Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1878-01-16
ElOquence tho Result of Hard
Work.

, tho oratoy, which We usually hear
tar Interior 10 what we might expec
Q IRON tho ordinary culture aud intel
: leclual ylgor Of the present age,
0 What then, IL the cause OF thi
, strange state Of thingsi ] would sug
'. gest the two following reasons ~ 90
|, counting IN q great measure for thc
3 phenomenon First, the majority o
r people seem hastily to have adopted
! the notion that the faculty Of public
speaking II simply aud wholly q gll
or instinct, peculiar to few, aud IN
atlalnable 10 tue many, They believe
that like Dogberry's reading and
writing, oratory comes by nature
that the orator. IN fact, IN has been
said Of the poet, nd'citW non III ;
while the reverse Of the case Is nearer
tho truth-orator ill., non nascit'~ |
am far IRON denying that some men
by nature are better fitted than Others
to become orators, Still less do al.
firm that all men are capable Of max
ing themselves good speakers, But |
firmly believe that all who are not
tongue'ticd, or positively deficient in
intellect, can learn by diligent practice
to express their thoughts publicly in
ineligible aud intelligent language,
aud in manner which Is not painful
either to themselves or to their audi.
ence, "The speaker must learn his
craft as thoroughly as a painter, u
sculptor, or u musician although, !
like them also, he must have from
nature some special aptitude for his
vocation Lord Chesterfield was, !
think, guilty OF eXaggeration when he
maintained that good speaker is as
much n mechanic rs q good shoemak-
er, and that the two trades arc equally
to be learned by the same amount Of
The second reason why public
speaking as an art is neglected is, that
even those who hold the same opn.
ions that have expressed are still
unwilling TO undergo the necessary Ia
Dor to become good speakers. They
did not, they say, begin the task in
early life, as Henry Ward Beecher {
recommends in his Lectures on Preach. {
ing, and a new study now appears te- {
lious and lrksome to them, or they
have really no time for the requisite :
training, and have no pressing need
'or the accomplishment MS no mined. G
ate emolument can be derived from 7
[. |
1t would be wasting breath to ar I
cue against these frivolous objections. t
The best way 10 expose their futility r
md at the same time to show how the J
rt OF public speaking may be acquir-
ID, is carefully to ascertain by what !.
means the greater number of those :;
Who have succeeded as orators or de- ,
'aters have attained their success.
hose who endeavor to follow their r
xample and accept their methods may =.
robably fail to gain their supreme =
lastery over the instrument of Ian
uage but in the end, they will have b
rofted largely by their self disci- 8.
line, ard it is honorable to win by :,
ard work even low rank amid !,
crowd Of competitors. !
Some years ago, on the occasion of
the prizes az University
ollege, London, the Earl of Derby es
elivered speech, which no one, old al
r young, can read without profit or b.
lmiration. Part of it | shall quote m
strictly applicable to the present 81
Inject. As the orator of old insisted o,
, action, so Lord Derby insisted OH W
.dustry, promising that his exhorta- tn
ons on this head must necessarily ap- W
ear commonplace. But common to
ace in the ordinary sense Of the le
I'm, and Lord Derby did not declare
dustry to be the grand secret of sue
IS in life without showing its neces. a
ty and its products Capital, in d
hatever shape it may be accumulate ole ole
!, whether pecuniary or intellectual, be
boarded labor. The man who is a sn
ady now has constantly worked A Ao
'rd to be ready, and his present state Re
modest confidence is the result OF n "a,
lwearied drill. In the words of to to
ord Derby, ave have heard at the ole
ar, Or in Parliament, men whose in
command of words, whose
adiness of thought as well as OF ex- I'M
ession, seemed the effect of instinct S 90,
lber than of training but what is eve
Q secret of that readiness .? Why, ne,
is-that the mind has previously eve eve
an an eyercised IN similar subipcts VIII