WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM EXCURSION, THE (EXTRACTS). CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY WARRIOR ODE ON INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY CHAPTER I POWER AND PERSONALITY IN SPEAKING The public speaker and the preacher have much in common. The difference lies mainly in their message. Both are concerned with the problem of convincing and persuading men. To achieve this result there must be brought to bear the highest possible training in thought and expression. In the best sense, a public speaker should be a man of sterling character, of lofty purpose, of trained ability, and, like the preacher, he should be prepared, if need be, to offer himself a living sacrifice in the cause of truth. "Let no man who is a sneak try to be an orator," said Beecher, and he might have added, Let no man aspire to distinction in public speaking, whether in pulpit, on platform, or elsewhere, unless he be willing to spend his days and nights in developing all the resources of his mind, voice, and body. The lawyer can learn much from the sincerity, sympathy, and persuasiveness of the preacher; the preacher in turn may take a valuable lesson from the concise, direct, and convincing style of the lawyer; while the average public speaker may learn from both the value of truth and earnestness as effective elements in speech. Assuming that the preacher, thoroughly trained in voice and manner, having the highest truth to proclaim, and uttering it from a position of authority, is the ideal public |