A Companion to Baker's Reading Club.

ELOCUTION SIMPLIFIED;
WITH
AN APPENDIX ON LISPING, STAMMERING, STUTTERING,
AND OTHER DEFECTS OF SPEECH.

BY
WALTER K. FOBES,
GRADUATE OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ORATORY.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY
GEORGE M. BAKER,
AUTHOR OF THE READING-CLUB SERIES, ETC.

BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM.
1877.

COPYRIGHT.
1877,
By Walter K. Fobes.

THIS LITTLE BOOK
IS DEDICATED TO
Prof. LEWIS B. MONROE,
IN TESTIMONY OF APPRECIATION OF HIS MANY QUALIFICATIONS AS A
TEACHER OF THIS ART, AND OF THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION
WITH WHICH HE WILL EVER BE
REGARDED BY HIS FRIEND
AND PUPIL,
THE AUTHOR.

[Pg 5]

PREFACE.

"Why write this book?" say you.
"Because it is needed," say I.

There is no "digest" of elocution that is both methodical and practical, and that is low in price, now in the market.

This book is an epitome of the science of elocution, containing nothing that is not necessary for you to know, if you wish to make yourself a good reader or speaker.

You who will thoroughly study and digest this book, and then put in practice what you here have learned, will have started on the road, the goal of which is Oratory.

[Pg 7]

CONTENTS.

[Pg 11]

INTRODUCTION.

Rev. Dr. Hall of New York says, "There is one accomplishment in particular which I would earnestly recommend to you: cultivate assiduously the ability to read well. I stop to particularize this, because it is a thing so very much neglected, and because it is such an elegant and charming accomplishment. Where one person is really interested by music, twenty are pleased by good reading. Where one person is capable of becoming a skilful musician, twenty may become good readers. Where there is one occasion suitable for the exercise of musical talent, there are twenty for that of good reading.

"What a fascination there is in really good reading! What a power it gives one! In the hospital, in the chamber of the invalid, in the nursery, in the domestic and in the social circle, among chosen friends and companions, how it enables you to minister to the amusement, the comfort, the pleasure, of dear ones, as no other accomplishment can! No instrument of man's devising can reach the heart as does that most wonderful instrument, the human voice. It is God's special gift to his chosen creatures. Fold it not away in a napkin.

"Did you ever notice what life and power the Holy Scriptures have when well read? Have you ever heard of the wonderful effects produced by Elizabeth Fry on the criminals of Newgate by simply reading to them the parable of the Prodigal Son? Princes and peers of the realm, it is said, counted it a privilege to stand in the dismal corridors, among felons and murderers, merely to share with them the privilege of witnessing the marvellous pathos which genius, taste, and culture could infuse into that simple story."

[Pg 12]

Elocution trains the voice to obey the mind, and to rightly express thought and feeling. It is necessary to those who read or speak in public; to persons with defective speech; to those with nasal, shrill, throaty, or husky voices; to persons with diseased throat, or liability to it, arising from wrong use of voice.

The practice of the art of elocution is as necessary to the reader or speaker as practice of the art of singing is to one who intends to become a public singer. Any one attempting to sing for the public without previous practice would be justly hissed from the stage: and a like fate overtakes most speakers, who, without previous study of elocution, attempt to speak in public; that is, very few go to hear them.

CLERGYMEN

should learn to read impressively the Bible, Litany, hymns, and sermons: for as Dr. Holland says, "When a minister goes before an audience, it is reasonable to ask and expect that he shall be accomplished in the arts of expression; that he shall be a good writer and speaker. It makes little difference that he knows more than his audience, is better than his audience, has the true matter in him, if the art by which he conveys his thought is shabby. It ought not to be shabby, because it is not necessary that it should be. There are plenty of men who can develop the voice, and so instruct in the arts of oratory that no man need go into the pulpit unaccompanied by the power to impress upon the people all of wisdom that he carries." The same writer says of

STUDENTS.

"Multitudes of young men are poured out upon the country, year after year, to get their living by public speech, who cannot even read well. The art of public speech has been shamefully neglected in all our higher training-schools. It has been held subordinate to every thing else, when it is of prime importance. I believe more attention is now paid to the matter than formerly. The colleges are training their students better, and there is no danger that too much attention will be devoted to it. The only danger is, that the great majority will learn too late that the art of oratory demands as much study as any other of the higher arts; and[Pg 13] that, without it, they must flounder along through life practically shorn of half the power that is in them, and shut out from a large success."

TEACHERS

should learn elocution so as to teach in a pleasing, effective manner; and also to teach reading in schools, so that children may learn to read in an easy, agreeable way, and give thought to what they read; thus leading a child in all studies to get ideas from books, and not merely words without meaning.

PUBLIC SPEAKERS

should, by study of elocution, learn the best manner of moving, persuading, and instructing their audiences; thus adding to their own popularity, and consequently widening their influence.

LAWYERS,

by practice of elocution, will find greater ease in speaking to witness or jury, and thus be greatly aided in their work.

ACTORS AND PUBLIC READERS

lose both time and money by a neglect of elocution, the practice of which is essential to success in their vocation.

SINGERS,

by study of elocution, can best obtain that perfect articulation and elegant expression so necessary to the successful singer.

ALL PERSONS

who have a taste for reading should study elocution, as reading aloud in the social or home circle is one of the most instructive, pleasing, and healthful pastimes in which we can indulge.

DEFECTIVE SPEECH,

as lisping, stammering, stuttering, &c., can be entirely cured by a study and diligent practice of elocution.

[Pg 14]

UNPLEASANT VOICES,

either shrill, nasal, throaty, husky, or with any other disagreeable quality, can be made agreeable by practice of elocution.

To meet all these wants, this treatise has been prepared. Embracing as it does a thorough exposition of the principles of elocution in an eminently practical form, adapted to the requirements of the student, the professional man, and the amateur, by a graduate of the Boston School of Oratory (acknowledged to be the best Institute of Elocution America has produced), himself a successful teacher and reader, it seems to present the whole science in a nutshell, so that he "who runs may read" in reality, if he but follow the instructions of this Manual. Here elocution is not only simplified, but, in this neat and cheap form, placed within the reach of all.

GEORGE M. BAKER.

[Pg 15]

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

I would here acknowledge my indebtedness to Prof. Lewis B. Monroe, Dean of Boston University School of Oratory, for what I have learned of expression in elocution; to Prof. A. Graham Bell of Boston for valuable instruction in articulation and inflection; to Prof. Edward B. Oliver of Mendelssohn Musical Institute of Boston for his most excellent instruction in tone.

The method of study of this book is the result of the knowledge gained from these three superior instructors. The plan of Part Three will be found to be that of Monroe's Sixth Reader.

METHOD OF STUDY OF ELOCUTION.

Part First, a series of gymnastics to give strength and elasticity to the muscles used in speaking, to expand the chest, and to get a correct position of body, so that speaking may be without effort, and yet powerful.

Part Second, a system of vocal exercises for daily practice, to train the voice, and get command of tone, quality, pitch, inflection, force, stress, articulation, and right manner of breathing.

Part Third, the application of the vocal exercises to the reading of short extracts, showing the effect when thus applied, and showing the difference between the seven styles,—conversational, narrative, descriptive, didactic, public address, declamatory, and emotional or dramatic.

There will be found references to select pieces in Baker's "Reading Club and Handy Speaker," for practice in the different styles of reading.

[Pg 16]

Hoping this little book may be of benefit to many, it is sent forth to help those who love the art, but with no thought of recommending this book for self-instruction, and substituting it for the instruction to be gained from a good teacher of the art. If a good teacher is not to be had, use this book.

WALTER K. FOBES.

Cambridge, Mass., October, 1877.

[Pg 17]

ELOCUTION SIMPLIFIED.

PART ONE.
PHYSICAL GYMNASTICS.

Goethe says, "All art must be preceded by a certain mechanical expertness."

You find it so in the art of playing the piano: the fingers must be made nimble, and the wrists elastic, before any thing else can be well done. In the art of singing you have to exercise the voice in many ways to get command of it. So, in the art of elocution, it is necessary to practise the mechanics of physical and vocal culture, that you may be prepared to express properly your thought and feeling.

You need first a healthy body, elastic and strong in muscles, and especially in those muscles used in the production of voice. For this latter purpose I will describe as clearly as I can Monroe's system of gymnastics, and for the former recommend any other gymnastics that will give health, strength, and especially elasticity.

ATTITUDE.

1. Standing Position.—Hamlet, so Shakespeare tells us, ends a letter to Ophelia thus:—

"Whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet."

Your body is the machine by means of whose working you express your mind and feelings. If you were to run a steam-engine, you would be very careful to place the machine in such a position, that it would do the most work with the[Pg 18] least wear and tear. You must do the same with this machine, your body. To get a correct standing position, place yourself with back against a smooth wall in the room, with shoulders flat, your back as nearly straight as you can make it, and every part, from head to heel, touching the wall. This gives you an upright position, but feels uncomfortable, because the weight is too much on the heels. Sway the whole body in its upright position forward, so that the weight will come mostly on the balls of the feet; and, in doing so, do not bend any part except at the ankles. You are now in a proper position for speaking. The head is erect, shoulders thrown back, chest expanded, back nearly straight, the weight of the body is about equal on ball and heel of the feet, and your poise of body as it would be naturally in the act of taking a step forward. This puts every part of your body in the best condition for easy speaking.

2. Speaker's Position.—This position should be assumed before an audience when some other position is not required for dramatic expression. It is the standing position, with the weight upon one foot, and the other advanced. Let the advance foot be about a heel's distance from the middle of the foot behind, and form a right angle with it.

3. Sitting Position.—When you read in a sitting position, the body should be as in speaker's position, and feet also, the poise of body being forward.

4. Change of Position.—You sometimes wish to turn to address your audience at one side. To change gracefully from the speaker's position, turn the foot in advance on the ball, outward, until it becomes parallel with the foot behind; then take the weight on it, and turn the other foot till you have correct speaker's position. If, as you stood at first, facing the audience, your weight was on the right foot, you will find yourself facing to the right; if the weight was on left, you will face left. When facing the audience, to change the weight from one foot to the other, take one short step either forward or back.

5. Poise of Body.—To get steadiness of body, to keep a correct poise, and to prevent all unseemly swaying, when standing to read or speak, assume standing position, and, keeping feet flat on the floor, sway forward until the weight comes entirely on the ball of the feet. Don't bend the body. Then sway back to standing position. Then sway backward,[Pg 19] keeping feet flat on the floor and the body straight, until the weight is entirely on the heels; from that sway forward to position.

6. Rise upon the Toes.—For the same purpose as the above. Assume standing position, and rise as high as possible on the toes very slowly; then sink slowly so as to come back to standing position. Be very careful not to sway backward in coming down, and you will find yourself in the exact poise of standing position. Also do the same from speaker's position, rising on one foot.

7. Holding the Book.—Hold your book in the left hand, on one side of the body, so that your face will not be hid from the audience. The top of the book should be about even with the shoulder. Many, in reading, hold the book in front of them; but that is not so pleasant to an audience, and leads to a stooping position, a contracted chest, and ill health.

Note.—All the foregoing exercises relate to position of body necessary for the most powerful, and at the same time the easiest, action of the vocal organs; also to the attitudes most pleasing to an audience when they look upon a reader or speaker. Practise them until they become habits, and so unconsciously you will assume correct position when you stand.

CHEST EXPANSION.

For purposes of speech, you need to use more breath than for ordinary breathing or conversation. You therefore need to make as much room as possible for good fresh air by exercise to expand the chest. Elocution is beneficial to health for this reason.

1. Active and Passive Chest.—Your chest in its ordinary position is what, in elocution, is called passive chest. The active chest is that assumed in the standing position, where the chest is raised up slightly and expanded, with the shoulders drawn back. Practise as an exercise the active and passive chest, alternating from one to the other without breathing, or moving the shoulders. The active chest must be kept in all the physical and vocal gymnastics, and at all time during speech. With practice it will soon become established as a habit; and your every-day attitude will be more erect as a consequence.

2. Arms at Side.—Place your arms at the side, with[Pg 20] elbows bent, so that from elbow to hand the arms are horizontal, and parallel with each other. Draw the elbows back, clinch the fist with palms up, and make chest active, keeping the back straight. Take a full breath, and hold it (see "Breathing"); then carry the arms at full length in front of you, your hands open and as high up as the shoulders; then bring them back to the position you started from, with hands clinched, palms up, and pull back with all your strength, raising the chest slightly more; then give out the breath. After some practice you may do it twice upon one breath, being sure to keep the arms as close to the body as you can; for, if you spread your arms, you will strain the muscles.

3. Fore-arm Vertical.—Assume standing position, and bend the arms, placing them vertically, and parallel with each other, at the side, with clinched hands as high as the shoulder; turn the fist out from the shoulder, raise the chest as much as you can, and, taking a full breath, hold it; bring the arms forward so as to touch the elbows together, if you can; then draw them back to first position, and pull downward and backward as hard as you can; then give out the breath. After some practice, do this twice on one breath, being sure to keep the arms and hands close to the body.

4. Full-arm Percussion.—In ordinary breathing, it is seldom you fill your lungs to their fullest capacity; and some of the air-cells are not filled, especially those at the extreme edges of the lungs. This and the following exercise are for the purpose of sending air into those portions of the lungs not ordinarily filled. Assume standing position; take a full breath, and hold it; then strike with the right hand upon the top of the left chest a very quick and very elastic blow, striking with fingers, and swinging the arm freely from its position at the side; then strike with left hand on right chest in same manner; repeat with each hand, and then give out the breath. Never strike with the flat palm or clinched fist, as that is very injurious and unhealthy.

5. Hand Percussion.—Assume standing position, and place your hands on your chest, with elbows as high as the shoulders; make chest active; take a full breath, and retain it while you strike alternately eight light elastic blows with each hand; then give out the breath.

[Pg 21]

BODY MOVEMENTS.

The muscles of the waist are the front or abdominal, the side or costal, the back or dorsal muscles. These muscles are very important in speech; and upon the strength and elasticity of these, and the inner muscles acting in connection with them, depend the force and strength of your voice. Three very simple movements are here given, which will give some measure of strength and elasticity to these muscles.

1. Body bend Forward and Back.—From standing position bend forward, keeping the back straight, and bending only at the hip-joints; touch the floor with your hands, if you can; then assume upright position, and bend back as far as you can.

2. Bend Right and Left.—From standing position, bend to right side as far as possible, bending only at the waist, and stretching the costal muscles; then assume upright position, and bend to left in same manner.

3. Turn Right and Left.—From standing position turn the body on the waist, keeping the hips still, and twisting the waist-muscles, first to the right, then to the left.

NECK MOVEMENTS.

The neck movements are necessary, because many of the disagreeable qualities of the voice are due to inelasticity of the muscles of the neck. The movements are in the same directions as for the body.

1. Bend forward and back.

2. Bend right and left.

3. Turn right and left.

It is not necessary to describe them at length: but, in bending right and left, be careful to keep the head from bending slightly backward or forward at the same time; and, in the turning of head, keep it erect.

Note.—This completes the physical gymnastics. Practise them until the purpose for which they are intended has been accomplished, and afterwards occasionally, to keep what you have gained. Take each exercise two or three times in succession. When thoroughly learned, this will not take more than five minutes. Practise them five minutes at morning and night.

[Pg 22]

PART TWO.
VOCAL GYMNASTICS.

You have no need to take any special exercise in walking for the ordinary purposes of life; but, if you wished to be a "walkist," you would need special practice to train and develop the muscles for that purpose. You may be a good singer, able to sing for your own amusement or that of your friends, without specially training the singing-voice; but, if you wished to sing in public, you would, if you were wise, train your singing-voice very carefully. As in these cases, so with the voice in speaking. For all ordinary purposes of speech, you need no special training of the speaking-voice; but when, as teacher, clergyman, lawyer, lecturer, actor, public reader, or in any other capacity, you are called upon to do more with the voice than others, you ought to train and develop your vocal powers. For this purpose, the following series of exercises are given for practice.

BREATHING.

As it is necessary that you should take in and give out more breath in speaking than at other times, you ought to be able to do this in a natural manner. If you will practise these breathing-exercises until they are easy for you, the breath in your reading or speaking will take care of itself. Practise breathing in the open air, and take in and give out the breath through the nose without making the slightest sound in so doing.

1. Abdominal Breathing.—Take standing position and active chest; place the fingers on the abdominal muscles, and the thumbs on the costal muscles; take a full breath, making the abdominal muscles start first, and move outward; then let the muscles sink in as the breath comes[Pg 23] out. Make as much movement of these muscles as you can, both in and out; and be sure you keep the shoulders from moving. Pay particular attention to the movement of the abdominal muscles, letting all the rest (except the shoulders) move as may be easy to you. Practise this way of breathing until you can do it easily; and, if it makes you dizzy, do not be alarmed, but wait till the dizziness is entirely gone before you try again.

2. Costal Breathing.—Assume standing position with active chest; place the fingers on the costal muscles, and thumbs at the back; inhale a full breath, expanding as much as possible the costal muscles and ribs. In giving out the breath, make them sink in as much as possible. Keep shoulders still in breathing in and out, and let all other muscles be free to move as they may.

3. Dorsal Breathing.—Assume standing position with active chest; place the fingers at the back on dorsal muscles, and thumbs on the side; take a full breath, trying to expand the muscles under your fingers as much as you can. Rightly done, the abdominal and costal muscles, and the ribs, will also expand; the chest, if not already active, will rise; the shoulders will remain quiet. In giving out the breath, let the chest be the last to sink. This is the way of breathing in every healthy man, woman, and child. Any manner of dressing the body that hinders free and easy action of the abdominal, costal, and dorsal muscles, and the ribs, leads to ill health, because it interferes with the vital process of breathing; and ill health is fatal to success in any art.

4. Puffing the Breath.—Assume standing position, with active chest; take a full breath, and, rounding the lips as if you were about to say the word "who," blow the breath out as you would in blowing out a light; inhale again, and repeat the puffing.

5. Puff and Pause.—Puff the breath as before, three times, pausing about five or more seconds, holding the breath between the puffs. In holding the breath, let there be no pressure upon the lungs or throat, but control it by keeping the waist-muscles still. (See "Holding Breath.")

6. Puff and Breathe.—Puff three times in the same way as before, breathing between the puffs, thus: place the fingers of one hand on the upper part of the chest, the fingers of the other hand on the abdominal muscles; keep the chest[Pg 24] still, and make the abdominal muscles sink every time you puff out the breath, and expand, every time you take in breath, between the puffs. In this exercise breathe through both nose and mouth. By practice of these three ways of expelling breath you get command of it.

7. Holding the Breath.—When you hold your breath for a longer or shorter time, or try to control it for any purpose of speech, you should do so by means of the muscles spoken of in "Dorsal Breathing," as being the ones used in right manner of breathing. You must try to control the breath by keeping the waist-muscles still; and there should be no feeling of pressure or uneasiness on the lungs, or in the throat or mouth. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again: time will bring you your reward: try, try again." Get control of the waist-muscles so as to keep them still; and, while you hold them still, there is no possibility of the breath getting out.

TONE.

A good tone in speech is as much to be desired as it is in song. Some have it as a gift of nature; and all can acquire it, in a degree, by judicious practice. If you have an excellent voice, you can make it still more excellent by practice; and, if you have a poor voice, you can, by practice, make it full, pleasant, and effective, and excel that one who has a good voice, but makes no effort to improve it. The tone-exercises here given are designed to give command of tone, and develop purity and power. They should be practised five minutes at a time, at four different times of the day, and double that time if possible, in order to get the greatest amount of good from them. Use any tones of your voice, high or low, without being at all particular about an exact musical pitch; though, if you can practise with an organ or piano, you will find it much more beneficial.

1. Glottis Stroke.—Assume standing position with active chest; take full breath, and whisper forcibly the word "who" three times. Repeat the same. Now whisper "who" twice, and speak it aloud the third time; then whisper "who" once, and speak it aloud the second and third time; then speak "who" aloud three times. Now speak "who" twice, and the third time say "oo" as those letters sound in the word woo; then say "who" once, and "oo" the second and third time; then "oo" three times. You[Pg 25] should make both the whisper and vocal sound very short and sudden, without any feeling of contraction or effort in the throat or mouth. It should seem to you as if the sound came from the lips; and, while you are energetic in the exercise, it must be done with perfect ease. You have thus proceeded, from an easy, forcible whisper, to an easy, forcible sound, and have thus obtained what is called the "Glottis Stroke." After diligent practice on the above exercise, use any of the short vowels (see "Articulation"); speaking each vowel three times very shortly, as you did the vowel-sound oo.

2. Soft Tones.—Assume standing position with active chest, and take breath; prolong very softly oo as long as your breath will let you, being careful not to force the sound to continue after you feel the slightest need of breath, and also not to change the position of the mouth from beginning to end of the sound. Repeat three times. In this exercise you will probably hear the voice waver, and find it difficult to keep it very soft, and yet distinct. Practice will overcome this, and the exercise will be found very beneficial. The ability to do it shows cultivation of voice. After some time, use also the long vowels. (See "Articulation.")

3. Swelling Tones.—Assume standing position with active chest, and take full breath; then begin the vowel oo very softly, and gradually swell it to a full tone, and then as gradually diminish it to the gentlest sound. Be careful, as in soft tone, as to breath, and position of mouth. After some practice, you should be able to continue on one breath, either the soft tone or swelling tone, twenty seconds; which is long enough for practical purposes. Use same vowels as in soft tone.

PITCH.

It is necessary to all expressive reading that there should be as much variation in pitch of voice—that is, as to high and low tones—as possible, and not overdo. The pleasantest quality of voice, without variation in pitch, is tiresome to the listener. To get command of pitch, you must practise till the high and low tones are as easy to make as the common conversational tones. If you can sing the musical scale of one octave in key of C, or B flat, you will find these exercises more beneficial than if you cannot sing. If you cannot[Pg 26] sing, take a relatively high or low pitch, as your ear may guide you, and practise the chanting and reading of sentences as well as you can.

1. Learn the Musical Scale.—Sing the scale in music, using first the glottis stroke; that is, speak each very short as you go up and down the scale. Then practise soft tone and swelling tone on each tone within compass of your voice.

2. Chant Sentences.—Use one tone of voice, and take any sentence, prolonging the words without reference to the sense, without change of tone from beginning to end. When you use a high tone, make it light and clear; when you use a low tone, make it full, free, and forcible. Chant on each tone separately within the compass of the voice.

3. Read Sentences.—Use the same sentences as for chanting, and, beginning on each tone of the voice, speak it as you would in earnest conversation, in a way to give the meaning of it. You will see that if you begin with high pitch, although your voice varies in speaking, it will be a relatively high pitch through the whole sentence; and, if you begin low, it will be relatively low. With high pitch, make your voice light and clear; and with low pitch, full, free, and forcible.

INFLECTION.

In inflection the voice slides up or down in pitch on a word, and by so doing impresses your meaning on the listener. Inflections are infinite in number; but a few of them practised will be of benefit in getting command over them. When the voice slides up, it is called rising inflection; if down, a falling. If it slides both ways on the same word, it is called circumflex; and if it varies but little, and is very like a chant in song, it is called monotone. A major inflection gives an effect of strength; a minor, of feebleness.

1. Major Falling Inflection.—A falling inflection is indicated by (`) over the accented syllable of an emphatic word. If you do not already know the difference between a rising and falling inflection, suppose I say to you, "The book is on the table," and you, not understanding what place I said, should ask, "Where?" and I answer, "On the table." Your question would be made with rising, and my answer with falling inflection. Use any vowel-sounds, and practise the falling inflection as you would hear it on the word "table,"[Pg 27] avoiding all motion of head, arms, or body, and making it with much energy of voice, as if expressing strong determination.

2. Major Rising Inflection.—This is indicated by a (´) over the emphatic word. Practise with any vowel-sounds the inflection as you would hear it on "where," as above, observing same directions as in major falling inflections.

3. Major Rising and Falling Inflections.—Practise rising followed by falling, as óh, òh, áh, àh, aẃe, aẁe, &c., using long and short vowels. Then falling followed by rising, as òh, óh, àh, áh, aẃe, aẁe, &c., using long and short vowels. Use these as if asking a simple unimportant question, and giving a like answer; then a question and answer of earnestness; then of surprise; then of great astonishment. In so doing, your voice will range higher and lower in inflection than you otherwise would make it. Do not let any of the inflections sound plaintive or feeble, but make them strong and decisive.

4. Minor Rising and Falling Inflections.—Use the same exercises as under major rising and falling, just mentioned; with this difference, that you make them so as to sound week, feeble, plaintive, or sad. They should be practised that you may become familiar with their sound, and have them at command, so as to use them when needed for expression, and avoid them when not.

5. Circumflex Inflection.—This inflection is indicated by a mark (v ᴧ) or (◡ ◠) because it is a combination of rising and falling inflection. The first is rising circumflex, because it ends with the rising; the second is falling circumflex, because it ends with falling inflection. It is used in expression of doubt, irony, sarcasm; as in "The Merchant of Venice," act 1, scene 3, Shylock says to Antonio, "Hath a dǒg mǒney? Is it possible a cur can lend three thousand dǔcats?" You will see, if read to express Shylock's irony and sarcasm, that the words would be inflected, as marked, with rising circumflex. Practise these circumflex inflections with vowels as directed under major rising and falling inflections. The falling circumflex being the reverse of the rising, when once you are familiar with the rising, can be easily made.

6. Monotone.—This comes as near to being one tone of voice as it can be, and at the same time keep its expressiveness as reading. It is not really, as its name might indicate,[Pg 28] one tone, as that would be like chanting in singing; but it is variation of inflection within very small limit of range in pitch. It is best practised as song, however. Prolong, on a low pitch, any of the long vowels, about five seconds. The mark for monotone is (-) placed over a word.

QUALITY.

The quality of the voice is that which affects us agreeably or disagreeably; and we say it is gruff, or husky, or harsh, or pleasant, &c. Four general and distinct qualities need to be practised until they are at command of the mind.

1. Whisper.—Whisper the long and short vowels very easily and quietly at first, without the slightest feeling of effort in throat or mouth, and perfectly free from hoarseness or murmuring. As soon as you can make a clear whisper heard across the room, whisper so as to be heard farther off, and so proceed gradually, day by day, until you can whisper, clearly and without effort, loud enough to be heard in a large hall. Do not practise whispering more than three minutes at a time.

2. Aspirate Quality.—This is what, in general, is called undertone. It is a mixture of whisper and voice, and is what you would be likely to use when in company you speak to any one with a desire not to be overheard by others. Practise with vowels as in whisper.

3. Pure Quality.—Speak the long vowels in your conversational tone as pleasantly as you can, tossing the tone lightly, as if speaking to some one across a large hall. Speak each vowel three times on one breath. Practise them first speaking shortly, then with prolonging of each tone not over five seconds.

4. Orotund Quality.—This quality is seldom to be heard in uncultivated voices, but is much to be desired in a speaker. It can only be acquired slowly and with much practice. It will be easily recognized when heard, as it possesses a fulness and richness of tone very pleasing. It is not high, but seems low in pitch; and, although it does not sound loud, it seems to be effective, and reach a long distance. To acquire it, practise, as recommended in "Pitch," the chanting and reading of sentences on the conversational and lower tones of the voice; also swelling tone under "Tone," on low pitch, using long vowels, especially oo, oh, awe, ah.

[Pg 29]

FORCE.

Force is the degree of loudness or softness we may give to the voice. You should be able to speak gently without feebleness or weakness of voice, and so as to be distinctly heard in a large hall, and also to make the fullest and loudest voice without showing any effort to do so.

1. Gentle Force.—Chant and read sentences, as under "Pitch," with the gentlest force you can, and yet make it so as to seem to be clear and distinct. Do this on every pitch you can, high or low.

2. Moderate Force.—Read and chant as above on the middle and higher tones, with about the force of earnest conversation.

3. Loud Force.—Read and chant as above, using only the middle and lower tones of the voice, making the loudest tones you can, without straining the throat. Force of voice depends on the management of the muscles below the lungs; and you should have perfect freedom from all effort on the part of lungs, throat, or mouth, on any pitch, high, middle, or low. If any effort is perceptible to you, it will be a feeling of strength and power at the waist; and experience and practice must teach you how much or how little effort to make at that point. The loudest force, and at the same time the purest quality, is secured when it seems to make itself without the slightest feeling of effort on your part.

STRESS.

Stress is the manner of applying force to a word or accented syllable. Prof. L. B. Monroe, in his book on vocal culture, enumerates six kinds. The marks he uses to represent them exhibit clearly to the eye what the voice is required to do. With radical, terminal, and compound stress, after facility is gained by use of stroke from the shoulder, omit it, and do them forcibly without movement of any part of the body.

1. Radical Stress.—So called, because the stress is on the beginning of the word, and marked thus (>). Assume standing position with active chest, and take breath; touch the fingers to the shoulder, and strike forward and downward, stopping the hands half way, and clinching the fist very tightly; at the moment of stopping, speak the[Pg 30] vowel "ah" very shortly. You will notice that the voice issues full, and seems to suddenly vanish in a manner well indicated by the mark above. Use any vowels, long or short, with middle pitch of voice. Practise afterward without any movement of the arms.

2. Median Stress.—So called, because the force is on the middle of the word, marked thus (<>). It is the same as swelling tone, but is much shorter. Practise with long vowels on middle tones of voice, making three short swells on the same vowel in one breath.

3. Terminal Stress.—So called, because the force is on the end of the word, and marked thus (<). Use the same movement as in radical stress; begin the sound softly when the hand leaves the shoulder, stopping it suddenly as the hands clinch. The voice seems to be jerked out. Practise also without arm-movements, using the same vowels as in radical stress.

4. Thorough Stress.—So called, because the force is loud from beginning to end, and marked thus (=). Prolong about ten seconds long vowels, with a loud full voice on middle pitch.

5. Compound Stress.—So called, because it is a union of radical and terminal stress, and marked (><). The force is on both beginning and end of the word, and may be made by striking twice in succession, continuing the voice from radical to terminal without pause of voice between the strokes.

6. Tremolo Stress.—This is a trembling of voice, and marked thus (〰). Prolong long vowels, making the voice tremble while you do so.

MOVEMENT.

Movement is the degree of rapidity or slowness with which you speak the articulate sounds. The danger in fast movement is, that you will not articulate plainly; and in slow, that you will drawl.

1. Quick Movement.—Use exercise of chanting and reading sentences, as under "Pitch," using the middle tones of voice; and repeat the words with the utmost possible rapidity, with perfect articulation. In chanting, do not mind the sense; but, in reading, be particular to give the meaning of the sentence.

2. Moderate Movement.—Use exercise as above about as fast as ordinary talking.

[Pg 31]

3. Slow Movement.—Use exercise as above, with very slow movement of voice. In chanting, prolong each word about alike; in reading, give good expression, and you will see that the more important words usually take the longest time.

ARTICULATION.

Articulation is the utterance of the elementary sounds, which, when combined, make language. You have been using the sounds that make up speech, in combination, every day; but it is a good practice to make each element separately. After you are able to make each sound distinctly, you will find you can make yourself understood in a large hall without using a loud voice. Your jaw, lips, and tongue should move actively and easily. For this purpose use long vowels,—No. 1, No. 8, No. 14,—speaking them in quick succession, one after the other, making them distinct, and making the jaw and lips move as much as you can with ease. Continue to the extent of your breath. Then use the same with p, b, or m before them; then with t, d, or n; then k, g, or y. Continue this practice about five minutes at a time, until the jaw, lips, and tongue will move with perfect ease.

ELEMENTARY SOUNDS.

In the exercises here given, use the sound, not the name of the letters which represents the sound, and practise separately the sounds represented by the Italic letters below. The only correct way to learn them is from the lips of a competent teacher; but you will do well, and improve, if you try the best you can in your way.

VOWELS.

Glides.—1-14 of the vowels, and r when it follows a vowel, are by Prof. Bell called "Glides."

[Pg 32]

CONSONANTS OR ARTICULATIONS.

Of the vowels, the numbers indicate positions of mouth; and, where numbers are alike, the positions are alike. Each vowel-sound is made by unobstructed sounds issuing through a certain position of mouth. The position is unchanged with single vowels, and those have but one number. The position changes in double vowels and diphthongs; and those have two numbers,—one large, one small. As each number represents a position of mouth, you can easily see by comparing what sounds are made from combining others. The number in the largest size type of the two represents the position that is kept when the sound is prolonged: as in 8¹ prolong the 8 or ah, and make ¹ or ee very short; and in ¹14 make ¹ very short, and prolong 14. The positions represented by the small figures are called "Glides," because the position is hardly assumed before the sound is finished. Diphthongs are sounds made by combining vowel-sounds, as 8¹ ah-ee. Of the consonants, or, as well named by Prof. Bell, articulations,—because two parts of the mouth have to come together and separate in order to finish the element, thus obstructing the breath or voice,—those in line across the page with each other are alike in position of mouth; those in first column are made with breath only, passing out through the mouth; those in second column, with sound passing out through the mouth; those in third column are sound passing out through the nose. For instance, p, b, m, are in line with each other; and, if you will make the three sounds represented by those letters, you will see that the same position of mouth is assumed for each, and that p is breath forced[Pg 33] out of mouth, b is sound out of mouth, m is sound passing out of nose.

Practise these sounds of vowels and articulations until you can make them forcibly and easily, with elastic movement of jaw, tongue, and lips; and remember that force depends on the strength and good control of muscles below the lungs. Then unite them by placing articulations before vowels, giving most force to the vowel, but make both clear and distinct. Then use articulations both before and after the vowel, still giving the vowel the most force, but making the articulation that begins and ends equally distinct and clear. To arrange these for your practice in this small book would take too much space. You have above each element of the English language clearly shown, and can easily combine them as directed.

SUMMARY OF PHYSICAL AND VOCAL GYMNASTICS.

PHYSICAL GYMNASTICS.

ATTITUDE.

1. Standing Position.
2. Speaker's"
3. Sitting Position.
4. Change"
5. Poise.
6. Rise on Toes.
7. Holding Book.

CHEST EXPANSION.

1. Active and Passive Chest.
2. Arms at Side.
3. Fore-arm Vertical.
4. Percussion. Full Arm.
5. "Hands on Chest.

BODY AND NECK MOVEMENTS.

1. Body bend forward and back.
2. ""right and left.
3. "turn""
4. Neck bend forward and back.
5. ""right and left.
6. "turn""

VOCAL GYMNASTICS.

Note.—Be sure and keep ACTIVE CHEST in all vocal exercises.

BREATHING.

1. Abdominal.
2. Costal.
3. Dorsal.
4. Puff.
5. Puff—Pause between.
6. "Breathe"
7. Holding Breath.

[Pg 34]

TONE.

Note.—In following exercises use first long, then short vowels.

1. Glottis stroke. Who, whispered, followed by short vowels quickly spoken.
2. Soft Tones. Use oo-oh-awe-ah first, then any other vowels.
3. Swell Tones. Use vowels as in Soft Tones.

PITCH.

1. Learn Musical Scale. Practise Tone Exercise on each tone within compass of voice.
2. Chant sentences on each tone.
3. Read sentences, beginning on each tone.

INFLECTION.

1. Major fall from different pitches.
2. "rise""
3. ""and fall from different pitches.
4. Minor rise and fall.
5. Circumflex, rise and fall.
6. Monotone, different pitches.

QUALITY.

1. Whisper.
2. Aspirate.
3. Pure.
4. Orotund.

FORCE.

Note.—Use exercises under Pitch, Nos. 2 and 3, with different degrees of force.

1. Gentle.
2. Moderate.
3. Loud.

STRESS.

1. Radical.
2. Median.
3. Terminal.
4. Thorough.
5. Compound.
6. Tremolo.

MOVEMENT.

Note.—Use exercises under Pitch, Nos. 2 and 3, with different rates of movement.

1. Quick.
2. Moderate.
3. Slow.

ARTICULATION.

Note.—Use only sounds represented by Italicized letters in the words and letters below.

1. Elementary Sounds.
2. Syllables.
3. Words.
4. Phrases.
5. Sentences.

Long Vowels. 1. meet. 3¹. may. 5. air. 6. her. 8. ah. 10. awe. 12¹⁴. oh. 12. ore. 14. woo.

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Short Vowels. 2. it. 4. met. 5. at. 7. Cuba. 9. up. 11. on. 13. foot.

Diphthongs. 8¹. pie. 11¹. oil. 8¹⁴. out. y14. you.

Glides. 1.—14.-r.

Articulations. Lips—p, b, m-wh, w. Lips and Teeth—f, v. Teeth and Tongue—th (thin), th (then). Tip of Tongue—t, d, n-l-r-ch, j-s, z-sh, zh. Tongue—y. Back of Tongue—k, g, ng. Whispered Vowel—h.

[Pg 36]

PART THREE.
ELOCUTION.

If you have faithfully practised Parts One and Two, you have gained some control of voice, and can now begin elocution, or expression of thought and feeling. In each of the short extracts you will find some thought and feeling to express; and if you will take pains to understand thoroughly what you have to speak, and then speak earnestly as the thought and feeling prompts you, you will certainly improve. Speak to some person; and, if no one is present, imagine that there is, and talk to them: for you need never speak aloud, unless it is for some one besides yourself to hear. Your first endeavor as a speaker should be to make a pleasant quality of voice, so that you may make good listeners of your audience. The following exercises suggest pleasure, and let your voice suggest the sentiment.

PLEASANT QUALITY.

3. The scene had also its minstrels: the birds, those ministers and worshippers of Nature, were on the wing, filling the air with melody; while, like diligent little housewives, they ransacked the forest and field for materials for their housekeeping.

[Pg 38]

7. A cheerful man is pre-eminently a useful man. He knows that there is much misery, but that misery is not the rule of life. He sees that in every state people may be cheerful; the lambs skip, birds sing and fly joyously, puppies play, kittens are full of joyance, the whole air is full of careering and rejoicing insects; that everywhere the good outbalances the bad, and that every evil that there is has its compensating balm.

For other selections, see Baker's "Reading Club."

ARTICULATION.

With pleasant quality you will make listeners; but you will soon weary them, unless you make them understand by clear articulation. You have made the organs of articulation elastic by practice of elementary sounds separately and in combination. In combinations you have made syllables, and these syllables make words, words make phrases, phrases make sentences, sentences make up a discourse, address, oration, &c.

Syllables.—Every syllable contains a vowel, or its equivalent; as in the following word, which is separated by hyphens into syllables,—in-com-pre-hen-si-ble: you will hear a vowel-sound in each, the last syllable having the sound of l as an equivalent.

Words.—A word may have one or more syllables; and, when it has two or more, one of them will receive slightly more force than the others, as in the word "common." Pronounce it, and you will give more force to "com" than "mon." This force applied is called accent.

Accent.—In pronouncing words, you will notice that in[Pg 39] the longest words, even while you make each syllable distinct, there is no perceptible pause until the word is finished. In words of two or three syllables you will find accent as above; but words of four or more syllables have one accented, and perhaps two syllables besides, that receive less force than the accented, but more than the others. Pronounce incomprehensibility. Properly done, you will hear that you give "bil" the strongest accent, and "com" and "hen" slight accent, but more than the remaining syllables, "in," "pre," "si," "i," "ty." The accent on "bil" is primary accent; and on the "com" and "hen" secondary accent.

Phrases.—Two or more words make a phrase; and a phrase gives you an idea, perhaps, needing a number of phrases to make complete sense. You should speak phrases just as you would a long word, without perceptible pause, and with more force on prominent words than others. Here is a sentence composed of two phrases: "Fear the Lord, and depart from evil." A poor reading of this would be, "Fear (pause) the Lord, (pause) and depart (pause) from evil." A good reading would be, "Fear the Lord, (pause) and depart from evil."

Emphasis.—As in words you have primary and secondary accent, so in phrases you have what is known as emphasis. In the sentence just given, the words that had most force were "Lord" and "evil;" and less force, "fear" and "depart;" and little or no force, "the," "and," and "from." You may call this primary and secondary emphasis, the primary having, as in accent, most force.

Sentences.—These phrases, or groups of words somewhat connected in idea, make sentences; and a sentence gives complete sense. As syllables make words, and in words you have an accented syllable; as words make phrases, and in phrases you have an emphatic word: so, in sentences composed of phrases, you have an important phrase; and this important phrase must be impressed upon the mind of the listener more strongly than any other. This is done by slightly added force and a trifle higher pitch; and, as you will readily see, the emphatic word of the important phrase is the emphatic word of the whole sentence. Thus you have the structure of sentences; and, if you proportion your force well, you will not fail to give the meaning correctly. In the following sentence, the phrases are[Pg 40] separated by commas; the emphatic words are in SMALL CAPITALS; the secondarily emphatic words are in Italics. First understand what the sentence means, then speak it as you would in earnest conversation, and you will be likely to give it correctly.

"We ALL of us, in a great measure, create our own HAPPINESS, which is not half so much dependent upon SCENES and CIRCUMSTANCES as most people are apt to IMAGINE."

In this sentence the important phrase is, "create our own happiness;" and the other phrases must be and are, by a good reader, subordinated to this one. This subordination of phrases to the principal one is made by lowering the pitch slightly, and lessening the force slightly on the subordinate phrases. It is naturally done if you'll talk the sentence understandingly.

In the following sentences,—

1st, Sound each element of a word separately.

2d, Pronounce each word separately, with proper accent, being careful to give each element correctly.

3d, Read in phrases, remembering that each phrase should be pronounced as a long word, without pause, and with emphasis.

4th, Read in sentences, subordinating all other phrases to the principal phrase.

3. Grandfather is old. His back, also, is bent. In the street he sees crowds of men looking dreadfully young, and walking dreadfully swift. He wonders where all the old folks are. Once, when a boy, he could not find people young enough for him, and sidled up to any young stranger he met on Sundays, wondering why God made the world so old. Now he goes to Commencement to see his grandsons take their degree, and is astonished at the youth of the audience. "This is new," he says: "it did not use to be so fifty years before."

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6. Be not lulled, my countrymen, with vain imaginations or idle fancies. To hope for the protection of Heaven, without doing our duty, and exerting ourselves as becomes men, is to mock the Deity. Wherefore had man his reason, if it were not to direct him? wherefore his strength, if it be not his protection? To banish folly and luxury, correct vice and immorality, and stand immovable in the freedom in which we are free indeed, is eminently the duty of each individual at this day. When this is done, we may rationally hope for an answer to our prayers—for the whole counsel of God, and the invincible armor of the Almighty.

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FULNESS AND POWER.

Fulness of voice is necessary, that, when you are speaking in a large hall, your voice may be powerful. Most persons could make themselves heard, and, with good articulation, understood; but yet they would lack power, because the voice wants fulness. The extracts given below will suggest to you the necessity of a full voice to express them well. Observe these directions in trying to get a full, energetic tone:—

1st, Correct speaker's position, take active chest, and keep it.

2d, Take full breath, breathe often, and control it. (See "Holding Breath.")

3d, Articulate perfectly.

4th, Use conversational and lower tones of the voice.

5th, Fix the mind on some distant spot, and speak as if you wished to make some one hear at that point.

6th, Remember to be very energetic, and yet have it seem to a looker-on or listener to be done without the slightest effort.

6. All hail to our glorious ensign! Courage to the heart, and strength to the hand, to which in all time it shall be intrusted! May it ever wave in honor, in unsullied glory, and patriotic hope, on the dome of the capitol, on the country's stronghold, on the entented plain, on the wave-rocked topmast!

[Pg 44]

INFLECTION.

Inflection is a slide of voice, either up or down in pitch, or both, on the accented syllable of a word. You have learned in previous pages what kinds there are. Major inflections express strength: minor express weakness.

Rising inflections refer to something to come that shall complete the sense. If you speak a phrase that needs another to complete its meaning, you will use a rising inflection to connect them. If you defer to another's will, opinion, or knowledge, in what you say, you will use a rising inflection. If you speak of two or more things, thinking of them as a whole, and not separately, you use a rising inflection.

Falling inflections are used when a phrase or sentence is complete in itself. If you state your own will, opinion, or knowledge, you will use falling inflection. If you speak of two or more things separately, wishing to make each one by itself distinct in the hearer's mind, you will use falling inflections.

Circumflex inflections, being composed of rising and falling inflections combined, are doubtful in meaning; for if rising means one thing, and falling means another, a combination must mean doubt. It expresses irony, sarcasm, &c.

Monotone is a varying of inflection within very narrow limits, and comes as near to chanting as the voice can, and still retain the expressiveness of inflection in speech. It expresses any slow-moving emotions, as grandeur, awe, solemnity, &c.

Practise the short extracts under each head until you are sure you give the right inflection in the right place.

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MAJOR RISING INFLECTION.

1. Would the influence of the Bible, even if it were not the record of a divine revelation, be to render princes more tyrannical, or subjects more ungovernable; the rich more insolent, or the poor more disorderly? Would it make worse parents or children, husbands or wives, masters or servants, friends or neighbors?

2. But why pause here? Is so much ambition praiseworthy, and more criminal? Is it fixed in nature that the limits of this empire should be Egypt on the one hand, the Hellespont and Euxine on the other? Were not Suez and Armenia more natural limits? Or hath empire no natural limit, but is broad as the genius that can devise, and the power that can win?

MAJOR FALLING INFLECTIONS.

3. Mahomet still lives in his practical and disastrous influence in the East. Napoleon still is France, and France is almost Napoleon. Martin Luther's dead dust sleeps at Wittenberg; but Martin Luther's accents still ring through the churches of Christendom. Shakspeare, Byron, and Milton, all live in their influence,—for good or evil. The apostle from his chair, the minister from his pulpit, the martyr from his flame-shroud, the statesman from his cabinet, the soldier in the field, the sailor on the deck, who all have passed away to their graves, still live in the practical deeds that they did, in the lives they lived, and in the powerful lessons that they left behind them.

MINOR RISING INFLECTIONS.

1. "Let me see him once before he dies? Let me hear his voice once more? I entreat you, let me enter."

MINOR FALLING INFLECTIONS.

1. God forbid that we should outlive the love of our children! Rather let us die while their hearts are a part of our own, that our grave may be watered with their tears, and our love linked with their hopes of heaven.

CIRCUMFLEX INFLECTION.

1. Were I in England now (as once I was), and had but this fish painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man: any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.

2. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages[Pg 48] princes' palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions. I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leaps over a cold decree: such a hare is madness the youth to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the cripple.

MONOTONE.

PITCH.

The general pitch of voice varies with the emotion. Some feelings we are prompted to express in the high tones, as joy; some in the lower tones, as awe: but, without practice, very few have command of the higher and lower tones; and, when they attempt to read, they cannot give the requisite variety to make it expressive. It is important that these exercises should be studied until you can as easily read in your highest and lowest tones as in your natural conversational or middle tones.

In high pitch, read in as high pitch as you can, and at the same time keep the tone pure, and you will find your voice gradually gain in compass.

In middle pitch, read in your conversational tone, with earnestness.

In low pitch, read somewhat lower than middle pitch, and make as full a tone as you can.

In very low pitch, read as low in pitch as you can with ease, and do not try to make it loud or full until you have had considerable practice. Don't pinch or strain the throat: if you do, the quality will be bad.

HIGH PITCH.

MIDDLE PITCH.

2. Now the laughing, jolly Spring began to show her buxom face in the bright morning. The buds began slowly to expand their close winter folds, the dark and melancholy woods to assume an almost imperceptible purple tint; and here and there a little chirping blue-bird hopped about the orchards. Strips of fresh green appeared along the brooks, now released from their icy fetters; and nests of little[Pg 51] variegated flowers, nameless, yet richly deserving a name, sprang up in the sheltered recesses of the leafless woods.

3. I know, the more one sickens, the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep, and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath learned no wit by nature or art may complain of good breeding, or comes of a very dull kindred.

LOW PITCH.

VERY LOW PITCH.

2. Go stand upon the heights at Niagara, and listen in awe-struck silence to that boldest most earnest and eloquent, of all Nature's orators! And what is Niagara, with its plunging waters and its mighty roar, but the oracle of God, the whisper of His voice who is revealed in the Bible as sitting above the water-floods forever?

QUALITY.

As there are all kinds and qualities of emotions, so there are all kinds and qualities of voice to express them. The shade and varieties of these qualities are as infinite in number as the emotions they express. We need, however, in practice, to make but four general divisions,—whisper, aspirate, pure, and orotund. The whisper expresses secrecy, fear, and like emotions. It is seldom required in reading, as the aspirate is expressive of the same, and you would be likely to use that instead of whisper. You should practise the whisper until you can make it very clear, and free from all impurity, or sound of throat, and full, so as to be heard at a distance. In both whisper and aspirate leave the throat free and open; and be energetic, remembering that force is[Pg 53] made by control of muscles at the waist, and not by effort of throat or mouth. The clearer you can make a whisper, the better quality you can make in pure and orotund. Pure tone or quality is sound made with no disagreeable quality being heard; and is the same as pleasant quality, spoken of as being necessary to make listeners. Pure quality is made with ease, with no waste of breath, and is used for expression of agreeable feelings. Orotund is a magnified, pure tone, and adds richness and power to the voice in speech. It is the expression of intense feelings, usually slow in movement, as grandeur, sublimity, awe, &c. It can only be obtained by much practice and much patience, allowing the voice to grow in fulness, as it will in time, if practice continues.

WHISPER.

ASPIRATE.

PURE.

OROTUND.

1. Approach and behold while I lift from his sepulchre its covering. Ye admirers of his greatness, ye emulous of his talents and his fame, approach, and behold him now. How pale! how silent! No martial bands admire the adroitness of his movements, no fascinating throng weep and melt and tremble at his eloquence. Amazing change! A shroud, a coffin, a narrow subterraneous cabin,—this is all that now remains of Hamilton. And is this all that remains of him? During a life so transitory, what lasting monument, then, can our fondest hopes erect!

For examples of pure tone, see "Reading Club," No. 1, pages 54 and 82; No. 2, page 63; No. 3, pages 11, 49; No. 4, pages 29, 36, 81.

For orotund, No. 1, page 42; No. 2, page 64; No. 3, page 25; No. 4, page 61.

MOVEMENT.

By different emotions you are prompted to speak words in quick or slow utterance, as in joy or anger you would be prompted to utter words quickly; while in majesty, sublimity, awe, you would speak slowly. You should practise movement, that you may be able to read rapidly and with perfect articulation, and also to read slowly with proper phrasing. In quick movement, read as fast as you can with proper articulation, phrasing, and emphasis. In moderate movement, read as in ordinary earnest conversation. In slow and very slow movement, phrase well, as in these the emphatic words have the longest time given to them, the secondarily emphatic ones less time, and the connecting words the least time; and it is a great art to proportion them rightly. If you do not do the latter, you will drawl.

QUICK MOVEMENT.

MODERATE MOVEMENT.

2. Oratory, as it consists in the expression of the countenance, graces of attitude and motion, and intonation of voice, although it is altogether superficial and ornamental, will always command admiration; yet it deserves little veneration. Flashes of wit, coruscations of imagination, and gay pictures,—what are they? Strict truth, rapid reason, and pure integrity, are the only essential ingredients in oratory. I flatter myself that Demosthenes, by his "action, action, action," meant to express the same opinion.

[Pg 58]

SLOW MOVEMENT.

VERY SLOW MOVEMENT.

FORCE.

Every emotion which you have you feel more or less intensely, and that intensity is expressed through the force of the voice. The degree of force with which you speak will be according to the degree of intensity of emotion; and even in the gentlest tone you can express as forcibly as in the loudest. According to your strength of body and mind, and intensity of feeling, you have been accustomed to express in a strong or feeble voice. Force needs to be practised to enable you to fill a large hall with your gentlest tone, and to make very loud tones without straining of throat. In gentle force, sustain the breath well, as in fulness and power, observing directions there given; and make your tone soft and pure. In moderate force, be as energetic as in earnest conversation. In loud and very loud force, observe directions under "Fulness and Power."

GENTLE FORCE.

MODERATE FORCE.

2. O young men and women! there is no picture of ideal excellence of manhood and womanhood that I ever draw that seems too high, too beautiful, for your young hearts. What aspirations there are for the good, the true, the fair, and the holy! The instinctive affections—how beautiful they are, with all their purple prophecy of new homes and generations of immortals that are yet to be! The high instincts of reason, of conscience, of love, of religion,—how beautiful and grand they are in the young heart!

LOUD FORCE.

VERY LOUD FORCE.

STRESS.

In expressing your emotions, the voice is ejected in various ways; perhaps in a jerky or trembling or flowing manner, as may be, depending on the kind of emotion you feel. This is called "Stress;" and you have learned how, mechanically, to make it. Radical Stress is used when you try to impress upon others your exact meaning. Practise it with that thought in your mind. Median Stress is used in appeal to the best affections, and expresses agreeable emotions. The swell comes on emphatic words. Terminal Stress is used in expressions of anger, petulance, impatience, and the like. Thorough Stress is used in calling to persons at a long distance, but has little place in expression. It is frequently substituted by bad readers or speakers for Median or Terminal Stress. Compound Stress is used in strong passion; and being a compound of Radical and Terminal Stress, and used with circumflex inflections, it combines the meaning of them all, as sarcasm, irony, &c., mixed with anger, impatience, doubt, &c. Tremolo Stress is used in excessive emotion; as joy, anger, sorrow, in excess, would cause the voice to tremble. You should practise this in order to avoid it, as, when Tremolo does not[Pg 63] proceed from real excess of feeling, it has a very ludicrous effect. Practise the following exercises by thinking and feeling the idea and emotion.

RADICAL STRESS.

2. There is the act of utterance, a condition that exists between you and myself. I speak, and you hear; but how? The words issue from my lips, and reach your ears; but what are those words? Volumes of force communicated to the atmosphere, whose elastic waves carry them to fine recipients in your own organism. But still I ask, How? How is it that these volumes of sound should convey articulate meaning, and carry ideas from my mind into your own?

3. I call upon you, fathers, by the shades of your ancestors, by the dear ashes which repose in this precious soil, by all you are and all you hope to be,—resist every object of disunion; resist every encroachment upon your liberties; resist every attempt to fetter your consciences, or smother your public schools, or extinguish your system of public instruction.

MEDIAN STRESS.

2. Oh divine, oh delightful legacy of a spotless reputation! Rich is the inheritance it leaves; pious the example it testifies; pure, precious, and imperishable the hope which it inspires. Can there be conceived a more atrocious injury than to filch from its possessor this inestimable benefit; to rob society of its charm, and solitude of its solace; not only to outlaw life, but to attaint death, converting the very grave, the refuge of the sufferer, into the gate of infamy and of shame?

TERMINAL STRESS.

THOROUGH STRESS.

COMPOUND STRESS.

2. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and, if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

[Pg 66]

TREMOLO STRESS.

TRANSITION.

The changes from one kind of force to another, or one pitch to another, or one movement to another, or one quality to another, are many in expressive reading; and these changes are called "Transition." To practise it is very useful in breaking up monotony of voice, and adding expressiveness to it. In practice of these short extracts, you are showing the benefit of practice in quality, pitch, movement, and force. Put yourself into the thought and feeling, and vary the voice as that, guided by common sense, may suggest to you.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, pp. 45, 54; No. 2, pp. 5, 101; No. 3, pp. 9, 70, 87; No. 4, pp. 26, 42, 75.

MODULATION.

A good reader or speaker will vary his or her voice in the elements of emotional expression (that is, pitch, quality, movement, stress, force), on words, phrases, and sentences, in such a manner that the listeners get a suggestion of the meaning of a word by the sound of it. For instance, the words bright, glad, joyful, dull, sad, weak, may be pronounced in such a manner as to suggest by the quality of voice used their meaning; and, in the same manner, phrases and whole sentences may have variation in voice so as to suggest their meaning. This is modulation.

To modulate well, first, you must use your imagination, to form a perfect picture in your own mind of what you wish to describe, just as you would if you were an artist, and were intending to paint an ideal picture; and, in reality, you are an artist, for you paint with words and tones. Secondly, you should understand the exact meaning of each word, and,[Pg 71] when you speak it, make your manner of speaking it suggest its meaning. Suppose you were to read Tennyson's "Song of the Brook." We will analyze as near as words may the manner of reading each verse. Read the whole song, and form the picture in imagination of the flow of the water, the scenery along its course, the roughness or smoothness of the water as described, the slowness or rapidity of its flow at different points, how large or small the brook is, making the picture as perfect as if you would paint upon canvas the whole scene.

THE BROOK.

As a whole, this piece requires for quality of voice the pure tone; force, gentle; movement, moderate; pitch, middle; stress, median. The variations in modulation must be from these, and will be mostly variations in quality, movement, and pitch.

Lines 2 to 6. Movement, quick; pitch, high; with quality changing on words sudden, sparkle, bicker, hurry, slip, in such a way as to suggest the meaning of the word.

Lines 7 to 12. Movement, moderate; pitch, middle.

Lines 13 to 16. Movement, quick; pitch, high; the words chatter, stony, sharps, trebles, bubble, babble, spoken with suggestion of their meaning.

Lines 17 to 20. Movement, moderate; pitch, middle.

[Pg 73]

Lines 21 to 24. Movement, quick; pitch, high; make quality suggest on chatter, brimming.

Lines 25 to 28. Movement, slow; pitch, middle; change to suggestive quality on wind, blossom, lusty.

Lines 29 to 36. Movement, moderate; pitch, middle; suggestive quality on foamy, silvery, golden, brimming.

Lines 37 to 40. Movement, slow; pitch, low; suggestive quality on steal, slide, move, happy.

Lines 41, 42. Movement, pitch, quality, all varied on words slip, slide, gloom, glance.

Lines 43, 44. Movement, quick; pitch, high; suggestive quality on dance, shallows.

Lines 45 to 48. Movement, slow; pitch, low; quality, very slightly aspirate; suggestive quality on murmur, linger, loiter.

Lines 49 to 52. Movement, moderate; pitch, middle; suggestive quality on brimming.

This analysis is very imperfect, as it is impossible in words to explain it. What modulation requires is, as a popular author says, "genius and sense" on your part, and you will be enabled to do as here is imperfectly suggested. You will do well to select some pieces, and analyze them, as here suggested. In Longfellow's launch of the ship, in his poem "Building of the Ship," picture the whole scene in imagination, the size and kind of ship, the number of the crowd, &c.

The following pieces are marked so that you may get a general idea of what is required for emotional expression in each. No marking can give you particulars of what is necessary, as the modulation of voice or variety in emotional expression—the light and shadow in the coloring of your word-picture—must depend upon your artistic "sense and genius." Imagine your picture, understand the meaning of every word and suggest its meaning in tone, concentrate yourself in the thought and feeling of the piece, and let your voice be governed by that, and you will not go far wrong if you have faithfully practised what has been recommended in the previous pages of this book.

1. Pure quality, gentle force, slow movement, middle pitch, median stress.

2. Orotund quality, with fulness and power, varying middle and low pitch, moderate and quick movement, median and radical stress mixed.

3. Pure to orotund quality, gentle to moderate force, moderate movement, middle pitch, radical and median stress[Pg 75] mixed. This contains many words that can be pronounced with a quality or variation suggesting their meaning.

Rhetoric as taught in our seminaries and by elocutionists is one thing: genuine, heart-thrilling, soul-stirring eloquence is a very different thing. The one is like the rose in wax, without odor; the other like the rose on its native bush, perfuming the atmosphere with the rich odors distilled from the dew of heaven.

The one is the finely-finished statue of a Cicero or Demosthenes, more perfect in its lineaments than the original, pleasing the eye, and enrapturing the imagination: the other is the living man, animated by intellectual power, rousing the deepest feelings of every heart, and electrifying every soul as with vivid lightning. The one is a picture of the passions all on fire: the other is the real conflagration, pouring out a volume of words that burn like liquid flames bursting from the crater of a volcano.

The one attracts the admiring gaze and tickles the fancy of an audience: the other sounds an alarm that vibrates through the tingling ears to the soul, and drives back the rushing blood upon the aching heart. The one falls upon the multitude like April showers glittering in the sunbeams, animating, and bringing nature into mellow life: the other rouses the same mass to deeds of noble daring, and imparts to it the terrific force of an avalanche.

The one moves the cerebral foliage in waves of recumbent beauty like a gentle wind passing over a prairie of tall grass and flowers: the other strikes a blow that resounds through the wilderness of mind like rolling thunder through a forest of oaks. The one fails when strong commotions and angry elements agitate the public peace: the other can ride upon the whirlwind, direct the tornado, and rule the storm.

4. Aspirated orotund quality, moderate force, very slow movement, very low pitch, median stress.

5. Pure quality, moderate force, quick movement, high pitch, radical stress, suggestive quality on many words.

STYLE.

What you have to say, where you have to say it, when you have to say it, why you have to say it, and to whom you have to say it,—on these depend how you shall say it, or your style. Conversational style is as you would talk in earnest conversation with a friend; Narrative, as you would tell an anecdote or story to a company of friends; Descriptive, as you would describe what you had actually seen; Didactic, as you would state earnestly, decisively, but pleasantly, your knowledge or opinions to others; Public Address, which generally includes the Didactic, Narrative, and Descriptive, is spoken with design to move, to persuade, and instruct, particularly the latter; Declamatory is Public Address magnified in expression, exhibiting more emotion, both in language, and in quality, and fulness of voice; the Emotional or Dramatic, in which the emotions and passions are strongly expressed. In practising these different styles, the quality, pitch, force, and time must be regulated by your thought and feeling, guided, as in transition, by common[Pg 78] sense, which will enable you to tell natural from unnatural expression. Practise these few exercises under each head; but you will do better to practise pieces such as are referred to under each head in the "Reading Club."

CONVERSATIONAL.

1. "And how's my boy, Betty?" asked Mrs. Boffin, sitting down beside her.

"He's bad; he's bad!" said Betty. "I begin to be afeerd he'll not be yours any more than mine. All others belonging to him have gone to the Power and the Glory; and I have a mind that they're drawing him to them, leading him away."

"No, no, no!" said Mrs. Boffin.

"I don't know why else he clinches his little hand, as if it had hold of a finger that I can't see; look at it!" said Betty, opening the wrappers in which the flushed child lay, and showing his small right hand lying closed upon his breast. "It's always so. It don't mind me."

3. "Now," said Wardle, "what say you to an hour on the ice? We shall have plenty of time."

"Capital!" said Mr. Benjamin Allen.

"Prime!" ejaculated Mr. Bob Sawyer.

"You skate, of course, Winkle?" said Wardle.

"Ye—yes; oh, yes!" replied Mr. Winkle. "I—I am rather out of practice."

"Oh, do skate, Mr. Winkle!" said Arabella. "I like to see it so much!"

[Pg 79]

"Oh, it is so graceful!" said another young lady.

A third young lady said it was elegant; and a fourth expressed her opinion that it was "swan-like."

"I should be very happy, I'm sure," said Mr. Winkle, reddening; "but I have no skates."

This objection was at once overruled. Trundle had got a couple of pair, and the fat boy announced that there were half a dozen more down stairs; whereat Mr. Winkle expressed exquisite delight, and looked exquisitely uncomfortable.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, p. 56; No. 2, p. 49; No. 3, pp. 5, 38; No. 4, pp. 94, 67.

NARRATIVE.

2. The illustrious Spinola, upon hearing of the death of a friend, inquired of what disease he died. "Of having nothing to do," said the person who mentioned it. "Enough," said Spinola, "to kill a general." Not only the want of employment, but the want of care, often increases as well as brings on this disease.

3. Sir Isaac Newton was once examining a new and very fine globe, when a gentleman came into his study who did not believe in a God, but declared the world we live in came by chance. He was much pleased with the handsome globe, and asked, "Who made it?"—"Nobody," answered Sir Isaac: "it happened there." The gentleman looked up in amazement; but he soon understood what it meant.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, pp. 23, 73; No. 2, pp. 37, 44; No. 3, pp. 9, 99; No. 4, pp. 26, 49, 89.

DESCRIPTIVE.

2. The broad moon lingers on the summit of Mount Olivet; but its beam has long left the garden of Gethsemane, and the tomb of Absalom, the waters of Kedron, and the dark abyss of Jehoshaphat. Full falls its splendor, however, on the opposite city, vivid and defined in its silver blaze. A lofty wall, with turrets and towers and frequent gates, undulates with the unequal ground which it covers, as it encircles the lost capital of Jehovah. It is a city of hills, far more famous than those of Rome; for all Europe has heard of Sion and of Calvary.

3. It was a fine autumnal day: the sky was clear and serene, and Nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow; while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air; the bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves of beech and hickory nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals from the neighboring stubble-field.

See "Reading Club," No. 2, pp. 15, 39; No. 3, pp. 28, 97; No. 4, pp. 19, 36, 92.

DIDACTIC.

2. All professions should be liberal; and there should be less pride felt in peculiarity of employment, and more in excellence of achievement. And yet more: in each several profession no master should be too proud to do its hardest work. The painter should grind his own colors; the architect work in the mason's yard with his men; the master-manufacturer be himself a more skilful operative than any man in his mills; and the distinction between one man and another be only in experience and skill, and the authority and wealth which these must naturally and justly obtain.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, p. 82; No. 2, pp. 88, 76; No. 3, p. 59.

PUBLIC ADDRESS.

1. Let not, then, the young man sit with folded hands, calling on Hercules. Thine own arm is the demigod: it[Pg 82] was given thee to help thyself. Go forth into the world trustful, but fearless. Exalt thine adopted calling or profession. Look on labor as honorable, and dignify the task before thee, whether it be in the study, office, counting-room, work-shop, or furrowed field. There is an equality in all, and the resolute will and pure heart may ennoble either.

2. While you are gazing on that sun which is plunging into the vault of the west, another observer admires him emerging from the gilded gates of the east. By what inconceivable power does that agèd star, which is sinking fatigued and burning in the shades of the evening, re-appear at the same instant fresh and humid with the rosy dew of the morning? At every hour of the day the glorious orb is at once rising, resplendent as noonday, and setting in the west; or rather our senses deceive us, and there is, properly speaking, no east or west, no north or south, in the world.

3. In all natural and spiritual transactions, so far as they come within the sphere of human agency, there are three distinct elements: there is an element of endeavor, of mystery, and of result; in other words, there is something for man to do, there is something beyond his knowledge and control, there is something achieved by the co-operation of these two. Man sows the seed, he reaps the harvest; but between these two points occurs the middle condition of mystery. He casts the seed into the ground; he sleeps and rises night and day; but the seed springs and grows up, he knows not how: yet, when the fruit is ripe, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. That is all he knows about it. There is something for him to do, something for him to receive; but between the doing and receiving there is a mystery.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, p. 83; No. 2, pp. 77, 79; No. 3, pp. 74, 91; No. 4, pp. 35, 53.

DECLAMATORY.

1. You speak like a boy,—like a boy who thinks the old gnarled oak can be twisted as easily as the young sapling. Can I forget that I have been branded as an outlaw, stigmatized as a traitor, a price set on my head as if I had been a wolf, my family treated as the dam and cubs of the hill-fox, whom all may torment, vilify, degrade, and insult; the[Pg 83] very name which came to me from a long and noble line of martial ancestors denounced, as if it were a spell to conjure up the devil with?

2. I have been accused of ambition in presenting this measure,—inordinate ambition. If I had thought of myself only, I should have never brought it forward. I know well the perils to which I expose myself,—the risk of alienating faithful and valued friends, with but little prospect of making new ones (if any new ones could compensate for the loss of those we have long tried and loved), and the honest misconception both of friends and foes. Ambition!—yes, I have ambition; but it is the ambition of being the humble instrument in the hands of Providence to reconcile a divided people, once more to revive concord and harmony in a distracted land; the pleasing ambition of contemplating the glorious spectacle of a free, united, prosperous, and fraternal people.

3. Tell me, ye who tread the sods of yon sacred height, is Warren dead? Can you not still see him, not pale and prostrate, the blood of his gallant heart pouring out of his ghastly wound, but moving resplendent over the field of honor, with the rose of heaven upon his cheek, and the fire of liberty in his eye? Tell me, ye who make your pious pilgrimage to the shades of Vernon, is Washington indeed shut up in that cold and narrow house? That which made these men, and men like these, cannot die. The hand that traced the charter of Independence is indeed motionless; the eloquent lips that sustained it are hushed: but the lofty spirits that conceived, resolved, and maintained it, and which alone, to such men, "make it life to live,"—these cannot expire.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, pp. 66, 75; No. 3, pp. 50, 68, 84; No. 4, pp. 40, 55.

DRAMATIC OR EMOTIONAL.

See "Reading Club," No. 1, p. 8; No. 2, p. 28; No. 3, p. 60; No. 4, p. 14.

[Pg 85]

PART FOUR.
HINTS ON ELOCUTION.

If you have practised and studied the previous pages of this book, you will have gained an elementary knowledge of the science of elocution. Carlyle says, "The grand result of schooling is a mind with just vision to discern, with free force to do: the grand school-master is Practice." To make an artist of yourself in elocution requires much practice and much patience. As Longfellow says, "Art is long, and time is fleeting;" and the art of elocution is no exception to that truth.

You must have health, strength, and elasticity of body; and, to get and keep these, obey the laws of life as to exercise, rest, pure air, good food, and temperance in all things. Avoid all stimulants, or tobacco in any form. Practise any gymnastics that shall help to make you strong and sprightly, but especially the physical gymnastics here given, as they are designed to benefit the muscles used in speaking.

When you stand to speak, the first thing that strikes your audience is the position you assume. Therefore be careful to assume and keep the speaker's position until some other position is needed for expression; and return to the speaker's position, as the one which is an active position, but gives the idea of repose and confidence, without that disagreeable self-consciousness which to an audience is disgusting. While you are speaking, avoid all swaying or motion of body, unless it means something.

Do not bow too quickly, but do it with dignity, and respect to your audience, first with a general, quick glance of the eye about you. Bend the body at the hip-joints; let the back bend a little, and the head more than the body. Do not bow too low, nor be stiff in your movements.

[Pg 86]

How to hold the book has been shown in Part One; and you will find that to be the position that strikes the audience most favorably, and gives an impression of ease, which goes a great way towards making the audience enjoy your reading.

When you speak, it is for the purpose of making yourself understood. And to do this you must articulate perfectly; that is, give a clear and correct utterance every element in a word. | Pronunciation.|You must also pronounce properly,—that is, accent the proper syllable in a word; and, to find out what the proper syllable is, refer to Webster's or Worcester's large Dictionary (Worcester being preferable), and find out for yourself. | Emphasis.| You must also give the right phrasing, subordinating all other phrases to the principal one, and remembering that the emphatic word of your sentence is the emphatic word of the important phrase. The emphatic word is usually brought out by inflection and added force; but it may be made emphatic by particular stress, or a pause before it or after it, or both before and after, or by a change of quality. Your own common sense will tell you when these may be proper and effective and natural.

You must also make your audience hear you; and this requires, not a loud, high-pitched voice, but—unless dramatic expression requires otherwise—your middle or conversational pitch, with fulness of voice, that shall give you power. Your own mind will regulate this for you, if you will direct your attention to the persons in the back part of the hall, and speak in middle pitch, so that they may hear. | Avoid high pitch.| Many speakers make the mistake of using a high pitch, and render their speech very ineffective by so doing. You will call to mind the fact, that, when we say we cannot hear a speaker, it is not that we do not hear the sound of his voice, but that we cannot understand the words. Bearing this in mind, you will see that perfect articulation is what is wanted, and that fulness added to your voice in middle pitch will make the voice reach, will require less effort, and will produce better effect.

Having made your audience understand and hear, you must then make them feel. To do this as public reader, actor, clergyman, lawyer, teacher, orator, [Pg 87] lecturer, you must yourself feel what you have to say, and, forgetting every thing else in your subject, concentrate your whole being in your utterance and action. Then you will be effective, and you will carry your audience with you. And you will fail in proportion as you fail to lose your own personality in your subject. "The heart giveth grace unto every art;" and of no art is this more true than of elocution. You may have all the graces of elocution which practice will give you; yet, in the effect these will produce,—if the will, acting alone, not being guided by mind and heart, prompts the utterance,—something will be lacking, of which learned and unlearned alike will be conscious.

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," and cultivated and uncultivated alike will feel it; and this "touch of nature" you will show if you enter into what you have to say with mind, heart, and soul. Your voice will vary in all the elements of emotional expression, and you will be natural.

When speaking in public, do not try to remember the first rule of elocution. Leave it all behind you when you come before the audience. Speak from your thought and feeling, and be sure you are thoroughly familiar with what you have to say. Be sure you understand it yourself before you try to make others understand. | Words without meaning.|You can read words, calling them off mechanically, or you can speak words from memory very mechanically, and not have a clear idea of the meaning the words convey while you speak them. But do not do this. Always think the thought, as you read or speak, in the same manner as you would if speaking extempore. You can express your thought clearly by thinking it as you speak; but at the same time there may be no expression of emotion. | Thought without feeling.| You may have thought without feeling; but you must impress your thought by feeling. When you read, your mind gets the thought through the words, and from that thought comes feeling; but, when you speak your own thoughts, the feeling creates the thought. In reading, you think, and then feel; but, in speaking your thought, you feel, and then think. When you read, then, or speak from memory, if you will let thought create feeling before you speak, you will avoid mechanical reading and speaking, and be effective in conveying the thought and feeling both together.

[Pg 88]

You can convey emotion without a definite thought; and this is as bad as either words without meaning, or thought without feeling. This arousing the feelings without guiding them by definite thought is the province of the art of music. Elocution is superior to music for the reason that it guides both thought and feeling, for certainly it is better that mind and feeling should work together, than either alone.

The elements of emotional expression are alike in speech and song. In each you have quality, time, force, and pitch. The variation of these elements makes expression of feeling; and each sound you make contains all these elements. It has a certain quality; it has more or less of force; it is relatively high or low in pitch, it takes a longer or shorter time. | Variety in expression.| The more you vary in the elements of emotional expression, the better the effect, provided the variation is caused by the variation of your feeling, and not by any artificiality, or seeming to express what you do not feel.

The quality of voice, its purity or harshness, its aspiration, &c., will vary with the kind of feeling; the degree of force will vary according to the intensity of feeling; the pitch will be according to what we may call the height or depth of your feeling; the movement, or time, will be according as the emotion is quick or slow. After having cultivated the voice well in these elements of emotional expression, your own common sense ought to be your best guide in the application of them to reading and speaking. You, for the time being, should be the author of what you read. "Put yourself in his place," and express as you feel that he felt while writing it.

It is possible for you to feel intense emotion, and not be capable of properly expressing it, so as to make others feel it. You may not have had training that will give you command of sound and motion, those channels of expression through which the body is made to obey mind and soul, and express their thought and feeling. | No expression without feeling.| It is impossible to express, even with the best cultivation, what, at the moment of utterance, you do not feel: therefore you must sink your own personality in your subject; and, according to your conception, so will you express.

[Pg 89]

All apparent effort must be avoided; that is, in the expression of the strongest passion or emotion, you must not give the audience the slightest indication of want of power. You will give that impression if you try to express more than you actually feel. In emotional expression it must seem as if it overflowed because of excess, and you could hardly control it; but you must never lose control of it. This control will give the audience the impression that you feel more than you express, and is what is called reserved power. If—your well of emotion not being overflowingly full—you use a force-pump, or, in other words, your will-power, to make it overflow, you will fail in expression.

How are you to get this, you ask. By study and long practice. As you plainly see, it involves a perfect command over the feelings; and "he that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." Conquer yourself. All art, elocution included, is but a means of expression for man's thoughts and feelings; and, if you have no thought or feeling to express, art is useless to you.

Do not let your audience be reminded that you breathe at all. Take breath quietly through nostrils or mouth, or both. Form the habit of keeping the chest, while speaking, active, as recommended in all vocal exercises; and the breath will flow in unobstructed whenever needed. Breathe as nearly as possible as you would if you were not speaking, that is, do not interfere with right action of the lungs. The instant you feel a want of breath, take it: if you do not, you will injure your lungs; and what you say, feeling that want of breath, will lack power. The more breath you have, so that it does not feel uncomfortable and can be well controlled, the more power you will have: therefore practise breathing until you breathe rightly and easily.

If your general health is good, your throat will be well; and therefore pay attention to the general health of the whole body, and the throat will take care of itself. If, when you come before an audience, your throat and mouth are dry, use only clear, cold water, not ice-water: that is too cold. Avoid candy or throat-lozenges; for the use of either of these is worse than if you used nothing at all. If you have a cold or sore throat, you had better not use your voice; but, if you must use it, [Pg 90] keep it clear by clear water. A healthy throat will not need even water: it will moisten itself after a little use, if at first it is dry.

Deliberate movement and frequent pausing are very expressive in some cases. Where it is applicable may be determined by what you have to express. Pausing in its appropriate place makes emphasis strong. | Punctuation.| Let the pause be regulated, however, by the feeling, and not all by the punctuation. Express according to your conception of the thought. Punctuation may be a guide to you in obtaining the right idea; but it is no guide to correct expression. Pausing, generally, comes naturally either before or after, or both before and after, the emphatic word or phrase.

Speak or read poetry with the same care and attention to phrasing that you would give to prose, and you will avoid all drawling, monotony, or sing-song. In order that the rhyme in poetry may be preserved, the pronunciation of a word may be changed from common usage, if, by so doing, you do not obscure the meaning; but never sacrifice the meaning for the sake of the rhyme. In good poetry, which includes blank verse, the metrical movement will show itself without any attempt on your part to make it prominent.

You may feel, when you first come before an audience, a shrinking, or faintness of feeling, such as is known to actors as "stage fright." It probably arises from a very sensitive, nervous organization; and, other things being equal, persons of this character make the best speakers. As to the real cause of this feeling, as Lord Dundreary says, "It's one of those things no fellah can find out." But, whatever its cause, you can overcome it by strong will-power and self-possession; and, after a time, you will become used to appearance in public, and that will establish the "confidence of habit." Some of the best orators and actors that ever lived have had "stage fright;" and some of them, so far as we know, never had it. So you must not flatter yourself that this is a certain indication of your power. It takes much more than a tendency to "stage fright" to make a powerful speaker.

Whether you are reading from a book or paper, reciting from memory, or speaking extempore your own thought, you should do all as you would the latter, so that a blind man, [Pg 91] who could not judge which you were doing except by the sound of your voice, would be unable to tell. In committing to memory for recitation, you will remember more easily if you will pick out the emphatic words of the sentences in their order, and commit them, as they contain an outline of the succession of thought and meaning.

The look upon the face, the gestures of the arm, the attitude of the body, all speak the language of emotion as plainly to the eye as elocution proper does to the ear. This action will be prompted by the feelings, as the voice is; and it will be expressive or not, it will be appropriate or not, it will be graceful or not, according as you have natural or acquired ability. Natural ability will be much aided by a knowledge and practice of gesture as a language, and much may be acquired by any one with practice.

I have said nothing of action in the previous pages, as this book treats of expression through the voice, or elocution. A few words here upon the subject will not be out of place. When you read, you should ordinarily make your voice express much, and use gesture sparingly, but, if you feel prompted to make gestures, never do so while the eye rests on the book. Look either at the audience, or as may be indicated by the gesture. When you recite, or speak extempore, you can add much to the expression by look, gesture, and attitude. In natural expression the face will first light up, and show feeling; and the attitude and gesture follow more or less quickly, according to the feeling; and then comes speech. And all these must express alike. For the face to be expressionless, or to express one thing while the speech and gesture say another thing, is in effect ludicrous.

Remember that all motions and attitudes have meaning; and, when no other gesture or attitude is called for to express some feeling, stand perfectly still in the speaker's position before mentioned, that being an active, and at the same time a neutral position. Don't move, unless you mean something by it. Don't sway the body, or nod the head, or shrug the shoulders, or move the feet, or make motions or gestures, unless the proper expression call for it, and your emotion prompts.

The eye is particularly effective in expression, as there the [Pg 92] emotion first shows itself; and by it you can get and keep the attention of your audience. In reading, keep your eye off the book as much as possible, and on your audience. In recitation or extempore speaking, look at your audience. The eye leads in gesture, and, in many cases, looks in the direction of the gesture. In personation of character, as in dramatic scenes, your eye must look at those to whom you are supposed to be speaking, as, in common conversation, you usually look at the person to whom you speak. Never look in an undecided way, as if you did not have a purpose in looking, but look in the face and eyes of your audience when emotional expression does not require you to look elsewhere.

When you don't wish to use your arm for gesture, let it hang naturally at the side. When the emotion calls for gesture, make it with decision, and let the gesture continue as long as you utter words explaining the meaning of the gesture. Gesture always comes before words, more or less quickly, as may be the kind of emotion. Usually, if the words are quickly spoken, the gesture will be quickly made, and the words will be spoken almost at instant of the gesture. If the words move slow, the gesture will move slow, and there may be a perceptible pause between the gesture and words. | No rules for gesture.| No stated rules for gesture can be given; for they are as infinite in number and variety as the emotions they express. You will find, however, that gesture may be regulated, as emotional expression of voice is, by means of your intensity of thought and feeling, guided by common sense, and aided by genius. Gesture is a science and art, which, as in speech and song, has elements of emotional expression; and these elements correspond in each. You have in gesture (as said of the others) quality or kind of gesture, force or intensity in gesture, time or the degree of movement in gesture, and pitch, or relative height and depth; and all these have a meaning something like the corresponding elements of song, or speech, or other arts. Long and hard study and practice will be necessary to perfection in this, as in all arts. A graceful habit of gesture, an appropriate expression of eye and face, united to a voice full-toned, musical, and varying in all shades of emotional expression,—what is there more captivating to eye and ear, more pleasing to the senses, more instructive to the mind, more moving to the emotions, [Pg 93] if only it is, as Mendelssohn says of all art, expressive of lofty thought? "Every art can elevate itself above a mere handicraft only by being devoted to the expression of lofty thought."

DEFECTS OF SPEECH.

Defects of speech cannot be spoken of at great length in this book. A thorough study of articulation in Parts One and Two will cure any of them where there is no defect in the mouth. The letter s is more often defective than any other letter, it being pronounced like th in thin, or whistled. In the first the tongue is too far forward: in the last it is drawn too far back. Cure by imitating somebody who makes it correctly. R is often defective by substituting w for it; as, wun for run. Sometimes it is defective by being made with the whole tongue, something as y is made; as, yun for run: and cure may be had by imitating the correct sound. Other defects of letters or elementary sounds are less common, and need not be mentioned here.

Too precise speech is a defect, and results from trying to give too much force to the consonant sounds, and not a due proportion to the vowel sounds. It sounds like affectation on the part of the speaker, and may be corrected by giving more force to the vowels, and particular attention to phrasing. (See "Articulation," Part Three.)

Slovenly speech is a defect, and is opposite in kind and effect from the above. The consonants are not pronounced; and, to remedy it, practise to give consonants more force and precision, and pay attention to phrasing and emphasis.

Speaking too rapidly is a defect, and results from too rapid thought. Put a restraint upon thought,—that is, control it,—and make the tongue move slower in consequence, being careful to phrase and emphasize well.

Speaking too slowly is also a defect, opposite in kind from rapid speech, and is caused by the mind moving too slowly in thinking. The remedy is to think faster, and urge the tongue to move quicker.

When you have too slow thought and too rapid speech, you have stuttering; for the tongue keeps moving all the time while the thought is coming, and it repeats syllables or [Pg 94] words. Make the mind of the stutterer move faster, and the tongue talk slower. In each of these last three defects, let the person who wants to cure it "know what you wish to say before you attempt to say it."

Stammering is caused by too much effort on the part of the person to make articulate sounds, and is usually the result of imitating some one who stammered, or formed gradually by habit of incorrect breathing, and from physical weakness. Stammerers make the attempt to speak, and the lips or tongue or jaw become immovable, or the words stick in their throat; and, because this takes place, they make great effort to overcome it. The more effort they make, the harder it is for them; and sometimes this leads to contortions and jerkings of body and limbs that are painful. To cure this takes a longer or shorter time, depending on the state of health, the length of time the habit has been in forming, the amount of jerking of limbs to which the stammerer is subject, and the care taken by the stammerer to practise much. A stammerer can be cured by teaching articulation thoroughly. (See Parts One and Two of this book; also Monroe's Fourth Reader.) Show every element separately, and the position the mouth takes to make it; then combine into syllables, then into words, then into phrases. Show the stammerer, that, the less the effort made, the easier will be the speaking. Impress upon the stammerer's mind, "Make no effort to speak," and the habit is to be overcome by long-continued practice and a thorough and complete training in articulation. When reading, be sure and read in phrases; that is, speak a phrase, as a long word, without pause. Stammerers, being usually feeble in health, should practise the physical and vocal gymnastics (Parts One and Two), and particularly the breathing exercises. When you have given the stammerer confidence, and he or she finds that talking is as easy as walking or singing, the cure is certain. There may be times of excitability or nervousness when stammering will return; but these times will be less and less frequent as health gets better and confidence grows, and finally will not return. Remember, stammerer, "make no effort." Be lazy, and even, at first, slovenly in speech, and cure is certain.

THE END.

[Pg 95]

MR. WALTER K. FOBES,

(Graduate of Boston University School of Oratory,)

IS PREPARED TO TEACH

Elocution in Private or Class Lessons,

Either at his room in Boston, his residence in North Cambridge, or private residences in Boston or vicinity. The private lessons are adapted to the wants of the pupil as reader or speaker, in the pulpit, at the bar, on the rostrum, on the stage, or in the parlor. The class lessons are designed to make pleasing, intelligent readers for the social or home circle.

Mr. Fobes will also accept engagements from

SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES, OR COLLEGES,

for courses of lessons designed to give a practical drill in the elements of good reading and speaking.

He is also prepared to cure

STAMMERING, STUTTERING, LISPING,

and other defects of speech, by a simple, natural method, and the use (when required) of Bell's Visible Speech.

A few engagements will be accepted for PUBLIC OR PARLOR READINGS.

149 a TREMONT STREET,
Cor. of West St.,
BOSTON.
Residence, Beach St., No. Cambridge, Mass.

[Pg 96]

"Books that our Teachers ought to have on hand to SPICE UP with now and then."—St. Louis Journal of Education.

GEO. M. BAKER'S
READING CLUB and HANDY SPEAKER,

BEING

Selections in Prose and Poetry,

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Published in Parts, each Part containing Fifty Selections. Paper Covers, 15 cents each. Printed on Fine Paper, and Handsomely Bound in Cloth, price, 50 cents each.

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Sold by all Booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price.

LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.