I INTRODUCTION This is the day of concise speech. The tedious, longdrawn-out oratory of former times is no longer tolerated by intelligent audiences. There is a silent but no less insistent demand that a speaker waste no time in words, but give expression to his ideas with reasonable brevity. It is surprizing how much can be said in the space of one minute by a speaker who has his subject well in hand. The most notable example in all history of short speech-making is Lincoln's Gettysburg speech, which occupied in delivery less than three minutes. At the inauguration of the new president of Harvard University, the Hon. John D. Long, president of the Board of Overseers, carried out the impressive ceremony of the day, investing President Lowell with the ceremonial emblems of the office, in a speech of three sentences, as follows: Abbott Lawrence Lowell, you having been duly chosen to be President of Harvard College, I now, in the name of its governing bodies and in accordance with ancient custom, declare that you are vested with all the powers and privileges of that office. It is a great trust, but it is laid on you in full confidence that you will discharge it in the interest alike of the college we love and of the democracy it serves. I deliver into your hands, as badges of your authority, the college charter, seals and keys. God bless you. This was an occasion of unusual interest, thousands of persons having gathered from all parts of the country. The temptation to make a "great speech" would have been irresistible to most men, but President Lowell's acknowl edgment occupied only a minute, in these words: It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I receive at your hands these insignia of the office to which the governing boards have chosen me. You have charged me with a great trust, second in importance to no other, for the education of American youth, and therefore for the intellectual and moral welfare of our country. I pray that I may be granted the wisdom, the strength, and the patience which are needed in no common measure; that Harvard may stand in the future, as she has stood under the long line of my predecessors, for the development of true manhood and for the advancement of sound learning, and that her sons may go forth with a chivalrous resolve that the world shall be better for the years they have spent within these walls. There are primarily two things concerned in the making of a public speaker: (1) the Man, and (2) the Message. The qualifications laid down by Cicero, Quintilian, and other great authorities are too severe and comprehensive for present-day needs. We think the following are essential attributes of a good public speaker: 1. Sterling character. 2. High ideals. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Sincerity. Devotion to truth. A good appearance. 8. Fluency of language. 9. A cultivated voice. 10. A refined pronunciation. 11. Unfailing tact. 12. Singleness of purpose. 13. Sympathy. 14. Common sense. E The message should have the three qualities of clearness, vitality, and timeliness. The attributes just indicated are a matter of acquisition rather than natural gifts. No man should be dissuaded from developing his speaking powers because he is not "a born orator." If he be afflicted with timidity, or some other shortcoming, let him take encouragement from the experience of many of the world's greatest orators. There is inspiration in the case of Demosthenes, of whom it is recorded: In his first address to the people he was laughed at and interrupted by their clamors, for the violence of his manner threw him into a confusion of periods, and a distortion of his argument. Besides he had a weakness and a stammering in his voice, and a want of breath, which caused such a distraction in his discourse that it was difficult for the audience to understand him. At last, upon his quitting the assembly, Ennomus, the Thracian, a man now extremely old, found him wandering in a dejected condition in the Pireus, and took upon him to set him right. "You," said he, “have a manner of speaking like that of Pericles, and yet you lose yourself out of mere timidity and cowardice. You neither bear up against the tumults of a popular assembly, nor prepare your body by exercise for the labor of the rostrum, but suffer your parts to wither away by negligence and indolence." Another time, we are told, that when his speeches had been ill received, and he was going home with his head covered, and in the greatest distress, Satyrus, the player, who was an acquaintance of his, followed and went in with him. Demosthenes lamented to him that, tho he was the most laborious of all the orators, and had almost sacrificed his health to that application, yet he could gain no favor with the people; but drunken seamen and other unlettered persons were heard, and kept the rostrum, while he was entirely disregarded. "You say true," answered Satyrus; "but I will soon provide a remedy, if you will repeat to me some speech in Euripides or Sophocles." When Demosthenes had done, Satyrus pronounced the same speech, and he did it with such propriety of action, and so much in character, that it appeared to the orator quite a differ |