prepared himself for the part he is to perform.

Or if invited to respond to a toast, he passes through a similar
experience. He may find the outline of a speech on that very topic; he
either uses it as it is printed or makes an effort to improve it by
abridgment or enlargement. Next he looks through the treasury of anecdotes,
selects one, or calls to mind one he has read elsewhere which he considers
better. He then studies both of them in their bearings on the subject
upon which he is to speak, and longs for the hour to arrive, when he will
surprise and delight his friends by his performance. He rises to speak
conscious that he knows a great deal, not only about the toast assigned to
him, but about other toasts as well--feels that he has something to say
which, at least, will fill in the time, and save him from confusion and
discredit. He even hopes to win applause by means of the stories and happy
turns with which his speech is interspersed.

He has thus satisfactorily taken the first step toward becoming a ready and
entertaining after-dinner speaker. The sense of knowing how to do what is
expected of him has a wonderfully quieting effect upon his nerves; and thus
the study of this book will greatly add to the confidence of a speaker, and
the effectiveness of his delivery. Whatever graces of manner he possesses
will become available, instead of being subverted by an overmastering fear.

It is not easy to mention all the uses of such a manual. One who has been
accustomed to speaking, but fears he is getting into a rut, can turn to
this text-book and find something which is _not_ so distressingly his
own, that his friends expect him to parade it before them on all occasions.

He may glance over the outline of a speech altogether new and strange to
him, and endeavor to adapt it to his own use; or he may weave together