to neighbor, and has fused into it the vitality of the
personality of nearly every man--yes, and woman; don't forget that--in
the whole community.

And the philosophy which underlies this is what makes public speaking
immortal. The Master understood this very well, and that is why He
chose to speak by word of mouth rather than by writing epistles. The
Saviour never wrote a single epistle--no, not even a single word. He
_spoke_ His message.

Think of a gospel announced to the world in cold type! Absurd, is it
not? It may be repeated in that form, but its initial power must come
from the spoken word and vital personality of its author. But Christ's
addresses were not "extemporaneous." All His life He had been
preparing His few sermons--lessons.

The great speakers to whom I have listened have confirmed certain
conclusions upon the subject of speaking at which I arrived while in
college. It seemed to me that the college method of speaking was wrong
because it was irrational--that the studied gestures, the "cultivated"
voice, the staccato impressiveness, were all artificial devices to
attract the attention of an audience to these things, instead of to
the thought of the address.

Analysis of the problem convinced me that an audience is only a larger
person--a great collective individuality--and therefore that whatever,
in manner and matter, will please, persuade, and convince a person,
will have the same effect upon an audience. Hence one readily deduces
that a simple, quiet, but direct, earnest address; a straightforward,
unartificial honest manner, without tricks of oratory, is the most
effective method of lodging truth in the minds of one's hearers.

Any affectation, any mannerism, detracts from the thought because it
calls the attention of the listener to the mannerism or affectation,
when his whole attention should be monopolized by the thought. Read
Herbert Spencer on the "Philosophy of Style," and apply his reasoning
to the delivery of an address, and you have the rationale of the art
of speaking, as well as of speech, put with that wonderful thinker's
unerringness.

The method commonly employed in preparing speeches is incorrect. That
method is, to read all the books one can get on the subject, take all
the opinions that can be procured, make exhaustive notes, and then
write the speech.

Such a speech is nothing but a compilation. It is merely an
arrangement of second-hand thoughts and observations and of