Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-05-10

The VOICES OF AMERICAN WOMEN. A good
deal has been said recently in the public
prints about the voices of our women, and
their highness, harshness and shrillness have
been ascribed to various causes. To attrlb-
ute vocal unpleasantness to the fact that chill
dren and girls are taught in primary and
grammar schools to strain the organ 10y read
ing above the natural pitch seems to be a
mistake. This may be true in New England,
but it is not true elsewhere. Nor is it true,
as is assumed, that our women have, rs n
rule, the most disagreeable voices known to
civilization. They are far higher, far less
soft than the voices of the English women,
the best-voiced, on the whole, of all the ma
tions but they will often compare favorably
with the organs of the French, Germans and
Russians. The American voice is discordant-
ly recognizable at the tourists centres abroad;
but il should be remembered that there are
always many American voices there which,
not being so recognized, are supposed not to
belong to the Republic. In other words We
imagine, when we hear English spoken in
well-modulated, winning tones, that the
speaker is not an American, just as many of
our British knsfolks believe that none of us
when on the other side can be Yankees un-
less we make great noise and brag about the
! bird of freedom. The pleasant-toned Amer
lean women, and the quiet, self-contained
American men are commonly presumed to be
English owing to preconceived ideas of the
traits of our people. The unwelcome voice
of so many American women is unquestona-
bly, due to climate-especially to catarrh-al-
most exclusively national disease. To suf-
fer from chronic catarrh and to talk like MI
randa is simply impossible. Catarrh athlcts
New England-the eastern part particularly
and there voices are the worst. In the in
=, ,,F tlt, NrNr md horn
| States notably, educated women have agreea-
ble dulcet tones, coming from the chest in
/ stead Of the head. The reason is that the
climate is better. Many of our wives and
| daughters have voices that cannot be sur
| passed for sweetness. Still, it must be con-
| fessed that they are rather exceptional than
regular. The unpleasantness of the national
voice is largely owing to the extreme nervous
ness of our women, to their want OF discipline
and self-restraint. 1t is not the voice 30
much as its pitch and management which
make it attractive or repellent. The most
| melodious voice, when raised or excited
sounds harshly, while small, thin voice,
kept within bounds and used in the lower
register has a winning quality If our wom-
| en- would speak more in roman and less in
| italic they would confer favor on the cause
of euphony. They have begun to do so and its
| effect is apparent. Their voices are much
less strident and grating than they have been.
As people, we are toning down; we find
| that it is not necessary to cry out TO attract
notice, TO shrek in order to be heard. Our
women have made this discovery, and are act
ing upon it. With more culture and more
repose, the tones are deepened as well rs
lowered and we mistake if we shall not in a
few years lose much of the unenviable dis
tinction of initiating the American eagle in
its disposition to scream.-N y Times.