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Hear the mellow wedding bells-gôlden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells !

Hear the loud alàrum bells-brazen bells!
What a tale of tèrror now their turbulency tells!

Hear the tolling of the bells-iron bells!

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

POE.

SECTION IV.

EXERCISES IN MODULATION.

Modulation is the variation of voice according to the sentiment, thought, or emotion to be expressed. In impassioned reading, tones are the most prominent qualities of voice.

Thorough drill on the following examples will break up the tendency of pupils to read all kinds of selections in one formal "school-tone." school-tone." It is left for teachers and pupils to exercise their own judgment and taste in the rendering of these extracts, which embrace a wide range of expression.

EXAMPLES.

1. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, Blow, bugle, answer echoes, dying, dying, dying. 2. The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low. 3. There is a silence where no sound may be.

4. I hear them marching o'er the hill, I hear them fainter, fainter still.

5. "Cusha, cusha, cusha," calling.

6. To arms! to arms! to arms! they cry.

7. Arm! arm-it is-it is the cannon's opening roar. 8. Advance your standards, draw your willing swords!

9. Pity the sorrows of a poor old man.

10. Ring, joyous chords !-ring out again!

11. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll.

12. Come and trip it, as ye go,

On the light fantastic toe.

13. But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell.

14. Away! away! and on we dash.

15. Forward the light brigade!

16. All's hushed as midnight yet.

17. Hail! holy light, offspring of Heaven, first born.

18. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!

19. Silence how dead! and darkness how profound! 20. Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! they come, they come !"

21. Joy! joy! Shout, shout aloud for joy! 22. Strike! till the last armed foe expires!

23. How like a fawning publican he looks!

24. Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death! 25. Ring the alarm-bell! Murder! and treason! 26. Ride softly! ride slowly! the onset is near! Move slowly move softly! the sentry may hear. 27. No! by St. Bride of Bothwell, no!

28.

29.

On a sudden open fly

The infernal gates, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder!

Heaven opened wide.

Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound,
On golden hinges turning.

UNIVElix

OF

SCHOOL ELOCUTION CALIFORNIA 261

30. But gentler now the small waves glide, Like playful lambs on a mountain side.

31. With many a weary step, and many a groan,

Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone. 32. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line, too, labors, and the words move slow.

33. Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows,

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows.
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar.

34. Clang! clang! the massive anvils ring,

Clang! clang! a hundred hammers swing;
Like the thunder rattle of a tropic sky,
The mighty blows still multiply.

35. SONG OF THE SHIRT.

Work! work! work!

Till the brain begins to swim;
Work! work! work!

Till the eyes are heavy and dim!

Seam, and gusset, and band,

Band, and gusset, and seam,

Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!

HOOD.

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How frightful the grave! how deserted and drear!
With the howls of the storm-wind, the creaks of the bier,
And the white bones all clattering together!

Second Voice.

How peaceful the grave! its quiet how deep!
Its zephyrs breathe calmly, and soft is its sleep,
And flow'rets perfume it with ether.

37. MILITARY COMMAND.

"Forward the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!" he said.
Shoulder arms! Forward march!

Halt!

Charge! Chester, charge! On! Stanley, on!

38. THE HERALD'S CALL.

Rejoice, ye men of Angiers, ring your bells,
King John, your king and England's, doth approach.
Open your gates and give the victor way.

SECTION V.

DIALECT READING AND PERSONATION.

In dialect reading, the peculiarities of speech should be reproduced with fidelity, but should not be exaggerated. In the reading of dialogues there is, of necessity, a marked change of tone and manner when the reader personates two or more characters.

EXAMPLES OF DIALECT READING.

1. SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE.

Scores of women, old and young,
Strong of muscle, and glib of tongue,
Pushed and pulled up the rocky lane,
Shouting and singing the shrill refrain:
"Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt,
Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt
By the women o' Morble'ead!"

2. THE DEACON'S MASTERPIECE.

WHITTIER.

But the Deacon swore, as deacons do,
With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou,"
He would build one shay to beat the taown,
'n' the kaounty 'n' all the kentry raoun';

It should be so built that it couldn' break daown.

"Fur," said the Deacon, "'t's mighty plain
Thut the weakes' place mus' stan' the strain;
'n' the way t' fix it, uz I maintain,

Is only jest

T' make that place uz strong uz the rest."

3. SPRING.

O little city-gals, do n't never go it

HOLIES.

Blind on the word o' noospaper or poet!
They're apt to puff, an' May-day seldom looks
Up in the country ez it doos in books;
They're no more like than hornets'-nests an' hives,
Or printed sarmons be to holy lives.

I, with my trouses perched on cow-hide boots,
Tuggin' my foundered feet out by the roots,
Hev seen ye come to fling on April's hearse
Your muslin nosegays from the milliner's-
Puzzlin' to find dry ground your queen to choose,
An' dance your throats sore in morocker shoes;
I've seen ye an' felt proud, thet, come wut would,
Our Pilgrim stock wuz pithed with hardihood.
Pleasure does make us Yankees kind o' winch,
Ez though 'twuz sumthin' paid for by the inch;
But yit we du contrive to worry thru-

Ef Dooty tells us thet the thing's to du-
An' kerry a hollerday, ef we set out,

Ez stiddily ez though 'twuz a redoubt.

4. THE GRIDIRON.

LOWELL.

Patrick. I beg pardon, sir; but maybe I'm under a mistake, but I thought I was in France, sir. An't you all furriners here? Parley voo frongsay?

Frenchman. Oui, monsieur.

Patrick. Then, would you lind me the loan of a gridiron, if you plase? I know it's a liberty I take, sir; but it's only in the regard of bein' cast away; and if you plase, sir, parley voo frongsay?

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