"Did you ever notice what life and power the Holy Scriptures have when well read? Have you ever heard of the wonderful effects produced by Elizabeth Fry on the criminals of Newgate by simply reading to them the parable of the Prodigal Son? Princes and peers of the realm, it is said, counted it a privilege to stand in the dismal corridors, among felons and murderers, merely to share with them the privilege of witnessing the marvellous pathos which genius, taste, and culture could infuse into that simple story."
Elocution trains the voice to obey the mind, and to rightly express thought and feeling. It is necessary to those who read or speak in public; to persons with defective speech; to those with nasal, shrill, throaty, or husky voices; to persons with diseased throat, or liability to it, arising from wrong use of voice.
The practice of the art of elocution is as necessary to the reader or speaker as practice of the art of singing is to one who intends to become a public singer. Any one attempting to sing for the public without previous practice would be justly hissed from the stage: and a like fate overtakes most speakers, who, without previous study of elocution, attempt to speak in public; that is, very few go to hear them.
CLERGYMEN
should learn to read impressively the Bible, Litany, hymns, and sermons: for as Dr. Holland says, "When a minister goes before an audience, it is reasonable to ask and expect that he shall be accomplished in the arts of expression; that he shall be a good writer and speaker. It makes little difference that he knows more than his audience, is better than his audience, has the true matter in him, if the art by which he conveys his thought is shabby. It ought not to be shabby, because it is not necessary that it should be. There are plenty of men who can develop the voice, and so instruct in the arts of oratory that no man need go into the pulpit unaccompanied by the power to impress upon the people all of wisdom that he carries." The same writer says of
STUDENTS.
"Multitudes of young men are poured out upon the country, year after year, to get their living by public speech, who cannot even read well. The art of public speech has been shamefully neglected in all our higher training-schools. It has been held subordinate to every thing else, when it is of prime importance. I believe more attention is now paid to the matter than formerly. The colleges are training their students better, and there is no danger that too much attention will be devoted to it. The only danger is, that the great majority will learn too late that the art of oratory demands as much study as any other of the higher arts; and that, without it, they must flounder along through life practically shorn of half the power that is in them, and shut out from a large success."
TEACHERS
should learn elocution so as to teach in a pleasing, effective manner; and also to teach reading in schools, so that children may learn to read in an easy, agreeable way, and give thought to what they read; thus leading a child in all studies to get ideas from books, and not merely words without meaning.