The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-03
FIRST STEPS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING
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the present writer included. To be truly
original belongs to the elect few. The
few invent, originate; the many collect
combine. The steps in this work are, we
think, at least four.
1. Thinking-Every speaker who de-
sires in commendable sense to be orig.
inal must think long, hard, and if posi-
BILE, profoundly. This should be done
before reading, at least before reading
extensively. am aware that this is not
the usual method, yet 1 am fully per-
suaded that thinking should come first,
reading second. Reason: You are mould
ed more or less by your author, especially
if he be strong. You are, so to speak,
in the leading strings of a stronger mind.
This defeats originality, and SO defeats
the very object for which people come tc
hear you. They come to hear your
thoughts, not the thoughts gathered
from the cyclopedia, commentary and
other books of reference. They can read
these for themselves. But since nothing
comes from nothing, you say whence
comes this material?
| /. From old memories. Happily,
most minds are richer than the possessor
knows till he makes search. By care
full invoice, the merchant often finds
more goods than he had thought. So an
intellectual invo.ce by the speaker.
Hence go carefully through the store
house of memory, and invoice and label
all the goods suitable for present use.
2. Thoughts will come whence you
know not, out of the mysterious depths
of a laboring brain. This may be par
TALLY illustrated by the driftwood in a
stream. Let post be planted in a SEEM
ingly clear stream, and if left few days
pile of drift will collect that will sur
prise you. The first that lodges may be
but straw, but that straw will catch
others, and these twig, and this the
silver of board, and this a pole or a
beam, and thus on until you find large
and unexpected mass. This stream and
post Justly represent the stream of
thought and the theme or subject
planted in it. Your theme, honesty, in
dustry, literature, philosophy, what not,
planted firmly in your mind, in the
stream of your thoughts, there will
come today, happy thought from the
newspaper, tomorrow, from the remark
of friend, next day from the sermon,
and the day following, from the sponta-
niety of your own inner consciousness.
This last is perhaps a surprise, but the
most original of all Courage here; don't
label the last "bantling" and cast it out
because of its humble origin, but nurse
it, care for it, and it may grow.)
Substantially the above process was
meant by the great Newton, when in re-
ply to the question, "By what secret do
you make your discoveries, ne said, 81
have no secret, but simply this: after
conceiving subject, l hold it before the
mind for days and weeks, until it opens
and light comes" This is the great rule
or secret of the discoveror and inventor,
and in the nature of things must be.
There must be brooding before Matching.
Nature has decreed and man and
bird must alike submit Let
not the speaker hope or try to escape un-
less he is content to serve as a kind of
middleman, mere handling and shipping
other mems wares. The news gatherer,
the reporter, the statistician does this,
and no more, and we ask no more at his
hands. Not so the speaker. After you
have done all the thinking you can I'M
aided. you take the next step, namely:
2. Reading-This is the prevailing and
fruitful source of information for ALL
Here you are to be wide and varied and
vigilant, reading with pencil in hand,
either copying the matter desired, or
marking the pages for easy reference,
but most of all making notes of your
own thoughts that spring spontaneously
in your own mind. A good style is a
suggestive one, and good reader often
reads as much between the lines as IN
them. Thinking is by no means to cease
when you commence reading. Bear in
mind that the thinkers work in speech
making, like that of woman ''is never
done" We will not burden you with
multiplied rules found in pedagogical
works about chow to read" believing
YOU either know these or can invent for
Yourself. We, however, leave a word Of
caution, namely, avoid excess. while In
general reading Is too scant, 1T Is posi-
ble to be too full. The mind may be
overloaded and break under its own bur-
den, as the soldier who goes into battle
with the weapons of five men. Execution
is lost In burden bearing.
3. Observation.-Noth is more satIs-
factory or convincing than personal in
spection or observation. Seeing is be-
lieving." So men go to see Niagara,
Mammoth Cave, the pyramids, Rome,
Jerusalem and thus on round the world,
and come back giving lectures, magazine
articles and books. They observe, then
tell. 1t is one of the easiest WAYS to
gather material. The scientist takes the
same method, but his work is more
minute, hence often tedious and difficult.
He pushes his research a little deeper in
to the earth, little higher up the noun
tain. little farther into the Jungles Of
the dark continent, and comes back re-
vealing to US a new Golgotha of suffer
ing or a new Atlantis of inspiration. He
has observed, and so speaks.
t. Experiences-CloSe of kin TO the
above are experiences. A man has had
unusual experiences; these he treas
ures, Classics aud tells in a lecture or
speech, and often with great tenefit 10
his fellow men. Sometimes these may
be objective. relating TO some business or
trade. sometimes subjective, relating 70
some unreveaied JOY or sorrow. Some
times the deep religious experiences Of q
thoughtful and devOut man are Of great
value Sometimes those of a sufferer.
prisoner, an exile, and the like. Expert
ence Is a slow and usually costly means
Of knowledge, but very reliable TO the
possessor, and If honest. may be made
very convincing 10 the hearsr. Hence
the aged are usually fitted 20 give whole
some counsel 10 the voung.
Ia closing this branch OF the subject.