In the preparation of the technical part of the book the authors have been immeasurably aided by their large and personal knowledge of, and acquaintance or friendship with, leading orators in politics, the law, the church, on the lecture platform, and at public dinners and other functions. They have also availed themselves of the same knowledge of the great interpreters in the theater. A long, intimate study of the essential characteristics which made for the success of many masters in the art of using the spoken word has been made. Thus the authors are assured that no factor that leads towards, and assures, success in dramatic or private reading or speaking has been ignored. All academic and purely theoretical matter has been rigorously excluded.
The old methods of sophomoric oratory are gone, never to return. Men and women of purpose have learned that simplicity, directness, naturalness, are the most potent factors in conveying their ideas to others. It is gratifying to know that modern methods of teaching Oral Reading and Private and Public Speaking seek to emphasize these fundamental principles and reduce to the lowest possible minimum all introductions of the artificial.
Leonard G. Nattkemper,
George Wharton James.
PART ONE
Intelligent and Intelligible Reading
FIRST STEP. Getting the author’s thought. Discussing INTELLIGENT reading. Giving material for training the pupil in getting the thought from the printed page. Reading at sight and reproducing in his own words. Making outlines of simple selections, principally prose selections.
SECOND STEP. Discussion of INTELLIGIBLE reading. Two-fold purpose: Thought-getting and thought-giving in the author’s words. General and Special preparation. Exercises in Enunciation, Pronunciation, Articulation, Vocabulary.
CHAPTER I
READING AND PUBLIC SPEECH
It is the first and last object of education “to teach people how to think.” When we consider the vast wealth of great thoughts felt and expressed by great men of all times and recorded for us in books, should we not give serious reflection upon what we read and how we read?