Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-04-12

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voice without sympathy? But the
poorest attempts at pathos will
strike home to the heart if given
tenderly and harmoniously. And
just as certain popular airs OF mean
association can be made into church
music by slow time and stately mo-
dulation, SO can dead-levcl litera-
ture be lifted into passion or soft
cned into sentiment by the voice
alone.
We all know the effect, irritating
or soothing, which certain voices
have over us; and we have all cx-
perienced that strange impulse of
attraction or repulsion which comes
from the sound Of the voice alone.
And generally, if not absolutely
always, the impulse is true one,
and any modification which increas-
ed knowledge may produce is never
quite satisfactory. Certain voices
CRATE on our nerves and set our
teeth on edge; and others are just
as calming as these are irritating,
quieting us like composing
draught, and setting vague images
of beauty and pleasantncss afloat in
our brains. A good voice, calm in
tone and musical in quality, is one
of the essentials for a physician; the
"bedside voice." which is nothing
if it is not sympathetic by constitu-
ton. Not false, not made up, not
sickly, but tender in itself, Of a
rather low pitch, we'll modulated,
and distinctly harmonious in its
notes, it is the very opposite of the
orators voice, which is artificial in
its management and made voice.
Whatever its original quality may
be, the orators voice bears the un-
mistakablc stamp of art and be-
comes artifciality; as such it may
be misunderstanding in a crowd,
impressive in an address-but over
whclming and chilling at home,
partly because it is always con
scious and never self-forgctting.
An orators voice, with its careful
intonation and accurate accent,
would be as much out of place by a
| sick-bed as court trains and brocad
ed silk for the nurse. There are
certain men who do 4 good deal by
a hearty, jovial fox-hunting kind Of
a voicc-a voice little thrown up
for all that it is chest voicc--a
voice with a certain underlined roll
lick and dcvil-may-care sound in it,
and eloquent of a large volume Of
vitality and physical health. That,
too, is good property for medi-
cal man. 1t gives the sick Ger
tain flip, and reminds them pleas
antly of health and vigor; it may
have mcsmeric kind of effect OH
them-who knows?-and induce in
them something of its own state,
provided it is not ovcrpowering.
But a voice of this kind has ten
dency to become insolcnt in it's as
sertion of vigor, staggering and
boistcrous; and then it is too much
for invalided nerves, jnst as noun
tain inds or sea brcezes would be
too much, and the scent of flowers
or bayfield, oppressive. The cleri-
cal voice, again, is class voice;
that neat, careful, precise voice,
neither wholly made nor yet quite
natural; a vol, G which never strikes
one as hearty or as having really
genuine uttcrance, but which yet is
not unpleasant if one does not re-
quire too much spontaneity. The
clerical voice, with its mixture of
familiarity and oratory, as that of
one used to talk to old women in
private and to hold forth to a con-
gregation in public, is as distinct in
it's own way as the mathematician's
handwriting; and any one can pick
out blindfold his man from a knot
of takers, without waiting to sec
the square-cut collar and close white
tic. The legal voice is different
again; but this is rather variety
of the orators than distinct
species-a variety standing midway
between that and the clerical, and
affording more scope than either.
The voice is much more indica-
tive of the state of the mind than
many people know Of or allow. One
of the first symptoms of failing
brain power is in the indistinct or
confused uttcrance; no idiot has a
clear or melodious voice; the harsh
scream of mania is proverbial: and
no person of prompt and decisive
thought was ever known to hesitate
or to stutter. A thick, loose, fluffy
voice, too, does not belong to the
crisp character of mind which does
the best active work; and when we
meet with kecn-witted man who
drawls, and let's his words drip in
stead of bringing them out i'll the
sharp lncisive way that would be
natural to him, we may be sure
there is flaw somewhere, and that
he is not what the Americans call
"clear grit and "whole-soulcd" all
through. We all have our COM
pany voices, as we all have our COM
pany manners, and We get TO know
the company voices of our friends
after q time, and to understand them
as we understand their best dresses
and state service. The person
whose voice absolutely refuses to
put itself into company tone startles
us as much as if he came to y state
dinner in shooting,jackct. This
is different thing from the insin-
ccre and flattering voice which is
never laid aside while it has its Oh
jects to gain, and which affects to be
one thing when it means another.
The company voice is only little
bit OF tincry, quite in its place ifnot
carried into the home, where, how
ever, silly men and women think
they can impose on their house
mates by assumptions which cannot
stand tho test of domestic ease. The
lovers voice is of course sui gcneris;
but there is another kind Of voice
which one hears sometimes that is
quite as cnchanting-thc rich, full,
melodious voice which irresistibly
suprcsts sunshine and flowers, and