a few minutes every day from a book of well-selected speeches. There are
numerous compilations of the kind admirably suited to this purpose. The
important thing here is to read in speaking style, not in what is termed
reading style as usually taught in schools. When you practise in this
way it would be well to imagine an audience before you and to render the
speech as if emanating from your own mind. The student of public
speaking will wisely guard himself against acquiring an artificial style
or other mannerism.

Another good plan is to make short mental speeches while walking. When
possible it is well to choose a country road for this purpose, or a
park, or some other place where one's mind is not likely to be often
diverted by passers-by. Lord Dufferin, the eminent British orator, was
accustomed to prepare most of his speeches while riding on horseback.
The habit of forming mental speeches is a great aid to actual
speech-making, as it tends to give the mind a power and an adaptability
which it would not otherwise have.

The painter, the musician, the sculptor, the architect, and other
craftsmen search out models for study and inspiration. The public
speaker should do likewise, and history shows that the great orators of
the world have followed this practise. You can not do better than take
as your model the greatest short speech in all history, the Gettysburg
Address.

An authority on English style has critically examined this speech and
acknowledges that he cannot suggest a single change in it which would
add to its power and perfection.

You recall the circumstances under which it was written. On the morning