Project Gutenberg's The Speaker, No. 5: Volume II, Issue 1, by Various

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Title: The Speaker, No. 5: Volume II, Issue 1
December, 1906.

Author: Various

Editor: Paul M. Pearson

Release Date: April 5, 2009 [EBook #28498]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note

The Table of Contents for this issue is found at the end of the text.

THE SPEAKER

EDITED BY
PAUL M. PEARSON

No. 5

PEARSON BROTHERS
PHILADELPHIA

The Speaker

Volume II. DECEMBER, 1906. No. 1.

[Sidenote: =The Will=]

In teaching public speaking the final purpose must be to train the will.
Without this faculty in control all else comes to nothing. Exercises may
be given for articulation, but without a determined purpose to speak
distinctly little good will result. The teacher may spend himself in an
effort to inspire and enthuse the student, but this is futile unless the
student comes to a resolution to attain those excellencies of which the
teacher has spoken. That a student may become self-reliant is the chief
business of the teacher. To suggest such vital things in a way that the
student will feel impelled to work them out for himself, this is the art
in all teaching. To tell a student all there is to know about a subject,
or to present what is said in such a way that the student thinks there
is nothing more to be said, is to dwarf and stultify the mind. The
inclination of most students is to depend upon the teacher with a
helplessness that is as enervating as it is pitiable. Too many teachers,
flattered by this attitude or possessed of a sentimental sympathy,
encourage it. Thought, discretion, and courage are required to put a
student on his own resources and compel him to stay there until he has
acquired self-mastery.

Public speaking cannot be exchanged for so much time or money. It cannot
be bought or sold; it comes, if it comes at all, as the result of a
wisely-directed determination.