The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1903-02-11

FOR THE
ORATOR
Suggestions for Young LegiS
IatOrS
BY Prof. Emerson of the
Boston School of 0ratOry

Personal culture Of the individual
is the great end realized by the per.
sistent endeayor to lead the powers
out in free expression. True orator
ial training, more than any other line
of discipline, involves the develop
ment and control Of ali the powers Of
the being-physica mental and spir.
itual. Expression is necessary to ev-
olution. AS is expression, so is
the growth. The character is moulded
in accordance with the impulses and
the thoughts are permitted to find ex-
preston through the person, whether
in act or in speech
The matter of economy of force is
closely involved in the habit of direct.
ness. If speaker is roundabout in
his address, he is plainly wasting en-
ergy. This indirectness may mani
fest itself in various ways. II a
speaker is giving his own thought,
rather than reducing the thoughts OF
another, he may roam around on the
outskirts Of his subject talking a
great deal to say a little Again, he
may even while stating his thought
directly and simply. ignore the minds
in his presence and speak into space,
thus failing to hold the audience in
terested in his thought. Or he may
be unduly conscious Of himself and
thus obtrude self between his thought
and his audience Or IL his desire TO
present definite objects of thought to
the minds OF the audience be not
strong enough If the mental effort
while speaking be not vigorous
enoughl the bodily response may be
vague and indehnite-the actions may
not help TO send the thought directly
home.
To send the thought directly home
here we touch upon the ideal which
is to overcome the vagueness, the
tendency to waste power, the habit OF
exhibiting self when truth alone will
serve the audience. The home for the
truth is the mind OF the hearer-the
speaker must make that the objective
point of his every effort He must
strive earnestly to send his thought in
the straightest line between self and
the mind of the hearer He must lay
aside Whatever ideal he has cherished
of being app roved by his audience
he must forget how beautifully-or
how awlIwardly-he is expressing his
thought; he must learn to think sharp.
ly 70 the point and 10 speak his
thoughts into the minds and hearts Of
men.
How shall the young orator or the
public reader make sure that he gain
this power of direct appeal? Let him
practice much in the expression Of
various kinds of thought and senti.
ment. always with an audience. real
or imaginary in view. The audience |
Is a factor which he cannot afford TO |
leave out in a single effort. Let him
make the bes models Of literature his /
technique; let him memorize varied .
passages and repeat them over and .
over again, consciously addressing
every thought TO an imaginary audi
ance, II a real audience be not always
At hand Let him take a single
thought a. a time, and say il as sim
ply and colloquially as he can, to one
person, being careful to break up
whatever Journalism may have ham.
)ered the free expression OF the
hought, as he read it first Let him
always that oratory is talk
ng with men. not talking at them II
viii help him TO paraphrase frequent
" saying the thought simply in his {
'wn words until he is sure that the
hought possesses him, regardless Of
orm. He may then return 10 the or
ginal expression OF the thought
In dealing with the original thought
et the orator apply tne same princi-
lie. Let him seek the directness and
implicitly Of thought and Of phraslng
hat makes Lincoln's Gettysburg ,
peech a model for al time. Let him I
,udy such models OF oretory as that Z
nd determine wherein lies the q
trength and the beauty II he writes
as address let him emulate the con d
iseness and directnoss avoiding Z
ophmoric rhetorical display Let .
im be sure that the sentiment with
'hich he plays upon the hearts Of the b
udience Is sentiment found In the de- p
elopment OF the theme itself rather n
ian a sentimentality which he afixes =
, the themo. II be speaks extern /,
oraneously, let him court breyity and h
onciseness rather, than dihuseness b
e. him not succumb 10 the tempta =
on 10 ramble from the theme Let u
Ina demand Of himself keen, vital b
linking in every effort; thinking e