There are a thousand cues given and illustrations suggested by a preliminary entertainment that can be made the gateway to the sympathies, affections and intelligence of those who listen. Convince the audience that the questions treated are neither abstract nor incomprehensible, but simple and tangible, and concern their personal welfare and the future of their families, and self-interest will impel them to listen to specific arguments backed by facts and figures. The Volunteer who aspires to attract vast audiences and transplant the hopes and thoughts that flourish in his own mind to the fertile soil of other minds, must first learn that the passion to instruct, though a noble instinct, must be curbed ruthlessly, else instead of an orator the "would-be" will find himself a bore. The passion to impart knowledge, like the other human passions, when given free rein to exercise itself unrestrained, defeats its own ends and at last destroys itself. How many old speakers we know who long ago looked forward, as hundreds of young men now look forward, to becoming orators, with power to sway the multitudes, to guide and lead them to higher things. But instead of orators we call them fossils. Instead of attracting they repel. They begin whenever permitted and never stop until so commanded. They are brought out and used in emergencies when no one else can be obtained, but never otherwise. They are common hacks. Why is this? Not always because such men do not possess ability. Some of them have followed the world's greatest thinkers throughout their intricate reasonings and profound solutions of life's most serious problems. But at the very start they conceived wrong notions concerning the function of a public speaker, an erroneous impression as to the utility and object of a speech or popular address. We have often noticed that superior minds are overlooked on popular occasions and some man with less capacity and knowledge, far less endowed with mental treasures, is called upon to do the honors of the occasion. Why? Because he has the faculty of addressing himself directly to the listeners and of adapting himself to their frame of mind. TEN COMMANDMENTS. To those who would become speakers and avoid the mistakes that cause the majority of failures, the following rules will be found valuable: 1. Do not try to tell all you know at any one time. 2. Do not try to appear deep, learned or poetical. 3. Do not try to prove every statement you make. 4. Use statistics sparingly. 5. Address yourself, not to the kind of men and women you would have made had you been the Creator, but to the actual men and women who have been created, who fill your halls and make up your audiences. 6. Make your talk personal and apply every point to the wants, woes and sentiments of your listeners. 7. Never regret the half hour or the hour occupied by the music, recitations, drama, or other entertainment preceding your speech.