imagination or feeling. In the same way the language of attention, such as touch and inflexion, is more under our control, while the sympathetic modulation or the color of the voice is less voluntary and comes from the diffusion of feeling over the whole body. THE SNOWDROP A snowdrop lay in the sweet dark ground, The Snowdrop heard, for she raised her head, "You call too soon, Mr. Sun, you do!" 66 No, no," said the Sun, "oh, no!" "There's something above and I can't see through.” "But I say, Mr. Sun, are the Robins here?" "There was n't a bird when you called last year." The Snowdrop sighed, for she liked her nap, But she popped out of bed in her white night-cap; And, soon as that small night-cap was seen, A Robin began to sing, The air grew warm, and the grass turned green. ""Tis spring!" laughed the Sun, "'t is spring!" There is an exact correspondence between our spontaneous mental actions, such as imagination and feeling, and the language or the natural signs of these, such as tone color, change of pitch and movement. The natural signs of feeling are more spontaneous than the signs or language of ordinary or discursive thinking, such as inflexion. Inflexion is more conscious and voluntary than change of pitch. All these natural signs, however, even inflexion, have elements that are always in part, if not wholly, spon taneous; and yet tone color is usually indirect and is the most spontaneous of all the voice modulations. NESTS Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts! None of us yet know, for none of us have been taught in early youth, what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful thoughts, proof against all adversity; bright fancies, satisfied memories, noble histories, faithful sayings, treasure-houses of precious and restful thoughts which care cannot disturb, nor pain make gloomy, nor poverty take away from us; houses built without hands, for our souls to live in. John Ruskin Take some passage and multiply all the modulations, but observe that in proportion to the imaginative realization of the picture and the emotion it awakens, change of color will have a prominent place. On the contrary, if the passage is read in a cold, didactic way without any imagination or feeling, tone color will be eliminated. THE LEGEND BEAUTIFUL "Hadst thou stayed, I must have fled!" In his chamber all alone, Kneeling on the floor of stone, Suddenly, as if it lightened, In that narrow cell of stone; Of our Lord, with light Elysian Not as crucified and slain, Not with bleeding hands and feet, But as in the village street, In the house or harvest-field, In an attitude imploring, Hands upon his bosom crossed, Lord," ," he thought, "in Heaven that reignest Who am I that thus thou deignest To reveal Thyself to me? Who am I, that from the centre Then amid his exaltation, Who upon his bended knee, Of divinest self-surrender, Saw the Vision and the splendour. Deep distress and hesitation Mingled with his adoration; Should he go or should he stay? Then a voice within his breast Straightway to his feet he started, At the gate the poor were waiting, Seemed to them the bread and wine. Unto Me! But had the Vision With a supernatural light, Like a luminous cloud expanding But he paused with awestruck feeling Comprehending all the meaning, "Hadst thou stayed I must have fled!" XXX. MELLOWNESS OF TONE H. W. Longfellow Blow loud for the blossoms that live in the trees, Mary Mapes Dodge Do you observe that some tones please you and that others displease you? The tones that give you pleasure seem soft, rich, and full. Those that are disagreeable are harsh, cold, husky or impure. Did you ever notice what effect your feeling has upon tone? If you are antagonistic, full of anger, your tone will be hard and unpleasant. If you whine, your tone will be narrow, weak and disagreeable, while if you express love or tenderness or joy, your tone will be open, rich and pleasing to everyone. You have found that excitement, joyous emotion, sympathetic animation, great admiration or any deep feeling will cause a gentle expansion all over your body. It fills all your muscles with life. Anger, and ignoble emotions cause your body and voice to constrict and become hard. The habit of indulging in anger or antagonism will make the tone habitually hard. We may allow even earnestness to cramp our voice, but this is not the effect of true earnestness. True earnestness is sympathetic and courageous, and will expand the body |