HOW FAMOUS SPEAKERS PREPARED THEIR ADDRESSES

                                                        FAMOUS SPEAKERS

           "LUCK IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PREPARATION MEETS

             OPPORTUNITY"

   

      I WAS PRESENT ONCE AT A LUNCHEON OF A ROTARY CLUB WHEN THE PRINCIPLE SPEAKER WAS A PROMINENT GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL. THE HIGH POSITION THAT HE PROMINENT GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL. THE HIGH POSITION THAT HE OCCUPIED GAVE HIM PRESTIGE, AND WE WERE LOOKING FORWARD WITH PLEASURE TO HEARING HIM. HE HAD PROMISED TO TELL US ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES OF HIS OWN DEPARTMENT, AND IT WAS ONE IN WHICH ALMOST EVERY BUSINESSMAM WAS INTERESED.

      HE KNEW HIS SUNJECT THROUGHLY, KNEW FAR MORE ABOUT IT THAN HE COULD POSSIBLY USE, BUT HE HAD NOT PLANNED HIS SPEECH. HE HAD NOT SELECTED HIS MATERIAL. HE HAD NOT ARRANGED IT IN ORDERLY FASHION. NEVERTHELESS, WITH A COURAGE BORN OF ENEXPERIENCE, HE PLUNGED HEEDLESSLY, BLINDLY, INTO HIS SPEECH. HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING, BUT HE WAS ON HIS WAY.

      HE HAD BEEN TRYING TO TALK IMPROMPTU, BUT IN DESPERATION NOW, HE DREW A BUNDLE OF NOTES OUT OF HIS POCKET, CONFESSING THAT HIS SECRETARY HAD COMPLILED THEM FOR HIM-AND NO ONE QUESTIONED THE VARACITY OF HIS ASSERTION. THE NOTES THEMSELVES EVIDENTLY HAD NO MORE ORDER THAN A VAN FULL OF SCRAP IRON. HE FUMBLED THROUGH THEM NERVOUSLY, GLANCING FROM ONE PAGE TO ANOTHER, TRYING TO ORIENT HIMSELF, TRYING TO FIND A WAY OUT OF THE WILDERNESS, AND HE ATTEMPTED TO TALK AS HE DID SO. IT WAS IMPOSIIBLE. HE APOLOGIZED AND, CALLING FOR WATER, TOOK A DRINK WITH A TREMBLING HAND, UTTERED A FEW MORE SCATTERING SENTENCES, REPEATED HIMSELF, DUG INTO HIS NOTES AGAIN.... 

            MINUTE BY MINUTE HE GREW MORE HELPLESS, MORE LOST, MORE BEWWILDERED, MORE EMBARRASSED. NERVOUS PERSPIRATION STOOD OUT ON HIS FORHEAD, AND HIS HANDKERCHIEF SHOOK AS HE WIPED IT AWAY. WE IN THE AUDIENCE SAT WATCHING THE FIASCO, OUR SYMPATHIES STIRRED, OUR FEELINGS HARROWED. WE SUFFERED POSITIVE AND VICARIOUS EMBARRAMENT. BUT WITH MORE DOGGEDNESS THAN DISCRETION, THE SPEAKER CONTINUED, FLOUNDERING, STUDYING HIS NOTES, APOLOGIZING AND DRINKING. EVERYONE EXPECT HIM FELT THAT THE SPECTACLE WAS RAPIDLY APPROACHING TOTAL DISASTER, AND IT WAS A RELIEF TO US ALL WHEN HE SAT DOWN AND CEASED HIS DEATH STRUGGLES. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE AUDIENCES I HAVE EVER BEEN IN, AND HE WAS THE MOST ASHAMED AND HUMILIATED SPEAKER I HAVE EVER SEEN. HE HAD MADE HIS TALK AS ROUSSEAU SAID A LOVE LETTER SHOULD BE WRITTEN: HE HAD BEGUN WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT HE WAS GOING TO SAY, AND HE HAD FINISHED WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT HE HAD UTTERED.

      THE MORAL OF THE TALE IS JUST THIS:" WHEN  A MAN'S KNOWLEDGE IS NOT IN ORDER", SAID HERBERT SPENCER, "THE MORE OF IT HE HAS, THE GREATER WILL BE HIS CONFUSION OF THOUGHT".