Amen. 
 
THE RAINY BAY 
 
 BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW 
 
 The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; 
 It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
 The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, 
 But at every gust the dead leaves fall, 
 And the day is dark and dreary. 
 
 H 
 
 My life is cold, and dark, and dreary ; 
 It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
 My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, 
 But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 
 And the days are dark and dreary. 
 
 in 
 
 Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; 
 Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; 
 Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
 Into each life some rain must fall, 
 Some days must be dark and dreary. 
 
 382 
 
A BALLAD OF THE TREES AND THE MASTER 
 
 BY SIDNEY LANIER 
 
 Into the woods my Master went, 
 
 Clean forspent, forspent, 
 
 Into the woods my Master came, 
 
 Forspent with love and shame. 
 
 But the olives they were not blind to Him 
 
 The little gray leaves were kind to Him 
 
 The thorn tree had a mind to Him 
 
 When into the woods He came. 
 
 n 
 
 Out of the woods my Master went, 
 
 And He was well content. 
 
 Out of the woods my Master came 
 
 Content with death and shame. 
 
 When Death and Shame would woo Him last, 
 
 From under the trees they drew Him last ; 
 
 'Twas on a tree they slew Him last 
 
 When out of the woods He came. 
 
 383 
 
GOD GIVE US MEN 
 
 BY JOSEPH GILBEET HOLLAND 
 
 God give us men! A time like this demands 
 
 Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands; 
 
 Men whom the lust of office does not kill ; 
 
 Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
 Men who possess opinions and a will; 
 
 Men who have honor; men who will not lie; 
 Men who can stand before a demagogue 
 
 And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; 
 Tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fog 
 
 In public duty and in private thinking; 
 For while the rabble with their thumb- worn creeds, 
 Their large profession and their little deeds 
 Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps, 
 Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps. 
 
 384 
 
LUCY 
 
 BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 
 I 
 
 She dwelt among the untrodden ways 
 
 Beside the springs of Dove, 
 A maid whom there were none to praise 
 
 And very few to love. 
 
 n 
 
 A violet by a mossy stone 
 
 Half hidden from the eye ; 
 Fair as a star when only one 
 
 Is shining in the sky. 
 
 m 
 
 She lived unknown, and few could know 
 
 When Lucy ceased to be; 
 But she is in her grave, and, oh, 
 
 The difference to me! 
 
 385 
 
EACH IN HIS OWN TONGUE 
 
 BY WILLIAM HERBERT CARRUTI1 
 
 A fire mist and a planet, 
 
 A crystal and a cell, 
 A jellyfish and a saurian 
 
 And a cave where the cavemen dwell ; 
 Then a sense of law and beauty, 
 
 A face turned from the clod — 
 Some call it Evolution 
 
 And others call it God. 
 
 n 
 
 A haze in the far horizon, 
 
 The infinite, tender sky, 
 The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields, 
 
 And the wild geese sailing high — 
 And all over upland and lowland 
 
 The sign of the goldenrod — 
 Some of us call it Autumn 
 
 And others call it God. 
 
 m 
 
 Like tides on a crescent sea beach 
 When the moon is new and thin, 
 
 Into our hearts high yearnings 
 Come welling and surging in — 
 
 Come from the mystic ocean, 
 
Each in His Own Tongue 387 
 
 Whose rim no foot has trod — 
 Some of us call it Longing 
 And others call it God. 
 
 IV 
 
 A picket frozen on duty, 
 
 A mother starved for her brood, 
 Socrates drinking the hemlock, 
 
 And Jesus on the rood; 
 And millions, who humble and nameless. 
 
 The straight hard pathway trod — 
 Some call it Consecration 
 
 And others call it God. 
 
THE OLD FEATHER BED 
 
 BY W. W. PFRIMMER 
 
 I am weary to-night and fain would I creep 
 
 Up into the loft, where I once used to sleep, 
 
 And leave, as I climbed up the old creaking stair, 
 
 At its foot all my burden of worry and care; 
 
 And turn down the blankets and old-fashioned spread, 
 
 And hide from the world in the old feather bed. 
 
 n 
 
 Oh, the old feather bed ! how its folds seemed to press 
 
 'Round my play-wearied body in warmest caress, 
 
 And I drifted away on its billows in dreams 
 
 Of a rose-tinted future. Alas, now it seems 
 
 That the pain in my heart and the ache in my head 
 
 Would be soothed, could I rest on the old feather bed. 
 
 in 
 
 I have tried the wide world, I have tasted its cheer, 
 And much have I found that is precious and dear; 
 But much that was priceless is faded and gone, 
 And folly too often has beckoned me on, 
 And I long to go back through the years that have fled 
 And forget for one night on the old feather bed. 
 
 388 
 
The Old Feather Bed 389 
 
 IV 
 
 How I wish I could strip by the old fire-place, 
 And stand, as I used to, and warm for a space, 
 Then muster up courage and plunge up the stair 
 In the gloom of the night and the frost-ladened air, 
 And turn down the covers 'mid shivers and dread, 
 And dive to the depths of the old feather bed. 
 
 But I would not go back unless I could know 
 
 I would hear on the stairs, a step labored and slow, 
 
 And see a bent form, as beside me she stands, 
 
 And feel the soft touch of her gentle old hands, 
 
 As she smooths down the pillow about my young head 
 
 And tucks me in snug in the old feather bed. 
 
LIFE'S MIRROR 
 
 BY MADELINE S. BRIDGES 
 
 I 
 
 There are loyal hearts; there are spirits brave, 
 There are souls that are pure and true; 
 
 Then give to the world the best you have 
 And the best will come back to you. 
 
 n 
 
 Give love, and love to your life will flow, 
 A strength in your utmost need; 
 
 Have faith, and a score of hearts will show 
 Their faith in your word and deed. 
 
 m 
 
 Give truth, and your gift will be found in kind, 
 
 And honor will honor meet; 
 And a smile that is sweet will surely find 
 
 A smile that is just as sweet. 
 
 IV 
 
 For life is the mirror of King and slave ; 
 
 'Tis just what we are and do; 
 Then give to the world the best you have, 
 
 And the best will come back to you. 
 
 390 
 
LIFE 
 
 BY ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD 
 
 Life! I know not what thou art, 
 But know that thou and I must part; 
 But when, or how, or where we met 
 I own to me's a secret yet. 
 But this I know when thou are fled, 
 Wher'er they lay these limbs, this head, 
 No clod so valueless shall be, 
 As all that then remains of me. 
 O, whither, whither does thou fly, 
 Where bend unseen thy trackless course, 
 
 And in this strange divorce, 
 Ah, tell where I must seek this compound I ! 
 
 n 
 
 To the vast ocean of empyreal flame, 
 From whence thy essence came, 
 Dost thou thy flight pursue, when freed 
 From matter's base encumbering weed? 
 Or dost thou, hid from sight, 
 Wait, like some spell-bound knight, 
 Through blank, oblivious years ' the appointed hour 
 To break thy trance and reassure thy power? 
 Yet canst thou, without thought or feeling be? 
 O, say what art thou, when no more thou'rt thee? 
 
 391 
 
392 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 ni 
 
 Life! we've been long together 
 Through pleasant and through cloudy weather ; 
 'Tis hard to part when friends are dear, — 
 Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear: 
 Then steal away, give little warning, 
 Choose thine own time: 
 Say not Good Night, — rbut in some brighter clime 
 Bid me Good Morning. 
 
A FEW SHAKESPEAREAN GEMS 
 
 By William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist and Actor. B. 
 1564, England; d. 1616, England. 
 
 The reading of these selections should not be attempted with- 
 out a knowledge of their position in the play. 
 
 (Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1) 
 
 To be, or not to be, that is the question: — 
 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer 
 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 
 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
 And, by opposing, end them. To die — to sleep 
 No more ; and, by a sleep, to say we end 
 The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
 • That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation 
 Devoutly to be wished. To die — to sleep; 
 To sleep ! perchance to dream ; ay, there's the rub ; 
 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
 Must give us pause. There's the respect, 
 That makes calamity of so long life; 
 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
 The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
 The insolence of office, and the spurns 
 That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
 When he himself might his quietus make 
 With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, 
 To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 
 But that the dread of something after death — 
 
 393 
 
394 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
 
 No traveller returns — puzzles the will, 
 
 And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 
 
 Than fly to others that we know not of! 
 
 Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 
 
 And thus the native hue of resolution 
 
 Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 
 
 And enterprises of great pith and moment, 
 
 With this regard, their currents turn awry, 
 
 And lose the name of action. 
 
 (Hainlet, Act I, Scene 2) 
 
 Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 
 
 Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! 
 
 Or that the Everlasting had not fixed 
 
 His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! God! O God! 
 
 How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, 
 
 Seem to me all the uses of this world! 
 
 Fie on't! O fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden, 
 
 That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature, 
 
 Possess it merely. That it should come to this ! 
 
 But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not two — 
 
 So excellent a king; that was, to this, 
 
 Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother, 
 
 That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 
 
 Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! 
 
 Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him, 
 
 As if increase of appetite had grown 
 
 By what it fed on — and yet, within a month — 
 
 Let me not think on't ; — Frailty, thy name is woman ! — 
 
 A little month, or ere those shoes were old, 
 
 With which she followed my poor father's body, 
 
 Like Niobe, all tears; — 
 
 She married with my uncle, 
 
A Few Shakespearean Gems 395 
 
 My father's brother; but no more like my father 
 
 Than I to Hercules. 
 
 It is not, nor it cannot come to, good; — 
 
 But break my heart: for I must hold my tongue. 
 
 POLONIUS S ADVICE TO HIS SON 
 
 {Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3) 
 
 There; my blessing with thee! 
 And these few precepts in thy memory: 
 Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, 
 Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 
 Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 
 Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 
 Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, 
 But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 
 Of each new-hatch'd unfledged comrade. Beware 
 Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, 
 Bear 't, that the opposed may beware of thee. 
 Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; 
 Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. 
 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
 But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: 
 For the apparel oft proclaims the man; 
 And they in France of the best rank and station 
 Are of a most select and generous chief in that. 
 Neither a borrower nor a lender be: . 
 
 For loan oft loses both itself and friend, 
 And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 
 This above all: to thine own self be true, 
 And it must follow, as the night the day, 
 Thou canst not then be false to any man. 
 Farewell: my blessing season this in thee! 
 
396 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 SEVEN AGES OF MAN 
 
 (As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7) 
 
 Jacques. All the world's a stage, 
 And all the men and women merely players: 
 They have their exits and their entrances; 
 And one man in his time plays many parts, 
 His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, 
 Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms ; 
 And then, the whining school-boy, with his satchel, 
 And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
 Unwillingly to school; And then, the lover; 
 Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 
 Made to his mistress' eye-brow: Then, a soldier; 
 Full of strange oaths, and bearded like a pard, 
 Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, 
 Seeking the bubble reputation 
 Even in the cannon's mouth: And then, the justice, 
 
 In fair round belly, with good capon lined, 
 With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut. 
 Full of wise saws and modern instances, 
 And so he plays his part: The sixth age shifts 
 Into the lean and slippered pantaloon; 
 With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side; 
 His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 
 For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, 
 Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 
 And whistles in his sound: Last scene of all, 
 That ends this strange eventful history, 
 Is second childishness, and mere oblivion; 
 Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. 
 
 WOLSEY'S ADVICE TO CROMWELL 
 
 (King Henry VIII, Act III, Scene 2) 
 
 Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear 
 In all my miseries; but thou hast forc'd me, 
 
A Few Shakespearean Gems 397 
 
 Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman. 
 
 Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell; 
 
 And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be, 
 
 And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention 
 
 Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee, 
 
 Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, 
 
 And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, 
 
 Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in; 
 
 A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it. 
 
 Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me. 
 
 Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition: 
 
 By that sin fell the angels ; how can man, then, 
 
 The image of his Maker, hope to win by it? 
 
 Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee; 
 
 Corruption wins not more than honesty. 
 
 Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 
 
 To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not: 
 
 Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 
 
 Thy God's, and truth's ; then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, 
 
 Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! Serve the king; 
 
 And, — prithee, lead me in: 
 
 There take an inventory of all I have, 
 
 To the last penny ; 'tis the king's : my robe, 
 
 And my integrity to heaven, is all 
 
 I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell! 
 
 Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
 
 I served my king, he would not in mine age 
 
 Have left me naked to mine enemies. 
 
 KING HENRY TO HIS SOLDIERS 
 
 {King Henry V, Act III, Scene I) 
 
 Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, 
 Or close the wall up with our English dead! 
 In peace there's nothing so becomes a man 
 As modest stillness and humility; 
 
398 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
 Then imitate the action of the tiger; 
 Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, 
 Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage; 
 Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; 
 Let it pry through the portage of the head 
 Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it 
 As fearfully as doth a galled rock 
 O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, 
 Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. 
 Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, 
 Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit 
 To his full height. On, on, you noble English, 
 Whose blood is fet from fathers of war proof, 
 Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, 
 Have in these parts from morn till even fought, 
 And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument! 
 
 MERCY 
 
 (The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1) 
 
 The quality of mercy is not strain'd, 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath: It is twice blest; 
 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 
 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 
 The throned monarch better than his crown; 
 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
 The attribute to awe and majesty, 
 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 
 But mercy is above this sceptred sway; 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
 It is an attribute to God himself; 
 And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 
 When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
 Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 
 
A Few Shakespearean Gems 390 
 
 That, in the course of justice, none of us 
 Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; 
 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
 The deeds of mercy. 
 
 BRUTUS's QUARREL WITH CASSIUS 
 
 {Julius Cazsar, Act IV, Scene 3) 
 
 Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love; 
 I may do that I shall be sorry for. 
 
 Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. 
 There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, 
 For I am arm'd so strong in honesty, 
 That they pass by me as the idle wind, 
 Which I respect not. I did send to you 
 For certain sums of gold, which you denied me: 
 By heaven, I had rather coin my heart, 
 And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
 From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash, 
 By any indirection: I did send 
 To you for gold to pay my legions, 
 Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius? 
 Should I have answered Caius Cassius so? 
 When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, 
 To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 
 Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts; 
 Dash him to pieces ! 
 
RECOMPENSE 
 
 BY M. E. NEI/LA 
 
 If I could write just one 
 Short poem that would meet 
 The need of some poor outcast, 
 Who lives upon the street; 
 One song he would remember, 
 To give a word of cheer, 
 It would be recompense enough, 
 Could I but know — while hero. 
 
 400 
 
ESSAY— DESCRIPTIVE 
 THE HOME OF VAN TASSEL 
 
 By Washington Irving, Author. B. 1783, New York City; 
 d. 1859, New York. 
 
 This vivid bit of description is taken from The Legend of 
 Sleepy Hollow found in Irving's Sketch Booh, published in 1819- 
 Use a fluent conversational style of delivery. This selection 
 permits a limited use of the descriptive gesture, but care should 
 be taken not to go into detail. 
 
 1. Old Baltus Van Tassel was a perfect picture of a 
 thriving, contented, liberal-hearted farmer. He seldom, it 
 is true, sent either his eyes or his thoughts beyond the 
 boundaries of his own farm; but within those, everything 
 was snug, happy, and well-conditioned. He was satisfied 
 with his wealth, but not proud of it; and piqued himself 
 upon the hearty abundance, rather than the style in which 
 he lived. His stronghold was situated on the banks of the 
 Hudson, in one of those green, sheltered, fertile nooks, in 
 which the Dutch farmers are so fond of nestling. A great 
 elm-tree spread its broad branches over it, at the foot of 
 which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, 
 in a little well formed of a barrel, and then stole sparkling 
 away through the grass to a neighbouring brook that bub- 
 bled along among alders and dwarf willows. 
 
 &. Hard by the farm-house was a vast barn that might 
 have served for a church, every window and crevice of 
 which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm ; 
 the flail was busily resounding within it from morning to 
 night; swallows and martins skimmed twittering about the 
 eaves; and rows of pigeons, some with one eye turned up, 
 
 401 
 
402 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 as if watching the weather, some with their heads under 
 their wings, or buried in their bosoms, and others swelling, 
 and cooing, and bowing about their dames, were enjoying 
 the sunshine on the roof. Sleek unwieldy porkers were 
 grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens, whence 
 sallied forth now and then troops of sucking pigs, as if 
 to snuff the air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were 
 riding in an adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of 
 ducks; regiments of turkeys were gobbling through the 
 farm-yard, and guinea-fowls fretting about it, like ill-tem- 
 pered housewives, with their peevish, discontented cry. Be- 
 fore the barn door strutted the gallant cock, that pattern 
 of a husband, a warrior, and a fine gentleman, clapping his 
 burnished wings, and crowing in the pride and gladness of 
 his heart — sometimes tearing up the earth with his feet, 
 and then generously calling his ever-hungry family of wives 
 and children to enjoy the rich morsel which he had discov- 
 ered. 
 
 3. The pedagogue's mouth watered as he looked upon his 
 sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his de- 
 vouring mind's-eye he pictured to himself every roasting- 
 pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple 
 in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a com- 
 fortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the 
 geese were swimming in their own gravy ; and the ducks pair- 
 ing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples, with a de- 
 cent competency of onion sauce. In the porkers he saw 
 carved out the future sleek side of bacon and juicy relish- 
 ing ham ; not a turkey but he beheld daintily trussed-up, 
 with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a neck- 
 lace of savoury sausages ; and even bright chanticleer him- 
 self lay sprawling on his back in a side dish, with uplifted 
 claws, as if craving that quarter which his chivalrous spirit 
 disdained to ask while living. 
 
 4. When he entered the house, the conquest of his heart 
 was complete. It was one of those spacious farmhouses, 
 
Essay — Descriptive 403 
 
 with high-ridged, but lowly-sloping roofs, built in the style 
 handed down from the first Dutch settlers; the low project- 
 ing eaves forming a piazza along the front, capable of 
 being closed up in bad weather. Under this were hung 
 flails, harness, various utensils of husbandry, and nets for 
 fishing in the neighbouring river. Benches were built along 
 the sides for summer use; and a great spinning-wheel at 
 one end, and a churn at the other, showed the various uses 
 to which this important porch might be devoted. From 
 this piazza the wondering Ichabod entered the hall, which 
 formed the center of the mansion and the place of usual 
 residence. Here rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on a 
 long dresser, dazzled his eyes. In one corner stood a huge 
 bag of wool ready to be spun ; in another, a quantity of 
 linsey-woolsey just from the loom; ears of Indian corn, and 
 strings of dried apples and peaches, hung in gay festoons 
 along the wall, mingled with the gaud of red peppers; and 
 a door left ajar gave him a peep into the best parlour, where 
 the claw-footed chairs and dark mahogany tables shone 
 like mirrors ; andirons, with their accompanying shovel and 
 tongs, glistened from their covert of asparagus tops ; mock 
 oranges and conch-shells decorated the mantel-piece; strings 
 of various coloured birds' eggs were suspended above it; a 
 great ostrich egg was hung from the centre of the room, 
 and a corner-cupboard, knowingly left open, displayed im- 
 mense treasures of old silver and well-mended china. 
 
 5. From the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these 
 regions of delight, the peace of his mind was at an end, and 
 his only study was how to gain the affections of the peerless 
 daughter of Van Tassel. 
 
ESSAY— NARRATIVE 
 MY ORATORICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 By Nathaniel Hawthorne, Author. B. 1804, Massachusetts; 
 d. 1864, Massachusetts. 
 
 While residing in England (1853-60) Mr. Hawthorne wrote 
 the following selection which is an extract from Civic Banquets. 
 
 The Mayor of a certain seaport in England annually invited 
 some fifty or sixty distinguished citizens of the town and other 
 men of note sojourning there temporarily. It is of one of these 
 banquets that Mr. Hawthorne writes. 
 
 Read in an easy, narrative style; use a wide range of pitch; 
 and bring out clearly the humor contained in many of the 
 passages. 
 
 1. While I was occupied in criticising my fellow-guests, 
 the mayor had got up to propose another toast ; and, listen- 
 ing rather inattentively to the first sentence or two, I be- 
 came sensible of a drift in his worship's remarks that made 
 me glance apprehensively toward Sergeant Wilkins. "Yes," 
 grumbled that gruff personage, "it is your turn next" ; and 
 seeing in my face, I suppose, the consternation of a wholly 
 unpracticed orator, he added, "It is nothing. A mere ac- 
 knowledgment will answer the purpose. The less you say, 
 the better they will like it." 
 
 £. That being the case, I suggested that perhaps they 
 would like it best if I said nothing at all. But the sergeant 
 shook his head. Now, on first receiving the mayor's invita- 
 tion to dinner, it had occurred to me that I might possibly 
 be brought into my present predicament, but I had dismissed 
 the idea from my mind as too disagreeable to be entertained; 
 and, moreover, as so alien from my disposition and char- 
 acter, that Fate surely could not keep such a misfortune 
 
 404 
 
Essay — Narrative 405 
 
 in store for me. 
 
 3. If nothing prevented, an earthquake, or the crack of 
 doom, would certainly interfere before I need rise to speak. 
 Yet here was the mayor getting on inexorably; and, in- 
 deed, I heartily wished that he might get on and on for 
 ever, and of his wordy wanderings find no end. If the gentle 
 reader, my kindest friend and closest confidant, deigns to 
 desire it, I can impart to him my own experience as a public 
 speaker quite as indifferently as if it concerned another per- 
 son. Indeed, it does concern another, or a mere spectral 
 phenomenon; for it was not I, in my proper and natural 
 self, that sat there at table, or subsequently rose to speak. 
 
 4. At the moment, then, if the choice had been offered 
 to me whether the mayor should let off a speech at my head, 
 or a pistol, I should unhesitatingly have taken the latter 
 alternative. I had really nothing to say, not an idea in 
 my head, nor — which was a good deal worse — any flowing 
 words or embroidered sentences in which to dress out that 
 empty nothing, and give it a cunning aspect of intelligence, 
 such as might last the poor vacuity the little time it had 
 to live. 
 
 5. But time passed; the mayor brought his remarks, 
 affectionately eulogistic of the United States, and compli- 
 mentary to their distinguished representative at that table, 
 to a close, amid a vast deal of cheering ; and the band struck 
 up "Hail Columbia," I believe — though it might have been 
 "Old Hundred," or "God Save the Queen" over again, for 
 anything that I should have known or cared. 
 
 6. When the music ceased, there was an intensely dis- 
 agreeable instant during which I seemed to rend away and 
 fling off the habit of a lifetime, and rose, still void of ideas, 
 but with preternatural composure, to make a speech. The 
 guests rattled on the table, and cried, "Hear!" most vocif- 
 erously; as if now, at length, in this foolish and idly gar- 
 rulous world, had come the long-expected moment when one 
 golden word was to be spoken; and in that imminent crisis 
 
406 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 I caught a glimpse of a little bit of effusion of interna- 
 tional sentiment which it might, and must, and should do 
 to utter. 
 
 7. Well, it was "nothing," as the sergeant had said. 
 What surprised me most was the sound of my own voice, 
 which I had never before heard at a declamatory pitch, and 
 which impressed me as belonging to some other person, who 
 — and not myself — would be responsible for the speech: a 
 prodigious consolation and encouragement under the cir- 
 cumstances ! 
 
 8. I went on without the slightest embarrassment, and 
 sat down amid great applause, wholly undeserved by any- 
 thing that I had spoken, but well won from Englishmen, me- 
 thought, by the new development of pluck that alone had 
 enabled me to speak at all. "It was handsomely done I" 
 quoth Sergeant Wilkins ; and I felt like a recruit who had 
 been for the first time under fire. 
 
 9. I would gladly have ended my oratorical career then 
 and there forever ; but was often placed in a similar or worse 
 position, and compelled to meet it as I best might; for this 
 was one of the necessities of an office which I had volun- 
 tarily taken on my shoulders, and beneath which I might be 
 crushed by no moral delinquency on my own part, but could 
 not shirk without cowardice and shame. My subsequent 
 fortune was various, 
 
ESSAY— NARRATIVE 
 PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS 
 
 By St. Luke, Apostle and Author. Biography unknown. 
 Luke XIV, 11-32. 
 
 "This parable/' says Dr. S. S. Curry, "is full of dramatic ele- 
 ments and reaches the dignity of the sublimest epic. This story 
 may be regarded as the noblest work of art in the world. It 
 reveals the sublimest truths in the simplest way." 
 
 The movement is slow, the pauses long and frequent, the pitch 
 varied. The different characters must be clearly presented, — the 
 repentant younger brother, the antagonistic elder brother, the 
 loving and forgiving father. Emphasize the words in italics. 
 Speak very slowly the last clause in the 16th, and the first clause 
 in the 18th, and the 20th paragraphs. Note the rising accent 
 at the end of paragraph 21; the son had not completed his con- 
 fession when interrupted by the father. Observe the joy and 
 the love of the father and his tender rebuke in the 31st and 32nd 
 paragraphs. 
 
 11. And he said, A certain man had two sons: 
 
 12. And the younger of them said .to his father, Father, 
 give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he 
 divided unto them his living. 
 
 13. And not many days after the younger son gathered 
 all together, and took his journey into a far country, and 
 there wasted his substance with riotous living. 
 
 14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty 
 famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 
 
 15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that 
 country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
 
 16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the 
 husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 
 
 17. And when he came to himself, he said, How many 
 
 407 
 
408 Oral Readvng and Public Speaking 
 
 hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to 
 spare, and / perish with hunger! 
 
 18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto 
 him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee. 
 
 19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make 
 me as one of thy hired servants. 
 
 20. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he 
 was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had com- 
 passion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 
 
 21. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned 
 against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
 be called thy son. 
 
 22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the 
 best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, 
 and shoes on his feet: 
 
 23. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let 
 us eat, and be merry: 
 
 24. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he 
 was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 
 
 25. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came 
 and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 
 
 26. And he called one of the servants, and asked what 
 these things meant. 
 
 27. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come ; and thy 
 father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received 
 him safe and sound. 
 
 28. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore 
 came his father out, and entreated him. 
 
 29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many 
 years did I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time 
 thy commandment ; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that 
 I might make merry with my friends : 
 
 30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath 
 devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him 
 the fatted calf. 
 
 81. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, 
 
Essay — Narrative 409 
 
 and all that I have is thine. 
 
 3£. It was meet that we should make merry, and be 
 glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and 
 was lost and is found. 
 
ESSAY— NARRATION 
 A TEXAN'S ROVINGS 
 
 By Melville D. Landon (Eli Perkins) , Author and Lecturer. 
 B. 1839, New York; d. 1910, New York. 
 
 Use an animated, interesting, narrative style, coloring the 
 tone with the varying mood. The fourth paragraph should be 
 made intensely dramatic. 
 
 1. Col. Albert C. Pelton, whose beautiful twenty- thou- 
 sand-acre ranch is out toward the Rio Grande, near La- 
 redo, has been the Peter the Hermit of the Texans for years. 
 He has believed that he held a divine commission to kill 
 Apache Indians. Col. Pelton came to Texas in 1844, a com- 
 mon soldier. By talent and courage he rose to the rank 
 of colonel, and finally,, in 1847, commanded Fort Macrae. 
 That year he fell in love with a beautiful Spanish girl at 
 Albuquerque, N. M. Her parents were wealthy, and would 
 not consent to their daughter's going away from all her 
 friends to live in a garrison. The admiration of the young 
 couple was mutual, and parental objections only intensi- 
 fied the affection of the lovers. The Spanish girl's nature 
 is such that, once in love, she never changes. Finally, after 
 two years' entreaty and devotion, Col. Pelton won the con- 
 sent of the parents of the beautiful Spanish girl, and they 
 were married and removed to Fort Macrae. 
 
 2. Then commenced a honeymoon such as only lovers, 
 shut up in a beautiful flower-environed fort, can have. The 
 lovely character of the beautiful bride won the hearts of 
 all the soldiers of the fort, and she remained a queen among 
 these rough frontiersmen. One day, when the love of the 
 soldier and his lovely wife was at its height, the two, accom- 
 
 410 
 
Essay — Narration 411 
 
 panied by the young wife's mother and twenty soldiers, rode 
 out to the hot springs, six miles from the fort, to take a 
 bath. While in the bath, which is near the Rio Grande, 
 an Indian's arrow passed over their heads. Then a shower 
 of arrows fell around them, and a band of wild Apache 
 Indians rushed down upon them, whooping and yelling like 
 a band of demons. Several of the soldiers fell dead, pierced 
 with poisoned arrows. This frightened the rest, who fled. 
 Another shower of arrows, and the beautiful bride and her 
 mother fell in the water, pierced by the cruel weapons of 
 the Apaches. With his wife dying before his eyes, Col. 
 Pelton leaped up the bank, grasped his rifle, and killed the 
 leader of the savage fiends. But the Apaches were too 
 much for the colonel. Pierced with two poisoned arrows, 
 he swam into the river and hid under an over-hanging rock. 
 After the savages had left, the colonel swam the river and 
 made his way back to Fort Macrae. Here his wounds were 
 dressed, and he finally recovered, but only to live a blasted 
 life — without love, without hope; with a vision of his beau- 
 tiful wife, pierced with poisoned arrows, dying perpetually 
 before his eyes. 
 
 3. After the death of his wife a change came to Col. 
 Pelton. He seemed to think that he had a sacred mission 
 from heaven to avenge his young wife's death. He secured 
 the most unerring rifles, surrounded himself with brave com- 
 panions, and consecrated himself to the work of revenge. 
 He was always anxious to lead any and all expeditions 
 against the Apaches. Whenever any of the other Indians 
 were at war with the Apaches, Col. Pelton would soon be 
 at the head of the former. One day he would be at the head 
 of his soldiers and the next day he would be at the head of 
 a band of Mexicans. Nothing gave him pleasure but the 
 sight of dead Apaches. He defied the Indian arrows and 
 courted death. Once, with a band of the wildest despera- 
 does, he penetrated 100 miles into the Apache country. 
 The Apaches never dreamed that anything but an entire 
 
41£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 regiment would dare to follow them to their camp in the 
 mountains. So when Col. Pelton swooped down into their 
 lodges with ten trusty followers, firing their Henry rifles 
 at the rate of twenty times a minute, the Apaches fled in 
 consternation, leaving their women and children behind. It 
 was then that there darted out of a lodge a white woman. 
 "Spare the women !" she cried, and fainted to the ground. 
 
 4. When the colonel jumped from his saddle to lift up 
 the woman he found she was blind. 
 
 "How came you here, woman, with these damned 
 Apaches?" he asked. 
 
 "I was wounded and captured," she said, "ten years ago. 
 Take, oh, take me back again!" 
 
 "Have you any relations in Texas?" asked the Colonel. 
 
 "No, my father lives in Albuquerque. My husband, Colo- 
 nel Pelton, and my mother were killed by the Indians." 
 
 "Great God, Bella! Is it you — my wife?" 
 
 "Oh, Albert, I knew you would come !" exclaimed the poor 
 wife, blindly reaching her hands to clasp her husband. 
 
 5. Of course there was joy in the old ranch when Col. 
 Pelton got back with his wife. The Apaches had carried 
 the wounded woman away with them. The poison caused 
 inflammation, which finally destroyed her eyesight. 
 
 When I saw the colonel in his Texas ranch he was read- 
 ing a newspaper to his blind wife, while in her hand she 
 held a bouquet of fragrant Cape jessamines which he had 
 gathered for her. It was a picture of absolute happiness. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 From a Portrait 
 
ESSAY— EXPOSITION 
 TRUE ELOQUENCE 
 
 By Daniel Webster, Jurist, Statesman, and Orator. B. 1782, 
 New Hampshire; d. 1852, Massachusetts. 
 
 On hearing of the deaths of Adams and of Jefferson on July 
 4, 1826, the City Council of Boston set apart August 2, 1826, 
 as a day to commemorate appropriately with solemn rites this 
 sad event. Webster delivered a discourse in Faneuil Hall on 
 "Adams and Jefferson." The following extract was given whjle 
 speaking of Mr. Adams. 
 
 The style is "heavy." Downward inflections are numerous, 
 the phrases short, the words ponderous and forceful. A strong 
 and - voluminous voice is demanded. Remember that true ora- 
 tory is a broad subject, and is itself suggestive of mass and 
 weight. 
 
 1. When public bodies are to be addressed on momen- 
 tous occasions, when great interests are at stake and strong 
 passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech, further than 
 as it is connected with high intellectual and moral endow- 
 ments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities 
 which produce conviction. 
 
 £. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. 
 It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may 
 toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases 
 may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass 
 it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the 
 occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of 
 declamation, all may aspire after it ; they cannot reach it. 
 It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreak of a fountain 
 from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with 
 spontaneous, original, native force. 
 
 3. The graces taught in the schools, the costly orna- 
 
 413 
 
414 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 ments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and dis- 
 gust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, 
 their children, and their country hang on the decision of the 
 hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric ,is vain, 
 and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself 
 then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence of higher 
 qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent; then self-devotion 
 is eloquent. The clear conception outrunning the deductions 
 of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless 
 spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, in- 
 forming every feature, and urging the whole man onward, 
 right onward to his object — this, this is eloquence, or, rather, 
 it is something greater and higher than all eloquence ; it 
 inaction, noble, sublime, God-like action. 
 
ESSAY— EXPOSITION 
 THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 
 
 By Marcus Tullius Cicero, Statesman and Orator. B. 106 
 B.C., Arpinum, Italy; d. 43 B.C., Formica, Italy. 
 
 This extract is taken from the rhetorical writings of Cicero 
 entitled "De Oratore." Cicero spent much time and study on 
 the art as well as the rhetoric of oratory. He was the greatest 
 of Roman orators, and the most polished orator of both ancient 
 and modern times. Quintilian aptly states, "Cicero is now less 
 the name of a man than of eloquence itself." 
 
 This selection, being didactic, requires the intellectual type of 
 voice. Guard against too frequent pauses, as the sentences are 
 long and well rounded out. Read with interest and animation. 
 
 1. The art of eloquence is something greater, and col- 
 lected from more sciences and studies than people imagine. 
 For who can suppose that, amid the greatest multitude of 
 students, the utmost abundance of masters, the most emi- 
 nent geniuses among men, the infinite variety of causes, the 
 most ample rewards offered to eloquence, there is any other 
 reason to be found for the small number of orators than the 
 incredible magnitude and difficulty of the art? A knowl- 
 edge of a vast number of things is necessary, without which 
 volubility of words is empty and ridiculous ; speech itself is 
 to be formed, not merely by choice, but by careful con- 
 struction of words ; and all the emotions of the mind, which 
 nature has given to man, must be known intimately; for all 
 the force and art of speaking must be employed in allaying 
 or exciting the feelings of those who listen. 
 
 2. To this must be added a certain portion of grace and 
 wit, learning worthy of a well-bred man, and quickness and 
 brevity in replying as well as attacking, accompanied with 
 
 415 
 
416 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 a refined decorum and urbanity. Besides, the whole of an- 
 tiquity and a multitude of examples is to be kept in the mem- 
 ory ; nor is the knowledge of laws in general, or of the civil 
 law in particular, to be neglected. And why need I add any 
 remarks on delivery itself, which is to be ordered by action 
 of body, by gesture, by look, and by modulation and varia- 
 tion of the voice, the great power of which, alone and in 
 itself, the comparatively trivial art of actors and the stage 
 proves, on which though all bestow their utmost labor to 
 form their look, voice, and gesture, who knows not how few 
 there are, and have ever been, to whom we can attend with 
 patience ? 
 
 3. What can I say of that repository for all things, the 
 memory, which, unless it be made the keeper of the matter 
 and words that are the fruits of thought and invention, all 
 the talents of the orator, we see, though they be of the 
 highest degree of excellence, will be of no avail? Let us, 
 then, cease to wonder what is the cause of the scarcity of 
 good speakers, since eloquence results from all those qualifi- 
 cations, in each of which singly it is a great merit to labor 
 successfully. 
 
 In my opinion, indeed, no man can be an orator possessed 
 of every praiseworthy accomplishment, unless he has attained 
 the knowledge of everything important, and of all liberal 
 arts, for his language must be ornate and copious from 
 knowledge, since, unless there be beneath the surface matter 
 understood and felt by the speaker, oratory becomes an 
 empty and almost puerile flow of words. 
 
 4. Nothing seems to me to be more noble than to be able 
 to fix the attention of assemblies of men by speaking, to 
 fascinate their minds, to direct their passions to whatever 
 object the orator pleases, and to dissuade them from what- 
 soever he desires. This particular art has constantly flour- 
 ished above all others in every free state, and especially in 
 those which have enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and has 
 ever exercised great power. For what is so admirable as 
 
Essay — Exposition 417 
 
 that, out of an infinite multitude of men, there should arise 
 a single individual who can alone, or with a few others, ex- 
 ert effectually that power which nature has granted to all? 
 
 5. Or what is so pleasant to be heard and understood as. 
 an oration adorned and polished with wise thoughts and 
 weighty expressions? Or what is so striking, so astonish- 
 ing, as that the tumults of the people, the religious feelings 
 of judges, the gravity of the senate, should be swayed by the 
 speech of one man? Or what, moreover, is so kingly, so 
 liberal, so munificent, as to give assistance to the suppliant, 
 to raise the afflicted, to bestow security, to deliver from 
 dangers, to maintain men in the rights of citizenship? 
 
 6. Or consider (that you may not always contemplate 
 the forum, the benches, the rostra, and the senate) what 
 can be more delightful in leisure, or more suited to social 
 intercourse, than elegant conversation, betraying no want 
 of intelligence on any subject? For it is by this one gift 
 that we are most distinguished from brute animals, that we 
 converse together, and can express our thoughts by speech. 
 Who, therefore, would not justly make this an object of 
 admiration, and think it worthy of his utmost exertions, 
 to surpass mankind themselves in that single excellence by 
 which they claim their superiority over N brutes? 
 
 7. But, that we may notice the most important point of 
 all, what other power could either have assembled mankind, 
 when dispersed, into one place, or have brought them from 
 wild and savage life to the present humane and civilized state 
 of society; or, when cities were established, have described 
 for them laws, judicial institutions, and rights? And that 
 I may not mention more examples, which are almost with- 
 out number, I will conclude the subject in one short sen- 
 tence; for I consider, that by the judgment and wisdom of 
 the perfect orator, not only his own honor, but that of many 
 other individuals, and the welfare of the whole state, are 
 principally upheld. 
 
ESSAY— ARGUMENTATIVE 
 FREE SPEECH 
 
 By Lyman Abbott, Clergyman, Editor and Author. B. 1835, 
 Massachusetts ; now resides in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 This article appeared in the Outlook for May 30, 1914. Be- 
 ing argumentative, it is purely intellectual. Note the force of 
 the general illustration and the specific instances; also, the 
 appropriate introduction and pertinent conclusion. 
 
 1. There is a good deal of nonsense uttered in our time 
 about free speech. There is no reason why the tongue should 
 be any freer than the hand; no reason why society should 
 not punish a man who uses his tongue to injure his neigh- 
 bor as it punishes the man who uses his hand to injure his 
 neighbor ; no reason why it should not take necessary pro- 
 tective measures to guard against wrong-doing by the tongue 
 as it takes necessary preventive measures to guard against 
 wrong-doing by the hand. 
 
 2. Free speech does not mean that every man has a right 
 to say anything he pleases at any time he pleases and in 
 any place he pleases. The Socialist has no more right to 
 go into a church meeting and interrupt the church services 
 for the purpose of asking the minister for his views on a so- 
 cial question than the minister would have to go into a So- 
 cialist meeting and interrupt it for the purpose of asking 
 the Socialist orator his views on a theological question, or 
 than he would have to go into a theater and stop the play 
 while he catechised the actor, or than a Protestant would 
 have to go into a Roman Catholic Church and stop the Mass 
 while he delivered a sermon against the infallibility of the 
 Pope. The men who build or hire a hall or a church for a 
 
 418 
 
Essay — A rgwmentatvoe 419 
 
 specific purpose have a right, both moral and legal, to use 
 it exclusively for that purpose. It is quite apparent that 
 a reformer would not have the right, even if he possessed 
 the power, to corral a reluctant audience into a hall and 
 compel them to listen to an advocacy of his reform, however 
 important that reform might be. He has no more right to 
 insist upon going before an audience already gathered in a 
 hall of their own providing and insist that they listen to him. 
 
 3. Nor does the right of free speech mean that any man 
 has a right to convert the public street into a public audience 
 hall and prevent its use as a highway by blocking it up with 
 his extemporized audience. The public, who have created 
 the street in order that they may go from place to place 
 with the greater convenience, have a right to keep it open for 
 the use for which it was created. 
 
 4. The right of free speech does not mean that the pub- 
 lic have no right to use their streets, the worshipers their 
 churches, or the actors their theaters. 
 
 5. In a great city there are a good many men and women 
 who want, and ought to have, an opportunity to put their 
 views on public questions before those who are willing to 
 listen, but they have not the means to lease or build a hall 
 for that purpose. For this reason, in such a city, provision 
 should be made for them by the public. This might be done 
 by allowing them to present their views, under such regula- 
 tion as may be necessary to prevent public disorder or ser- 
 ious injury to the property of the public, in an audience- 
 room connected with the public school, or by constructing 
 an audience-room for the purpose, or by allowing them to 
 use certain portions of the public park or parks. The de- 
 mand that the public shall make some such provision is a 
 reasonable demand and ought to be complied with. But the 
 faliure of the public to do so does not justify a man who 
 has no hall in taking possession of some one else's hall or 
 some one else's audience. 
 
 6. Two recent occurrences in New York City furnished 
 
420 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 examples of the confused ideas that prevail among certain 
 people concerning free speech. In one instance, a crowd 
 gathered at Union Square and blocked the public way ; in 
 another case, Mr. Bouck White, a clergyman opposed to 
 capitalism, interrupted the services of the Calvary Baptist 
 Church. Both occurrences also serve to illustrate the wrong 
 way of dealing with such disturbers. In the one case — this 
 was just before the present Police Commissioner took office 
 — the police handled with unnecessary roughness those whom 
 they regarded as the leaders in the crowd ; in the other case, 
 Mr. White and his followers were forcibly ejected from the 
 church, and at least one or two were roughly handled in the 
 process of ejection. 
 
 7. That the police in the first instance made a great mis- 
 take was clear from what was brought out in court; and 
 the public has already recorded its disapproval of that exhi- 
 bition of roughness. 
 
 8. In our judgment, the Calvary Baptist Church also 
 made a great mistake in using physical force to eject Mr. 
 Bouck White when he arose and interrupted the services. 
 It was a mistake, not because Mr. White had a right to 
 interrupt the services (for he had no such right), nor be- 
 cause the proprietors of the church had no right to eject 
 him for doing so (for, technically, they have a right to eject 
 disturbers), but because the course which they pursued de- 
 feated its own ends by advertising the views of the disturber, 
 increasing the hostility of the constituents he represented 
 to the churches, and it was not consistent with the spirit 
 or teaching of Him whose name the Church bears. If Dr. 
 Woelfkin had allowed Mr. White to ask his question, had 
 given it a prompt categorical reply, and then gone on with 
 the services, or if he had said to Mr. White, "If you will 
 wait until this service is concluded, you may ask me any 
 question you like and I will answer it, and as many of the 
 congregation can remain as care to do so," he would have 
 pursued a much wiser course; he would have reduced the 
 
Essay — Argumentative 4&1 
 
 interruption to a minimum, and would have done what could 
 be done to lessen, rather than to increase, the hostility to 
 the churches of the class whom Mr. Bouck White represents. 
 9. The true way to repress cranks is not to suppress 
 them; it is to give them opportunity to air their theories 
 before any who wish to listen, while forbidding them to com- 
 pel those to listen who do not wish to do so. 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 SPEECH OF BRUTUS 
 
 By William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Actor. B. 
 1564, England; d. 1616, England. 
 
 From Julius Ccesar, Act III, Scene 2. Due allowance must 
 be made for the dramatic license taken by Shakespeare in re- 
 cording the speeches of Brutus and Antony. A conspiracy is 
 formed to assassinate Caesar, Brutus has been persuaded to join 
 this conspiracy, Caesar is murdered and the common people are 
 in ignorance of the meaning of it all. Brutus, an orator of no 
 little fame, undertakes to justify his action by addressing the 
 citizens in the forum. 
 
 Brutus speaks to a neutral audience. Note how adroitly he 
 uses the rhetorical question and encourages the populace to join 
 with him in his deliberation. They are easily won over to his 
 cause, and with a magnanimity characteristic of the truly great, 
 he bids them all listen to his opponent. 
 
 Brutus is calm and confident. He is sincere in his belief that 
 Caesar was an enemy to the commonwealth of Rome. Honesty 
 of conviction has great weight with an audience. 
 
 In reading this selection omit the remarks in brackets. In 
 the fourth paragraph note the alternate rising and falling slides 
 in the balanced sentences. However, there is a downward in- 
 flection on "death." Observe the climactical questions and the 
 dramatic close in the fifth paragraph. Mark the transitions at 
 the beginning of the seventh and eighth paragraphs. 
 
 1. Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my 
 cause, and be silent, that you may hear : believe me for mine 
 honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may be- 
 lieve: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, 
 that you may the better judge. 
 
 £. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of 
 Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus's love to Caesar was no less 
 
 422 
 
Oration — Forensic 423 
 
 than his. If, then, that friend demand why Brutus rose 
 against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar 
 less, but that I loved Rome more. 
 
 3. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, 
 than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen? 
 
 4. As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was for- 
 tunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but 
 as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears, for his 
 love; joy, for his fortune; honor, for his valor; and death, 
 for his ambition. 
 
 5. Who is here so base, that would be a bondman? If 
 any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude, 
 that would not be a Roman ? If any, speak ; for him have I 
 offended. Who is here so vile, that will not love his coun- 
 try? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for 
 a reply. — [Citizens cry out, "None, Brutus — none!**] — 
 None ! Then none have I offended. 
 
 6. I have done no more to Caesar than you shall do to 
 Brutus. The question of his death is enrolled in the Capi- 
 tol; his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor 
 his offenses enforced, for which he suffered death. 
 
 [Enter Antony and others with Cesar's body.] 
 
 7. Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony; 
 who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the 
 benefit of his dying — a place in the commonwealth : as which 
 of you shall not? 
 
 8. With this I depart: That, as I slew my best lover 
 for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, 
 when it shall please my country to need my death. 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 MARK ANTONY'S ORATION 
 
 By William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Actor. B. 
 1564, England; d. 1616, England. 
 
 From Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 2. When Brutus concludes 
 his speech, Antony begins. He speaks to a hostile audience. 
 He, therefore, begins by speaking very highly of Brutus and his 
 friends; then proceeds with such oratorical skill and diplomacy 
 as was never equalled by any other orator. He uses "all the re- 
 sources of the living man" and succeeds in persuading the citi- 
 zens to avenge the death of Julius Caesar. 
 
 This speech, as are all true orations, is addressed to the Will. 
 Antony tries, not so much to present convincing arguments, as to 
 move men by arousing their emotions. He begins in a quiet, 
 deliberate manner, appealing to their intelligence, down to the 
 line: 
 
 "You all did love him once, not without cause." 
 
 From this point the speech is intensely emotional through- 
 out. The orator does not give way to his sorrow, but deliberately 
 controls it. The struggle to retain command of his emotions 
 when his "heart is in the coffin" wins the crowd. His silence 
 was more eloquent than his speech. Many elocutionists place 
 a circumflex inflection on the word "honorable." This is not 
 advisable. The best actors to-day place a "straight" inflection 
 on this word ; though there is no doubt that the word is ironically 
 used toward the middle of the speech. 
 
 Note the series of climaxes throughout the selection. After 
 each outburst of the citizens, the speaker tends to quiet them, but 
 soon becomes more and more impassioned until there is another 
 outburst, each stronger than the last. 
 
 When reading this selection, have the different characters rep- 
 resented by different members of the class. With very little ex- 
 tra work an effective "stage setting" can be presented. This 
 will very materially increase the dramatic effect and the in- 
 terest in its rendition. 
 
 424 
 
Oration — Forensic 425 
 
 1. Antony. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me 
 
 your ears: 
 I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
 The evil that men do lives after them; 
 The good is oft interred with their bones: 
 So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus 
 Hath told you Caesar was ambitious : 
 If it were so, it was a grievous fault; 
 And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. 
 Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest 
 (For Brutus is an honorable man; 
 So are they all, all honorable men), 
 
 2. Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 
 He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 
 But Brutus says, he was ambitious; 
 
 And Brutus is an honorable man. 
 
 He hath brought many captives home to Rome. 
 
 Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: 
 
 Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 
 
 When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; 
 
 Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: 
 
 Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ; 
 
 And Brutus is an honorable man. 
 
 3. You all did see, that on the Lupercal, 
 I thrice presented him a kingly crown, 
 
 Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? 
 
 Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious; 
 
 And, sure, he is an honorable man. 
 
 I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 
 
 JBut here I am to speak what I do know. 
 
 You all did love him once, not without cause ; 
 
 What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? 
 
 O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
 
 And men have lost their reason! — Bear with me; 
 
 My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 
 
 And I must pause, till it come back to me. 
 
426 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 4. 1 Cit. Methinks, there is much reason in his sayings. 
 % Cit. If thou consider rightly of the matter, 
 
 Caesar has had great wrong. 
 
 3 Cit. Has he, masters? 
 
 I fear, there will a worse come in his place. 
 
 4 Cit. Mark'd ye his words ? he would not take the crown ; 
 Therefore, 'tis certain, he was not ambitious. 
 
 1 Cit. If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 
 
 2 Cit. Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 
 
 3 Cit. There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 
 Jp Cit. Now mark him, he begins again to speak. 
 
 5. Antony. But yesterday, the word of Caesar might 
 Have stood against the world: now lies he there, 
 
 And none so poor to do him reverence. 
 
 masters ! if I were disposed to stir 
 Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 
 
 1 should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, 
 Who, you all know, are honorable men: 
 
 I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose 
 
 To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you, 
 
 Than I will wrong such honorable men. 
 
 6. But here's a parchment, with the seal of Caesar. 
 I found it in his closet ; 'tis his will : 
 
 Let but the commons hear his testament 
 (Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read) 
 And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, 
 And dip their napkins in his sacred blood ; 
 Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, 
 And, dying, mention it within their wills, 
 Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy, 
 Unto their issue. 
 
 7. 4 Cit. We'll hear the will : Read it, Mark Antony. 
 Cit. The will, the will; we will hear Caesar's will. 
 
 Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; 
 It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 
 You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; 
 
Oration — Forensic 427 
 
 And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 
 It will inflame you, it will make you mad. 
 'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ; 
 For if you should, oh, what would come of it ! 
 
 8. 4. Cit. Read the will! We'll hear it, Antony! 
 You shall read us the will — Caesar's will! 
 
 Ant. Will you be patient? Will you stay a while? 
 I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it. 
 I fear I wrong the honorable men 
 Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar: I do fear it! 
 
 4 Cit. They were traitors ! — Honorable men ! 
 All. The will! — the testament! 
 
 2 Cit. They were villains — murderers ! The will ! — read 
 the will! 
 
 9. Ant. You will compel me, then to read the will? 
 Then make- a ring about the corpse of Caesar, 
 
 And let me show you him that made the will. 
 Shall I descend? And will you give me leave? 
 
 All. Come down. 
 
 2 Cit. Descend. [He comes down.~\ 
 
 5 Cit. You shall have leave. 
 
 4 Cit. A ring! Stand round! 
 
 1 Cit. Stand from the hearse! stand from the body! 
 
 2 Cit. Room for Antony — most noble Antony! 
 Ant. Nay, press not so upon me ; stand far off. 
 All. Stand back ! Room ! Bear back ! 
 
 10. Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
 You all do know this mantle; I remember 
 
 The first time ever Caesar put it on ; 
 
 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, 
 
 That day he overcame the Nervii: — 
 
 Look! In this place ran Cassius' dagger through: 
 
 See, what a rent the envious Casca made: 
 
 Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; 
 
 And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, 
 
 Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it; 
 
428 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 As rushing out of doors, to be resolved 
 
 If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no ; 
 
 For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel: 
 
 Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him ! 
 
 This was the most unkindest cut of all: 
 
 For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, 
 
 Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 
 
 Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; 
 
 And, in his mantle muffling up his face, 
 
 Even at the base of Pompey's statue 
 
 (Which all the while ran blood), great Caesar fell. 
 
 Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! 
 
 Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, 
 
 Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. 
 
 11. O, now you weep ; and, I perceive, you feel 
 The dint of pity : these are gracious drops. 
 
 Kind souls, what, weep you, when you but behold 
 Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here, 
 Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors. 
 
 1 Cit. O piteous spectacle! 
 
 2 Cit. O noble Caesar! 
 S Cit. wof ul day ! 
 
 4 Cit. O traitors, villains ! 
 1 Cit. O, most bloody sight ! 
 
 % Cit. We will be revenged; revenge; about, — seek, — 
 burn, — fire, — kill, — slay! — let not a traitor live. 
 
 12. Ant. Stay, countrymen! [They are rushing out.'] 
 
 1 Cit. Peace, there! Hear the noble Antony! 
 
 2 Cit. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with 
 
 him! 
 
 Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up 
 To such a sudden flood of mutiny. 
 They that have done this deed are honorable. 
 What private griefs they have, alas! I know not, 
 That made them do it; they are wise and honorable, 
 
Oration — Forensic 429 
 
 And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. 
 
 I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts : 
 
 I am no orator, as Brutus is, 
 
 But, as you know me all, a plain, blunt man, 
 
 That love my friend; and that they know full well 
 
 That gave me public leave to speak of him. 
 
 13. For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 
 Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 
 To stir men's blood ; I only speak right on ; 
 I tell you that which you yourselves do know: 
 Show you sweet Caesar's wounds — poor, poor dumb 
 
 mouths — 
 And bid them speak for me. But were I Brutus, 
 And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 
 Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue 
 In every wound of Cagsar, that should move 
 The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS 
 
 By Edmund Burke, Statesman and Orator. B. 1729, Ire- 
 land; d. 1797, England. 
 
 Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India, was brought 
 before the House of Lords in 1788 to be tried for impeachment, 
 being charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors." The trial 
 lasted seven years. He was obliged to meet the oratory of 
 Burke, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and many others who were politi- 
 cally arrayed against him, by presenting his past record and a 
 clear conscience. In 1795 the House of Lords acquitted him. 
 An extract from the speech of Mr. Burke follows. 
 
 This forensic style demands a vigorous expression. There 
 is a rising inflection on the questions beginning with paragraphs 
 Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5. Observe a gradual climax in No. 10. No. 
 1 1 begins with a transition. Deliver this in a lower tone and 
 with normal intensity, gaining more force as you proceed to the 
 end of the selection. The vital quality of voice should be used 
 throughout. 
 
 1. In the name of the Commons of England, I charge 
 all this villainy upon Warren Hastings, in this last mo- 
 ment of my application to you. 
 
 2. My Lords, what is it that we want here to a great 
 act of national justice? Do we want a cause, my. Lords? 
 You have the cause of oppressed princes, of undone women 
 of the first rank, of desolated provinces, and of wasted 
 kingdoms. 
 
 3. Do you want a criminal, my Lords ? When was there 
 so much iniquity ever laid to the charge of any one? No, 
 my Lords, you must not look to punish any other such 
 delinquent from India. Warren Hastings has not left sub- 
 stance enough in India to nourish such another delinquent. 
 
 430 
 
Oration — Forensic 431 
 
 4. My Lords, is it a prosecutor you want? You have 
 before you the Commons of Great Britain as prosecutors ; 
 and I believe, my Lords, that the sun, in his beneficent 
 progress round the world, does not behold a more glorious 
 sight than that of men, separated from a remote people 
 by the material bounds and barriers of nature, united by 
 the bond of a social and moral community — all the Com- 
 mons of England resenting, as their own, the indignities 
 and cruelties, that are offered to all the people of India. 
 
 5. Do we want a tribunal? My Lords, no example of 
 antiquity, nothing in the modern world, nothing in the range 
 of human imagination, can supply us with a tribunal like 
 this. My Lords, here we see virtually, in the mind's eye, 
 that sacred majesty of the Crown, under whose authority 
 you sit and whose power you exercise. 
 
 6. We have here all the branches of the royal family, 
 in a situation between majesty and subjection, between the 
 sovereign and the subject — offering a pledge, in that situ- 
 ation, for the support of the rights of the Crown and the 
 liberties of the people, both of which extremities they touch. 
 
 7. My Lords, we have a great hereditary peerage here ; 
 those who have their own honor, the honor of their ances- 
 tors, and of their posterity, to guard, and who will justify, 
 as they always have justified, that provision in the Consti- 
 tution by which justice is made an hereditary office. 
 
 8. My Lords, we have here a new nobility, who have 
 risen, and exalted themselves by various merits, by great 
 civil and military services, 'which have extended the fame 
 of this country from the rising to the setting sun. 
 
 9. My Lords, you have here, also, the lights of our re- 
 ligion; you have the bishops of England. My Lords, you 
 have that true image of the primitive Church in its ancient 
 form, in its ancient ordinances, purified from the super- 
 stitions and the vices which a long succession of ages will 
 bring upon the best institutions. 
 
 10. My Lords, these are the securities which we have in 
 
432 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 all the constituent parts of the body of this House. We 
 know them, we reckon, we rest upon them, and commit safely 
 the interests of India and of humanity into your hands. 
 Therefore, it is with confidence, that, ordered by the Com- 
 mons, 
 
 I impeach Warren Hastings, Esquire, of high crimes and 
 misdemeanors. 
 
 I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great 
 Britain, in Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust 
 he has betrayed. 
 
 I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great 
 Britain, whose national character he has dishonored. 
 
 I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose 
 laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted, whose property 
 he has destroyed, whose country he has laid waste and deso- 
 late. 
 
 I impeach him in the name, and by virtue of those eter- 
 nal laws of justice which he has violated. 
 
 I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which 
 he has cruelly outraged, injured and oppressed, in both 
 sexes, in every age, rank, situation, and condition of life. 
 
 11. My Lords, there is a consolation, and a great con- 
 solation it is, which often happens to oppressed virtue and 
 fallen dignity; it often happens that the very oppressors 
 and persecutors themselves are forced to bear testimony in 
 its favor. The Parliament of Paris had an origin very, 
 very similar to that of the great court before which I stand ; 
 the Parliament of Paris continued to have a great resem- 
 blance to it in its Constitution, even to its fall; the Par- 
 liament of Paris, my Lords, — WAS; it is gone! It has 
 passed away ; it has vanished like a dream ! It fell pierced 
 by the sword of the Compte de Mirabeau. And yet that 
 man, at the time of his inflicting the death-wound of that 
 Parliament, produced at once the shortest and the grandest 
 funeral oration that ever was or could be made upon the 
 departure of a great court of magistracy. When he pro- 
 
Oration — Forensic 433 
 
 nounced the death sentence upon that Parliament, and in- 
 flicted the mortal wound, he declared that his motives for 
 doing it were merely political, and that their hands were 
 as pure as those of justice itself, which they administered 
 — a great and glorious exit, my Lords, of a great and glor- 
 ious body! 
 
 12. My Lords, if you must fall, may you so fall! But, 
 if you stand, and stand I trust you will, together with the 
 fortunes of this ancient monarchy — together with the an- 
 cient laws and liberties of this great and illustrious kingdom, 
 may you stand as unimpeached in honor as in power ; may 
 you stand, not as a substitute for virtue, but as an orna- 
 ment of virtue, as a security for virtue; may you stand 
 long, and long stand the terror of tyrants ; may you stand 
 the refuge of afflicted Nations ; may you stand a sacred 
 temple, for the perpetual residence of an inviolable justice! 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 JURY ADDRESS 
 
 By Daniel Webster, Jurist, Statesman and Orator. B. 1782, 
 New Hampshire; d. 1852, Massachusetts. 
 
 Captain Joseph White, a respectable and wealthy citizen of 
 Salem, Massachusetts, eighty-two years of age, on the morning 
 of April 7, 1830, was found murdered in his bed. Richard 
 and George Crownishield with Joseph J. and his brother John 
 F. Knapp were arrested for the murder. Richard Crownishield 
 committed suicide. John F. Knapp was tried for murder; and 
 convicted. Joseph J. Knapp was tried later and convicted. 
 George Crownishield was freed. The Knapps were related to 
 Captain White by marriage, and having previously destroyed a 
 will made by Captain White, sought his death before this fact 
 could be discovered and another will written. 
 
 Mr. Webster was asked to aid the government in the prose- 
 cution. The following extract is taken from his concluding 
 speech August 20, 1830; and is considered one of the most re- 
 markable speeches in one of the most extraordinary murder cases 
 in America. 
 
 Paragraph three presents a most vivid picture of the mur- 
 der. This should be portrayed in a very dramatic manner. The 
 conclusion to this address has been effectually used in a modi- 
 fied form in thousands of cases by young attorneys, and should 
 be memorized by every aspiring lawyer. Speak as though you 
 were attempting to convince and persuade an actual jury. 
 
 1. Gentlemen, this is a most extraordinary case. In 
 some respects it has hardly a precedent anywhere, certainly 
 none in our New England history. This bloody drama 
 exhibited no suddenly excited, ungovernable rage. It was 
 a cool, calculating, money-making murder. It was the 
 weighing of money against life; the counting out of so 
 many pieces of silver against so many ounces of blood. 
 
 434 
 
Oration — Forensic 435 
 
 2. An aged man, without an enemy in the world, in his 
 own house and in his own bed, is made the victim of a 
 butcherly murder for mere pay. Truly, here is a new les- 
 son for painters and poets. Whoever shall hereafter draw 
 the portrait of murder, let him not give it the grim visage 
 of Moloch,- — the brow knitted by revenge, the face black 
 with settled hate, and the bloodshot eye emitting livid fires 
 of malice. Let him draw rather a decorous, smooth-faced, 
 bloodless demon ; a picture in repose rather than in action ; 
 not so much an example of human nature in its depravity 
 and in its paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend, 
 in the ordinary display and development of his character. 
 
 3. The circumstances now clearly in evidence spread 
 out the whole scene before us. Deep sleep had fallen on 
 the destined victim, and on all beneath his roof. A health- 
 ful old man, to whom sleep was sweet, the first sound slum- 
 bers of the night held him in their soft but strong embrace. 
 The assassin enters, through the window already prepared, 
 into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces 
 the lonely hall, half lighted by the moon ; he winds up the 
 ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door of the chamber. 
 He enters, and beholds his victim before him. The face of 
 the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the 
 beams of the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged 
 temple, show him where to strike. The fatal blow is given ! 
 and the victim passes, without a struggle or a motion, from 
 the repose of sleep to the repose of death! The murderer 
 retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out 
 through it as he came in, and escapes. He has done the 
 deed. No eye has seen him, no ear has heard him. The 
 secret is his own, and it is safe! 
 
 3ffr ^ $fc ¥fc $& 7& 7& 
 
 4. Ah! Gentleman, that was a dreadful mistake. Such 
 a secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God 
 has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, 
 and say it is safe. A thousand eyes turn at once to explore 
 
436 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 every man, every thing, every circumstance, connected with 
 the time and place; a thousand ears catch every whisper; 
 a thousand excited minds intensely dwell on the scene, shed- 
 ding all their light, and ready to kindle the slightest cir- 
 cumstance into a blaze of discovery. Meantime the guilty 
 soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself; or 
 rather it feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be 
 true to itself. It labors under its guilty possession, and 
 knows not what to do with it. The human heart was not 
 made for the residence of such an inhabitant. The secret 
 which the murderer possesses soon comes to possess him; 
 and, like the evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes him, 
 and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beating at 
 his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclosure. 
 He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, reads it in his 
 eyes, and almost hears its workings in the very silence of 
 his thoughts. It has become his master. It betrays his dis- 
 cretion, it breaks down 'his courage, it conquers his pru- 
 dence. When suspicions from without begin to embarrass 
 him, and the net of circumstance to entangle him, the fatal 
 secret struggles with still greater violence to burst forth. 
 It must be confessed, it will be confessed ; there is no refuge 
 
 from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession. 
 ******* 
 
 5. Gentlemen, your whole concern in this case should be 
 to do your duty, and leave consequences to take care of 
 themselves. You will receive the law from the court. Your 
 verdict, it is true, may endanger the prisoner's life, but then 
 it is to save other lives. If the prisoner's guilt has been 
 shown and proved beyond all reasonable doubt, you will 
 convict him. If such reasonable doubts of guilt still remain, 
 you will acquit him. You are the judges of the whole case. 
 You owe a duty to the public as well as to the prisoner at 
 the bar. You cannot presume to be wiser than the law. 
 Your duty is a plain, straightforward one. Doubtless we 
 would all judge him in mercy. Towards him, as an individ- 
 
Oration — Forensic 437 
 
 ual, the law inculcates no hostility; but towards him, if 
 proved to be a murderer, the law, and the oaths you have 
 taken, and public justice, demand that you do your duty. 
 
 6. With consciences satisfied with the discharge of duty, 
 no consequences can harm you. There is no evil that we 
 cannot either face or fly from, but the consciousness of duty 
 disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omni- 
 present, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings 
 of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
 duty performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our 
 happiness or our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover 
 us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet 
 with us. We cannot escape their power, nor fly from their 
 presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at 
 its close ; and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity, which 
 lies yet farther onward, we shall still find ourselves sur- 
 rounded by the consciousness of duty, to pain us wherever 
 it has been violated, and to console us so far as God may 
 have given us grace to perform it. 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 EMMETT'S DEFENSE 
 
 By Robert Emmett, Irish Patriot and Orator. B. 1778, Ire- 
 land; d. 1803, England. 
 
 The struggle for Irish independence has occasioned many 
 orations, but none more popular than this. At the age of twenty- 
 five Emmett had organized and headed a party of insurgents in 
 Dublin, and was in secret communication with Napoleon and 
 Talleyrand. Believing that France was about to attack England, 
 Emmett advanced with a small party upon Dublin Castle. Chief 
 Justice, Lord Kilwarden was killed. Through a misunder- 
 standing, Emmett found himself only at the head of a mob. He 
 escaped, but was later captured. He was tried for high treason, 
 and executed the next day. In reply to the usual question asked 
 of the prisoner after the verdict has been rendered, he made this 
 eloquent and impassioned speech. About one-third is here given. 
 It was extempore in the main for much of it is in direct reply 
 to remarks made by the judge. 
 
 When reciting this selection, imagine yourself in the doomed 
 man's place. The first two paragraphs mark the Introduction, 
 and are primarily intellectual. The next two paragraphs ex- 
 press a gradual climax in passion and earnestness, culminating 
 in the emotional interjection, "God forbid!' 
 
 The last paragraph begins with a spirit of acrimony and 
 vindictiveness, followed with quiet pathos and concluding with 
 a firm and vigorous appeal to his fellow country men. Studi- 
 ously avoid a "giving way" to the emotions of sadness in the 
 more tender expressions. Emmett was not a man to bid for 
 pity or even sympathy, but was calm, stoical and fearless to the 
 last. 
 
 1. What have I to say why sentence of death should not 
 be pronounced against me according to law ? I have nothing 
 to say which can alter your predetermination, nor that it 
 will become me to say with any view to the mitigation of that 
 
 438 
 
Oration — Forensic 439 
 
 sentence which you are here to pronounce, and by which I 
 must abide. But I have that to say which interests me 
 more than life. I have much to say why my reputation 
 should be rescued from the load of calumny and false ac- 
 cusation which have been heaped upon it. 
 
 2. Were I only to suffer death after being adjudged 
 guilty by your tribunal I should bow in silence and meet the 
 fate that awaits me without a murmur; but the sentence of 
 the law which delivers my body to the executioner will 
 through the ministry of that law labor in its own vindica- 
 tion to consign my character to obloquy. The man dies, but 
 his memory lives. That mine may live in the hearts and 
 in the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this oppor- 
 tunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged 
 against me. 
 
 3. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly 
 port, when my shade shall have joined the bands of these 
 martyred heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold 
 and in the field, in defense of their country and virtue — 
 this is my hope: I wish that my memory and name may 
 animate those who survive me while I look down compla- 
 cently on the destruction of that perfidious government 
 which upholds its domination by the blasphemy of the Most 
 High; which displays its power over men as over beasts of 
 the forest ; which sets man against his brother and raises 
 his hand in the name of God against the throat of his fellow 
 who believes or doubts a little more or a little less than the 
 government standard, a government steeled to barbarity by 
 the cries of orphans and the tears of widows it has made. 
 
 4. Let no man dare when I am dead to charge me with 
 dishonor. Let no man attaint my memory by believing that 
 I could engage in any cause but of my country's liberty and 
 independence. In the dignity of freedom, I would have 
 fought on the threshold of my country, and its enemy could 
 have entered only by passing over my lifeless corpse. And 
 now, am I who lived but for my country and who have sub- 
 
440 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 jected myself to the dangers of a jealous and watchful op- 
 pressor* and the bondage of the grace — am I to be loaded 
 with calumny and not suffered to resent or repel it? No, 
 God forbid! 
 
 5. My lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice. The 
 blood for which you thirst is not congealed by those artifi- 
 cial terrors that surround your victim, but flows freely and 
 unruffled through the channels which God created for nobler 
 purposes, and which you are now bent to destroy. Be yet 
 patient ; I have but a few more words to say. I am going 
 to my cold and silent grave; my lamp of life is almost ex- 
 tinguished; my race is run. The grave opens to receive me 
 and I sink into its bosom. ... I have but one request to 
 make at my departure from this world. It is the charit} r 
 of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph, for, as no 
 man who knows my motives dares now vindicate them, let 
 not prejudice nor ignorance espouse them. Let them and 
 me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb uninscribed 
 until other times and other men can do justice to my char- 
 acter. When my country takes her place among the na- 
 tions of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph 
 be written. 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 DEFENSE BEFORE AGRIPPA 
 
 By Saint Paul, Apostle, Missionary, and Theologian. B. 
 1 (?) A.D., Tarsus, Cilicia; d. 65 (?), Rome. 
 
 Paul had been brought up for trial and acquitted a number of 
 times. Finally, to please the Jews, Felix left him in bonds. 
 When Festus became governor of Caesarea he found Paul in 
 chains. Paul demanded, since he was a Roman, to be sent for 
 trial to Cagsar. King Agrippa and his wife Bernice having 
 come to the province on a visit, Festus sends for Paul to give 
 him an examining trial before King Agrippa, his wife, and the 
 principal men of the city, so that when Paul is sent to Rome, 
 Festus may have some definite accusation against him. Paul is 
 asked to speak for himself. He does with such sincerity, sim- 
 plicity and eloquence that when he concludes, the purpose of 
 the meeting has been forgotten. 
 
 Use throughout a conversational and persuasive tone. Enter 
 into the spirit of enthusiasm and earnestness that was always 
 characteristic of Paul. Paragraph eight permits of considerable 
 dramatization, but not to the extent of attempting to impersonate 
 the voice of God. Let the manner rather than the character 
 of tone distinguish the two voices. 
 
 1. I think myself happy? King Agrippa, that I am to 
 make my defense before thee this day touching all the things 
 whereof I am accused by the Jews : especially because thou 
 art expert in all customs and questions which are among 
 the Jews : wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. 
 My manner of life then from my youth up, which was from 
 the beginning among mine own nation, and at Jerusalem, 
 know all the Jews ; having knowledge of me from the first, if 
 they be willing to testify, how that after the straitest sect 
 of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 
 
 441 
 
44£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 2. And now I stand here to be judged for the hope of 
 the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which 
 promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and 
 day, hope to attain. And concerning this hope I am accused 
 by the Jews, O king! Why is it judged incredible with you, 
 if God doth raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, 
 that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of 
 Jesus of Nazareth. And this I also did in Jerusalem ; and I 
 both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received 
 authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to 
 death, I gave my vote against them. And punishing them 
 oftentimes in the synagogues, I strove to make them blas- 
 pheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I perse- 
 cuted them even unto foreign cities. 
 
 S. Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the 
 authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O 
 king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the bright- 
 ness of the sun, shining round about me and them that jour- 
 neyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, 
 I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, 
 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to 
 kick against the goad. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? 
 And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But 
 arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I 
 appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness 
 both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the 
 things wherein I will appear unto thee ; delivering thee from 
 the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, 
 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may 
 receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them 
 that are sanctified by faith in me. 
 
 4. Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient 
 unto the heavenly vision: but declared both to them of 
 Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the 
 country at Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should 
 
Oration — Forensic 4*4*8 
 
 repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. 
 For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed 
 to kill me. Having therefore obtained the help that is from 
 God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and 
 great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did 
 say should come; how that the Christ must suffer, and how 
 that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim 
 light both to the people and to the Gentiles. 
 
 5. Festus, interrupting. Paul, thou art mad; thy much 
 learning doth turn thee to madness. 
 
 Paul. I am not mad, most excellent Festus ; but speak 
 forth words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth 
 of these things, unto whom I also speak freely : for I am per- 
 suaded that none of these things is hidden from him; for 
 this hath not been in a corner. King Agrippa, believest 
 thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 
 
 Agrippa. With but little persuasion thou wouldst fain 
 make me a Christian. 
 
ORATION— FORENSIC 
 AWAIT THE ISSUE 
 
 By Thomas Carlyle, Historian, Philosopher, and Essayist. 
 B. 1795, Scotland; d. 1881, England. 
 
 This excerpt, adapted from Past and Present, Chapter II, en- 
 titled "The Sphinx/' is of the forensic type, although it was not 
 originally intended to be spoken. It was written in 1843, criti- 
 cizing the impatience manifested by many Englishmen of that 
 time on the injustice of the labor laws. Carlyle was a great 
 friend of the common people. 
 
 The first sentence is periodic in structure, and hence should 
 be given with the rising inflection throughout. Marked em- 
 phasis is required on "fool," "wise," "were," "denied," "but," 
 "just," and "true," of the first paragraph. 
 
 Breathe deeply at each pause in the second paragraph, so as 
 not to run out of breath when delivering with great vigor the 
 long phrases. Vocally express the strong climax at the close. 
 
 The fourth paragraph furnishes a fine example for subordi- 
 nation in emphasis. Note the words and phrases that bear the 
 burden of the central thought (The Ultimate Triumph of Jus- 
 tice), and bring these out with greatest force, subordinating the 
 parts that only modify or qualify the main theme. Words and 
 phrases for such special emphasis are: "right," "noble," "vic- 
 tory," "the heaviest will reach the center," "it has to arrive 
 there." 
 
 Sustained strength should characterize the rendering of the 
 last paragraph — it is a final appeal. 
 
 1. In this — God's — world, with its wild, whirling eddies 
 and mad, foam oceans, where men and nations perish as if 
 without law, and judgment for an unjust thing is sternly 
 delayed, dost thou think that there is therefore no justice? 
 It is what the fool hath said in his heart. It is what the 
 wise, in all times, were wise because they denied, and knew 
 
 444 
 
Oration — Forensic 445 
 
 forever not to be. I tell thee again, there is nothing else but 
 justice. One strong thing I find here below: the just thing, 
 the true thing. 
 
 2. My friend, if thou hadst all the artillery of Woolwich 
 trundling at thy back in support of an unjust thing, and in- 
 finite bonfires visibly waiting ahead of thee to blaze centuries 
 long for the victory on behalf of it, I would advise thee to 
 call halt, to fling down thy baton, and say, "In Heaven's 
 name, no!" 
 
 3. Thy "success?" Poor devil, what will thy success 
 amount to? If the thing is unjust, thou hast not succeeded; 
 no, not though bonfires blazed from north to south, and bells 
 rang, and editors wrote leading articles, and the just things 
 lay trampled out of sight — to all mortal eyes an abolished 
 and annihilated thing. 
 
 4. For -it is the right and noble alone that will have vic- 
 tory in this struggle ; the rest is wholly an obstruction, a 
 postponement, a fearful imperilment of the victory. To- 
 wards an eternal center of right and nobleness, and of that 
 only, is all confusion tending. We already know whither 
 it is all tending ; what will have victory, what will have none ! 
 The heaviest will reach the center. The heaviest has its 
 deflections ; its obstructions ; nay, at times its reboundings, 
 its resiliences, whereupon some blockhead shall be heard 
 jubilating, "See, your heaviest ascends !" but at all moments 
 it is moving centerward, fast as is convenient for it ; sinking, 
 sinking; and, by laws older than the world, old as the 
 Maker's first plan of the world, it has to arrive there. 
 
 5. Await the issue. In all battles, if you await the issue, 
 each fighter has prospered according to his right. His right 
 and his might, at the close of the account, were one and the 
 same. He has fought with all his might, and in exact pro- 
 portion to all his right he has prevailed. His very death is 
 no victory over him. He dies indeed ; but his work lives, very 
 truly lives. 
 
 6. A heroic Wallace, quartered on the scaffold, cannot 
 
446 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 hinder that his Scotland become, one day, a part of Eng- 
 land ; but he does hinder that it become, on tyrannous terms, 
 a part of it; commands still, as with a god's voice, from his 
 old Valhalla and Temple of the Brave, that there be a just, 
 real union as of brother and brother, not a false and merely 
 semblant one as of slave and master. If the union with Eng- 
 land be in fact one of Scotland's chief blessings, we thank 
 Wallace withal that it was not the chief curse. Scotland is 
 not Ireland: no, because brave men rose there and said, 
 "Behold, ye must not tread us down like slaves ; and ye shall 
 not, and cannot!" 
 
 7. Fight on, thou brave, true heart, and falter not, 
 through dark fortune and through bright. The cause thou 
 fightest for, so far as it is true, no further, yet precisely, so 
 far, is very sure of victory. The falsehood alone of it will 
 be conquered, will be abolished, as it ought to be; but the 
 truth of it is part of Nature's own laws, co-operates with the 
 world's eternal tendencies, and cannot be conquered. 
 
ORATION— DELIBERATIVE 
 FREEDOM OR SLAVERY 
 
 By Patrick Henry, Statesman and Orator. B. 1736, Virginia; 
 d. 1799, Virginia. 
 
 This extract from his speech delivered in the Provincial Con- 
 vention of Virginia, March 23, 1775, is one of the most famous 
 speeches in American history. Mr. Henry introduced resolutions 
 in this Convention to organize the militia and put the Colony in 
 an attitude of defense. He met with much opposition. He re- 
 plied with such eloquence and power that the resolutions were 
 adopted without an opposing vote. Mr. Henry was appointed 
 chairman of a committee to prepare plans immediately for the 
 defense of the province. 
 
 This selection demands a very energetic, vigorous and even 
 dramatic style of delivery. It demands action, "noble, sublime, 
 God-like action." Note the similarity in style to that of De- 
 mosthenes' On the Crown. 
 
 1. Mr. President, It is natural for 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. 
 
 2. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and 
 that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judg- 
 ing of the future but by the past. 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 
 
 447 
 
448 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace them- 
 selves 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 re- 
 ception of our petition comports with those warlike prepara- 
 tions which cover our waters and darken our land. Are 
 fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconcilia- 
 tion? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be recon- 
 ciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? 
 Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements 
 of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings 
 resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, What means this martial ar- 
 ray, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can 
 gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has 
 Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call 
 for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she 
 has none. They are meant for us : they can be meant for 
 no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us 
 those chains which the British Ministry have been so long 
 forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we 
 try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last 
 ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the sub- 
 ject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light 
 of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall 
 we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms 
 shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let 
 us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, 
 we have done everything that could be done to avert the 
 storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we 
 have remonstrated ; we have supplicated ; we have prostrated 
 ourselves before the throne, and have implored its inter- 
 position to arrest the tyrannical hands of the Ministry and 
 Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remon- 
 strances have produced additional violence and insult; our 
 supplications have been disregarded; and we have been 
 
Oration — Deliberative 449 
 
 spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In 
 vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of 
 peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for 
 hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate 
 those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long 
 contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble 
 struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which 
 we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glori- 
 ous object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! 
 I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! An appeal to arms and to the 
 God of Hosts is all that is left us ! 
 
 3. They tell us, sir, that we are weak ; unable to cope 
 with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be 
 stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will 
 it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard 
 shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength 
 b}' irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the me^ns of 
 effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hug- 
 ging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall 
 have bound us hand and foot? 
 
 4. Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those 
 means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. 
 Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, 
 and in such a country as that which we possess, are invinci- 
 ble by any force which our enemy can send against us. 
 Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There 
 is a just God, who presides over the destinies of nations, 
 and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. 
 The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigi- 
 lant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. 
 If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to 
 retire from the contest. 
 
 5. There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery ! 
 Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on 
 the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, — and let it 
 come! — I repeat it, sir, let it come! It is vain, sir, to ex- 
 
450 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 tenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace! but 
 there is no peace. The war is actually begun ! 
 
 6. 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! 
 
ORATION— DELIBERATIVE 
 
 THE FALL OF ASSYRIA 
 
 By Isaiah, Prophet and Orator. B. B.C. 760 (?), Judea; d. 
 B.C. 700 (?), Judea. 
 
 At the death of Sargon, King of Syria, in 705 B.C., all the 
 subjugated kingdoms rose in revolt. Sennacherib, his successor, 
 started to subdue them, beginning at Babylon; Jerusalem, in- 
 stead of trusting in Jehovah, turned toward Egypt for help. 
 Isaiah, discerning the danger, appeals to the Israelites to put 
 their trust in Jehovah only. Isaiah XXXI. 
 
 1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and 
 stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are 
 many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but 
 they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the 
 Lord ! 
 
 2. Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not 
 call back his words : but will arise against the house of the 
 evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 
 
 3. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their 
 horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch 
 out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is 
 holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. 
 
 4. For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the 
 lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multi- 
 tude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be 
 afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them : 
 so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount 
 Zion, and for the hill thereof. 
 
 5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend 
 Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing 
 over he will preserve it. 
 
 451 
 
452 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 6. Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel 
 have deeply revolted. 
 
 7. For in that day every man snail cast away his idols 
 of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have 
 made unto you for a sin. 
 
 8. Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a 
 mighty man ; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour 
 him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men 
 shall be discomfited. 
 
 9. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, 
 and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the 
 Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. 
 
ORATORY— PULPIT 
 THE EVIL THAT MEN DO LIVES AFTER THEM 
 
 By Phillips Brooks, Bishop and Orator. B. 1835, Massa- 
 chusetts; d. 1893, Massachusetts. 
 
 This extract from a sermon of one of America's most emi- 
 nent orators, is illustrative of his simple and artistic style and 
 the accumulative power by which he made his thoughts effective. 
 
 1. Tell me you have a sin that you mean to commit this 
 evening that is going to make this night black. What can 
 keep you from committing that sin? Suppose you look into 
 its consequences. Suppose the wise man tells you what will 
 be the physical consequences of that sin. You shudder and 
 you shrink, and perhaps you are partially deterred. Sup- 
 pose you see the glory that might come to you, physical, 
 temporal, spiritual, if you do not commit that sin. The 
 opposite of it shows itself to you — the blessing and the 
 richness in your life. Again there comes a great power that 
 shall control your lust and wickedness. Suppose there 
 comes to you something even deeper than that, no conse- 
 quence of conscience at all, but simply an abhorrence for the 
 thing, so that your whole nature shrinks from it as the 
 nature of God shrinks from a sin that is polluting, and 
 filthy and corrupt and evil. 
 
 2. They are all great powers. Let us thank God for 
 them all. He knows that we are weak enough to need every 
 power that can possibly be brought to bear upon our feeble 
 lives ; but if, along with all of them, there could come this 
 other power, if along with them there could come the cer- 
 tainty that if you refrain from that sin to-night you make 
 the sum of sin that is in the world, and so the sum of future 
 
 453 
 
454 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 sin that is to spring out of temptation in the world, less, 
 shall there not be a nobler impulse rise up in your heart, 
 and shall you not say : "I will not do it ; I will be honest, I 
 will be sober, I will be pure, at least, to-night?" I dare to 
 think that there are' men here to whom that appeal can 
 come, men who, perhaps, will be all dull and deaf if one 
 speaks to them about their personal salvation; who, if one 
 dares to picture to them, appealing to their better nature, 
 trusting to their nobler soul, and there is in them the power 
 to save other men from sin, and to help the work of God by 
 the control of their own passions and the fulfillment of their 
 own duty, will be stirred to the higher life. Men — very often 
 we do not trust them enough — will answer to the higher 
 appeal that seems to be beyond them when the poor, lower 
 appeal that comes within the region of their selfishness is 
 cast aside, and they will have nothing to do with it. 
 
 3. Oh, this marvelous, this awful power that we have 
 over other people's lives ! Oh, the power of the sin that you 
 have done years and years ago ! It is awful to think of it. 
 I think there is hardly anything more terrible to the human 
 thought than this — the picture of a man who, having sinned 
 years and years ago in a way that involved other souls in 
 his sin, and then, having repented of his sin and undertaken 
 another life, knows certainly that the power, the conse- 
 quence of that sin is going on outside of his reach, beyond 
 even his ken and knowledge. He cannot touch it. 
 
 4. You wronged a soul ten years ago. You taught a boy 
 how to tell his first mercantile lie; you degraded the early 
 standards of his youth. What has become of that boy 
 to-day? You may have repented. He has passed out of 
 your sight. He has gone years and years ago. Somewhere 
 in this great multitudinous mass of humanity he is sinning 
 and sinning, and reduplicating and extending the sin that 
 you did. You touched the faith of some believing soul years 
 ago with some miserable sneer of yours, with some cynical 
 and skeptical disparagement of Qod and of the man who is 
 
Oratory — Pulpit 455 
 
 the utterance of God upon the earth. You taught the soul 
 that was enthusiastic to be full of skepticisms and doubts. 
 You cannot touch that life now. You cannot reach it. You 
 do not know where it is. No steps of yours, quickened with 
 all jour earnestness, can pursue it. No contrition of yours 
 can draw back its consequences. Remorse cannot force the 
 bullet back into the gun from which it once has gone forth. 
 
 5. It makes life awful to the man who has ever sinned, 
 who has ever wronged and hurt another life because of this 
 sin, because no sin was ever done that did not hurt another 
 life. I know the mercy of our God, that while he has put 
 us into each other's power to a fearful extent, He never will 
 let any soul absolutely go to everlasting ruin for another's 
 sin ; and so I dare to see the love of God pursuing that lost 
 soul where you cannot pursue it. But that does not for one 
 moment lift the shadow from your heart, or cease to make 
 you tremble when you think of how your sin has outgrown 
 its'elf and is running far, far away where you can never 
 follow it. 
 
 6. Thank God the other living thing is true as well. 
 Thank God that when a man does a bit of service, however 
 little it may be, of that, too, he can never trace the conse- 
 quences. Thank God that that which in some better mo- 
 ment, in some nobler inspiration, you did ten years ago, to 
 make your brother's faith a little more strong, to let your 
 shop-boy confirm and not doubt the confidence in man 
 which he had brought into his business, to establish the 
 purity of a soul instead of staining it and shaking it, thank 
 God, in this quick, electric atmosphere in which we live, that, 
 too, runs forth. 
 
ORATION— DEMONSTRATIVE 
 EULOGY OF HENRY WOODFEN GRADY 
 
 By John Temple Graves, Journalist and Orator. B. 1856, 
 South Carolina; now resides in New York City. 
 
 This is an extract from the oration delivered at a Memorial 
 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, December 21, 1889- It has been 
 pronounced by Henry Watterson and many other able critics 
 as being the best eulogy of the century. 
 
 1. I am one among the thousands who loved Henry 
 Grady, and I stand among the millions who lament his death. 
 I loved him in the promise of his glowing youth, when across 
 my boyish vision he walked with winning grace from easy 
 effort to success. I loved him in the flush of his splendid 
 manhood, when a nation hung upon his words — and now I 
 love him best of all as he lies under the December skies, with 
 face as tranquil and with smile as sweet as patriarch ever 
 wore. 
 
 2. I agree with Patrick Collins that Henry Grady was 
 the most brilliant son of the Republic; and I believe, if the 
 annals of these times are told with truth, they will record 
 him the phenomenon of his period. No eloquence has 
 equalled his since Sargent Prentiss faded from the earth. 
 No pen has plowed such noble furrows in his country's fal- 
 low fields since the wrist of Horace Greely rested. No age 
 of the Republic has witnessed such marvelous conjunction, 
 of a magic pen with the splendor of a mellow tongue. I have 
 loved to follow the pathway of that diamond pen as it flashed 
 like an inspiration over every phase of life in Georgia. It 
 touched the sick body of a despairing agriculture with the 
 impulse of a better method. Its brave point went with cheer- 
 ful prophecy and engaging manliness into the ranks of toil, 
 
 456 
 
Oration — Demonstrative 457 
 
 until the workman at his anvil felt the dignity of labor. Into 
 the field of practical politics it dashed with the grace of an 
 earlier chivalry, and in an age of pushing and unseemly 
 scramble, it woke the spirit of a loftier sentiment; while 
 around the charming pleader there grew up a company of 
 youth linked to the Republic's nobler legends and holding 
 fast that generous loyalty which builds the highest bulwark 
 of the state. 
 
 3. Long after he made his way to eminence and influence 
 as a writer, he waked the power of that surpassing oratory, 
 which has bettered all the sentiment of his country and en- 
 riched the vocabulary of the world. Nothing in the history 
 of human speech has ever equalled the stately stepping of 
 his eloquence into glory. In a single night he caught the 
 heart of his country and leaped from a banquet's gaiety into 
 national fame. It is the crowning evidence of his genius 
 that he held to the end, unbroken, the fame so easily won. 
 And sweeping from triumph unto triumph, with not one leaf 
 of his laurels withered by time or staled by circumstance — 
 he died on yesterday, the foremost orator of all the world. 
 
 4. I have seen the gleam from the headlight of some giant 
 engine rushing onward through the darkness, heedless of 
 opposition, fearless of danger ; and I thought it was grand. 
 I have seen the light come over the eastern hills in glory, 
 driving the lazy darkness before it, till leaf and tree and 
 blade of grass glittered in the myriad diamonds of the morn- 
 ing ray ; and I thought that was grand. I have seen the light 
 that leaped at midnight athwart the storm-swept sky, shiver- 
 ing over chaotic clouds, 'mid howling winds, till cloud and 
 darkness and shadow-haunted earth flashed into mid-day 
 splendor ; and I knew that was grand. 
 
 5. But the grandest thing, next to the radiance that 
 flows from the Almighty Throne, is the light of a noble and 
 beautiful life, wrapping itself in benediction round the des- 
 tinies of men, and finding its home in the bosom of the ever- 
 lasting God. 
 
POLITICAL SPEECH 
 IMPERIALISM 
 
 By Hon. William Jennings ' Bryan, Statesman, Editor, and 
 Orator. B. I860, Illinois; now resides in Nebraska. 
 
 This is an extract from his reply to the Notification Commit- 
 tee, accepting the nomination as the presidential candidate of 
 the Democratic party, August 8, 1900. He sounded the key- 
 note of a political doctrine whose echo is still reverberating in 
 the ranks of national democracy. Though this excerpt is a good 
 example of his style, it lacks the expression of the full, deep, 
 round, pure tone and the personal magnetism that characterizes 
 "the greatest living orator." 
 
 1. The Democratic party is not making war upon the 
 honest acquisition of wealth ; it has no desire to discourage 
 industry, economy and thrift. On the contrary, it gives to 
 every citizen the greatest possible stimulus to honest toil 
 when it promises him protection in the enjoyment of the pro- 
 ceeds of his labor. Property rights are most secure when 
 human rights are most respected. Democracy strives for a 
 civilization in which every member of society will share ac- 
 cording to his merits. 
 
 The principal arguments advanced by those who enter 
 upon a defense of imperialism, are: 
 
 First — That we must improve the present opportunity to 
 become a world power and enter into international politics. 
 
 Second — That our commercial interests in the Philippine 
 Islands and in the Orient make it necesary for us to hold 
 the islands permanently. 
 
 Third — That the spread of the Christian religion will be 
 facilitated by a colonial policy. 
 
 Fourth — That there is no honorable retreat from the po- 
 
 458 
 
Political Speech 459 
 
 sition which the nation has taken. 
 
 The first argument is addressed to the nation's pride, and 
 the second to the nation's pocketbook. The third is in- 
 tended for the church member and the fourth for the par- 
 tisan. 
 
 2. It is a sufficient answer to the first argument to say 
 that for more than a century this nation has been a world 
 power. For ten decades it has been the most potent influence 
 in the world. Not only has it been a world power but it has 
 done more to affect the politics of the human race than all 
 the other nations of the world combined. Because our 
 Declaration of Independence was promulgated, others have 
 been promulgated. Because the patriots of 1776 fought for 
 liberty, others have fought for it; because our Constitution 
 was adopted, other constitutions have been adopted. The 
 growth of the principle of self-government, planted on 
 American soil, has been the overshadowing political fact of 
 the nineteenth century. It has made this nation conspicuous 
 among the nations and given it a place in history such as no 
 other nation has ever enjoyed. Nothing has been able to 
 check the onward march of this idea. I am not willing that 
 this nation shall cast aside the omnipotent weapon of truth 
 to seize again the weapon of physical warfare. I would not 
 exchange the glory of this Republic for the glory of all the 
 empires that have risen and fallen since time began. 
 
 3. I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the 
 glories of the present and the past — a destiny which meets 
 the responsibilities of to-day and measures up to the possi- 
 bilities of the future. Behold a Republic resting securely 
 upon the foundation stones quarried by revolutionary 
 patriots from the mountain of eternal truth, a Republic ap- 
 plying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self- 
 evident proposition that all men are created equal; that they 
 are endowed with inalienable rights ; that governments are 
 instituted among men to secure these rights, and that gov- 
 ernments derive their just powers from the consent of the 
 
460 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 governed. Behold a Republic in which civil and religious 
 liberty stimulates all to earnest endeavors and in which the 
 law restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury — a 
 Republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which 
 no one cares to wear a crown. Behold a Republic standing 
 erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight 
 of their own armaments — a Republic whose flag is loved 
 while other flags are only feared. Behold a Republic in- 
 creasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in in- 
 fluence, solving the problems of civilization and hastening 
 the coming of an universal brotherhood — a Republic which 
 shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent ex- 
 ample and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in 
 darkness. Behold a Republic gradually, but surely, becom- 
 ing the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and 
 the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes — a Republic 
 whose history, like the path of the just, "is as the shining 
 light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
 
POLITICAL SPEECH 
 A PLUMED KNIGHT 
 
 By Robert Green Ingersoll, Lecturer and Orator. B. 1833, 
 New York; d. 1899, New York. 
 
 Adapted from a speech nominating Blaine for President in 
 the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 
 15, 1876. 
 
 1. The Republicans of the United States demand as their 
 leader in this great contest of 1876 a man of intelligence, a 
 man of integrity, a man of well-known and approved politi- 
 cal opinions. They demand a statesman. They demand a 
 politician in the highest, broadest, and best sense, a man of 
 superb moral courage. They demand a man who knows that 
 prosperity and resumption, when they come, must come to- 
 gether; that when they come, they will come hand in hand 
 through the golden harvest fields ; hand in hand by the 
 whirling spindles and the turning wheels ; hand in hand past 
 the open furnace doors ; hand in hand by the flaming gorges ; 
 hand in hand by the chimneys filled with eager fire, greeted 
 and grasped by the countless sons of toil. 
 
 %. The Republicans of the United States want a man who 
 knows that this government should protect every citizen at 
 home and abroad; who knows that any government that will 
 not defend its defenders and protect its protectors, is a dis- 
 grace to the map of the world. They demand a man who 
 believes in the eternal separation and divorcement of church 
 and school. They demand a man whose political reputation 
 is spotless, crowned with the vast and marvelous achieve- 
 ments of its first century, this nation asks for a man worthy 
 of the past and prophetic of the future ; asks for a man who 
 
 461 
 
462 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 4 
 
 has the audacity of genius ; asks for a man who has the grand- 
 est combination of heart, conscience, and brain beneath her 
 flag. Such a man is James G. Blaine. 
 
 3. This is a grand year ; a year filled with the recollec- 
 tions of the Revolution, filled with proud and tender mem- 
 ories of the past, with the sacred legends of liberty; a year 
 in which the sons of freedom will drink from the fountains of 
 enthusiasm; a year in which the people will call for a man 
 who has preserved in Congress what our soldiers won upon 
 the field; a year in which we call for the man who has torn 
 from the throat of treason the tongue of slander; . . . for 
 the man who, like an intellectual athlete, has stood in the 
 arena of debate and challenged all comers, and who, up to 
 the present moment, is a total stranger to defeat. 
 
 4. Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James 
 G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress 
 and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen 
 foreheads of the defamers of his country and the maligners 
 of his honor. For the Republicans to desert this gallant 
 leader now is as though an army should desert their general 
 upon the field of battle. 
 
 5. James G. Blaine is now, and has been for years, the 
 bearer of the sacred standard of the Republican party. I 
 call it sacred, because no human being can stand beneath its 
 folds without becoming and without remaining free. 
 
 6. Gentlemen of the convention, in the name of the great 
 Republic, the only republic that ever existed upon this 
 earth; in the name of all her defenders and of all her sup- 
 porters ; in the name of all her soldiers living; in the name of 
 all her soldiers dead upon the field of battle ; and in the name 
 of those who perished in the skeleton clutch of famine at 
 Andersonville and Libby, whose sufferings he so vividly re- 
 members, Illinois — Illinois nominates for the next President 
 of this country that prince of parliamentarians, that leader 
 of leaders, James G. Blaine. 
 
SHORT ADDRESS 
 WORK 
 
 By John Ruskin, Art Critic, Author and Lecturer. B. 1819, 
 London, England; d. 1900, England. 
 
 This is an extract from an address delivered before the 
 Working Men's Institute, at Camberwell, England, January 
 24, 1865. The entire lecture should be read. It may be found 
 in his book, The Crown of Wild Glive. 
 
 1. It is physically impossible for a well-educated, intel- 
 lectual, or brave man to make money the chief object of his 
 thoughts ; as physically impossible as it is for him to make 
 his dinner the principal object of them. All healthy people 
 like their dinners, but their dinner is not the main object of 
 their lives. So all healthily minded people like making 
 money» — ought to like it, and to enjoy the sensation of win- 
 ning it; but the main object of their life is not money; it is 
 something better than money. 
 
 £. A good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to do his 
 fighting well. He is glad of his pay — very properly so, and 
 justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it; 
 still, his main notion of life is to win battles, not to be paid 
 for winning them. 
 
 3. So of doctors. They like fees no doubt — ought to 
 like them ; yet if they are brave and well educated, the entire 
 object of their lives is not fees. They, on the whole, desire 
 to cure the sick; and — if they are good doctors, and the 
 choice were fairly put to them — would rather cure their 
 patient and lose their fee than kill him and get it. And so 
 with all other brave and rightly trained men ; their work is 
 first, their fee second; very important always, but still 
 
 463 
 
464 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 second. 
 
 4. But in every nation, as I said, there are a vast class 
 who are cowardly, and more or less stupid. And with these 
 people, just as certainly the fee is first and the work second, 
 as with brave people the work is first and the fee second. 
 
 5. And this is no small distinction. It is the whole dis- 
 tinction in a man. You cannot serve two masters ; you must 
 serve one or other. If your work is first with you, and your 
 fee second, work is your master. 
 
 6. Observe then, all wise work is mainly threefold in char- 
 acter. It is honest, useful, and cheerful. I hardly know 
 anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in 
 play, and you do not in work. In your lightest games you 
 have always some one to see what you call "fair play." In 
 boxing, you must hit fair; in racing, start fair. Your 
 watchword is fair play ; your hatred, foul play. Did it ever 
 strike you that you wanted another watchword also, fair 
 work, and another hatred also, foul work? 
 
SHORT ADDRESS 
 A MESSAGE TO GARCIA 
 
 By Elbert Hubbard, Author and Lecturer. B. 1850, Illinois; 
 d. 1915 in the sinking of the Lusitania. 
 
 The following is an excerpt from an article in the Philistine 
 of March, 1899- Mr. Hubbard, himself, tells how he came to 
 write the article. 
 
 "A Message to Garcia was written one evening after supper, 
 in a single hour. It was the 22nd of February, 1899, Washing- 
 ton's Birthday, and we were just going to press with the March 
 Philistine. The thing leaped hot from my heart, written after 
 a rather trying day, when I had been endeavoring to train some 
 rather delinquent helpers in the way they should go. 
 
 The immediate suggestion, though, came from a little argu- 
 ment over the tea-cups when my son Bert suggested that Rowan 
 was the real hero of the Cuban war. Rowan had gone alone 
 and done the thing — carried the message to Garcia. It came 
 to me like a flash! Yes, the boy was right; the hero is the man 
 who does the thing — does his work — carries the message. I got 
 up from the table and wrote A Message to Garcia." 
 
 The New York Railways Company ordered a million copies 
 to be distributed among its employees. It has appeared in 200 
 magazines and newspapers, been translated into eleven different 
 languages, and has had a circulation of over 22,000,000 copies. 
 
 In the delivery of this selection bear in mind that it is a 
 straight-from-the-shoulder, business-like talk. Note the transi- 
 tions that occur at the beginning of paragraphs three and four. 
 The last sentence in paragraph two furnishes a splendid exam- 
 ple of subordination in emphasis. The third paragraph works 
 up to a strong climax. The succeeding two paragraphs present 
 the other side of the question, then follows in the last paragraph 
 a strong appeal which should be delivered with sustained force. 
 
 1. When war broke out between Spain and the United 
 States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with 
 
 465 
 
4<66 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the 
 mountain fastnesses of Cuba — no one knew where. No mail 
 or telegraph message could reach him. The president must 
 secure his co-operation, and quickly. What to do ! 
 
 2. Some one said to the President, "There's a fellow by 
 the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you if anybody can." 
 Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to 
 Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the 
 letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, strapped it over his 
 heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba 
 from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three 
 weeks came out on the other side of the island, having 
 traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter 
 to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in 
 detail. 
 
 3. The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave 
 Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia ; Rowan took the 
 letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! 
 there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze 
 and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not 
 book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this 
 and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause 
 them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate 
 their energies ; do the thing — "Carry a message to Garcia !" 
 
 4. General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Gar- 
 cias. No man who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise 
 where many hands were needed, but has been well-nigh ap- 
 palled at times by the imbecility of the average marn — the 
 inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do 
 it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indif- 
 ference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man 
 succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or 
 bribes other men to assist him ; or mayhap, God in His good- 
 ness performs a miracle, and sends him an angel of light 
 for an assistant. 
 
 5. And this incapacity for independent action, this 
 
Short Address 467 
 
 moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness 
 to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put 
 pure socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for 
 themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort 
 is for all? 
 
 6. My heart goes out to the man who does his work when 
 the "boss" is away, as well as when he is at home. And the 
 man, who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the 
 missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no 
 lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or 
 of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets "laid off," nor 
 has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one 
 long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything 
 such a man asks shall be granted ; his kind is so rare that 
 no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every 
 city, town, and village — in every office, shop, store, and 
 factory. The world cries out for such ; he is* needed and 
 needed badly — the man who can carry a message to Garcia. 
 
AFTER DINNER SPEECH 
 THE TYPICAL DUTCHMAN 
 
 By Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Clergyman, Educator and 
 Author. B. 1852, Pennsylvania; now resides in New York. 
 
 This speech was delivered at a banquet of the Holland So- 
 ciety in New York City, January 10, 1890. 
 
 Deliver in a light conversational tone, with deep modulations, 
 with interest and animation. 
 
 1. Mr. President and Members of the Holland Society: 
 Who is the typical Dutchman? Rembrandt, the splendid 
 artist; Erasmus, the brilliant scholar; Coster, the inventor 
 of printing; Leeuenhock, the profound scientist; Grotius, 
 the great lawyer; Barendz, the daring explorer; DeWitt, the 
 skillful statesman ; -Van Tromp, the trump of admirals ; Wil- 
 liam the Silent, heroic defender of liberty against a world of 
 tyranny; William III., the emancipator of England, whose 
 firm, peaceful hand, just two centuries ago, set the Anglo- 
 Saxon race free to fulfil its mighty destiny — what hero, 
 artist, philosopher, discoverer, lawgiver, admiral, general or 
 monarch shall we choose from the long list of Holland's 
 illustrious dead to stand as the typical Dutchman? 
 
 £. Nay, not one of these men, famous as they were, can 
 fill the pedestal of honor. For though their glorious 
 achievements have lent an undying lustre to the name of 
 Holland, the qualities that really created her and made her 
 great, lifted her in triumph from the sullen sea, massed her 
 inhabitants like a living bulwark against oppression, filled 
 her cities with the light of learning and her homes with the 
 arts of peace, covered the ocean with her ships and the 
 islands with her colonies — the qualities that made Holland 
 
 468 
 
After Dinner Speech 469 
 
 great were the qualities of the common people. The ideal 
 character of the Dutch race is not an exceptional genius, 
 but a plain, brave, straightforward, kind-hearted, liberty- 
 loving, law-abiding citizen — a man with a healthy con- 
 science, a good digestion and a cheerful determination to do 
 his duty in the sphere of life to which God has called him. 
 Let me try to etch the portrait of such a man in few and 
 simple lines. Grant me but six strokes for the picture. 
 
 3. The typical Dutchman is an honest man, and that's 
 the noblest work of God. Physically he may be, and if he 
 attends these dinners he probably will be, more or less round. 
 But morally he must be square. And surely in this age of 
 sham, when there is so much plated ware that passes itself 
 off for solid silver, and so much work done at half measure 
 and charged at full price, so many doctors who buy diplo- 
 mas, and lawyers whose names should be Necessity, because 
 they know no law, and preachers who insist on keeping in 
 their creeds doctrines which they do not profess to believe — - 
 surely in this age, in which skyrockets are so plentiful and 
 well-seasoned firewood is so scarce, the man who is most 
 needed is not the genius, the discoverer, the brilliant sayer 
 of new things, but simply the honest man, who speaks the 
 truth, pays his debts, does his work thoroughly, and is satis- 
 fied with what he has earned. 
 
 4. The typical Dutchman is a free man. Liberty is his 
 passion, and has been since the days of Leyden and Alk- 
 maar. It runs in the blood. A descendant of the old Bata- 
 vian who fought against Rome is bound to be free at any 
 cost ; he hates tyranny in every form. 
 
 I honor the man who is willing to sink 
 Half his present repute for the freedom to think; 
 And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, 
 Will sink t'other half for the freedom to speak, 
 Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, 
 Let that mob be the upper ten thousand, or lower. 
 
470 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 5. This is the spirit of the typical Dutchman. Never 
 has it been more needed than it is to-day ; to guard our land 
 against the oppression of the plutocrat on the one hand, and 
 the demagogue on the other hand; to prevent a government 
 of the parties by the bosses for the spoils ; and to preserve a 
 government of the people, by the people, for the people. 
 
 6. The typical Dutchman is a prudent man. He will be 
 free to choose for himself; but he generally chooses to do 
 nothing rash. He does not admire those movements which 
 are like the Chinaman's description of the toboggan slide, 
 "Whiz ! Walk a mile !" He prefers a one-story ground rent 
 to a twelve-story mortgage with an elevator. He has a 
 constitutional aversion to unnecessary risks. In society, in 
 philosophy, in commerce, he sticks to the old way until he 
 knows that the new one is better. On the train of progress 
 he usually sits in the middle car, sometimes in the smoker, 
 but never on the cow-catcher. And yet he arrives at his 
 destination all the same. 
 
 7. The typical Dutchman is a devout man. He could 
 not respect himself if he did not reverence God. Religion 
 was at the center of Holland's most glorious life, and it is 
 impossible to understand the sturdy heroism and cheerful 
 industry of our Dutch forefathers without remembering that 
 whether they ate or drank or labored or prayed or fought 
 or sailed or farmed, they did all to the glory of God. The 
 only difference between New Amsterdam and New England 
 was this: the Puritans founded a religious community with 
 commercial principles ; the Dutchman founded a commer- 
 cial community with religious principles. Which was the 
 better I do not say; but every one knows which was the 
 happier to live in. 
 
 8. The typical Dutchman is a liberal man. He believes, 
 but he does not persecute. He says, to the immortal words 
 of William III, "Conscience is God's province." So it came 
 to pass that New Amsterdam became an asylum for the op- 
 pressed in the New World, as old Amsterdam had been in 
 
After Dinner Speech 471 
 
 the Old \yorld. No witches burned; no Quakers flogged; 
 peace and fair chances for everybody; love God as much as 
 you can, and don't forget to love your neighbor as yourself. 
 How excellent the character in which piety and charity are 
 j oined ! 
 
 9. But one more stroke remains to be added to the pic- 
 ture. The typical Dutchman is a man of few words. Per- 
 haps I ought to say he was; for in this talkative age, even in 
 the Holland Society, a degenerate speaker will forget him- 
 self so far as not to keep silence when he talks about the 
 typical Dutchman. But those old companions who came 
 to this country previous to the year 1675, as Dutch citi- 
 zens, under the Dutch flag, and holding their tongues in the 
 Dutch language, — ah, they understood their business. Their 
 motto was facta non verba. They are the men we praise 
 to-night in our song of The Typical Dutchman: 
 
 They sailed from the shores of the Zuider Zee 
 
 Across the stormy ocean, 
 To build the world a new country 
 
 According to their notion ; 
 A land where thought should be free as air, 
 
 And speech be free as water ; 
 Where man to man should be just and fair, 
 And law be liberty's daughter. 
 They were brave and kind, 
 And of simple mind, 
 And the world has need of such men ; 
 So we say with pride 
 (On our father's side), 
 They were typical Dutchmen. . . . 
 
 They held their faith without defense, 
 And said their prayers on Sunday; 
 
 But they never could see a bit of sense 
 In burning a witch on Monday. 
 
472 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 They loved their God with a love so true, 
 
 And with a head so level, 
 That they could afford to love men too, 
 And not be afraid of the devil. 
 
 They kept their creed 
 
 In word and deed, 
 And the world has need of such men ; 
 
 So we say with pride 
 
 (On our father's side), 
 They were typical Dutchmen. 
 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 
 A VISION OF WAR 
 
 By Col. Robert Green Ingersoll, Lecturer and Orator. B. 
 1833, New York; d. 1899, New York. 
 
 This extract is taken from an address delivered at the Me- 
 morial Celebration of the Grand Army of the Republic, held 
 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, May -30, 
 1888. 
 
 Col. Ingersoll was a soldier in the Civil War and had risen 
 to the rank of colonel when captured. He knew what war is. 
 Read quietly and deliberately; aim to make the audience see 
 the picture. 
 
 1. The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are 
 in the great struggle for national life. We are with the 
 soldiers when they enlist in the great army of freedom. We 
 see them part with those they love. Some are walking for 
 the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they 
 adore. Others are bending over cradles, kissing babes that 
 are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. 
 Some are parting with mothers who hold them and press 
 them to their hearts again and again, and say nothing. And 
 some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave 
 words, spoken in the old tones, to drive from their hearts 
 the awful fear. We see them part. We see the wife stand- 
 ing in the door with the babe in her arms — standing in the 
 sunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves ; 
 she answers by holding high in her loving arms the child. He 
 is gone, and forever. 
 
 £. We see them all as they march proudly away under 
 the flaunting flags, keeping time to the grand, wild music 
 of war — through the towns and across the prairies — down 
 
 473 
 
474 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 to the fields of glory, to do and to die for the eternal right. 
 
 3. We go with them, one and all. We are by their side 
 on all the gory fields — in all the hospitals of pain — on all the 
 weary marches. We stand guard with them in the wild 
 storm and under the quiet stars. We are with them in 
 ravines running with blood, in the furrows of old fields. 
 We are with them between contending hosts, unable to move, 
 wild with thirst, the life ebbing slowly away among the with- 
 ered leaves. We see them pierced by balls and torn with 
 shells, in the trenches, by forts, and in the whirlwind of the 
 charge, where men become iron, with nerves of steel. 
 
 4. We are at home when the news comes that they are 
 dead. We see the maiden in the shadow of her first sorrow. 
 We see the silvered head of the old man bowed with the last 
 grief. 
 
 5. These heroes are dead. They died for liberty; they 
 died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they 
 made free, under the flag they rendered stainless. Earth 
 may run red with other wars ; they are at peace. In the 
 midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the seren- 
 ity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers, living and 
 dead — cheers for the living, tears for the dead. 
 
DEDICATION ADDRESS 
 GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
 
 By Abraham Lincoln, Statesman and President of the United 
 States. B. 1809, Kentucky; d. 1865, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 13, 1863, between 
 the Union forces under General Meade and the Confederate 
 forces under General Lee. 
 
 November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the cemetery in which 
 those killed in this battle were buried, President Lincoln deliv- 
 ered this memorable address. 
 
 This brief address has been pronounced the greatest oration 
 given in America. For clearness, brevity, and strength, it has 
 never been equaled. Students in reading this selection seldom 
 get into the spirit of the occasion. The movement is very slow, 
 the inflection and emphasis very pronounced. The first para- 
 graph is predominatingly intellectual; the second, emotional; 
 the third, volitional. Emphasize the many contrasted words 
 and phrases. In the first paragraph note especially such words 
 as: new nation, all, equal, that nation, any nation, so conceived, 
 so dedicated. In the second: that nation, live, fitting, proper, 
 cannot, our, we say, they do. In the third: us, unfinished work, 
 new birth of freedom, of the people, by the people, for the 
 people, not perish. 
 
 1. Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
 forth upon 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 and so 
 dedicated, can long endure. 
 
 £. We are met on a 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. 
 
 475 
 
476 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot con- 
 secrate, we cannot hallow this ground ; the brave men, living 
 and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far be- 
 yond 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. 
 
 3. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to 
 the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus 
 far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedi- 
 cated 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 
 
 From a Statue at the Entrance of Lincoln Park, Chicago 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 By Woodrow Wilson, Author, Statesman, and President of 
 the United States. B. 1856, Virginia. 
 
 This extract is about one-half of his inaugural address deliv- 
 ered at Washington, D. C., March 4, 1913. It had been 20 
 years since a Democratic president had taken the oath of this 
 high office. This address is remarkable for its high literary 
 merit as well as its sound principles of government. 
 
 1. There has been a great 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 Dem- 
 ocratic. 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 to-day. That is the question I am going to try 
 to answer, in order, if I may, to .interpret the occasion. 
 
 7F V if? vf? 7ff *F 
 
 2. We see in many things that life is very great. 
 It is incomparably great in its material aspects, in its body 
 of wealth, in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the 
 industries which have been conceived and built up by the 
 genius of individual men and the limitless enterprise of 
 groups of men. It is great also, very great, in its moral 
 force. Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women 
 exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy 
 of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to 
 rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the 
 way of strength and hope. We have built up, moreover, a 
 great system of government, which has stood through a long 
 age as in many respects a model for those who seek to set 
 
 477 
 
478 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 liberty upon foundations that will endure against fortuitous 
 change, against storm and accident. Our life contains every 
 great thing and contains it in rich abundance. 
 
 3. But the evil has come with the good, and much fine 
 
 gold has been corroded. With riches has come inexcusable 
 
 waste. We have squandered a great part of what we might 
 
 have used, and have not stopped to conserve the exceeding 
 
 bounty of nature, without which our genius for enterprise 
 
 would have been worthless and impotent, scorning to be 
 
 careful, shamefully prodigal as well as admirably efficient. 
 
 We have been proud of our industrial achievements, but we 
 
 have not hitherto stopped thoughtfully enough to count 
 
 the human cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies 
 
 overtaxed and broken, the fearful physical and spiritual 
 
 cost to the men and women and children upon whom the 
 
 dead weight and burden of it all has fallen pitilessly the 
 
 years through. The groans and agony of it all had not yet 
 
 reached our ears, the solemn, moving undertone of our life, 
 
 coming up out of the mines and factories and out of every 
 
 home where the struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. 
 
 With the great government went many deep secret things 
 
 which we too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with 
 
 candid, fearless eyes. The great government we loved has 
 
 too often been made use of for private and selfish purposes, 
 
 and those who used it had forgotten the people. 
 
 * * * * , * * * 
 
 4. This 'is the high enterprise of the new day: to lift 
 everything that concerns our life as a nation to the light 
 that shines from the hearth-fire of every man's conscience 
 and vision of the right. It is inconceivable that we should 
 do this as partisans; it is inconceivable we should do it in 
 ignorance of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We 
 shall restore, not destroy; we shall deal with our economic 
 system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might 
 be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon ; and step 
 by step we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit of 
 
Inaugural Address 479 
 
 those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and 
 knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement 
 of excursions whither they cannot tell. Justice, and only 
 justice, shall always be our motto. 
 
 5. And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. 
 The nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn 
 passion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, 
 of government too often debauched and made an instru- 
 ment of evil. The feelings with which we face this new age 
 of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like 
 some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercy 
 are reconciled and the judge and the brother are one. We 
 know our task to be no mere task of politics but a task 
 which shall search us through and through, whether we be 
 able to understand our time and the need of our people, 
 whether we be indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, 
 whether we have the pure heart to comprehend and the rec- 
 tified will to choose our high course of- action. 
 
 6. This is not a day of triumph ; it is a day of dedica- 
 tion. 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 ! 
 
ORATION-CONTEST 
 THE FIELD OF CONFLICT 
 
 By James F. Rippy of Richardson, Texas, representing 
 Southwestern University in the Annual State Oratorical con- 
 test. This oration was delivered April 18, 1913, at Georgetown, 
 Texas, Mr. Rippy winning first place. 
 
 1. Men had observed for countless epochs only the stars 
 of the first magnitude. Aware of no others, they attributed 
 to them all the brilliancy of the firmament. But in the 
 seventeenth century an Italian invented the telescope, and, 
 turning this instrument upon the heavens, men were as- 
 tounded to discover far out in ethereal space, millions of 
 other lights. For ages they had shone, forever mingling 
 their rays with those of their visible companions, yet for- 
 ever unseen by the eye of man. So when the historian first 
 turned to the annals of his race, he saw there nothing but 
 the deeds of those who, like the nearer stars, are most vis- 
 ible. They founded kingdoms and religions, they forged 
 revolutions, they worked reformations, they produced liter- 
 ature. But modern historians are beginning to realize that 
 back of kings, generals, poets, and prophets are the com- 
 mon people, the great host of hitherto invisible stars. In 
 them historical cause and effect has its seat, the march of 
 events its origin, the development of institutions its growth, 
 the stream of literature its fountain. They are the great, 
 calm, silent, eternal ocean; the leaders are but the waves 
 borne upon its bosom. By virtue of some accidental en- 
 dowment or special opportunity the individual may rise 
 above his fellows, but the greater part of his character is 
 but the embodiment of the traits, ideas and aspirations of 
 
 480 
 
Oration-Contest 481 
 
 the commoners surrounding him. The life of the people is 
 the soil on which the individual grows ; when that soil be- 
 comes poisoned or infertile, he inevitably withers and dies. 
 
 2. Yet there has always been a tendency for those ele- 
 vated above the common level to form combinations whose 
 members consider themselves superior to the common people 
 and treat them with contempt. This has been the age-long 
 conflict — that of the few standing out. for falsely asserted 
 prerogatives and privileges against the many seeking to es- 
 tablish the rights of the multitude. The achievement of civil 
 equality has required centuries of struggle. The demand 
 for human rights was heard but faintly in the oppressed 
 lands of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus. It rang 
 out more distinctly among the hills of Greece and in the 
 valleys of the Tiber and the Rhine. It forced itself upon 
 the dull ear of King John, and Cromwell heard it above 
 the stormy debate of England's Parliament. It echoed and 
 re-echoed through the dreams of Rousseau. It sang to the 
 lofty soul of Washington while among the tattered and 
 snow-clad tents of Valley Forge, and the herald who an- 
 nounced him victor at Yorktown proclaimed the young na- 
 tion of the West the champion of civil liberty and equality. 
 
 3. But those who searched the misty horizon for gleams 
 of a coming Utopia might have seen rolling up in the far 
 distance another cloud. The struggle was to be renewed in 
 another form, and the battleground of the American and 
 the Englishman was to become the Field of Conflict where 
 oppressed Toil should grapple with predatory Wealth. The 
 captains of finance began to seize and control our indus- 
 tries. They sank shafts into the plains and bubbling streams 
 of petroleum poured forth. They built furnaces upon the 
 mountain sides and laid the foundation for modern iron- 
 works. From the bowels of the earth they drew forth fabu- 
 lous treasures of useful and precious ores. They threaded 
 the continent with telegraphs and gigantic systems of rail- 
 ways, and to-day these men own one-sixth of the wealth of 
 
482 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 the Union. 
 
 4. True, the benefits of this industrial development are 
 not to be overlooked. A century and a half ago we were a 
 few agricultural colonies, fringing the Atlantic Coast; now 
 we have expanded into a world power almost without a peer 
 among the nations ; and for our commercial prestige we are 
 greatly indebted to the remarkable efficiency of modern cor- 
 porations and to the energy and ability of these captains of 
 industry who have developed our vast resources and made 
 us great in the business world. 
 
 5. But while we glory in our wealth as a nation and 
 marvel at the genius of our lords of industry we cannot fail 
 to see the oppression of the common people resulting from 
 this system. Unfortunately the constant tendency in this 
 country has been not toward the equitable distribution, but 
 the stead}' concentration of wealth. In a century the wealth 
 of our country has increased a hundred fold, but the labor- 
 ing classes, constituting one-half of our population, own 
 practically nothing. While seventy per cent of our people 
 own no property, two per cent possess two-thirds of our 
 country's wealth. We have four thousand millionaires each 
 of whom could buy out eight thousand average American 
 families and still have left two hundred thousand dollars. 
 Five of our largest corporations according to their own re- 
 ports, receive annually more than one-half of the entire 
 earnings of this country; and before fifty million laborers 
 can share a cent in the other half of those earnings two 
 hundred smaller trusts must subtract handsome profits. If 
 this process of concentration continues for twenty years 
 more, we shall have ten or fifteen men owning more than half 
 of America ! 
 
 6. These sons of Fortune, considering themselves of finer 
 clay than their less favored fellows, are beginning to look 
 upon them with contempt. A broad chasm runs through 
 our social world. Already we have the brown stone front 
 and the tenement with an impassable line of cleavage be- 
 
Oration-Contest 483 
 
 tween. In the East the aristocrats of wealth are withdraw- 
 ing their sons and daughters to private academies and leav- 
 ing the public schools to the commoners. The barber's wife 
 scorns the servant girl, and in turn is snubbed by the wives 
 of the lawyer and the banker who sigh in vain for member- 
 ship among the exclusive four hundred. Even Christians, 
 professing to follow Him who brought a ringing mesage of 
 the brotherhood of man, cannot worship at the same altar ; 
 one class meets at First Church, the other at Five Points 
 Mission. 
 
 7. Society is separating into two extremes and the mid- 
 dle class is being eliminated. At one extreme are palaces be- 
 girt with trees, flowers, and fountains : there are automo- 
 biles, cushioned pews, books, pictures, and opportunity for 
 travel; there are pleasure, success, and ease. At the other 
 extreme is a shanty on the marsh, a box-like room in the 
 tenement, "the darkened chamber of Labor that only rises 
 to toil and lies down to rest." It is lifted by no inspira- 
 tion and mellowed by no comfort. To those dwelling there, 
 life means defeat, a glittering prize held forever beyond the 
 reach, an ever unsatisfied hunger of the soul. If perchance 
 they turn their eyes to the cradle in search of hope, they are 
 cruelly flung back into the bitterness of their despair. For 
 the wheels of industry are slowly, mercilessly grinding away 
 the bodies of their tender boys and girls ; and when their 
 shattered forms break down beneath the strain, when their 
 cramped fingers no longer obey the will or their eyes so 
 long accustomed to the dark, no longer can see, they are 
 thrust out upon the world, mental and moral wrecks, or 
 frail, tiny cripples. 
 
 8. Such are the astounding results of the rule of gold 
 — and the plutocrats of wealth are seeking ever wider do- 
 minion. With golden keys they are unlocking the temple 
 of justice and swerving the law from its true course. With 
 a haughtiness that knows no bounds they are becoming law- 
 makers in our congress and gaining privileges and powers 
 
484 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 with which they throttle the nation's industries. Even the 
 right of free ballot, the only safeguard of the laborer, is 
 being broken down. What protection is the ballot to a man 
 whose circumstances are so desperate that he may be forced 
 to vote as the employer dictates by the mere threat of los- 
 ing his job? We hear freedom proclaimed from the house- 
 tops. But we ask what freedom have those unemployed 
 thousands roaming the streets of our cities or sitting in 
 cheerless, comfortless homes? Would not every one of them 
 willingly work for half a wage or surrender himself to life- 
 long corporation servitude, if only thereby he could earn a 
 living for the little ones at home or lighten the sorrow of the 
 woman whom he swore to love and protect? Is this free- 
 dom? It was such conditions that led President Woodrow 
 Wilson recently to declare America the "foster-child of spe- 
 cial interests," and it was such conditions that moved Presi- 
 dent JrTadley of Yale to prophesy that, unless the people 
 were aroused to a control of the trusts, in a few years we 
 shall have at Washington an emperor appointed by the 
 money barons instead of a President of the people! 
 
 9. These are the grave evils that confront us and 
 threaten our very existence. In behalf of her priceless trea- 
 sure, the great body of common people whose hopes and 
 energies are being blasted and dissipated; in behalf of thou- 
 sands of her children who are being dwarfed and distorted 
 by perpetual toil and corrupted by every form of vice and 
 moral uncleanness ; in behalf of freedom and democracy 
 themselves, our country cries out for our service. With 
 outstretched hands she appeals to the vigor and enthusiasm 
 of her educated men. Shall our ears be deaf to her call? 
 The eradication of this evil rests largely with us. We can 
 not escape it ; we owe it to ourselves, to our posterity and to 
 the memory of those who sacrificed everything that we might 
 have liberty. The bones of the brave heroes who fell in the 
 bloody struggle for political freedom lie mingled with the 
 
Oration-Contest 485 
 
 soil of every state from New England to Georgia. May 
 their noble sacrifice not be in vain. With all the strength 
 of our manhood, let us throw ourselves into the struggle for 
 social and industrial freedom and equality. Let us arouse 
 the public conscience and mould an enlighted public opinion. 
 Let us teach men that child labor, industrial accidents, re- 
 bating, and all methods used to thwart the law must be 
 regarded in the same light as thievery and homicide, that 
 the frock-coated criminal in his gilded palace is no less 
 guilty than the slinking burglar. And then, when the con- 
 science of the nation has been aroused and its opinions 
 formed, let us crystallize all into a concrete program of 
 righteous laws and place behind them sufficient honesty and 
 moral courage to insure their enforcement. 
 
 10. We do not expect this social reform to be accom- 
 plished in a day. Like all reforms, it will be the result only 
 of a slow process of evolution. But with undaunted opti- 
 mism, we believe success shall be the sure reward of tireless 
 effort. Lifting our eyes to the field of conflict, we observe, 
 even now, signs portending the dawn of a brighter era. The 
 passage of improved labor laws and the prosecution of 
 trusts, the adoption of income and inheritance taxes and, 
 in fact, a long series of successful industrial and social re- 
 forms, climaxed by the overwhelming victory of a powerful 
 friend of the people in a race for the highest office of the 
 Republic — these are no uncertain omens. The Galilean Car- 
 penter, born in a manger, addressed his message not to the 
 rich and powerful; He prepared a feast of beautiful and 
 simple truth, of perfect purity of heart, of charity and the 
 brotherhood of man; then He invited the despised and op- 
 pressed, the weary, haggard and uncouth sons of toil, to 
 come and partake of that feast. Slowly, steadily, we believe 
 society is being permeated by this teaching. Then, when 
 such a spirit has transformed the hearts of mankind, Amer- 
 ica's captains of industry will not indeed be destroyed, but 
 they will be impelled to wield their power in the spirit of the 
 
486 Oral Readmg and Public Speaking 
 
 law of love; and the common people, the source of her 
 wealth, the seat and bulwark of her government, the nurse 
 of her heroes, the basis of her civilization, shall be truly 
 honored. 
 
PUBLIC LECTURE 
 TEMPERANCE ADDRESS 
 
 By John Bartholomew Gough, Lecturer and Orator. B. 1817, 
 England; d. 1886, Pennsylvania. 
 
 The following is an excerpt from an address delivered at 
 Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., September 17, I860. 
 
 1. I stand before you, ladies and gentlemen, to-night, 
 as a trophy of the temperance movement. I am the servant 
 of this movement, and I will be, God helping me, to the day 
 of my death. But I stand here also as a trophy of this tem- 
 perance movement. Last November I had spoken in the 
 City Hall of Glasgow to twenty-five hundred people. I was 
 staying at the house of one of the merchant-princes of that 
 city, and, when we came down-stairs his carriage was at the 
 door, silver-mounted harness, coachman in livery, footman in 
 plain clothes. You know it is seldom teetotal lecturers ride 
 in such style, and it is proper therefore that we should 
 speak of it when it does happen for the good of the cause. 
 
 2. As we came down the gentleman said to me: "It is 
 so drizzly and cold you had better get into the carriage and 
 wait until the ladies come down." I think I never had so 
 many persons to shake hands with me. 
 
 "God bless you, Mr. Gough !" said one ; "you saved my 
 
 father." 
 
 "God bless you!" said another; "you saved my brother." 
 Said a third, "God bless you ! I owe everything I have in 
 
 the world to you." 
 
 3. My hands absolutely ached as they grasped them one 
 after another. Finally, a poor wretched creature came to 
 the door of the carriage. I saw his bare shoulder and naked 
 
 487 
 
488 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 feet; his hair seemed grayer than mine. He came up and 
 said : 
 
 "Will you shake hands with me?" 
 
 I put my hand into his hot, burning palm, and he said : 
 
 "Don't you know me?" 
 
 "Why," said I, "isn't your name Aiken?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Harry Aiken?" > 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You worked with me in the bookbinder's shop of Andrew 
 Hutchinson, in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1842, didn't 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "What is the matter with you?" 
 
 "I am desperately poor." 
 
 I said, "God pity you ; you look like it !" 
 
 I gave him something and obtained the services of Mr. 
 Marr, the secretary of the Scottish League, to find out 
 about him. He picks up rags and bones in the streets of 
 Glasgow and resides in a kennel in one of the foulest streets 
 of that city. When the ladies came to the carriage and 
 got in I said: 
 
 "Stop ! don't shut that door ! Look there at that starved, 
 ragged, miserable wretch, shivering in the cold and in the 
 dim gaslight. Look at him!" 
 
 4. The ring of that audience was in my ears, my hands 
 aching with the grasp of friendship from scores, my sur- 
 roundings, bright, my prospects pleasant, and I said: 
 
 "Ladies, look there ! There am I but for the temperance 
 movement! That man worked with me, roomed with me, 
 slept with me, was a better workman than I, his prospects 
 brighter than mine. A kind hand was laid on my shoulder 
 in Worcester Street in 1842 ; it was the turning point in 
 my history. He went on. Seventeen years have passed and 
 we meet again with a gulf as deep as hell between us." . . . 
 
Public Lecture 489 
 
 5. I said, when* I began, that I was a trophy of this 
 movement, and therefore the principal part of my work has 
 been (not ignoring other parts) in behalf of those who have 
 suffered as I have suffered. You know there is a great deal 
 said about the reckless victims of this foe being "brutes." 
 No, they are not brutes. I have labored for eighteen years 
 among them and I have never found a brute. I have had 
 men swear at me; I have had a man dance around me as 
 if possessed of a devil and spit his foam in my face; but I 
 never found a man I would give up. It may take a long 
 time to reach his manhood; but he is not a brute. I think 
 it is Charles Dickens who says, "Away up a great many 
 pair of stairs, in a very remote corner, easily passed by, 
 there is a door, and on that door is written — 'Woman ;' ' 
 and so in the heart of the vilest outcast, away up a great 
 many pair of stairs, in a very remote corner, easily passed 
 by, there is a door on which is written "Man." Here is our 
 business, — to find that door. It may take a long time; but 
 begin and knock. Don't get tired ; but remember God's 
 long-suffering to us and keep knocking a long time if need 
 be. Don't get weary if there is no answer; remember him 
 whose locks were wet with the dew. Knock on; just try it; 
 you try it; and just so sure as you do, just so sure, by and 
 by, will the quivering lip and starting tear tell you you 
 have been knocking at the heart of a man and not of a brute. 
 It is because these poor wretches are men, and not brutes, 
 that we have hopes of them. 
 
 *Jft yfc 7J7 fljf 7|C 3|P »(? 
 
 6. I tell you it is a glorious work to get at these hearts ; 
 it is a glorious work to play upon a man ; to play upon him 
 until you make him sing, — ay, and sing sweet music, too. 
 
 7. A man came to me at Covent Garden, summer before 
 last, and said, "Mr. Gough, I want you to come into my 
 place of business." I went. "God bless you, sir!" said he. 
 
 "What for? — have I ever seen you before?" 
 
 "I heard you, sir," he said, "in Exeter Hall, in 1853. I 
 
490 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 was a brute!" 
 
 "No, you were not." 
 
 "Well, I was worse." 
 
 "No, you were not." 
 
 "Well, I was as bad as ever I could be." 
 
 Then he told me some sad things and went on : 
 
 "God bless you, sir! See what a business I am doing! 
 Look here! See that woman in the corner: it is my wife. 
 La ! how I have knocked her about. Would you go and shake 
 hands with her?" 
 
 "I have no objection." 
 
 "Do, sir." 
 
 I went up to her and offered my hand. She held back 
 and said, "My fingers are so sticky with fruit, sir!" 
 
 "La!" said the husband; "Mr. Gough, you don't mind a 
 little sticky fingers?" 
 
 "No, sir," — and I shook hands with her. Our fingers 
 stuck together : they were more sticky than I had expected. 
 Again the man said to me, 
 
 "God bless you, sir! I wish I could give you something. 
 Do you like oranges?" 
 
 "Sometimes." 
 
 8. He went to a shelf that was full of them and began to 
 fill a bag with them. "That's enough, sir," but he paid no 
 attention to me, but filled the bag and put it into my arms. 
 "Go along with you !" said he ; "don't say a word ; go along 
 with you! God bless_you!" I had positively to hire a cab 
 to get home. 
 
 9. Perhaps you are getting tired of these incidents ; but 
 there is one more of which I would like to speak to you, 
 because it shows that we who work among the hardest and 
 vilest outcasts are repaid by the fact that we are working 
 for men. I was to speak in a certain place, and a poor fellow 
 came with what is called a "fly," — that is, a one-horse cab, 
 — to take me some six miles to the railway station where I 
 was to speak. I noticed that he was leaning forward, and 
 
Public Lecture 491 
 
 then took a handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it around 
 his face. I said: "Have you a cold?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 Then he tied the handkerchief up this way. 
 
 "Have you the toothache?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 He seemed to lean forward and sit so uneasily that I said 
 to him, "Why do you sit forward in that way?" 
 
 "Why, sir," he said, "the window of the carriage is broken 
 and I am trying to keep the wind off of you, sir." 
 
 "The Lord bless you, my friend ! what do you mean by 
 that? Are you putting your head in that hole to keep the 
 wind from me?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, I am." 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 10. He burst into tears : "It's because I owe everything 
 I have in the world to you. When I first heard you I was 
 singing ballads in the streets with my half-starved wife fol- 
 lowing me with a baby in her arms. Now I have a comfort- 
 able home. God bless you, sir ! I'd stick my head in any hole 
 
 under heaven for you." 
 ******* 
 
 11. The past is ever before me; the past is to me one 
 perpetual photograph that will never fade out; that grows 
 more and more distinct the longer I live. The fire that 
 scorched me in the distance seems to burn brighter, the iron 
 that entered my flesh seems to be sharper the further I re- 
 move from it. For the love I bear the temperance movement 
 I take no credit to myself. The temperance movement has 
 made me what I am, if I am anything, if I am worth any- 
 thing in this world; and for the temperance movement I 
 mean to work to the day of my death. And I pray you that 
 when I die I may die in the harness. I come back to you 
 here. I see your young men plunged in dissipation. Oh, it 
 is pitiful to go through the streets as I have in Boston to- 
 day and see boldly and openly displayed the signs that tell 
 
492 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 
 
 us of the dreadful, horrible traffic that is carried on in spite 
 of the will of the people. Who are these few men that dare 
 to ignore the expressed will of the people? Who are they 
 that dare to fill the lower parts of your city with the hor- 
 rible stench of the accursed distillery? Who are they that 
 dare do this when the people say they shall not? Up, up, 
 up, men of Boston! Crush it out! You can do it! Can? 
 Some people say it is impossible. A great many begin and 
 end all their effort by saying it is impossible. Do you re- 
 member the incident that occurred when Mr. Webster de- 
 livered his great oration at the foot of Bunker Hill monu- 
 ment? The crowd was pressing up on all sides toward the 
 platform, and the committee said "Gentlemen, stand back." 
 "We can't," said the crowd, and they never attempted it. 
 They continued to press up. The platform began to crack, 
 endangering life and limb. "Stand back." 
 
 "We can't stand back," said the people and made no 
 effort. 
 
 Mr. Webster rose to his feet and said, "Gentlemen, you 
 must stand back." 
 
 12. "Mr. Webster, it is impossible to stand back." 
 
 "Impossible?" said Webster, "On Bunker Hill nothing is 
 impossible," and down the hill they went. They felt they 
 could and they did. Impossible! It is not our business to 
 create results; we can not create results, but it is our busi- 
 ness to work for results ; and the highest position a man can 
 occupy in this world is to stand as a machine, connected 
 with his Maker by a band of loving faith, — God the motor- 
 power, and man the machine. That is your business, — 
 working where He will, when He will, as He will. No mat- 
 ter if you don't see a dramshop closed; that is not your 
 business; work as if your next blow was to dash to pieces 
 the Moloch of drunkenness ; and if no results are visible till 
 you lie down to die, die in faith that others are coming up 
 to gather a full harvest on the field that you have planted 
 and tended and prayed over, but have not been able to reap. 
 
INDEX 
 
 abbott, lyman, quoted, 268; Free 
 Speech, 418. 
 
 addams, jake, definition of cul- 
 ture, 18. 
 
 addison, Joseph, quotation, 114. 
 
 Address, short, examples, 463-467. 
 
 Admiration, ex., 142. 
 
 Adoration, ex., 143. 
 
 After-dinner speech, 256; ex., 468- 
 476. 
 
 Air, amount in lungs, 29. 
 
 Analogy, 279. 
 
 Anger, ex., 145. 
 
 Anniversary Address, ex., 473. 
 
 Argument, definition, 278. 
 
 Art of Eloquence, Cicero, 415. 
 
 Aspirate tones, definition, 35; cor- 
 rected, 40. 
 
 Atmosphere, definition, 135; kinds, 
 135. 
 
 Atonies, definition, 46. 
 
 Audience, The, 184; attributes of, 
 185-187; kinds of, 189; purpose 
 of, 189; quality of, 190; size of, 
 190. 
 
 Await the Issue, Carlyle, 444. 
 
 Awe, ex., 145. 
 
 bacon, francis, Essays of Studies, 
 116. 
 
 bailey, philip j., quotation, 86. 
 
 Ballad of the Trees and the Mas- 
 ter, A, Lanier, 383. 
 
 bangs, John k., When Spring 
 Comes, 354. 
 
 barbould, anna l., Life, 391. 
 
 BEE CHER, HENRY WARD, quotation, 
 
 79; quoted, 216, 250. 
 
 BEVERIDGE, ALBERT J., quoted, 196, 
 
 208. 
 Bible, quotation, 57, 77, 86, 94, 98, 
 111, 120, 132, 200, 203; Parable 
 of the Two Sons, 407; Defense 
 Before Agrippa, 441. 
 
 Bird Thoughts, Author unknown, 
 
 88. 
 bourdillon, francis, quotation, 
 
 110. 
 brackett, anna c, The Desert, 87. 
 Break, Break, Break, Tennyson, 
 
 319. 
 Breathing, definition, 27; deep, 
 
 30; exercises in, 31. 
 bridges, Madeline s., Life's Mirror, 
 
 390. 
 brooks, edward, quotation, 138. 
 brooks, phtllips, The Evil That 
 
 Men Do Lives After Them, 453. 
 browning, Robert, quotation, 85, 
 
 109; How They Brought the 
 
 Good News from Ghent, 116; 
 
 Pippa Passes, 143; Home 
 
 Thoughts from Abroad, 301; An 
 
 Incident of the French Camp, 
 
 332. 
 Brutus on the Death of Lucretia, 
 
 Payne, 342. 
 Brutus' Quarrel with Cassius, 
 
 Shakespeare, 399. 
 bryan, william j., Imperialism, 
 
 458. 
 bryant, william c, To a Water- 
 
 fowl, 92; Thanantopsis, 131. 
 Buckingham, lord, quotation, 105. 
 Bugle Song, The, Tennyson, 299. 
 burke, edmund, quotation, 128; 
 
 Impeachment of Warren Hast- 
 ings, 430. 
 burns, robert, quotation, 73, 79; 
 
 To a Louse, 149; For A' That 
 
 and A' That, 363. 
 byers, sir john, quoted, 177. 
 byron, lord, quotation, 94; Latest 
 
 Verses, 142; Darkness, 149. 
 
 Calf-Path, The, Foss, 309. 
 campbell, thomas, Hohenlinden, 
 112. 
 
 493 
 
494 
 
 Index 
 
 carew, THOMAS, Disdain Returned, 
 
 148. 
 carlyle, thomas, quotation, 57, 
 
 116; Await the Issue, 444. 
 carpenter, b. f., quotation, 89. 
 
 CARRUTH, WILLIAM H., Each 111 His 
 
 Own Tongue, 386. 
 cart, alice, Pictures of Memory, 
 
 Catiline's Reply, Croley, 339. 
 
 CHANNING, WILLIAM E., quotation, 
 
 98; quoted, 264. 
 Charge of the Light Brigade at 
 
 Balaklava, Tennyson, 334. 
 cicero, quoted, 146; quotation, 151, 
 
 200; The Art of Eloquence, 415. 
 clark, s. h., quoted, 18. 
 Clavicular breathing, 28. 
 clay, henry, quoted, 171. 
 Climax, definition, 128; examples, 
 
 128. 
 cobb, m. n., The World Would Be 
 
 Better for It, 76. 
 coleridge, h., She is Not Fair to 
 
 Outward View, 99. 
 Columbus, Miller, 325. 
 Compass, definition, 64. 
 Conclusion to Speech, 271. 
 Confucius, quotation, 151. 
 
 COOKE, EDMUND VANCE, HOW Did 
 
 You Die? 350. 
 
 coolbrith, in a, quotation, 69. 
 
 Co-ordination, respiratory, 29. 
 
 Consonant elements, table of, 48. 
 
 Consonants, definition, 46. 
 
 corson, hiram, quoted, 17, 163, 
 219. 
 
 Countryman and the Lawyer, 375. 
 
 Courage, ex., 143. 
 
 Cowardice, ex., 144. 
 
 croley, george, Catiline's Defiance, 
 145; Catiline's Reply, 339. 
 
 Crossing the Bar, Tennyson, 158. 
 
 Cultural Value of Oral English, 
 18. 
 
 curran, john p., reference to, 21; 
 quotation, 128. 
 
 curtis, george w., Duty of Edu- 
 cated Men, 76. 
 
 Daffodils, The, Wordsworth, 312. 
 Debating, definition, 276; ethics in, 
 289-290; delivery in, 287. 
 
 de l'isle, rouget, The Marseilles 
 
 Hymn, 138. 
 Delivery, styles of, 218-222. 
 Defense before Agrippa, Paul, 
 
 441. 
 Defiance, ex., 145. 
 defoe, daniel, quotation, 132. 
 demosthenes, reference to, 21; On 
 
 The Crown, 77. 
 
 DERZHAVEN, G. R., God, 143. 
 
 Despair, ex., 144. 
 desprez, f., Lasca, 117. 
 Diaphragmatic breathing, 28. 
 dickens, charles, quotation, 73, 
 
 85, 94; Death of Little Joe, 150. 
 Diction, 169. 
 Dilemma, 284. 
 Diphthongs, table of, 47. 
 Directions for Written Report, 
 
 155; specific illustrations, 158. 
 Disgust, ex., 143. 
 dobson, Austin, A Fancy from 
 
 Frontenelle, 379. 
 dowden, edward, quoted, 19. 
 dunbar, paul l., When the Co'n 
 
 Pone's Hot, 369. 
 
 Each in His Own Tongue, Car- 
 ruth, 386. 
 
 Earnestness in delivery, 223. 
 
 Educational Value of Oral Eng- 
 lish, 17. 
 
 Elementary sounds, 46; table, 47. 
 
 eliot, charles w., quoted, 167. 
 
 EMERSON, RALPH WALDO, quotation, 
 
 76, 111; quoted, 193, 216; The 
 Poet, 151. 
 
 emmett, Robert, Emmett's De- 
 fense, 438. 
 
 Emmett's Defense, Emmet, 438. 
 
 Emotional Value of Oral English, 
 17. 
 
 Emotions, table of, 139-140. 
 
 Emphasis, definition, 122; methods 
 of, 123; rules for, 125-128; cau- 
 tions, 129; exercises in, 130-134. 
 
 Enunciation, defined, 46; distinc- 
 tions in, 49; exercises in, 52-58. 
 
 Essay, defined, 248; examples, 401- 
 421. 
 
 Eulogy, 254. 
 
 Eulogy of Henry Grady, Graves, 
 456. . 
 
 Evening Bells, Moore, 378. 
 
Index 
 
 495 
 
 everett, edward, quotation, 57. 
 
 Evidence, denned, 277. 
 
 Evil That Men Do Lives After 
 Them, The, Brooks, -453. 
 
 Excelsior, Longfellow^ 327. 
 
 Extempore speaking, 265-275; sug- 
 gested subjects, 273-275. 
 
 Fallacy, denned, 281. 
 
 Fall of Assyria, Isaiah, 451. 
 
 Falsetto tone, defined, 35. 
 
 Fancy from Frontenelle, A, Dob- 
 son, 379. 
 
 field, etjgene, Little Boy Blue, 67, 
 111, 315. 
 
 Field of Conflict, Rippy, 480. 
 
 fisher, stokely, The Poem, 297. 
 
 For A' That and A' That, Burns, 
 363. 
 
 Force, defined, 90. 
 
 foss, sam w., The House by the 
 Side of the Road, 120, 330; The 
 Calf-Path, 309. 
 
 fox, charles, quoted, 171. 
 
 Freedom or Slavery, Henry, 447. 
 
 Free Speech, Abbott, 418. 
 
 Generalization, 279. 
 
 Gesture, defined, 228; universality 
 of, 230; classification of, 232- 
 236; general principles of, 237, 
 238; mechanics of, 238, 239; 
 platform, 240-244; exercises, 244- 
 247. 
 
 Gettysburg Address, Lincoln, 475. 
 
 GILLESPY, JEANETTE B., The Poet, 
 
 132. 
 Glottis, defined, 25. 
 God Give Us Men, Holland, 384. 
 gough, johx b., quotation, 93; 
 
 Temperance Address, 487. 
 grady, henry w., quotation, 96, 
 
 121, 293. 
 Greed, ex., 145. 
 grattan, henry, quotation, 73, 
 
 103; Invective Against Corry, 
 
 100. 
 graves, john temple, quotation, 
 
 74; Eulogy of Henry Grady, 
 
 456. 
 Guttural tones, defined, 35; cor- 
 rected, 40. 
 
 Hamlet's Soliloquy, Shakespeare, 
 393. 
 
 Hamlet's Grief, Shakespeare, 394. 
 Happiness, ex., 142. 
 Hate, ex., 143. 
 
 HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL, quota- 
 tion, 92, 121; My Oratorical Ex- 
 perience, 404. 
 
 hay, john, Jim Bhidso, 366. 
 
 Height of the Ridiculous, The, 
 Holmes, 361. 
 
 heine, heinrich, quotation, 113. 
 
 henry, Patrick, quotation, 101. 
 
 HIGGINSON, THOMAS W., quoted, 
 
 221, 271. 
 Holland, joseph g., God Give Us 
 
 Men, 384. 
 holmes, Oliver w., Urania, 58; The 
 
 Last Leaf, 121, 358; The Height 
 
 of the Ridiculous, 361. 
 Home of van Tassel, The, Irving, 
 
 401. 
 Home Thoughts from Abroad, 
 
 Browning, 301. 
 hood, thomas, quotation, 201; The 
 
 Bridge of Sighs, 143. 
 hooper, ella s., quotation, 68. 
 Hope, ex., 144. 
 House by the Side of the Road, 
 
 The, Foss, 330. 
 How Did You Die? Cooke, 350. 
 
 HUBBARD, ELBERT, A Message to 
 
 Garcia, 465. 
 hugo, victor, Jean Valjean, 92. 
 Humor, sense of, 215; kinds, 215. 
 Hyoid bone, use of, 25. 
 
 Imagination of Speaker, 213. 
 Impeachment of Warren Hast- 
 ings, Burke, 420. 
 Imperialism, Bryan, 458. 
 Inaugural Address, Wilson, 477. 
 Incident of the French Camp, An, 
 
 Browning, 332. 
 Inflection, defined, 64; kinds, 72; 
 
 general law, 72; rules, 73, 80. 
 ingersoll, Robert g., quotation, 74; 
 
 Happiness and Liberty, 245; 
 
 A Plumed Knight, 461 ; A Vision 
 
 of War, 473. 
 ingham, rena, Then and Now, 88. 
 Intensity, defined, 94; degrees of, 
 
 97; exercises in, 97-103. 
 Interpretation of Literature, vocal, 
 
 153. 
 
496 
 
 Index 
 
 irving, Washington, The Home of 
 
 van Tassel, 401. 
 Issues in debating, 285. 
 
 Jaw, exercises for, 38. 
 Jealousy, ex., 145. 
 jerrold, d. w., quotation, 117. 
 Jim Bludso, Hay, 366. 
 
 IRVING, WASHINGTON, Sketch Book, 
 
 58. 
 Judges in delivery, 288. 
 Jury Address, Webster, 434. 
 
 keats, john, quotation, 110. 
 kellogg, Elijah, Sparticus to the 
 
 Gladiators, 78, 138. 
 Key, denned, 64; exercises, 69-71. 
 king, byron, story about, 21. 
 King Henry to His Soldiers, 
 
 Shakespeare, 397. 
 kipling, rudyard, The Recessional, 
 
 323; L'Envoi, 356. 
 kiser, s. e., The Idler, 114. 
 kleiser, g., quotation, 150. 
 Knowledge, of orator, 168. 
 knowles, james s., Tell to His 
 
 Native Hills, 142. 
 
 Labials, 47. 
 
 lamb, chas., The Old Familiar 
 Faces, 149. 
 
 landon, melville, A Texan's Rov- 
 ing s, 410. 
 
 lanier, Sidney, A Ballad of the 
 Trees and the Master, 383. 
 
 Larynx, cut of, 24. 
 
 Last Leaf, The, Holmes, 358. 
 
 Lead, Kindly Light, Newman, 302. 
 
 Lecture, popular, 258; ex., 487- 
 492. 
 
 Leedle Dutch Baby, Riley, 371. 
 
 Length of Speech, proper, 176. 
 
 L'Envoi, Kipling, 356. 
 
 Life, Barbauld, 391. 
 
 Life's Mirror, Bridges, 390. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, Gettysburg 
 Address, 475. 
 
 Linguals, 47, 
 
 Lips, exercises for, 38. 
 
 Literature, denned, 16. 
 
 Literary Value of Oral English, 
 16. 
 
 Lisping, 42. 
 
 Little Boy Blue, Field, 315. 
 London Atlas, quoted, 131. 
 
 LONGFELLOW, HENRY W., quotation, 
 
 68; Psalm of Life, 17; The Day 
 is Done, 86; The Building of the 
 Ship, 94; Paul Revere's Ride, 
 113; The Arrow and the Song, 
 133; The Rainy Day, 144; Ex- 
 celsior, 327; The Rainy Day, 
 382. 
 
 Lost Chord, The, Proctor, 380. 
 
 lover, samuel, The Low-backed 
 Car, 373. 
 
 Low-Backed Car, The, Lover, 373. 
 
 lowell, james r., quotation, 75; 
 The First Snow Fall, 71; Auf 
 Wiedersehen, 115; Vision of Sir 
 Launfal, 142. 
 
 lowell, Robert, The Relief of 
 Lucknow, 101. 
 
 Lucy, Wordsworth, 385. 
 
 Lungs, function of, 30. 
 
 LUTHER, MARTIN, quoted, 20. 
 
 lytton, lord bulwer, quotation, 
 85; Last Days of Pompeii, 143. 
 
 macaulay, thomas, quotation, 206 ; 
 The Battle of Ivry, 70. 
 
 mackey, charles, quotation, 110. 
 
 mara, madam, referred to, 26. 
 
 Mark Antony's Speech, Shakes- 
 peare, 424. 
 
 mathews, w., quoted, 224, 226. 
 
 Melody, denned, 64; exercises, 64; 
 Faults in speech, 82. 
 
 Memory, rules for, 212, 213. 
 
 Mercy, Shakespeare, 378. 
 
 Message to Garcia, A, Hubbard, 
 465. 
 
 miller, c. h., Columbus, 325. 
 
 milton, john, On His Blindness, 
 58; quotation, 79; L' Allegro, 
 116; Comus, 150. 
 
 mitchell, agnes e., When the 
 Cows Come Home, 151. 
 
 Monotone, general, 82. 
 
 moore, tom, Evening Bells, 378. 
 
 Mothers of Men, The, Miller, 352. 
 
 Movement, denned, 106. 
 
 myers, f. w., Last Appeal, 144. 
 
 My Oratorical Experience, Haw- 
 thorne, 404. 
 
 My Shadow, Stevenson, 314. 
 
Index 
 
 497 
 
 Nasal tones, defined, 36; corrected, 
 
 39. 
 Nasals, 47. 
 nella, m. e., Recompense. 400. 
 
 NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY, Lead, 
 
 Kindly Light, 302. 
 Normal tones, defined, 35. 
 
 O Captain! My Captain! Whit- 
 man, 321. 
 
 Old Feather Bed, Pfrimmer, 388. 
 
 Oral English, defined, 15. 
 
 Oral Reading, defined, 15. 
 
 Oral tones, defined, 35. 
 
 Oration, defined, 249; subjects for, 
 251; classification of, 253-260; 
 contest, 257; examples, 423-462. 
 
 Orator, attributes of, 209-218. 
 
 Orotund, tones, defined, 35. 
 
 Osborne, George, The Miser Fitly- 
 Punished, 145. 
 
 Outline for a speech, 174, 195. 
 
 Palatals, 47. 
 
 Parable of the Two Sons, St. 
 Luke, 407. 
 
 Joseph, parker, quoted, 224. 
 
 patten, g. w., The Seminole's De- 
 fiance, 345. 
 
 patton, f. l., quoted, 193. 
 
 Pause, defined, 108. 
 
 payne, john h., Brutus on the 
 Death of Lucretia, 342. 
 
 peabody, Josephine, The House 
 and the Road, 71. 
 
 Pectoral tones, defined, 35. 
 
 penn, william, quotation, 73. 
 
 percival, james, g., Polish War 
 Song, 103, 337. 
 
 Personal magnetism, 223. 
 
 PFRIMMER, WILLIAM W., Appear- 
 
 ences Don't Govern, 115; The 
 Old Feather Bed, 388. 
 phelps, j. w., quotation, 149. 
 
 PHILLIPS, WENDELL, Eulogy On 
 
 O'Connell, 129. 
 Phonology, defined, 23. 
 Physical Expression, 228-247. 
 pierpont, john, Warren's Address, 
 
 104; My Child, 114. 
 Pitch, defined, 23, 64; change in, 
 
 80; examples, 81. 
 Pity, example, 143. 
 plato, quotation, 115. 
 
 Plumed Knight, A, Ingersoll, 461. 
 poe, edgar, The Bells, 42; Annabel 
 
 Lee; 112; William Wilson, 145; 
 
 The Haunted and the Haunters, 
 
 246. 
 Poem, The, Fisher, 297. 
 Poetry, suggestions as to reading, 
 
 119.' 
 Polish War Song, Percival, 337. 
 Political Speech, 225. 
 pope, Alexander, quotation, 85, 
 
 110. 
 
 PRENTICE, GEORGE D., The Closing 
 
 Year, 71. 
 
 PRENTISS, SARGENT S., quoted, 171. 
 PROCTOR, ADELAIDE A., The Lost 
 
 Chord, 380. 
 
 proctor, edna d., The Brooklyn 
 Bridge, 246. 
 
 Pronunciation, defined, 46; correc- 
 tion of, 51; exercises in, 52, 53, 
 59-62. 
 
 Proposition for debate, analysis 
 of, 285. 
 
 Public Speaking, defined, 15, 167. 
 
 Quantity, defined, 112; cautions, 
 113. 
 
 Questions for debate, 292; tests 
 for, 284. 
 
 Questions and directions for writ- 
 ten report, 155. 
 
 Quick, Herbert, quoted, 255. 
 
 quintilian, marcus, quoted, 265. 
 
 Quality, defined, 112; 23, 134; ex- 
 amples, 147. 
 
 raht, carl g., 'S'Matter, 377. 
 
 Rainy Day, The, Longfellow, 382. 
 
 Rate, 106; cautions, 107; examples, 
 114-117. 
 
 read, thomas b., The Closing 
 Scene, 71. 
 
 Reasoning, inductively, 278; de- 
 ductively, 280. 
 
 Rebuttal, '286. 
 
 Recessional, The, Kipling, 323. 
 
 Recompense, Nella, 400. 
 
 Refutation in debate, 280; special 
 forms of, 283. 
 
 Regret, ex., 144. 
 
 Rhythm, defined, 106, 117. 
 
 riley, james w., quotation, 99; 
 Leedle Dutch Baby, 371. 
 
498 
 
 Index 
 
 rippy, james f., The Field of Con- 
 flict, 480. 
 roosevelt, theodore, quotation, 87. 
 
 ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA G., Up-HUl, 
 
 355. 
 ruskin, john, quoted, 16, 147; 
 quotation, 78; Work, 463. 
 
 Sandpiper, The, Thaxter, 304. 
 saunders, w. h., The Ocean Burial, 
 
 150. 
 Scorn, ex., 142. 
 scott, sir Walter, quotation, 93; 
 
 The Heart of Midlothian, 246. 
 Seminole's Defiance, Patten, 345. 
 Sentences, length of, 202. 
 Seven Ages of Man, Shakespeare, 
 
 396. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM, quotations, 
 
 57, 67, 73, 85, 101, 105. 
 Merchant of Venice, 58, 78, 148, 
 
 149. 
 Othello, 84, 91, 146, 149. 
 Macbeth, 92, 137. 
 Hamlet, 101, 131. 
 Hamlet's Grief, 394. 
 Hamlet's Soliloquy, 393. 
 King John, 102. 
 
 King Henry to His Soldiers, 397. 
 Julius Caesar, 113, 143, 148. 
 Henry V., 104. 
 Henry VIII., 115, 144. 
 All's Well That Ends Well, 137. 
 Polonius' Advise to His Son, 395. 
 Seven Ages of Man, 396. 
 Wolsey's Advise to Cromwell, 
 
 396. 
 Mercy, 398. 
 Brutus' Quarrel with Cassius, 
 
 399. 
 Speech of Brutus, 422. 
 Mark Antony's Speech, 424. 
 sheppard, charles, quotation, 103. 
 
 SHERIDAN, RICHARD B., The Rivals, 
 
 144. 
 sherley, douglass, The Buzz-Saw 
 
 Girl, 117. 
 Slide, denned, 64. 
 'S'Matter, Raht, 377. 
 Social Value of Oral English, 19. 
 Song of the Camp, The, Taylor, 
 
 306. 
 Sorrow, ex., 142. 
 Sound, denned, 123. 
 
 southey, Robert, Cataract of Lo- 
 
 dore, 32. 
 Speech, material for, 193; propor- 
 tion, 195; preparation of, 260; 
 
 methods of delivery, 260-264. 
 Speech of Brutus, Shakespeare, 
 
 422. 
 spurgeon, charles, quotation, 147. 
 Stage-fright, 177. 
 Stammering, 42. 
 
 sterne, Laurence, quotation, 196. 
 stevenson, Robert l., quotation, 
 
 147; My Shadow, 94, 314. 
 story, w. w., quotation, 120. 
 Stress, denned, 102; exercises, 102- 
 
 105. 
 Style, attributes of, 194; qualities 
 
 of, 195-205. 
 Subject for speech, 172, 180, 181. 
 Subtonics, defined, 46. 
 Sunday, rev. billy, quoted, 196, 
 
 201. 
 Swabodian principles of muscular 
 
 development, 21. 
 Sioord of Robert Lee, The, Ryan, 
 
 348. 
 Syllogism, 280. 
 Synonyms, study of, 181-183. 
 
 tagore, r., quotation, 151. 
 
 taylor, bayard, The Song of the 
 Camp, 306. 
 
 taylor, f., The Isle of Long Ago, 
 112. 
 
 Tears, Idle Tears, Tennyson, 317. 
 
 Temperance Address, Gough, 487. 
 
 tennyson, alfred, quotation, 57, 
 69, 99, 114. 
 The Princess 98; Lady Clare, 
 144; Bugle Song, 98, 299; The 
 May Queen, 98; Enoch Arden, 
 102; The Brook, 113, 118; The 
 Revenge, 129; Tears, Idle Tears, 
 317; Break, Break, Break, 319; 
 The Charge of the Light Bri- 
 gade, 334. 
 
 Testimony, defined, 277; tests, 277. 
 
 Texan's Rovings, A, Landon, 410. 
 
 thaxter, celia, The Sandpiper, 
 304. 
 
 Thought analysis, 154. 
 
 tillman, b. r., quoted, 267. 
 
 Tone-color, defined, 138; examples 
 of, 142-146. 
 
Index 
 
 499 
 
 Tone, pure, examples for practice, 
 33; defined, 35; impure, defined, 
 35; projection, 41. 
 
 Tongue, use of, 25; exercises for, 
 38. 
 
 Tonics, defined, 46. 
 
 Transition, defined, 110. 
 
 trowbridge, johk t., The Vaga- 
 bonds, 105. 
 
 True Eloquence, Webster, 413. 
 
 twain, mark, quotation, 198. 
 
 Typical Dutchman, The, Van 
 Dyke, 468. 
 
 Up-hill, Rossetti, 355. 
 Uvula, use of, 25. 
 
 van dyke, henry, The Typical 
 Dutchman, 468. 
 
 Vision of War, A, Ingersoll, 473. 
 
 Vocabulary, 169. 
 
 Vocal culture, exercises in, 31; de- 
 fined, 35. 
 
 Vocational Value of Oral English, 
 20. 
 
 Voice, compared to reed-pipe, 23, 
 25; technique of, 24; control of, 
 27; cultivation of, 36; placing, 
 41; care of, 43; qualities of, 136, 
 137; of orator, 210-212. 
 
 Volume, defined, 23, 93; exercises, 
 93. 
 
 Vowel elements, table of, 48. 
 Vowels, defined, 46. 
 
 warner, c. d., quotation, 207. 
 
 webster, daniel, quoted, 22, 209; 
 quotation, 73, 86, 104, 137, 206; 
 Bunker Hill Oration, 71; The 
 White Murder Trial, 245; True 
 Eloquence, 413; Jury Address, 
 434. 
 
 WHATLEY, ARCHBISHOP, quoted, 219. 
 
 whitman, walt, O Captain! My 
 Captain! 321. 
 
 When Spring Comes, Bangs, 354. 
 
 When the Co'n Pone's Hot, Dun- 
 bar, 369. 
 
 whittier, john g., Snowbound, 
 121. 
 
 wilcox, ella wheeler, quotation, 
 98; If I were a Young Man, 70. 
 
 willis, Nathaniel, The Leper, 246. 
 
 wilson, hon. woodrow, Inaugural 
 Address, 477. 
 
 wolfe, charles, quotation, The 
 Burial of Sir John Moore, 98, 
 118. 
 
 Wolsey's Advice to Cromwell, 396. 
 
 Word-coloring, defined, 140. 
 
 wordsworth, william, The Daffo- 
 dils, 312; Lucy, 385. 
 
 Work, Ruskin, 463. 
 
 Writing a speech, 174. 
 
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