Читать книгу The New Democracy: A handbook for Democratic speakers and workers - Walter Vrooman - Страница 9

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The speaker arrives in a strange town, having entered afoot, by horse, or by rail. If he have friends in the town, his work will, of course, be less difficult, and it will be comparatively easy to procure a horse and carriage (or a wagon).

The vehicle secured, let him drive to the principal street, stop at the corner selected as the meeting-place, and, standing on the seat, let him announce (his voice pitched high, but not strained, dwelling for at least two seconds upon each word) that a meeting will be held in a few minutes at which "the people will be told how our country can be freed from the curse of Hannaism and monopoly" (or some similar striking expression). Then proceeding to the next corner let him repeat the announcement, and so over the village, or, if it be a city, over as large a section as he can conveniently cover. By making a dozen or more of these announcements he can always gather about him the nucleus of an audience.

If unable to secure a vehicle he may go afoot, carrying a chair to serve him as a speaker's platform. As efficient work can be done in this way as in any other.

In addressing the five or the fifty men, women and boys who compose this audience, it is requisite that he should begin in the same high key and the same deliberate manner and tone in which he made his announcements, addressing himself not to the few in front of him, but to the listeners in front of their stores half a block away. After speaking thus for five minutes, more or less, and arousing the enthusiasm and interest of distant listeners, he should suddenly turn his eyes and attention from all who are more than fifty feet away, and proceed in his natural tone of voice. Very often persons standing in front of stores and shops, lining the streets for two or three squares, when the speaker changes and lowers his tone and directs his remarks to his immediate audience, will come near to hear, if possible, the completion of some interesting point.

In large cities where there is much noise from street cars and wagons, this work is more laborious, and from start to finish the speech will require all the energy the speaker possesses to keep his crowd together and to increase its number. But in smaller places, or in quieter neighborhoods of large places, after the first announcements, outdoor speaking can be reduced to a very moderate exercise. The average man, after a month's practice, can speak outdoors two or three hours a day, divided into three or four speeches, without any great fatigue, and keep it up the year round, resting only upon days so rainy, stormy or bitter cold, that men will not, for any inducement, stand outdoors.