A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings with a mild

And healing sympathy that steals away
Their sharpness ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight

Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart; -
Go forth, under the open sky, and list

To Nature's teachings, while from all around
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air,-
Comes a still voice-Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more

In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go

To mix forever with the elements,

To be a brother to the insensible rock

And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mold.
Yet not to thy eternal resting place

Shalt thou retire alone - nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings,
The powerful of the earth the wise, the good,

Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulcher.

(BRYANT: Thanatopsis)

PROPHECIES

Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new;

That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do.

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world and all the wonders that would be;

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,

Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew

From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,

With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battleflags were furled

In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful

realm in awe,

And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.

(TENNYSON: Locksley Hall)

The Rapid Rate

Just as some things are most aptly suggested by a slower than normal rate, so others call for a rapid rate. Any excited emotional state, whether of anger, patriotism, enthusiastic admiration, or other feelings, is most convincingly and suggestively portrayed by a faster than normal rate. To be sure, if the speaker is actually excited, he will tend to speak rapidly without any suggestion; though without skill in rapid utterance his words will probably be hard to understand. But a speaker does not always experience the degree of emotional intensity which produces the most apt expression. For instance, if a person speaks several times on the same subject, he is apt to "go stale," and yet it is desirable to stimulate each new audience by the manner of enthusiasm which characterized his original presentation. Again, even in talking on a fresh topic, the speaker is not always in just the mood which produces the most fitting delivery. If, however, he understands the methods which produce various effects, he can, in a considerable degree, make up for the lack of emotional stimulus; or, as is often the case, he can in the first few moments of speaking arouse in himself a more fervid state of feeling by the reaction to his earnest delivery. Furthermore, the speaker's own emotional intensity is not the only thing that will be convincingly, vividly, or aptly presented by a faster than normal rate. So also will matters which are relatively trivial, parenthetical remarks, and rapid action or excitement of any kind.

In using the rapid rate it is of the utmost importance that the speaker be especially distinct. The common lack of skill in this respect is only too obvious to any one who takes the trouble to note the point in conversations, or addresses from the platform. For this reason alone it would be profitable to fortify theory with tice in order to acquire the ability to speak rapidly and at the same time with perfect clearness.

prac

SELECTIONS FOR PRACTICAL APPLICATION

NOTE: Use rate variation where specific need suggests a change, but keep the prevailing rate faster than normal.

THE STEEPLE-CHASE

(Max): Ah! Sir Harcourt, had you been here a month ago, you would have witnessed the most glorious run that ever swept over merry England's green cheek - a steeple-chase, sir, which I intended to win, but my horse broke down the day before. I had a chance, notwithstanding; but for Gay here, I should have won. How I regretted my absence from it! How did my filly behave herself, Gay?

(Lady Gay): Gloriously, Max! gloriously! There were sixty horses in the field, all mettle to the bone; the start was a picture away we went in a cloud - pellmell - helter-skelter the fools first, as usual, using themselves up - we soon passed them first your Kitty, then my Blueskin, and Craven's colt last. Then came the tug-Kitty skimmed the walls Blueskin flew over the fences the Colt neck-and-neck, and half at last the Colt balked a leap and went

a mile to run

wild. Kitty and I had it all to ourselves - she was three lengths ahead as we breasted the last wall, six feet, if an inch, and a ditch on the other side. Now, for the first time, I gave Blueskin his head-ha! ha!! Away he flew, like a thunderbolt over went the filly-I over the same spot, leaving Kitty in the ditch walked the steeple, eight miles in thirty minutes, and scarcely turned a hair.

(BOUCICAULT: London Assurance)

STORMING THE BATTERY

The word of command was given: "We are ordered and expected to take Battery Wagner at the point of the bayonet. Are you ready?"

"Ay, ay, sir! ready!" was the answer.

And the order went pealing down the line: "Ready! Close ranks! Charge bayonets! Forward! Doublequick, march!"- and away they went, under a scattering fire, in one compact line till within one hundred feet of the fort, when the storm of death broke upon them. Every gun belched forth its great shot and shell; every rifle whizzed out its sharp-singing, death-freighted messenger. The men wavered not for an instant; forward -forward they went; plunged into the ditch; waded through the deep water, no longer a muddy hue, but stained crimson with their blood; and commenced to climb the parapet. The foremost line fell, and then the next, and the next. On, over the piled-up mounds of dead and dying, of wounded and slain, to the mouth of the battery; seizing the guns; bayoneting the gunners at their posts; planting their flag and struggling around it; their leader on the walls, sword in hand, his blue eyes blazing, his fair face aflame, his clear voice calling