The record-union., 1892-10-28

shakespeare s plays, MiltonAs'Comus, and
had made it a habit while dressing in the
morning to commit from six TO ten lines
to memory, and he attributed such facility
as he had in the use Of English to the
habit of committing extracts to memory
and of storing his mind with treasure
from the best of English poets.
Mr ConkIlng practiced eTocution as tre-
quently as possible. He did not disdain
TO stand before glass that he might OBJ
serve the effect of gestures. His idea of
oratory was that in some respects it was
AKIN TO dramatic art, and that the most
successful orator must be in measure
an actor.
ART NECESSARY IN oRltToRY.
Like the great actors, the successful
orator, he thought, must have attained
such art of delivery as concealed the art -
| that Is, he must appear TO be perfectly
natural. although in fact in u certain sense
acting. 10 acquire this appearance me-
eessltated as much drill as the actor on
the stage must submit to. But when it
was attained it enabled Mr.. Conkling to
address an audience with such perfect re-
pose ana naturalneSS of man ner as caused
the general belief that his orations were
lmpromptu. Instead of being impromptu,
however, nearly all of them We're written
out, carefully polished and committed to
memory.
Mr.. Conkling believed that many ora
! tors, especially young men, filled be-
cause they had not cultivated their voices,
and had not learned the art of enunciat-
ing With dlstinctneSs, and yet without
. apparent effort. Before he naade his first
speech he realized that nothing was so
/ fatal as lndistinctness of utterance and
that painful effort to make the words
distinct always wearied an audience.
How he overcame this tendency, which
/ he noticed in himself, is illustrated by
/ one or two anecdotes.
/ Conkling had occasion to go to one Of
| the departments OF the Government on
( business few years before his DEATH
I WhIle there he met young man who
! asked MN now 1t was that he was able to
j speak in a great hall so dist nctly that a
/ person sitting in the remotest end of it
could hear him without effort.
THAT" said Mr.. Conkiing, ''is one of
the most important, perhaps l should say
the element of chief Importance. 10 sue
! cessful oratory. y ct there is no reason
/ why 1t should not be more easily mastered
than some of the other requirements. 1t
/ is very simple. 1t depends entirely upon
distinct enunciation of the vowels in
every word. Ii you take care Of the
vowels the consonants will take care of
/ themselves. For instance, take the SEN
tence, roll, mighty ocean, roll on in all
thy grandeur and speak the words so
that the vowels are sounded with perfect
dlstinctness, and you will find than any
person within sound of your voice will
have no doubt about what you have said.
If you think of becoming a public
/ speaker, my young friend, let me give
you a word of advice
First of all, be sure that you have
something 10 say, that You have mes
sage for those whom you propose to ad-
dress. Let it be by your own thought.
and not the thought of anybody else.
| That is the cornerstone Of oratory.
| Without that, no matter how pleasing a
speaker you may be, you are, after all,
nothing more than a mimic, as the actor
on the stage is. Next, be careful of your
vowels. An Grafton is worthless unless
it is heard, and it will not be heard un-
less you watch your vowels, and then the
third rule is, be individual Don't imi-
tate anyone else, and that is habit ac-
quired only by discipline"
! MIR. COnkling's most famous short
speech was delivered in the Republican
Convention Of 1880, when General Grant
was before that convention as a candidate
for nomination for the Presidency. The
remote gallery was so far away from the
speakers stand that only indistinct out
lines of the men who sat there could be
discerned. 1t seemed impossible that the
I human voice could convey Intelligible
utterance that distance.
! Mr.. Conkling, when he arose 10 speak,
did not mount the platform, but stood