Public Speaking | Page 9

into
general use after the dictionary was printed. New activities, unusual
phases of life may throw into general conversation thousands of unused,
unheard words. This was true of the recent Great War, when with little
or no preparation thousands of military, industrial, naval, and
aeronautical terms came into daily use. Discussions still flutter mildly
around cantonment and rations, and a score of others.
Next to authoritative books, the best models are to be secured from the
speech of authorities in each branch to which the term specifically
belongs. Thus the military leaders have made the pronunciation of
oblique with the long i the correct one for all military usages. The
accepted sound of cantonments was fixed by the men who built and
controlled them. As it is not always possible for the ordinary person to
hear such authorities deliver such terms in discourse one can merely
say that a familiarity with correct pronunciation can be secured only
like liberty--at the price of eternal vigilance.
Constant consultation of the dictionary and other books of recognized
reference value, close observance of the speech of others, scrutiny of
one's own pronunciation, mental criticism of others' slips, and
determination to correct one's own errors, are the various methods of
attaining certainty of correct delivery of word sounds.
Poise. When a speaker stands before an audience to address its
members he should be perfectly at ease. Physical ease will produce an
effect upon the listeners. Mental ease because of mastery of the
material will induce confidence in the delivery. Bodily eccentricities
and awkwardness which detract from the speech itself should be

eradicated by strenuous practice. Pose and poise should first command
respectful attention. The body should be erect, but not stiff. Most of the
muscles should be relaxed. The feet should be naturally placed, not so
far apart as to suggest straddling, not so close together as to suggest the
military stand at "attention."
What should be done with the hands? Nothing. They should not be
clasped; they should not be put behind the back; they should not be
jammed into pockets; the arms should not be held akimbo; they should
not be folded. Merely let the arms and hands hang at the sides
naturally.
Gestures. Should a speaker make gestures? Certainly never if the
gesture detracts from the force of an expression, as when a preacher
pounds the book so hard that the congregation cannot hear his words.
Certainly yes, when the feeling of the speaker behind the phrase makes
him enforce his meaning by a suitable movement. In speaking today
fewer gestures are indulged in than years ago. There should never be
many. Senseless, jerky, agitated pokings and twitchings should be
eradicated completely. Insincere flourishes should be inhibited.
Beginners should beware of gestures until they become such practised
masters of their minds and bodies that physical emphasis may be added
to spoken force.
A speaker should feel perfectly free to change his position or move his
feet during his remarks. Usually such a change should be made to
correspond with a pause in delivery. In this way it reinforces the
indication of progress or change of topic, already cited in discussing
pauses.
Delivery. A speaker should never begin to talk the very instant he has
taken his place before his audience. He should make a slight pause to
collect the attention before he utters his salutation (to be considered
later) and should make another short pause between it and the opening
sentences of his speech proper. After he has spoken the last word he
should not fling away from his station to his seat. This always spoils
the effect of an entire address by ruining the impression that the last
phrase might have made.

As for the speech itself, there are five ways of delivering it:
1. To write it out in full and read it.
2. To write it out in full and commit it to memory.
3. To write out and memorize the opening and closing sentences and
other especially important parts, leaving the rest for extempore
delivery.
4. To use an outline or a brief which suggests the headings in logical
order.
5. To speak without manuscript or notes.
Reading the Speech. The first of these methods--to read the speech
from a prepared manuscript--really changes the speech to a lecture or
reading. True, it prevents the author from saying anything he would not
say in careful consideration of his topic. It assures him of getting in all
he wants to say. It gives the impression that all his utterances are the
result of calm, collected thinking. On the other hand, so few people can
read from a manuscript convincingly that the reproduction is likely to
be a dull, lifeless proceeding in which almost anything might be said,
so little does the material