A Systematized Study
OF
“HOW TO MASTER THE SPOKEN WORD”
A Guide to Teachers and Students
Students are advised to read the work as a book, commencing with the first page and continuing straight on to the end. They should skip nothing, not even the long speeches, as they are introduced for specific purposes; but they should also guard against tarrying on the way to study and particular passages that may strike their fancy. They are advised to first read the book carefully in order that they may the better understand its scope and purpose, and gain some idea regarding the general plan that underlies its construction.
It will be noted that the first chapter does not contain instructions as to how the student of oratory is to breathe, or how he is to use the many other functions of body, voice, and mind that are necessary to the correct production of the spoken word; but it shows how famous speakers produced their effects, and it reveals to the student the means he must adopt if he is to produce like results, leaving to later chapters the task of revealing how the means are to be applied. This manner of arranging the matter was adapted in order to insure the student’s interest being aroused in the subject at the start, thereby preventing an extinguishing of his enthusiasm by initiating him into the dry mysteries of the technical parts of speech before he had gained a fair idea regarding the means to employ in qualifying himself to become a public speaker. When, however, it is intended to use the work as a textbook, it should not be studied as it is read, but the lesson should be taken up in a natural sequence, beginning with breath and continuing through to the production of the finished speech or oration. Here is given an outline of study, or syllabus, showing the order in which the different subjects treated in the book can be taken up to best advantage.
Syllabus
| Lesson I | Breath | 120–126, 133–135 |
| Lesson II | Voice | 126–133, 135–138 |
| Lesson III | Inflection | 27–37 |
| Lesson IV | Emphasis | 37–46 |
| Lesson V | Combined Use of Emphasis and Inflection, and Parenthesis and Pause | 46–54 |
| Lesson VI | Series and Modulation | 54–63 |
| Lesson VII | Paraphrasing | 103–119 |
| Lesson VIII | Composition | 84–102 |
| Lesson IX | Construction | 61–83 |
| Lesson X | The Making of Oratory | 1–25 |
| Lesson XI | Delivery | 145–157 |
| Lesson XII | Memory | 138–145 |
| Lesson XIII | Lesson Talks | 389–406 |
| Lesson XIV | Grecian Orators | 158–256 |
| Lesson XV | Latin Orators | 257–297 |
| Lesson XVI | Modern Orators | 298–388 |