Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-06-06

theatre Is just as expressive as the
Morse telegraph, and twice as silent
Worse than the silent man is the man
who talks too much. L have HMM my
minds eye. Horatio-and he talked away
this morning, two hours at Il stretch, to
say what twenty minutes would have
covered from preface to finis.
BABIES.
I read an interesting article on the
origin of sounds I'm the alphabet; and az
terward watched the babies Of my friends
until the mothers thought / had hypnotic
designs on the dear innOcents. When
child cries the lips are apart. and form,
at each side OF the baby mouth. sharp
angle. with sides of about equal length.
The sounds of the crying are those as
signed to almost every alphabet. This in
teresting thesis went on to say that the
arrow-headed or wedge-shaped charac-
ters IN use among the old BabylonianS
till the time of the great Alexander
Aslatic conquests were copied from the
human mouth. By means of different
combinations these wedges-or As-Were
made TO represent consonant, as well as
vowel sounds. II took many generations
of crying babies. 1 dare say, to advance
from a. to 3D." but If you will look
at a child's face sideways, said this an
clent document, you will see a natural
"B" Put these two letters together,
and we have "ab," which, doubled, is
abba, the eastern word for father. l
suppose a slight change, or, perhaps,
little extra pnchlng of the baby gave
lam" and "amma." or mamma"
LANGUAGE.
One thing is clearly proved by this in
fantile logic: Language came into the
) world by sorrow, and, ergo. 1t has been
a powerful agent for sorrow ever since.
st. Paul has something to say on this
subject, ana he means it as a warning.
He characterizes the tongue as an evil
member, but. OF course, he means what
the tongue utters, Of good or bad; and
this is often judged by the articulate
sounds before the words are made. There
! is so much in a voice. l almost think that
God will judge the quick and the dead by
their voices when they answer their sum-
| mOls on that last day the prophets tell
! Of. Did you ever hear tho voice that
/ comes out Of a soul seasoned by sorrows
| and white? At the altar. at the cradle,
! at the farewell on the threshold by the
bedside of the Sick, al the graves OF
! loVed ones, It had got its mellow tones
! That best thing in woman, sweet, low
| voice"-the thing We so vaguely worship
! and revere-names ''the lady" more truly
! than any other physical quality. Amelie
! Rives says: THE voice is the overture
] to the character" 1t may not be. / once
| heard Ingalls, speak in Washington. /
forgot it was Ingalls-though a man that
! has been 'nagged" by Mrs. Lease may be
| forgiven many thlngs-who was address,
| ing the Chauiauqua. / only heard the
/ persuasive, captivating voice, and, North
or South, / have heard few voices like
: psaG ola
! and perfect hat every syllable fell with
! the precision of a musical note. Since
! science has learned how 10 photograph
/ the voice. its sweetness and volume in
/ conversation could be just as well guided
as in vocal music. Yet. after all, it is
what one says. rather than the manner,
/ that hurts or blesses. Right here IS
+ where tact is better than talent, and
/ silence comes in with a full stop. for
assure you that poiteness Of language
consists not so much in knowing what
10 say as what 10 leave unsaid.
PERSONALITIES.
! Above all things, avoid personalities
! Few people enjoy being told that they
are unduly pale, or red, thin. or stout !;
! so, unless you can heartily say. How
well you are looking" it were better to
draw down the veil of silence What
! ever pertains to ones toilet is-or ought
: to be-of a strictly private nature, and
the well-brel friend intermeddleth not
! Never teN lady who has on a becoming
| gown or bonnet that she looks ten years
younger in that than In anything you
( have seen her wear. 1t is a dubious
/ compliment, at best, and condemns all
her other wearing apparel.
You don't want to talk about your
dread of growing cd to elderly people,
] IL. 10. int l4.I.
the man whose father forged notes.
/ Neither must you object to the divorce
/ laws when the man who fstens is in
love with woman just back from Okla
homa.
GOOD ENGLISH.
Though we are often accused Of talking
i too much, i think no one has said that
we talk too well. Like the Portuguese
grammar says English as she Is spoke"
! is expressed poorly, and We use one word
too often for many meanings. There
| Is surely an abundance of words, and
yet we use only about one fourth at our
disposal for ordinary. everyday diction.
We omit beginnings, leave off finals. and
drawl -, drawl -. running the words
together. and jumbling syllables worse
than a printers pi Nature has been
unkind to many In the matter OF voice;
but this can be improved and all men
and women have beautiful speech. Did
you ever notice that the woman who
has the harshest, shrillest voice talks the
most and faughs the loudest? In that
the sexes differ, for the man with the
gruff and strident tones sets an example
of wisdom-he usually says nothing.
| 1t Is curious that while we are fond Of
sweet sounds. the human voice has been
so neglected. and believe that the field
| is broad for the man or woman who starts
! school Of improvement: anyhow. there