the big, climax-speeches that suggest this lesson: the same well-calculated,

restrained, delicately shaded force would simply _rivet_ your ideas in the minds

of your audience. An air-gun will rattle bird-shot against a window pane--it

takes a rifle to wing a bullet through plate glass and the oaken walls beyond.

 

_When to Use Force_

 

An audience is unlike the kingdom of heaven--the violent do not always take it

by force. There are times when beauty and serenity should be the only bells in

your chime. Force is only one of the great extremes of contrast--use neither it

nor quiet utterance to the exclusion of other tones: be various, and in variety

find even greater force than you could attain by attempting its constant use. If

you are reading an essay on the beauties of the dawn, talking about the dainty

bloom of a honey-suckle, or explaining the mechanism of a gas engine, a vigorous

style of delivery is entirely out of place. But when you are appealing to wills

and consciences for immediate action, forceful delivery wins. In such cases,

consider the minds of your audience as so many safes that have been locked and

the keys lost. Do not try to figure out the combinations. Pour a little nitro

glycerine into the cracks and light the fuse. As these lines are being written a

contractor down the street is clearing away the rocks with dynamite to lay the

foundations for a great building. When you want to get action, do not fear to

use dynamite.

 

The final argument for the effectiveness of force in public speech is the fact

that everything must be enlarged for the purposes of the platform--that is why