- ister. "No," he answered, "that is just
what I want to say. If you do not care about it let us call the engagement off."
There spoke the essential Roosevelt, not the politician, but the preacher. His object in speaking is to do good. To give advice, to stiffen healthy instincts, to strengthen public opinion against meanness and cruelty, to induce every man and every woman to make the best of themselves—those are the essential Roosevelt aims. His style smacks more of the pulpit than the platform. . . . "If I had been a Methodist," he once declared, "I should have applied for a license as a lay preacher." Since then he has obtained his license to preach—but from a greater body than the Methodist Conference. He is preacher-in-general to the whole civilized world.
(3027)
SPEECH
Compare the golden oriole, swinging in the
sunshine, and filling the house with flashing
melodies, with the infant, moaning in his yet
inarticulate speech, that lies beneath! The
bird was made for enjoyment first; for work,
subordinately. The infant was created for
an enjoyment to be realized through fervent
operation. The bird has a beauty of the
Mind which created him. The gloss upon
his breast, and the brilliance on his wings,
were put there by God's pencil. His gushing
song warbles a tribute to Him who gave him
power to sing. But the child has a struggling
capacity within him, as much grander
than this as the spiritual and divine are always
grander than the physical. He hath in
his being the germs of speech. And speech
can represent the most delicate feeling. It
can set forth the mightiest process of
thought. It can furnish an image for all
that is conceived. It can take up and interpret
the very thoughts of the infinite,
translating them into language for the immortals
to hear.—Richard S. Storrs.
(3028)
See Silence and Speech.
SPEECH AND MISSIONARIES
We very frequently disgust people because
of our seven-by-nine vocabulary. When the
missionaries first went to the Hawaiian
Islands it was perfectly proper for them to
call the horse the "not pig," because they
knew no horse and the newcomers were
obliged to describe a horse in some way; but
it is infantile for a missionary in countries
where horses are common, because they do
not happen to know the word for "horse"
and do know the words for "not pig," to call
a horse the "not pig." There is too much
guesswork about that kind of talk, and you
offend people by so doing.
Vulgarity of speech is a very common fault with many. We do not realize, perhaps, how our language has been purified, but in most of the missionary countries the language is vile beyond expression. A missionary adopts a word heard because he wants to use the language of the people; and he picks up something that is very greatly soiled. I recall a meeting that was electrified and horrified by a missionary who, in reading a hymn, repeatedly used an obscene word through sheer carelessness.—H. P. Beach, "Student Volunteer Movement," 1906.
(3029)
Speech and Practise—See Profession versus Character. SPEECH, COMMON John Wesley believed in the people, and one of the chief secrets of his success lay in his power to learn from the masses how to speak to them and influence them. On one occasion he was walking with his scarcely less famous brother, Charles Wesley, the hymn-writer, in a humble street in London, when they came face to face with a crowd of fishwomen who were in a row, and were cursing and swearing in a most excited fashion. Charles Wesley, more timid than his brother, turned to John and said: "Brother, let us go up this other street and escape from this mob." But John Wesley thought Charles needed more contact with the people, and taking him by both shoulders faced around toward the quarreling women, saying, "You stand there, Charles Wesley, and learn how to preach!"—Everybody's Magazine.
(3030)
Speech, The Effect of Earnest—See Earnestness.
Speed—See Swiftness of Birds.
Speed in Travel—See Traveling, Progress
in.
Speed Increased by Reducing Delays—See
Delay.
Speed, Sensation of—See Obstacles.
SPEED, THE SECRET OF
In attacking some evils the best way to sweep them down, is often to use our greatest bulk and energy at the
