The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1908-07-03

reporters TO take il down. When the
stenOgraphers take il down, the i'm
prOmptu orators will sometimes give
a favored paper an exact copy Of the
speech, so as TO have it printed cor
rectly.
Il NAV be limited that all this sa
vors Of the cyniciSm Of the man who
envies the accomplishment of oratory
10 the "siIvertongued' tribe. Far
from it, | have been there" Hora-
ito, and have on occasion aroused the
plaudits Of the banquetperS myself.
The most pronounced success | ever
had in that way was a little impromp-
tn gem that delivered before stone
sober crowd one time. | had been
given my subject six months before,
and had written and rewritten my
talk all out, at least a dozen times |
had polished il. and adorned It with
slavish care, and had blended with 1t
various thoughts and quotations from
the poets and the philosophers. You
don't have to use quotation marks in
OratOry, and anyway, | did not know
where these gentlemen had stolen
their stuff from.
| tyDe-wrote this talk and let 1t
lie a couple Of months. and then went
over it again, shortening some Of the
long sentences, and rearranging and
shifting until got it down as fine as
it was possible for me to do. Then
learned it absolutely by heart. |
could say it backwards or forwards,
begin in the middle and recite it eth.
er way. | knew it better than the null
tiplication table or the alphabet. |
Grated 1t" until I had, as | thought,
all the proper infections, even to a
little stumble, a little eloquent pause"
where l was supposed to be overcome
by the strength of my emotions. 1t
was really very hard job the getting
up of this little 'impromptu," and one
which | should hardly care to tackle
again just for the sake Of doing some
one favor.
Finally l had the thing down letter
perfect, and the day and occasion ar
rived for my setting it off, Now
some "impromptu" speakers make the
mistake Of "spieling' their piece
right off "the hooks" without giving
themselves any time for inspiration"
This is fatal mistake, and even the
most obtuse will not be deceived If
you begin at top speed with your fire.
works" But | had heard too many
impromptu speakers to be lured into
such false position. The proper
way Is to select something about the
particular occasion which may strike
your fancy and then start in with a
few hating sentences about that.
Something of this sort, for instance:
las l stand on this spot to-day, l feel
incapable Of adequately voicing the
feelings that the time and the Occa.
sion would call up in the breast Of
real orator." or Il am glad to be with
you here, my friends, to-day: and this
audience, and the event which we are
called upon to celebrate, only makes
me feel my shortcomings as a speak
err" or Gas entered the hall to-day I
caught sight Of" etc, etc.
And then, when you have edged IN
with one or two airy commonplace
you can come in with your "siss, boom,
All" verbal pyrotechnics, and give the
audience a sure-enough "impromptu'
exhibition.
The uninitiated will say: "Ain't he
a corker?'
The man that 'is next" will reply:
"G'wan; I'll bet it took him six months
to frame that up
ERNEST M'GAFFEY.
Copyright, 1908, By Joseph B. Bowles)