Latest / The Art of Public Speaking / Episode 30: After-Dinner and Other Occasional Speaking - Art of Public Speaking

Transcript

Episode 30: After-Dinner and Other Occasional Speaking - Art of Public Speaking · The Art of Public Speaking

0:00
Chapter thirty, After Dinner and Other Occasional Speaking Quote, the perception of the
0:07
ludicrous is a pledge of sanity unquote. Ralph Waldo Emerson essays, quote,
0:16
and let him be sure to leave other men there turns to speak unquote.
0:21
Francis Bacon essay on Civil and Moral Discourse, perhaps the most brilliant and certainly
0:27
the most entertaining of all speeches of those delivered on after Dinner and other special
0:33
occasions. The air of well fed content in the former, and of expectancy
0:39
well primed in the latter, furnishes an audience which, though not readily one,
0:45
is prepared for the best, while the speaker himself is pretty sure to
0:49
have been chosen for his gifts of oratory. The first essential of good occasional
0:55
speaking is to study the occasion precisely. What is the object to the meeting?
1:00
How important is the occasion to the audience? How large will the audience
1:04
be? What sort of people are they? How large is the auditorium?
1:10
Who selects the speaker's themes? Who else is to speak? What are they
1:14
to speak about? Precisely? How long am I to speak? Who speaks
1:19
before I do? And who follows? If you want to hit the nail
1:23
on the head, ask such questions as these footnotes. See also page two
1:29
O five. No occasional address can succeed unless it fits the occasion to a
1:36
t. Many prominent men have lost prestige because they were too careless, or
1:42
too busy, or too self confident to respect the occasion and the audience by
1:47
learning the exact conditions under which they were to speak. Leaving too much to
1:53
the moment is taking a long chance, and generally means a less effective speech,
1:57
if not a failure. Suitability if the big thing in an occasional speech.
2:05
When Mark Twain addressed the Army of the Tennessee and Reunion at Chicago in
2:09
eighteen seventy seven, he responded to the toast the babies. Two things in
2:15
the after dinner speech are remarkable. The bright introduction, by which he subtly
2:22
claimed at the interest of all, and the humorous use of military terms throughout
2:28
quote mister chairman and gentlemen, the babies. Now that's something like we haven't
2:36
all had the good fortune to be ladies. We have not all been generals
2:39
or poets or statesmen. But when the toast works down to the babies,
2:45
we stand on common ground, for we've all been babies. It is a
2:49
shame that for thousand years the world's banquets have utterly ignored the baby, as
2:53
if he didn't amount to anything. If you, gentlemen, will stop and
2:59
think a minute, if you will go back fifty or a hundred years to
3:01
your early married life and recontemplate your first baby, you will remember that he
3:07
amounted to a good deal and even something over unquote quote As a vessel is
3:16
known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not, said Demosthenes.
3:22
So men are proved by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.
3:27
Unte Surely the occasional address furnishes a severe test of a speaker's wisdom. To
3:34
be trivial on a serious occasion, to be funereal of a banquet, to
3:38
be long winded. Ever, these are the marks of nonsense. Some imprudent
3:46
souls seem to select the most friendly of after dinner occasions for the explosion of
3:51
a bombshell of dispute around the dinner table. It is the custom of even
3:55
political enemies to bury their hatchets anywhere, rather than in some convenient skull.
4:02
It is the height of bad taste to raise questions that, in hours consecrated
4:08
to good will, can only irritate. Occasional speeches offer good chances for humor,
4:15
particularly the funny story. For humor with a genuine point is not trivial,
4:20
But do not spin a whole skein of humorous yarns with no more connection
4:26
than the inane and threadbear, and that reminds me an anecdote without bearing may
4:31
be funny, but one less funny that fitch theme and occasion is far preferable.
4:39
There is no way short of sheer power of speech that so surely it
4:43
leads to the heart of an audience as rich appropriate humor. The scattered diners
4:49
in a great banqueting hall, the after dinner lethargy, the anxiety over approaching
4:55
last train time, the over full list of over full speakers all throw out
5:00
a challenge to the speaker to do his best to win an interested hearing.
5:05
And when success does come, it is usually due to a happy mixture of
5:10
seriousness and humor, For humor alone rarely scores so heavily as the two combined,
5:16
while the utterly grave speech never does. On such occasions. If there
5:21
is one place more than another where second hand opinions and platitudes are unwelcome.
5:27
It is in the after dinner's speech, whether you a toastmaster or the last
5:31
speaker to try to hold the waning crowd at midnight, be as original as
5:35
you can. How is it possible to summarize the qualities that go to make
5:40
up the good after dinner's speech When we remember the inimitable serious drollery of Mark
5:46
Twain, the sweet southern eloquence of Henry W. Grady, the funereal gravity
5:51
of the humorous Charles Bettell Loomis, the charm of Henry van Dyke, the
5:57
geniality of f. Hopkinson and Smith, and the all round delightfulness of Chauncey
6:02
M. Depew. America is literally rich in such gladsome speakers who punctuate real
6:10
sense with nonsense, and so make both effective. Commemorative occasions, unveilings,
6:16
commencements, dedications, eulagers, and all the train of special public gatherings offer
6:24
rare opportunities for the display of tact and good sense in handling occasion, theme
6:30
and audience. When to be dignified and when colloquial, when to soar,
6:34
and when to ramble arm in arm with your hearers, when to flame and
6:40
when to soothe, when to instruct, and when to amuse. In a
6:44
word, the whole matter of appropriateness must constantly be in mind lest you write
6:49
your speech on water. Finally, remember the beatitude. Blessed is the man
6:55
that maketh short speeches, for he shall be invited to speak again. Heading
7:01
selections for study title Last Days of the Confederacy extract quote the Rapidan suggests another
7:13
scene to which allusion has often been made since the war, but which as
7:16
the illustrative also of the spirit of both armies, I may be permitted to
7:21
recall in this connection, in the mellow twilight of an April day, the
7:27
two armies were holding their dress parades on the opposite hills bordering the river.
7:32
At the close of the parade, a magnificent brass band of the Union Army
7:38
played with great spirit the patriotic airs Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle, whereupon the
7:46
Federal troops responded with a patriotic shout. The same band then played the soul
7:51
stirring strains of Dixie, to which a mighty response came from ten thousand Southern
7:58
troops. Few moments later, when the stars had come out as witnesses,
8:03
and when all nature was in harmony, there came from the same band the
8:07
old melody Home, Sweet Home, as its familiar and pathetic notes rolled over
8:15
the water and thrilled through the spirits of the soldiers. The hills reverberated were
8:20
the thundering response from the united voices of both armies. What was there in
8:26
this old, old music to so touch the chords of sympathy, so thrilled
8:31
the spirits, and cause the frames of brave men to tremble with emotion.
8:37
It was the thought of home to thousands. Doubtless, it was the thought
8:43
of that eternal home to which the next battle might be the gateway to thousands
8:48
of others. It was the thought of their dear earthly homes, where loved
8:52
ones at that twilight hour were bowing round the family altar and asking God's care
9:00
over the absent soldier boy Unquote General J. B. Gordon CSA title Welcome
9:09
to Kassuf extract quote. Let me ask you to imagine that a contest in
9:16
which the United States asserted their independence of Great Britain had been unsuccessful, that
9:22
our armies through treason or a league of tyrants against us had been broken and
9:26
scattered, that the great men who led them, and who swayed our councils,
9:31
Our Washington, our Franklin, and the venerable President the American Congress had
9:37
been driven forth as exiles. If there had existed at that day in any
9:43
part of the civilized world a powerful republic with institutions resting on the same foundations
9:50
of liberty which our own countrymen sought to establish, would there have been in
9:54
that republic any hospitality too cordial, any sympathy too deep, any zeal for
10:01
their glorious but unfortunate cause too fervent or too active to be shown toward these
10:07
illustrious fugitives. Gentlemen, the case I have supposed is before you. The
10:13
Washingtons, the Franklins, the Hancocks of Hungary, driven out by a far
10:18
worse tyranny than has ever endured. Here are wanderers in foreign lands. Some
10:24
of them have sought a refuge in our country. One sits with this company,
10:28
our guest tonight, and we must measure the duty we owe them by
10:33
the same standard which we would have had history apply if our ancestors had met
10:39
with a fate like theirs. Unquote William Cullen Bryant title the influence of Universities
10:48
extract quote. When the excitement of party warfare presses dangerously near our national safeguards,
10:58
I would have the intelligent concern cvotism of our universities and colleges warn the
11:03
contestants in impressive tones against the perils of a breach impossible to repair. When
11:09
popular discontent and passion are stimulated by the arts of designing partisans to have pitched
11:16
perilously near to class hatred or sectional anger, I would have our universities and
11:22
colleges sound the alarm in the name of American brotherhood and fraternal dependence. When
11:31
the attempt is made to delude the people into the belief that their suffrages can
11:35
change the operation of national laws, I would have our universities and colleges proclaimed
11:41
that those laws are inexorable and far removed from political control. When selfish interest
11:48
seeks undue private benefits through governmental aid and public places acclaimed as rewards of party's
11:56
service, I would have our universities and college es persuade the people to a
12:01
relinquishment of the demand for party spoils and exhort them to a disinterested and patriotic
12:07
love of their government, whose unperverted operation secures to every citizen his just share
12:15
of the safety and prosperity it holds in store for all. I would have
12:20
the influence of these institutions on the side of religion and morality. I would
12:26
have those they send out among the people not ashamed to acknowledge God and to
12:33
proclaim His interposition in the affairs of men, enjoining such obedience to His laws
12:39
as makes manifest the path of national perpetuity and prosperity. Unquote Grover Cleveland,
12:48
delivered at the Princeton Sesqui Centennial eighteen ninety six title Eulogy of Garfield extract quote
13:01
great in life, he was surpassingly great in death for no cause. In
13:05
the very frenzy of wantonness and wickedness, by the red hand of murder,
13:11
he was thrust from the full tide of this world's interest, from its hopes,
13:16
its aspirations, its victories, into the visible presence of death. And
13:20
he did not quail, not alone for the one short moment in which,
13:26
stunned and dazed, he could give up life, hardly aware of its relinquishment,
13:31
But through days of deadly languor, through weeks of agony that was not
13:37
less agony, because silently borne, with clear sight and calm courage, he
13:43
looked into his open grave. What blight and ruin met his anguished eyes?
13:48
Whose lips may tell? What brilliant broken plans? What baffled high ambitions?
13:54
What sundering of strong warm manhood's friendships, bitter rending of sweet household ties.
14:03
Behind him a proud expectant nation, a great host of sustaining friends, A
14:09
cherished and happy mother wearing the full rich honors of her early toil and tears,
14:16
the wife of his youth, whose whole life lay in his, The
14:20
little boys not yet emerged from childhood's day of frolic, the fair young daughter,
14:26
the sturdy sons just springing into closest companionship, claiming every day and every
14:31
day rewarding a father's love and care, And in his heart, the eager,
14:37
rejoicing power to meet all demand. Before him desolation and great darkness,
14:43
and his soul was not shaken. His countrymen were thrilled with instant, profound
14:52
and universal sympathy. Masterful in his mortal weakness, He became the center of
14:58
a nation's love in shrines, in the prayers of a world. But all
15:03
the love and all the sympathy could not share with him his suffering. He
15:07
trod the wine press alone with unforthing front. He faced death with unfailing tenderness.
15:15
He took leave of life above the demoniac hiss of the assassin's bullet.
15:20
He heard the voice of God with simple resignation. He bowed the divine decree.
15:28
James G. Blaine delivered at the memorial service held by the US Senate
15:33
and House of Representatives, title Eulogy of Lee extract at the bottom of all
15:41
true heroism is unselfishness. Its crowning expression is sacrifice. The world is suspicious
15:50
of vaunted heroes. But when the true hero has come, and we know
15:54
that here he is in verity, Ah, how the hearts of men leaped
15:58
forth to greet him, how worships me? We welcome God's noblest work.
16:03
The strong, honest, fearless, upright man in Robert Leah was such a
16:11
hero vouchsafed to us and to mankind. And whether we behold him declining command
16:15
of the Federal Army to fight the battles and share the misers of his own
16:21
people, proclaiming on the heights in front of Gettysburg that the fort of the
16:25
disaster was his own. Leading charges in the crisis of combat, walking under
16:30
the yoke of conquest without a murmur of complaint or refusing fortune, to come
16:37
here and train the youth of his country in the paths of duty. He
16:41
is ever the same, meek, grand self sacrificing spirit. Here he exhibited
16:48
qualities not less worthy and heroic than those displayed on the broad and open theater
16:55
of conflict, when the eyes of nations watched his every action. Here,
17:00
in the calm repose of civil and domestic duties, and in the trying routine
17:04
of incessant tasks, he lived a life as high as when day by day
17:11
he marshaled and led his thin and wasting lines, and slept by night upon
17:15
the field that was to be drenched again in blood upon the morrow. And
17:22
now he has vanished from us forever. And is this all that has left
17:26
of him, this handful of dust beneath the marble stone. No the age's
17:32
answer as they rise from the gulfs of time, where lie the wrecks of
17:36
kingdoms and estates, holding up in their hands with their only trophies, the
17:40
names of those who have wrought for man in the love and fear of God,
17:44
and in love unfearing for their fellow men. No, the present answers,
17:49
bending by his tomb. No, the future answers. As the breath
17:55
of the morning fans its radiant brow and its soul drinks in sweetspirations from the
18:00
lovely life of Lee. Know methinks the very Heaven's echo as melt into their
18:07
depths, the words of reverent love that voice the hearts of men to the
18:11
tingling stars. Come within today in loyal love, to sanctify our memories,
18:18
to purify our hopes, to make strong all good intent by communion with the
18:23
spirit of Him who, being dead yet speaketh. Come child in thy spotless
18:30
innocence, Come woman in thy purity, Come youth in thy prime, Come
18:37
manhood in thy strength, Come age in thy ripe wisdom. Come citizen,
18:42
Come soldier. Let us through the roses and lilies of June around his tomb,
18:48
for he, like them, exhaled in his life Nature's beneficence, and
18:52
the Grave has consecrated that life and given it to us All. Let us
18:57
crown his tomb, the oak, the emblem of his strength, and with
19:03
the laurel, the emblem of his glory. And let these guns, whose
19:07
voices he knew of old, awake the echoes of the mountains, that nature
19:11
herself may join in its solemn requiem. Come, for here he rests,
19:18
and on this green bank, by this fair stream, we set today a
19:22
votive stone, that memory may his deeds redeem, when, like our sires,
19:29
our sons are gone. John Warwick Daniel on the unveiling of Lee's statue
19:37
at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, eighteen eighty three. Questions
19:45
and Exercises. One why should humor find a place in after dinner speaking?
19:52
Two? Briefly give your impressions of any notable after dinner address that you have
19:56
heard. Three, brief the outline an imaginary occasion of any sort, and
20:03
give three subjects appropriate for addresses. Four, deliver one such address not to
20:10
exceed ten minutes in length. Five What proportion of emotional ideas do you find
20:15
in the extracts given in this chapter? Six? Humor was used in some
20:22
of the foregoing addresses in which others would have been inappropriate. Seven prepare and
20:29
deliver an after dinner's speech suited to one of the following occasions, and be
20:33
sure to use humor. A lodge banquet, a political party dinner, a
20:38
church men's club dinner, a civic association banquet, a banquet in honor of
20:45
a celebrity, a woman's club annual dinner, a business men's association dinner,
20:52
a manufacturer's club dinner, an alumni banquet, an Old Home Week barbecue.
21:00
End of Section thirty