Page 41 - June-2021-Voices

BURIED TREASURE
Frank Paulding & First Canadian
Toastmasters Club #38 (Part Eight)
Harvey Schowe, DTM - District 7 Historian
Gyro Club Frank Paulding Speech: During a
lunch meeting of the Victoria Gyro Club on April
21, 1936, Frank Paulding delivered the following
speech about public speaking that was published
in the Times Colonist April 21, 1936.
“Speakers are made and not born,” Frank
Paulding told members of the Gyro Club during
their luncheon. Frank gave the cardinal rules of
speech making and speech building and added
some remarks on the purpose of public speaking
in general.
“Public speaking gives a new interest in
life, brings growth, develops power, and gives a
sense of achievement. There is nothing, no other
accomplishment, that will so quickly secure a
career and recognition as the ability to speak
effectively. The three essentials of good public
speaking,” he said, “were preparation, practice
and criticism. No man was born with any special
aptitude for speaking. Public speaking was an
art, and like other arts it required long practice,
training, and a full knowledge of technique. A
plan was an essential to building a house. In
practice, it often happened that the greater a
man’s knowledge of his subject, the greater was
his confusion in expression, unless he knew how
to box and crate that idea.”
Three Elements
“Every speech has three elements, which
must be kept distinct: the introduction, the body
and the peroration.”
“In writing a speech, it was well to put down
the conclusion first: With the main point well
in view, there was less tendency to go off onto
bypaths.”
“In delivering a speech there was a danger of
losing touch with the audience.
“The study of your audience can be an
interesting and fascinating study,” said Paulding.
“The social business and cultural values of
public speaking were immeasurable.
Culturally, by helping a man to unify his ideas
and by giving him confidence and poise, public
speaking could stimulate all the facilities.”
Toastmasters Magazine, June 1936 article:
Victoria Toastmasters Club’s first president,
James H. Hill, submitted an article on Diction
in the June 1936 issue of Toastmasters Magazine
where he wrote. “And now in conclusion: We
should not regard words merely as conventional
groupings of inanimate letters of the alphabet.
The spoken word is a vital force. Words are
living messengers. They speak for us. We should
determine to send out to represent, to speak for
us. We should then determine to send out, upon
not only special isolated occasions but-which
is the great desideratum-upon all occasions,
ambassadors of whom we may be proud; set
ourselves a high standard and boldly resolve that
only the best shall be good enough for our use.”
VOICES! | JUNE 2021 41