The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-14
CULTIVATION Of
THE HUMAN VOICE
Despite Wonderful Vocal Or
ganS Mansfield Seemed to
humble at Times.

HOLLAND, in the Philadelphia Press.)
In many of the communications pub
lished since the death of Richard Mans
field, on the whole fairly well estimat-
ing his talent and its limitations, the
fiexibility and almost ventriloquial
quality and power of his voice have
been referred to. But Mr.. Mansfield
knew better than anyone else what his
vocal gifts were and with what mar
Vicious mOdulations or varying empha-
sis he could suggest by the tones that
were at his command the whole gamut
of human emotions. He also knew bet
ter than some of his critics that the
one weakness in his voice was that
which is also a common failing of ac-
tors of today, namely, frequent and
often prolonged indistinctness of utter
ance. There were times when it
seemed almost as though Mr.. Mans
field mumbled, being apparently as I'M
able, if not as unwilling, as was Henry
Irving to seek distinctness of enuncia-
ton when producing the lower tones.
the cultural or frequently the most ex-
plosive accents, indicating violent pas
sion.
Caphas Brainerd of this city, who is
one of the survivors of that brilliant
company that escorted Abraham Lin
coin to Cooper Union on Feb. % 1860.
recalls the unexpected and yet highly
agreeable change that took place in
Lincoln's tone of voice after the first
few paragraphs of that now tradition
al Grafton had been delivered. His
voice was high pitched and it seemed
at first as though it were not an agree
able voice to hear throughout an entire
address. But after a few moments Mr..
Lincoln modulated it, he apparently
having been at first testing the acous-
isfied himself, tempered his tone to that
hall. so that after that every word was
heard. OF course the instant COM
mand Mr.. Lincoln gained over that au-
dience, which as a whole fairly well
represented New York's best intellec-
tual power, made it the easier for him
to speak with distinctness. But it was
evident that he could have carried his
voice over or through even a tempest
of noises, exactly as Wendell Phillips
did in Boston when mob threatened
him with physical assault.
Probably the finest speaking voice
ever bestowed upon a son of New York
state was that possessed by Gerrit
Smith, famed as an abolitiOnist, as the
friend of John Brown, and as a man
who when in congress possessed, as not
many northern men did at that time,
Smith submitted to severe training,
self-imposed and self-practiced. His
voice in its natural quality was very
deep, having almost the pedal tones of
an organ, a quality which, if not care
fully disciplined, is very likely to i'm
pair distinctness. Mr.. Smith in the
open air, upon the mountainside of his
country home in central New York,
tested his voice and trained it. until at
last he was as perfect master of dis
Effectiveness of enunciation as he was
of the amazing power which would car
~ that voice over and beyond con-
gregation of 5000 or more assembled
in the open air.
Wendell Phillips voice was tenor
quality plentiful in tone, but he dis
covered when a young man first con-
templating public speaking that its de-
feet was a lack of distinctiveness of
utterance. He trained himself as as
siduously as anyone who ever studied
for the operate stage finds it necessary
last so mastered control of his vocal
organ that he was able to speak so
that as great hall as fremont Tenn
pie. Boston, packed to its uttermost
gallery. was, nevertheless. not too great
to muffle his voice. He spoke, too.
without apparent effort, seemingly not
raising his voice above the tone of ia
miliar conversation.
The late Senator Carpenter of Wis
consin possessed a voice of singularly
fiute-like quality. 1t was rather thin.
but by diligent cultivation of II he at
least so mastered it that no matter
how large or distant his audience was,
his words carried like the tones of a
musical instrument to every nearer. In
his younger days Senator Frye of
Maine had to a high degree this art
of distinct utterance, but in his later
years he seemed to his friends some
what Indifferent to that unusual gift