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Reverse the process, beginning high and giving a long falling inflection to the first vowel, then to the second, and so on, allowing the others to drop away to the lowest tones, as in answering a question, thus:

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26. Inflect the voice repeatedly upward from the lowest to the highest tones easily reached on the vowel "a," thus:

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27. Speak words with a long, strong inflection of question, surprise and assertion, thus:

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28. Read aloud, with as much variety and range of inflection as you can command, the scene from Julius Cæsar, III, iii, problem 13, pp. 63–64.

EXERCISE IN VOICE TRAINING

The following poem affords excellent opportunity for applying in actual speech all the principles set forth in the above program of exercises. Study it carefully and read it often, endeavoring always to command that control of breath, clear tone, fullness, and resonance of voice which its thought and spirit demand.

THE RISING 1

T. Buchanan Read

Out of the North the wild news came,
Far flashing on its wings of flame,
Swift as the boreal light which flies
At midnight through the startled skies.

And there was tumult in the air,

The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat,
And through the wide land everywhere
The answering tread of hurrying feet;
While the first oath of Freedom's gun
Came on the blast from Lexington;
And Concord, roused, no longer tame,
Forgot her old baptismal name,
Made bare her patriot arm of power,
And swelled the discord of the hour.

Within its shade of elm and oak

The church of Berkley Manor stood;
There Sunday found the rural folk,

And some esteemed of gentle blood.

In vain their feet with loitering tread
Pass'd 'mid the graves where rank is naught;
All could not read the lesson taught

In that republic of the dead.

How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk,

The vale with peace and sunshine full,

Where all the happy people walk,

Decked in their homespun flax and wool!
Where youths' gay hats with blossoms bloom,
And every maid, with simple art,

Wears on her breast, like her own heart,
A bud whose depths are all perfume;
While every garment's gentle stir

Is breathing rose and lavender.

1 From The Wagoner of the Alleghanies. Copyrighted by J. B. Lippincott Company. Used with the kind permission of the publishers..

The pastor came: his snowy locks
Hallowed his brow of thought and care;
And, calmly as shepherds lead their flocks,
He led into the house of prayer.

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A moment there was awful pause,

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When Berkley cried, "Cease, traitor! cease! God's temple is the house of peace! The other shouted, "Nay, not so, When God is with our righteous cause; His holiest places then are ours, His temples are our forts and towers

That frown upon the tyrant foe;
In this, the dawn of Freedom's day,
There is a time to fight and pray!"

And now before the open door

The warrior-priest had ordered so-
The enlisting trumpet's sudden roar
Rang through the chapel, o'er and o'er,
Its long reverberating blow,

So loud and clear, it seemed the ear
Of dusty Death must wake and hear.
And there the startling drum and fife
Fired the living with fiercer life;
While overhead, with wild increase,
Forgetting its ancient toll of peace,
The great bell swung as ne'er before:
It seemed as it would never cease;

And every word its ardor flung

From off its jubilant iron tongue

Was, "WAR! WAR! WAR!”

"Who dares”—this was the patriot's cry,
As striding from the desk he came
"Come out with me, in Freedom's name,

For her to live, for her to die?"
A hundred hands flung up reply,
A hundred voices answered "I!"

CHAPTER XII

ENUNCIATION AND PRONUNCIATION

48. The elements of speech

SPEECH is made up of vowel and consonant sounds combined to form words. Distinctness and accuracy depend, therefore, on the clear and correct enunciation of these elements.

1. The vowels. Vowels are the more open sounds of language. They are made by the vibration of the vocal chords, and differentiated by modification in the shape of the oral cavity, effected chiefly by the tongue and the jaw. When the vowels are well sounded there is little constriction of the tongue or jaw, their action is free and easy, and the mouth is held as far open as the character of the vowel permits. (In speaking "å," for example, the jaw is dropped farther than for sounding "e," but for both vowels the mouth is fairly well opened.)

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For the correct utterance of vowels two things are essential. First, the speech organs must be properly placed for forming the sounds; second, the sound must be made. Since the ability to make the sounds of our language is acquired mainly through the sense of hearing, written instruction in this matter, when instruction is needed, is of doubtful value. Incorrect formation of these sounds can best be remedied by the aid of a teacher. But it is worth while here to call attention to the necessity of sounding the vowels and to suggest certain methods of improving speech in this respect.

Much of indistinctness in speech is due to carelessness

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