College athletics. College dramatics. Student self-government. Hazing. The advisory system. The honor system. Student rushes. Management of student social functions. College dancing. Student employees. Athletic equipment. Compulsory military education. Swimming as a college activity. Physical education. Campus architecture. Dormitories for men. Dormitories for women. Campus-keeping. Literary societies. Fraternities. College spirit. Obligation of the student to the home folks. The student in practical life. 3. SOCIAL QUESTIONS

The convict's chance. The price of child labor. Lynch law. Horrors of automobile racing. Products of the slums. Liquor traffic and its human toll. Misfortune of the backward child. National divorce law. Social derelicts. Eugenic marriage laws. Vocational guidance. Compulsory supervised play. National prohibition. Problem of the rural school. The school as a social center. The church as a social institution. The play school. Social settlements. The white plague. American servant-girl problem. Mountain whites. Influence of women's clubs. Woman's part in a dry campaign. Social influence of the "movies." The gospel of fresh air. The habitually poor. The social influence of community music. Wages and morals. Municipal dancing. Place of domestic science in the higher education of women. Uniform dress for women in colleges.

4. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

Henry Ford's profit-sharing plan. The eight-hour day. Value of advertising. Who pays for the advertising? Mailorder houses versus the country store. State insurance. The pay-up-week plan. Aims of organized labor. Coöperation in marketing of rural products. The middleman. Open versus closed shop. Relation of pure-food standards to the high cost of living. State roads. Recent currency legislation. Protective tariff versus free trade. Mothers'

pensions. Income tax. Personal-property tax. Commission plan of city government. Industrial education. Manual arts in education. High license. Municipal ownership of public utilities. Inheritance tax. Single tax. Minimum wage. 5. CURRENT TOPICS

"Pussyfootism." Preparedness. The American flag in Mexico. Independence for the Philippines. Probable effects of the European War. Our relations with South America. What of the Monroe Doctrine? Panama Canal tolls. Japanese in California. European-immigrant problem in the United States. Equal suffrage in the United States. The militant suffragette. Legal status of women property owners in the United States. Negro problem as interpreted by Booker Washington. Prohibition of negro immigration into the United States. Desirability of literacy test for immigrants. Irish home rule. Justice to the Jew. Justice to the American Indian. Prospects in the next presidential campaign. The feminist movement as a benefit or detriment to American women. Traffic in patent medicines. Hoof-and-mouth disease. Infantile paralysis. Licensing of engineers.

6. LITERARY TOPICS

The philosophy of Shakespeare. Pope's position and influence. Shelley's idea of social service. A comparison of the poetry of Burns and Gray. Ethical aspects of the works of George Meredith. Browning's place in English poetry. Influence of Wordsworth on English poetic style. Poe's genius. Music in Shakespeare. The Rubaiyat of Omar. Lincoln's literary style. Philosophy of Emerson. The versatile Kipling. James's pragmatism. Ethical philosophy of Mark Twain. Social philosophy of Confucius. A comparison of the word painting of Grady and Ingersoll. O. Henry as a short-story writer. Puritanism as depicted in Hawthorne. Shakespeare's women. Sheridan as a dramatist.

7. BIOGRAPHICAL TOPICS

Lincoln. Boyhood of Lincoln. Lincoln's education. Lincoln's personality. Lincoln the man. Lincoln as a politician. Lincoln the statesman. Lincoln the orator and debater. Lincoln the story-teller and humorist. Lincoln and emancipation. Lincoln and the Dred Scott Decision. Lincoln's policy of mercy. Foreign policy of Lincoln during the Civil War. Effect of Lincoln's death upon the South. What would Lincoln do to-day?

Great Orators. Demosthenes. Cicero. Chatham. Burke. Fox. Pitt. Gladstone. Sheridan. O'Connell. Bright. Webster. Henry. Clay. Beecher. Phillips. Brooks. Ingersoll. Grady. Bryan.

CHAPTER II

THE CONVERSATIONAL MODE

Most people who are interested in the art of speechmaking realize the very great importance of good delivery, since the success of any speech depends in large measure upon the effectiveness with which it is delivered. It has often been maintained that the reason why so many people speak poorly is that they have nothing worth while to say, and that if a speaker has anything really worth while to give to his audience any real message he will deliver it well. It would be as reasonable to expect that one who has anything to write will write it well or that he who has anything to paint will paint it well upon the canvas, regardless of training.

In respect to the importance of good delivery in speaking, Emerson once made the significant statement that what is said is the least part of an oration, which is only one way of saying that the most vital message may be ineffective if poorly delivered. We are all familiar with instances where speakers have spent much time in careful preparation, where there has been clear and logical organization of material, and yet where the final effect of the speech has been wholly unsatisfactory because of a failure to deliver it well. It is important that we consider at the outset some of the causes for the failure of speeches that would be good if well delivered.

Nearly all faults of speech work on the side of delivery are due either to a wrong conception of what good delivery is or to the failure to employ correct principles in its use.

Misconceptions of speech delivery. A wrong conception of good delivery is much more common than one would generally suppose. The most common misconception seems to be that the tone to be used in the delivery of a speech, no matter what the character of the speech may be, should be something lofty and high sounding; that the mere fact that it is to be a speech demands a tone of voice entirely different from that which would be used in conversation. The result is that the speaker assumes for the occasion a tone of voice that is very unnatural, and one that he would never be likely to use in his normal conversation. The chief characteristic of the tone that seems to be commonly assumed for this purpose is sonorousness. It is generally one that, to the minds of many people, is fine sounding; one that in their opinion has the stamp of real eloquence.

Anyone who will merely take the pains to listen will. have abundant opportunity to observe how very common is the habit of employing a tone of voice for purposes of public speech that is entirely different from that used in private speech, the idea appearing to be that a tone of an entirely different character is needed in the one instance from that of the other. The services of our churches illustrate how common is this misconception among the clergy. Indeed, so much is the unnatural vogue in the pulpit that the "ministerial tone" and the "preacher's cadence" have become familiar terms.

mode of speech in