I. VERY SOFT FORCE. Very soft force is appropriate to the expression of tenderness, sadness, or peaceful and tranquil feeling. He therefore turning softly like a thief, Lest he should swoon and tumble and be found, And there he would have knelt, but that his knees Were feeble, so that falling prone he dug His fingers into the wet earth, and prayed. TENNYSON. II. SOFT OR SUBDUED FORCE. Soft force differs from very soft only in degree. 2. DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR. Full knee-deep lies the winter-snow, And the wintry winds are wearily sighing, Toll ye the church-bell, sad and slow, And tread softly and speak low, For the old year lies a-dying. 3. THE DEATH-BED. TENNYSON. We watched her breathing through the night, Her breathing soft and low, As in her breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro. Our very hopes belied our fears, Our fears our hopes belied We thought her dying when she slept, 4. THE FAERIE QUEEN. HOOD. Eftsoons they heard a most melodious sound Right hard it was for wight which did it hear To weet what manner music that might be, Was there consorted in one harmony; SPENSER. 5. THE ARSENAL. Down the dark future, through long generations, i hear once more the voice of Christ say, "Peace!" LONGFELLOW. 6. THE LOST CHORD. Seated one day at the organ, I was weary and ill at ease, I do not know what I was playing, It flooded the crimson twilight, Like the close of an angel's psalm, It quieted pain and sorrow, It linked all perplexed meanings ADELAIDE PROCTOR III. MODERATE FORCE Moderate force is the prevailing tone in the reading of unimpassioned narrative, descriptive, or didactic composition, in a small room, or to a small number of persons. It is the degree of force used in conversation. The characteristic quality of moderate force is "pure tone," and the stress. "unimpassioned radical." EXAMPLES. 1. There was a sound of revelry by night. 2. What constitutes a state? 3. Scrooge never painted out old Marley's name. 4. The history of England is emphatically the history of progress. 5. The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues. 6. Spake full well in language quaint and olden, One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, 7. The way was long, the wind was cold, 8. I met a little cottage girl, She was eight years old, she said; 9. Blessings on thee, little man, 10. I wrote some lines once on a time And thought, as usual, men would say They were so queer, so very queer, 11. Listen, my children, and you shall hear On the eighteenth of April, in seventy-five;- Who remembers that famous day and year. 12. Around I see the powers that be; I stand by Empire's primal springs; And princes meet in every street, And hear the tread of uncrowned kings! 13. Mrs. Siddons once had a pupil who was practicing for the stage. The lesson was upon the "part" of a young girl whose lover had deserted her. The rendering did not please that Queen of Tragedy, and she said: "Think how you would feel under the circumstances. What would you do if your lover were to run off and leave you?" "I would look out for another one,” said that philosophic young lady; and Mrs. Siddons, with a gesture of intense disgust, cried out, "Leave me!" and would never give her another lesson. 14. READING AS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. We had rather have a child return to us from school a first-rate reader, than a first-rate performer on the piano-forte. We should feel that we had a far better pledge for the intelligence and talent of our child. The accomplishment, in its perfection, would give more pleasure. The voice of song is not sweeter than the voice of eloquence. And there may be eloquent readers, as well as eloquent speakers. |