Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1889-02-16
THE HUMAN VOICE.
DIFFICULTY IN DESCRIBING THEM
ALL SATISFACTORILY.

-&"-
fessional Actors and Speakers.
The human voice is one of those tan
talizing things which can neve be ade-
quately described, and yet which are
constantly tempting people to describe
them. The poets perspire in vain, and
the novelists pant a long way after them,
but nothing comes adequate to the sub
iect. Even the musical critics, whose
use of language is marked by an audacity
which the rest of the world trembles at,
do not succeed. Nevertheless, there are
a few remarks which may be modestly
made on the outskirts of the subject.
COMPARED 70 ORGAN STOPS.
The human voice, in the first place, is
not a simple instrument, but a very COM
plicated organ, with a great variety of
stops. You hear the glycerine stop, for
instance, when a man is trying to sell n
horse he doesn't want to part WITH or
is ~persuading a friend to invest in the 500
Woe Mary James he Happens to have
to spare"
Then man has another very useful
stop, the sucking dove stop. When a
mans wife had to sit up for him he meets
her with the sucking dove stop full on;
you would think as he comes along the
passage, humming a psalm tune in it,
that he had just descended from the com
pany of an innocent band Of seraphim.
This stop is also made some little use of
In business, though the majority of men
have not sufficient face to play it sue
cessfully. Bold cabby very often has a
try at it. when he assures the stranger
in London, with tears in his eyes, that
the proper fare is five and sixpence; and
the skilled restaurant waiter turns it on
when he assures the doubtful guest that
the wine supplied is actually what is
named on the list. There are also other
varieties of masculine stop; such as the
mad bull stop, which comes into play
when the buttons off again or the meats
UNDERGONE.
Ladies' voices possess most of the mas
culine stops and a few others besides.
They, however, make a little different
use of some of them. A lady, for in
stance, talks politics through the glycer-
inc medium, and keeps the sledge ham
mer for her domestic affairs, and for
training mankind in the way they should
go. She never uses her sucking dove
stop in matters of business, but keeps it
exclusively for affairs of q tender nature.
At the approach of any eligible man out
comes this stop at once, and all she has
to say toihimhas the seductive intona-
ton of innocent candor. An exclusively
feminine stop is. the woodpecker, spe-
cially designed in those crises in the
female economy known Familiarity as
'.being out of. sorts" This stop gives a
shrill, snappy timbre to the music OF
the lady's voice, which is much admired
by the hearers, when they have acquired
a taste for it.
Another feminine stop, and q pecu.
liarly beautiful one, is the Minnehaha,
or laughing water stop It is net every
lady who has it i'll her organ, but when
she has, and plays upon it, the nearer at
once imagines himself under a greer
canopy by the side Of a sparkling rill
and il he is not careful he sits there and
forgets his train. The Minnehaha: is the
| queen of all stops, but, unfortunately
has a terrible habit of changing into thu
woodpecker late in life.
! PROFESSIONAL VOICES.
The above remarks are inspired by or
binary private voices. A more extended
view of the subject may be obtained
from professional voices. The former
play on n organ of many stops, but til,
latter have the run of a great variety o
different instruments, natural and artifi
cial. The stage, to which one looks TO
the ideal of what the spoken voic,
should be, supplies US with some charm
ing examples. One especially beautiful
stage voice is that usually described a
sbird like The bird voice is especial
affected by the young and innocent dra
matte maiden, whose pride is to remin
you of all the sweet songsters Of til
grove In turn. While she is heart free
she hops in ~aaeheerful manner round tn
scene, and emits little chirps, somethin
like a healthy sparrow devoid of care.
Il When the inevitable young maj make
his appearance, she puts on the swallo,
and begins. to twitter continuously; an
when he arrives at his declaration sh
sinks into his arms with the true nigh
ingale gurgle and ends a pathetic seer
with q cadence of "jug-jugjug." The
when things get a little mixed and he
thought to be faithless and to have take
money from the till, she comes o.
J strong as a t'pee-wit, and shrieks faintl
over her blasted hopes, much as tn;
plaintive bird does over q worrnlel
moor. By and by there is q prospect
things coming right, and she drops ii
pee-wit for the canary.
When she gets a letter from him VIC
hear sounds as though a canary wei
fondlinga fresh root of groundsel, an
/ when all is explained and he arriv,
), with the marriage license by the 8 p. n
, train, there is no more nightingale, an
the curtain comes down on a final ..iug
E The well trained jeune premiere run
5 the gamut Of the whole o%rnithologic;
tribe, and the experienced playgoer ca
e tell what the situation" is from tt
bird she is representing, even though |
$ is too poor to pay for a place where !
can see anything.
In the public meeting you hear IL
turkey gobbling in explanation of IL
object of the gathering, the bray of Il
ass in moving the first resolution, al
the duck quacking in support, viii
there follow the calf bleating an amen
/ ment, the COW lowing to '.order," III
the clucking of a multitude 5os hens ca
rying something simultaneously. 1t
! Of course, for the evolutioniss to S;
8 why assemblages of speakers initiate
2 closely the voices Of animals, but ]