VOICE OF SPRING.
[[Listen]]
Hark, hark, the voice of spring,
Woods and fields with echoes ring,
While the birds so sweetly sing;
Music floats
In joyous notes
From many a tuneful string.
Hark, hark, the voice of spring,
Busy bees are on the wing,
None but drones are slumbering:
Children too
Should learn to do
Every useful thing.
Hark, hark, the voice of spring,
From the flowers the breezes bring
Many a fragrant offering,
Emblem true
Of incense due
To Zion's glorious king.
Hark, hark, the voice of spring,
Trees their branches upward fling,
Vines unto their tendrils cling;
Infant bands
Lift up your hands,
Devoutly worshipping.
[PART IV.]
——
THE ALTAR.
The music found in the preceding pages, may suffice in some measure for training and exercising the voices of young children. Care should be taken that the child pronounces his words with distinctness and precision. The vowels also should be formed in the throat and not in the mouth or nose. The manner of uttering the vowels, is that which gives a pleasant or unpleasant tone of voice to the singer. Properly speaking, we are never to sing the consonants, but to articulate them instantly, much as in speech, though louder and with greater precision. We sing only the vowels, and hence our manner of treating them is almost the only circumstance that gives sweetness and polish to the voice.
The music which here follows, is not intended for drilling exercises. The little songs or hymns are strictly devotional; and should as far as practicable, be accompanied with devotional associations of thought and feeling. This is a principle of unspeakable importance; and one that ought every where to pervade the cultivation of devotional song.