8. Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. 9. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. 10. Has there any old fellow got mixed with the boys? 11. Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. 12. BUGLE SONG. O hark, O hear! how thin and clear, The horns of Elf-land faintly blowing! Blow; let us hear the purple glens replying; 13. THE BELLS. Hear the sledges with the bells Silver bells! TENNYSON. What a world of merriment their melody foretells! In the icy air of night! Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells; From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. POE. Now the bright morning Star, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 15. DRIFTING. The day so mild is Heaven's own child, Are murmuring to the murmuring keel. 16. TO A SKYLARK. Hail to thee, blithe spirit Bird thou never wert That from heaven, or near it, In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher, From the earth thou springest; Like a cloud of fire The blue deep thou wingest, MILTON. READ. And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. 17. PASSING AWAY. Was it the chime of a tiny béll That came so sweet to my dreaming éar, Like the silvery tones of a fairy's shell, SHELLEY. That he winds, on the beach, so mellow and cléar, When the winds and the waves lie together asleep, And he his notes as silvery quite, While the boatman listens and ships his óar, Are set to words: as they flóat, they say, 18. EVE OF ELECTION. From gold to gray, our mild, sweet day PIERPONT. Hangs, white and calm, the hunter's moon. In its pale fire the village spire Shows like the zodiac's spectral lance; CONCERT DRILL ON PURE TONE. WHITTIER. 1. Repeat, four times, the long vowels, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū: (1) With moderate force, pure tone, and rising inflection. (2) With soft or gentle force. (3) With high pitch, pure tone, and sustained force. 2. Count from one to fifty: (1) With quiet conversational tone and rising inflection. (2) Falling inflection. (3) Circumflex inflection. (4) The monotone. 3. Give the sound of long o, prolonged for ten seconds; of ä; of ē. 4. In high pitch, and thin, clear, pure tone, call as to persons at a distance: ho! ho! ho! II. THE OROTUND. 1. The orotund is a round, deep, full, clear, resonant chest tone of voice. It has the flow and fullness of an organ-peal. It is the tone of emotion, excitement, and passion. 2. The orotund has the smoothness of pure tone, but combines it with a much heavier volume of sound. The swelling tones of the orotund are the appropriate means of expressing reverence, awe, sublimity, grandeur, and strong feeling or passion. It prevails in oratorical declamation and in the reading of lyric or dramatic poetry. 3. The prevailing stress of the orotund is the median, changing, however, under excitement, into the radical. 4. In the orotund utterance, the breathing must be full and deep, to insure a good supply of breath; the mouth must be well opened; all the vocal organs must be called into full play; and then, in harmony with strong emotions, the voice swells out like the blast of a bugle or the resonant swell of an organ. 5. The three degrees of the orotund may be distinguished as the effusive, the expulsive, and the explosive. OROTUND DRILL. 1. Repeat, four times, in monotone, the long vocals, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. 2. Inhale to the utmost capacity of the lungs and then give, with strong swell and round tone, the sound of long o, prolonged as long as the breath will allow. 3. Repeat four times the following vocals: ē, ā, ä, a, ō, ọ. 4. Lo! the mighty sun looks forth! Arm! thou leader of the north. 5. Awake! Arise! or be forever fallen! 6. Air, earth, and sea, resound his praise abroad. 7. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll, Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. 8. Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness. 9. Hail! holy light, offspring of Heaven first-born! 10. Liberty! freedom! Tyranny is dead! 11. It thunders! sons of dust, in reverence bow! 12. Hear the mellow wedding bells-golden bells. 13. Hear the loud alarum bells-brazen bells. 14. O thou Eternal One! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide, Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight; Thou only God! There is no God beside! EXAMPLES OF EFFUSIVE OROTUND. 1. THE ARSENAL. This is the Arsenal. From floor to céiling, Áh! what a sound will rise-how wild and dreary- Will mingle with their awful symphonies! I héar even now the infinite fierce chorus, Which, through the ages that have gone befóre us, 2. THE OCEAN. LONGFELLOW. The armaments which thunderstrike the walls | |