314 ANNUAL RErORT OF THE Off. l)oc. 



LITERARY STYLE 



By what I have said under the head of message, it might be sup- 

 posed that 1 do not value a well presented theme. Ko man appre- 

 ciates such more highly, and the lack of it detracts from the best 

 message. Faulty English is alwa\-s to be deplored, liemember a 

 man on tlie Institute platform represents the Stale, and is supposed 

 to be, and should be, above the average. Among his hearers there 

 are sure to be many cultivated people. "Aint no," "have went,'* 

 and the like are inexcusable in these days, yet 1 have heard these and 

 worse. Most men use too many words to express themselves, and 

 their sentences are involved and would not sound well were they 

 written out. Too often there is no logical arrangement of the 

 thought, and I have known those who had no terminal facilities. 

 They simply stopped, never finished. All these things mar. While 

 I would never condemn one, who answered the requirements in other 

 particulars, because of his English, I should labour with such a one 

 to show him the error of his ways. Much slovenly work is due to 

 lack of preparation. I have heard men say boastingiy, "I never 

 prepare anything ahead." The fact is self-evident before they finish. 

 I contend no nmn should think of going before an audience unlil he 

 has his subject well thought out. While T should seldom go before 

 an audience with a manuscript, all beginners should write out their 

 address, in order that they may get their nmtter in a condensed, 

 concise and practical form. T would never commit the whole to 

 memory — this savors too much of the parrot — but I would become 

 saturated with the subject matter, and a few headings, and sub-head- 

 ings, will easily bring out the thought in logical sequence. 



HELP FROM READING 



Much can be done to acquire a good literary style by reading. 

 I fear too many institute men confine their reading to agricultural 

 themes. These are valuable, but as an old friend once mentioned, 

 "I want to meet a man who can talk of something else besides bulls 

 and phosphoric acid," and I say amen. "What shal' a man read?" 

 Some of the best English writers, — Shakespeare, Milton, Carlyle, 

 Scott, Dickens, Longfellow and Shelley, not despising some of the 

 best modern novels, as well as history, both ancient and modern, and 

 at least one of the leading periodicals, such as the Literary Digest, 

 World's Work, or Outlook, and then above all the Bible. Not only 

 because "out of it are the issues of life," but because from a literary 

 and historical standpoint, no book can compare with it. So great 

 a writer as Euskin attributed his fine literary style to the fact 

 that in his boyhood he was obliged to commit to memory many of the 

 Psalms and poetical books and all of Paul's masterly logic in Second 

 Corinthians. In those, who like the writer, reading is ever a de- 

 light, I strike a responsive chord, but I know others are saying, 

 "What is the use of all that?" It enlarges a man's vision, broadens 

 his mind, enables him to look on all sides of a subject, increases 

 his vocabulary, and therefore, enables him to present his subject 

 with a force and wealth of illustration otherwise impossible. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



This naturally brings up the uiatter of stories, I claim to be a 

 good story teller, and if Bob Seeds has any new ones, I want them, 

 but not to tell on the Institute platform, except in rare instances. 



