صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

1st-call'st, heal'st, till'st.

nst-canst, runn'st, gain'st.
dst-midst, call'dst, roll'dst.
rdst-heard'st, guard'st, reward'st.
ngdst-wrong'dst, throng'dst.
rmdst-arm'dst, form'dst.

rndst-learn'dst, scorn'dst.

The Third Step is the pronunciation of words of many syllables. The object of this step is to distribute the articulative energy so that all the syllables of a long word shall be brought out evenly. Frequently we apply so much force to the accented syllable that the syllables immediately preceding and following are imperfectly enunciated. The final syllables also frequently suffer.

Method of practice: pronounce each of the following words five times in rapid succession and with vigorous force. It may be necessary to begin the pronunciation at a slow rate of utterance, and to increase the rate as the pupil gains in articulative energy.

absolutely antipathy constitution accessory apocrypha lucubration accurately affability

colloquially

agitated chronological indissolubly adequately annihilate temporarily

multiplication articulately

disinterestedly

congratulatory

circumlocution

angularly apostatize mythological disingenuousness antepenult innumerable appropriate ecclesiastically revolution intolerable assimilate authoritatively institution dishonorable acquiescence superiority

deglutition collaterally

momentarily incalculable

lugubrious apologetic

ambiguously indisputable

necessarily dietetically

atmospherical immediately

generally apocalyptic

allegorical justificatory

abominably coagulation inexplicable.

The Fourth Step is the mastery of difficult combinations in sentences. Rigid personal criticism is necessary at each step. Difficult words and combinations of words should not be passed over or avoided because of inability to master them. It is much better to slacken the speed of utterance and gradually acquire the power of conquering the difficulties. Pronounce the following sentences, increasing the rate of utterance as strength and facility in articulation are acquired.

Amos Ames, the amiable aëronaut, aided in an aërial enterprise at the age of eighty-eight.

Some shun sunshine. Do you shun sunshine?
Fine white wine vinegar with veal.

caw, cocks crow.

Bring a bit of buttered brown bran bread.
Geese cackle, cattle low, crows
Eight gray geese in a green field grazing.
Six thick thistle sticks.

Lucy likes light literature.

A big black bug bit a big black bear.

Peter Prangle, the prickly prangly pear picker picked three pecks of prickly prangly pears from the prickly prangly pear trees on the pleasant prairies.

Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb; now if Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb, see that thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb. Success to the success

ful thistle sifter!

She sells sea-shells. Shall Susan sell sea-shells.

What whim led White Whitney to whittle, whistle, whisper, and whimper, near the wharf where a floundering whale might wheel and whirl?

He sawed six, long, slim, sleek, slender saplings.
Swan swam over the sea.

Well swam, swan.

Swan swam back again.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts,
With stoutest wrists and loudest boasts,
He thrusts his fists against the posts

And still insists he sees the ghosts.

The Fifth Step is reading.

Narrative, descriptive, and didactic styles are recommended for practice at first. Newspaper articles, essays, conversations, and biographical sketches should be frequently read aloud, and at sight.

Pursue these directions with patience and diligence, and without a question of doubt your articulation will be improved, and will finally become as distinct and perfect as public speaking and reading demand.

A chart may be made for the consonants similar in size to the one suggested on page 26 for the vowels. It should be hung on the wall of the study-room, and the various exercises in articulation should be practiced frequently and persistently.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

ld—bold, fold; lk—milk, silk; lp-help, gulp; nd— land, band.

lf-elf, wolf; Im-elm, helm; ls-falls, tells; nkbank, dank, etc.

THIRD STEP.-Master the pronunciation of words of many syllables:

Absolutely, accessory, accurately, agitated, etc.

FOURTH STEP.-Master difficult combinations in sen

tences.

Some shun sunshine, etc.

FIFTH STEP. Common reading.

Students in making this chart will fill in all vacant spaces under the several steps with material for practice.

HOW CAN I BECOME A NATURAL

SPEAKER?

Before we attempt to answer this question it would not be irrelevant to investigate certain charges of eccentric and unnatural speaking brought against the ministerial profession, and to enter a protest against the unwise and ferocious methods of criticism prevalent in our day.

There always has been a certain piquant pleasure in criticising the clergy. No opportunity has been allowed to pass unimproved, and advice has been offered ad nauseam. If this advice, in all cases, had been discriminating and just, good results might have followed; but alas! the criticism of the elocution of the pulpit has so frequently taken the form of ridicule or indiscriminate condemnation, that nothing has come of it save a prejudiced notion in the public mind that ministers, as a class, are the poorest speakers we have. However general this belief may be, it is very certain that many of our best speakers are in the ranks of the ministry, and must, of necessity, be there as long as the present order of things continues. The minister has altogether the best field for the cultivation of elegant and effective public address; the orderly audience, the church constructed with special reference to speaking, the wide range of topics to be discussed, the important interests involved in the discussion, furnish conditions that no other profession can offer. So far then from believing ministers to be the poorest speakers, we are inclined to believe that they are the best.

Whatever opinion may be entertained with reference to this matter, it is very evident that a fierce and dangerous spirit of fault-finding is prevalent and popular in our day. We live in an age of such large freedom that nobody hesitates to criticise or rather to find fault, forgetting that the rarest and highest ability is required for useful and safe criticism. The true province of the critic is

to construct and build up, not to destroy and pull down. However beneficent and helpful constructive criticism might be to society, it is nevertheless true that modern criticism has become essentially destructive. It is popular, in our day, to use the knife, to cut deep, to parade the weakness of public men rather than to construct better men out of what we have. And, although ministers are the targets at which the public especially delight to aim their shafts, it must be confessed that the clergy themselves are often as fierce and heartless in their criticism of one another as are the outsiders. It is not our purpose to stand sponsor for any of the eccentricities or improprieties of pulpit address, nor do we think it wise to allow an indifferent standard of excellence to be set up and go unchallenged; we simply wish to condemn, as dangerous and wicked, the careless, jocose, and irresponsible style of criticism that prevails.

This habit of fault-finding has grown to such an extent that ministers expect it, and indeed frequently invite it, and often act as though they were disappointed if they do not get more than they deserve.

How often do we hear ministers using these inviting words "Now do not spare me"-"Cut me to pieces❞— not knowing that this is the worst kind of criticism. Is it ever helpful to beat a man to pieces, and leave him in weakness to struggle back to his former health and strength? Is it ever cheering or strengthening to tell a man that he is greatly at fault in his reading and speaking, and that he ought to desist from public work until he can acquire a better form, and then to leave him in his discouragement to improve under the gracious and good advice he has received?

To all such reformers we have but one word: never criticise any man's reading or speaking unless you can suggest a better method, and can outline a course of training that will lead to that end. Keeping this principle in view, we will endeavor to discuss our theme: "How can I become a natural speaker?"

An unpleasant melody or intonation of voice has given rise to the phrase-the "ministerial tone." So very few speakers use a melody entirely free from unpleasant tones, that it would be just as proper to speak of the actor's tone, or the lawyer's tone, as to speak of the ministerial tone.

« السابقةمتابعة »