the emotion which the person purported to express, was not in reality felt by him.

Consistency throughout all nature is a test, -- I am not sure but the highest and surest test of truth. Of course we often think a thing consistent which only appears so because of our cursory view. There is not an atom in the universe but is bound to every other atom by bonds, relations, and reciprocal forces perfectly consistent with the entire cosmical scheme.

Evenness. This is an attribute of the ideal voice which has chiefly to do with its handling, and does not, as in the case of uniformity, pertain closely to its quality or timbre. It will readily be seen that this matter of evenness may apply not only to evenness of volume and loudness, but also to evenness of support, evenness of range, etc. By evenness of range is meant the steady sustentation of pitch between slides and inflections. A word of explanation may not be amiss here. Suppose a person in reading a piece allows the pitch of his voice to constantly fluctuate, either in unsystematic variation, or in rhythmical, sing-song cadences, between inflections and slides, the result will be that the emphasis which should come from those slides and inflections will be weakened, if not entirely destroyed. Nature does not thunder all the year, and if she were suddenly to acquire such a habit, her grand cannonading would soon lose all its sublimity and significance. The same is true in an artistic and oratorical sense. What does not help in art invariably hinders.

It seems to be well in this connection to speak a little at length upon this matter of emphasis, in order to clearly show how unintentional or unwarrantable emphases detract from the power of those necessary to perfect rendition

To emphasize a word is to call attention to it by giving it some distinguishing touch not generally given to the other words of the sentence, for the purpose of making this word stand out from the rest of the words. about it. It will be seen from this that the more peculiar this distinguishing mark is to the word upon which it occurs, the more complete will be the separation of that word from the surrounding words, the greater will be the attention called to it, and, consequently, the more marked will be its emphasis. From this it will be apparent that a lack of vocal evenness, that is an unintentional distinguishment between the words of a sentence - will invariably weaken, and in many cases totally destroy, the effect of your legitimate emphasis. Is it necessary to say that all this has its perfect analogue in singing, painting, and all of the other arts? Suppose we look for a moment at painting for the analogue which it will furnish. Suppose we take a well executed picture; do we not find some one light higher than all the rest? Even though the picture be the facade of a house blazing with sunlight, we shall find some one point where the light is higher, more intense than elsewhere. Now suppose we raise several of the lesser lights in the picture to the brilliancy of that highest light; what will be the result? The picture is killed by an attempt to over emphasize. Its glory is gone, and it now presents to the eye but a gaudy display of color. Bear in mind the story of the young woman in "The Two Roses." She had had a quarrel with her lover and was endeavoring to straighten matters by writing him a letter. Her sister stood by assisting her, and, being impressed with the importance of each word, suggested very frequent underscoring. When the epistle was finished

and the sister suggested underlining the last words, the writer exclaimed looking up with a horrified air; "Its all underscored!" to which the other quietly responded, "never mind, put a double line under this." In such a letter, remember, the emphatic word would have been the one, had there been such an one, which was not underlined.

It should be stated here, to avoid the possibility of misunderstanding, that the word "emphasis," as it is used in this last connection, does not mean merely a vocal stress placed upon a word, but has that broader significance embracing all methods whereby special attention may be called to a word, that is, by which it may be made to stand out from the other words in the sentence; for example, an inflection is an emphasis; a pause before a word is an emphasis; giving the word a different pitch from its surrounding words emphasizes it; giving it a different vocal quality emphasizes it; speaking the word louder than the other words, more softly, slower, more rapidly, all these are legitimate methods of emphasis. That this is not the general acceptation of the word "emphasis " will be seen from the following article which I think it advisable to quote bodily.

"There are but few subjects connected with the art of rhetoric possessing more immediate interest for the professional actor, than what may be termed the technology of emphasis.

"What is emphasis? In general terms it is a stress laid by a speaker upon words, upon portions of sentences, or even upon whole sentences, for the purpose of indicating, developing or enforcing the meaning intended to be conveyed by the language used. Where the speaker is using his own language to express his own feelings, or to convey his own meaning, it will usually be found that the stress of emphasis and of sub-emphasis is critically correct, although the speaker may be uneducated and the words are far from being the most apt which could have been employed. In such a case the vocal utterance is a mechanical and habitual obedience to the working of thought, and is unperceived by the speaker as a distinct operation. The thought is uttered, and its main feature is emphasized as a matter of course.

"This fact marks emphasis as being primarily one of those natural and functional operations of mind in controlling the vocal organs, which are regarded as instinctive from their being so habitual, so instantaneous, and so unperceived in the effort as to render an analysis of the precise method of operation exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible.

"The force and balance of emphasis in a natural utterance is in such nice accord with the strength or value of the thought in the mind of the speaker, that it affords to the analytical hearer a key to determine the extent to which the uttered thought is either felt or understood by the mind of the speaker. Here is the foundation of all natural oratory, that is, oratory prompted by strong feeling upon critical occasion, when every word tells to the extent with which it is weighted by bright thought. The hearer is unconsciously affected, his reason and his passions swayed by the natural emphasis which has equally unconsciously indicated the depth of feeling, the extent of knowledge, and the fullness of thought, in action in the orator's brain.

"This is entirely distinct from any question as to whether better thoughts might have been uttered in better language, or whether more or better shades of meaning might have been developed. Our proposition in this regard merely amounts to this, that in unstudied utterances, emphasis is natural and a never-failing index to the thought conveyed.

"The actor is, however, placed under radically different conditions in speaking his lines. He has then to develop by utterance the true meaning of language and thought not his own. The chief instrument by which he must effect this development is correct emphasis. By correct emphasis we mean that emphasis which will best define the most natural meaning which the words themselves and their position indicate to be their proper and pre-intended meaning. How simple, then, is the principle upon which the actor is to determine true emphasis. It is nothing more nor less than determining the true meaning of the language and then uttering it according to that precise determination. Let us not be misunderstood. Simple as is the principle the difficulty of applying it in prac tice is often immense.

"Language is frequently found to be very subtle in expression; so much so that it has been said by a philosopher that it was invented to conceal the thoughts. On the other hand, it is frequently so pregnant with meaning as to be capable of suggesting a great variety of subsidiary or concurrent thoughts, according to the manner of emphasis which may be used. Of this the Lord's Prayer is a remarkable example, and it has often been shown on the stage that language has contained meanings unthought of by the authors.

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In plays the whole history of the plot, the situation, the prior events or the catastrophe of the play as yet undisclosed to the audience, all have their necessary influence in determining the exact meaning and just prominence of every sentence and word, as they must all be considered with their context and due relations, and cannot be isolated upon any just or satisfactory basis. It is the possession of the intellect which takes all these points under review that distinguishes the great actor from the strutting, bellowing crowd who "make the judicious grieve." It is sad to think that the exercise of this faculty is frequently engaged (and by those who should know better) in the illegitimate hunt after new readings' for the mere pandering to the craze for novelty, or the still more ignoble design of self-advertisment.

"It is sufficiently plain, therefore, that nature furnishes the only rule of emphasis. The actor must first understand what he is going to speak, and this is the golden rule the Alpha and Omega of the matter.

"He who would pretend to lay down any empirical rule by which a sentence can be justly emphasized must be listened to with great caution, however learnedly he may talk and however dictatorially he may attempt to lay down his rules."

I shall refer further to the subject matter of the above article under its proper head of emphasis.

Smoothness. This refers to an attribute of the ideal voice which may be termed as expressive of good-fellowship, unction, kindliness, etc. It is the expressive outgrowth, to a great degree, of the ethical nature. Who is there who has not heard a sufficient number of rough, grating, rasping voices to understand, without further comment, the significance of vocal smoothness?

Purity. Webster defines purity as "freedom from foreign admixture, or heterogeneous matter." This is exactly what is meant by vocal purity, —that is, a pure voice is simply a voice which is free from heterogeneous sounds; in other words, a pure voice is a voice, which is all voice, if I may be allowed the expression. Broad "A" when sounded is pure if broad

"A" and nothing else be heard. If there be a hissing sound of the breath given off at the same time, then the tone is not pure. This escape of unvocalized breath during the production of a tone is by far the most common cause of vocal impurity. Especially is this apt to be the case with the lower notes of the voice. Whenever the vocal chords are not held sufficiently close together to compel all the air issuing from the lungs to vibrate their edges, there is an escape of unvocalized air which gives what is called an aspirated or impure tone.

One of the chief marks of oratorical finesse is vocal purity. Let us take Mr. Edwin Booth as an example of this excellence. It will be noticed that whenever he speaks there is absolutely no sound given off save that which is necessary to the words spoken. It is this, among other excellencies, which makes Mr. Booth so finished and "clean" an actor. It is impossible to "trim" any of his utterances without depriving them of some of their essential characteristics.

Having described the nine chief attributes of the ideal voice, I will now briefly outline the technical methods for acquiring and cultivating these excellencies.

Support. Vocal support is as much, yes more the result of muscular culture than of muscular strength. For the attainment of perfect support the pupil should practise such tones as will call for the greatest muscular control, and not the greatest effort. These tones are by no means the loudest of which one is capable, but are rather the finely held and delicate tones. Almost anyone can shout loudly, but it takes a Patti, a Hauk, or a Booth to give a finely drawn, violin note.

Support, then, must be considered a matter of breath control, and the best possible means of acquiring this is by practice upon an instrument measuring every breath fluctuation. Such a device, called a "Spirometer," and having a scale showing the force of expiration, and another showing the capacity of the lungs, can be procurred for the small sum of one dollar, and should be daily used by every aspirant for vocal honors, as well as by all those who are afflicted with respiratory diseases. * This instrument records the slightest weakness of support of a tone, and its constant use will increase the lung capacity and efficiency of respiration better than any other known method. Not only vocal support, but the general health and vigor of the system are dependent upon perfect respiration, and this of all things should be the field to which the student of voiceculture should first direct his attention. This instrument has been used by some of my pupils with marked improvement in support, noticeable in one case, in less than a week from the beginning of the practice. It will be found in many cases that poor support is a concomitant of physical weaknesses in the way of dyspepsia, indigestion, etc., most of which will vanish upon the acquirement of the muscular culture necessary to firm support of tones.

[To be continued!

*The instrument above referred to, called "The Deyton Radial Spirometer" can be had of The Deyton Manufacturing Co., Room 6, 79 Milk St., Boston, Mass.

IN THE ASTRAL.

BY MAURICE ST. CLAIRE.

CHAPTER XV.

Well-Meant Advice.

MRS. MILVEUX was a constant puzzle to me. Since my arrival at Woodlawn she had not mentioned the very unpleasant St. Auburn affair. On the contrary she had made herself thoroughly agreeable, and the fact that Fantine and myself were in daily association seemed to produce, in this strange woman, the most genuine pleasure.

Little did I think that beneath the smiling face and the friendly manner, there still lurked the same burning resolve to bend the course of events to her liking. But incidents which followed proved to me how slightly I really knew the depth of her expressed resolve.

Mrs. Sayles had been with us several days, and the devotion which Hodge manifested toward her surprised me not a little. They were in each other's society at every available opportunity.

One clear, bright morning my friend and I were enjoying a stroll at the shore, and I sought to improve the occasion by advancing a mild protest at the questionable flirtation in which he seemed engaged. I was greatly surprised at the reception of my advice.

"Better direct the force of your remarks nearer home, Frank," he said; "remember that you are more than interested in a woman who is promised to another." Why Hodge," I exclaimed, "what nonsense, when repeatedly told me that you would not marry Miss Darcet."

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you have

Impossible to say, at present, just how the little affair will terminate," he laconically replied. "Beautiful view from this point," he very coolly remarked, evidently with the idea in mind of closing the conversation upon the subject which I had broached. I felt impelled however to pursue the thread of argument which, in my estimation, might be of great interest to both of us, if we could only arrive at a more perfect under standing.

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My friend," I continued in a serious tone, "I hope you have not lost sight of our original purpose, that of soul-growth, and the development of the higher powers within us?"

"Oh no,” he replied lightly, "I do not forget. I am wending the path of which my conscience thoroughly approves. That I am in love with one of the noblest women on whom the sun ever shone, is no drawback to my occult training, but a great help rather. You surely cannot deny this.'

"There is no surer, no more rapid method to the goal which we seek," I said in answer, "than that along whose pleasant borders woman hovers, and in the same connection I will say that I know of no shorter, quicker, or more pleasant route to hades, if the object of your love is not in sympathy with you; if she is frivolous, given to love of society or notice, (which is vanity); in fact, if she fails to appreciate the necessity of conquering the legion of adverse influences which hold men and women in bondage, then she is a hindrance of the worst kind; she will imprison a man's very soul, and smother his influence for good, as no other earthly power can do. I speak now of those men, like you and I, who honestly strive to rise above the brute plane, and not those of whom a reverse argument is true, whose province seems to be to destroy women's souls.