I chatter over stony ways, With many a curve my banks I fret With willow-weed and mallow. I chatter, chatter, as I flow To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever. I wind about, and in and out, And here and there a foamy flake With many a silvery waterbreak And draw them all along, and flow I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, I murmur under moon and stars And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river; For men may come and men may go, 4. Vocal Culture of Quantity. NOTE. Aside from the application of the elements in the selections given, the student should engage in a systematic drill in vocal culture, that he may apply the elements unconsciously and naturally in practical speaking. There is little or no vocal culture in Pauses, but in Quantity the following exercises, which should be practiced before the reading lesson, will be found helpful and sufficient for this element. Account must be taken of the intrinsic time value of sounds and syllables, lest one fall into the habit of drawling on the one hand or of a choppy utterance on the other. (1) Give the Continuant sounds ā, ē, i, ō, ū, l, m, n, ng, and r with pure voice, prolonging each sound as much as possible without drawling it. (2) Give the Stopt sounds ă, ě, ž, č, ŭ, p, t, s, in the shortest Quantity consistent with distinctness. (3) Practice the swell of the voice in notes of song on the Continuant sounds ē, ä, a, ō, l, m, n. (4) Pronounce distinctly with the longest consistent Quantity the following words: toll, tone, true, march, all, catch, beat, arm, full, blood, love, home, hut, mother. (5) Practice the following sentences in their appropriate Quantities: Move on, thou arm of the law. Pick it up quick, Jack. Swung by Seraphim whose faint footfalls tinkle on the tufted floor. And he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls, a pean from the bells. How it tolls for the souls of the sailors on the sea. From off its jubilant, iron tongue, Was "War! War! War!" 5. Selection illustrating all Quantities. NOTE. A close study of this selection shows that it is rich in the various Quantities. These may be marked before reading aloud, or they may be observed without the marks. APPEAL IN BEHALF OF IRELAND S. S. PRENTISS Fellow-Citizens: It is no ordinary cause that has brought together this vast assemblage. We have met, not to prepare ourselves for political contests; we have met, not to celebrate the achievements of those gallant men who have planted our victorious standards in the heart of an enemy's country; we have assembled, not to respond to shouts of triumph from the West, but to answer the cry of want and suffering which comes from the East. The Old World stretches out her arms to the New. The starving parent supplicates the young and vigorous child for bread. There lies upon the other side of the wide Atlantic a beautiful island, famous in story and in song. Its area is not so great as that of the state of Louisiana, while its population is almost half that of the Union. It has given to the world more than its share of genius and of greatness. It has been prolific in statesmen, warriors, and poets. Its brave and generous sons have fought successfully all battles but their own. In wit and humor it has no equal; while its harp, like its history, moves to tears by its sweet but melancholy pathos. Into this fair region God has seen fit to send the most terrible of all those fearful ministers that fulfill His inscrutable decrees. The earth has failed to give her increase. The common mother has forgotten her offspring, and she no longer affords them their accustomed nourishment. Famine, gaunt and ghastly famine, has seized a nation with its strangling grasp. Unhappy Ireland, in the sad woes of the present, forgets, for a moment, the gloomy history of the past. O, it is terrible that, in this beautiful world which the good God has given us, and in which there is plenty for us all, men should die of starvation! When a man dies of disease he alone endures the pain. Around his pillow are gathered sympathizing friends, who, if they cannot keep back the deadly messenger, cover his face and conceal the horrors of his visage as he delivers his stern mandate. In battle, in the fullness of his pride and strength, little recks the soldier whether the hissing bullet sings his sudden requiem, or the cords of life are severed by the sharp steel. But he who dies of hunger wrestles alone, day by day, with his grim and unrelenting enemy. He has no friends to cheer him in the terrible conflict; for, if he had friends, how could he die of hunger? He has not the hot blood of the soldier to maintain him; for his foe, vampire-like, has exhausted his veins. Famine comes not up, like a brave enemy, storming, by a sudden onset, the fortress that resists. Famine besieges. He draws his lines round the doomed garrison. He cuts off all supplies. He never summons to surrender, for he gives no quarter. Alas, for poor human nature! how can it sustain this fearful warfare? Day by day the blood recedes, the flesh deserts, the muscles relax, and the sinews grow powerless. At last the mind, which at first had bravely nerved itself against the contest, gives way under the mysterious influences which govern its union with the body. Then the victim begins to doubt the existence of an overruling Providence. He hates his fellow-men, and glares upon them with the longing of a cannibal; and, it may be, dies blaspheming. This is one of those cases in which we may without impiety assume, as it were, the function of Providence. Who knows but that one of the very objects of this calamity is to test the benevolence and worthiness of us upon whom unlimited abundance is showered? In the name, then, of common humanity, I invoke your aid in behalf of starving Ireland. Give generously and freely. Recollect that in so doing you are exercising one of the most Godlike qualities of your nature, and at the same time enjoying one of the greatest luxuries of life. Go home and look at your family, smiling in rosy health, and then think of the pale, famine-pinched cheeks of the poor children of Ireland; and I know you will give, according to your store, even as a bountiful Providence has given to you, not grudgingly, but with an open hand. He who is able, and will not aid such a cause, is not a man, and has no right to wear the form. He should be sent back to Nature's mint, and reissued as a counterfeit on humanity of Nature's baser metal. SECTION III. MOVEMENT Movement is the rate or degree of rapidity with which a series of sounds or words, or a sentence, is uttered. While Quantity is the length of Time given to words, and Pauses mark the silences between them, Movement measures the speed in which these successive sounds and silences are given. In nature we hear the various degrees of Movement in the murmuring brook and the roaring torrent, in the howl of the dog and the chatter of birds, in the tranquil sounds of gentle breezes and the terrible crash of the hurricane. We walk slowly in meditation or feebleness and run in excitement; these manifestations are physical, and depend upon the vitality we use. So, under different states of mind and feeling, human utterance partakes of a similar variety of Movement which manifestly represents the Vital nature of man. The rate of Movement, like all other elements, depends upon the character of the sentiment to be expressed; if lively, joyous, or impulsive, it must be rapid; if important, grave, or |