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is beautiful, or in concurrence with the opinion of another that the day is beautiful, or implying that, though the day is beautiful, the night was wild, or it may be so spoken as to imply the opposite of that which the words themselves assert, that the day is anything but beautiful. The sense conveyed depends on the intention of the speaker. If he have no definite intention, his speech will reveal that too, whether the words are spoken in conversation or read from the pages of a book. The reader's task is to find out what the author means, then to speak that meaning truthfully

2. Sight reading and preparation for utterance

It is obvious that to read well one must prepare well, as well and thoroughly as time permits. Even sight reading involves preparation, though the time for it is necessarily brief. The preparation must be made during pauses and intervals of silence. When reading at sight, the reader must gather the thoughts as he goes along, hastily and piecemeal, it is true, yet words should not be spoken until their meaning is known. If the reader has nothing but words to speak, he has nothing to say. When he has thought the author's thought after him, and not till then, is he ready to speak. The inexperienced reader is apt to speak words one by one as they meet the eye. Not until the phrase or sentence is spoken does he know what the meaning is. But he should remember that he is not reading for himself alone, but to communicate thought to others, and this thought cannot be clearly, easily, and pleasantly communicated until he himself knows what he is saying. The monotonous and "sing-song" reading, so often heard in the classroom and elsewhere, is due largely to this heavy-eyed glimpsing and perfunctory voicing of words without definite knowledge of what they mean.

In sight reading, as well as in the reading of that with

which one is familiar, the eye should be trained to precede, the voice. During pauses between phrases, sentences, and paragraphs the reader has an opportunity to familiarize, himself with what follows. This, indeed, is what pauses are for. They are the intervals in which the mind prepares itself for speech. The thoroughness of this preparation depends on the alertness of the vision and the mind. The beginner finds it difficult to grasp even a short group of words in advance of utterance. But with practice the eye becomes apt in the forward look which apprehends all that cool reason may comprehend. Then word reading will give place to thought-getting and thought-giving. Then the spoken word will mean more to others because it first means something to the reader.

3. Vocal evidence of clear thought

The voice, when under the guidance of mind and eye, will tend to respond, as in spirited conversation, to the demands of the thought. Monotonous, hesitant, and stumbling speech indicates that the reader does not know what he is saying until he has said it, and even then he may not be sure of its meaning. Thoughtful reading is marked by the variety of utterance characteristic of conversation, and variety is the direct result of thinking at the time of speech. Try the following paragraph, pausing between the phrases, indicated by dashes, long enough to permit the eye to see all the words in the next phrase, and the mind to get its sense before the words are spoken. Read the passage again and again until the forward look becomes easy. When the attention is thus centered in the thought carried by the words, and not limited to the words themselves, the reading will show it by the natural emphasis and variety found in animated conversation.

that the Lone Star claim was " played worked out, washed out,

There was little doubt. out." Not dug out, but played out. For two years its five sanguine proprietors had gone through the various stages of mining enthusiasm ; - had prospected and planned, dug and doubted. They had borrowed money with hearty but unredeeming frankness,-established a credit with unselfish abnegation of all responsibility, — and had borne the disappointment of their creditors with a cheerful resignation - which only the consciousness of some deep Compensating Future could give. Giving little else, however, a singular dissatisfaction obtained with the traders, and, being accompanied with a reluctance to make further advances, at last touched the gentle stoicism of the proprietors themselves. The youthful enthusiasm which had at first lifted the most ineffectual trial, less essay, to the plane of actual achievement, leaving them only the dull, prosaic record of half-finished ditches, -purposeless shafts, untenable pits, abandoned engines, and meaningless disruptions of the soil upon the Lone Star claim, and empty flour sacks and pork barrels in the Lone Star cabin. (Bret Harte: Left Out on Lone Star Mountain. From Frontier Stories.)

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4. Time and study essential

the most use

died out,

One should not attempt to read aloud at sight anything but simple forms of literature. [Casual sight reading of poetry and the literature pregnant with meaning and feeling, the literature that appeals strongly to the imagination and emotions, can give at best but a vague and slight idea of its beauty and power. In preparing such literature for reading the student should endeavor to know the author's thought and experience and purpose as thoroughly as did the author himself. Only such study and analysis as will enable the reader to understand every shade of meaning, and to become imbued with the spirit of the piece as a whole, will suffice for the reading of our best literature.

Suppose you are to read the following lines from Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:·

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain,
Man marks the earth with ruin his control
Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,
When for a moment, like a drop of rain,

He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.

The first thing to do is to get the sense of the whole stanza. Unless the interrelation of the various lines and the bearing of each upon all is understood, the full meaning of any single line will not be made clear by well-placed and purposeful emphasis. If, however, you know why the poet says, "Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain,” you will so speak the verse as to cause the listener to anticipate the explanation immediately following.

Man marks the earth with ruin his control

Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed.

It is not possible to illustrate such points adequately in writing. The voice alone can do that. But a little practice in reading the stanza aloud will make it evident that the lines can be clearly and truthfully read only when the reader sees the end from the beginning. Then the thought of each line will influence the utterance of every other line; all will be bound together in unity and singleness of purpose, because all are needed to convey the central idea of the stanza, that on the ocean the works of man, and even man himself, are subject to its power.

Take another example, this time from Shakespeare's Henry the Eighth. First, read the passage with emphasis as indicated, giving the speeches as direct, frank conversation between friends who do not question the honesty or integrity of each other.

King Henry.

You have said well.

Wolsey. And ever may your highness yoke together,
As I will lend you cause, my doing well

With my well saying!

King Henry.

"T is well said again!

And 't is a kind of good deed to say well:
And yet words are no deeds.

Now this is such a rendering as might easily result from sight reading. A clear and definite meaning is given to the speeches, but a little scrutiny of them, even though one has no further knowledge of the situation than that gained from the lines, will make it apparent that it is not the meaning intended. Had the king, with positive emphasis on "well," expressed absolute confidence in Wolsey, the Cardinal would have been impelled to show gratitude to him for the recognition of his virtue of "well saying." But it is evident that the words of Henry were spoken in no complimentary tone, for Wolsey is put on the defensive and feels called to assert that his deeds, too, are worthy. But in his next speech the king reiterates his fair words in tones of double meaning. Instead of a conversation of undisguised confidence and good-will, analysis shows it to be one of sarcasm and irony in which Henry virtually charges Wolsey with dishonesty and treachery.

King Henry.

You have said well.

Wolsey. And ever may your highness yoke together,
As I will lend you cause, my doing well

With my well saying!

King Henry.

"T is well said again;

And 't is a kind of good deed to say well:

And yet words are no deeds.

The above illustrations will perhaps be sufficient to show that reading aloud is a task requiring as thorough preparation and careful analysis and thought as any other study, and that good reading can only result from good prepara