his sitting in a nearby box, and at that instant his future
political prospects were shattered as a vase struck by lightning. In
that single instant of insincerity he was appraised by that
discriminating audience and his doom was sealed.

Still another great quality in the Gettysburg speech is its directness.
The speaker had a clearly-defined purpose in view. He knew what he
wanted to say, and he proceeded to say it--no more, and no less.

There was no straying away into by-paths, no padding of words to make up
for shortage of ideas, no superfluous and big-sounding phrases, no empty
rhetoric or glittering generalities.

How many speakers there are who aim at nothing and hit it. How many
speakers there are who are on their way but do not know whither.

If this directness of quality were applied to talking in business, in
committee meetings, in telephone conversations, in public speaking, it
would save annually in this country millions of words and incalculable
time and energy.

You will note that this speech has the rare quality of conciseness. We
have an illustration here of how much a man can say in about 265 words
and in the short space of two minutes, if he knows precisely what he
wants to say.

It is well to bear in mind that although this speech was scribbled off
with seeming ease, Lincoln owed his ability to do it to a long and
painstaking study of words and English style.

He was a profound student of the dictionary. He steeped himself in
words. He scrutinized words, he studied words, he made himself a master
of words.

This is a valuable habit for every man to form,--to study words
regularly and earnestly, and to add consciously to his working
vocabulary a few words daily--so in the course of a year such a man will
acquire a large and varied stock of words which will do his instant
bidding.

The conclusion is a vital part of a speech. It is a place of peril to
many a public speaker. Countless speeches have been ruined by a bad
conclusion.

The most important thing here is that having decided beforehand upon the
particular ideas or message with which you intend to conclude your
speech, not to let any influence lead you away from this preconceived
purpose.

Some speakers are about to conclude effectively but are unwilling to
omit anything which they have planned to give in their speech, and so
continue in an endeavor to recall every item. At last such a speech has
a loose and straggling ending.