clude the telling of a story, one side of a discussion, or debate.1

Rules for the Floor Talk. No one set of rules or suggestions will fit all cases, but the student may note with profit the utterances of the distinguished speakers quoted below.

Professor Brander Matthews, in an excellent article in the Cosmopolitan, July, 1898, on "Four Ways of Making an Address," says:

"When a man has something to say and when he has an opportunity to say it, there are four methods of making a speech for him to select from.

1. He may write out his address and read it from a manuscript boldly held in his hand.

2. He may write out his remarks and commit them to memory.

3. He may write out his opening words, his closing sentences and such other salient passages as he wishes to make sure of, while extemporizing the rest.

4. He may extemporize the whole, appearing before the audience with no visible manuscript and apparently talking out of the fullness of his heart."

In the latter case, where he seemingly extemporizes his address, Matthews says that there must be a firm skeleton or outline holding closely together all that he says. The sequence of points to be made, illustrated, and enforced, should be so obvious in his mind that they will float on the surface of his memory, to be seized without effort, one after another, in regular order.

1 Good speech demands a sense for established idiom, distinct and natural articulation, correct pronunciation, and the use of an agreeable and well-managed voice.

- From the Report of the National Joint Committee on the Reorgani zation of High School English.

One statement of this writer is especially worth noting. He says that the proper sequence or outline is so important to the speaker that a man who has no gift for oratory, no enthusiasm, no fervor, no magnetism, as it is called, can make a presentable figure on the platform if he rises knowing exactly what he wants to say, if he says that and no more, and if he sits down as soon as he has said it.

Among other authorities, Professor Matthews quotes from a noted French lecturer, M. Francisque Sarcey, who says that the way to insure the success of a speech in public is to have made that speech many times in private. You must be full of your subject, full to overflowing. And having planned what you want to say, you must say it to yourself again and again, trying it this way and that, getting yourself familiar and intimate with it. But you must make no effort to polish your periods, and must resolutely refrain from all attempts to memorize what you have arranged. This leaves the mind energized and keenly alert, free to use the best of which it is capable, under the spur of the moment.

In connection with extemporaneous work, Thomas Wentworth Higginson in "Hints on Writing and Speech Making," thus gives his rules for making an address. The student may modify them to suit his own preferences.

1. Have something definite in mind on which you are to speak. Or better still, have something that you desire very much to say.

2. Always speak in a natural key, and in a conversational

manner.

3. Never carry a scrap of paper before an audience.

4. Plan out a series of a few points, as simple and as orderly as possible.

5. Plan beforehand for one good point and one good illustration under each head of your speech.

6. Do not trouble yourself about your speech, but give your mind a rest after you have thought out your points, before you speak.

Of course, the third rule above cannot apply if you decide to use notes.

It is There! Catch the spirit of the picture. Acquaint yourself with the historical facts, and prepare a talk, using the story of the picture as the climax or closing point in your address.

Columbus before Ferdinand and Isabella.-Some one has said that there are single moments in history which, like rudders, steer us into new seas of discovery. Is there not here pictured a moment like that? The great navigator is pleading for the idea that has taken hold of his soul. All the splendid culture and intelligence of the courts of Castile and Leon is there. But who could expect men to believe a theory that would

upset every view they had ever held?

And men did not

slowly shook their

believe. If they forbore to scoff, they heads in doubt. It is a critical time. In the picture, Columbus seems to speak to but one, and that one his queen. Isabella bends eagerly forward, listening to the man who ere long will lay at her feet a new world. She pledged her crown jewels for the undertaking, and next to Columbus, Isabella must be remembered in connection with this great discovery.

Attitude and Gesture. The following points regarding attitude and gesture are worth noting.

1. Stand erect and firm, in a posture which allows the chest to expand, and gives full play to the organs of respiration and utterance.

2. Let your attitude be such that it may be shifted easily and gracefully. Let your hands hang naturally at your side.

3. Avoid much gesture. As to embarrassment arising from natural timidity or self-consciousness, a thorough preparation upon your theme, and a reliance upon that preparation, will best help you here. You may count upon the friendliness of your audience as a general rule.

4. Keep your eye upon your audience. Do not look up at the ceiling, or let your eye rove over the heads of your hearers. Pick out some one whose face shows interest, and address much of what you have to say to him or her. But do not make the mistake of talking altogether to this one person. Let your glance fall on one side, and then direct it to the other side of the room, and so on.

EXERCISES IN THE FLOOR TALK

(a) The Monroe Doctrine. This topic is well worth while. The extracts here given comprise the original statement of the Monroe Doctrine, and its later restatement on the part of those who have been called upon by virtue of their official position to formulate the attitude of America on this question. Make any additional notes you

please, and use as much or as little as you think best of what is here presented. Your public library will afford much excellent material in the way of books written on the subject, and especially of its discussion in the leading magazines.

Use an Outline. - In order to make what you write or speak effective, it will be well to prepare a topical outline. This will insure your sticking to your subject, and do away with aimlessness and incoherence in what you say. Test your work carefully for unity, coherence, and emphasis.

The Monroe Doctrine, Originally Stated

We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers (any European powers) to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments which have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles acknowledged, we could not view any interception for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. (130)

- From the Message to Congress of President James Monroe, on December 2, 1824.

The Doctrine Reaffirmed

It may not be amiss to suggest that the doctrine upon which we stand is strong and sound because its enforcement is important to our peace and safety as a nation, and is essential to the integrity of our free institutions and the tranquil maintenance of our distinctive form of government. It was intended to apply to every stage of our national life, and cannot become obsolete while the Republic endures. If the balance