B. Use Strong Enough Tones of Voice. Loud sounds as well as moving objects have always meant the possibility of danger. The baby early learns to react to noises, and to use a few of his own making by squalling to get attention from his parents. All of us do the same thing when grown up; whenever we wish to emphasize something, we are pretty likely to say it with considerable force. Such increase in sound is simply a way of attracting attention.

We pay

C. Consult the Tastes of Those Spoken to. attention to what we like and we refuse attention to what we dislike. Then, to gain and hold the attention of those to whom you speak, look and sound pleasing to them. Have regard for their tastes. These are of three kinds:

1. Tastes determined by habits.

Every man's likes are determined by the kind of life he has lived. People who are very active physically, who work with their arms, and backs, and legs, will be interested by one kind of speaking; those who live quiet, sedentary lives, sitting all day at a desk in an office, are moved by quite a different sort. Unless a speaker looks and sounds pleasing, either type probably will pay little attention to what he says.

2. Tastes determined by degree of culture.

Certain people like bright colors-"loud" colors. The same people prefer noisy sounds too. Others prefer quiet, subdued colors and delicate, refined sounds. Notice neckties and music; see what differences you can detect among the preferences of different people. The more cultured and refined the person to whom you speak, the more quiet and reserved you had better be. Such a one will not like too much activity or too much sound. He has been trained to notice finer differences; that is why we call him "refined." You can easily use more activity or sound than he will like.

On the other hand, there are many people who are untrained

in making finer distinctions. They demand more activity and more noise. Hamlet warns the players not "to split the ears of the groundlings who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb-show and noise." The players whom Hamlet was advising were to do their speaking before the king and his court; so the advice was perfectly appropriate in that case, for "dumb-show and noise" would certainly not have interested that kind of people. You cannot be interesting to one kind of people by acting in a way that would be pleasing to only an entirely different type of people. A man who looks the same and sounds the same when speaking to different types of people, must certainly be ineffective at least part of the time.

3. Tastes determined by circumstances and conditions.

Not only is it true that different people like different manners in speakers; but the same people like different manners under different circumstances and conditions. Such things as time of day, surroundings, number of people present, nature of the occasion-all of these are involved in a speech or talk. Any one who tries to tell us anything must take all these factors into account if he wants us to like-and follow -him. When we sit in a comfortable position, we are already well on the way towards sleep, and the speaker who wants to be attended to must act and sound differently from the way in which he would if we were standing on a street corner.

Just after a heavy meal, especially, we are likely to be drowsy, and greater activity and louder sounds are needed to keep our attention. That speaker succeeds best who catches us in whatever circumstances we happen to be at the moment and then keeps us wide awake and interested. If he can make us forget everything except what he is telling us, he can do with us almost anything he will. When he makes us get the meaning and become absorbed in it, he is succeeding. No

other test is so good in determining the effectiveness of speaking.

More than this; when a speaker can get the attention of those who look and listen and can hold it for as long a time as he desires, it is absurd for anyone to say uncomplimentary things about his methods. As a speaker he is effective. When "Billy" Sunday can fill his tabernacle with 10,000 people every night and hold their attention for an hour, it is presumptuous of a minister who cannot half fill his little church and whose congregation regularly sleep while he preaches, to say that Mr. Sunday is an ineffective speaker. When Mr. Sunday addresses a cultivated and refined group of people, he does not shout and gesticulate wildly; he is always very careful to conduct himself in such a way as to hold the interest of just that sort of people. And he gets results.

D. Be Sympathetic and Tactful. The speaker who interests us is usually one who understands our feelings and who shows them proper consideration. Speakers often lose us simply because they hurt our feelings with rudeness and discourtesy. To be impolite is to arouse prejudices, and then to lose attention. All too many speakers are self-centered, not at all concerned about our feelings. They sometimes show this attitude in the way they treat us. Then we resent it, and refuse to pay attention to what they are saying. One of the greatest helps toward becoming effective in conversation and in public speaking, is to learn how to deport yourself so that others will feel a positive friendliness toward you. Whenever others really like you, you have a real chance to make them do what you want them to do.

Do not make the blunder of thinking that, just because you happen to be greatly interested in something, everyone else will be interested too. Everything you are going to say should be carefully weighed and considered with respect to

the attitude that those to whom you are speaking are going to take toward it. Everything in speech should be tested by this objective standard. Much inefficiency in conversation and in public speaking comes from the fact that the speaker does not, or will not, understand the attitudes and tastes of those to whom he speaks. He puts on hob-nailed shoes and treads all over everybody's sensitive toes-and then wonders why people do not like him.

Imagine yourself going out fishing. What shall you use for bait? Suppose you say: "I like a good porterhouse steak about as well as anything. Therefore I'll bait my hook with porterhouse steak." How many fish would you catch? Nothing but sharks. The skillful fisherman studies the tastes of the particular kind of fish he is trying to catch. He baits his hook with whatever is most attractive to the fish, not to himself. He doesn't try to catch a mountain trout with a frog or a muskellunge with a fly. In any case he doesn't try to catch fish by offering them the sort of thing which appeals most to himself.

E. Use Variety of Voice and Action. The surest way to lose attention is to use no variety in voice and action. People are put to sleep by monotony in what they see and hear. Hypnotists use the device of monotony to put their subjects to sleep. In speech, variety is the important word. Sounds and sights that change constantly get and hold attention. If a speaker wants to be heard throughout his speaking, he should make his sound signals loud enough and should vary the amount of sound he uses. A French writer, La Motte, in one of his fables remarks, "One day, ennui was born of uniformity." It must have been so; for the surest way to give those to whom you speak "that tired feeling," is to be uniform in what you say and do.

Variety the great need. After all, the surest way to keep anyone awake and attentive is to use all possible variety of

matter and manner in speaking. Variety is more than the spice of life; it is also the keynote of success in speaking. The ultimate test of success in speaking is to have those who have watched and listened say, "We could not think of anything except what you were saying, from the time you began until you finished," or "There wasn't a dull moment." Any speaker who can successfully meet this test can win the greatest praise ever bestowed upon a speaker-“The people heard him gladly." Ponder this text carefully. There is more in it than appears on the surface.

VII. SUMMARY

Learn then, in beginning your study of speech, that there are three questions to be answered in finding out whether your speaking is effective:

1. Is it controlled throughout by a clear purpose?

2. Is it easy to hear and plain to see?

3. Is it interesting?

There are no absolute standards more specific than these. In speaking and reading there is neither "good" nor "bad"; there is only effective and ineffective. And effectiveness and ineffectiveness are always to be measured in terms of what the speaking does to the thinking and feeling of the ones who watch and listen.

EXERCISES

1. State the three tests of effectiveness in speech. Cite a case of failure on each point.

2. How can you make your conversation interesting and entertaining?

3. Show how your interests differ from the interests of someone else in the class and indicate how the difference would be important for anyone who talks to you and to him.

4. Make a list of the different kinds of variety which a speaker may use.