The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-07-10
Mistellanp.
Hints on Speech Making.


First, Have something that you de-
sire very much to say" The first re-
quisite is, of course, to have something
to saw. This does not mean something
that may be said; it means something
that must be said--that presses on the
mind uncomfortably until it is said.
The second rule is, " Always speak in
natural key and in a conversational
way" The days of pompous and
stited eloquence are gone by, and il
was perhaps Wendell Phillips, more
than anybody else, who put an end to
it and substituted the conversational
way. But how to reach the natural
key is the serious question. The best
way, of course, is to be natural without
effort, if one only could. There is one
very simple method, and yet one which
| have seldom known to fail. Suppose
the occasion to be public dinner.
You have somebody by your side to
whom you have been talking. To him
your manner was undoubtedly natural,
and if you can only carry along into
your public speech that conversational
style of your private talk the battle is
gained. How, then, to achieve that
result? In this simple way: Contrive
to say over to your neighbor CONVEX
sationally the thought, whatever it is,
with which you mean to begin your
public speech. Then, when you rise
to speak, say merely what will be per-
fectly true, " was just saying to the
gentleman who sits beside me that y
and then you repeat your remark over
again. You thus made the last words
of your private talk the first words of
your public address, and the conversa-
tional manner is secured. This sugges-
ton originated, believe, with man
of inexhaustible fertility in public
speech, Rev. E. L. Hale. l have often
availed myself of it, and have often
been thanked by others for suggesting
it to them. In the third place, " Never
carry scrap of paper before your audi
ence." Then comes the question,
How shall you retain your speech in
your head? Shall you write it and COM
NIT it to memory, or merely note down
the points? Some of the most agree
able public speakers known to me,
as, for instance, Hon. John ID. Long
of Massachusetts, habitually write
their speeches, and yet deliver them
with such ease that you would think
them embarked, without previous
they ride with buoyant safety. The
fourth rule must be, " Plan out series
of few points, as simply and orderly
as possible" They should be simple,
both for the convenience of the audi
ence and for your own, since otherwise
you may lose yourself in subtleties and
metaphysics. They should be orderly,
if only you remember them by the
method of natural succession, each
one suggesting the next, and thus put
ting as little tax as possible on the
memory. Where the points are wholly
detached you can substitute an artifi-
cial order, perhaps fixing each point in
your mind by some leading word that
will suggest it, and then arranging
these alphabetically; the object being
always to tax your memory as lightly
as possible, that it may do its work the
better. You have now the points of
your speech planned and provided-so
many stepping-stones to carry you
safely across the stream. But points
alone are not enough. You must hold
your audience, and this must be done
not by lowering yourself in any way,
but by giving that audience variety of
food and reaching their minds by facts,
fancy and wit, as well as by logic.
Therefore the fifth rule is, " Plan be-
forehand for one good fact and one
good illustration under each head of
your speech" One is enough, for the
chance is that the impulse of the occa-
sion will give you more. The fact
may be from your own experience OF
from a book, but it must be brief, clear
and telling. The sixth and final rule is,
"Do not torment yourself up to the
last moment about your speech, but
give your mind rest before it," TIC
combine simple preparation with a
state of freshness-that is the problem.
Who does not know how fresh the
mind is when we wake in the morning
how we solve problems and think out
perplexing questions while bathing and
dressing before breakfast, although the
previous night the mind was inert and
dead? That is what is meant by men.
tai freshness, and what we need is to
bring this precise quality-this oxygen
of the mind-into our speeches.
Horper'S Magazine.