ELEVENTH LESSON PART 1. DRILL 1. Physical Culture. Raise both hands above the head, clasp them, hold the breath, and sway the arms from side to side three or four times, while keeping the feet flat upon the floor. Drop the arms to the sides while slowly exhaling. 2. Deep Breathing. Count in one whisper, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Take a new breath through the nostrils and repeat. Gradually increase the count to 20, all in one breath. 3. Voice Exercise. Count 1 to 50, in one breath, and in soft voice, rapidly and distinctly. Then repeat a little louder. Repeat a third time still louder, but not too loud, all the while aiming at variety of voice, distinctness, and rapidity. 4. Articulation. Repeat the following with great distinctness and rapidity: Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, With stoutest wrists and loudest boasts, PART 2. EXPRESSION ALERTNESS A well-trained reader is quick to grasp an author's meaning, and quick to fit the words of a passage to his mouth. Constitutional sluggishness is disastrous to proper expres sion. You can cultivate nimbleness of thought, imagination, and utterance, by urging yourself forward while studying this lesson you can stimulate your interest by thinking what it will mean to you in your life to be able to read and speak well. Realize that it is worth your while to be mentally alert here, since it means larger development for you in other respects. Alertness does not necessarily mean rapidity of utterance; it simply implies that you know what you are about, that you do not stumble in your reading, and that every time you stand to read before others, you put forth your best effort. The reading lesson should be the most interesting study in the curriculum. Be wide-awake to its advantages. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTISE 1. O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. "Psalm 95:1-7." THE BIBLE. 2. Hope was a smiling, dancing, rosy boy, with sparkling eyes, and it was impossible to look upon him without being inspired by his gay and sprightly buoyancy. Wherever he went he diffused gladness and joy around him; the eyes of the young sparkled brighter than ever at his approach; old age, as it cast its dim glances at the blue vault of heaven, seemed inspired with new vigor; the flowers looked more gay, the grass more green, the birds sang more cheerily, and all nature seemed to sympathize in his gladness. Memory was of mortal birth, but Hope partook of immortality. "Memory and Hope." JAMES K. PAULDING. 3. The best-laid plans, the most important affairs, the fortunes of individuals, the weal of nations, honor, happiness, life itself, are daily sacrificed because somebody is "behind time." There are men who always fail in whatever they undertake, simply because they are "behind time." There are others who put off reformation year by year, till death seizes them, and they perish unrepentant, because forever "behind time." Five minutes in a crisis is worth years. It is but a little period, yet it has often saved a fortune or redeemed a people. If there is one virtue that should be cultivated more than another by him who would succeed in life, it is punctuality; if there is one error that should be avoided, it is being behind time. "Behind Time." FREEMAN HUNT. 4. 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-pell-mell, 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 a mile to run; at last the colt balked a leap and went 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. From "London Assurance," Act III, Scene 1. 5. At this critical juncture King Ferdinand emerged from the mountains with the main body of the army, and advanced to an eminence commanding a full view of the field of action. By his side was the noble English cavalier, the Earl of Rivers. This was the first time he had witnessed a scene of Moorish warfare. He looked with eager interest at the chance medley fight before him-the wild career of cavalry, the irregular and tumultuous rush of infantry, and Christian helm and Moorish turban intermingling in a deadly struggle. His high blood mounted at the sight; and his very soul was stirred without him by the confused war cries, the clangor of drums and trumpets, and the reports of arquebuses, that came echoing up the mountains. Seeing the king was sending a reenforcement to the field, he entreated permission to mingle in the affray, and fight according to the fashion of his country. His request being granted, he alighted from his steed. He was merely armed en blanco-that is to say, with morion, back-piece and breast-plate; his sword was girded by his side, and in his hand he wielded a powerful battle-ax. He was followed by a body of his yeomen, armed in like manner, and by a band of archers, with bows made of the tough English yew tree. The earl turned to his troops, and addrest them briefly and bluntly, according to the manner of his country. "Remember, my merry men all," said he, "the eyes of strangers are upon you; you are in a foreign land, fighting for the glory of God and the honor of merry old England!'' A loud shout was the reply. The earl waved his battle-ax over his head. "St. George for England!" cried he; and, to the inspiring sound of this old English war-cry he and his followers rushed down to the battle, with manly and courageous hearts. "At the Siege of Loxa." WASHINGTON IRVING. TWELFTH LESSON PART 1. DRILL 1. Physical Culture. Place the weight of the body on the forward foot, the backward foot lightly touching the floor; reach out with the corresponding hand, stretching as far forward as possible; then gently relax and exhale. Repeat with the other foot and hand. 2. Deep Breathing. Catch the breath very quickly through the nostrils. Exhale suddenly on the element hoo as if blowing out a candle. 3. Voice Exercise. Pronounce the word "bell" in various keys, dwelling slightly on the "1," and making the tone as musical as possible. Then take a full breath and burst the voice open upon a singing "bell," again sustaining the tone and allowing it to die away very gradually. Vary the pitch and inflection. 4. Articulation. No single sound so readily betrays laziness and mental dulness in a reader or speaker as the sound of d. This letter calls for strength, pressure, and rigidity. For practise in the use of final d, the following lines from Tom Hood will be helpful: Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold; |