THIRTEENTH LESSON PART 1. DRILL 1. Physical Culture, Deep Breathing, and Voice Exercise. Review the exercises of Lesson Thirteen of the first term, page 57. 2. Articulation. Repeat distinctly and rapidly: 3. Pronunciation. Drill in words for the sounds of 0, as in accord and not (see page 220). PART 2. EXPRESSION INTEREST If you show that you yourself are interested in what you are reading aloud, you will the more easily arouse the interest of your hearers. Cultivate your ability to concentrate on the particular passage you are interpreting, and persistently exclude from your mind all other thoughts. It is one of the pleasures of the listener quietly to watch the operation of the reader's mind, and he is quick to detect even the slightest tendency of the reader to wander away from his subject. This power of concentration can be rapidly developed by patient and regular practise in keeping the mind fixt upon the subject you are reading, and leading it gently back to that subject again and again as often as it strays away. The habit of fixing the mind on one theme at a time, and the ability to keep it there at will, constitute one of the most valuable faculties in any walk in life. The reading lesson offers you an exceptional opportunity to develop concentration in a very high degree. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTISE 1. Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light Gods! can a Roman senate long debate, May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage. Rise, fathers, rise! 'tis Rome demands your help; Or share their fate! The slain of half her senate If we should sacrifice our lives to honor, Rouse up, for shame! Our brothers of Pharsalia Point at their wounds, and .cry aloud, "To battle!" "Cato." JOSEPH ADDISON. 3. "Bring forth," cries the monarch, "the vessels of gold Now what cometh-look, look! without menace or call? Who writes with the lightning's bright hand on the wall? What pierceth the king like the point of a dart? What drives the bold blood from his cheek to his heart? "Chaldeans! Magicians! the letters expound!" They are read—and Belshazzar is dead on the ground! Hark! The Persian is come on a conqueror's wing; And a Mede's on the throne of Belshazzar the king! "Belshazzar." B. W. PROCTER. 4. Three fishers went sailing out into the west- And there's little to earn and many to keep, Tho the harbor bar be moaning. Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tower And trimmed the lamps as the sun went down; And they looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower, Tho storms be sudden and waters deep, And the harbor bar be moaning. Three corpses lay out on the shining sands In the morning gleam as the tide went down, CHARLES KINGSLEY. |