THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
aNIVEKSITY of CALrFOK>,l/
AT
LOS AiNGELRS
lEytcmporaneoue ©rator^
professional an5 Hinateur
SpeaUers
ffouctcentb G;bou3an&
" ' J«) O,, 'j.)
New York : Eaton & Mains
Cincinnati : Jennings & Graham
■A i
I'^JObJ
Copyright by "
EATON & MAINS,
1898.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAOB
Exordium v-viii
I. Oratory 1
II. Definition and Explanation ... 6
III. Comparison of Modes — Reading . , 12
IV. Reciting 18
V. Mixed Methods 24
VI. Comparative Danger OF Failure . . 27
vii. General Preparation 33
viii. Uses op Language 35
IX. Physiological Basis of Speech . . 42
X. Factors in Evolution of Speech . . 54
XI. Syllabic Suggestion 59
xiL Words and Their Proper Use . . 67
xiiL Enriching the Vocabulary .... 76
XIV. Assimilation of Words 85
XV. General Preparation of Thought . 98
xvL Ideas 106
xvii. Items, Anecdotes, Similes, and Illus-
trations 113
XVIII. The Value and Tyranny of Remi-
niscences 118
XIX. General Preparation of Feeling . 124
XX. Elocution for the Extemporizer . 130
XXI. The Voice 139
xxii. Voice Strengthening and Articula-
tion 153
iii
Contents
CHAPTER PAUE
XXIII. Pitch and Tones 1,61
XXIV. Pkonunciation 1V7
XXV. Tested Helps 185
XXVI. Gesture 197
XXVII. Okigin and Psychology of Gesture 209
xxviii. Mechanism of Gesture . . . .219
XXIX. Improper Gestures and Their
Remedy 224
XXX. Public Oral Debate 234
xxxL Character as a General Prepara-
tion 245
xxxii. Special Preparation .... 249
XXXIII. Preliminary Physical Prepara-
tion 263
XXXIV. Special Preparation of Feeling . 275
XXXV. Addressing the Assembly . . ,281
XXXVI. Teaiptations of the Extempora-
neous Speaker 287
XXXVII. Defects and Difficulties . . . 307
xxxviiL Protecting One's Self Against
Failure 326
xxxix. Celebrated Extemporizers — The
Old World 343
XL. Celebrated Extemporizers — The
New World 379
XLi. Can All Extemporize ? . . . . 408
xLii. Suggestions TO Neophytes . . . 413
xliii. Ever the Highest Ideal . . . 430
Index 451-480
iv
Eyorbium
Before entering college I determined to studv
law, and accordingly took great interest in debate,
in attending courts, and in reading accounts or
cases. But young men frequently change, and a
few years later I had become a minister, and was
obliged to make choice among different methods,
of public speaking. After experiments with all [
adopted the extemporaneous, and ever since have
systematically practiced and studied this art.
In searching for the excellencies of others I dis-
covered many defects in myself, and while con-
templating others' imperfections, saw that some
methods might be improved which had been fan-
cied perfect. I discerned that many who thought
themselves extemporizers were not so. Under
erroneous instruction I fought against the deepest
tendencies of my ov/n nature, and wasted energy
in the pursuit of fixed ideals.
1 found that ancient authors and some com-
paratively modern (especially Fenelon, in his
Dialogues on Eloquence) had treated the subject
more satisfactorily than recent writers. The
3E£orC>tum
monograph of M. Bautain, Vicar General and
Professor at the Sorbonne, is admirable, but
adapted chiefly to a type of mind in which
exquisite sensibility plays the most prominent
part.
Several years ago I was invited to lecture upon
extemporaneous speaking before theological sem-
inaries and law schools. Various unrevised re-
ports of those lectures were published, some of
which inadvertently misrepresented fundamental
principles, and placed me in the attitude of prac-
ticing and recommending methods which I believe
incompatible with a union of accuracy, animation,
and ease. On this account I had almost decided
to write upon the subject, when I was simul-
taneously requested to do so by the faculty of a
law school and by a committee appointed to pre-
pare a course of study for the ministers of the
denomination with which I am connected.
No cast-iron rules can be found in this book,
although jome of its precepts may be compared
to the best steel, which is elastic. Except when
moral elements are involved, there is no principle
taught which the extemporizer may not some-
times be compelled to violate.
VI
The pervading idea is that whatever aid he
derives from study or from teachers, every man
must be his own final authority. The reader who
follows his mature judgment, where it differs from
that of the author, will pay the highest tribute to
the purpose of this work.
Quotations have in some instances been intro-
duced to acquaint the reader with books found
useful; in others to show tliat their authors are
authority for facts stated ; and, wherever possible,
to make known that the most competent judges
concur in the views herein supported. When
necessary to antagonize the teaching of another I
have given him the privilege of stating his own
views.
While the effort is made to aid orators in every
stage of progress to secure the art which is ex-
pounded, the character kept steadfastly in view is
the young man on the threshold of his career.
When for the first time 1 read Rush on the
Voice \ was unable to understand more than half
of it; ten years later 1 read it again, and under-
stood two thirds of it. Allowing a considerable
period to elapse, I read it the third time, compre-
hending all and accepting much more than I had
vn
JEjor5ium
thought reasonable on the second reading. Since
much that this work contains is verifiable only by
experience, I suggest to the novice that he write
upon the margin his opinions and doubts, and at
a later period compare with his ripened views the
statements which at first he questioned.
TIU
lExtemporaneous ©ratorp
CHAPTER I
©ratorg
Oratory is the greatest of arts. It includes the
elements of all, and in every age and nation has
wielded a more general and potent influence than
any other.
The voice, susceptible of modulation in tone, EiementB.
pitch, and rhythm ; the figure, attitude, and action,
together with light and shade, which are the ele-
ments of music, sculpture, and painting, are in-
volved in oratory. In the form and voice of the
speaker oratory appeals directly to sight and hear-
ing, and to the other senses by representative
imagination; as in Shakespeare's " O, my offense
is rank; it smells to heaven;" in Milton's repast,
"light and choice, of Attic taste;" and Tennyson's
"touch of a vanished hand." For ordinary effects
it may, and for its higher effects it must, appeal to
the intellect, the sensibilities, and the deeper emo-
tions; and as it appeals to these, it must employ
them, its ultimate object being to influence the will
Ejtcmporaneoue ©ratorg
by convincing the judgment, arousing the con-
science, or moving the heart.
Ttttim^. In the youth of the world oratory was the sole
means of distributing information. The press in
some measure has superseded it in the discharge
of this function, but by no means wholly, for in
critical times and on momentous themes oratory
infuses information with a life which magnifies a
thousandfold the power of mere ideas. By oratory
the oppressed are roused to revolution and tyrants
overthrown; by it, in times of peace, are made
known the need and the methods of reform, and
the heroic virtue necessary to accomplish them is
enkindled, sustained, and guided.
Oratory is the soul of discussion and the unifier
of sentiment, by which alone representative govern-
ments are maintained. From the humble town
meeting to the highest legislative assemblies it is
indispensable in the transaction of public business;
and by it judges are convinced and juries instructed
and persuaded. Lord Macaulay in his sketch of
the career and analysis of the character and gifts
of William Pitt affirms that "Parliamentary gov-
ernment is government by speaking." While he
deplores the fact that "that power may exist in
the highest degree without judgment, without
fortitude, without skill in reading the characters of
men or the signs of the times, without any knowl-
edge of the principles of legislation or of political
©ratorg
economy, and without any skill in diplomacy or
in the administration of war," his luminous pen
portrays its stupendous achievements when forti-
fied by the learning, accomplishments, and patriot-
ism of his hero.
By oratory every form of religion was established
and is maintained ; in particular, Christianity, whose
Founder "spake as never man spake," and whose
last commission to his disciples was, "Go, preach!"
Acquaintance with the principles of oratory uo wbom
should not be left to clergymen, lawyers, statesmen, ""'=^^^'^'
professors, lecturers, and politicians, since no one
can be sure that there will not come a time when
it will be of great advantage to him to possess
the ability to speak distinctly, to the purpose,
gracefully, and with genuine fire. Those engaged
in different trades, professions, and departments of
commerce are organized for the protection and
promotionoftheir respective specialties, and practi-
cally their associations have become debating so-
cieties, reaching conclusions and forming rules
which those cannot safely ignore whose business
interests are involved.
There is one profession, that of medicine, whose
members fill an increasingly important place in
civilization, but who, with a few notable excep-
tions, seldom appear to advantage in public speech.
They are often summoned to testify in courts of
justice, where their resources of expression may be
3
J£i-tcn)porancou0 ©ratorg
taxed for hours. They are frequently placed on
boards of education, upon committees dealing
with sanitary conditions, and upon the common
councils of cities. In meetings of citizens they are
asked for their views of proposals affecting the
public health, and if successful in their professional
careers, may be associated with the faculties of
medical colleges. They are also members of med-
ical associations, city, county. State, and national,
where debate is had upon papers read and ques-
tions relating to the rights, privileges, or standing
of the profession or regulations for the management
of the organizations.
Yet for such positions many otherwise qualified
are unsuited because they have neglected the study
and practice of free expression. For some years it
has been the habit of several of the most dis-
tinguished members of the profession to deplore
this lack and to urge upon medical students the
importance of attending to the subject.
jEnfcowment It is often held that orators, like poets, are born,
or acquisition. ^^^ made. CiCERO explicitly affirms the opposite:
" The poet is born such; the orator is made such."
Lord Chesterfield, in his letters to his son, de-
clares: "I am not only persuaded by theory, but
convinced by my experience, that (supposing a
certain degree of common sense) what is called a
good speaker is as much a mechanic as a good
shoemaker; and that the two trades are equally
4
plcmcnt nas
turc.
Orators
to be learned by the same degree of applica-
tion."*
These are extreme views, for no man could be
trained into an effective orator if he were without
a spark of genuine fire, although he might become Bvt must sup.
a pleasing speaker. Most persons possess suffi-
cient intelligence and susceptibility to admit of
being trained to a high degree of perfection, but
few, without special training, have enough of
either or both to make orators. Hence it is true
that the capability of oratory is born, and the
orator made.
Like every mighty human agency, oratory is
capable of being employed for the basest purposes,
but it is by the noblest and most disinterested
eloquence that the evil wrought by fanatics and
demagogues is counteracted.
• Bradshaw's Letters of Lord Chesterjield, No. 320.
5
poraneousnese.
JE£temporaneous ©ratocfi
CHAPTER n
Definition anD Ejplanation
There can be no clear thinking nor valuable
exchange of thought without a definition and a
common understanding of its meaning, Concern-
»(verfl«nt ing extemporaneous speaking, there exist unusual
TOraneousnerJ! confusion of mind and diversity of Opinion. Much
public speaking supposed to be extemporaneous
is not so in any sense of the v/ord. Some effective
orators compose their sentences without writing,
subsequently delivering sermons, lectures, or ad-
dresses in the language previously prepared. It is
reported of certain men that after the lapse of years
they could redeliver unwritten discourses without
omission or addition. Such an utterance is in no
respect extemporaneous, since there is no radical
difference in the mental processes, as regards pro-
ductiveness during speaking, between the repeti-
tion of matter previously written and that which
by meditation has been directly recorded in the
verbal memory.
Rising without previous preparation, without
even the selection of a theme, and speaking in
public, is unquestionably an extemporaneous per-
formance, but in most instances it does not equal
ordinary conversation. It may be described as ex-
6
Definition anD ;iEjplanatfon
hortation or ranting, but not as oratory. Such un-
premeditated speaking was all that was implied in ©ft anb new
the original meaning of the word "extempore:" '"*^"'"''**
" Arising from or at or of the time, the occasion;
quick, sudden, prompt; and thus opposed to pre-
pared, premeditated, deliberate."* Ben Jonson,
Hooker, Bishop Taylor, John Locke, Boyle, South,
Addison, and Macaulay use the word in this way.
Jonson says, "A poet — I will challenge him myself
presently at extempore. " And Shakespeare uses it
in a satirical way in "Midsummer Night's Dream:"
" ' Have you the lion's part written ? Pray you, if
it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.' 'You
may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. ' "
A new application of the words "extempore"
and "extemporaneous " has come into use within
the last half century, and is now recognized in
most authoritative dictionaries. Although the
speaker may have prepared everything but language
and form, if the speech be neither read nor recited,
it is classed as extemporaneous.
Unpremeditated, impromptu, or the colloquial
off-hand, at present signify what was originally
the sole meaning of extempore, as applied to public
speech.
Whatever, within certain limitations or under iRcdprocai
certain definitions, metaphysicians may maintain, J^cm'uta*'*
practically it is impossible to think without words, an^ wov^e.
* RichardsotC s English Dictionary, vol. i,p. 743.
7
JSjtemporaneoue ©ratorg
and equally so to conceive ideas witliout nouns
and verbs or their equivalents. The researches of
Harvey Peet, LL.D., among the most philosophical
ever made, show that before receiving instruc-
tion in the use of words or signs the deaf have
crude symbols of their own invention for every
distinct idea, and think wholly by means of them.*
The conclusions of Dr. Peet rest upon thousands
of inquiries made in the course of his forty years'
experience as superintendent of the New York
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. Similar induc-
tions have been made by those whose specialty is
the education of the blind, and the mental methods
of those remarkable characters, Julia Brace, Laura
Bridgman, and Helen Keller, reflect additional
light upon this abstruse subject,
■native The unlearned and untrained may think as
clearly and deeply, within the circle of their
powers, as the accomplished; and frequently, on
account of freedom from the abstraction or dis-
traction produced by a multiplicity of ideas, they
penetrate to the heart of a subject, and reason
more shrewdly and correctly than do the educated.
It is because of this that many eminent men,
among them Moliere, were in the habit of reading
their works to humble people, and regarded such
as their most valuable critics.
There can be no preparation for the delivery of
•Observations on the Deaf and Dumb, N, A mer. Mcd.-Chir. Rev., 1858. , etc.
8
penetratfon.
S)ctT(nlt{on auD JEjplanatlon
thought without the use of nouns and verbs; and
if comparisons of quality of substance or mode of communica=
action are to be made, adjectives and adverbs t'^^» ^^« ^"^^^"'J'^t-
muj;t also pass before the mind's eye. The con-
struction of sentences, paragraphs, sections, or of
an entire discourse or book is a much more com-
plex matter, involving the choice of the best word
among several, and the fixing of its accidents of
mode, tense, person, and number; articles, con-
junctions, prepositions, and interjections are also
required, and many other elements must receive
attention.
Yet, though the nouns, verbs, and expletives
which contain these ideas are in the minds of the
uncultivated, they cannot grammatically express
them, and fail as writers and speakers; neverthe-
less there are exceptional instances in public
address where the very errors intensify transient
effects. Hence, when such persons reach high
positions in the mercantile or political world, as in
free countries they frequently do, they need
amanuenses or private secretaries to whom they
may communicate their nouns, verbs, and quali-
fying terms, that these may be arranged accord-
ing to the technical rules of spoken or written
discourse.
There are experts who receive large fees for
properly expressing in writing the ideas of unedu-
cated politicians and others whose position or am-
C^) 9
jejtemporaneous ©raiorg
bition leads them to speak in public. The great-
est of men have not always disdained such assist-
ance. Compositions attributed by history to kings,
military commanders of high rank, and, in conspic-
uous instances, to governors of States and Presi-
dents of the United States, and many of the
speeches read or recited in Congress are known to
have been prepared in this way.
Sasai The extemporaneous oratory the philosophy
ftefinttion. of which it is the aim of this work to elucidate is :
The delivery, in an arrangement of words, sen-
tences, and paragraphs, entirely the birth of the
occasion, of ideas previously conceived and
adopted with more or less fullness and precision,
together with such thoughts and feelings as may
arise and btain utterance.
To the consciousness of the speaker his own
mental state is similar to that of one participating
in an animated conversation — there being no effort
to recollect, no anticipation of what is to come,
but entire absorption in the process of evolving,
in correct forms of speech, the thoughts intended
to be impressed.
If words, phrases, or sentences which have
been previously thought are uttered, they are fresh
products of thinking, coming without recollection
and without summons of the will. They are not
brought forth as crystals from a cabinet, but rise
as a stream from an overflowing fountain.
lO
definition anO JEjplanation
This method is compatible with protracted
special preparation; but if there has been much h caution,
writing, additional meditation of a peculiar kind
is necessary, after the manuscript is laid aside, in
order to efface utterly the impression which the
writing may have made upon the conscious
memory. If this be not done, the perturbed mind
can neither extemporize nor recite perfectly; and
he who is in such a case is of all public speakers
most miserable.
II
Bxtcmpoianeous ©ratorg
CHAPTER III
Compaii6on of jfflboDee— IReaDlng
The orator may read, recite, or speak extempo-
raneously. Reading and reciting have much in
common, but the extempore process radically dif-
fers from both. To determine the relative value
of these methods the standard must be the best in
each kind.
Inferior extemporaneous speaking, in compar-
ison with a badly-composed and feebly-delivered
manuscript or recited address, may have the ad-
vantage of a more natural use of the voice and
the possibility of being roused into unwonted
energy by some unforeseen occurrence or unusual
impulse ; but it is exposed to the danger of unen-
durable dullness, puerile repetition, and incoherent
rambling,
©uaiifici. If the production is to be published and this
use of it be deemed more important than the effect
upon the audience, the superiority of reading to
extemporizing must be conceded; but in other
cases this consideration should be allowed no
weight, since the primary object of speaking is to
be heard. Nor should this concession be allowed
without exceptions, for some of the best extem-
porizers have attained a beauty and finish of style
12
concession.
Comparison ot /IBoDcs— TReaDlncj
which rendered their discourses suitable for pub-
lication exactly as delivered. In these rare in-
stances, however, there is reason to suspect that
they lost by their precision something of power in
delivery, and there is also room for the further
suspicion that passages had been thought out and
virtually memorized.
The extemporaneous process, in comparison luocai
with reading, has the advantage of greater ease a^^a"tagcs.
and power of vocalization. The voice of the
speaker is deeper, stronger, and more flexible, and
the effort required to produce it much less. The
head being held erect, there is no constriction of
the throat, the lungs are fully expanded, and the
respiratory muscles are free to perform their func-
tions. Platform reading cannot, with propriety,
be called a health-promoting exercise of the vocal
organs. Professors of elocution and public read-
ers who are in constant practice, whose reading is
reciting, who pass rapidly from grave to gay, who
read from tragedies and comedies and dialogues
requiring frequent transitions, and who rest during
applause, may not find it injurious; but it is indis-
putable that reading discourses verbatim is not a
healthful exercise, while extemporaneous speak-
ing, properly performed, is one of the most bene-
ficial.
John Wesley attributed his long life, among
other things, to preaching extemporaneously every
13
jEjtcmporaneous ©ratorg
day. Charles H. Spurgeon * gives similar testi-
mony to its healthfulness. The clergyman's sore
tiiroat is peculiarly the disease of the reader. The
exploits performed by many evangelists and by
speakers in political campaigns place the question
beyond doubt; for no one confined to a manuscript
could equal them in audibility and endurance,
jetfectupon Naturalness, force, and variety of delivery are
fceUrcris. i\^q characteristics of the extemporizer; the mind,
the voice, and every muscle, nerve, and gland em-
ployed in the effort acting in sympathy. The per-
fection of this condition is impossible to the
reader. The best extemporizers are graceful, and
even a peculiarity which in itself would seem
awkward harmonizes with the general movement,
not lessening, but often augmenting, power. They
are never monotonous, for the same reason that a
good converser is never insipid.
The influence of the countenance, especially
of the eye, deserves emphasis. The reader loses
this in a great degree, since, when intent upon the
manuscript, his eye cannot be seen by the audi-
ence; the play of his features is lost. When look-
ing away from the paper and repeating a sentence
his face cannot light up as does his who speaks
directly to the people. The "blood earnestness"
of Chalmers could rise above this disability, but it
was a triumph involving some loss of power.
* Lectures to My Students.
14
Comparison of /llbo&e0— IRea&lng
Complete sympathy with an audience, including
the effect of action and reaction, is attained only tRcflot
by the extemporizer; and its effect is incalculable '"^"«"*«»
upon the nature which can respond to it. There
is no more powerful extraneous intellectual and
moral stimulant. William Pitt's reply when ac-
cused of unduly exciting the people was, "Elo-
quence is not in the man; it is in the assembly."
On one occasion a part of the manuscript of Lyman
Beecher, founder of the Beecher genus of orators,
slipped away from him. A gentleman attempting
to return them was met with this exclamation,
"Let them alone; they have been a trouble to me
all the time ; this bottle won't hold the wine of this
press."
Upon the announcement of the death of Presi- Aocmorabie
dent Garfield a memorial meeting was held in '""stcation.
Exeter Hall, London. James Russell Lowell,
then minister of the United States to the Court of
St. James, presided, and read with classic elegance
a tribute. Nothing could have been more fitting.
It was received with calmness, intellectual interest,
and a due sense of its pathos. After another had
spoken Bishop Simpson, of Philadelphia, Pa., was
introduced, and for a few moments spoke with a
singular intonation and manner characteristic of
him. As he proceeded his voice became trem-
ulous, and there was pathos in his aspect; he
stood as one entranced; there came a spontaneous
»5
Extemporaneous ©rator^
burst in which he referred to the intimate relations
between Enghind and the United States; to the
queen, her sore bereavement when Prince Albert
died, her message of sympathy to Mrs. Garfield,
and with intense fervor exclaimed, " God bless
Queen Victoria!" It was so unexpected that
the whole audience rose and cheered. Mr. Lowell
appeared perplexed, as if not quite understanding
the situation or recognizing the propriety of such
an outburst, but as it continued and the people
seemed to lose themselves he joined in the dem-
onstration. In the midst of the tumult the orator
stood with folded arms, apparently as calm as
though he were some fabled god invoking a
mighty force.
He placidly resumed, but afterward there were
two similar responsive manifestations.
A few days later I said to him, "Bishop, was
the paragraph which produced that wonderful
result committed ?"
"No," he replied; "I will confess to you I was
as much surprised as Mr. Lowell at the effect of
my words." Bishop Simpson was in that half-
trance into which an earnest speaker sometimes
; Hutocrat falls. The fidelity of the generic descriptions com-
posed long before by Oliver Wendell Holmes was
that day confirmed.
"And so the orator— 1 do not mean the poor
slave of a manuscript who takes his thought
16
m frcsb inspi;
ration.
Gompar(son of /IftoDes— IRcaMnci
starched and stiffened from its mold, but the im-
passioned speaker who pours it forth as it flows
coruscating from the furnace — the orator only be-
comes our master at the moment when he him-
self is surpassed, captured, taken possession of, by
a sudden rush of fresh inspiration. How well we
know the flash of the eye, the thrill of the voice,
which are the signal and the symbol of nascent
thought — thought just merging into conscious-
ness, in which condition, as is the case with the
chemist's elements, it has a combining force at
other times wholly unknown! " *
It must not be supposed that Bishop Simpson
had neglected preparation. His thoughts in va-
rious parts of the address bore the marks of care-
ful premeditation,
A great advantage possessed by a spontaneous n^aptabiutv
speaker is that he can adapt himself to circum-
stances. If a reader has adequately prepared, and
the situation is what he expected it to be, he may
achieve a high oratorical triumph; but if the cir-
cumstances have materially altered, and he be
wholly confined to notes, he is powerless.
* Mechanism in Thought and Morals, p. 54.
17
3£jtemporaneou6 ©ratocg
CHAPTER IV
TRecttfng
Memorizers may attain extraordinary power.
Examples are found in Demosthenes, Massillon,
Thomas Guthrie, William Morley Punshon, Ed-
ward Everett, George Whitefield — to a consider-
able extent a reciter — and Daniel Webster, in most
ol his formal orations. This method is liable to
certain defects which cannot be avoided except by
an amount of preparatory study and repetition not
compatible with frequent appearances before the
same audience, unless as the result of labors so
great as to threaten premature mental or physical
failure.
Ttbec^efn Natural expression of the eye is frequently de-
eciipsc. stroyed or obscured during recitation; it turns
inward and upward, and a skilled observer can
determine whether the speaker is unwinding or
weaving his paragraphs. This incipient turning
appears when the individual, though but for the
fraction of a second, finds his phraseology not at
his tongue's end. When the expression of the eye
is thus changed one cannot affect his hearers by it,
except those who, perceiving the eye in that con-
dition, are so innocent as to imagine that the orator
is obtaining inspiration from some mystic source.
i8
IRccltinQ
An actor does not purpose to address the au-
dience. When not soliloquizing he is attending to
what is going on about him on the stage. He
addresses only the one to whom he is speaking,
who on his part is watching for the word which
is his cue. The audience listen and observe as
though these proceedings were in real life and the
actors unconscious of observation. Hence the ex-
pression of the actor's eye is not, ordinarily, one
of the principal means of communicating to the
audience his sentiments and feelings.
The effect upon gesticulation of reciting is un- ©botmctten
favorable, since unprepared gestures, to be appro- **' ^^'^^^
priate, must receive their impulse from the com-
mon centers of thought and feeling. But when
words have been previously elaborated without
gestures the orator must select those suitable, and
so impress them upon the memory that they will
accompany that which is spoken.
This requires as much study as the actor gives
to his part, yet only thus can the reciter fully pre-
pare for his performance. While an occasional
oration may be thus composed and rehearsed, and
one often repeated may thus be delivered, he who
addresses the same audience frequently, or is com-
pelled to do so at short notice, rarely has time for
such arduous toil, and is in risk of being mechan-
ical and incongruous.
The contrast in effectiveness between the
19
lErtemporariCOus ©rator^
efforts of such speakers, when they have had
adequate time to prepare and when they have
hastily composed and committed a discourse, viv-
idly illustrates the operation of these principles.
Reflex action from the audience, so helpful to
the extemporizer, is liable to disturb the declaimer
of committed passages. One of the most eminent
of those employing this method was constantly
fearful of some influence from the assembly
which would distract him. He was accustomed
to say that he never felt himself fully ready until
he could deliver his address without hesitation in
an empty house, and never deemed himself out of
danger when speaking in public until the audience
had heard the last word.
scif=forgc& The production of the speaker from memory
frequently partakes too much of the nature of a
completed fabric. He begins at a high rate of
speed before he has established sympathetic rela-
tions with his audience, to whom he seems "full
of sound and fury," This peculiarity adheres to
some who have attained success. Those who
listen to them regularly do not notice it, but fre-
quently strangers are amused or perturbed by it
until conquered by the orator's real force, intel-
lectual, physical, and moral.
A. Melville Bell upon this subject wisely says :
"Repetition from memory requires a very high
degree of elocutionary skill to counteract the ten
20
chains.
TRccitlnci
dency to hurry in delivery; to continuative and
indefinite tones; to the drawling, sentential tune,
and other mannerisms, as exemplified by unskill-
ful memoriter speakers of all classes, sacred and
profane, on the stage, not less than in the pulpit."*
Like the reader, one who speaks absolutely
memoriter can take no advantage of an unex-
pected situation. Although the public mind may
be absorbed in a momentous event which has oc-
curred, or is imminent, which the speaker did not
contemplate in his preparation, and though a
ludicrous or startling circumstance should tran-
spire, he is incapable either of protecting himself
from or assisting himself by it. If called upon
suddenly, he is weak; and unless his memory
be stored with compositions suited to various
emergencies, he is compelled to decline or disap-
point expectations.
The effort to commit to memory and deliver as at great cost
written is a severe tax on mind and body, and no
galley slave ever worked harder than do most u'ho
pursue this method. On this account many who
in early life have spoken memoriter, unable to en-
dure the perpetual strain, have resorted to the man-
uscript. The system has likewise a pernicious
effect upon spontaneous intellectual fertility. The
noted George Duefiei.d, of the Presbyterian com-
munion, who was long settled in Detroit, Mich.,
♦Address on Sermon Reading and Memoriter Delivery. Edinburgh.
21
JEjtempoi'ancou5 ©latoiy
informed me that during a quarter of a century he
spoke memoriter, and that after composing a dis-
course he could commit it to memory in from two
to three hours so as to deliver it verbatim, but find-
ing that it diminished the productiveness of his
mind, he adopted the method of reading.
Uwe perilous A few orators, able to write on the paper and
^^' the brain at the same instant, on rising from the
completion of their task have been capable of
repeating what they had written without the
change of a syllable. Such gifts are rare, unless
the writing be done with extreme slowness, ac-
companied by careful meditation upon each word.
There is a type of mind that works at fever heat
and often under the influence of stimulants, writ-
ing up to the moment of delivery, and then recit-
ing with apparent fervor and with substantial ad-
herence to the manuscript. These orators reduce
the defects of the process to a minimum, but they
do so usually at serious cost. The former class
lose in enthusiasm and moving power; the latter
pay the price of a profuse expenditure of vital-
ity, besides being extremely liable to fall into
the pernicious practice of extemporaneous writ-
ing,
a spcdai form A peculiar form of speaking memoriter is that
of memort3tnfl. practiced by those who, having composed every
sentence mentally without writing, deliver what
has thus been perfected without omissions or addi-
22
IRccttlng
tions. Because less mechanical this mode is pref-
erable to taking the forms into the mind through
the eye after having placed them upon the paper.
But it has several defects, the most important of
which are that it is didactic in style and monot-
onous in delivery; hence it does not usually
kindle enthusiasm or move the passions, although
it may please, instruct, and convince. It is best
adapted to an assembly of scholars, the lectures
of a professor, and the delivery of arguments be-
fore courts of appeal.
The extemporizer has a capital advantage over Hnfnestfmabu
the reader and the reciter, in that at all times he is «^^»"*»8«*
ready to expound, defend, illustrate, or enforce
his opinions. He can speak in the shop or in the
drawing room as readily as upon the rostrum, in
courts of justice, halls of legislation, or in the
pulpit; and every conversation in private the
better prepares him for what may be demanded
of him in public. Whereas many a profound and
elegant writer is mute without his manuscript,
and many an impressive and convincing declaimer
is unable, in conversation, to vindicate or eluci-
date his sentiments.
23
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
possible
impvcvcnictit
on rcatiiui
eiclusivclg.
CHAPTER V
/IRijeD /llbetboDs
The combining of reading and reciting in tiie
same address is an improvement upon either alone,
since wlien tiie speaker turns from his manu-
script and recites a passage it may have the
effect of an outburst. Yet if the recited matter be
similar in style to the other parts, the discriminating
soon discern that it is merely reading without the
book. As a rule, reading is the best manner of pre-
senting matter which is written to be read, and of
which in any event the greater part must be read.
Reading in part and extemporizing in part are
more effective than the use of the manuscript ex-
clusively. This was one of the methods of that
many-sided man, Henry Ward Beecher. Yet ordi-
narily the attempt is hazardous if the orator be
a good extemporaneous speaker, and disastrous if
he be not. It encounters the perils of length and
repetition. On several occasions I saw Mr. Beecher
turn away and with marvelous power speak ex-
temporaneously, then return to the manuscript
and repeat the substance of what he had delivered
with so much force. Before the repetition became
offensively noticeable, under the influence of an-
other inspiration he would so fascinate his hear-
24
fti'S as to make them torget that he had a manu-
script. Without genius this would have been
impossible.
Unless the orator has mastered the invaluable
arts of composing in the style in which the best
extemporizers speak, and reading as though he
were speaking, there is a marked difference be-
tween what is read and what is improvised. A
few fine samples of this work have appeared (par-
ticularly in the United States) in several professions,
so that the orations, if published as read, would be
supposed to have been delivered extemporaneously.
In such a case a person having his memory so
trained as not to repeat what he had read might
extemporize without a marked transition of style,
and turn to the manuscript for his peroration.
One of the most com;non and injurious effects
of this method is that the speaker, enjoying his
own oratory, will continue until he has the ap-
pearance of having run down, and then, with a
blank expression of countenance, be compelled to
fly for refuge to his notes. As eloquence consists
in weaving a spell over the assembly, a disappear-
ance of expression from a speaker's face for even
a second may cause a relaxation of his grasp, dif-
ficult, perhaps impossible, for him to renew.
A joint use of the extemporaneous and the
recitative has marked advantages, and is to be uncertain,
commended to those who cannot trust themselves
C3) 25
promlsfrnj but
Ejtemporaneou0 ©ratocg
TUnfeuc eiblbb
t(on of mental
macblnerK.
wholly to the former. But it is extremely difficult
to adjust it gracefully and forcefully. Transitions
of style are usually obvious, extemporized portions
being spoken more swiftly or more slowly than
the recited. Emphasis and accent are different,
and gesticulation undergoes a noticeable change.
The reciter is prone to proceed more rapidly than
when he extemporizes; at other times, according
to the strength of his memory or his excitability
when uttering words not previously prepared, he
may speak more slowly. A lawyer delivered a
Fourth of July oration in preparation for which
he had composed perhaps ten epigrams and half
as many paragraphs, some consisting of at least
three times that number of sentences, and had
committed theSe to memory, expecting to extem-
porize the connective tissue. What he had learned
he recited perfectly; what he extemporized he
delivered under slight embarrassment, and his
course resembled that of a man crossing a bridge
some of the planks of which were weak and
others strong. He fairly leaped when he came to
one of his committed paragraphs, and it was
obvious that he rejoiced in spirit; but more than
once his hesitation and awkwardness were pitiable.
The highest gift of extemporization is usually
like a spirited steed, which cannot be driven
double, or like a jealous maiden, who will not
brook divided attentions.
26
Comparative Banger ot jfailure
CHAPTER VI
Comparative Danger ot failure
It is pertinent to inquire whetlier tlie extem-
porizer be not more liable to fail than he who pur-
sues one of the other methods.
That the best extemporizer may fail must be ac- ubemcmo*
knowledged, since for their effects all the organs rt3er'8evcr=
^ ' . , , ., present &an^er,
employed depend upon change of particles; but if
master of the art, he is much less liable to do so
than the memorizer. Of the intellectual faculties
memory — considered as servant of the will — is the
most treacherous because most subject to impair-
ment. It is most dependent upon physical condi-
tions; its decline is usually coincident with the
earliest, and frequently the unrecognized, ap-
proaches of old age; its failure is often the first
symptom of that characteristic malady of a high
civilization — neurasthenia; and extreme bodily or
mental fatigue temporarily paralyzes it. Whoever
commits a written composition to memory does
so chiefly either by sound or sight, although a few
nearly equally combine both methods. If by sight,
one has a memorial image of the page and of the
words upon the page as he recites. Should there
be the slightest failure of memory, he cannot con-
tinue unless he can catch a mental glimpse of that
27
^Extemporaneous ©ratorg
page. Hence many after rewriting a discourse
find that, if the character of the paper has been
changed and the relation of sentences to the lines
has been modified, they have to recommit the
entire discourse. Others make much use of the
page, but learn by reading and speaking aloud
and maintain their fluency by sound, so that the
real stimulator of their minds is the sound of the
last word. Therefore the rate of speed must be
quite uniform. An unusual pause from any cause
may completely confuse them.
Of all failures those of famous memorizing
preachers have sometimes been the most hopeless
and pitiful. I knew one of them to meet with a
disaster in this way, which led him forever to re-
nounce public speaking. The renowned French
orator, Bourdaloue, often preached w^'th his eyes
partly or wholly shut, lest he should see some-
thing which would cause him to forget.
The possessor of a well-written manuscript, the
contents of which are appropriate to the situation,
Cbc reader's Cannot utterly fail, provided he does not encounter
pitfalls. fQ^,| ,,jj.^ unfavorable acoustics, or imperfect light.
Manuscripts, however, may be lost, stolen, acci-
dentally left at home, or in a trunk which has gone
astray.
A clergyman of New York had prepared with
greatest care a farewell sermon. It was completed
on Saturday afternoon, and leaving it upon the
28
Comparative Danger of failure
table, he went forth for relaxation. On his return,
it had disappeared. The brownstone house in
which he lived was in the suburbs, and in the
vacant lots adjacent to it goats had free range.
Looking out of the open window, with dismay he
beheld one of those undiscriminating gourmands
in the act of devouring the last page of his manu-
script. It did not console him to be told that the
goat might be expected to give " the sincere milk
of the word."
A Baptist minister, proposing to exchange with
the pastor of a neighboring Presbyterian church,
selected four of his discourses and laid them upon
the study table to be examined upon his return
from a pastoral call. He made the choice, and the
next morning ascended the Presbyterian pulpit, Emban-assiiw
and at the fit time began to read. In a little while, position.
to his horror, he found himself in the midst of a
denunciation of infant baptism, but he had read so
much that it was impossible to make a change.
Pausing, he said: "1 trust that the congregation
will not suppose me capable of taking advantage
of a pulpit exchange to attack one of its cherished
tenets. 1 did not think when selecting this dis-
course that it contained such a passage as this, but
I must ask you to allow me to read to the con-
clusion of it, for 1 am sure that something more
suited to the occasion will reward your indul-
gence." After reading a few paragraphs he es-
29
rcmtntsccncc.
E|temporancou0 ©ratocg
caped from the inappropriate theme and led the
people out of their perplexity into green pastures
and beside still waters. Inquiry elicited the fact
that the maid, while sweeping, had raised the
windows, and a breeze had scattered the leaves of
these four discourses, which were written upon
paper of two different sizes. She had gathered
and classified them by shape, and the passage of
infant baptism thus became a part of the one
which he had chosen.
®r. iparfe'0 When delivering a course of lectures upon this
subject at Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary
I passed an evening with Professor Edwards A.
Park, who informed me that an incident of which
he was cognizant had caused him to urge upon
students the mastery of the extemporaneous
method.
The members of a local Congregational associa-
tion came together for one of the regular meetings.
A minister had been appointed to preach, but
owing to a difficulty of the throat he was unable
to fulfill the engagement; information of his dis-
qualification did not arrive until the congregation
had assembled. The committee went in succes-
sion to nearly every member of the association,
hoping to secure a substitute. Some had no manu-
scripts with them, others none that were suitable,
others none with which they were so familiar as
to be able to serve at short notice; and so, from
30
Comparative Danger ot ^failure
one cause or another, all declined. They were
about to dismiss the congregation, when some one
noticed a neighboring Methodist preacher; the
situation being explained to him, he consented to
preach.
"Whether," said Professor Park, "he intended
to satirize the dependence of Congregational min-
isters upon manuscripts I do not know, but he
ascended the pulpit and delivered a sound and dis-
criminating discourse from the text, 'Then the
foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for
our lamps are gone out.' "
So numerous are the dangers of those who de-
pend wholly upon reading that one of the most
celebrated of them confessed that he never felt
quite at ease until he had reconnoitered the ground.
A public speaker proficient in the art of extem- ©rcatcr secure
porizmg, and never voluntarily neglecting prepara- tcmponjcr.
tion,seldom or never fails; should he do so, it is from
causes which would make success by any method
impossible. Few successful jury lawyers, who
attend strictly to the duties of their profession,
meet with disaster, and the best extemporaneous
preachers are among the most reliable. Wherever
they go they carry their acquisitions, their force
of abstract thought, their calm reliance upon the
laws of association, and the certainty that, if while
they are musing the fire burns, they will be able
to speak with their tongues. They know, further,
31
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
that if, unhappily, their emotions are not stirred,
they will still be able to elaborate thought in a
lucid and instructive manner.
The genuine extern porizer is never exactly the
same on two occasions. He may frequently dis-
cuss the same subject, but he cannot repeat ser-
mons or speeches. He will always be moved, if
not by the emotion which is produced by the
operation of a divine afflatus, by that which is
untuitivc inherent in this form of mental and physical ac-
asaptation. ^^^^^ jj- j^^ addresses scholars, and is himself a
man of culture, by a reflex influence he will in
style be elevated to their height. If he speaks to
colliers, he may without conscious effort so speak
that they will hear gladly because they will under-
stand him and feel him.
1 doubt whether even to the reader should be
conceded greater security, for when he might be
too ill to read the extemporizer might reach, and
under such circumstances often has reached, his
highest altitude.
33
©encral ipreparatton
CHAPl'ER Vn
©encial {Preparation
Every extemporaneous address is the product
of the whole man — mind, heart, voice — every
supporting and expressing organ contributing in
varying degrees of energy.
If there be thought only, the impulse to speak
will be wanting; if there be feeling only, the sole
products must be exclamations and gestures; and
though there be thought and feelmg, in the absence
of language the result must be pantomime.
Relatively to a particular public effort general comparative
, ^, . • importance of
preparation is more necessary to the extemporizer .^cncrai ans
than to the reader oi the reciter; and special special prcpa
^preparation more important to the reader, who
must prepare a manuscript, and to the reciter, who
must not only prepare his words, but so deeply
impress them upon his memory that no external or
mterna! distraction can cause him to omit or falter.
An extemporaneous address is an emergency in
every form of activity which can affect thought,
emotion, language, and expression. The grade of
the effort rises or falls according to the normal
strength and unimpeded exercise of the faculties,
and to the character of the instruments provided
for their use.
33
Bjtcmporancous ©ratorfi
Neither law books, commentaries, cyclopedias,
dictionaries, nor works ot particular authors in art,
literature, theology, or science can be consulted by
the extemporizer while speaking, but they may
be leisurely examined by him who is preparing to
read or recite. The former must aim to be an
animate cyclopedia with reference to those sub-
jects on which he presumes to speak, and must
have the power of criticising the facts, principles,
and expressions which seek utterance, rejecting
the doubtful, the indelicate, the inaccurate.and sum-
moning on the instant words which, if fitly spoken,
shall be as '* apples of gold in pictures of silver."
iLanmiage an6 It is frequently asserted that a speaker should
tbouabt. attend primarily to thought, and that then language
may be trusted to take care of itself. This is true
with respect to a particular effort about to be
made; but since, with the possible exceptions
previously noted, there can be no thought without
mental root words or signs, and every word,
the meaning of which is understood, deposits a
thought in the mind at the same instant that it
imbeds itself in the brain, the acquisition of lan-
guage is the acquisition of ideas and facts under
such circumstances that ever afterward the thought
will suggest the word and the word the thought.
Therefore, in securing a general preparation for
extemporaneous oratorv. language precedes the
intentional accumulation of thought,
34
fSieee ot Xanguage
CHAPTER Vin
"dses of Xanguaae
The primary use of language is to express
thought. The saying is attributed to Talleyrand
that "a tongue was given to man in order that he
might conceal his thought; " but the only way in
which a man can conceal thought by the use of the
tongue is by the utterance of false thought. Even
in that case the purpose of words is to express
thought which, though false to the man who
utters it, is intended to seem true to the man who
hears it.
A secondary, but in modern Anglo-Saxon civil-
ization fundamental, use of language is to express
feeling, to do which one may make choice among
several methods. The simplest is to state his feel-
ings; affirm that he is glad or sad, angry or afraid.
Or he may employ exclamations which in their
root forms are common to people of every kindred,
tribe, and tongue, and which the heart of human
nature will interpret.
A refined and often the most impressive way of
making one's feelings known is merely to describe
them.
When John Wesley promulgated his peculiar
view of the higher life various names were speed-
35
Vehicle of
tbougbt.
IRcvealcr of
emotion.
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
Expression
of tbougbt
an^ feeling
compace^.
ily attached to it, such as "Perfection," "Chris-
tian perfection," "Entire sanctification," "The
higher life," and such cant phrases as " The second
blessing" or "The having attained." This was
displeasing to Wesley, who instructed his votaries
not to give any name to the blessing. "Avoid,"
said he, "all magnificent, pompous words; indeed,
you need give it no general name — neither perfec-
tion, sanctification, the second blessing, nor the
having attained. Rather speak of the things
which God hath wrought for you."
Another method is to portray the situation and
permit human nature, which answers to itself "as
in water face answereth to face," to infer the
condition.
A pioneer missionary, who afterward rose to a
position of world-wide influence, was, during his
absence from home, bereaved of a daughter who
was fatally burned. She had always been first to
welcome him when he returned from long mis-
sionary journeys. Speaking of it to an assembly,
he told how she used to hasten to greet him, and
tremulously said, " I asked for my daughter, and
they showed me a handful of ashes." Such sim-
plicity and pathos made far deeper impression than
could have resulted from the most elaborate
rhetorical delineation.
A radical difference exists between the effect
of words in the communication of thought and
36
"dses ot Xanguage
their effect in tlie expression of feeling. If one
has made known an idea, it is in the possession
of his audience. He knows that he has uttered it,
and if he possesses the oratorical instinct, discerns
, , T- • 1 Exasperating
that they understand. To reiterate may be per- repetition,
mitted once or endured twice, but a speaker will
be contemned who is perceived to be diluting his
thought or lepeating his words.
It "is not so with the expression of feeling. One
may affirm that he has reason to be angry; as he
affirms this he becomes more angry, and if his
auditors sympathize with him, their indignation is
increased. If there be common cause, he may re-
peat until he approaches a crisis of emotion.
Unde\ such conditions there is no perception of
repetition in the speaker's own consciousness or
in that of the assembly, for they are fused into one
mind and one heart. This peculiarity is illustrated
in political campaigns, religious revivals, and in
time of war. When a high state of feeling is ex-
cited, provided the speaker expresses his own
feelings and those of the people, and so long as
yet more feeling is aroused or that which exists is
not checked, it matters little what words are
uttered. A stenographer taking down what is
said on such extraordinary occasions will discover
afterward nothing sufficient to account for the
effect. Often official reporters become absorbed
in the universal contagion and are unable to record
37
12 00^ *
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
Suftortfnatc to
pereoiialit^.
Werbal wiles.
the words, or if they make the attempt, to
interpret their own signs.
A speaker addressed the Reichstag in a most
effective manner, and Bismarck, noticing one of
his acquaintances weeping, made a somewhat
satirical remark to him, receiving the reply, " You
have no heart." The next morning, when a ver-
batim report of that speech appeared, Bismarck
took it to his friend, and said, "Now, will you
point out to me the passage which would have
melted me to tears if 1 had what you call a
heart .f*" The man eagerly took the paper, but on
reading it acknowledged that the speech was re-
ported correctly, yet confessed that it did not
seem to him then as it did the day before.
Language can be used as an adornment of
thought, and it may be so used in the absence of
sense or in direct contradiction of it. Much gen-
uine poetry is incapable of literal interpretation
without being reduced to absurdity. This
accounts for many erroneous interpretations of the
Holy Scriptures. There remain those who believe
that the figures in the Book of Revelation are liter-
ally true, notwithstanding the fact that in parts of
that book explicit statements are made of their
symbolical character. The poverty of human lan-
guage is such that the grandest ideas require figura-
tive utterances, and the Church sings of "the
saints' secure abode beyond the bounds of time
38
TUscs of Xanguage
and space," and "looks forward to that heavenly
place" with glorious hope.
The rhythm of poetry sometimes obscures the
fact that sense is contradicted. A poem which
opposed reason in every figure was recited so
beautifully that hardly anyone in the audience
discerned its utter nonsense:
■* 'Tis sweet to roam when morning's light
Resounds across the glen ;
When the laughing lights of the woodbine bright
Haunt the ethereal fen ;
When at noon the bloodshot moon
Is bathed in crumbling dew.
And the wolf rings out his glittering shout.
To-whit. to-whit, to-v/hoo.'*
He IS fortunate or unobservant who has not senseless
learned that some orators of fame have delighted pbraseoioas.
their auditors with passages destitute of meaning.
A minister, widely known in New England, thus
addressed an assembly of twelve hundred: "Often,
beloved friends, in my meditations have I tried to
fancy the exact location of that blest abode to
which, after the vicissitudes of this earthly life,
we all hope to come. And one evening as I sat
gazing with rapture upon the most splendid setting
sun which, as I thought, 1 had ever witnessed, 1
seemed to hear a whisper, sweetly, softly, saying,
' Heaven is back, far back, of the celestial hills that
circumscribe the precincts of the eternal sphere.' "
39
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
The audience received this geographical state-
ment with expressions of delight and rapturous
hope, and one more enthusiastic than others, or
less restrained by the revelation, ejaculated.
"Glory." But what had the would-be seer
affirmed ? Heaven is back — a simple conception.
Far back — the conception becomes slightly com-
plex, but easily comprehended. Far back of the
celestial hills — lofty mountain ranges bounded
the horizon where this rhapsody was uttered and
the mind hastened on in search of the climax.
Heaven is back, far back, of the celestial hills that
circumscribe — this almost revealed "the gates
ajar;" it is a clear boundary line. That circum-
scribe the precincts — the heart stands still. That
circumscribe the precincts of the eternal — that is.
the heavenly — sphere.
Translated into plain English: Heaven is fai
back of what is a long distance in front of it.
This was all; yet it was delightful to hear; the
voice of the speaker was mellifluous, and his ex-
pression of countenance that of one rapt.
Eitemporucrs Doubtless he who intends to extemporize hopes
cannot seek to make a temperate use of the ornamental, but
ornaments. ^^\-^\\Q speaking he cannot turn aside for flowers
or diamonds. If the current of his thoughts and
feelmgs conducts him where flowers bloom or
jewels sparkle, he may take them up. but it is
possible that a fragment of granite will follow
40
"Qlscs of Xanguage
a sapphire, a sunflower a rose, and the root of
a tree a graceful vine. His speech is rathei
like the diversified luxuriousness of a semi-
tropical region, where tropical flowers bloom side
by side with those of the temperate zone, with an
occasional specimen of growth indigenous in
regions beyond the Arctic circle. All that he can
hope for is that the granite will be genuine, the
flower perfect of its kind, and that no soil will
cling to the root.
(4) 41
Ejtempovancous Oratorg
Us tberc an
organ of
language 1
CHAPTER DC
pbgslological asasls of Speecb
The earlier phrenologists assumed the existence
of an organ of language, and professed ability to
determine its relative size.
I was examined by O. S. Fowler on two occa-
sions, with an interval of eight years, and was
mortified to be informed that my organ of lan-
guage is small, and that I should be embarrassed
through life on account of difficulty in finding
words to express ideas. The diagnosis and prog-
nosis were so interesting that 1 requested the ex-
aminer to write them for me, which he did. On
the second occasion, not recognizing me as the
individual whom he had previously examined,
though again referring to my defect, he suggested
that 1 might derive some aid in expression from
mental activity, which would enable an "inferior
organ of language " to do more than ordinary
work, " as a small engine with an unusual pres-
sure of steam might do more work than a larger
engine with less steam."
On my relating this circumstance to Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes he responded, "As well might
you undertake to tell by the knobs on a fireproof
safe the denomination and amount of money
42
Ipbgsiologlcal JBasis or Speecb
inside as to tell by the bumps on a man's head
what are his characteristics."
Within the last forty years astonishing progress
has been made in the study of the anatomy, physi-
ology, and pathology of the brain, and within two
decades a flood of light has been shed upon its re-
lation to memory in the revival and combination
of words.
In hospitals for the mentally diseased can be 2,igbt6bc6on
found many cases of aphasia, a condition in which abnormal,
there is partial or complete loss either of the ex-
pression or the comprehension of the conven-
tional signs of language; these not springing from
a defect in any of the external organs or nerves,
but from a difficulty in the cortical centers of the
brain. There are many forms of this disease. In
some there is an inability to execute the move-
ments of the mouth, the muscles not being
paralyzed, though not coordinated. There are cases
of agraphia, in which, when complete, there is an
inability to write spontaneously or from dictation,
or to copy any letter or word ; not as a result of
the disease known as writer's cramp, but of some
deep-seated difficulty in the brain. Some aphasics
can write correctly, but cannot speak; others can
speak, but are unable to write. The x\^^x\-\t amnesia
is given to another malady which appears some-
times in a simple loss of memory of words. Again
the patient may be unable to understand spoken
43
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
words, or the defect may include only those writ-
ten or printed.
There are those who have lost the power of
communicating ideas in the proper words, while
others can utter the words, but cannot frame them
grammatically. Still others cannot arrange words
in properly connected sentences; others produce
the words, but with an abnormal, strangely per-
plexing slowness of speech, while some pour forth
many words in such a manner as to express no
meaning. These diseases can exist without being
accompanied by illusion, delusion, or hallucination,
and they have appeared in masters of their native
tongue, either m writing or speaking, and occa-
sionally in those who have been masters of both
writing and speaking,
©rfgjn of these The dependence of all these upon the state ol
maladies, ^]^g brain has been demonstrated by various ex-
periments and by post-mortem examinations.
Professor H. Charlton Bastian, M.D., F.R.S.,
Censor of the Royal College of Physicians of Lon-
don, delivered, beginning April i, 1897, a series
of lectures, which have been published in The Lan-
cet, on *' Some Problems in Connection with
Aphasia and Other Speech Defects." They are
based upon and illustrate the present state of
scientific knowledge concerning the faculty of
articulate language. His opening paragraph is:
"The modern interest in and development of
44
Mscovcttcg,
pbBslologlcal asasls of Spcecb
knowledge concerning aphasia and other speech
defects date from the publication of certain
memoirs by Broca, some six and thirty years
since, when he attempted to localize what he
termed the 'faculty of articulate language' in a
limited convolutional region of the left cerebral jBroca'a
hemisphere. The publication of his cases and
conclusions formed the starting point for a whole
new series of investigations, whose result has been
a remarkable development in our knowledge of
the localization of functions in the cerebral cortex,
while the discussions to which these investigations
have given rise have materially helped to lead to a
better understanding of the working of the com-
plex cerebral mechanism needed for the carrying on
of speech and thought. We are thus at the present
day capable of dealing with the subject of speech
defects from a much broader basis of discovered
facts, as well as with a greater critical insight, than
was at all possible at, or even long after, the time
when Broca wrote his famous memoir. Very
much, however, remains to be discovered before
the many differences of opinion that exist concern-
ing obscure and complicated points in connection
with the nature and exact mode of the production
of speech defects are likely to be set at rest."
Professor Bastian states that, though he cannot
accept the hypothesis of a complete topographical
distinctness of the several sensory centers in the
45
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
Summar^S of
prof. 36aes
tian's invcss
tigations.
cerebral hemispheres, he considers it clear that
the cortex must contain certain sets of struc-
turally related cell and fiber mechanisms, whose
activity is associated with one or with another of
the several kinds of sensory endowment. From a
consideration of "the extremely important part
that words, either spoken or written, play in our
intellectual life, and the manner in which they are
interwoven with all thought processes," he holds
that "it is highly probable that most important
sections of the auditory and visual sensory centers
are devoted to the reception, and, secondly, to the
revival in thought, of impressions of words; and
for convenience of reference it is permissible to
speak of these operations as auditory and visual
word centers respectively."
In his first lecture he discusses the revival of
words for speech, shows it to be a very complex
process, and analyzes the mental operation and the
physical in reading aloud and in writing from dic-
tation.
The substance of the views of Dr. Bastian is
that there are two centers of kinaesthetic type —
that is, of sensations having a quality whereby one
is aware of one's positions and movements, espe-
cially those of the automatic type — a quality distinct
from the muscular sense. One of these centers is
related to articulation, and is named by him the
glosso-kincesthetic center; and the Other is related to
46
ff)bg6ioloc}ical JSasis ot Spcecb
the movements connected with writing, and
named the chiro-kiiuesthetic center.
Of the location of the former there is Httle doubt,
the place assigned to it being m the foot of the
third frontal and the inferior part of the ascending
frontal convolutions of the brain. Concerning the
location of the other center, Bastian admits much
more uncertainty, though he has an opinion upon
the subject. But besides these are the auditory
word center, and the visual word center, devoted
to the reception and to the revival in thought of centers ass
impressions of words. The existence of these is 't("n^uI;sett°S!
generally recognized, though the position in the
brain which they respectively occupy is a matter
of some uncertainty.
He holds, also, that besides these four centers
there must be connecting fibers, and maintains
that lesions relating to speech defects are to be
looked for in the word centers, in the commissures
connecting them, in the fibers uniting the two
kinoesthetic centers to their related motor centers,
and in the motor centers themselves.
Although, when an object makes an impression
on the brain, it strikes first on the perception cen-
ter to which it is naturally related, to prevent mis-
understanding Bastian emphasizes the fact that
"It immediately radiates so as to impinge upon
functionally related structures, all this taking place
so rapidly that the several excitations are practically
47
JEjtcmporaneous ©ratorg
ffrcncb
autboritics.
JSramwcIl's
conclusions.
simultaneous, and so the combined effects are
fused into one single perceptive act."
The value of these studies in speech defects is
in their contribution to a full understanding of the
normal methods of producing perfect speech.
Dejerine, a famous French authority, denies the
existence of a separate writing speech center, as
distinct from the ordinary motor centers for the
movements of the hand, maintaining that no case
has yet been recorded of pure agraphia without
other speech defects, and no undoubted case has
been placed on record in which a lesion of the
supposed writing speech center alone has produced
agraphia.
Charcot, the late French specialist on diseases
of the brain, assumes the existence of a center for
articulate language, which he believes to be divided
into subcenters — a visual for words and an auditory
for words, indicating respectively the route by
which words enter the brain, and corresponding
to these a motor center of spoken, and a motor
center of written, language. All speech defects
originating in the brain he explains in harmony
with these distinctions.
Dr. Bramwell, a high English authority, pro-
ceeds upon the assumption, and furnishes instances
to prove that the action of the motor writing cen-
ter is, for the most part, under the direct control of
the visual speech center; but the existence of a
48
pbBsiological JSasis of Speccb
separate writing center is assumed by him and
supposed to be close to speech center.*
In support of this view he brings forward cases
of "word blindness," in which the patient is un-
able to write spontaneously — that is, from within as ibis gl•oun^8.
the result of stimulation from the visible speech
center — yet the power of writing to dictation is
preserved. In such cases it is reasonable to sup-
pose that there is a direct connection between the
auditory speech center and the motor writing cen-
ter. He holds that in persons who are accustomed
to write much, and especially in those who write
to dictation, it is probable that the motor writing
speech center may be thrown into action either
by the visual speech center or by the auditory
speech center — that is, whether the person sees or
hears what he is to write. He argues, contrary to
the usually accepted opinion, that when the nerv-
ous impulses are excited the act of writing passes
directly from the visual speech center to the writing
center, and not, as is usually supposed, indirectly
through the motor vocal speech center.
Dr. Bramwell also claims that while the leading
or driving speech center is in the left hemisphere
of the brain this does not show that the corre-
sponding center in the right hemisphere is inert
and has no speech function; and he adduces cases
to show that when the left center is disturbed by
*Dr. Byrom Bramwell's Lectures, London Lancet, March 20, 1897,
49
jEi'temporaneoue ©ratorg
^'rfcslngcr's
analysis.
Jfacts access
eible to all.
disease the right has been found capable of being
trained to tai<e up and carry on the function. It
is held by most authorities that in the case of left-
handed persons the right hemisphere of the
brain contains the driving speech and writing
centers.
On this subject Griesinger, a learned German
investigator, says: "A leading characteristic of all
severe cases of idiocy is the complete absence of
speech, so that not even the attempt is ever made,
or speech so very imperfect as to be called 'idiotic
dumbness ' (not depending upon want of hearing).
It depends upon want of ideas, or want of reflex
action from the perceptive to the motor faculties
and the mechanism of speech ; the first have noth-
ing to say, the second have ' no desire to speak.
.... The relations of speech are so interwoven
with the whole process of mental development,
and so necessary to the education and intellectual
advancement, that the classification of idiots
according to their capability of speaking (gener-
ally into three degrees) is one of the best that can
be established."*
Phenomena within the range of common obser-
vation, especially the changes that take place in
advanced years with respect to the power of
speech, confirm in a striking manner the hypothe-
ses of biologists upon this subject, and an analogy
♦Griesinger on Mental Diseases, p. 370.
50
IpbKStolOQlcal JBasis of Spcccb
can be traced between the effects of brain degen-
eration in men and in sub-animals.
The gray parrot, the most intelligent of its
species, lives to a great age. Authentic cases of
their passing sixty years are adduced. According
to Le Vaillant, one which had lived in the family
of Mr. Menick Huyser, at Amsterdam, for thirty-
two years had previously passed forty-one with
that gentleman's uncle, who bequeathed it to his
nephew. When Le Vaillant saw it the bird, hav-
ing lost its sight and memory, had lapsed into a sort
of lethargic condition, and was fed at intervals with
biscuit dipped in Madeira. In the days of its vigor
it used to speak with distinctness, repeat many
sentences, fetch its master's slippers, call the serv-
ants, and so forth. At the age of sixty its memory
began to fail, and instead of acquiring new phrases
it began very perceptibly to lose those which it
had learned, and to intermix, in a discordant man-
ner, the words of its former language. Similar,
though less pronounced, cases have been seen in
green parrots, trained bullfinches, and mocking
birds.
In 1896 the following communication appeared
in the Evening Post, of New York:
**7b the Editor of the Evening Post:
** Sir : In your issue of November 2 you have an
article entitled 'Vagaries of the Memory,' which
SI
senne Be*
menttflu -
ntcntoct*
£j;temporancou0 ©ratorg
reminds me forcibly of an instance in my own
family.
"My mother, a sister of General Meade, was born
in Spain, and lived there until she was four years
old, at which time her parents returned to this
country and settled in Philadelphia. For some
years Spanish was the only language spoken in
the family; but when old enough my mother and
her sisters were placed at Madame Se'going's board-
ing school, which in the early part of the century
was one of the most famous schools in the country.
There she finished her education, and throughout
her life had perfect control of the French language.
The Spanish, however, she entirely forgot. Now
for my 'instance.'
Ubc first 0baii "f^y mother's last illness was tedious, her mind
be last. -^
becoming gradually weakened; but long after she
had ceased to speak English she would talk fluently
in French. Then there came an interval toward
the close of her life when she did not speak at all;
but the last few words of all were Spanish.
"M. B. C
"Perth Amboy, N. J., November 3."
Works on the relation of the brain to the intel-
lectual faculties and upon comparative physiology
contain many similar cases.
If it be true, as is now generally held by leading
biologists and anatomists, and as the facts herein
52
pbgelolofllcal JSaefs of Specci)
presented seem to prove, that speaking and writ-
ing: depend upon complex mechanism imbedded practical value
. , / , , . , of these intucs
in the very structure of the bram, important con- tions.
elusions must follow, relating to the best forms of
practice having in view the attainment of the
greatest facility in speaking and writing, with the
least expenditure of vital force, and the mainte-
nance and improvement of the original power of
speech.
Some of these conclusions will be stated and
further illustrated, and their relation to these
physiological and pathological facts and principles
pointed out, but the subject is at present so involved,
so many investigators are at work upon it, and so
much remains undiscovered that it would not con-
tribute to the utility of this treatise to endeavor to
support such conclusions other than by tests ad-
mitting of observation, self-inspection, and experi-
ment by those who desire to perfect themselves in
extemporaneous oratory.
53
JEjtempoianeous ©raiorfi
CHAPTER X
3factor0 In JEvolutlon of Speccb
.TDentai motion. TURNING from the physiological basis of the
power of language to practical tests of the faculty
orally to express thought and feeling, it is evident
that whatever the method by which language has
been introduced into the mind, rate of mental mo-
tion is a controlling factor in producing facility in
its use. If two persons, mentally and physically
equal, were to describe a panorama of the cities ol
the world, the first, well acquainted with history
and geography, would recognize each picture and
describe it in appropriate language. Hours might
glide away without a moment's hesitation by the
speaker or any sense of weariness in those who
looked and listened.
The other appears before a similar audience with
the same panorama, but it is unrolled too slowly.
The second picture comes so tardily that, failing to
recognize it, he begins by saying, " 1 am now to
speak to you of St. Paul's — I beg pardon, I mean
Westminster Abbey." He apologizes, stating that
" it is the Parliament Houses which at the corner
appear much like the Abbey," and so goes on.
Equal in gifts and acquirements to his predecessor,
he is unable to speak without hesitation, contra-
54
3factoi'5 in ;evolution of Speccb
diction, and repetition because of the slow rate at
which the pictures pass before him.
When a panorama is employed ideas are evoked
from the speaker's memory by the figures upon
the canvas, and during ordinary public speaking
the ideas originate from an internal stimulus; the
rapidity with which they are presented to the
mind's eye produces a similar effect upon their
exhibition in words.
It is obvious that, in like manner, there may be
two men equal in all particulars except in this, that
the mind of one moves with rapidity and that of
the other slowly. The one, therefore, will be a
fluent, the other a hesitating or drawling, speaker.
This difference is often illustrated by a single
orator who, in beginning, finds it difficult to speak
easily, hesitates in the choice of words, stammers,
pauses long, but as he proceeds grows eloquent.
■Vividness of conception is another element in clearness ot
facility of speech. Imagine two panoramas — one
in which the pictures are imperfectly executed,
some being mere daubs or incomplete; the other
composed of masterpieces. Whatever the intel-
lectual ability or mental activity of an interpreter,
repetition, explanation, qualification, and slow
progress will characterize the utterances of him
who explains the former. The well-executed
work will make interesting a speaker of even ordi-
nary gifts. A fatal defect of many minds is that
55
vision.
Bjtemporancous ©rator^g
IDerbal
memory.
"dniaue povpcc
of £lin& Uom.
they see nothing clearly, and begin speaking be-
fore they know precisely what they mean to say.
Others perceive all things clearly; and one having
this power, though of slow mind, may speak more
coherently and fluently than another who, without
lucidity of thought, possesses greater animation.
The ability to recall words differs greatly in dif-
ferent persons. Relative to language there are
two kinds of memory. There is the recollection
of words regardless of their meaning, as when the
pupil commits a table of Latin exceptions. This
form of memory obviously depends more upon
the physical organs than does any other mental
achievement. A woman lived in New England
who was utterly destitute of reflective faculty; she
was almost an idiot, yet learned to read, and spent
from ten to fifteen hours daily reading books and
papers without deriving the least idea of their
meaning. Such was her memory of words that at
the age of sixty she was able, in spelling matches,
to surpass the brightest young people of the coun-
try. As unemotional as a phonograph, she would
spell any word that was given. The only way to
confound her was to propound words from scien-
tific dictionaries.
The phenomenon known to the world as Blind
Tom, in addition to his marvelous musical genius,
in his case principally a species of memory, pos-
sessed a power of this kind not so generally known.
56
^Factors In jEvorution of Speecb
I heard him deliver a speech of Senator Douglas's,
whom he had heard, with absolute fidelity to the
original in words and surprising similarity in
declamatory style.
Professor Addison Hogue, of Washington and
Lee University, has recently communicated to the
public an instructive experience:
In the spring of 1891 he was teaching in the
State University at Oxford, Miss., and was board-
ing at the hotel in which Blind Tom and his
manager had rooms. After referring to the
fact that Tom is not totally blind Professor
Hogue says: "Another discovery was that he was
not altogether the idiot I had heard he was. After
his musical exhibition was over I went up to talk
to him, in company with our professor of physics,
who wanted to see whether Tom's memory for
sounds was retentive for other than musical sounds.
So I repeated to Tom the imperfect active of a
Greek verb. To our great surprise Tom looked
at me and said, somewhat stammeringly, ' Th-th--
at's Greek.' We were informed that he could tell
many of the modern languages in the same way,
and in his room at the hotel he repeated the whole of
the Lord's Prayer in Greek with perfect accuracy." ®nc=st^e6
At the Earlswood Asylum for Idiots, in England,
i examined a number who were capable of learning
words in this way, but incapable of comprehend-
ing their meaning.
(5) 57
fccvclopmcnt.
Bjtempoiancous ©ratorg
©oubic grasp Another form of memory is the recollection ol
of memors. ^qj-,js vv'ith their meanings. This involves reflec-
tion and a mastery of the idea in the word. Many
who could not recollect Latin exceptions never
forget a word that has conveyed an idea to their
minds. Some who receive ideas through words
and retain the ideas find difficulty in calling the
words for expression. A meager vocabulary has
a tendency to impede speech and to render neces-
sary the frequent employment of the same word.
The susceptibility of being stimulated by words,
thoughts, and things, depending upon the "laws
of association," varies in strength in different indi-
viduals. By it things invisible are associated with
things visible to such an extent that no one can
foresee to what anything heard, seen, tasted,
smelled, felt, or thought will lead.
This susceptibility is remarkably responsive to
words, and in some minds it exerts such an influ-
ence that the mention of any idea-bearing word
will instantly suggest all the important occasions
in which they have known it to be used ; the pas-
sages in the Scriptures, in Shakespeare, in Bacon's
essays, or in laws, commentaries, and legal con-
tests, according to their tastes or professions, in
which that word occupies a conspicuous place.
In others the adherence of association is so weak
that stratagems are necessary to enable them to
recollect words or things.
58
sellable Siuigestlon
CHAPTER XI
Syllabic Suggestion
A PENETRATING analysis of the joint action of
mental and physical faculties in spoken language
discloses a subtle tendency which once recognized
renders many things easy to be understood that
otherwise would be inexplicable. I term it the
law of syllabic suggestion. When one has uttered
a syllable, that very syllable, by its reflex action
upon the mind, may determine the next word he
will utter ; and if other causes are in operation, which
last uttered syllable is liable to be one of the strong-
est among them. I have often tested this prop-
erty of the mind, and have no doubt that when
extemporizing and wholly absorbed in the process,
very frequently, if there be more than one word that
would express my idea, the last syllable or the last
word uttered will by its sound decide its successor.
An interesting illustration of this law is furnished cbUbrcnaa
by the plays of children before they have acquired "tcmporiicrs.
a sufficient vocabulary. Using a few of the syl-
lables acquired by imitation, they talk and sing to-
gether, whatever the languages of their kindred, in
much the same simple forms of meaningless words,
gradually dropping the jargon as they learn words
with intelligible signification.
59
Bjtcmporancous (^rator^
A recent illustration was communicated to me
by the wife of a missionary in Burmaii. The fam-
ily live in a mission station among a number of dif-
ferent peoples who speak Burmese, English, Tamil,
and Hindi. She has a little girl two years and ten
months old who is very fond of singing, doing so
in family prayers, while playing, and often while
walking along the road. One day she sang in a
happy but very loud manner. Her mother listened
and could not understand the words; they were not
Burmese, English, Tamil, or Hindi. So she said to
the child, "In what language are you singing.^"
In a tone expressing surprise at her mother's
ignorance the child answered, "Why, that is
God's language; he knows it," and gleefully went
on with her singing.
Her song was a mixture of syllables from all the
languages she had ever heard, and some spon-
taneously produced under the law of syllabic sug-
gestion. I doubt not that many a heathen child
has manufactured a language in the same way, and
perhaps characterized it by the name of some
household god.
XTbestrangc The proceedings of the English Society for
^^^•^^"l^l^"^ Psychical Research, part 31, December, 1896, con-
tain an account of Albert Le Baront, a literary man,
whose vocal organs, when he gave himself per-
mission, would utter, involuntarily, unintelligible
vocal expressions. His will could both initiate
60
%c JBaron.
SBlIablc Suggestion
ana arrest them; make them go fast or slow; and
he could sing or speak them. He came under the
observation of Professor William James, of Har-
vard University, who tried in vain to make him
believe that there was nothing of importance in fiarucr cr*
the phenomena. Professor James had previously ""
met a young woman whose vocal organs would
articulate nonsense syllables with the greatest vol-
ubility and animation of expression, without any
apparent fatigue, and she was able to cease at the
behest of her will. This young woman and the
friends with whom she stayed, Professor James
declares, seemed sincere in their belief that this
must be a religious miracle identical with "speak-
ing with tongues," recorded in Corinthians. But
the phonetic elements of her speech were palpably
English.
Mr. Le Baron was anxious to find proof that his
performances were involuntary reproductions of
some ancient or remote tongue. His statement is
that at certain seances "an entirely new and
strange psycho-automatic force shook through him
like a gust of fierce wind through a tree." His
mouth made automatic movements, "till [he
writes] in a few seconds 1 was distinctly conscious
of another's voice — unearthly, awful, loud, weird
— bursting through the woodland from my own
lips with the despairing words, 'O, my peo-
ple.'"
6i
JEjtcmporancous ©ratorg
36irtb of
unhnown
tongues.
He says that one of the "clairvoyants" present
positively affirmed that phantasms of ancient Egyp-
tian sages stood over him. Subsequent to this on
many occasions he delivered himself of various
forms of speech in English, such as " I have heard
the roar of cities! 1 have heard the music of the
woodlands! 1 have heard the tears of the nations
as they fell 1 1 have heard the songs of the nations
as they rose! 1 have heard the roar of the death
of the man who was slain in battle! I have heard
the shout of victory ! I have heard the new word,
and 1 have heard the old word ! "
At last, September 30, 1894, he burst forth in
unknown tongues. His "psycho-automatism"
gave him translation viva voce as well as by auto-
matic chirography. Here is a sentence from the
unknown tongue: "Intellete te intellute. Bide te
skuru te siiite amkoton." The translation of this is
said to be, " The book of the past is not the book
of the love; it is the song of the sadness."
In attempting to explain these foreign tongues
the subject of the phenomena invented nine
theories, the last of which is that these "conso-
nantal and vowel combinations and their intuitive
vocal adjustments may be startling scientific hints
of mental force latent in everybody, and which, if
studied, generalized, verified, systemized, and seri-
ously investigated by philosophers, might prove of
incalculable benefit to the human race, which
62
Sgllabic Suggestion
could find no encouragement for expression in the
nineteenth century, because of the fierce, mocking
intolerance of the conservative dogmas of the age."
There are latent forces, automatic in their nature, Ubc true ct
which when started will produce language of this J'lanation.
sort ad infinitum; and in certain temperaments of
unstable, nervous equilibrium they will pass be-
yond the control of the will. But these forces are
at the foundation of the power of speech.
As chaplain of a hospital for the insane, and of
late years one of a board of managers of an insti-
tution containing twelve hundred patients, 1 have
frequently seen persons in this condition auto-
matically speaking discordant English, or some-
times a melange of several languages. When
trance speakers became common in spiritualism I
attended many of their meetings for purposes of
investigation, and listened to noted "mediums"
haranguing in unknown tongues. Summoning to
my aid an expert in various languages, I found that
in every case where the medium was of unmixed
English descent the phonetic elements were wholly
those of that language; and where the medium's
native tongue was other than that, and he had
learned to speak English fluently, not only its
root sounds, but those of his own, were discern-
ible. In no case did any "unknown" tongue
contain a recurring root sound not recognizable as
belonging to some known tongue.
63
Bjtemporaneoufl ©ratorg
Nevertheless 1 was perplexed to find among the
*' mediums " an apparently honest woman who
showed no signs of mental derangement, yet
spoke in unknown tongues, both in prose and
poetry. 1 perceived that she always spoke rhyth-
mically, and wondering what there might be in
the automatic action of the brain that could pro-
ipersonai duce such phenomena, I repaired to a secluded
erperimenta. ^^^^ ^^^ began to Utter words without the slight-
est thought as to what they should be, and the
most surprising combinations poured forth, some
absurd, others containing valuable and apparently
novel ideas and clear discriminations.
In order to start the automatism I then manu-
factured two or three words without sense, and a
flow began exerting a powerful reflex influence,
furnishing material as fast as I could speak in
words, not one of which was English, Latin,
Greek, or any other language with which I was
familiar, but all were composed of the root ele-
ments of the English language.
Pursuing this experiment I gave examples to
President E. O. Haven, of the University of Michi-
gan, and discovered that a little practice would
enable me to compose automatically in any meter.
It then remained to ascertain whether by indi-
rect influence this semi-involuntary action could
be applied to rhyme, and I found that — not by
thinking within, but by simply perceiving what
64
Sgllabic 3u0ijc6tioii
came to my ear from my lips — I automatically pro-
duced, in the ordinary meters, rhyme in an un-
known tongue. Neither of the syllables nor the
rhymes had I any conception before hearing them.
The spiritualists, however, refused this rational
and natural explanation, preferring to believe in
their alleged "controls."
Mr. F. H. Myers, a prominent member of the
English Society of Psychical Research, in dis-
cussing this case, says that in the few instances
in which he has heard these public addresses under
supposed inspiration he felt sure that the speaker
was in full possession of his or her ordinary con-
sciousness. But he thinks it very probable that
speeches may sometimes be made genuinely in a
trance state, and the trance be a mere self-hypno-
tization. Speaking of Le Baron's case, he says
that it was "a subliminal uprush of absolutely
meaningless matter; " and judiciously remarks that
"Edward Irving's unavoidable ignorance of the
phenomena of automatism landed him and his
flock first in a natural mistake, and at last in ob-
stinate credulity, and spoiled the close of a noble
and high career."
Irving, Carlyle's friend, mistook for inspira- b conceit not
tion the automatic motion of his own mind and ^''-'f °"t of ^atc
that of his followers, and upon the basis of it
founded practically a new sect.
There is nothing in this actirn jxcept theopera-
65
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
H law of
universal
operation.
IRclation to
alliteration.
tion of the law of spontaneous syllabic suggestion.
For the impulse to speak is of necessity automatic,
and the succession of words, though controllable by
the will sufficiently to admit of conscious, rational
communication of thought and feeling, and of re-
pression when speaking is deemed inexpedient,
must ever remain largely automatic; otherwise
there would have to be a special will effort for
each word, and the phenomena of conversation,
properly so called, and of extemporaneous oratory,
would be impossible.
This activity of the auditory and visual sensory
centers, and of the speaking and writing motor
centers, affects also written composition, and
probably exerted in all forms of oratory an uncon-
scious influence on alliteration, once so popular,
but in prose now generally contemned.
I heard a Scotch minister of extraordinary repu-
tation for eloquence declare "That at the day of
doom the sinner would be dismissed to disaster,
desolation, damnation, and destruction."
Syllabic suggestion can be relied upon to assist
in maintaining the flow of speech, but the ten-
dency to alliteration and mere physiological selec-
tion inherent in it must be restrained.
66
ISaor&s an& Cbclr proper "ClBe
CHAPTER XII
"Mov^i aiiD Cbcir ipropcr "Osc
V/ORDS must be employed in their true sense, sccuracv
11 Ml 1 • 1 J *i essential.
Otherwise the uneducated will be misled, the
learned offended, and the speaker, if suspected of
ignorance or carelessness, will lose the confidence
of his hearers.
The extemporizer must incorporate words and
their precise meaning with his mental stock. Dur-
ing an address self-criticism is possible only to a
limited degree, and should there be but a single
word erroneously assimilated, when the time
arrives that this word as understood by him ex-
presses his idea, unconscious of the blunder he will
utter it. The vital importance of this point appears
from the fact that words when once acquired and
frequently articulated are eradicated with difficulty.
A vocabulary of a thousand words, correctly
understood, is preferable to one of five thousand,
even though four fifths of them are properly used,
if a part be misconceived. Many have no power
of intelligent selection, frequently using words
correctly, and by means of them truly expressing
their thoughts and feelings; but having grasped
many words incorrectly, they are liable at any
moment to fall into error.
67
:3Eitemporancou6 Oratory
flDust be
transcripts
of tbouobt.
It is related that Coleridge, when near one of
the Falls of the Clyde, viewed the scene, and
questioned within himself what word would best
describe it; after reflection he selected "majestic."
At that moment a gentleman, accompanied by his
wife, approached the former, exclaiming, " It is very
majestic 1 " Coleridge arose and said, " Sir. permit
me to congratulate you; 1 contemplated this scene
for some time before I could determine the proper
word to characterize it, but you have a more pene-
trating mind than I, for you came and without a
moment's thought have exactly described it."
"Yes, sir," replied the gentleman; "I say it is
very majestic; it is sublime; it is beautiful; it is
grand; it is -picturesque " — "Aye, added the lady;
"it is the prettiest thing I ever saw."
Words should also exactly express the thought.
It is not enough that terms be used in their true
sense; the speaker must mean what the word sig-
nifies. Most differences of opinion in theology
result from the fact that the disputants use words
having fixed meaning, one accepting this, the
other supposing that he does, but shrinking from
or eluding the significance when it is pressed upon
him. Thus two friends disputed about faith till
the odium theologicum became so intense that one
said, " There is no use arguing with such an obsti-
nate man, but if you wish to see my views ex-
pressed clearly and fully, you will find them in
68
11)lflor&0 anO XLbciv proper lase
pamphlet, published anonymously."
"Why," exclaimed the other, in great surprise,
" I wrote that myself! "
The meaning of the word must be understood
by the hearers. If an auditor be compelled to
consider what a speaker means, at that instant the
grasp of the oration upon his mind is relaxed, and
it may be difficult for him to comprehend what
the speaker is saying when he has settled the
meaning of what he was saying. A speaker not
understood can but mystify, and he who mystifies
will weary. The ignorant may stare a while, and
wonder how a man could acquire such a knowl-
edge of "learned words of thundering sound,"
but they will tire of that and go elsewhere.
It is necessary that the address should be
grammiatical. There are, indeed, celebrated orators
known to be ignorant of the grammar of their
mother tongue, who command respect because of
extraordinary intellectual or moral power, but
even they would not be permanently desired by a
refined assembly, although the members thereof
individually might follow them when they speak
occasionally, whether in pulpits, in courts, or pub-
lic meetings.
It is safe for the orator to speak ungrammatically
only when the audience has become so absorbed
as to be unable to criticise; then he should not
Should critics notice an
69
flfiust be ln=
tclUciiblc to
tbe listener.
©r.immatfcal
ai'iangcmcnt.
check flow of thought
composure.
Bitempoianeous ©ratorg
unusual expression, they are aware that in the
torrent of feeling any mistake that one ordina-
rily correct may make is not the result of igno-
rance.
Professor Beers relates that a stenographer once
proposed to Henry Ward Beecher that he be
allowed extra pay for reporting Mr. Beecher's ser-
mons in consideration of correcting the grammati-
cal errors. "And how many errors did you find
in this discourse of mine ?" asked the great preacher.
"Just two hundred and sixteen." " Young man,"
said Mr. Belcher, solemnly, "when the English
Cbaractedstic language gets in my way it doesn't stand a chance."
Whether the young man exaggerated, or supposed
some passages ungrammatical which were merely
colloquial, cannot now be ascertained, but it is a
fact that Mr. Beecher in impassioned speech uttered
many unparsable expressions, and this is the case
with nearly every great orator who speaks in any
degree extemporaneously. The price of literary
perfection is the suppression of passion.
On the other hand, many magnificent passages are
pronounced by orators of high grade, who under
strong emotion attain a grammatical accuracy be-
yond their powers as writers. The late Abraham
D. Merrill, of New England, uttered extempo-
raneously a discourse one hour in length, which
was faultless from the grammatical point of view.
It was a prose poem delivered with unction. For
70
MorDs anO Ebetr proper XXec
forty-five minutes 1 resisted its power so as to be
able to observe critically.
It is a tradition that Bishop Hedding endeavored
to induce him to study grammar, and that he
undertook it for a few weeks, but then said that
he could learn grammar better on his knees in
prayer than he could from that dead book.
The orator should invariably speak grammat-
ically when he is cool, for by that means he will
indirectly control his style when absorbed.
A due proportion of short and long words is I'arict? in
necessary. If all are short, the oration will be ''elSbic!''
fragmentary, and afford little room for inflection or
for genuine rhythm. Although by the rising or
falling inflection, or by drawling, a word of one
syllable can be made to express very different
ideas, it is difficult to construct a sentence of such
words in prose and make proper use of inflection.
Words of two syllables are easily inflected. By
the proper use of monosyllables the substance of an
oration requiring an hour can be reduced to an essay
readily pronounced in ten minutes. For the sake of
inflection and rhythm, and the opportunity of devel-
oping the full strength of mighty voices, together,
doubtless, with a natural tendency to ostentation,
many speakers are inclined to use polysyllabic
words. This is a serious error; it weakens the
style, renders the delivery bombastic, produces lit-
tle effect on a cultivated audience; and a continuous
71
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
discourse consisting cliiefly of long words delivered
with their corresponding tone has the fatal defect
of exerting a soporific influence.
The most effective style is that which con-
tains a sufficiency of long words to produce an
impression by their inflection and continuous flow ;
and short ones which, according to position, will
have the effect of an electric shock or an epigram-
matic sparkle. Dr. Skinner, of high renown in
the city of New York half a century ago, was un-
able to use short words. Impressed with the
necessity of addressing the Sunday school, which
was then becoming popular and promised to be of
great usefulness, he consented to make an address,
and began thus: "The Westminster Catechism is
an admirable syllabus of Christian doctrine." The
superintendent gently intimated to him that the
children could not understand him, upon which
he said: "Your superintendent says you cannot
understand me. I will explain. Syllabus, my
dear children, is synonymous with synopsis."
apocm, an So many in J. Addison Alexander's time seemed
argument, a ^q ^^-^^ uDon the assumption that short words lack
tribute. , , , , . , , .
Strength that he wrote this marvelous eulogium
of the short word :
" Think not that strength lies in the big round word.
Or that the brief and plain must needs be weak.
To whom can this be true who once has heard
The cry for help — the tongue that all men speak
When want, or woe, or fear, is in the throat ;
So that each word gasped out is like a shriek
Pressed from the sore heart, or like a strange, wild note
Sung by some fay or fiend ? There is a strength
Which dies when stretched too far or spun too fine :
Which has more weight than breadth, more depth than
length.
Let but this force of thought and speech be mine ;
And he that will may take the sleek, fat phrase
Which glows and burns not, though it gleam and shine;
Light, but not heat ; a flash, but not a blaze.
" Nor is it mere strength that the short word boasts ;
It serves of more than fight or storm to tell —
The roar of waves that dash on rock-bound coasts.
The crash of tall trees when the wild winds swell.
The roar of guns, the groans of men that die
On blood-stained fields. It has a voice as well
For them that far off on their sick beds lie.
For them that weep, for them that mourn the dead,
For them that laugh and dance and clap the hand ;
To joy's quick step, as well as grief's slow tread.
The sweet plain words we learned at first keep time,
And though the theme be sad, or gay, or grand,
With each, with all these may be made to chime
In thought, or speech, or song, or rhyme."
This short composition contains nearly two xcgai tcns-crs
hundred distinct words, themselves a most val- c^'^'^^wbcrc •
uable addition to an orator's vocabulary, especially
in that most difficult part of all orations — the
pathetic.
To affect the emotions words of one or two
(G) 73
Eitemporaueous ©catorg
Smotfonal
power of
eboct vfovis.
syllables are of far greater power than others.
Home, mother, father, brother, sister, friend, gift,
hope, love, fear, joy, are the words that we heard
and learned in the most impressible period of life,
and are the most deeply imbedded in the brain
cells. Each in itself is a picture and a history.
Detention upon thought checks emotion. Intel-
lection is a desiccating process. The light of the
understanding is a "high and dry light." These
words and all of this class deaden the mind less than
others. Long words tend to make and keep the
nature cool. A young minister prepared with
greatest care a discourse in a bookish style on the
sufferings of the early Christians. It produced no
effect. For a while the audience listened with
calm attention, and then exhibited signs of rest-
lessness. He had hoped by that discourse to lead
some in the congregation to seek the same sus-
taining power which enabled those martyrs joy-
fully to endure hardships. Perceiving that he was
failing to accomplish his object, he laid aside his
essay and said, " We must suffer as also must those
whom we love, and, like martyrs, we must all
needs die," He then spoke so simply and beauti-
fully of the trials, sorrows, and bereavements of
all that several yielded to his persuasions.
This incident was narrated to me by a culti-
vated gentleman, who was so charmed with
the power of simple words as to recommend to
74
view.
1KflorC>3 auD XLbcix ipropcc Tllse
ministers to avoid references to history and to
confine themselves chiefly to the simpler methods
which proved so successful.
It is possible to account for the young man's fail-
ure on another hypothesis. His bookish style ne- Hnotber
cessitated a didactic delivery. Had he described
the sufferings of the martyrs in language suited to
affect the heart, neither the lapse of time since the
events nor the special historical references would
have prevented the result at which he aimed. I
heard Father " Tom " Burke, the renowned Domin-
ican friar, when he was replying to a lecture by
the historian Froude, and had occasion to de-
scribe the sufferings of the Irish heroes of a century
agone, while reading the history and comment-
ing upon it, arouse a tempest of emotion. His
most striking outburst, consisting in large part of
Latin and Greek derivatives, culminated in this
brief apostrophe: " Shade of O'Connell, arise and
vindicate thy native land!"
The natural and feeling description, in words
fitly chosen, of a genuinely pathetic scene deliv-
ered by one who receives the entire confidence of
his listeners, can render them oblivious to the
conditions of time and space, and their hearts will
throb in sympathy with sorrows felt in the ear-
liest ages and remotest parts of the world as
quickly as to the sufferings of the preceding day.
75
Bjtcmporaneous ©ratorg
CHAPTER Xin
Enrlcblng tbe Docabularg
No one is born with a vocabulary. By slow
degrees it is built up, but since undesirable words
are added and words unused slip away, unless it is
constantly pruned and improved the memory will
be so meagerly supplied as to compel wearisome
and debilitating repetitions. The most effective
means of enlarging the store is the reading and
close study of the best books,
cbc cbdstian Xhe Bible, which contains nearly six thousand
of the most significant and expressive words, is
the richest mine. I refer to King James's version ; —
the revised, invaluable as giving new shades of
meaning, shedding light upon dark passages, and
substituting a correct for an incorrect render-
ing, is, in the character of its English, inferior
to the old. In studying King James's version it
is necessary to note words that are obsolete or
obsolescent, so as not to allow them to impress
themselves upon the mind except as such words,
lest they should subsequently appear in speech.
Such study of the Bible is as useful to the law-
yer as to the clergyman. Erskine and Webster,
Abraham Lincoln and his opponent, Stephen A.
Douglas — in truth, almost all lawyers of emi-
76
Scriptures.
Hvon.
jEiirlcbincj tbc Docabularg
nence in England and the United States have ex-
hibited their indebtedness to the Bible, and many
of them have acknovv'ledged it not only because
it is a part of the law of every Christian nation,
whether recognized as such or not, but because
of its influence upon their style. Such was its
effect upon Webster that one of his biographers
draws the conclusion "that the young man who
would be a writer that will be read, or an orator
whom people will hear, should study the English
Bible."
Next in importance to the Bible are the works •cbc36al•^of
of Shakespeare, equally valuable for the number
of distinct words which they contain and their
application to every period and vicissitude of in-
diyidual, social, and political life.
Professor Alexander Bain, when treating the
subject of language, its uses and the modes of
acquiring it, says: "A man's vocabulary will show
with whom he has kept company, what books he
has studied, what departments he knows; it will
reveal, farther, his predominating tastes, emotions,
or likings. We see in Milton, for example, his
peculiar erudition and his strong fascination for
whatever was large, lofty, vast, powerful, or sub-
lime. In Shakespeare the adhesiveness for lan-
guage as such was so great that it seemed to
include every species of terms in nearly equal pro-
portions. Only a very narrow examination enables
77
Bjtcmporancoiis ©ratorg
"®nls to tbe
commonplace
is anv;tb(ng
commonplace."
US to detect his prefererce^>, or his lines of study,
and veins of more special interest."*
An habitual student of Shakespearean literature,
I have reached the conclusion that the knowledge
and powers of language displayed by Shakespeare
are to be attributed in a large degree to his placing
in the mouths of his characters language acquired
from contemporary or prior productions, or from
conversations with specialists in trades and pro-
fessions; frequently practically transferring bodily,
without quotation marks, and at other times with
but slight modifications, what he needed to fur-
nish his characters with suitable expressions. The
sublime conceptions, the penetrating discrimina-
tions, were his, but it is improbable that in conver-
sation or composition he would have been able,
uttering his own sentiments, to draw upon the
resources, either of knowledge or language, which
are displaved in his dramatic writings. I must
believe, therefore, that the profound general and
extensive particular knowledge of the separate
professions predicated of him has been carried
further than the facts would justify. However
this may be, all concede that, although in the
realms of fancy, logic, philosophy, poetry, pathos,
oratory, morals, religion, and the supernatural,
words, usual and unusual, are often seen in un-
expected situations, they rarely fail to justify their
* Jlfen/a/ a/id ^fora/ Sci'i'/ice, Alexander Bain, A. M.,p. 117, paragraph 52.
78
Bnricbing tbe tDocabularg
appearance by their intimate relation to the needs
and wishes, the appetites, passions, yearnings,
hopes and fears, the weaknesses and the strength
of universal humanity.
Next to Shakespeare, I would place the works 5obn3Bumean'8
of John Bunyan. The best of these is Pilgrim's ^*^'^*
Progress, but his sermons are not to be despised
as a means of attaining a mastery of the most
expressive English. Long after I had read Pil-
grim's Progress several times, and had formed
this opinion of its worth, I was gratified to
come upon a passage in Macaulay which gives
the authority of his name to the recommenda-
tion, and, more important even than that, pre-
sents the grounds upon which his judgment is
founded:
"The style of Bunyan is delightful to every
reader and invaluable as a study to every person
who wishes to obtain a wide command over the
English language. His vocabulary is the vocabu-
lary of the common people. There is not an ex-
pression, if we except a few terms of theology,
which would puzzle the rudest peasant. We have
observed several pages which do not contain a
single word of more than two syllables. Yet no
writer has said more exactly what he wanted to
say. For magnificence, for pathos, for vehement
exhortation, for subtle disquisition, for every pur-
pose of the poet, the orator, and the divine, this
79
Bjtemporancous ©catorg
flDflton an&
/more mobent
authors.
XTbe
• iFcberalist.'
homely dialect, this dialect of plain workingmen,
was sufficient,"
Most cultivated men are familiar with Milton's
poetry; the study of his prose is equally remu-
nerative. The works of Edmund Burke should on
no account be neglected. To read critically
Addison's papers in the Spectator is helpful. One
may ask a hundred times whether he could substi-
tute a better word than that which Addison em-
ploys to express the same idea, without finding a
single instance in which it could have been done.
But since literary style and the language of the
common people are constantly changing, it will
not suffice to confine one's attention to works
written several hundred years ago. The best Eng-
lish authors of the present generation should be
studied. Two American writers are especially
useful — Washington Irving and Nathaniel Haw-
thorne. The former excels in lucid narration;
the latter, in giving a mysterious power to familiar
words, because of their recording his relentless
analysis of human nature, his deep speculations
upon life and the springs of character, and the
portrayal of the consequences of sin, vice, or
crime.
The Federalist, a series of papers written over
the nom deplume Publius, and the Appendix, above
the signatures of Pacificus and Helvetius, for the
purpose of commending to the people of the State
80
jenricbtng tbe Docabularg
of New York the proposed Constitution of the
United States of America, were the works of Alex-
ander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.
Decided differences exist in the literary style of
these statesmen. That of Hamilton was marked
by richness, elegance, and force; that of Jay by
conciseness and point; while Madison's, not so
florid as that of Hamilton, nor so pithy as that of
Jay, was exceedingly clear, in many passages
glowing. Controversies early arose concerning
the authorship of the respective parts. All au-
thorities agree that Hamilton wrote, by far, the
largest and Jay much the smallest; that Hamilton
wrote numbers i, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and many
others; that Jay wrote numbers 2, 3, 4, 5; and
that Madison wrote numbers 10 and 14, and 37 to
48, inclusive.
The collection places in the possession of the
student the linguistic resources of these men,
writing under the deepest feeling in the most crit-
ical period of their public lives and with a fixed
intention to be clear and cogent.
Great Speeches by Great Lazvyers — a Collect/on jorcneic
of Arguments and Speeches before Courts and
Juries by Eminent Lawyers, by William L.
Snyder, of the New York bar, published by
Baker, Voorhis & Co., of New York, is to be
commended to all public speakers as furnishing
examples of the style and a large part of the
81
orations.
;ejtemporancou6 Quatorg
vocabulary of Patrick Henry, William Pinckney,
William Wirt, Daniel Webster, Sargent S.
Prentiss, David Paul Brown, William H. Seward,
Sir James Macintosh, Charles O'Conor, Rufus
Choate, Edwin M. Stanton, James T. Brady,
William M. Evarts, John Philpot Curran, Thomas
Erskine, and many others, in the mightiest argu-
ments and often during the most exciting forensic
crises.
Erskine's speech was for the prosecution against
Thomas Williams for publishing Paine's Age of
Reason. That of Sir James Macintosh was in be-
half of a Frenchman indicted for a libel against
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Accounts and analyses of the different cases are
given, some of which are more thrilling than the
plots of the most famous works of fiction; the
reader can readily follow the course of argument
and estimate the force of language.
There is not an orator nor a reasoner who, if
he has not read this collection, would not by
doing so find it a delightful and strengthening
intellectual exercise and a valuable addition to his
vocabulary.
jEngHsb an6 The habitual and critical reading of the best
Hmer^ican English and American poets is not only service-
able, but indispensable, to one who would be pre-
pared to speak effectively at any time upon any
theme; and these maybe easily divided into poets
82
poets.
jEnrlcbino tbe Docabularg
of the heart, of the intellect, of pure imagination,
of literature, of nature, and of religion.
William Pinckney, considered the greatest orator
of the American bar, when he began was almost
destitute of language adapted to express feeling,
and he afterward declared that to attain it had
cost him more effort than any other acquisition.
RuFUS Choate continued to improve his vocabu-
lary so long as he lived.
Professor Bain states the ground of this neces- language of
gj^y . Jfccllngs.
"The Language of Feelings, both in their
natural manifestations and in their verbal expres-
sion, has to be acquired. The meaning of the
smile and the frown is learnt in inf^mcy by observ-
ing what circumstances they go along with. The
various modifications of the features, tones, and
gestures for pleasure, pain, love, anger, fear,
wonder, are connected with known occasions that
show what they mean. Animals understand this
language. There is a certain intrinsic efficacy in
some modes of expression, as when soft and
gentle tones are used for affection, and harsh,
emphatic utterances for anger; but the play of the
features has no original meaning; it must be
understood by experience.
"Verbal expression greatly enlarges the compass
of the language of the feelings. Every emotion
has its characteristic forms of speech, expressing
83
Bjtcmporancous ©ratorg
its shades with great delicacy. Poets who wish
to depict and excite the emotions require an un-
usual command of these forms and of all the
images and associated circumstances that have the
power to resuscitate the varieties of feeling." *
What is stated of the necessities of poets with
respect to the Language of Feelings is equally true
of orators.
* Mental and Moral Science, Alexander Bain, A.M., p. 107, paragraph 36.
84
Zlsstmllatlon of MorDs
CHAPTER XIV
Bssimtlation of TMorDs
Unless words are incorporated with the general
furnishings and natural movements of the whole
mind, it is impossible to evolve them in extem-
poraneous speech.
I had the pleasure of meeting the author of an
interesting work upon the Trees of America, but
was unable to converse with him satisfactorily on
account of unfamiliarity with the strictly scientific
terminology which he employed. Reduced to
silence and humiliated, I immediately took up the
study of his book, and others upon the subject, and
in a subsequent interview suffered no embarrass-
ment. My difficulty arose from the fact that what
little technical knowledge 1 possessed on the sub-
ject had been acquired only by reading, and I was
incapable of freely using the appropriate terms in
extemporaneous speech.
Ordinary thoughts, as the result of involuntary
imitation and reproduction of phrases heard in
early life, exist in the minds of rational adults in
set forms, such as "It rains," or " Man is mortal."
Most of these are so imbedded in the mind that no
mental process is necessary to select words for
their expression, the form being associated with
85
HAcccssftg of
assimilation
i^llstl■atc^.
tbougbts
an5 proverbs.
anotbcv but as
sweet a name.
JErtcmporancou^ ©ratoig
the germ; even as the skilled accountant sees the
figures in the column, and the answer presents
itself contemporaneously with the perception of
the factors.
Proverbs obtain circulation because of their
brevity and pith. But the speaker must possess
H rose with the ability of translating such into other language,
and of amplifying them.
For example, a clergyman purposing to preach
on human mortality, selects as a text, "It is ap-
pointed unto men once to die." His object being
to create the emotions which reasonable beings
should have in view of their mortality, he presents
the subject in every suitable aspect. Should he at
the end of every paragraph repeat the text, in a
short time it would lose its effect, it is necessary
for him to present that root idea in many forms.
This power is of even greater importance to a
lawyer. A minister's congregation disperses, each
going his way and deciding for himself whether
to yield to the instructions he has received. But
a jury cannot disperse until it has agreed upon a
verdict, or spent a long time in fruitlessly trying
to do so; therefore, unless the advocate can em-
ploy various ways of stating the familiar facts and
principles involved in his cases, he will not succeed
in persuading twelve men to his view, or in fur-
nishing a majority with arguments and force of
statement with which to convince the minority.
86
Bs6imllation of imorDs
Charles James Fox, England's unsurpassed
parliamentary debater, held that it is better that
some of the audience should observe that the
speaker is repeating material observations than
that any should not understand. Prrr, Brougham,
and Erskine emphasized the importance of ampli-
fication, and De Quin'CEY, writing on Greek litera-
ture, maintains that a great orator must have the
"gift of tautology.'" "Could he say the same
thmg three times over in direct sequence ? for
without this talent of iteration, of repeating the
same thought in diversified forms, a man may
utter good heads of an oration, but not an ora-
tion."
Nevertheless, unless he has the rare art to lead
his hearers to believe that they are hearing some-
thing new, they will not bear his repetitions.
These facts show that the dictionary should be piacc of tbc
the constant companion of the man who aims to
speak correctly. In this manner and by the con-
stant reading of all forms of literature Rufus
Choate accumulated his wonderful vocabulary.
It is said that when a new dictionary was pub-
lished containing ten thousand additional words,
Chief Justice Shaw, before whom the great advo-
cate frequently practiced, and between whom and
himself there were many encounters, cried out,
"Keep it from Choate, for if he gets it, all the
rest of us must have it." Daniel Webster, when
87
Iciicon.
Extemporaneous ©catorg
asked what books he intended to study during the
recess of Congress, replied, "The Dictionary."
One of the most effective speakers of my
acquaintance, who has steadily improved for
thirty years, makes it a point to read daily a page
of a standard dictionary.
It is not desirable to confine oneself to a single
authority, for dictionaries may reflect the predilec-
tions of their editors and compilers. Fanciful
etymologies, peculiar pronunciations, and partial
or strained definitions have thus been imposed
upon the language.
iDaiuc of babtt The habit of translating classical Latin and
of translating. Greek into English, especially in the early life of
a public speaker, will give variety and freshness
of style, particularly if the attempt be made to
translate not into Latin and Greek derivatives
which have found their way into English, but into
Anglo-Saxon. The former will fasten themselves
upon the mind naturally, while the choice, so far
as possible, of Anglo-Saxon equivalents will
double the number of words in the memory.
There are few words in Greek or Latin which
cannot be translated into Anglo-Saxon, for, though
the Greeks and Latins possessed distinctions of
meaning growing out of their civilization, they
had few fundamental ideas not common to uni-
versal man. Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors had these
conceptions and used their own words to translate
88
Bssimllatioii of TlClorOs
them, which accounts — together with the effect of
the primitive directness and poetic fervor of the
Hebrew mind and forms of expression — in large
part for the simplicity and beauty of the Scriptures
as they appear in " King James's version." Trans-
lations from modern languages will also yield
good results. Each word, to express its different
shades of meaning, may require many English
words, and the translator in discriminating among
them must unconsciously impress them all upon
his mind; the more important will spontaneously
attach themselves.
An excellent exercise is that of translating written
thought into other language as rapidly as possible.
This can be applied to standard poetical and prose
works, or to passages of one's own which have
been carefully prepared with the pen. It should
be done orally, and with as much vigor and vari-
ety of voice and utterance as the subject would
naturally suggest.
The habit of listening critically to the best speak- Ubc critical
ers must be maintained. The extemporizer can ^*'^^*
never safely allow himself to listen without noting
the words of the speaker, except when his emo-
tions are profoundly stirred. A critical spirit dur-
ing worship is a foe to devotion, and, in its last
analysis, is irreverent. The hearer who does not
prefer an increase of the spirit of devotion to an
elegant style, which contributes nothing to the
(7) 89
Bjtemporancous ©ratorg
Ubis mctboS
successfully
followed.
depth of religious feeling, is not in a worshipful
frame. Neither would one pause, when a Patrick
Henry speaks, to consider whether each sentence
is constructed in harmony with the technical rules
of rhetoric.
But in general the critical spirit must be pre-
served. He who, without perceiving the error,
listens to one who speaks ungrammatically, is
certain himself to speak incorrectly. Eternal vig-
ilance is the price of the correct use of language;
for in this department, as elsewhere, "Evil com-
munications corrupt good manners."
On a Sabbath morning 1 invited a venerable
minister to offer prayer, and was surprised by the
facility of his utterance and the beauty of his style.
That the prayer was not a recitation was manifest
from local applications and references, some of
them to the hymns and Scriptures which he had
just heard, and others to events of public interest
which had taken place within a day or two. This
man had been retired for many years, and was
disabled physically, but was able, without excite-
ment, when unexpectedly called upon, to utter a
prayer suitable for publication as an example of
the elegant and correct use of the English lan-
guage. At the close of the service I said, " How
did you acquire your vocabulary .^" and received
this response: " I am an Englishman, and entered
the ministry at the age of nineteen years, after
90
assimilatfcn ot MorCtg
having been engaged in mechanical pursuits from
childhood, with little or no opportunity for educa-
tion. When I began to preach, knowing my de-
ficiencies, and possessing but few books, the only
thing I could do was to listen to every speaker,
and when I heard what seemed ^o me a good
word go immediately home and ascertain its
meaning. Having done this, I used it as soon as
I found a suitable opportunity."
One who wishes to speak extemporaneously iPH^atc cons
should converse much in private, and as cor- jui.
rectly as if in public. While careful to avoid a
bookish style, he should complete every sentence,
and select, as he speaks, the words which exactly
express his idea, when mingling with all classes
— the refined, the uncultivated, and especially
with children. Of all methods of acquiring the
art of speaking impressively to an audience, at-
tempting to interest children from five to fifteen
years of age is the most helpful. He who suc-
ceeds in this, without the lingo known as baby
talk, by the use of Anglo-Saxon, principally,
though not wholly — for children can gather
quickly the meaning of a word in its setting,
which taken by itself would puzzle them — has
power to interest any audience, provided his topic
is in itself interesting.
Most addresses to children and most conversa-
tions with them proceed upon the fallacious as-
91
Bjtempci-aneous ©ratori^
sumptions that one must "come down to them;"
that they cannot be interested without an approach
to buffoonery; that they cannot reason, and are in-
terested only in things which appeal to their senses.
■Jiwo remari!= Being of an argumentative turn of mind, I
able speafters. thought that I could not speak to children, and
for five years declined to make the attempt. Cir-
cumstances led to a change in my views. I heard
extraordinary accounts of the power a certain
minister had displayed in addressing children
upon the most metaphysical subjects imaginable
^such as the immortality of the soul, the dis-
tinctions of morals, and the relation of the will
to responsibility. He could hold them spell-
bound by speech as pure as that of Addison. I
could scarcely believe such an achievement pos-
sible, as the average speaker in attempting to
"come down" to the children frequently falls
so far as to excite their contempt. I invited him
to visit me, and though his advanced years would
not allow him to preach, induced him to address
the Sunday school. For fifteen minutes, with a
diffused animation, without rapid contrasts, he
spoke to them upon manhood and womanhood
as developed from little men and little women.
He illustrated graphically, but did not linger upon
illustration; asked the children no questions — a
refuge and often the snare of speakers who can-
not interest. He used scarcely a gesture, but
92
Bsaimllation of MorDs
whenever he paused the children were so absorbed
that the ticking of the clock was distinctly heard.
A minister in the prime of life, whom from
childhood I had been taught to respect, gave a
Sunday school address in a smooth, flowing,
anecdotal way; one incident led to another, all
were interesting, each had a moral, and he be-
guiled the children into the belief that he was
going on merely because they pleased him so
much that he could not cease. When he closed
they gave many indications of wishing him to
proceed.
To each of these men I propounded this ques- ube secret,
tion: " How did you learn your art?" The older
said : " I always loved children, wished to do them
good, and talked with them a great deal. 1 have
no art except to use words that they can under-
stand about things that they would like to under-
stand, or need to know, or feel." The other said,
"I talk with children whenever 1 have an oppor-
tunity, and speak with them in public just as I do
in private."
Ihere are men who have made fame by writing
about modern methods of teaching children, who
cannot interest them.
An advantage of conversing with children is
that, if encouraged to do so, they will frankly
reply, and their suggestions and the reflection
necessary to rectify their errors will often open
93
nature.
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
whole fields of thought and suggest illustrations
that might never have been thought of without
such necessity. I have found that the methods
which are most successful in holding the atten-
tion of children are those which will secure the
attention of an assembly chiefly of the common
people, even though there be a large percentage
of cultivated persons among them. The passive
state of the audience is favorable to the reception
of the best ideas in the simplest form; and the
docility of childhood is a type of the simplicity
of receptiveness in all ages and conditions.
Cbe^rt of Dr. JoHN P. DuRBiN, one of the most eloquent of
American orators, was able to speak to a child
with such beauty of expression and propriety of
enunciation that a company of educated ladies and
gentlemen were entranced. , Conversation was
suspended and regret felt when the doctor turned
from the delighted child to the rest of the com-
pany. In an earlier period, when enfeebled voice
compelled him to suspend public efforts, he had
gone from cabin to cabin among the Negroes
on the plantations of Kentucky, conversing with
them on religion, and claimed that by this process
he acquired his marvelously simple style.
While talking in private may be carried so far
as to develop a monologist — a tedious, prosaic
monopolizer of conversation — this defect arises
from a lack of self-control, and nature's principle
94
Bssimllation of 'CClor&8
is the development of impulses to be restrained by ekcss (n tbe
an intelligent exercise of the will. The abnormal '"^^^i^fjuj"'
devotee of music who cannot restrain himself from
singing, and is liable to interrupt public proceed-
ings by unconsciously humming, cannot be ad-
duced against that supreme devotion to the art
which is the price of the highest proficiency.
Charles James Fox was in the habit of saying
that he knew he should speak well when he found
himself talking aloud upon the subject he intended
to discuss.
Thus the experience of the parliamentary de-
bater illustrates the physiological effect senten-
tiously announced by Oliver Wendell Holmes:
"■Worded thought is attended with a distinct im-
pulse toward the organs of speech; in fact, the
effort often goes so far that we 'think aloud,' as
we say."*
More important than any previous single sug-
gestion, and necessary if one would derive the
greatest benefit from all, is the habit of using
new words extemporaneously as soon as learned,
and in such relations that the. reflex influence of
their use upon the mind will be strong. A man
may be able to recite ten thousand words merely
as words, and be wholly unable to speak extem-
poraneously.
As an illustration of what may be done in the
* Mechanism in Thought and Morals, p. 29.
95
Brtemporancous ©ratorg
H sclf=:ma^c acquisition of language under the most adverse
master. circumstances, I adduce one of the greatest mas-
ters of language "ever produced by the English
race " — Abraham Lincoln.
Professor John P. Gulliver, late of Andover,
Mass., who was intimately acquainted with Mr.
Lincoln before the war, asked him how he ac-
quired such a remarkable control of language, and
reports this as his reply:
"Well, if I have got any power that way, I will
tell you how I suppose I came to get it. You see,
when I was a boy over in Indiana all the local
politicians used to come to our cabin to discuss
politics with my father. I used to sit by and lis-
ten to them, but father would not let me ask
many questions, and there were a good many
things I did not understand. Well, I'd go up to
my room in the attic and sit down or pace back
and forth till 1 made out just what they meant.
And then I'd lie awake for hours just a- putting
their ideas into words that the boys around our
way could understand."
Whether Mr. Lincoln said more or less on that
occasion, there can be no doubt that from the
earliest period he gave great attention to language,
and to practicing in private, no less than in public,
in the selection and utterance of words for the
purpose of influencing others. This, however,
would not wholly account for Mr. Lincoln's
96
afar.
assimilation of XCloiDs
marvelous mastery of language, both in speech
and deliberate composition.
The London Spectator, in discussing his char- naurcis from
acter, recently said :
"No criticism of Mr. Lincoln can be in any
sense adequate that does not deal with his aston-
ishing power over words; and it is not too much
to say of him that he is among the greatest
masters of prose ever produced by the English
race. Mr. Lincoln did not get his ability to
handle prose through his gift of speech. That
these are separate though coordinate faculties is
a matter beyond dispute ; for many of the great
orators of the world prove themselves exceedingly
inefficient in the matter of deliberate composition."
It further states that every line that Lincoln ever
wrote shows that "the writer is master of his
materials; that he guides his words, never the
words him."
His speeches in the debate with Stephen A.
Douglas, often in replication when it was impos-
sible for him to prepare, demonstrate his possession
of the same marvelous power over words in ex-
temporization. He may, therefore, be presented as
an example of what can be done in the acquisition
and mastery of words under the most unpropitious
circumstances.
97
JEjtemporaneous ©catorg
H " minute
man."
"natural
science.
CHAPTER XV
©eneral iprcparation ot tCbougbt
The memory of the extemporaneous speaker
must be well stored with facts, since he cannot
foresee the moment when he will be called upon
to vindicate his views by an appeal to them.
Whatever his profession, a knowledge of facts re-
lating to human nature in general is of the utmost
value. Neither in public nor private, by speech
or writing, can men influence men unless they
have acted upon the principle that the "proper
study of mankind is man." Nor can the number
of normal facts which embody or illustrate human
nature be too large. Even upon subjects with
which he is familiar the orator should glance
at every fact which any one of the senses may
present; for one that is new may differ in some
degree from others of the same class — or at least
give freshness to the conception and stimulate the
memory.
Facts of Natural Science are of increasing
utility. Induction is no longer peculiar to scien-
tists, but has reached the common mmd, and
deduction is remanded more and more to the
lucubrations of the theologian, the metaphysician,
and the jurist. To the educated and uneduCc ted
gS
Ocncral jpreparatton of Q;bougbt
alike Natural Science is now the most interest-
ing of themes. The daily press, weekly and
monthly periodicals, thousands of monographs,
and more elaborate scientific treatises constantly
direct the public mind to these subjects. Lec-
turers here find fruitful fields, and every cable
dispatch is scanned with an expectation of the aiici?bWtb
announcement of some discovery. The extem- "-''(I'^t"^'
pore speaker must be abreast of the times, ca-
pable of discriminating between the immature
statements of reporters and genuine phenomena.
A great change has taken place in this particular
since the days of Chesterfield. Referring to the
dictum of Cicero, that an orator must know every
great art and science, Chesterfield says: "With
submission to so great an authority, my definition
of an orator is extremely different from, and
I believe much truer than, his. I call that man
an orator who reasons justly and expresses him-
self elegantly upon whatever subject he treats.
Problems in Geometry, Equations in Algebra,
Processes in Chemistry, and Experiments in Anat-
omy are never, that I have heard of, the objects of
eloquence; and therefore I humbly conceive that
a man may be a very fine speaker and yet know
nothing of Geometry, Algebra, Chemistrv, or
Anatomy. The subjects of all parliamentary de-
bates are subjects of common sense singly." *
Letter 121.
99
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
"Cbe marcb
of science.
Culture an6
criticlam.
This letter places in a clear light the amazing
advance of science during the past one hundred
years, and its changed relation to oratory. What
then was relegated to the realm of the imagination
has now been brought under the dominion of
natural law, without losing, except in the most
insensate natures, its power to charm or its influ-
ence over diction.
A mistake in allusions to science may cover with
confusion a really eloquent speaker. Thus a min-
ister whose theme was "The Lord God is a sun
and a shield," began a noble passage in this way:
"Have you, my brethren, considered the debt
that we owe to the sun, the triumphant king of
day, the great revolving sphere which brings all
things into visibility ? Were it not for the sun
we should have to be content with the pale and
insufficient light of the moon."
But while more attention is given to Natural
Science, a renaissance of Literary Culture and Criti-
cism has extended to every sphere of learning. The
classic and mediaeval poets and the works of worthy
successors who have recently passed away, leaving
a sad dearth, are all read, interpreted, and made the
subject of intellectual and emotional controversy;
and he who can make a just or a suggestive ref-
erence, brief and pointed, to questions growing
out of such studies, or quote an appropriate line
to enforce a thought, is certain to receive atten-
lOO
General ipreparatton ot tiboufibt
tion from a considerable portion of any audience.
The day of long quotations in public speech is past,
but not that of the pertinent and the piquant.
A thorough knowledge of General History and ibistor? an&
Biography is indispensable to a free speaker. He ^'oflrapb^.
must be cyclopedic in the range of his information
upon these subjects, if for no other purpose than
to protect himself from errors which will excite
contempt. Dr. John P. Durbin, in his early min-
istry, preached in the presence of Justice McLean,
of the Supreme Court of the United States, and
in a glowing passage uttered the phrase, "When
Hannibal, the great Roman general." At the close
Judge McLean said to him, " My friend, Hannibal
was a Carthaginian general." The criticism led
the young preacher to pursue the study of history
systematically, until his knowledge of it became
such that he could refer to any renowned military
leader and give a succinct statement of his career.
There is no History of which Biography is not
the chief part. Laws are made, battles planned
and fought, revolutions fomented and carried to
success, and institutions upreared and maintained
by men. Arms and armor, cannon and ammu-
nition, are invented and utilized by men. There is
no History without Biography, and no Biography
which does not require History to render it intel-
ligible. That Biography is frequently a romance
founded on fact, but quite independent of it, and
lOI
JEjtemporaneous ©ratovg
that History may be less true than fiction, students
of mature years are aware. But Biography often
pricks the rhetorical bubbles of the writer of fic-
titious History, and truthful History frequently
reduces the hero to his proper place in the per-
spective of human progress. The extemporizer,
therefore, to steady his flight, especially in the
realms of eulogy and censure, needs to be thor-
iprcvaicnt but oughly grounded in these cognate branches.
inexcusable. Ignorance of the history of one's own country
is unpardonable, and it is impossible to be familiar
with it without being acquainted to a considerable
degree with the history of other countries.
That an extemporaneous speaker should be mas-
ter of the Institutions under which he lives is self-
evident; for of these the people know so much
that ignorance on his part will cost him their re-
spect; and it is a strong tendency of human nature
to believe a man unreliable in everything if he is
discovered to be so in anything with which the
hearer is conversant.
In consideration of the fact that Christianity is a
part of the common law of England, and that the
institutions of this country have been largely in-
fluencea by English common law, as well as by
Christianity apart therefrom, a knowledge of Sa-
cred History is of inestimable value to every public
speaker. Lawyers, political speakers, poets, nov-
elists, and often antichristian lecturers draw their
I02
General g>reparat(on of Hbougbt
most striking similes, historical allusions, and
aphoristic statements from the Bible.
The clergyman must be a specialist in Christian peculiar ncc^6
History and Biography. He must not only know ^^tbeministv^.
that of his own, but of other communions, since
he will be called upon to defend his principles
and his constituents. He will frequently be ques-
tioned by the undecided with respect to the body
with which they should affiliate. He may be at-
tacked and the views of others held up in glowing
contrast to his own. If he knows that only which
appertains primarily to his own faith, forms, and
discipline, he may fall into an error with respect
to others, which, when exposed, will cheapen him
in the public eye.
He should be able to give extemporaneously a
fair account of every denomination — orthodox,
heterodox, or paradox. For him to be ignorant
of the Bible is a disgrace. To be unable to har-
monize with it the views which he professes to
have drawn from it will render him contemptible.
The lawyer cannot be content with a general ubc lawyer's
knowledge of the principles of law, but must ac- efcciaits.
cumulate a multitude of authoritative precedents,
be familiar with the great cases, with judicial de-
cisions, with the Constitution of the United States,
of his own State and adjacent States, keep abreast
of legislation, and hold all in such relentk^ss
grasp that at a moment's notice he can represent
103
ini instinct.
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
them correctly. Great as is this burden, it is heavier
in England than in the United States, from the
fact that the British Constitution resembles an im-
mortal personality, ever changing, yet without the
exhibition of authorized records, and requiring
constant vigilance on the part of students to
keep pace with its development.
ube factssecfta In Order to accumulate facts there must be per-
petual alertness of mind. The professional detect-
ive perceives a thousand things which an ordinary
observer would not notice. The hunter listens to
every sound and notices every broken leaf. The
extemporizer should have as keen a scent for facts
as the hound for game, and also needs the spirit
ol the detective. The memory of facts may oper-
ate in either of two ways: there may be a remem-
brance of a fact by its title, so that the man's brain
is like a library catalogue; but this sort of memory
is of little worth to the extemporizer. It trans-
forms the mind into a mere iiidex rentm. One
who has it can sit down, pen in hand, and call up
facts, select those that he considers appropriate,
and associate them in the body of an essay; but
the extemporizer can make scant progress thus.
He must bound and measure every fact when he
adopts it, determine in what class it belongs and
what it will prove or illustrate. When he thus
weighs and authenticates he may be assured that
the facts are incorporated in the raw material of
104
(Sencral preparation of Cbougbt
thought, and that the laws of association will cer-
tainly revive them whenever they are necessary
to the work in hand. He need not exhaust him-
self by the ceaseless iteration of the question,
"What have I ever seen or heard that will serve
my purpose now?" By an inexorable law,med-
itation will summon from every recess of his mind
everything bearing upon it. Attention is the open pcrpctuaiiv
sesame to his treasures. rccompci«c&
So far is this ceaseless search and scrutiny from
being a life of slavery that it becomes almost auto-
matic; it is a preventive of ennui, a remedy for
depression and loneliness, and a marvelous econ-
omy of time; rendering it possible for one, though
lost in a s^vamp, or detained a week at quarantine,
to discover something which will subsequently
reconcile him to what otherwise would seem an
irretrievable loss of time.
(8) 105
jEitcmporaneous ©catorg
profitable to
fcirect."
^Inc bomes
0pun.
CHAPTER XVI
1[^ea0
To store the memory with proverbs, apothegms,
aphorisms, and sayings upon all subjects and in
various languages is desirable, but unless the
speaker is sufficiently familiar with such lan-
guages as to think in them, those originating in
non-English-speaking countries should be com-
mitted in translations. It is essential to master
the idea, and not merely to commit the proverb,
otherwise the association will be strictly verbal;
whereas, if it be valued chiefly for its meaning, it
will be susceptible of revival in memory by any
one of countless combinations. The value of such
short sentences is incalculable in giving pith to
paragraphs, in recapitulation, or graphic rendering
of ideas in the rough already in possession of the
hearer, but which must be outlined distinctly in
his field of vision.
Common men in various walks of life, without
a consciousness on their own part of saying any-
thing new, strange, or strong, often express them-
selves in sentences superior in force and conden-
sation to most proverbs. Mark Guy Pearse wrote
a book entitled Dan'el Quorm, practically the
biography and sharp sayings of a plain, unedu-
io6
•ffDeas
cated man who had singular penetration of mind
and force of speech. Reading that work I thought
of various acquaintances who had impressed me
with the brightness or shrewdness of their obser-
vations, and can recall several of whom as inter-
esting a book might be written.
Educated foreigners, in their efforts to express
themselves in an adopted tongue, often utter strik-
ing epigrams. Their vocabulary not being large,
they are compelled to make the words which they
are able to use carry all possible significations. To
listen to them, therefore, is frequently an educa-
tion in the possibilities of one's native tongue.
The extemporizer who has formed the habit of
listening to every person of intelligence and indi-
viduality may be without access to a library for a
long time, but will never lack opportunities to
learn "the art of putting things." These may be
called ideas in verbal forms.
The extemporizer should be accurately ac- Ocneraif3as
quainted with the great general conceptions in-
cluded in the thoughts of the learned. It is not
difficult for those who read, think, and mingle
with men to comprehend all these conceptions,
since the number of fundamental generalizations
must be limited. Certain broad views underlie
Science as a whole and the sciences respectively;
certain theories are generally held concerning hu-
man nature, and there is no subject upon which a
107
tions.
classifications.
Bjtempoianeous ©ratovg
general view can exist upon which opposing or
divergent theories have not at some time been
held by minds of no small degree of power.
The opinions of other men may be of great use,
and oftentimes a knowledge of them be of prime
necessity. Most generalizations are acquired in
the course of an education, so that it is necessary
only to consider from time to time the whole field
of thought and to test one's mental furnishing by
the chief authorities,
comptebensive The Weakness of many ordinarily eloquent and
convincing speakers is occasionally pitifully re-
vealed by a remark which shows that they are
ignorant of the outlines of some important domain
of science or philosophy. It is possible to respect
other thinkers without concurring in their opin-
ions; but if one intends to oppose errors, he
must be acquainted with them.
There are many things which each thinker firmly
holds. Sydney Smith once said that he wished he
was as sure of anything as Macaulay was of
everything. But it is impossible to advocate with
convincing force what one does not believe.
There are lawyers who defend with zeal and
apparent sincerity any case, however unfounded,
but no man is truly eloquent, though he be a pro-
fessional advocate, unless he can find some point
which he fully accepts. If his client be charged
with murder, he may show a flaw in the indict-
io8
ment; bring forward witnesses to prove an alibi;
endeavor to demonstrate that the provocation was
so great that the man was rendered irresponsible
by it; or that he acted in self-defense. He may
show that the father of the accused was insane or
a drunkard, and that the defendant is an epileptic,
or that he inherited such an unstable, nervous sys-
tem as to make him incapable of self-control.
It is related of Charles Chapman, a famous ad- Ube magnet oi
vocate in his day, that when he had nothing else ""''«"""•
to say he made an eloquent appeal based on the
fact that the victim was so obnoxious that the
murderer had conferred a public service. This
being beyond the privileges of counsel, he resorted
to a stratagem to introduce it, to this effect:
" Human life is a sacred thing. I do not stand
here to say that it should ever be taken with im-
punity. But it is proper for you, gentlemen of
the jury, in considering all the circumstances of
this case, to remember that, if at any time during
the past fifteen years a decree had gone forth from
some higher power that one of the citizens of
Litchfield County should suddenly disappear and
be seen no more, and that the person who was to
receive this honor should be selected by ballot,
the deceased, on whose account this proceeding
was brought, would have received an immense
majority of the votes of his fellow-citizens."
The ingenuity of the criminal lawyer, and even
109
Bjtcmporancous ©ratorg
of the civil lawyer, is often taxed to the utmost to
find a point which he believes to be true; for he
knows that if he does not find such a standing
ground, his efforts will prove abortive.
Ideas upon which the extemporizer has no
settled conviction may bear the presumptive aspect
of importance, but he is thus far uncertain whether
they are true or false. He respects their proponents
too highly to treat with contempt the results of
their lucubrations. It is vital that he should be
able to distinguish his beliefs from his disbeliefs,
and both from his state of mind upon questions
yet unsettled. At any time he may be brought
to the necessity of referring to one of these, or be
questioned by those to whom he has spoken. If
he has not clearly classified his ideas, and, when
speaking, a question on which he has no definite
opinion springs up in his mind, in excitement he
may utter, as his own, sentiments which are foreign
to his nature and life. His audience will feel this,
and, though he be speaking brilliantly, he will be
disparaged,
floustbcan It is necessary for the professional extemporizer
babituaianb ^ j^ settled Opinions. To do this he must
oricjinal Invcss r
tigator. reflect and examine for himself, since neither
a prejudice nor a prepossession is an opinion.
Habitual reserve is fatal to eloquence, and the
public will resent it. There cannot be convictions
without opinions, and he who touches an opinion
no
iroeas
which is the root of a strong conviction will para-
lyze himself if he attempts to avoid the necessity
of expressing the conviction, or to utter such an
opinion otherwise than in the accents of conviction.
If it be supposed — in view of the progress of
ideas and the contributions of invention and dis-
covery — that one must be continually reinvestiga-
tinof, it should be remembered that an instantaneous
perception with respect to subjects already thor-
oughly investigated will determine in most in-
stances the bearing and weight of an additional
consideration or fact. A master of the principles
upon which our constitution rests, having carefully
considered the arguments in favor of a monarchy
and all that can be adduced in favor of a republic,
need not consume his time reading new books
upon the subject. The institutions under which
he Hves justify themselves daily to him.
He who has settled his religious faith, and as he "^^^ son&rocft.
acts upon it receives a confirmation of his fun-
damental ideas, a supply for the needs and a
remedy for the maladies of his moral nature, need
not disturb himself nor allow others to do so; if
principles are advocated that directly tend to vice,
he is capable of antagonizing them without rein-
vestigation.
In the neutral ground between the settled and
the unsettled there are many notions and not a
few working hypotheses of such slight importance
III
Bjtcmporancous ©ratorg
that it makes little difference whether they are
true or not; so that before deciding to investigate
he should consider whether the subject be of suf-
ficient importance. On the other hand, he will find
some so complex that they must be left to special-
ists.
"DCiben silence It should be a fixed principle of the extemporizer
<8goi6cn. ^Q i^g reticent upon every subject which he has not
thoroughly investigated and with respect to which
his opinions are not settled. Solomon's wisdom
will condemn him if he speak: " He that answer-
eth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and
shame unto him."
112
Htcma, BnccOotes, Similes, anD llUustratlons
CHAPTER XVn
Htcms, BnccDotes, Similes, anJ) Ullustratlon^
The proper method of availing oneself of the
stores of information and misinformation daily
spread before the world by the press is to clip
from the newspapers items relating to whatever
he desires to propagate or to oppose ; also, those
treating questions which he purposes to inves-
tigate. From the accumulation of such clippings
he may cull such as prove worthy of permanent
preservation.
In order to test what the press conveys to him, "prove an
his library should contain one or more standard
authorities upon the whole scope of human
thought. He should have at hand the newest
general text-books in the progressive sciences, pre-
pared for schools and colleges, so that when a
journalist has had an interview with a scientist and
lucidly described the same the speaker, by means
of his knowledge of the fundamental principles
and by reference to the highest authority, can
protect himself from any inadvertent errors
which such communications may contain. The
best papers convey a vast amount of correct
information. Yet mingled therewith are numer-
ous inaccurate items concerning history, biog-
113
tbinfls.'
Extemporaneous ©rators
Ube fasclnas
tion of "once
upon a time."
miumfnatfng
tbe patb.
raphy, literature, science, law, medicine, and the-
ology.
Following blindly one of these misleading items
(often correct when originally published, but hav-
ing through typographical errors or mistakes of
the copyist become incorrect), an orator of much
fame delivered a splendid paragraph based on the
distance of the moon from the earth; but there
was an error of one hundred thousand miles in
his calculations. The extemporizer must be an
habitual verifier of his references.
Midway between the domain of facts and that
of ideas are anecdotes, illustrations, and similes
An appropriate anecdote, well told, affords the
best means of enlivening an audience and illustra-
ting an abstruse theme. The spoken style of
Abraham Lincoln derived much of its magical
power from his pertinent anecdotes. Yet it is due
his fame to note that, though his anecdotal re-
sources of memory and facility of creation were
almost infinite, on important occasions he used
them sparingly.
Poetic or semipoetic similes, if not too numer-
ous, render a discourse sparkling and have a pecu-
liar charm, and the extemporizer should count that
day not lost in which he finds a new and striking
illustration.
This method is an essential aid to the apprehen-
sion of new truth or novel phases of truth. When a
114
litems, BnccDotes, Similes, atiD •ffllustrations
statement of a new idea is brought forward,
unless there be something already known with
which one or more of its terms may be com-
pared, that idea will remain unintelligible. Thus
trades are taught. The apprentice advances, step
by step, from a known to an unknown resembling
it in many particulars. So science is acquired;
for there is among the sciences a mutual de-
pendence, one facilitating the understanding of
another.
The most celebrated Protestant ministers of
modern times, Charles Haddon Spurgeon and
Henry Ward Beecher, dissimilar in doctrine,
character, and career, resembled each other in
the facility and effectiveness with which they
employed illustrations. And the key to the
mystery of the style of Him who taught scribe,
lawyer, and philosopher, and of whom it was
said, "The common people heard him gladly,"
is in the words, "Whereunto shall the kingdom
of heaven be likened ? "
This is, however, the stumbling-stone of the carrv no ^al■fc
extemporizer, for an illustration to be effective '^"t^:'""^-
must be within the comprehension of those to
whom it is addressed; otherwise it will need illus-
trating. References to trades and sciences, to the
heavenly bodies, to electricity, to the circulation
of the blood, have often been made with a view
of illustrating something comparatively simple,
"5
JEjtcmporancous ©ratorg
which, not being understood, left the original
subject in impenetrable obscurity.
Illustrations must resemble, at least in one re-
spect, that which they are designed to illustrate.
A Western orator became envious of a speaker
who excelled in this art, and advertised that he
would deliver an illustrated discourse. After pro-
ceeding for a while in his usual dry and laconic
method he uttered a passage entirely discon-
nected with anything that had gone before: "I
see before me a young man of noble form, the fire
of ambition gleaming in his eye, determination vis-
ible in his firmly-set lips, his bosom expanding
with the consciousness of power, intent upon the
pursuit of fame. 1 see him start from home, full
of hope and life, hastening across the plain. Now
he descends a sharp declivity; at the base is a
dark, dismal swamp ; but, undaunted, he plunges
in; there let us leave him and pass on to the con-
sideration of our second thought."
Enougb better Illustrations must not be too absorbing lest they
divert the attention of the hearer from the original
theme. Nor should they be numerous or long
drawn out; one so clear that all can see its aptness
is sufficient. They should be adapted to impress
the memory, suggest the truth, and kindle the ap-
propriate emotion. This requires that they consist
of things natural, yet not too familiar, and that
they be vividly portrayed.
ii6
tban a feast.
litems, BiiecOotcs, Similes, anD llliiisirations
The habit of reflecting upon anecdotes, inci-
dents, or facts of any kind, with reference to their
utility as illuminators of discourse, and not merely
to their value as proof or to their intrinsic interest
as inform.ation, will so impress them upon the
mind that, as the time draws near for an address,
the speaker will have no difficulty in making a se-
lection which, by its novelty, will stimulate the
attention of the hearer and perhaps influence his
feelings or judgment.
Should he at any time be compelled to speak
without adequate special preparation, illustrations
will flow toward his lips under the guidance of
the ruling thought, requiring only that prompt and
intelligent discrimination in their use which is the
habit of his life.
"7
'Crainc^ pci =
ccption aiiJ
Msciiminatioii
Extemporaneous oraiotB
CHAPTER XVm .
^be Dalue anD tT^ranng ot IRcminisccnces
In spontaneous memory the thoughts come and
go through the mind, but unless one is conscious
that he has had them before, he cannot be said to
remember them. There is also a higher state than
remembrance where the differences among men
come more clearly into view; for many who re-
member cannot recollect. When anything which
they have previously experienced occurs to them,
or they are reminded of it by others, they recog-
nize it, but when called upon to relate certain
facts they have little power to recall the details.
mamcs for -^ '^
cacb manifcsa To the ability to respond at will has been given
tation of mcms ^^le name recollection. It is the art of sending the
mind to rummage the bram, as one might search
a library for a book which he knows is there. In
former times reminiscence was used exclusively
as the equivalent of recollection, but more recently
the word has been more generally restricted to
a narration of the circumstances, sensations, and
reflections of individual experience. The rem-
iniscent mood is not mere spontaneous memory
or remembrance, nor yet laborious recollection,
but habitually dwelling upon the past ; especially
incidents, characteristics, events, within one's own
Ii8
^be IDaluc an5 Cgrannv? ot IReminisccnces
knowledge, including the books that he has read
and the conversations he has had. Such remi-
niscences may at any time glide into mere remem-
brance, and the thoughts may come and go as in
a dream or a reverie, not departing from the
regular track made in the mind. At other times,
when in a reminiscent mood, one's curiosity may
be excited and the greatest intellectual effort per-
formed in endeavoring to recollect.
The value of reminiscences, as distinguished
from mere remembrance and from the arduous
labors of recollection, cannot be overestimated.
Facts of local experience and the fruits of travel
should not be allowed to flit through the mind, or
go "glimmering through the dream of things that
were, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour."
What one has felt, seen, smelled, tasted, or heard
he knows to be a reality, provided he has educated
his judgment and taught it to test one sense by
another, and all by the exercise of reason. Others
may resort to the same methods of acquiring
knowledge which he has used in the various
departments of learning, but his experiences and
reminiscences are his own, and one who is master
of himself can be placed in no position where he
cannot say something pertinent and which has not
already been said.
Recollection searches a garden; reminiscence
presents the diversified products of the universe.
119
personal
propertie.
fRcfresbfncj
epriiujs.
Bjtemporaneoug ©ratorg
They furnish all the mat-rials of discursive thought;
for the mind, when not locked in dreamless slum-
ber or bent to particular tasks, ranges over the
entire field of previous investigation, contempla-
tion, and experience. Hence reminiscences are
the fountains of spontaneity. Rooted in person-
ality, they are practically the hooks upon which
are hung new acquisitions preparatory to assim-
ilation.
When one thinks of his first railway Journey
his own reminiscences present to him a contrast
with the visible improvements of the day, so that,
without conscious effort, he traces the evolution of
that which is from that which was. It is by this
means that many are qualified to deliver, with
little special preparation, addresses upon an end-
less variety of topics.
TUnfcer secret Reminiscences need neither patent nor copy-
'*'"foch?'°" right, for it is inconceivable that the reminiscences
of two individuals can be precisely the same.
They are, therefore, the primary source of orig-
inality in oratory, poetry, and conversation. Their
specific character accounts for the ever-varied
and fresh manner in which real orators are able to
treat the same topic, and in a series of meetings
may entrance audiences by eloquence upon a sub-
ject which, to the common mind, would not
seem likely to furnish the materials for an hour's
good speaking.
I20
XLbc IDalue an& tTgrannB ot 1Rem(n(sccnces
During five annual meetings of the American
Antislavery Associaiion in Boston I heard George
B. Cheever, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick
Douglass, Theodore Parker, Parker Pillsbury,
Henry C. Wright, Wendell Phillips, Stephen S.
Foster, Abby Kelly Foster, Lucretia Mott, and
others, on successive days, morning, afternoon,
and evening. The peculiar fascination exerted by
each was in his or her reminiscences, expressed
or implied, and even their predictions were born
of their past.
During the same pregnant epoch equal elo-
quence was displayed in the Southern States by
conscientious defenders of slavery, so that the his-
tory of ' ' the irrepressible conflict " may be searched
in vain for passages surpassing the vivid and
truthful descriptions of the satisfactory rela-
tions subsisting between the slave and his
master, based on the reminiscences of men who
had seen the better phase of the "peculiar insti-
tution."
Reminiscences ever increase in value as a means ^F?.1Id^o6cop(c
of economizing power. They give to the lawyer tccuuMtg.
of long practice much of his readiness and per-
tinency. It is not merely the remembrance, nor
the recollection, but the habit of going over
one's own past, which, in response to a slight
suggestion of the will, causes to pass before the
mind, in new and striking forms, every thought
(9) 121
ffollowlng an
ignis fatuus.
pessimistic or
optimistic egos
tism.
Sitemporaneous ©ratoc^
and feeling incorporated in the ever-increasing ex-
periences of the speaker.
There are, however, serious dangers attendant
upon a reminiscent tendency. For when one is
absorbed in his own past he cannot be attentively
regarding the present; hence the reminiscent are
inclined to make their previous acquisitions a sub-
stitute for study. Since close thinking is fati-
guing, and the reminiscential mood is not so, many
hallucinate themselves into the belief that they are
thinking when they are merely indulging in retro-
spective reverie. Dr. Johnson truly says, "As few
men will endure the labor of intense meditation
without necessity, he that has learned enough for
his profit or his want seldom endeavors after fur-
ther acquisitions."
Under such circumstances, when one is invited
to speak, he is liable to begin with a reminis-
cence, which might be quite proper if it did not
lead to another, which could be endured did it not
conduct to a third. Important meetings have been
ruined by excellent men who have yielded them-
selves to a stream of reminiscences, consuming the
time of other speakers and exhausting the patience
of the audience.
Reminiscences are liable to render one incapable
of properly estimating the age in which he lives.
If its drift coincides with his views, he is prone to
regard the age as advancing with rapidity toward
122
Zbc Ualue an^ tTgranng of IRcmlntscences
perfection, and in tiie midst of vice, absurdities,
and crazes to declare that "there has never been
a time since the creation of the world when there
was so much of everything desirable and so little
of anything undesirable as now." But if the age
is moving in a direction contrary to his own life,
he sees nothing to commend. Optimists and
pessimists alike are made such by their reminis-
cences, and the extemporizer is insensibly con-
trolled by them to a high degree.
This accounts for the extreme bitterness and
censoriousness which some extemporizers exhibit
in public, who in private display a spirit quite the
opposite. In social life they are restrained by po-
liteness, but when absorbed they pour forth, some-
times in strains of exalted eloquence, a jaundiced
view, which produces an impalpable, but real,
opposition of feeling in a large part of any assem-
bly which they may address.
The reader or the reciter, composing in the un-
intoxicating atmosphere of the study, might per-
ceive the impropriety of " uttering all his mind;"
but the extemporizer may be hurried on, to the
impairment or destruction of his influence.
Reminiscences are to be dealt with as the chem- "fjanMc witt
ist deals with indispensable elements of an ex-
plosive nature. They produce excellent results,
but must be delicately manipulated and strict at-
tention must be given to proportion.
■23
care
Ejtemporancou6 ©ratorg
Evanescent
sensibilitv;.
'(Fn^uratfng
Influences.
CHAPTER XIX
©encral iprcparatton of ffecling
Those who naturally respond to the sympathetic
demands of every situation, with such strength
of feeling as to make necessary the practice of self-
control, need give little thought to the necessity of
being generally prepared in this realm. Their gift
for a while may be depended upon; although they
would do well to note whether the springs of emo-
tion are drying up with the flight of time; for
there have been orators dependent chiefly upon
feeling, who, neglecting intellectual preparation, in
the midst of their years lost their power and sank
into ante-mortem oblivion. A distinction must be
noted between true feeling and that lachrymose
condition implying merely nervous susceptibility,
which grows upon some until they weep, what-
ever the theme or occasion, whenever they speak
in public.
In childhood and youth feeling predominates
over reason. An instantaneous response is made
to every influence adapted to stimulate appetite,
emotion, and affection. The spectacle of an in-
sensible youth suggests imbecility, vice, or abnor-
mal criminal instincts. Contact with society, con-
flict, disappointment, the perils and bitter lessons
124
©cneral preparation of Reeling
of experience, the absorption of energy in work
and study, and especially the bearing of burden-
some responsibilities, tend to diminish feeling and
to repress its signs. Men especially are chagrined
and ashamed when they cannot control them-
selves, and in the attritions of democratic society
women may become more self-contained than was
the average man a few years ago.
A speaker who practices habitual self-control,
and especially one who represses every emotion,
will fail to attain or soon lose the power of effect-
ive speech where persuasion is essential to suc-
cess. A minister without genuine religious feel-
ing and personal devotion to those to whom he
speaks cannot reach the hearts of men.
M. L'Abbe Mullois, who was chaplain to the an expert's
Emperor Napoleon 111, and Missionary Apostolic, tcstcmonie.
observes: "An Arab proverb runs thus: 'The neck
is bent by the sword; but heart is only bent by
heart.' If you love, you yourself will beloved;
the truth from you will be loved; . . . You may
employ the most splendid reasonings, clothed in
the grandest phraseology, and yet the mind of
man will find wherewith to elude them. Who
knows but that French wit by one malicious word
may not upset all at once your elaborate structure
of arguments ? What is required in sacred elo-
quence is something new, something unexpected.
See, you, what it is ? it is love; for, loving, you
125
Bjtcmporancous ©ratorg
will surprise and captivate; you will be irresist-
ible."*
In contrast with this many ministers deliver
truth without earnestness and without sympathy.
met bianftets. Many while preaching seem to be sympathetic, but
avoid rather than seek the people to whom they
preach ; and when compelled to meet them in
times of affliction exhibit a chilling reserve or
an irritating nonchalance. A successful pleader
before juries must be alive with feeling, stimulated
by the causes he represents, sympathetic with his
clients, capable of being stirred to his depths by
the responsibilities of his position.
It must be conceded that strong emotion is a foe
to pure reason; in fact, to all strictly intellectual
work. In poetry inaccuracy in phraseology, ex-
cept in the iambic style, is not an important de-
fect, and in some forms of oratory exaggeration
seems to be one of the means of producing im-
pressions when it is the involuntary and uncon-
scious result of the excitement of strong pas-
sions, though it often destroys the influence of
those who habitually yield to the pernicious ten-
dency. Yet in all that he says the extemporizer
should be as susceptible to emotion as is compat-
ible with coherence of thought, and as close and
sound in reasoning as is compatible with sufficient
feeling to move the heart.
* TAe Clergy and the Pulpit in Their Relation to the People,
126
General preparation ot Jfeellng
Whatever abstract reasoners and casuists may KicnMngoftbc
say, human actions are the results of mingled mo- ^"^ motives,
tives. The orator should cultivate high personal
ambition; he should never willingly fall below his
best, never rest upon his reputation, never think it
a light thing to address an assembly, and should
aim to equal or surpass his contemporaries. It is
possible to be "rivals in glory without personal
animosity."
The feelings natural to a situation should not be
resisted. Only those liable to become unmanned
are justified in endeavoring to suppress natural
emotion. The best prescription for any orator is
in the precept issued to Christians by an apostle,
" Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep
with them that weep."' Be righteously indignant
with those that are righteously indignant. Be en-
thusiastic with those who are zealous in a good
cause.
Except where one suspects the motives of an
orator he should yield himself to be wrought into
ebullitions of delight by eloquent descriptions or
melted by appeals. There is no foe to eloquence
]ike the condition expressed by the word b/ase.
Emotion may be variously expressed, but it will
be difficult to adduce an instance of marked effects
attending an insensate preacher. Temporarily
such a person, addressing a congregation in
which religious feeling has been developed and
127
JEjtcmporancous ©ratorg
■Cbe letter of
tbcologis an6
law antU
emotional.
which retains its ordinary forms of expression,
may seem to enkindle emotion, and the church may
receive accessions, but only the unobservant will
attribute the result to the pastor; in a few years
the congregation itself will undergo a change and
become irresponsive, cold, and apathetic. There
is no form of oratory in which strong feeling will
not contribute greatly to success, or the entire
absence of it prove an insurmountable barrier.
The habitual cultivation of feeling is important,
and the more so in the proportion that one's cir-
cumstances or occupation naturally contribute to
its suppression. The protracted study of theology
— except when it deals with topics interwoven
with experience — exerts this influence over many
temperaments.
The too technical study of law may deaden the
heartstrings similarly. A great criminal lawyer who
became a judge and was conscious of his defects of
preparation determined to comprehend every prin-
ciple and to study thoroughly every case, being re-
solved to disappoint the predictions of those who
condemned his appointment. By intense application
he took rank among judges famous for correct de-
cisions and luminous and convincing opinions.
When his term of service expired he resumed
practice. But, though in earlier life his feelings
were easily aroused by anv case which directly or
indirectly involved life, liberty, or individual rights,
138
tbe emotions.
General preparation ot jfeellng
he found that years of abstract study had dried the
springs of emotion, and afier making abortive
efforts to be what he once was he gradually drifted
exclusively into civil cases.
The methods of cultivating the emotional nature ifcrtiujers of
are few. but the results of habitually pursuing
them are sure. It is within the reach of all to read
the best pathetic writings, the masterpieces of
emotional oratory, meditating upon the most mov-
ing terms and similes, and vividly conceiving the
scenes depicted. To hear orators who seem to
feel and are the cause of feeling in others is an
inspiration.
Responsiveness to the varying scenes of human
life should be counted a virtue and cultivated.
The love of wife and children, a grateful devotion
to the comfort of parents, the cherishing of tender
recollections of faces "loved and lost a while,"
and warm personal interest in the sorrows no less
than in the joys of one's neighbors and friends are
as effectual in the promotion of genuine sensibility
as are the forsaking of home for business, dissipa-
tion, or club-life in deadening it.
But more effectual than all other helps, because
It includes and purifies all. is an earnest, reverent
Christian life, equally removed from cant and
superstition. Its roots being faith, hope, and love,
the fruit is a perennial flow of pure and healthful
emotion.
I2g
jejtcmporancous ©ratorg
•
CHAPTER XX
Elocution for tbc Bjtemporl3er
The scope of elocution is frequently misappre-
hended ; hence its utility is much debated. A
typical conversation upon the subject consists ot
one person's affirming that the greatest orators
knew nothing about elocution; that the study is
generally injurious, as all whom he has known to
pursue it have been harmed ; and another's main-
taining that a majority of celebrated orators have
been close students of this art- The first will reply
that we learn to talk naturally and easily; that all
we have to do is to speak in public as we talk in
private, and we become orators; that the study
of elocution renders speakers artificial and robs
them of power,
jf ai0e premfscs When this plausible statement is tested by facts
ano mi0lca^inc, j^ j^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ -^^ substance untrue. We learn
cottclustons.
to talk easily, and the process of learning is nat-
ural, but the chief instrument of it is spontaneous
imitation. He, therefore, who is reared among
the uncouth and the passionate may talk easily,
perhaps far too easily for the comfort of those
with whom he associates; but unless his nat-
urally acquired evil habits are eradicated by the
most arduous labor, he will bear their marks
130
tbat prove tbe
rule.
Elocution for tbc Bitcmporljcr
while he lives and perpetuate them in his chil-
dren.
All are not eloquent in conversation; indeed,
good conversers are rare. The articulation of
many persons is indistinct if they are rapid in
speech; and if slow, they are often hesitating,
beginning sentences which they do not finish.
Some mumble; others speak so loudly as to render
themselves nuisances in public conveyances and
in company.
I maintain that with comparatively few excep- Exceptions
tionsall unusually fine orators have devoted them-
selves to elocution, most of them under teachers;
and that most of those who have succeeded with-
out professional instruction have applied to self-
criticism systematic thought and the results of
observation with such persistent thoroughness as
to be equivalent to a special study.
Of prominent orators who never studied the
technique of the oratorical art there are a few, like
Patrick Henry, who have attained the highest
grade. They are to be likened to a few poets
without a knowledge of general literature or the
laws of versification, or to a few singers and play-
ers upon instruments, who, with extraordinary
sensibility, have been able to dispense with in-
struction. Many preachers have arisen in the dif-
ferent denominations who, without a knowledge of
elocution, when under strong excitement rose to
131
Ejtemporancous ©ratorg
lofty heights of oratory, but these ordinarily moved
upon a lower plane and exhibited numerous im-
perfections.
The prejudice against the study of this art has
arisen from a variety of causes, among which are
that It has been made extremely technical, and that
many have given attention to it only so far as to
destroy or deteriorate whatever is natural to them
without the substitution of a cultivated second
nature.
iVlany of little oratorical susceptibility have stud-
ied elocution and boldly appeared in public as
orators, but have been unsuccessful. Real or al-
leged students have become ostentatious and
theatrical in style, in conspicuous contrast to for-
mer simplicity, which, with all its imperfections,
was preferable to stilted accuracy. Such often
presume to be critics of ordinary speakers, yet in
effectiveness fall so far below as to subject them-
selves to ridicule.
The elocutionary preparation of the extempo-
rizer must be general ; for, while it is possible for
the reader and the reciter to determine in advance
ranbat tbe free the tones with which particular phrases, sen-
epcafter cannot ^ences. and paragraphs should be uttered, it is.
impossible for the extemporizer to do so, for he
does not foreknow what phrases, sentences, or par-
agraphs he will utter. Hence he can learn little
by observation of the actor, or from one who in-
132
Elocution tor tbe Bitemporl3cr
structs actors, except general principles, and these
will be of no value unless assimilated and he acts
in harmony with them.
Sometimes the sole purpose of a speaker is to
entertain, as when one narrates an incident for its
wit, general interest, humor, extravagance, or
other quality which maybe pleasing. Under such
circumstances the speaker is sure of attention, un-
less he is preternaturally dull. It is in relation to
the other and more necessary functions of speech
that it is necessary to emphasize the importance of
being heard with satisfaction.
Instruction delivered in an unattractive way is ©uiincss
rarely received with interest. Those who need to "<:'P'^°'^»'
be convinced are quite willing to have their atten-
tion distracted, while to stir the emotions of those
who find no pleasure in listening is difficult and
often impossible. He is unwise and often discov-
ers that people will not listen to him who says
within himself or in the hearing of others: "I do
not care how 1 speak. I have something to say
that the people ought to hear, and I will make
them hear it."
The most necessary parts of every important
discourse will fail unless the speaker's pronunci-
ation enchains attention.
That which promotes these results can be called
reasonable elocution; that which neither helps nor
hinders is not so; that which hinders opposes rea-
133
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
HuMbiUt:e not
6epen^ent on
volume of
sound.
son. The practical question is, How far is such
common-sense elocution natural, and how far may
it be improved by art ?
To be heard is not the ultimate end of the
speaker's efforts, but being heard is requisite to the
achievement of his purpose. In a Friends' meet-
ing on a summer day a speaker maundered on
inaudibly for three quarters of an hour. On the
"high seat" was one greatly respected ' for
piety and noted for the pertinency and quaintness
of her remarks. When the unintelligible speaker
had finished she rose and said, "Dear friends, 1
feel that we have had a time of perspiration
mingled with meditation, and it is borne in upon
me that the main object of speaking is to be
heard."
It is possible to be heard in any building. No
speaker ever attempted to address an audience
who would not have been heard at twice the dis-
tance from the platform to the door had he dis-
covered the house to be on fire. The feeblest
organs, if capable of properly articulating a distinct
vocal sound, will be effective at great distance;
even a whisper can be heard at a distance of sixty-
five feet. For some months an audience of several
hundred listened to a pastor who could not speak
above a whisper, yet was able by the aid of
their intense and loving attention to make himself
heard.
134
Blocutlou for tbc JEi-tcmporijer
Many are unintelligible because of loudness. A
man partially deaf said to his pastor, *' You speak
so loudly that I cannot hear you." A peculiar
effect is often produced after the first few minutes
by a very loud speaker, especially if in monotone.
Auditors are delighted to hear his strong, melodi-
ous voice, but after listening for a while they be-
come conscious of difficulty, and before he closes
have lost the power to attend. The impact
upon the tympanum and upon the finer fibers
within has dulled sensibility.
A speaker should be heard easily. Many are in-
comprehensible on account of a habit of mouth-
ing. Words are heard, but the mind cannot com-
prehend them as fast as they are uttered, owing
to an unconscious but very real effort necessary to
identify them. Some speakers employ but two
tones, one low pitched and the other a piercing
shriek, which they alternate with uniformity now
and again with no regard to sense or length of the
intervals. This results simply from the accumula-
tion of energy under the excitement of public
speech, the loud yells being an effort necessary to
reestablish nervous equilibrium. Such speakers
should learn to diffuse this accumulated energy
progressively through the discourse. Others al-
low the voice to M\ at the end of sentences, and
occasionally on emphatic words. Two celebrated
professors in the same institution respectively il-
135
Smotbcrc^
eouni'S anS iv=
rltating con=
trasts.
Bitemporaneous ©ratorg
lustrated these errors in utterance; the first, until
his immense intellectual and moral power ab-
sorbed their attention, threw strangers almost into
convulsions of mirth; the other was not heard by
more than a third of the audience, those who did
hear being delighted.
Many speakers who are easily heard have little
voice. They are unable to talk down an uproari-
ous, hostile mob, but in assemblies that wish to
hear them they can be understood in the largest
buildings. Other orators of high grade, possess-
ing powerful voices, for the sake of emphasis
often lower their tones on special words, which,
nevertheless, are heard by the whole audience.
There are speakers not ordinarily easily heard
who, when obliged to speak to the audience
upon a matter unconnected with the discourse,
are understood without difficulty,
©ntbestfitsof I was present at a large political meeting in
seifsconsdousa Exeter, N. H., where the presiding officer was a
highly respected citizen, who was a member of
the bar, and had represented the State in Con-
gress and the Federal Government in an important
office. The orator was General N. P. Banks, at that
time Speaker of the Federal House of Representa-
tives. A nobler voice than his no public speaker
ever possessed — an organ-toned basso of unusual
range. The chairman delivered the opening ad-
dress in a strained tone, somewhat higher than
136
MBS.
Elocution for tbe Eitemporlscr
his natural pitch, which, though the matter was
excellent, did not command the attention because
of the difficulty of hearing; even upon the plat-
form he was not easily heard. While General
Banks was speaking "certain lewd fellows of the
baser sort" were running in and out, making con-
fusion near the door. The president, thinking it
his duty to reprove them, requested General Banks
to pause a moment, and, in a perfectly natural
tone, audible in every part of the house, made
some remarks to the effect that the reputation of
Exeter was at stake, and that he would be obliged
to those persons either to remain quiet or to ab-
sent themselves permanently.
The newspaper report showed the contents of
the chairman's opening speech to be as worthy of
being heard as any part of the magnificent oration
which it introduced. Had he delivered it as he
made these remarks, the assembly, instead of
showing restlessness, would have been charmed.
To attain high success the speaker must be t\onc com-
heard agreeably, and, if possible, his voice be
musical; under no circumstances should he be
content to allow it to remain rough, harsh, or
grating. The vital importance of this appears
from the fact that all hearing is voluntary. Gen-
erally, outside of prisons and places of compulsory
instruction, the presence of the auditor is volun-
tary. To assume that, in the absence of an in-
(lOj 137
pcHci to listen.
JEjtemporancous ©ratorg
tense desire to hear, human beings are capable of
sustained attention to sounds which are repellant,
is as unreasonable as to believe that usually they
are longing to learn what they should know, or
to be told what to do. If a voice is unpleasant,
men will not give attention; if it is very disagree-
able, they will make intentional or unconscious
efforts not to hear.
138
^be XDoicc
CHAPTER XXI
^be Voice
A KNOWLEDGE of Certain facts relating to the 3Foun^ation
formation and sound of the human voice is essen- ^"■■'"cipics.
tial to its intelligent cultivation, and these are more
easily understood by the aid of sound-producing
instruments. Why are the tones of the clarionet,
flute, and violin, vibrating in the same key, dif-
ferent ? Tyndall assumes that if their pure fun-
damental tones were detached, they would be
undistinguishable, but the dissimilar admixture of
their tones in the respective instruments renders
their claug-tiiits diverse. By the clang-tint he
means the result of the primary tone and the
harmonics or overtones sounding at the same
time, and by the admixture of the tones in the
different instruments he means that the shape
and character of the sounding boards connected
with them renders them diverse. Professor
Zahm* shows how the softness and richness of
the tones of the harp and guitar result chiefly from
their being plucked with the finger, and the
shriller and more tinkling sounds of the zither and
the mandolin from their being plucked with
a point of wood or metal. The pure, rich tones of
* Sound and Music,
'39
Bitcmporancous ©ratorg
limftations of
tbe pbonos
grapb.
the piano follow from the striking of the strings
with soft, elastic hammers of felt, and the extraor-
dinary overtones, both high and low, which give
the notes of the violin their charm are produced
by bowing.
I asked Mr. Edison why the tones imitated by
the phonograph were so unsatisfactory. Accent
and emphasis are rendered to the least peculiarity
in pronunciation, and a certain similarity exists in
the sound emitted by the instrument and the
speaker's voice, yet the ear is not satisfied. He
replied that it is because the phonograph does not
give the overtones. He is endeavoring to con-
struct a machine which will give them perfectly,
and believes that he is on the verge of completing
an instrument which will reproduce every quality
of the most exquisite voices.
The fundamental tone of the voice is caused by
the vibration of the chords, but it is affected by
the length of the vocal pipe and a variety of cir-
cumstances, many of which are common to all
human beings, and others, peculiar to the indi-
vidual. These are explained at length in the few
truly scientific works on elocution and voice pro-
duction, but more thoroughly in the best and
most elaborate works on physiology.
Men's voices, like their souls, are set in different keys :
In joyful or in minor chords tune they life's harmonies;
but the clang-tint of the human voice is usually
140
^be Voice
agreeable and so thoroughly individual as to be one
of the things most easily remembered. A gentle-
man who had not seen the present chaplain of the
United States Senate for forty years thus addressed
the man, whose soul-sight is penetrating, but
whose eyesight is gone forever:
" Dr. MiLBURN, do you know me?" -Concimprcss
"Yes; you are John, son of my old friend, the
publisher."
This was made possible by the clang-tint. The
voice may undergo changes in whatever is de-
pendent upon its accidents, but so long as one
speaks without an attempt to disguise the under-
tone it is sufficient to distinguish him from every
other human being.
That training is necessary and productive of
such gratifying results is because the resonance of
the voice, except the tone produced by the vibra-
tion of the vocal chords, depends upon the posi-
tion of the vocal organs, the shape and condition of
the mouth, throat, chest, head, and the other marvel-
ous sounding-board passages, together with the lin-
ing membrane; — all constructed with infinite skill.
It is possible that perfect vocal chords may be
comparatively useless because of the imperfection
of the sounding machinery. In the evolution
fully as much depends upon the arrangements for
magnifying and modulating the sound as upon the
string itself.
141
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
experiment.
Defects res
moves bi?
tratning.
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated this
when professor in the Boston University. Before
a class in the School of Oratory he adjusted the
vocal cavities according to the principles of visible
speech, and then produced sound by tapping on
the throat, placing a lead pencil across the larynx,
altering the cavity of the mouth by changing the
position of the tongue, then snapping the lead
pencil with his finger, and without making any
vocal effort ran up and down the scale with ap-
parent facility.*
The needs of training are best illustrated by the
defects which all can perceive in others' voices,
yet rarely when they exist in their own. The ad-
vantages of training are best seen when defects
under its influence disappear.
Many voices are spoiled by the misuse of
breath. Too much air passing over the vocal
chords will give to the voice a reedy sound, which
diminishes its carrying power. In order to pro-
duce a clear and strong tone there must be a habit
of physical exercise in pure air, a capacity for both
deep and rapid breathing, and a voluntary control
of the muscles regulating inhalation and expira-
tion. This is in some degree possessed by all
almost from birth, and during the sports of child-
hood maintained and increased. It is retained by
the workingman, whether mechanic or farmer.
■^ Kirby, Vocal and Action Lan^itage^ Culture and Expression.
142
^be Dolce
But unless systematic exercises are taken at fixed
intervals and for regular periods, a sedentary life
is unfavorable to it.
All vocalization being the result of forced breath-
ing, the power of controlling the muscles so as to
determine the pressure of the air cannot be ac-
quired without special practice. Contrast the
ability in this respect of a trained and an untrained
singer. The one, by a combination of economy
and endurance, will sing with a single breath
twice as many notes as can a person of double
physical power who has not been trained.
The effects of training seem almost incredible.
Professor Kirby states that the late Dr. Guilmette
exhibited to him several photographs taken at dif-
ferent periods of his life. One taken in his
younger days showed shoulders bent forward,
chest flat, the general appearance indicating a del-
icate man. The others showed successive stages
of development after he began practice until the
time when he stood before Professor Kirby, erect,
with deep and broad chest. He could inhale three
hundred and eighty cubic inches with one breath,
and his voice was immense.
Talma, "the first tragedian of his time, and the SRiiifui ^e.
regenerator of dramatic art, "had an unsatisfactory
voice, but his chief defect in his early days was
an inability to control the muscles of respiration.
After some passages he was so exhausted that im-
143
tcction.
Bjtcmporaneous ©ratorg
mediately after leaving the stage he was com-
pelled to lean against a wing for support, panting,
puffing, and blowing like an overworked ox.
There was at that time an actor named Dorival,
who, though thin, consumptive looking, and
weak voiced, played certain tragic parts with suc-
cess. Talma said to himself: ** I am ten times
stronger, yet he goes through his work with ten
times less fatigue. I must ask him for his secret."
Dorival put him off with a compliment.
" 0, Monsieur Talma, you are too successful a
tragedian to stand in need of any poor lesson of
mine."
■Mberc This piqued Talma, who, determining to solve
his secret, took a seat in the prompter's box, where
he could not be seen. At the end of an important
passage he left his hiding place, exclaiming,
" Hurrah! 1 have got you now! " But v/hat had
he discovered ? Nothing more nor less than this —
that his rival's art depended on his knowing how
to take breath.
I abridge the narrative of Legouve, Art of Read-
ing, but the words of Talma are quoted verbatim:
" He always made sure to take breath just be-
fore his lungs were entirely exhausted of air;
and in order effectively to conceal his continuous
inhalations, which would have broken up his
speech and even often interrupted the current of
his emotion, he took in breath more particularly
144
tbcre's a will
tbcrc'sawas."
Ubc Voice
before the a's, or e's, or o's, never before the i's
or u's. That is to say, only at the very place
where the mouth, already open, permitted him to
breathe so lightly as never to be heard by the
audience."
Subsequently Talma reduced all his rules on
breathing to one maxim: "Every artist who lets
himself run out of breath is nothing more than
mediocre."
Among the most common faults is nasality. sxagueKng
Commonly such speakers are said to "speak *au[t.
through the nose," but the opposite is the case, as
one may discover by compressing his nostrils while
speaking. The unpleasant effects upon the sound
of the voice produced by a cold in the head or
by chronic catarrh are explained by the stoppage
of the passages. But one without a cold or
other disease may have acquired in school, by
imitation, or in any of several ways, the habit of
contracting the muscles of the throat or of those
which regulate the passage from the throat to the
nose, and so produce this disagreeable tone.
A master of the theory and practice of vocal
music had no difficulty in securing a situation in
New York as a bass singer, but after a short time
was discharged. He felt bitterly this unaccount-
able evidence of dissatisfaction, and said to a
friend, " I am a victim of race prejudice; I am a
Hebrew."
145
jEstcmpouancous ©ratorg
B bat) babit
an6 Its mo^=
iflcations.
aSimetalUc
voicee.
"No," said his friend, "your voice has a hor-
rible nasal twang, that does not always show itself
in such a selection as you will sing to secure the
position, but is frequently heard, especially if you
are enfeebled nervously or otherwise. What you
need to do is to sing into a phonograph, and then
study your own voice."
This he did, and for the first time heard his
voice as it sounded to others. He acknowledged
at once the existence of grounds for dissatisfac-
tion, and set himself to train out those offensive
sounds.
Dentality is another fault. The teeth are held
so close together that the effect is to chop the
sound in pieces, making it impossible to pro-
nounce vowels, which are the carrying sounds.
By this habit, in combination with a compression
of the throat, a squeaking tone is frequently
caused. Add to this a drawl, with a raising of the
pitch, and a squealing sound is the consequence.
In some cases the shape of the movable jaw, or
its relation to the muscles attached to it, is such
that it is impossible for the speaker, until he is
conscious of the defect, to develop a full, clear
sound of O without so compressing the vocal tube
as to impart to the voice a rasping quality.
Metallic voices are quite common. For years I
supposed that in most instances the clang-tint
was responsible for this; but observation and ex-
146
Cbc \s)oicc
periment have convinced me that this is not the
case. The voice of the late William Morley
PuNSHON, a noted English preacher and lecturer,
struck me disagreeably when 1 heard it for the
first time. Its metallic quality was so pronounced
that it suggested nothing but a tin pan struck by
a heavy iron spoon. During the preliminary serv-
ices, and for five minutes after he began to preach,
this tone continued, gradually wearing away, and
from then until the close of the discourse it was
not perceptible, but in the reading of the final
hymn it was again noticeable. The difference
was caused by the fact that as his feelings became
excited he opened his mouth more widely and
breathed more deeply.
Legouve gives an account of the manner in
which his father, a professor in the College of
France, and an excellent reader, was dealt with
by a hostile critic and a candid friend. The criti-
cism was this :
"Yesterday Monsieur Legouve gave us two curfoua, (n=
, . n • » 1 • • 1 u 1 0truct(vc, anC
scenes from 'Racine, his voice as sepulchral as (nfmftabip
ever. " toi&.
Legouve then proceeds :
"A good-natured friend, Parse val-Grandmai-
SON, the elegant poet, seeing the article, instantly
says to himself: ' Poor Legouve will be put out by
this slander. Really I must run and console him
a little.'
147
Bjtemporancous ©ratoris
"He finds my father stretched on the sofa, and
looking decidedly out of sorts.
" ' Ah, my dear Parseval, is that you ? '
" ' Hello ! LEGOUvg. What's the matter? A lit-
tle sick, eh ? '
' ' ' No-o, throat a little sore — that's all ! But say,
Parseval, what do you think of my voice ?'
'•'I think it is a splendid voice — a first-class
voice.'
" ' Yes, yes — but how would you characterize
it ? What is its style ? Its quality ? Would you
call it — hem — a brilliant voice ? '
" ' Brilliant — well, no. Brilliant is not exactly
the epithet by which I would characterize your
voice. I should rather call it a sonorous voice.'
" 'Sonorous — that's it, isn't it.? Mine is a so-
norous voice ? '
" ' Well — though your voice is decidedly a so-
norous voice, sonorous is not exactly the best
term to describe it. Perhaps it would be better
to call your voice a grave voice.'
" ' Grave — well ! Grave be it. But not dis-
mal ? '
" * Dismal ! O, not at all dismal ! By no man-
ner of means dismal ! However — occasionally — '
" ' But you can't call it a hollow voice, eh ? or
a croaking voice, or a cavernous voice, or — }'
" 'Certainly not ! Neither hollow, nor croak-
ing, nor cavernous ! Far from it ! Still — '
148
XTbc IDolce
"'Enough,' cried my father, bursting into a
merry laugh. ' I see you have not only read this
infernal critic's article, but you actually believe his
criticism ! Sepulchral is the epithet you are look-
ing for, isn't it ? Ha ! ha ! ha ! '
"The story is not without its moral. From
that day my father was exceedingly careful and
even cautious regarding the use of his low notes;
by mingling them judiciously with the other two
registers he at last succeeded in reaching that nat-
ural variety of intonations which is at once a
charm for the hearer and a rest for the reader."
Voices are heard from pulpits and in courts of
justice to which each of those terms mentioned by
Legouv6 could be accurately applied; and others
that could be correctly described as "rasping,"
and for some no term is so appropriate as " maud-
lin." All these could be improved, and most of
them so modified that only the critical listener
would suppose them to be other than the speak-
er's natural tones.
1 inherited from a long line of bass singers a
low-pitched voice, and an activity of the nervous
system which disposed to rapid utterance. Some- tiercMts
what vain of so heavy a voice, 1 lost no opportu-
nity of singing, and on becoming a public speaker
continued to use it in speech, always with a rapid
utterance. The consequence was serious injury
to the vocal organs, making it almost impossible
149
overcome.
Brtcmporaneous ©ratorg
to speaK without danger. An itinerant elocution-
ist, of whom 1 took a few lessons, told me that it
would be necessary either to raise the pitch of my
speaking voice or greatly to diminish the speed of
my utterance. 1 believed neither to be possible,
but was assured that both could be done.
He perceived that in an ordinary building I be-
gan to speak on the key of ^^ and declared that it
must be raised to c, and by this method : Each
morning for a half hour I was to speak upon c,
avoiding a singing tone ; and 1 was to begin upon
c whenever 1 spoke in public. The former I com-
plied with, and pained the ears of all in the house
by ejaculations of every possible kind upon c. But
so prone was I to forget myself and begin to read
a hymn or a text upon g that for a while I took
a tuning fork into the pulpit, and, unperceived
©tactfce by the audience, struck it so as to catch the note.
■makes peticct. This practice gave remarkable results. As one
must speak to his keynote as well as sing to it, a
range of at least five notes higher than I had been
able to attain either in singing or speaking was
gradually acquired. Correspondingly, the strength
of the low tones diminished. But to this day, if I
omit public speaking for a month, and during the
same time sing bass a half hour a day, the original
tones return, it becomes possible to reach low b
and sometimes a, and the original tendency to a
low pitch reappears on rising to speak.
i';o
Cbc Doice
Some years later I met a noted bass singer confirmatory
whose voice was as really manufactured as was ^"stances,
that of DuPREZ. He had been taunted by a com-
panion with having a woman's voice, and imme-
diately devoted himself to the study of the voice
and to the theory and practice of bass singing.
Probably no speaker now living possesses a
deeper or more melodious voice than Dr. William
H. MiLBURN. In an article upon the late Professor
Taverner he thus refers to himself :
" 1 knew a man who, when he began work
with the professor, weighed about one hundred
and fifteen pounds, the girth of his chest was
twenty-eight inches, and his health infirm. He
-low weighs one hundred and seventy pounds, his
chest measure is between forty and forty-two
inches, his voice has gained nearly an octave,
chiefly in the bass notes, and his health is robust
and as nearly perfect as often falls to the lot of a
son of Adam. This change is not to be attributed
wholly to the Taverner system, but that gave a
start in the right direction."
That system Dr. Milburn summarizes thus :
' it begins with the thorough training of the
voice until every note that can be produced by the
vocal chords is perfectly formed and delivered to
the organs of articulation, which must always be
schooled to give every vowel and consonant sound
of the language in its true form ; and in corre-
151
Ejtemporancous ©ratorg
spondence with these the ear must be tuned and
disciplined to detect and castigate all falsity, pro-
vincialism, conventionalism, and other impurities
of tone, all limping and impotence of articulation.
To this end the whole breathing apparatus, from
the abdominal muscles and diaphragm to the clav-
icle, must be got well in hand and work automat-
ically. Step by step with these vocal exercises
the mind must proceed to grasp and use its parts
of the work, inviting the sensibilities and affec-
tions to loan their aid, and the will to reinforce
them with its energy."
Xigbtfroma Ventriloquism illustrates this subjects. Most
m:B8tif:eing imagine, as the etymology of the word implies,
that the fictitious ventriloquist's voice, proceeds
from the abdomen, whereas it is formed in the
inner parts of the mouth and throat. Many of
those who know this fancy that it depends on a
particular structure or organization of those parts,
which is also an error.
The true definition of ventriloquism is that
adopted by the French Academy : "The art con-
sists in the accurate imitation of any given sound
as it reaches the ear."
What the ventriloquist learns to do in imitation
of the voices of sub-animals and speakers whose
sounds are brutish is natural to many who distort
the muscles, cannot properly use the tongue, and
who hold the under jaw rigid.
152
Dolce Strengtbening auD Brticulatton
CHAPTER XXII
Dolce Strcngtbcning an& Brticulatlon
The self-evident disadvantage of a weak voice or
of speaking habitually in a feeble manner is the not
being heard at all or with difficulty. But a more
subtle and pernicious consequence is that it reacts
unfavorably upon the mode of thought and ex-
pression. Professor H. N. Day, who believes that
this effect finds frequent illustration, thinks that a
naturally imaginative and highly impassioned style
mav — by the continual influence of the conviction
that one is unable properly to deliver strongly im-
passioned discourses — be changed gradually into
one that is dry and tame.
No one by nature, or as the result of ordinary "ccibs strcnatb*
exercises, finds his vocal organs in such a condition ^"a"c ncc^ct^'^^
relatively to adaptation and energy as to be able to
meet the demands of a protracted public speech.
The most robust man. unaccustomed to it, would
be more wearied by reading in public one hour, in
a loud voice, than he would by sawing wood for
twice that time. And this is not all — the voice
would grow husky, and an irritation of the throat,
perhaps of a serious nature, might be set up.
In public speech various muscles on which in
ordinary life there is no strain are brought into
(11) 153
KStemporancous ©ratorg
action. Some of these have no exercise worthy the
name, except it is undertaken for purposes of
training. 1 he muscles of the chest and of the
abdomen must be strong. Much is said about the
diaphragm, and its importance cannot be exag-
gerated; but the dorsal, intercostal, and antecostal
muscles play an important part, and lung exercises
must be taken systematically. One may by prac-
tice in a gymnasium pile up mountains of mus-
cle upon his arms, shoulders, and chest without
adding much to his lung capacity, and even be on
the verge of a decline.
/Beans of fns Those vital organs must be expanded by the air
creasing vocal v/hich they are intended to breathe. Gymnastic
capabilttB. . / ,,. , , , . . ,
exercises mtelligently used promote this, since the
more physical effort, the deeper or more frequent
will be the respiration. The pedestrian who
climbs hills, breathing meanwhile exclusively
through the nostrils, exercises his lungs, and there
is no form of effort more beneficial. Walking on
level ground, though a healthful practice, will not
give the capacity of breathing required. Cycling,
a wholesome general exercise, is not especially
healthful for the lungs, and because of bad meth-
ods of riding is often harmful to them. The
position is unfavorable, since the abdominal and
coordinate muscles are seldom free to do the
best work. The cyclist, the pedestrian, and the
equestrian require additional exercises for the
154
Voice strengtbcnlng auD articulation
chest, arms, back, and diaphragm. Cycling in
most parts of the country cannot be practiced in
the winter and early spring, hence during that
period special exercises should be taken for the
upper parts of the body.
A useful way to exercise the lungs, within the
reach of everyone, is systematic inhaling through
the nostrils and expelling through the mouth, the
lips being held firmly in the position for whist-
ling. One who speaks, standing, several hours
each day, as did Wesley, Whitefield, and others,
needs no exercises for this purpose. But those
who speak at intervals of a week or more should
not neglect breathing exercises.
There is a tube which many have used to ad- Unstrumcntai
vantage, so constructed as to admit the air with-
out obstruction, but requiring its expiration
through a small orifice. After entering upon
editorial work I spoke in public less frequently
than before, and found a diminution of vocal
energy, and, in the heat of summer, considerable
reactionary physical fatigue followed protracted
addresses to large audiences in the open air. I
have for the last twelve years been in the habit of
using the inhaling tube daily for several weeks
before filling such engagements. As one of the
chief sources of sustaining power I have recom-
mended the tube to hundreds of speakers who
have attested its value.
155
jEjtemporaneous (S>rator$
The great conservator of health is activity in the
open air. This promotes a habit of deep breath-
ing, purifies the blood and keeps it pure. As the
voice is closely connected with the nerves, over-
work and loss of sleep are among its most insid-
ious foes.
The attitude in speaking should be erect; when
words are being uttered the mouth should be well
opened. An excellent method of vocal practice is
to declaim with a cork an inch in length between
the teeth. If there be pain, inconvenience, or any
consciousness of the mechanism of vocalizing,
something is wrong,
(particular M= Whenever possible the speaker should breathe
rections. through the nostrils. It is well for him thus to
take a deep inspiration as he begins, and for the
same purpose to utilize pauses.
I emphasize the statement that while speaking
too low is a fatal impediment, it is detrimental to
speak too loud; for the ear is pained, the attention
distracted, emphasis defective or excessive, the
nerves of the hearers irritated, and if the voice be
in any degree strained, it will be neither sweet,
soft, nor agreeable. The unnecessary labor de-
volving upon the speaker will in time unfavorably
affect his health and even without this may effect
a permanent change in his natural tones.
Nature and Art furnish a method of economiz-
ing the strength of the loud-voiced speaker, and
156
Voice StrengtbcnltiG an5 Biticulation
intensifying the effect of those very few feeble
voices which from some constitutional cause are
not amenable to strengthening treatment.
The most important word in the vocabulary of xcssonsfrom
elocution is articulation. The distinct articula- *"« '"3®*'^'■^•
tion of consonants is more important to the speak-
er than to the singer, and it is easier for the former.
There has been much dispute whether the articu-
lation of consonants or vowels should receive
greater attention. The conclusion which 1 have
reached is that consonants should be articulated
distinctly, but not to the neglect of the vowels, in
which inhere all the best qualities of the voice as
well as its carrying power. In order to strengthen
the voice and qualify the speaker to produce
the vowel sounds effectively Delsarte required
his pupils to practice daily the syllables po, la,
mo on every note within the compass of their
voices.
Regnier, "a master of masters," gave a pre-
scription as simple as it is effective for perfect-
ing the articulation, it is based upon what one
would do if he wished to confide a secret to a
friend, and was fearful of being overheard. ' ' You
face your friend exactly, and pronouncing your
words distinctly, but in an underbreath, you com-
mand your articulation to convey them to your
friend's eyes rather than his cars, for he is as care-
fully watching how you speak as he is intently
157
Extemporaneous ©rator^
listening to wnat you say. Articulation having
here a double duty to perform, that of sound as
well as its own peculiar function, is compelled, as
it were, to dwell strongly on each syllable, so as
to land it safely within the intelligence of your
hearer."
Another master says of this method: "In a
very few months' steady practice at this exercise
for a few hours a day you will find that your
most obdurate articulatory muscles become flexi-
ble as well as strong; that they rise elastically and
respond harmoniously to every movement of the
thought and to every call of the pronunciation."
Serving a jj^g enunciation of new words, or of such as
pose. one discovers that he has been in the habit of
mispronouncing, should be connected with this
practice; thus from either point of view the time
will be well expended.
Breathing exercises without the use of words
are often distasteful and wearisome, which ac-
counts for the fact that they are so seldom prac-
ticed sufficiently to avail much. There is no
reason why one should not produce tones while
practicing them.
If one possess the other qualities, he need not
be deterred, by the fact that nature has allotted to
him a feeble voice, from entering upon any pro-
fession essential to which is the power of being
distinctly heard in public speech.
158
Voice Strenfltbenfng anD Brticulation
Robert Hall, one of the most celebrated of
pulpit orators, had a feeble voice, which he made
still weaker by working upon the theory that mo-
mentum is the result of power and velocity, and
that the less power, the. more velocity there should
be. But, in spite of these impediments, because
of the distinctness of his articulation he was heard
with pleasure.
Edmund Kean, one of the greatest actors that
ever lived, had by nature a conspicuously feeble
voice. WiLBERFORCE, a power in Parliament, was
little more than a pygmy, and his voice was not
only weak, but disagreeably shrill.
W. J. Fox, a famous preacher of South Place
Chapel, London, " whose voice was neither loud
nor strong, was heard in every part and all over
Covent Garden Theater, when he made anti-corn-
iaw orations there, by the clearness with which he
pronounced the final consonants of the words he
spoke."*
" MoNVEL, one of the most famous of French
actors, had scarcely any voice. He had not even
teeth, and yet, according to high authority, not
only did his hearers never lose one of his words,
but no artist had ever more pathos or fascination.
The secret of his success was his exquisite articu-
lation."
Of Andrieux, Legouve says: "He was one of
* Public Speakini; and Debate, \>y ij. J. Holyoake, revised edition, p. lo.
Splcn^i^ Irf-
umpbs over
nature's ^iss
abilitie.
Ejtcmporancous ©ratoris
the most finished orators I have ever heard ; his
voice was worse than weak — it was feeble, ragged,
husky. How did he win such triumphs in spite
of such serious drawbacks ? Splendid articula-
tion again ! By making you listen to him he made
you hear him. His incomparable articulation made
not to listen to him an impossibility." *
These all possessed great intellectual and emo-
tional powers, determination of character, and am-
bition, and took the pains to make the utmost of
' their limited vocal resources,
ibaif a loaf Notwithstanding all this has been accomplished,
better tban no there are thousands of ministers and lawyers whose
abilities, though not sunicient to achieve success
when impeded by imperfect or feeble articulation,
are adequate to admit of their accomplishing incred-
ibly more than they do, were they assiduously to
cultivate their voices upon rational principles.
* Art of Reading, p. 51.
160
t5
fMtcb an^ ^onee
CHAPTER XXin
Ipitcb anO Cones
The pitch of the human voice depends chiefly
upon the number per second of vibrations of the
vocal chords, and the length, thickness, and de-
gree of tension of the chords determine the num-
ber of vibrations. The greater the length, the
lower the pitch ; the more tense the chords, the
higher the pitch. It is held by some that the pitch
can be influenced by the ascent or descent of the
larynx, which shortens or lengthens the vocal
pipe.
The possession of power to discern pitch by the B>crccption of
ear, and to remember it, at least in some degree, *'^^^^'
IS of vital importance. It is a natural gift, and
high authorities do not believe that it is capable of
cultivation to any considerable extent. R. H. M.
BosANdUET, Professor of Acoustics in the Royal
College of Music, London, in the discussion of its
scientific basis, says: "Roughly speaking, and in
the absence of reliable statistics, we may say that
the possession of the absolute pitch is distributed
as follows: Say one per cent possess it; one per
cent are entirely destitute of it. so as to be said to
have no ear; and the remaining ninety-eight per
cent possess it in a more or less modified form."
i6i
:i£rtcmporancou6 ©ratorg
Charles Darwin was unable to distinguish dis-
cord from harmony. Most persons, however,
have this facuhy sufficiently to distinguish be-
tween high, low, and medium pitch in the ordi-
nary use of the voice.
1 he medium pitch should be the basis of speech.
From it one may rise or fall, according to intellec-
tual and emotional requirements. Height and
depth are necessary. "He who has no height in
the compass of his voice can only with difficulty
make men fear or rejoice; he who has no depth
to his voice cannot make men adequately feel the
solemnity or the majesty of any truth," says Pro-
fessor H. M. Whitney, in an admirable paper on
" The Ideal of Public Speaking."
iRciatfvc value It was a maxim of Mole, a celebrated actor of
of tbemeMum ^^^ ^^^^ centurv, that "The middle voice is the
pttCD. - ' ,
father; without it no posterity." Legouve, in
commenting on this, says: "The low notes are
not without great power, the high notes are occa-
sionally brilliant; but they should be employed
only when certain unusual effects are to be pro-
duced." He compares the high notes to cavalry;
their province to make dashing charges and initi-
ate strong attacks. The low he likens to artillery,
as "denoting strength, effort, the putting forth of
unusual power." But "the middle voice is our
infantry." The precept, therefore, which he most
earnestly impresses is: "To the middle voice ac-
162
HMtcb anO Xloncs
cord the supremacy first, last, and always." In
pointing out the. effects of employing the high
notes too often or too continuously he declares
that "they wear out, are falsitied and made
squeaky." The abuse of the lower notes infuses
monotony, gloom, dullness, heaviness.
Henry Ward Beecher said to me: "What a
speaker most needs is to strengthen his ordinary
conversational voice, without giving it a hard,
firm quality; that is, without destroying its flex-
ibility and power of adaptation to every mood."
The best practical method, requiring no teacher, uo improve tbe
of strengthening the middle voice 1 found to be mi^6levotcc.
the discussion with a personal friend, at a distance
of two hundred feet in the open air, of questions
on which we were conscientiously opposed. Our
friendship and the fact that we were alone pre-
vented undue excitement and the involuntary use
of querulous or vociferating tones. The subjects
were more or less abstruse, and .in so conversing
for half an hour two or three times a week my
tones were improved, and an extraordinary effect
was wrought upon his, for he h;id always made
too much use of the higher notes. The excite-
ment of speaking had caused him to raise his tone
before he had spoken five minutes, and higher and
higher until it became almost inaudible; this de-
fect was remedied.
It IS a fine ait to be able to lower one's pitch.
163
Brtemporaneous ©ratorg
Some scream on to the end ; from sheer exhaus-
tion others spasmodically fall to a low note, but
immediately they forget themselves and run up to
the same pitch, vociferating there till out of breath.
Hrt of cbang= Berryer, One of the greatest of French advo-
ing tbe pitcb. ^^^^^^ seldom lost a case, but told a friend that one
day he lost a very good cause by unconsciously
starting his speech in too high a key. His temples
soon felt the unusual fatigue of the larynx; from
the temples it passed to the brain; the strain
being too great, the brain gave way ; thought be-
came confused, language disarranged, and utter-
ance indistinct.
There is a gentleman in an important repre-
sentative position whose elocution is nearly per-
fect, and for the first ten minutes much in the
style of Wendell Phillips. After that he rises in
pitch to tones resembling those of an angry man,
and the members of the deliberative body in which
he speaks cease to listen.
To avoid this evil one should retain sufficient
self-possession to know whether he is speaking
too high. He should break himself of the com-
mon habit of raising his voice in the beginning of
a sentence, and fix in his mind the conviction
that without raising the pitch any note may be
strengthened by an additional exercise of power.
If one finds himself too high, practice will enable
him to change the pitch.
164
liiitcb anD tTones
An excellent method is to introduce a brief jfadiitvof
quotation. This makes it natural to lower the t"^'*"^""'"-
pitch, and in the same tone he can add a commen-
tary upon the quotation and retain the lower key.
Professional elocutionists have no difficulty in
doing this. They pass from grave to gay, read
comedy and tragedy, change their keys according
to the subject, and read to the key until the selec-
tion is finished.
It is not difficult to master this common defect
if once the attention is fixed upon it with deter-
mination. Should other methods fail, introduce
an anecdote; this will compel it. A lawyer thus
embarrassed resorted to an ingenious stratagem.
He paused, demanded more air, compelled the
janitor to raise a window, then complained that
he had raised it too high, had it adjusted to suit
him, and resumed his speech in a conversational
manner.
In all speech the fundamental requisite is the
effect upon the ear, for its influence upon the
emotions depends upon the report made by
the ear to the higher regions of the brain,
whence it reacts upon the entire nervous and
circulatory system. The singer has this con-
stantly in view, but there is reason to believe
that comparatively few speakers have ever
thought seriously of how their voices sound to
their hearers. «
165
jEjtemporancous (S>rators
lufrtue anfe vfce Improper use of the semitone is a common
^* ^toncr*"'' ^^^^^ of oratorical debility. "The semitone is
the vocal sign of tenderness, petition, complaint,
and doubtful supplication, but never of manly
confidence and the authoritative self-reliance of
truth. It is this which betrays the sycophant, and
even the crafty hypocrite himself. They assume
a plaintive persuasion, or a tuneful cant, not
merely to imply that they are prompted by a
kindly and affectionate state of mind, but some-
times because they unconsciously distrust or de-
spise themselves, and are therefore influenced by
the mental state of servility." *
Rush therefore teaches that \\hene\'er the semi-
tone is used to indicate a state of mind which does
not call for it suspicion should be awake, and
illustrates his meaning by the statement that a
beggar should "by the instinct of his voice plain-
tively implore; and it is equally a law of nature,
which abhors hypocrisy no less than a vacuum,
that he should give the truth of his narrative in a
more confident intonation." f
Hn analogous In its effects the upward inflection is closely
inflection. ^Y\x\ to the semitoue, and is also an indication of
insincerity or conscious weakness. In the opinion
of Professor Taverner the continual use of the
upward inflection implies hypocrisy, and he
displayed what seemed almost an intuitive
* Rush, on the Voice, p. 570. + Ibid,
166
Ipltcb anO Zones
power of discerning character. Upon hearing
certain ministers he declared them insincere;
his judgment was proved true, for some years
later they were justly exposed to public
contempt. Listening to a noted congressional
orator, then in high repute as a lawyer and legis-
lator, and a deliverer of addresses in educational
institutions, most frequently at those devoted to
the education of women, but since disgraced by
the exposure of his protracted hypocrisy and
licentiousness, he said: "That man is a hypocrite;
there is nothing genuine about him; the open,
shameless sinner is genuine, but he is fraudulent
throughout."
" Why this harsh judgment ?"
"That regular upward inflection is an infallible
proof of hypocrisy in a man of ability."
No incongruity is more enfeebling than the use ubc tone un=
of a plaintive tone continuously in extempore
prayer, reading of the Scriptures, or delivery of ting,
a sermon or address of any kind. Yet it is not
uncommon to hear men in prayer giving thanks,
praising God, confess sins, implore pardon, pray
for the delivery of a country from an appalling
calamity, in the same unvarying tone suited indeed
to penitence and deprecation, but not to any other
state which the words of the speaker express.
Even a funeral discourse, if the object be in any
part support to the sinking spirit, should contain
167
cbangc^ bc=
comes unfits
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
some sentiments which require calm, confident as-
sertion and a hopeful spirit.
Hcoustfc props Legouv£ gives a suggestive account of his first
'^^""ngs!'""^' venture in writing and reading poetry. It was
soon after he left college. He was to read at the
Conservatoire de Musique et de Declamation. Be-
fore going he read the composition to his guardian,
BouiLLY, who said to him: "Dear boy, you are
hardly doing justice to your goods. Better call
on my friend pEBVEand get him to give you a few
lessons." Paying a high tribute to Febve, Legouve
quotes one passage from him that states a princi-
ple which, till I found it there, 1 thought I had
discovered, and on which 1 had long acted. It is
this: "The auditorium of the Conservatoire re-
sembles an excellent Stradivarius. No violin sur-
passes it in harmonious resonance. The sounds
that you send forth are returned to you by its
melodious walls, fuller, rounder, sweeter. Your
voice can play on these walls as your fingers play
on the keys of a fine musical instrument. Be very
careful, therefore, to avoid too high a pitch. And
lay down this rule as a principle: always adapt
and proportion your voice not only to the size of
the hall in which you speak, but also to its acous-
tic properties."
The acoustic properties of most edifices are im-
perfect. But these defects generally have a
physical cause which admits of being guarded
1 68
science.
pitcb anC» Cone»
against by the adaptation of the speakei's position
and tone.
Probably the worst building in the United States, ipractkai aps
acoustically considered, is the beautiful Memorial pi'<:ation of
-^ science*
Church at St. Augustine, Fla, There, unless
properly managed, the noblest voices are reduced
to the level of the feeblest and most unmusical,
and a babel of echoes results. Yet by scientifically
estimating the situation an experienced speaker,
without unusual strength of voice, ascertained the
key, and by preserving a monotone made his
words audible throughout the edifice. An acute
musical ear and, in the absence of that, experi-
ment will enable a speaker to determine what tone
is requisite, and he should feel for it in beginning
until he finds it.
There is, however, one remarkable fact expli-
cable by the laws of vibration. Two buildings
may be of exactly the same size, the walls of
similar materials and thickness, and the fixed con-
tents of the halls the same, yet one may be
acoustically perfect and the other inferior. The
architect of several imposing churches and music
halls informed me that the chance of this is not
great, but is sufficient to keep him anxious till
experiment demonstrates success.
Frequent changes of position should be avoided,
but, when necessary, should not be made with ra-
pidity. When a speaker utters a word the air
(12) 169
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
vibrates in all directions, but its rate of motion is
greatest in front; tiiose before liim receive tiie
volume of sound at its greatest force, those to
the right and left have equal facilities for hearing
at the same distance, but less than those in
front. All will in a little while become accus-
tomed to such sound waves as they receive.
Should the speaker suddenly turn to either side
of the house, the vibrations will come into col-
lision, and for some moments, in a large building,
all will be confused and many words lost.
Hence changes of position should be made during
pauses.
An irregular or inadequate reflection of sound
waves, in many buildings, accounts for the diffi-
culty of speaking. The ventilation of the second
House of Parliament in London was so arranged
that in the middle of the hall there was a draft of
air from the floor to the ceiling, and it was im-
possible for speakers to be heard in opposite sides
of the room. Since the form as well as the length
of the vibrations depends much upon the way in
which the tone begins, which is not the same in
all persons, it follows that in some rooms one
place may not be equally well adapted to two
individuals as a point from which to speak.
iRbietbm. The natural tendency of earnestness is to
become rhythmical. Abbott and Seeley say:
"When we talk or write continuously about any
170
Ipitcb aiiD Zonc3
subject that appeals to the passions we gratify a
natural instinct by falling into a certain regularity.
Both the voice and the arrangement of the words
fall under this regular influence; the voice is
modulated, and the words are regulated in a kind
of flow called rhythm. Without rhythm the ex-
pression of passion becomes spasmodic and pain-
ful, like the sobbing of a child. Rhythm averts
this pain by giving a sense of order controlling
and directing passion. Hence rhythm is in place
wherever speech is in passion and intended at the
same time to be pleasurable; an impassioned
speech without rhythm is, when long continued,
unpleasing." *
In ordinary conversation there is usually no
perceptible"tone," except with monologists, who,
like Coleridge, practically preach whenever they
converse. But rhythm carried too far becomes a
"tone," and this, when characteristic of a leader,
may be intentionally or unconsciously imitated by
his followers.
Theodore Watts, an English writer, aifirms
that "the rhythm of language is the rhythm of
life itself, and that it is deeper than all the
rhythms of art. it can be caught," he teaches, "by
prose as well as by poetry, such prose, for instance,
as that of the English Bible and of Shakespeare's
greatest writings. There is nothing more and
"English Lessons /or English Ptople, section 91.
171
Utc pleasing
"unftrcss" of
familiar cons
versation.
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
nothing less than the meter of that energy of the
spirit, which surges within the bosom of him who
speaks, whether he speak in verse or in impas-
sioned prose."
Such was the origin, no doubt, of the early
rhythms of all religious movements that began in
deep emotion. The imitation of them by the
successors of the prophets and preachers, after
the emotion has subsided or freedom of utterance
has been affected by conventional rules, is but a
monotonous and powerless caricature.
2)cnom(na= Each denomination has its peculiar tone, and
tional tones. . ■ , , , r i • •
sometmies a special branch of a denommation
has a special rhythm. That employed by what are
called the Hard-shell Baptists, in the South and
West, has been variously popularized. The
Friends have a peculiar tone; this originated in
awe inspired by a belief that they were receiving
special spiritual aid. A recurring " ah " at the end
of words, characteristic of many of the early Meth-
odists — which John Wesley abominated and did
all in his power to suppress — sprang from vehe-
mence and loss of self-control, accompanied by
exhaustion of breath, producing a positive gasp at
the end of a sentence or when pauses were neces-
sary to prevent convulsions.
Liturgical Churches do not escape. I do not
refer to intentional intoning, which belongs to the
sphere of music, but to the rendition of the service.
172
imitators.
pitcb atiD Zones
While reading an elaborate ritual with others, in a
limited time, unconscious imitation has produced
an easily recognized tone, which, as is the case
with the characteristic tones of other denomina-
tions, some deliberately affect.
Imitation is at the base of modern denomi- "Unconsdous
national canting. Speaking of the influence of
imitation, Dr. Milburn says: "Educated people
have been accustomed to sneer and laugh at the
holy tone of the Hard-shell Baptist, old-fashioned
Methodist, and Quaker preachers. But you may
blindfold a man of quick ear, whose habits of
close observation have been trained, and take him
on a tour to visit the various churches in any of
our cities, and in a few minutes he will tell you
without fail, from the voice, its tones and manner-
ism in the giving out and reading of the hymns
and of the Scripture lessons, and the utterance of
the prayer, to what branch of the Church the per-
son belongs, the part of the country from which
he comes, the theological school in which he was
trained, and even that where his earlier studies
were pursued. Andover, Harvard, Yale, Princeton,
Union, the General Theological Seminary, and all
the rest have each their shibboleth; their speech
bewrayeth them. They have forsaken nature and
become the copyists of a man or a school — pup-
pets, marionettes."
Severe as this seems, it is not extravagant.
173
:£jtemporancous ©ratorg
cbaractedstfc The burden of what is to come contributes to
intonations, ^j^^ singing inflection. Instead of concentrating
the mind wholly upon the sentence that is being
uttered, the partial extemporizer anticipates, pro-
ducing a degree of connection in some respects
similar to that in the mind of a person improvising
poetry. Many have a mistaken notion of orator-
ical manner, and in aiming at high, lofty, and
swelling passages fall into a monotonous chant.
In all professions orators arise who have
tones peculiar to themselves. A general cause is
unusual weakness or strength of voice. He who
has a weak voice finds a relief in singing his
sentences, and his voice derives carrying power
from it. One whose voice is unusually strong
and whose feelings are excited finds difficulty of
control, and thus resorts to the unconscious song.
All haranguers sing; they do not speak. Ac-
cording to Plutarch, Julius C^sar, while yet a
youth, hearing some person read in a canting
tone, said: " Are you reading or singing ? If you
sing, you sing badly; and if you read, you never-
theless sing."
iburtfui effects The chief evil of a tone is that it destroys
of tbc singing natural emphasis, frequently compelling the
tone upon ora= '^ . ' , , . .
tov^\ speaker to roar unimportant words, producmg, in
fact, upon his prose the effect which an excess of
rhythm produces in poetry. To one of these
speakers I listened, impressed by the tiemendous
174
Ipltcb anD Clones
voice with which he uttered the word Noah, as
though angrily calling to him from a great dis-
tance. With pencil and paper 1 recorded his
notes, and found that he sang with the precision
of one who had learned a tune; that the most un-
important words were frequently emphasized,
and the very key words of his sentences slurred.
Toward the close of his discourse a general un-
conscious wave of the audience m harmony with
his rhythm was perceptible, and a venerable
woman near the speaker bowed her head at each
pulsation with uniform regularity. This tendency
is best seen in a Negro congregation, to which the
repressing influence of mutual criticism has not
extended. There the effect sometimes approxi-
mates the wonders of hypnotism.
"Monotony is frequently the vice of speakers ubeWgb
who address large assemblies, and who have monotone
not," says Rush, "that clear vocality and distinct
articulation which would insure the required reach
of voice. They rise, therefore, to the utmost limit
of the natural compass, and continue their current
just below the falsetto." He pertinently adds:
"This cause operates on the enthusiasts of the
pulpit; on many of the speakers and always on
the clerk of the lower house of the American
Congress, where the scrambling cries to be first
heard, with the uproar of titular Honorables, over-
rule the gentlemanly rights and duties of the
175
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
voice; but it is most remarkable in the mouth of
the stump and scaffold demagogue, whose own
political designs lead him to address great crowds
in the open air ! "
An infrequent but pernicious defect in vocali-
zation is the use of the falsetto.
The irregular efflux of energy sometimes pro-
duces a reflex influence, which to a certain degree
checks the speaker, and he instinctively takes
refuge in the falsetto to escape a total suspension
of voice. A sudden turning of the neck to the
right or left, out of time with the movements of
the vocal organs, will generally suffice to diminish
the flow of energy.
The introduction of long recited passages having
a rhythm of their own, unlike that natural to the
speaker, frequently sends the voice of the speaker
up the scale, and he does not descend until his
speech is finished.
u lullaby. Monotony on a low pitch exerts a soporific in-
fluence over an audience, which no strength of
thought nor beauty of language can wholly
counteract; and if there be regularly recurring
minor notes, the most startling expressions lose
their power; even to those who do not sleep the
sounds bear no sense.
176
Ipconunciatton
CHAPTER XXIV
pronunciation
The extemporizer must pronounce correctly at
all times and complete his sentences; for as in
private so will he pronounce in public. Special
attention should be paid to accent. This may be
done by quantity or by a gliding pitch or stress.
The ordinary idea of iiccents being the application
of a greater force of voice upon a syllable is true,
so far as it goes; but there are other very impor-
tant modes whereby a syllable may be made
conspicuous. In English, German, and Italian
accent is of the utmost importance. " It is," says
Rush, "an abundant source of variety in speech;
forms in part the measure of our versification;
and when skillfully disposed, by the adjustment
of a delicate ear, produces, with the assistance of
quantity and pause, the varied rhythmic measure
of prose."*
The standard of pronunciation should be some-
what elastic. Although a speaker should not in-
dulge himself in pronunciations that have not the
support of some generally accepted modern au-
thority, he should endeavor to speak so that his
hearers will not be diverted from the reception of
♦Rush, on the Voice, p. 419.
177
Bccent.
Stan^ar^ of
pronunciation
Sjtemporaneous ©ratoig
the idea to the pronunciation of the word " Ac-
cessory " affords a good example. The prevailing
practice, supported by almost all authorities, ac-
cents the second syllable; but there is consider-
able authority for accenting the fust. In most
assemblies, should a speaker say ^^-cessory, a
majority would recognize it as a new pronuncia-
tion, some wondering if it were correct, and
many believing it to be wrong. When the com-
mon pronunciation is plainly wrong it would be
advisable, in all cases where the emotions are to be
mo mcrcs for Stirred, to avoid the use of that word ; but if used,
tbe inaccurate, jt should be correctly pronounced, since the edu-
cated public speaker should regard himself as a
conservator of the vernacular.
There is no final authority in pronunciation,
except the concurrence of several of the best
orthoepists. I have found it an advantage to
have within reach Cooley and Cull, Webster,
Worcester, Walker, Johnson, Richardson, the
Encyclopedic, the Standard, the Century, and sev-
eral other dictionaries. I found Richardson's Dic-
tionary valuable in its specialty. The Century in
considerable degree fills the same place, besides
having many features peculiar to itself as .m
encyclopedia of language as well as a dictionary
A comparison of all these works often affords
much aid. As there are more than a thousand
words on the pronunciation of which high author-
178
pronunciation
ities differ, a speaker should not blindly follow
any, but leisurely compare and decide.
It is a serious defect in some of the best diction- OmfssCon bg
aries that they do not inform the reader that differ- u\'cTn^(^
ent opinions are held and different usages prevail, ortbocptsts.
The consequence is that those who consult ex-
clusively a work with this defect are liable to
suppose speakers to be in error who are supported
by other authorities, and when corrections are not
accepted and other authorities are adduced they
are humiliated to find themselves suspected of
pedantry, and their confidence in the standard
which they had supposed final is shaken.
How to pronounce proper names imported from ipvommcfatJon
foreign languages is one of the chief difficulties; ° * ,,^,'„°JJ ' '
especially of young and inexperienced speakers.
Some maintain that such words should be pro-
nounced according to the analogy of the language
to which they belong. Several literary men met
casually in a bookstore and fell into conversation,
during which reference was made to Kamtschatka.
The speaker uttered it after the manner taught in
schoolbooks of half a century ago, giving the ch
the sound of k. He was patronizingly corrected
by a foreign traveler, who said, "Those who have
been in that part of the world call it Kam-shat-
ka." Somewhat nettled, the one interrupted after
a short time turned the conversation to the south
of France, and hesitating as though forgetting the
179
couvtcsv.
JEjtemporaneous ©catorg
name of the city which presented Marie Antoi-
nette with the magnificent couch preserved at
Fontainebleau, was aided by the pedant who had
just criticised him, "You mean Lyons." Where-
upon he was promptly asked if the French pro-
nounce the name of the city in that way.
abaractcdstic Cultivated Frenchmen pronounce the names of
foreign countries after the analogy of their own
language; if they speak other tongues, they con-
form to the analogy of the language to which the
names belong. A simple rule with which it is
possible to be consistent is this: Foreign names
may be classified as having been or having not
been anglicized. When one is speaking English
those belonging to the former class should be
pronounced as anglicized. Some have not been
changed in the process; others, such as Paris and
Vienna, have been; the rule is the same for
names of persons. If a proper name has not been
anglicized, the speaker should endeavor to pro-
nounce it according to the analogy of the language
to which it belongs. This in Bohemian, Hun-
garian, Russian, Arabic, and Welsh would defy
most English speakers, whatever their general
culture. Hence it is well to follow the pronunci-
ation given in the authorities, and should there be
none, to pronounce after the analogy of English,
so far as possible.
All countries are becoming more and more cos-
iSo
pronunciation
mopolitan, the United States in particular. It Is
not easy to determine tlie pronunciation of tlie
names of persons wiio have risen to eminence,
for many names undergo a change, often in har-
mony with the desire of naturalized foreigners.
The confusion which has resulted from the irreg-
ular application of rules to this subject is seen in
the case of the name Quixote and its derivatives.
A lecturer who had traveled in Spain thought it
necessary to speak of the hero of Cervantes's im-
mortal work as Don Kee-ho-te, but several times
during his lecture used the words quixotic and
quixotically.
Dialectic pronunciations in different sections of girovfndau
the United States are sources of embarrassment to ^^^^'
many speakers who find themselves in a region
remote from that in which they received their
early training. The most striking example relates
to the Italian a. Walker's Dictionary was for
many years a standard authority in the Middle
States. He was opposed to the introduction of
that a into the language. Consequently, in the
region of which Philadelphia may be said to be
the center, including Princeton College during its
early history, the word calm was pronounced so
that it rhymed with clam. I was trained in that
school, and on removing to New England found
myself generally criticised for pronouncing the
frequently recurring word psalm so as to make it
i8i
Bjtemporancous ©rator^
sound like an abbreviation of Samuel, This led
me to a study of tlie subject, to wliich 1 found
tliat Noah Webster had devoted much attention
in the introduction to his dictionary, and I adopted
the nov/ general pronunciation of that class of
words. On returning to my native town I was
charged with affectation, and Walker's Dictionary
was produced to prove the allegation,
sisastrous During the late war Daniel S. Dickinson, once
'''""^*^"^^' Attorney General of the State of New York, changed
his political attitude, and delivered an oration in
support of the Federal Government. He was in-
vited to Boston, and was received by a splen-
did audience. Near him on the platform were
Edward Everett, Wendell Phillips, and others of
distinguished position. In front of him, with
several thousand, I sat, listening with intense in-
terest. In order not to be misunderstood or mis-
represented, the orator read all that he delivered
upon political questions. Poetry he quoted from
memory, and after a magnificent passage raised
his head, pushed back his long white locks, and
indicating by gestures the cardinal points, uttered
in thrilling tones:
" All are but parts of one stupendiious whole,
Whose body Nature is. and God the soul."
Mr. Everett did not exhibit amusement or as-
tonishment ; his self-possession was absolute. Mr.
Phillips slightly raised his eyebrows; some in the
182
pionunciation
audience laughed, but Mr. Dickinson did not know
why they were amused.
At an institution in North Carolina a visiting
clergyman, not educated in early life, was asked
to offer prayer. He did so most appropriately.
The solemn tones of his voice awed the students,
and his pathetic references to the civil war, fresh
in every mind, brought tears to many eyes. Toward
the close of the prayer he uttered these words:
" Bless this institution, and let thy special blessing
rest upon our kind friends in the North, whose
money sustains this great work; and grant thy
blessing upon the school, upon the president, and
the whole corpse of teachers."
Since a large part of verbal capital is accumu-
lated before the period of self-criticism arrives, it
is desirable to listen to public speakers of repute
and to accomplished conversers, and note, for
prompt investigation, the pronunciation of any
word which differs from that with which one is
familiar.
Also, in learning new words, it is important to constant viof:
ascertain their pronunciation, and before uttering '^JJ"c*u^^a%'.'
them in public to pronounce them aloud fre-
quently. This is the only effective method of
correcting a discovered habit of mispronunciation.
The lips will automatically pronounce as they
have pronounced, and a new automatism must
be made by practice with every such word.
183
JEitcmporaneous ©ratorg
fitter but sau This I learned by painful experience within
utars. eighteen months after beginning to speak regularly
in public. The city in which 1 resided was the
home of John P. Hale, of national reputation as
an orator. With his accomplished daughters he
sometimes attended my service. One day, when
contrasting the spiritual nature of heaven as re-
vealed in the Scriptures with that described in the
Koran, I exclaimed, "What is the heaven of
Mohammed but a species of se-rag-lio?" The
senator's countenance was impassive, but his
daughters exchanged glances. The next day a
friend said to me, "Did you say se-rag-lio yester-
day.^" "Yes," said I. He replied, with a quiz-
zical smile, " Even 1 was classic enough to know
that it is pronounced se-ral-yo." It was a morti-
fying but valuable lesson.
From that day I have not adopted a word ac-
quired in reading without determining its pro-
nunciation, and, where authorities differ, deciding
by which to regulate my practice.
184
^egtcD Ibclps
CHAPTER XXV
CesteD "toelpa
The mastery of the art of reading has an excel- zbc cbarm of
lent reactionary effect upon the extemporizer. i"^'^-'^"^"^^-
That art, understood by few and often least known
by those who fancy themselves proficient, requires
exercise in the intelligent use of the pause, accent,
and emphasis; practice therein modifies rate of
utterance, tends to eradicate artificial tones, and
improves articulation. That the extemporizer
may derive benefit from the practice of reading
he should bear in mind a distinction forcibly stated
by A. Melville Bell: "To a speaker the thought
precedes the words, and dictates them; and hence
the words, as they arise, express spontaneously
the thought, with all its relations of subordination
or prominence to the general subject. To a
reader, the words precede the thought, and dictate
it; but, as it is more easy to see the words which
lie before the eye than to discern the thought
which lies beneath the surface, there is a fatal
facility of utterance, which tempts the reader to
pass on to the words, without first making the
thought his own, as it is in speaking." The stu-
dent should be particular not to imitate peculiari-
ties of his preceptor, nor to surrender his own
(13) 185
^extemporaneous ©ratorg
judgment concerning the proper method of ex-
pressing the author's ideas. It would be better to
conceive an erroneous notion of the author's mean-
ing and to read in harmony with it than to follow
slavishly another's interpretation. The personal
element in reading is so predominant that, ex-
cept for the avowed purpose of impersonation, no
one should attempt to read like another.
"Bnercciient The extemporizer should be willing to learn
""•" from critics either hostile or friendly. I had a habit
of roaring, and on one occasion a venerable man
said, " Will you accept a criticism from one who
was in the ministry before you were born?"
"Certainly." "Let me suggest, then, that in
speaking of Christ's agony in the garden of
Gethsemane you do not use the same tone which
you employ in denouncing atrocious crimes." I
made efforts toward reformation, but ten years
later a man who had attained fame as an elocu-
tionist uttered this sententious criticism, "You
are too steadily stentorian to be effective."
Meeting my old preceptor, Professor Taverner,
I engaged him to attend a service in the church
of which I was pastor, sit where I could see him,
and note all defects with a view to unsparing
criticism. Later, to avoid being Tavernerized, 1
employed another expert, having a different sys-
tem. He detected some of the defects which
Taverner had pointed out, and declared that some
i86
^eeteD Ibelps
things which the former had inculcated were se-
rious errors. This led to careful comparison of
the views of these teachers. It is a misfortune to
exhibit the indubitable impress of any preceptor.
Except in the case of some lawyers, lecturers,
and ministers in constant practice, averaging
several public appearances each week, and who
abstain from talking in private because they have
so much of it to do in public, 1 doubt if an instance
can be found of a successful extemporizer who is
not what would be called a "great talker."
1 tremble in view of the responsibility of the
recommendation, and must implore the kind con-
sideration of the victims of those who, in order to
prepare for public work, will besiege all accessible
ears. Harry Campbell, M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician
of the North West London Hospital, recently read
and published a paper on "The Therapeutic Aspects
of Talking, Shouting, Singing, Laughing, Crying,
Sighing, and Yawning." What is said upon talk-
ing, both upon its physical and psychic aspects,
is concise and pertinent to my suggestion:
' 'As regards the psychic aspect of talking, thought
becomes much more vivid if it finds expression,
whether in speech, writing, music, or artistic pro-
duction, than if it remains unexpressed. The
physical effects of thought are more pronounced
in talking than in writing. The cortical nervous
discharges underlying it send a stream of energy
187
St;mpatbet(c
listcnitui tbc
inspiration of
eloquence.
/IDuItum in
parvo.
Bjteniporancou6 ©ratocg
toward the muscles involved in speech and gesture,
and both voice and gesture can be modified to
convey subtle shades of thought and feeling which
cannot find expression in writing. The very ex-
pression of these refinements enhances the vivid-
ness and intensity of mentation. Talking is for
this reason stimulating, and its influence in this re-
spect is in a measure proportional to the gesture
accompanying it. Few things are more calculated
to stimulate the body, to rouse it from lethargy,
than 'animated' conversation. In talking, as in
laughing, shouting, singing, and crying, inspira-
tion is short, while expiration is prolonged, the
exit of air being checked partly by obstruction in
the glottis and partly, perhaps, by the action of
-the inspiratory muscles.
'•The actual amount of work done in talking is far
more than might at first sight be supposed, and
should always be taken into account in reckoning
the quantity of exercise taken during the day. The
amount of talking done by barristers, politicians,
and others enables them to dispense largely with
exercise as ordinarily understood; for not only do
they in this way expend a considerable amount of
muscular energy, but they experience the mani-
fold advantages of active respiratory movements
continued for a long period together; indeed, I
believe talking to be distinctly conducive to lon-
gevity. That talking involves a considerable ex-
i88
TTesteO tbelps
penditure of energy is shown by the exhaustion
which it induces in those who are nervously run
down. Such are often greatly exhausted, even
after a moderate day's talking. This exhaustion
is due to mental as well as to muscular expendi-
ture; indeed, in the very neurasthenic the bare
process of thought maybe an effort, and the mere
effort to think may alone cause exhaustion; and if
such is the case, how much more likely is the
putting of thought into speech to do so, seeing
that, apart from the muscular expenditure involved
in speech, thought is so much more intent when
spoken than when unexpressed.
"Talking is a beneficial exercise in heart disease,
especially in those forms in which the blood tends
to be dammed back upon the lungs. The good
effect is here doubtless due to the increased ampli-
tude of the respiratory movements and to the
health thus afforded to the pulmonary circulation.
It is for this reason that I always encourage talking
in those suffering from passive engorgement of the
lungs. * The breathlessness due to dilatation,' ob-
serves Sir William Broadbent, Ms often relieved
by exercise of the voice. 1 have met with numer-
ous instances in which a clergyman has climbed
into the pulpit with the utmost difficulty, and has
not only preached a sermon comfortably, but has
been all the better for it.' The good result, I take
it, in these cases, is attributable to the deep in-
189
Bjtemporancous ©rators
spiration required by the loud voice necessary to
fill a large building."
Sir George A. Macfarren, Professor of Music
in the University of Cambridge, and author of the
article on "Music" in the Encyclopaedia Bn'taniiica,
defines music as "an art which employs signs as
a medium of artistic expression of whatever is not
in the province of literature, of sculpture, of paint-
ing, of acting, or of architecture." After critically
stating what is accomplished by the other arts he
says that "Acting adds speech to the written
words of the dramatist, which can only describe
or state man's perceptions or impressions, and
even qualifies their meaning by vocal inflections
and illustrates it by changeful gesture. Music,
and music alone, embodies the inward feelings, of
which all other arts can but exhibit the effect."
Singer anb I maintain that the extemporaneous orator, when
spcaftcr. Y\Q reaches complete absorption, in a sense not
true of the actor, as really embodies the inward
feelings, the special, individual, and personal utter-
ances, and every variety of passion, as the singer.
It is true that words and gestures are employed
in expression, but the essential power of music is
developed in the voice without the indefiniteness
of wholly musical expression. And as music sug-
gests still more than it communicates, so the voice
of the entirely absorbed speaker, who improvises
everything he utters except the primary thought
190
CcstcO Ibclps
and the feeling, is employing music in the only
true sense in which it maybe called "the uni-
versal language," and sometimes in a Whitefield
or in a Patrick Henry it produced effects tran-
scending any ever produced by mere words, in- b ^cca^cnt ac
flections, and gestures. In the primitive ages ""'P^^bmcnt.
poets, priests, and orators all sang.
Some professors of elocution, themselves unable
to sing, and perhaps a few who understand that
art, have discouraged the orator from its pursuit.
One at least has taught that speaking and singing
involve different principles and, as exercises, are in
a large degree antagonistic. Nevertheless, I rec-
ommend to a speaker the acquisition of a knowl-
edge of the principles of vocal music and habitual
practice of the art as a most valuable aid to the
mastery of the voice, and to its most effective use
in public speech.
That the voice has a different timbre in singing
and in speaking depends only on the different
forms of the sound waves, which in singing are
much more favorable to the timbre than it is pos-
sible for them to be in speaking, and consequently
a greater number of harmonic overtones are pro-
duced.*
in speaking the cavity of the mouth is smaller;
in singing much more time is given to the forma-
tion of vocal tones. The sounds of speaking
♦ Madam Seiler, The Voice in Singing.
igi
Bstcmporancous ©ratorg
"quickly follow and crowd after one another."
"Slurring of words is unavoidable in singing."
Principally the differences are in the direction of
the breath, the roominess of the cavity of the
mouth, and in the length of time afforded for the
development of the vocal tones.*
The ability to sing enables a speaker to deter-
mine at will the pitch of his voice, which without
that is extremely difficult and usually impossible.
The habit of singing materially aids in permanently
changing the pitch. If a natural tenor will con-
fine himself to baritone singing, the effect on his
speaking voice will soon be perceived. If the
basso, as an exercise, will sing music intended for
the baritone, or even for the "robustuous tenor,"
he will not be so liable to sway downward in
speaking.
H^vantagc8 of The practice of singing gives power to diminish
vocal music. ^^ increase at will the strength of the voice. It is
particularly favorable to the cultivation of the dis-
tinctions among vowel sounds, the depth and vol-
ume of which it increases. It has an excellent
effect upon naturally unemotional speakers and
upon those who from any cause have acquired a
choppy style of articulation, and gives a pleasing
rhythm to their style. It is beneficial to health, and
thus adds greatly to the extemporizer's resources.
Dr. Campbell, discussing the subject from a
♦Madam Seik-r, /'/;(? Voire in Speaking.
I(j2
^estcO tbelps
medical point of view, shows the fine influence
of singing upon health: "In singing there is a
great disproportion between inspiration and ex-
piration, the former being much the shorter. . . .
From the medical standpoint singing is the most
important exercise, both by virtue of its influence
upon the emotions, on the respiratory movements,
and on the development of the lungs. . . . Such
therapeutic importance do I attach to singing that
I recommend it whenever opportunity affords. It
is especially useful in defective chest development
and in chronic heart disease." He quotes from Von
Ziemssen's General Therapeutics: " in consequence
of the reports sent in from various quarters on the
healthy influence of singing on the restoration of
circulation and on the strengthening and nutrition
of the lung, the practice of singing has been intro-
duced even into prisons in order to antagonize
pulmonary consumption, which generally develops
in a short time among the convicts."
In recommending the study of music I refer
particularly to the mastery of sight singing, which
anyone who can sing at all can master if willing
to persevere.
The speaker who sings much must be careful b cautton.
lest he contract a chanting tone when speaking,
and the orator who attempts to sing as an amateur
for the entertainment of his friends or the public,
unless in choruses, must be ever watchful lest he
193
:iEa:tempoi:aneou8 ©ratorg
H ^(8t(nctfon
of supreme
moment.
contract an exclusively staccato method. One of
the most famous both in speech and song escapes
the influence of excessive singing upon speaking,
but not that of speaking upon singing.
Force is not vivacity. One should never use
more force than is necessary. If requested to
speak louder, he should beware of raising the pitch
of his voice; by a slight increase of volume on the
same key he can make anyone whose organs of
hearing are not defective hear distinctly. The
groundwork of true oratory is the tone of lively
conversation. Vivacity is not force, yet many, to
evoke interest, use more force, when the only
means of gaining what they seek is increasing
animation. I have not elsewhere met with so
clear a setting forth of this distinction as is found
in a passage by Dr. Henry Mandeville:
" We should be careful not to confound force
with vivacity. Force is strength, energy; vivacity
is life, animation. Force has respect to the hearer,
vivacity to the subject. . . . Force, to the verge of
vociferation, especially if uniform, may be asso-
ciated with dullness; vivacity never; and yet there
may be great vivacity in speakers who have little
force. . . . Force is under the control of the will,
and is measured and regulated by the judgment;
vivacity depends upon the feelings and their sus-
ceptibility of excitement from the progress of dis-
cussion. The one is therefore voluntai y : the other
194
involuntary. A speaker can command force at any
time; but vivacity, if it comes at all, comes with-
out being summoned or solicited. It appears only
when the speaker begins to be interested in his
subject; and as this penetrates and warms and ab-
sorbs him it grows apace independently both of
judgment and volition."*
Although vivacity in speech cannot be com- wivacfts a mat.
manded at will, the habit of conceiving vividly and *" of acaui6i=
moving and speaking quickly can be cultivated. On
this possibility there is a suggestive passage in Bos-
well's Johnson. The incomparable biographer re-
lates that he and his master visited Peter Garrick,
the brother of David, Johnson's whilom pupil and
lasting friend, in whose fame the great critic took
unceasing pride. Peter had that morning received
a letter from David, announcing their coming.
The family likeness of the Garricks was very
noticeable, and, says Boswell, "Johnson thought
that David's vivacity was not so peculiar to him-
self as was supposed. * Sir, ' said he, ' I don't know
but if Peter had cultivated all the arts of gayety as
much as David had done, he might have been as
brisk and lively. Depend upon it, sir, vivacity is
much an art, and depends greatly on habit.'"
There is much truth in this; vivacity is usually
a natural gift; but it can be lost and acquired.
Voluntary indolence accounts for the dullness of
* Elements of Readi)ig and Oratory, p. 63.
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
many in private, and wliatever their susceptibility
to stimulus from an audience, it will diminish
rapidly after middle life if they indulge themselves
in slothful mental and physical action.
After mastering the principles of a reasonable
©(Btoftbc elocution and remedying obvious defects, the
extempore orator must be his preceptor and
ultimate authority, ever guarding against the be-
guiling influence of self-love, which under such
conditions predisposes the judgment of master
and pupil to a favorable estimate.
ig6
matter.
©esture
CHAPTER XXVI
Gesture
Actors and other declaimers from memory are
duly impressed with the importance of gesture,
but extemporizers, as a class, give the subject
scant attention, and appear to be under the delu-
sion that any motion they may chance to make will
be effective. Only those who are ignorant of even
the rudiments of the philosophy of gesture can
entertain such an opinion, and the majority who
act upon it display automatic movements as repe-
titious as those of a windmill. They make no use
of an influence often far greater than that of words.
"The judges of the Areopagus learned by ex-
perience the power of gesture, and to avoid com- sagacUv; of tbe
ing under its spell [sometimes] adopted the plan »«opagitc0.
of hearing pleas only in the darkness."*
They are also supposed on certain occasions to
have compelled orators to wear masks. The power
of gesture is illustrated in pantomime and in the
modern system of sign language.
E. M. Gallaudet, LL.D., President of the Gov-
ernment College for the Deaf and Dumb, Kendall
Green, Washington, D. C., informed me that in
conversation among themselves educated deaf
* Art of Oratory , System o£ Delsartc.
Bjtemporancous ©ratorg
mutes now seldom spell words — they use a system
of signs for subjects, objects, qualities, states, and
movements, whereby the equivalent of several
words or a whole sentence may be represented
by one or two gestures. He told me that in his
travels in Europe he has met many deaf mutes
of Italian, German, French, or other nationalities,
and could address them at the same time, his
signs being understood by all, who would write out
his ideas in the language of the country to which
each belonged.
H new soul No Sensitive person can behold without intense
experience, emotion an accomplished deaf mute interpreting
Longfellow's " Psalm of Life." Familiar with that
poem, I never comprehended its whole import
until I heard it solemnly recited by Dr. Peet, of the
New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb,
while at the same time the senior class rendered
it in the sign language.
The eloquence of Louis Kossuth depended as
much upon his strangely fascinating gestures as
upon his tones and words. A remarkable instance
of his power was displayed in Philadelphia, when
by one gesture he exhibited the depressed con-
dition of his people, and by another the exalted
position attained through freedom by the people
of this country. Kossuth was the first to impress
\ me with the power of gesture to aid comprehen-
j sion and encM'n the mind.
: 198
taut part un=
icpovtablc.
Gesture
Great as is the power of words, it is restricted
to their meaning, melody, association, emphasis,
and inflection.
A renowned pulpit orator, soon after hisordina- move impor
tion as bishop, visited Cincinnati to preach. The
announcement of his coming awakened much in-
terest, and the editor of one of the city papers de-
termined to secure a verbatim report of his dis-
course. In the hope of pleasing both the orator
and his readers, he employed the most expert
stenographer, one usually engaged in reporting
testimony, arguments, and charges to juries. Be-
fore the report was in type the editor informed the
bishop that he possessed it, and the latter expressed
a desire to see it. After reading for a time he ex-
claimed, "This is a miserable report, and I would
not have it published on any account." The short-
hand writer declared that he would make affidavit
that every word uttered was reported, and that not
one word had been added. This being communi-
cated to the puzzled orator, with a thorough in-
dorsement of the stenographer's competency, he
pondered it for a long time, at last exclaiming,
" The man has got my words, but he has utterly
missed my thought ; and, to be just to myself and
your readers, I shall have to write the whole over
again." A demonstration was thus afforded that
in impassioned oratory — a marked characteristic
of the bishop's public efforts when at his best —
199
:Ejtemporaneou0 ©ratorg
words in their literal significance take a secondary
place to gestures and inflection.
For a short time after birth a child "has no
language but a cry." Its cries diminish as it be-
gins to gesticulate voluntarily, and even before it
can speak the germs of significant gestures can
be traced.
I had not the opportunity in my youth of closely
observing infants, but later I was domesticated
with the family of a physician whose firstborn
was but three months old; and during a year the
development of the child was scientifically studied
by his parents and myself. 1 noticed many things
which might have escaped attention had I been
familiar with young children, among others
pantomime of these: The child found much pleasure in being
Infants. taken up and held by the mother, who indulged
this desire until it became too great a tax; the
infant when less than five months old made coax-
ing gestures, and, if denied, screamed at the top
of his voice. When the attempt was made to re-
place him in the cot he resisted in an unmistak-
able way. The mother, urged by her husband,
determined to escape from the thraldom, and re-
fused to take up the child. After crying for a time
he would become silent and fall asleep. But one
day he cried himself into a violent fit of coughing.
The mother could not resist this, and exclaiming,
"What if the baby should die!" took him up.
200
Ocsture
That child reproduced the cough the next day,
and was again humored, until it became apparent,
even to the mother, that he had connected the
cough with being taken up; and it became so
plainly an intentional performance that she was
compelled to ignore it, though it cost her a great
effort to do so. When he found he could not gain
his wish there was no more coughing.
Unable to pronounce a word, he had a series of
gestures, some of much violence, indicating in-
dignation; and if his playthings slipped beyond
his reach, he would make gestures to the nurse,
indicating his inability to get them and his desire
to have them. I observed that as he began to
talk he ceased to use some gestures, but continued
to point toward the thing which he desired until
he obtained it.
I have frequently spoken and written upon this
subject, and my views are confirmed by Max
MiJLLER :
" Some philosophers try to get back even further, floar /louucr on
They observe that breathing of a certain sort is 7„'°f;,\fX"
crying, and that children have no language but a
cry. As the muscles of the child increase in
strength he begins to gesticulate, and his cries
diminish in proportion to the increase of his ges-
tures. His cries become also more differentiated,
and they again accompany certain of his acts and
wishes with such regularity that a nurse can often
(14) 20I
Evtcmporancous ©raters
understand the different meanings of these cries.
See an able article by Dr. J. M. Buckley, ' The
Philosophy of Gesture,' in Werner's Voice Maga-
^/ne, November, 1890."*
Darwin's ei= When Darwin's work on Expression appeared in
perlments. ^ t 1 ■ , ■ ,
1872 I was prepared to receive his statement that
" It is difficult to prove that our children in-
stinctively recognize any expression. 1 attended
to this point in my firstborn infant, who could not
have learned anything by associating with other
children, and I was convinced that he understood
a smile and received pleasure from seeing one,
answering it by another, at much too early an age
to have learned anything by experience. When
this child was about four months old I made in his
presence many odd noises and strange grimaces,
and tried to look savage; but the noises, if not too
loud, as well as the grimaces, were all taken as
good jokes, and I attributed this at the time to
their being preceded or accompanied by smiles.
When five months old he seemed to understand
the compassionate expression and tone of voice, "f
Indian languages have comparatively few words,
but all savage races abound in gestures. These
are so similar to the modern deaf mute system
that when a delegation of Indians visited the
Government Deaf Mute Institution, at Kendall
* Max Miiller, Anthropological Religion, pp. 66, 67.
t Darwin, Expression 0/ the Emotions in Man and Atu'inal, p. 359.
202
Gesture
Green, Washington, D, C, they were able to con-
verse with the deaf mutes.
It is very important to know the history of a
race before attempting to deduce theories from
the different fashions in which they express their
emotions. The gestures of oriental peoples are
more elaborate than those of the nations of
Europe; but a marked similarity can be traced
between those of the Spaniards and those of the
more cultivated Moors. Decided differences are
seen by all observing travelers among the various
nations of Europe. Between the French and the
Italians there are many similarities; the latter,
however, make more use of gesture. The
phlegmatic temperament of the Dutch has a
repressing effect, and their few and usually placid
gestures in turn perpetuate that temperament.
The gestures of the Russians, and to a less extent
of the Germans, indicate a rude force, and among
the peasantry an undertone of pathos.
In comparison with the orators of most other Ocstfcuiation
nations, the English are singularly destitute of sig- °,^j^°a"ffii-(tain
nificant and persuasive gesticulation. Addison, in anb m-ciant).
1 712, described the forensic and pulpit eloquence
of England, and I found his description, with
a few noticeable exceptions, applicable to all the
speaking I heard in Parliament during a period of
six weeks' occasional attendance. Says Addison:
"Our preachers stand stock still in the pulpit,
203
teacbcr of oras
tors.
Bstcmporaneous ©ratorg
and will not so much as move a finger to set off
the best sermons in the world. We meet with
the same speaking statues at our bars and in all
public places of debate. . . . We can talk of life
and death in cold blood, and keep our temper in a
discourse which turns upon everything that is dear
to us. Though our zeal breaks out in the finest
tropes and figures, it is not able to stir a limb
about us. . . . One who has not seen an Italian
in the pulpit will not know what to make of that
•Kapbaeiaaa noble gesture in Raphael's picture of St. Paul
preaching at Athens, where the apostle is repre-
sented as lifting up both his arms and pouring out
the thunder of his rhetoric amidst an audience of
pagan philosophers. . . . The truth of it is there
is often nothing more ridiculous than the gestures
of the English speaker; you see some of them
running their hands into their pockets as far as
ever they can thrust them, and others looking
with great attention on a piece of paper that has
nothing written on it ; you may see many a smart
rhetorician turning his hat in his hands, molding
it into several different cocks, examining some-
times the lining of it and sometimes the button,
during the whole course of his harangue. A deaf
man would think he was cheapening a beaver,
when, perhaps, he is talking of the fate of the
British nation." *
* spectator. No. 407.
204
©csturc
The difference between typical Scotch and
English gesticulation is the clearest indication of
their subtle intellectual and temperamental dis-
similarity. The gestures of the Irish apart from
the element of pugnacity resemble those of the
French.
The Welsh, perhaps the most susceptible and
fervid in eloquence of all Europeans, while less
vivacious than the French or the Italians, have
gestures so characteristic that, unless he has be-
come fluent in English, or has trained himself
under a system of elocution, the Welsh orator
can be identified as far as he can be seen. The
Welsh variety of oratory, when the speaker is un-
der the influence of fervent emotion, is well de-
scribed by the word "melting."
The United States until within forty years pre-
sented striking differences. The New England
type of public speaking was at one extreme and
the Southern at another, while the middle Atlantic
States partook of the qualities of both. The types
were produced not by one difference, but by
many; those of gesture were fully as pronounced
as those of inflection, language, articulation, and
rhythm.
In the Western States, settled by foreigners from
all parts of Europe and by those who migrated
from the older States, a manner of oratory grew
up, modified by the vastness and roughness of the
205
flOobiflcations
in tbe Tanltes
States.
;ejtemporaneous ©ratorg
country, the freedom of intercourse, and the habit
of speaking in forests or on the banlcs of great
streams — a vehement style, in which gesticulation
makes more use of the thrust, the blow, the
clenched fist, than of the argumentative point or
the languid curve. But as schools, colleges, and
all the institutions of the older civilization press
forward those States come under the spell which
has modified the others. The pioneer stump
speaker disappears, and a common American type
will soon obliterate the traces of those differences
which invested with such interest an orator from
one of the great sections when he appeared in
another. Amid all these varieties can be traced
certain conditions affecting particular individuals.
Paolo Mantegazza, Director of the Anthropo-
logical Museum at Florence, deplores the fact that
racial and national differences frequently arouse
vulgar impertinences instead of inciting to an
analytical and profound study of the psychical
constitution of the different human families.
Hnntaitan " The Italians of animated expression say of the
uCrStl Engli^^l^' 'They feel nothing!' And the English
national Nffcvs say of the Italians, 'They are buffoons.' Neither
of these two impertinences has any foundation.
The Italian nerve cell discharges at once the centrif-
ugal energy which accumulates there; unfortu-
nate for it if, by the thousand telegraphic threads
of expression, it should not find as many safety
206
ences.
Qcsture
valves! The English cell is deeply charged, and
slowly imprisons the accumulated force."*
One cannot visit Turin, Milan, Venice, Florence,
and Naples without noting great differences among
Italians in their conventional signs of feeling, as
well as in their spontaneous expressions. These
are to be accounted for by the character and his-
torical experiences of the conglomerate population
of that country.
Mantegazza gives a striking instance of the lia-
bility to erroneous conclusions:
" The Scandinavians are taciturn, sober in their ipcrsfstence of
,, 1 i-iii • -i j-i • ancestral terns
movements; they have little vivacity; their ways perament.
of expression are full of reserve, I would say con-
centric. "
In traveling leisurely through Denmark, Sweden,
and Norway I revised the opinion formed by read-
ing upon this subject. The reserve which affects
the Scandinavians, particularly the Norwegians, is
removed by acquaintance ; they then seem to have
much vivacity and are the very reverse of taciturn.
In Drontheim and other parts of Norway I attended
religious services and found the people intensely
and expressively emotional, and socially as effusive
as the middle classes in England and the people
generally in the United States. Of course the Scan-
dinavians are by no means as vivacious as the coun-
trymen of the learned writer from whom I quote.
* Physiognomy and Expression, p. 85.
207
^Extemporaneous ©ratorg
Mantegazza proceeds: " But go to Bergen, one
of the largest towns in Norway. You will see,
on the contrary, gay, noisy people, with eccentric
and exuberant manners of expression. What
does this mean ? It is still cold at Bergen ! Why,
then, should expression there be quite different
from that of Drontheim and Christiania ? It is be-
cause at Bergen a number of centuries ago a large
quantity of Irish slaves were imported.
"It is with the Celtic people that the telegraph
of gestures, the vivacity of expression, was intro-
duced. You have compared amongst them people
dwelling in Norway, but springing from different
races." *
* Physiognomy and Expression, p. 231.
208
©rigtn aiiD psgcbologK of Gesture
CHAPTER XXVn
©rig{n anD ipsscbologg ot Gesture
The Darwinian theory of the origin of species sfanfficant
and that of special creation do not collide funda- '"''"of °^
brutes.
mentally when applied to the origin of gesture.
For the sub-animals, unprovided with words, and
in many species incapable of inflecting their voices,
unquestionably make gestures whereby they un-
derstand each other. Those animals which have
associated with man generally have a greater
variety of expressive motions than those which
have remained undomesticated.
If the idea of an individual man, created by ^cncsfs of biu
direct exercise of the power of God and without "'^"^" ""^'■^*
experience, be made the subject of analysis, it will
appear that most of his gestures have been ac-
quired by experiment, which fact, under the law
of heredity, would speedily give rise to a genera-
tion having a predisposition to perform certain
acts. Were a human being left alone from birth,
its physical wants provided for, gestures would
spring from mental excitement, or from an efflux
of unused energy, and either might contribute to
the production of a habit. It is probable that
such a being would add various signs of ideas to
aid his own thinking processes.
2og
Estemporaneous ©ratorg
When an animal is attracted to something ex-
ternal to itself it immediately directs its eye and
ear toward the object. The cat, endeavoring to
capture a bird or watching at a hole for a mouse,
presents a remarkable illustration of concentrated
attention. In man, also, attention begins in the
direction of the eye and ear, and every part of the
human system which can be affected by ideas and
sensations is involved, while sympathetic influ-
ences pervade the vital organism,
©s'ecboiogkai Spontaneous gestures originate in impulses
bearings. ^^j^-h reach every part of the bodye It is this
which explains the almost irresistible tendency in
those who are trying to master the bicycle to run
into trees or other objects which they wish to
avoid. There is an unconscious impulse toward
everything at which we look. It is this, too,
which makes possible that form of mind reading
which should properly be characterized as muscle
reading.
Here I find the root of spontaneous gestures
connected with thought and feeling, and also the
explanation of the sudden increase of gestures in a
man when he becomes greatly enraged who has
schooled himself to make but few, and has con-
centrated his whole mental power upon the selec-
tion, pronunciation, andproper inflection of words.
It accounts for the extraordinary increase of ges-
tures when orators have passed from explanation
2IO
©riciln an? percbolOGg of Gesture
and argument to denunciation or patlietic delinea-
tion.
Every figure of speech used to express abstract f^^" *"*'"=
ideas produces an impulse, weaker than, but of isticst^ie.'
the same nature as, that which would be caused
by a physical evil or good. For example, if one
were to perceive an assassin, with drawn dagger
stealthily creeping toward him, instinctively he
would retreat; and if the murderer rapidly ap-
proached, would thrust out the hands to protect
himself; and if, in speaking of subtle tempters,
he should, under the influence of strong passion,
call them assassins of the soul, there would be
an impulse to the same gestures. Even in writ-
ing an oration which one expects to deliver
memoriter or extemporaneously, as the thought
arises in his mind it will generate an emotion
which, if not obstructed by the constrained posi-
tion, would develop a gesture.
It is this which accounts for the effect upon the
brain and nervous system of composing in a real-
istic style. Not until the fires of nature burn low,
only the reasoning and perceptive faculties re-
maining active, is it possible for one to sit com-
posing or thinking without the sympathy of the
entire system; much less can he speak without
it. Hence there need be no fear that suitable
gestures will not be suggested, provided habits
of expression have been properly acquired.
211
Sei, a^e, an^
temperament.
TTbe vfrago
cosmopolitan.
;Ejtcmporaneoii0 ©ratorg
Sex influences gesticulation. Women are more
fluent in speecli tiian men, and naturally need
fewer gestures; but as the impulse to speak im-
pels to gesticulation, they make quite as many,
yet from various physiological causes, as well as
from the fact that until recently they were — and
the majority still are — unaccustomed to public
discussion, their gestures are shorter in range.
The sports of children, being determined in a
large degree by sex, lay the foundation of a ditfer-
ent class of gestures. The clenched fist is the type
of manly vigor, but not of womanly energy. In-
dividual temperament, however, maybe independ-
ent of sex; hence the brawling woman and the
effeminate man. The aged make few gestures.
The gesticulation of French women is more
animated than that of the males of most other
countries, particularly in the lower classes, such
as Les Dames aitx Halles, ''half unsexed by the
masculine nature of their employments and en-
tirely so by the ferocity of their manners," who
participated in the horrors of the first French Revo-
lution, and were more violent even than the men
of their own country.*
He who visits the Billingsgate Fish Market, in
London, and observes the disturbances continually
occurring among the viragoes who have made the
name of the market a synonym for violence of
* Scott's X//> of Napoleon, vol. i, p. 79.
212
©rfgln m\t> psgcbologg of Gceture
language and action, will perceive little difference
between men and women as respects furious ges-
ticulation. A walk through Donnybrook Fair as
it was, or the markets of Cork, would convince
the most skeptical that the gentle sex may, under
excitement, go to greater lengths than the un-
gentle in vehemence of gesture and vulgarity of
language. There is no reason to suppose that
there was any difference between the gesticula-
tion of the women and that of the men of Sparta,
or that there is any dissimilarity in manners be-
tween the Amazonian warriors of Africa and com-
batants of the opposite sex.
Imitated gestures can be traced through families,
neighborhoods, and sects. The supposed likeness
of children to their parents often consists chietly in
similarity of attitude and gesture unconsciously
imitated.
It is an advantage to a speaker to observe nar- Crftfcaiis
rowly the gestures of extemporaneous orators
whom he may chance to hear. He soon perceives
that the gestures of some express feelings in a
striking way, while others contradict the sen-
timent they are uttering; some looking down-
ward when speaking of heaven, and toward the
sky when describing abysses, literal or figurative;
some smiling when they should weep, or tear-
ful without occasion, others using fierce gestures
where all should be mild.
2T3
obdccvaiiti
imitation.
)Eitc!npoiancou3 ©ratoi-g
Habitually a close observer, the extern porizer
should practice, in private, gestures which he ap-
proves; but should by no means resolve to make
them in public. The attempt to do so is fatal to
extemporization. Let him incorporate them with
his capital stock; he may then be assured that as
with words so with gestures — those that he prac-
tices in private will control to a large degree those
which he spontaneously employs in public.
The intentional imitation of other men's ges-
tures and postures excites contempt, and is a foe to
original eloquence.
3Beware of Daniel Webster was five feet and eleven inches
in height, with an immense chest and hollow back.
Many young lawyers, without regard to their
physical proportions, much less to their mental
inequalities, attempted to imitate him until shamed
off the stage by the caricaturists of the time.
The late Bishop Wiley was at one time president
of a seminary. He made one peculiar gesture, and
on a commencement occasion the assembly al-
most became uproarious as at least five of the
students imitated that characteristic act, the natural
result of their president's physical proportions.
In the most intense agitations of the antislavery
conventions in Boston, where the earnestness of
speakers and people was almost appalling, I saw
several young men imitate Wendell Phillips
so closely that the audience smiled, and Mr.
2M
©vigin an& jp^scboloiivj of Gestuic
Phillips in his closing speech facetiously alluded
to the compliment they had paid him. The most
gifted of these imitators was a Negro, who,
however, soon burst forth with strains and
gestures so unlike the self-possessed but burn-
ing eloquence of Phillips that the people forgot
the parrot tones and monkey movements of his
introduction.
A striking instance of the reciprocal influence irnfiucncc of
of thought and gesture is furnished by the differ- 1^^^^^^% Jj!
ent styles of gesticulation in the dissenting de- li^ious.
nominations, as compared with the representatives
of religions established by the state. Dissenters,
in the beginning, progress by argumentative attack
and defense. They are obliged to prove their
right to be; hence they make much use of the in-
dex finger, the downward stroke of the arm and
blow of the fist.
The contrast between the representatives of
different religions appears even in a republic, and
was strongly marked between the descendants of
the Church of England and the settlers of New
England, accentuated by the reflex influence of
the gown upon the representatives of the Churches
which make a distinction in pulpit garb. The
gown is an embarrassment to an argumentative
speaker, provided he gesticulates, but is of assist-
ance to those who assume principles upon authority
and treat them rhetorically. Gestures in which
215
Bitcmporancous ©ratorg
the curve predominates are magnified and made
impressive by the gown; those of an angular
nature impeded by it.
I discovered this by experience. Invited to
preach on a special subject, requiring discrimina-
tions and argumentation, I was asked on arriving
if I would wear the gown. I replied, " I invaria-
bly conform to the custom of the church in which
I speak." Immediately after beginning 1 found
the gown becoming entangled and my motions
obstructed, so that 1 was compelled to adopt the
curved gestures; but the reactionary effect upon
the speech was such that most of my formal
proofs evaporated, and I declaimed rather than
argued, and asserted rather than distinguished,
umagcs zrit> The character of gesticulation is noticeably
6rama«c^?ra° affected by the orator's visual perception of the
tors. images and pictures which are found in the Roman
Catholic and Greek Churches. In San Antonio,
Tex., I heard a Spanish priest preach four Lenten
sermons and have never seen more graceful or
expressive gestures. He turned to the images of
Christ and to the pictures of saints and angels as he
apostrophized them, and could not have been more
eloquent had they been visibly present. I have
seen in the Russo-Greek Churches similar apos-
trophizings which greatly moved the spectators.
■Keiigfous ccrs The Ceremonies of various denominations are
emoniai. largely systems of gesture — a species of etiquette
216
©rlgln an5 ips^cbologs of (Besture
observed by worshipers in the presence of each
other and of God. The Roman, the Greek, and the
Armenian Churches illustrate it in the highest de-
veloped form. Visitors to Jerusalem may see in
the Abyssinian Church a strange blending of the
barbaric element with early Greek forms.
A Christian is rarely admitted during the serv-
ices of the Mohammedan mosques; but a single
opportunity enabled me to perceive the operation
upon gesture and attitude of the influence of the
rules of direction derived from the birthplace and
tomb of the prophet and of various events in his
career. These appear in grotesque forms in the
howling, and in graceful, in the spinning, dervishes.
Friends, Methodists, and Baptists exhibit religion
with the least ceremonial.
The study of the operation of spontaneous ges-
ture must begin with conversation, for, with cer-
tain exceptions to be noted, one is natural when
thus engaged. 1 refer to casual conversations at
the dinner table, the accidental meeting of ac-
quaintances or strangers, and to informal business
interviews. Primarily the gestures of conversation
are those of the eye, the face, and the pose ; and
in close conversation others will be few and short
unless a protracted monologue is entered upon.
In the more delicate relations of life, however,
little can be accomplished by mere words; in
gestures chiefly resides persuasive power.
(16) 217
Spontancltis
of action (n
conversation.
Bjtemporaneoue ©ratorg
TTbe spirit of
government
emboMefc In
gesture.
Etiquette is mainly a system of gesture, origi-
nating in the general spirit of the people. Its fun-
damental principles are "attraction, humility, and
reserve." Hence the etiquette of free governments
differs from that of despotisms. George Wash-
ington struggled with the forms of both. When the
republic was born he desired to perpetuate many
of the ceremonies of the English court, and was
severely criticised by the radical party for his
aristocratic sentiment and bearing. The President
of the United States must nov/ be on his guard or
the average citizen will slap him on the back and
say, "How are you, Mr. President?" And Justices
of the Federal Supreme Court may be accosted
by comparative strangers with, "Good morning,
Judge; how are you, old boy?" Both these im-
pertinences have been perpetrated by persons
who did not feel guilty of an impropriety until
their attention was directed to it.
The evil effect of the prevailing tendency has
been seen in diminished respect for law; but for-
tunately there are indications of a reaction against
the general disregard of the honor due to office
and age.
218
/IRccbanism of uesture
CHAPTER XXVIII
/Bbccbaniatn of Gesture
The orator who recites may prepare gestures, ©cciaimers
Daniel Webster in his formal orations illustrated *"^ ^^^^"'
this. Edward Everett made elaborate prepara-
tion, and after hearing his famous lecture on
Washington a few times one could foresee each
motion. But it would have been impossible for
Patrick. Henry to prepare a gesture. An actor's
gestures being prearranged, their pertinency
should be estimated from his point of view;
hence there may be different Hamlets of equal
merit.
The relation of gesticulation to extemporaneous ©eveiopment
oratory is best discerned by observing a speaker f^^^^p^^^^H
who addresses an audience assembled solely to forta.
hear him. He comes forward and begins in the
sphere of the intellect. Words being sufficient to
convey his meaning, gestures are unnecessary.
But though he moves wholly in the realm of rea-
son, gestures of energy and rhythm subsequently
appear. He waxes warm, and the changes that
take place are such as are seen in men who begin
to walk after long sitting. At first the limbs move
stiffly, but after a short time rhythmical motion
spontaneously appears. The soldier long ago
219
JEstemporaneous ©ratorg
posture.
Autinous
members.
mustered out, after he has marched a mile on a
gala day, will "keep rank" like a cadet ready for
graduation.
As the orator proceeds, the cerebral cells, vocal
chords, respiratory muscles, arms, and legs act in
unison, and if he has any genuine feeling, he will
make significant gestures; the pent-up fires must
find outlet. Gesture is a natural protection from
collapse.
To perfect one's self herein is not a light task.
Comparatively few even know how to stand in
an easy yet firm attitude. Standing motionless is
exhausting, yet it can be made endurable without
the slightest change in the position of the feet, by
transferring the weight at intervals from one leg
to the other. Some do this so regularly as to ex-
cite remark and diminish their dignity.
Usually there is a feeling of diffidence when a
speaker rises, and under its influence he may
assume an attitude which will demean him. To
prevent this he should form a habit of standing
properly, however unimportant the occasion, and
in formal interviews should maintain a position
becoming his office. There are those who stand
correctly, but find it difficult to change their posi-
tion gracefully; hence the advantage of private
practice.
Irregular or inappropriate use of the hands is
sure to excite criticism. But few know how to
220
/iRecbanlsm ot (Besture
manage their legs; these supporting pillars are
often allowed to assume ungainly postures, or to
move so grotesquely as to excite ridicule.
The face, however, is more important than any
other part of the body. Without a single gesture
or motion some have been able to maintain inter-
est through long discourses ; others whose ges-
tures, as a result of slavery to habits, were
uncouth and some great orators unfortunately lame
or maimed, have by the magic of their speaking
countenances caused their defects or infirmities
to be forgotten. Hence says Delsarte: "The
expression of the face should make the ges-
tures of the arms forgotten. Here the talent
of the orator shines forth. He must so fascinate
his auditors that they cannot ask the reason of
their fascination, nor remark that he gesticulates
at all."*
Defects of facial expression are very common.
There are habitual muscular contractions and
nervous twitchings originating in embarrassment
in early life, and some men have a habit of
speaking only from one side of the month.
Many from the beginning to the end wear an
inane smile, or in passages supposed to be im-
passioned disfigure their countenances by mean-
ingless contortions. The eyes of some are fixed
•All quotations relating to Delsarte arc Irom Art o/ Oratory, System of
Delsarte, translated from the trench of M. L'Abbc Dclaiiniosiie by Francis
M. Shaw.
221
"Cbe cbfef (na
strumcnt of
Cfprcssion.
abnormalities
of countcs
nance.
Bjtcmporancoue ©rators
in a stony stare, and those of others incessantly
move.
He who employs numerous words and manifold
gestures to express the same idea or feeling seri-
ously errs. Gesture weakens if it does not add to
the force of words. Words diminish the force of
a speaker if they do not augment or explain the
significance of the gestures.
Delsarte says : "A written discourse must con-
tain various epithets and adjectives to illustrate the
subject. In a spoken discourse a great number of
adjectives are worse than useless. Gesture and
inflection of the voice supply their place. The
intelligent man makes few gestures. To multiply
gestures indicates a lack of intelligence. The
face is the thermometer of intelligence. Let as
much expression as possible be given to the face.
Bn error often A gesture made by the hand is wrong when not
unrecogni3eb, y^.^^-^f^^^ j^ advance by the face. Intelligence is
manifested by the face."
Excess of gesture was termed by the classic
writers "the babbling of the hands." It is a griev-
ous defect, and usually consists of the meaningless
repetition of a few simple movements, some of
which are liable to be uncouth, there being no
reason in the nature of things for their appearance.
The gestures of Whitefield were indeed inces-
sant, but they were always graceful.
"They gave significance to every sentence, and
222
^ccbanl^m of Gesture
brought before his audience each scene that he
described as vividly as though it were present
to their eyes, ... He was contemporary with
Garrick, and so perfect was his gesticulation that
the people, instead of paying him the compliment
of calling him the Garrick of the pulpit, paid him
the far higher compliment of calling Garrick the
Whitefield of the stage." *
Without his natural gifts and his extraordinary
cultivation of them, had his gestures been as nu-
merous as they were, and as insignificant as are
the majority of those made by ordinary speakers,
they would have rendered him unpopular.
* Orators and Oratory^ Matthews, pp. 385, 386.
223
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
CHAPTER XXK
ITmpropet ©eetures an5 ^belr IRemeDig
Every speaker should be willing to receive in-
telligent criticism even if it come from an enemy.
An ordinary speaker was transformed into a genu-
ine orator from being told that he placed his hand
over his liver whenever he referred to his heart, for
it prompted him to give years to the study of the
philosophy of gesture.
®r(g(n of most The majority of improper gestures result from
infci(citk0. ^ want of rhythm in the movement. Instead of
every responsive muscle and nerve acting in har-
mony with the fundamental impulse from the
brain, some are involuntarily or intentionally re-
strained or forced forward. 1 knew an orator who
apparently could not speak with satisfaction to
himself until he had hitched up one leg of his
trousers to the top of his old-fashioned boot.
Charles G. Finney, the masterful evangelist, was
ill at ease unless his thumb was hooked in his sus-
pender; and on one occasion, when speaking to a
thousand people, the button came off, and he be-
came so agitated that he had to retire and fasten
the suspender before he could resume.
A minister preaching upon the text, " Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 1 will
224
Umproper Gestures anD {Tbeir IReme^B
give you rest," and making a most earnest appeal,
gesticulated with the clenched fist with such vehe-
mence that, though his tones were soft, a surgeon
present said to him afterward, " Had 1 judged your
intentions by your gestures, 1 should have been
afraid to come forward." Whenever one per-
ceives in another such a contradiction of sense
and sound he should inquire what unfitting ges-
tures he may himself unconsciously make.
Forcelessness in gesture is a characteristic of
many speakers. Angularity of motion another
defect; — such as a striking, pointing, or thrusting
from the shoulder, varied by attitudes suggesting
a fencer on guard.
Neither walking, cycling, horseback riding, nor
heavy gymnastics will give a speaker the condition
of nerve and muscle essential to easy, forcible,
and graceful gesticulation. Cycling, though
heahhful in moderation, tends to stiffen the mus-
cles of the arm. Walking, when the arms are
swung, is beneficial, but, except in a hilly country,
is a constant repetition of the same motions.
Light gymnastics, such as the Swedish Movement
Cure and many so-called Delsarte exercises, are
valuable.
Nevertheless, the student or sedentary person, in
order to keep his arms and hands in suitable con-
dition to gesticulate, should take daily exercises,
with or without apparatus, which will bring into
225
Scrutiny of
BClf.
1Ina^cquat6
cicvciecB,
Ipractfccs of
special utility.
Bjtempoianeoue ©ratorg
a condition to respond with vigor and rapidity to
the slightest impulse every muscle of the arm,
every sinew of the hand, the ligaments and mus-
cles connecting the shoulders with the trunk, those
of the neck and head, and those which admit of the
body's turning quickly from side to side. Dumb-
bells and Indian clubs are suited to this purpose,
but it is not necessary to have apparatus; for if
the fists be clenched, one may strike out without
damage to the organism. Twenty minutes a day
of this work will keep one so in condition that
whenever he gesticulates all will feel that a battery
of force is before them,
/iccntai an& Connected with such exercises, or as a substitute
optical rcflccs ^ , , , . ^ ^ .
tion. for them on alternate days, is a form of practice
essential to everyone who would speak well. He
should master, either from illustrated books or
under the instruction of competent teachers, the
gestures which express the principal emotions
and generic ideas ; and should practice these merely
as exercise, without regard to the ideas or emotions
which they are intended to express, and should
do so before a mirror.
It is common to sneer at practicing before a
mirror, and to intimate that it is inconceivable for
a true minister of the Gospel to be so vain.
Against this ignorance I quote the instructions
given to his young ministers by the learned, elo-
quent, and devout John Wesley:
226
Umproper Gestures an?? Cbcir IRcmeDg
"It is more difficult to find out tlie faults of
your own gesture than those of your pronuncia-
tion. For a man may hear his own voice, but
cannot see his own face; neither can he observe
the several motions of his own body; at least but
imperfectly. To remedy this you may use a
large looking-glass, as Demosthenes did, and there-
by observe and learn to avoid every disagreeable
or unhandsome gesture. . . . But it is the face
which gives the greatest life to action; of this,
therefore, you must take the greatest care, that
nothing may appear disagreeable in it, since it is
continually in the view of all but yourself. And
there is nothing can prevent this but the looking-
glass, or a friend who will deal faithfully with you. "
Exercise is especially important to speakers ad- sucb practice
vancing in years. After a sedentary man is forty, "omutet)!"^
and often before, his muscles begin to stiffen, his
range of gesticulation to shorten, and he stoops,
leans, and frequently, except in the latter part of a
discourse when he is aroused, his motions are feeble,
repetitious, and insignificant. But he who daily
practices may, till the close of a long life, preserve
grace and energy; as the aged blacksmith, while
perhaps weak in his lower limbs, still swings
the hammer with sufficient vigor to earn his
daily bread; or as the letter carrier, whose hands
• IVorJts of the Rev. John Wesley ^ A.M.^ third American edition, vol.
vii, p. 493.
227
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
Seeming con«
trabiction bco
twecn biflb
autborities.
tremble, can still walk swiftly. But the cessation
of practice for a single month might render it dif-
ficult for either of Ihem to resume satisfactorily.
Such exercises alone as have been mentioned
would in a single year transform many now barely
tolerable speakers into effective orators. Says
Delsarte: "If the gestures are good, the most
wretched speaking is tolerated. So much the
better if the speaking is good, but gesture is the
all-important thing."
Between Taverner and Delsarte there exists a
seeming difference on a vital point. "Gestures,"
says the former, "must fall on the word that
calls them up. The hand, being quicker than
the mind, must be held back to keep time with
conventional language, in which the primary word
is often near the end of the sentence."
Delsarte says: "Gesture must always precede
speech. In fact, speech is reflected expression. It
must come after gesture, which is parallel with
the impression received. Nature incites a move-
ment; speech names this movement. Speech is
only the title, the label of what gesture has antici-
pated. Speech comes only to confirm what the
audience already comprehend. . . . Priority of
gesture may be thus explained : First, a movement
responds to the sensation; then a gesture, which
depicts the emotion, responds to the imagina-
tion, which colors the sensation. Then comes the
?28
■ffmproper (Sesturee anO Zbcit IRemcDB
judgment, which approves. Finally we consider
the audience, and this view of the audience sug-
gests the appropriate expression for that which
has already been expressed by gesture. . . . Elo-
quence is composed of many things which are not
named, but must be named by slight gestures.
In this eloquence consists. Thus a smack of the
tongue, a blow upon the hand, an utterance of
the vowel u as if one would remove a stain from
his coat. The writer cannot do all this. The
mere rendition of the written discourse is nothing
for the orator; his talent consists in taking advan-
tage of a great number of little nameless sounds "
and gestures.
The apparently radical difference between these Httemptto
authorities becomes less manifest when we con- ^"f]!!!!!'^*^
sider that Taverner referred more particularly to
gestures of significance in the plane of the intel-
lect, while Delsarte gives all gesture primarily
the office of persuasion, maintaining that the mind
can be interested by speech, but must be per-
suaded by gesture. "An audience," he maintains,
"is never intelligent; it is a multiple being pos-
sessed of sense and sentiment. The greater the
numbers, the less intelligence has it. . . . An
audience is persuaded not by reasoning, but by
gesture. . . . It is not ideas that move the masses;
it is gestures. . . . The mind and the life are
active only for the satisfaction of the heart; then,
229
lEitemporaneoug ©ratorfi
since the heart controls all our actions, gesture
must control all other languages."
When Professor Taverner treated gesture in
relation to persuasion he taught, although less
dogmatically, the substance of what Delsarte
maintained of all gesture.
All that 1 have thus far recommended in the
way of exercise is preliminary to one form which
to some extent includes all others,
ipsscboiogicai Let the speaker imagine himself in a foreign
land where he does not know the alphabet and is
unable to understand a single word or to read the
street signs; also that he is angry and that it is
necessary to exhibit his feelings to the natives. He
must then try to conceive by what looks and
gestures he would cause the people to perceive
his indignation; and having formed the ideal, he
should throw himself into those attitudes, take on
the expressions of countenance, and execute the
gestures. He must not present a caricature, but
so make known his anger that they will sympa-
thize with him. Then let him imagine himself
afraid ; and so proceed through the circle of human
sympathies and antipathies.
While attempting this he should not perplex him-
' 'self by striving to remember gestures learned from
books or from the elocutionist, but should con-
centrate his whole fancy and feeling upon the
supposed situation. It would be better to overdo
230
Ilmproper Gestures anD Zbciv iReme&g
than to underdo. The one essential is that he
shall throw into every feature and motion the
feeling which he is supposed to possess. He will
improve his imagination by this process, and as
he progresses should complicate the situation and
exercises until he is prepared in pantomime to
represent them all. This naturally is a strictly
private exercise. Criticism from spectators while
he is practicing cannot aid him who proposes to
extemporize; though it might be of considerable
importance to one who intended to be an actor
either on the stage or in the pulpit.
The philosophy of this practice is that when uts pbiiosopbs.
one surrenders himself to the delivery of an ora-
tion, and the sentiment agitating his brain seeks
avenues of expression through every part of the
responsive organism, the gestures which he has
so frequently employed to express such concep-
tions will be those which he will unconsciously
make. Only by such practice can he eradicate
evil habits and prevent the formation of others
no less defective.
I have asserted that actors prearrange their ges- stdhfiw fHus=
tures. There is a comedy entitled Come Here, ^>^^"°"-
which illustrates this method of private practice.
It assumes that a manager has advertised for "a
leading lady" and has become disgusted with the
conceit of incompetent applicants. He determines
to pay no attention to lofty recommendations or
231
Bltcmporaneous ©ratorg
to self-praise, but to test all. At this moment a
lady is announced. She expresses a willingness
to submit to such a trial, and he says, " I require
only two words, ' Come here,' and with the words,
the meaning, emphasis, and expressions that situa-
tion, character, and surroundings would command."
He tells her to imagine herself a queen who
deigns to call one of her maids of honor; to
command a courtier not in favor; to summon
to the foot of the throne a hero that his glorious
deeds may be rewarded. He directs her to fancy
herself a mother who calls her little daughter
whom she tenderly loves, then a stepdaughter
with whom she is vexed, and so through a dozen
typical situations.
Bn unequal Madam Seiler, in her useful work on The Voice
in Speaking, states that she had often witnessed this
comedy, but not until she saw Janauschek act this
part was she made to share in the various emo-
tions expressed, and she says: "Simply by vary-
ing the vocal tones, the shadings, intonations, the
tempi of these tones, the artist was able so to utter
these two syllables as to produce in the hearer one
state of feeling after another of the most different
and opposite character, with a success not to be
attained by the most elaborate and vivid descrip-
tion. And this effect was secured simply by the
Modulation of the Voice."
In aggrandizing her profession Madam Seiler
232
Ilmpiopcr ©esturcs atiD Cbeic IRemeOg
has ignored what, in the opinion of all whom I
have met who have heard Janauschek in this role,
is the principal element in the representation,
namely, the gestures by which the different scenes
are pantomimically represented; gestures which
include every possible expression of the face, turn
of the head, poise of the trunk, and movements of
the limbs, with varying degrees of grace and
energy. It is demonstrable that gestures alone,
with so limited a vocabulary as the test allowed,
would be far more illuminating and effective than
the two words without gesture, whatever the mod-
ulation of the voice.
Different systems of gesticulation are valuable Unfleifbic ruica
only as their root principles are comprehended and *^ u^-iess.
assimilated. I reached this conclusion early in my
study of the subject, and it was gratifying to fmd
long afterward so admirable a statement of the
principles in Delaumosne's system of Delsarte:
"When the law is known each applies it in ac-
cordance with his own idea. . . . The student
of oratory should not be a servile copyist. In the
arrangement of his effects he must copy, imitate,
and compose. Let him first reproduce a fixed
model, the lesson of the master. This is to copy.
Let him then reproduce the lesson in the absence
of the master. This is to imitate. Finally let him
reproduce a fugitive model. This is to compose."
(iti) 233
;Ejtcmporaneous ©catorg
CHAPTER XXX
public ©ral 2)ctiate
It is the opinion of many that public debate is
nearly always useless; that it leaves those who
participate stronger in prejudice or prepossession
than before, and divides audiences into bitter par-
tisans of the speakers. I hold the exact opposite
of this view, believing the general effect of public
debate to be excellent, and that there is no stimu-
lant to thought and thorough examination compar-
able with it.
■atiiftiBof A distinguished professional debater of England
says: " Men may read on both sides, but it seldom
happens that men who are impressed by one side
care to read the other. In discussions they are
obliged to hear both sides. If men do read both
sides, unless they read a discussion, they do not
find all the facts stated on one side especially con-
sidered by the other." *
I have seen the protracted work of large com-
mittees overthrown by a single luminous address,
and a compact party, which for years had been
preparing for a crisis, scattered to the winds by
one speech delivered by a venerable man, sup-
posed, when he began, to be in a helpless minority.
*G. J. Holyoake.
234
discussion.
public ©ral 2)ebate
I have observed similar changes in the Senate of
the United States, in the House of Commons, and
in the ruling bodies of the great religious com-
m.unions.
These are not always the most remarkable effects
of debate. Particular speakers, in certain discus-
sions, have been hissed from the platform, and
personal violence has been done them, but, though
obstinacy and vanity forbade immediate confes-
sion, those who had derided and assaulted have
subsequently adopted the views which had roused
their antagonism.
An old English proverb says, "Disputations
leave truth in the middle and party at both ends."
Without doubt this is often true, but, disputations
over, moderate men and some from " both ends,"
turning longingly toward the truth in the mid-
dle, and conciliating each other, frame a rational
platform which becomes the basis of enduring
prosperity or efficiency. The Constitution of the
United States, the greatest achievement of the
human intellect, was thus adopted by the conven-
tion and confirmed by the thirteen independent
commonwealths. The debates of patriotic men
with divergent and ever-clashing interests over-
came prejudice, united discordant sections, and
made that actual which many statesmen believed
impossible.
Debates in the legal profession take place under
235
Hn tmmortal
ofCspcina o(
biecuseion.
JEjtemporancous ©ratovg
Courts of
justice.
specified conditions. The judge, an authoritative
expositor of the law, presides. The jurymen are
the sole judges of facts, having also power to
apply the law under judicial instruction. There
are two or more lawyers seeking to control the ver-
dict ; the statements of each are sure to be traversed
by the other and to be reviewed by the court.
Success depends upon a thorough knowledge of
the questions allowed, of the law, of the highest
confirmatory decisions, of the testimony of wit-
nesses, facility in interlocution, and preparation
for the final arguments. It must be remembered
that it is possible to fail by overproving and by
too minute attention to details.
An understanding of the rules of procedure is
tbc^nicarnes" essential. Not only the opposing counsel, but the
judge, will object at the slightest departure from
them. These rules, though not understood by
the general public, and by many believed to be
prejudicial to the interests of truth, are based upon
philosophical principles whose mastery demands
the exercise of the highest faculties of the mind.
They rest upon these restrictions: The lawyer is
not allowed to address the jury upon matters
which have not been admitted in evidence; noth-
ing can be admitted which is irrelevant or not
within the knowledge of the witnesses; lead-
ing questions, those which can be answered by
yes or no, or those in which the question shall
236
©bilosopbfcal
public ©ral ©cbate
suggest the answer, are forbidden; because if
such be permitted, the mind of the counsel may
be the source of the knowledge rather than that of
the witness ; in which case, either the truth will not
be told, or only a part of it, or something contrary
to it will be added. The purpose of the cross-
examination being to test the credibility, the
recollection, the motives of the witness, and the
pertinency of what he presents, there are few re-
strictions, except those implied in the requirement
of relevancy. Except in specified instances, hear-
say evidence is excluded, because it cannot be
traversed.
In these rules are involved the same principles
which apply universally to debate; and a sound
intellect, accustomed to reason, will have no diffi-
culty in understanding their application, unless in
intricate cases or arguments of extreme subtlety.
The debates of town meetings resemble those ipariiamentart
of old-fashioned debating societies, and are gov- '"^*
erned by ordinary parliamentary law. The discus-
sions of ecclesiastical and all authoritative con-
ventions have so much in common with those of
legislatures and the Congress of the United States
that it is not necessary to refer to them, except
incidentally. As debaters in such bodies contend
under the rules of parliamentary law, only by its
mastery can a participant economize his time,
escape interruption, and secure attentive hearing.
237
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
The object of a deliberative assembly is to im-
part information and to unify sentiment, prepara-
tory to expressing its judgment or will in resolu-
tions or enactments.
The primary object of rules is the preservation
of order; but mere order might coexist with si-
lence and inaction. Hence many rules relate to
the bringing of business before the house; others
to the keeping of it there sufficiently long to
admit of its being understood and determined;
still others to the removal of it from the house
when its further retention is unnecessary, weari-
circumscdbeft some, or an impediment to the consideration of
''Tffecum/"* pressing matters. Other regulations protect the
rights and privileges of members.
Parliamentary law is a general term, but as a
Minnesota lawyer, if admitted to the bar in New
York, would be handicapped without an under-
standing of the special rules of practice of the
latter commonwealth, so the particular usages of
different countries, States, Churches, and other
organizations must be learned by every new-
comer before he can be quite at ease. Also the
exigencies of each body require the passage of
special rules, and these may be changed from year
to year, or session to session, or even during the
same session, by action of the house, without
reference to a committee or upon report of a com-
mittee upon rules.
238
IMibHc ©ral 2)ebate '
To be able, therefore, to make a powerful and ©(vers cssena
tials to 6ucs
ceee.
convincing speech is but one of the qualifications
for success in debate. To know when to speak,
how to obtain the floor, and to unfold thought so
as to retain the floor; to divert attention from an
amendment that would insidiously undermine the
pending proposition; to speak a second time by
proposing an amendment in harmony with the
rules; to check an opponent who, under cover of
an amendment, endeavors to speak a second time
on the main question, are as necessary to success
in a debate limited by time as similar ability and
knowledge are to a lawyer in the trial of civil and
criminal cases.
Previous to special preparation for debate there Ubc preparas
must be a general preparation of the debater, who *^°"^*tgf^ ^^*
should be an habitual inquirer into all subjects upon
which it is possible to hold more than one opinion.
He must be a thinker. What he sees he must
understand. What he reads he must compre-
hend. What he sees and reads must become part
of the capital stock of raw material ready to be
recollected on the instant. Otherwise his mind
will resemble the libraries of some literary men,
filled with drawers crowded with documents on
certain subjects, which they know they possess,
but cannot find when desired for use.
The debater cannot tell what question may
arise or how sudden may be the demand upon
239
JEjtemporancous ©tatorg
iprotcctfon him; neither can he foreknow what his opponent
'^'foTeVeaJ"' will say. His mind, therefore, must be a store-
house, full but not overcrowded, since observa-
tion, reading, and thinking may be carried to such
an extent as to destroy spontaneity, and thus have
a similar effect upon the mind to that which glut-
tony produces upon the body. A proposition may
be before an assembly, members being equally
entitled to the floor and obliged to scramble for
it; a new proposition may start in an instant, for it
is a rule of parliamentary law that an amendment,
provided it be germane, may be offered to any
motion or resolution. Hence the question can be
modified almost to the degree of extinguishing
the original subject; the proposal advocated may
be reversed or a substitute be proposed. What
would it avail for a man to be prepared to speak
on one question if he cannot possibly adjust him-
self to a new situation ? " What boots it at one
gate to make defense and at another to let in the
foe?" Hence the professional debater should ac-
quire the faculty of estimating the argumentative
weight of facts as he stores them away in his
mind, and the power withal of sub-consciously
giving them titles, so that they will be available
as weapons in the heat of conflict. If he hesi-
tates, the derisive cheers of his opponents may
accomplish more for their cause than their argu-
ments could have done.
240
public ©ral Debate
Debate is a valuable aid to tlie acquisition of »n un8ur=
the power of speaking extemporaneously. The giY^^orms of
superficial, who may have attained some reputa- free spcafeing.
tion as orators, based upon one or two mem-
orized addresses frequently repeated, but who
have no fountain of thought or speech, are in-
competent to render a reason for any opinion,
and who hold nothing with tenacity, sometimes
affect surprise that so "few great orators are
effective debaters.'' Whereas, with the exception
of a few distinguished preachers and lecturers
possessing a descriptive or a hortatory gift, it
would be difficult to name many great extem-
poraneous orators who were not strong debaters.
A more important consideration relative to the
acquisition of the power of extemporaneous speech
is that numerous orators are indebted to the early
practice of debate for their subsequent success.
The debating societies, common before the interest
in athletics had become almost a craze, have gen-
erally disintegrated, and at a recent contest be-
tween Harvard and Yale the Honorable Chauncey
M. Depew, the presiding officer, himself, when he
chooses, one of the most versatile of extemporane-
ous orators, among other suggestive remarks, said :
"There is, and there always will be, as great a -ccstimon^ of
demand for public speaking and as great an op- ^j*^ "'ontem*^!!-
portunity for it as was the case in what is known rar^ oratore.
as the days of great orators. But the last twenty
241
JEjtcmporancous ©ratorg
years of college history has not produced a single
famous orator in the United States. This is seen
mostly in the courts, upon the political platform,
and in the decadence of popular oratory in the
Senate, in Congress, and in the various halls of
legislation of the country."
A statement so comprehensive will doubtless
excite controversy, but it is to be observed that he
limits the declaration to twenty years of college
history, and it is certain that several of those who
have attracted public notice as orators within the
past twenty years have, without a. college train-
ing, attained a wide reputation.
Mr. Depew declared that he looked upon the
present revival of the debating society with the
expectation of seeing "a new generation come
forth from the colleges not only panoplied with a
magnificent education, but able to utilize it in the
thousands of places where the educated man is
called upon to make use of his power — in the de-
fense of right, in the securing of justice, in di-
rectors' meetings, in the courts of law, in the
pulpit, everywhere and anywhere lucidly and
carefully expressing the judgment he has formed."
Eas^fortbe It IS not SO difficult for beginners to speak in a
novice. debate where the standards of rhetorical criticism
are lower, the audience more excited, the time
limited, formal introductions and perorations su-
perfluous, and a colloquial style preferable, as to
242
public ©ral 'Debate
appear the first time in tlie pulpit or on the lecture
platform. The circumstances and especially the
decision by judges or the audience upon the merits
of each side and of individual participants compel
and assist mental concentration and prompt and
forcible expression. Fluency and confidence once
obtained, style can be polished and adaptive facility
secured by practice.
The essays and colloquial criticisms of the same,
in the secret societies, contribute much to the
formation of a good written style, and to the ex-
pression of one's ideas without oratorical accom-
paniments; but very little to the acquisition of a
vigorous, coherent, and diversified extempora-
neous style.
The debating habit of mind is not without its ©angerous
perils, for there have been many who, though
skillful fencers in debate, have so devoted them-
selves to it as to lose the power of abstract reflec-
tion, and have become useless in a deliberative
body except in periods of partisan conflict; and
their influence, even there, often fails prematurely.
Such lawyers lose their influence over judges, and
such legislators their power over colleagues and
constituents. Ecclesiastical debaters, unable to
suggest a rational plan or modification, but ever
ready to attack the suggestions of others, and liable
to produce schemes of doubtful morality or obvi-
ous inexpediency, come at last to be regarded with
243
babit of mina.
jcitemporancous ©ratorg
a degree of suspicion which renders their efforts
iparais3et> vir« weakening to the cause which they espouse.
tuean6w{93 ^^^ ^^ numerous are the instances of wise
Dotn.
and good men who, because of ignorance of par-
liamentary law and a feeble control of their re-
sources, wield little influence, and pass through
life bewildered by the success of some whose
sophistries their keen minds easily detect, whose
superficiality they pity, and whose pompous pre-
tensions they despise.
There is no other intellectual stimulant or exer-
cise to be compared with debate. It teaches the
rash moderation; makes the timid courageous;
compels the fluent to prune; the slow to hasten;
renders the dull quick-witted; requires the quick-
witted to learn caution ; and fits all classes for an
intellectual emergency. The ability to debate is a
powerful means of enabling one to defend his own
rights, and to aid the weak in securing theirs. It is
essential in free governments. If only the corrupt
and grasping have this power, the best in the com-
monwealth will be tyrannized over by the worst.
The truly wise are those who ever aim at sym-
metrical development and the mastery of every
legitimate means of persuading their fellow-men.
Such only are able to perform ordinary tasks easily,
and are always ready to respond to extraordinary
demands.
344
Gbaracter as a Ocncval picpaiatiou
CHAPTER XXXI
Cbaracter as a General preparation
That confidence in the integrity of a speaker
is essential to a conviction of tiie trutii of liis
words is self-evident. No less obvious is it that
such confidence must depend upon personal
acquaintance, the testimony of those who are
intimate with him, the evidence of position or
credentials conferred by those who know him, or
by the public. Each and all of these sources of
trust in a speaker rest finally upon his real or sup-
posed character.
The more logical a person known to be untrust-
worthy, the more the intelligent hearer is upon his
guard; and the more lofty, persuasive, or insinua-
ting the eloquence of one in repute for self-seek-
ing, treachery to friends, or readiness to receive
bribes, the harder become the hearts of all but the
inexperienced or the credulous.
If the members of the legal profession — es- seeming exm
pecially those engaged exclusively in criminal "*'[a\"'Beca!''"*
cases — seem to furnish many exceptions, it should
be noted that the personnel of juries changes with
courts and often with cases, that evidence performs
in large part the work of conviction, and that the
controlling factor in the decision is often an
245
queraders.
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
emotional state pervading a community, of which
the dishonest advocate is but the voice.
More destructive of such apparent exceptions is
the fact that if counselors are recognized by the
community as unscrupulous, it creates against any
prisoner who employs them a prejudice in the
minds of the jury and the court. Thus practice
falls away from them early in life; except when
they are located adjacent to prisons in large cities,
and become masters of the intricacies of "jury
fixing,' of legal technicalities, tricks, and the man-
ufacture of spurious alibis.
Clerical^ mass Clergymen who appear to have much zeal are
sometimes revealed as living double lives, and
their previous success is to many an insoluble
problem. Yet it is often found that a penetrating
few had suspected them ; that they had been at
the mercy of some who had detected them; or
that their success was superficial, and powerful
friends had protected them.
The existence of chemical springs below the
surface of the ground of a destructive nature may
not be known for ages, but should the earth's
crust from any cause become thin, they burst
forth, filling the air with mephitic vapors and
scalding fluids.
The reader and the reciter, when insincere,
may disguise themselves more easily, but the ex-
temporizer, unless insanely self-deceived, not
246
Character as a General preparation
VUb'S man?
VE>ieI^ no ins
fluence.
daring to abandon himself at any time to an im-
agination which he knows to be polluted, or a
memory which is the treasury of spurious as well
as sterling coin, is ever like a hobbled steed.
When one looks around him he finds men equal
in ability to most of those who have become per-
manently influential, yet who have little convinc-
ing or persuasive force. Inquiry brings to light
no other cause of fiiilure than lack of noble
character and the reputation which accompanies
it. He who cultivates soundness of judgment,
kindness of spirit, and sterling integrity accumu-
lates a form of general preparation which will
give the effect of power to a stammering tongue,
of music to a harsh voice, of grace to an uncouth
gesture, and of coherence to a lame argument;
for the many who wish to be led will follow
such a one, and those who think for themselves
will not lightly reject the opinions of one whom
they can but respect.
That shrewd observer and deep student of Ube testimony
human nature, Benjamin Franklin, records in his *** ^opbcr'°^'
diary that Lord Fitz Maurice asking him for
advice, "mentioned the old story of Demosthenes'
answer to one who demanded what was the first
point of oratory. Action. The second ? Action.
The third ? Action. Which, I said, had been
generally understood to mean the action of an
orator with his hands; but that I thought another
247
:Ejtcmporaneou0 ©latorg
kind of action of more importance to an orator
who would persuade people to follow his advice,
namely, such a course of action in the conduct of
life as would impress them with an opinion of his
integrity as well as of his understanding; that,
this opinion once established, all the difficulties,
delays, and oppositions, usually caused by doubts
and suspicions, were prevented; and such a man,
though a very imperfect speaker, would almost
always carry his points against the most flourish-
ing orator who had not the character of sincerity. " *
Collapse The cord which attaches a good reputation to an
evil character is longer in some instances than others,
but in all it either snaps suddenly or wears away
strand by strand. To such a man Cromwell said:
" Sir, I perceive that you have been vastly wary in
your conduct of late. Be not too confident in
this. Subtlety may deceive you. Honesty never
will."
* Franklin's Diary, July 27, 1784.
248
certain.
Special preparation
CHAPTER XXXn
Special preparation
The specialties of public speech are sermons,
pleadings in courts, popular lectures and those of
the professor to his classes, anniversary, com-
memorative, and inaugural orations, after-dinner
speeches, political discussions, and the debates of
legislative, ecclesiastical, and other deliberative
assemblies.
To a certain point the method of preparing for
an extemporaneous effort is essentially the same in
all cases; beyond that the object, the occasion,
and the assembly indicate what modification
should be made.
A sermon may be either the discussion of a putpit stes
topic, the exposition and illustration of a text, a
series of observations, or be wholly a persuasive
appeal.
The minister, perceiving that his people need
the presentation of a certain subject, prepares him-
self to treat it ; or a theme suggested by conversation,
reading, or reflection may strongly impress him.
Experience and observation have shown that it is
impossible to find any topic appropriate to the
Christian pulpit which would not profit many
could it be made to produce a salutary effect upon
(17) 249
course.
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
any. Frequently an orator is struck by a thought,
and at once a satisfactory plan automatically forms
and is ready for elaboration.
jEitcactfng tbe When the clergyman shall have determined
taBti. upon a topic or a text the first thing to do is to
comprehend its root idea. It will not be sufficient
merely to apprehend it. Any intelligent person
can grasp what is said upon something with which
he isfiimiliar; but in addition to the mere percep-
tion of the meaning of the terms of the proposi-
tion, he must comprehend and isolate it, looking
around it and through it without being distracted
by anything else.
In the exposition of a text the same principle
applies: for it contains one topic or more; if one,
the root idea must be comprehended ; if more, the
same process must be followed with each member.
When this is attained the speaker need not ex-
amine lexicons for definitions; root ideas define
themselves. Without this isolation it is impossible
to determine how much explanation is necessary.
The object of a speaker is to convince those who
at the outset do not believe his proposition, and
this must be done by proof. But how is he to
obtain his proof ? By contemplating the root idea
in its relation to doubts, problems, prejudices, and
predispositions.
Excess of proof Sometimes a speaker having evolved a root
obstructive, jj^^^ stated a definition, explained it thoroughly,
250
Special ipicparation
and furnished proofs that are confirmed by his
own experiences and those of his audience, per-
ceives that ahnost everyone in the assembly agrees
with him. It is folly for him to elaborate what
is obvious, but frequently he does not perceive
this. A friend said to Daniel Webster, "How
did you come to lose that case.^" and the reply
was, "I overproved it."
As a student of human nature, a speaker should
know precisely what objections are in men's
minds, and his germ thought will reveal to him the
method of answering them. After this prelim-
inary work is done there is no conscious tax upon
the recollection. The root suggests the definition,
the definition the explanation, and the explana-
tion shows where proofs are necessary and what
should be their nature.
When persuasion is essential to success, such
a method would be ineffective. It would be too
abstract, and exert no more influence upon the
heart than the demonstration of a proposition in
trigonometry.
When the proof is complete and the objections UbeappeaU
are removed the speaker's only recourse is to pass
out of the abstract into the concrete. Suppose
the theme to be repentance: The minister com-
prehends the root idea, distinguishes it from re-
gret, remorse, and penitence, and shows that
everyone who has sinned can and should repent,
251
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
and must do so if he would secure pardon. The
listeners are convinced, but unmoved ; therefore he
must throw the subject into the concrete, and
draw a reahstic picture of their present position,
portray their utter unconcern, show that they act
and speak as though they had never sinned. The
minister may then picture to himself one in that
congregation whose hospitality he has received
and whom he loves ; and fixing his eye upon that
man, think within himself: "He is unrepentant.
I have enjoyed his friendship and have preached
the Gospel to him, but he will sink into darkness
unless 1 can persuade him to repent to-day." The
minister must speak to him, establish communica-
tion between that man's eye and his own, his
tongue and that man's ear. This done, the situ-
ation is changed. Those who a few moments
before only saw the truth now feel it. If the min-
ister be incapable of making the transition, it is
because of his lack of interest or slavery to routine.
Btbougbt A sermon consisting of a series of pertinent ob-
servations is often profitable. When John Summer-
field was delighting and moving all classes by his
eloquence he did not dwell upon any one point,
but said a little, most appropriate and suggestive,
upon many points. Yet there is a heavy tax upon
the memory, unless the observations be so ar-
ranged that the first will suggest the second, and
the second, the third. If the matter is of such
252
rosars.
Special preparation
a nature that this cannot be done — though it sel-
dom is if sufficient reflection be given to it — one
may choose among several methods.
Observations may be numbered and treated
in that order; or the successive points be
strung upon the letters of the alphabet. Some
so arrange them as to spell a word. By this
method one quite popular speaker arranged his
heads so that the first word in the root idea would
begin with the letter a, and the second with d,
and so to the end of the word advantageous.
This is the secret of many systems of mnemonics.
An acquaintance of mine builds his discourses
upon the word martyr.
These schemes are unnecessary. Most persons
are in the habit of saying that they have no
memory, meaning no power of recollection. A
business man will frequently gaze with wonder
upon speakers who, without a note, will treat
with propriety and force many subjects, repeat
figures, proper names, and give dates; he will say,
" I wish my memory was as good as yours."
I was lecturing in a Western capital upon a sub- » convfndng
ject requiring the bringing forward of many his- ^ «bism" '
torical and geographical facts, and at the close a
gentleman said, " I would give my income for a
year to have your memory." Happening to be
familiar with his career, 1 said :
" Are you not treasurer of the State ?"
253
JEitemporaneous ©ratorg
"Yes."
" Are you not president of a, line of steamers ? "
" I am."
" President of a board of trustees of a college ? "
"\ have that honor."
" Director in several banks, besides being presi-
dent of one ? "
"Yes."
"Were you not for thirty years in mercantile
pursuits.?"
"I was."
"Are you not guardian for several distinct sets
of wards ? "
" I carry that responsibility."
"Then," said I, " I would like to ask you one
more question: Do you not think that if a man
were to ask you about an important business
transaction which you have had with him in the
course of your life, the papers relating to which
are destroyed, that you could settle up the busi-
ness so as to produce an equitable result.?"
"Probably I could."
In that man's brain cells were more facts, figures,
and personal experiences than would be needed to
furnish every day for a decade material for a lec-
ture as long as the one which he had heard. He
had applied to business his power of recollection;
I, mine to preparing addresses.
In discourses primarily for persuasion the orator
254
Special iprcparation
may lay a foundation in demonstration and then
throw himself into the concrete; or when every-
thing is -taken for granted and the community is at
a white heat, either from religious or political ex-
citement, he may plunge at once into his appeal.
In courts of justice pleading on points of law is
addressed to the judges, in which case root ideas,
definitions, explanations, and proofs are to be
elucidated precisely as in the case of a sermon.
When juries are to he influenced this method is
too cold to fuse twelve men into a common senti-
ment. They are liable to pass from the court
room to the place of consultation, a collection of
units. In such civil cases as allow the feelings to
play any part, an easy speaker who does not pro-
long his discussions to weariness may accomplish
wonders. This was the method of Aaron Burr,
who rarely, if ever, lost a case which he person-
ally conducted, and he seldom spoke over half an
hour. JuDAH P. Benjamin, who after the failure
of the Confederacy went to England and became
one of the leading barristers of that nation, pos-
sessed this power in a high degree. But in crim-
inal cases and such as involve pathos, where
personages often take precedence of principles,
it is unsafe for a pleader to remain long in the realm
of the abstract.
It is interesting to notice with what attention
an ignorant juryman will listen to something he
255
-Cbc •• now •'
of eloquence.
tCbe lawsec'B
cbarm.
Bitemporaneous ©ratorg
Hn tbc class
room.
Iprcparfng for
tbe unusual.
cannot understand, when it occurs in a short
interval between two pathetic or rousing appeals.
The manipulation of evidence in close juxta-
position with the law affords lawyers opportunity
for every form of eloquence.
The lectures of the professor, consisting of ex-
planation, demonstration, illustration — except in
the departments of literature, particularly rhetoric,
including elocution — deal sparingly with the emo-
tions. Accuracy, lucidity, self-possession, and
intellectuality, warmed by enthusiasm, are the
requirements of successful class-room instruction.
The platform lecturer can easily be encumbered
with an excess of system. Fancy, wit, and, what
is more effective than either, humor, are essentials,
except in the case of scientific lectures popularized
by the fame of the lecturer or the exhibition of
phenomena, and even then a few unexpected epi-
sodes will contribute to general satisfaction.
Addresses on special subjects require careful
preparation, principally to protect the orator from
the mannerisms of his vocation.
Discussions on the rostrum resemble in some
particulars the arguments of the courts. Docu-
ments, speeches of opponents, and occasionally
legislative acts must be introduced. As a rule, a
political meeting is managed upon the plan of
bringing forward, to deliver the opening speech,
a senator, judge, or other intellectual dignitary of
256
cf several
epcatscre.
Special preparation
the party, to be followed by lighter weights, in
manner if not in substance, and at the close, some
one to make " the rafters ring."
The preparation necessary depends upon the xcibcn one
place which the speaker is to till. If he be
the first, the entire field of relevant thought is his,
but should he come later, he must be ready to fill
a different role from that of his predecessor. If
the latter was tame, he should be animated, but if
exceedingly witty, keeping the people in roars of
laughter, he should be grave and argumentative, at
least for a time. The same ideas can be used to
produce either of these effects. If gravity be
sought, abstract treatment must predominate; if
the opposite effect is desired, it is necessary only
to view the subject concretely and illustrate by
likeness or contrast.
Having made a table of arguments and consid- "^^^ rcpuca=
'&
erations on each side — testing them beforehand
for himself, not waiting for critic or antagonist —
the debater should endeavor to prepare a fair an-
swer to every point that his opponent can make,
and be equally ready to reply to attacks upon his
own arguments. These are to be held not in the
open field of consciousness, but in such a way
that the moment the thought is presented the
previous preparation will be suggested.
The debater who speaks first has the subject
and occasion entirely under his control, and the
257
tion.
Bjtemporaneous tS>ratorg
Bangers anfe
safeguards
for debaters.
opportunity of making a convincing speech, which
may require the best efforts of a number of his
opponents to overthrow. It is a wonderful ad-
vantage to address minds not wearied by con-
centration or nauseated by repetition. In such a
situation he may point out that to agree on the
main contention it is not necessary to do so for
the same reasons or to concur in opinion upon
every detail. He should endeavor to answer what
he suspects his adversary will say against his
affirmative arguments, and to expose any error in
the propositions which he has reason to think will
be employed against him.
If one be not the first speaker on his own side,
he is in danger of having another advocate the same
views which he holds, perhaps in such a bungling
or extravagant manner as to occasion him more
trouble than all his opponents. Such a colleague
damages the cause by bristling with points for
attack, and leading those who have given little
consideration to the subject to contract a prejudice
against it.
If there is to be an opportunity to reply, a de-
bater maybe tempted to postpone some of his best
matter for the replication. This is the resort of
the feeble or timid. The best mode is to state
fairly, as soon as possible, what one holds, and
why. If he has a long time to. speak, he should
present a powerful argument within two minutes
25S
Special preparation
after beginning. He may then corroborate it by
weaker, but still important, propositions, being
cautious never to introduce anything which will
not bear inspection or which will divert attention
from the main line. As the time to close draws
near he should recapitulate, and finish with
his strongest considerations. Whether he shall
confine himself chiefly to argument, or introduce
emotional or persuasive appeals, depends upon the
character of the assembly, and in particular upon
the nature of those whom he wishes to gain.
He who is first on the negative may choose
between making a direct attack on his predeces-
sor's last or strongest argument and laying a foun-
dation by which to undermine him utterly at a
later period of the speech. Which would be
the safer course depends on the state of feeling
when he rises, and also on what he can trust him-
self to do the more effectively, a sudden onset or
a flank movement.
At every legislative or ecclesiastical debate there
are present extremists who cannot be affected by
anything that may be said. Some are bound by
party chains; others were never reasoned into
the position which they hold, but are under the
influence of prepossession or prejudice. There
are those, also, whose minds are not yet made up,
or, if they fancy they are, the resolution is not
solidified. Besides these, there is always a con-
259
Component
parts of an
assembly*
JEjtemporancous ©ratori?
siderable number willing to make compromise
propositions, or present substitutes for everything
before the house. And it should not be forgotten
that there is always a contingent who are in a
state of plastic doubt.
The tendency of some debaters is to waste
energy in endeavoring to convince the uncon-
vincible and persuade the unyielding. The
principal aim should be to make recruits from
those who have no decided opinion; and in con-
nection with that to strengthen the convictions of
those of one's own way of thinking who may
have been weakened by the attacks of opponents.
■zbc silent A serious practical problem confronts every de-
♦'^"^"'"'"' bater when he has thought long and deeply on
both sides. He may conclude that there is little
difference between them, yet he honestly believes
the one he proposes to advocate. Unless he
knows how to develop oratorical fervor, even
when there is but a slight difference between the
weight of the respective sides, he will produce
little impression.
Within a few years has passed away a college
president who was an eloquent orator and influen-
tial member of the Senate of Massachusetts. He
often failed in a critical emergency in consequence
of seeing so much on both sides of all questions
that at any stage he could have exchanged places
with his opponen^
260
Special preparation
How is this to be avoided ? In one, and but stirdna one's
one, way; — by foresliortening tlie perspective of ^wn fire,
hiis opponents' views and enlarging his own. If
he thinks that much may be brought forward
truthfully on the other side, it should develop
charity for his opponents and remove acrimony
from his own speech. But as he believes his own
position to be right, and that the prevalence of his
sentiments will be beneficial, he should arouse
himself so that, though he states his opponents'
arguments fairly and calmly, in reply or direct
argument he will utter his own convictions with
overwhelming force.
There is no reason why a man should not de-
liver an argument, in itself dry as dust, with all
the feeling he would have while making a stirring
appeal. It will contribute to his warmth if he
listens intently to the other side, endeavoring
to answer mentally each argument as it is
uttered.
After-dinner speeches are at once the easiest i>ost=pranMai
and most difficult of oratorical feats. Too much *°^eg^,g^"^
preparation will cause a failure, and too little may
result in lowering the speaker in his own opin-
ion or in the estimate of the assembly. It is
difficult to hold the attention of a company ex-
hausted by devotion to an elaborate menu, after
several others have spoken. The first speaker
usually has a weighty theme and more time than
261 .
bevQS
;E3;temporaneou0 ©catorg
will be allowed others. This frequently leads to
the infliction of a prosy address, during or at the
close of which many of the guests will depart.
College presidents at alumni banquets are often
sinners in this respect. No speaker who values
his reputation should rise utterly unprepared; the
risk is too great. A root idea with "limbs and
flourishes " is the safest method. The flights
attempted should be graceful and short. An
after-dinner audience does not relish speeches
which "smell of the oil."
HvoiMng (cca There is a peril to which many speakers are
exposed. Having elicited laughter or applause by
an incident, a witticism, or an epigram, they go
on in vain efforts to maintain or surpass the effects
thus, perhaps accidentally, produced.
But if one can rely on himself, and, in case of a
slip, can gather himself so quickly that either it
will not be perceived or will be immediately for-
gotten, he may sail over this treacherous sea as
gracefully as a yacht in a summer breeze.
Usually the best after-dinner speeches do not
read well, and when they do the presumption is
that they were voted dry. The speeches of Mayor
Abram S. Hewitt, however, read well, and some of
them in delivery rivaled in interest those of
Joseph H. Choate or Chauncey M. Depew, wiz-
ards of the banquet, the former a hypnotizer ot
judge and jury.
Q62
Iprclimiiiars Ipbvjoical preparation
CHAPTER XXXIII
prcliminarg ipbgslcal iprcparatlon
In former ages the interdependence of mental » Bc^uctiv>e
and physical health was recognized only by the "'^°^'
few who had investigated more thoroughly than
their contemporaries and were familiar with the
lucubrations of the truly wise among the ancients.
It is now universally admitted, but practically
disregarded by a majority who fancy that they can
continue active exertion up to the moment of
publicly speaking. Many have been led astray as
to their own powers by observing that certain
lawyers appear able to work continuously, and
that without intervening periods of rest political
speakers and professional evangelists manifest
surprising energy and fervor, conversing almost
continually in the intervals of their speeches.
Were they to examine closely the efforts thus
made, they would perceive that, unless one live
constantly in such a routine, reducing the outflow
of vitality to the least possible amount, such
achievements would be impossible. "What
one does every day he can do any day." Advo-
cates when physically unfitted are able to protect
themselves by asking a continuance, by prolong-
ing the examination of witnesses, or by arguing
263
JEjtemporancous ©ratorg
incidental points of law until the hour of adjourn-
ment, so that they may secure a night's rest be-
fore making the critical effort. Moreover, much
that they do in the trial of a case is done calmly,
so that they are not under such pressure as the
uninitiated might suppose. Only when unexpected
points are raised or unforeseen contingencies of
a serious nature are thrust upon them are they
severely taxed.
Campaign speakers labor under abnormal ex-
citement, and stake their constitutions. Some en-
dure; others destroy themselves. Frequently at
the close of presidential campaigns stump speakers
are prostrated; some, as the result of overexcite-
ment, loss of sleep, and irregular habits, become
insane,
pcdpatctfc Evangelists have few discourses and constantly
repeat them; in all such courses of life there is a
possibility of becoming accustomed to rhythmical
developments of excitement which ebb and flow,
leaving the system little the worse. Several have
told me that immediately after concluding impas-
sioned exhortations they can retire and be asleep
almost as soon as they touch the pillow. One
attributed it to his confidence in God. He had
done what he could, and after invoking God's
blessing upon his work, there was no reason why
he should not receive the benefit of the promise,
"For so he giveth his beloved sleep."
264
Bpcahcia.
pceliminarg pbgslcal preparation
Notwithstanding this, such evangelists are un-
able to continue their work more than half the
year. Those who extend their labors over a
longer period usually lose force or break down
in what should be the prime of life.
Lecturers delivering the same discourses night
after night, their emotions not stirred, expenditure
being principally intellectual, can travel during
the day, and with time for rest and refreshment
before the effort can endure a long series of en-
gagements. But many have found it necessary
to resort to arbitrary rules of hygiene, and among
professional lecturers the number of general or
nervous collapses is not small.
Energy and fervor are qualities necessary to the
success of an address. Listless speakers do not
receive attention; nor will mere muscular effort
and vociferation suffice; the countenance, gesture,
and voice must indicate earnestness.
When an important address is to be delivered the ib^fcnfc wfsa
orator should begin the special care of his body at ^'^'"*
least twenty-four hours before the time. Henry
Ward Beecher, addressing the Clerical Union of
Brooklyn, stated that this was his invariable prac-
tice, and that, though he had a powerful con-
stitution, he made it a point to eat less and rest
more as Sunday approached. On his lecture tours
he was in the habit of taking a short nap just be-
fore going to the platform. A good night's sleep
(18) 265
suicide.
J6jtcmporaneou6 ©ratorfi
and sound digestion are essential to adequate
preparation. One of tlie most successful law-
yers in New York city, in constant practice, takes
nothing but a cracker for lunclieon when he has
to return to court in the afternoon.
t^n^nten^e^ A dangerous practice is that indulged by some
of dining heartily before making an address. A
clergyman of my acquaintance, invited to dine on
board a man-of-war in the harbor of New York,
conversed and gourmandized until 7 p. m., when,
remembering that he had an address to make, he
was quickly rowed to shore, and hastening to the
church, entered the pulpit and began. After
speaking fifteen minutes he was stricken with
apoplexy; a post-mortem showed that this was
the consequence of issuing two drafts at the same
time upon his nerve capital — one for the digestion
of a heterogeneous mass, and the other for the
production of an impassioned speech.
A bishop, having an important afternoon engage-
ment, dined so heartily as to astonish his fellow-
guests, and then preached in so listless a manner
that his congregation were utterly wearied. On
his expressing wonder that he was so circum-
scribed in speaking, a friend cynically observed that
he might have prayed before he went to the church,
but he certainly did not fast.
To converse much before delivering a speech
is unphilosophical. A famous billiard player
265
"Clnstrfng the
barp.
Igi'cUminaiy ipbgslcal ipicparation
brought suit against a man who had wagered
upon the success of his competitor for hiring
some one to go to his house when he was resting
preparatory to the contest and engage him in con-
versation, so that he would be unfitted to play with
his usual skill.
Athletes, singers, and actors are obliged to rest
and to avoid excitement. The reader may take
more liberties with himself than those who extem-
porize, but as he is deprived of many advantages
by confinement to the paper, and as his voice is
naturally weaker than that of the speaker, he, too,
needs preliminary care.
Whenever it is possible, one intending to speak
at length should repose for some time flat upon
his back, and go without haste to the appointed
place. It is true that there are men possessing
extraordinary constitutions so that they can walk
three or even ten miles and preach several times
on the same day; but it has been noticed that
these often begin languidly, and by bodily exercise
and vocal action gradually work themselves into
liberty.
A well-known orator, who frequently speaks
several times in one day, refuses private entertain-
ment, and three times in one day has been known
to disrobe and retire as if for a night's repose.
Dr. Thfodore L. Cuyler, while in the arduous
duties of a large pastorate, requiring two discourses *"^'"™^^ '^"'f
267
Hn al\vav0=
Umitattons.
Ertemporaneous ©ratorg
on the Sabbath, into which he threw vast energy,
depended for vivacity in the evening upon several
hours' sleep on Sunday afternoon, on which ac-
count he facetiously spoke of having eight days
in his week.
HoLYOAKE in his work, Hints on the Application
of Logic, has a paragraph which he omitted from
the revised edition, published forty years after-
ward, but which is more practical than some pas-
sages which he did not omit:
icarnfng one'8 "When traveling expenses were the only pay-
ment I received for my lectures I used to walk to
the place of their delivery. On my walk from
Birmingham to Worcester, a distance of twenty-
six miles, it was my custom to recite on the way
portions of my intended address. In the early
part of my walk my voice was clear and thoughts
ready, but toward the end I could scarcely articu-
late or retain the thread of my discourse. If I
lectured the same evening, as sometimes hap-
pened, I spoke without connection or force. The
reason was that I had exhausted my strength on
the way. One Saturday I walked from Sheffield
to Huddersfield to deliver on the Sunday two an-
niversary lectures. It was my first appearance
there, and I was ambitious to acquit myself well,
but in the morning I was utterly unable to do
more than talk half inaudibly and quite incoher-
ently. In the evening I was tolerable, but my
26S
preliminary ipbgslcal preparation
voice was weak. My annoyance was excessive.
I was a paradox to myself. My power seemed
to come and go by some eccentric law of its own.
I did not find out till years after that the utter ex-
haustion of my strength had exhausted the powers
of speech and thought, and that entire repose, in-
stead of entire fatigue, should have been the
preparation for public speaking."
Those who are obliged to speak several times a Traamfno
day need protracted periods of rest; forthepatho- examples,
logical effects of excessive talking are analogous
to those of excessive writing. Some of the worst
cases of aphasia have been brought on in this way,
and public speakers have been alarmed by finding
that they could not articulate distinctly, or that
they uttered a different word from that which
was intended, or that their power of public
speech seemed on the verge of departing. On
consulting nerve specialists, the only prescription
given has been to intermit speech for a few days
or weeks, or in some cases to be absolutely silent
for three hours before making a public address.
Some authorities maintain that the premature
decline of power, while the reflective faculties ap-
pear of normal strength, is to be explained as the
results of overaction. Those who do not observe
hygienic rules are strongly tempted to the use
of stimulants. Many a brilliant orator about to
speak in court or upon the rostrum, and some
269
Bjtcmporaneous ©ratoris
clergymen, finding themselves dull, have gradu-
ally resorted to stimulants, thus inducing nervous
prostration. Dr. J. Hughlings Jackson, an author-
ity not to be suspected of incompetence, nar-
rowness, or prejudice, in his lecture before the
Neurological Society, on "The Central Nervous
System," speaking of the highest level of that
system, the so-called organ of mind, physical basis
of mind, etc., observes that " In case of general
bodily fatigue and certain states of ill health,
scarcely to be called abnormal, after taking a small
quantity of alcohol (only as much alcohol, let us
(5fl^e^ but suppose, as, according to the Scotch witness,
not goi6. rnakes a man not worse but better for liquor),
there is increased mental activity of a sort, a great
flow of ideas. In this mentation there is, I think,
mainly an increase of the first half of thought,
tracing resemblances, while the noting of differ-
ences, second 'half of thought, is diminished;
or, to use popular language, there is greater ' bril-
liancy ' with less ' judgment.' If so, it is not a de-
sirable condition even from a nonmedical point
of view."* Reputation has suffered because of
eccentricities of speech or action exposing to sus-
picion of mental derangement, which were after-
ward found to have been caused by intoxication.
A victim of this habit was taken by his parish-
ioners to an asylum, they supposing him to be
* Tke Lancet, London, January 8, 1898.
270
etimulants.
preliminary ipbgsical preparation
deranged. The superintendent, not wishing to
ruin the reputation of the patient, responded to a
question as to how long he would be liable to be
detained, that it was impossible to decide, as he
was then in a "wholly artificial" condition.
James Parton, in his article, "Will the Coming jfoobanb
Man Drink Wine ? " philosophically discusses the
relation of wine to banquets and after-dinner
speaking, laying down the principle that, if men
eat much, they will be compelled to use stimulants.
One cannot eat a hearty meal and make an ani-
mated speech. The most successful after-dinner
speakers refuse many of the courses. Not all,
however, are wise enough to protect themselves,
and those who do not, if much in demand, are
soon worn out. Two friends, one noted for oc-
casional speeches of remarkable brilliancy, the
other for never failing, occupied adjacent seats at
a banquet. The first was a gourmand, the other
a gourmet. The speech of the former was a
failure, and that of his friend a great success.
When the latter sat down the former said, " How
do you do it?" The reply was sufficient: "I do
one thing at a time."
Quinine has been habitually used as a stimu-
lant by a few public speakers. The quinine habit
is almost as injurious to the nervous system as is
the alcohol habit, inducing in some premature
deafness and in others various morbid conditions.
271
Eltcmporaneous ©ratotfi
One of the worst final effects is the necessity of
using narcotics to compose a system shattered by
undue excitation,
uncrpcnsfve jhe best touic is pure air, and whenever possi-
prtscrp on. ^^^^ ^ speaker should spend a while in the open
air, inhaling through his nostrils deep drafts.
Half of Saturday spent in this way by a clergy-
man will accomplish much, and even one hour
spent in the open air or in a thoroughly ventilated
room will renovate the vital forces and admit of
beginning work with vigor.
Dr. McIlvaine, discussing "Vitality and Physi-
cal Regimen," assumes it to be an established
law that the vital forces will not at the same time
inspire the brain and grind in the stomach. He
admits that in feeble constitutions this rule requires
to be reversed, and deduces the case of the younger
Pitt, who, in the latter years of his life, when his
constitution was shattered, found it necessary
to brace himself up with a hearty meal and a
couple of bottles of wine before delivering one
of his great speeches in Parliament. The fact,
however, is that he always found this imperative,
and his premature breaking down was to be attrib-
uted to nonrestraint of his appetite and to stimu-
lants taken to overcome the lethargy natural after
overeating. When physical strength is not fully
adequate some food should be taken, but in a
concentrated and easily digested form.
273
prelimfnacB pb^slcal iprcparatlon
There are occasions, especially when one has Ueaanbcoitce.
traveled until within a few moments of the time
of speaking, when to eat nothing would be per-
nicious; or when one having eaten, finds himself
languid. Two stimulants, everywhere accessible,
tea and coffee, are specially beneficial if not
used ordinarily, and most effectual when taken
upon an empty stomach. While the essential
principle of these herbs is the same, there are cer-
tain effects characteristic of each. French biolo-
gists, chemists, and hygienists, with a view of
deciding which is better for soldiers in camp or
on the march, have given profound study to the
influence of tea and coffee. They have found
that, while both stimulate the sensory and the
motor nerves, tea affects the sensory much more
than the motor, and coffee the motor more than
the sensory. Hence they recommend the latter
when prolonged physical exertion is required.
I was particularly interested in the results of
their studies because I had made that discovery
years before from my own experience. When
on pedestrian tours I found coffee much the more
effective stimulant; and when dull and obliged to
write tea seemed more in harmony with mental
activity and a sedentary position.
It is related of Henry Ward Beecher that, after
a long journey, on arriving at a residence where
he was to be entertained, having but a short time
273
better even of
these.
JEjtemporancous ©ratoris
to rest before lecturing, he was asked which he
preferred, tea or coffee. "Coffee," said he. "I
am going to lecture; if it were a funeral address, 1
should take tea. Tea quickens the mind without
rousing the body, but coffee fills a man with vigor
from head to foot."
ubeiesstbe These "innocent herbs" are powerful drugs,
and 1 found it necessary to abstain, because under
their use I was never conscious of healthy fatigue,
and profusely expended vitality without being
aware of it. A small quantity of either coffee or
tea is now sufficient to overcome lassitude. It
should be remembered that some cannot without
food take coffee without its toxic effects appear-
ing in undue energy of manner and violence in
epithets. One of such a temperament says that he
never takes coffee unless he wishes to use more
expletives than substantives, and more adverbs
than verbs.
If neither coffee nor tea can be obtained, sip-
ping half a pint of very hot water will produce so
satisfactory an effect that some have affirmed that
it is the heat of the tea and coffee which is so effica-
cious. Experiment proves that this is not the case,
for ice-cold coffee or tea is stimulating, although
an unwholesome beverage if taken with food.
274
Special preparation of jfceltng
CHAPTER XXXrV
Special ipreparation ot Reeling
The reasoning faculties can be commanded, and
the powers of recollection and imagination in well-
disciplined minds are obedient to the will; but no
one can evoke emotion by an act of volition. He
cannot say to his soul, ' ' The hour is come ; be glad,
be gay, be deeply stirred ! " The habit of speaking
at a given time may engender mere oratorical ex-
citement when required ; but this is not the feel-
ing which is to make one eloquent. That must
include the whole being.
If a man cannot command his feelings, he can
indirectly affect them; and the best method is to
meditate upon the subject, the occasion, and those
who are to be influenced. Abstraction is holding
the mind to an intellectual process; reflection is
a general turning over of ideas, but meditation
differs from each of these processes. It is a blend-
ing of revery and abstraction with an intense de-
sire that emotion shall arise. One does not long
hold himself in meditation, nor attempt to con-
centrate the mind as he does in abstraction, or even
in reflection. The intellectual faculties are driven
with a loose rein, allowed to wander over the
entire field.
S7S
jEKstdictions
frcqucntlv
6i8regal•^e^.
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
Zbc minister's
vocation an6
rcsponsibilitB.
Consciousness of the train of thought is lost,
and the man awal<es to find his soul stirred. He
may discover that he has unconsciously risen or,
finding his arms extended in gesture, become
aware that he is speaking to himself. He thinks
of the issues and feels as though he would like at
once to go before the people and present the sub-
ject.
The preacher professes a divine call. Different
religious bodies take different views of its na-
ture, some holding it to be a distinct impression,
having the moral force of a divine commission.
Others consider it a strong inference from one's
personal religious experience, his fitness for such a
work, and various providential indications. Still
others doubt the existence of anything specific
in the impression, and describe the minister as an
honest man who desires to do the greatest good in
the world, and comes to the conclusion that this
can be accomplished by devoting himself to the
ministry. In any case the sincere preacher must
believe his efforts to be the most important that
he could make. He sees the transcendent results
of a belief in or a rejection of the Christian religion.
He recognizes the need of constant instruction,
warning, and consolation to prevent the disci-
ples of Christ from wandering. He also knows
that if he is not a successful preacher of the Gospel,
he will simply be endured. Therefore, whenever
276
Special preparation of jfeellng
he appears in public it should be to him a momen-
tous occasion. It should not be difficult to create
or renew this impression, for since he believes his
teachings to be of divine origin, their acceptance
essential to moral and spiritual development and
to happiness in this world and the next, it is im-
possible to conceive a true Christian content with-
out daily consciousness of strong emotion. The
Apostles of Christianity, whatever their personal
characteristics, exhibited intense emotion. Divine
earnestness, pathos, love, yearning of spirit, and
holy joy inspired them, and they stirred one
another to works of faith and self-sacrifice by
zealous exhortations and fervent prayers. The
doctrines of Christianity expressed without emo-
tion are powerless to reach the hearts or influence
the characters of men.
Every discourse must have a purpose and be ascucf fn
connected with the preacher's religious life. Ad- s'''"^'^"^'' a*^-
dresses can be prepared upon ordinary and extraor-
dinary topics, without a belief or utilization of a
belief that a special divine influence is essential to
success; but this is impossible with respect to a
sermon, unless it is of a merely historical nature or
relates to mere secular aspects of Church work.
There is some defect in that Christian preacher
who, in his meditations in the study and in the
act of preaching, has never been conscious of an
influence unlike that which the orator feels upon
277
Bjtemporaneous ©rator^
other subjects. He who, as to the state of his
feelings, has had no different experience in
preaching from that which he has had in deliver-
ing political, scholastic, educational, or moral ad-
dresses, has missed something which has ever been
the chief source of the highest pulpit eloquence.
The New Testament affirms that the fruits of the
Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle-
ness, goodness, meekness, foith, and promises
special help in expounding the principles of the
Gospel and persuading the hearts of men. The
minister must expect such aid, and, by all the
methods with which the devout Christian is ac-
quainted, prepare himself to receive it.
Among those methods are self-examination,
prayer, the rectification of one's own motives, de-
pendence upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
and a continual expectation of special preparation
from that source; so that when he ascends the
pulpit he is imbued with the conviction that he is
sent there by God to preach the Gospel.
Other vocations furnish their own stimulants,
siona. The incidents leading to the Revolutionary War
made plain men heroes, orators, and statesmen.
So each profession includes within its prin-
ciples and practice an ever-changing series of ob-
jective realities and ideal conceptions, which will
yield in their measure the stimulus to the im-
agination and the emotions which the Christian
278
©tber profes
Special ipreparatlon ot jfeellng
preacher receives in so large a degree. Meditation
should be carried so far as to set free the imagina-
tion. No author, ancient or modern, has treated
the subject so graphically as Quintilian, equally
famous as an advocate, an orator of occasions,
and a teacher of oratory. He says:
"By what means, it may be asked, shall we be
affected, since our feelings are not in our own
power ? I will attempt to say something also on
this point. What the Greeks call fantasiai we
call visions; images by which the representations
of absent objects are so distinctly represented to the
mind that we seem to see them with our eyes, and
to have them before us. Whosoever shall best
conceive such images will have the greatest power
in moving the feelings. A man of such lively
imagination some call euphantasiotos, being one
who can vividly represent to himself things, voices,
actions, with exactness of reality; and this faculty
may readily be acquired by ourselves if we de-
sire it.
"When, for example, while the mind is unoc- irmagtnanon's
cupied and we are indulging in chimerical hopes
and dreams, as of men awake, the images of
which 1 am speaking beset us so closely that we
seem to be on a journey, or a voyage, in a battle, to
be haranguing assemblies of people, to dispose of
wealth which we do not possess, and not to be
thinking, but acting, shall we not turn this lawful
279 ^
bcartswannino
power.
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
power of our minds to our advantage ? I make
complaint that a man has been murdered ; shall I
not bring before my eyes everything that is likely
to have happened when the murder occurred ?
Shall not the assassin suddenly sally forth ? Shall
not the other tremble, cry out, supplicate, or flee ?
Shall 1 not behold the one striking, the other fall-
ing ? Shall not the blood and paleness and last
gasp of the expiring victim present itself fully to
my mental view ? " *
■R mo^ern A modern orator said that if through stress of
tegtimonr. circumstances he had but one hour in which to
prepare for the highest possible effort, and a human
life was at stake, his own or that of another who
had trusted his fate to his eloquence, he would give
the larger part of the time to rousing his soul to
the exigency, and to enkindling within himself the
passions which he wished to arouse in others.
What is this but to say that emotional prepared-
ness is at least as necessary to eloquence as intel-
lectual ?
* 77u Education of the Orator^ Book vi, chapter 2.
280
BDDre06lng tbc BsscmblB
CHAPTER XXXV
BDOressfng tbe assembly
The hour for his address having arrived, the
orator rises; and forces, which have been flitting
hither and thither like electric currents seeking
outlet, concentrate.
1 assume that the speaker is conscious of agita- creMtabic
tion. In an ordinary address upon a subject 8ol(c(tu^c.
with which he is entirely familiar, where the
sole object is enlightenment and the discussion
a part of continuous business, there may be no
more excitement than is felt by an officer when
drilling or reviewing his troops. But if the oc-
casion be important, and the theme one which
has thrilled him and must thrill the audience or
the oration prove worse than a failure, since so
much depends upon first impressions, he, whether
sole speaker or to be contrasted with others, will
commence with a diffidence akin to fear. Woe
to the extemporaneous orator who has reached
such an impassive condition that he knows
nothing of this experience!
The extemporizer has no prepared language, not cdUcai pause,
even his first sentence. He has ideas which he
intended to present first. If at white heat from
previous meditation, he pauses, endeavoring to
(19) 28i
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
Vocal reserve.
Sclfs
forgetfulnc80.
Steady his nerves and muscles; this instant passed,
he utters his first words and the situation is
changed. Through his ear the sentence reacts
favorably upon him or it does not. If it does not,
it is modified not by will, but instinctively, until
the sum of that sentence with its qualifying suc-
cessors coalesces with the current of his thoughts
and feelings.
He is not particular to be heard by all in the
assembly when he begins. The clergyman, how-
ever, reads the text, which being more important
than any utterance of his own, he should pro-
nounce with a voice audible in all parts of the
auditorium. There are psychological and physio-
logical reasons why in uttering his own sentiment
his voice is likely to be weak, and why under or-
dinary circumstances he should speak slowly.
The anxiety of the speaker is incompatible with
strength of utterance; his very mouth is dried by
it. To speak loud in beginning is to risk hoarse-
ness. The ancient rule, "Begin low; speak
slow," is in harmony with nature, but, as fre-
quently quoted, "Rise higher; take fire," is er-
roneous; taking fire should precede rising higher.
The speaker who commences in a pompous
manner may be suspected of attempting to palm
off a recitation or a speech which has been de-
livered so frequently as to be practically a recita-
tion. An extemporizer will usually fall a little
282
tion.
ac»^re0slng tbe Besemblg
below his exordium so soon as he forgets himself.
For extemporization is evolution after involution.
All conscious thought of voice, gesture, attitude,
the audience, and the opinions of people disap-
pears. Something far better takes its place.
Some teachers of oratory, who know nothing of
the art of extemporizing, or of the science of it,
inculcate the maxim that the extemporizer should
never forget himself, but remain perfectly con-
scious of what he is doing and of all that he sees.
They are blind leaders of the blind. He must be "utter ab8orp=
absorbed in the process of evolution, and he can-
not be eloquent until he reaches such a point that,
were his garments to be set on fire, he would be
burned ere he was aware of it.
Something difficult to explain takes the place of
ordinary perception followed by conscious reason-
ing. It is an intuitive perception of the manner in
which his ideas are being received. Applause by
clap, stamp, or cheer is worth much less to any
experienced speaker, as an indication of the effect
which he is producing, than what he receives from
the countenances of his auditors. Making due
allowance for irresistible paroxysms of enthusiasm,
it may be affirmed that an audience which can cease
listening to cheer is not stirred to the depths.
Chrysostom, the golden mouthed, abominated it,
and when his emperor and nobles were striking
their swords and crying, " Thou art worthy to be
283
jEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
called a priest," he refused to go on unless they
would be silent. When, on account of blindness
of the eye, speaker or hearer cannot impart or re-
ceive the telepathic effect necessary, the ear seems
to have a strange power of perceiving the agree-
ment, dissent, or doubt of the auditor.
A vocal interruption must be replied to if it
breaks the spell which the orator is weaving
(otherwise it should not be noticed). The orator
iinx)ite6 cbasa will then involuntarily turn the full force of his
tisement ^noral and intellectual being upon the hostile in-
serenely. terrupter, and must drive him to the wall or lose
control of the assembly. The interrupter takes the
risk, and is but a child if he complain of the
severity of the impact which he provoked.
A friendly critic may do more harm than good,
and assuredly will if he brings the speaker's train
to a full stop.
When his mind, brain, blood, heart, hands,
tongue, lips, vocal cords, and lungs are in harmo-
nious action the orator is indeed a happy man.
All that he knows and every combination capable
of being made of it are at his service. If the au-
dience has passed under his spell and reciprocates,
he is thrilled by the consciousness that "his facul-
ties have their proper object." He feels "the re-
flex of unimpeded energy" and experiences the
quintessence of pleasure.
I have said that the speaker must dismiss all
884
a&Oressing tbe Bseemblg
thought of his voice. The philosophy of this pre-
scription is that when he thinks of his voice, the
harmony of his mind and body is disturbed, and
his flow of thought checked; he is divorced from
the audience. Should his voice rebel to such an
extent as to become unmanageable and he be
brought back to self-consciousness, he must con-
trol himself, change pitch, diminish force, and be-
gin again less vehemently.
He may perceive an aspect of hostility, a smile
of pity, or a sneer of contempt. Instantly he must
be prepared to determine whether it would be wise
to attempt to conquer that hostility by directly con-
centrating his gaze upon the opponent, or rely upon
doing it indirectly by facing the entire assembly
until by resistless contagion the foe is forced to suc-
cumb or, unyielding, be left in a powerless minority.
To say that the speaker must forget self and
audience in his subject, and then to predicate of
him actions which imply that he has not done
so, is paradoxical; but it is a paradox arising from
the poverty of human language. The orator who
does not forget himself cannot rise to the heights
of eloquence; he must remain in the lower realm
of mere statement. But the extemporizer who
has risen to loftiest elevation can perceive more
and adapt himself more quickly to changed
situations than the other. Some philosophers char-
acterize this as a species of clairvoyance, others
285
wltb tbc uns
eismpatbctic.
Bitemporancous ©ratorij
H aenluB pro
tern.
Zbe Dismal
Swamp.
term it sympathy; it is but the normal action
of the faculties increased to such a rate of speed
as to make it impossible for consciousness to keep
pace; nevertheless, they do their work with inva-
riable accuracy.
How far superior the work of the genius to that
of the man of talent! By the aid of the dictionary
passable poems are turned out, but one inspiration
of genius produces words which will never die.
The extemporizer is often lifted far above his
ordinary self. Three minutes of such illumination
are worth more than an hour of square and com-
pass reasoning. In the argumentative portions of
the discourse it is not to be expected that he will
reach this state, for where definition and ratiocina-
tion are concerned he must scrutinize everything
that comes from his lips. But when he passes
from demonstration to appeal he must give rein to
his intellectual Pegasus. Mistakes, extravagances,
will be forgotten or forgiven if vivified by gen-
uine fire.
This is the ideal situation.
If the extemporizer at his best be the happiest
of men, it must logically follow that if he be con-
sciously obstructed throughout, he is miserable
beyond the power of words to describe.
Said one: " 1 wished that 1 might die when my
tongue clave to the roof of my mouth, because my
heart was cold and my mind confused."
286
temptations of tbe Bjtemporaneous Spcahcc
CHAPTER XXXVI
tTemptatfons of tbe Bjtemporaneous Speaker
Since it is essential to effective public speech to b tbrcsboic
command attention, tliere lies in wait at the t«'"pta"o»-
threshold a temptation to resort to unusual means
to secure it. Many who practice other methods
suppose, and are not backward in suggesting, that
the extemporizer is always at his worst when be-
ginning, while others may polish and perfect the
exordium to suit the emergency.
The extemporizer is not always at his worst in
beginning. For example, when rising under the
excitement of debate or when appearing upon a
party platform he is greeted with applause, or
when on entering the pulpit he feels that a devo-
tional spirit pervades the assembly.
When tempted to the use of outre methods he
should remember that whether attention soonest
secured is longest retained depends upon how it
is won. If it is gained by a startling elocutionary
or intellectual performance which, as he proceeds,
he cannot surpass or even equal, interest is liable
to flag until reaction is complete. Yet in general,
and occasionally even under the most favorable
circumstances, the beginning may be his most
embarrassing moment. Mr. Gladstone, when
287
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
asked if he never became nervous before speak-
ing, said tliat he often did in opening a debate,
but never in replying. The answer was philo-
sophic.
Under the most unfavorable circumstances,
however, the extemporizer has peculiar advan-
tages; that he advances without notes is sufficient
to concentrate attention, and even ill-concealed
embarrassment excites curiosity.
The reputation for being an interesting speaker
materially aids one in securing a hearing. A preva-
lent expectation of eccentricity will assist when for
the first time a speaker appears in a community
unacquainted with him. It will be comparatively
useless afterward, unless connected with "high
moral and intellectual endowments."
Epbemerai Persistent singularities may draw a crowd in a
city where strangers congregate, or attract one
to hear a political speaker, or fill a great room
with "lewd fellows of the baser sort." But such
things make people attend merely to the man and
his performance.
Well-founded fame for ability of any kind, for
wisdom, for influence, for bringing things to pass.
and, above all, for honesty, makes men wish to hear
every word such a one says. It is immeasura-
bly easier to obtain fame by honest work than to
transmute notoriety into fame or to prevent noto-
riety from becoming infamy.
288
fame.
tTcmptations of tbe JEjtempoiaiicous Speaker
The chief of beguiling ideas to which the ex-
temporizer is exposed, and which is always the
source of many others, is the complacent confi-
dence, sure to be engendered by early success in
this method, that he can talk acceptably at any
time, upon any occasion and theme, even without
preparation. He reaches this conclusion because,
when necessity or indolence had led him to
neglect preparation, he has, in popular estimate,
sometimes attained a greater triumph of oratory
than on other occasions when carefully prepared.
He is prone to catch at two or three ideas, or
hastily glance at notes made long before, and
without even an hour's preliminary reflection
ascend the pulpit, rise before a jury, or confront
an audience gathered to hear him lecture.
Extempore speaking is brought into contempt
by ministers who spend their time in small talk
in bookstores, shops, at dinner tables and teas,
strangers to the study till Saturday evening, per-
haps until Sunday morning. The style of such
men deteriorates with the decline of animal spirits
and the increase of the habit of neglect. They
reach the dreaded "dead line" before they are
aware, and resort to degrading expedients to regain
popularity.
A large proportion of promising young lawyers,
supposed for a few years after having received
their parchments to be worthy successors of the
389
SSrilliant vc=
nccrovcrurccn
£tock.
Uppl^inq tbc
asp to tbcms
eclvce.
iSjtcmporaneouB ©ratorg
men who are closing illustrious careers, descend
by this road to oblivion. At first they prepare
their cases and make a new presentation each time
they appear before a jury. But after a few sessions
the same figures of speech and methods of appeal
reappear so often that the judges and court officers
exhibit an indifference which infects the jury, so
that those to whom the strains of eloquence are
new are unmoved, and the strains themselves are
but echoes of the original melody,
"xittie foxes Many a senator who had been eminent at the
^"vincs."^^ bar has sought at the expiration of his term
to regain his practice, but found it difficult to do
so in some instances because his partners and the
students in his office had absorbed it during his
absence, but in more because, sated with honor
and forgetting that continual practice and thorough
preparation are necessary to sustain the ability to
influence a jury, he has become hesitating or
wandering. When such a man, who had been
astonishingly eloquent in the Senate, reached the
age of sixty it was said of him, " As an advocate
he is just what he was when he began, * a prom-
ising young lawyer.'"
The extemporizer is liable to extravagance to the
verge of falsehood, and in this respect resembles
the poet, since the essential elements of poetry are
intensity of emotion and vividness of perception.
Bismarck somewhat cynically said, "To be a good
2qo
tiemptatlons of tbe Bjtemporancous Speahec
speaker one must have the gift of improvisation,
and being something of a poet, he cannot adhere
mathematically to the truth." Extravagance in
poetry being expected, does little harm, provided
the thread of gold running through it is not ob-
scured.
The sacred writings of all religions abound in losfng the.
figures of speech which, taken literally, have ^""""^tuutbT
deceived the unwary reader. But when the ex-
temporaneous speaker, heated by his own rhetoric,
his perspective reduced to one idea, yields him-
self without restraint, he may make assertions
which are false, and become responsible for dec-
larations which, when proof is demanded, he
honestly denies having made ; they seem to him so
different from anything which he would attempt
to defend. Some of the most frightful falsehoods
which ever fell from human lips have been uttered
under the solemn sanction of the ministry by those
who would have trembled had they foreseen what
they would say. Men have been guilty of such
extravagance and falsehood in public that in private
their representations concerning business transac-
tions or the character and conduct of their fellow-
men were deemed unworthy of credit.
This danger waits at the lips of every careless
speaker, but upon the subject of religion it is so
easy for one to exaggerate that men, without
intending to deceive, may profess an experience
291
Bjtemporancous ©ratorg
far transcending any which they have attained.
Such is the not uncommon error of those noted for
gifts in prayer and testimony. Many of these are
bulwarks of piety and morality; but in other in-
stances rigid examination elicits facts which agree
more closely with their general reputations than
with an estimate based upon what they say in
public. This tendency is displayed in orators who
abound in adjectives and adverbs; and in all cases
the more brilliant the orator and the less his prep-
aration the greater his danger.
It became necessary for the bishop to rebuke, in
the presence of the association to which he be-
longed, a young minister addicted to this vice.
"Cberuiina The accused admitted his guilt, and exclaimed
passion." ^^i^.^^ |^g v^ould not wish his brethren to suppose he
did not regret this fault. He felt it as keenly as
anyone could; so keenly that it had already caused
him to shed "barrels of tears." The late Bishop
Baker, one of the most exact and cautious of men,
informed me that he knew this minister, and that
after the rebuke he so reformed as to become use-
ful and highly respected.
Lord Chatham, though in constant practice, said
that he did not dare to speak extemporaneously
with a state secret lurking in his mind, "for in the
sibylline frenzy of his oratory he knew not what
he said."*
♦ Matthews, Orators and Oratory^ p. 109.
292
temptations of tbe Bjtemporaneous Speaker
Every political campaign is embarrassed by
speakers wlio indulge in such extravagance as to
ruin the effect of what would otherwise be great
orations, and so furnish ammunition to their op-
ponents.
An extemporizer is strongly tempted to the use
of slang, especially when addressing audiences
the majority of which consist of the uncultivated.
Numerous definitions of slang have been given.
Richard Grant White has composed perhaps the
best: " Slang is a vocabulary of genuine words or
unmeaning jargon, used always with an arbitrary
and conventional significance, and generally with
humorous intent. It is mostly coarse, low, and
foolish, although in some cases, owing to circum-
stances of the time, it is pungent and pregnant of
meaning." *
In the modification of language many words
and phrases that arose as slang are adopted by
good writers and cease to be slang. But until
they have so ceased, which seldom takes place in
the same generation in which the expression
arises, he who uses them when a cultivated style Zbe townwart
is reasonably to be expected lowers himself in
the estimation of an important proportion of his
hearers.
That a slang expression is never to be used by
any professional speaker I would not maintain.
• IVords, chapter 5, p. 85.
293
0ra&e.
^Extemporaneous ©ratorg
Who will severely criticise a lawyer before a jury,
nine out of ten of whom live and have their being
in an atmosphere of slang, if he uses the methods
of speech with which they are most familiar ?
Who will condemn without reserve a professional
politician on the stump who knows that at a well-
turned paragraph beyond their comprehension as a
matter of reasoning, but which ends with a slang
expression, the crowd will applaud if to catch
their votes he seasons his speech to their palate ?
This, however, is a dangerous liberty to allow
one's self.
TUnSermfncea A Speaker should consider the effect of the use
of slang upon his own mental processes, as well
as inquire whether it aids him to convince or per-
suade those whom he hopes to please by it. As
respects himself, unless it be the exact expression
of his thought, it is an inaccuracy. If he adopts
it in preference to a better phrase because of his
familiarity with it, it is a hindrance to improve-
ment, promotes mental indolence, and steadily de-
praves diction.
He who uses slang in private will inevitably do
so in public unless, when such a word occurs to
him, he extemporaneously translates it into other
forms of speech. This, though difficult, is not
impossible, and may impart a piquancy which has
the advantages of slang with none of its disad-
tine structure.
vantages.
294
temptations ot tbe Eitemporancous Speafier
A diversion of attention not from the speaker, 3Buttbc8ba^=
but from the subject, results from the instantaneous "* tion"*^"'
perception that a slang expression is being used.
it is this which tempts the speaker to utter it. He
may have been as dry as dust, but if he says he
"is not in it," or "there are others," or "I will
see you later," an average audience will smile, and
a sensation may be produced, but he who mistakes
this for attention to the theme is but as a child
with a rattle.
It has been observed that public speakers on
serious subjects who frequently sink to slang
wield only an evanescent influence. The minister
of the Gospel who introduces it into religious
worship is not worthy of respect, unless he be
ignorant, in which case the regard shown him
must be mingled with pity. A clergyman,
graduated from two of the best institutions in
America, preaching what should have been a
solemn appeal, exclaimed, "If a man expects to
get to heaven without self-denial, I tell you he
will get left every time." The congregation
laughed, and, though they caught the thought,
reverence forsook them. Another employed slang
learned in his youth and unfamiliar to the gener-
ation to whom he delivered it. Speaking of the
flight of Elijah, he referred to God as saying,
"What, Elijah, thou my most trusted servant,
who dost never fear the face of mortal when
295
^Extemporaneous ©rators
obedient to my command, what, thou, Elijah, take
leg bail!"
Yet another, preaching in a union service on
Thanksgiving Day, spoke of the fortunes that
faded away so suddenly on "Black Friday/' and
thus closed what would have been an impressive
paragraph: "Where have these fortunes gone?
They came up like Jonah's gourd. I repeat it, my
brethren, as we sit here in the house of God, where
are they gone? They are gone! gone! gone
where the woodbine twineth!" The spirit of the
assembly was transformed from devotion to the
feeling excited at a circus when the clown is in
his most ludicrous mood.
1bac^!nesc^ ci= Allied to the use of slang is the adoption of fre-
""strenatb^ "° quently occurring phrases, such as "along these
lines," which have been repeated to the weariness
even of the uneducated by the clergy, political
speakers, and professors. The moment a phrase
has become common it should not be used, and
when it is necessary to communicate the idea
originally included therein the thought should be
particularly well expressed. For such phrases are
not always the result of discrimination in terms;
and when they are wisely selected like so-called
synonyms they apply to but a few statements,
yet being consciously or unconsciously taken up
by others, they become so vague as to perplex or
mislead.
296
temptations ot tbe Bjtempoianeoue Speaker
Indolent men of natural or acquired fluency
are tempted to a species of plagiarism. They
use outlines of addresses made by others; avail
themselves of books of skeletons; listen to
speakers of repute and appropriate their illustra-
tions. Some, after reading a book, or even glan-
cing at it, just before mounting pulpit or rostrum,
will deliver the ideas in language of their own. A
clergyman addicted to this method was detected
by a conspiracy between his bookseller and a
parishioner; the former notified the latter of the
pastor's purchases. Usually the filcher, though
able to say truthfully that he speaks extempo-
raneously, is convicted of obtaining his materials
in this way.
The preacher from other men's skeletons is like Saul's amor.
a swimmer upbuoyed by bladders, at the mercy
of a pin's point. The effect of such practices is
to destroy creative power, stunt mental growth,
and choke the springs of genuine emotion.
When an advocate's partner prepares a brief for
his use it usually consists of a summary of the
facts which the assistant has elicited in the ex-
amination, and of principles and precedents on
which a favorable decision is sought; the pleader
is supposed to be familiar with them and to
have prepared specially, or acquired a readiness
by former study, to argue them — a situation differ-
ing wholly from that of one who knew nothing
(20) 297
nee^eB.
B£temporancou6 ©ratorg
of the subject until he read the book whose utter-
ance he dilutes.
One may properly read and listen, treat sub-
jects that others have discussed, use facts of his-
tory, science, and literature, printed or uttered in his
presence; — otherwise the first user of such facts
would place an embargo upon their further ap-
plication to the instruction or entertainment of
mankind. But while premeditating an address he
should digest the theme, invent his plan, and finally
evolve his oration without one thought of another's"
page or phrase.
flBentaibrafte The extempoHzer is constantly tempted to
length of discourse, and equally so whether he
fails or succeeds. Should he begin hesitatingly,
for a while apparently failing, he is loth to con-
clude, and is drawn onward, sending out feelers in
the hope that he will touch some chord which
will move the people and enable him to forget
himself in the delight of free expression. If he
meets with success and becomes unconscious of
his surroundings, "thoughts that breathe and
words that burn " come to his lips, and he con-
tinues until weariness or failure of voice recalls
him to a sense of the flight of time.
A minister who usually read one of his two
sermons and extemporized the other was seized
with illness early one Sabbath morning. Fearing
that he would be unable to preach, he sent for a
298
ene.
temptations of tbe JEjtcmporaneous Speahcr
substitute, but failing to secure one, and feeling
slightly better, he struggled to the church. He
requested one of the deacons to pray and the
hymns were sung. At eleven o'clock he rose, in-
tending to explain that he could not preach, and
to dismiss the congregation. Leaning upon the
desk, he began, "My dear brethren, I had hoped BpuipUrev*
to preach to you this morning upon the theme
which has absorbed my meditations during the
past week, and if I had the strength to do so, I
would have tried to set before you — ." After
presenting an outline of his ideas he proceeded:
"And then, if I could have come to the church in
the evening, I designed to expound that beautiful
passage in the first chapter of the Book of Reve-
lation," and so continued the story of what he
would have done. Finally a bell rang so loud as to
attract his attention, and the deacon who had prayed
rose and said, "Doctor, that is the one-o'clock bell
calling the Catholic children to their school ! " He
had given them both sermons at greater length
than he would have done had he been well.
Confined to a manuscript, unless he has been
so unwise as to write too much, one cannot un-
duly continue; — although, from lack of common
sense, some of the longest and most stupid dis-
courses ever heard were read by men who fancied
that even under such limitations they could not
weary their auditors.
299
^extemporaneous <S>vatori2
t>rofu8e eis
pcntiturc of
vitality.
meccoeari? to
recuperate.
Tempted by the operation of a law that turns
energy more and more into the channel to which
it is directed by the will, the extemporizer is in
danger of expending too much nerve force.
The work of a clergyman required to preach
extemporaneously twice on the Sabbath makes
heavy drafts. One who did so for twenty years
was in the habit of weighing himself on Saturday
afternoon and on Monday morning, and found a
loss averaging two and a half pounds, which was
not made up until Tuesday or Wednesday. He
accounted for this by the diminution of his appe-
tite and increase of the activity of the eliminating
organs, as a result of continued excitement.
A renowned preacher was in the habit of say-
ing that no orator can attain great success with
two different addresses or sermons on the same
day, unless he is unnaturally excited or spends
several hours in repose, and if possible in sleep,
between the two efforts. Yet on the Sabbath the
requirements of modern church life make de-
mands upon the minister's attention to much
which heavily taxes him. He must meet those
who desire to speak with him at the close of the
service, attend to the announcements, address the
Sabbath school, perhaps confer with the officials
of the church, and not rarely must visit the sick
or bury the dead. Unless, therefore, he secures
rest, attends strictly to diet, and in particular ob-
300
tlemptations of tbe Bitemporancous Speahet
tains an opportunity for an hour of private medi-
tation immediately preceding the second service,
he will be dull or make drafts upon his reserve
force that will leave him exhausted or sleepless.
It is different with the professional evangelist,
who has but a small number of sermons, and with
the lawyer, who does not usually speak at length
in more than one case on the same day, unless it
be before a court of appeal, where deliberate state-
ment and argumentation rather than a powerful
forensic effort are required.
Nevertheless, when extemporization is per-
formed without conscious strain, and due pre-
cautions are taken, the effects through a course of
years are less debilitating than any form of speech
which requires a constant effort of the will; and
there are compensations in the healthfulness of
the practice as a physical exercise.
Undue familiarity with the audience or with in- "jBrcctscon.-
dividuals therein is, to some speakers, a constant *«'"«'*•"
besetment. When an orator casts away the dig-
nity which accrues to him from the occasion, the
privilege, the honor, or the prerogative of speak-
ing; when he renounces that moderate reserve
which is a condition of reverence from all who
are personally strangers to him, he runs the risk
of impairing at once their power of concentrating
attention upon his thought and his ability to in-
fuse them with his own emotions. When he
301
JEjtemporaneous ©ratorg
exchanges glances or makes allusion, friendly or
otherwise, to those present the audience may re-
solve itself into individuals and his lost mastery
may be hard to regain.
A helpful interruption may be received with
courtesy; a question, if pertinent, may be answered
or postponed to a later period ; a hostile interrup-
tion may be suppressed by a rebuke or contemptu-
ously or prudently ignored; but except in after-
dinner relaxation among friends, or reunions
where former students meet in the hope of dupli-
cating the unreserved intercourse of happy days
long gone, and similar informal assemblies, the
extemporizer should remember that the reciprocal
influence of speaker and hearers tends in both to
familiarity, and that it is liable to increase until it
makes the orator's highest success impossible,
©verworftmg The extemporizer is tempted by the love of ease
and complacency to overwork his natural gift. In
one that gift may be pathos. Two sorts of public
speakers are exposed to such allurement, ministers
and criminal lawyers. Religion deals much with
the calamities, sorrows, and dangers of life. Few
are without sad remembrances, present anxieties,
and depressing apprehensions; al! know that they
must die, many have been bereaved, many anticipate
bereavement, and a large proportion are concerned
about their health. The minister's audience in-
cludes aged men, whose mental and physical fibers
302
natural gifts.
C^emptations of tbe JEstcmporancous Speaker
are relaxing; women, and children, a much larger
proportion of these than of men in the prime of
life. Quick is the response to references to xacbrtmose.
present misery, past sorrows, or future contingen-
cies. Emotion tends to become epidemic, and the
pathetic appeals of a minister of deeply sympa-
thetic nature will not be coldly met. There is a
luxury in tears, and congregations, like spec-
tators in a theater, are not always saddest when
they weep. The temptation is powerful to cover
meagerness of preparation or poverty of thought
by the narration of a pathetic incident. But
nothing is more enervating than the habit of
yielding to it. A "weeping prophet" who does
little else may know brief popularity; then he will
pass into the doleful condition of becoming the
only one who weeps when he preaches. He will
be spoken of as a good man. " He must be good
or he could not weep so;" but whatever may be
the temporary resurrection of pathetic power dur-
ing his farewell sermon, his departure from the
parish will not be a lasting cause of tears.
Another has no pathos; he argues, always and ifitnt^.
in all places. As a clergyman, if he has a highly
intellectual congregation, who desire clear percep-
tions of truth and are interested in logical proc-
esses, and if his moral character be consistent
with his profession, he will exert a potent influ-
ence; but he is in danger of overworking his gift
303
E£tcmporaneous ©ratorg
and losing his power over his hearers, especially
over youth. A few such, not exhausting their
sensibilities, live to a good old age and retain
pastorates, in such communions as allow of a
settled ministry, until their congregations have
diminished to a handful, the expenses of the
society being borne by a few individuals of
wealth, between whom and the minister personal
friendship has long existed,
bubble Some are confined in all their mental opera-
tions to the realm of fancy, knowing nothing of
genuine feeling, and an argument they never
make. One of these being asked on what subject
he had preached the preceding day, answered,
"My text was, *0 Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself,' and my theme, man under all circum-
stances his own destroyer."
"That is a pretty difficult position to maintain
in view of the law of heredity; did you attempt
to treat it logically ? "'
"O no. I assumed it, and treated it rhetoric-
ally."
Some ministers have a practical vein, and will
reduce the sublimest thoughts and the most
spiritual emotions to the question, " Will it pay ? "
and never make an appeal not based on self-
interest; they invariably become tiresome.
The pathetic should cultivate robust intellectual
strength and force of utterance. The reasoner
304
temptations of tbe Extemporaneous Speaker
should ask himself whether anyone was ever yet
made a genuine Christian or radically changed in
his natural tendencies by dint of mere argument.
He who naturally soars upon the wings of his im-
agination should learn the distinction between
faith and fancy, and the practical man subordinate
his way of looking at things to the ''manifesta-
tion of the truth to every man's conscience in the
sight of God."
The advantages of such self-examination and its
consequences are not merely in the interest of ac-
complishing the work committed to a minister,
but equally valuable in the direction of self-devel-
opment. The argument of the usually pathetic
preacher will give special pleasure to a large class.
The pathos of the argumentative, if genuine, will
produce permanent effects. Persons of sound
understanding will be willing to follow the adven-
turous rhetorical balloonist if they are sure that
he has ballast; and the practical preacher who is
also pathetic and imaginative will draw within
the sphere of his natural way of viewing subjects
many who, until their hearts and imaginations had
been attracted toward the preacher and his great
object, would not ask whether "it will pay."
Criminal lawyers who depend entirely upon
pathos provoke ridicule as they grow older. At
intervals 1 heard an advocate who once could
make the most stony-hearted and experienced
305
Self=f!nowIa
c^cJC tbe roa&
to lecoverg.
foe care.
^Extemporaneous ©ratorg
judge shed tears; but after he had often wept in
behalf of the most notorious scoundrels, and used
the same pathetic references and tones, the mem-
bers of the bar, recognizing the approach of the
time when he intended to pull out the tremolo,
would exchange glances and taking their hand-
kerchiefs divert the attention of the jury, and the
judge would tilt his chair as if about to listen tc
a familiar tune that carried him back to his child-
hood days.
sredai ceaBon The composer of discourses to be read or re-
cited can more readily detect the excess of a
tendency in himself than can the extemporizer.
Hence the necessity of positive cautions. Few in-
stances can be adduced of an orator's maintaining
his position after middle life who exclusively
worked his natural gift, or who practiced upon an
extreme that made his successive public efforts
resemble another yard of tapestry of the same
general figure.
This danger is not confined to orators, since
premature failure of poets, painters, and composers
of music has illustrated the operation of the same
laws.
906
2)efect3 aiiD BitRculttes
CHAPTER XXXVn
Defects anD BifHcultles
Eccentricities of gesture are unimportant when
speaker and audience are swayed by emotion, for
the critical faculty is then inert; but at other times
they are impediments to the orator, and their
effects are greater than those of peculiarities of
dress; for the latter are surveyed at a glance and,
remaining unchanged, the eye no longer takes
cognizance of them. But strange gestures,
whether the freque it recurrence of one or the
introduction of seveial, fascinate the eye and give
it undue ascendency over the mental operations.
Gesticulatory grooves are usually formed in the "anconsciousis
beginning of a career; frequently they are caused
by embarrassment, but oftener are sequences of
unregulated energy. Occasionally they reveal the
unconscious influence of previous pursuits. A
journeyman tailor who became a minister of the
argumentative type, when drawing toward a con-
clusion, invariably placed the thumb and finger of
his left hand in juxtaposition, as though they held
a needle, and the corresponding members of his
right hand in position as though they held a
thread ; as the argument rapidly progressed, his
hands were raised nearly to his eyes, and every
307
practices.
Bltcmporaneou6 ©ratorg
motion involved in tiireading a needle was un-
consciously made, till the final word was uttered
in a stentorian voice, when the invisible thread
was swiftly drawn out to the extent of a yard.
A public speaker who had met with an accident,
whereby his face was injured, was compelled to
speak for some months with the wounded portion
covered by a plaster. At intervals he would touch
his face to ascertain whether the plaster was in
place. For ten years after he had entirely re-
covered he involuntarily made that movement,
aprooting 8ucb To break up such habits is difficult. The candid
friend, from whom the poet prayed to be saved,
is invaluable, and criticism ;;hould be kindly re-
ceived. An ordinary spealer was transformed
into a genuine orator by the remark of a friend,
who told him that in referring to the heart he
always placed his hand over the liver.
Grotesque movements are tolerable while
speakers are young, but are unendurable at a later
period. I knew an English orator who had
formed the habit of moistening his lips at the end
of paragraphs. By the time he was fifty years of
age he always did this at the end of sentences,
and when I last heard him he did it several times
in a sentence of ordinary length.
Every habit, however disagreeable, can be
eradicated. One orator offered a prize to some
young people for each occasion in which they
308
2>cfcct3 aiiD BiificuUica
noticed him detaining his outstretched arms in
such a position as to form a capital T; some
months of prize-paying conquered the tendency.
The liability to such defects is greater in ex-
temporizers than in readers or reciters. The
repetition of significant gestures, even though a
peculiarity of the individual, is not objectionable.
It is the recurrence of meaningless contortions aiid
grimaces, or their sporadic appearance, which is
to be avoided.
Sometimes, through haste, speakers shorten pas- ©ross btems
sages of great natural dignity and even of sublim- ''"'^««
ity. An otherv/ise striking discourse was de-
graded by the sentence, " When the world and its
systems of philosophy stand mute by the side of
the open grave, Jesus says, ' I'M the resurrection
and the life. ' " And of God was said, ' ' He's going
to work out his own plans." Often the lan-
guage of the kitchen or the nursery is allowed to
intrude upon the most exalted occasion. A speak-
er not incapable of pathos and poetical forms
of expression referred to the infant Jesus as
"the holy baby." Such lapses reveal gross care-
lessness, coarseness of fiber, or lack of early cul-
tivation.
Many extemporizers have but one style of de- unflcnbiutB of
livery. Their tones are the same whether they '"^"""«
deliver a business statement, a presentation speech..
a congratulatory address at a golden wedding, a
309
Sltempoi-ancous ©ratorg
witty after-dinner response, a patriotic oration, or
a funeral sermon. In some instances tlie tones
contradict the sense of tlieir language. Tliis is a
H ^(gparag(ng common fault of clergymen, and results from
contrast. having a fixed ideal of pulpit oratory, which in
their earlier efforts they strove to attain. It occurs
more frequently among those who try to repro-
duce discourses, or to adapt that prepared for one
occasion to another unlike it. Such men may be
natural and vivacious in conversation, but when
speaking in public they drawl, chatter, chant, or
eject their words as from a catapult. They have
but themselves to blame for the neglect which,
soon or late, they must experience. A complacency
which prevents them from self-criticism, or a
pride which leads them to spurn the corrective
hints of others, obstructs their perceptions; or in-
dolence leads them to endure what might easily
be cured were they to reflect upon the delivery
suitable to each occasion, seek systematically to
attain it, and after each effort unsparingly analyze
their language and delivery.
Speakers should habitually seek to extemporize
addresses for special occasions, as to style as
well as matter, asking themselves the elementary
question how, under a reversal of circumstances,
they would desire to be addressed. There are
few radically different occasions, the jubilant,
the melancholy, the jovial, the solemn, the de-
310
Defects ano Difficulties
pressing, the helpful, the dignified, and the light.
Colorings may be infinite, and while absolute con-
cord is necessary to the highest success, if the
generic distinction be regarded, a slight departure
will not be noticeable. Bulwer has written
delightfully of monotony in occupation as a
source of pleasure; but monotony of delivery, in
one or many discourses, can give no pleasure to
the hearer except as it enables him to pay tribute
to Hypnus. a musician was requested to listen
to a composition, and the composer complained
that the critic slept during the rendering of his
piece, to which the censor replied, "Of music
sleep is itself an opinion."
An essay which suits the occasion may be de-
livered in a manner which would make it more
inappropriate than incoherent or irrelevant remarks
uttered with suitable tones and gestures.
Poverty of thought is a defect frequently al- xachofc^easc
leged against the extemporizer by those who pre-
fer other methods. 1 have been at great pains to
hear extemporaneous speakers at the bar, on po-
litical platforms, in debates, and in the pulpits
of all denominations — not excepting the Mormon,
in whose tabernacle 1 heard one of the best extem-
poraneous sermons, delivered by Orson Pratt, and
of which I did not believe a word — and I am com-
pelled to acknowledge that many speakers are
amenable to this charge.
311
jejtcmporancoud ©ratorg
TToobeavfi? There are a few extemporizers who err at the
freii5bte6. opposite extreme and overload their subjects with
thought to such an extent as to suppress emotion
and make animation impossible. The best extem-
porizers are not exposed to the charge of having
too little thought, but they pay a large price for
their power; for only by much thinking and con-
stant reading, and usually by a vast amount of
writing, can the ability be acquired and maintained
to make a forceful, thoughtful extemporaneous
address. To them preparation has become a
second nature, and it begins with the moment an
engagement is made and a theme chosen, whether
hours, days, months, or years in advance of the
time,
"©rearers, The Style of the extemporizer whose produc-
icttiewooi." ^iQp,5 j^j-g defective in thought is marked by ver-
bosity, and usually by an excess of anecdote and
illustration. Two illustrations of the same idea
are rarely needed if either is adapted to illuminate
the theme. Since thoughts are acquired by expe-
rience, observation, and reading, and are modified,
bounded, and estimated by reflection, to assume
that they can be classified and clarified without it
is to act upon the theory that effects can exist
without causes. But a special mode of thought,
which is aided by writing, is necessary for the
perfection of the power of packing a discourse
with ideas. The habit must be formed of re-
312
©cfccts auD ©ifficiuttcs
ducing ideas to their original elements. The wheat
must be threshed from the straw and stored in the
granary. After years of practice in this art, when
obliged to speak upon a subject without special
preparation, one may, under the stimulus of an ex-
pectant and responsive audience, think upon his
feet with much more rapidity than is possible
when alone and with equal accuracy.
The supposed inspirations that come to the -not genuine
orator consist of rapid combinations of ideas pre- i»sp''^ation.
existing in the mind., usually accompanied by suffi-
cient emotion as to lead a speaker, unaccustomed
to analyze his own processes, to fancy that he has
said something wholly new and to depend upon
such inspiration. A verbatim report would often
mortify the "inspired " orator, for what seemed to
him and to the audience new might prove to be
like the unsubstantial fabric of a dream.
A young licentiate applied for admission to the Xa3ine8s miss
Christian ministry and was asked what method
he adopted in the preparation of discourses. He
answered that he never made preparation, but
depended upon God to suggest the text as the
time of preaching drew near. In response to a
question he frankly replied that he was not in the
habit of studying the Bible, preferring to rely
wholly upon the original source of divine illumi-
nation. The candidate was then asked whether,
during the two years that he had essayed to preach,
C21) 313
tahcn for faitb,
Eitemporaneoua ©ratocg
God had suggested any text to him which he did not
already know by heart. After thinking a moment
he replied that he could not recall an instance
where he had not known the words of the text.
"Then," said the examiner, "do you not see that
you restrict God in the use of his own word?
Let me advise you either to commit the entire
Bible to memory or change your method."
Observing, thinking, and reading are as essen-
tial to thought as are combustibles to the produc-
tion of fire, and he who will not think, read, and
observe will become a mere babbler, even though
he relies upon the Omniscient for help.
Morft tbe onis Inaccuracy of thought is caused by mental fee-
*^"'^*' bleness or indolence, usually the latter, and is
incurable without work. In all denominations
are scores of preachers who would starve were
they in another vocation and pursued it as lan-
guidly as they discharge the duties of the min-
istry.
The extemporizer, before beginning to speak,
should reflect upon the probable evolution of his
ideas the number of minutes he can spend upon
each successive part of his oration. Under no cir-
cumstances when speaking should he consult his
y watch. While he may find it necessary to have a
sense of time, the audience should be destitute of
it, and no act is more automatically imitated than
/ taking out a watch. The only method of paying
314
S)ctcct6 anC> DitttcultiCB
proper regard to proportion is to be ready, like the
fabled goddess, to swallow one's own children if
too many are born.
Excess of repetition in the same discourse or in
successive discourses is a serious evil, and sufficient
to account for the lack of success which attends
many who are nobly endowed in voice and figure
and not destitute of a rich and expressive vocabu-
lary. To enchain attention something must be
uttered which requires progression of thought.
As the clergyman, compelled to speak on simi-
lar subjects at set times, is in much danger of
repetition, it is essential to protect himself by a
system, and the best for the young minister is this:
He should prepare with utmost thoroughness a
sermon upon some principle of natural or revealed
religion, or upon a doctrine or ceremony of the
denomination which he represents, or upon some
fundamental principle of universal morality; com-
prehend and define the theme and select the best
scriptural proofs, committing them to memory;
also the substance of the definition. He should
converse in private with unbelievers and doubters
and use the proofs he has prepared, afterward de-
livering his sermon as well as he can. A sermon
of this kind should require at least two weeks of
careful study, and it should be the young minis-
ter's practice for several years to produce such a
one as often as once a month. This will consti-
315
Boublinfl on
one's tiack.
J■oun^ation
lnliI^ilU1.
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
tute a foundation upon which a countless variety
of discourses will build themselves.
To avoid repetition is easy if the subject be thor-
oughly thought through and properly linked; and
it is also a valuable aid to think the chain through
backward. Knowing that he intends to close with
a certain thought, he should interrogate his reason
rather than his memory concerning the path by
which he expected to reach it. And having
thought the entire discourse through, as to
its root ideas, backward and forward, he should
then ask himself concerning every separate
part, without special heed to the language in
which he answers his own mental questions. An
incredible amount of pains may have been taken
in mastering the subject, but to deliver it he should
simply mentally perceive the ideas in all possible
relations and advance upon the highway of
thought with a steady step. He will not repeat
if he has in this manner perfected his conceptions,
uaiueof To avoid repetitions speakers, immediately after
any address, should refer to the brief and note
what points were omitted which they had intended
to make and what had been spontaneously added.
Every minister will find it useful to keep 2t^.
double index of his subjects — one in which t^'"
text appears first and the topic second, and tPie
other with the topic indexed first. By consulting
his memoranda he can exclude frQ|© his new prep-
316
records.
Detects anJ) Ditficulties
aration what he has previously said. As with
ministers, so with lawyers. Many elementary
principles must be frequently set forth, but the
subjects to which they apply are so numerous and
vast that a person with an active mind, before
mental failure has begun from infirmity or age,
will produce something fresh to himself and there-
fore to his hearers.
Paucity of language is a common defect of ex-
temporaneous speech. A person may utter a con-
tinuous stream of words, but resemble a musician
constantly playing the same or similar tunes or
tunes with slight variation of notes. Instead
of expressing the same thought in different forms
of speech — a necessity in all oratory — he expresses
different ideas in the use of language so similar
that, though his fluency is remarkable, the distinc-
tion in thought is scarcely perceptible, and his lis-
teners fancy that he is repeating himself.
The stenographic report of several speeches de-
livered by the same person will exhibit this defect
in a mortifying manner when, in response to the
requests of those who have heard them, the orator
attempts to collect them for publication. It is
then difficult for him to believe his vocabulary so
meager, the forms of his sentences so similar, that
so many phrases often recur, and that there seems
to be an irresistible tendency to use the same
words, even when others would express the
317
©ftarccurrind
vcor^6 an^
pbrascs.
Extemporaneous ©ratorg
shade of meaning which he endeavors to com-
municate with greater accuracy than the familiar
terms which go so trippingly over his lips.
This is the result of a natural law. Each time a
word is repeated the tendency of that word to re-
spond to the slightest mental demand is increased.
It is for this reason that the habit of profane
swearing, when acquired in youth, takes hold so
firmly that many, without being aware of it, are
guilty of it under slight excitement and often in
familiar speech.
Bffiarmcdee An inadequate supply of thought often contrib-
fcast. jj|.gg ^Q ^YiQ same result. The speaker must go on,
but really has nothing to say, and so "he draweth
out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple
of his argument." Some with a copious vocabu-
lary and an agreeable style of speaking can do this
so as to retain the attention of the audience. But
others, having little to say, are compelled to utter
words so familiar to themselves that they will re-
spond to the slightest stimulus. If this is contin-
ued and no effort made to counteract it, it will be
impossible to hold an audience.
Padding is still more destructive to the accom-
plishment of the orator's purpose. The recurrence
of the copulative conjunction " and," except when
the word is emphatic, as in "Ye cannot serve God
and mammon," is an impediment to attention.
An address was reported which contained fifteen
318
Defects aiiD Difficulties
passages of similar formation to this: "Tiie ele-
ments of success in business are industry and tem-
perance and economy and punctuality and affability
and tact and honesty." Each and was extended to
twice its natural length, changing the rhythm of
the sentence, as well as making proper emphasis
impossible. Pauses equaling the time wasted upon
\\\e. ands would have been more impressive; for
fluency maintained by meaningless words has positive ban^=
no power. Tlie is almost as much overworked. icapping.
A stenographer who reports the addresses of many
distinguished men declares that more than half
the matter in the average sermon, political speech,
or lawyer's plea is mere padding, and to keep the
peace with his employers he often leaves out
hundreds of such words and phrases as ''and,"
''stilly "nevertheless;' "now," "now then,"
' ' however, " ' ' notwithstanding," ' 'furthermore,"
"my hearers," "beloved brethren," "friends and
fellow-citizens," "gentlemen of the jury," "may
it please the court," " bear witli me while I re-
mark," "permit me to say," " I do not hesitate to
say," "I am ready to declare," "I am bound to
maintain," "what I wish to show is," " tJiis is a
fact and nobody can deny it," " I do not mean
this," " I do not mean the other," " I do not mean
that," "what I mean is this," "also I mean,"
"in addition to this I mean," "I feel," "it is
borne in upon me," "first of all " The frequent
319
Bi'temporaneoue ©rator^
use of first, second, third, ''now, lastly, under
this head," "one word more and I have done,"
simply remand the speaker, in the estimate
of most persons under threescore and ten years,
to the period of the " sere and yellow leaf. " The
egotist hangs lovingly over his own personality.
A cultivated man introducing a senator of the
United States, thus began, " /, myself, personally."
The most absurd instance of padding is the ex-
pression " m other zvords," which implies a
criticism of the speaker or of the hearers ; either he
has stupidly expressed himself or they are too
dull to understand him. If it is necessary to re-
peat ideas, it is folly to inform the hearer that it is
being done,
iin oft=ncc6c6 Dr. J. W. ALEXANDER, a Superior extemporizer
himself, points out a defect which he charges
against almost all extemporaneous preachers.
"They talk about the way in which they are
preaching; ' after a few preliminary remarks 1 shall
proceed to,' and so forth. Or, 'what 1 lay down
shall take the form of general principles.' 'I come
with hesitation, ' and so forth. ' I shall be more brief
on this point.' ' You will observe that in this dis-
cussion 1 do so and so.' " * This criticism is well
founded, but Dr. Alexander does not explain the
cause of the mannerism. Where it is not an
imitation or an exhibition of vanity, it is but an
* Thoughts OK Preaching, p. 25.
320
cviticism.
iiouncc tban
abuse tbcart
Defects a!l^ ©ifttculrtcs
attempt to maintain Huency. While the speaker was
saying these things it would have been wiser for
him to pause ; for they are among the most useless
forms of padding. Some have made this discovery
late in life to the revivifying of their eloquence
and the prolongation of their acceptability.
It is better far to write and read sermons, lee- «cttcrrc=
tures,oraddresses,or to deliver them from memory,
than to speak extemporaneously with a prepara-
tion so inadequate, a comprehension of the theme
so imperfect, a vocabulary so limited, or a pace of
mind so slow as to need such filling as this. To
simply maintain the oratorical pose and mien and
place a suitable stress upon a word when uttered
was one of the chief elements of John Bright's
tremendous power. He was a slow speaker, but
every word was a new and symmetrical stone in
the intellectual edifice which he was building.
His hearers waited for his words and hung upon
them.
Worse than this is the unintentional profanity zbc banc of
with which extemporaneous prayers are often in-
terlarded. It is not the fervent prayer of the un-
conscious suppliant whose soul is absorbed which
deserves this criticism, but the cold, formal prayer
in the early stages of a meeting, or when men
without the prayerful spirit are goaded by pastors
to perfunctory performance of duty. It is when
ministers pray without a fervent spirit that this
321
babbling
prav!crs.
jEjtemporancous ©ratov^
profanity most frequently appears. They then
utter the names of the Deity while thinking of
something else to say.
Ubcborbera An infallible test of such a situation is this:
"^"fanft*"^"" When in extemporaneous prayer one addresses
the Deity at intervals, if his mmd is concentrated
upon those awful or gracious names and not upon
some idea that he is reaching after, and if his heart
is moved by awe, confidence, or penitence, the
emphasis upon the name will be natural and
proper. If he addresses God as a being of infinite
power, or if a sense of His holiness is that which
causes him to utter the holy name. God, reverence
for infinite perfection must affect his tone. If im-
ploring pardon he utters the name of the Father
of Mercies or of his Son Jesus Christ, tenderness
will soften solemnity. But if he pronounces the
divine names or attributes of the Deity as though
his subconscious intention were similar to that of
a novice in a debate, who, in order to fill the time,
cries, "Mr. President," at the beginning and end
of every sentence, it is certain that those words
do not spring from his heart, and that he is taking
the name of God in vain.
Long prayers, the hypnotic of prayer meetings
and of many public services on the Sabbath, would
be done away with if only those holy names were
emploved which would be likely to rise to the lips
of a suppliant were he in God's visible presence.
322
Bcfecte anD Sifficulttcs
In the solemn prayer at the dedication of the
temple of Solomon, the reading of which with
proper emphasis requires ten minutes, there are
in direct address but five repetitions of the name
of the Creator. "And one of his disciples said
unto him, Lord, teach us to pray," The sublime
response contains but one utterance of the name
of the Deity.
All ministers and members of Christian Churches
are not deserving these strictures, but that many
are will doubtless be conceded, even by some
who unconsciously practice what they condemn.
To avoid such defects it is not necessary to
confine one's self wholly to liturgical forms, since
anyone intellectually and morally qualified for
the ministry may remedy them; and one who,
when his attention is called to such faults, will not
try to eradicate them would probably read written
prayers irreverently.
To remedy paucity of language requires only Bn infallible
that a person should never utter a word which "'"'^ ^*
does not express his exact meaning. If this be
deemed impossible, or prove practically so, and a
word which does not satisfy a speaker escapes his
lips, he should with calmness and clearness point
out wherein that word fails, and substitute for it
that which meets the requirement of the thought.
This can be done without informing the assembly
that he did not intend to use the word, or was
323
^Extemporaneous ©ratorg
not satisfied with it when uttered. He must at-
tain a control of himself and of his words which
will admit of his doing this, precisely as he would
if he saw that the audience did not understand
him. Rarely, however, will this mistake be made
by one whose unswerving intention is to mean
what he says and to say what he means.
In preparation for an address in which the same
idea must recur it is of advantage to reflect upon
synonyms a few moments before speaking. Sup-
pose that one desired todescantupon the mysteries
of religion, he would not wish to repeat. "This,
also, is a mystery," nor would there be any objec-
tion to his qualifying the word by some term
adapted to detain the mind of the hearer. He
might therefore meditate upon many words, such
as inscrutable, unfathomable, impenetrable, in-
comprehensible. He would be conscious whether
he had already used one of those, and thus by proper
variety and emphasis could overcome the tendency
of the mind of the listener to receive the oft-
repeated word, mystery, without a mental response
to the significance.
Uotbciast. The quest for new words should be ceaseless,
and the more vigorously must the search be made
as the period draws on in which the memory
begins to fail. To imprint these indelibly the
habit of writing should be maintained, and when
the work is done the composer, dictionary in
324
Detects anO BitScultie^j
hand, should reread, and, wherever possible, in-
stead of repeating, substitute another word.
It is not infrequently the case that speakers
who, in part by writing in preparation for their
iiddresses, have attained remarkable skill in ex-
temporizing, renounce the practice as they advance
in years. It is quite possible that if they meditate
deeply, and are in constant practice, no marked
change in their style will immediately take place.
But should the neglect of composition and self-criti-
cism be prolonged, imperceptibly to themselves,
but not to their hearers, they will become padders.
The enumeration of so many defects may tempt "Wo cause for
some to conclude that if the extemporizer's bark ''^mcnt.''"
encounters so many shoals, sunken reefs, rock-
bound coasts, icebergs, fogs, waterspouts, and
cyclones, he would better depend upon some
other mode of exporting his ideas. But this would
be rash ; for, as no man suffers from all disease —
though there is none that some human being has
not experienced — so no extemporizer has ever
met all these difficulties.
Should the manuscript and memoriter methods
be subjected to a similarly rigorous analysis, it
would be seen that they are liable to difficulties
and defects, and that they present temptations as
obstructive to success as those connected with ex-
tempore speech; — and that they are without its
compensating advantages.
325-
Bitemporaneous ©ratorg
CHAPTER XXXVIII
protecting One's Selt Bgainst jfailure
pREauENT failure and infrequent success are not
surprising in an extemporizer too feeble to digest
his subject or intelligently to select a vocabu-
lary, whose only inspiration is the audience and
whose chief supports are a prodigious voice and
stupendous conceit. But that the best extempo-
rizers occasionally fail is a fact which keeps them
constantly apprehensive, and some of the most cele-
brated have confessed that they knew no certain
means of protecting themselves. Absolute cer-
tainty of success is indeed unattainable ; but it
may be constantly approached ; and in every pro-
fession it is true that some measure of uncertainty
is one of the most powerful incentives to action
and development,
msearcbifgbt Under a target in a field where sharpshoot-
nccessars. ^^^ practiced was this inscription: " If you can-
not find out why you miss, you will never learn
to hit the bull's-eye."
The failure of one who generally succeeds re-
sults from something which is not operative on
the occasions of his triumph. A discovery of such
causes is the only means of theoretically determin-
ing how they may be prevented, and experiment
326
Iprotccting One's Self iHiiadist jfaUiire
the only method of demonstrating theory and per-
fecting art.
Embarrassment is supposed to be a principal
cause of failure, and many endeavoring to account
for want of success will say, "I was strangely
embarrassed from the beginning to the close."
But why should a practiced speaker in usual \igor,
expressing himself upon a theme with which he
is familiar, be embarrassed ? In this, as in other
cases, is an effect to be antagonized by ascertain-
ing and guarding against or counteracting its
cause.
Something external may distract his attention,
and through sight or hearing the impression of
the source of disturbance may obscure the me-
morial perceptions which sustain his flow, and,
suddenly recalled to self-consciousness, he is
confused. William Pinckney was easily affected
in this way, and once was unable to proceed until
a noise at the door was suppressed. Webster,
his opponent, grimly smiled, for he was not so
sensitive as to be disturbed by that kind of inter-
ruption; although when he was addressing an
audience at a poultry show a giant chanticleer
flapped his wings and crowed so lustily that
Webster was compelled to sit down. Dr. Dur-
BiN was much embarrassed if he perceived per-
sons whispering while he was speaking.
Many look at the center of disturbance instead
327
©utwart
cau6C6 of ;icf:
tiubation.
JiEitemporaneous ©rarorg
Encountering
a bostile
glance.
of at a point as remote as the configuration of the
building will allow. At a summer resort, in the
height of the season, I witnessed an instance of
dealing effectively with such a cause of annoy-
ance. It was at an evening service, where there
was a constant influx of late comers. The ar-
rangements for seating them in the already well-
filled house were peculiar. For the first few
minutes after the sermon began all who came
were seated on the leftside of the house. During
that time the orator looked to the far right, with-
out glancing toward the newcomers; the stream
of genuine oratory rolled on, and he held the at-
tention of his audience. The ushers then seated
the people on the right side, and the minister
turned to the left. He did not seem in the least
distracted.
The lights may go out. All then depends upon
the self-possession of the speaker. Bishop Janes
was preaching once when this occurred; he
simply said, "The Gospel light shineth in dark
places," and proceeded with his discourse, not
losing the attention of the audience during the
darkness or when candles were brought.
The arrival of a distinguished individual, with the
resultant stir, or a hostile look should be similarly
met. Almost every assembly contains those who
fix their eyes upon a speaker with an expression
which perturbs him. The most widely known
328
protecting ©ne's Self against ^failure
dissenting minister in London relates that, early in
his ministry, a man of magnificent presence, sit-
ting in a conspicuous place, fixed his eyes upon
him with a gaze which seemed to say, "I have
come to take your measure." The discourse was
reduced to mediocrity. Subsequently he saw this
person standing in the door of a shop and wearing a
baker's cap, and learned that he was an ignorant
and conceited man, who was proud of his good
looks, and boasted that he always got the best seat
wherever he went.
Speakers in beginning should not look toward
irresponsive countenances. When they become
absorbed, and reach that peculiar state which is
an essential element of commanding oratory,
they may endure such a gaze, and find it a
tonic. A timid speaker was so transformed that
he thus turned his eyes full upon an unbeliever,
whose contemptuous stare had terrified him, and
thundered forth, "Behold, ye despisers, and
wonder, and perish : for I work a work in your
days, a work which ye shall in nowise believe,
though a man declare it unto you." The scoffer
did not "remain to pray," but incontinently fled
from the house.
Diffidence, quite another thing from modesty,
though often mistaken for it, is a frequent cause
of embarrassment. There is no cure for this but
"pushing one's self forward." This suggestion
(22) 329
UaRc no r(ahs
at tbe outset.
3BasbfuInc6i5
not a virtue.
Bjtemporaneous ©ratorg
is attributed to Lord Bacon, who, in iiis essay on
"Nature in Man," adduces a similar general
rule from high antiquity: "Neither is the ancient
rule amiss, to bend nature as a wand to the con-
trary extreme, whereby to set it right; under-
standing it (the rule) where a contrary extreme is
no vice."
This is hazardous unless one have taste to de-
cide what is proper nd tact to determine what is
prudent.
As the bravest may turn pale at thought of
danger, yet heroically stand to his guns and be a
center of strength in a panic when many whose
courage was merely physical retreat in dismay, so
a man, conscious that he has something to say
worth hearing, should by resolution and practice
triumph over diffidence. An oft-recurring source
of weakness is the consciousness that one is not
Sutfectfve doing what he intended. This, however, should
(nstawutB. j^Q^ abash him; for he may be doing far better
than he had intended and not be aware of it. He
should remember that his audience are ignorant of
what he meant to do, and cannot make the com-
parison which disturbs him. Temporary loss of
connection or actual forgetfulness may dismay
him, but this need not be an embarrassment.
Every idea that the human mind can conceive
may be reached from any other idea by a succes-
sion of regular steps without abrupt transitions.
330
protecting ©tie's Self against ^failure
All truth is interlocked, and by contrast truth and
error may suggest each other.
Much can be learned by observing the mental
processes of monomaniacs. One such became so
enamored of the doctrine of inf:int baptism as to
deliver scores of sermons upon it. A friend de-
termined to break the spell, requested him to
preach a sermon from the text "All flesh is
grass." He consented, and thus opened his dis- ^inconsdous of
course: '''^ '=''^*"^-
"The text, my brethren, asserts a solemn and
an humbling fact concerning human nature. The
law^ of mortality, which determines the duration of
all existing natural forms, includes in its operation
the body of man; and with respect to the liability
to death, the short-lived and apparently worthless
insect is on the same plane with the orator, the
statesman, and the field marshal.
"But it is a peculiarity of the sacred Scriptures
that they never utter a truth humbling to man that
they do not couple with it another elevating him
to a height but little lower than that of the angels.
Hence this passage and a similar one in the New
Testament are connected with the great truth, that
' he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.'
" But not all who pass away like the flower shall
ascend to the glorious heights and joys of heaven;
only those who have been regenerated. Regen-
eration is an inward grace, which hath its outward
331
Bjtemporancoua ©ratorg
sign. Baptism as respects its subjects consists of
adult and infant baptism. Infant baptism, its na-
ture and grounds, will furnish abundant material
for reflection on this occasion."
He who has forgotten the connection may as-
sert with dignity any truth, whether akin to or re-
mote from his main theme, and, interpreting and
explaining the words which he utters in the as-
sertion, move calmly on, assured that in a short
time, much sooner than if he stopped to think
where he was, he will reach the missing link and
satisfactorily proceed to uncoil the rest of the
chain.
H stumblings The extempoHzer who quotes much or often is
biocfe. liable to be obstructed. Henry Ward Beecher
rarely quoted. He had no verbal memory, and
could not recite a passage of Scripture correctly,
and assigned to me as a reason for not making
quotations that the attempt to do so stayed his
mental processes, and was equivalent to a dash of
cold water in his face.
Each quotation has its own rhythm, and if this be
contrary to that of the speaker, he will be self-
conscious while he quotes, and may find himself
compelled, on beginning anew to extemporize, to
re-experience the uncertainty which attended his
introduction. Quotations should rarely be more
than a sentence in length. Some hint should be
thrown out as to the source, but the giving of
332
CirotcctiiiG ©ne'6 Self Hgaiiist jfailuce
book, chapter, and page dampens the ardor of
speaker and hearer. Certain orators read excerpts
at points where they concluded the exposition
of a thought; this admits of a natural resumption
after the quotation is ended.
Youthful speakers, who commit easily and dis-
trust themselves, abound in quotations, frequently
from cyclopedias, and expose themselves to the '
charge of plagiarism by not pausing and changing
the inflection when they pass from the created
to the borrowed, and again when they resume
improvisation.
To attempt, without becoming reabsorbed and iFa^c^ rbctor=
refreshing the mind, to speak a second time upon ^caiaowcra.
a theme previously treated with much freedom
and rewarded by approbation is almost a certain
forerunner of disaster. Especially is this the case
if, as the time of delivery approaches or during it,
the speaker refers to notes consisting only of heads
or catchwords, expecting to be stirred by them in
speaking. The nature of the process makes it im-
possible that such words should awaken thought.
If the former effort consisted of the repetition of a
memorized discourse, then such words or phrases
would serve as prompters to the memory ; but there
is nothing but ideas left in the brain of an extem-
poraneous speaker. The special emotions, the
rhythmical movement, and the words in their con-
nections have all been dissipated, and such words
333
Bjtemporaneoiis ©ratorg
can suggest only what the mind would bring forth.
In this unprepared condition, the effort to fol-
low the former path with the consciousness of not
doing so would rob the speaker of natural spon-
taneity; and, unless willing to re-think his subject
and to re-heat his emotions, it would be better for
him to take a new theme, or to treat the old one
without any meditation in preparation, than to at-
tempt to follow the old outline.
One of the greatest of American theologians
was in the habit of preparing his professorial lec-
tures, and at the close of an active career which
had made the institution famous his compensa-
tion was continued, with the expectation that he
would revise his lectures for publication. But
XDiortswbicb having written little of them, depending upon
*"^^ina"*'*'" catchwords while speaking extemporaneously, on
applying himself to the task of preparation for the
press he found that those words did not recall
the forms of speech in which they were clothed
when delivered. So much of the matter was in
a nebulous condition that he was unable to pro-
duce the desired volume.
For this reason, if requested to repeat an address,
extemporaneous speakers seldom satisfy their
friends, and, similarly, many clergymen on re-
moving to a new parish fail to meet expectations.
The course of thought which, when freshly con-
ceived and fervently spoken, made a favorable im-
334
Iprotecting One's Self Bcjainst ^failure
pression and spread the fame of the preacher, if
said without being revivified is insipid.
Profuse expenditure of nerve force during the
hours immediately preceding a public effort, oc-
casioned by the mind automatically reviewing
the subject, and the wild throbbing of pent-up
oratoric impulses, defying all attempts toward
diversion or repose, frequently leaves one ex-
hausted.
At one of the Fourth of July celebrations main-
tained for many years by the late editor of the
Independent, Mr. Henry C. Bowen, at Woodstock,
Conn., the chairman of the meeting, while the
second speech was being made received a card
from an orator whose name was fourth upon the
program. The card bore these words: "I must
speak now or not at all." There was no time for
explanation. The third speaker reluctantly con-
sented to be the fourth. At the close the gentleman
who had requested a change explained that he felt
his force oozing away under the excitement of
suspense, and knew that before another speech
closed he would be in the depths of reactionary
weakness. It would be better for such speakers Kntc=orat(on
tr enter into an animated conversation upon an-
other subject, or to pay no attention to those
whom they are to follow. I know one who
works out algebraic problems that he may leap
fresh to his feet when his name is announced.
335
tcBtlceencee,
Bjtemporancous ©ratorg
cbe^ca^8ea. Sometimes, instead of an exhausting reaction, a
curious psychological phenomenon occurs. The
mind enters a region of calm resembling that of
the murderer who knows that he is to be hanged
the next morning, yet who has a better night's
sleep than he has had since his conviction. This
is accounted for by the inability of the mind to
think of anything new relating to the subject.
It has gone round and round until from brain
exhaustion it sinks into a stupor.
What shall a speaker do under such circum-
stances ? This calmness is a species of mental
rest, and he should regard his state with a kind of
recklessness. Possibly the moment he opens his
mouth the struggle for utterance will resemble a
maelstrom, and he must condense the current into
a stream of proper breadth and depth for an ex-
ordium. Perhaps he will not seem to himself to
have anything to say. A pleasant reference may
be made to the preceding speaker, to the audience,
to the occasion, or to the theme, until he is slightly
stirred, and the felt necessity of proceeding will
re-establish the lost circuit.
One may learn to regard this calm as a precursor
of self-possession, and to perceive the passage from
it into normal interest as though watching the
processes of another. Experience shows me that
it is not like the calm of indifference, of paralysis,
of sleep, nor of lassitude, but resembles a phe-
336
protecting ©lie's Self Bgainst J'aUure
nomenon which sometimes occurs to command-
ers on the field of battle as the crisis approaches,
to captains of vessels when informed that there are
breakers ahead, or that the ship is sinking, and to
any who receive intelligence which ordinarily
would excite, but for the moment checks the mind.
Another variety of preliminary depression has
a different origin. When, from excessive labor,
anxiety, insomnia, fatiguing travel, domestic sor-
row, or other weakening condition, the nervous
system is overstrained one may have a morbid abnormal
conviction that the hour has come for his public torcboBmaa.
humiliation. It may become so vivid as to give
him that dreadful sense of impending catastrophe
which produces actual misery at the pit of the
stomach, and this may continue for days before
the speech is delivered. Yet when the hour comes
the speech may be in the highest degree success-
ful, all fear disappearing; but the strangest part of
this experience is that he cannot insure himself
against a recurrence of this state. Five times in a
single winter a favorite speaker in the city of New
York was compelled to contend against this pre-
monition. Consulting a high medical authority,
he was told that it indicated weakening of the
nerve centers, and that he would do well to go
abroad until he could contemplate an address with
his accustomed calmness. The prescription was
taken; the desired effects followed. As he had
337
:Eitemporaneous ©ratorg
succeeded in each of the five addresses, the bear-
ing of his experience upon preliminary waste of
nerve powder is that, determined not to fail under
this morbid fear, he attempted to carry preparation
beyond its normal bounds, and the result was pros-
trating reaction, which would have accelerated
a crisis in his life had he not obeyed his phy-
sician's order.
jFordngtbe Artificial acceleration is a more common cause
^^^^' of failure than embarrassment. When he be-
gins, no matter how slowly his mind works, a
speaker should make no conscious effort. Were
his address committed to memory, he could, if he
thought it wise, increase the rate of speed and de-
liver, instead of sixty words, one hundred and
twenty in the first minute. But when the mind
produces of itself only sixty words a minute, to
attempt to speak seventy plunges everything
into confusion. His mind is moving at one speed,
voice and gesture at another. Unable to apply
the' rules of elocution as the reader or memorizer
might, he is arbitrarily increasing force and motion,
and consequently failing to emphasize, accent, or
inflect properly, destroying nerve power, and trans-
forming the functions of his brain from a disci-
plined army into a mob. The rate will take care of
itself if not forced, and be exactly what it should
be. Sometimes accident saves from total failure
those who force the rate. After beginning with
338
protecting ©ne'5 Self Boainet ^failure
unnatural rapidity, and screaming in the first ten or
fifteen minutes without rhyme or reason, having
totally exhausted themselves, they drop to a low
tone, and from that proceed just as they should
have done from the beginning.
Analogous to this is the mistake of seeking to attempting to
control the style. The condition of the speaker ' cdvcVS^
determines this; the circulation of his blood, his
respiration, and the impulses from the nerve
centers occupied in thought and in the selection
of verbal signs. His style may be ornate and
pompous — what is popularly called oratoric — or
consist of a dignified flow of monologue, with a
pervading conversational accent and inflection, or
of epigrammatic sentences. If nature controls,
he will never speak twice in exactly the same
way; there may be a general similarity, but if that
is too marked, it is reasonable to infer that he aims
at a certain rhetorical form.
The speaker should recognize the fact that he
may achieve success in any method. Suppose
that his thoughts come in short sentences ? Then
the discourse will be brief, pronunciation distinct,
and bearing natural. The impulses being one, not
many, gestures will be totally different, and the
words, also, will be unlike what they would be
were the general movement more rhythmical and
swelling. Whereas, if the speaker finds such con-
densed expression coming to his lips, and hurries
339
Brtcnvporancou0 ©rator^
with a view of being what he thinks more elo-
quent, he will have neither the weight of the
short utterances, the majesty of the more oratoric,
nor the rippling of the conversational.
The true liberty of an orator comes as does the
liberty of a pedestrian who starts at a moderate
pace, and though for a few moments exertion
seems to fatigue him, as he continues his muscles
become flexible, his whole frame is involved in
Entering into the movement, and with ease he walks for hours.
iibcrtB. Were he to begin a journey at the rate of four or
five miles an hour and attempt to sustain that
speed, the result would be disastrous. Liberty
comes to the speaker, as to the writer who knows
how feeble will be the product if he forces him-
self in advance of apprehension and comprehen-
sion.
No one can foresee which of his efforts will give
greatest satisfaction. Meanwhile he has the
pleasure of conscious variety. Each experiment
resembles the flying of a new kite, whose move-
ments one watches with delight. Practice has
given him the power to guide its motion and to
protect it against sudden storms, but he does not
interfere with it unless summoned by a powerful
tug upon the string, when he instinctively re-
sponds with restraint or guidance.
The epigrammatic style is born of the intellect;
the influence of the emotions is at its lowest
340
Iprotcctinc} ©ne's 3clt Bgalnst failure
point; the colloquial has more of the personal
element, while the "loud swelling" is more
closely related to the imagination, through which
the emotions are excited, but diffused rather than
concentrated. The deepest emotion tends to
isolated epigrammatic utterances, but they will be
few, for there is no emotional speaking without
rhythm, and there is little scope for rhythm in short
sentences or heavily laden phrases. The only
means of influencing style fora particular occasion
is to reflect beforehand on what would be appro-
priate, and to become imbued with the conclusion
reached. Then, should one through physical
conditions develop an improper style, this may
be fused or otherwise by the indirect action of
the previous reflections, and thus to some extent
modified with a minimum amount of internal
conflict.
What is to be avoided is a conscious attempt to
control style while speaking.
Occasionally a speaker is seized with a loathing flncntai
of his whole train of thought, in an extreme
case, if he possesses perfect confidence in him-
self, he may be justified in making an entire
change; or he may use his original thought in a
secondary aspect and with a condensed reference,
thus retaining its appropriateness without being
enslaved to an elaboration from which he recoils.
A difficulty more serious is when it is impossible
341
nausea
JEi-temporancou3 ©latocg
for him to remember anything that he meant to
say, and when his mind seems a blank. Where
disease or utter exhaustion is not at the base of
this he can dissipate the difficulty by the utter-
ance of truisms for a fev/ moments ; and often he
will find a ready utterance, astonishing him by
the facility with which the scattered thoughts re-
turn and the clearness with which they display
themselves before the mental eye. If the case is
desperate, he should be brief. The audience will
simply think that for reasons unknown to them
he did not design to speak at length.
Courage bovn He must not allow any such change of tone or
of &cspair. manner to reveal his embarrassment. This art
can be acquired by practice, and a man with a
mind as blank as the face of a granite rock may
stand before an audience as inscrutable as the
sphinx. It is impossible for him to be paralyzed
after he has had a little experience.
All internal causes of failure diminish in fre-
quency of recurrence and in strength under the
influence of self-study, preparation, and practice.
But there is no hope for one who fails without
being aware of it; — an experience which there is
reason to fear is not uncommon with many speak-
ers, whatever their method.
342
CeUbratcO Bjtempoi'iiere— Sbe OlD lUcrlO
CHAPTER XXXIX
CelebratcD Bstemporiseus-Cbe ©10 XClorlO
A DISCRIMINATING study of typical extern porizers,
with a view to ascertaining liow tiiey perfected
themselves in their art, should confirm or correct all
preconceived theories.
Among the works on Eloquence and kindred
subjects which havvj come down from antiquity
that entitled Institutes of Oratory ; or, The Edu-
cation of the Orator, by Marcus Fabius Quintili-
ANUS, is most widely known. Because of Mac-
aulay's characterization of it as superficial, I was
for several years so prejudiced against this work
as not to give it an attentive reading. Later, after
"reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digest-
ing" it, I came to the conclusion that he was a
master of those principles which underlie all suc-
cessful oratory, although his discussions are some-
times finical and pedantic, and his criticisms dimin-
ished in value by the unconscious influence exerted
•over him by the mass of rhetorical rules which
had been accumulated before his day, and greatly
added to during his protracted career. Qiiotations
from him abound, but because he devoted the
greater part of his work to inculcating the neces-
sity of acquiring knowledge, Wiiting discourses,
343
B stanCart for
nineteen ccns
turtea.
:Ejtemporaneou5 ©ratorg
snd cultivating memory, the impression has ob-
tained that he disparaged the art of the extem-
porizer.
practice of an= Yet he testifies that it was the custom of the
.•lent lawyers, celebrated lawyers of his time who had much
general practice "to write only the most essential
parts, and especially the commencements, of their
speeches; to fix the other portions that they bring
from home by meditation ; and to meet any un-
foreseen attacks with extemporaneous replies.
That Cicero adopted this method is evident from
his own memoranda." *
The reader is cautioned that, "if by chance,
while we are speaking, some glowing thought
suggested on the instant should spring up in our
minds, we must certainly not adhere too super-'
stitiously to that which we have studied." QijiN-
TILIAN affirms that in prepared speeches, "though
it is of the first importance to bring with us from
home a proper and precise array of language [in
which he differs from what I aim to teach], it
would be the greatest folly to reject the offerings
of the moment."
After devoting much space to other methods he
begins the seventh chapter of his tenth book in
these words:
"But the richest fruit of all our study, and the
most ample recompense for the extent of ou*
•Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory , translated by Watson, vol. ii, p. 307.
344
CcIebrate^ Bjtcmporljers— ^bc ©10 MorlD
Ube b(gbC8t
eulogy of tbia
art.
labor, is the faculty of speaking extempore ; and he
who has not succeeded in acquiring it will do well
to renounce the occupations of the forum and de-
vote his solitary talent of writing to some other
employment; for it is scarcely consistent with the
character of a man of honor to make a public pro-
fession of service to others which may fail in the
most pressing emergencies, since it is of no more
use than to point out a harbor to a vessel to which
it cannot approach unless it be borne along by the
gentlest breezes." *
The foregoing authorizes the classification of
QuiNTiLiAN among extern porizers. As I shall quote
from him with respect to other proficients in this
art, I disregard the order of time, and place him
first in the list of those selected from a large
number.
Pericles, the greatest of Greek statesmen, ac- ube statesman
cording to tradition was the greatest of orators.
EupoLis, in his Denu\ asked news of the great
orators, whom he represented as ascending from
the shades below, and when Pericles appears cries
out:
" Head of the tribes that haunt those spacious realms,
Does he ascend ?"
He studied music with Damon, who, however,
probably taught him more of politics than of music.
Under Anaxagoras he studied philosophy, purified
ocator.
(23)
* Quintilian, vol. ii, p. 300.
345
J££temporaneou0 ©ratorg
Dnci^ental cv(=
^encc tbat
iPerlcles eis
tempor(3e6.
and elevated his style, and was delivered from
superstition. Of Zeno, a consummate dialectician,
he learned much. He trained his imagination and
improved his vocabulary until, on account of his
eloquence, he is said to have gained a surname of
Olympius. Thucydides said of him, "When I
throw him he says he was never down, and he
persuades the very spectators to believe so."
QyiNTiLiAN says, " The solicitude of Pericles was
so great that when he had to speak in public he
addressed a prayer to the gods that not a word
might escape him disagreeable to the people."
Plutarch represents him as praying that " not a
word might unawares escape him unsuitable to
the occasion." That Pericles should have prayed
that he might say nothing "disagreeable to the
people " is foreign to his character, for he neither
indulged nor courted the multitude. But either
version agrees with the theory that he was an
extemporizer.
None of his speeches has been preserved. That
recorded by Thucydides furnishes internal evidence
of presenting the ideas of Pericles in the language
of Thucydides. A note to Plutarch's Ufe of Peri-
cles quotes SuiDAS, who wrote many centuries after
Plutarch, as saying that Pericles "wrote down
his orations before he pronounced them in public,
and, indeed, was the first who did so." Pro-
fessor Bredif, in Political Eloquence of Greece,
346
CelcbrateD JEjtcmporiiers— Cbc ©ID IClorlO
declares: "Pericles, who was a statesman, and
not a professional orator, never wrote his orations.
Like Aristides, Themistocles, and the ancient ora-
tors, he improvised after laborious meditation.
The impression produced was immediate and last-
ing; ' he left the goad in the minds of his hearers.'
. . . Neither Pericles nor his contemporaries
thought of preserving such touching harangues.
Only a few specimens of these masterpieces have
been saved from oblivion. . . . What must that
eloquence have been which is still so forcible and
grand, half concealed under the veil of historian
and interpreter?" As an orator he had acquired
comprehensive general preparation, was proficient
in all that was known of the arts of speech, and
deeply meditated upon the topic, the composi-
tion of the assembly, and his specific aim.
It is generally supposed that Demosthenes was ubc patriot
exclusively a memoriter speaker, and his achieve-
ments have been displayed as a demonstration of
the superiority of that method.
That he usually wrote his orations and confined
himself to reciting them are indisputable; but that
he never extemporized is untrue. In his first
address the people derided him for the weakness
and stammering of his voice, for the violence of
his manner, which threw him into a "confusion
cf his periods and a distortion of his argument."
It was concluded that he was aot a man of much
347
;i£jtcmporaneou6 ©ratorg
genius, and Plutarch says, "A strong proof of
this seemed to be that he was seldom heard to
speai^ anything extemporaneously, and though
people often called upon him by name to speak to
the point debated, he would not do it unless he
came prepared." To his friends he did not pre-
tend to deny his previous application, but told
them "he never wrote the li'/zo/^ of his orations,
norspoke without first committing part to writing. "
He was accused of taking Pericles for his model.
" But this," says Plutarch, " he only did in adopt-
ing his action and delivery, and his prudent reso-
lution not to make a practice of speaking from
sudden impulse, or on any occasion that might
present itself. . . . Yet, while he chose not
often to trust the success of his powers to for-
tune, he did not absolutely neglect the reputation
which may be acquired by speaking on a sudden
occasion."
Eratosthenes, Demetrius, Philerian, and many
others say there was "a greater spirit and bold-
ness in his unpremeditated orations than in those
he had committed to writing."
m rival of tbe Contemporary with Demosthenes was Demades,
hing of orators, ^j^^ spoke wholly extempore, and was believed
to be superior to Demosthenes. Plutarch says
"it was agreed on all hands that Demades excelled
all the orators when he trusted to nature only, and
that his sudden effusions were superior to the
348
Celebrated Bjtempoi-i3cr6— c;bc ©10 liflorlO
labored speeches of Demosthenes." Of Demos-
thenes, Theophrastus said, "I think him worthy
of Athens." Of Demades, " I think him above it."*
Professor Bredif says that Demosthenes had little
success in improvisation, but when he was com-
pelled to speak impromptu it was with an energy
superior to that of his written orations; that
the emergency " imprinted upon his mind an agi-
tation the result of which was remarkably vigor-
ous language."! Professor Bredif also observes
that Demades had a prompt conception and a ready
language. In his extemporaneous speeches he
often completely reversed the arguments which
Demosthenes had carefully studied and premedi-
tated. Sometimes, also, when he saw Demos-
thenes disturbed by clamor he subdued the popu-
lace by an appeal.*
Demades was of low origin and without princi-
ple, yet his extempore powers have maintained
his fame till this day. His habit of writing has
preserved the addresses of Demosthenes; that of
Demades, to make no notes, has consigned his to
oblivion, as is the case with those of Phocion, Hisorc=
who was spoken of with Demosthenes thus:
" Demosthenfs is the greatest orator, Phocion the
most powerful speaker;" Demosthenes him.self
saying, when Phocion rose to oppose him, " Mere
comes the pruning hook of my periods."*
* Plutarch, Lz/e of Demosthenes. + Political Eloquence 0/ Greece, p. 17-;
349
nowneS.
^Extemporaneous ©ratorg
Demosthenes endeavored to produce the effect
of extempore speech, and attained greater success
therein than any other generally memorizing
©emostbcnes speaker. LoNGiNiJS says : "He seems to invert
criticises bg ^j^ ^gj.y order of his discourse, and, what is more,
to Utter everything extempore; so that by means
of his long transpositions he drags his readers
along, and conducts them through all the intricate
mazes of his discourse. Frequently arresting his
thoughts in the midst of their career, he makes
excursions into different subjects, and intermin-
gles several seemingly unnecessary incidents; by
this means he gives his audience a kind of anxiety,
as if he had lost his subject and forgotten what
he was about, and so strongly engages their con-
cern that they tremble for and bear their share in
the dangers of the speaker. At length, after a long
ramble, he very pertinently but unexpectedly
returns to his subject, and raises the surprise and
admiration of all by these daring but happy
transpositions." *
Notwithstanding these efforts, the style of his
reported orations is so condensed as to lead Lord
Brougham to doubt whether any such speeches
were ever delivered. He appears to believe that
these may be as prepared for delivery, but that
Demosthenes added much to them while speaking.
I have introduced Demosthenes not to detract
♦ Dionysius Longinus on the Sublime, Smith's translation, p. 139.
350
GelcbratcJ? B£tcmporf3Ci-s— Jibe ©l^ liUlcrlD
from the triumphs of the memorizing method as
employed by him, but to emphasize the facts that
he was not exclusively a reciter; that he often
improvised; that his influence might have been
even greater had he possessed a larger measure of
this power; and that in the judgment of many of
his contemporaries he was at least equaled by
certain extemporizers in power over the Athenian
assemblies.
Cicero studied under the best instructors of his tcbe a^x»ocatc
time. He mastered Greek literature, and attached "traorMnars.
himself to the most distinguished men, notably
ScAEVOLA the Augur; took notes of his lectures,
committed to memory his maxims and sayings,
followed him to the courts when he pleaded, and
to the rostrum when he harangued the people. He
watched the gestures of the best actors, and spent
much time in reading, writing, and practicing
declamation. While he dabbled in everything,
"philosophy and oratory seem to have been the
two chief objects of his study." At home he
diligently declaimed the most striking passages
in the Greek orators or in speeches he had heard.
He exerted his limbs to the utmost in speaking,
and strained his voice to its highest pitch, in the
open air, after the manner of the Italian orators.
Naturally of feeble constitution, just as he had
reached an astonishing height in popular esteem,
he developed symptoms of consumption, and was
351
Ejtcmporaneoue ©ratori?
obliged to retire two years for travel. But he im-
proved his time by studying with the most cel-
ebrated masters of rhetoric.
When he had time for the work his orations
were written and delivered from memory, but
when pressed with business he spoke extempora-
neously, and with the vanity natural to him he
commended some of the orations which he thus
pronounced as superior to other productions, but
as he advanced in years his style became slow and
measured,
Cbe apostle to jhat St. Paul was Well instructed, had rare
natural powers, and spoke extemporaneously can
be inferred both from his references to himself
and the New Testament reports of his speeches.
His facility was derived from intense study, habit-
ual meditation, and constant practice. That in
general he dictated his epistles is therein avowed,
and they exhibit the characteristics of impassioned
extemporaneous oratory.
By reasoning of " righteousness, tem^perance,
and judgment to come " he made Felix tremble.
He extorted from Festus the eulogium "Thou
art beside thyself ; much learning doth make thee
mad," and extemporized a reply which disproved
the charge, but justified the compliment; and he
elicited an interruption from Agrippa. to which his
extempore reply is one of the noblest outbursts in
the history of oratory,
352
CcIcbrateD ]Ertcniporf3er5-'Cbe ©ID 11Clorl5
Among the Christian fathers none were more
celebrated for oratory than Chrysostom, who
studied elocution under Libamus, and often used
notes, but rarely gave attention to them, surrender-
ing himself to his impulses. He was strongly op-
posed to introducing into the pulpit a style "bor-
rowed from the theater or the lecture rooms of
declaimers." He affirmed that through the vanity
of seeking applause by mere oratorical glitter the
whole Christian cause would come to be suspected
by the hosts. Sermons in his time were "some-
times, though rarely, read off entirely from notes
or committed to memory; sometimes they were
freely delivered, after a plan prepared beforehand;
and sometimes the)^ were altogether extempore.'"
Chrysostom himself states that his subject was
frequently suggested by something which he met
with on the way to church, or which suddenly
occurred during divine service. He was ready to
make use of whatever occurred, and one of his
most impressive sermons was inspired by his see-
ing, in the winter time, many sick persons and
beggars lying in the vicinity of the church.*
Of BossuET, described as the "Corneille of
preachers," it is said that in the employment of
living words for the purpose of persuasion, he
has never been transcended. When but sixteen
he v/as asked to preach an extempore sermon
♦ Neander, C/jwrf A History, vol. ii, p. 317.
353
rbc *'OoI^cn
^outbce.'
trbc " Eaqle
of ^caui."
Biteniporaneoud ©rators
before a society "representing the cream of
Parisian wit, beauty, virtue, and nobility," and
responded in a manner tiiat commanded sympathy
and admiration. The major part of his discourses
are lost, few of them, indeed, having been written
out. " An hour or two before entering the pulpit
he sat quietly meditating over his text; he scrib-
bled some hasty notes on bits of paper, mostly
appropriate passages from the fathers, occasionally
writing out a sentence more complicated than
usual; then he surrendered himself completely to
the effect produced by the spirit of the moment
and the impression made upon his audience."*
He was a master of Greek and Latin and knew
the Bible almost by heart, so that Lamartine de-
scribed him as "the Bible transfused into a man."
Though he showed little taste for mathematics or
physical science, as a student he achieved distinc-
tion in classics, sacred literature, and philosophy;
constantly wrote didactic treatises and polemic
discourses, and was the author of the first attempt
at a philosophical treatment of history. Only men
of similar accomplishments, training, and literary
habits should presume to follow his method of
preparing for public speech,
"xrbe reviver Lacordaire, Jean Baptiste Henri, who attracted
of dfrencb puis ^j^g largest audiences ever gathered in modern
pit eloquence." '^ ^ . ,,
France, was an extemporaneous preacner. He
* Legouve's A rt 0/ Ktaiiing.
35-4
CelcbratcO Hrtcmporijcrs— Cbe ©ID lUorlO
was educated for the legal profession, and obtained
the highest honors in the law schools of Dijon
and Paris, leaping almost at a bound to the front
rank in his profession. In religious opinions he
was first a deist and a follower of Voltaire, from
whom he turned to Lamennais, whose writings
against Voltaire, especially his "Essay on Indif-
ference," led Lacordaire to devote himself to
Christianity.
The Count Montalembert, his intimate friend,
accredits him with every physical and mental
quality of the orator, and his contemporaries
universally describe his voice as vigorous and
vibrating, capable of infinite modulation, and his
gestures as graceful, animated, and expressive.
His first sermon in public was in the great sn unprop{=
Church of St. Roche, in Paris, and Montalembert t'0"s6cbut.
says: "I was there. ... He failed completely,
and coming out everyone said, * This is a man of
talent, but he never will become a preacher. ' " The
failure, however, stimulated him to greater efforts.
One year later he began conferences in one of the
Paris colleges, his audiences often comprising six
hundred persons, who spread his fame throughout
Europe. The next year he was installed preacher
at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and the late Dr.
R. W. Dale wrote of him that "he knew how to
fascinate the intellect, kindle the imagination, and
touch the heart of the most cultivated and of the
355
JEjtemporancous ©ratorg
most illiterate." Wlienever he was announced to
preacli the cathedral was surrounded long before
the doors were opened, and Dr. Dale states that
the aisles and side chapels were thronged by
statesmen, journalists, members of the Academy,
tradesmen, workingmen, high-born women, skep-
tics, socialists, devout Catholics, and resolute
Protestants, " who were all compelled to surrender
themselves for the time to the irresistible torrent
of his eloquence."
Professor Hoppin, in his elaborate volume on
Homilctics, states that Lacordaire preached me-
moriter, but he is in error.*
Lacordaire is worthy the name of the great
reviver of pulpit eloquence in France in the nine-
teenth century, and as one of the most effective of
modern preachers is properly included in the
series entitled Les Grands Ecrivains Franfais,
published by Hach; tte, Paris, his Life being
written by Le Comte D'Haussonville. That
H recent work, on pages 147-149 in treating Lacordaire's
cuiogium. method, states that he was to the highest degree
an extemporaneous speaker. He did not, indeed,
presume to enter the pulpit without preparation,
but it was internal and abstract. It was the fruit
of his meditations, more mystical than literary,
occupying the day before and sometimes only
* See A rt 0/ Extemporary Preaching, by T. J. Potter, Professor of Sa-
cred Eloquence in the Missionarj' College of All Hallows, Dublin, chap. viii.
CelcbratcD :!£rtcmpori3cr6-Cbc ©ID "CClorlD
the same morning; — and always commingled with
ardent prayers.
His plan was determined beforehand, but only
m broadest outline, never in details. Philosophi-
zing upon this method, the biographer remarks that
in the man who has the gift of language, and in
this he seems to think that gift wholly consists (a
doubtful hypothesis), the abstract idea naturally
takes the oratorical form, and when the thought
evolves in its logical order the expression in
which it has translated itself to the mind arrives.
But often Lacordaire drew his most powerful irntcUcctimi
effects from some movement which he had felt >"''^i^"°"«
in his audience, of which he made himself the
interpreter, or some interior emotion which stirred
him, and the vibration of which his own language
transmitted. The great secret of this power was
the outpouring of a full mind, unbridled by the
artifices of preparation with passion, at the same
time overflowing and restrained.
Only his education as a lawyer, his experience
as a journalist, his constant habits of study, and
profound meditation, superinduced upon natural
gifts and absorbing devotion, would have justified
this method.*
Henry St. John Bolingbroke displayed oratori- zbc"%oviot
cal and debating powers unrivaled in his time. It *'';^ow!""
is affirmed of him that he was the first British
*Ari of Exte»if>orary Preaching.
357
Bitemporaneous ©ratorg
statesman whose parliamentary oratory was really
a power; and that its pre-eminent characteristics
were " copiousness and readiness, extreme fluency
and spontaneity, combined with a brilliant felicity
of phrase, the right expression seeming to spring
up naturally along with the thought to be ex-
pressed."
We learn from Lord Chesterfield how this
power was obtained :
"The late Lord Bolingbroke without the least
trouble talked all day long fully as eloquently as he
wrote. Why ? Not by a peculiar gift from heaven ;
but, as he often told me himself, by an early and
constant attention to his style."*
Although not a fragment of his parliamentary
eloquence has been preserved, his writings are so
oratorical in style that they probably reveal the
characteristics of his more elaborate speeches.
Ube people's Lord CHATHAM, having all the natural endow-
prime miniss nients of the orator, widely read, a student of the
classics, a devotee of Demosthenes, a veritable
magician in speech, employed the extempore
method. With all his gifts and his overwhelming
spontaneity, in order to enlarge his vocabulary he
twice read Bailey's Dictionary, and to master
gesticulation and the control of the muscles of his
face he habitually practiced articulation before a
mirror. Such was the excitement when he spoke
♦ Letter 220.
358
of Scbatcrs.
Celebrated* Eitempoi'l3cr»— Cbe ©10 tdorlD
that it was impossible to report him, and the
speech which in its delivery and publication
overthrew Walpole's ministry owes its written
form to Dr. Johnson. The elements of his suc-
cess were untiring practice, continual acquisition,
and the habitual study of words, together with his
personal character and achievements as a states-
man and a natural susceptibility of being roused
by the occasion.
The fame of Charles James Fox as a parliamen- -cbe paracion
tary orator and debater is perennial, although he
began awkwardly, was often almost unintelligible,
abounded in repetitions, and was careless of his
personal appearance.
Pitt spoke of him as a magician, who laid a spell
upon his hearers so long as words issued from his
lips. Rogers declared that he "never heard any-
thing equal to Fox's speeches in reply. They
were wonderful." Charles Butler said that
"the moment of his grandeur was when, having
stated the argument of his adversary with much
greater force than his adversary had done, he
seized it with the strength of a giant and tore and
trampled it to destruction." Edmund Burke af-
firmed him to be "the most brilliant and accom-
plished debater the world ever saw." Macintosh
accounted for his effects by his possessing "above
all moderns a unison of reason, simplicity, and
vehemence."
359
j£jtcmporancou6 ©ratorg
This prodigy of the forum was an absolutely
extempore speaker. He justified repetition upon
theory, and when told that a speech read well
said, "Then it must have been a bad speech."
With him it was a cardinal principle 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! "
Though volumes of his speeches in the House of
Commons are published, none, except a eulogium
of a deceased duke, the only speech he wrote out
beforehand, is printed as it was delivered.
He had in view the conviction of those to whom
he spoke, acquired all the information necessary
to enable him to speak convincingly, had the
manner of absolute sincerity, and carried earnest-
ness and vehemence to the highest possibility of
physical endurance; on which account he was
called "the most Demosthenic orator since De-
mosthenes."
H great The transcendent ability, and especially the elo-
fatber's great quence and courage, of William Pitt caused him
to be made Chancellor of the Exchequer before he
was twenty-four years of age, and one year later
he was recognized as the most powerful subject
in Europe. Macaulay says of him : " At his first
appearance in Parliament he showed himself
superior to all his contemporaries in command of.
^6o
eon.
Celebrated ;iEitempori3er6— ^be ©ID IU01I&
language. He could pour forth a long succession
of round and stately periods without premedita-
tion, without ever pausing for a word, without
ever repeating a word, in a voice of silver clear-
ness, and with a pronunciation so articulate that
not a letter was slurred over. ... He was at
once the only man who could, without notes,
open a budget, and the only man who, as Wind-
ham said, could speak that most elaborately effusive
and unmeaning of human compositions, a king's
speech, without premeditation."
The account given by Pitt to Lord Stanhope,* ibis own eia
his biographer, is that he owed to this circum- *' ^"*
stance whatever readiness of speech he possessed
and aptness in finding the right word: His father,
Lord Chatham, " had bade him take up any book
in some foreign language with which he was well
acquainted, in Latin and Greek especially, and
read out of this work a passage in English, stop-
ping when he was not sure of the word to be
used in English until the right word came to his
mind, and then proceed." At first he had often
to stop while seeking the exact reproduction of
the idea in idiomatic English, but gradually ac-
quired perfect facility and accuracy.
George Whitefield, after reading for a short hs t;ct witboui
time, is supposed to have spoken memoriter, and in * "^ **
oratorical power he is generally placed at the head
*Life o/Pitf, vol. I, p. 8.
(24) 361
JSitcmpoiancous ©ratorg
of English preachers. Having made a thorough
study of action, and possessing a voice of amaz-
ing compass, sweetness, and strength, judged
by the efforts of his oratory, he is worthy to be
classed with Demosthenes. He repeated ser-
mons frequently, and throughout his life was in
the habit of doing so on his first appearance in
-4«ny large community. Though early in his career
he recited parts of sermons verbatim, he soon ac-
quired the ability to take advantage of new situ-
ations, and of favorable or unfavorable responses.
and as he grew older made greater use of the
power of extemporizing. The reason that his
published discourses seem dull is not alone, as has
been alleged, that his manner was so impressive
and persuasive that he would have swayed audi-
ences whatever he might say, but because he
added long extempore passages which are not in-
cluded in the reports. His published discourses
could not have required more than half an hour in
delivery, but he frequently spoke twice, and some-
times three times, that length. The sermons which
he preached within a few months of his death
were extempore, and many of his most impas-
sioned outbursts were pure improvisations.
B ruler of JOHN Wesley was Ordinarily a wholly extempore
asaembUcs. preacher. Many of his published sermons were
written to serve as authorized expositions of the
doctrines of Methodism, and some of these were
.562
CelebrateD Ejtemporijcrs— c:bc ®IJ) "U^orlO
never read to an audience. Dr. James H. Rigg
justly contrasts the two names that represent re-
spectively Calvinistic and Arminian Methodism:
"Whitefield, powerful preacher as he was, was
yet more popular than powerful. Wesley, popu-
lar preacher as he was, was yet more powerful in
comparison with his fellows than he was popular."*
Wesley's preparation for extempore speech be-
gan in his youth, for he was a student and a master
of logic, presided in the disputations of his college
and as a fellow of the University, was a devotee
of Anglo-Saxon, and to the day of his death cul-
tivated his style with reference to clearness, force,
and incisiveness.
Daniel O'CoNNELL began the profession of law ..trbeitbcw
in 1798, the year of the "Great Rebellion," and,
though on account of his faith subjected in a
variety of ways to caste hostility, he speedily gained
a great name. He was an expert in criminal and
constitutional law, divined the Irish character in-
tuitively, was sagacious and cunning, and, though
fifty years old when he entered Parliament, where
he was expected to fail, he stood in the front rank
as a debater. Having studied in the Catholic col-
leges of France, having seen the folly of the French
Revolution, he was able to check the rash im-
pulses of his countrymen toward socialistic sym-
pathies and principles.
* The Living, Wesley.
ator.'
jEitcmporancous ©ratorg
6reat natural
qualifications.
H competent
witness.
He was endowed with a commanding presence,
strength to meet all possible demands, and a
voice that would cany its modulations further
than that of any speaker of whom authentic ac-
counts have been given. Holyoake, who often
heard him, says of his power of adaptation that
"he had a threefold voice: one of persuasiveness
in the law court, one of dignity in Parliament, and
another of resounding raciness on the platform."
Wendell Phillips listened to him on several oc-
casions, and, describing him, says: "We used to
say of Webster, this is a great effort; of Ever-
ett, this is a beautiful effort; but you never used
the word 'effort' in speaking of O'Connell. It
provoked you that he would not make an effort."
After declaring that he thought that no orator he
had ever heard equaled O'Connell, he asks: "Do
you think I am partial ? I will avouch John Ran-
dolph, of Roanoke, the Virginia slaveholder, who
hated an Irishman almost as he hated a Yankee,
himself an orator of no mean level. Hearing
O'Connell, he exclaimed, 'This is the man; these
are the lips the most eloquent that speak English
in my day.' "
Allowing for the extravagance of praise and
blame that characterized Mr. Phillips and John
Randolph, and conceding that his speeches were
often marred by coarseness and envenomed by
bitterness, and that exaggeration was his native
364
CclebratcD jejtcmporijcrs— G:be C'lO lAHorlO
element, there can be no doubt that Daniel
O'CoNNELL was one of the greatest of orators, and
that his triumphs in different spheres belonged to
the class that are po 
