Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1902 — Preparing the Impromptu. [ARTICLE]

Preparing the Impromptu.

Great orators have generally refused to speak on the spur of the moment on important themes. Demosthenes, the king of orators, would never speak in a public meeting without previous thorough preparation. Daniel Webster when once pressed to speak on a subject of great importance, refused, saying that he was very busy, ana had no time to master it When a friend urged that a few words from him would do much to awaken public attention to the subject, he replied: "If there be so much weight in my words it is because I do not allow myself to speak on any subject until my mind is imbued with it" On one occasion, Webster made a remarkable speech without notes before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard university, when a book was presented to him. After he had gone, a manuscript copy of his eloquent “impromptu" address, carefully written, was found in the book, which he had forgotten to take away.—Saturaay Evening Post