anticipates its main points. It fails
if it is so long that it adds nothing of clearness or emphasis to the
speech itself. It will end by boring if it is too long for the
importance of its material. It will often produce a deeper, more
lasting impression by its very conciseness. Brevity is the soul of
more than mere humor. A brief remark will cut deeper than a long
involved sentence. The speaker who had shown that the recent great
war fails unless the reconstruction to be accomplished is worthy
needed no more involved conclusion than the statement, "It is what we
do tomorrow that will justify what we did yesterday."

Coupled with this matter of effect is the length of the speech itself.
Short speeches are likely to require only short conclusions. Long
speeches more naturally require longer conclusions.

Consider the following conclusions. Comment upon them. It would be
interesting to try to decide the length of the speeches from which
they are taken, then look at the originals, all of which are easily
procurable at libraries.

That is in substance my theory of what our foreign policy
should be. Let us not boast, not insult any one, but make up
our minds coolly what it is necesary to say, say it, and then
stand to it, whatever the consequences may be.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Waukesha, 1903

The foregoing is quite matter-of-fact. It contains no emotional appeal
at all. Yet even a strong emotional feeling can be put into a short
conclusion. From the date and the circumstances surrounding the next
the reader can easily picture for himself the intense emotion of the
audience which listened to these words from the leader of the free
states against the South.

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false
accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of
destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to ourselves.
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith
let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Cooper Union Speech_, 1860

While the student planning his own speech must determine exactly what
he shall put into his conclusion--depending always upon his material
and his purpose--there are a few general hints which will help him.

The Retrospective Conclusion. A conclusion may be entirely
retrospective. This means merely that it may refer back to the remarks
which have been delivered in the body of the spee