The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-09-09
PEOPLE WHO Aae srANMeaEas.
A Habit Which May BE Easily Overcom
why Women Speak Clearly.

A Habit which May BE Easily Overcome
Why Women Speak Clearly.
A richly-furnished suite of apartments
on one of the thoroughfares of the city
Ia devoted to a peculiar purpose. A
gilded plate of modest Dimensions, ON
which a name, and nothing more, is i'm
scribed, is among the Haunting signs by
the main entrance to the building. AS
cending one flight of stairs the visitors
attention VIII be attracted by the marked
care with which the doors leading to the
front apartments are curtained, He will
understand at once that it is not pri-
4 vate establishment, for the name which
appears on the plate below is again i'm
scribed on one of the doors. A reporter
was ushered into a small private apart
ment, where tall and handsome gentle
man in a fashionable spring suit waited
ON him. In a large parlor connecting
with this ante-room by glass door a
conversation was going on. 1t ran in
this way:
TRY once again, please
Th-th-the th-th-thr-th thrush th-th-things
th-th-thweetly in th-th-the th-th-thpwing
of th-th-the year"
| A young lady was endeavoring to state
in plain English that thrush sings
sweetly in the spring Of the year.
The place proved 70 be a private school
for teaching persons who lisp, stammer,
and .stutter to articulate their words dis
tinctly. The instructor consented TO ex-
plain the secrets of his interesting bust
ness, He said that not one III twenty
Of those who lisp and stammer have any
q
Of his assertion he cited the fact that
few children commence to stammer be-
| fore the ages of 5 or 6 years.
Various causes can be assigned for
suffering, lisping, and stammering," he
proceeded. "Frght often causes this re
suit, and sickness, which does not at all
affect the vocal organs, produces the
same effect through nervous action.
Stammering, too, is contagious, and a
child whose speech is perfectly distinct
will almost certainly become a STAN
merer if permitted 60 play and associate
with stammerers. The habit is acquired
by sympathy"
~Can persons whose habit Of stammer-
ing and lisping is a matter Of long stand
ing be taught to speak distinctly Z"
"The habit can be overcome in a very
short space of time with training and
patient practice where there is no in
Illumination of the vocal organs.
as it not true that many ladies pride
themselves on their ability TO lisp
preUtily?"
~ln some circles lisping is considered
a fashionable and desirable accomplish
ment The trouble about lisping is that
when a lady has once acquired the habit
she can not adopt a new style as she
would a new dress Most young ladies
who take lessons in Isping when frolick-
ing with companions Of their own age
are sorry for it later on, and the habit is
not then SO easily dropped.
"How do you distinguish between
stammerers, Sufferers, and lispers p
"Stammering is simply spasmodic ar
ticulation, while the sufferer speaks
from an exhausted chest, and is unable
to commence speech easily. Both de-
fects arise from a misuse of the vocal
organs, sometimes brought about by
ignorance and sometimes the result of
habit. Lisping consists in giving the
sound of tn to S and z and some others
of the consonants, and is almost invari-
ably an acquired habit. When not ac-
companied by serious difficulty in ar
ticulation it is surely unnatural and the
result of a forced use of natures organs"
Are not the facial contortions which
manifest themselves when
sufferer tries TO speak proofs in them
selves that some physical defect existsP
"Not by any means These cOntortions
result from a misuse Of the respiratory
organs. Teach the sufferer by word
and example the proper use of these
organs and gradually these contortions
disappear altogether. ! have seen per-
sons who would almost go into spasms
ca attempting TO speak, after careful
raining for two months converse with
perfect composure as easy as you or L.
The mechanical part Of speech is an un-
effort. To correct defects in
speech it must be made conscious, that
S to say, the attention muat be concen-
rated upon the vocal effort and the ac-
ion of the articulatory organs" Tic
instructor explained that the male siam
nerers exceed the female IN number in
he proportion of seven or eight 70 one,
or the reason, he said, that women pos
,ess more mobility than men in the or
CANS of speech. A bad stammerer who
mas no physical defect in the vocal or
yans, can be taught TO speak distinctly
n from enc to two months. While under
or Immediately afterward,
ne must not be allowed TO associate with
others who stammer, or with persons
who speak very rapidly. 5tammering
and lisping are more general among
wealthy people than among the poor, for
some unaccountable reason. Several
,lergymen who stammer in ordinary
articulate quite distinctly
n the pulpit, but only when they read
heir sermons from manuscript.
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