The Art of Public Speaking | Page 6

command all the varieties of
foods gathered from the four corners of the earth, and sail for Africa or
Alaska at their pleasure; but the poverty-stricken man must walk or

take a street car--he does not have the choice of yacht, auto, or special
train. He must spend the most of his life in labor and be content with
the staples of the food-market. Monotony is poverty, whether in speech
or in life. Strive to increase the variety of your speech as the business
man labors to augment his wealth.
Bird-songs, forest glens, and mountains are not monotonous--it is the
long rows of brown-stone fronts and the miles of paved streets that are
so terribly same. Nature in her wealth gives us endless variety; man
with his limitations is often monotonous. Get back to nature in your
methods of speech-making.
The power of variety lies in its pleasure-giving quality. The great truths
of the world have often been couched in fascinating stories--"Les
Miserables," for instance. If you wish to teach or influence men, you
must please them, first or last. Strike the same note on the piano over
and over again. This will give you some idea of the displeasing, jarring
effect monotony has on the ear. The dictionary defines "monotonous"
as being synonymous with "wearisome." That is putting it mildly. It is
maddening. The department-store prince does not disgust the public by
playing only the one tune, "Come Buy My Wares!" He gives recitals on
a $125,000 organ, and the pleased people naturally slip into a buying
mood.
How to Conquer Monotony
We obviate monotony in dress by replenishing our wardrobes. We
avoid monotony in speech by multiplying our powers of speech. We
multiply our powers of speech by increasing our tools.
The carpenter has special implements with which to construct the
several parts of a building. The organist has certain keys and stops
which he manipulates to produce his harmonies and effects. In like
manner the speaker has certain instruments and tools at his command
by which he builds his argument, plays on the feelings, and guides the
beliefs of his audience. To give you a conception of these instruments,
and practical help in learning to use them, are the purposes of the
immediately following chapters.

Why did not the Children of Israel whirl through the desert in
limousines, and why did not Noah have moving-picture entertainments
and talking machines on the Ark? The laws that enable us to operate an
automobile, produce moving-pictures, or music on the Victrola, would
have worked just as well then as they do today. It was ignorance of law
that for ages deprived humanity of our modern conveniences. Many
speakers still use ox-cart methods in their speech instead of employing
automobile or overland-express methods. They are ignorant of laws
that make for efficiency in speaking. Just to the extent that you regard
and use the laws that we are about to examine and learn how to use will
you have efficiency and force in your speaking; and just to the extent
that you disregard them will your speaking be feeble and ineffective.
We cannot impress too thoroughly upon you the necessity for a real
working mastery of these principles. They are the very foundations of
successful speaking. "Get your principles right," said Napoleon, "and
the rest is a matter of detail."
It is useless to shoe a dead horse, and all the sound principles in
Christendom will never make a live speech out of a dead one. So let it
be understood that public speaking is not a matter of mastering a few
dead rules; the most important law of public speech is the necessity for
truth, force, feeling, and life. Forget all else, but not this.
When you have mastered the mechanics of speech outlined in the next
few chapters you will no longer be troubled with monotony. The
complete knowledge of these principles and the ability to apply them
will give you great variety in your powers of expression. But they
cannot be mastered and applied by thinking or reading about them--you
must practise, practise, PRACTISE. If no one else will listen to you,
listen to yourself--you must always be your own best critic, and the
severest one of all.
The technical principles that we lay down in the following chapters are
not arbitrary creations of our own. They are all founded on the practices
that good speakers and actors adopt--either naturally and unconsciously
or under instruction--in getting their effects.
It is useless to warn the student that he must be natural. To be natural

may be to be monotonous. The little strawberry up in the arctics with a
few tiny seeds and an acid tang is a natural berry, but it is not to be
compared with the improved variety that we