public address; if you are careful about pronunciation of words, be careful in the extreme when on the platform; if you accent words with vigor, accent them harder; if you use a wide range of pitch, use a wider; if you pause, pause longer and more judiciously. If you use a large vocabulary in common talk, use a larger in public meetings; if you emphasize words and phrases with care in one case, use more care in the other. If you turn, move, gesture, then turn, move, and gesture more fully, more precisely, more commandingly. If you purpose to lead the thoughts of others, purpose it more highly and with greater decisiveness. Anything and everything that makes for good conversation needs amplification for public gatherings, needs a kind of exaggeration (in terms of chat and talk), needs more of the same thing-and this is Idealization. Here is a rule that explains why many speakers do not achieve the maximum of effectiveness before their audiences, and serves as a guide to him who would succeed.

Effective Speaking Is Always Emotional. Some people profess to be afraid of emotional speaking. Merely a matter of terminology is involved. These same people would insist that they gladly accept speaking that is earnest, sincere, bright, and even lively. Yet all of these are types of emotional speaking; for it is not conceivable that honest speaking which is alert and purposeful can by any stretch of the imagination be anything else than emotional. Of course we all dislike to see anyone quite beside himself with emotions; but by no means are all emotions wild and loose. So it is wiser to say that all lively speaking is necessarily emotional: emotional, but under control; otherwise it would be dry and juiceless.

V. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONVERSATIONAL MODE

If now all speaking and reading is a form of conversation, and if it also is a matter of the use of body and voice to carry meanings, then the best way to learn what good speech ought to be is to describe what good conversation is in terms of body and voice.

Polite Conversation the Norm.-Necessarily this descrip

tion must be in general terms; general enough to fit all occasions. What we have in mind at the present juncture is polite conversation, the model to work toward if one desires to mingle with polite people. Fishwife conversation, barroom conversation, bleachers conversation-all of these are real enough, and direct and natural, too; but it is safer to take our model from the drawing-room, the club parlor, the directors' table, and the committee meeting.

The Body in Conversation.-What is polite conversation like? Let us describe it. First as to our bodies: they are at ease, yet not slouchy, alert without being stiff or too aggressive, tense or relaxed as the occasion requires. Standing, men do not prop themselves by means of the furniture-all the time; having two feet, they use them both; stiffly erect or flexibly informal they change as the case demands, moving about freely enough to keep from seeming paralyzed or frightened; and they rarely allow their hands to remain out of the conversation-rarely indeed. They use their heads, literally, moving them from side to side and up and down; they corrugate their foreheads, frown, pull down the corners of their mouths, smile, grit their teeth, pucker their lips, wrinkle their noses, blink their eyes, squint, wink-in truth, while the list of facial expressions and bodily activities is a long one, still in polite, proper, gentlemanly, "nice" conversation that is really alert and outright, seemingly all possible kinds are used and used with propriety. If one doubts it, watch any company of people in vital, earnest, sincere conversation, when not making a show of themselves or governed by the fear that they will do something improper. Catch them unafraid, at ease, working freely; then note what they do.

The Voice in Conversation.-Then as to voice in refined but not tame conversation: there is almost nothing the voice does not do. It goes constantly up and down in pitch, running the whole gamut in one sentence or in one word; or it confines itself-intelligently-to a high or a low or a medium level, with little change at all. Now it drags and now it rushes along like lightning, sometimes all fast or all slow, but most of the time very much mixed; it halts to

feel for a word, and, finding it, makes forward to get the sentence finished at one gasp; for the most part it is sprinkled with pauses, for breath, for emphasis, and for getting a grip on the next idea; but it is never jerky to the point of senselessness and rarely unvaried with the precision of a typewriter or a metronome. Also it changes in volume; it grows now loud, now strong, then murmurs and purrs; it strikes some words with a vigorous thump, but brushes the majority of them with a mere touch; to the loudness or softness of tones it gives abundance of variety, and rarely indeed is all noisy or all soft. Lastly, it uses the voice in all sorts of ways and qualities of tone; with wide-open, relaxed throat, with keen head resonance or with the booming reverberation of the chest and lower throat; at times it comes to a whisper, a falsetto, a whine, or a growl-true even in polite conversation. Among all these various kinds of voice it makes many and swift changes, going rapidly from one extreme to the other, seldom remaining the same for any very long time.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Observe the conversations you hear; take notes on the following qualities:

(a) Simplicity, directness, naturalness.

(b) Energy, force, violence.

(c) Gentleness, moderation.

(d) Brightness, alertness, verve.

(e) Dullness, monotony.

(f) Speed, slowness, rate in general.

(g) Modulation of voice in pitch.

(h) Animation of body, movement, gesture.

(i) Tendencies toward display, "showing off."

2. String half a dozen incidents on some chain of logical relevancy; use them to establish a single "point." Aim to make the incidents interesting and the "point" impressive.

3. Take notes on speeches you hear; observe the following points: (a) Was the speaker "natural," "direct," communicative? (b) Was his meaning, as carried by voice and body, at all times clear?

(c) Can you detect any errors in the speaker's selection of his speaking manner for the occasion?

(d) Was his manner too grand or too slight for the occasion? Too "oratorical"? Too academic?

(e) Was idealization manifest? How shown?

(f) What marks of a public manner can you identify?

4. Commit to memory a three-minute passage of literature, poetry or prose, and deliver it in the manner of unembarrassed conversation. This is not easy.

5. Witness plays, impersonations, dramatic readings, and mark the elements of speaking that are not common to ordinary chat. Determine the emotional conditions for conversation that would make such speaking styles appropriate. Become a critic of directness and exhibition.

6. Prepare a three-minute talk to be delivered in the speaking manner you use among your close associates; following are suggested topics:

(a) My Home Town.

(b) Why I Am Afraid before an Audience.

(c) My Pet Aversion.

(d) Embarrassments I Have Known.

(e) The Greatest Thing in the World.

(f) The Values Men Fight For.

7. Read or recite as if to an audience of 1,000 people any of the extracts from public addresses given throughout this book.

CHAPTER IV

SPEAKER AND AUDIENCE

Argument of the Chapter.-Success in speaking depends much upon good manners and a right attitude of mind toward one's audience; an understanding of the nature of the occasion and an appreciation of the lives and habits of the auditors. Especially valuable are a sense of refinement, an analysis of culture level, and a study of the conditions under which the speaking is done. Successful speaking gets the attention of the audience, and then by rich and skillful variety holds their interest.

I. MANNERS AND OCCASIONS

When is speaking effective? What constitutes excellence and what failure in communication and speaking? What are the gauges by which the learner can tell when he is getting his desired results and when he is failing?

Good Manners Vital to Effective Speaking.-In conversation men are greatly influenced by one another's manners. The polite man can get a hearing where the boor is excluded; the man of courtesy can utter hostile sentiments and still be acceptable to hearers who would turn their backs upon a clown giving voice to their most cherished hobbies. On the platform the need for courtesy and politeness is even more urgent; for public gatherings are largely formal, and the essence of formality is manners and conventionalized social habits.

Manners Differ with Occasions.-Manners differ with differences in people present and in the spirit of the meeting. High society in the cities differs from a church group in the country; a company of day workers at their amusements behave differently from a company of scholars in their lighter