The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-10
FOR FEMININE READERS
CLUB WOMEN WHO TALK IN PUBLIC
SHOULD TRAIN THEIR VOICES.
When the Nervous Woman Gets
Fashions and Fads of the Season.

Two mere men attended womans club
reception one afternoon recently and took
seats with quite a supercilious air. says a
writer in the New York Sun; but it was
noticed as the programme advanced and
subjects abstruse and complex were met and
disposed of with the courage of convic-
ton and the ease of child's play that the
complacency of these two mere men gradu-
ally diminished. and by the time they had
listened to the prophecies of awful and hor-
rible fate hanging over their country be-
cause so many things were done that should
not be done and so much left undone that
should be attended to- they shuddered and
withdrew outside the circle where they
would be less conspicuous by comparison.
To recover their ease and regain their self
satisfaction they fell to discussing woman's
frailties.
Women do not understand the i'm
portance of a well-placed speaking voice, -
said the professor of languages to the
other. "They cultivate their manners, give
earnest thought and prayer to their COM
pleXions spend a large slice Of their income
on the hair dresser, the manicure and the
Turkish bath, to say nothing of the modiste,
and succeed in giving us a most delectable
result to look upon-and suppose we ought
not to complainant why cannot they give
a little time to their voices and give us
something pleasant to listen to as we'll?
mot one woman in fifty knows how to
manage her voice and to enunciate correct
| ly. So many of the other forty-nine affect
the shrill treble with crescendo and dimin-
uendo transitions, probably because it
sounds babyish and childish, and so many
women like to be cunning. If not that, they
come at you with sonorous volume that
suggests a fog horn in distress more than
anything else. There are rasping voices and
| voices that make such an evident effort to
be sweet that they are painfully saccharine,
and voices that jump out at you explosive
| ly, and monotone voices, and weak, thin, lit
tie voices that have hardly force enough to
carry them to the ear of the nearer.
Then, why will they not attend to enun-
citation? They persist in saying dontcheW,
| praps,' 'nachur;' they drop their gs and
Slur two syllableS into one, and make of an
ain termination simply nasal sound to
finish the word. In most cases this poor
English is due to a nervous haste to get
through what there is to say, and could be
easily overcome by practicing careful and
deliberate manner of speech, thinking how
each word looks in print before it is uttered.
1t is only question OF time and thought,
and not often a matter of ignorance.
1.-The right kind of q voice has peculiar
and irresistible charm al lts own. ana q
it's power. 1t is something that can be felt,
it vibrates sympathetic chords like a note
of melody. a woman with this voice may
be homely, positively ugly, but with one
sentence she will arrest a mans attention,
even draw it away from a pretty. woman,
and by the rich quality and incubation Of
her tones, her easy, clear pronunciation or
every syllable, held and delight him as long
as she chooses.
'',The correct voice comes from far down
the thorax 1t is a chest tone, and 1t takes
a full inhalation of air. to bring, it forth.
Take a deep breath and before letting go
of 1t again. begin to speak, and you will
catch the idea the full breath exhales
gradually with the spoken words and the
voice is thrown out rich and full. 1t can be
modulated to low, deep tone, without los
Ing its quality, for there is reserve force be-
hind it that will not permit of its degen-
Grating into thin, unwholeSome tmbre
Did you ever see a lot of women with a
grievance all talking at once. excitedly, ir-
nationally, and at the top of their voices,
and then see soft-voiced woman join them
and quietly and gently put in her word?
All the rest stop talking instantly; there
is something about the voice that soothes
and Gains; it is oil on troubled waters and
the others feel all at once conscious of their
loud tones, and ashamed of them
"a beautiful voice is as well worth Gull
tivating as beautiful features"