history of this nation as the life of any man who poured out his blood upon a battlefield.

All movements in the interest of peace have back of them the idea of brotherhood. If peace is to come in this world, it will come because people more and more clearly recognize the indissoluble tie that binds each human being to every other. If we are to build permanent peace, it must be on the foundation of the brotherhood of men. A poet has described how, in the civil war that divided our country into two hostile camps a generation ago, in one battle a soldier in one line thrust his bayonet through a soldier in the opposing line, and how, when he stooped to draw it out, he recognized in the face of the fallen one the face of his brother. And then the poet describes the feeling of horror that overwhelmed the survivor when he realized that he had taken the life of one who was the child of the same parents and the companion of his boyhood. It was a pathetic story, but is it too much to hope that as years go by we will begin to understand that the whole human race is but a larger family?

It is not too much to hope that as years go by human sympathy will expand until this feeling of unity will not be confined to the members of a family or to the members of a clan or of a community or state, but shall be world-wide. It is not too much to hope that we, in this assembly, possibly by this resolution, may hasten the day when we shall feel so appalled at the thought of the taking of any human life that we shall strive to raise all questions to a level where the settlement will be by reason and not by force.

PART III

ELEMENTS OF ACTION

Action is that part of expression which addresses itself to the eye. It embraces position, attitude, gesture, and facial expression. Its purpose is to reënforce speech; if it does not do this, it is superfluous.

CHAPTER IX

CONCEPTION OF ACTION

Four considerations must be borne in mind in applying action, (1) Impulse to action, (2) Suppression of self, (3) Limits of personation, (4) Action in figurative language.

SECTION I. IMPULSE TO ACTION

Impulse to Action is the desire to strengthen spoken language with gesture or some other movement. The impulse is more important than the form of action. Still it is necessary to cultivate form because action in good form is more forceful. To be effective, action must also be spontaneous, must have impulse behind it. Better no action than no impulse.

SECTION II. SUPPRESSION OF SELF

The speaker should make his theme more prominent than himself, should hide behind his subject, and lead his audiences to think and feel with him. Awkward or profuse gesture attracts attention to the speaker. People lose sight of the thought and

carry away the memory of inappropriate gesture and striking attitude. Gesture should be simple, sincere, and suited to the word.

SECTION III. LIMITS OF PERSONATION

Public readers and speakers are under great temptation to act out many things which should be left to the imagination. In no respect has the criticism of judicious minds been so severe as against undue impersonation. The following simple laws, if put into practice, will reduce such tendency to a minimum.

1. FIRST LAW

The speaker should personate only when uttering the direct words or strong emotion of a character. In the following lines from "Horatius at the Bridge" one may very properly personate the strong soldier giving the command. He may take a manly, heroic, but modest attitude, such as this courageous Roman is supposed to have taken at the time:

Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,

With all the speed ye may;

I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand

May well be stopped by three.

Now who will stand on either hand,

And keep the bridge with me? — Macaulay.

Of a very different nature are the descriptive passages. In such there is a tendency with young students to personate, to act out the descriptions. The following lines are spoken about Astur and Horatius, and not by them. Hence they should not be personated:

Then, whirling up his broadsword

With both hands to the height,
He rushed against Horatius,

And smote with all his might.

He reel'd, and on Herminius

He lean'd one breathing-space,

Then, like a wild-cat mad with wounds,

Sprang right at Astur's face. — Ibid.

This does not mean that there should be no action, but that what is used should be suggestive, not personative, i.e. the acts may be pointed out by the describer and pictured to the imagination, but not actually done. Let the student apply this principle in the following passage from the same poem:

So he spake, and, speaking, sheathed
The good sword by his side,

And, with his harness on his back,

Plunged headlong in the tide. — Ibid.

To act that which should be left to the imagination has much the same effect upon an audience as the explanation of a joke.

2. SECOND LAW

There must be a distinction between the reciter and the actor. While the vocal expression is practically the same, the action in the two cases is very different. The actor is aided by the costume, the scenery, the support, and the accessories. He draws and sheathes his sword or dagger. He gives a letter, a book, or other material thing to the character addressed.

The reader or personator does not depend on costume and stage trappings for effects. He draws upon the imagination for the scenes, characters, and accessories. He indicates the drawing of the sword and the using of it, but does not sheathe it or account for it afterwards. He extends the hand with an imaginary book or letter, or opens the palm to receive some material thing. He leaves to the imagination of the audience much which the actor produces. He should not therefore encroach upon the actor's art.

SECTION IV. ACTION IN FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Literal action should not be used in figurative language. The violation of this law is common in the first stages of speech making. The youth who pointed to his own open mouth in speaking of the "jaws of the hydra-headed monster" violated this principle. The distinguished preacher who literalized "striking at the very gates of heaven," with a high jump and a violent swing of his fist at the pearly gates, was also doing violence to this law. "The heart of the nation," "A whirlwind of revolution," and "No friend of liberty who has not dropped his head" are expressions that need no literal action to make them impressive.

CHAPTER X

REQUISITES OF ACTION

The Requisites or qualities of action are four, — (1) Grace, (2) Force, (3) Precision, and (4) Economy.

SECTION I. GRACE

Grace of action is the ease and freedom of bodily movements. It comes of the simple but harmonious action of all parts of the body. Grace requires that there be curve enough to overcome stiffness and awkwardness, but not enough for extravagance.

SECTION II. FORCE

Force is the energy put into gesture or other bodily movements. It may be gentle, moderate, or impassioned, dependent upon the feeling or emotion. Tranquillity, for example, requires gentle force; didactic thought, moderate strength; and rage, impassioned action. Ease may be acquired by persistent exercise in æsthetic physical culture, and especially in movements in technique of action (see page 229).