SECTION II.

STRESS OF VOICE.

Stress denotes the manner of applying volume of voice to single words or sounds. The elocutionary divisions

The radical and the median stress are the most important and the most used of these divisions; and to these the attention of school readers should be chiefly directed. The other forms of stress mainly concern the special elocutionist or the actor; and may, therefore, be treated very briefly.

I. RADICAL STRESS.

1. In radical stress, the force strikes abruptly upon the radix, or beginning of a word or a sound. It corresponds to the diminuendo in music.

2. It may be illustrated by exploding the full force of the voice upon the initial vowel in the following words: (1) āle, ärm, all, ōld, ōōze. (2) ǎt, end, în, on, ŭp.

3. Of this stress, Dr. Rush says: "There are so few speakers able to give a radical stress with this momentary burst, and therefore so few who may comprehend the mere description of it, that I must draw an illustration from the effort of coughing. A single impulse of coughing is not in all points exactly like the abrupt voice on syllables, for that single impulse is a forcing out of almost all the breath, which is not the case in syllabic utterance; yet if the tonic element be employed. as the vocality of coughing, its abrupt opening will truly represent the function of radical stress, when used in discourse.

4. "It is this stress which draws the cutting edge of words across the ear, and startles even stupor into attention; this, which lessens the fatigue of listening, and out-voices the murmur and unruly stir of an assembly; and a sensibility to this, through a general instinct of the animal ear, which gives authority to the groom, and makes the horse submissive to his angry accent.

5. "Besides the fullness, loudness, and abruptness of the radical stress, when employed for distinct articulation, the tonic sound itself should be a pure vocality. When mixed with aspiration, it loses the brilliancy that serves to increase the impressive effect of the explosive force."

DISTINCTIONS OF RADICAL STRESS.

1. Radical stress may be distinguished as unimpassioned and impassioned.

2. The unimpassioned radical is used in narrative, descriptive, and didactic reading, to give a clear, distinct, energetic style of expression. The impassioned radical is the strong, full, abrupt utterance which characterizes the voice when under the influence of strong passions, such as anger, hatred, etc. It is the stress of authoritative command, of strength, and of power.

I. THE UNIMPASSIONED RADICAL.

This form of the radical stress is generally combined with moderate force and middle pitch. In the unimpassioned radical the vowel and liquid sounds are cut short as in the staccato movement in music.

This stress is characteristic of vivacity, gayety, humor, and of clear, distinct, and definite statement.

UNIMPASSIONED RADICAL DRILL.

1. Repeat rapidly four times, with the falling inflec

tion, the short vowel sounds, ă, ě, I, ŏ, u; the long vocals, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū.

2. Count from one to twenty with moderate force and falling inflection, cutting short the words as in staccato movement.

3. Is this a time to be gloomy and sad,

When our mother nature laughs around? When even the deep blue heavens look glad, And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground? 4. Hear the sledges, with the bells-silver bells, What a world of merriment their melody foretells; How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night!

EXAMPLES OF UNIMPASSIONED RADICAL.

1. Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;

Chee! chee! chee!

2. Sometimes, with secure delight,
The upland hamlets will invite,
When the merry bells ring round,
And the jocund rebecs sound

To many a youth and many a maid,
Dancing in the checkered shade.

3. HUDIBRAS.

In mathematics he was greater
Than Tycho Brahe or Erra Pater;
For he, by geometric scale,

Could take the size of pots of ale;
Resolve by sines and tangents, straight,
If bread or butter wanted weight;
And wisely tell what hour o' th' day
The clock does strike, by algebra.

4. RHYME OF THE RAIL.

Singing through the forests,
Rattling over ridges,
Shooting under arches,

Rumbling over bridges;

Whizzing through the mountains,

Buzzing o'er the vale-
Bless me this is pleasant,
Riding on the rail!

5. SUMMER.

There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,

There's a titter of winds in that beechen trèe, There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower, And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sèa!

6. SUMMER.

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;

BRYANT.

Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,

An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,

Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shining

Currents of the restless main;

Till in sheltered coves, and reaches
Of sandy beaches,

All have found repose again.

8. THE DRUM.

LONGFELLOW.

At a distance, down the street, making music with their

feet,

Came the soldiers from the wars, all embellished with

their scars,

To the tapping of a drum, of a drum;

To the pounding and the sounding of a drum !

Of a drum, of a drum, of a drum drum, drum, drum!

9. COMPENSATION.

Experienced men of the world know very well that it is best to pay scot and lot as they go along, and that a man often pays dear for a small frugality. The borrower runs in his own debt. Has a man gained anything who has received a hundred favors and rendered none? Has he gained by borrowing, through indolence or cunning, his neighbor's wares, or horses, or money? There arises on the deed the instant acknowledgment of benefit on the one part, and of debt on the other; that is, of superiority and inferiority. The transaction remains in the memory of himself and his neighbor; and every new transaction alters, according to its nature, their relation to each other. He may soon come to see that he had better have broken his own bones than to have ridden in his neighbor's coach, and that "the highest price he can pay for a thing is to ask for it."

EMERSON.