well forgive even a man of culture who occasionally loses his way amidst the intricacies of English articulation, but there can be no excuse for the slovenly utterance of the simple vowel sounds which form at once the life and the beauty of our language. He who is too lazy to speak distinctly should hold his tongue.

The consonant sounds can occasion serious trouble to those only who do not look with care at the spelling of words about to be pronounced. Nothing but carelessness can account for saying Jacop, Babtist, sevem, alwus, or sadisfy.

"He that hath yaws to yaw, let him yaw," is the rendering which an English clergyman gave of the familiar scripture, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

After hearing the name of Sir Humphry Davy pronounced, a Frenchman who wished to write to the eminent Englishman thus addressed the letter: "Serum Fridavi." Pronounce the proper name as carelessly as men usually do, and then say if the Frenchman did not do quite well.

(b) Accentuation is the process of placing stress upon the proper syllables of words. This is what is popularly called pronunciation. For instance, we properly say that a word is mispronounced when it is accented in'-vite instead of in-vite', though it is really an offense against only one form of pronunciation.

It is the work of a lifetime to learn the accents of a large vocabulary and to keep pace with changing

usage; but a keen ear, the study of word-origins, and the dictionary habit, will prove mighty helpers in a task which can never be perfectly consummated.

(c) Correct enunciation is the complete utterance of all the sounds of a syllable or a word. Wrong articulation gives the wrong sound to the vowel or vowels of a word or a syllable; wrong enunciation is the incomplete utterance of a syllable or a word, the sound omitted or added being usually consonantal. To say chuck-full instead of chock-full is a wrong articulation; to say doin for doing is improper enunciation. The one gives the word a positively wrong sound; the other fails to touch all the sounds in a word, or carelessly adds a sound not to be properly found there.

"My tex' may be foun' in the fif' and six' verses of the secon' chapter of Titus; and the subjec' of my discourse is 'The Gover'ment of ar Homes.'"1

What did this preacher do with his final consonants? This slovenly dropping of essential sounds is as offensive as the common habit of running words together so that they lose their individuality and distinctness. Lighten dark, uppen down, doncher know, up te date, lots o' snow, zamination, are all too common to need comment.

Imperfect enunciation is due to lack of attention and to lazy lips. It can be corrected by resolutely attending to the formation of syllables as they are uttered. Flexible lips will enunciate difficult combinations of sounds

1 School and College Speaker, Mitchell, p. xvii.

without slighting any of them, but such flexibility cannot be attained except by habitually uttering words with distinctness and accuracy. A daily exercise in enunciating a series of sounds will in a short time give flexibility to the lips and alertness to the mind, so that no word will be uttered without receiving its due complement of sound.

Sound every consonant in the following

EXERCISES

"Foolish Flavius, flushing feverishly, fiercely found fault with Flora's frivolity." "1

Mary's matchless mimicry makes much mischief.
Seated on shining shale she sells sea shells.

You youngsters yielded your youthful yule-tide yearnings yesterday.

Returning to our definition, we see that when the sounds of a word are properly articulated, the right syllables accented, and full value given to each sound in its enunciation, we have correct pronunciation. Perhaps one word of caution is needed here, lest any one, anxious to bring out clearly every sound, should overdo the matter and neglect the unity and smoothness of pronunciation. Be careful not to bring syllables into so much prominence as to make words seem long and angular. The joints must be kept decently dressed. Before delivery, do not fail to go over your manu

1 School and College Speaker, Mitchell, p. xxix.

script and note every sound which may possibly be mispronounced. Consult the dictionary and make assurance doubly sure. If the arrangement of words is unfavorable to clear enunciation, change either words or order, and do not rest until you can follow Hamlet's directions to the players:

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue : but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines." 1

1 Act III. Scene 2. See also pp. 159, 160.

CHAPTER XVII

PREPARATION FOR EXPRESSION BY ACTION

Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant
More learned than the ears.

Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act III. Scene 2.

In one aspect, the matters touched upon in this chapter belong in strictness to the subject of delivery, but since those who would turn these hints into helps must make use of them while preparing, the existing arrangement is probably better.

There are two points to bear in mind here. First, Action is expression. Therefore, do those things, and those things only, which help to carry your thought and feeling effectively home to your audience. Words are cold without action. Smiles and tears, caresses and blows, movement and gesture, are all gifts of a beneficent Creator, intended to express the self within. Voice is expression appealing to the ear. Action is expression

appealing to the eye.

Two men are accused of wrong-doing. Neither of them speak a word, yet both are expressing themselves. See the indignant surprise gleaming from the face, straining from the tense limbs, quivering in the whole action, of the one. See the hang-dog spirit that utters itself in every pose and movement of the other. Actions