NERVOUSNESS A GOOD SIGN

Take heart then, ye fearful ones! There are two facts which are most encouraging. First, stage fright is a good sign-it is the mark of a man who has the making of a good speaker. I have watched this in thousands of cases. Almost invariably the nervous, high-strung man who has so much audience-fear at first, develops into the best speaker-far better than his slow, phlegmatic brother, who never gets nervous over an audience. The reason for it is this: The nervous energy which shakes and tears to pieces the amateur speaker is the very power which stirs and thrills an audience when rightly directed. Instead of letting this nervous energy disrupt himself, the speaker must learn to turn it loose upon his audience, and put it to work. He must learn to switch the current of his own human electricity, just as surely as he turns on an electric light. The nervous thrill which a high-powered speaker feels, just before he begins to speak, should not be confused with stage fright. It is the same nervous excitement which stirs the thoroughbred, as he faces the starter, just before the race. Yes, the man of nervous temperament makes the ideal speaker in the end-without it he will never stir an audience deeply, never sound the depths or reach the heights of eloquence. In the first place, then, be assured that your nervous fear of an audience is a good sign-a sign that you have the temperament of a real speaker. Most of our great speakers are extremely sensitive and in their first attempts suffered all the throes of mental anguish which now trouble you.

AUDIENCE-FEAR CAN BE MASTERED

In the second place, be assured of this fact-absolutely-STAGE FRIGHT Can Be Overcome. In many years of experience I have never known a man who took the right kind of training and faithfully persisted, to fail. Have courage, and by and by you will have abiding confidence. Here is one promise a teacher can conscientiously make: "Any man can overcome stage fright." It requires no gift-no genius to do that just determination and backbone, a willingness to try and try hard-persistent practical plugging, stickability and stayability. If you have that kind of stuff in you, there is only one answer: you will win. You will learn to be at home on the floor, at ease before an audience any time or anywhere. It is worth while. It can be done. You can do it.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Practise aloud the following selections:

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"The human will-that force unseen,

The offspring of a deathless soul,
Can hew a way to any goal

Though walls of granite intervene."

-ANONYMOUS.

With morale, confidence, and spirit, fifty men can beat two hundred.”—“ Leadership and Military Training." -LIEUT. COL. ANDREWS, U. S. A.

"Success is the child of audacity."-BEACONSFIELD.

"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves a number of obscure men who have only remained in obscurity because their timidity prevented them from making the first effort, and who, if they could only have been induced to begin, would in all probability have gone great lengths in the career of fame."-SYDNEY SMITH.

ARE YOU A TRAILER?

Are you a Trailer, or are you a Trolley?

Are you tagged to a Leader through wisdom or folly?
Are you somebody else or you?

Do you vote by the symbol and swallow it "straight " ?
Do you pray by the book, do you pay by the rate?

Do you tie your cravat by the calendar's date?

Do you follow a cue?

Are you a writer or that which is worded?
Are you a shepherd or one of the herded?
Which are you, a what or a who?

It sounds well to call yourself "One of the Flock,"
But a sheep is a sheep after all, at the block
You're nothing but mutton, or possibly stock.
Would you flavor a stew?

Are you a being and boss of your soul?
Or are you a mummy to carry a scroll?
Are you somebody else or you?

When you finally pass to the heavenly wicket,
Where Peter the Scrutinous stands on his picket,
Are you going to give him a blank for a ticket?
Do you think it will do?

-EDMUND VANCE COOK.

2. Prepare a three-minute talk on "The Value of Self-Confidence."

CHAPTER III

MENTAL ATTITUDE

"Two men looked out from the prison bars.
One saw the mud, the other saw the stars."

-CURRY.

How far and how fast you will go in developing yourself depends largely on your mental attitude. If you consider this undertaking a grind or a bore, give time to it grudgingly, work at it half-heartedly, you will go neither fast nor far. But if you look upon it as an opportunity and set aside the time gladly, realizing that it will pay the biggest dividends for all the hours you spend, and work at it with enthusiasm and joy, you will grow beyond measure. Make up your mind that this training is a precious opportunity, regard it as a privilege beyond price-something that you are going to enjoy to the limit. Get the right mental attitude toward the importance of better speech and this will add to your consciousness of time well spent.

POPULAR ILLUSIONS

There is a popular illusion that effective speech is a gift—that it is "something you are born with ”— something that cannot be acquired by study or training. This false belief keeps many a man from becoming the effective speaker he might be he does not even attempt to improve himself in this line because he thinks it is useless. But a man does not have to be a genius in order to become an effective speaker.