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 material is pointed out.  And finally, all the while he is urged to speak, speak, SPEAK as he is applying to his own methods, in his own personal way, the principles he has gathered from his own experience and observation and the recorded experiences of others.

So now at the very first let it be as clear as light that methods are secondary matters; that the full mind, the warm heart, the dominant will are primary—­and not only primary but paramount; for unless it be a full being that uses the methods it will be like dressing a wooden image in the clothes of a man.

J. Berg Esenwein. 
Narberth, Pa.,
January 1, 1915.

THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to make them understood.  It too often happens in some conversations, as in Apothecary Shops, that those Pots that are Empty, or have Things of small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress’d as those that are full of precious Drugs.

They that soar too high, often fall hard, making a low and level Dwelling preferable.  The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune.  Buildings have need of a good Foundation, that lie so much exposed to the Weather.

    —­William Penn.

CHAPTER I

ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE

There is a strange sensation often experienced in the presence of an audience.  It may proceed from the gaze of the many eyes that turn upon the speaker, especially if he permits himself to steadily return that gaze.  Most speakers have been conscious of this in a nameless thrill, a real something, pervading the atmosphere, tangible, evanescent, indescribable.  All writers have borne testimony to the power of a speaker’s eye in impressing an audience.  This influence which we are now considering is the reverse of that picture—­the power their eyes may exert upon him, especially before he begins to speak:  after the inward fires of oratory are fanned into flame the eyes of the audience lose all terror.

    —­William Pittenger, Extempore Speech.