Judge — March 15, 1919 — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

March 15, 1919 How “Silent Simms” Became a Master of Speech By MARTIN M. BYRON QU are exasperating beyond words,” shot out Mr. Worden. “Why didn’t you keep Mr. Truesdale here?) You knew I would be back in ten minutes.” Harry Simms gulped hard, and replied weakly, “I did try to keep him here, Mr. Worden, but he wouldn’t stay.” “What? Wouldn't stay en ten minutes? Why you could have kept him that long without his realizing it. Why didn’t you talk to him about the weather, about peace, about the price of potatoes, about anything? This wasn’t the first calling down I had heard Simms get. He had been with the firm for eight years and had reached the point where he was as much a fixtu around the office as the desk or the chairs. He was a slow-going, steady plugger, carning $40 a week. He managed to keep busy in the Sales Department, keeping records of salesmen’s reports. No one around the office seemed to notice him. He was so quiet that the only things that would start him talking were such momentous events as the beginning of the war or the end of the war. Even when tis baby was born, Harry said only three vords—*‘It’s a boy.” It wasn’t long before we nicknamed him Silent Simms.” Yet the “Silent Simms” of two years ago is sow our Sales Manager, regarded as one of the most brilliant men in our organization, getting un annual salary that runs close to five figures, nd is slated for the vice-presidency! How all this happened in so short a time makes one of the most remarkable stories of success 1 have ever heard. But let Harry tell the story as he told it to me when I asked him point-blank what sort of magic he used in transforming himself. “Well,” said Harry, “you remember when Mr. Truesdale came in that day and I could not hold him for ten minutes until the Chief got hack? And when the Chief came back and found Truesdale gone, how he bawled me out? That incident marked the turning point of my life. I made up my mind that I was going to live down the nickname of ‘Silent Simms,’ that had fastened itself upon me to a point where I hardly spoke to my wife. I was just afraid. I had almost forgotten how to use my tongue. Verhaps I got that way because every time I opened my mouth I ‘put my foot in it.’ 1 was ulways getting in wrong. I would give instruc- tions and then have to spend twenty minutes trying to explain them, I would dictate a letter and then have to write five more to explain the first one. I would try to explain an idea to the Chief and would get so flustered that I couldn't make myself understood at all. In my social life I became almost a hermit. We never went out because I was like a sphinx among people. I was the best listener you ever saw and the worst talker. “Well, when the Chief called me down that day it was the ‘straw that broke the camel's back.’ It was the most humiliating experience [ ever went through. Chad been with the firm 8 years—was getting $30 a week—and was the office ‘football."” I went home that night determined to learn how to talk convince ingly, interestingly, and forcibly, so that I could hold people spellbound, not only for 10 minutes, but by the hour. No more of the silent stuff for me. Thad no more idea of how to do it than [ have of how to jump across the ocean, but I knew that I wanted to do it, and I knew that [ would never get anywhere until [did do it. It took a shock to make me realize what it was that was holding me down to the grind of detail work, but when [ finally realized why T was called ‘Silent Simms’ U began to investigate all that had been written on the subject of talking. [did not want to become a public speaker—what I wanted was the ability to talk as a business asset. I bought numberless books on public speaking, but they all taught oratory, and were so complicated that [ gave up almost in discouragement. I continued my search, however, and was rewarded a few weeks later by hearing about the work of Dr. Frederick Houk Law of New York University, who was conducting a course in business talkin and public speaking. “You may be sure that [ lost no time in attending the lectures. [ went after them as eagerly as a hungry wolf goes after food. To my great surprise and pleasure [ grasped the secret of being a convine ing talker—the secret [ had needed all my life—almost in the first lesson. “Almost at once T learned why I was afraid to stand up and talk to others. I learned how to talk to a number of people at the same time. [ learned how to. make people listen to every word L said. T learned how to say things interestingly, forcibly and con vincingly. [learned how to listen while others talked. [learned how to say exactly what [ meant. [learned when to be humorous with telling effect, and how to avoid being humorous at the wrong time. More important than these vital fundamentals were the actual examples of what things to say and when to say them to meet every condition. I found that there was a knack in making reports to my superiors, I found that there was a right and wrong way to make complaints, to answer complaints, to give estimates, to issue orders, to give opinions, to bring people around to my way of thinking without antagonizing them, and about how to ask banks for a loan. Then, of course, there were also lessons on speaking before large audiences, advice on how to find material for talking and speaking, actual rules on how to talk to friends, to servants, and even to children. “And the whole thing was so simple that in a single evening [ learned the secrets that turned me into a very dynamo of ambition. I knew that [had at last found the road to Mastery of Speech. [ began to apply the principles at once, and found that my words were electrifying people. I began to get things done I began to put a new kind of ginger into my letters, into my memoranda, into my talks with customers, and with people in the office. In a little three minute talk with the Chief [ nearly floored him with some ideas that had been in my mind for years, but which [ had always been afraid to mention. It wasn’t long before I was taken off my old desk and put at the city salesman’s desk. You know how I made good. Seems almost like a dream now. Then, a short time later, I was given Roger's job on the road, in the hardest territory we have. And when I began to break records there the Chief wired me to come back and gave me Morgan's job as the sales manager when Morgan was put in charge of the Seattle office. “This great change came over me simply as a result of my having learned how to talk. T imagine there are thousands of others who are in the same boat in which I found myself and who could become big money-makers they only learned the secret of being a convincing talker.” When Harry Simms finished, I asked him if I could not have the benefit of Dr. Law's Course and he told me that only recently Dr. Law had prepared a complete course in printed form which contained exactly the same instructions as he had given in his lectures. [sent for it and found it to be exactly as he stated. After studying the eight simple lessons I began to realize that Simms’ success was the natural outcome of real ability to talk. For my own success with the Course has been as great as his. [can never thank Simms enough for telling me about Dr. Law's Course in Business Talking and Public Speaking. SEND NO MONEY So confident is the Independent Corporation, publishers of “Mastery of Speech,” Dr. Law's Course in Business Talking and Public Speaking, that once you have an opportunity to see in your own home how you can, in one hour, learn the secret of speaking and how you can apply the principles of effective speech under all conditions, that they are willing to send you the Course on free examination. Don’t send any money. Merely mail the coupon or write a letter and the complete Course will be sent, all charges prepaid, at once. If you are not entirely satishied send it back any time within five days after you receive it and you will owe nothing . if you are as pleased as are the thousands of other men and women w used the Course, send only $5 in full payment. You take no risk and you have everything to gain, so mail the coupon now before this remarkable offer is withdrawn, On the other ha FREE EXAMINATION COUPON Independent Corporation Publishers of The Independent Weekly 119 West 40th Street, New York /a" Mastery of Spe ublic Speaking in cleht bew u within five d Judge y-15-19 comicbooks.com