Page:Modern Eloquence - Volume 1.djvu/30

Rh exhausted before one's turn comes, unless he is the first speaker, who may preëmpt as much of the entire field as he chooses. It is a skilled speaker who can warm over what others have uttered without getting charged with plagiarism or being called a parrot. Dependence on fortuitous aid will be abandoned at the start by those who wish to be assured of a reasonable success. It is an instance of "every man for himself"—and frequently of the rest of the proverb.

By this time it will be suspected that some preparation is deemed necessary for an after-dinner speech, as in the case of other speaking. If the known practice of many of the best speakers is worth anything, it may be inferred that very careful prevision and provision are needful. Prevision to see what is likely to be timely and effective: provision to secure it and order it in effective sequence. Assuming that foresight has been exercised, something may be said of the kind of preparation which will be most serviceable for after-dinner remarks.

This word "remarks" is the term by which most speakers prefer to designate such efforts as they choose to make on these occasions. They do not dignify them by the more formal title of a speech, much less an oration. Accordingly the preparation to be made is not such as would be required for either of these more pretentious performances. All appearance of division into the sections of exordium, argument, and peroration would be as much out of place as an oration itself. At the same time perhaps a greater skill may be required to accomplish the ends for which these divisions are essential in more elaborate addresses. There is a beginning, a middle, and an ending to a paragraph even, and much more to any discourse, long or short. Ordinary conversation has its conventional beginning and ending, which are not like the burden of it between the salutation and the parting of the interlocutors. Remarks when one has the floor cannot violate this natural impulse; and the opening sentences will often present more difficulty than in conversation where the much-worn weather topic always offers common ground of agreement as a starting-point. The amenities of the occasion and the purpose of the coming together generally serve the toastmaster or ruler of the