Do not be discouraged if you cannot retain all the outline the first times you try this method.  Many a speaker has announced in his introduction, “I shall present four reasons,” and often has sat down after discussing only three.  Until you can dispense entirely with the brief keep it near you.  Speak from it if you need it.  Portions which you want to quote exactly (such as quotations from authorities) may be memorized or read.  In reading be sure you read remarkably well.  Few people can read interestingly before a large audience.  Keep your papers where you can get at them easily.  Be careful not to lose your place so that you will have to shuffle them to get the cue for continuing.  Pauses are not dangerous when they are made deliberately for effect, but they are ruinous when they betray to the audience forgetfulness or embarrassment on the part of the speaker.  Anticipate your need.  Get your help before you actually need it, so that you can continue gracefully.

Results.  This method, followed for a few months, will develop speaking ability.  It produces results suited to modern conditions of all kinds of life.  It develops practically all the mental faculties and personal attributes.  It puts the speaker directly in touch with his audience.  It permits him to adapt his material to an occasion and audience.  It gives him the opportunity to sway his hearers and used legitimately for worthy ends, this is the most worthy purpose of any speech.

CHAPTER IX

EXPLAINING

The part which explanation plays in all phases of life is too apparent to need any emphasis here.  It is to a great extent the basis of all our daily intercourse, from explaining to a teacher why a lesson has not been prepared, to painstakingly explaining to a merchant why a bill has not been paid.  An instructor patiently explains a problem to a class, and a merchant explains the merits of an article or the operation of a device to his customers.  The politician explains why he should be elected.  The financier explains the returns from stock and bond purchases.  The President explains to the Senate the reason for treaty clauses.  The minister explains the teachings of his faith to his congregation.  You can make this list as long as the varied activities of all life.

Exposition.  This kind of discourse, the purpose of which is explanation, is also called exposition.  Has it any relation to the underlying idea of the term exposition as applied to a great exhibition or fair?  Its purpose is plainly information, the transmission of knowledge.  While description and narration exist primarily to entertain, exposition exists to convey information.  Description and narration may be classed as literature of entertainment; exposition as literature of knowledge.  It answers such questions as how? why? for what purpose? in what manner? by what method?  It can sometimes be used to convince a person with opposing views, for frequently you hear a man to whom the explanation of a belief has been made, exclaim, “Oh, if that’s what you mean, I agree with you entirely.”  All instruction, all directions of work, all scientific literature, are in foundation expository.  In its simplest, most disconnected form, exposition gives its value to that most essential volume, the dictionary.