(2) “I will try whenever I write to make myself unmistakable.” (3) “I will try whenever I speak to make every word distinct from every other word.” (4) “I will try whenever I read to see how others express themselves so that I may at the next opportunity imitate that part of their style which says most in the simplest way.” (5) “I will make every good new word my own, because the vocabulary of my present life is limited.” (6) “I will do all this because by so doing I shall develop myself in my profession, and because I may some day fail that profession if I neglect that development now.” LECTURES _Lectures_ are but extended _Explanations_. Officers are more and more being called upon to appear before large audiences of educated people in order to give to the country military knowledge. Training Camps and war are increasing the necessity for the delivery of lectures. Because the _Lecture_ takes more time, it should be more carefully developed than the _Explanation_. The subject should be divided into its various parts in a logical way. It should be bound together coherently. And each part should have in it only what belongs there. This process is simply that of following the rules of English with which we are already acquainted. The purpose is speed and clearness. There are other elements which enter into the betterment of a long talk. Since an audience is human, there is reason in helping it through a dry subject. The treatment of the _Lecture_ may in this way, besides aiding the interest, make the points stick longer. Two qualities which help to attain this treatment are _Humor_ and _Presence_. Ordinarily the American does not need to be told to cultivate humor. He reeks with it. But there are some instructors whose minds work along so impassively that it is difficult for them to be wakened from their gravity. To them the conscious development of the short anecdote, homely illustration, and incongruous phrase is a splendid aid. The great majority, however, must be guarded in the use of humor. The quality itself may be overworked so that the proportion of matter in the Lecture is small in comparison to the witticisms. Humor is but a means to an end. Its sole object should be to lighten the talk in order to help the subject into the auditor’s mind more easily. Fun should be incidental and made without effort.