REVIEW 1. Before going on to the next type, review what you have learned about the different kinds of prose fiction. How are they distinguished? Why are they all classed as fiction? Which of these kinds did you enjoy most? Why? What writers have done the best work in each type? 2. For your theme work try one of the foilowing subjects: (1) Write a new Arthur story, creating a new knight of the Round Table and giving his adventures. (2) Write a prose romance, using the old setting but treating some modern theme allegorically. For instance, draw material from the World War, letting the lady to be rescued be Civilization, or Liberty, or Belgium. (3) Write a short-story, trying to make it conform as far as possible to the characteristics of the type. Confine yourself to one event, one place, and one time. CHAPTER III THE ORATION Changing Ideals Regarding Public Speaking.-Oratory in the old sense, an elaborate appeal to the emotions spoken in public assemblies, is dying out. Public speaking of a simpler kind, appealing to the will through the intellect, is, however, a form in constant use. Instead of the few gifted orators of the past, we have come to a time when the multifarious demands of our complex life have made good public speakers of the many. Characteristics of Modern Oratory.-Modern speeches are much more direct and to the point than those of the past. An effective speech is always simple in structure, earnest and sincere in spirit, true in its statements, progressive, even rapid, in its course, forceful and keenly alive to the significance of the occasion which calls it out; it shows a thorough understanding of the questions involved, and it usually makes no attempt to appeal directly to the emotions. Occasions for Speeches.-The speech must be adapted to the audience and the occasion. It may be made for the purpose of giving information, of defending a cause, of persuading to a course of action, of eulogizing some person or thing, of commemorating, of welcoming, of bidding farewell, or of dedicating to a particular service, and it may be of a political, social, educational, or religious nature. Speeches may usually be divided into the following classes, according to their underlying purposes: (1) those for special occasions, being very varied in nature; (2) political speeches; (3) popular lectures and addresses; and (4) sermons. A good speech has an orderly plan which is easy to follow. It usually divides naturally into three parts-the introduction, the main discussion, and the conclusion. In the introduction the speaker tries to win the attention and interest of his hearers. He simply and briefly states his standpoint and gives any information necessary to the understanding of the question under discussion. Sometimes a more abrupt beginning is good, but in any case the introduction must bear a close relation to what follows. In the main body of the speech, if there are many phases of a question, these are arranged in logical order and clearly treated. Definitions, illustrations, concrete examples-anything that will make the points more forceful are given. In the conclusion there is usually a summary made, and sometimes here an emotional appeal is justified. The conclusion is brief and to the point and is closely unified with all that has gone before. Great Public Speakers.-The greatest orators of the past were Demosthenes in Greece. Cicero in Rome, Burke in England, and Daniel Webster in America. Besides these there have been many others whom their countrymen have delighted to honor. Among these may be mentioned Eschines, Cato, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Macaulay, Disraeli, Gladstone, Patrick Henry, Hamilton, Jefferson, Clay, Calhoun, Edward Everett, Lincoln, Wendell Phillips, Carl Schurz, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks, Henry W. Grady, John Hay, Elihu Root, William Jennings Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, Arthur James Balfour, David Lloyd-George, and Woodrow Wilson. The greatest orator of Europe to-day is said to be René Viviani, of France. Some Examples of the Modern Speech. SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 1 ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865) MARCH 4, 1865 FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought 1 Notice the simplicity of all of Lincoln's speeches. to avoid it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city, seeking to destroy it with war-seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease, even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern there any departure from those Divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. |