CHAPTER II : THE VOICE
Organs of Speech. Although the effects produced by the human voice are
myriad in their complexity, the apparatus involved in making the
sounds which constitute speech is extremely simple. In construction it
has been usually compared to an organ pipe, a comparison justifiable
for imparting a non-technical understanding of its operation.
An organ pipe is a tube in which a current of air passing over the
edge of a piece of metal causes it to vibrate, thus putting into
motion the column of air in the pipe which then produces a note. The
operating air is forced across the sounding piece of metal from a
bellows. The tube in which the thin sounding plate and the column of
air vibrate acts as a resonator. The resulting sound depends upon
various sizes of the producing parts. If the tube is quite long the
sound is low in pitch. If the tube is short the sound is high.
Stopping the end of the pipe or leaving it open alters the pitch. A
stopped pipe gives a note an octave lower than an open pipe of the
same length. The amount of the vibrating plate which is allowed to
move also determines the pitch of a note. If the air is under great
pressure the note is loud. If the air is under little pressure the
note is soft.
It is quite easy to transfer this explanation to the voice-producing
apparatus in the human body.
To the bellows correspond the lungs from which the expelled air is
forced upwards through the windpipe. The lungs are able to expel air
regularly and gently, with no more expense of energy than ordinary
breathing requires. But the lungs can also force air out with
tremendous power--power enough to carry sound over hundreds of yards.
In ordinary repose the outward moving breath produces no sound
whatever, for it meets in its passage no obstruction.
Producing Tone. At the upper end of the windpipe is a triangular
chamber, the front angle of which forms the Adam's apple. In this are
the vocal cords. These cords are two tapes of membrane which can be
brought closely together, and by muscular tension stretched until
passing air causes them to vibrate. They in turn cause the air above
them to vibrate, much as the air in an organ pipe vibrates. Thus tone
is produced.
The air above the vocal cords may fill all the open spaces above the
larynx--the throat, the mouth, the nasal cavity in the head, the
nostrils. This rather large amount of air, vibrating freely, produces
a sound low in pitch. The larger the cavities are made the lower the
pitch. You can verify this by producing a note. Then place your finger
upon your Adam's apple. Produce a sound lower in pitch. Notice what
your larynx does. Sing a few notes down the scale or up to observe the
same principle of the change of pitch in the human voice.
Producing Vowels. If the mouth be kept wide open and no other organ be
allowed to modify or interrupt the sound a vowel is produced. In
speech every part of the head that can be used is brought into action
to modify these uninterrupted vibrations of vocal cords and air. The
lips, the cheeks, the teeth, the tongue, the hard palate, the soft
palate, the nasal cavity, all cooeperate to make articulate speech.
As in its mechanism, so in the essence of its modifications, the human
voice is a marvel of simplicity. If the mouth be opened naturally and
the tongue and lips be kept as much out of the way as in ordinary
breathing, and then the vocal cords be made to vibrate, the resulting
sound will be the vowel _a_ as in _father_. If now, starting from that
same position and with that same vowel sound, the tongue be gradually
raised the sound will be modified. Try it. The sound will pass through
other vowels. Near the middle position it will sound like _a_ in
_fate_; and when the tongue gets quite close to the roof of the mouth
without touching it the vowel will be the _e_ of _feet_. Others--such
as the _i_ of _it_--can be distinguished clearly.
Starting again from that same open position and with that same vowel
sound, _ah_, if the tongue be allowed to lie flat, but the lips be
gradually closed and at the same time rounded, the sound will pass
from _ah_ to the _o_ of _hope_, then on to the _oo_ of _troop_. The
_oa_ of _broad_ and other vowels can be distinguished at various
positions.
By moving lips and tongue at the same time an almost infinite variety
of vowel sounds can be made.
Producing Consonants. In order to produce consonant sounds the other
parts of the speaking apparatus are brought into operation. Everyone
of them has some function in the formation of some consonant by
interrupting or checking the breath. A student, by observing or
feeling the motions of his mouth can easily instruct himself in the
importance of each part if he will carefully pronounce a few times all
the various consonant sounds of the language.
The lips produce the sounds of _p_, _b_, _wh_, and _w_. The lips and
teeth produce the sounds of _f_, _v_. The tongue and teeth together
make the sounds of _th_ and _dh_. The tongue in conjunction with the
forward portion of the hard palate produces several sounds--_t_, _d_,
_s_, _z_, _r_, and _l_. The tongue operating against or near the rear
of the hard palate pronounces _ch_, _j_, _sh_, _zh_, and a different
_r_. To make the consonant _y_ the tongue, the hard palate, and the
soft palate operate. The tongue and soft palate make _k_ and _g_. A
strong breathing makes the sound of _h_. By including the nasal
passages in conjunction with some of the other parts here listed the
so-called nasals, _m_, _n_, and _ng_, are made. According to the organ
involved our consonant sounds are conveniently grouped as labials
(lips), dentals (teeth), linguals (tongue), palatals (palate), and
nasals (nose).
The correct position and action of the vocal organs are of supreme
importance to all speakers. Many an inveterate stammerer, stutterer,
or repeater can be relieved, if not cured, of the embarrassing
impediment by attention to the position of his speech organs and by
careful, persistent practice in their manipulation. In fact every
speaker must be cognizant of the placement of these parts if he
desires to have control over his speech. Frequently it is such correct
placement rather than loud noise or force which carries expressions
clearly to listeners.
While it is true that singing will strengthen the lungs and help in
control of breath, it is not always the fact--as might be
expected--that singing will develop the speaking voice. Not every
person who can sing has a pleasant or forceful voice in ordinary
discourse. In singing, to secure purity of musical tone, the vowels
are likely to be disproportionately dwelt upon. Thus we have the
endless _la-la-la_ and _ah-ah_ of so many vocal show-pieces. The same
practice leads to the repeated criticism that it makes no difference
whether a song be in English or a foreign language--the listeners
understand just as much in either case.
In speaking effectively the aim and method are the exact opposite.
When a man speaks he wants to be listened to for the meaning of what
he is uttering. There are so many words in the language with the same
or similar vowel sounds that only the sharpest discrimination by means
of consonants permits of their being intelligible. The speaker,
therefore, will exercise the greatest care in pronouncing consonants
distinctly. As these sounds usually begin and end words, and as they
are produced by rather sudden checks or interruptions, they can be
made to produce a wave motion in the air which will carry the entire
word safely and clearly beyond the ear into the understanding. In
public speaking no amount of care and attention bestowed upon
pronouncing consonants can be spared.
Tone. The most marked quality of a person's voice is its tone. It will
be enough for the purposes of this manual to assert that the tone
should be both clear and agreeable. In public speaking the first of
these is all important, though an absence of the second qualification
may almost neutralize all the advantages of the first. Clearness may
be impaired by several causes. The speaker may feel that his throat
closes up, that he becomes choked. His tongue may become stiff and
"cleave to the roof of his mouth"--as the feeling is popularly
described. He may breathe so energetically that the escaping or
entering air makes more noise than the words themselves. He may be
more or less conscious of all these. The others he may not discover
for himself. The instructor or members of the class will inform him of
their presence. Set jaws will prevent him from opening his mouth wide
enough and operating his lips flexibly enough to speak with a full
tone. A nasal quality results mainly from lack of free resonance in
the head and nose passages. Adenoids and colds in the head produce
this condition. It should be eradicated by advice and practice.
Usually whatever corrections will make the tone clearer will also make
it more agreeable. The nasal pessimistic whine is not a pleasant
recommendation of personality. High, forced, strident tones produce
not only irritation in the listener but throat trouble for the
speaker.
Articulate--that is, connected--speech may be considered with
reference to four elements, all of which are constantly present in any
spoken discourse.
Speed. First, there is the speed of delivery. An angry woman can utter
more words in a minute than any one wants to hear. The general
principle underlying all speech delivery is that as the audience
increases in number the rapidity of utterance should be lessened.
Those who are accustomed to addressing large audiences, or to speaking
in the open air, speak very slowly. A second consideration is the
material being delivered. Easily grasped narrative, description, and
explanation, simply phrased and directly constructed, may be delivered
much more rapidly than involved explanation, unfamiliar phraseology,
long and intricate sentence constructions, unusual material, abstract
reasoning, and unwelcome sentiments. The beginnings of speeches move
much more slowly than later parts. A speaker who intends to lead an
audience a long distance, or to hold the attention for a long time,
will be extremely careful not to speak at the beginning so rapidly
that he leaves them far behind.
This does not mean that a speaker must drawl his words. One of our
national characteristics is that we shorten our words in pronouncing
them--_ing_ generally loses the _g, does not_ has become _doesn't_ and
quite incorrectly _don't, yes_ is _yeeh_, etc. In many cases nothing
more is required than the restoration of the word to its correct form.
Some words can easily be lengthened because of the significance of
their meanings. Others must be extended in order to carry. The best
method of keeping down the rate of delivery is by a judicious use of
pauses. Pauses are to the listener what punctuation marks are to the
reader. He is not conscious of their presence, but he would be left
floundering if they were absent. Some of the most effective parts of
speeches are the pauses. They impart clearness to ideas, as well as
aiding in emphasis and rhythm.
Pitch. A second quality of speech is its pitch. This simply means its
place in the musical scale. Speaking voices are high, medium, or low.
Unfortunate tendencies of Americans seem to be for women to pitch
their voices too high, with resultant strain and unpleasantness, and
for men to pitch their voices too low, with resultant growls and
gruffness. The voices of young children should be carefully guarded in
this respect; so should the changing voices of growing boys. To secure
a good pitch for the speaking voice the normal natural pitch of usual
conversation should be found. Speech in that same pitch should be
developed for larger audiences. Frequently a better pitch can be
secured by slightly lowering the voice. If the natural pitch be too
low for clearness or agreeableness it should be slightly raised--never
more than is absolutely necessary.
No connected group of words should be delivered in a monotonously
level pitch. The voice must rise and fall. These changes must answer
intelligently to the meaning of the material. Such variations are
called inflections. The most disagreeable violations of required
inflections are raising the voice where it should fall--as at the
completion of an idea, and letting it drop where it should remain
up--as before the completion of an idea, frequently answering to a
comma. Other variations of pitch depend upon emphasis.
Emphasis. Emphasis is giving prominence to a word or phrase so that
its importance is impressed upon a listener. This result is most
easily secured by contrast. More force may be put into its delivery
than the rest of the speech. The word may be made louder or not so
loud. The voice may be pitched higher or lower. The word may be
lengthened. Pauses will make it prominent. In speaking, combinations
of these are employed to produce emphasis.
While all qualities of speech are important, emphasis is of cardinal
value. Listeners will never recall everything that a speaker has said.
By a skilful employment of emphasis he will put into their
consciousness the main theme of his message, the salient arguments of
his contention, the leading motives of action. Here again is that
close interdependence of manner and material referred to in the
preceding chapter. In later chapters will be discussed various methods
of determining and securing emphasis of larger sections than mere
words and phrases.
Phrasing. Somewhat related to emphasis is phrasing. This is the
grouping together of words, phrases, clauses, and other units so that
their meaning and significance may be easily grasped by a listener. As
has been already said, pauses serve as punctuation marks for the
hearer. Short pauses correspond to commas, longer ones to colons and
semi-colons, marked ones to periods. Speakers can by pauses clearly
indicate the conclusions of sections, the completion of topics, the
passage from one part of the material to another, the transfer of
attention from one subject to its opposite. Within smaller range
pauses can add delightful variety to delivery as they can signally
reinforce the interpretation. No speaker should fall into the habit of
monotonously letting his pauses mark the limit of his breath capacity,
nor should he take any regular phrase, clause, or sentence length to
be indicated by pauses. In this as in all other aspects variety is the
charm of speech.
Enunciation. No matter what handicaps a person may have he may
overcome them to secure a distinct, agreeable enunciation. Care in
enunciating words will enable a speaker to be heard almost anywhere.
It is recorded that John Fox, a famous preacher of South Place Chapel,
London, whose voice was neither loud nor strong, was heard in every
part of Covent Garden Theatre, seating 3500, when he made
anti-corn-law orations, by the clearness with which he pronounced the
final consonants of the words he spoke.
One of the orators best known to readers is Edmund Burke, whose
speeches are studied as models of argumentative arrangement and style.
Yet in actual speech-making Burke was more or less a failure because
of the unfortunate method of his delivery. Many men markedly inferior
in capacity to Burke overcame disadvantageous accidents, but he was
frequently hurried and impetuous. Though his tones were naturally
sonorous, they were harsh; and he never divested his speech of a
strong Irish accent. Then, too, his gestures were clumsy. These facts
will explain to us who read and study leisurely these masterpieces
why they failed of their purpose when presented by their gifted but
ineffective author.
Pronunciation. Enunciation depends to a great degree upon
pronunciation. The pronunciation of a word is no fixed and
unchangeable thing. Every district of a land may have its peculiar
local sounds, every succeeding generation may vary the manner of
accenting a word. English people today pronounce _schedule_ with a
soft _ch_ sound. _Program_ has had its accent shifted from the last to
the first syllable. Many words have two regularly heard
pronunciations--_neither, advertisement, Elizabethan, rations,
oblique, route, quinine_, etc. Fashions come and go in pronunciation
as in all other human interests. Some sounds stamp themselves as
carelessnesses or perversions at once and are never admitted into
educated, cultured speech. Others thrive and have their day, only to
fade before some more widely accepted pronunciation. The first rule in
pronunciation is to consult a good dictionary. This will help in most
cases but not in all, for a dictionary merely records all accepted
sounds; only partly can it point out the better of disputed sounds by
placing it first. Secondly, speech is a living, growing, changing
thing. Dictionaries drop behind the times surprisingly rapidly. The
regularly accepted sound may have come into general use after the
dictionary was printed. New activities, unusual phases of life may
throw into general conversation thousands of unused, unheard words.
This was true of the recent Great War, when with little or no
preparation thousands of military, industrial, naval, and
aeronautical terms came into daily use. Discussions still flutter
mildly around _cantonment_ and _rations_, and a score of others.
Next to authoritative books, the best models are to be secured from
the speech of authorities in each branch to which the term
specifically belongs. Thus the military leaders have made the
pronunciation of _oblique_ with the long _i_ the correct one for all
military usages. The accepted sound of _cantonments_ was fixed by the
men who built and controlled them. As it is not always possible for
the ordinary person to hear such authorities deliver such terms in
discourse one can merely say that a familiarity with correct
pronunciation can be secured only like liberty--at the price of
eternal vigilance.
Constant consultation of the dictionary and other books of recognized
reference value, close observance of the speech of others, scrutiny of
one's own pronunciation, mental criticism of others' slips, and
determination to correct one's own errors, are the various methods of
attaining certainty of correct delivery of word sounds.
Poise. When a speaker stands before an audience to address its members
he should be perfectly at ease. Physical ease will produce an effect
upon the listeners. Mental ease because of mastery of the material
will induce confidence in the delivery. Bodily eccentricities and
awkwardness which detract from the speech itself should be eradicated
by strenuous practice. Pose and poise should first command respectful
attention. The body should be erect, but not stiff. Most of the
muscles should be relaxed. The feet should be naturally placed, not
so far apart as to suggest straddling, not so close together as to
suggest the military stand at "attention."
What should be done with the hands? Nothing. They should not be
clasped; they should not be put behind the back; they should not be
jammed into pockets; the arms should not be held akimbo; they should
not be folded. Merely let the arms and hands hang at the sides
naturally.
Gestures. Should a speaker make gestures? Certainly never if the
gesture detracts from the force of an expression, as when a preacher
pounds the book so hard that the congregation cannot hear his words.
Certainly yes, when the feeling of the speaker behind the phrase makes
him enforce his meaning by a suitable movement. In speaking today
fewer gestures are indulged in than years ago. There should never be
many. Senseless, jerky, agitated pokings and twitchings should be
eradicated completely. Insincere flourishes should be inhibited.
Beginners should beware of gestures until they become such practised
masters of their minds and bodies that physical emphasis may be added
to spoken force.
A speaker should feel perfectly free to change his position or move
his feet during his remarks. Usually such a change should be made to
correspond with a pause in delivery. In this way it reinforces the
indication of progress or change of topic, already cited in discussing
pauses.
Delivery. A speaker should never begin to talk the very instant he has
taken his place before his audience. He should make a slight pause to
collect the attention before he utters his salutation (to be
considered later) and should make another short pause between it and
the opening sentences of his speech proper. After he has spoken the
last word he should not fling away from his station to his seat. This
always spoils the effect of an entire address by ruining the
impression that the last phrase might have made.
As for the speech itself, there are five ways of delivering it:
1. To write it out in full and read it.
2. To write it out in full and commit it to memory.
3. To write out and memorize the opening and closing sentences and
other especially important parts, leaving the rest for extempore
delivery.
4. To use an outline or a brief which suggests the headings in logical
order.
5. To speak without manuscript or notes.
Reading the Speech. The first of these methods--to read the speech
from a prepared manuscript--really changes the speech to a lecture or
reading. True, it prevents the author from saying anything he would
not say in careful consideration of his topic. It assures him of
getting in all he wants to say. It gives the impression that all his
utterances are the result of calm, collected thinking. On the other
hand, so few people can read from a manuscript convincingly that the
reproduction is likely to be a dull, lifeless proceeding in which
almost anything might be said, so little does the material impress the
audience. This method can hardly be considered speech-making at all.
Memorizing the Speech. The second method--of repeating memorized
compositions--is better. It at least seems alive. It has an appearance
of direct address. It possesses the other advantages of the first
method--definite reasoning and careful construction. But its dangers
are grave. Few people can recite memorized passages with the personal
appeal and direct significance that effective spoken discourse should
have. Emphasis is lacking. Variety is absent. The tone becomes
monotonous. The speech is so well committed that it flows too easily.
If several speakers follow various methods, almost any listener can
unerringly pick the memorized efforts. Let the speaker in delivery
strive for variety, pauses, emphasis; let him be actor enough to
simulate the feeling of spontaneous composition as he talks, yet no
matter how successful he may be in his attempts there will still be
slight inconsistencies, trifling incongruities, which will disturb a
listener even if he cannot describe his mental reaction. The secret
lies in the fact that written and spoken composition differ in certain
details which are present in each form in spite of the utmost care to
weed them out.
Memorizing Parts. The third manner can be made effective if the
speaker can make the gap just described between written and spoken
discourse extremely narrow. If not, his speech will appear just what
it is--an incongruous patchwork of carefully prepared, reconsidered
writing, and more or less spontaneously evolved speaking.
Speaking from Outline or Brief. The fourth method is by far the best
for students training themselves to become public speakers. After a
time the brief or outline can be retained in the mind, and the speaker
passes from this method to the next. A brief for an important law case
in the United States Supreme Court is a long and elaborate instrument.
But a student speaker's brief or outline need not be long.
Directions, models, and exercises for constructing and using outlines
will be given in a later chapter.
The Best Method. The last method is unquestionably the best. Let a man
so command all the aspects of a subject that he fears no breakdown in
his thoughts, let him be able to use language so that he need never
hesitate for the best expression, let him know the effect he wants to
make upon his audience, the time he has to do it in, and he will know
by what approaches he can best reach his important theme, what he may
safely omit, what he must include, what he may hurry over, what he
must slowly unfold, what he may handle lightly, what he must treat
seriously; in short, he will make a great speech. This manner is the
ideal towards which all students, all speakers, should strive.
Attributes of the Speaker. Attributes of the speaker himself will aid
or mar his speech. Among those which help are sincerity, earnestness,
simplicity, fairness, self-control, sense of humor, sympathy. All
great speakers have possessed these traits. Reports upon significant
speakers describing their manner emphasize them. John Bright, the
famous English parliamentarian of the middle of the last century, is
described as follows:
His style of speaking was exactly what a conventional
demagogue's ought not to be. It was pure to austerity; it was
stripped of all superfluous ornament. It never gushed or
foamed. It never allowed itself to be mastered by passion.
The first peculiarity that struck the listener was its superb
self-restraint. The orator at his most powerful passages
appeared as if he were rather keeping in his strength than
taxing it with effort.
JUSTIN MCCARTHY: _History of Our Own Time_
In American history the greatest speeches were made by Abraham
Lincoln. In Cooper Union, New York, he made in 1860 the most powerful
speech against the slave power. The _New York Tribune_ the next day
printed this description of his manner.
Mr. Lincoln is one of nature's orators, using his rare powers solely
to elucidate and convince, though their inevitable effect is to
delight and electrify as well. We present herewith a very full and
accurate report of this speech; yet the tones, the gestures, the
kindling eye, and the mirth-provoking look defy the reporter's skill.
The vast assemblage frequently rang with cheers and shouts of
applause, which were prolonged and intensified at the close. No man
ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York
audience.
Shakespeare's Advice. Some of the best advice for speakers was written
by Shakespeare as long ago as just after 1600, and although it was
intended primarily for actors, its precepts are just as applicable to
almost any kind of delivered discourse. Every sentence of it is full
of significance for a student of speaking. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,
is airing his opinions about the proper manner of speaking upon the
stage.
HAMLET'S SPEECH
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on
the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as
lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much
with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent,
tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must
acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. Oh, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear
a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the
groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumb-shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped
for o'erdoing Termagant. It out-herods Herod. Pray you, avoid it.
Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor.
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special
observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything
so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the
first and now, was and is, to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to
nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the
very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this
overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh,
cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one
must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theater of others. Oh, there
be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that
highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of
Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted
and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made
men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.
Oh, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns speak no
more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will
themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to
laugh too, though in the meantime some necessary question of the play
be then to be considered. That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful
ambition in the fool that uses it. Go make you ready.
EXERCISES
1. 'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff.
2. The first sip of love is pleasant; the second, perilous; the third,
pestilent.
3. Our ardors are ordered by our enthusiasms.
4. She's positively sick of seeing her soiled, silk, Sunday dress.
5. The rough cough and hiccough plowed me through.
6. She stood at the gate welcoming him in.
7. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.
8. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers: if Peter Piper picked
a peck of pickled peppers, where is the peck of pickled peppers that
Peter Piper picked?
9. Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted
thistles. If Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted a sieve of
unsifted thistles, where is the sieve of unsifted thistles that
Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted?
10. Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea!
11. The splendor falls on castle walls,
And snowy summits old in story.
12. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
13. The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmurings of innumerable bees.
14. The Ladies' Aid ladies were talking about a conversation they had
overheard, before the meeting, between a man and his wife.
"They must have been at the Zoo," said Mrs. A.; "because I heard her
mention 'a trained deer.'"
"Goodness me!" laughed Mrs. B. "What queer hearing you must have! They
were talking about going away, and she said, 'Find out about the
train, dear.'"
"Well, did anybody ever!" exclaimed Mrs. C. "I am sure they were
talking about musicians, for she said, 'a trained ear,' as distinctly
as could be."
The discussion began to warm up, and in the midst of it the lady
herself appeared. They carried the case to her promptly, and asked for
a settlement.
"Well, well, you do beat all!" she exclaimed, after hearing each one.
"I'd been out in the country overnight and was asking my husband if it
rained here last night."
15. Learning condemns beyond the reach of hope
The careless lips that speak of s[)o]ap for soap;
Her edict exiles from her fair abode
The clownish voice that utters r[)o]ad for road;
Less stern to him who calls his coat a c[)o]at,
And steers his boat believing it a b[)o]at.
She pardoned one, our classic city's boast,
Who said at Cambridge, m[)o]st instead of most,
But knit her brows and stamped her angry foot
To hear a Teacher call a root a r[)o]ot.
16. Hear the tolling of the bells--
Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people--ah, the people--
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone--
They are neither man nor woman--
They are neither brute nor human--
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A Paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells--
Of the bells.
17. Collecting, projecting,
Receding and speeding,
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting.
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And hitting and splitting,
And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling,
And shaking and quaking,
And pouring and roaring,
And waving and raving,
And tossing and crossing,
And flowing and going,
And running and stunning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dinning and spinning,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And guggling and struggling,
And heaving and cleaving,
And moaning and groaning;
And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And whitening and brightening,
And quivering and shivering,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And thundering and floundering;
Dividing and gliding and sliding,
And falling and brawling and sprawling,
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling,
And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
And clattering and battering and shattering;
Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling,
And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending,
All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar;
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.
18. Sister Susie's sewing shirts for soldiers,
Such skill at sewing shirts our shy young
Sister Susie shows.
Some soldiers send epistles
Say they'd rather sleep in thistles
Than the saucy, soft, short shirts for soldiers
Sister Susie sews.
CHAPTER III : WORDS AND SENTENCES
PUBLIC SPEAKING By CLARENCE STRATTON
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