Last night a speaker said: "The curse of this country is not a lack of

education. It's politics." He emphasized _curse, lack, education, politics_. The

other words were hurried over and thus given no comparative importance at all.

The word _politics_ was flamed out with great feeling as he slapped his hands

together indignantly. His emphasis was both correct and powerful. He

concentrated all our attention on the words that meant something, instead of

holding it up on such words as _of this_, _a_, _of_, _It's_.

 

What would you think of a guide who agreed to show New York to a stranger and

then took up his time by visiting Chinese laundries and boot-blacking "parlors"

on the side streets? There is only one excuse for a speaker's asking the

attention of his audience: He must have either truth or entertainment for them.

If he wearies their attention with trifles they will have neither vivacity nor

desire left when he reaches words of Wall-Street and skyscraper importance. You

do not dwell on these small words in your everyday conversation, because you are

not a conversational bore. Apply the correct method of everyday speech to the

platform. As we have noted elsewhere, public speaking is very much like

conversation enlarged.

 

Sometimes, for big emphasis, it is advisable to lay stress on every single

syllable in a word, as _absolutely_ in the following sentence:

 

I ab-so-lute-ly refuse to grant your demand.

 

Now and then this principle should be applied to an emphatic sentence by