Men called him but a shiftless youth,
In whom no good they saw;
And yet, unwittingly, in truth,

They made his careless words their law.

They knew not how he learned at all,

For idly, hour by hour,

He sat and watched the dead leaves fall,
Or mused upon a common flower.

It seemed the loveliness of things
Did teach him all their use,

For in mere weeds, and stones, and springs,
He found a healing power profuse.

Men granted that his speech was wise,
But, when a glance they caught
Of his slim grace, and woman's eyes,
They laughed, and called him good-for-naught.

Yet after he was dead and gone,

And e'en his memory dim,

Earth seemed more sweet to live upon,

More full of love because of him.

And day by day more holy grew

Each spot where he had trod,

Till after-poets only knew

Their first-born brother as a god.

(LOWELL: The Shepherd of King Admetus)

THE OROTUND QUALITY

Sometimes a person has occasion to express and to arouse in others a sense of sublimity, grandeur, or

profundity-something above or beyond the thoughts or emotions of ordinary experience. Rarely would an entire address express such a mood, but occasionally loftiness characterizes a thought or a group of thoughts. Moods of this kind are typified by the sentiments expressed in such well-known utterances as Byron's Apostrophe to the Ocean, Kipling's Recessional, the closing passage of Webster's Reply to Hayne, and the Organ Passage in Irving's Westminster Abbey. In these cases, utterance in the normal voice quality seems strikingly flat and inadequate. If the student will read the following stanza from the Recessional in the normal quality, he will readily perceive that the voice misrepresents the sentiment.

God of our fathers, known of old —
Lord of our far-flung battle-line -
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine-
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

The normal quality of voice does not express the grandeur of thought and emotion inherent in the words. One feels here the need of a larger, fuller, more resonant and sounding voice to be in keeping with the sentiment. The quality which answers to this description is commonly known as the orotund.

Speech in the orotund quality approaches a singing, or rather a chanting, manner. The chest is raised and tensed, the cavities in the mouth and pharynx are enlarged, more breath is directed into the nasal chambers, and the lips are opened more widely to give free passage to the increased volume of voice. This action is mainly applicable to the production of vowel sounds, and it is

by a sonorous dwelling on these sounds that the orotund effect is obtained. In using the orotund, the voice must not be driven to extremes either of force or pitch. Moreover, the open throat must be maintained, or the muscles will soon tire and the tone will lack that smooth vibrancy which should characterize the orotund.

A caution regarding the use of the orotund voice should be noted. It is a quality which, if employed outside its special domain of loftiness, sublimity, reverence, and grandeur, is almost sure to sound bombastic and unconvincing. A person is greatly in error who thinks that all public address must be in the "oratorical" manner. Occasionally one hears a speaker whose "Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great privilege to address you on the question of painting the town-hall" sounds like a minister invoking divine interposition during a universal calamity. When, however, the orotund is really required, the speaker should be able to use it with telling effect. Practice on the subjoined exercises will give fullness, firmness, and sonority to the voice, and will, incidentally, aid in improving the normal quality.

EXERCISES IN THE OROTUND QUALITY

NOTE: Remember the criterion of the open throatthe yawning sensation, or the position for the ah sound.

I Sound the series ah-oh-a-oo, beginning softly, then gradually swelling and diminishing the volume. Repeat three or four times.

II Make the same sounds with sudden utterances in

full volume. Keep the rounded, musical charac

ter of the tone; don't merely shout. Repeat the series three or four times.

III Pronounce the following words, dwelling on the vowel sounds in the manner of the chant: woe

yonder aim alone boat boom far widesoul-deep - moan - gloom.

IV Utter the series ah-oh-ā-ōō in the orotund voice, beginning at a moderately low pitch on each sound and rising smoothly through five or six notes; repeat the series, beginning at a moderately high pitch and dropping the voice smoothly through five or six notes.

V Practice reading the following sentences in the orotund:

a. Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll!

b. Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

(BYRON)

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! (KIPLING) c. Again the pealing organ heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. (IRVING)

d. Exult, O shores! and ring, O bells!

e. Break, break, break,

(WHITMAN)

On thy cold gray stones, O sea! (TENNYSON) f. When my eyes shall be turned for the last time to behold the sun shining in heaven, may they not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious union. (WEBSTER)

g. Hear the tolling of the bells,

Iron bells!

What a world of solemn thought their melody
compels! (POE)

h. So all day long the noise of battle rolled
Among the mountains by the winter sea.

(TENNYSON)

i. Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in.
(SHAKESPEARE)

j. Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea!

And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony. (COLERIDGE)

SELECTIONS FOR PRACTICAL APPLICATION NOTE: In studying, practicing, and reciting any selection of unusual emotional intensity, it is necessary both to understand and enter into sympathy with the thought and feeling expressed. Otherwise, although the speaker may use the vocal properties correctly, his work will lack that intangible factor, the spiritual element, which is needed to make it thoroughly convincing to an audience. The student should bear this fact in mind, not only while dealing with the orotund selections, but also in connection with those in subsequent chapters.

THE WESTMINSTER ORGAN

Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring organ burst upon the ear, falling with doubled and redoubled intensity, and rolling, as it were, huge billows of sound. How well do their volume and grandeur accord with