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TASTE has a part to play in expression. Bitter taste affects the back part of the tongue; sour affects the front or near the middle; sweet the tip of the tongue; salt the extreme tip of the tongue. Figurative language that refers to the taste is expressed as tasting of the literal things themselves. We speak of " bitter experiences," "sour words," "sweet child. " We" smack the lips" and the "mouth waters, some things" set the teeth on edge. We puff out of the mouth that which is distasteful. Pooh! Pshaw!

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HEARING is an exalted sense. Various sounds in life, in nature may be suggested, pleasant and unpleasant. The impression of the imaginary sounds demands a response as well as what the eye sees. The eye and the ear are the leading avenues of impression, and enter largely into all gesture. The eye is the central agent of expression.

BEARINGS, ATTITUDES, INFLECTIONS.

THE BEARING is the air, the mien, behavior, deportment, the habitual carriage of the body.

ATTITUDE is an arrest of motion. A gesture held for a moment is an attitude.

INFLECTIONS are little gestures, movements of the head the brows, the mouth, expressions of the hands, and fingers.

The public speaker, the singer the musician may awaken his own feelings and cultivate the emotions by throwing the body strongly into the attitude necessary to portray the desired emotion which is not always ready to respond. Repeat over and over. You may overdo in practice and work up a background of fervor, then the public performance may be with few gestures. Acquire a broad knowledge of Laws of Expression and well trained responsive body.

DUAL FORM OF STUDY OF EXPRESSION.

Scientific. Artistic.

Theory. Practice.

We may avoid confusion in the study of this many sided subject, and bring harmony out of what would otherwise be confusion by dividing the whole subject into the Scientific and the Artistic.

By the Scientific we mean a knowledge of the Laws of Expression, Voice, Gesture, Articulation, Analysis etc., training of the body through Physical Culture, the Voice by means of the Breathing exercises and Vocal Gymnastics.

By the Artistic side we mean a free, spontaneous, unconscious use of all this culture of body mind and voice, so that without apparent effort the material acquired in the Scientific part of the study may be used easily and naturally, under the direction of the thought and feeling.

We may illustrate the process by comparing it with the construction of a work of architecture. There must be a time of planning, designing, shaping, selecting the great variety of material to be used in its construction. Then comes a time when this material is fitted to the place it is to occupy. After much labor of varied kinds, patient thinking and doing, with helps from many sources, part is fitted to part and we have a completed whole, yet a work that may be made more and more attractive during a lifetime

Another illustration of the twofold form of the study,thought and plans for a gown to be worn on some grand occasion. There must be a time to think about the material of which it is to be made, selecting that best suited in texture and color to the wearer, the style, the making and a number of perplexing things must be thought and done in the private side before it is completed. When the time

comes for the gown to be worn is quite a different thing. If the gown is worn gracefully, it must be forgotten, lest, it be even like Dickens' Squeers who "appeared ill at ease in his clothes. " We must divide our work into two distinct parts lest we appear to be fitting the gown while we are wearing it and seem self-conscious and affected, a common fault.

There must be one time for getting and another time for giving.

In Rendering or Speaking in Public, aim to reach the voice and all the bodily agents of expression wholly through the mind and feelings. The body and voice should be so trained that the whole being will naturally and agreeably respond to thought and feeling. This is a reliable method because it is founded on Psychological Laws. To educate is to draw out, when Rendering is so studied as to draw out the powers of the mind and soul, natural expression will result. First find out how, then do. In doing one may become. You can never learn to swim without getting into the water. Be content with your best. Your best to-morrow will be better than your best yesterday because you lived yesterday and were content to do your best, however poor the best may be, for herein is growth. So may you ever be content to say "my best is good enough for me. 19

Too much emphasis can hardly be given to the Mental Method which has for its foundation principle, strength

at the center gives freedom at the surface.

As so much of value is bound up in the above brief principle, lest we miss some of its deeper meaning, let us consider just what is meant by the "center.

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Without using any confusing terms we would say simply, the center is all that lives in the body of mind and spirit, in our triangular outline called Mental and Emotive.

MENTAL TRAINING.

The mind should be so trained as to comprehend the thought and to concentrate upon it as to appropriate it to self and make it as an actual experience, a living reality. Read thoughts, not words, for "the letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive. "

TRAINING OF THE FIVE SENSES.

The five senses should receive special culture, as they are but poorly developed in the best of us.

THE SENSE OF TOUCH may be trained, the pupil blind folded, train the sense of touch to distinguish fifty or more different kinds of objects, different kinds of cloth, leaves, flowers, etc.

TASTE. The pupil blindfolded, experiment with differ_ ent objects, with the shape of the article destroyed. One test should not follow too quickly after another.

SMELL. The pupil blindfolded,— fifty or more objects, many common objects, oils, perfumes, flowers.

HEARING. Listen for sounds in nature. Distinguish between the different kinds of birds, fowls, animals; different kinds of musical instruments as organ, violin, flute, etc.; various noises made by the wind, various keys of song or of instrumental selections.

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SIGHT. Observe carefully as to size, shape, color, call objects as vividly as when before the eyes, then note whether or not it is a true image of the object.

Above are given but hints for training the five senses. From them the pupil should be able to devise many tests to practice to awaken and quicken the neglected senses.

"Our senses as our reason are divine. " The power of the fine arts over the human sensibilities can never be estimated. The manifestations through the senses make a deep appeal, and in an artistic sense. Pleasant odors min. ister to social luxury and refinement. They arouse religious feelings and devotion and serve as tributes of affection.

"I thought of the dress she wore last time,

When we stood 'neath the cypress-trees together,

In that lost land, in that soft clime,

In the crimson evening weather.

Of that muslin dress (for the eve was hot),
And her warm white neck in its golden chain,
And her full, soft hair, just tied in a knot,
And falling loose again ;

And the jasmine flower in her fair young breast;
(Oh the faint, sweet smell of that jasmine flower!)
And the one bird singing alone in his nest;

And the one star over the tower. ""

"Bring flowers, flowers for the joyous,

And flowers for the sad,

Flowers for the bridal wreath

And flowers for the early dead."

The office of taste is utility, so real taste comes only after hunger is satisfied. The ends sought by appeal to this sense are individual gratification, social culture, and religious refinement.

By touch we perceive heat, cold, hard, soft, roughness, smoothness, figure, solidity, motion and extension.

Sight and hearing are too large and important subjects to consider here. Touch, taste and smell are subjects overlocked in the study of expression.

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