Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-02-16
! THE HUMAN VOICE.
DIFFICULTY IN DESCRIBING THEM
ALL SATISFACTORILY.

Compared 10 the stops Of an Orsan--Ths
Giyce,tnn and Sucking Dove Stops and
Their Uscs-vocai Peculiaritiea Of Pro.
fcssionsl Actors and Speakers.
The human voice Is one Of those tan
talizing things which can never be adc-
quately described, and yet which are
constantly tempting people to describe
them. The poets perspire in vain, and
the novelists pant long way after them,
but nothing comes adequate to the SUBJ
jcct. 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
few remarks which may be modestly
made on the outskirts Of the subject.
COMPARED TO ORGAN STOPS.
The human voice, in the first place, is
not simple instrument, but very CON-
plicated organ, with great variety Of
stops. You hear the glycerine stop, for
instance, when man is trying to sell a
horse he doesn't want to part WITH" or
is persuading friend TO invest in the 600
Woe Mary james he "happens TO have
70 spare"
Then man has another very useful
stop, the sucking dove stop. When
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 i'm 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 n
try Mt 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 il 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
underdone.
Ladies' voices possess most of the mas
culine stops and few others besides
They, however, make little different
use Of some of item. 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 i'm matters of business, but keeps it
exclusively for affairs Of tender nature.
At the approach of any eligible man out
comes this stop at once, and all she has
to say to him has the seductive intona-
tion of innocent candor. An exclusively
feminine stop is the woodpecker, spe-
cially designed in those crises in the
female economy known familiarly as
''being out of sorts" This stop gives u
shrill, snappy timbre to the music of
the lady's voice, which is much admired
by the hearers, when they have acquired
taste for it.
Another feminine stop, and pecu-
liarly beautiful one, is the Minnehaha,
or laughing water stop. 1t Is not every
lady who has it in her organ, but when
she has, and plays upon it, the hearer at
once imagines himself under green
canopy by the side of sparkling rill,
and il lie is not careful he sits there and
forgets his train. The Minnehaha is the
queen Of all stops, but, unfortunately,
has terrible habit of changing into the
woodpecker late in life.
PROFESSIONAL VOICES.
The above remarks are inspired by Or
dinary private voices. A more extended
view of the subject may be obtained
from professional voices. The former
play on one organ of many stops, but the
latter have the run of great variety of
different instruments, natural and artif-
cial. The stage, to which one looks for
the ideal Of what the spoken voice
should be, supplies us with some charm
ing examples. One especially beautiful
stage voice is that usually described as
"bird like" The bird voice is especially
affected by the young and innocent dra-
matte maiden, whose pride is to remind
you of all the sweet songsters of the
grove in turn. While she is heart free,
she hops in cheerful manner round the
scene, and emits little chirps, something
like healthy sparrow devoid of care.
When the inevitable young man makes
his appearance, she puts on the swallow
and begins to twitter continuously; and
when he arrives at his declaration she
sinks into his arms with the true night
ingale gurglc and ends pathetic scene
with n cadence Of "jug-jug-ju Then
when things get little mixed and he is
thought to be faiihless and to have taken
money from the till, she comes out
strong as 'pee-wit," and shrieks family
over her blasted hopes, much as that
plaintive bird does over wormless
moor. By and by there is prospect Of
things coming right, and she drops the
pee-wit for the canary.
When she gets letter from him YOU
hear sounds rs though canary were
fondling a fresh root of groundsel, and
when all is explained and he arrives
with the marriage license by the p M
train, there is no more nightingale, and
the curtain comes down on a final jug"
The well trained jeune premiere runs
the gamut of the whole ornithological
tribe, and the experienced playgoer can
tell what the situation" is from the
bird she is representing, even though he
is too poor to pay for a place where he
can see anything.
In the public meeting you hear The
turkey gobbling in explanation Of the
object of the gathering, the bray of the
ass in moving the first resolution, and
the duck quacking IN support, while
there follow the calf beating an amend
pent, the cow lowing to order" and
the cluckinS of q multitude of hens car
rying something simultaneously. 1t is,
of course, for the cyolutionist to say
why assemblages of speakers initiate so
closely the voices Of animals, but he
should not overlook the fact.-Iondon
STANDARD -