T FOREWORD HE request of over five thousand people who have been my students, has led me to issue the principles of my practical work upon the Spoken Word. This volume contains facts, some of which are new and some old to the public. There may be some statements in this volume similar to those made in other books published, yet upon close examination you will find them vastly different from anything heretofore presented. I have endeavored in as concise a manner as possible, to make clear the steps pertaining to delivery, and to present them with some understanding and differentiation together with the different forms of poetry. I do not consider this volume perfect or in any way complete, as I am fully aware that I am dealing with an Art; and in the language of John J. Enneking, the great landscapist,-"Where art begins, language leaves off." I, therefore, to use a phrase from Disraeli, have refrained from any exuberance of language, and instead of talking about the subject, I have tried to tell what the subject is. The reader will observe that the law: "Have something to say, say it, and stop, "-has to the best of my ability been adhered to in compiling this book. To Miss Helen Colony Culver, for her untiring and faithful assistance in helping me to arrange this book and to prepare it for the press, also for her wise suggestions from time to time, I wish to express my heart-felt thanks. For the timely suggestions and helpful criticism, due appreciation is extended to Mrs. Mabel Athalane Hardy. For the use of selections herein contained, I wish to express my profoundest gratitude and consideration for the most excellent courtesies extended by Lothrop, Lee & Shepherd Co., for the selections "Toussaint L'Ouverture," by Wendell Phillips, "Rock Me to Sleep," by Elizabeth Akers Allen, and the poems by Sam Walter Foss; also the courtesy of the author, Mr. Charles Follen Adams for the poems from his book, entitled "Yawcob Strauss;" "The House by the Side of the Road" by Sam Walter Foss, from the book, "Dreams in Homespun;" P. J. Kennedy & Sons, for the privilege of using the selection "Rory O'More" by Samuel Lover; Small, Maynard & Co., for the use of the selections "Aunt Shaw's Pet Jug," and "The Stock in the Tie Up" by Holman F. Day; Houghton Mifflin & Co., "The Wreck of the Hesperus;" J. B. Lippincott & Co., for the poems "Sheridan's Ride," "The Closing Scene," and "Lord Ullin's Daughter;" and Rose Hartwick Thorpe for the privilege of using her poem "Drifted Out to Sea." "My Ships" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Extracts from speeches of Theodore Roosevelt. I wish to express my thanks to Miss Minnie C. Clark for her kindness in reading and criticising the work. A INTRODUCTION FTER years of careful study and due consideration of the subject now presented, I can assure you that it is not the result of conceit, nor with the feeling of "knowing it all,” that I attempt to present a subject which many have written upon and discussed not a little; but, it is with trepidation, that I submit for your consideration this book, "The Psychology of the Spoken Word." I mean by the Psychology of the Spoken Word-the process of the mind's activity in presenting different forms of literature to the general public; and in dealing with this subject, I find that it entails a rather unusual, broad, and lengthy discussion, by which I have been obliged to treat rather extensively the GRAMMAR OF THE SPOKEN WORD and the FORMS OF POETRY; and in order to carry out the fundamental principles which are sometimes sadly neglected, I have devoted a portion to PROSODY and to FIGURES OF SPEECH. Again I find the old Biblical statement: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein," especially applicable here; for neither can you enter the kingdom of the Spoken Word, except you become "as a little child." And I therefore have devoted another portion to the matter of child poems and Mother Goose melodies. In the presentation of the GRAMMAR OF THE SPOKEN WORD, I invite your attention to the first step. |