SELECTION FOR MARKING PAUSES

Let us pause! This step, once taken, cannot be retraced. This resolution, once passed, will cut off all hope of reconciliation. If success attend the arms of England, we shall then be no longer colonies, with charters and with privileges: these will all be forfeited by this act; and we shall be in the condition of other conquered peoples, at the mercy of the conquerors. For ourselves, we may be ready to run the hazard; but are we ready to carry the country to that length? Is success so probable as to justify it? Where is the military, where the naval, power by which we are to resist the whole strength of the arm of England?

EXERCISES

31. Position B. If we call the position taken in Figure 1 Position A, we may for convenience call the position in Figure 25, Position B. In this position one foot is placed about its own length in front of the

other in such a way that a line passing through it from toe to heel would pass through the heel of the back foot. The weight is placed on the forward foot, and the heel of the back foot is raised and allowed to swing inward, the feet now being at an angle of about 90°, that is, forming a square corner. The left foot should rest on the side of the ball, not flat on the toe as in Figure 26.

32. In position B, either the right foot or the left foot may be forward. Execute it both ways.

33. From Position B with the right foot forward, change to the Position B with the left foot forward, by stepping forward with the left foot. Repeat, going forward. Face about and go through the same

exercise, facing the back of the room, thus getting back to the position from which you started. Do not step too far. Do not allow the line to pass through the instep, but keep it through the heel. (See Fig. 27.) It is well, also, not to allow the forward foot to point directly toward the middle of the audience, as shown in Figure 28.

LESSON XII

PITCH

DEGREE OF PITCH

EVERYONE has noticed that, in singing, some notes are higher or lower than others, but, perhaps, it has not occurred to some that in speech also we use high notes and low notes. This will be very evident, however, if the student will give the two following sentences aloud:

Ring the fire bell! Rouse the People!

'Tis the midnight's holy hour, and silence now is brooding o'er the still and pulseless world.

In the first, the voice will be high, and in the second low.

This part of Public Speaking which deals with whether a note is high or low is called pitch.

For general purposes, the compass of the voice, that is, the number of notes it can cover on the musical scale from its lowest note to its highest, is divided into three divisions, called degrees of pitch. These are high, middle, and low. The upper third of the notes covered by the voice are in high degree of pitch, the middle third in middle degree of pitch, and the lower third in low degree of pitch.

CAUTION. It should be remembered that the exact notes on the musical scale which make High Degree of Pitch or Low Degree of Pitch cannot be set down. The matter is relative, and what might be high pitch for one person

might be middle pitch for another, etc. Each speaker has a range of his own, and he should not try to imitate that of any one else. If a selection is to be given in high pitch, he should give it in his own high pitch.

The middle degree of pitch is by far the most common. We use it to express all ordinary thoughts, where there is no unusual emotion.

The high degree of pitch may be used for gayety, joy, laughter, great earnestness, courage, defiance, alarm, etc.

The low degree of pitch may be used for reverence, sublimity, devotion, deepest solemnity, awe, veneration, dread, amazement, horror, etc.

NOTE. Of course these different degrees shade into one another and some sentiments can even be given in all degrees, but the ones given above will be found largely characteristic.

HIGH

Cry Holiday! Holiday! let us be gay,

And share in the rapture of heaven and earth;
For, see! what a sunshiny joy they display,

To welcome the spring on the day of her birth;
While the elements, gladly outpouring their voice,
Nature's pæan proclaim, and in chorus rejoice!

What men, what patriots, what independent, heroic spirits!· chosen by the unbiased voice of the people; chosen, as all public servants ought to be, without favor and without fear. What an august assembly of sages! Rome, in the height of her glory, fades before it. There never was, in any age or nation, a body of men who, for general information, for the judicious use of the results of civil and political history, for eloquence and virtue, for true dignity, elevation and grandeur of soul, could stand a comparison with the first American Congress. See what the people will do when left to themselves; to their unbiased good sense, and to their true interests! The ferocious Gaul would have dropped his sword at the hall door, and have fled thunderstruck as from an assembly of gods!

PUB. SPEAK.

Whom do I behold? A Hancock, a Jefferson, an Adams, a Henry, a Lee, a Rutledge! - Glory to their immortal spirits! On you depend the destinies of your country, the fate of three millions of men and the countless millions of their posterity! Shall these be slaves, or will you make a noble stand for liberty, against a power whose triumphs are already coextensive with the earth; whose legions trample on thrones and scepters; whose thunders bellow on every ocean? How tremendous the occasion! How vast the responsibility!

— JONATHAN MAXCY, The First American Congress.

MIDDLE

One raw morning in spring — it will be eighty years the 19th of this month - Hancock and Adams, the Moses and Aaron of the Great Deliverance, were both at Lexington; they also had "obstructed an officer" with brave words. British soldiers, a thousand strong, came to seize them and carry them over sea for trial, and so nip the bud of Freedom auspiciously opening in that early spring. The town militia came together before daylight, "for training." A great tall man, with large head and a high, wide brow, their captain, - one who had "seen service," — marshaled them into line, numbering but seventy, and bade "every man load his piece with powder and ball. I will order the first man shot that runs away," said he, when some faltered. "Don't fire, unless fired upon, but if they want to have a war, let it begin here." - THEODORE PARKER, Reminiscences of Lexington.

LOW

All is peace. The heights of yonder metropolis, its towers and roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and children and countrymen in distress and terror, and looking with unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat, have presented you to-day with the sight of its whole population, come out to welcome and greet you with a universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, and seeming fondly to cling round it, are not means of annoyance to you, but your country's own means of distinction and defense.

All is peace; and God has granted you this sight of your country's happiness, ere you slumber in the grave. He has allowed you to behold and to partake of the reward of your patriotic toils; and he has allowed us, your sons and countymen, to meet you here, and in the name