Successful Methods of Public Speaking | Page 8

the end the vitality of physical courage. When well on in his ninth
decade, well on to ninety, he was knocked over by a cab, and before the bystanders could
rally to his assistance, he had pursued the cab with a view to taking its number. He had,
too, notoriously, political courage in a not less degree than Sir Robert Walpole. We read
that George II, who was little given to enthusiasm, would often cry out, with color
flushing into his cheeks, and tears sometimes in his eyes, and with a vehement oath:--"He
(Walpole) is a brave fellow; he has more spirit than any man I ever knew."
Mr. Gladstone did not yield to Walpole in political and parliamentary courage--it was a
quality which he closely observed in others, and on which he was fond of descanting. But
he had the rarest and choicest courage of all--I mean moral courage. That was his
supreme characteristic, and it was with him, like others, from the first. A contemporary of
his at Eton once told me of a scene, at which my informant was present, when some loose
or indelicate toast was proposed, and all present drank it but young Gladstone. In spite of
the storm of objurgation and ridicule that raged around him, he jammed his face, as it
were, down in his hands on the table and would not budge. Every schoolboy knows, for
we may here accurately use Macaulay's well-known expression, every schoolboy knows

the courage that this implies. And even by the heedless generation of boyhood it was
appreciated, for we find an Etonian writing to his parents to ask that he might go to
Oxford rather than Cambridge, on the sole ground that at Oxford he would have the
priceless advantage of Gladstone's influence and example. Nor did his courage ever flag.
He might be right, or he might be wrong--that is not the question here--but when he was
convinced that he was right, not all the combined powers of Parliament or society or the
multitude could for an instant hinder his course, whether it ended in success or in failure.
Success left him calm, he had had so much of it; nor did failures greatly depress him. The
next morning found him once more facing the world with serene and undaunted brow.
There was a man. The nation has lost him, but preserves his character, his manhood, as a
model, on which she may form if she be fortunate, coming generations of men. With his
politics, with his theology, with his manifold graces and gifts of intellect, we are not
concerned to-day, not even with his warm and passionate human sympathies. They are
not dead with him, but let them rest with him, for we can not in one discourse view him
in all his parts. To-day it is enough to have dealt for a moment on three of his great moral
characteristics, enough to have snatched from the fleeting hour a few moments of
communion with the mighty dead.
History has not yet allotted him his definite place, but no one would now deny that he
bequeathed a pure standard of life, a record of lofty ambition for the public good as he
understood it, a monument of life-long labor. Such lives speak for themselves, they need
no statues, they face the future with the confidence of high purpose and endeavor. The
statues are not for them but for us, to bid us be conscious of our trust, mindful of our duty,
scornful of opposition to principle and faith. They summon us to account for time and
opportunity, they embody an inspiring tradition, they are milestones in the life of a nation.
The effigy of Pompey was bathed in the blood of his great rival: let this statue have the
nobler destiny of constantly calling to life worthy rivals of Gladstone's fame and
character.
Unveil, then, that statue. Let it stand to Glasgow in all time coming for faith, fortitude,
courage, industry, qualities apart from intellect or power or wealth, which may inspire all
her citizens however humble, however weak; let it remind the most unthinking passer-by
of the dauntless character which it represents, of his long life and honest purpose; let it
leaven by an immortal tradition the population which lives and works and dies around
this monument.

STUDY OF MODEL SPEECHES
MODEL SPEECHES, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR STUDY
There is no better way for you to improve your own public speaking than to analyze and
study the speeches of successful orators.
First read such speeches aloud, since by that means you fit words to your lips and acquire
a familiarity with oratorical style.

Then examine the speaker's method of arranging his thoughts, and the precise way in
which they lead up and contribute to