The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1917-05-03
Vocational Column
THE VALUE OF ELOCUTION

Elocution is based upon three
fundamental principles: Specific
Purposes. organization Of Ideas and
Personality.
That voice, gesture and effect are
essential qualities Of an elocution-
list is evident. But we know that
the matchlcss oratory Of the past
has come from men who had train
ed and cultivated their weak and in
efficient voices.
Dcmosthcncs. the greatest orator
nf the past ages, and one Of the
three greatest speakers that the
world has ever seen stammered SO
badly at the age of twenty that he
could not talk. Walking along the
Greclan sea shore. he would put
pebbles into his mouth and pour
out To the waves his life aim. Per-
haps one of the factors that made
Demosthencs a world power in the
art of oratory was the rolling blue
waters Of the Mediterranean. There
is mysterious and potent relation =
ship between the soul Of man and
the green tinted waters of the sea.
Lord Byron beautifully illustrates
that feeling in these simple words.
There is a pleasure in the path
less woods. there is a rapture on
the lonely shore. there is a society
where none intrudcs. by the deep
sea and music in its roar. love
not man the less. but nature more.
from these our interviews III when
steal from all | Nay be or have
been before. To mlngle with the
universe and feel what | can ne'er
express. yet cannot all conceal"
BY specific purpose, | mean that
success will not crown the efforts
of the man or woman. the boy or
girl in the art Of oratory unless they
have fixed in their minds certain
aims and goals which they intend
to reach. These specific purposes
are the only safeguards by which
one can travel lifes rugged path
way. Without definite aims, life
would he blank and stagnant ex-
istence; drifting here and drifting
there. So IL is with public speak
ing you must know what you are
going to say, how you are going to
say it and its probable effect on the
audience.
In the presentation Of your theme,
you must have those specific pur-
poses and auxiiaries by which you
attain your aims organized. Each
fact which leads up Ia a specific
purpose and each purpose must be
so that the accomplishing
Of one will be stepping stone to
the other, thereby eliminating in
one fundamental purpose. This is
Oratory without or
is dead.
Personality. that, undoubtedly. is
The greatest feature in the ply
steal mental, Christian, social and
economic makeup of the girl or boy.
nan or woman. Personality is that
inherent quality of one which !
'reates state of attractiveness
without intention. In some il is
more than in others. IL
IS natural endowment and the !
very essence of oratory. of civili-
'atiOn and of life itself.
In the vista of the past centuries,
We lind this wonderful power ex-
llblted by such men as Solomon,
Who astounded the people of his day /
~ his simple, yet wonderful truths:
'latO, Aristotle and Socrates arous-
d the world by their philosophi-
al teachings from its lethargy and
'laced on a higher plane of civil
ization than ever reached before
With that potential agency of per-
Demosthenes and Antony
waved multitudcs with their mag
iilcent power Of oratory.
Christ, standing on the mount and
peaking the great truths of this
lie and the Eternal Life, lifted the
World by his personality to the ut
most height of civilization. Never
las man spoken as that man. His
ower of oratory has never been
qualed.
Patrick Henry, Webster and Clay
aid the foundation of American
ratory-the greatest in the worlds
istory since the time of Christ.
Coming down to the present time,
'e have Bryan, James, Gunsaulus
nd others whose elOquence and
resonality are not surpassed. And
light in our midst we have Presi-
ent Frost whose personality is
ding more for the advancement
nd solving of life's problems in
.DDaIachian Amppica than anyona