A TEXT-BOOK OF SPEECH TRAINING BY CHARLES HENRY WOOLBERT, PH.D. AND ANDREW THOMAS WEAVER, PH.D. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RECEIVED JUL 18 1927 AND STANFORD NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY A PREFACE THE AIM AND THE IDEAL The movement for better speech is upon us. Leaders of civic activities, the press, school administrators, parents, teachers, even pupils, have come to an awakening as to the desirability of improving speech. It is with the sincere hope of contributing some new definiteness of meaning and direction to this nation-wide campaign for better speech that this book is written. Speech as a school study is the broadest of all disciplines. It is fundamental and universal. In school, poor speech means poor mathematics, poor history, poor physics, poor chemistry, and, surely, poor language. Speech is the most liberal of all cultural studies, yet it is far and away the most practical discipline that the school can give. The profound conviction of the authors of this text is that the term Speech properly comprehends a wide field, including the simplest efforts to make meaningful sounds and actions, the proper choice and utterance of words, proper vocal expression in speaking and reading, proper control of the whole body in communicating with others, and the ability to think clearly and deeply. The development of these capacities carries with it the ability to influence the thoughts and actions of other people. Good speech is the key which admits its possessor to the company of the leaders of men. When speech is not good, man is vastly less happy as a social being than he should be. The man who has mastered speech has learned the secret of fitting himself into his complex social environment. The time to master speech is youth, in the days when habits are being formed. Habits of good speech, once fixed upon |