How would you cure a horse that is afraid of cars--graze him in a back-woods lot

where he would never see steam-engines or automobiles, or drive or pasture him

where he would frequently see the machines?

 

Apply horse-sense to ridding yourself of self-consciousness and fear: face an

audience as frequently as you can, and you will soon stop shying. You can never

attain freedom from stage-fright by reading a treatise. A book may give you

excellent suggestions on how best to conduct yourself in the water, but sooner

or later you must get wet, perhaps even strangle and be "half scared to death."

There are a great many "wetless" bathing suits worn at the seashore, but no one

ever learns to swim in them. To plunge is the only way.

 

Practise, _practise_, _PRACTISE_ in speaking before an audience will tend to

remove all fear of audiences, just as practise in swimming will lead to

confidence and facility in the water. You must learn to speak by speaking.

 

The Apostle Paul tells us that every man must work out his own salvation. All we

can do here is to offer you suggestions as to how best to prepare for your

plunge. The real plunge no one can take for you. A doctor may prescribe, but

_you_ must take the medicine.

 

Do not be disheartened if at first you suffer from stage-fright. Dan Patch was

more susceptible to suffering than a superannuated dray horse would be. It never

hurts a fool to appear before an audience, for his capacity is not a capacity