Recitations for the Social Circle. Selected and Original
PUBLISHED BY THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. Louis Klopsch, Proprietor, BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. Copyright, 1896. By Louis Klopsch.
In reading and recitation, the general tendency is to overdo. The quiet reserve force, which can be made apparent in the voice, will reach the heart and stir the soul when gesture and ranting fail. Be bold! Be not too bold should be the watchwords of the reciter. Self-possession, with a nervousness arising from an earnest desire to please, is the keynote to success. Never gesticulate if you can help it. When a gesture asserts itself to such an extent that you have made it before you realize it, be sure it was effective and graceful.
It is a noble ambition to wish to sway the hearts and minds of others by the subtle modulations of the voice, and only he who feels the force of what he utters can hope to accomplish his end. The thought of the author must be pursued and overtaken. The sentiments between the lines must be enlisted before the voice will lend itself, in all its glorious power, to the tones that thrill and the music that charms.
It is not always necessary to search for something your audience has never heard. It is far better to reveal hidden thought and new life in selections which are familiar. The hackneyed recitation, if rendered better than ever before, will win more applause than a fresh bit carelessly studied.
Above all, use judgment in selection. The stout lady of fifty-two should avoid Marco Bozarris and The Elf Child, and the young lady just home from boarding-school should not attempt the ponderous utterances of a Roman gladiator.
Care in selection; fidelity in study; wisdom in the choice of occasion; modesty in delivery; earnestness of manner and sincerity of feeling throughout, must win at last. If you make failures, trace them to a lack in some one or more of these requisites and, by experience, learn to avoid a recurrence. Orators, like poets, are born not made, but even the born speaker will fail at times unless these laws are considered and observed. Always render an author's lines as he wrote them. The chances are ten to one that every word carries its burden of thought, even though you may not have discerned it. Err on the conservative side if in doubt. Over-enthusiasm is less easily pardoned.
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RECITATIONS
For the Social Circle.
SELECTED AND ORIGINAL.
JAMES CLARENCE HARVEY.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
CONTENTS.
RECITATIONS FOR THE SOCIAL CIRCLE.
THE STUDY OF ELOQUENCE.
THE WIND AND THE SEA.
CUT BEHIND.
AT THE STAGE DOOR.
THE FRENCHMAN AND THE LANDLORD.
ANONYMOUS.
GUILD'S SIGNAL.
MARK TWAIN AND THE INTERVIEWER.
THE PRIME OF LIFE.
SUPPORTING THE GUNS.
A LEGEND OF THE IVY.
THE UNITED STATES.
IN ARABIA.
The New Year Ledger.
GOOD READING THE GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT.
PAUL REVERE'S RIDE.
NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP.
THE AMERICAN UNION.
THE POPPY LAND LIMITED EXPRESS.
MOTHER, HOME, AND HEAVEN.
PRAYING FOR SHOES.
RUM'S DEVASTATION AND DESTINY.
THE DAUGHTER OF THE DESERT.
HORNETS.
SINCE SHE WENT HOME.
THE CHILDREN WE KEEP.
AMERICA FOR GOD.
OUR OWN.
BEHIND TIME.
KITTENS AND BABIES.
AN UNACCOUNTABLE MYSTERY.
IMPERFECTUS.
A WOMAN'S POCKET.
MOTHER'S DOUGHNUTS.
LITERARY ATTRACTIONS OF THE BIBLE.
THE CHRISTMAS BABY.
A DREAM OF THE UNIVERSE.
KEENAN'S CHARGE.
USEFUL PRECEPTS FOR GIRLS.
WIDDER BUDD.
HIS LAST COURT.
THE DEAD DOLL.
AT THE STAMP WINDOW.
THE NAMELESS GUEST.
OUR HEROES SHALL LIVE.
LULLABY.
PENNING A PIG.
JAMES M. BAILEY.
LITTLE JIM.
GET ACQUAINTED WITH YOURSELF.
THE LITTLE WHITE HEARSE.
THERE'LL BE ROOM IN HEAVEN.
THE RETORT DIS-COURTEOUS.
ZENOBIA'S DEFENCE.
FOOTNOTES:
QUEEN VASHTI.
W'EN DE DARKY AM A-WHIS'LIN' IN DE CO'N.
THE PILOT.
THE FATAL GLASS.
KATRINA'S VISIT TO NEW YORK.
THE RABBI AND THE PRINCE.
THE MAID OF ORLEANS.
GENTLE ALICE BROWN.
YOUNG AMERICA.
SHWATE KITTIE KEHOE.
THE COUNTRY'S GREATEST EVIL.
I WONDER.
SPEECH OF PATRICK HENRY.
MUTATION.
SIX LOVE LETTERS
A ROMAN LEGEND.
A FRIEND OF THE FLY.
ANSWERED PRAYERS.
GOD IN THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION.
THE ENCHANTED SHIRT.
PRAYING FOR PAPA.
BECALMED.
IN THE BOTTOM DRAWER.
EMULATION (UP TO DATE).
DESTINY OF OUR COUNTRY.
THE WOMEN OF MUMBLES HEAD.
A REASONABLE REQUEST.
MR. DARNELLE ASKS HIS FIANCEE A FAVOR, AFTER THEIR ENGAGEMENT.
RESIGNATION.
AN AFFECTIONATE LETTER.
THE WHISTLING REGIMENT.
THE MINISTER'S GRIEVANCES.
THE GOOD OLD WAY.
EXTRACT FROM BLAINE'S ORATION ON JAMES A. GARFIELD.
HOW SHALL I LOVE YOU?
WILL C. FERRIL.
THE LITTLE BROWN CURL.
DE PINT WID OLE PETE.
MOTHER'S FOOL.
AN HOUR OF HORROR.
GO VAY, BECKY MILLER, GO VAY!
IT IS A WINTER NIGHT.
WHAT THE LITTLE GIRL SAID.
"WE'RE BUILDING TWO A DAY!"
THE MODERN BELLE.
THE PUZZLED DUTCHMAN.
ANONYMOUS.
THE FAST MAIL AND THE STAGE.
STORY OF THE LITTLE RID HIN.
ONLY A SONG.
THE BICYCLE RIDE.
THE LAND OF OUR BIRTH.
THE TEACHER'S DIADEM.
TOBE'S MONUMENT.
THE CROWDED STREET.
BESSIE KENDRICK'S JOURNEY.
THERE IS A TONGUE IN EVERY LEAF.
LET US GIVE THANKS.
LITTLE FEET.
A RAINY DAY.
FASHIONABLE.
RESURGAM.
THE FAULT OF THE AGE.
THE BOOK CANVASSER.
THE MISNOMER.
THE DOORSTEP.
HOW "OLD MOSE" COUNTED EGGS.
ANNIE AND WILLIE'S PRAYER.
THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET.
MR. WINKLE PUTS ON SKATES.
MY MOTHER'S BIBLE.
AFTER-DINNER SPEECH BY A FRENCHMAN.
THE WHIRLING WHEEL.
THE BLACK HORSE AND HIS RIDER.
SHE CUT HIS HAIR.
AN APPEAL FOR LIBERTY.
OLD UNCLE JAKE.
THE HOT AXLE.
FOOTNOTES:
CHARITY.
NO OBJECTION TO CHILDREN.
BANFORD'S BURGLAR-ALARM.
BETTER THINGS.