1900.] ESSAYS. 75 



An art to he acquired is that of reasoning without the appear- 

 ance of following the hooks and rules. To learn this art there 

 is no better hook to read than Locke essay "On the Human 

 Understanding," in which you are not obliged to agree with his 

 views, but the reasoning is excellent. 



In reading, two objects are to be kept in view : accumulation 

 of knowledge and improvement in style. In novel reading 

 there is little chance to increase knowledge, while on the other 

 hand there is danger that the influence on style may be bad. 

 Art, science, the classics, poetry, history, the records of orators 

 who have been crowned in the favorable judgment of mankind, 

 are the fields in which the speaker's reading should lie. One 

 danger in reading, especially with the 3'oung, is subserviency 

 to books. The reader must assert his right over the author 

 and rise superior to books. Public questions and policy are 

 largely settled by speaking and argument and hence a speaker 

 must be familiar with the questions at issue. Whoever aspires 

 to leadership should understand the constitutions of England 

 and the United States. 



A public speaker should be a ready writer, that style may be 

 improved. A clear and forceful style can only be acquired by 

 constant practice in writing. Bacon said reading makes a full 

 man, conference, by which he meant conversation, a ready 

 man, and writing an exact man. The speaker must be a good 

 writer. Every speech should be written out before or after it 

 is delivered, even if it is never published. This rule should be 

 observed for the improvement in style, which is the only basis 

 of hope that the speaker may reach a proficiency that will cause 

 a demand for his speeches. 



Of extemporaneous speaking there are two kinds. When a 

 person ignorant of agriculture or horticulture is asked without 

 previous notice to speak at an agricultural fair, the chances are 

 ninety-nine in a hundred that his speech will be purely extem- 

 poraneous and generally pretty bad. But if a man like Agassiz 

 is called on to speak similarly, on a subject he has studied all 

 his life, his speech would not be extemporaneous, yet he would 

 not have given it special preparation. 



