toward the views of a man, however much he may know, who presumes to say, in effect, "You ignorant ones, listen to me who know it all." The attitude of the audience is not improved even if this sentiment is put in the more bland language of a Brutus: "Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear; believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor that you may believe; censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses that you may the better judge." No, the audience respects self-confidence, as stated before, but it likes a self-confidence that has no dealings with self-assertiveness. Nor is the listener drawn to a speaker whose modesty savors of self-depreciation of the Uriah Heep type. In a word, the quality under consideration is best exemplified in the man whose words and manner bespeak a personality which neither offends by a display of superiority, nor disgusts by condescen

sion.

II. Geniality

Quite as important as modesty is geniality. This quality radiates from the speaker and warms the audience into a feeling of accord with him. One occasionally hears a man who "captivates his listeners" even before he begins to speak. An expression of sympathetic and infectious goodhumor does the work. Admittedly this radiant

quality is difficult in the case of an immature speaker under the handicap of timidity, nervousness or poor preparation. But such a person can avoid the last-mentioned obstacle, and he will be helped by not taking himself too seriously, and by remembering what was said in the early pages about the good wishes and sympathy of the average audience for the speaker. At all events every speaker should cultivate geniality as a habit. The old saw, "Laugh and the World laughs with you," has been most profitably drafted into service by a great modern business corporation in the form, "The voice with the smile wins." This idea may well be taken to heart by the speaker. Severity has its place in speaking; anger has its place; so does sarcasm; but under ordinary circumstances cheerfulness, optimism, wholeheartedness are what make for charm.

It is difficult to convey the impression of a speaker's charm in mere type; the warmth with which the individual invests the words is lost. But as we read the works of a man like Washington Irving, let us say, we feel that he must have had a sunny, optimistic attitude toward life. Similarly, the reader will note in the following extract from a speech of Dr. John H. Finley to a class of college students graduating in February something of the brightness and warmth which makes for a charming personality.

"To the men of February, 1910:

"You must be missing this week the traditional and delightful accompaniments of the baccalaureate ceremonies which your June brothers know. The laurel is not in berry. The oratorical adage and the rhetorical words of advice are not in season. The city about is not thinking of vacation and rest, of mountains and seashore. It is at work, busy even in its play, and it will hardly look up to make place for you, much less to celebrate your entrance. Your laureation must, therefore, be made with leaves alone.

"But I want to help you to feel the joy of the commencement none the less, though you graduate near the winter solstice and under a new star and a new sign of the zodiac (or, as Dante put it, when the fishes are quivering on your horizon,' when 'the sun is tempering his locks beneath Aquarius and the nights are passing to the south'). You will be pioneers of the new traditions in the American college calendar, and I wish that you may make them happy traditions. The ancients had their hiemal garlands as well as æstival and why shall we not make our winter summer, in the celebration of our hopes-which have no season-for you who have endured our disciplines and are, in and out of season, to represent our faith in better things?

"I have wished many times during the last three

or four years that I could find some distinguishing name for you who go out in winter, when one has to shake the snow from the laurel in gathering even the leaves for your graduation. But I have thought of none that will be permanently distinctive. In the precession of the equinoxes your February successors will some day (if we assume the continuance of the College and the custom through enough centuries) be graduated under the star and zodiacal sign of your June brothers and you under theirs. And the precession of our thoughts traveling more quickly over this cycle of ten thousand years sees you all of one company and under one star and sign."

III. Tact

Finally, one of the most potent factors of charm is tact. This quality may be defined as the ability to say the right thing at the right time, and, what is even more important, to leave unsaid that which would be unfortunate under given circumstances. Like most of the qualities previously noted in this chapter, tact is likely to be observed by the speaker only if it is habitual in his relations with those about him. A person who regularly accepts kindnesses without any sign of appreciation, and who never thinks to express pleasure at the good-fortune, or solicitude concerning the ill-fortune of friends and acquaint

ances such a person lacks tact. It is likewise lacking in those who do not hesitate to ridicule the defects, shortcomings or misfortunes of their fellowmen. These tactless people are likely in public address to omit the little touches which please, and, especially, are liable to blurt out things that offend. A man who in a social gathering will refer heartlessly to a distorted feature or a crippled limb is in danger in public address of speaking with purposeless contempt of a man who has friends in the audience, or of an institution which numbers staunch supporters among his listeners. The tactful speaker will not do such a thing, and as the once common sign put it, "others must not."

The tactful speaker's characteristic attitude will be one which interprets acts and motives in the best light, consistent with the facts; he will show a readiness to give the other fellow the proverbial benefit of the doubt. He will avoid the vulgar phrase, the cynical turn, the tone of irreverence in speaking of things which some, at least, of his auditors hold in esteem. On the positive side, whenever he can do so without flattery, he will indirectly compliment the judgment, taste, knowledge, or ability of his listeners, or in some other unobtrusive way make them feel that he has a good opinion of them. Unobtrusiveness, it is to be noted, is the key-note of