Speech for Study, with Lesson Talk

THE STYLE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT

The speeches of Mr. Roosevelt commend themselves to the student of public speaking for their fearlessness, frankness, and robustness of thought.  His aim was deliberate and effective.

His style was generally exuberant, and the note of personal assertion prominent.  He was direct in diction, often vehement in feeling, and one of his characteristics was a visible satisfaction when he drove home a special thought to his hearers.

It is hoped that the extract reprinted here, from Mr. Roosevelt’s famous address, “The Strenuous Life,” will lead the student to study the speech in its entirety.  The speech will be found in “Essays and Addresses,” published by The Century Company.

THE STRENUOUS LIFE[2]

BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT

[Footnote 2:  Extract from speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, April 10, 1899.  From the “Strenuous Life.  Essays and Addresses” by Theodore Roosevelt.  The Century Co., 1900.]

In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual.  I ask only that what every self-respecting American demands from himself and his sons shall be demanded of the American nation as a whole.  Who among you would teach the boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in their eyes—­to be the ultimate goal after which they strive?  You men of Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you neither preach nor practise such a doctrine.  You work, yourselves, and you bring up your sons to work.  If you are rich and are worth your salt you will teach your sons that tho they may have leisure, it is not to be spent in idleness; for wisely used leisure merely means that those who possess it, being free from the necessity of working for their livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of non-remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in historical research—­work of the type we most need in this country, the successful carrying out of which