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PUBLISHED BY DANIEL BURGESS & CO.
PHILADELPHIA:-J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
CINCINNATI:-APPLEGATE & CO.

9280.84-5.505

MARYARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

GIFT OF

GEORGE ARTHUR PLIMPTON
JANUARY 25, 1924

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1845, by

PAINE & BURGESS,

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern Dis

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PREFACEЕ.

SPEECH is one of the highest attributes of man; and in a free government its cultivation becomes an object of paramount importance to those who aspire to a career of extensive usefulness, or honorable distinction. Every year in our country's history enhances this importance, and affords additional reasons in favor of preparing our youth to meet the emergencies of the present and coming times. Questions of vital interest to our religious, civil and social institutions, are agitated with fearful success by the advocates of error; the demagogue, as well as the schoolmaster, "is abroad in the land," and the question at issue is, which shall triumph,-whether the schoolroom or the political conclave shall prevail, whether our free institutions shall be sustained by the conservative power of the former, or be undermined by the selfish machinations of the latter. There is a growing demand for men, who know, and knowing dare maintain in public assemblies, with all the power of eloquence, the true interests of their country. To the School, to the Common, as well as the High-school, we must look for future men who are to advocate and sustain the purity of our public morals, the important interests of learning, and the noble fabric of our civil policy-under which, as a nation, we have thus far flourished.

One of the chief glories of our country is the encouragement given to learning, and the general diffusion of knowledge. But half the education of our young men is lost by neglecting the study and practice of this branch, which gives to all the rest a tenfold value. Thousands of men, otherwise well educated, are often heard to lament their neglect of Elocution during their school-boy days, and their consequent inability to

utter in public, those thoughts which they would gladly disseminate, and thereby confer a benefit on society.

But parents, teachers, and the guardians of education, are beginning to realize not only the importance of Elocution, but the feasibility of giving it an important place among the branches of common education. Heretofore, although highly appreciated, it has been considered by many as beyond the aim or reach of the mass of our youth, and only to be studied by those whom fortune has enabled to attend our higher Seminaries of learning. The author of this Manual has long been convinced that the general neglect of so important and useful a branch of education may be attributed, in part, to the want of books adapted to the use of Common as well as Highschools. There are several excellent works on this subject whose authors, with rare exceptions, seem to have participated in the general opinion, that Elocution belongs only to the list of branches taught in Academical and Collegiate institutions. But it is now a settled point, with experienced teachers of Elocution, that it may be successfully taught in Common schools, both public and private; and that an early and thorough training of the vocal organs is the surest, and, in most cases, the only means of securing excellence in reading or speaking. This Manual is offered to the public, with the belief, that it may promote the improvement of the young in the important branch of which it treats.

The plan of the work may be more readily perceived by an inspection of its pages, than by a prefatory description. Every part, it is believed, is so plain and intelligible, that a cursory examination will enable any one to form a correct opinion of its general character

Obligations are cheerfully acknowledged to several foreign works, for some of the ideas incorporated in the work, and most of the figures illustrative of gesture.

THE AUTHOR

ELOCUTION MADE EASY.

CHAPTER I.

FIRST LESSON.

THE ORGANS OF SPEECH.

THE principal organs of speech are the throat, the palate, the roof of the mouth, the upper teeth, the tongue and the lips.

FORMATION OF THE CONSONANTS.

NOTE. The formation of the vowels is omitted, as their sounds may be more readily acquired by imitation than description.

The best method of showing the organic formation of the consonants will be to class them into such pairs as they naturally fall into, and then, by describing one, we shall nearly describe the other, by which means the labor will be lessened, and the nature of the consonants better perceived. The consonants that fall into pairs are the following:

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P and B are formed by closing the lips till the breath is collected, and then letting it issue by forming the vowel e.

F and V are formed by pressing the upper teeth upon the under lip, and sounding the vowel e before the former and after the latter of these letters.

T and D are formed by pressing the tip of the tongue to the gums of the upper teeth, and then separating them, by pronouncing the vowel e.

S and Z are formed by placing the tongue in the same position as in T and D, but not so close to the gums, as to stop the breath: a space is left between the tongue and the palate for the breath to issue, which forms the hissing and buzzing sound of these letters

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