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Rh whose dignity and importance demand an expenditure of thought and care in furnishing an intellectual feast commensurate with the provision that has been made for the refinements of appetite. It is with these important occasions in mind that the foregoing pages have been written, since lesser and informal gatherings will furnish their own standard of performance. If the greater demand is handsomely met, the lesser is easily provided for.

In the collection of speeches here presented there will be found much to confirm the position taken, that there is room for the exercise of great art and skill in this branch of public address. Its seeming informality requires an art that conceals art. Needful lightness of expression may cover thoughts that are profound. Good humor may render palatable truths that are in themselves distasteful. Shrewd presentation may obtain a hearing for unwelcome facts, and unfailing tact may lead up to propositions that would have been summarily dismissed at the outset. The diligent reader of these speeches will find illustrations of these and similar qualities in addresses of one and another master of an art as rare as it is felicitous. Such perusal cannot fail to be of service to those who sooner or later are likely to be called upon to contribute their word of good humor or good cheer, of wisdom or counsel, of encomium or eulogy, before the most receptive and appreciative of audiences in an after-dinner speech.