THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. J. BERG ESENWEIN DALE CARNAGEY

RIDING THE WINGED HORSE

       QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

       GROWING A VOCABULARY

       QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

       RIGHT THINKING AND PERSONALITY

       QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

       AFTER-DINNER AND OTHER OCCASIONAL SPEAKING

       QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

       MAKING CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE

       QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

       APPENDICES FIFTY QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE

       THIRTY THEMES FOR SPEECHES

       SUGGESTIVE SUBJECTS FOR SPEECHES[36]

       SPEECHES FOR STUDY AND PRACTISE

       THE NEW AMERICANISM

       THE CALL TO DEMOCRATS

       LAST SPEECH

       EULOGY OF WEBSTER

       Impressum neobooks

      A FOREWORD

      The Art of Public Speaking

      J. BERG ESENWEIN

       AUTHOR OF

      "HOW TO ATTRACT AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE,"

      "WRITING THE SHORT-STORY,"

      "WRITING THE PHOTOPLAY," ETC., ETC.,

      AND

      DALE CARNAGEY

      PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF COMMERCE AND

      FINANCE; INSTRUCTOR IN PUBLIC SPEAKING, Y.M.C.A. SCHOOLS, NEW

      YORK, BROOKLYN, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA, AND THE NEW YORK

      CITY CHAPTER, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BANKING

      =Things to Think of First=

      The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important

      respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its

      power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its

      writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice

      may prove to be ineffective.

      This book stands or falls by its authors' attitude toward its subject.

      If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in

      public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for

      the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of

      gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to

      such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the

      reader--as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be

      reckoned a failure, because it is then untrue.

      It is of some importance, therefore, to those who take up this volume

      with open mind that they should see clearly at the out-start what is the

      thought that at once underlies and is builded through this structure. In

      plain words it is this:

      Training in public speaking is not a matter of externals--primarily; it

      is not a matter of imitation--fundamentally; it is not a matter of

      conformity to standards--at all. Public speaking is public utterance,

      public issuance, of the man himself; therefore the first thing both in

      time and in importance is that the man should be and think and feel

      things that are worthy of being given forth. Unless there be something

      of value within, no tricks of training can ever make of the talker

      anything more than a machine--albeit a highly perfected machine--for the

      delivery of other men's goods. So self-development is fundamental in our

      plan.

      The second principle lies close to the first: The man must enthrone his

      will to rule over his thought, his feelings, and all his physical

      powers, so that the outer self may give perfect, unhampered expression

      to the inner. It is futile, we assert, to lay down systems of rules for

      voice culture, intonation, gesture, and what not, unless these two

      principles of having something to say and making the will sovereign have

      at least begun to make themselves felt in the life.

      The third principle will, we surmise, arouse no dispute: No one can

      learn _how_ to speak who does not first speak as best he can. That may

      seem like a vicious circle in statement, but it will bear examination.

      Many teachers have begun with the _how_. Vain effort! It is an ancient

      truism that we learn to do by doing. The first thing for the beginner in

      public speaking is to speak--not to study voice and gesture and the

      rest. Once he has spoken he can improve himself by self-observation or

      according to the criticisms of those who hear.

      But how shall he be able to criticise himself? Simply by finding out

      three things: What are the qualities which by common consent go to make

      up an effective speaker; by what means at least some of these qualities

      may be acquired; and what wrong habits of speech in himself work against

      his acquiring and using the qualities which he finds to be good.

      Experience, then, is not only the best teacher, but the first and the

      last. But experience must be a dual thing--the experience of others must

      be