Teaching Public Speaking by Correspondence
By C. C. LEWIS
At first some said, “I do not see how it can be done,” and so we have been keeping still for more than a year to see if it really could be done successfully. A number of persons have been pursuing the course, and three or four have completed it. The results are beginning to appear. One minister in a foreign land says:— “It would be hard to tell all the benefits I have received from this course. Many times I have remarked to my wife, ‘I shall never be sorry for the time and money I spent in taking this course.’ In some respects it has made me think of preaching in an entirely new way. It has made me see why so much of our preaching is merely talking to the wind. I determined to make my sermons not only to be something, but to do something. I have often get my book and read over again the instruction. In my own notebook I have made an outline of ‘Effective Speaking,’ so that I shall always have the main points with me, and can work out in my speaking the advice given.” Another minister, who has recently completed the twenty lessons, speaks enthusiastically and at length of the benefits he has received. There is room for only a few sentences:— “I am simply delighted with the ‘Tone Drill’ work. The instructions given in ‘Effective Speaking’ are splendid, and I have derived much benefit from the study; but I want to say that the ‘Tone Drills’ have helped me just as much, only in a different way. They have helped me to overcome self-consciousness in a very marked degree; they stimulate individuality; they have helped me to be myself in public, and to speak with more ease, better expression, and greater vividness. They have also helped me just as much in reading; in fact, I find that I use them unconsciously right along every day. I propose to keep up the practice of the drills indefinitely. “I know that I have derived much benefit from this course of studies with you. I have done a great deal of studying, and tried to become more efficient in my line of work. I have been amply recompensed for my efforts, and feel that it has indeed been worth while. What I have accomplished has been at odd times, time that could easily have been wasted, a few minutes here and there, until you see it is just like finding that much. I regret that I did not take up something of this sort before, and I know that I am the loser for not having done so. It is surprising how much time one has that he could devote to studying, when really he thinks he hasn’t any time to spare at all. I am well pleased with the program as outlined; and, in fact, I don’t know how you could improve the course.”