ru UU U. U \ «H>< Mf# 5 ^ •?«> Af^WM^rf****'* -rAM'+rvici ***» ■■ . . 'fh HKf r * #i *^l *< W *^V* T+Htiiry**-'**** 4 ^** ** it*tU■*** >+**-*i*> t t'i &*■*>■'* •’ r * j y*\*t 't>4 X y~^ >*rw* ■ H>4 > ^ »*• ►i»Vf*W»W*4**-wW» i J «u^*Vr‘M^4v ~ *♦#**»*/Wr♦* **- ' ^*r*^*.4'>4-*r- Class_ AJjl I Q 5 Bank_ «N £ _ < / THOMAS A. EDISON IN HIS LABORATORY. TOMB OK NAPOLEON L, PARIS STANDARD AMERICAN BOOK of KNOWLEDGE CONTAINING rnsiriSE SPECIAL ARTICLES OF RESEARCH UPON ALL THE LATEST TOPICS OF SCIENCE ARTS, MECHANICS, EDUCATION, HISTORY AND TRAVEL, SUCH As, THE AUTOMOBILE, AERIAL TRANSPORTATION, LIQUID AIR, CINEMATO¬ GRAPH, SUBMARINE NAVIGATION, WONDERS OF THE ARMY AND NAVY, TELEPHOTOGRAPHY, WIRELESS TELEGRAPH, UNDER¬ GROUND PNEUMATIC TUBES, WAR BALLOONS, DIS¬ COVERIES IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY, CIVIL GOVERNMENT, EXPANSION, ETC. All the Latest Inventions and Discoveries INSTRUCTIONS IN THE USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ; ELOCUTION; PENMANSHIP. ,NSTRUCT.ONS orrespondence _ sqc|al et|QUETTE; b ooK-KEEP.NG; COMMERCIAL AND LEGAL FORMS, ETC. Courtship, Marriage and Social Life rnnn HEALTH AND HOW TO PRESERVE IT; GYMNASTICS; SPORTS AND PASTIMES; INDOOR OCCUPATIONS AND AMUSEMENTS; HELPS FOR HOUSEKEEPER ; Valuable receipts; cultivation of plants, flowers, etc. The Countries of the World mAxnmrAI AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION; LATEST DISCOVERIES IN ELECTRICITY ASTRONOMW UGHT AND HEAT; READY RECKONER: DICTIONARY OF DATES AND HANDY FACTS; TABLES OF INTEREST, WEIGH TS, MEASURES, E . THE WHOLE FORMING A Complete Guide and Self-Instructor ON SCIENTIFIC, COMMERCIAL, HISTORICAL, ARTISTIC AND. ALL OTHER SUBJECTS BY HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP Author of •• Story of the New World,- "Golden Manual," " Feerles, Rec.er, Etc., Etc. Magnificently Embell ished with4 00 Pine Engravings NATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY No. 241 AMERICAN STREET PHILADELPHIA, PA. two copies received. Library of Ccrsgpag^, Office c f the MAS 2 9 1900 K&glster of Copy right 14 # 57048 4G ( ( OS' < N? ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1900, BY GEORGE W. BERTRON IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C. o 4 « f * C 1 SECOND COPY* V»~3 c ^ cAj» V ^ o o. r vj \\ f^pefetee= -5I\ -5A -^\ *^\ -^\ -oA -^\ -^\ -^\ -^\ -^\ ->A J* LL Useful Information on all Subjects and for all People, truthfully describes this new and peerless volume. The first subject treated is Education, the Training of Mind and Body. How to Write and Speak Correctly comes next, including full instructions in Penmanship, Grammar, Elocution, Delsarte System of Physical Culture and Expression, Synonyms and Antonyms. How to Remember, or Loisette’s Famous Memory System, is fully explained. Courtship and Marriage should be carefully read by all parents and young people. In glowing, eloquent language it teaches the true Relations of the Sexes, the Laws of Love, How to Choose a Wife or Husband, what Temperaments should Marry, how to make Married Life Happy, how to avoid the mistakes and follies of love-making, how to plant and nurture that sweetest and most beautiful of all flowers, domestic bliss. Helps for Housekeepers may be said to form a volume by itself, including the Care of Plants, Flowers and Household Pets ; a very large and choice collection of the newest and best Receipts for all kinds of Cooking, Renovating Clothing, Furniture, etc., and for Cosmetics. Good Health and How to Preserve It, is fully treated, with more than fifty Graphic Illustrations of Gymnastics, showing how to develop and strengthen every part of the body. This is followed by What to Do in Emergencies, in other words, How to Save the Lives of Persons in danger from accidents, poisons, etc. This is followed by Etiquette of Polite Society; the Art of Correspondence, including Forms for Letters; Sports and Pastimes, etc. Then come The Largest Things on the Globe—the Highest Mountains, Longest Rivers, Largest Trees, Buildings, etc.; Greatest Inventions, Earthquakes, Conflagrations, Works of Art, Libraries, Railroad Magnates, Land-owners, etc. Would you know the Date of any Important Occurrence ? Here is the full list, a history by itself. The reader now beholds, depicted in brilliant colors, the Grand Panorama of Nations— the Countries of the World, containing Historical, Geographical and Statistical Informa¬ tion—the Proud Achievements of Great Discoverers, Navigators, Commanders, Statesmen, and Patriots, with the Laws, Customs and Thrilling Events, comprising a full description of all Civilized Countries. The Latest Discoveries in Electricity; the Wonders of Astronomy; Photography by the new X-Rays; Phenomena of Light; Famous Gems; Indoor Amusements; Weather and Weather Signals, are among the multitude of subjects fully treated. Then comes a Vast Compendium of Curious Facts, gathered from History, Science, Literature, Treasures 111 IV PREFACE. of Art; Discoveries of every description ;• all arranged and presented in a foi in most conve* nient for the reader. This part of itself is a vast storehouse of piactical knowledge. The Department of Business includes the Best System of Book-keeping ever taught in America, and can easily be learned by every boy and gill. This is followed by full instructions showing How to Do Business, and furnishing horms for Notes, Checks, Drafts, etc. The convenience of having these in correct form is apparent to all who have business to transact. Every man should have such information as will enable him to be his own lawyer, and with this volume, which contains a full set of Legal Forms, he has a Hand-Book of Law that is always ready for use. Here are forms for Agreements, Mortgages, Contracts, Wills, Leases, all in the correct phraseology and suitable for reference or copy. Pull directions are given for drawing Notes, Checks, Drafts, etc., and forms are given. The Lightning Calculator shows at a glance the cost of any article at any price; and it Aever makes a mistake. This is a vast saving of time and trouble, enabling one to make reckonings almost instantly without going through the tedious process of multiplication, addition and division. In short, this volume is a time-saver, a practical help and is prepared and intended for constant use in every household. There is a vast collection of Important PMcts, relating to the Government of the United States; Presidents and Vice-Presidents; Electoral Votes; Discoveries and Settling of Countries ; Wealth of the Principal Nations; Money and How to Make It; Value of Metals; Interest Rules and Tables; Exports of Various Countries ; Tables of Mortality; Tables for Telling the Age of any Person; Percentage of Nutrition in Various Articles of Food, etc., etc. This part is an encyclopedia, stored with the most useful information, while at the same time it is full of entertainment for all readers. Every one prizes a book that puts much into a small space; that conducts the reader at once into a flower garden, and does not compel him to roam through acres of weeds before coming to a single blossom. This peerless work has gems of knowledge on every page, and the part containing facts for reference is both a surprise and delight. The Population of the United States during the Nineteenth Century is shown by a comprehensive table, which is interesting to all intelligent readers. Here the marvellous growth of our country is fully shown, as “ westward the course of Empire takes its way.” This table is one of the most suggestive in the volume. This outline, necessarily brief and imperfect, will aid the reader somewhat in forming an estimate of the Contents, which cover every subject of importance and value. A full Index completes the volume. The publishers feel that the effort to furnish a complete and comprehensive work that is a fountain of unlimited knowledge and a self-educator on every subject upon which the reader needs to be informed, has been entirely successful. The vast stores of information are drawn fiom sources that are accurate and reliable, thus rendering this volume a standard work. Moreovei, it is fully up to date, containing the latest discoveries in every department of science, history, education, and all other branches of knowledge. PAGE PAGE EDUCATION. 17 Training of Mind and Body. 17 True Motto... 18 Self-Culture.•. 19 Value of Rfady Information. 20 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 21 How to Writf and Speak Correctly . 21 Penmanship. 23 How to Speed Correctey. 27 Use of Capitae Letters. 29 Ruees of Punctuation. 31 Generae Principees of Grammar ... 39 Errors in Writing and Speaking ... 47 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION ... 53 Exercises in Breathing. 54 Articueation. 56 Pronunciation. 56 Force. 57 Stress. 58 Meeody . 58 Pitch. 58 Infeection. 60 Time and Pauses. 60 Emphasis. 62 Gesture, with Ieeustrations ..... 63 Exampees Ieeustrating Eeocution . . 73 DELSARTE SYSTEM OF PHYSICAL CUL¬ TURE AND EXPRESSION. 79 What Deesarte Taught. 82 CUETURE OF THE BODY. 87 Free Gymnastics. 89 HOW TO REMEMBER. 90 Loisette Memory System. 90 SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS. 98 COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.118 The Temperaments.121 What Temperaments Shoued and Should Not Marry.127 The True Genteeman.132 Curse of Extravagance.134 Animae Propensities.1& 4 How Love-Making Shoued Be Con¬ ducted .135 Beind Errors of Courtship.148 Love Begets Love.149 Proposae and Acceptance.151 How to Make Married Life Happy . . 155 The Modee Husband . 162 The Model Wife. 170 HOUSE PLANTS AND FLOWERS.180 The Liey.180 Verbenas, Petunias. 182 Pansies.184 Chrysanthemums.185 Mignonette, Sweet Pea.18( Carnations and Picotees.190 Daheias.192 The Rose.196 CARE OF BIRDS AND OTHER PETS ... 197 HELPS FOR THE HOUSEKEEPER .... 214 Receipts for Everyday Use.214 Receipts for Cooking.215 ooups.216 Fish.221 Meats and How to Carve Them .... 225 Pouetry and Game.. . 238 Sauces for Meats.242 Vegeta bees.244 Saeads.246 Bread, Biscuit, Roees, Cake, Etc. . . . 248 Receipts for Renovating Ceothing . . 252 Receipts for Renovating Furniture . 258 Receipts for Cosmetics.260 GOOD HEALTH AND HOW TO PRE¬ SERVE IT.262 Wholesome Food and Air .262 Heaethfue Dwellings .264 Good Drainage.265 V VI CONTENTS. Abundance of Fresh Air . . . Best Methods of Ventilation . Water Supply. Use of Disinfectants. Truths to be Remembered . . Free Gymnastics. Exercises with Dumb-Bells . . The Swing and Stirrups . . . PAGE . . 267 . . 268 . . 272 . . 275 . . 278 . . 280 . . 295 . . 303 WHAT TO DO IN EMERGENCIES .... 320 Drowning. Accidents by Fire.323 Hemorrhage.323 Fainting .324 Sunstroke.324 Persons who are Frozen .326 Poisons.327 Hydrophobia .327 Scalds and Burns .328 Cuts and Wounds .329 Simple Cure for Sprains. 330 ETIQUETTE OF POLITE SOCIETY .... 331 Introductions and Salutations . . , , 332 Art of Conversation.333 Visiting Cards.335 Calls and Visits.338 Weddings and Wedding Anniversaries 341 Dinner Giving ..... ....... 344 Breakfasts, Luncheons and Teas . . . 347 Evening Parties.350 Receptions and Suppers.350 Etiquette of Funerals.354 Dress for Special Occasions.355 ‘"HE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL. 361 Artistic Home Decorations.361 Charming Colors.362 Cosy Recesses.362 THE ART OF CORRESPONDENCE .... 367 Forms for Letters.367 Notes of Invitation.368 Love Letters.370 Letters of Congratulation.373 Letters of Condolence.375 Business Letters.377 SPORTS AND PASTIMES.382 Lawn Tennis.. Football.. PAGE Base Ball .. 390 Cricket ..392 Golf. 402 Foot Racing. 405 Rowing. 407 Boxing. 409 Bicycling.411 THE LARGEST THINGS IN THE WORLD . 415 Miscellaneous Wonders.415-418 Grandest Temple of Worship.418 Costliest Private Mansion.418 Highest Building in the World ... 419 Largest Hotel in the United States . 419 Greatest Land Proprietor ..420 Largest Hanging Bell in the World . 420 Largest Gun in the United States . . 420 Longest Tunnels in the World . . . . 420 Largest Steam Hammer.422 Most Notable Bridges .4z2 Greatest City in the World.423 Largest Trees in the World.424 Yellowstone National Park.425 Washington Monument.425 Height of Principal Monuments and Buildings. 425 Largest Churches and Halls.426 Highest Mountains.426 Loftiest Volcanoes.126 Greatest Depth of the Ocean .... 427 Deepest Lake in the World.427 Longest Rivers in the World.427 Size of Lakes, Seas and Oceans .... 427 Greatest Catastrophes of History . . 428 Floods and Freshets.428 Greatest Conflagrations.428 Chicago’s Great Fires. 428 Most Noted Facts in Turf History . . 429 Dimensions of Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty. 430 Great Wall of China.430 Coal Area of the World.430 Railroad Facts.430 Fastest Locomotive ever Built .... 432 One Railroad in Palestine.432 Seven Wonders of the World .... 432 Wonders of the New World .432 CONTENTS. VII PAGE PATES OE FIRST OCCURRENCES .... 433 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD . . 439 Historical and Statistical Informa¬ tion .439 The United States.440 Fac-similE of Original Copy of the Star Spangled Banner.450 Fac-similE of Original Copy of Our National Hymn.451 Autographs of the Presidents .... 452 Coats-of-Arms of the States.453 Dominion of Canada ... ..... 457 Mexico.460 England.461 Scotland.464 Ireland.465 France.466 Germ/ n Empire.468 Austro-Hungarian Empire.471 Russian Empire.472 Norway and Sweden.475 Denmark.476 Holland—the Netherlands.477 Belgium.479 Switzerland.480 Italy.481 Spain.483 Portugal.484 Greece.485 Turkey.486 Egypt.488 Palestine.. 489 Arabia.490 China.490 Japan.491 British India.492 Afghanistan and Beloochistan .... 495 Siam.496 Persia.497 Barbary States.498 Abyssinia.499 Republics in South Africa.500 Cape Colony.501 Madagascar.502 Australia.502 Oceanica ..503 PAGE VENEZUELA. .504 Brazil.505 Peru.506 Chili.507 United States of Colombia.508 Central America.508 Cuba.509 Hawaii.510 ASTRONOMY.513 How To Read the Sky.513 . Universe of Wonders.514 Vast Size of the Sun.514 The Sun a Revolving Body.515 Rapid Movement of Sun Spots.517 Pictures Made by the Sun. 520 Microscopic Photography.522 Eclipse of the Sun.. 523 Brilliant Corona. 524 Wonderful Eruptions.525 How the Sun is Colored.529 Magnificent Halos.530 Our Solar System.536 Mercury.536 Venus. 537 Mars.539 Jupiter. . 541 Saturn. 542 Uranus.543 Neptune . ..544 The Earth’s Satellite.546 Craters on the Moon’s Surface . . . 547 A Desert World.548 Amazing Distances.555 Infinite Clusters of Stars.558 Magnificent Constellations.559 Great Bear.559 Cassiopeia.. . . 560 The Twins.561 Castor and Pollux.562 Lion.562 Copernicus. ... 562 Orion.563 Strange Wanderers in Space.564 Velocity of Comets.565 Meteorites.567 Splendors of the Aurora.569 CONTENTS. vi 11 ELECTRICITY. Latest Discoveries. The Phonograph.- • Why the Wheels Go Round . Great Motive Power. The Telephone. Electric Light. Edison’s Mimeograph. Edison’s Kinetoscope. Electric Rifles. Ocean Cables. WONDERFUL PHOTOGRAPHY. Light Piercing Opaque Substances . . PAGE 573 573 574 576 577 578 580 582 583 584 585 586 586 Foreign Bodies Seen Under the Human Skin.687 Bullets Located.588 PHENOMENA OF LIGHT.589 Reflection ... 589 Long Distance Signals.. 591 Singular Shadow-Pictures.591 FAMOUS GEMS.593 Queen of Jewels.593 Famous French Gems.594 Diamond Cutting.595 THE WEATHER AND WEATHER SIGNALS 596 Storm and Wind Signals.597 Weather Signs.598 RAILROAD SIGNALLING.598 American Railway Signals.599 Construction of the Signal-Box . . . 600 BUILDING SOCIETIES.601 Constitution.601 Earning Powers ..603 INDOOR AMUSEMENTS.604 Chess.604 Names of Pieces and their Powers . . 604 Laws of the Game.608 Backgammon.610 Laws of the Game.611 COMPARATIVE PHYSIOGNOMY.612 Phrenology.615 CURIOUS FACTS.*.616 Things not Generally Known .... 616 The Alps.616 Alcohol.616 The Human Body.616 PAGE Fictitious Names of Cities ...... 617 Earth’s Centre .. 617 El Dorado.6'8 “ Flying Dutchman ”.618 John Bull. 618 Liberty Bell.618 Boats Used in Duck Shooting.620 Monroe Doctrine.620 How Our Presidents Died.621 The Silver Question.621 Fictitious Names of States and Terri¬ tories .622 Stock Brokers’ Technicalities . . • . 623 Uncle Sam.623 BUSINESS TERMS AND RULES.624 BOOKKEEPING.630 Method of Keeping Books.632 Accounts.• 632 Books of Account.• . . 632 Bills and Books of Original Entry . . 633 Day Book.633 Cash Book.634 Invoice Book . s .634 Sales Book.634 Day-Book Journal.637 Rules for Debit and Credit.637 Ledger.638 Cash Account.639 Merchandise Account.640 Personal Accounts.641 Bills Receivable Account.642 Bills Payable Account.643 Expense Account.644 Capital Account.646 Loss and Gain Account.648 Trial Balances.651 Closing the Ledger.653 How to Do Business.655 LEGAL FORMS.659 Hand-Book of Law.659 Business Agreements. ... 660 General Form of Agreement.660 Laws of Partnership.661 Partnership Agreement.661 Deeds.662 Mortgages.663 I CONTENTS. IX PAGE Real Estate Mortgage. 663 Landlords and Tenants. 664 Form of Lease of a Farm and Buildings 664 Last Wills and Testaments. 665 General Form of Will. 665 STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS.666 LIGHTNING CALCULATOR.667 Ready Reckoner.• • • . . 667 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INFORMATION . . 673 Presidents of th£ United States . . . 673 Education, Marriage, Children, etc., PAGE Smallest Republic in Europe.685 What Royalty Costs England .... 685 Carlisle Tables of Mortality .... 686 How Human Life is Spent.686 How to Tell the Age of Any Person . 686 A Lady’s Chance of Marrying.687 Mode of Execution in Every Country 687 Antidotes for Poisons.687 Powers of Locomotion of Animals . . 687 The Pulse.688 Periods of Digestion.688 of the Presidents.674 Vice-Presidents.675 Votes for President.675 Politics of the Presidents.676 Popular Vote for President by States 676 Salaries of United States Officers . 677 President’s Salary.677 Cabinet Facts ..677 Religion of the Presidents.678 The White House ..678 Facts about Washington, D. C.678 Originals of the New Testament . . . 679 Bible Printed in 300 Tongues . . . . 679 Curiosities of the Bible. 679 Valuable Bibles.679 Roman Catholic Bible.679 Discoveries and Settling of Countries 679 Size of the Different Nations .... 681 Wealth of Principal Nations.681 Money.682 Weight of a Million Dollars.682 Foundations of Fortunes.682 A Business Lesson.682 Avoid Debt.682 Getting Rich by Small Inventions . . 683 Results of Saving Money.683 What a Dollar Earns Each Day . . . 683 Value of Metals.683 Average Rainfall.684 Average Annual Temperature .... 684 Derivations of Names of Months . . 684 Names of the Days of the Week . . . 684 Exports of Various Countries .... 684 Salaries of Heads of Governments . 685 Sovereigns of England. 685 Nutrition in Articles of Food .... 688 Percentage of Alcohol in Liquors . . 688 Weight of Eggs.688 Food in an Egg.689 Management of Poultry. 689 Box Measures.689 How to Drive Flies from Stables . . 689 Weight of Cattle by Measurement . 689 POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . 690 THE LANGUAGE AND SENTIMENT OF FLOWERS. 691 Flower Language . 692 LIQUID AIR.701 Dewar Bulb. 702 THE HORSELESS AGE.705 Automobiles. 705 Electric Mobile. 706 Storage Batteries. 707 Compressed Air . 709 MARVELS OF THE RAILWAY.711 Luxury and Ease of Traveling .... 712 Siberian and Chinese Railways .... 713 “ Cape to Cairo ” Railway. 716 Cecil Rhodes. 717 Ninety Miles an Hour. 717 WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.719 Hertzian Waves. 719 MODERN WONDERS OF THE ELECTRI¬ CAL WORLD. 724 Rapid Telegraphing. 724 Picture Telegraphy . 724 Wireless Light . 725 NEW STUDIES OF THE STORMY SKIES 726 Size of The Whole Universe. 727 X CONTENTS. PAGE Whence Comes the Heat.727 The Sun.728 Largest Known Meteor.730 Yerkes’ Great Telescope.730 GREAT CANALS OF THE WORLD ... 733 The Panama Route .733 The Nicaragua Canal.733 The Keil Ship Canal.734 Chicago Drainage Canal.735 STUPENDOUS POWER OF THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.736 40,000 Horse Power.736 Turbines.737 CINEMATOGRAPH-MOVING PICTURES 738 “Zeotrope”. .. 738 The Kinetoscope.739 WHITE MAN’S GREED FOR THE LAND OF THE BLACK.740 SCIENTIFIC FARMING.741 Reclaiming Bad Lands.741 Spraying and Sprinkling Plants . . . 743 DISCOVERIES IN THE ART OF HEALING 744 Cures by Liquid Air.744 Finsen Light Cure.745 Pasteur Serum.746 Anti-Toxin.746 The X-Ray.746 Hydrophobia.748 Appendicitis.749 Skin and Bone Grafting.750 VOYAGING AT BOTTOM OF THE SEA . 751 The “Gymnote”.751 The “ Argonoaut ”.752 Diving Apparatus.755 Universal Disarmament.756 Court of Arbitration.756 OUR NEW POSSESSIONS.757 Ladrone Islands.759 Samoan Islands.759 Porto Rico.760 THE MODERN NEWSPAPER.762 Photo-Engraving.764 Zinc Etching.764 The Lineotype Machine.766 Stereotyping.768 PAGE Monster Presses.769 DEATH-DEALING MACHINES OF WAR 772 Dum Dum Bullet. # .774 Torpedoes.775 American Navy.776 “SKYSCRAPERS” . . . ..778 “ Chicago Construction ” .778 The Tallest Building.778 Fire-Proof Brick.780 COMPRESSED AIR AND PNEUMATIC TUBES.781 MODERN ILLUSTRATING.782 The Colortype.783 THE MEAT MARKET OF THE WORLD 784 The Pens.785 GREAT GOVERNMENTS OF THE EN¬ TIRE WORLD.789 France.• . . 789 Germany.792 Great Britain ... 794 Russia 796 United States of America.798 COLONIAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.802 Porto Rico.802 Cuba.804 The Philippines.806 The Hawaiian Islands.806 TRAVELING IN THE AIR.808 STEEL ROLLING MILLS.812 ACETYLENE GAS—THE NEW ILLUM- INANT.816 PHOTOGRAPHY IN 1900 . 818 Micro-Photography.821 RECENT OCCURRENCES.822 TRYING TO FIND THE POLES.823 The Antarctic Ocean.824 THE PARTITION OF CHINA.825 AMERICAN EXPANSION.826 Our War With Spain.827 RICHES GREATER THAN KING SOLO¬ MON’S .828 COMBINATIONS OF WEALTH.831 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOERS ... 833 Transvaal Government.834 Discovery of Diamonds.834 PAGE Correct Position of a Lady in Writing . . 23 Specimen of Ornamental Pen Work ... 24 Incorrect Mode of Holding the Pen ... 25 Proper Mode of Holding the Pen .... 25 Correct Position of the Hand . 25 Specimen of Pen Flourishing. 26 Ladies’ Handwriting. 28 Specimen of Ornamental Pen Flourish . . 30 Whole-arm Capitals. 32 Signs Used by the Deaf and Dumb ... 34 Ornamental Pen Flourish. 36 Specimen of Ornamental Penmanship . . 38 Specimens of Visiting Cards. 40 The Graceful Speaker. 57 The Awkward Speaker*. 57 Presenting or Receiving. 63 Announcing . 64 Declaring . 64 Wonderment. 65 Gladness. 65 Meditation .. 65 Designating. 66 Silence. 66 Repulsion. 67 Anguish. 67 Remorse. 67 Protecting—Soothing. 68 Exaltation. 68 Denying—Rejecting. 69 Discerning. 69 Awe—Appeal. 70 Defiance. 70 Dispersion. 71 Indecision. 71 The Lover’s Day Dreams.120 Motive-vital Temperament.122 Mental Temperament.123 Vital Temperament.124 Mental-vital Temperament .125 Motive-mental Temperament.126 | f*AGE Gallantry of the Eighteenth Century . . 131 Cross and Obstinate.133 Jealousy.138 A Rival Discovered.140 The Proposal.141 The Lovers’ Reconciliation.145 The Wedding Ceremony.156 Selfish Propensities Large.163 A Family Jar.165 The Ideal Wife.171 The Economical Wife.175 The Happy Mother.177 Voice of the Flowers.183 Fast Friends.208 Fish Globe.210 Aquarium .211 Middle Cut of Salmon.212 Joints of Beef.226 Sirloin of Beef.227 Joints of Veal.228 Half of Calf’s Head.230 Joints of Mutton.231 Joints of Pork.234 Haunch of Venison.237 Roast Fowl.239 Boiled Turkey.240 Health and Beauty.263 Ready for the Tennis Court.266 A Model Home.270 Nature’s Beverage.273 Free Gymnastics, with Twenty-six Illustra¬ tions . 281-294 Dumb-Bells, with Thirteen Illustrations 296-302 Athletic Exercises for Training the Body . 304 Sport in the Gymnasium.307 Swing and Stirrups, with Twenty-seven Il¬ lustrations . 308-319 A Rescue from Drowning.321 Method of Grasping the Arm.323 Pressing upon the Artery.324 xi XU LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE In the Sick Chamber.325 A Morning Call.339 Etiquette of the Drawing Room .... 340 Etiquette of the Table.348 A Lawn Party.351 Entertaining the Guests with a Song . . 352 Travelling Costume.357 Her Morning Ride.359 Artistic Fireplace.363 Rich Pieces of Furniture.364 Selecting Paintings for Home Decoration . 365 What Shall the Answer Be?.371 A Letter of Sympathy.376 A Letter of Recommendation.378 Healthful Exercises.381 Diagram of Lawn Tennis Ground .... 384 Outdoor Sports.885 The Social Part of the Game.386 Backhand Stroke.387 Diagram of Football Grounds.389 Drop-kick.390 Diagram of a Baseball Ground ... . . 391 Cricket.392 A Critical Moment.*. . . . 393 The Wicket. 394 Net Practice. 394 Batter’s Position. 395 Ready for Play. 395 Hitting the Leg. 399 Straight-arm Delivery. 399 High-arm Delivery. 399 Catching a Ftigh Hit.400 Stopping a Ground Ball.401 Stopping a Grounder with One Hand . . 401 Golf Clubs.403 The Finish of the Race.406 A Boating Party. 493 Position in Boxing . ,.410 Leading Off with the Left.410 Hitting with the Left at the Body .... 410 Quadricycle, 1776. 412 Celeripede, 1816.412 Draisine, 1816.412 Hobbyhorse, 1821. 412 Lallement’s Velocipede.412 A Dash Across the Country.41 3 PAGE A Bicycle Railroad.413 The Cycle in Use on the Water .... 414 The Eiffel Tower.416 View of the National Capitol.417 St. Peter’s and the Vatican, Rome ... 418 Largest Pillars in the World—Karnak . . 421 Great Suspension Bridge between New York and Brooklyn.423 One of the Big Trees of California . . . 424 The Bartholdi Statue of Liberty .... 431 The Pilgrims at Plymouth.443 Facsimile of the Original Copy of the Star-Spangled Banner.450 Facsimile of the Original Copy of Our National Hymn.451 Autographs of the Presidents.452 Coats-of-Arms of the United States, with Forty-six Illustrations. 453—456 University of Toronto.458 Parliament House, Ottawa.459 French Entering the City of Mexico . . 460 Battle of Hastings—Death of Harold . . 462 Charlemagne and His Nobles.469 Catharine the Great at the Head of Her Army 47 3 View of Dort.478 Naples, Showing Mt. Vesuvius.482 Pagoda at Chillenbaum, India.493 English Troops on the March in India . . 494 The Grand Mauna Loa in Action .... 511 The Sun and Its Remarkable Spots . . . 515 A Typical Sun-Spot.516 The Earth Floating in Space.519 Wreaths Copied by the Sun.521 The Sun Eclipsed.523 Remarkable Corona.525 Banyan Grove on the Sun.526 Explosive Phenomona in the Sun .... 527 Striking Appearances of Cloud-land . . . 528 Halos and Parhelia. 531 Parhelia Observed by Gassendi.532 Parhelia Observed by Hevelius.532 Parhelia Observed in Tennessee. 533 Bright Halo in Norway. 534 Intersection of Two Wave Systems . . . 535 Celebrated Astromoners. 537 Crescent and Spots of Venus. 530 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Sun, Planets and Comet.540 Relative Sizes of the Sun and Planets . 542 The Planet Saturn.543 Volcanic Craters on the Moon’s Surface 547 Telescopic View of the Moon.549 Section of Moon’s Crescent.550 The Earth as Seen from the Moon . . . 552 Singular Aspect of the Moon’s Surface 553 Cyclone of Spiral Nebula.558 Ursa Major, or Great Bear.560 Ursa Minor, or Eittle Bear.560 Taurus or Bull.561 Cassiopeia.561 The Twins.561 Leo or the Eion.562 Orion. 563 The Scorpion .-...* .563 Various Forms of Comets ....... 665 The Great Comet of 1843 . 566 The Great Meteor Seen at Hurworth . . 567 A Shower of Brilliant Meteors on the Ocean568 Auroral Flames in the Northern Sky. . 570 Brilliant Aurora in the Arctic Seas . . 571 Edison Talking into the Phonograph . 574 Listening to Sounds from the Phonograph 575 Diagram of Trolley Car.577 Communicating by Telephone.578 The Bell Telephone . . ,.579 The Microphone.580 The Voltaic Arc.581 Edison’s Marvelous Incandescent Lamp 582 Electric Rifle. 584 Giving a Shock to People.584 An Electrical Fright.585 Photograph by the X-Rays.587 Photograph of Shot in a Rat’s Body . . 587 How You See Yourself in a Mirror . . 589 The Famous Pepper Ghost.590 Hand-shadows of Animals.592 Weather Signals.596 Wayside Signal Box.599 Interior of a Signal Box.600 Chess Board.605 Backgammon Board.610 Ape—Apish.613 A Striking Pair.• . 613 “ Puss, You Remind Me of-” ... 613 • • • Xlll PAGE Owl—Owlish.614 Marked Resemblance.614 Location of Organs by Phrenologists . 615 The Old Liberty Bell.618 Layman Boat Used in Duck-shooting . 619 Passage of Hell-Gate in the Layman Boat 620 Head for Books.632 An Expert Accountant.633 Head for Mechanics.634 Alcohol Frozen in Liquid Air.702 Liquid Air Boiling on Ice.703 An Electric Automobile.706 Automobiles Passing in Review .... 708 Automobile of English Design .... 710 Modern Dining Car.711 Gentlemen’s Club on Wheels . . , . . 712 Trans-Siberian and Chinese Railway . 713 Convict Camp on the Trans-Siberian Railway.715 Route of the “ Cape to Cairo” Railway 716 Ninety Miles an Hour.- 718 M. Guiglielmo Marconi ........ 720 Wireless Telegraph Station.721 Exterior View of a Wireless Telegraph Station.722 Photograph of the Milky Way .... 727 An Eclipse of the Sun.728 Peary’s Great Meteor—Largest Ever Found. 729 Yerkes’ Telescope—Largest in the World 730 Outlet of a Modern Canal Lock .... 734 California Jack-Rabbit Drive.742 Electrical Machine for X-Ray Work . . 746 So-called X-Ray Exhibition.747 Making a Skiagraph Examination ... 749 The ‘ ‘ Gymnote’ ’ Traveling at the Surface 752 The ‘‘Argonaut ” Floating at the Surface 752 Submarine Voyage of the “Argonaut” 754 Gasoline Engines.755 Linotype Machine and Operator . . . . 763 Stereotyping Room of a Large Daily Newspaper.765 Waiting for Papers at 4 o’clock A. M. . 767 The Foundry.• . . . . 768 Engraving Half-Tones.769 Finishing Department of Electrotype Foundry.771 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE English Dum-Dum Bullet.774 Caring for the Wounded.776 A Modern “ Sky-Scraper ”.779 “ Knocking” Cattle.784 Killing “Kosher” Cattle 785 In the Hog “ Sticking-Pen ”.786 Inspectors Marking Hogs to be Shipped 787 Chicken Killing.788 Gas-Kite Propelled Through Mid-Air . 809 Danilewsky’s Dirigible Flying Machine 810 Flying.811 Blast Furnaces.812 PAGE Unloading Iron Ore.813 A Steel Rail Mill . . . . ,.814 Fifteen Thousand Tons of Steel Rails . 815 Magnetic Traveling Cranes.815 Acetylene Gas Lamp.817 View of a Cocoanut Tree.818 Cocoanuts on the Tree.. . . 819 Snap-Shot Camera.819 Photograph of an Electrical Discharge 820 Electric Spark on a Photographic Plate 821 Almost at the North Pole ....... 824 Hydraulic Mining in Alaska.829 UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP TEXAS UNITED STATES TORPEDO BOAT CUSHING - t UNITED STATES MONITOR MIANTONOMOH UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP INDIANA UNITED 8TATES BATTLESHIP IOWA UNITED STATES PROTECTED CRUISER COLUMBIA UNITED STATES ARMORED CRUISER BROOKLYN UNITED STATES ARMORED CRUISER NEW YORK EDUCATION MONG the wist and pithy sayings cn one of our best known modern writers is this : If a man emp¬ ties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. It is by diligent attention to this rule that the highest success is gained. It is im¬ possible to have the noblest type of man, physically, intellectually or morally, without education. An uneducated ploughboy cannot reach the commanding heights of the widest influence; with educa¬ tion he may rise to the highest position his country can bestow. The biographies of the greatest statesmen, scholars, men of letters, philosophers and others who have gained distinction, invaribly represent them as possessed of an eager thirst for knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton was in the habit of spending whole nights in the study of astronomy and the laws that govern the heavenly bodies. Without such close appli¬ cation he could not have made those immortal discoveries which have been the wonder of all thoughtful minds from his time until the present. It is the observation of one of our modern writers that a human being is not, in any proper sense, a human being until he is edu¬ cated. Thus his slumbering faculties are aroused. The magnificent displays of knowl¬ edge dawn upon him as the morning light brings beauty and fruitfulness to the earth. The word education means to train, to in¬ struct, to awaken our faculties to action; or, taking the word in its primary sense, it means “ to draw out.” It aims at the growth and highest possible culture of the whole man, and the most valuable means for securing this grand result are found in books of use¬ ful knowledge and information. These are the tools with which the rough block is chiselled into symmetry and beauty. The fruits of the earth do not more obviously require labor and cultivation to prepare them for our use and subsistence, than our faculties demand instruction and regulation in order to qualify us to become upright and valuable members of society, useful to others, or happy in ourselves. We must be disciplined and trained. 17 I 18 EDUCATION. Education is a friend which no misfortune can estrange; a companion that never be¬ comes wearisome ; a light that never grows dim; a solace that never fails. It is the helper of the poor and unfortunate, the hand¬ maid of genius, an introduction abroad, and an ornament in every walk of society. With¬ out it, what is man—what can be but an untutored savage ? What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the mind. The philosopher, the saint, the hero, the wise, the good, the great, often lie hidden and concealed in some unnoticed individual, which a proper education might have disinterred and brought to light. The True Motto. Education begins with life. Before we are aware the foundatioms of the future structure are laid. Busy pursuits, the struggle for daily bread, and the toil that cannot be escaped, crowd out the opportunity to engage in the pursuit of knowledge, but if we take the correct view of this most important mat¬ ter, we shall hold that education is never finished, that there is always something new to learn, that the highest summit has not been reached, and we shall still, in the spirit of Longfellow’s “ Excelsior,” press upward with a noble resolve, and a determination that is daunted by no difficulty or failure. Too apt are we to take a narrow, limited view of self-training. One boy is educated to be a bookkeeper; another, to be a draughts¬ man ; another, to be a stenographer; another, to be an electrician ; another, to be a lawyer ' or journalist. It is true that special training is needed for special pursuits, and no less true that the whole man needs to be educated, whatever may be the subsequent calling to be followed. All other training is like lop¬ ping off the branches on one side of the tree and causing them to grow only on the other side—very good branches, perhaps, but a very misshapen tree. Hear what Daniel Webster said : Knowl¬ edge does not comprise all which is contained in the large term of education. The feelings are to be disciplined; the passions are to be restrained ; true and worthy motives are to be inspired; a profound religious feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality inculcated under all circumstances. All this is com¬ prised in education. Said Washington—and our entire history since his day has proved the sagacity of his remark : Promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general dif¬ fusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. The Father of his Country was firm in the conviction that ignorance should have no place among a free people. An Old Legend. There is an old fable in classical My¬ thology which pictures Hydra as a serpent crawling in the slime of marshy Lerna—a monster with many heads, anyone of which, if cut off, was replaced by two others unless the wound was cauterized. The horrid crea¬ ture was slain by Hercules; this was one of the giant’s famous achievements. No less , true is it that ignorance is a hydra with a thousand heads, ugly, dangerous, demonish, and the Hercules that alone can slay it is chat knowledge which comes from enlight¬ ened education. One of our martyred Presidents said : Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be maintained. This means that more than banks, railroads, fac¬ tories, commercial structures thirteen stories EDUCATION. 19 high—more than all the sails of commerce and all the ploughs that turn up golden har¬ vests from prairies, is that thorough training which fits the citizens of a free common¬ wealth for their duties and responsibilties. William Penn, writing to his wife concern¬ ing their children, said : For their learning be liberal. Spare no cost; for by such par¬ simony all is lost that is saved ; but let it be useiul knowledge, such as is consistent with truth and godliness, not cherishing a vain conversation or idle mind ; ingenuity, mixed with industry, is good for the body and the mind too. Thus have the fathers and founders of our nation urged, insisted upon, demanded, all the advantages of liberal education, and, fortunately, these have been provided for all. fife* O one will deny that a large and very important part of mental and physical training is fur¬ nished by parents and teachers, who are the proper guardians and instructors of the young. Their influence is vast and far- reaching. If it were not so, if the school¬ master and professor had no hand in form¬ ing mind and character, the doors of our schools and academies might as well be «hut and nailed up. As wrapt and hidden in the stone’s embrace The future statue lies yet undefined ; Till the nice chisel clears the form dt igned, The trunk, the moving limbs, the speak^ag face Develops : so instruction’s hand must trace The intellectual form, which lies enshrined ’Mid nature’s rude materials ; and the mind * Invest with due proportion, strength and grace. God, to thy teaching, delegates the art To form the future man : the care be thine, No shape unworthy from the marble start, Reptile or monster ; but with j ust design Copy the heavenly model, and impart, As best thou canst, similitude divine. But what can others do for us compared with what we can do for ourselves ? Books are our teachers and the printer’s type rules the world. Very justly it has been said by a recent writer: We all have two educations, one from others, and another, and the most valu¬ able, which we give ourselves. It is this last which fixes our grade in society, and eventu¬ ally our actual condition in this life, and the color of our fate hereafter. All the pro¬ fessors and teachers in the world would not make you a wise or good man without your own co-operation; and if such you are determined to be, the want of them will not prevail. We are to make the most of our¬ selves. It should be the duty of education to make men first and discoveries afterward. The educated man is 'die one who wears the crown—the man who can learn from reading and observation and then apply what he knows. Every manufacturer, and every other employer knows the vast differ- 20 EDUCATION. ence between an educated and uneducated workman. Two men come, soliciting work. One is boorish in appearance, ungrammatical in speech, dull in comprehension because his faculties have never been sharpened ; he seems to be little less than a machine and with scarcely more comprehension. The other is bright, quick, speaks correctly, gives evidence of self-training and capacity. By his side the other presents a pitiable spectacle, and in the competition is distanced, as a trained sprinter outstrips a man on wooden legs. This is something occurring around us every day and within the commonest observation. Great Value of Ready Information. In all education a knowledge of men and things is indispensable. For this reason the cultured classes of Europe, and to some extent of our own country, have considered it essential for the boy or girl who has passed through the schoolroom and mas¬ tered the course of study, to seek informa¬ tion from other sources ; to take a trip through the outside world and lay in a fund of such knowledge as can be obtained only by observing the daily doings of ordinary life and the people who are the actors in events of constant occurrence. The eye is the prime teacher. Open it and keep it open. Look, examine, ask questions, and do not be ashamed to ask. Knock on the lids of books, packed with useful information, and say, “ I am here to learn what you have to tell me. We are to become well acquainted ; I am going to keep company with you ; teach me, surprise me, store my mind with knowledge ; unfold your secrets ; let me into the sanctum ; I have come to stay, and mean to traverse your charming pages until they are worn to a beaten path.” Say this to your books of thought, of knowledge, of all practical information. We say practical, for there is much that you do not need to know, and would not make you wiser if you did know. Common sense is the most uncommon, but it is the best. What will be useful for everyday life, teach- ing you how to think, to feel, to act, to suc¬ ceed, to make the most of yourself, to step up higher and higher on the ladder of fame and fortune—this is what your book should teach. Gold Must be Refined. There is sure to come a time when those who have neglected self-culture in early life see the great mistake they have made ; they regret it when perhaps it is too late. Al¬ though they are conscious of their own defects, their ignorance and sad lack of education, they have not time and opportu¬ nity to apply the remedy. You should, therefore, make the most of your advantages while you have them. Very bright minds may remain in eclipse for want of cultivation. The diamond is not allowed to continue in its rough state ; it must be cut and polished. Gold must be separated from the rude ore ; it is of small account until this is done. Cicero says, cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body. Soil uncultivated may produce the most luxuriant weeds, yet only weeds ; it must be plowed, hoed, harrowed before it will produce good fruit. Chesterfield said : I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention and labor, make him¬ self whatever he pleases, except a great poet. This is only a part of the testimony that is given by the great minds of all ages, affirming that close application and rigorous discipline are essential to the highest attain¬ ments and the most brilliant success. SPECIMEN OF BLACK-BOARD FLOURISHING. SPECIMEN OE BLACK-BOARD FLOURISHING The E nglish Language How to Write and Speak Correctly NY mode by which ideas are commu¬ nicated is a correct definition of lan¬ guage. In a nar¬ rower sense it embraces human speech, and con¬ sists of sounds expressive of thought, made by the organs of the mouth and throat. It also includes written characters. Writing is the art of expressing ideas by visible signs or char¬ acters inscribed on some material. It is either ideographic or phonetic. Ideo¬ graphic writing may be either pictorial, rep¬ resenting objects by imitating their forms, or symbolic, by indicating their nature or prop¬ erties. Phonetic writing may be syllabic or alphabetic; in the former, each character represents a syllable; in the latter, a single letter. The first mention of written letters is in the account given in the Book of Exodus of the Tables of the Law. We are told that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on tables or tablets of stone. This statement has led some writers to believe that letters were divinely invented upon this occasion. There is no necessity, however, for taking this view of the case; for at the time of the “giving of the Law,” a written language belonged to each of the nations on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The Phoenician alphabet, upon which that of the Hebrews was modelled had been in exist¬ ence for several centuries before this time, and as Phoenicia was then a dependency of Egypt, and engaged in active commerce with that country, Moses was doubtless acquainted with the Phoenician system. How We Get the Alphabet. The fact that the Hebrew alphabet was modelled upon the Phoenician seems almost a positive proof of this theory. The early history of the alphabet has to be recon¬ structed from inscriptions, as nothing in the shape of manuscripts is now in existence to tell us what were the forms of the letters. These are handed down in bronze and stone. The date of the invention of the Phoenician alphabet, which was the first purely phonetic system ever used, is now definitely settled. It was during the supremacy of the Shep¬ herd Kings over Egypt. These were princes of Canaanitish origin, who had conquered Lower Egypt, and were contemporary with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The 21 22 MANUAL OF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. discoveries of science give us reason to believe that it was the Shepherd Kings of Avaris, who borrowed from the Egyptian hieratic writing a certain number of alpha¬ betical characters, employed them to re¬ present the sounds of their own language, and thus produced the Phoenician alphabet of twenty-two letters, the origin of most of the other alphabets of the world. The Phoenicians not only invented the alphabet; they taught the use of it to all nations with whom they had commercial transactions.. With the progress of the world, the art of writing and the characters employed were greatly simplified, until the system in use at present was adopted by the civilized nations of the world. Penmanship is the art of writing well. It is one of the most important accomplish¬ ments a person can possess. No matter what your position in life, the ability to write a good, clear, legible hand, is a priceless pos¬ session. To a young man starting out to make his way in life, it is so much genuine capital, which he can turn to advantage at almost every step. The great object should be to write a firm, clear hand, with uniformly made, well-shaped, and properly shaded letters. An abundance of flourishes or marks is a defect, except where ornamental writing or “flourishing” is intended. The present system of forming and com¬ bining letters seems to be perfect. It enables the writer to put, his thoughts on paper almost with the rapidity of speech, and it is not probable that it will ever be improved upon. In this country two styles of penmanship are in use. One is known as the round hand, the other as the angular. A new sys¬ tem, known as the semi-angular, has been introduced, mainly through the efforts of the Spencer^ and of Payson, Dunton and Scribner, and is winning its way to favor. The “copy books” prepared by these masters present the best and most progressive system of penmanship now accessible to the learner, and we cordially commend them to all. Practice Necessary. The only way in which a person can acquire the art of writing a good hand is by constant and conscientious practice. With some persons good penmanship is a gift, but all may acquire it by persistent practice. Select a good system of copies—the series referred to above cannot be improved upon —and try faithfully to form your hand upon the model selected. Do not be satisfied until you can do as well as the master you .are seeking to imitate. Writing- 3Iaterials. It is of the greatest importance that the writing materials used by you should be of the best quality. The pen should be of steel or of gold. Many persons prefer the gold pen, because it more nearly approaches the quill in flexi¬ bility. It is also the most durable pen. A good gold pen, properly used, should last for years. For general use, and especially for ornamental writing, a good steel pen is by far the best. It enables you to make a finer and sharper line than can possibly be made with the gold or quill pen. The paper should be of the best quality and texture, clearly ruled, and not toe rough in surface. It is most common now to use copy books, regularly prepared and ruled. It is a good plan, after you have completed a copy book, to go over the same set of copies again. This may be done by taking half a dozen sheets of foolscap and cutting them in half. Place the half sheets within each other, and stitch them together, protecting the whole with a cover of stiff ART OF WRITING WELL. 2 3 paper. Then use the copies of the book you have just finished, writing on the new !x>ok you have thus made. Blotters and Ink. A slip of blotting-paper should be pro¬ vided for every copy book. In writing rest the hand upon this, especially in warm weather. The perspiration thrown off by the hand is greasy in its nature, and soils the paper upon which the hand rests, and lenders it unfit to receive the ink. Never use poor ink. Black ink should always be used in learning to write, and in ordinary correspondence. Blue and red inks are designed for special purposes, and not for ordinary use. An ink that flows freely and is nearly black when first used is best. Do not use a shallow or light inkstand. The first will not allow you to fill your pen properly; the latter will be easily turned over. The inkstand should be heavy and flat, and of such a form that you can at once see the amount of ink in it, and thus know how deep to dip your pen. Dip your pen lightly into the ink, and see that it does not take up too much. The surplus ink should be thrown back into the inkstand, and not upon the floor. By stopping the mouth of the bottle when you have finished using it, you will prevent the ink from evaporating too fast, and also from becoming too thick. A pen wiper should always be provided. This should be of some substance that will not leave a fibre in the slit of the pen. A linen rag or a piece of chamois or buckskin will answer. Position of the Writer. After you have learned to write, it is well to provide your desk with a lead pencil, a piece of India rubber, a ruler, and a bottle of mucilage and a brush. In writing in a sitting position, a flat table is the best. The position of the writer is a matter of the greatest importance, as it decides his comfort at the time, and exercises a powerful influence upon his general health. The main object is to acquire an easy and graceful position, one in which the right arm has full play of the muscles used in writing. The table should be sufficiently high to compel you to sit upright. Avoid stooping, as destructive of a good hand and of good health. Your position should be such as will enable you to fill your lungs without much CORRECT POSITION OF A LADY IN WRITING. effort. Sit with your right side next to the desk or table, and in such a position that the light will fall over your right shoulder upon the paper. The right forearm must be placed on the desk so as to rest the muscle front of the elbow, and the hand placed on the book so as to rest the nails of the third and fourth fingers. The forearm must be at right angles with the copy, the book being steadied by the fingers of the left hand placed on the paper at the left of the pen-point. Hold the wrist naturally over the desk, and you will see that the inner side is raised a little higher than 24 ART OF WRITING WELL. 25 the outer. Keep the wrist free from the desk, and do not let it turn over to the right or the left, or bend down or up, or otherwise. How to Hold the Pen. Hold the pen lightly between the thumb and first two fingers, letting it cross the forefinger in front of the third joint. Rest the base of the holder at the nail of the middle finger. Place the forefinger over the holder. Bend the thumb and fingers out¬ ward, and the third and fourth fingers under to rest the hand on the nails. Let the nibs of the pen press the paper evenly. The movements in writing are produced by the extension and retraction of the pen- fingers and the thumb; by the action of the forearm on the arm-rest as a centre of motion; the whole arm movement, which is the action of the whole arm from the shoulder as the centre of motion; and the union of all these move¬ ments. In or¬ dinary writing, the first is suffi¬ cient. In orna¬ mental writing, flourishing, etc., all the various move¬ ments are em¬ ployed. The fingers should be kept flexible, and their move- mentsaswell as those of the hand and wrist, should be free and unrestrain¬ ed. Cramping or stiffening either the fingers or the wrist causes the handwriting to be cramped and awkward, and greatly fatigues the writer. The pen should be held as lightly as though the least pressure would crush it, and not grasped as though you thought it would fly away. The Standing- Position. I11 standing at a desk to write, stand up¬ right, and with the chest well thrown out. The desk should be high enough to compel you to do this. It should slightly incline from the outer edge upwards, and should project far enough to allow you to place your feet well under it. The principal weight of the body should rest upon the left foot, the right being thrown forward. Stand with your left side toward the desk, and rest your body on the left elbow, which should be laid upon the desk in such a manner as to enable-you to steady your paper or book with the left hand. This position will en¬ able you to write freely in the ordinary manner, or to use the whole forearm should you desire to do so. The pen-holder should point towards the right shoulder. A great saving of fatigue is made by assuming and keeping a correct position while writing either sitting or standing. By conscientiously attending to this matter, you will soon acquire the habit of maintaining a correct position, and will reap the benefit in the ease with which you perform your task, and in improved health. No one should be satisfied with a bad handwriting when it is in his power to im¬ prove it. Any one can procure a copy¬ book, and can spare an hour, or half an hour, a day for this effort at improvement. You should begin at the beginning, and practise faithfully until you have reached a satisfactory result. Remember that a good hand is not acquired in a week or a month; it takes long and diligent practice to produce PROPER MODE OF HOLDINU THE PEN. CORRECT POSITION OF THE HAND. ■26 SPECIMEN OF PEN FLOURISHING, ART OF WRITING WELL. this result. The end, however, is worth all the labor necessary to its accomplishment. Plain Writing* Always the Best. The great aim should be to make the handwriting legible. An ornamental hand is very attractive, but it may be this and ye" not easily read. This is to fail in the first requisite of good writing. The advantages of writing well are numerous, and will readily suggest them¬ selves. In the first place, it is alwavs a pleasure to prepare a plainly and neatly- written letter or paper. The writer is then never afraid or ashamed for his friends to see his writing, and is never disgraced by a wretched scrawl in addressing a letter to a stranger. A good hand is also an invaluable aid to a young man seeking employment. A mer¬ chant in employing clerks and salesmen w r ill always give the preference to the best pen¬ man. A young man applying by letter for a situation can scarcely offer a better refer¬ ence than the appearance of his letter. Should you wish to become a book-keeper or accountant, a good handwriting is a neces¬ sity. How to Spell Correctly. Whether a person is a good penman or not, it is necessary that he should know how to make use of his ability to write, or, in other words, how to transfer correctly his thoughts to paper. The first requisite is to know how to spell correctly. This is even more important than writing a good hand. A badly-spelled letter is much more of a disgrace to the writer than one badly w 7 ritten. The habit of spelling correctly may be easily acquired, and once mastered is rarely lost. Our language is so rich in w r ords that even the best of spellers may sometimes be unable to give the proper orthography of a word, but 2 7 the knowledge of the general principles which govern the formation of English words will enable him to meet all the ordi¬ nary demands likely to be made upon him, These may be found in almost any spelling- book, or work upon the principles of com¬ position. It is well, however, to give a few of the most important here. We may remark, in passing, that writing words out in full on paper, or on a slate, is an admirable means of impressing them upon the memory. All words of one syllable ending in /, with a single vowel before it, have double l at the close: as mill, sell. All words of one syllable ending in /, with a double vowel before it, have one l only at the close: as mail , sail. Words of more than one syllable ending in /, when compounded, retain but one / each: as, fulfil, skilful. Words of more than one syllable ending in /, have one l only at the close: as, delight¬ ful, faithful,' except befall, downfall, recall , unwell , etc. All derivations from words ending in l have one l only: as, equality , from equal; fulness, from full; except they end in er or ly: as, mill, miller; full, fully. All participles in ing from verbs ending in e lose the e final: as, have , having; amuse, amusing; unless they come from verbs end¬ ing in double e, and then they retain both: as, see, seeing; agree, agreeing. All adverbs in ly and nouns in merit retain the e final of the primitives: as, brave, bravely; refine, refinement; except acknowl¬ edgment and judgment. All derivations from words ending in er retain the e before the r : as, refer, reference ; except hindrance, from hinder; remembrance., from remember; disastrous, from disaster; monstrous, from monster; wondrous, from wonder; cy.m'rous, from cumber, etc. 28 SPECIMEN OF BLACK-BOARD FLOURISHING- | m m mm jpl ■I SPECIMEN OF BLACK-BOARD FLOURISHING. ART OF WRITING WELL. .2 9 Compound words, if both end not in /, retain their primitive parts entire: as, mill¬ stone, changeable, raceless; except always , #/.$•e noticed in the use of crotchets and brackets: Crotchets are used to enclose a sentence, or part of a sentence, which is inserted between the parts of another sentence: Brackets are generally used to separate two subjects or to enclose an explanatory note or observation standing by itself. When a parenthesis occurs within another parenthesis, brackets enclose the former, and crotchets the latter ; as in the following sentence from Stern : “I know the banker I deal with, or the physician I usually call in [there is no need, cried Dr. Slop (wak¬ ing), to call in any physician in this case], to be neither of them man of much religion.” It may be here remarked that a parenthe¬ sis is frequently placed between commas, in¬ stead of crotchets, etc.; but the best writers avoid the use of parenthesis as much as possible. The hyphen is a small mark placed between the parts of a compound word; as, sea-water, semi-circle. The hyphen is also used to denote the long sound of a vowel; as, Epicure-an, deco-rum. The hyphen must always be put at the end of the line when part of the word is in one line and part in another; but in this case, the letters of a syllable must never be sep¬ arated ; as, extraor¬ dinary, not ext¬ raordinary. The dash is a straight mark longer than a hyphen; thus, — The proper use of the dash is to express ar sudden stop or change of the subject; but by modern writers, it is employed as a sub¬ stitute for almost all of the other marks: being used sometimes for a comma, semi¬ colon, colon or period; sometimes for a question or an exclamation, and sometimes for crotchets and brackets to enclose a paren¬ thesis. An ellipsis or omission of words, syllables or letters, is indicated by various marks: sometimes by a dash ; as, the k-g, for tne king; sometimes by asterisks or stars, like these, * * * *; sometimes by hyphens, thus,. - - - -; sometimes by small dots or periods,, like these, .... The breve (thus ^ ) is placed over a vowel to indicate its short sound ; St. Helena. The apostrophe is the comma placed above the line. It is used as the sign of the pos¬ sessive case, and sometimes indicates the omission of a letter or several letters; as, “John’s;” “’tis” for “it is;” “ tho’” for ‘ though;” “lov’d” for “loved;” “I’ll” tor “I will.” The quotation marks, or inverted commas^ as they are sometimes called, consist of four commas, two inverted, or upside down, at the beginning of a word, phrase or sentence which is auoted or transcribed from some JL author in his own words ; and two others, iv \ 36 ART OF WRITING WELL. 37 theii direct position, placed at the conclu¬ sion ; as, an excellent poet says: “The proper study of mankind is man.” Sometimes the quotation is marked by sin¬ gle instead of double commas. The diaeresis consists of two periods placed over the latter of two vowels to show that they are to be pronounced in separate sylla¬ bles ; as, Laocoon, Zoonomia, cooperate. The brace is employed to unite several lines of poetry, or to connect a number of •words with one common term ; and it is also used to prevent a repetition in writing or printing ; thus, “Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught him to join 'j The varying verse, the full-resounding line, 1 The long majestic march and energy divine.” j C-e-o-u-s j C-i-o-u-s ^ o _ ; o I are pronounced like shus. "1 “O” IT”S | T-i-o-u-s J The cedilla, or cerilla, is a curve line placed under the letter c ) to show that it has the sound of It is used principally in words derived from the French language. Thus gargon, in which word the g is to be pronounced like j. The accents are marks used to signify the proper pronounciation of words. The accents are three in number : The grave accent, thus, v The acute accent, thus, ' The circumflex accent, thus, A The grave accent is represented by a mark placed over a letter, or syllable, to show that it must be pronounced with the falling in¬ flection of the voice ; as, Reuthamir. The acute accent is represented by a similar mark, pointing in the opposite direction, to show that the letter or syllable must be pronounced with the rising inflec¬ tion of the voice ; thus, Epicurean, European. The meaning of a sentence often depends on the kind of accent which is used; thus the following sentence, if the acute accent be used on the word alone , becomes a ques- tion: “ Pleased thou shalthear, and thou alone shalthear?” But if the grave accent be placed on the word alone , it becomes a simple declaration • as, ‘ ‘ Pleased thou shalt hear, and thou alone shalt hear. ” The circumflex accent is the union of the grave and acute accents, and indicates that the syllable on which it is placed should have both the rising and falling inflection of the voice. The caret is a mark resembling an in¬ verted V , placed under the line. It is never used in printed books, but, in manuscripts, shows that something has been accidentally omitted; as, recited “ George has his lesson.” A When many notes occur on a page, and the reference marks given above are ex¬ hausted, it is customary to double them. Some writers prefer to use the numerals, i, 2, 3, 4, etc., as simpler. This is a matter of taste with the writer. Sections and Paragraphs. The section § and the paragraph If are used to mark the parts of a composition that should be separated. Where you wish the compositor to separate a paragraph into two or more paragraphs, it is not necessary to rewrite the page. Place the 1 where you wish each new paragraph to begin, and the compositor will understand your wishes. A paragraph denotes the beginning of a new subject, or a sentence not connected with the foregoing. A section is used for subdividing a chapter into smaller parts. It is proper here to add, that every com¬ position should be divided into paragraphs, 38 ART OF WRITING WELL. 39 when the sense will allow the separation. Different subjects, unless they are very short, or very numerous in a small compass, should be separated into paragraphs. Underscoring. Many mistakes arise from improperly underscoring the words of a manuscript or letter. It is well to refrain from underscor¬ ing a word wherever you can do so with propriety, just as you would avoid unduly emphasizing your words in speaking. A single line drawn under a word indicates that it must be set by the compositor in italics; as, “ I dearly love her.” Two lines indicate small capitals; as, “I honor him.” Three lines indicate large capitals ; as, “ Help, help, I cry.” GENERAL PRIN CIPLES OF GRA MMAR. Although the details of Grammar and grammatical rule are not embraced in the plan of this work, we may with propriety present some observations with regard to those principles which are most frequently forgotten or disregarded by careless writers. These are here presented in the form of directions. Direction ist. In determining the number of a verb, regard must be had to the idea which is embraced in the subject or nominative. Whenever the idea of plu¬ rality is conveyed, whether it be expressed by one word or by one hundred, and how¬ ever connected, and in whatever number the subject may be, whether singular or plural, all verbs relating to it must be made to agree, not with the number of the word or words , but with the number of the idea con¬ veyed by the words. Direction 2d. In the use of pronoun, the same remark applies: namely, that the number of the pronoun must coincide with the idea contained in the word, or words, to which the pronoun relates. If it imply unity, the pronoun must be singular; if it convey plurality, the pronoun must be plural. These directions will be better understood by an example. Thus, in the sentence, “Each of them, in their turn, receive the benefits to which they are entitled,” the verbs and pronouns are in the wrong number. The word each, although it includes all , implies but one at a time . The idea , therefore, is the idea of unity , and the verb and pronoun should be singular; thus, “Each of them in his turn receives the benefit to which he is entitled.” The same remark may be made with re¬ gard to the following sentences: “Every per¬ son, whatever be their (his) station, is bound by the duties of morality.” “The wheel killed another man, who is the sixth that have (has) lost their (his) lives (life) by these means.” “I do not think that any one should incur censure for being tender of their (his) reputation.” Direction 3d. In the use of verbs and words which express time, care must be taken that the proper tense be employed to express the time that is intended. Perhaps there is no rule more frequently violated than this, even by good writers; but young writers are very prone to the error; thus the author of the Waverley Novels has the fol¬ lowing sentence: “ ‘ Description,’ he said, ‘ was (is) to the author of a romance exactly what drawing and tinting were (are) to a painter; v 7 ords were (are) his colors, and, if properly em¬ ployed, they coidd (can) not fail to place the scene which he wished (wishes) to conjure up as effectually before the mind’s eye as the tablet or canvas presents it to the bodily or¬ gan. The same rules,’ he continued, ‘ ap¬ plied (apply) to both, and an exuberance of 40 SPECIMENS OF VISITING CARDS. ART OF WRITING WELL. dialogue in the former case was (is) a verbose , and laborious mode of composition, which went (goes) to confound the proper art of the drama, a widely different species of compo¬ sition, of which dialogue was (is) the very essence ; because all, excepting the language to be made use of, was (is) presented to the eye by the dresses, and persons, and actions of the performers upon the stage.’” The author was misled throughout in the tenses of the verbs in this extract by the tense of the verb said , with which he intro¬ duces it. Direction 4th. Whenever several verbs belonging to one common subject occur in a sentence, the subject or nominative must be repeated whenever there is a change in the mood, tense, or form of the verb. Direction 5th. In the use of the com¬ parative and superlative degrees of the adjec¬ tive it is to be remarked, that when two things or persons only are compared, the comparative degree, and not the superlative, should be used. Thus, in the sentence, “Catharine and Mary are both well attired ; but, in their appearance, Catharine is the neatest, Mary the most showy,” the superla¬ tive degree of the adjective is improperly ap¬ plied. As there are but two persons spoken of, the adjectives should be in the compara¬ tive degree : namely, neater and more showy. Direction 6th. Neuter and intransitive verbs should never be used in the passive form. Such expressions as was gone , is grown , is fallen , is come , may be relied on , etc., although used by some good writers, are objectionable. Direction 7th. In the use of irregular verbs, a proper distinction should be made in the use of the imperfect tense and the perfect r - participle. He done (did) it at my request; he run Iran) a great risk ; he has mistook (mistaken) 7 T C 4r his true interest ; the cloth w T as wave (woven) i of the finest wool; he writes as the best au¬ thors would have wrote (written) had they writ (written) upon the subject; the bell has been rang (rung); I have spoke (spoken) to him upon the subject These sentences are instances where the proper distinction be¬ tween the preterite and participle has not been preserved. Direction 8th. The negative adverb must be followed by the negative conjunc¬ tion ; as, “The work is not capable of pleas¬ ing the understanding, nor (not or) the imag¬ ination.” The sentence would be improved by using the conjunction in pairs, substitut¬ ing neither for not. In the following sentences, the conjunc¬ tion but is improperly used : “I cannot deny but that I was m fault.” “ It cannot be doubted but that this is a state of positive gratification.” Direction 9th. There must be no ellipsis of any word, when such ellipsis would occasion obscurity. Thus, when we speak of “ the laws of God and man,” it is uncertain whether one or tw T o codes of laws are meant; but, in the expression, “ the laws of God and the laws of man,” the obscurity vanishes. A nice distinction in sense is made by the use or omission of the articles. “A white and red house” means but one house; but “A white and a red house” means two houses. In the expression, “She has a little modesty,” the meaning is posi¬ tive; but by omitting the article, “She has little modesty,” the meaning becomes nega¬ tive. The position of the article, also, fre¬ quently makes a great difference in the sense, as will be seen in the following examples: “As delicate a little thing;” “ As a delicate little thing.” Direction 10th. The adverb should always be placed as near as possible to the 42 MANUAL OF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. word which it is designed to qualify. Its j proper position is generally before adjectives, after verbs and frequently between the auxiliary and the verb. The following sentence exhibits an instance of the im¬ proper location of the adverb: “It had almost been his daily custom, at a certain hour, to visit Admiral Priestman.” The adverb almost should have been placed before daily . Direction nth. In the use of passive and neuter verbs, care must be taken that the proper nominative is applied. That which is the object of the active verb must in all cases be the subject or nominative of the passive verb. Thus, we say, with the active verb, “They offered him mercy” (i. e ., to him): and, with the passive verb, “Mercy was offered to him;” not “He was offered mercy,” because “mercy,” not “he,” is the thing which was offered. It is better to alter the expression by substituting a synonym with a proper nominative or sub¬ ject, than to introduce such confusion of language, as must necessarily result from a change in the positive, fixed and true signifi¬ cations of words, or from a useless violation of grammatical propriety. In accordance with this direction (see, also, Direction 6th), Instead of He was prevailed on, He was spoken to, She was listened to, They were looked at, It is approved of, He was spoken of, It is contended for, It was thought cf, He was called on by his friend, These examples are commented upon with much humor, He was referred to as an oracle, It would be better to say , He was.persuaded. He was addressed. She was heard. They were seen, or viewed. It is liked, or commended. He was named, or mentioned. It is maintained, or contested. It was remembered ,or conceived. He was visited by his friend. These examples are ridiculed with much humor. He was consulted as an oracle. Direction 12th. All the parts of a sen¬ tence should be constructed in such a man¬ ner that there shall appear to be no want of agreement or connection among them. Thus, the following sentence, “ He was more be¬ loved, but not so much admired as Cynthio,” is inaccurate, because when it is analyzed, it will be, “ He was more beloved as Cynthio,” etc. The adverb more requires the conjunc¬ tion than after it; and the sentence should be, “ He was more beloved than Cynthio, but not so much admired.” Again, in the sentence, “ If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray,” etc., the subjunctive word, have , is used after the conjunction if, in the first part of the sentence, and the indicative ^0^, in the sec¬ ond. Both of these verbs should be in the indicat* or both in the subiunctive mood. No definite rule can be given which will enable the learner to make the parts of a sen¬ tence agree in themselves, and with one an¬ other. They should be diligently compared, and a similarity of construction be carefully maintained ; while the learner will recollect that no sentence can be considered grammat¬ ically correct, wdiich cannot be analyzed or parsed by the authorized rules of Syntax. Construction of Sentences. In fue construction of sentences care should be taken ',0 choose the simplest words, and those which most directly and strikingly convey the meaning you w T ish to express. Three things are necessary in a correct sentence— purity , propriety and pre¬ cision. Purity consists in using such words and expressions as belong to the idiom of the English language, in place of words or phrases drawn from foreign or dead lang¬ uages, or that are either ungrammatical, ob¬ solete, newly coined or not sanctioned by usage. The use of words that are not Eng¬ lish is a violation of this rule, and is termed a barbarism. The rule is also violated by the use of words or phrases not constructed ART OF WRITING WELL. 43 111 the English idiom This fauL is termed clearly and strikingly expressed, are the a solecism , By using words or phrases to best. convey a meaning different from that as- The Best Style., signed to them by custom, you also violate “ Style,” says Dr. Blair, “ is the peculiar the rule. This is termed an impropriety. manner in which a writer expresses his Propriety in writing consists in the use of thoughts bv words.” words sanctioned by tile usage of the best writers to convey your meaning, and in the avoidance of low-, vulgar or less elegant and significant words. In order to remain faith¬ ful to this principle, a waiter should bear in mind the following rules : Avoid low or slang expressions. Supply words that are wanting. Do not use the same word in different senses. Wherever it is possible, avoid the use of technical terms, by which is meant terms or expressions used in some art, occu¬ pation or profession. Do not use ambiguous or equivocal words. Avoid unintelligible and inconsistent words or phrases. When words or phrases are not adapted to the ideas you intend to communicate, avoid the use of them. Precision means to make your writing a clear mid concise statement of your thoughts, so clear that no one reading it can fail to com¬ prehend your exact meaning. You may use words that convey a meaning different from that you intend ; or they may not entirely convey your meaning ; or they may convey more than you intend. Precision is des¬ igned to express neither more nor less than your exact thought. Do not make your sentences very long ; neither make them very short. When a sentence is too long, the attention of the reader is draw-11 off from the first part while considering the last, and he finds it difficult to perceive the connection between them. Short sentences generally weaken the thought. Sentences of moderate length, Various terms are applied to style to ex¬ press its character, as a harsh style, a dry style, a tumid or bombastic style, a loose style, a terse style, a laconic or a verbose style, a flowing style, a lofty style, an ele¬ gant style, an epistolary style, a formal style, a familiar style, etc. The divisions of style, as given by Dr. Biair, are as follows : The diffuse and the concise, the nervous and the feeble, the dry, the plain, the neat, the elegant, the florid, the simple, the affected, and the vehement. These terms are altogether arbitrary, and are not uniformly adopted in every treatise on rhetoric. Some writers use the terms barren and luxuriant, forcible and vehe¬ ment. elevated and dignified, idiomatic, easy and animated, etc., in connection with the terms, or some of the terms employed by Dr. Blair. The character of the style, and the term by which it is designated, depends partly on the clearness, the fulness, and the force with which the idea is expressed; partly on the de¬ gree of ornament or of figurative language employed ; while the character of the thoughts or ideas themselves is expressed by the names of simple or natural, affected and vehement. A concise writer compresses his ideas in¬ to the fewest words, and these the most ex¬ pressive. A diffuse writer unfolds his idea fully, b> placing it in a variety of lights. A nervous writer gives us a strong idea oi his meaning—his words are always express¬ ive—every phrase and every figure renders 44 MANUAL OF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. thv picture which he would set before us more striding and complete. A feeble writer has an indistinct view of his subject ; unmeaning words and loose epithets escape him ; his expressions are vague and general, his arrangements indis¬ tinct, and our ''onception of his meaning wiL be faint and confused. A dry writer uses no ornament of any kind, and, content with being understood, aims not to please the fancy or the ear. A plain writer employs very little orna¬ ment ; he observes perspicuity, propriety, purity, and precision in his language, but attempts none of the graces of composition. A dry writer is incapabL of ornament—a plain writer goes not in oursuit of it A neat writer is careful in the choice of his words, and the graceful collocation of them. His sentences are free from the en¬ cumbrances of superfluous words, and his figures are short and accurate, rather than bold and glowing. An elegant writer possesses all the graces of ornament—polished periods, figurative language, harmonious expressions, and a great degree of purity in the choice of his words, all characterized by perspicuity and propriety. He is one, in short, who delights the fancy and the ear, while he informs the understanding. A florid or flowery writer is characterized by excess of ornament; and seems to be more intent on beauty of language than solidity of thought. A simple or natural writer is distinguished by simplicity of plan; he makes his thoughts appear to rise naturally from his subject; he has no marks of art in his expressions, and although he may be characterized by great richness both of language and imagination, he appears to write in that way not because he had studied it, but because it is the mode of expression most natural to him. The charm of such a style is evident to all readers. An affected writer is the very reverse of a simple one. He uses words in uncommon meanings—employs pompous expressions— and his whole manner is characterized by singularity rather than by beauty. A vehement writer uses strong expressions —is characterized by considerable warmth of manner—and presents his ideas clearly and fully before us. The following directions are given by Dr. Blair for attaining a good style: The first direction is, study clear ideas of the subject on which you are to write or speak. What we conceive clearly and feel strongly, we naturally express with clearness and strength. Secondly, to the acquisition of a good style, frequency of composing is indispens¬ ably necessary. But it is not every kind of composition that will improve style. By a careless and hasty habit of writing, a bad style will be acquired. In the beginning, therefore, we ought to write slowly and with much care. Facility and speed are the fruit of experience. Thirdly, acquaintance with the style of the best authors is peculiarly requisite. Hence a just taste will be formed, and a copious fund of words supplied on every subject. No ex¬ ercise, perhaps, will be found more useful for acquiring a proper style than translating some passage from an eminent author in our own words, and then comparing what we have written with the style of the author. Such an exercise will show us our defects, will teach us to correct them, and, from the variety of expression which it will exhibit, will conduct us to that which is most beau¬ tiful. Fourthly, caution must be used against servile imitation of any author whatever* ART OF WRITING WELL. 45 Desire of imitation hampers genius, and generally produces stiffness of expression. They who copy an author closely, commonly copy his faults as well as his beauties. It is much better to have something of our own, though of moderate beauty, than to shine in borrowed ornaments, which will at last betray the poverty of our genius. Fifthly, always adapt your style to the subject, and likewise to the capacity of your hearers or readers. When we are to write or speak, we should previously fix in our minds a clear idea of the end aimed at; keep this steadily in view, and adapt our style to it Lastly, let no attention to style engross us so much as to prevent a higher degree of attention to the thoughts. He is a contemp¬ tible writer who looks not beyond the dress of language; who lays not the chief stress upon his matter, and employs not such ornaments of style as are manly, not foppish. “It is a useful admonition to young writers,” says Archbishop Whately, “that they should always attempt to recast a sen¬ tence that does not please; altering the arrangement and entire structure of it, instead of merely seeking to change one word for another. This will give a great advantage in point of copiosness also ; for there may be, suppose a substantive (or noun) which, either because it does not fully express our mean¬ ing, or for some other reason, we wish to remove, but can find no other to supply its place. But the object may be easily accom¬ plished by means of a verb, adverb, or other part of speech, the substitution of which implies an alteration in the construction. It is an exercise, accordingly, which may be commended as highly conductive to improve¬ ment of style to practice casting a sentence into a variety of different forms.” The foregoing practical rules shonld be casefully noted and followed. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The English language consists of about thirty-eight thousand words. This includes, of course, not only radical woids, but all derivatives; except the preterits and partici¬ ples of verbs ; to which must be added some few terms, which, though set down in the dictionaries, are either obsolete or have never ceased to be considered foreign. Of these, about twenty-three thousand, or nearly five-eighths, are of Anglo-Saxon origin. The majority of the rest, in what proportion we cannot say, are Latin and Greek; Latin, however, has the larger share. The names of the greater part of the objects of sense—in other words, the terms which occur most frequently in discourse, or which recall the most vivid conceptions—are Anglo- Saxon. Thus, for example, the names of the most striking objects in visible nature, of the chief agencies at work there, and of the changes which pass over it, are Anglo- Saxon. This language has given names to the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and stars ; to three of the four elements, earth, fire, and water; three out of the four seasons, spring, summer and winter; and, indeed, to all the natural divisions of time, except one ; as, day, night, morning, evening, twilight, noon, midday, midnight, sunrise, sunset; some of which are amongst the most poetical terms we have. To the same language we are indebted foi the names of light, heat, cold, frost, rain, snow, hail, sleet, thunder, lightning, as well as almost all of those subjects which form the component parts of the beautiful in external scenery, as sea and land, hill and dale, wood and stream, etc. It is from this language we derive the words which are expressive of the earliest and dearest connections, and the strongest and most powerful feelings of nature ; and 46 MANUAL OF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. which are, consequently, invested with our oldest and most complicated associations. It is this language which has given us names for father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, home, kindred, friends. It is this which has furnished us with the greater part of those metonymies, and other figurative expressions, by which we represent to the imagination, and that in a single w r ord, the reciprocal duties and enjoyments of hos¬ pitality, friendship, or love. Such are hearth, roof, fireside. The chief emotions, too, of which we are susceptible, are expressed in the same language, as love, hope, fear, sorrow, shame; and what is of more conse¬ quence to the orator or poet, as well as in common life, the outward signs by which emotion is indicated are almost all Anglo- Saxon ; such are tear, smile, blush, to laugh, to weep, to sigh, to groan. Most of those objects, about which the practical reason of man is employed in com¬ mon life, receive their names from the Anglo- Saxon. It is the language for the most part of business; of the counting-house, the shop, the market, the street, the farm ; and, how¬ ever miserable the man who is fond of phil¬ osophy or abstract science might be, if he had no other vocabulary but this, we must recol¬ lect that language was made not for the few, but the many, and that portion of it which enables the bulk of a nation to express their wants and transact their affairs, must be considered of at least as much importance to general happiness, as that which serves the purpose of philosophical science. Nearly all our national proverbs, in which, it is truly said, so much of the practical wis¬ dom of a nation resides, and which constitute the manual and vade mecum of “ hobnailed ” philosophy, are almost wholly Anglo-Saxon. A very large proportion (and that always the strongest) of the language of invective, humor, satire, colloquial pleasantry, is Anglo- Saxon. Almost all the terms and phrases by which we most energetically express anger, contempt, and indignation, are of Anglo- Saxon origin. The Latin contributes most largely to the language of polite life, as well as to that of polite literature. Again, it is often necessary to convey ide $ r which, though not truly and properly offen¬ sive in themselves, would, if clothed in the rough Saxon, appear so to the sensitive modesty of a highly refined state of society \ dressed in Latin, these very same ideas w T ill seem decent enough. There is a large num¬ ber of words, which, from the frequency with which they are used, and from their being so constantly in the mouths of the vulgar, would not be endured in polished society, though more privileged synonyms of Latin origin, cr some classical circum¬ locution, expressing exactly the same thing, pass unquestioned. There may be nothing dishonest, nothing really vulgar about the old Saxon word, yet it would be thought as uncouth in a drawinr- O o room, as the ploughman to wdiose rude use it is abandoned. Thus, the word “stench y> is lavendered over into unpleasant effluvia , or or an ill odor • “sweat,” diluted into four times the number of syllables, becomes a very inoffensive thing in the shape of “per¬ spiration.” To “squint” is softened into obliquity of vision ; to be “drunk ” is vulgar;, but, if a man be simply intoxicated or in¬ ebriated, it is comparatively venial. Indeed, we may say of the classical names of vices, what Burke more questionably said of vices themselves, “that they lose half their de¬ formity by losing all their grossness.” In the same manner, we all know that It is very possible for a medical man to put to us questions under the seemly disguise of scientific phraseology and polite circumlocu- ART OF WRITING WELL. tion, which, if expressed in the bare and rude vernacular, would almost be as nauseous as his draughts and pills. Lastly, there are many thoughts which gain immensely by mere novelty and variety of expression. ’This the judicious poet, who knows that the connection between thoughts and words is as intimate as that between body and spirit, well understands. There are thoughts in them¬ selves trite and common-place, when ex¬ pressed in the hackneyed terms of common life, which, if adorned by some graceful or felicitous novelty of expression, assume an unwonted air of dignity and elegance. What was trivial, becomes striking ; and what was plebeian, noble. COMMON ERRORS TN WRITING AND SPEAKING. There are many popular errors in writing Rnd speaking our language. It may be well to notice some of them here. We often hear the phrase, from educated lips at that, “ Between you and I.” It should be, “ Between you and me.” Many persons say, “ What beautiful bread!” It should be, “What nice breaa!” Instead of, “A new pair of shoes,” say, “A pair of new shoes." Do not say, “ Restore it back to me,” but “ Restore it to me.” Instead of, “I seldom or ever meet her,” say, “ I seldom meet her.” Instead of, “ If I am not mistaken,” say, “ If I mistake not.” Do not say, “Not no such thing,” but “Not any such thing.” Instead of, “I had rather walk,” say, “ I would rather walk.” Instead of, “Let you and I,” say, “Let you and me.” Instead of, “Rather warmish,” say, “Rather warm.” 47 Instead of, “ What a nice view,” say, “ What a beautiful view.” Do not say, “Bred and born.” It should be, “ Born and bred.” Instead of, “ If I was him,” say, “If I were he.” Do not say, “ I have less friends than you. 5 It should be, “ I have fewer friends than you.” In reply to the question, “Who is there?” or, “Who is it?” say, “I,” or, “It is I;” and not, “ Me,” or, “ It is me.” “Whether I be present or no,” is wrong. It should be, “Whether I be present or not.” Instead of, “I had better go,” say, “It were better that I should go.” “A quantity of people,” is wrongs It should be, “A number of people.” “ Six weeks back,” is a barbarism. It should be, “Six weeks ago.” “A new pair of gloves.” It should be, “A pair of new gloves.” Instead of saying, “He was in emkie nt danger,” say, “ He was in imminent dam ger.” “ Thinks I to myself,” “ Thinks I,” “ S; ys I,” ‘ Says he,” are vulgarisms and shoulf be avoided. Instead of, “I only want ten cents,” s'ly “ I want only ten cents.” 1 ‘ Because why ? ” is a barbarism. It should be simply, “Why?” “ The best of the two,” is wrong. Say, “ The better of the two.” “ There’s fifty,” is incorrect. It should be, “There are fifty.” “ He need not do it,” is wrong. Say, “ He needs not do it.” Instead of, “ It was spoke in my presence,’ say, “It was spoken in my presence^ “She said, said she,” is vulgar, as well as incorrect. It should be, “She said.” Instead of saying, “My clothes have grown 48 MANUAL OF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. too small for me,” say, “ I have grown too etout for my clothes.” The change is in you, not in your clothes. Do not say, “ On either side of the street.” It should be, “ On each side of the street.” “ I took you for another person,” is in¬ correct. It should be, u I mistook you for another person.” Instead of, “ His health has been shook,” say, “His health has been shaken.” Instead of, “ That there man,” say, “That man.” Instead of, “ Somehow or another,” say, “ Somehow or other.” Instead of, “Will I do this for you?” -say, “ Shall I do this for you ? ” Instead of, “What will I do?” say, What shall I do ? ” Instead of, “Following up a principle,” Say, “ Guided by a principle.” Instead of saying, “ I belong to the Ma¬ sonic order,” say, “ I am a member of the Masonic order.” Instead of, “ I enjoy bad health,” say, “ My health is not good.” “ Better nor that, ” is vulgar and wrong. It should be, “ Better than that.” Instead of saying, “She was remarkable pretty,” say, “ She was remarkably pretty.” Instead of, “ We think on you,” say, “We think of you.” Instead of, “ By this means,” say, “ By these means.” Instead of, “ All that was wanting,” say, “ All that was wanted.” Instead of, “ He is a bad statesman,” say, “ He is not a statesman.” Instead of saying, “ I am going over the bridge,” say, “ I am going across the bridge.” Instead of saying, “ I left you behind at Omaha,” say, “ I left you behind me at Omaha.” Instead of saying, “ He ascended up the mountain,” say, “ He ascended the moun¬ tain.” Instead of, “ Mine is so good as yours,” say, “ Mine is as good as yours.” Instead of, “Adequate for,” say, “Ade¬ quate to.” The phrase, “ Pure and unadulterated,” is a repetition of terms. If a thing is pure, it is necessarily unadulterated. Instead of saying, “They are not what nature designed them,” say, “ They are not what nature designed them to be.” Instead of, “ How do you do ? ” say, “ How are you ? ” Instead of, “ To be given away gratis,” say, “ To be given away.” Instead of, “ I acquit you from,” say, “ I acquit you of.” Instead of, “I live opposite the park,” say, “I live opposite to the park.” Instead of, “The want of wisdom, truth and honor are more visible,” say, “The want of wisdom, truth and honor is more visible.” Instead of, “ A surplus over and above,” say, “ A surplus.” Instead of, “A winter's morning,” say, “A winter, or wintry, morning.” Instead of, “I will send it conformable to your orders,” say, “ I will send it conformably to your orders.” Instead of, “This ten days or more,” say, “ These ten days or more.” Instead of, “I confide on you,” say, “I confide in you.” Instead of, “As soon as ever,” say, “As soon as.” Instead of, “I differ with you,” say, “ I differ from you.” Instead of, “I am averse from that,” say, “I am averse to that.” Instead of, “ The very best,” or. “The very worst,” say, “The best,” or, “The worst” ART OF WRITING WELL. Instead of, '‘No one has’nt called,” say, “No one has called.” Two negatives make an affirmative. Thus, to say, “ Don’t give that child no more sugar,” is equivalent to saying, “ Give that child some more sugar.” Instead of saying, “I won’t never do it again,” say, “I will never do it again.” Instead of, “I am conversant about it,” say, “I am conversant with it.” Instead of, “He died by consumption,” say, “He died of consumption.” Instead of, “The effort I am making for arranging this matter,” say, “The effort I am iiaking to arrange this matter.” Instead of saying, “Your obedient humble servant,” say, “Your obedient servant.” Instead of, “You are taller than me,” say, “You are taller than I.” Instead of, “You are mistaken,” say, “You mistake.” Instead of, “I suspect the veracity of his -story,” say, “I doubt the truth of his story.” Instead of, “ He was too young to have suffered much,” say, “He was too young to suffer much.” Instead of, “I hope you’ll think nothing on it,” say, “I hope you’ll think nothing of it” Instead of, “ His opinions are approved of by all,” say, “ His opinions are approved by all.” Instead of, “ Handsome is as handsome does,” say, “Handsome is who handsome does.” Instead of, “In case I succeed,” say, “If I succeed.” Instead of, “They loved one another,” say, “They' loved each other.” Instead of, “The cake is all eat up,” say, as in Ye. Aspirate. — H , as in Hail. Nasal Sounds. — N, as in No ; NG, as in Sing; N y as in Finger, Sink. Lingual Sounds. — L, as in Lull; R, as in Rude ; R , as in War. Palatic and Dental Sounds combined. — X, as in Ox ; X y as in Example. These sounds constitute all the elements of articulation in the English language. The exercises which follow are merely various examples of these rudiments as they occur in different combinations. The exercises are also designed for lessons in pronunciation, as this branch, not less than that of articulation, is much neglected in early instruction, and the practice of the one conveniently com¬ prises that of the other. The main purpose of reading and speaking is to communicate thought. The most im¬ portant point in elocution, therefore, is a dis¬ tinct and correct enunciation, without which it is impossible to be rightly and clearly understood. The chief design, accordingly, of this department of education is, by appro¬ priate exercise, to cultivate the organs of speech, to strengthen and discipline the voice, and, at the same time, to eradicate incorrect habits of utterance which may have been contracted through early neglect. Errors in Articulatior The common hindrances to distinct enun¬ ciation may, as far as articulation is concerned, be classed as follows : First. — Feebleness, arising from a want of full and forcible emission of voice, and of due energy in the action of the organs, par¬ ticularly the tongue, the teeth and the lips. Second. — Omission , a fault occasioned by undue rapidity or hurry, and sometimes by an inadvertent compliance with incorrect custom. Third.— Obscurity , caused by the want of precision and accuracy in the functions of the organs, and a consequent want of defi¬ niteness or correctness in the sounds of letters and syllables. The rule of practice, therefore, in regard to the exercises of reading and speaking, should be : Always to articulate with such energy , deliberateness , and accuracy , that every sound of the voice may be fully and exactly formed , distinctly heard , and perfectly under¬ stood. A drawling slowness, however, and a pedantic or irregular prominence of unac¬ cented syllables, should be carefully avoided. Faults arising from slovenliness, and those which seem to spring from misdirected study, are equally objectionable. PRONUNCIATION. This department of elocution is sometimes termed orthoepy (correct speech). Speech being merely a collection of arbitrary sounds, used as signs of thought or feeling, it is indis¬ pensable to intelligible communication that there be a general agreement about the sig¬ nification assigned to given sounds, as other¬ wise there could be no common language. It is equally important that there be a com¬ mon consent and established custom to regu late and fix the sounds used in speech, tha. these may have a definite character and sig¬ nification, and become the current expression of thought. Hence the necessity that individuals con¬ form in their habits of speech to the rules prescribed by general usage—or, more prop¬ erly speaking, to the custom of the educated and intellectual classes of society, which is, by courtesy, generally acknowledged as the law of pronunciation. Individual opinion, when it is at variance with this important and VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 57 useful principle of accommodation, gives rise to eccentricities, which neither the authority of profound learning, nor that of strict accu¬ racy and system, can redeem from the charge of pedantry. It is a matter of great importance to recog¬ nize the rule of authorized custom, and neither yield to the influence of those errors which, through inadvertency, will creep into occasional or local use, nor, on the other hand, be induced to follow innovations or changes adopted without sufficient sanction. A cultivated taste is always perceptible in pronunciation, as in every other expression of mind, and errors in pronouncing are un¬ avoidably associated with a deficiency in the % rudiments of good education. An occasional appeal to the dictionary must, therefore, be useful to the majority of persons. Persons who are desirous of per¬ fecting their pronunciation would do well to read aloud, daily, a few columns, and mark with a pencil those words which they find they have been accustomed to mispronounce themselves or to hear mispronounced by others. FORCE. A primary characteristic of utterance, as expressive of emotion, is the degree of its energy or force. The effect of any feeling on sympathy is naturally inferred from the degree of force with which the sound of voice, in the utterance of that feeling, falls upon the ear of the hearer. The cause of this impres¬ sion upon the mind is, obviously, the law of organic sympathy, by which one part of the THE AWKWARD SPEAKER. human frame naturally responds to another. A powerful emotion not only affects the heart and the lungs, and the other involuntary agents of life and of expression, but starts the expulsory muscles into voluntary action and produces voice, the natural indication and language of feeling. The degree of force, therefore, in a vocal sound is intuitively taken as the measure of the emotion which causes it. Except, only, those cases in which the force of feeling paralyzes, as it were, the organs of the voice 58 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. and suggests the opposite measure of infer¬ ence, by which a choked and struggling utterance, a suppressed or inarticulate voice, or even absolute silence, becomes the index .to the heart. The command of all degrees of force of voice must evidently be essential to true and ^natural expression, whether in reading or speaking. Appropriate utterance ranges through all stages of vocal sound, from the whisper of fear and the murmur of repose to the boldest swell of vehement declamation and the shout of triumphant courage. But to give forth anyone of these or the intermediate tones, with just and impressive effect, the organs must be disciplined by appropriate exercise and frequent practice, for every day’s •observation proves to us that mere natural instinct and animal health, with all the aids of informing intellect, and inspiring emotion, and exciting circumstances, are not sufficient to produce the effects of eloquence, or even •of adequate utterance. The want of due training for the exercise •of public reading or speaking is evinced in the habitual undue loudness of some speakers and the inadequate force of others, the for¬ mer subjecting their hearers to unnecessary pain, and the latter to disappointment and uneasiness. STRESS. The term “ stress” is applied to the mode in which force is rendered perceptible or impressive in single sounds. The classifica¬ tion of the forms of stress is as follows : First .—Radical stress , or that in which the force of utterance, is usually more or less “explosive,” and falls on the “radical” (initial, or first) part of a sound. Second .—Median stress , that in which the force is “expulsive” or “effusive,” and swells out, whether slowly or rapidly, at the middle of a sound. • Third. — Vanishing stress , or that which withholds the “ expulsive ” or “ explosive ” force till the “vanish,” or last moment of the sound. Fourth .—Compound stress , or that in which the voice, with more or less of “explosive” force, touches forcefully and distinctly on both the initial and the final points of a sound, but passes slightly and almost im¬ perceptibly over the middle part. Fifth .—Thorough stress, in which the initial, middle and final portions of a sound are all distinctively and impressively marked by special “expulsive force” of voice. Sixth.— Tremor, tremulous, or intermittent “ stress.” MELODY. The word “melody” may be applied to speech in the same general sense as in the technical language of music, to designate the effect produced on the ear, by the suc¬ cessive notes of the voice, in a passage of music or of discourse. The use of this term presupposes, both in music and in speech, a certain “pitch,” or initial note, whether predominating in a passage, or merely commencing it, and to which the subsequent sounds stand in the relation of higher or lower or identical. The term “melody,” used as above, does not necessarily imply a melodious or pleasing succession of sounds, or the reverse. It has regard merely to the fact just mentioned, that the successive sounds to which this term is applied, are comparatively higher or lower on the musical scale, or in strict unison with the first sound of a series. In this technical sense, the word “ melody” applies to speech as well as to music. PITCH. The word “melody,” used in its technical sense, occupies, then, the same ground in VOCAL CULTURE elocution a~ m music, and refers us, in the first instance, to an initial or commencins' o sound to which others in a series may be compared as high or low or neither. To this sound the term “pitch ” is applied, as desig¬ nating the particular point of the scale, as high or low, on which the voice is thrown out. Thus, we speak of the deep tones or low notes of an organ, as contrasted with the shrill sound of a fife, of the grave tone of the voice of a man, or of the comparatively high pitch of that of a woman ; or of the low voice of devotion, as contrasted with the high, shrill scream of excessive fear, or the piercing .shriek of terror. The correct practice of elocution, as in appropriate speaking, recitation, or reading, implies the power of easily and instantly shifting the “pitch’’ of the voice, according to the natural note of emotion required for every shade of expression depicted in the composition which is spoken, recited, or read. Middle Pitch. The “ middle ” pitch of the voice is that of •our habitual utterance, on all occasions of •ordinary communication in conversation or address. It implies a medium or average state of feeling, or a condition of mind free from every strong or marked emotion. It is the natural note of unimpassioned utter¬ ance, seeking to find its way to the under¬ standing rather than to the heart, and hence avoiding high or low pitch, as belonging to the language of feeling or of fancy. Common conversation, a literary or a scientific essay, a doctrinal sermon, or a plain practical discourse on any subject limited to purposes of mere utility, and de¬ manding the action of judgment and reason, principally, may be mentioned as examples of “middle” pitch, which is natural in or¬ dinary speech. AND ELOCUTION. 59 Low Pitch. This designation applies to the utterance of those feelings which we are accustomed to speak of as “ deeper” than ordinary. Low notes seem the only natural language of grave emotions, such as accompany deeply serious and impressive thoughts , grave authority , or austere manner. The transition in the voice from “middle” to “low” pitch would be exemplified in passing from the utterance of a thought which is merely serious —and so termed in contradistinction father to one of an animated and sprightly character—to that of one still deeper in its shade of feeling, and which would be appropriately termed grave. At the stage of voice expressive of the latter, we should perceive an obvious though not very strikingly marked deepening of tone, or descent on the scale. Very Low Pitch. This designation applies to the notes of those emotions which are of the deepest character, and which are accordingly asso¬ ciated with the deepest utterance. These are, chiefly, the following : deep solemnity , awe, amazement , horror , despair , melancholy and deep grief. This lowest form of pitch is one of the most impressive means of powerful natural effect in the utterance of all deep and im¬ pressive emotions. The pervading and absorbing effect of awe , amazement , horror , or any similar feeling, can never be produced without low pitch and deep successive notes ; and the depth and reality of such emotions are always in proportion to the depth of voice with which they are uttered. The grand¬ est descriptions in the Paradise Lost, and the profoundest meditations in the Night Thoughts, become trivial in their effect on the ear, when read with the ineffectual 60 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. expression inseparable from the pitch of ordinary conversation or discourse. High Pitch. The higher portion of the musical scale is associated with the notes of brisk , gay and joyous emotions, with the exception of the extremes of pain, grief and fear, which, from their preternaturally exciting power, com¬ press and render rigid the organic parts that produce vocal sound, and cause the pecu¬ liarly shrill, convulsive cries and shrieks which express those passions. A “pitch” too low for the natural effect of gay and exhilarated feeling deadens the effect of wit and vivacity, and renders, per¬ haps, a most expressive strain of composi¬ tion tame and dull, when it should abound in the tones of life and brilliancy. Very High Pitch. The extreme of the upper part of the musical scale, as far as it is practicable to individuals in the management of the voice, is the natural range of pitch for the utter¬ ance of ecstatic and rapturous or uncontrollable emotion. It belongs, accordingly, to high- wrought lyric and dramatic passages, in strains of joy, grief \ astonishment , delight , tenderness , and the hysterical extremes of passionate emotion generally. INFLECTION. Reading without inflections becomes life¬ less, as nny be observed in what is usually called a “ schoolboy tone.” This fault not only divests language of its meaning, but substitutes a ludicrous monotony for the natural, animated and varied expression of the voice in actual communication. The hearer unavoidably loses all interest in what is monotonously read, for it makes no appeal either to his feelings or to his understanding. There are two inflections—the rising and the falling. The falling appropriately termi¬ nates a sentence ; the rising may be seen in any ordinary interrogation. The variations of voice between these two inflections pre¬ vent monotony. The two simple inflections, the rising and the falling, are superseded, in the tones of keen and ironical emotion or peculiar signifi¬ cance in expression, by a double turn, or slide of voice, which unites both in one continuous sound, called the circumflex , or wave. When no inflection is used, a monotone, or perfect level of voice, is produced. This tone belongs to emotions arising from sub¬ limity and grandeur. It characterizes, also, the extremes of amazement and horror. TIME. The study of time, as a measure of speech, will lead to the primary classification of single vowel sounds as long or short in duration, according to their character and expression, as elements of language. The contrast in the duration of the “tonic element,” or vowel sound, a, in the words male and female, will furnish examples, the a in the former being much longer, or, in other words, occupying a much larger space of time in utterance, than the a in the latter. The technical designa¬ tion of this property of vocal sounds is “quantity”—implying quantity of time, or duration. The a of male is, accordingly, termed a “long," the a in female a “short quantity." PAUSES. Time, when applied as a measure of speech, prescribes not only the length, or “quan¬ tity,” of sounds, but also that of the pauses, or cessations of voice, which intervene between sentences and between their parts, as the intermissions of the voice are, virtually, con¬ stituents of “expression,” whether we regard VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 61 thought or feeling. Without distinct and appropriate pauses we cannot understand oral communication, and without occasional impressive cessations of voice there can be no true sympathy between speaker and hearer. Pauses, as classified in elocution, are of two kinds : I st, those which express emotion ; 2 d, those which modify sense , or meaning. Pausing, like utterance, is regulated by the •character of the emotion or the thought which is the subject of expression. The pauses used in the “expression” of all grave, deep and solemn emotions, which in¬ cline to prolonged “ quantities,” are com¬ paratively long , and thus correspond in ■character to the vocal sounds between which they occur, and which they aid by their harmonious effect. Brisk, gay and lively feelings are distinguished by brief “quantities” and corresponding short pauses. The pauses of sense or meaning are of various lengths, according to the portions •of speech which they are employed to sepa¬ rate ; thus, we observe the long pauses be¬ tween the principal parts of a discourse, the .somewhat shorter pauses at its subdivisions, the shorter still at paragraphs, and the .shorter than even these at periods. MOVEMENT. The term “movement,” for which the word “ rate ” is sometimes substituted refers to the slowness or to the rapidity of utter¬ ance required by the sentiment. The “slowest,” or “very slow move¬ ment,” is exemplified in the expression of the deepest emotions of the soul; as horror, ■awe, profound reverence and solemnity , and adoration . The “ slow movement ” characterizes the utterance of gloom , melancholy, grief \ pathos, sublimity , solemnity and reverence , in their usual form, profound repose, grandeur, majesty, vast ness, power and splendor. “Moderate movement” is the usual rate of utterance in unimpassioned language. It; belongs to common narration and description, and to didactic thought. The rhetorical modes of style to which it is applicable, are those which are denominated the “ dry,” the “plain,” and the “neat.” “Lively movement” implies emotion in that gentle form which does not exceed liveliness or animation. The lower degrees of all vivid feeling, are expressed by this style of “ movement.” A slight degree of joy is usually the under current of its effect. Gay and Mirthful. “Quick” or “brisk movement,” is char¬ acteristic of gay, exhilarated and glad emo¬ tion : the full feeling of joy is implied in its “expression.” It gives utterance to all play fid, humorous and mirthful moods. It sometimes, on the other hand, gives its characteristic effect to fear. The “ movement ” designated as “ quick¬ est,” “very quick,” or “rapid,” is that of haste, hurry, alarm, confusion and fear, when rising to terror. It is evident from the very nature of “ movement,” that it must be an element of immense power, in expression. The funeral march suggests to the ear its effect, in music, as associated with awe, gloom and grief; and the music of the dance reminds us of its power over the feelings of gladness and exhilaration. The grave psalm, and the song of serious sentiment, express, in their measured regularity, the adaptation of gentle and “ moderate movement ” to tranqidl and sedate feeling. The power of “ movement,” in the elocu¬ tion of a skilful reader or speaker, is indefi- 62 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. nite ; as we may observe in the difference between a schoolboy gabbling through his task, in haste to get rid of it, and a great tragedian, whose whole soul is rapt in the part of Cato uttering the soliloquy on im¬ mortality, or Hamlet musing on the great themes of duty, life and death. A command over the “lively” and “brisk movements” of the voice, is not less im¬ portant than the power of slow and solemn utterance. The style of reading which is most frequently introduced to enliven the evening circle at home, requires of the reader the power to “trip it as he goes,” in the mood of gay description , light satire , vivid dialogue and droll humor. The three principal faults of “movement,” which are exemplified in the common prac¬ tice of reading, are uniform slowness , or, per¬ haps, a drawling style ; habitual rapidity , which prevents all deep and impressive effect, and, perhaps, causes indistinctness of enuncia¬ tion ; a uniform “moderate ” “movement,” which never yields to any natural influence of emotion—so as to become appropriately expressive, and pass from grave to gay , or the reverse, by a change in the gait of the voice—but utters, automaton-like, all feelings in the same unmeaning and mechanical style ; the voice marching on, with one uniform measured step, over all varieties of surface, as regards the tenor of language and the subject. EMPHASIS. Every sentence contains one or more words which are prominent, and peculiarly important in the expression of meaning. Special force on such words is what is called emphasis. Its use is to impress more strik¬ ingly on the mind of the hearer the thought, or portion of thought, embodied in the par¬ ticular word or phrase on which it is laid. It gives additional energy to important pomes, in expression, by causing sounds which are peculiarly significant, to strike the ear with an appropriate and distinguishing force. It possesses, in regard to the sense of hearing, a similar advantage to that of “relief,” or prominence to the eye, in a well executed picture ; in which the figures seem to stand out from the canvass. Emphasis, then, being the manner of pro¬ nouncing the most significant words, its office is of the utmost importance to an intelligible and impressive utterance. It is the manner of uttering emphatic words which decides the meaning of every sentence that is read or spoken. A true emphasis conveys a sentiment clearly and forcibly to the mind, and keeps the attention of an audience in active sympathy with the thoughts of the speaker; it gives full value and effect to all that he utters, and secures a lasting im¬ pression on the memory. Errors of Emphasis. The prevailing fault, as regards emphasis,, is the omission or slighting of it. Hence arises a feebleness of expression, or a general monotony, in consequence of which the voice fails in giving those dis¬ tinctions, or conveying that force of feeling,, which are inseparable from a distinct and animated manner. An omission of emphasis leaves the sense of whole passages obscure; and an error in the application of it, may cause an entire subversion of the meaning intended to be expressed. A sentence read without just emphasis, is an inert mass of sound, like a body destitute of life; the same sentence read with the discrimination and significance of true emphasis, becomes, as it were, a living and active being, exerting its appro¬ priate energies. VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 6$ The opposite fault is that of excessive anxiety about emphasis , and an unnecessary and formal marking of it by studied force of expression. This obtrusive tone is carefully to be avoided, as savoring of fastidiousness and pedantry, and indicating the presumption that the audience are so dull in intellect as not to appreciate the force of the speaker’s language, unless he remind them of it by peculiar and pointed distinctions of voice, a thing which he does not need to do. DDRESS, as a combination of speech and action, directs itself to the mind through the ear and the eye. Regarded as an art, it consists, accordingly, of two parts—elocution, or the regu¬ lated functions of the voice, and gesture, or the proper management of the body. Gesture derives its existence from the necessary sympathy of mind and body. It ( is by no means a mere product of art. A 1 sympathetic action of the outward frame, in correspondence with the activity of the mind, is necessarily exerted in the communication of thought and feeling, and results from a law of man’s constitution. The repression of such action may, it is true, become a habitual trait in the character of individuals and of nations ; so may the opposite charac¬ teristic of redundancy in gesture. Examples of these extremes are furnished in the rigid stillness of body which is customary in the elocution of Scotland or of New England, and in the ceaseless movement and gesture of the French. Education, too, has a powerful influence on delivery. The exclusive application of the understanding, a too passive continuance of attention, or a native sluggishness of habit, indulged, has a tendency to quell or prevent emotion, and to keep back its bodily indica¬ tions ; while the habitual and unrestrained play of imagination, or of feeling, impels ta vivid expression in tone, and to the visible- manifestations of attitude and action. Hence the contrasts of manner exhibited in the PRESENTING OR RECEIVING. delivery of the studious and sedentary, or the phlegmatic, and that of the active, the gay, or the imaginative—both of which usu¬ ally run to excess, producing the morbid style of lifelessness and inaction, or the puerile manner of mere animal vivacity. 64 VOCAL CULTURE The genuine style of eloquence is that, surely, which gives the strongest, freest and truest expression to the natural blending of thought and emotion within the human breast—breaking through all arbitrary re¬ straint, and submitting only to the guidance of reason, or, rather, listening intuitively to its suggestions. The common errors of judgment and taste on this subject seem to lie in the supposition that thought and feeling may be separated in their expression. Every day furnishes examples of speakers, who, from the cold¬ ness of their manner, seem-to think that they can succeed in imparting sentiment without •emotion, and of those whose rhetorical and mechanical warmth appears to aim at elo¬ quence by emotion not founded on thought. The tendency of deep interest, and of earnest, cordial emphasis, is always to impart impulse to the arm, as well as to the voice. The instruction, therefore, or the example, which inculcates the suppression of gesture, is defective and injurious, as it checks the free action both of body and mind. The AND ELOCUTION. unlimited indulgence in fancy, or the ungov¬ erned expression of feeling, on the other hand, leads either to a puerile or merely passionate manner, and loses the influence of intellect in a false excitement of emotion. A good address is that which, in the firs' place, may be briefly characterized by the epithet manly. It possesses force —conse¬ quently exemption from all forms of weak¬ ness ; freedoin (a natural consequence of force), implying exemption from constraint and embarrassment. These are the first and indispensable rudiments of action. Next in importance is an appropriate or discriminating style—the result of genius, or of successful discipline—which adapts itself to different occasions, subjects and sentiments ; varying as circumstances require, and avoid¬ ing every impropriety of manner, whether DECLARING. arising from personal habit or temporary inadvertency and error. Last in order, and as a negative quality; chiefly, may be mentioned grace, or those modes of action which obey nature’s laws of symmetry and motion, from the intuitive VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. *5 perception of beauty, and the disciplined or natural subjection of the muscular system to the ascendancy of mind and taste. These elementary principles are all that have been deemed important in the instruc¬ tion attempted in the following pages. All else, it is thought, may best be left to the mind and manner of the individual—which, if not perverted or neglected, would, perhaps, render direct instruction, in any case, com¬ paratively unimportant. ATTITUDE. Oratory consists of two parts—one ad¬ dressing the ear through the voice, and the other, the eye by action or gesture. The latter implies a certain attitude of body as essential to it, and hence the necessity of attending, in the first instance, to the attitude WONDERMENT. or position in which the speaker presents himself to the eye. The characteristics of good attitude are firmness , freedom , appro¬ priateness and grace. It becomes necessary here to advert to the manner in which young speakers introduce themselves to their audience, the introduc¬ tory bow being seldom what it should be—a salutation of respect, actually addressed to the assembly, but commonly a very awk¬ ward attempt at a bow, and one so performed as to cast down the eyes towards the floor of the room or the feet of the speaker, and to show, not his countenance, but the crown of his head. A bow, or any other mark of respect (except prostration), has no meaning in it, unless the eye of the individual who performs it is directed to the eyes of those to whom it is addressed. POSITION OF THE FEET. It is of the utmost consequence to observe a correct position of the feet, not merely because an incorrect position is ungraceful, but because the easy and natural movement of every part of the body, depends on the feet being properly placed. Awkward and 1 constrained movements of the feet, and rigid, unseemly action, are inseparable from a bad attitude. An easy and graceful position, on the contrary, favors appropriate and becom- 6 66 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. ing movement, and tends to render it habitual. In the various positions of the feet, care is to be taken that the grace which is aimed at be attended with simplicity. The position of the orator is equally removed from the awkwardness of the rustic, with toes turned in and knees bent, and from the affectation of the dancing-master, whose position runs to the opposite extreme. The orator is to adopt such positions only as consist with manly and simple grace. The toes are to be moderately turned out¬ ward, but not to be constrained ; the limbs are to be disposed so as to support the body with ease, and to admit of flowing and grace¬ ful movement. The sustaining foot is to be planted firmly ; the leg braced, but not con¬ tracted ; the other foot and limb must press lightly, and be held relaxed, so as to be ready for immediate change and action. In changing the positions of the feet, the motions are to be made with the utmost simplicity, and free from the parade and sweep of dancing. The speaker must ad¬ vance, retire or change almost imperceptibly; and it is to be particularly observed that changes should not be too frequent. Fre¬ quent change gives the idea of anxiety or instability, both of which are unfavorable. Errors. The common faults in the position of the feet, are : First .—That of resting on both feet equally , which gives the whole frame a set and rigid attitude. Second.— Pointing the toes straightforward. which, when combined with the preceding fault, forms the climax of awkwardness and squareness of attitude, and, even when unac¬ companied by any other error, has the bad effect of exposing the speaker’s side, instead of his full front, and consequently assimi¬ lating all his movements and gestures to those of attack in fencing. Third .—Placing the feet too close to one another, which gives the whole body a feeble and constrained appearance, and destroys the possibility of energy in gesture. VOCAL CULTURE Fourth .—The placing of the feet too widely distant , and parallel to each other, which gives the speaker’s attitude a careless and slovenly air. Fifth .—The placing of the feet at too wide ] a distance from each other , but with the one in advance of the other. This is the attitude of assumption, or of a boasting and overbearing manner. The observance of the different positions will produce a firm, easy and graceful atti¬ tude, appropriate to earnest and natural de¬ livery. In complying with rules , however , there should be no anxiety about measured exactness , and no appearance of studied pre¬ cision. Force and freedom, and general propriety of manner, are the main points to be aimed at, and strict accuracy is apt to become but a mechanical excellence. MOVEMENT OF THE FEET. An occasional change of the position of the feet is a natural and necessary relief to the speaker in the delivery of a speech or piece of considerable length ; it associates, also, in an appropriate and agreeable man¬ AND ELOCUTION. 67 ner, with the introduction of a new train of thought or a new topic of discourse, and it is the instinctive expression of energy, warmth and liveliness of manner. Without move¬ ment, the speaker’s body becomes, as it were, a mass of inanimate matter. Motion, ANGUISH. REMORSE. when carried to excess, however, becomes childish in its effect, as it substitutes rest¬ lessness for animation. The motion of the feet should be carefully timed, so as to occur at the commencement of the parts or divisions of a speech or dis¬ course, at the introduction of new and dis¬ tinct thoughts, or in the expression of for¬ cible or lively emotion. The true time of movement is in exact coincidence with emphasis, and falls appropriately on the accented syllable of the emphatic word. The voice and the bodily frame are thus kept in simultaneous action with the mind. Movement, so performed, never obtrudes itself on the attention, but becomes a natural part of the whole delivery. The changes of position should always be made (except only the retiring movement, at the close of a 68 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. paragraph or of a division of the subject) during the act of speaking , and not at the pauses; and even the change of posture which necessarily follows the bow, and opens the delivery of the piece, should not be made before beginning to speak, but along with the utterance of the commencing clause. PROTECTING-SOOTHING. All changes made before speaking, or in the intervals of speech, become apparent and formal, and particularly all preparatory motions that seem to adjust or fix the atti¬ tude of the speaker and produce the effect of suspending the attention of the audience. The frequency of movement depends on the spirit of the composition An animated ad¬ dress or a declamatory harangue requires frequent movement. In a grave discourse, on the contrary, the movements are made more seldom. Poetry requires, from its vividness of emotion, many changes of posi¬ tion ; prose, from its more equable character, comparatively few. Your movements should always be easy and natural, never forced and constrained, never apparently studied beforehand. MOVEMENT OF THE LIMBS. The general air and expression of the whole body depend much on the position of the legs ; as we may observe by adverting to the feeble limbs of infancy and of old age, the rigid and square attitude of men who follow laborious occupations, or the artificial display of limb sometimes acquired at the dancing-school, or exemplified on the stage. A firm, free and graceful position of the limbs is natural to most human beings, till the influence of awkward custom, or of im¬ perfect health, has destroyed or impaired it. Correct and appropriate posture, therefore, becomes an important point in preparatory practice and training, intended to aid the formation of habits of rhetorical delivery. Incorrect Attitudes. Errors in the position of the legs occur in the following forms : First — A rigid and inflexible posture , entirely at variance with freedom and grace ; causing the limbs to resemble supporting posts, rather than parts of the human frame; VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 69 and interfering with the force, ease and gracefulness of gesture. Second .—A feeble, though perhaps slight bending of the knees, which gives the general attitude an appearance of timid inefficiency; and which, when accompanied, as it often is, by a sinking and rising motion, seeming to keep time to the beat of the arm in gesture, produces a childishness of mien which throws over the speaker’s whole manner an air of silliness. Third. —A fault very prevalent in public declamation arises from overlooking the fact that a free and natural attitude reqidres the knee of the leg which is not supporting the weight of the body, to fall into the natural bend of freedom and rest. The neglect of this point—a neglect which very naturally arises from general embarrassment or constraint— has a very unfavorable effect on the whole attitude. The influence of this attitude is quite at variance with the speaker’s aim in delivery, which is to convince or persuade; the effect of which, on his attitude, would be to incline it somewhat forward, as in the natural man-, ner of earnest address. No error, apparently so slight, is attended with so many bad con¬ sequences as this ; nothing tends so much to give the speaker the air of speaking at his audience, rather than to them; yet no fault is more common in the declamation of school and college exhibitions. All that is objec¬ tionable in this attitude, however, would be done away by the speaker merely allowing the knee of the leg which does not support the body to drop into its natural bend. MOVEMENT OF THE TRUNK. The actions of a human being differ from the motions of a machine, chiefly in that sympathy of the entire frame which makes action appear to proceed from the whole surface and terminate in the arm, the hand, or the foot. No gesture, therefore, seems to have life or energy unless the whole body partake in it, by a moderate yet perceptible swaying or yielding to accommodate it, and a general im¬ pulse of the muscles to enforce it, or impart to it additional and sympathetic energy. 70 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. Gesture, destitute of such aid, becomes nar¬ row, angular and mechanical. It is of the utmost consequence, then, that the position and general bearing of the body should be free and unconstrained. The gesture of the arms and hands must receive a slight accompanying movement of the trunk, and not proceed from it as from a rigid log. Whilst care is taken to avoid affected and ridiculous contortions, there must be a manly and free exertion of the muscles of the whole body, the general con¬ sent of which is indispensable to graceful action. MOVEMENT OF THE HEAD AND THE COUNTENANCE. The bearing of the head decides the general mien of the body, as haughty and condescending, as spiritless, dejected, em¬ barrassed, or as free from the influence of such feelings, and wearing an easy, self- possessed and unassuming expression, arising from tranquility and serenity of mind. The first-mentioned of these states of feeling o inclines the head upward; the second causes it to droop or keeps it fixed by constraint; the last preserves it from these extremes, and allows it an .easy and natural motion. The recitation of poetry may, in particular instances, authorize or require a very erect, or a drooping posture of the head; but declamation, or public speaking, implies a state of self-command, a rational consider¬ ation of effect, and an avoiding of the appear¬ ance's of extreme emotion. In the latter exercise, therefore, the general air of the head bespeaks respect for the audience, mingling with a just self-respect, and avoids alike a lofty or a submissive carriage. The eyes and the other features correspond to this manner. The head should neither be hung bash¬ fully down nor carried haughtily erect ; it should turn easily, but not rapidly, from side to side ; the eyes being directed generally to those of the persons who are addressed, but not fastening particularly on individuals. The abstraction of the mind, implied in the appropriate recitation of some pieces of VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 71 poetry, may, however, render it inconsistent 1 to give to delivery the air of address; as, for example, in the reciting of any passage in which a distant or imaginary scene is called up vividly to the thoughts. The eyes should, in such cases, be directed away from those of the audience and be fixed on vacancy. All inappropriate and ungraceful play or working of the features, should be carefully avoided. POSITION AND MOVEMENT OF THE HAND. The hand is, in most forms of action, the great organ of the mind. Its power of ex¬ pression in communication, when used alone, or accompanied by speech, is peculiar and extensive. The position or action of the hand invites, repels, refuses, rejects, implores or threatens more forcibly than even the voice or the countenance. The language and meaning of gesture lie in the hand ; and these cannot be expressed without an appropriate use of this organ. The arm is, in gesture, but the inferior agent to move and exert the l hand, the great instrument of all expression addressed to the eye. The tones of the voice and the action of the features are, no doubt, the chief vehicles of meaning. But next to these comes the hand as an important agent in delivery; and in some kinds of emotion it even takes the precedence of the voice ; in all those passions, for instance, which by their excess tend to render the tongue mute. In unimpassioned speaking, the gesture of the hand is not so prominent; but it still serves a useful purpose in accompanying, aiding and enforcing the impressions produced by the voice. It helps to concentrate the action of the senses toward the objects which are presented to the mind, and, though a subordinate, is yet an indispensable instrument of appropriate and impressive delivery. The hand should be used naturally. Point with the finger; open the palm; close the hand and form a rigid fist; let the hand droop in a languid attitude; in short, speak with it, according to the thought or emotion you wish to express. 72 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. MOVEMENT OF THE ARM. The freedom and force of gesture depend entirely on the appropriate action of the arm. The free play of the arm gives scope to ges¬ ture, which would otherwise be narrow, con¬ fined and inexpressive. The elevated thoughts and grand images abounding in poetry re¬ quire a free, lofty and energetic sweep of the arm in gesture; but speaking which has 'persuasion for its object, is naturally charac¬ terized by a less commanding and less imag¬ inative style of action. Reasoning, arguing or inculcating, in the usual manner of speech, requires chiefly enforcing or emphatic gesture. Poetry abounds so in variety of emotion, that the action which accompanies the recitation of it is frequent and forcible, and marked by vivid transitions, with a predominance of grace¬ fulness in the whole manner. The style of speaking adapted to prose is more calm and moderate, and more plain in its character, coinciding thus with the tenor of thought and language which usually pervades prose composition. Action is the first, the simplest and the most striking expression of feeling. It can¬ not, therefore, be dispensed with, but at the risk of losing the natural animation of man¬ ner. Under the regulation of taste, it becomes a harmonious and powerful accom¬ paniment to speech, imparting additional force to language in all its forms, and aiding a full and clear conception of what is expressed. Gesture is not a mere matter of ornament, as is sometimes supposed. Its main object is force of impression ; the beauty or grace which it imparts to delivery is but an inferior consideration. To the young learner, how¬ ever, whose habits are yet forming, the cultivation of correct and refined taste in regard to gesture, is a matter of great importance. The following are the principal gestures appropriate in address: The descending , used with great energy in strong assertion and vehement argumenta¬ tion, in emphatic declaration and forcible appeal. The horizontal (the hand rising to a hori¬ zontal level with the shoulder), appropriate in elevated and general thought or descrip¬ tion and in geographical and historical allusions. The ascending (the hand rising to a level, nearly, with the head), expressive of sub¬ limity of thought or feeling. RULES FOR GESTURE. The movement or sweep of the arm, in preparing for gesture, should always be free and graceful, but avoiding too much extent of space , and performed in strict time with the movement of the voice in utterance. The line of motion in gesture describes a curve , and avoids in all action but that of the humorous style a confined or angular movement. The frequency of gesture must be pre¬ scribed by the character of sentiment in the piece which is spoken, and by the style of language, as moderate and plain, or impas¬ sioned and figurative ; the former requiring little use of gesture, and the latter much. All action must arise directly from the sense of what is spoken , and never from arbi¬ trary notions of variety or grace . True variety is the result of a due observance of the preparatory and terminating lines of gesture; and grace consists merely in preserving these from awkward deviations. The use of the left hand, whether singly or in conjunction with the right, depends not on arbitrary opinions of propriety or grace, but usually on necessity felt by the speaker, VOCAL CULTURE either as regards himself or his audience. This form of gesture, as far as it is a matter of choice, should be sparingly adopted. Gesture should be fluent and connected , not abrupt and desultory, or appearing and disappearing in a capricious manner. The placing of the hand on the heart had better be omitted, if any risk must be in¬ AND ELOCUTION. 73 curred of an incorrect or objectionable action by performing it. Gesture appropriate to the prevailing style of prose unites force and grace with sim¬ plicity, and has generally an outward and downward tendency combined; avoiding action which runs across the body of the speaker or sweeps inwardly. EXAMPLES WHICH ILLUSTRATE PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION. Declamatory Force. F OR, as the ages, come and go, The leaders of the van Are proof that this is ever so— The hour begets the man ! He’s Nature's heir, and he alone Has right and title to her throne. Not wealth, nor yet a long descent Through many a famous line, Can give this power to mankind lent From Nature’s hand divine, For with the call there comes the might Of those who teach, or preach, or fight. * Moderate Force. CHEERFULNESS. & this a time to be gloomy and sad, When our mother Nature laughs around ; When even the deep blue heavens look glad, And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground ? The clouds are at play, in the azure space, And their shadows at play on the bright green vale, And here they stretch to the frolic chase, And there they roll on the easy gale. And look at the broad-faced sun how he smiles On the dewy earth that smiles on his ray, On the leaping waters and gay young isles, - Ay, look, and he’ll smile thy gloom away. PATHOS. aLM on its leaf-strewn bier, Unlike a gift of Nature to decay,— Too rose-like still, too beautiful, too dear,— The child at rest before its mother lay ;— Even so to pass away, With its bright -mile !—Elysium, what were thou To her that wept o’er that young slumberer’sbrow- SOLEMNITY. ''HOU unrelenting Fast! Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain; And fetters, sure and fast, Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign. Far in thy realm withdrawn Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom ; And glorious ages gone Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb. Childhood, with all its mirth, Youth, Manhood, Age, that draws us to the ground, And last, Man’s Life on earth, Glide to thy dim dominions, and are bound. "RANQUILITY. T T(J\HY weep ye, then, for him, who, having w r on \J\J The bound of man’s appointed years,—at last> Life’s blessings all enjoyed, life’s labors done, Serenely to his final rest has passed ; While the soft memory of his virtues yet, Lingers like twilight hues, when the bright sun is set! 74 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. His youth was innocent ; liis riper age, Marked with some act of goodness, every day ; And, watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage Faded his late declining years away. Cheerful he gave his being up, and went To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent. SPRIGHTLY HUMOR. AYS Patrick to Biddy, “Good mornin’, me dear, It’s a bit av a sacret I’ve got for yer ear; It’s yersel’ that is lukin’ so charmin’ the day, That the heart in me breast is fast slippin’ away.” “ ’Tis you that kin flatther,” Miss Biddy replies, And throws him a glance from her merry blue eyes. Impassioned Force. FEAR. HILE throng the citizens with terror dumb, Or whispering with white lips, “ The foe !— they come, they come ! ” ANGER AND SCORN. HOU slave, thou wretch, thou coward, Thou little valiant, great in villany ! Thou ever strong upon the stronger side, Thou fortune’s champion, that dost never fight But when her humorous ladyship is by To teach thee safety. HORROR. GOD ! that horrid, horrid dream Besets me now awake ; Again, again, with dizzy brain, The human life I take ; And my red right hand grows raging hot Like Cranmer’s at the stake. REPROACH. OD is my judge ! May I never see such a look of despairing, desolate anguish, as that which the woman cast on her master, griping her breast with her little hand, as if he had stabbed her. ANGUISH. WOMAN ? Yes, only a woman ’ No ! surely it wasn’t his wife ? She seemed dead ! and he wrestled for freedom, As a doomed man will struggle for life. “ It is she ! gracious God ! Is she dying ? Or dead, sirs ?—say, tell if you can ? Unhand me ! who murdered my poor wife? ” And a voice answered—“ Thou art the man /** MILITARY COMMAND. Explosive Whispering. ARK ! I hear the bugles of the enemy ! They are on their march along the bank of the river. We must retreat instantly, or be cut off from our boats. I see the head of their column already rising over the height. Our only safety is in the screen of this hedge. Keep close to it ; be silent; and stoop as you run. For the boats ! Forward ! REPULSION. EPART ! depart, O child Of Israel, from the temple of thy God; For He has smote thee with His chasten ing rod, And to the desert wild From all thou lov’st, away thy feet must flee, That from thy plague His people may be free. INVOCATION. T(TAIRGINIUS tottered nigh \/ And stood before the judgment seat, and held the knife on high ; “ O dwellers in the nether gloom, avengers of the slain, By this dear blood I cry to you, do right between us twain ; And e’en as Appius Claudius hath dealt by me and mine, Deal you by Appius Claudius and all the Claudian line.” Vanishing Stress. EARNEST PURPOSE. » E’VE sworn, by our country’s assualters, By the virgins they’ve dragged from our altars, By our massacred patriots, our children in chains, By our heroes of old, and their blood in our veins, That living, we will be victorious, Or that dying, our deaths shall be glorious. STERN REBUKE. HAT shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop, thou cruel, Ungrateful savage, and inhuman creature! Thou didst bear the keys of all my counsels, That knew’st the very bottom of my soul, That almost might have coined me into gold, Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use?’* GRIEF. Y captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still. My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will. VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 75 The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won ; Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck, my captain lies Fallen cold and dead. Exercises on Pitch. LOW NOTES. OT a drum was heard, nor 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. We buried him darkly, at dead of night, The sod with our bayonets turning, By the struggling moonbeam’s misty light, And the lantern dimly burning. MIDDLE NOTES. Y thoughts, I must confess, are turned on peace ; Already have our quarrels filled the world With widows and with orphans : Scythia mourns Our guilty wars; and earth’s remotest regions Lie half unpeopled by the feuds of Rome. ’Tis time to sheath the sword and spare mankind. We took up arms, not to revenge ourselves, But free the Commonwealth. When this end fails Arms have no further use. Our country’s cause, That drew our swords, now wrests them from our hands, A.nd bids us not delight in Roman blood TJnprofitably shed. What men could do, Is done already. Heaven and earth will witness, If Rome must fall, that we are innocent. HIGH NOTES. UT thou, O Hope ! with eyes so fair,— What was thy delighted measure ? Still it whispered promised pleasure, And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail! Still would her touch the strain prolong ; And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, She called on Echo still through all her song : And where her sweetest theme she chose, A soft responsive voice was heard at every close ; And Hope enchanted smiled, and waved her golden hair. Exercises on Time. SLOWEST RATE. IGHT, sable goddess ! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty now stretches forth Her leaden sceptre o’er a slumbering world, Silence, how dead ! and darkness how profound ! Nor eye nor listening ear an object finds : Creation sleeps. ’Tis as the general pulse Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause— An awful pause—prophetic of her end. SLOW. ENEATH those rugged elms, that yew tree’s shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care ; No children run to lisp their sire’s return, Or climb his knees, the envied kiss to share. MODERATE. F the relation of sleep to night, and, in some instances, its converse be real, we cannot reflect without amazement, upon the extent to which it carries us. Day and night are things close to us : the change applies immediately to our sensations; of all the phenomena of nature, it is the most ob¬ vious, and the most familiar to our experience : but, in its cause, it belongs to the great motions which a*u passing in the heavens. Whilst the earth glides aronnd her axle, she ministers to the alternate necessities of the animals dwelling upon her surface, at the same time that she obeys the influence of those attractions which regulate the order of many thous¬ and worlds. The relation, therefore, of sleep to night, is the relation of the inhabitants of the earth to the rotation of their globe : probably it is more ; it is a relation to the system of which that globe is a part; and still farther, to the congregation of systems of which theirs is only one. If this account be true, it con¬ nects the meanest individual with the universe itself; a chicken roosting upon its perch, with the spheres revolving in the firmament. LIVELY. N thy right hand lead with thee The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty ; And, if I give thee honor due, Mirth, admit me of thy crew, To live with her, and live with thee, In unreproved pleasures free : To hear the lark begin his flight, And, singing, startle the dull night From his watch-tower in the skies, Till the dappled dawn doth rise ; Then to come, in spite of sorrow, And at my window bid good morrow, Through the sweet briar or the vine, Or the twisted eglantine. 76 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. QUICK. OW the storm begins to lower ; (Haste, the loom of hell prepare ;) Iron sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darkened air. Ere the ruddy sun be set, Pikes must shiver, javelins sing, Blade with clattering buckler meet, Hauberk crash, and helmet ring. Sisters, hence with spurs of speed ! Each her thundering falchion wield ; Each bestride her sable steed : Hurry, hurry, to the field ! Exercises on Inflection. FALLING. HEN night Closes round the ghastly fight, If the vanquished warrior bow, Spare him ;—by our holy vow, By our prayers and many tears, By the mercy that endears, Spare him !—he our love hath shared Spare him, as thou wouldst be spared ! RISING. UT while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait The signal to ascend, sit lingering here, Heaven’s fugitives ; and for their dwelling-place Accept this dark opprobious den of shame, The prison of his tyranny who reigns By our delay ! Exercises in Movement. SLOWEST. HAD a dream which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguished ; and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless and pathless ; and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air ; Morn came, and went—and came, and brought no day. The world was void ; The populous and the powerful was a lump,— Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless,— A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay. The rivers, lakes, and ocean, all stood still ; And nothing stirred within their silent depths. Ships, sailorless, lay rotting on the sea ; And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropped They slept on the abyss without a surge ;— The waves were dead ; the tides were in their grave ; The moon, their mistress, had expired before ; The winds were withered in the stagnant air ; And the clouds perished : Darkness had no need Of aid from them—She was the universe. SLOW. NON out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars, overlaid With golden architrave ; nor did there want Cornice, or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven ; The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine Belus, or Serapis, their gods ; or seat Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile Stood fixed her stately height; and straight the doors Opening their brazen folds, discover wide Within, her ample spaces, o’er the smooth And level pavement : from the arched roof, Pendent by subtle magic, many a row Of starry lamps, and blazing cressets, fed With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light. MODERATE. HE city and republic of Carthage were destroyed by the termination of the third Punic war, about one hundred and fifty years before Christ. The city was in flames during seventeen days; and the news of its destruction caused the greatest joy at Rome. The Roman senate imme¬ diately appointed commissioners, not only to raze the walls of Carthage, but even to demolish and burn the very materials of which they were made ; and, in a few days, that city, which had once been the seat of commerce, the model of magnificence, the com¬ mon storehouse of the w r ealth of nations, and one of the most powerful states in the world, left behind no trace of its splendor, of its power, or even of its existence. The history of Carthage is one of the many proofs that we have of the transient nature of worldly glory : for. of all her grandeur, not a wreck remains. Her own w T alls, like the calm ocean, that conceals forever the riches hid in its unsearchable abyss, now obscure all her magnificence. ANIMATED, OR LIVELY. HAVE lived to see generals who once had crowds hallooing after them wherever they went, who were bepraised by newspapers and magazines,— those echoes of the voice of the vulgar ; and yet they have long sunk into merited obscurity, with scarce even an epitaph left to flatter. A few years ago, the herring fishery employed all Grub street: it was the topic in every coffee-house, and the burden of ewery ballad. We were to drag up oceans of gold from the bottom VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. 77 of the sea : we were to supply all Europe with her¬ rings, upon our terms. At present, we hear no more of all this. We have fished up very little gold that I can learn ; nor do we furnish the world with her¬ rings, a9 was expected. Let us wait but a few years longer, and we shall find all our expectations a herring-fishery. GAY, OR QUICK. /^NND gaiety on restless tiptoe hovers, IjL Giggling with all the gallants who beset her ; J And there are songs and quavers, roaring, humming, Guitars, and every other sort of strumming. And there are dresses, splendid, but fantastical, Masks of all times and nations, Turks and Jews, And harlequins and clowns, with feats gymnastical, Greeks, Romans, Yankee-doodles, and Hindoos. RAPID, OR QUICKEST. / ~\WAY !—away !—and on we dash !— % Torrents less rapid and less rash. Away, away, my steed and I, Upon the pinions of the wind, All human dwellings left behind : We sped like meteors through the sky, When with its crackling sound the night Is chequered with the northern light From out the forest prance A trampling troop—I see them come ! A thousand horse—and none to ride !— With flowing tail, and flying mane, Wide nostrils, never stretched by pain, Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein, And feet that iron never shod, And flanks unscarred by spur or rod— A thousand horse,—the wild, the free— Like waves that follow o’er the sea, Came thickly thundering on :— They stop,—they start—they snuff the air, Gallop a moment here and there, Approach, retire, wheel round and round, Then plunging back with sudden bound— They snort—they foam— neigh—swerve aside, And backward to the forest fly, By instinct, from a human eye. Exercises in Pauses. [In the following examples the upright parallels show the length of the pauses and where they should be made.] ALARM AND FEAR. all went merry as a marriage bell : But hush ! |! || hark ! || || a deep sound || strikes like a rising knell ! y? AWE AND TERROR. I ANY ports will exult at the gleam of her mast: Hush! || hush ! [| thou vain dreamer! || this hour || || is her last. || || Her keel hath struck on a hidden rock ; | And her planks are torn asunder : | And down come her masts with a reeling shock. | And a hideous crashl| like thunder ! HORROR. LOWLY knee to earth he bent,—his father’s hand he took— || || What was there in its touch, that all his fiery spirit shook? || || That hand was cold ! || || a frozen thing:— |[ || it dropped from his like lead ! || || He looked up to the face above—1| the face was of the dead : || || A plume waved o’er the noble brow— l| that brow was fixed and white : | He met, at last, his father’s eyes— || l| but in them was no sight ! || || Up from the ground he sprang, and gazed— || || but who could paint that gaze ? || They hushed their very hearts, || that saw its horror and amaze. STILLNESS, AND AWE. /'■^V REATION sleeps : || || ’t is as the general pulse of life | stood still || And nature made a pause, )| an awful pause, || Prophetic of her end ! SOLEMNITY, AND TRIUMPH. HE stars | shall fade away, J| the sun himself | Grow dim with age, || and Nature | sink in years ; But thou | shalt flourish in immortal youth, || Unhurt | amidst the war of elements, || The wreck of matter, )| and the crush of worlds. GRIEF. FAIREST of creation ! || last | and best | Of all God’s works, || creature in whom ex¬ celled Whatever can to sight or thought be formed, Holy, | divine, | good, | amiable, | or sweet! || How art thou lost, || || how on a sudden lost, || Defaced, || deflowered, || and how to death | devote I HORROR. O completely did these masters in their art, Hyder Ali, and his more ferocious son, absolve themselves of their impious vow, that when the British armies traversed, as they did, the Car¬ natic, for hundred of miles, in all directions,— 78 VOCAL CULTURE AND ELOCUTION. through the whole line of their march, | they did not see one man, | not one woman || not one child, || || not one four-footed beast || of any description what¬ ever. One | dead I uniform | silence || reigned | over the whole region. ORATORICAL INTERROGATION. HO’S here so base that would be a bonds¬ man ? — || If any, speak ; for him have I offended. || || Who’s here so rude, that would not be a Roman? — || If any, speak ; || for him have I offended. || || Who’s here so vile, that will not love his country ? —1| If any, sueak ; || for him have I offended.— || || I pause for a ±ply. Exercises in Emphasis. FIERCE ANGER AND DEFIANCE. ALL, me their traitor !—Thou injurious tri¬ bune ! Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths , In thine hands clutched as many millions, in Thy longing tongue BOTH numbers, I would say, Thou LIEST, unto thee, with a voice as .ree As I do pray the gods. ANGER AND THREATENING. OU souls of geese, That bear the shapes of men, how have you run From slaves that apes would beat!—P luto and HELL ! All hurt behind; backs red , and faces pale With flight and agued fear ! —Mend, and charge home, Or by the fires of heaven, I’ll leave the foe, And make my wars on YOU : look tod : Come on ! DEFIANCE. HAT in the world he is, That names me traitor, villian-like he LIES : Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach, On him, on you, —WHO NOT ?—I will maintain My truth and honor firmly. EMPHATIC PHRASES. PON the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House in a few words what is really my opin¬ ion. It is, that the Stamp Act ought to be repealed — absolutely — totally — and immedi¬ ately. 2 . And were I an American, as I am an English¬ man, while a single foreign troop remained in my country, I would never lay down my arms—NEVER— NEVER—NEVER. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST. N Homer, we discern all the Greek vivacity ; in Virgil , all the Roman stateliness . Homer's imagination is by much the more rich and copi¬ ous ; Virgil's the more chaste and correct. The strength of the former lies, in his power of warm¬ ing the fancy; that of the latter, in his power of touching the heart. Homer's style is more simple and animated; Virgil's more elegant and uniform. The first has, on many occasions, a sublimity to which the latter never attains ; but the latter, in return, never sinks below a certain degree of epic dignity , which cannot so clearly be pronounced of the former. STRONG ANTITHESIS. FT any man resolve to do right now, leaving then to do as it can : and if he were to live to the age of Methuselah, he would never do wrong.—But the common error is to resolve to act right after breakfast, or after dinner, or to-morrow morning, or next time . But now , just now, this once, we must go on the same as ever. The Delsarte System PHYSICAL CULTURE and EXPRESSION OF' c-%V AAA A A ASE and naturalness are among the chief requisites for effec¬ tive reading and re¬ citing on all occa¬ sions. There is a natural way of ex- pressing every thought and emotion. Mind and body should work to¬ gether in perfect harmony. Delsarte aims to show how this can be done. To the uninformed, his name stands hazily for some kind of mysticism. The sim¬ ple fact is, that there is no more mysticism connected with his teachings and philosophy than there is about any philosophy which has to do with mind rather than with matter. It would be impracticable here to give an exhaustive account of Delsarte’s life and philosophy, even were that possible. The object will be simply to state such facts as will enable the young student of the art of expression to understand why “ Delsarteism,” popularly so-called, exercises tb^ authority it does. In this particular field Delsarte was the greatest teacher of modern times, and the only one who can be said to have attained to a philosophy of expression. He did not leave, nor did he even formulate, a peda¬ gogical method, but he did formulate and leave rules and principles that are funda¬ mental. Birth and Early History. Francois Delsarte was born November 11, 1811, at Solesmes, France. Early orphaned and impoverished, he drifted like many another waif to Paris, where, in the bitter ) winter of 1821, he lived in a loft with his younger brother. As morning dawned after one awful night, he woke to find he clasped a lifeless body in his arms. Hunger and exposure had proved fatal to the younger child. As FranQois lay weeping on the grave of the brother just buried in the pot¬ ter’s field, a ragpicker, pursuing his calling, was attracted by what appeared to be a bun¬ dle of rags. He found the object to be a half-starved child. Moved with compassion, he took the lad to his own miserable abode, and from this squalor the future teacher and philosopher began his career as a ragpicker. For two years he followed his wretched avocation, but within his soul burned the passion for music, and in his daily wander¬ ings he gratified his passion as best he could^ 79 80 THE DELSARTE SYSTEM. drinking in the ditties of itinerant vocalists, the playing of military bands, snatches of songs, or instrumental performances that floated truant to his hungry ear. At twelve, attracted by music in the gar¬ den of the Tuileries, he was observed tracing some curious marks in the sand by one of the musical masters of the time—Bambini. At the request of the professor, the boy translated his hieroglyphics into song. To the question as to where he learned them, he replied, “ Nobody taught me sir, I found it out myself.” Bambini recognized genius. He took the lad to his home and began his education in music. During two years, such was the progress of the boy, that “ Bambini became the pupil, Delsarte the teacher.” Poor and Friendless. Just then came a great misfortune—the death of his kind protector. Fortunately Bambini had secured Delsarte’s admission to the Conservatory. Again, poor and friend¬ less, he had to face the world. He was not a favorite at the Conservatory, because he dared to question the methods of the pro¬ fessors, reputed as they were. In after life he proved their methods incorrect and injurious. In consequence of what they termed his audacity, he was given little opportunity for public singing, and when occasion was afforded, his style and manner were so essentially unlike the methods of the Con¬ servatory, that the public were not prepared for approval. We are told that only two persons of the vast audience comprehended and appreciated, but the opinion of those two overbalanced all the rest—Marie Malebran, the “ queen of song,” and Adolphe Nourrit, “ the king of tenors.” In due time he left the Conservatory. Failing to obtain a position, he was forced to subject himself to the humiliation of ask¬ ing the directors for a diploma that he might secure a position in a lyric theatre. He was scornfully refused and told that “ such genius should have gravitated to its proper sphere without difficulty or without assistance.” Then he sought opportunity to sing at the Opera House, begging the manager for just one chance. When the latter eyed him contemptuously, Delsarte, sensitive and keenly observant, said, “ Monsieur, though my clothes are poor my art is genuine.” A Brilliant Triumph. The manager, tired of his persistence and anxious to be rid of him, ushered him upon the stage between the acts of an opera and roughly addressed him: “Sing, Delsarte! In five minutes the curtain will rise. Show the stuff you are made of, or if you ever appear here again I will have you arrested as a vagrant.” And we are told that the “ beggar with the manners of a prince ” walked to the piano amid the jeers of the audience, and with tears in his eyes and his heart on his lips, sang. But what singing ! “ The long pent-up fires of his genius burst forth. The people were electrified ; the house rang with bravos. Again and again he was recalled, and every heartstring was made to vibrate in unison with his soulful utterances. He left the threatre the first singer of Paris.” Soon after this, neatly attired and bearing his appointment at the Opera Comique, he made a brief call at the Conservatory to confirm the directors in their judgment that “true genius should find its proper sphere.” He gave tangible proof of it in his commis¬ sion, and smiling, pointedly observed, “Gen¬ tlemen, you would not give me a recom¬ mendation as a chorister, but the public have awarded me this.” This occurred in 1830. PHYSICAL CULTURE AND EXPRESSION. 81 He soon won a European reputation. But his voice, injured by incorrect methods of training and the physical strain of years of hardship, lost its power, and he left the lyric stage at the age of twenty-three. In spite of this, every inducement was given him to appear in tragedy with Rachel at the Theatre Franqais, the belief prevailing that his vocal, difficulties were but temporary. He believed them incurable, and turned his attention to acting, because deeply inter¬ ested in expression as an art. He deter¬ mined to search the laws of an art hitherto left to the “ caprice of mediocrity or the inspiration of genius.” He found little to aid him in the accepted teachings of the time and was left to pursue his investigations according to his own independent methods. The World His Schoolroom. The true genius of the man led him to the right fountain—nature, the only funda¬ mental source. He studied life and its natural expression in all its manifestations, in all conditions, and such a course of study took him everywhere—through hospitals, morgues, asylums, prisons, patiently unearth¬ ing the sentiments of past genius. He studied children at their play, weigh¬ ing humanity everywhere and in every way. He studied years in medical colleges to understand the construction of the human body. He studied a lifetime to formu¬ late its expression, to convey through the body, beautifully and rythmically, the senti¬ ments of the soul. He was a keen observer and a careful thinker and reasoner. After years of observation of the manifestations of the mind through the body, he sought for the underlying philosophy of these mani¬ festations. All this time he was teaching, and among his pupils were Rachel, Carvalto, Macready, 6 Pasca, Sontag and Barbot. Jenny Lind con¬ sulted him. Pere Hyacinth and Pere La- cordaire, of pulpit fame, were also among his pupils. He became so great a teacher that he won a recognition that would have brought him wealth and a fame more widely understood and recognized, had not death cut short his career. He was offered an annual salary of $20,000 to found a conservatory in the United States. The King of Hanover, re¬ cognizing him as an artist, sent him the Guelph Cross. A street in his native town, Solesmes, was named in his honor. His Own Words. His last public appearance was in 1865, at the Sorbonne, where the lectures of the Philotechnique Society were given. It is recorded that during the evening he remarked: “ Many persons feel confident they are to hear me recite or sing. Nothing of the sort, gentlemen; I shall not recite and I shall not sing, because I desire less to show you what I can do than to tell you what I know. I count on the novelty—the absolute novelty—of the things I shall teach you. Art is the subject of this conversa¬ tion. Art is divine in its principle, divine in its essence, divine in its action, divine in its aim. Ah! gentlemen, there are no pleasures more lasting, more noble, and more sacred than those of art. “ Let us glance around us. There is not a pleasure which is not followed by disap¬ pointment or satiety ; not a joy which does not entail some trouble ; not an affection which does not conceal some bitterness, some grief, and often some remorse. Every¬ thing is disappointing to man. Everything 1 about him changes and passes away. Everything betrays him. Even his senses, so closely allied to his being and to which 82 THE DELSARTK SYSTEM. he sacrifices everything, like faithless ser¬ vants betray him in their turn.” Delsarte married, in 1833, Rosina Adrien, the daughter of the director of the Grand Opera House—a beautiful young girl of only fifteen years, whose talent as a pianist had already won her a first prize at the Conser¬ vatory. Seven children were born to them. His son Gustave died prematurely. It is said of him that, although not approaching his father as a dramatist, he had a most mar¬ vellous quality of voice, and when you had once heard that voice, which was developed by his father’s grand method, you never forgot its sincerity and melancholy. It haunted you and left you longing to hear it again. Delsarte left Paris with his family in 1870, taking refuge until the close of the war in his native town of Solesmes. Already ill, he was disheartened and crushed by the misfortunes of his country. He worked steadily on, however, his intellect having lost none of its vigor, though his nature had become more or less shadowed. After his voluntary exile he returned to Paris in March, 1871. “After Delsarte had gathered so abundant a harvest of laurels, fate decreed he had lived long enough. When he reached his sixtieth year he was attacked by hypertrophy of the heart, which left his rich organization in ruins. He was no longer the artist of graceful, supple expression and harmonious movements, no longer the thinker with pro¬ found and luminous ideas; but in the midst of this physical and intellectual ruin, the Christian’s sentiment retained its strong, sweet energy. “After lingering for months in a state that was neither life nor death, surrounded by his pious wife and weeping, praying children, he surrendered his soul to God on the 20th of July, 1871.” ELSARTE was a man of re¬ ligious feeling, and knew religious books better than other books. He was ac¬ quainted with the lore of the priests, to which he was indebted for his philosophy. Tradition affirms that he was much inter¬ ested in, and studied Swedenborg. This theory is confirmed by the fact that cer¬ tain fundamental ideas in his philosophy and the expression of them are intrinsically Swedenborgian. One of the fundamental principles of Delsarte’s philosophy is the law of corres¬ pondence, which was discovered by Sweden¬ borg, who held that the material world corresponds to the spiritual world and is the manifestation of man’s mental being. In other words, that the spiritual world is symbolized in the physical world. Applied to expression, the interpretation of this law is : “ Every expression of the face, every posture of the body, corresponds to, or is but an outward expression of, an inner emo¬ tion or condition of the mind.” Goldsmith has pithily said that “ language was invented to conceal our thoughts,” and the truth of this every one knows by per¬ sonal experience; but there is a revealer that the will is not always strong or alert enough to control. The involuntary gesture reveals the inmost heart of man 1- "vond a]/ concealment or denial. PHYSICAL CULTURE AND EXPRESSION. 83 In the correspondence of the different parts of the body, Delsarte’s idea was not that mental and moral atrributes dwell in these parts, but that certain parts best repre¬ sent, best express, certain attributes. For example, the head in its poise, etc., repre¬ sents intellect better than any other part of the body ; the trunk, affection ; the limbs, power. Each part can represent a certain attribute better than it can represent other attributes. We See It Illustrated. For proof of the fundamental truth of this principle we need appeal only to our intui¬ tion, the highest of all the powers of judg¬ ment, exercising it upon the familiar illustra¬ tion of everyday life and expression. The mother presses her child to her breast in token of affection, not to her head or to her arms. The head is bent in thought. We encircle a friend with the forearm in friendly demonstration, not with the upper arm; with that we push aside. In this short discussion only the merest index to lines of thought can be suggested to the student. Delsarte held that in gesture or movement of the body, the parts should move in oppo¬ sition. In proof of the correctness of his theory he appealed, as before, to the intui¬ tion, judging by common observation. When walking normally, the right arm goes for¬ ward with the left foot. Parallelism offends our idea of fitness and grace. Opposition of movement marks not only beauty but sincerity, according to his ideas, and these things prove themselves by their appeal to our observation. The workings of this law can be demon¬ strated and proven through all parts of the body—there is opposition everywhere. It has been claimed by some that Delsarte did not announce this as a law, but close students of his philosophy, for whom there was access to his notes, find sufficient evi¬ dence that he so regarded it. Delsarte was too close an observer and too long a student of the manifestations of the human body not to perceive this very evident principle of action. Fundamentally, underlying the law of opposition, is the law of equilibrium. To maintain equilibrium of parts there must be opposition. Again, another great teacher in support of this law has called our atten¬ tion to a fact of common observation : “In true acting you will see opposition of movement ; in a farce, parallelisms. In the highest Greek art, the law of opposition is fully illustrated and strictly followed; one of the features which distinguishes ideal Greek art from the lower forms is the obedi¬ ence to this law. In the old Egyptian statues, the arms and legs are always par¬ allel. In the Phidian, the highest period of Greek art, not one instance of disobedience to the law of opposition can be found.” Another law of movement which claims the student’s attention is that of Succession. “If two parts are used at the same time , they move in opposition ; but, if moved successively, as to time, they move in the same direction—parallel directions.” For example, if a cultivated person hears some¬ thing when listening, the eye is turned away from the ear; when he turns toward the direction of the sound to examine, the eye is turned first, then the head, then the body. The uncultivated person turns all at once—has no parts. The uncultivated body moves in the mass, is lumbering, stiff, in one word, awkward. The cultivated body is supple and responsive to mental impulses; in one word, graceful. Thus ease and nat- 84 THE DELSARTE SYSTEM. uralness always exhibit themselves in per¬ sons who have all their powers under con¬ trol, and have reached the highest point of mental and physical training. Another law relating to movement in¬ volves this idea : “ Every gesture takes its value from the point of departure—it is mental, moral, or vital, according to its point of departure.” A gesture of mentality takes its point of departure from the head. A gesture takes its moral value from the chest as a point of departure. The gesture of vitality is from the vital part of the body. If the emotion be anger, and intellectual anger, because of opposition to truth, the finger will come up to the head—“ I declare this to be so and so.” If the anger involve the sense of right, the point of departure will be the region of the heart. If the offense be physical, the gesture will be low, in the region of the hips. Then there is the law of Unity of Movement. No part acts alone. The parts assist one another, and thus in the matter of gesture confirm one another ; otherwise, there would be discord and lack of symmetry. In this line Delsarte did a great deal of pioneer work, and those who have followed his methods have had much work to do properly and thoroughly to insist upon this law of action, obvious as it is. Should any agent of the body make a gesture which the other parts of the body seem to deny, there is evident mental dis¬ agreement and physical awkwardness. The gesture will seem not suitable to the thought, although upon close discrimination the lead- ing agent will be found to be responding correctly. Many an actor and public reader has been termed untrue and justly termed awkward because of a lack of unity in all the parts taken together. This is the fundamental law of all grace and beauty in nature. “No part of the body is used without a definite purpose in view, and no part is used more than is abso¬ lutely necessary to the end sought.” Awkward People. This law, as do all these fundamental laws of nature, appeals to our intuition for proof. The awkward, clumsy person moves parts not necessary to the action, indulges in superfluous movements and finds himself in his own way. Following close in logical sequence and inseparable in action, is the law of centers, radically involving the preceding law. “ The center seems to impel all the other parts. That which impels the whole body is the center of the chest.” Note that the upright, easy, graceful walker seems impelled by the chest. Should the head lead, we have a mincing, weak walk. If the hips lead, there is an appearance of vulgarity. Obedience to this law secures grace. These laws, as has been indicated, prove themselves, and their collaboration and appli¬ cation in the art of expression show the care¬ ful and extensive observation and philoso¬ phical generalization of Delsarte’s thought and work. These are the laws underlying his philosophy. As has been said, Delsarte was a great pioneer in his espescial field of work—the art of expression. He made valuable dis¬ coveries and continued making them so long as he lived. He was profound and pro¬ gressive in his art. Without Delsarte the evolution of expression would not be where it is to-day. There are, however, certain limitations which stand in the way of his philosophy as PHYSICAL CULTURE AND EXPRESSION. 85 a working force, and they have been a fruit¬ ful source of criticism, both just and unjust, intelligent and ignorant. The endeavor will be briefly to point out these limitations. Once understood, the remedies suggest themselves and the thoughtful student sees all the more clearly how grand and philoso¬ phical a foundation this master laid for his art, which needed only time and its concomi¬ tant work and progress to develop. You Must Exercise Your Will. As a first limitation, Delsarte made no provision in his psychology for the human will. It is needless to state to the intelli¬ gent student or teacher that any system of education in any art or science whatsoever that does not provide a method which shall exercise and develop all the mental attributes in their natural order and action, has a most vital and fatal error in it, which will be shown irrevocably in the results produced. The will is the ‘‘chief corner-stone in every sound form of psychology,” and to disregard it as a mental force is to ignore that which makes man what he is. Delsarte rested his psychology upon a trinity. Psychology in its most modern and progressive stages recognizes a fraternity: consciousness or life, affection, will, intellect. Omit one of these and the result cannot but be wrong. Again, Delsarte made no provision for the relations and responsive action of groups of muscles. By the very law of opposition in the human body, certain groups of muscles act in response to other groups of muscles. The parts of the body are not isolated and independent. There is absolute unity in this most perfect of all architectures. Because of this non-provision, a system of physical culture based rigidly and absolutely on his principles, could not be a satisfactory system. It would fail to provide for and cultivate one of the most vital necessities of the human body—the interaction of all the muscles. There would be obvious lack of unity and hence lack of grace in a body so cultivated. And this involves a further omission—he made no provision for reflex action in the human body, which is the secret spring of all natural gesture. It seems incomprehensible that so keen and thoughtful a student as Delsarte should fail to take cognizance of the fact that the muscles react from muscular sense. However, in his time this sixth sense was not recognized and understood as it is to-day. Spontaneous Action. Not to understand this, paved the way to slip into another error all the more easily. Delsarte leaves out spontaneity . It can be seen, of course, that it is implied in his phil¬ osophy, but it is not definitely recognized and provided for. Right here is the vital flaw which justly calls forth the criticism that Delsarte’s method implicitly followed dis¬ appoints in developing the orator and the actor, in that it makes them mechanical. His ideas are absolutely correct, proven by common observation, but some of his methods of producing results to conform to them are not only insufficient but erroneous, because of the non-recognition of all the mental and physical forces and their funda¬ mental principles of action. “ Art rests right upon that law of spon¬ taneity.” Nature is spontaneous in action, by means of that secret spring of reflex action. One of the truest of his followers, com¬ menting upon this very point, has put and answered these most pertinent questions : “ How did Delsarte learn his various prin- 8 G THE DELSARTE SYSTEM. ciples were true ? How did he learn what gestures mean ? By watching what people did when excited by their emotions. What did these spring from ? From the sponta¬ neity of the mind.” Thus all expression should come from an inward impulse, and where mind and body are in perfect harmony the expression will be exactly suited to the thought and emotion—nothing forced about it, nothing mechanical, but rather the free act of a living being in distinction from a mere machine. Special Training. It goes without saying, that both the voice and the ability to express thought and feeling must be developed and cultivated. But it is not so quickly and generally recog¬ nized that physical culture is a necessary con¬ comitant of education in expression. Be the mind never so well trained, profound and agile in thought, if the body, its medium of manifestation, be uncultivated, muscles stiff or inert, and unable to respond quickly and intelligently to the mental impulses, the result must be awkwardness, weakness, and inaccuracy of gesture. Cultivate the muscles, rendering the whole physique in every part pliable and quick to respond to the emotions, and there will be naturally the conformity to the laws which Delsarte primarily deduced from nature. That a student may effectively render a selec¬ tion, it is not necessary that he should care¬ fully and mechanically formulate what emo- « tions are appropriate to the thoughts expressed in it, and then select and learn the gestures appropriate to' such states of mind. Let him work upon the selection, calling upon the imagination until he can live those scenes and have those states of mind de¬ scribed, and the body will respond. The all-wise Creator took care that the body should not wander through the world with¬ out a motive power and controller. Nature takes care of these things if mind and body are normal and free to respond. The formula is simple: “ Objects appeal to the mind, the mind acts, the body ex¬ presses.” Does this need proof? “Give a dog something he wants ; some secret spring will move his eyes and wriggle his tail just right.” It will not be necessary to look up the proper rules first and then instruct him to place and move his parts to correspond. Children act naturally, and their actions are spontaneous. They have no rules for expression, yet in the main no expression is more effective. They are natural in all things. Talking with the Body. Gesture is the delineation in the air, by the physical agents of the body, of mental conceptions. “The basis of oratory is to get the body to respond to the thought.” In every act of the human being we have to recognize the close and subtle relation oi body and soul. The mind is the divine in man, the only source of instruction to the body. “ Gesture is in the soul.” “ Man is a stream whose source is hidden,” says the philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson; “always our being is descending into us from we know not whence.” The human body is given, as shown in its very construction, to be the instrumentality of expression to the soul it incarnates. It has not been limited to one way of expression. It has been richly gifted in this as in other things. One way is gesture. Gesture was, undoubtedly, man’s first and only language. Gesture includes more than the movements of the hands and arms, or PHYSICAL CULTURE AND EXPRESSION. 87 the body as a whole. It necessarily includes all the physical agents, all parts of the body, the most subtle of all being the eye and mouth. In reference to the mouth, this does not mean its action in speech. There is a subtle movement of the mouth accompany¬ ing both speech and silence that is most significant. Gultupe of the OW, how can we cultivate this responsive power of the body to enable the body to oe a more ready, more transparent medium for the mind ? Ob¬ viously, the first essential con¬ dition is a healthy body, and physical culture aids in effecting this as pow¬ erfully as in rendering the muscles elastic. Exercising any groups of muscles impels, physiologically, to the instinctive adjustment of all the muscles to effect unity with the group exercised. For example, exercise the muscles of the hand, put the hand in a certain attitude ; the whole body, if it be in a normal, pliable con¬ dition, will feel constrained, uncomfortable, unless it is permitted to adjust itself in an attitude agreeing with that of the hand. Ii the body be allowed to assume, in all its parts, the corresponding attitude, there is a comfortable muscular feeling. This instinc¬ tive feeling in the muscles is muscular sense, and very good common sense it is, too. To sum up, in a few words, the trend of these statements concerning gesture is only to say to the sincere student, let nature work in her own divine way. Cultivate the mind to comprehend, the body to respond, and your gestures will take care of themselves, as have always the gestures of every God- inspired orator and reader. Yet, to have some practical instruction, based on the principles already stated, will aid the young student. Delsarte taught his criteria of gesture of the hand with a cube. Holding the hand out straight, palm up, so that the cube can rest on it, signifies upholding, sustaining. Delsarte adds, “ giving,” “receiving;” but it will be observed the action of the hand is the same for both. The hand passed to the side gives the position of separation, which Delsarte calls “ definition.” If the hand be raised to attract attention, the forefinger will be inclined to act, thus separating the person desired from others. The hand passed to the top of the cube covers it, protects ; thus held flat, signifies protection; curved, im¬ plies something more tender—a caress. Use of the Hand. The san. „ gesture is a true one when de¬ scribing certain actions, as of animals running —they cover so much ground. The term “ cover ” is considered by one of our own great teachers a more generic term than “ protect.” The hand passed to the opposite side gives the attitude of rejection, a familiar gesture. The hand passed to the outer end, palm toward the cube, signifies limitation ; passed to the end next the person, back of hand to cube, fingers pointing up, signifies revelation. The palm may mean repulsion or attraction, depending on the sentiment. A person of great responsiveness is apt to use both hands and also both arms. The whole personality is interested. In merely mental activity—reasoning—one hand, one finger will be employed. 88 THE DELSARTE SYSTEM. “ The “ perpendicular ” movements of the arm are those of appellation, salutation, affirmation. The “ lateral ” movements are those of declaration, negation, rejection. The “ forward” movements are those of re¬ pulsion, attraction, supplication. The altitude of gesture depends somewhat on the position of the object of thought. The hand will move in curves—nature’s own lines. All gestures are affected by the alti¬ tude which indicates the moral plane. Greater intellectuality gives higher gestures. The more vividly the imagination works, rendering the thought brilliant, the higher the gestures. Tendencies of character will modify the gestures. A great and profound teacher sums up the matter thus : “ The rounded, the complete individual is one whose gestures, like the singer’s voice, play up and down the scale. It must be remembered that we have spoken of the gestures of only one agent, the hand. The nobler and subtler gestures are of the face and chest. The eye has a language of its own ; it is a wonderful agent of expression. Look your thought; speak it with your eyes. All the features of your face were made to talk. Let your face speak all emotions—surprise, joy, fear, hope, ex¬ pectancy, anguish, in short, every mood of the inner being. Feel the emotions ; make them your own, and then express them naturally. Exercises for the Body. 1 . With body erect and hands at sides, move the head to right and left, and forward and backward ; cultivates the muscles of the neck. 2 . With hands on the hips, move the upper part of the body to right and left, and forward and backward ; this cultivates the musc^" ^ the chest and back. 3 . Close the hands, extend the arms in front, and bring the hands together behind the back; repeat at least twenty times. 4 . Stand erect, with arms straight at the sides; move the arms outward from the sides, and elevate them, bringing the hands above the head; repeat at least twenty times. 5 . Hold the right arm out horizontally, palm of hand upward ; double the left arm, the tips of the fingers resting on the shoulder; then stretch out the left arm, at the same time doubling the right arm and placing the tips of the fingers on the right shoulder; repeat, and then make the movements with both arms simultaneously. Hands and Arms. 6. Holding the arms straight, swing them with a rotary motion, thrusting them forward as they are elevated and backward as they are lowered, bringing them to the sides, and then repeat. 7 . Lift the hands from the sides to the shoulders, then raise the arms at full length above the head, and also extend them hori¬ zontally, dropping them at the sides ; repeat. 8. Standing erect, with the hands on the hips, lower the body, bending the knees, the weight resting on the toes, and rise; repeat at least fifteen times, but not too fast. 9 . Placing the hands on the hips, right leg forward and left leg slightly bent ; thrust the body forward, thus straightening the left leg and bending the right; then placing the left leg forward, repeat movements. 10 . With the body bent forward, closed hands between the knees, raise the body and elevate the hands above the head, taking care to keep the arms straight; repeat. 11 . Place the hands on the front side of the hips, bend the body forward, and then rise to an erect position, at the same time throwing the head backward ; repeat. PHYSICAL CULTURE AND EXPRESSION. 89 12. Steady yourself with one hand on a chair; place the other hand on the hip and swing the leg forward across the other; then backward ; repeat, and then swing the other leg in like manner. 13. Steady yourself with one hand on a chair, place the other hand on the hip, and swing the leg forward and backward ; repeat, and then swing the other leg in like manner. Free Gymnastics. 14. Stretch the body forward, placing the hands on the bottom of a chair; then straighten the arms and raise the body. This must not be repeated so many times as to render the muscles sore and stiff. 15. Extend the arms forward at full length, palms downward; then move the hands backward and forward as far as pos¬ sible ; this renders the fingers d muscles of the wrist pliant. 16. Stand erect with hands on the hips and light weight on the head ; then rise on the toes and fall. 17. Extend the arms slightly from the sides, close the hands and then rotate them; this cultivates the muscles of the arms. 18. With body erect and hands on the hips, fill the lungs to their utmost capacity ; then slowly emit the breath. Fill the lungs again, and emit more rapidly ; again, and emit with a quick, explosive force. The parts primarily and directly con¬ cerned in the production of the human voice in speech and song are the articulating organs and chambers of resonance, the vocal cords, the lungs, and the muscles of respira¬ tion. We cannot, however, separate the voice from any of the vital parts. The prime physical aid to the cultivation of the voice is a healthy body. All the vocal organs should respond quickly and easily to mind and will, to the thought and emotion, and the mental effort employed in expressing them. The reader must always remember that his work is distinctly and wholly for others. Keep ever in mind that you read your selec¬ tion to please, to instruct, to inspire your fellow-beings, and not to exhibit yourself and your powers ; then there will be no danger of self-consciousness. Then be thoroughly and entirely alive. No perfection of manner can atone for lack of life. Again, although there is no human device by which to measure it, time is neces¬ sary for the transmission of thought. It takes time for your voice to reach the physical ear of the listener, then time for the thought to reach his consciousness and produce its effect. Give time for the thought to implant itself. In addition to this, there is no more suggestive emphasis than a pause. You Must Think on Your Feet. Take care not to do all your thinking beforehand ; cultivate the power to think on your feet, at the time you are speaking, otherwise your reading will indeed be a reci¬ tation—a mere mechanical recapitulation of past thinking—and it will lack the fire of the soul’s present action, which alone touches and inflames the hearts of others. A selec¬ tion just committed, on the other hand, with¬ out having had time to be well-grounded and analyzed, will be given in a mass—all alike. Talk with your audience, not at them or over their heads. Cultivate a conversational style. It has been said of one of the greatest of our orators—Wendell Phillips—that his oratory was that of “ a gentleman talking.” Remember, the greatest thing you bring to an audience is your own personality. Would you succeed in your art, cultivate all that goes to make up the great artist—body, heart and soul. .. w*"'f 7111, III!"? 1 . H] How to Remember The Loisette Memory System ,|l""it m UlMf'S'li 11 ill ■.,;:> in.. *Ss^ Os '»