PTER XII--THE VOICE 125
CHAPTER XIII--VOICE CHARM 134
CHAPTER XIV--DISTINCTNESS AND PRECISION OF UTTERANCE 146
CHAPTER XV--THE TRUTH ABOUT GESTURE 156
CHAPTER XVI--METHODS OF DELIVERY 171
CHAPTER XVII--THOUGHT AND RESERVE POWER 184
CHAPTER XVIII--SUBJECT AND PREPARATION 199
CHAPTER XIX--INFLUENCING BY EXPOSITION 218
CHAPTER XX--INFLUENCING BY DESCRIPTION 231
CHAPTER XXI--INFLUENCING BY NARRATION 249
CHAPTER XXII--INFLUENCING BY SUGGESTION 262
CHAPTER XXIII--INFLUENCING BY ARGUMENT 280
CHAPTER XXIV--INFLUENCING BY PERSUASION 295
CHAPTER XXV--INFLUENCING THE CROWD 308
CHAPTER XXVI--RIDING THE WINGED HORSE 321
CHAPTER XXVII--GROWING A VOCABULARY 334
CHAPTER XXVIII--MEMORY TRAINING 343
CHAPTER XXIX--RIGHT THINKING AND PERSONALITY 355
CHAPTER XXX--AFTER-DINNER AND OTHER OCCASIONAL SPEAKING 362
CHAPTER XXXI--MAKING CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE 372

APPENDIX A--FIFTY QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE 379
APPENDIX B--THIRTY THEMES FOR SPEECHES, WITH SOURCE-REFERENCES 383
APPENDIX C--SUGGESTIVE SUBJECTS FOR SPEECHES; HINTS FOR TREATMENT 386
APPENDIX D--SPEECHES FOR STUDY AND PRACTISE 394

GENERAL INDEX 506

=Things to Think of First=

A FOREWORD

The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important
respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its
power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its
writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice
may prove to be ineffective.

This book stands or falls by its authors' attitude toward its subject.
If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in
public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for
the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of
gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to
such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the
reader--as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be
reckoned a failure, because it