The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-22
The Voice Of the
American Woman
~ SAY. you wouldn't care to be Miss

SAY. you wouldn't care to be Miss
Penelope Browne, the American
girl, would you-sitting there
holding forth in that dictatorial manner
through her nose, even though it is
pretty one?"
That is how an Englishman says he
consoles British girls when they COM
plain to him that they are quite put in
the shade when the girl from the
United States appears on the scene.
The American girls superiority in gen
eral attractiveness, in. knowledge and
power to take care of herself, in good
looks and physical development is ad-
mitted even by the English. But there
is one fling left to cast at her. and it
never fails. That is her Voucher
nasal throaty, uncultured voice.
Do you know there is such a thing as
the talking mouth? And with the talk
ing mouth generally goes voice that
is terrible. The mouth is wide, opening
farther backward toward the ears than
the ordinary one. 1t is timber Tipped.
generally hung below a nose that is
sharp. The tongue is long and thin, and.
great Scott, how that tongue does gal
lopl The sound that issues from it is
as if it were a runaway tin peddler's
cart on a small scale. You can hear
it as if it were a photograph.
The woman with the talking mouth
may be we'll and tastefully dressed, she
may belong to the leading social class,
but her voice jars sometimes on the
sensitive ear like the crash of shivering
glass or the twanging of metal. That
voice againi
1t is time to be plain on this topic.
The one point lacking to the perfect
culture of the beautiful American wo-
lii,
voice. We cultivate carefully in our
girls the singing voice. they are in
structed in every manner of physical
accomplishment, to make their bodies
strong, beautiful and graceful; they are
trained to be perfectly hammered social
ly; moral sentiments that do them credit
are Enthusiastically the speaking voice.
that which means everything in a cul-
tured woman. is utterly neglected and
allowed to heave along barbaric and
throaty as it will.
When American women go to Eu-
rope for the first time, if they have
quick ears they notice at once the clear,
musical sounding speech of the women
there and at the same time the bad
quality in their own. If they desire to
improve themselves, they begin at once
correcting the defects in their voices.
The correction is easily made. For
girls a year or two of schooling in Eu-
rope under teachers who will make
them open their mouths ard speak with
the tip of the tongue instead of back in
their threats afford the best method
of getting a clear, sweet voice. But
any woman of any age can accomplish
that much for herself even though she
may never see Europe The simple
method indicated is infallible. Let the
woman or girl speak a sentence in the
ordinary way of so many Americans.
back in her throat. Then let her throw
her voice forward to the tip of her
tongue and her lips and utter the same
sentence. Her quick American ear will
catch at once the difference in tone.
! Let me say it again: Any girl or wo-
man can achieve the sweet. clear talk
ing voice for herself. She ought to do
it and thus correct what is truly almost
! a national blemish, though we do not
all recognize it.
Pronunciation is a matter of taste
and custom, and in many respects the
American pronunciation is better than
that of the English. But the attain
ment of a clear, musical speaking voice
is a duty we owe to ourselves and the
! rest of mankind.
MARY GOULD LYLE.