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

the audience. It thrills yet as we

      recall it. The high-sounding phrases, the historical knowledge, the

      philosophical treatment, of the other speakers largely failed to arouse

      any deep interest, while the genuine conviction and feeling of the

      modest clerk, speaking on a subject that lay deep in his heart, not

      only electrified his audience but won their personal sympathy for the

      cause he advocated.

      As Webster said, it is of no use to try to pretend to sympathy or

      feelings. It cannot be done successfully. "Nature is forever putting a

      premium on reality." What is false is soon detected as such. The

      thoughts and feelings that create and mould the speech in the study must

      be born again when the speech is delivered from the platform. Do not let

      your words say one thing, and your voice and attitude another. There is

      no room here for half-hearted, nonchalant methods of delivery. Sincerity

      is the very soul of eloquence. Carlyle was right: "No Mirabeau,

      Napoleon, Burns, Cromwell, no man adequate to do anything, but is first

      of all in right earnest about it; what I call a sincere man. I should

      say sincerity, a great, deep, genuine sincerity, is the first

      characteristic of all men in any way heroic. Not the sincerity that

      calls itself sincere; ah no, that is a very poor matter indeed; a

      shallow braggart, conscious sincerity, oftenest self-conceit mainly. The

      great man's sincerity is of the kind he cannot speak of--is not

      conscious of."

      QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

      It is one thing to convince the would-be speaker that he ought to put

      feeling into his speeches; often it is quite another thing for him to do

      it. The average speaker is afraid to let himself go, and continually

      suppresses his emotions. When you put enough feeling into your speeches

      they will sound overdone to you, unless you are an experienced speaker.

      They will sound too strong, if you are not used to enlarging for

      platform or stage, for the delineation of the emotions must be enlarged

      for public delivery.

      1. Study the following speech, going back in your imagination to the

      time and circumstances that brought it forth. Make it not a memorized

      historical document, but feel the emotions that gave it birth. The

      speech is only an effect; live over in your own heart the causes that

      produced it and try to deliver it at white heat. It is not possible for

      you to put too much real feeling into it, though of course it would be

      quite easy to rant and fill it with false emotion. This speech,

      according to Thomas Jefferson, started the ball of the Revolution

      rolling. Men were then willing to go out and die for liberty.

      _PATRICK HENRY'S SPEECH_

      BEFORE THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF DELEGATES

      Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions

      of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth,

      and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us to

      beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and

      arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the

      number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear

      not, the things which so nearly concern our temporal salvation?

      For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am

      willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to

      provide for it.

      I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the

      lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future

      but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what

      there has been in the conduct of the British Ministry for the

      last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have

      been pleased to solace themselves and the House? Is it that

      insidious smile with which our petition has been lately

      received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your

      feet. Suffer not yourselves to be "betrayed with a kiss"! Ask

      yourselves, how this gracious reception of our petition comports

      with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and

      darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of

      love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to

      be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our

      love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the

      implements of war and subjugation, the last "arguments" to which

      kings resort.

      I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its

      purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign

      any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in

      this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of

      navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us;

      they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and

      to rivet upon us those chains which the British Ministry have

      been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall

      we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten

      years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing.

      We have held the subject up in every light of which it is

      capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to

      entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which

      have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir,

      deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that

      could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We

      have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we

      have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored

      its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the Ministry

      and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our

      remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our

      supplications have been disregarded,