blindness that denies.

 

Cast down our idols--overturn Our Bloody altars--make us see Thyself in Thy

humanity!

 

--HENRY WATTERSON, _Puritan and Cavalier_.

 

Goethe, on being reproached for not having written war songs against the French,

replied, "In my poetry I have never shammed. How could I have written songs of

hate without hatred?" Neither is it possible to plead with full efficiency for a

cause for which you do not feel deeply. Feeling is contagious as belief is

contagious. The speaker who pleads with real feeling for his own convictions

will instill his feelings into his listeners. Sincerity, force, enthusiasm, and

above all, feeling--these are the qualities that move multitudes and make

appeals irresistible. They are of far greater importance than technical

principles of delivery, grace of gesture, or polished enunciation--important as

all these elements must doubtless be considered. _Base_ your appeal on reason,

but do not end in the basement--let the building rise, full of deep emotion and

noble persuasion.

 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

 

1. (_a_) What elements of appeal do you find in the following? (_b_) Is it too

florid? (_c_) Is this style equally powerful today? (_d_) Are the sentences too

long and involved for clearness and force?