Public Speaking Using Force

It is this tautness of the bow-string, this knotting of the muscles, this contraction before the spring, that makes an audience_feel_--almost see--the reserve power in a speaker. In some really wonderful way it is more what a speaker does _not_ say and do that reveals the dynamo within. _Anything_ may come from such stored-up force once it is let loose; and that keeps an audience alert, hanging on the lips of a speaker for his next word. After all, it is all a question of manhood, for a stuffed doll has neither convictions nor emotional tension. If you are upholstered with sawdust, keep off the platform, for your own speech will puncture you.