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IN SPEECH

A UNIVERSAL DRAMATIC READER

BY

LEONARD G. NATTKEMPER
Polytechnic High School, Long Beach, Cal.
Formerly Professor of Public Speaking,
University of Southern California

AND

GEORGE WHARTON JAMES, LITT. D.
Author of "California, Romantic and Beautiful,”
"Arizona, the Wonderland," "In and Out
of the Old Missions of California,"
"Reclaiming the Arid West,"
Etc., Etc.

A NEW, COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL METHOD OF
SECURING DELIGHT AND EFFICIENCY IN
SILENT AND ORAL READING AND
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SPEECH

TOGETHER WITH A LARGE AND VARIED COLLECTION
OF CAREFULLY CHOSEN

SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND POETRY,

WITH CHAPTERS ON "THE CULTIVATION OF THE
MEMORY" AND "AFTER DINNER SPEAKING"

THE RADIANT LIFE PRESS
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

1919

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INTRODUCTION

SPEECH is one of God's greatest gifts to man, yet, comparatively speaking, how few there are whose speech is pleasing to hear, clear and understandable, impressive and stimulative to action.

From the cradle to the grave every person, perforce, uses speech, just as he eats, breathes, drinks, sleeps. It is one of the important, ever exercised functions of life. Upon it all our social, business and professional intercourse is based. Without it, life as we know it, would be impossible. With it, developed to its natural, normal, proper, and readily attainable efficiency, there are few limits to what man may aspire to attain.

Recognizing to the full the truth of the aphorism that "the things we enjoy doing are the things we do best," it is the purpose of this book so to present its subject as to create in its readers a firm resolve to so thoroughly enjoy good reading that they will do it well.

The aim is twofold: first, to stimulate a natural desire on the part of the student for the proper use of voice and body in the oral interpretation of literature; and second, to present a natural and practical scheme for the attainment of this end.

After a number of years of experience and observation the authors have come to believe that when even the most diffident pupil has once had aroused in him a real enjoyment in the acts of speaking and reading aloud, he is destined to become not only an intelligent, but an intelligible reader.

It is no longer necessary to argue for the recognition of vocal expression as a worthy and definite part of the curricu

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