him to have two standards of speech, and to use an
inferior one excepting for special occasions. He should cultivate as a
regular daily habit discrimination in the use of voice, enunciation,
expression, and language. This should be the constant aim not only of
the salesman, but of every man ambitious to achieve success and
distinction in the world.

MEN AND MANNERISMS

There is a story of a politician who had acquired a mannerism of
fingering a button on his coat while talking to an audience. On one
occasion some friends surreptitiously cut the particular button off, and
the result was that the speaker when he stood up to address the audience
lost the thread of his discourse.

Gladstone had a mannerism of striking the palm of his left hand with the
clenched fist of his other hand, so that often the emphatic word was
lost in the noise of percussion. A common habit of the distinguished
statesman was to reach out his right hand at full arm's length, and then
to bend it back at the elbow and lightly scratch the top of his head
with his thumb-nail.

Balfour, while speaking, used to take hold of the lapels of his coat by
both hands as if he were in mortal fear of running away before he had
finished.

Goshen, at the beginning of a speech, would sound his chest and sides
with his hands, and apparently finding that his ribs were in good order,
would proceed to wash his hands with invisible soap.

The strange thing about mannerisms is that the speakers are usually
unconscious of them, and would be the first to condemn them in others.
The remedy for such defects lies in thorough and severe self-examination
and self-criticism. However eminent a speaker may be with objectionable
mannerisms, he would be still greater without them.

Every public speaker has certain characteristics of voice and manner
that distinguish him from other men. In so far as this individuality
gives increased power and effectiveness to the speaking style, it is
desirable and should be encouraged. When, however, it is carried to
excess, or in any sense offends good taste, it is merely mannerism, and
should be discouraged.

There is an objectionable mannerism of the voice, known as "pulpit
tone," that has come to be associated with some preachers. It takes
various forms, such as an unduly elevated key, a drawling monotone, a
sudden transition from one extreme of pitch to another, or a tone of
condescension. It is also heard in a plaintive minor