Speak Short: The Value of Condensation in Speaking and Writing
—An aged minister said to a young brother, “Speak short. The brethren will tell you if you don't speak long enough.” The counsel is good; good for speakers and good for hearers; good for writers and good for readers. Length without breadth and thickness is a very poor recommendation in a sermon, a prayer, or a newspaper article. The power of condensation, abridgment, and elimination of useless matter, is greatly to be coveted. When a man has five minutes in which to speak, he will usually consume one of them in telling the people what he is going to say, or in informing them that he has “been thinking” of something which he proposes to relate. If men who have something to say would say it, if those who have thoughts would speak them, and those who have something to write would write it, omitting prefaces, introductions, and useless and unmeaning remarks, much time and space would be saved with no loss to any one.—The Christian.