74 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



tworand-thirty. Webster, when he delivered the Plymouth 

 oration that made his name as an orator, was thirty-eight. 



Although style is a growth, it can he improved, chastened, 

 and purified by good reading. Practice and reading constitute 

 the two main branches of a speaker's preparation. The student 

 should not neglect to hear good speakers. He must read widely 

 and deeply in all branches of human investigation without 

 thought of the influence on himself or on his style. It was the 

 opinion of Cicero that all kinds of knowledge are useful to the 

 orator. Especially if he is a lawyer, he will find that all in- 

 formation will be valuable to him at some time. 



It is easy to say to the aspirant, read largely, widely and 

 deeply, but it is difficult to prescribe exactly what to read. 

 The speaker may read the Bible, especially the epistles of Paul, 

 for improvement in style, but not for comment or quotation, 

 because he will be sure to offend the sensibilities of some in his 

 audience by a secular use or application of writings which to 

 them are sacred. Shakespeare as the great treatise on human 

 nature may be read from beginning to end all through life 

 without thought of limitation. The lawyer must not only read 

 law, constitutional, statutory and public, but a knowledge of 

 the arts and sciences of the world is necessary to the successful 

 advocate. Here is an opportunity for all the knowledge that 

 can be gained. 



The power of the imagination and exaggeration is called for 

 in public speaking, the quality that is conspicuous in Milton, 

 and indeed in all attractive poetry. The imagination and the 

 power of skilful exaggeration is useful to the advocate, the orator 

 and elsewhere, though at no time must the truth be lost sight 

 of. It may not be amiss to say that imagination and exaggera- 

 tion offer perils which the young would do well to avoid. 

 Kindred to this is the tendency to relate stories to produce 

 laughter. A story is only valuable for its application to the 

 argument. Indulgence in this habit becomes a vice of some 

 public speakers, and was seen in an extreme in Samuel S. Cox 

 and Gov. Corwin of Ohio ; and the latter expressed his regret, 

 late in life, that he had been known as a joker and story teller. 



