EXAMPLE

OF CALLING

TONE.

He shook the fragment of his blade,

And shouted " Victory!

"Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!"

Were the last words of Marmion.

RATE OR

From "Marmion," by SCOTT.

MOVEMENT.

The Rate of reading may be moderate, fast, or slow.

No two persons in a class will read a lesson with the same rate, although every one in the class may accord to the lesson the same sentiment, and call the rate slow, or fast, or moderate. The difference will be only in practice, and not at all in theory.

Suggestion.-Reading in concert will do more to correct the faults of individuals in regard to time than any amount of admonition. A sluggish or a rapid reader will realize his defect as soon as he reads with others, and is obliged to regulate his time according to theirs.

A Moderate Rate is suitable for all kinds of quiet discourse, whether conversational, narrative, or descriptive.

Conversational subjects should be treated neither too slowly nor too rapidly. Even if the articulation of a speaker is clear and distinct, he will weary his hearers by speaking too rapidly, and the effect of what is said will be in part lost.

EXAMPLES

OF

MODERATE

RATE.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,

The ship was still as she might be;
Her sails from heaven received no motion;

Her keel was steady in the ocean.

From the "Inchcape Rock," by SOUTHEY.

In Columbus were singularly combined the practical and the poetical. His mind had grasped all kinds of knowledge, whether procured by study or observation, which bore upon his theories.

From "History of Columbus," by IRVING.

The splendor falls on castle walls,
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

From "Bugle Song," by TENNYSON.

In the second of the three examples the time is slightly different from that of the first and third, and yet they would all be examples of moderate rate.

A Fast Rate may be used in expressing such feelings as delight, anxiety, terror, and violent anger.

EXAMPLES OF FAST RATE.

He is come! he is come! do ye not behold
His ample robes on the wind unrolled?

From "The Hurricane," by BRYANT.

"She is won! we are gone! over bank, bush, and scaur, They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth young Lochinvar. From "Lochinvar," by Scott.

They crush and they crowd; they trample upon the living and the dead. A multitude fills roads, paths, bridges, plains, hills, valleys, woods, choked up by the flight of forty thousand

men.

From "Les Miserables," by HUGO.

A Slow Rate is in keeping with the expression of solemnity, grandeur, reverential fear, and like emotions.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and gory!
We carved not a line, we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone in his glory.

From "The Burial of Sir John Moore," by WOLFE.

Adams and Jefferson are no more. On our fiftieth anniversary, the great day of national jubilee, in the very hour of public rejoicing, they took their flight together to the world of spirits.

From "Adams and Jefferson," by WEBSTER.

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean,-roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain.

From "Apostrophe to the Ocean," by BYRON.

The degree of slowness or rapidity will depend upon the intensity of the feelings. In the case of anger, for instance, if we have perfect control of ourselves, we may speak slowly and deliberately; but if the feeling masters us, our utterance will be as rapid as possible.

PITCH.

Pitch is the elevation or depression of the voice in speaking.

This elevation or depression is reckoned from the natural pitch of the voice, or, as it is sometimes called, the key of the voice. As the musical range of all voices is not the same, we have no fixed method of reckoning pitch, and can only describe it with reference to individual voices.

Natural Pitch is that used in ordinary conversa

tion.

With the delivery of very joyful sentiments, our voices will rise to a higher pitch than is used in conversation; but in expressing calm sorrow or sad emotions of any kind, we shall use a low pitch.

Pitch, then, as well as tone, force, and rate, depends altogether upon the sentiments to be expressed.

Middle Pitch is that used in ordinary conversation and in the delivery of unemotional thoughts.

EXAMPLES OF MIDDLE

Surly, dozing humble-bee !

PITCH.

Where thou art is clime for me.

From "To the Humble-Bee," by EMERSON.

To him who in the love of Nature, holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks

A various language.

From "Thanatopsis," by BRYANT.

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.

From "Hamlet," by SHAKSPEARE.

High Pitch is used in expressing thoughts that require considerable force for their proper delivery, or of which the sentiment is light and joyous.

EXAMPLES

OF HIGH PITCH.

Cheerily, then, my little man,

Live and laugh as boyhood can!

From "The Barefoot Boy," by WHITTIER.

And see! she stirs !

She starts,-she moves,- she seems to feel
The thrill of life along her keel !

From "The Launch of the Ship," by LONGFELLOW.

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

Bird thou never wert,

That from heaven, or near it,

Pourest thy full heart

In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

From "Ode to the Skylark," by SHELLEY.

Low Pitch indicates great serenity of mind, and is used to express deep joy, calm sorrow, and kindred emotions.

EXAMPLES OF LOW PITCH.
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot,

O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

From "The Burial of Sir John Moore," by WOLFE.

All sights were mellowed and all sounds subdued;
The hills seemed farther, and the streams sung low;

As in a dream, the distant woodman hewed

His winter-log with many a muffled blow.

From "The Closing Scene," by READ.

All is peace.

The heights of yonder metropolis, its towers and roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and children, and countrymen, in distress and terror, and looking with unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat, have presented you to-day with the sight of its whole happy population, come out to welcome and greet you with a universal jubilee.- From "Oration at the Laying of the Corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument," by WEBSTER.

TRANSITION.

A change of sentiment will always be accompanied with a change in the manner of delivery. Such a change is called a Transition.

In almost every narrative or descriptive selection, there will be slight changes or variations in feeling, and the reading should be varied to express such changes.

Two faults to be avoided in reading are Monotony, or sameness of tone, and Sing-Song, or a regular method of elevating and lowering the voice by a system of false transitions having no reference whatever to the sentiment.

We have considered under Expression the topics which relate to the sentiment of what we read. We must now consider the topics which relate to the delivery of separate sentences and their parts, phrases, and words.

EMPHASIS.

Emphasis is the use of special force in the utterance of certain words for the purpose of exhibiting their importance to a listener.

Emphasis is of various degrees, from the slight force given to the important words in ordinary discourse, to the strongest force given to words in emotional utterances.