Читать книгу THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING - J. BERG ESENWEIN DALE CARNAGEY - Страница 15

1. In the following, speak the words "long, long while" very slowly; the

rest of the sentence is spoken in moderately rapid tempo.

When you and I behind the Veil are past,

Oh but the long, long while the world shall last,

Which of our coming and departure heeds,

As the seven seas should heed a pebble cast.

Note: In the following selections the passages that should be given a

fast tempo are in italics; those that should be given in a slow tempo

are in small capitals. Practise these selections, and then try others,

changing from fast to slow tempo on different parts, carefully noting

the effect.

2. No MIRABEAU, NAPOLEON, BURNS, CROMWELL, NO _man_ ADEQUATE

_to_ DO ANYTHING _but is first of all in_ RIGHT EARNEST _about

it--what I call_ A SINCERE _man. I should say_ SINCERITY, _a_

GREAT, DEEP, GENUINE SINCERITY, _is the first_ CHARACTERISTIC

_of a man in any way_ HEROIC. _Not the sincerity that_ CALLS

_itself sincere. Ah no. That is a very poor matter indeed_--A

SHALLOW, BRAGGART, CONSCIOUS _sincerity, oftenest_ SELF-CONCEIT

_mainly. The_ GREAT MAN'S SINCERITY _is of a kind he_ CANNOT

SPEAK OF. _Is_ NOT CONSCIOUS _of_.--THOMAS CARLYLE.

3. TRUE WORTH _is in_ BEING--NOT SEEMING--_in doing each day

that goes by_ SOME LITTLE GOOD, _not in_ DREAMING _of_ GREAT

THINGS _to do by and by. For whatever men say in their_

BLINDNESS, _and in spite of the_ FOLLIES _of_ YOUTH, _there is

nothing so_ KINGLY _as_ KINDNESS, _and nothing so_ ROYAL _as_

TRUTH.--_Anonymous_.

4. To get a natural effect, where would you use slow and where fast

tempo in the following?

_FOOL'S GOLD_

See him there, cold and gray,

Watch him as he tries to play;

No, he doesn't know the way--

He began to learn too late.

She's a grim old hag, is Fate,

For she let him have his pile,

Smiling to herself the while,

Knowing what the cost would be,

When he'd found the Golden Key.

Multimillionaire is he,

Many times more rich than we;

But at that I wouldn't trade

With the bargain that he made.

Came here many years ago,

Not a person did he know;

Had the money-hunger bad--

Mad for money, piggish mad;

Didn't let a joy divert him,

Didn't let a sorrow hurt him,

Let his friends and kin desert him,

While he planned and plugged and hurried

On his quest for gold and power.

Every single wakeful hour

With a money thought he'd dower;

All the while as he grew older,

And grew bolder, he grew colder.

And he thought that some day

He would take the time to play;

But, say--he was wrong.

Life's a song;

In the spring

Youth can sing and can fling;

But joys wing

When we're older,

Like birds when it's colder.

The roses were red as he went rushing by,

And glorious tapestries hung in the sky,

And the clover was waving

'Neath honey-bees' slaving;

A bird over there

Roundelayed a soft air;

But the man couldn't spare

Time for gathering flowers,

Or resting in bowers,

Or gazing at skies

That gladdened the eyes.

So he kept on and swept on

Through mean, sordid years.

Now he's up to his ears

In the choicest of stocks.

He owns endless blocks

Of houses and shops,

And the stream never stops

Pouring into his banks.

I suppose that he ranks

Pretty near to the top.

What I have wouldn't sop

His ambition one tittle;

And yet with my little

I don't care to trade

With the bargain he made.

Just watch him to-day--

See him trying to play.

He's come back for blue skies.

But they're in a new guise--

Winter's here, all is gray,

The birds are away,

The meadows are brown,

The leaves lie aground,

And the gay brook that wound

With a swirling and whirling

Of waters, is furling

Its bosom in ice.

And he hasn't the price,

With all of his gold,

To buy what he sold.

He knows now the cost

Of the spring-time he lost,

Of the flowers he tossed

From his way,

And, say,

He'd pay

Any price if the day

Could be made not so gray.

_He can't play._

--HERBERT KAUFMAN. Used by permission of _Everybody's Magazine_.

_Change of Tempo Prevents Monotony_

The canary in the cage before the window is adding to the beauty and

charm of his singing by a continual change of tempo. If King Solomon had

been an orator he undoubtedly would have gathered wisdom from the song

of the wild birds as well as from the bees. Imagine a song written with

but quarter notes. Imagine an auto with only one speed.

EXERCISES

1. Note the change of tempo indicated in the following, and how it gives

a pleasing variety. Read it aloud. (Fast tempo is indicated by italics,

slow by small capitals.)

_And he thought that some day he would take the time to play;

but, say_--HE WAS WRONG. LIFE'S A SONG; _in the_ SPRING YOUTH

_can_ SING _and can_ FLING; BUT JOYS WING WHEN WE'RE OLDER, LIKE

THE BIRDS _when it's_ COLDER. _The roses were red as he went

rushing by, and glorious tapestries hung in the sky._

2. Turn to "Fools Gold," on Page 42, and deliver it in an unvaried

tempo: note how monotonous is the result. This poem requires a great

many changes of tempo, and is an excellent one for practise.

3. Use the changes of tempo indicated in the following, noting how they

prevent monotony. Where no change of tempo is indicated, use a moderate

speed. Too much of variety would really be a return to monotony.

_THE MOB_

"A MOB KILLS THE WRONG MAN" _was flashed in a newspaper headline

lately. The mob is an_ IRRESPONSIBLE, UNTHINKING MASS. _It

always destroys_ BUT NEVER CONSTRUCTS. _It criticises_ BUT NEVER

CREATES.

_Utter a great truth_ AND THE MOB WILL HATE YOU. _See how it

condemned_ DANTE _to_ EXILE. _Encounter the dangers of the

unknown world for its benefit_, AND THE MOB WILL DECLARE YOU

CRAZY. _It ridiculed_ COLUMBUS, _and for discovering a new

world_ GAVE HIM PRISON AND CHAINS.

_Write a poem to thrill human hearts with pleasure_, AND THE MOB

WILL ALLOW YOU TO GO HUNGRY: THE BLIND HOMER BEGGED BREAD

THROUGH THE STREETS. _Invent a machine to save labor_ AND THE

MOB WILL DECLARE YOU ITS ENEMY. _Less than a hundred years ago a

furious rabble smashed Thimonier's invention, the sewing

machine._

BUILD A STEAMSHIP TO CARRY MERCHANDISE AND ACCELERATE TRAVEL

_and the mob will call you a fool_. A MOB LINED THE SHORES OF

THE HUDSON RIVER TO LAUGH AT THE MAIDEN ATTEMPT OF "FULTON'S

FOLLY," _as they called his little steamboat._

Emerson says: "A mob is a society of bodies voluntarily

bereaving themselves of reason and traversing its work. The mob

is man voluntarily descended to the nature of the beast. _Its

fit hour of activity_ is NIGHT. ITS ACTIONS ARE INSANE, _like

its whole constitution. It persecutes a principle_--IT WOULD

WHIP A RIGHT. It would tar and feather justice by inflicting

fire and outrage upon the house and persons of those who have

these."

The mob spirit stalks abroad in our land today. Every week gives

a fresh victim to its malignant cry for blood. There were 48

persons killed by mobs in the United States in 1913; 64 in 1912,

and 71 in 1911. Among the 48 last year were a woman and a child.

Two victims were proven innocent after their death.

IN 399 B.C. A DEMAGOG APPEALED TO THE POPULAR MOB TO HAVE

SOCRATES PUT TO DEATH _and he was sentenced to the hemlock cup._

FOURTEEN HUNDRED YEARS AFTERWARD AN ENTHUSIAST APPEALED TO THE

POPULAR MOB _and all Europe plunged into the Holy Land to kill

and mangle the heathen. In the seventeenth century a demagog

appealed to the ignorance of men_ AND TWENTY PEOPLE WERE

EXECUTED AT SALEM, MASS., WITHIN SIX MONTHS FOR WITCHCRAFT. _Two

thousand years ago the mob yelled_, "_RELEASE UNTO US

BARABBAS_"--AND BARABBAS WAS A MURDERER!

--_From an Editorial by D.C. in "Leslie's Weekly," by permission._

_Present-day business_ is as unlike OLD-TIME BUSINESS as the

OLD-TIME OX-CART is unlike the _present-day locomotive._

INVENTION has made the _whole world over again. The railroad,

telegraph, telephone_ have bound the people of MODERN NATIONS

into FAMILIES. _To do the business of these closely knit

millions in every modern country_ GREAT BUSINESS CONCERNS CAME

INTO BEING. _What we call big business is the_ CHILD OF THE

ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF MANKIND. _So warfare to destroy big

business_ is FOOLISH BECAUSE IT CAN NOT SUCCEED _and wicked_

BECAUSE IT OUGHT NOT TO SUCCEED. _Warfare to destroy big

business does not hurt big business, which always comes out on

top_, SO MUCH AS IT HURTS ALL OTHER BUSINESS WHICH, IN SUCH A

WARFARE, NEVER COME OUT ON TOP.

--A.J. BEVERIDGE.

_Change of Tempo Produces Emphasis_

Any big change of tempo is emphatic and will catch the attention. You

may scarcely be conscious that a passenger train is moving when it is

flying over the rails at ninety miles an hour, but if it slows down very

suddenly to a ten-mile gait your attention will be drawn to it very

decidedly. You may forget that you are listening to music as you dine,

but let the orchestra either increase or diminish its tempo in a very

marked degree and your attention will be arrested at once.

This same principle will procure emphasis in a speech. If you have a

point that you want to bring home to your audience forcefully, make a

sudden and great change of tempo, and they will be powerless to keep

from paying attention to that point. Recently the present writer saw a

play in which these lines were spoken:

"I don't want you to forget what I said. I want you to remember it the

longest day you--I don't care if you've got six guns." The part up to

the dash was delivered in a very slow tempo, the remainder was named out

at lightning speed, as the character who was spoken to drew a revolver.

The effect was so emphatic that the lines are remembered six months

afterwards, while most of the play has faded from memory. The student

who has powers of observation will see this principle applied by all our

best actors in their efforts to get emphasis where emphasis is due. But

remember that the emotion in the matter must warrant the intensity in

the manner, or the effect will be ridiculous. Too many public speakers

are impressive over nothing.

Thought rather than rules must govern you while practising change of

pace. It is often a matter of no consequence which part of a sentence is

spoken slowly and which is given in fast tempo. The main thing to be

desired is the change itself. For example, in the selection, "The Mob,"

on page 46, note the last paragraph. Reverse the instructions given,

delivering everything that is marked for slow tempo, quickly; and

everything that is marked for quick tempo, slowly. You will note that

the force or meaning of the passage has not been destroyed.

However, many passages cannot be changed to a slow tempo without

destroying their force. Instances: The Patrick Henry speech on page 110,

and the following passage from Whittier's "Barefoot Boy."

O for boyhood's time of June, crowding years in one brief moon,

when all things I heard or saw, me, their master, waited for. I

was rich in flowers and trees, humming-birds and honey-bees; for

my sport the squirrel played; plied the snouted mole his spade;

for my taste the blackberry cone purpled over hedge and stone;

laughed the brook for my delight through the day and through the

night, whispering at the garden wall, talked with me from fall

to fall; mine the sand-rimmed pickerel pond; mine the walnut

slopes beyond; mine, an bending orchard trees, apples of

Hesperides! Still, as my horizon grew, larger grew my riches,

too; all the world I saw or knew seemed a complex Chinese toy,

fashioned for a barefoot boy!

--J.G. WHITTIER.

Be careful in regulating your tempo not to get your movement too fast.

This is a common fault with amateur speakers. Mrs. Siddons rule was,

"Take time." A hundred years ago there was used in medical circles a

preparation known as "the shot gun remedy;" it was a mixture of about

fifty different ingredients, and was given to the patient in the hope

that at least one of them would prove efficacious! That seems a rather

poor scheme for medical practice, but it is good to use "shot gun" tempo

for most speeches, as it gives a variety. Tempo, like diet, is best when

mixed.