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Importance of Preparation-The Subject-Basic Proposition-Provisional Analysis-Accumulating Material-Documents, Reviews, Books-Bibliography-A Discriminating Judgment— Study both Sides of the Subject-Value of Materials-Taking Notes-Analysis and Proof.

REPARATION is the basis of success in public

PREPR

ance.

speaking. Genius, tact, and skill may be valuable aids to oratory, but they cannot be depended upon by the speaker without careful preparation. Socrates used to say that men could be Its Importeloquent on any subject they thoroughly understood. But clearly the converse of the proposition is true, and Cicero was right in maintaining that no one can speak eloquently on a subject he does not understand. The first consideration is to master the subject and all the facts pertaining to it, and then the public speaker may trust himself to enter the dim and perilous way" of platform or forensic address.

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It is doubtful whether any great oration that has outlived the hour of its delivery was entirely extempore. Speaking "on the Hard Work.

Genius for

spur of the moment" is generally as weak as it is spontaneous. No public speaker will risk his reputation to the inspiration of any conceivable occasion. Daniel Webster's reply to Hayne was not the outcome of an evening's meditation, but, as he afterwards said, the result of many years of thought and study. The platform, the bar, or the floor of an assembly are not so many fields for display, but for hard work in binding the sheaves and garnering the grains of eloquence.

The End

in View.

The

The public speaker has a definite end to accomplish. If he be a clergyman, there are hearts to be moved and souls to be saved by his sermons. The lawyer must convince courts and win verdicts from juries. The platform speaker is called upon to enforce his views of truth, so as to carry his audience. In the debate of the collegiate contest there is a laudable ambition to win. political speaker desires votes, and his eloquence is wasted if it does not increase the number of followers around his standard. And in that wider field of speech in the counting-room, office, and the marts of trade there is always an end to be attained, which, if missed, means failure. Therefore a burden rests upon the speaker, of whatever station in life, which should not be put upon untried shoulders. The end in view should be the only plea needed for painstaking preparation on the part of those who expect to move men by the use of eloquent words.

A thorough knowledge of the subject is the only safeguard in the crisis of delivery. A man cannot develop a subject logically and expound truth with

feeling and force when his ideas are only half formed. It was Webster who somewhat tartly replied to a young clergyman: "There is no such thing as extemporaneous acquisition."

The Subject.

The subject

The subject for discussion is the first thing to be considered in preparation for public speaking. It may be assigned or it may be chosen by the speaker, but, from whatever source it comes, it forms the starting-point. must be mastered. This is the groundwork alike of preparation and of effective speech afterward. As it is true that the orator cannot safely go beyond the absolute knowledge of facts in his possession, a complete command of the subject, follows as a logical necessity. The fact should also be borne in mind that the work of preparation is not primarily for display, but is undertaken for a specific object, the interests of which may not be jeopardized. And this affords an additional reason for thorough work.

The subject can generally be stated in a simple proposition. Around that single thought will naturally cluster fact, evidence, argument, and The Basic final proof. From the small beginning Proposition. thus laid down, the finished address grows like the tree, marked by the concentric rings: aided by investigation, thought, and study. Suppose, for example, it is intended to prepare an address on the annexation of the Philippine Islands. The subject takes tangible shape the moment it is stated in this simple form: The Philippines should be annexed. This is easily comprehended, and with it to start from, the search for facts and proofs may begin.

Reduce subjects of discussion to plain, concise propositions. Define terms, if necessary, and make the starting point clear and tangible.

SUBJECT The Nicaragua Canal.

BASIC PROPOSITION-The United States should own, construct, and operate the Nicaragua Canal.

Illustration.

DEFINITION OF TERMS-The United States means the National Government at Washington, represented by the President and Congress. The Nicaragua Canal is the proposed deep-water way for ocean ships, between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, across Nicaragua from Greytown to Brito, by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, projected and begun by the Maritime Canal Company. Should means expedient as a public measure. Own means to possess, as rightful property. Construct means to build or cause to be built under the supervision of Government engineers. Operate means to manage directly as public property.

In this fundamental examination of the subject the investigator needs what Sir Arthur Helps An Eye for designated as an almost ignominious love Detail. of detail. Not a fact that has the slightest bearing on the subject should be overlooked. It may afterwards be thrown away, giving place to something more important, but the speaker is now after material, and it must be freely gathered wherever found. It was the great Michael Angelo who said, trifles make perfection and perfection is not a trifle. Consequently, at the start note everything that bears upon the subject, for even the fugitive

thought may be required after a while in finishing or in giving strength to the argumentative edifice.

Next in importance to a clear statement and definition of the subject is the Provisional Analysis. Reasons will occur almost spontaneously Provisional to the mind in support of the original

Analysis.

proposition. These should be carefully noted down and arranged with reference to their logical bearing upon the subject. They may be subsequently discarded or retained, and the provisional analysis may be changed a score of times before it becomes the complete analysis; yet it marks the way through the tangled mass of material to clear thought and argument beyond. The provisional analysis is to the public speaker what the theory of the case is to the lawyer, and it serves a useful purpose as a temporary means of orderly and systematic work.

The provisional analysis should be written out as follows:

A. THE CANAL IS NECESSARY.

Illustration.

(a). From the naval standpoint. (b). From the commercial standpoint. B THE PROJECT IS FEASIble.

(a). Can be constructed by methods well understood by engineers.

(b). Its cost is probably within an expenditure of $150,000,000.

(c). Its operating expenses would be met from total receipts, leaving a profit for investment,

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