following the parallel any farther.

Good speakers, then, are made, not born. Training counts for as much
as natural ability. In fact if a person considers carefully the
careers of men whose ability to speak has impressed the world by its
preeminence he will incline to the conclusion that the majority of
them were not to any signal extent born speakers at all. In nearly all
cases of great speakers who have left records of their own progress in
this powerful art their testimony is that without the effort to
improve, without the unceasing practice they would have always
remained no more marked for this so-called gift than all others.

Overcoming Drawbacks. According to the regularly repeated tradition
the great Greek orator, Demosthenes, overcame impediments that would
have daunted any ordinary man. His voice was weak. He lisped, and his
manner was awkward. With pebbles in his mouth he tried his lungs
against the noise of the dashing waves. This strengthened his voice
and gave him presence of mind in case of tumult among his listeners.
He declaimed as he ran uphill. Whether these traditions be true or
not, their basis must be that it was only by rigorous training that he
did become a tolerable speaker. The significant point, however, is
that with apparent handicaps he did develop his ability until he
became great.

Charles James Fox began his parliamentary career by being decidedly
awkward and filling his speeches with needless repetitions, yet he
became renowned as one of Great Britain's most brilliant speakers and
statesmen.

Henry Clay clearly describes his own exercises in self-training when