The teacher's part is to exalt, enthuse,
stimulate. He must criticise, certainly, but this is generally overdone.
Like some teachers of English who can never overlook a misplaced comma,
whose idea of English seems to be to spell and to punctuate correctly,
there are teachers of public speaking whose critical eye never sees
farther than gesture, articulation, and emphasis. With this attitude
toward their work, they become fault-finders rather than teachers. They
nag, harrass, and suppress. The business of the teacher is to make the
student see visions of beauty, truth and love, to open up to him these
mighty fields that he may go in and possess them. To implant a yearning,
an unquenchable, all-consuming desire to comprehend and to express the
emotions of which his teacher enables him to get glimpses.

[Sidenote: =The Teacher=]

Exercises? Yes, all the student can stand without becoming a drone.
Criticism? Yes, but no quibbling, no nagging. Criticism is something
more than fault-finding. The teacher exalts his profession, ennobles his
art, and begets consideration for himself when he maintains the highest
standards for himself and for his students.

[Sidenote: =Habit=]

Learning to speak well is, like forming character, a matter of
self-discipline and self-culture. A good voice is a good habit; distinct
articulation is a good habit; graceful and effective gestures are a good
habit. Like all good habits, these are formed by a constant exercise
of the will. The teacher's part is to get the students to hear his own
voice, to observe his own gestures, and listen to his own articulation.
These things cannot be accomplished over night, and if attempted all at
once may make the student too self-conscious; certainly this condition
will result if his faults are continually insisted upon. The teacher's
great opportunity is to enable the student to know himself, and to see
that he is determined to develop his best self.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =Sincerity=]

Sincerity in art! One sometimes doubts whether it exists. Take the
special field of art with which the readers of this magazine are
especially concerned. How many depend upon tricks to get their effects!
How many struggle mightily to gain a laugh or "a hand," neglecting the
theme, the message, the spirit of that which they are professing to
interpret. If that which we read is worth while, if it has anything
vital in it, the effect will be str