Page:Hill's manual of social and business forms.djvu/100

58 Seventh. One of the most efficient aids to public speaking is the ability to write. The public speaker will do well to commence by writing in full what he is desirous of saying. He should, at the same time, make a study of the various masters of oratory. Writing gives great clearness to the expression of thought, and, having plenty of time in its composition, the mind is able to look at the subject in every phase. With the main idea clearly defined and kept constantly in view, let the speaker examine the subject in every light, the different faculties of the mind concentrating upon a single point. Thus, step by step, the subject is considered in all its bearings, the various details of the idea being completely studied, and the whole matter thoroughly developed, until the subject has reached its perfect form.

Eighth. The daily study of synonymous words and their meanings will give greater facility of expression. The mind should also be stored with a great variety of information on subjects pertaining to the arts and sciences, from which one can constantly draw in cases of emergency. It is impossible for the speaker to extemporize what is not in the mind. And further, all reading and study should be done with such care that every idea thus acquired will be so thoroughly wrought out as to be available when we wish to communicate our ideas to others.

Ninth. In public speaking, one of the great secrets of success is a knowledge of human nature. To acquire this, the speaker should carefully study men—the passions and impulses that influence mankind—their phrenological characteristics, and know them as they are. To do this, he should freely mingle in society, interchanging ideas, and seeking every opportunity for the practice of extempore speaking.

Tenth. An important element necessary to success in the off hand speaker is courage. While it is essential that he use choice and fitting language in the expression of ideas, let him not hesitate, when he has commenced a sentence, because he cannot readily call to mind the exact language necessary to beautifully clothe the thought. Push vigorously through to the end. even though at a sacrifice, for a time, of the most perfect forms of speech. This courage that dare stand up and speak a sentence ungrammatically, even, is necessary to make the good speaker of the future.

Finally, while all cannot become equally proficient in oratory, the industrious student of average talent, who earnestly resolves to win success as an extempore speaker, will find himself, in the majority of cases, in time, self-possessed in the presence of others. With ideas clear and distinct, vivified and quickened by imagination, clothed in fitting words and beautiful language, he will be enabled to instruct and entertain an audience in a manner vastly better than most people would suppose who may have listened to his maiden efforts in the commencement of his public speaking.

BREVITY IN COMPOSITION.

O be able to talk correctly, the student should first be able to write properly. Not only should penmanship be plain and easy, words rightly spelled, capitals correctly used, and sentences grammatically constructed and punctuated, but much depends, also, beyond that, upon the style of composition, mode of expression, and language used, whether it be acceptable to readers and hearers or not.

As a rule, with the great sea of literature about us, the writer of to-day who is original and condenses ideas into the smallest space, whether in the sermon, book, business letter, or newspaper article, is much the most likely to have readers or hearers. The aim of the writer should therefore be, first, to say something new, presenting a subject fraught with original ideas; and second, to give those ideas in the fewest possible words consistent with agreeable expression.

"Why did you not make that article more brief?" said an editor to his correspondent.

"Because," said the writer, "I did not have time."

The idea sought to be conveyed, concerning brevity, is clearly shown in that answer of the correspondent. It is an easy matter to dress ideas in many words. It requires much more care, however, to clearly state the same idea in fewer words.

The chief merit of Shakespeare is the thought conveyed in few words; the meaning that we catch beyond the words expressed.

Those poets that will live in immortality have