THE POWER OF PERSONALITY

Personality plays a vital part in a speaker's success. Gladstone
described Cardinal Newman's manner in the pulpit as unsatisfactory if
considered in its separate parts. "There was not much change in the
inflection of his voice; action there was none; his sermons were read,
and his eyes were always on his book; and all that, you will say, is
against efficiency in preaching. Yes; but you take the man as a whole,
and there was a stamp and a seal upon him, there was solemn music and
sweetness in his tone, there was a completeness in the figure, taken
together with the tone and with the manner, which made even his delivery
such as I have described it, and tho exclusively with written sermons,
singularly attractive."


THE DANGER OF IMITATION

It is a fatal mistake, as I have said, to set out deliberately to
imitate some favorite speaker, and to mold your style after his. You
will observe certain things and methods in other speakers which will fit
in naturally with your style and temperament. To this extent you may
advantageously adopt them, but always be on your guard against anything
which might in the slightest degree impair your own individuality.


Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk

FEATURES OF AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS