Chapter II: Foreword

Vital are the questions now confronting man the world over; but particularly are those questions important to Americans, because the United States of America is looked upon as the pioneer country of the world in all matters pertaining to man's emancipation from the injustice of ages, and that young country is expected to blaze a trail through the unsolved realm of progress along which the older nations may travel till they reach the plain of universal justice and liberty.

Among the problems now confronting the people are those of finance, labor, religion, conservation of natural resources, and civic justice. The questions are here, but where are the orators capable of making those questions clear to the masses? Where are the men to solve those problems? Some there are who are nobly responding to the demands of the times, but they are too few successfully to grapple with the task.

It is claimed that this is the age of the printing-press and that the necessity for orators no longer exists. This is surely not a valid claim. The newspaper is doing its work, and in many cases is doing it nobly, but it can never take the place of the human voice. An article may be printed in a paper having a circulation running into the hundreds of thousands, and yet the article will be read by only a small percentage of those into whose hands the paper falls; and out of this percentage a still smaller percentage will be influenced by the printed word. The speaker, on the other hand, addresses an audience of only a few thousand, but of that number, if the speaker is deserving of the name, he will influence a majority. Suppose he convinces and persuades only one hundred, the one hundred are so thoroughly brought into accord with the speaker that they go out into the world and, by word of mouth, bring ten times their number to the same way of thinking. By this means all great movements have flourished. John the Baptist, with the spoken word, prepared the way and made straight the path; Jesus of Nazareth taught by spoken symbols only; Paul of Tarsus carried Christianity into Greece and Rome by means of speech; Peter the Hermit enthused the Crusaders by his spoken utterances; Martin Luther brought about a reformation by his speech before the Diet of Worms; Patrick Henry aroused his countrymen by his eloquence; Daniel O'Connell accomplished Catholic emancipation in Great Britain by means of presenting the cause of religious liberty to friend and foe in the shape of the spoken word; Daniel Webster expounded the Constitution orally; William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Abraham Lincoln pleaded for the enslaved negro by word of mouth; and La Follette, Bryan, and Roosevelt are expressing the thoughts of the people of today by means of man's greatest attribute--speech.

Therefore, if any would take part in the glorious work of advancing the progress of the world, let him fit himself to discuss by word of mouth the great problems now confronting humanity.

THE VALUE OF ELOQUENCE

Faith cometh by hearing. --ST. PAUL, _Romans X:17_

It is not enough to speak, but to speak true. --SHAKESPEARE

Mend your speech a little
Lest it may mar your fortunes. --SHAKESPEARE

The power of utterance should be included by all in their plans of self-culture. --WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING

He is an orator that can make me think as he thinks and feel as he feels. --DANIEL WEBSTER

A vessel is known by its sound whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish. --DEMOSTHENES

I advocate in its full intent and for every reason of humanity, of patriotism, of religion, a more thorough culture of oratory. --HENRY WARD BEECHER

Eloquence has a client which, before all, it must save or make triumph. It matters little whether this client be a man, a people, or an idea. --VICTOR COUSIN

It is to this early speaking practice in the great art of all arts, oratory, that I am indebted for the primary and leading impulses that stimulated me forward. --HENRY CLAY

Ninety-nine men in every hundred in the crowded professions will probably never rise above mediocrity because the training of the voice is entirely neglected and considered of no importance. --WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE

He who does not use a gift, loses it; the man who does not use his voice or limbs, loses power over them, and becomes disqualified for the state of life to which he is called. --CARDINAL NEWMAN

I recognize but one mental acquisition as an essential part of the education of a lady or gentleman, namely, an accurate and refined use of the mother-tongue. --CHARLES W. ELIOT

Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech. --ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The cultivated voice is like an orchestra. It ranges high, intermediate or low, unconsciously to him who uses it, and men listen, unaware that they have been bewitched out of their weariness by the charms of a voice not artificial, but made by assiduous training to be his second nature. --HENRY WARD BEECHER

Men forget what they read; some do not read at all. They do not, however, forget when they are told by a vigorous speaker who means what he says. --JOHN OLIVER HOBBES (MRS. CRAIGIE)

For who can suppose amid the great multitude of students, the utmost abundance of masters, the most eminent geniuses among men, the infinite variety of causes, the most ample rewards offered to eloquence, there is any other reason to be found for the small number of orators than the incredible magnitude and difficulty of the art? --CICERO

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
Preface
Foreword
The Value of Eloquence
I The Making of Oratory
II How to Construct and Deliver Orations
III Construction
IV Composition
V Paraphrasing
VI A Series of Practical Hows
VII The Grecian Orators
VIII The Latin Orators
IX The Modern Orators
X Lesson Talks
Afterword
Guide to the study of the Book
List of Orations
Index

How to Master the Spoken Word