Nor is it always true that the person who does a thing can report it clearly and accurately.  Ask a woman or girl how she hemstitches a handkerchief, or a boy how he swims or throws a curve, and note the involved and inaccurate accounts.  If you doubt this, explain one of these to the class.  It is not easy to describe exactly what one has seen, mainly because people do not see accurately.  People usually see what they want to see, what they are predisposed to see.  Witnesses in court, testifying upon oath concerning an accident, usually produce as many different versions as there are pairs of eyes.  Books upon psychology report many enlightening and amusing cases of this defect of accurate observation in people.[1]

The two negative aspects of material secured in this first manner—­1, limited range of observation, 2, inaccuracy of observation—­placed beside the advantages already listed will clearly indicate in what subjects and circumstances this method should be relied upon for securing material for speeches.

[Footnote 1:  Good cases are related by Swift, E.J.:  Psychology and the Day’s Work.]

EXERCISES

1.  Make a list of recent articles based upon observation which you have seen or read in newspapers and magazines.

2.  With what kind of material does each deal?

3.  Which article is best?  Why?

4.  List four topics upon which your observation has given you material which could be used in a speech.

5.  What kind of speech?  A speech for what purpose?

6.  Consider and weigh the value of your material.

7.  Why is it good?

8.  What limits, or drawbacks has it?

9.  What could be said against it from the other side?

Interview.  If a person cannot himself experience or observe all he wants to use for material his first impulse will be to interview people who have had experience themselves.  In this circumstance the speaker becomes the reporter of details of knowledge furnished by others.  The value of this is apparent at once.  Next to first-hand knowledge, second-hand knowledge will serve admirably.

Every newspaper and magazine in the world uses this method because its readers’ first query, mental or expressed, of all its informative articles is “Is this true?” If the author is merely repeating the experience of an acknowledged expert in the field under discussion, the value of the interview cannot be questioned.  In this case the resulting report is almost as good as the original testimony or statement of the man who knows.