Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1904-12-08

Re1H Jsfore 7eaehers' Institute held at
Ia Plata, Nd, on Oct. Is, IS, 1901.

a Dt41ttful VOICE Is one OF the most
/ valuable possessions man can have.
/ The human voice well used is a force
10 more men; nothing in art nor in
man 5 knowledge can express more.
Gladstone said: The professions
are crowded full TO the top and over
flowing and young men are being
added to them in numbers that are
amazing. Whatever their ability
may be, ninety nine in every hun
dred viii probably never rise above
nlediocrity Why? Because in pro-
LESSONS which require a trained
voice, the training OF the voice is en-
tirely neglected and considered mat
ter OF no Importance. It may be
safely said no orator in England in
the last one hundred years has
dci,teUed greatness as aspeaker with
out first devoting a certain period Of
his life To cultivating the vocal pow
ers."
Disareli lord Beaconsfield, } when
premier of England in an address 20
law students said: When a young
man i paid no attention to voice
! training because l considered nature
superior to the art of elocution and
oratory, but when ] came to speak,
l found had thoughts and feelings,
but ] lacked the variety Of voice 20
give them expression. / fastened
/ TO procure a teacher of voice aud
gesture, and | have learned to cheer
ish this so-called art. 1t opened to
me the gateway of success. Many a
young man has entered a profes-
sional life splendidly educated in
every respect but this, and lived and
died almost unknown, who might
have made himself famous, had he
taken the pains to find out what a
powerful weapon the trained human
voice may become.
Henry Ward Beecher, in lecture
to the Yale students said: If you
desire to have your voice at its best
and to make the best use of il, you
must go into a drill which will be-
come so familiar that it ceases to be
q matter of thought and the voice
takes care of itself. This ought to
be done under the best instructors.
Having learned the power of the
voice let US look at reading. The
art of reading may be regarded as
compressed in three distinct steps !;
mechanical reading, logical reading
and expressive reading. By me-
chanical reading we mean the cor
rect naming of the words. By logi-
cal reading, we mean the proper
combination of words into phrases,
clauses and sentences, with due at
tention TO pauses. emphasis and in
Election. By expressive reading we
add To what is required by mechani-
cal and logical reading such modu-
latiOns of the voice as are pleasing
to a cultivated ear, at the same time
give the natural expression to the
emotions excited by the subject.
Mechanical reading has regard prin-
cipally 10 sound logical reading to
sense; and expressive reading to
taste and feeling. Then If reading is
to be considered in three parts,
sound, sense and feeling, it is there
fore necessary to have the mind and
soul trained. Why train the body
and voice? Are not the body and
cOice The Instruments by which week
press our thoughts and feelings to
others? Picture to yourselftwo men
QUO standing with his head hung
forward, shoulders STOPPING, weight
r..-, 3 El feet which are near to-
get.vr win toes slightly turned in,
hands and arms at the sides, and in
cIamped thin voice, he tries to ex:
press his thoughts aud feelings in
the words. Il am glad to see you"
The other standing with body well
poised, head erect, chest expanded,
arms hanging easily to the sides and
evidently taking care of themselves,
and with hearty grasp of the hand,
and voice clear, rich and full, he
says Il am glad to see you. What
is the difference? The first man
may be in reality Just as glad to see
you as the second, but he finds that
his body and Uoice DreUent him from
letting you kROlc Il. A man must
have something an his heart and mind
to erpn:ss, first of all.
In the first two Illustrations the men rep
resented were each supposed to have a
thought and with that thought an emo
tom OF pleasure, which they wish to ex-
press, but the second man had the advan-
tage OF the first, simply because his body
and voice were in such acondition as they
did not prevent the thought from com
ing out" But suppose our second man
with his beautiful voice and finely devolep-
ed body had no cultivation OF mind and
no ability to sympathize with his fellow
men, how uninteresting, tiresome and
utterly useless he becomes. Does it not
seem a. if some Of the people. to whom
nature has given a beautiful body and
voice, were content to live and die on the
Strength of their good looks?" Carlyle
says. "A healthy body 10 good, but q
soulinright health, is the blessedest thing
this earth receives of heaven. The soul
must be trained as will as the body and
voice. By soul we include that part of
man which thinks, feels, and wills, so that
mental training" is part of soul train.
ing" How may we conduct the first
OF a series OF reading lessons?
/. Let the teacher with head hung, shout
ders STOPPING, chest hollow, body sagging
at waist and feet nearly together. read to
the class some selection and then ask
pupils why the reading is not well done
Draw from pupils the fact that in order
W Icdu wen the oOuy must ne trained.
2. Next let teacher with body in good
condition, but with chest breathing and
voice hard and cramped read some selec-
ton and then ask pupils again why the
reading is poor. Draw from pupils the
fact of necessity of voice training.
B. With body and voice in good condi-
ton, let teacher with mind active read
some selection and ask pupils what the
trouble ia Draw from DuOils tho foe4
the mind must be trained. Each reading