Demonstrative Speech Sitemap

Preface - The demand for this book, exhausting several editions in i* comparatively short time, testifies to the wide-spread interest in. the subject of speech culture. There has never been a time when convincing and forceful speech exerted so great an influence as now in business, social, and public life. It is not too much to say that to speak well is a certain passport to success.

01. Breathing - Correct management of the breath is of first importance to the student of elocution. When the voice is not in use breathe exclusively through the nose so that the air may be warmed and purified before reaching the lungs. This habit will, in large measure, obviate the disagreeable effects of dry mouth and sore throat, so common to public speakers. Practise as much as possible in the open air. Be enthusiastic and in earnest.

02. Vocal Expression - Essential to good speaking and reading is a distinct and correct enunciation. This may be attained by daily practise upon exercises in articulation. The student will discover combinations of letters difficult for him to produce and these should be practised over and over again until facility is gained and a uniformly good enunciation acquired. Reading slowly, giving full play to the flexibility of the tongue and lips, will aid materially in securing fluency and accuracy.

03. Voice Culture - To secure purity of voice, no particle of breath must be allowed to escape unvocalized. A persistent effort should be made to produce this quality, at first "feeding" the breath very gently to the vocal cords and increasing the volume only after long practise. i' He is the best speaker, *y says Lennox Browne, "who can control the expiration, that the least possible amount of air sufficient to cause vibration is poured with continuous effect upon the vocal organs.''

04. Modulation - Modulation has reference to the means of varying the voice so as to express thought with truth and effectiveness. The principal modulations are quality, pitch, time, inflection and force.

Quality may be described as the character of the speaking voice, and for convenience is divided into two kinds: Pure and Impure. Pure quality is subdivided into Simple Pure and Orotund, while Impure quality is divided into Aspirated, Oral, Falsetto, Guttural and Pectoral.

05. More Modulation - Time as applied to speech embraces three important elements: Bate, Quantity, and Pausing. The rate at which one speaks may be Medium, Slow, Very Slow, Rapid, or Very Rapid. Quantity is the time given to syllables and individual words. Pausing has reference to time between words and is divided into two kinds: Grammatical and Rhetorical.

06. Even More Modulation - Force applied to syllables or words is called Stress, and may be Initial, Median, Terminal, Compound, Thorough or Intermittent

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

2. But it can not, shall not be; this great woe to our beloved country, this catastrophe for the cause of national freedom, this grievous calamity for the whole civilized world, it can not be, it shall not be.

07. Gesture - Gesture, embracing movements of the head, body, arms, hands, legs and feet, is a natural and necessary part of expression. The student should study for grace, flexibility, appropriateness, variety and spontaneity. It will be profitable to carefully observe the expression of various classes of people, paintings and sculpture. Practise daily before a looking-glass.

08. Pausing - The intelligent use of pausing contributes very materially to artistic and effective speech. It discloses a speaker's method of thinking, and its possibilities are almost as varied as thought itself. Rapid utterance, unless employed specifically to portray hasty action, is usually a sign of shallow-ness. The speaker fails to weigh or measure his thought, and skims over its surface in undue anxiety to express what is in his mind.

09. Picturing - This is the image-making faculty. The ability to call to mind vivid and varied pictures, appropriate to the thought, is a powerful element in good speaking. What the speaker sees in his imagination is likely to be shared by his auditors. This is well described by Dr. Conwell when he says:

"Oh! the power of words! With them we sway men's minds at will.

10. Conversation - The habitual use of language and manner of expression in daily conversation will greatly influence a speaker's style in public address. The difference in conversation, public speaking and reading is, briefly, as follows:

Conversation is dialogue and the simplest and most direct form of vocal expression. It is the beginning of speech culture and no effort should be spared to acquire ease and correctness in its use.

11. Confidence - 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.

12. Bible Reading - In Nehemiah 13, 8 are these words: "And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading.''

This verse contains a concise treatise on the art of Bible reading. Before a reader, however, can give the sense to others, he must have a deep realization of the truth he is uttering.

13. Previous Preparation - Physical - Health and bodily vigor are prerequisite conditions to success in public speaking. The distinguished orators of the world have almost invariably been men of strong vitality and commanding appearance. Burke, Brougham, Clay, Webster, Pinkney, Choate, Everett, Lincoln, Sumner, Hall, Spurgeon, Beecher, Gladstone, Brooks, and many others were men of this type. Robust health has a cheering influence and is a sweetener of work.

14. Speech Preparation - Having chosen a theme, the logical order is to first gather the material, second to judiciously select from it and arrange it in order, and third to fix it in the mind ready for use. The task of finding material may be slow and tedious at first, but successive efforts will bring ease and facility. The habit of completely "thinking out" a subject should be cultivated from the beginning.

15. Speech Divisions - The usual divisions of a speech are: 1. The Introduction. 2. The Discussion, or Statement of Facts. 3. The Conclusion, or Peroration.

This is a difficult and critical part of a discourse. The immediate object of the speaker should be to gain the attention and good will of the audience. To this end he will begin modestly and with something familiar or acceptable to them.

16. Speech Delivery - It is desirable that a speaker should have some knowledge of the people he is to address. It will be to his advantage to know something of their range of thought and their likes and dislikes. He should also know something of the occasion, such as: Who will be there? What is expected of him? How long should he speak? Will there be any other speakers? What will be the spirit of the audience? What will be his subject? These and similar questions will enable him to get his bearings and to adapt himself to a particular audience. It is assumed that the speaker has trained himself in voice and gesture, and being master of these means of expression, he now steps before his audience.

Part Four - Practise - section(1) - The people gave their voice, and the danger that hung upon our borders went by like a cloud. Then was the time for the upright citizen to show the world if he could suggest anything better: now, his cavils come too late. The statesman and the adventurer are alike in nothing, but there is nothing in which they differ more than this. The statesman declares his mind before the event, and submits himself to be tested by those who have believed him, by fortune, by his own use of opportunities, by every one and everything.

Part Four - Practise - section(2) - MR. PRESIDENT: Two portentous perils threaten the safety, if they do not endanger the existence of the republic.

The first of these is ignorant, debased, degraded, spurious, and sophisticated suffrage; suffrage contaminated by the feculent sewage of decaying nations; suffrage intimidated and suppressed in the South; suffrage impure and corrupt, apathetic and indifferent, in the great cities of the North, so that it is doubtful whether there has been for half a century a presidential election in this country that expressed the deliberate and intelligent judgment of the whole body of the American people.

Part Four - Practise - section(3) - Wol. So farewell to the little good you bear me.
Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness!
This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do. I have ventur'd,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory,

Part Four - Practise - section(4) - There was a sound of revelry by night,

And Belgium's capital had gathered then Her beauty and her chivalry; and bright,

The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men;

A thousand hearts beat happily; and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

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