ist February, A. D. igoo. 

 E S S A Y 



BY 



Ex-Gov. GEORGE SEWALL BOUTWELL, Groton, Mass. 



Theme: — The Art of Public Speaking and the Arts of 

 Public Speakers. 



Ex-GovERNOR Boutwell said his address was something of 

 a misfit, being written to deliver to a body of law students at 

 the Columbian University in Washington, and afterwards given 

 at Harvard and Tufts law schools. He said he could not carry 

 out the suggestions of the address, but would take refuge under 

 the Shakespearean quotation that one man can preach more than 

 twenty men can practice. 



A public speaker is an actor, whether his audience be a 

 village or a nation ; so at the outset he who aspires to this art 

 may give thought to some of the chief requirements of success- 

 ful public speaking. Average proportions, a clear voice and a 

 faculty of expression are gifts of nature, but great success has 

 been attained by those who had none of these gifts. Demos- 

 thenes and St. Paid are shining examples. 



The foundation of any success in public speaking must be laid 

 in youth. Thomas Erskine began his career as a public speaker 

 at two and forty years of age, and came to rank with Fox, 

 Burke and Sheridan. But such a case is a rare exception. 



There are two particulars in which physical training is of 

 importance to the speaker. The knowledge of proper breathing 

 is necessary, to fill the lungs at an inspiration, exhaling the 

 breath gradually so that there may be an economical use of the 

 breath, which is the motive power of the speaker. Physical 



