, 1886-07-16
PEOPLE WHO ARE srAmMeaEas.
A Habit which May BE Easily Overcome
Why Women Speak Clearly.

A Habit which May BE Easily Overcome
why Women Speak Clearly.
A ric~hly-furnished suite of apartments
on one of the thoroughfares of the city
is devoted to q peculiar purpose. A
gilded plate Of modest dimensions, on
which n name. and nothing more, is in
scribed, is among the Haunting signs by
the main entrance to the building. AS
cending one flight of stairs the visitors
attention will 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 a pri-
vate establishment, for the name which
appears on the plate below is again in
scribed on n of the doors. A reporter
was ushered into a small private apart
ment, where a tall and handsome gentle
man in a fashionable spring suit waited
on him. In a large parlor connecting
with this ante-room by a glass door a
conversation was going on. 1t ran in
this way:
TRY once again, please"
" Th-th-the th-th-thr- thrush th-th-things
th-th-thweetly in th-th-the th~-th-thpwing
of th-th-the year."
A young lady was e~ndeavoring to state
in plain English that a thrush sings
sweetly in the spring of the year.
The place proved to be a private school
for teaching persons who lisp, stammer,
and stutter to articulate their words dis
tinctly The instructor consented to ex-
plair the secrets of his interesting BUSH
ness. He said that not one in twenty
of those who lisp and stammer AVE any
organic or natural defect, and in proof
of his assertion he cited the fact that
few children commence to stammer be-
fore the ages of 8 or @ years.
various causes can be assigned for
suffering, lisping, and stammering, he
proceeded. Fright 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 to 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 n
II idoil I'll Dt ONtICOIlt Ill ii very
short space of time with training and
patient practice where there is no in
Illumination of the vocal organs"
is it not true that many ladies pride
themselves on their ability to lisp
prettily?"
in some circles lisping is considered
a fashionable and desirable accomplish
ment. The trouble about lisping is that
when q lady has once acquired the habit
she can not adopt a new style as h
would a new dress. Most young ladies
who take lessons in lisping 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 Z"
-Srammering 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 n z and some others
of the c%onsonants, and is almost invari-
ably an acquired habit. Wbc. not ac-
compaHied by a seIious difficulty in ar
ticulath- !. is surely unnatural and the
result of a forced Use of natures organs"
Are not the facial contortions which
frequently manifest themselves Wien u
sufferer tries to speak proofs i'll them
selves that some physical defect exists?7
mot 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
on attempting to speak, after careful
training for two months converse with
perfect composure as easy as you or 1.
The mechanical part of speech is an I'M
conscious effort. To correct defects in
speech it must be made conscious, that
is to say, the attention must be concen-
trated upon the vocal effort and the ac-
ton of the articulatory organs" The
instructor explained that the male stam-
merers exceed the female in number in
the proportion of seven or eight to one,
for the reason, he said, that women pos
sess more mobility than men In the or
gans of speech. A bad stammerer who
has no physical defect in the vocal or
gans, a be taught to speak distinctly
in from n to two months. While under
instruction, OF Immediately afterward,
he must not be allowed to associate with
others who stammer, or with persons
who speak very rapidly. Stammering
and lisping are more general among
wealthy people than among the poor, for
some unaccountable reason. Several
clergymen who stammer in ordinary
conversation, articulate quite distinctly
in the pulpit, but only when they read
their sermons from manuscript.-New