deeds as cowardly ones. This mobility is manifest only in transient matters. On hereditary and racial matters it is conservative. The crowd mind, in many respects, resembles a person hypnotized. Suggestion, if properly made, is equivalent to action, especially if made by the operatorthe orator; except in matters of traditional and vital importance to the race.

IV. Intelligence. The audience is never so intelligent as the average members composing it. It possesses rather those attributes which might be called the highest common factor of the attributes of the individual members. The crowd reasons very little. The orator must ever remember that the audience never thinks more than is necessary.

V. Imagination. What the crowd lacks in reasoning is supplied by a vivid imagination. Childlike, it reasons little, but revels in the concrete image; it delights in picturesword pictures. It demands simplicity. Imagery is the key word which unlocks the crowd mind. The tremendous success of the moving picture shows attests this fact. Hence the value of figures of speech in an oration. All things seem possible to the crowd; to a vivid imagination there is no such word as failure. Impossibility is not in the vocabulary of the crowd.

VI. Exaggeration. Because of this power of imagination, the crowd always exaggerates, personifies. It deifies a hero. It demands virtues in its characters on the stage that the individual does not demand on the street. The speaker must satisfy this characteristic of the crowd by expressing himself with no uncertain emphasis. Actors always "make up" so that under the glare of the electric lights their faces will appear natural. So the speaker never hesitates to exaggerate a fact from the platform. He must paint a crime or a sin in the most Stygean colors so that it will appear natural to the audience. This exaggeration from the plat

form is not compromising with the truth; for if the plain matter of fact truth be told from the platform, it will not be truthful when interpreted by the audience-for the crowd will always underestimate, will always discount what it hears. The orator should not hesitate to paint evil as black as possible, nor virtue as white.

VII. Impatience. Childlike, a crowd must do something. It is restless. It demands action, and it desires an expression of this attribute in the speaker. The orator must not stop to rest; he must keep his audience busy. Attention cannot be long sustained on one point. Variety, therefore, must be the watchword of the speaker.

VIII. Leadership. The crowd desires to be led, and cringes at the feet of the dictator. It respects the strength of a master. The type of the hero dear to the crowd will always bear the stamp of a Cæsar. This call for leadership must be supplied by the orator. And the crowd stands ready to honor the man who will assume this position. But remember, no weakling need apply. The speaker must, therefore, proye worthy of this leadership; he must prove himself master; the crowd will tolerate no other. How may a man qualify for this position? Follow in the footprints of those who have gone before.

A few of the most prominent characteristics of the crowd have been suggested. Now let us see how this knowledge may be utilized.

When a group of people assemble, they are all individual units. Each is busy with his own thoughts. The speaker must follow a simple pedagogical principle of the class recitation-make all think of the same thing at the same time. The speaker must unify the ideas of those gathered together. Until this is done, this group of people cannot, strictly speaking, be called a "crowd." This constitutes the first step of the orator.

A number of different methods, or devices, are used to accomplish this. One is to have everybody sit close together. Each person must become aware of the bodily presence of his fellows. If one person must touch another, so much the better. This bodily contact, this subconscious awareness of the presence of other individuals, causes the individual to forget self, and to be absorbed with the common thought of the crowd. The best speaker in the world cannot make much of an impression on an audience composed of a dozen individuals scattered over a room that would hold a thousand.

A second method often used is to have them all join in doing something in concert. Singing a song, reading in concert, is a very common device found in our churches, and always insisted upon by "revivalists." The ritualism used in some of our churches follows this plan.

A third method of creating a "crowd" spirit is to get all the audience to cheer during the first part of the performance. This justifies some speakers in their invariable habit of telling a humorous story, or making some remark "to bring the house down," at the beginning of their speech.

A fourth method is to present to the audience some idea that will strike a "sympathetic cord" and thus create a common feeling; something that will impress all the individuals in the same way. Such ideas and feelings are aroused by using appropriately such words as: Liberty, Democracy, Honest toil, Christ, Washington, etc. To refer to the glories of our republic, the chivalry of the South, the beauty of the ladies present, the grandeur of our great state, will always bring a cheer or some expression of approval from the audience.

By various methods a general audience is moulded into a crowd by unifying them-having them think of the same thing and do the same thing at the same time.

We cannot enter into a discussion of the psychology of action, except to state that when the mind is in possession

When two or more ideas are

of a single idea it will act. struggling at the same time for supremacy in the mind, there is a confusion and the will refuses to act. Indecision is the result of conflicting images. But if there is only one dominating idea, one that overshadows all others, and thereby practically excludes all others, the result is action. One idea and only one should be the watchword of the speaker.

The man who is hypnotized will usually do what the operator suggests because he has no other thoughts except that one. We often hear people say, "I did so and so because I did not stop to think." The deed was done because there was only one dominant idea and emotion as the result of a single impression. If time for reflection had been taken, the confusion of ideas would doubtless have prevented the act.

The

The orator must take the crowd, which, like a child, revels in images, draw a picture so lucid and realistic, so clear and natural, that the audience sees but one side of the question at issue. This is frequently accomplished by presenting ideas of home, love, revenge, happiness, virtue, etc. crowd will always respond to strong emotional impulses such as fear, pride, sorrow, etc. Remember a crowd should be loved into doing what the speaker desires. A second thing that the speaker must never forget is that the speaker himself must see the pictures he paints and feel the emotions he expresses.

KINDS. Besides observing the attributes of the crowd, the orator must consider carefully the various kinds of audiences.

I. Purpose. Crowds assemble for certain definite purposes: (1) to be entertained, (2) to be informed, (3) to be persuaded. Though one purpose predominates, all may be present. In any event, the purpose in assembling must be respected by the speaker.

II. Quality. The speaker must also bear in mind the quality of his audience, such as nationality, occupation, social status, religion, mentality, etc. The message, language, delivery, will vary with each group. Power of adaptation spells success.

III. Size. You cannot speak to a few in the same manner as you can to a thousand. The style of delivery, volume, action-must be appropriate to the number addressed. Preachers often speak to a congregation of fifty in a small church with the same volume as though they were addressing five thousand in the open air. That may account for the fact that some preachers have only an audience of fifty. Again, some speak to only a handful on Sunday because their voices carry only to about that many.

IV. Location. Gauge your voice by the size and shape of the room and its general acoustic properties. It requires less effort to be understood in the Christian Science Temple in Boston, seating over 5,000 people, than in many town halls seating fifty. The building having the best acoustic properties should have the following proportional dimensions: three times the length equaling four times the width equaling six times the height; that is the length, width, and height should be in the ratio of 4:3:2. The interior should be plain.

EXERCISES

I. Study a church audience and report to the class. What ideas move the audience? What did you remember of the sermon?

II. Study a street crowd. Note all the general characteristics. Report to the class.

III. Why is not the group of boys and girls who gather in a room before school begins a "crowd"?

IV. While waiting for the play to begin, clap your hands. How many followed your suggestion?