The vehicle secured, let him drive to the principal street, stop at
the corner selected as the meeting-place, and, standing on the seat,
let him announce (his voice pitched high, but not strained, dwelling
for at least two seconds upon each word) that a meeting will be held
in a few minutes at which "the people will be told how our country can
be freed from the curse of Hannaism and monopoly" (or some similar
striking expression). Then proceeding to the next corner let him repeat
the announcement, and so over the village, or, if it be a city, over as
large a section as he can conveniently cover. By making a dozen or more
of these announcements he can always gather about him the nucleus of an
audience.
If unable to secure a vehicle he may go afoot, carrying a chair to
serve him as a speaker's platform. As efficient work can be done in
this way as in any other.
In addressing the five or the fifty men, women and boys who compose
this audience, it is requisite that he should begin in the same high
key and the same deliberate manner and tone in which he made his
announcements, addressing himself not to the few in front of him,
but to the listeners in front of their stores half a block away.
After speaking thus for five minutes, more or less, and arousing the
enthusiasm and interest of distant listeners, he should suddenly turn
his eyes and attention from all who are more than fifty feet away, and
proceed in his natural tone of voice. Very often persons standing in
front of stores and shops, lining the streets for two or three squares,
when the speaker changes and lowers his tone and directs his remarks
to his immediate audience, will come near to hear, if possible, the
completion of some interesting point.
In large cities where there is much noise from street cars and wagons,
this work is more laborious, and from start to finish the speech will
require all the energy the speaker possesses to keep his crowd together
and to increase its number. But in smaller places, or in quieter
neighborhoods of large places, after the first announcements, outdoor
speaking can be reduced to a very moderate exercise. The average man,
after a month's practice, can speak outdoors two or three hours a day,
divided into three or four speeches, without any great fatigue, and
keep it up the year round, resting only upon days so rainy, stormy or
bitter cold, that men will not, for any inducement, stand outdoors.
PRE-ARRANGED APPLAUSE ONE-HALF OF ORATORY.
If friends can secure the free service of a drum corps, a brass band,
or a quartette of singers, to help draw the people together, the
speaker's work will, of course, be greatly lessened, and much will
be done toward saving the voice and energies otherwise necessarily
expended in attracting an audience. He will thus be enabled to
concentrate all his powers, convincing and teaching his hearers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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