are out of breath. Such reading is meaningless. The number of times we breathe and the amount of breath we take must both be determined by the way we think and feel each successive idea. The right retention of the breath must be directly responsive to the impression.

Give "Hurrah! Hurrah! or your class cheer with heartiness, as you would at a game. Carefully ascertain that conditions are secured and that the shout is not pushed out or made loud at the expense of the retained breath and open tone passage. College men often rasp their throats and become hoarse, if they do not ruin their voices, by misuse of the voice conditions in college "yells." Everyone in cheering should give, not a mere yell, but a free open tone letting hearty joy and exultation cause sympathetic expansion of the body, retention of breath by the harmonious action of the diaphragm and openness of the tone passage. Even in a cheer it is the quality of the tone that is of the most importance. When tone is husky or rasped it does not travel or make the volume of sound which you wish to produce. The cheer should be full of life, joy and heartiness. Then it does the voice good. Otherwise it may be very injurious.

THE SLEIGHING SONG

Away! away! the track is white,
The stars are shining clear to-night,
The winter winds are sleeping;
The moon above the steeple tall,
A silver crescent, over all

Her silent watch is keeping.

Away! away! our hearts are gay,
And need not breathe, by night or day,
A sigh for summer pleasure;

The merry bells ring gayly out,

Our lips keep time with song and shout,
And laugh in happy measure.

Away! away! across the plain

We sweep as sea-birds skim the main,
Our pulses gayly leaping;

The stars are bright, the track is white,
There's joy in every heart to-night

While winter winds are sleeping.

Imagine yourself sleighing, gliding over the snow, and read these lines expressive of your joy as you shout through the night. Give "Away! away!" letting your spirits cause you to take a great deal of breath and take it frequently. Give also only a few words at a time, rapidly, from sympathy with the movement of the sleigh and from the intensity of your feeling.

GEM OF THE OCEAN

O Columbia, the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot's devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemble,
When Liberty's form stands in view,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,

When borne by the Red, White, and Blue.

Chorus

When borne by the Red, White, and Blue,
When borne by the Red, White, and Blue,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the Red, White, and Blue.

When war winged its wild desolation

And threatened the land to deform,
The ark then of freedom's foundation,
Columbia rode safe thro' the storm,
With her garland of vict'ry around her
When so proudly she bore her brave crew,
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the Red, White and Blue.

David T. Shaw

Read the "Gem of the Ocean" with great heartiness and patriotism, with the right response in freedom and openness of tone. Do not speak loudly but speak easily and with great fervor. Loudness is undignified, nor can we express feeling in loudness. Give greater variety and greater freedom to your tone to express your patriotism. Let the thrill of emotion reserve your breath, elevate and expand your body and support rather than force your tone or make "it loud. This is the true method of making the voice strong.

OUR NATIVE LAND

God bless our native land!
Firm may she ever stand,
Through storm and night:
When the wild tempests rave,
Ruler of wind and wave,
Do thou our country save
By thy great might!

For her our prayers shall rise
To God, above the skies;
On Him we wait:
Thou who art ever nigh

Guarding with watchful eye
To Thee aloud we cry,

"God save the State!"

C. T. Brooks

This poem is less exultant, but it contains deep and prayerful patriotism. Observe that the tone is just as free and open as before and at the same time more rich and mellow.

XIII. SUMMARY OF VOICE CONDITIONS

"Divided."

Crowds of bees are giddy with clover,

Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet,
Crowds of larks at their matins hang over,
Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet.

Jean Ingelow

Tell some of the reasons why people often read so differently from the way they talk. When people read as if they were just calling words, what is the trouble? How can you tell the difference between a person with a jumble of ideas and one who lives each separate idea while he reads it?

Can you give some surprise or exclamation and feel your body and your breath and your throat prepare for the tone immediately before you give it? Is your tone free and hearty? Can you read joyous passages and feel that your tone is easy, open and pleasant?

Can you laugh heartily and observe that your whole throat and breathing are free? Can you expand your whole body with excitement, joy or courage? Can you feel your chest and body sympathetically expanded while you laugh?

Can you keep the conditions of retained and reserved breath, open throat and expanded body while you speak some sentence full of heartiness?

THE MILLER OF THE DEE

There dwelt a miller hale and bold

Beside the river Dee;

He worked and sang from morn to night,
No lark more blithe than he;
And this the burden of his song
Forever used to be:

"I envy nobody; no, not I,

And nobody envies me."

"Thou 'rt wrong, my friend,” said old King Hal,

"As wrong as wrong can be;

For could my heart be light as thine,

I'd gladly change with thee.

And tell me now, what makes thee sing,
With voice so loud and free,

While I am sad, though I'm the king,
Beside the river Dee?"

The miller smiled, and doffed his cap,
“I can earn my bread," quoth he;
"I love my wife, I love my friend,
I love my children three;

I owe no penny I cannot pay,

I thank the river Dee

That turns the mill that grinds the corn,

To feed my babes and me."

"Good friend," said Hal, and sighed the while,
"Farewell! and happy be!

But say no more, if thou 'dst be true

That no one envies thee.

Thy mealy cap is worth my crown,

Thy mill my kingdom's fee;

Such men as thou are England's boast,

O miller of the Dee!"

Charles Mackay

Observe in this poem the dialogue between the Miller of the Dee and the King. Give it with all the hearty joy you can, and contrast the heartiness and happiness of the miller and the staid seriousness of the king.

Do you see vivid pictures when you read? Do you see things freely, naturally, and do you feel them while you are reading about them? Do you think and feel each idea just before you speak the phrase standing for it, and while giving the phrase? You must let your thinking cause you to breathe and see that the breath is taken easily and naturally by the harmonious action of the diaphragm or the muscle in the middle of your body. You must think one idea at a time in such a way as to make you breathe often. If you do these things your throat will be open, your tone will come out freely, and there will be no constriction.

Can you read many passages full of joy and heartiness, feeling the sympathetic expansion and elevation of the entire body and the retention of breath and openness of the tone passage all as part of your very thinking and feeling and of the act of expression? Do you breathe easily in the middle of your body, quickly, deeply and often? Does the rhythm of your breathing obey the rhythm of your thinking and feeling?

Avoid forcing the tone. Let your admiration of nature, your imagination and feeling, express themselves by sympathetic vibrations all over your body. Let your tone be tender, joyous and pure, free and rich in all of its vibrations. Do not force it, but allow your feeling to flow through your body and quicken your breathing and the conditions of tone.

Can you read these poems emphasizing all of the qualities you have gained? Show that they have become a part of you, and that you can live ideas as you give them, and give them in such a way as to show that they are part of you.

'TIS SPRING AGAIN

'T is Spring again and the woods are wet
With the gracious gift of the April rain,
The sign of the approaching summer is set
In the tender green of the plain,
The robin rests in his flight and shakes

A clinging drop from his shining wing,
And over the woodland silence breaks
The first sweet song of the spring!