The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-17
ROBERT G. INGERsoIL.

vice to the thousands of young Ameri
cans who aspire to oratorical success
he was found at his pleasant home or
! Madison avenue, New York, the othe,
evening, and induced TO talk on the
subject
/ What advice would you give to a
young man who was ambitious to be-
/ come successful public speaker OF
! orator? he was saked
MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY
In the first place." said Colonel
Ingersoll. Il would advise him to have
something to say-something worth
sayiEg-something that people would
be glad to hear. This is the important
| thing Back of the art of speaking
must be the power to think. Without
thoughts words are empty purses.
Most people imagine that almost any
words, uttered in a loud voice and ac-
companied by appropriate gesture,
I constitute an Grafton. | would advise
the young man TO study his subject.
TO ind what others had thought to
look at it from all sides. Then 1
would tell him to write out his
thoughts or to arrange them in. his
mind. so that he would know exactly
what he was going to say. Waste no
time on the how, until you are salts
fed with the what. After you know
what you are to say, then you can
think of how it should be said. Then
you can think about tone, emphasis
and gesture; but il you really under
stand what you say, emphasis, tone
and gesture will take care of them
selves. All these should come from
the inside. They should be in perfect
harmony with the feelings. Voice and
gesture should be governed by the
emotions. They should unconsciousIy
be in perfect agreement with the senti-
ments The orator should be true to
his subject. should avoid any refer
ence 20 himself
The great column of his argument
should be unbroken. He can adorn it
with vines and flowers. but they
should not be in such profusion as to
hide the column. He should give
variety of episode by illustration, but
they should be used only for the pur-
pose of adding strength to the argu-
ment.
STUDYING LANGUAGE.
The man who wishes TO become an
orator should study language. He
should know the deeper meaning of
words. He should understand the vigor
and velocity of verbs and the color of !
adjectives. He should know how to |
sketch scene, to paint picture, to |
give life and action. He should be a |
poet and a dramatist, a painter and an /
actor. He should cultivate his imagin- |
alton. He should become familiar with |
he great poetry and fiction, with splen-
lid and heroic deeds. He should be a
student of Shakespeare. He should read
md devour the great plays. From
he could learn the art of
of compression. and all the
ecrets of the head and heart
The great orator is full of variety-of
urprises. Like the juggler he keeps the
olored balls in the air. He expresses
himself in pictures. His speech is
anorama. By continued change he
olds the attention. The interest does
ot flag. He does not allow himself tn
e anticipated. He is always in ad-
ance. He does not repeat himself. A
icture is shown but once. So, an ora
Or should avoid the commonplace.
here should be no stuffing, no filling.
lie should put no cotton with his silk.
o common metals with his gold. He
hould remember that "gilded dust is
OF as good as busted gold" The great
rator is honest. sincere. He does NOT
retend. His brain and heart go to-
ether. Every drop of his blood is
onvinced. Nothing is forced. He !
nows exactly what he wishes to do
nows when he has finished it. and
ops.
KNOWING WHEN TO STOP. :
Only a great orator knews when and !
DIV to close. Most speakers go on sif-
r they are through. They are salts {
ed only with a lame and impotent !
inclusion" Most speakers lack va !
ETY.. They travel a straight and dusty !
'ad. The great orator is full of epi- I
de. He convinces and charms by in Z
rection. He leaves the road, visits
le fields, wanders in the woods, listens I
the murnur of springs. the songs of Z
rds. He gathers flowers, scales the a
ags and comes back to the highway (
freshed, invigorated. He does not c