The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1908-02-29

Psychology tor the PUBIC speaker.
The foregoing principles are just
as effective in their results when ap-
piled collectively as when used indi-
vidually.
When speaker steps before an au-
dience he is, so to speak, sized up:
weighed, measured, ETC., by those
present-especially If he is stranger
to them. Each one present measures
the speaker according to his own
standard. Whether he falls short OF
each individual standard or measures
up to the full measurement, he will
never know it if he assumes or holds
a positive mental attitude.
The speaker should be passive when
stepping before the audience. Ali
audiences are, at first, positive. They
remain so until they have mentally I'M
loaded their impressions; but fortu-
nately for the speaker, their decisions
are not final. They now await cor
roborative testimony-or otherwise. II
their impressions, as a whole, were
favorable, the speaker will have clear
sailing; if not, more than ordinary
force will be necessary to carry con-
viction But how is the speaker to
know this? How can a speaker size
up" an audience before he begins?
That's the point at which am aim
ing.
III public speaker wishes to be-
come enrapport with his audience, he
must become passive until they have
unlcaded. This is the work of but
few moments. They may unload
flowers; they may unload thistles. II
he is wise, he will not be too precipi-
tate He appeals first to the eye, then
to the ear. Wait.
A public speaker should be able to
command such passivity that If there
is one critical or hpyercritical person
in the audience to whom he does not
favorably appeal, he should sense the
condition, find the individual, and, hay-
ing found him, be able to read his
unexpressed thought. This, the writer
has done repeatedly before audiences
numbering a thousand or more.
Be it understood that the speaker
does not or should not remain passive.
He will naturally become positive-ir
he is master.
Speaking of negat;ve-passive-
Der that, in a general way, in our
everyday life, in order to become neg
alive to the finer forces we must be-
come positive to the grosser. He is
wise who makes himself receiver for
only the best, and he is most powerful
who, through wisdom, can control the
vibrations within and without.
Psychology by Letter.
This is one of the most effective
means of utilizing this wonderful pow
err Some of the eight principles
which can be used verbally cannot be
applied by letter-the only way where
| by you can influence a stranger at a
distance. The three leading princi-
pies to be SO used are confidence
ntration-impulsion.
l have every reason to believe that.
at the very time you are writing,
your subjective mind conveys (tele-
pathically) your desire to the subjec-
tive mind of the one to whom you are
writing; but the recipient is not OBJ
! jectively conscious of the fact, and is,
therefore, uninfluenced until the read
ing of the letter. Even then it is
not in the written words of them
selves, but in the suggestive spirit
back of them. If the recipient COM
plies with your request his impression
so to do comes from his subjective
mind as the result of your telepathic
communication.
To illustrate: Some years ago / de-
sired a certain piece of merchandise
valued at $225. / did not want to
pay any cash, but would give value re-
ceived for services rendered.
/ was not known to any member of
the firm. We were a thousand miles
or more apart. / wrote. The chief
characteristics of that letter were
confidence" plus Concentration"
plus 'impulsion." In due time l re.
ceived an answer. 1t read: In re-
| gard to your request permit us 10 say
that it is but one of hundreds of a
similar nature, all Of which we have
turned down. But there is a some.
thing in your letter which impels me
| to say that 1 am inclined to grant your
request; hence ask for further particu-
lars"
He granted the request. He did
more A year afterward he thanked
me for the services rendered, stating
that / had more than fulfilled my
promises.
Please note in his letter, the two
words something" and 'impelled.
What was that "something?" Whence
came that 'impelling influence?" That
is what l call reading between the
lines and getting the soul of thing
psychology.
There are two things, however, that