Many teachers have begun with the _how_. Vain effort! It is an ancient truism

that we learn to do by doing. The first thing for the beginner in public

speaking is to speak--not to study voice and gesture and the rest. Once he has

spoken he can improve himself by self-observation or according to the criticisms

of those who hear.

 

But how shall he be able to criticise himself? Simply by finding out three

things: What are the qualities which by common consent go to make up an

effective speaker; by what means at least some of these qualities may be

acquired; and what wrong habits of speech in himself work against his acquiring

and using the qualities which he finds to be good.

 

Experience, then, is not only the best teacher, but the first and the last. But

experience must be a dual thing--the experience of others must be used to

supplement, correct and justify our own experience; in this way we shall become

our own best critics only after we have trained ourselves in self-knowledge, the

knowledge of what other minds think, and in the ability to judge ourselves by

the standards we have come to believe are right. "If I ought," said Kant, "I

can."

 

An examination of the contents of this volume will show how consistently these

articles of faith have been declared, expounded, and illustrated. The student is

urged to begin to speak at once of what he knows. Then he is given simple

suggestions for self-control, with gradually increasing emphasis upon the power

of the inner man over the outer. Next, the way to the rich storehouses of