How Certain Mental Preparation is
Vital in Improving Your Speech

1. General Knowledge. An ideal orator is necessarily a man of extensive knowledge. According to the ancients he should be well-grounded in religion, law, philosophy, history, logic, and numerous other subjects. Cicero, in speaking of the incredible magnitude and difficulty of the art as a reason for the scarcity of orators, says: "A knowledge of a vast number of things is necessary, without which volubility of words is empty and ridiculous; speech itself is to be formed, not merely by choice, but by careful construction of words; and all the emotions of the mind, which nature has given to man, must be intimately known; for all the force and art of speaking must be employed in allaying or exciting the feelings of those who listen. To this must be added a certain portion of grace and wit, learning worthy of a well-bred man, and quickness and brevity in replying as well as attacking, accompanied with a refined decorum and urbanity. Besides, the whole of antiquity and a multitude of examples are to be kept in the memory; nor is the knowledge of laws in general, or of the civil law in particular, to be neglected.''

Modern writers on this subject, however, do not demand so much of an orator. Bautain says: 'The orator's capital is that sum of science or knowledge which is necessary to him in order to speak pertinently upon any subject whatever; and science or knowledge is not extemporized. Although knowledge does not give the talent for speaking, still he who knows well what he has to say, has many chances of saying it well, especially if he has a clear and distinct conception of it."

2. Memory. An orator should have a good memory. If naturally defective, it can be greatly improved by judicious exercise. There are numerous systems for training the memory, but only a few suggestions can be offered here.

Correct methods of study and observation will produce a good memory. The habit of careful selection should be cultivated, as only a limited amount of new material can be assimilated at one time. To read large amounts of matter one does not care to remember is harmful to the memory. The aim should always be to secure distinct images and ideas. There should be a deep interest in what is read. Committing to memory lines of prose and poetry will do much to strengthen a weak memory.

3. Rhetoric. An orator must have a thorough and practical knowledge of rhetoric. Cicero says that writing is the best and most excellent modeller and teacher of oratory. "For," says he, "if what is meditated and considered easily surpasses sudden and extemporary speech, a constant and diligent habit of writing will surely be of more effect than meditation and consideration itself; since all the arguments relating to the subject on which we write, whether they are suggested by art, or by a certain power of genius and understanding, will present themselves, and occur to us, while we examine and contemplate it in the full light of our intellect; and all thoughts and words, which are the most expressive of their kind, must of necessity come under and submit to the keenness of our judgment while writing; and a fair arrangement and collocation of the words is effected by writing in a certain rhythm and measure, not poetical, but oratorical.''

Doctor Channing, in suggesting the use of the pen, says: "We doubt whether a man ever brings his faculties to bear with their whole force on a subject until he writes upon it. ... By attempting to seize his thoughts, and fix them in an enduring form, he finds them vague and unsatisfactory, to a degree which he did not suspect, and toils for a precision and harmony of views, of which he never before felt the need."

One should aim to acquire a wide vocabulary. There is intrinsic pleasure in the study of words and their finer shades of meaning. The consciousness of a thorough mastery of language, too, gives confidence to the speaker, while adding force and accuracy to his utterance. Webster's masterly style is due in large measure to his daily habit of studying the dictionary. For rhetorical and oratorical improvement, one should read and closely analyze the writings of the best authors, then endeavor to write out in one's own words what has been read. Reading aloud every day passages from the masters of oratory will gradually cultivate an oratorical style.