when her greatness appeared fixed for all time, her decline began. Let America pause and ponder as she stands on the brink of that gulf wherein lie buried Israel, Assyria, Carthage, Greece, and Rome, for unless she turns from the false god Mammon, and returns to the worship of the Lord God, she will as surely be plunged into the bottomless pit as were the nations that preceded her in wealth and power and which she is imitating by bowing down to and worshiping the golden calf. Let us keep before our country the lights of truth and justice that they may guide her from this threatening peril on to that upward and onward path leading to the holy of holies wherein sits enthroned the one true God the God of Equality and of Love.

It is well to blend God, Home and Country, because the belief in all three makes the believer, man or woman, the patriot and the child of God. Take God out of the home and what have we? A shelter for the body, perhaps, but a wilderness for the spirit. Take God out of the country and what have we? A ship of state without a compass whereby to direct its course. Therefore, if either love of God or love of home fails to exist in the hearts of the citizens of any land, that part of the earth's surface will be their habitation but it will fail to be their country. When the patriot thinks of the nation he loves he does not picture it as so much land, so much water, so many mountains or so many plains. No, he sees it as he sees his flag, symbolical of all that is dear, holy and true. It is the spirit of our flag that we love. It is the spirit of God and the spirit of Home that make us love our Country. Let us look to her as our mother, let us be to her faithful and loving children, and may she be the better for having nurtured us in her arms. Ladies and Gentlemen: Our Country. God grant she may always stand for the fulfillment of His word.

THES

CHAPTER X

LESSON TALKS

HESE lesson talks will be of value to students only after they have diligently studied the contents of this book, particularly the first, second, and sixth chapters, which treat of the means of speech construction and the forms of delivery. It is absolutely necessary that students should have a thorough understanding of inflection, emphasis, apposition, opposition, and the series, in order that they may understand and appreciate the work of this chapter. These talks are intended to exemplify the application of the rules laid down in this book for the guidance of those who seek proficiency in the art of public speaking, but they will help little unless the student has prepared himself to receive them by thoroughly mastering the technique of the art as expounded in the different chapters.

It will be well for the student to mark the speeches given in this chapter according to the instructions given in the lesson talks, as then he will have an object lesson before him that will enable him more readily to grasp the written instructions regarding the series, emphasis, and inflection.

Cuba Must Be Free. On March 24, 1898, Senator

John M. Thurston of Nebraska delivered a speech "On the Affairs of Cuba," from which this extract is taken. While it is but a portion of a speech, being the peroration only, still it is a complete speech in itself, as it conforms to all the requirements of speech construction. Its opening, or statement, consists in the laying down of the facts upon which the argument is to be based, these facts being the legal rights of individuals and states as opposed to the moral rights. The statement ends with the second paragraph. The body, or argument, closes with the fifth paragraph and consists in showing that nations, like individuals, should be governed by high moral motives and not shrink from obligations because they have the legal right to do so; and that in the performance of these obligations force is the only means that can bring about the desired end. The balance of the speech forms the conclusion, and it consists of a summing up of the great events of the world's history wherein progress was made in man's struggle for liberty only by the exercise of force.

The opening sentence states the claims of those who oppose intervention in behalf of Cuba by the United States, and sets forth these claims. This forms the base of Senator Thurston's argument. The second sentence is a qualified acknowledgment of the legal right of the United States to refrain from interfering. In other words, he frankly confesses that there is no legal power that can compel the United States to interfere between Spain and her colony, but clearly shows that he intends

to uphold the moral right of that country to intervene, the construction of this sentence, "It may be the naked legal right of the United States to stand thus idly by," plainly denoting the senator's opinion.

The second paragraph is devoted to illustrating the legal rights of the individual; the third paragraph, the effects that would flow from an exercise of those rights; the fourth paragraph, an application of the principle to nations that has previously been applied to individuals, and an explanation as to the senator's conception of the religious doctrine as taught by Christ; the fifth paragraph states the meaning of intervention, force, and war, defines the force that should be used, and makes two strong assertions in the form of indirect questions; the sixth paragraph is devoted to the production of cumulative evidence as to the efficacy of force, and a stirring appeal that this force be exercised. The quotation from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is used to emphasize this last point; the seventh paragraph states the position that the senator takes on the question.

"Cuba" and "United States" are contrasted, consequently both require emphasis as well as different inflections, and as the former is affirmative it should be given the falling inflection, and the latter, because it is negative, should be given the rising inflection. The balance of the sentence consists of a concluding series that is out of the ordinary for the reason that the last member of the series forms a series by itself, and it is therefore termed a series within a series. The last sentence of the open

ing paragraph requires the falling inflecton because it is an affirmative statement.

The opening sentence of the second paragraph requires the falling inflection because it is a positive statement. The word "legal" should be emphasized for the reason that it qualifies the word right, and by means of emphasis placed on the word "legal" a contrast is immediately suggested with the "moral" right. In the next sentence the word "my" is the important word because it qualifies the word "dog," and as it states that "it is not my dog," the word "my" should be given the rising inflection to show its negative quality. If the emphasis and inflection should be placed on the word "dog," it would then be indicated that the "dog" is not mine but the cat or the horse is. Care must be exercised to place properly both the inflection and the emphasis in order that a correct interpretation may be given. "Mine," in the next sentence, should be given the rising inflection for the same reason that governs the inflection on the word "dog," the meaning being that it may be the policeman's duty to interfere but it is not the speaker's. The word "my," in the next phrase, requires the rising inflection for the same reason, the occurrence taking place on premises but not on "my" premises. The conclusion of the paragraph should be given the falling inflection because it is assertive.

"But if I do" is conditional and therefore requires the rising inflection; "I am a coward and a cur" being the concluding clause to the conditional, and being posi