land. Then on, boys; don't be alarmed, 1 danger."

“YOUNG MEN, AHOY THERE!"

"What is it?"

"THE RAPIDS ARE BELOW YOU."

"Ha! ha! we will laugh and quaff; all thi us. What care we for the future ! No man Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. We life while we may; we will catch pleasure This is enjoyment; time enough to steer ou when we are sailing swiftly with the current." "YOUNG MEN, AHOY!"

"What is it?"

"BEWARE! BEWARE! THE RAPIDS ARE BEI Now you see the water foaming all around. fast you pass that point! Up with the helm ! Pull hard! Quick! QUICK! QUICK! pull har lives! pull till the blood starts from your nostr veins start like whipcords upon your brow! mast in the socket! hoist the sail! ah! ah! it i "Shrieking, HOWLING, BLASPHEMING, over they Thousands go over the rapids of intempera year through the power of habit, crying all "When I find out that it is injuring me, I will g

- JOHN 1

CHAPTER IX

ENUNCIATION

HOWEVER expressive or charming the vocal delivery, it ll fail to interest the audience unless they can both hear understand what is said.

Mere loudness may result only in confusion of sound, ecially if there is an echo in the room. Distinctness is

ained more by purity of tone and precision of utterance n by volume.

The vowel sounds of the English language are as fols, the order being from that made with the highest tion of the tongue (e) to that with the lowest posiof the tongue (ä) and the roundest shape of the (ōō):

-in mē, sēē, ēēl.

— in ill, it, in, pity.

in pay, say (notice the "vanish" e sound, which is ys heard except when a precedes e, as in aerial). - in câre, fair, wherefore.

— in pět, lět, sět, ĕnd.

-"short" or "flat" in ăt, hắt, căt; slightly broader ăn, căn.

-"obscure" as in unaccented syllables, or the article en unemphatic. Say neither man, u horse, nor , ā horse, unless you wish to emphasize the article. intermediate between à and ä (a little like short c, task, fast, dance; not fast nor fäst. Generally

heard in monosyllables ending with a doubl sound (ft, st, nce).

ä — fäther, äh, pärt, guärd, häunt, däunt (n e-i-before r, her, mother (not "motheh "suh," work, verge, therefore.

û - before r, urn, curse, a fuller sound th ceding.

ŭ — up, cup, until, not ăntil.

Ŏ — not, slightly broader in coffin, god, what, - all, awe, gaudy, always, not ŏlways.

a

ô-or, nor, o'er, a slightly rounded form nounced by some good speakers as nearly as p long ō, e.g. more, as if spelled mower; by othe ō-low, 80; notice the vanish. 00 - 1000, when in an unaccented syllable.

oo-foot, pull.

00-food (not food), you.

COMBINATIONS

i-ä-e blent, as in my, fine.

u-eoo, few, mule, mute, but the e is less after s, 1 — superior, flute, lunatic, and disappea rule.

OW - äoo in how, row, our, not är. oiae as in oil, toy, boy.

OBSCURE VOWELS

In unaccented syllables the vowels are said to that is, indefinite. On the platform we give mo the pronunciation of obscure vowels than we n in colloquial speech, because distinctness is all

th the speaker; but even then we must not overdo. ople who say actor instead of actor (obscure ), the n for the man (thi), mispronounce as badly as those o say actúr or thů. Pronouns, prepositions, connectives, 1 unimportant monosyllables are always obscure except en they are emphasized.

n practicing the vowels, learn to sustain each sound urately for a considerable time, until you are able to d the lips and tongue steadily and without throatiness nasality. In sustaining the compound vowels (except hold the first sound until just as you are about to sh, when you give the two together, thus: i-ä-ai. thū, however, the preliminary glide is of less imporce than the ōo sound. The student who is sufficiently anced to use this book does not need to be told that English the above sounds are spelled in every imagie way.

he consonants or articulations are formed [1] by the k approximation and instantaneous recoil of the lips b), the tongue and teeth (t, d), or the back of the que and soft palate (k, g); [2] by the friction of th passing over the under lip (ƒ, v), the tongue and 1 (8, z, zh, sh, th), or striking the hard palate (h); in a manner much like vowel formation, except that e is more consciousness of the articulating organs, practically e and î), w. Those consonants in which sense of resonance is chiefly oral, that is, in the h, are sometimes called semi-vowels. The nasals n, ng) resound in the nose. The following letters for combinations: ch "soft," as in chin tsh; j, or = dzh ; q in quart kw; x = ks. Even in obscure

=

oles be sure that the consonants are distinct.

general, we need only say that the chief faults in

SOU. SCH. SPEA.-7

enunciating the consonants are a too sluggis the parts, and a forced or explosive manner. tion of the consonant is to give precision to t tion. The instant a consonant is pronounced, done. An eminent author (Austin, Chironomi us that each word should come from the mo coin fresh from the mint. The vowels may to the stream of molten metal, the consonants that stamps each coin and gives it individuality loquial speech too great precision is out of pl public speaking you cannot enunciate too disting is especially true of the final consonants, whi ally either swallowed or dropped entirely by speakers.

In practicing to avoid this fault, it is sometin do as follows:

EXERCISE I

[For free egress of sound.]

Count up to twenty thus: ONE-uh, TWO-uh, etc., with a quick dropping of the lower jaw sound. Then count ONE! TWO! etc., dropping in the same way, to let the final sound have fr but without the uh.

Do this with all passages which offer special d in articulation, and especially where the same, o consonants are heard in succession, or where the ger of mistaking the sound, e.g. "the first ti "firs time," "his beard descending," not "beer ing." But see that final sounds are not undul nent, especially 8, z, and r.