LESSON 42.

How to Use the Eyes While Speaking

KEY WORDS: LOOK INTO THE EYES OF THOSE TO WHOM YOU SPEAK.

Answer this question: Why does an animal trainer keep his eyes upon the eyes of the animals he is training?

Some years ago I gave a lecture in a Coney Island hall. On the evening of the lecture I found the hall crowded. To my surprise the person in charge came to me and said: "We're going to have trouble. We'd better send for the police. In the first two rows there's a gang come to break up the lecture. Don't try to start the lecture now."

I laughed, because I really liked the situation. Here was an audience that wouldn't go to sleep, whatever else it did.

I took a common chair, went to the very front of the room, sat down, and looked into the eyes of the men, one after another, in the first two rows. I did not glare-just looked with a friendly smile, as a good-natured wrestler might look at a big opponent.

Then I arose and began to speak. I spoke directly to the men in the first two rows. I looked into their eyes. I addressed rhetorical questions to them, and I always spoke loudly enough for the entire audience to hear.

Two rows of people stood around the walls of the room, every seat was filled, and the quietest, most attentive people in the great audience were the people in the first two rows. I had my eyes on them in a friendly way, and they knew it!

And after the lecture "the gang" came to me with questions and handshaking, and said they'd had a “bully” time, better than they had expected.

A steady, direct look makes speech doubly effective, for it invariably carries the impression of manliness and of power.

It is pleasing to a person who speaks to you, because it shows him that you are attentive. The fact that you fix your eyes upon his shows him that you are interested in him and in his subject. Your direct look compliments him, and will make him remember you.

The direct look reacts upon yourself. It concentrates your attention and makes you a good listener.

The habit of concentration thus established, adds immensely to your personal power. Your memory improves and your judgments become more accurate.

The direct look places you in a commanding position and you find yourself easily master of any conversation into which you enter.

You feel a distinct gain in manliness.

The man who looks into the eyes of those with whom he speaks is always a master of men.

The clear, direct look searches out and exposes fraud and deception; it looks into character, and shows you the real self of the person with whom you speak.

If you speak in public, whether to a large or to а small audience, look your audience in the face. If you allow your attention to fix itself upon notes or manuscript, or if you look at some vague point before you, you lose touch with your hearers.

Look into the eyes of all-not simply of those in the center, but into the eyes of all-at the right, at the left, on the platform with you, and you will establish a magnetic bond that will not easily be broken.

Whether with one person or with a thousand, look into the eyes of your hearers. Let your personality meet theirs. Let there be a meeting of souls.

Speak eye to eye, and heart to heart, not occasionally, but always; not alone with your intimate friends, but with all with whom you speak. It will help in making you a master of speech and a leader of men.

PROBLEMS.

1. During the course of a single day observe the eyes of people who talk with you.

2. Notice which persons appeal to you as good talkers.

3. Notice public speakers whom you hear, and observe the use of the eyes.

LESSON 43.

How to Make Facial Expression Aid Speech

KEY WORDS: MAKE YOUR LOOKS EXPRESS YOUR THOUGHTS WHEN YOU SPEAK.

An open countenance that reflects an honest soul pleases

everyone.

As you talk, whether to one person or to a thousand, let your face light up with the changing emotions of what you say.

Such looks are contagious, and they aid in carrying your thought to your hearers. They draw attention and thus awaken interest.

An old man stands every day on one of the crowded streets of New York and sells a cheap mechanical device. As he demonstrates, he talks. His face is a study. As he explains the little contrivance, his countenance lights up, grows serious, changes-he looks at you kindly, and you feel that he is explaining one of the marvels of the age. Consciously or unconsciously, he is using his expression as part of his demonstration.

The man with the speaking countenance will succeed in life far more easily than will one who hides his personality under a real, or an assumed, mask of stolidity.

When you listen let your face reflect the changing emotions of what you hear. The one who speaks recognizes your understanding and sympathy and comes more fully into touch with you.

When you speak in public let your face light and change with all the emotions of what you say, and make a double appeal to your audience. In every probability you will carry your hearers with you.

Nothing in all the world of speech is more delightful than radiancy of countenance. Men commonly associate it with genius.

Speech is only a sort of telegraph between souls. The lighting countenance is another means of sending the message. It brings personalities close together.

Some races have prided themselves on stolidity of expression, but such races have lived in an environment where stolidity is necessary to life. Our environment demands free and close communion between men.

Your success in social, and in business life, largely depends upon your maintenance of a character that is always ready to show itself in both words and looks when you speak.

Complete harmony between words and looks will make you a good speaker.

PROBLEMS.

1. As you go about your daily business notice the expressions of people who say only one or two words to you. Which do you regard as the better speakers?

2. Try the experiment of speaking with proper expressiveness of countenance, and note the result.

3. Notice the expressions of people to whom you speak at length. How do they affect you?