"To clearly arrange all thoughts that belong to the subject, lay them aside when the work is done until the moment of speech, and then enter confidently upon them with only such a momentary glance as will assure us that all is right—this is the method to make our strength fully available. This confidence, while in waiting, seems to the beginner very difficult, but experience rapidly renders it easy. M. Bautain declares that he has been repeatedly so confident in his preparation as to fall asleep while waiting to be summoned to the pulpit!
"Those who mis-improve the last moments by too much thought and solicitude, are not the only class of offenders. Some persons, through mere indolence, suffer the fine lines of preparation which have been traced with so much care to fade into dimness. This error is not infrequently committed by those who speak a second or third time on the same subject. Because they have once succeeded, they imagine that the same success is always at command. No mistake could be greater. It is not enough to have speech-material in a position from which it can be collected by a conscious and prolonged effort, but it must be in the fore-ground of the mind. There is no time at the moment of delivery of reviving half obliterated lines of memory.
"The writer once saw a notable case of failure from this cause. A preacher, on a great occasion, was much engrossed with other important duties until the hour appointed for his sermon had arrived. With perfect confidence he selected a sketch from which he had preached a short time before, and with the general course of which he was no doubt familiar. But when he endeavored to produce his thoughts, they were not ready. He became embarrassed, talked at random for a short time, and then had the candor to tell the audience that he could not finish, and to take his seat. Probably half an hour given to reviewing his plan, would have made all his previous preparation fresh again, and have spared him the mortification of failure.
"In this last interval it is also well to care for the strength and vigor of the body, as its condition greatly influences all mental operations. It is said that the pearl-diver, before venturing into the depths of the sea, always spends a few moments in deep breathing and other bodily preparations. In the excitement of speech, the whirl and hurricane of emotion, it is advisable to be well prepared for the high tension of nerve that is implied. Mental excitement exhausts and wears down the body faster than bodily labor. We must carefully husband our strength that we may be able to meet all demands upon it. * * * * * * * * * * * Having now done all we can in advance, nothing remains but to rise and speak. Preparation and precaution are passed. Actual work—the most joyous, thrilling, and spiritual of all human tasks—is now to be entered upon." (Extempore Speech, pp. 190-195).
5. Another Word on Strength: The definition of "Strength" as a property of good style in speaking or writing, was given in Lesson X (Note 3), and the first requisite to its attainment was considered. We now consider the second, which is taken from Lockwood's Lessons in English:
6. Words of Connection: "The strength of a sentence is increased by careful use of the words of connection.
"(a) Avoid 'stringing' clauses together loosely with and as a connective.
"(Example:) They were soon at home and surrounded by the family, and plied with questions as to what they had seen and what they had heard, and soon the neighbors came in and then the whole story had to be told again.'
"In this sentence, there is lack of unity as well as lack of strength. In a sentence containing a series of words or expressions in the same construction, insert conjunctions between each two words or expressions if the intention is to make the mind dwell upon each particular.
"(Example:) 'And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.'