The first qualification implies a judicious choice of subject and the
most thorough preparation. It means that the speaker has carefully
gathered together the best available material, and has so familiarized
himself with his subject that he knows more about it than anyone else in
his audience.

It is in this requirement of thorough preparation that many public
speakers are deficient. They do not realize the need for this
painstaking preliminary work, and hence they frequently stand before an
audience with little information of value to impart to their hearers.
Their poverty of thought can not be long disguised in flamboyant
rhetoric and sesquipedalian words, and hence they fail to carry
conviction to serious-minded men.

I would remind you that having something worth-while to say involves
more than thorough preparation of the particular subject which the
speaker is to present to an audience. The speaker should have a
well-furnished mind. You have had the experience of listening to a
public speaker who commanded your closest attention not only because of
what he said, but also because of what he was. He inspired confidence in
you because of his personality and reserve power.

It is often what a man has within himself, rather than what he actually
expresses, that carries greatest conviction to your mind. As you listen
to such a man speak, you feel that he is worthy of your confidence
because he draws upon broad experience and knowledge. He speaks out of
the fulness of a well-furnished mind.

It is important, therefore, that there should be mental culture in a
broad way,--sound judgment, a sense of proportion and perspective, a