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

used to supplement, correct and justify our own experience; in this

      way we shall become our own best critics only after we have trained

      ourselves in self-knowledge, the knowledge of what other minds think,

      and in the ability to judge ourselves by the standards we have come to

      believe are right. "If I ought," said Kant, "I can."

      An examination of the contents of this volume will show how consistently

      these articles of faith have been declared, expounded, and illustrated.

      The student is urged to begin to speak at once of what he knows. Then he

      is given simple suggestions for self-control, with gradually increasing

      emphasis upon the power of the inner man over the outer. Next, the way

      to the rich storehouses of material is pointed out. And finally, all the

      while he is urged to speak, _speak_, _SPEAK_ as he is applying to his own

      methods, in his own _personal_ way, the principles he has gathered from

      his own experience and observation and the recorded experiences of

      others.

      So now at the very first let it be as clear as light that methods are

      secondary matters; that the full mind, the warm heart, the dominant will

      are primary--and not only primary but paramount; for unless it be a full

      being that uses the methods it will be like dressing a wooden image in

      the clothes of a man.

      J. BERG ESENWEIN.

      NARBERTH, PA.,

      JANUARY 1, 1915.

      THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

      Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to

      make them understood. It too often happens in some

      conversations, as in Apothecary Shops, that those Pots that are

      Empty, or have Things of small Value in them, are as gaudily

      Dress'd as those that are full of precious Drugs.

      They that soar too high, often fall hard, making a low and level

      Dwelling preferable. The tallest Trees are most in the Power of

      the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune. Buildings

      have need of a good Foundation, that lie so much exposed to the

      Weather.

      --WILLIAM PENN.

      ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE

      There is a strange sensation often experienced in the presence

      of an audience. It may proceed from the gaze of the many eyes

      that turn upon the speaker, especially if he permits himself to

      steadily return that gaze. Most speakers have been conscious of

      this in a nameless thrill, a real something, pervading the

      atmosphere, tangible, evanescent, indescribable. All writers

      have borne testimony to the power of a speaker's eye in

      impressing an audience. This influence which we are now

      considering is the reverse of that picture--the power _their_

      eyes may exert upon him, especially before he begins to speak:

      after the inward fires of oratory are fanned into flame the eyes

      of the audience lose all terror.

      --WILLIAM PITTENGER, _Extempore Speech_.

      Students of public speaking continually ask, "How can I overcome

      self-consciousness and the fear that paralyzes me before an audience?"

      Did you ever notice in looking from a train window that some horses feed

      near the track and never even pause to look up at the thundering cars,

      while just ahead at the next railroad crossing a farmer's wife will be

      nervously trying to quiet her scared horse as the train goes by?

      How would you cure a horse that is afraid of cars--graze him in a

      back-woods lot where he would never see steam-engines or automobiles, or

      drive or pasture him where he would frequently see the machines?

      Apply horse-sense to ridding yourself of self-consciousness and fear:

      face an audience as frequently as you can, and you will soon stop

      shying. You can never attain freedom from stage-fright by reading a

      treatise. A book may give you excellent suggestions on how best to

      conduct yourself in the water, but sooner or later you must get wet,

      perhaps even strangle and be "half scared to death." There are a great

      many "wetless" bathing suits worn at the seashore, but no one ever

      learns to swim in them. To plunge is the only way.

      Practise, _practise_, _PRACTISE_ in speaking before an audience will tend

      to remove all fear of audiences, just as practise in swimming will lead

      to confidence and facility in the water. You must learn to speak by

      speaking.

      The Apostle Paul tells us that every man must work out his own

      salvation. All we can do here is to offer you suggestions as to how best

      to prepare for your plunge. The real plunge no one can take for you. A

      doctor may prescribe, but _you_ must take the medicine.

      Do not be disheartened if at first you suffer from stage-fright. Dan

      Patch was more susceptible to suffering than a superannuated dray horse

      would be. It never hurts a fool to appear before an audience, for his

      capacity is not a capacity for feeling. A blow that would kill a

      civilized man soon heals on a savage. The higher we go in the scale of

      life, the greater is the capacity for suffering.

      For one reason or another, some master-speakers never entirely overcome

      stage-fright, but it will pay you to spare no pains to conquer it.

      Daniel Webster failed in his first appearance and had to take his seat

      without finishing his speech because he was nervous. Gladstone was often

      troubled with self-consciousness in the beginning of an address.

      Beecher was always perturbed before talking in public.

      Blacksmiths sometimes twist a rope tight around the nose of a horse, and

      by thus inflicting a little pain they distract his attention from the

      shoeing process. One way to get air out of a glass is to pour in water.

      _Be Absorbed by Your Subject_

      Apply the blacksmith's homely principle