The Art of Public Speaking——CONT

CONTENTS Page
Things to Think of First—A Foreword ix
Chapter I—Acquiring Confidence Before an Audience . . 1
Chapter II—The Sin of Monotony
Chapter III—Efficiency through Emphasis and Subordination 13
Chapter IV—Efficiency through Change of Pitch 22
Chapter V—Efficiency through Change of Pace 32
Chapter VI—Pause and Power 45
Chapter VII—Efficiency through Inflection 56
Chapter VIII—Concentration in Delivery 65
Chapter IX—Force 70
Chapter X—Feeling and Enthusiasm 81
Chapter XI—Fluency through Preparation 92
Chapter XII—The Voice 100
Chapter XIII—Voice Charm 108
Chapter XIV—Distinctness and Precision
of Utterance 118
Chapter XV—The Truth about Gesture 126
Chapter XVI—Methods of Delivery 138
Chapter XVII—Thought and Reserve Power 148
Chapter XVIII_Subject and Preparation 159
Chapter XIX—Influencing by Exposition 174
Chapter XX—Influencing by Description 184
Chapter XXI—Influencing by Narration 198
Chapter XXII—Influencing by Suggestion 208
Chapter XXIII—Influencing by Argument 222
Chapter XXIV—Influencing by Persuasion 234
Chapter XXV—Influencing the Crowd 245
Chapter XXVI—Riding the Winged Horse 256
Chapter XXVII—Growing a Vocabulary 266
Chapter XXVIII—Memory Training 273
Chapter XXIX—Right Thinking and Personality 283
Chapter XXX—After-Dinner and other Occasional Speaking 288
Chapter XXXI—Making Conversation Effective 296
Appendix A—Fifty Questions for Debate 301
Appendix B—Thirty Themes for Speeches 305
Appendix C—Suggested Subjects for Speeches 308
Appendix D—Speeches for Study and Practise 315
General Index 423
Things to think of First
A FOREWORD
The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove to be ineffective.
This book stands or falls by its authors* attitude toward its sub�ject. If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the reader—as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be reck�oned a failure, because it is then untrue.
It is of some importance, therefore, to those who take up this volume with open mind that they should see clearly at the out-start what is the thought that at once underlies and is builded through this structure. In plain words it is this:
Training in public speaking is not a matter of externals—primar�ily; it is not a matter of imitation—fundamentally; it is not a matter of conformity to standards—at all. Public speaking is public utter�ance, public issuance, of the man himself; therefore the first thing both in time and in importance is that the man should be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given forth. Unless there be something of value within, no tricks of training can ever make of the talker anything more than a machine—albeit a highly perfected
machine ---for the delivery of other mens goods. So self-development is fundamental in our plan.
The second principle lies close to the first: The man must enthrone his will to rule over his thought, his feelings, and all his physical powers, so that the outer self may give perfect, unhampered expression to the inner. It is futile, we assert, to lay down systems of rules for voice culture, intonation, gesture, and what not, unless these two principles of having something to say and making the will sovereign have at least begun to make themselves felt in the life.
The third principle will, we surmise, arouse no dispute: No one can learn how to speak who does not first speak as best he can. That may seem like a vicious circle in statement, but it will bear examination.
Many teachers have begun with the how. Vain effort! It is an ancient truism that we learn to do by doing. The first thing for the beginner in public speaking is to speak—not to study voice and ges�ture and the rest. Once he has spoken he can improve himself by self-observation or according to the criticisms of those who hear.
But how shall he be able to criticise himself? Simply by finding out three things: What are the qualities which by common consent go to make up an effective speaker; by what means at least some of these qualities may be acquired; and what wrong habits of speech in himself work against his acquiring and using the qualities which he finds to be good.
Experience, then, is not only the best teacher, but the first and the last. But experience must be a dual thing—the experience of others must be used to supplement, correct and justify our own experience; in this way we shall become our own best critics only after we have trained ourselves in self-knowledge, the knowledge of what other minds think, and in the ability to judge ourselves by the standards we have come to believe are right. "If I ought," said Kant, “I can.”
An examination of the contents of this volume will show how
consistently these articles of faith have been declared, expounded, and illustrated. The student is urged to begin to speak at what he knows. Then he is given simple suggestions for self-control, with gradually increasing emphasis upon the power of the inner
Foreword
man over the outer. Next, the way to the rich storehouses of mate�rial is pointed out. And finally, all the while he is urged to speak, speak, SPEAK as he is applying to his own methods, in his own per�sonal way, the principles he has gathered from his own experience and observation and the recorded experiences of others.
So now at the very first let it be as clear as light that methods are secondary matters; that the full mind, the warm heart, the dominant will are primary—and not only primary but paramount; for unless it be a full being that uses the methods it will be like dressing a wooden image in the clothes of a man.
J. Berg Esenwein Narberth, Pa.,
January i, 1915