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will find that his imagination grows stronger. Here is a field of investigation for the student, guided by a skillful teacher.

Anyone who is born with large endowment in any one of these faculties will find its exercise easier, consequently, its growth more rapid. But growth is assured alike to the willow and the oak, and under the same law; hence the man of one talent, and the one of ten, will surely grow by labor and by exercise. Exercise gives development, growth, and skill. This law is inexorable and applicable to all, whether he be Demosthenes, Phillips, Curran, John Smith, or Tom Jones.

CHAPTER VI.

EXTEMPORE SPEAKING — DEFINITION.

EXTEMPORE SPEAKING is that form of speech in which the language has not been chosen and memorized beforehand, or in which the speaker selects and arranges his words while speaking.

Before considering this subject in full, we will briefly note the five kinds of speech. Named in the order of their least formal preparation, they are: (1) The impromptu speech; (2) the extempore speech; (3) the speech with notes; (4) the written speech to be read; (5) the written and committed speech delivered from memory, usually called oration.

1. AN IMPROMPTU SPEECH is one delivered on "the spur of the moment," i.e., without previous notice to the speaker, and without preparation for that particular occasion. It appears to the audience as the offspring of the moment, although this is frequently not the case. Usually, it is a theme very familiar to the speaker, one that in thought he has been over and over again. Sometimes it is a speech that he has made two, three, five, or a dozen times, before other audiences, and perhaps, if his memory is short, before the same audience. Some of these speeches are very often like those of Mark Twain, who is reported as saying that sometimes he made impromptu speeches, but those were

the best which were written out and committed to memory beforehand. Many other speakers are guilty of a like deception, especially when responding to after-dinner toasts.

The eloquent Tom Marshall, of Kentucky, carried this, according to report, further than anyone else in this country. For years, he would deliver what his fellow-citizens supposed to be impromptu speeches. They were powerful and thrilling, and easily secured for him the title of “The Eloquent Tom Marshall, of Kentucky." After he had attained some reputation as a speaker, he would be invited by citizens of various Kentucky cities to make them speeches the next time he came to their town. He would then return home, and spend his spare time for several weeks, sometimes months, in preparing an elaborate speech. When some large gathering, as a convention or a fair, took place, he would go to the town brimful of the speech. His friends and admirers, remembering their request, would call upon him, when he would respond with an impromptu speech like Mark Twain's best. They were elaborate and eloquent, and the more so, in public estimation, because supposedly the product of the moment. Toward the close of his life, Mr. Marshall revealed the secret of his method, to some extent breaking the spell which had gathered about his “impromptu" eloquence. We cite Mr. Marshall as an illustration of most impromptu speaking. There are, however, times for thoroughly impromptu speeches, usually exciting occasions, as a revolution, a burning city, a sinking ship,

when the man, so to speak, is carried out of himself, and the occasion, like an inspiration, speaks through him. In such cases, even the uneducated are eloquent. If they are good men, it is humanity voicing itself through one man, his better divinity stirring within. Such utterances are always eloquent, though they may not be learned or profound. They are usually short, because strong feeling is short-lived.

2. THE SPEECH WITH NOTES admits of a paper before the speaker with a varying amount of matter, from a small analysis up to a considerable portion of the speech. So, according to the amount of matter, we say that so-and-so speaks "from full notes or scant notes." He cannot, however, have the entire speech before him, else it would pass to the next division, THE WRITTEN SPEECH, which admits of full preparation in both matter and style. This mode of address has various names, e. g., lectures, papers, essays, etc., which are read more or less closely, and consequently, are never so impressive or popular as 'the spoken address. On very profound subjects and before very learned or critical audiences, they are commendable.

3. THE ORATION, in preparation, is the fullest of the modes of speaking, with the addition of committing it to memory. It is characterized by more formality, finish, and, at times, more eloquence. It is used on some special occasion, as the Fourth of July, the celebration of significant achievements, in panegyrics over some distinguished

citizen. The occasion largely determines the character of this form of address.

Having noted the four kinds of speech, we next come to our special theme:

EXTEMPORE SPEAKING.

This admits of various degrees of preparation, falling into three classes:

1. Thinking out without writing.

2. Writing in part or making notes or heads. 3. Writing in full.

All of these have their places in the hands of different speakers, and in different stages of development. While most young speakers begin with the last, the writer believes. that, in extempore speaking, they should as a rule begin with the second. Take note, we are not discussing the oration, or the scientific paper, but extempore speaking, and the very beginning. The conditions, as I see them, are:

1. The work is extempore speaking, i. e., speaking in which language is not previously selected. To develop this power is what we essentially aim to do. After a few speeches or talks of three, five or seven minutes, pupils may write in whole or part if somewhat easy and natural in tone and manner.

2. In writing in full in the beginning, the speaker is likely to consciously or unconsciously memorize a part of his language, and, consequently, the mixture of extempore

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