Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you
For every day.

"Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:
And so make life, death, and that vast for-ever

One grand, sweet song."-A FAREWELL.- Kingsley.

"Learn, by a mortal yearning, to ascend,—
Towards a higher object. Love was given,
Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end;
For this the passion to excess was driven,
That self might be annulled- her bondage prove
The fetters of a dream, opposed to love."

LAODAMIA. Wordsworth.

"Life's more than breath and the quick round of blood;
It's a great spirit and a busy heart.

The coward and the small in soul scarce do live.
One generous feeling-one great thought-one deed
Of good, ere night, would make life longer seem
Than if each year might number a thousand days,—
Spent as is this by nations of mankind.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most-feels the noblest -- acts the best.
Life's but a means unto an end-that end,
Beginning, mean, and end to all things - God"

"Alas for him who never sees

FESTUS.- Bailey.

The stars shine through his cypress-trees!
Who, helpless lays his dead away,
Nor looks to see the breaking day

Across the mournful marbles play!

Who hath not learned, in hours of faith,

The truth to flesh and sense unknown,

That Life is ever Lord of Death,

And Love can never lose its own!"

SNOW-BOUND.- Whittier.

"To me it seems we best remember Him

By prizing, loving all the things He gives

In Him the Giver,-loving them the more
Because He gives them; just as we would wear
A token from some cherished earthly friend
Upon our hearts, as if we could not hold

It there too closely for the giver's sake,

That gave it not for slighting."-- MARY.- Miss Greenwell.

"Is the bower lost, then? Who sayeth

That the bower indeed is lost?

Hark! my spirit in it prayeth

Through the solstice and the frost,—

And the prayer preserves it greenly, to the last and uttermost —

"Till another open for me

In God's Eden-land unknown,
With an angel at the doorway,

White with gazing at His Throne;

And a saint's voice in the palm trees, singing-'ALL IS LOST and won!""

THE LOST BOWER.- Mrs. Browning

"So should we live that every hour
May die, as dies the natural flower,
A self-reviving thing of power:

"That every thought and every deed,
May hold within itself the seed
Of future good and future meed;

“Esteeming sorrow, whose employ
Is to develop, not destroy,
Far better than a barren Joy."

THE WORTH OF HOURS.-R. M. Milnes.

"Love that believes, is always sweet

To fearful hearts, which Thou wilt guide,

And mine may win some timid feet,
To the deep River's quiet side.
While from that River's fertile banks,
My resting eye their portion sees-

O, that my soul might yield Thee thanks,
By comforting the least of these."

HYMN.- -Miss Waring

"I know Thee who hast kept my path, and made Light for me in the darkness-tempering sorrow, So that it reached me like a solemn joy."

PARACELSUS.

"Be still and strong,

O man, my brother! hold thy sobbing breath,

Browning.

And keep thy soul's large window pure from wrong,-
That so, as life's appointment issueth,

Thy vision may be clear to watch along
The sunset consummation-lights of death."

THE PROSPECT.—Mrs. Browning.

"The dial

Receives many shades, and each points to the sun.
The shadows are many, the sunlight is one.
Life's sorrows still fluctuate: God's love does not,
And His love is unchanged, when it changes our lot.
Looking up to this light, which is common to all,
And down to those shadows, on each side, that fall
In time's silent circle, so various for each,

Is it nothing to know that they never can reach
So far, but that light lies beyond them forever?"

LUCILE. Owen Meredith.

20

20

FORCE.

The term Force is used to denote loudness of sound; it also includes energy.

The various degrees of force may be thus represented

Practise upon a single element of speech, giving alternately the rising and falling inflection. Begin at the faintest sound above the whisper, upon the middle pitch, or a little below, and being careful to make no deviation from the key-note, gradually increase the sound to the most vehement force of calling and shouting, with all the power the voice can yield.

Continue the same exercise upon single words and phrases.

"Vocal gymnastics afford no discipline more useful than that which accompanies the daily practice of the various gradations of force. Exercises of this description enable the public speaker to retain perpetually at command the main element of vivid and impressive utterance; and they furnish to young persons of studious and sedentary habit the means of thorough invigoration for the energetic use of the voice, required in professional exertions.

The effect of vocal training in the department of force is greatly augmented, when the bolder exercises are performed in the open air or in a large hall. A voice trained on this scale of practice, easily accommodates itself to a more limited space; while it is equally true, that a voice habituated to parlor reading only, usually fails in the attempt to practice in a room more spacious. Farther, the fact is familiar to instructors in elocution, that persons commencing practice with a very weak and inadequate voice, attain, in a few weeks, a perfect command of the utmost degrees of force, by performing their exercises out of doors, or in a hall of ample dimensions.

It is a matter of great moment, in practising these exercises, to observe, at first, with the utmost strictness, the rule of commencing with the slightest and advancing to the most energetic forms of utterance. When practice has imparted due vigor and facility, it will be a useful variation of order, to commence with the more powerful exertions of the voice, and descend to the more gentle. It is a valuable attainment, also, to be able to strike at once, and with perfect ease and precision, into any degree of force, from whispering to shouting."- Russell.

"The daily repetition of the various stages of utterance, exemplified in exercises on force, will serve to maintain vigor, and pliancy of voice, and to preserve a disciplined strength and facility of utterance. The elementary practice of examples should not be relinquished, till a perfect command is acquired of every degree of loudness. The succession of the exercises should occasionally be varied, by practising them in inverted order; care should be taken to preserve, in the expression of each, that perfect distinctness of articulation, without which, force of utterance becomes useless. Full impressions of the importance of preparatory discipline will be needed to induce the student to carry on this department of practice

with that vigorous and persevering application which it requires. The advantages of the attainment in view, however, are of the utmost consequence to the health and vigor of the corporeal frame, the perfection of the organs of speech, the distinctness of enunciation, the adequate expression of thought, and the appropriate influence of feeling. The customary tones of public speaking are generally assumed through inadvertent imitation, or adopted by misguided taste; these are equally defective and injurious, whether we regard the speaker himself, the sentiments which he utters, or their influence on the minds of others."- Ibid.

The terms-loud and soft, strong and weak, are used to express the various degrees of force.

Particular care should be taken not to confound these terms with high and low; the latter being properly applied only to pitch. A mistake of this kind might therefore lead one, when he designs to increase the force of his voice, merely to raise it to a higher pitch, and thus, instead of producing the intended louder and stronger sound, he would merely give one more shrill.

The term force, as applied to the utterance of syllables and words, has a meaning distinct from the term loudness, and also from that peculiar stress which is denominated emphasis. Force is nearly synonymous with energy. Energy, in delivery, may be given, not only, like accent, to single words, but it may also be extended to whole sentences and paragraphs.

"In regard to a proper loudness of voice, the first object of every person who reads or speaks to others, doubtless should be to make himself easily and distinctly heard by all to whom he addresses himself. To effect this, he must fill with his voice the space occupied by the auditory. The volume and power of voice necessary to fill a given space, depends much on proper pitch as well as force, but far more on a clear and distinct articulation. The variety of loudness, softness, energy or feebleness requisite for good delivery falls within the compass of each key. By observing a distinct articulation, a speaker will always be enabled to give the most volume of sound on that pitch to which he is accustomed in ordinary conversation. But, by setting out on a higher key, he will allow himself less compass, and be likely to strain his voice before closing his discourse; thus by fatiguing himself he will speak with pain, and whenever a person speaks with pain to himself, he is heard with pain by his audience."-Kirkham.

From Dr. Rush's instructions we deduce the following:

There is an obvious propriety in the employment of force when distance is pictured in discourse. The indication of nearness, on the contrary, is well expressed by an abatement of this force.

Secrecy muffles the voice against discovery; and doubt, while it leans towards a positive declaration, cunningly prepares the subterfuge of an undertone, that the impression of its possible error may be least exciting and durable.