to Longmans, Green & Co. for the use of extracts from the works of Ruskin; to B. W. Huebsch for the use of selections from Griggs's "A Book of Meditations"; to David C. Cook Publishing Company and to the authors quoted for selections by Cochran and Wells which appeared in the Young People's Weekly; to Small, Maynard & Company for the use of Mrs. Gilman's "A Conservative"; to Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., and to the author quoted, for the use of "Across the Fields to Anne" and "If We Had the Time"; to Silver, Burdett & Company, and the editor of the volume quoted, for the use of A Laughing Chorus from "Nature in Verse"; to the Leland Powers School of the Spoken Word for the use of their arrangements of "The Coming of Arthur" and a scene from "David Copperfield"; to Harper and Brothers for the use of an extract from an article by Mackye in the North American Review; to the Outing Publishing Company for the use of "A Day in June" by C. W. Stevenson; to the editors and publishers of Collier's The National Weekly for the use of "Charlie Johnson's Fine"; to the publishers of Smart Set for the use of the poem, "A Wanderer's Litany"; to Emerson Hough for the use of an extract from his lecture, "Plain Americans"; and to many others, not only for the use of selections but for helpful suggestions and criticisms. HENRY E. GORDON VOCAL EXPRESSION IN SPEECH INTRODUCTION Two main purposes. Two main purposes may control in the study of any phase of public speaking. It may be studied from the standpoint of general culture, or from the narrower standpoint of a vocation. It may form one of the courses in a curriculum designed to arouse an appreciation of the noblest productions in all forms of art. and science, or it may appear as a course in a technical institution with the sole purpose of securing skill in a practitioner whose success in his vocation is more or less dependent upon a developed talent in public speaking. The primary purpose. But whatever the ultimate end in view, the first step in the study of a particular phase of public speaking should be for the purpose of culture. Lack of a broad, sympathetic appreciation of the world of science, art, and religion will operate as a serious checker in the development of a good speaker. This fact is largely lost sight of by the student of the art. He demands vocational work at once. His general attitude towards the subject causes him to wait until he is facing a definite problem, e.g. he is assigned some part in a literary program, elected to appear in a public debate, or invited to respond to a toast at a banquet, when, as he too frequently thinks, a few hours of training is all that is necessary. In the I In hands of a thorough and conscientious teacher he learns, to his amazement, not only that he lacks the cultural basis for proper presentation, but also that he fails in many other important respects: that his knowledge of the English language is totally inadequate; that he is incapable of pronouncing many of the commonest English words with any degree of accuracy; that his enunciation is so faulty that an audience cannot understand what he says; and, finally, that the very means of expression, his voice and action, are entirely unfitted to convey his thought. Taste cultivation. Taste, then, must be stimulated as the initial act in the evolution of a public speaker. With this end in view a great help will be found in the study of literature with reference to its vocal interpretation. Here are recorded the ideals of the best men and women of all time. The mind of the embryo speaker must be steeped in the rich literary expression of the strong life of humanity. He must joy in the epic simplicity of Homer, the lyric intensity of Tennyson, the dramatic movement of Shakespeare, and the oratoric glow of Demosthenes. While growing into this assimilative relation, at best a long and evolutionary process, the learner is acquiring a technical power which must prove a help from a vocational viewpoint; but culture, not skill, is the end sought. A danger. One danger, at least, arises in such study. The student is apt to prepare himself for vocal interpretative work from a scientific rather than from an artistic standpoint. That is, a philological and minutely critical study of the text may be made, which may lead to a stimulation of the intellect alone, or actually crowd out a possible artistic appreciation of the selection studied. Such study may even make it distasteful to the reader. Under the guidance of |