PART 2. EXPRESSION REPOSE There is power in repose as there is power in action. The reader should learn to conserve his forces when possible. In order to read in poise-that is, without strain or exaggeration-you must cultivate self-control and deliberateness. Learn to express yourself quietly. Speaking should be as easy as breathing, but, unfortunately, many persons through perverted habit, speak in harsh, highpitched, nasal, strident tones. Low, musical voices in reading or conversation are too seldom heard. Learn to relax when you read or speak, and you will so conserve your mental and physical energies as to double your working power. Always remember that "the highest art is to conceal art," it is not practised merely to exhibit your abilities. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTISE 1. Paul had never risen from his little bed. He lay there, listening to the noises in the street, quite tranquilly; not caring much how the time went, but watching it, and watching everything. When the sunbeams struck into his room through the rustling blinds, and quivered on the opposite wall like golden water, he knew that evening was coming on, and that the sky was red and beautiful. As the reflection died away, and a gloom went creeping up the wall, he watched it deepen, deepen, deepen into night. "Dombey and Son." DICKENS. 2. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. "St. Matthew, 6: 9-13." THE BIBLE. 3. When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow. When I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together. "The Spectator.” JOSEPH ADDISON. 4. I stand alone upon the peaceful summit of this hill, and turn in every direction. The east is all aglow; the blue north flushes all her hills with radiance; the west stands in burnished armor; the southern hills buckle the zone of the horizon together with emeralds and rubies, such as were never set in the fabled girdle of the gods! Of gazing there can not be enough. The hunger of the eye grows by feeding. Only the brotherhood of evergreens-the pine, the cedar, the spruce and the hemlock-refuse to join this universal revel. They wear their sober green through autumn and winter, as if they were set to keep open the path of summer through the whole year, and girdle all seasons together with a clasp of endless green. But in vain do they give solemn examples to the merry leaves which frolic with every breeze that runs sweet riot in the glowing shades. Gay leaves will not be counseled, but will die bright and laughing. But both together-the transfigured leaves of deciduous trees and the calm unchangeableness of evergreen-how more beautiful are they than either alone! The solemn pine brings color to the cheek of the beeches, and the scarlet and golden maples rest gracefully upon the dark foliage of the million-fingered pine. "Autumn." HENRY WARD BEECHER. 5. Solitude, tho it may be silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone; all leave it alone. Even a child has a dread, whispering consciousness, that, if he should be summoned to travel into God's presence, no gentle nurse will be allowed to lead him by the hand, nor mother to carry him in her arms, nor little sister to share his trepidations. King and priest, warrior and maiden, philosopher and child, all must walk those mighty galleries alone. The solitude, therefore, which in this world appals or fascinates a child's heart, is but the echo of a far deeper solitude, through which already he has passed, and of another solitude deeper still, through which he has to pass: reflex of one solitude-prefiguration of another. Deep is the solitude of millions who, with hearts welling forth love, have none to love them. Deep is the solitude of those who, fighting with doubts of darkness, have none to counsel them. But deeper than the deepest of these solitudes is that which broods over childhood under the passion of sorrow-bringing before it, at intervals, the final solitude which watches for it, and is waiting for it within the gates of death. O mighty and essential solitude, that wast, and art, and art to be, thy kingdom is made perfect in the grave; but even over those that keep watch outside the grave, thou stretchest out a scepter of fascination. "Solitude." DE QUINCEY. THIRTEENTH LESSON PART 1. DRILL 1. Physical Culture. Suddenly relax the head and the arms so that the latter drop loosely toward the floor. Keep the knees straight. While resuming position, inhale deeply and fully. 2. Deep Breathing. Sip the air through the mouth very slowly, and with as little effort as possible. Exhale through the nearly closed lips very slowly and evenly. Make the inhalation and exhalation last as long as possible without fatigue. Time yourself. 3. Voice Exercise. Call the following words or exclamations to an imaginary person in the distance, occasionally dwelling on the tone, and varying the inflection: Halloo! Hey! Soho! Hail! Hurrah! Aha! 4. Articulation. Repeat the following slowly at first, and increase to great rapidity: PART 2. EXPRESSION ILLUSION OF TALKING For the most part you should read as you speak, provided of course that you speak correctly and naturally. If, when you read, a listener who does not see you, receives the impression that you are speaking, it is evidence that you are reading naturally. The extracts under this division are to be rendered in conversational style. Practise of this kind tends to develop not only naturalness, but interest and vivacity. The student can not be too often reminded that the easy, unconscious grace and freedom of little children, both in voice and manner, serve as excellent models for more mature speakers. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTISE 1. Bah! that's the third umbrella gone since Christmas. What were you to do? Why, let him go home in the rain, to be sure. I'm very certain there was nothing about him that could spoil. Take cold, indeed! He doesn't look like one of the sort to take cold. Besides, he'd have better taken cold than taken our umbrella. Do you hear the rain, Mr. Caudle? I say, do you hear the rain? And, as I'm alive, if it isn't St. Swithin's Day! Do you hear it against the window? Nonsense: you don't impose upon me; you can't be asleep with such a shower as that! Do you hear it, I say? Oh, you do hear it! Well, that's a pretty flood, I think, to last for six weeks; and no stirring all the time out of the house. Pooh! don't think me a fool, Mr. Caudle; don't insult me! He return the umbrella! Anybody would think you were born yesterday. As if anybody ever did return an umbrella! "A Curtain Lecture of Mrs. Caudle." DOUGLAS JERROLD. 2. Macbriar was then moved forward to the post of examina |