Chapter 11 - Confidence

Examples | Earnestness | The Emotions | Examples

A resourceful self-reliance is necessary to complete confidence. Emerson says, " Knowledge is the antidote to fear." A man must train himself to be equal to any emergency. He should examine himself, thoroughly prepare himself and make up his mind to take the risk of failure if necessary. Successive failures should be an incentive to greater effort. Above all he should do his work under the immediate inspiration of duty. The habit of clear and deliberate utterance should be cultivated both in conversation and public address. He should be bold, but not too bold. More failures in public speaking are due to egotism than to anything else. The first possession of every man should be self-possession, and this can best be acquired through the practise of concentration, modesty of manner, thorough preparation, and physical earnestness.

EXAMPLES

1. What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to the scaffold which that tyranny, of which you are only the intermediate minister, has erected for my murder, that I am accountable for all the blood that has been and will be shed, in this struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor? Shall you tell me this, and must I be so very a slave as not to repel it? I, who fear not to approach the Omnipotent Judge, to answer for the conduct of my short life, am I to be appalled here, before a mere remnant of mortality? by you, too, who, if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood that you have caused to be shed, in your un hallowed ministry, in one great reservoir, your lordship might swim in it! "On Being Found Guilty    of High Treason." ROBERT EMMET.

2. No one in a hurry can possibly have his wits about him; and remember that in law there is ever an opponent watching to find you off your guard. You may occasionally be in haste, but you need never be in a hurry; take care resolve never to be so. Remember always that others’ interests are occupying your attention, and suffer by your inadvertence by that negligence which generally occasions hurry. A man of first-rate business talents one who always looks so calm and tranquil that it makes one’s self feel cool on a hot summer’s days to look at him once told me that he had never been in a hurry but once, and that was for an entire fortnight at the commencement of his career. It nearly killed him; he spoiled everything he touched; he was always breathless and harassed and miserable. But it did him good for life; he resolved never again to be in a hurry and never was, no, not once, that he could remember, during twenty-five years; practise! Observe, I speak of being hurried and flustered not being in haste, for that is often inevitable; but then is always seen the superiority and inferiority of different men. You may indeed almost define hurry as the condition to which and inferior man is reduced by haste. I one day observed, in a committee of the House of Commons sitting on a railway bill, the chief secretary of the company, during several hours, while great interests were in jeopardy, preserve a truly admirable coolness, tranquillity, and temper, conferring on him immense advantages. His suggestions to counsel were masterly, and exquisitely well-timed; and by the close of the day he had triumphed. "How is it that one never sees you in a hurry?" said I, as we were pacing the long corridor, on our way from the committee-room, "Because it's so expensive," he replied, with a significant smile. I shall never forget that observation; and don't you. "Attorneys and Solicitors."      WARREN.

3. With conscience satisfied with the discharge of duty, no consequences can harm you. There is no evil that we cannot either face or fly from, but the consciousness of duty disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent, like Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed or duty violated is still with us, for our happiness or for our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet with us. We cannot escape their power, nor fly from their presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at its close, and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity, which lies yet farther onward, we shall still find ourselves surrounded by the consciousness of duty, to pain us whenever it has been violated, and to console us so far as God may have given us grace to perform it. "The Knapp Murder Trial." WEBSTER.

4. But this I will avow, that I have scorned,
And still do scorn, to hide my sense of wrong!
Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword,
Or lays the bloody scourge upon my back,
Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts
The gates of honor on me, turning out
The Roman from his birthright; and, for what?
To fling your offices to every slave!
Vipers, that creep where man disdains to climb,
And, having wound their loathsome track to the top,
Of this huge, mouldering monument of Rome,
Hang hissing at the nobler man below!
"Catiline's Defiance."     GEORGE CROLY.

EARNESTNESS

Earnestness is the natural language of sincerity and high purpose. It manifests itself in voice, look, and gesture. It is the result of deep conviction, sympathy, self-abandon-ment, and a heartfelt desire to share the truth with others. The act of standing before an audience should kindle the heart and imagination of any speaker, but we know from observation that this is not always the case. Frequently an audience is strange, cold, and unresponsive, but here the speaker must call to his aid the power of self-excitation. He must have faith in himself and in his message. The speaker should realize that he is, to quote Nathan Sheppard, "An animal galvanic battery on two legs!" The physical apparatus should be so trained as to promptly and correctly respond to every demand made upon it.

In true earnestness there is no place for violence or impulsiveness. All must be well considered. Exaggerated shaking of the head, rolling the eyes, twisting and contorting the body, meaningless gesture, all are to be studiously avoided. In the early stages of practising, where there is a lack of feeling, it may for a time be assumed. Sluggish emotions can in this way be aroused and subsequent efforts will become less and less difficult.

Nothing contributes more to the well-springs of genuine feeling than long and varied experience among all classes of people. To accustom oneself to sharing the joys and sorrows, the hopes and fears, of others, will cultivate the deepest feelings of the human heart.

1. Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever! DANIEL WEBSTER.

2. But them, O Florence, take the offered mercy. See! The cross is held out to you; come and be healed. Which among the nations of Italy has had a token like unto yours? The tyrant is driven out from among you; the men who held a bribe in their left hand and a rod in their right, are gone forth, and no blood has been spilled. And now put away every other abomination from among you, and you shall be strong in the strength of the living God. Wash yourself from the black pitch of your vices, which have made you even as the heathens; put away the envy and hatred that have made your city as a nest of wolves. And there shall no harm happen to you; and the passage of armies shall be to you as the flight of birds, and rebellious Pisa shall be given to you again, and famine and pestilence shall be far from your gates, and you shall be as a beacon among the nations. But, mark! while you suffer the accursed thing to lie in the camp, you shall be afflicted and tormented, even tho a remnant among you may be saved. Savonarola in "Romola." GEORGE ELIOT.

3. Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who have given their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our power to add or to detract. The world will very little note nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here, to the unfinished work they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. At the Dedication of Gettysburg Cemetery.          LINCOLN.

4. Straightway Virginius led the maid a little space aside, To where the reeking shambles stood, piled up .with horn and hide. Hard by, a flesher on a block had laid his whittle down, Virginius caught the whittle up, and hid it in his gown. And then his eyes grew very dim, and his throat began to swell, And in a hoarse, changed voice he spake, "Farewell, sweet child, farewell!

The house that was the happiest within the Roman walls, The house that envied not the wealth of Capua's marble halls, Now, for the brightness of thy smile, must have eternal gloom, And for the music of thy voice, the silence of the tomb.

"The time is come. See how he points his eager hand this way; See how his eyes gloat on thy grief, like a kite's upon the prey; With all his wit he little deems that, spurned, betrayed, bereft, Thy father hath, in his despair, one fearful refuge left; He little deems that, in this hand, I clutch what still can save Thy gentle youth from taunts and blows, the portion of the slave;

Yea, and from nameless evil, that passeth taunt and blow, Foul outrage, which thou knowest not, which thou shalt never know. Then clasp me round the neck once more and give me one more kiss;

And now, mine own dear little girl, there is no way but this\n With that he lifted high the steel, and smote her in the side, And in her blood she sank to earth, and with one sob she died. Then, for a little moment, all the people held their breath; And through the crowded forum was stillness as of death;

And in another moment brake forth from one and all A cry as if the Volseians were coming o'er the wall; Till, with white lips and bloodshot eyes, Virginius tottered nigh, And stood before the judgment seat, and held the knife on high : "O dwellers in the nether gloom, avengers of the slain, By this dear blood I cry to you, do right between us twain; And e'en as Appius Claudius has dealt by me and mine, Deal you by Appius Claudius and all the Claudian line!'7 So spake the slayer of his child, and turned, and went his way; But first he cast one haggard glance to where the body lay, Then up sprang Appius Claudius: "Stop him, alive or dead! Ten thousand pounds of copper to the man who brings his head!"

He looked upon his clients, but none would work his will; He looked upon his lictors, but they trembled and stood still. And as Virginius through the press his way in silence cleft, Ever the mighty multitude fell back to right and left; And he hath passed in safety unto his woful home, And there ta'en horse, to tell the camp what deeds are done in Rome. "Virginia." MACAULAY.

5. The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces; help us to play the man, let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonored; and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. "A Morning Prayer." ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

THE EMOTIONS

It is neither desirable nor possible to lay down arbitrary-rules for expressing emotion, since people express their feelings according to individual temperament and cimimstances. Some general considerations, however, will be helpful.

In love, sympathy, devotion, and kindred feelings, the voice is usually inclined to high pitch, the eyes have a gentle luster, and a smile plays about the lips. In gravity the eyebrows are lowered, the lips shut firmly and the eyes apparently rest on vacancy. Surprise, wonder, and amazement are indicated by elevated eyebrows, open eyes and mouth, and aspirated voice. In tranquillity, the eyes are mild, the face composed, and the body in repose. In anxiety, dejection, and grief, there is a downward contraction of the facial muscles and relaxation of the body. In sorrow and grief the corners of the mouth are drawn down. Violent grief often vents itself in beating the head with the hands, stamping the feet, and running about distracted. In fear the voice is weak and trembling, the lips, face and body shake, and the heart beats violently. Shyness is indicated by side glances. Pride is manifest in a lofty look, erect head, firm body, open eyes, and sometimes with lower lip protruded. In courage the figure is erect and free in its movements, and the voice full and firm.

EXAMPLES ADMIRATION

What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! "Hamlet." SHAKESPEARE.

ADMONITION

Remember March, the Ides of March remember! Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, And not for justice f What! shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all this world, But for supporting robbers; shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes; And sell the mighty space of our large honors For so much trash as may be grasped thus? "Julius Ccesar." SHAKESPEARE.

ANGER

And dar'st thou, then, to beard the lion in his den,
The Douglas in his hall?
And hop'st thou hence unscathed to go?
No! by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no!
"Marmion."       SCOTT.

APPEAL

Arthur. Oh, save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are out, Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men!
"King John/'      SHAKESPEARE.

AWE

Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, In ray less majesty, now stretches forth Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world. Silence how dead! and darkness how profound! Nor eye nor listening ear an object finds. Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause, An awful pause, prophetic of her end. "Night Thoughts." YOUNG.

COMMAND

"Halt!" the dust-brown ranks stood fast; "Fire!" out blazed the rifle-blast.
"Barbara Frietchie." WHITTIER.

COURAGE

He shuddered, set teeth, kept silence.
Without a reproach or cry The women were slain before him,
And he stood and he saw them die.
"The Ballad of Splendid Silence." NESBIT.

COWARDICE

Acres. No, I say we won't run by my valor!
Sir Lucius, What the devil's the matter with you?
Acres. Nothing, nothing, my dear friend my dear Sir Lucius but I I I don't feel quite so bold, somehow, as I did.
Sir L. Oh, fie! consider your honor.
Acres. Ay, true my honor do, Sir Lucius, edge in a word or two, every now and then, about my honor.
Sir L. Well, here they're coming.
Acres. Sir Lucius, if I weren't with you, I would almost think I was afraid if my valor should leave me! valor will come and go.
"The Rivals." SHERIDAN.

DEFIANCE

Blaze, with your serried columns!
I will not bend the knee! The shackles ne'er again shall bind
The arm which now is free. I've mail'd it with the thunder,
When the tempest mutter'd low; And where it falls, ye well may dread
The lightning of its blow!
"The Seminole's Reply." GEORGE W. PATTEN.

EXASPERATION

Oh! the side glance of that detested eye! That conscious smile! that full insulting lip! It touches every nerve; it makes me mad! BAILLIE.

EXULTATION

Goring the bells and fire the guns,
And fling the starry banners out; Shout "Freedom!" till your lisping ones Give back their cradle-shout. WHITTIER.

GLADNESS

Now the laughing, jolly Spring began to show her buxom face in the bright morning. The buds began slowly to expand their close winter folds, the dark and melancholy woods to assume an almost imperceptible purple tint; and here and there a little chirping bluebird hopped about the orchards. Strips of fresh green appeared along the brooks, now released from their icy fetters; and nests of little variegated flowers, nameless, yet richly deserving a name, sprang up in the sheltered recesses of the leafless woods.

HATRED

Stay there, or I'll proclaim you to the house and the whole street! If you try to evade me, I'll stop you, if it's by the ham and raise the very stores against you. DICKENS.

HOPE

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, -Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary. "The Rainy Day." LONGFELLOW,

INDIGNANT COMMAND

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting. "Get thee back into the tempest and the night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of the lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken, quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the raven: "Nevermore!" "The Baven." POE.

JOY

Then, sing ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
And let the young lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound!
We, in thought, will join your throng,
Ye that pipe and ye that play,
Ye that through your hearts to-day
Feel the gladness of the May!
"Intimations of Immortality."      WORDSWOBTH.

PATRIOTISM

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between our loved home and the war's desolation;
Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the power thaj; hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "IN GOD IS OUR TRUST";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
"The Star-spangled Banner."     KEY.

RESIGNATION

Forever and forever, all in a blessed home,
And there to wait a little while, till you and Effie come,
To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your breast,
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.
"May Queen."   TENNYSON.

REVERENCE

Father, Thy hand
Hath reared these venerable columns; Thou Dids't weave this verdant roof. Thou dids't look down Upon the naked earth, and forthwith rose All these fair ranks of trees.
"Forest Hymn." BRYANT.

SADNESS

We buried the old year in silence and sadness. To many it brought misfortune and affliction. The wife hath given her husband and the husband his wife at its stern behest; the father hath consigned to its cold arms the son in whom his life centered, and the mother hath torn from her bosom her tender babe and buried it and her heart in the cold, cold ground. EDWARD BROOKS.

SCORN

I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs, I have within my heart's hot cells shut up, To leave you in your lazy dignities. "Catiline." CROLY.

SUBLIMITY

Thou glorious mirror! where the Almighty's form Glasses itself in tempests; in all time, Calm or convulsed, in breeze, or gale, or storm, Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime Dark heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime, The image of Eternity, the throne Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee, thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone! "Childe Harold." BYRON.

SURPRISE

Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace!
False blood to false blood joined! Gone to be friends!
Shall Lewis have Blanch? and Blanch those provinces?
It is not so; thou hast mis-spoke, mis-heard!
Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again,
It cannot be: thou dost but say His so.
SHAKESPEARE.

TERROR

Now o'er the one half world Nature seems dead; and the wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep; now witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder, Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, Toward his design Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear The very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it.
"Macheih." SHAKESPEARE.

THREAT

Do you think to frighten me? You! Do you think to turn me from any purpose that I have or any course I am resolved upon, by reminding me of the solitude of this place and there being no help near? Me, who am here designedly? If I had feared you, should I not have avoided you? If I feared you, should I be here in the dead of night, telling you to your face what I am going to tell? But I tell you nothing until you go back to that chair except this once again. Do not dare to come near me not a step nearer. I have something lying here that is no love trinket; and sooner than endure your touch once more,

I would use it on you and you know it while I speak with less reluctance than I would on any other creeping thing that lives.

TRIUMPH

Mark ye the flashing oars, And the spears that light the deep? How the festal sunshine pours Where the lords of battle sweep! Each hath brought back his shield; Maid, greet thy lover home! Mother, from that proud field, Io! thy son is come.

MISCELLANEOUS

1. Information, speculation; fluctuation, ruination.
Dissipation, degradation; reformation or starvation.
Application, situation; occupation, restoration.
Concentration, enervation, nerve prostration. A vacation.
Destination, country station. Nice location, recreation.
Exploration, observation; fascination a flirtation.
Trepidation, hesitation, conversation, simulation;
Invitation, acclamation, sequestration, cold libation.
Stimulation, animation; inspiration, new potation.
Demonstration, agitation, circulation, exclamation!
Declaration, acceptation, osculation, sweet sensation.
Exultation, preparation, combination, new relation.1
"Modern Romance."     HENRY BLOSSOM, JR.

2. Squeers left the room, and shortly afterward returned, dragging Smike by the collar, or rather by that fragment of his jacket which was nearest the place where his collar ought to have been.

"Now what have you got to say for yourself? Stand a little out of the way, Mrs. Squeers, my dear; I've hardly got room enough."

"Spare me, sir!"

"Oh, that's all you've got to say, is it? Yes, HI flog you within an inch of your life, and spare you that."

1 By permission of The Smart Set, New York.
One cruel blow had fallen on him, when Nicholas Nickleby cried "Stop!"

"Who cried 'StopT

"I did. This must not go on."

"Must not go on?"

"No! Must not! Shall not! I will prevent it! You have disregarded all my quiet interference in this miserable lad's behalf; you have returned no answer to the letter in which I begged forgiveness for him, and offered to be responsible that he would remain quietly here. Don't blame me for this public interference. You have brought it upon yourself, not I."

"Sit down, beggar!"

"Wretch, touch him again at your peril! I will not stand by and see it done. My blood is up, and I have the strength of ten such men as you. By Heaven! I will not spare you, if you drive me on! I have a series of personal insults to avenge, and my indignation is aggravated by the cruelties practised in this cruel den. Have a care, or the consequences will fall heavily upon your head!"

Squeers, in violent outbreak, spat at him, and struck him a blow across the face. Nicholas instantly sprung upon him, wrested his weapon from his hand, and, pinning him by the throat, beat the ruffian till he roared for mercy. He then flung him away with all the force he could muster, and the violence of his fall precipitated Mrs. Squeers over an adjacent form; Squeers, striking his head against the same form in his descent, lay at his full length on the ground, stunned and motionless. "Nicholas Nickleby" DlCKENS.

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