Show IF YOU WOULD BK AX OKATOK the Advice KoscooCoiikUsis Gave to Young Men Who KK Such Ambition By E Jay Edwards One day Roscoe Conkling was in one of the departments in Washington attending 1 to some business for a client of his He was compelled to wait awhile since the chief of that department was busy with a man with whom he had a previous engagement en-gagement Mr Confcliug began to chat with one of the clerks He was a young fellow scarcely out of his teens and Mr Conkling who was very fond of young people if they were intelligent seemed to lake an interest in the young man He 1 4 I t I jd ROSCOE OOZLflG asked the clerk whether he expected to remain long in the government office and advised him to quit such employment as soon as possible saying that there was no more dismal career than that of a government i gov-ernment clerk The young man asked Mr Conkling if j j I he would tell him how he became a great orator The senator was pleased with the question I ques-tion but said that he had time to make i I only one suggestion Said he Practice I Prac-tice speak aloud Themostimpcrtant I I thing for a young man who wants to become j i be-come an orator to think about at first is i how to enunciate with distinctness Of I course it is more important than that for an orator to have something to say but I am now speaking of the manner in which I he is to say what is in his mind I 1 Practice speaking words which have I I I long vowels them If pou take care of these vowels the consonants will take care of themselves and the secret of distinctness I I dis-tinctness in public speaking is clear utterance i ut-terance of the vowel sounds 11 Then Mr Conkling repeated arhyme to the young man in his rich voice and although 1 al-though he seemed to be speaking in his conversational tone yet the clerk at the far end of the room said that he heard Mr Conkling with distinctness I I At theChicago convention in 1SSQ in which General Garfield was nominated for the presidency Mr Conkling made a speech which is now historic He stood upon a reporters table The great building was packed It was thought that not less than 15000 persons were in it such an audience as an orator seldom hasMany who heard that address said afterward that it seemed impossible that anyone should ever win a higher oratorical oratori-cal triumph than Mr Conkling then gained After the convention adjourned a gentleman gen-tleman met Mr Conkling and said to him Senator I want to ask you a single question I sat in the remote gallery Perhaps no man in the building was farther away from you than I I could think of nothing but the ocean as I looked over the Tast throng between you and me I was so far away that I could scarcely see the outlines of your countenance although your figure was plainly visible Yet I heard every word that yon uttered and those who were near me said that they did Now I should like to ask you how you were able to carry your voice with distinctness to the remote pcrt of that great building By pronouncing the vowels distinctly dis-tinctly answered Mr Conkling That is the secret of distinct utterance and the reason so many men fail to make themselves heard is that they slur the i I vowels 1 I I i I Wendell Phillips was not known as an i orator at all one day while upon the next he had gained such distinction as only Webster Choate Otis and Fisher Ames I I had secured in the same city of Boston I Mr Phillips was attending a public I meeting called in Faneuil hall It was in the exciting antislavery time Mr I Phillips sat in the gallery with a friend i I He was then a man under thirty years l I of ace and when he entered that hall ho had no idea of any other career than that of a lawyer Speeches were made which filled Phillips with indignation and he said to his friend Someone ought to answer those speeches j Why not do it yourself the friend I replied I With that suggestion Mr Phillips I made his way 1o the platform and I without preparation delivered a speech worthy to rank with the highest achievements in oratory in aneuii hall And the men asked Who is this young I fellow who speaks in tones oi music and I compels us to listen to things we do not I care to hear Mr Phillips had two qualities which I make the orator when he made this first famous speech of his One was a i voice comparable in sweetness power I 1 I < I qj I Y 1l 4 1 I 7 I n Jj i ri IV I tW 4 i d11 II A V y = ifl I fItf J fj 1 9 7 I 0 i L I WENDELL PHILLIPS and fascination only to the voice of Gladstone and some have thought to that of Kerrit Smith another famous abolitionist aboli-tionist Then Mr Phillips had cultivated as Conkling did the art of speaking with distinctness and without apparent effort Therefore he did not tire his listeners since he seemed to be addressing addres-sing them in no more urgent manner than one would use in private conversation conversa-tion He was very careful of his vowel I sounds although this care was not made evident to his audience I Conkiing seemed never to strain to carry his voice and he spoke for four r hours at the Academy of Music in New I York without any more apparent effort than would have been required to chat i with friends Therefore he did not weary i his great audience by a suggestion that he was himself weary I To young men who asked Mr Conkling what practice they should take to become I effective speakers he always made this answer Train your voice as singers do so that you can get a musical tone but not a singsong one and to get I it without apparent effort just as the greatest sincere execute their most difficult passages There is no i young man who cannot by practice secure I se-cure a voice which will be pleasing Of course some are blessed with natural gifts but it is a gift which can be acquired I I ac-quired Gerrilt Smith had the superbest voice ever given to an American but even he I when he was making his battles for the antislavery cause practised reading i aloud Then cultivate distinctness Thus armed if you have something to say you will become an orator and if you have patience intelligence and enthusiasm en-thusiasm and sincerity as well you may I I be a great orator whose rewards are as delightful as any that man can receive I |