B189
This Volume is for
REFERENCE USE ONLY
0001 H54H50I=t
p i E CEB:;T .0. S : -R EA K
A COLLECTION OF DECLAMATIONS AND DIALOGUES
FOR SCHOOL AND HOME, WITH -HELPFUL
NOTES AS TO DELIVERY
HARLAN H. BAKLARD
SYRACUSE, N. Y
0. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER
1897
COPYRIGHT, 1H97, BY C VV. BAUDKKN
BALLARD'S PIECES TO SPEAK/'
INTROD UCTION.
THIS collection is made upon homoeopathic principles. The
number of c ' Speakers" now published is enormous. There are
often a hundred selections in one book. Yet the boys usually
find only about half a dozen available pieces in any of them.
It is believed that every selection in this envelope will be used.
The advantages of this method of publication over the
book form are apparent :
1. There is no padding.
2. The teacher can help a, scholar to a "piece to speak"
without a toilsome search through dreary volumes ; without
the necessity of cutting long pieces down, or the risk of loaning
valued books to careless fingers.
3. Scholars can club together, and thus get a great variety
of pieces at trifling cost.
4.' In the case of dialogues, the cards, or leaflets, will be
duplicated, so that each speaker can have the whole text with-
out the expense of buying a book, or the labor of copying.
GENERAL HINTS ON DELIVERY.
The first thing which a speaker must learn to do'is to make
Ms audience think as he thinks.
The second thing is to make them feel as he feels.
The last thing is to make them do as he wishes.
We will consider only the first two ; for ? when orators wish
to make their hearers do anything, they speak so directly from
their own hearts that they have no necessity of learning a
" piece to speak."
The most that you can hope to do at present is to make your
hearers understand what you say, and feel as you feel
In order to make it possible for any one to understand what
you say, you must speak loud enough to be heard, distinctly
enough to make hearing easy, and slowly enough to let the
thoughts have time to take root in the mind.
In order to ma&e It necessary tor any one to understand
what you say, you must understand it yourself; you must speak
loud enough, and distinctly enough, and slowly enough, to com-
pel attention; and you must so emphasize and dwell upon the
principal words that no one can help catching them.
If a word is essential to the meaning of a passage, you must
force that word upon the attention of your audience in some
way : "by a long pause "before and after it by great stress of
voice by a gesture by repeating It or in some way even
if you have to paint it on a banner and wave it before their
eyes.
In studying a piece, therefore, you must always determine
for yourself what are the most important words.
In the second place, in order to make your audience feel
what you feel, you must first feel something. Study your
piece till you fairly enter into the spirit of it. Forget yourself
imagine yourself the speaker >at the head of an army in
the Senate-chamber in the saddened home no matter where.
Imagine your audience to he persons to whom it is important
that you should say something, and then say it to them. Talk
with them as if you meant it. Do not merely recite lines
which you have learned.
Understand precisely what you wish to say feel deeply
what there is to feel ; then, by speaking clearly, slowly, dis-
tinctly, earnestly, compel your hearers to think as yon think,
and to feel as you feel.
If the words are spirited, try to make your school-fellows
look ready for action ; if the words are humorous, try to make
them laugh ; if pathetic, try to make them feel like weeping.
Practice thus on your mates at school, and by and by you
will be able to influence men to think, feel, and act under the
mfluence of your words.
CLASSIFIED INDEX
PAGE
AUTHOES
Adams, Charles F 20
Branch, M B 10
Branson, George 48
Clemens, Samuel L ..133
Donnuet, Allrcd 38
Emerson, R W 74
Everett, Edward 32, 44
Goldsmith, Oliver 159
Halpme, Charles G 92
Hurtling, W. W 42
Hastings, Flora 80
Henry, Patrick 12
Lareom, Lucy 181
Lincoln, A 22
Longfellow, II. W 86
Lowell , James Russell 122
Macdonald, George 50
Mackay, Charles 173
Maopherson, James 46
Miller, E. II 58
Milnes, Richard Monckton 60
Palmer, J. W 106
Peck, Allen O 189
Putnam, A. P 16
Sheppard, Charles 28
Sigourney, Mrs. H. L 84
Smiles, Samuel 161
Stedrnan, E. C 54
Sumnor, Charles 36
Whittier, John G 18
Wordsworth, William 52
BiOGttAPHY
Benedict Arnold at Saratoga 28
Kverett on Galileo 32
Lincoln on Henry Clay. 22
(5)
PAGE
The Flight of Xerxes 34
CHRISTMAS
A Christmas Chant 38
Under the Holly-Bough 173
DESCRIPTIVE
Dot Baby of Mine 20
Palestine ! 18
Piano Music 128
Quakerdom 93
The Fairy Queen 86
The Lighthouse 86
DIALECT 'PIECES
Billy's Drink of Lager 110
Dot Baby of Mine 20
The First Banjo 112
The Gridiron 137
The Lost Heir 120
Kwci Lager 126
DIATjOWUISS
Billy 'b Drink of Lager 110
Birds of Passage 187
Choosing a Declamation 141
Church Rallies 179
Darin's Grwn Parodied 149
Does 1 1 Pay to Smoke ? 155
Rxami nation of a Teacher 145
Fine Feathers 175
Good and not Stupid 183
(Jood Manners 143
Hal f Hour with the Poets 189
Mark Twain and a Reporter 133
Memory Tricks 171
Music 169
Rules Work Both Ways 153
Song of the Waters 167
Squire Thornhill's Argument, , , . 159
PIECES TO SPEAK
PAGE
Tho Anti-Slang Society .......... 163
The Gridiron ..................... 137
The School-Mistress ........... 181
The Senses .................... . . 76
The Shoemaker's Cabinet ........ 161
The Wind ..................... 54
Under the Holly-Bough ........ 173
What is the Use of Latin ? ...... 131
FLAG DAY
The National Ensign ............. 16
The National Flag ............... 36
FRIENDSHIP
The Hand for Me .............. 24
The Knight's Toast .............. 40
The Old .......................... 26
The Three Horsemen ........... 30
Under the Holly-Bough ..... . ____ 173
HISTORICAL
Discoveries of Galileo ......... 32
Palestine ..................... 18
The Black Horse and his Eider.. 28
The Flight of Xerxes .......... 34
War Inevitable ................. 12
HUMOROUS
A Rhyme of the Time .......... 104
An Irish Letter ............... 98
Billy's Brink of Lager ........... 110
Choosing a Declamation ......... 141
Church-Baffles... .............. 179
Darius Green Parodied .......... 149
Does it Pay to Smoke ? .......... 155
Dot Baby off Mine .............. 20
Echo .............................. 124
Examination of a Teacher ....... 145
Fine Feathers .................... 175
Fishing ........................ 96
Good and not Stupid ............ 183
Good Manners .................. 143
Joseph II. and the Grenadier 147
Lecture on Ilornet-ology ........ 90
Lost! ....................... 72
Mark Twain and a Reporter . . .133
Memory-Tricks ................ 171
Pat and the Pig ................. 102
Piano Music .................... 128
Quakerdom
PAGE
Rules Work Both Ways 153
Shut the Door 56
Squire Thornhill's Argument ..159
The Aged Stranger 116
The Amen can Eagle 108
The Anti-Slang Society 163
The Courtin' 122
The First Banjo 112
The House that Jack Built 94
The Gridiron 137
The Lost Heir 120
The Panorama 114
The Smack in School 106
The Use of Lai in 131
To the Sexton 118
Yankee and Englishman 100
Zwei Lager 126
MORAL LESSONM
A Cry for Lift' 42
A Spring Morning 80
Billy's Drink of Lager 110
Church Raffle 179
Does it Pay to Smoke ? 155
Fine Feathers 175
Great Lives Imperishable ., ..44
Good and not SI upid 183
Good Manners 143
Resolution 14
Room sit the Top 48
Rules Work Both Wax s 153
The H.'iml for MV 34
Tho Golden Rule 70
The Knight's Toimt 40
The Lion a nd the Mouse 68
The Mountain and the Squirrel. . 74
The Old 26
The Petrified Forn 30
The "Ram Lesson 84
The School- Mistress 181
The Shoemaker's ( 'n hi net 161
The Throe IIoiNewen SO
N A UK ATI VI?
Pihhinst P0
Good Ni^ht ami Good Morning.. fiO
Joseph IT, nml the Greiunlitr, . .147
Lost ' , ^
CLASSIFIED INDEX 7
PAGE PACE
Pat and the Pig 102 The Mountain and the Squirrel. . 74
Shut the Door 56 The Rain Lesson 84
The Aged Stranger 116 The School-Mistress 181
The Black Horse and his Rider.. 28 The Senses 76
The Kitten and the Mouse 66 The Violet 62
The Knight's Toast 40 The Wind 54
The Lion and the Mouse 68 RELIGIOUS
The Mountain and the Squirrel.. 74 A Christmas Chant 38"
The Shoemaker's Cabinet 161 A Cry for Life 42
The Smack in School 106 The Rain Lesson 84
The Three Horsemen 30 Palestine 18.
The Yankee and the Englishman. 100 The Senses 7&
PATRIOTIC SEASONS
Great Lives Imperishable 44 A Spring Morning 80
Lincoln on Henry Clay 22 Autumn 82
Patrick Henry, 1775 12 STUDIES OF NATURE
The Americrn "Eagle 108 A Spring Morning 80
The National Ensign 16 Autumn 82
The National Flag 36 Birds of Passage 187
Yankee and Englishman 100 Examination of a Teacher 145
PRIMARY Good Night and Good Morning. . 60
A Spring Morning 80 Little Streams 64
Autumn 82 Little White Lily 50
Good Night and Good Morning . . 60 Music 58
Little Streams 64 Ossian's Address to the Sun 46
Little White Lily 50 Song of the Waters 167
Lost! 72 The Field Mouse 78
Music 58 The Kitten and the Leaves 52
Pat and the Pig 102 The Kitten and the Mouse 66
Resolution...- 14 The Lion and the Mouse 68
Shut the Door 56 The Mountain and the Squirrel.. 74
The Fairy Queen 88 The Petrified Fern 10
The Field-Mouse 78 The Senses 76
The Golden Rule 70 The Shoemaker's Cabinet 161
The Kitten and the Leaves . . 52 The Violet 62
The Kitten and the Mouse 66 The Wind 54
The Lion and the Mouse 68
RIECES TO SREAK
10 PIECES TO SPEAK
[A]
THE PETRIFIED FERN.
M. B. BRANCH.
IN a valley, centuries ago,
Grew a little fern-leaf, green and slender,
"Veining delicate and fibers tender ;
Waving when the wind crept down so low;
Hushes tall, and moss, and grass grew round it,
Playful sunbeams darted in and found it,
Drops of dew stole in by night, and crowned it,
But no foot of man e'er trod that way.
Earth was young and keeping holiday.
Monster fishes swam the silent main,
Stately forests waved their giant branches,
Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches,
Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain ;
Nature reveled in grand mysteries;
But the little fern was not of these,
Did not number with the hills and trees,
Only grew and waved its wild sweet way,
No one came to note it day by day.
Earth, one time, put on a frolic mood,
Heaved the rocks and changed the mighty motiOJ
Of the deep, strong currents of the ocean;
Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood,
Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay,
Covered it, and hid it safe away.
Oh, the long, long centuries since that day !
Oh, the agony, oh, life's bitter cost,
Since that useless little fern was lost !
Useless ! Lost 1 There came a thoughtful mau
Searching Nature's secrets far and deep ;
From a fissure in a rocky steep
He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran,
Fairy penciling^, a quaint design,
Veinings, leafage, fibers clear and fine,
And the fern's life lay in every line !
So, I think, God hides some* souls away,,
Sweetly to surprise us the last day.
FIRST SECTION 11
IT is the purpose of this poem to compare the life of
a little fern-leaf with a human life. 3sTo one noticed.
the fern while it grew no one knew "when it died.
It seemed as if it had lived in vain. But, after hun-
dreds of years, it was "brought into view by a learned
man, and helped him in his studies. So some people
who live quiet lives and attract no attention may "be
found, by and by, to have done much more good, and
to have earned a far higher reward, than we had sup-
posed possible.
The most emphatic word in the first two lines is.
" fern-leaf." The lines should be spoken so as to make-
the " fern-leaf " stand out plainly to the mind's eye.
The voice should fall on the word " low " at the end of
line four. The next three lines all end with a rising in-
flection, and the voice falls again on " way." There is.
here a contrast between rushes, moss, grass, sunbeams^,
and dew, on one side, and " foot of man " on the other-
The first two verses should be spoken simply and
naturally ; on the last two the earnestness of the man-
ner should gradually increase.
13 PIECES TO SPEAK
IB]
THE WAR INEVITABLE-MARCH, 1775.
PATKICK HENRY.
THEY tell us, sir, that we are weak unable to cope with so for-
midable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the
next week, or the next year ? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, 4
and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall
we gather strength by irresolution and inaction ? Shall we acquire the
means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hug-
ging the delusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound
us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of
those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in
,uch a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force
which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight
our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies
of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us*
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the ac-
live, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base
enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There
Is no retreat but in submission and slavery ! Our chains are forged !
Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is in-
evitable, and let it come ! I repeat it, sir, let it come !
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry,
*' Peace ! peace ! " but there is no peace. The war is actually begun !
The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the
<clash of resounding arms ! Our brethren are already in the field !
Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish ? What
-would they have ? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be pur-
chased at the price of chains and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God !
I know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give me
liberty, or give me death !
FIEST SECTION
THIS Is part of a speech wMcla has become very
famous. It was spoken by Patrick Henry, with the-
purpose of persuading his countrymen that war with
England could no longer be avoided. " Cope " means
"fight successfully." " Supinely" here means "lazily.'*
" Vigilant " watchful. " Election " here means choice..
When he exclaims, " Our chains are forged," he means
to say that England's purpose to treat us as slaves is
already formed. "Extenuate" here means to make
light of.
The first section contains a series of questions which
the orator feels certain can be answered in only one
way ; when he says, " When shall we be stronger ? '*
he knows that the answer must be " Never ! " The
questions should be asked with increasing strength, and
the climax is reached at the word "not" in the last-
sentence, which should be delivered with great power.
The last section contains a similar series of " ques-
tions of appeal," and the climax is reached in the con-
cluding sentences. Care should be taken to make the
whole piece strong, without being overstrained..
14 PIECES TO SPEAK
RESOLUTION.
IF you've any task to do,
Let me whisper, friend, to you,
Do it.
If you've anything to say,
True and needed, yea or nay,
Say it.
If you've anything to love,
As a blessing from above,
Love it.
If you've any thing to give,
That another's joy may live,
Oive it,
If some hollow creed you doubt,
Though the whole world hoot and shout,
Doubt it,
If you know what torch to light,
Guiding others through the night,
light it.
If you've any debt to pay,
Rest you neither night nor day,
Pay it,
If you've any joy to hold,
Next your heart, lest it get cold,
Mold it.
If you've any grief to meet,
At the loving Father's feet,
Meet U.
If you're given light to see
What a child of God should be,
See it.
Whether life be bright or drear,
There's a message sweet and clear
Whispered down to every ear
Hear it.
Harper's Magazine,
FIRST SECTION 15
SCARCELY any explanation of the meaning of this
selection is necessary. In the second verse " true and
needed, yea or nay," means that we should not be
afraid to speak the truth boldly whatever It may be,
and that we should be ready to say yes or no plainly
when the time demands it.
In the fourth verse, " live " means last or continue.
In the next verse, " hollow creed " means " something
which is commonly believed to be true without good
reason."
The emphatic words are indicated by the italics,
but care must be had lest all the verses be pronounced
so much alike as to become monotonous. Be careful
in the verse next to the last to take breath after the
word " light," and not after " see." " If you're given
light to see what a child," etc.
16 PIECES TO SPEAK
PJ
THE NATIONAL ENSIGN a
SET. A. P. PUTNAM.
WHAT precious associations cluster around our flag ! Not alone
have our fathers set up this banner in the name of God over the well-
won battle fields of the Revolution, and over the cities and towns
which they rescued from despotic rule; but think where also their
descendants have carried it, and raised it in conquest or protection !
Through what clouds of dust and smoke has it passed what storms
of shot or shell what scenes of fire and blood ! Not alone at Saratoga,
at Monmouth, and at Yorktown, but at Lundy's Lane and New Orleans,
at Buena Yista and Chapultepec. It is the same glorious old flag
which, inscribed with the dying words of Lawrence " Don't give up
the ship ! " was hoisted on Lake Erie by Commodore Perry just on the
eve of his great naval victory the same old flag which our great
chieftain bore in triumph to the proud city of the Aztecs, and planted
upon the heights of her national palace. Brave hands raised it above-
the eternal regions of ice in the Arctic seas, and have set it up on the
summits of the lofty mountains in the distant West. Where has it not
gone, the pride of its friends and the terror of its foes? What
countries and what seas has it not visited 9 Where has not the
American citizen been able to stand beneath its guardian folds and defy
the world? With what joy and exultation seamen and tourists have
gazed upon its stars and stripes, read in it the history of their nation's
glory, received from it the full sense of security, and drawn from it the
inspirations of patriotism ! By it, how many have sworn fealty to
their country !
What bursts of magnificent eloquence it has called forth from
Webster and from Everett ! What lyric strains of poetry from Brake
and Holmes ! How many heroes its folds have covered io death ! How
many have lived for it, and how many have died for it ! Wherever
that flag has gone, it has been a herald of a better day it has been
the pledge of freedom, of justice, of order, of civilization, and of Chris-
tianity. Tyrants only have hated it, and the enemies of mankind
alone have trampled it to the earth. All who sigh for the triumph of
truth and righteousness love and salute it.
FIRST SECTION 17
THE author mentions five reasons which render our
flag precious :
1. Our fathers set it up prayerfully.
2. Our soldiers have defended it bravely.
3. It has protected our citizens albroad.
4. It has inspired great orators.
5. It has inspired poets.
Before speaking the piece, study up the battles
alluded to. Learn the story of Perry. What was the
" proud city of the Aztecs " ? Who carried the flag to
the Arctic Ocean ?
It is impossible to speak a piece well without clearly
understanding it.
This declamation should be given with great ani-
mation.
It rises to a climax, and the earnestness of voice and
gesture should therefore gradually increase from be-
ginning to end.
Remember to pronounce every syllable distinctly.
Say " mag-nif -i-cent " not magnif stint.
18 PIECES TO SPEAK
[E]
PALESTINE.
WHITTIER.
BLEST land of Judea! thrice hallowed of song,
Where the holiest of memories, pilgrim-like, throng
In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea,
On the hills of thy beauty my heart is with thee.
With the eye of a spirit I look on that shore,
Where pilgrim and prophet have lingered before ;
With the glide of a spirit I traverse the sod
Made bright by the steps of the angels of God,
Blue sea of the hills ! in my spirit I hear
Thy waters, Gennesaret, chime on my ear ;
Where the Lowly and Just with the people sat down,
And thy spray on the dust of his sandals was thrown.
Beyond are Bethulia's mountains of green,
And the desolate hills of the wild Gadarene ;
And I pause on the goat-crags of Tabor to see
The gleam of thy waters, O dark Galilee !
J tread where the TWELVE in their wayfaring trod ;
I stand where they stood with the CHOSEN of God ;
Where his blessing was heard, and his lessons were taught ;
Where the blind were restored, and the healing was wrought.
But wherefore this dream of the earthly abode
Of Humanity clothed in the brightness of God !
Were my spirit but turned from the outward and dim,
It could gaze, even now, on the presence of him !
Not in clouds and in terrors, but gentle as when
In love and in meekness he moved among men ;
And the voice which breathed peace to the waves of the sea 7
In the hush of my spirit, would whisper to me.
FIKST SECTION 19
THERE Is danger, In speaking this piece, of falling
Into a sing-song tone of voice. Be especially careful
not to pause at the end of a line, unless the sense re-
quires it. For example, in the second line, say, " Where
the holiest of memories, pilgrim-like throng in the
shade of thy palms," etc. ; not, " Where the holiest of
memories pilgrim-like throng," etc.
In the first verse our memories are beautifully spoken
of as pilgrims reverently thronging back to the hal-
lowed scenes of our Lord's life.
In the last verse " earthly abode " is contrasted with
"presence of him," and these words should receive
special emphasis.
Study the meaning of the selection thoroughly be-
fore committing It to memory.
20 PIECES TO SPEAK
PI
DOT BABY OFF MINE,
CHAKLES P. ADAMS.
MINE cracious ! Mine cracious ! shust look .here und see
A Deutscher so habby as habby can pe.
Der beoples all dink dat no prams I haf got,
Yas grazy mit trinking, or someding like dot;
Id vasn't pecause I tnnks lager und vine,
Id vas all on aggount off dot baby off mine.
Dot schmall leedle vellow I dells you vas qveer ;
Not mooch pigger roundt as a goot glass off beer,
Mit a barefooted hed, and nose but a schpeck,
A mout dot goes most to der pack off his neck,
Und bis leedle pink toes mid der rest all combine
To gife sooch a charm to dot baby off mine.
I dells you dot baby vas von off der poys,
Und beats leedle Yawcop for making a noise ;
He shust has pecun to shbeak goot English, too,
Says "mama," und "bapa," und somedirnes u ah goo! "
You don'd find a baby den dimes out off nine
Dot vos qvite so schmart as dot baby off mine.
He grawls der vloor ofer, und drows dings aboudt,
Und poots efryding he can find in his mout ;
He durables der shtairs down, und falls vrom his chair,
Und gifes mine Katrina von derrible schkare ;
Mine hair shtands like shquills on a mat borcublne
Ven I dinks off dose pranks off dot baby off mine.
Dere vas someding, you pet, I don'd likes pooty veil ;
To hear in der nighdt-dimes dot young Deutscher yell,
Und dravel der ped-room midout many clo'es
Vhile der chills down der shpine off mine pack quickly goes ;
Dose leedle shimnasdic dricks vasn't so fine,
Dot I cuts oop at nighdt mit dot baby off mine.
Veil, dese leedle schafers vas goin' to pe men,
Und all off dese Jroubles vill pe ofer den ;
Dey vill vare a vhite shirt-vront inshted off a bib,
Und vouldn't got tucked oop at nighdt in deir crib
Veil I veil 1 ven I'm feeple und in. life's decline,
May mine oldt age pe cheered py dot baby off mine I
FIRST SECTION 21
THE peculiar German brogue is so successfully repre-
sented here by the spelling that there will be little diffi-
culty in rendering it with good effect. " A Deutscher "
= " a German." Der beoples = the people. Leedle =
little. " Gif e " = give and must be pronounced " gif ."
Yawcop = Jacob. Pecun = begun. Mat borcubine =
mad porcupine. Shimnasdic gymnastic. Schafers =
" shavers." Feeple = feeble.
The piece should be spoken in an off-hand, easy,
good-natured, and rollicking manner.
22 PIECES TO SPEAK
I]
EULOG1UM ON HENRY CLAY.
A. LINCOLN, 1832.
ON the 4th day of July, 17*76, the people of a few feeble and op-
pressed colonies of Great Britain, inhabiting a portion of the Atlantic
coast of North America, publicly declared their national independence,
and made their appeal to the justice of their cause, and to the God of
battles, for the maintenance of that declaration. That people were
few in numbers, and without resources, save only their wise heads and
stout hearts. Within the first year of that declared independence, and
while its maintenance was yet problematic while the bloody struggle
between those resolute rebels and their haughty would-be masters was
still waging, of undistinguished parents, and in an obscure district of
one of those colonies, Henry Clay was born. The infant nation and
the infant child began the race together. For three quarters of a
century they have traveled hand in hand. They have been compan-
ions ever. The nation has passed its peril, and is free, prosperous, and
powerful. The child has reached his manhood, his middle age, his old
age, and is dead. In all that has concerned the nation the man ever
sympathized, and now the nation mourns for the man.
But do we realize that Henry Clay is dead? Who can realize
that never again that majestic form shall rise in the council-chamber of
his country, to beat back the storms of anarchy which may threaten,
or pour the oil of peace upon the troubled billows, as they rage and
menace around ? Who can realize that the workings of that mighty
mind have ceased that the throbbings of that gallant heart are stilled
that the mighty sweep of that graceful ami will be felt no more,
and the magic of that eloquent tongue, which spake as spake no other
tongue besides, is hushed hushed for ever V Who can realize that
freedom's champion the champion of a civilized world, and of all
tongues and kindred and people has indeed fallen ? Alas ! in those
dark hours of peril and dread which our land has experienced, and
which she may be called to experience again to whom now may her
people look up for that counsel and advice which only wisdom and
experience and patriotism can give, and which only the undoubting
confidence of a nation will receive ?
But Henry Clay is dead. His long and eventful life is closed. Our
country is prosperous and powerful ; but could it have been quite all it
has been, and is, and is to be, without Henry Clay? Such a man the
times have demanded, and such, in the Providence of God, was given
us. But, although his form is lifeless, his name will live and be loved
and venerated in both hemispheres. For it is
u One of the few, the immortal namee,
That were not born to die."
FIRST SECTION
EULOGITTMS are speeches made with, the purpose of
praising some one. They may be written while the per-
son to be praised is living, or after he is dead.
" Problematic " means uncertain. By " storms of
anarchy " we are to understand the threatenings of bad
men to overthrow the government. This expression
and the next one, " Pour the oil of peace on the troubled
billows," are examples of a figure of speech called meta-
phor. Instead of saying that the rebellious words and
conduct of wicked men are like angry billows, Mr. Lin-
coln speaks of them as if they actually were billows.
The piece requires to be spoken in a low voice,
rising gradually to an impassioned yet tender tone.
Say " confidence " not confidunce.
4 PIECES TO SPEAK
[H]
THE HAND FOR ME,
ANON
GIVE me the hand that is warm, kind, and ready ;
Give me the clasp that is calm, true, and steady ;
Gire me the hand that will never deceive me ;
Give me the hand that I aye may believe thee.
Soft is the palm of the delicate woman ;
Hard is the hand of the rough, sturdy yeoman ;
Soft palm or hard hand, it matters not never!
Give me the hand that is friendly for ever I
Give me the hand that is true as a brother j
Give me the hand that has harmed not another ;
Give me the hand that has not forsworn it ;
Give me the grasp that I may adore it.
Lovely the palm of the fair, blue-veined maiden,
Horny the hand of the workman o'erladen ;
Lovely or ugly, it matters not never !
Give me the grasp that is friendly for ever !
Give me the grasp that is honest and hearty ;
Free as the breeze, and unshackled by party ;
Let friendship give the grasps that become her
Close as the twine of the vines of the summer.
Give me the hand that is true as a brother;
Give me the hand that has not wronged another.
Soft palm or hard hand, it matters not never !
Give me the grasp that is friendly for ever!
FIRST SECTION 25
IT is easy to understand the general meaning of this
poem.
The author, however, fails in one or two lines to
express his thoughts clearly and precisely. The fourth
line of the first verse Is an instance of this. He means
to say, " Give me the Iiaud which may always be trust-
ed' 9 ; but, in order to rhyme with "me," a roundabout
expression was used. Aye is pronounced a, whenever,
as in tills case, it means " always "; when it means "yes/ 5
it is pronounced L Another example of indistinct ex-
pression occurs in the third line of verse two. The
meaning is, a the hand which has never proved false
to its plighted faith."
Speak the piece in a hearty and frank manner, with
a shade of roughness in your "bearing, as if personating
some *' sturdy yeoman."
36 PIECES TO SPEAK
[I]
THE OLD.
ANON.
G-IVE me the old songs those exquisite bursts of melody which
thrilled the lyres of the inspired poets and minstrels of long ago. Ev-
ery note has borne on the air a tale of joy and rapture of sorrow and
sadness ! They tell of days gone by, and time hath given to them a
voice which speaks to us of those who once breathed these melodies
of what they now are, and what we soon shall be. My heart loves
those melodies ; may they be mine to hear till life shall end, and, as I
*' launch my boat " upon the sea of eternity, may their echoes be
wafted to my ear, to cheer me on my passage from the scenes of
earth and earth-land !
G-ive me the old paths, where we have wandered and culled the
flowers of love and friendship, in the days of " Auld Lang Syne " ;
sweeter, far, the dells whose echoes have answered to our voices, whose
turf is not a stranger to our footsteps, and whose rills have in child-
hood's days reflected back our forms, and those of our merry playfel-
lows, from whom we have been parted, and meet no more in the old
nooks we loved so well. May the old paths be watered with heaven's
own dew, and be green for ever in my memory !
Give me the old house upon whose stairs we seem to hear light
footsteps, and under whose porch a merry laugh seems to mingle with
the winds that whistle through old trees, beneath whose branches lie
the graves of those who once trod the halls and made the chambers
ring with glee.
And oh ! above all, give me the old friends hearts bound to mine-
in life's sunshiny hours with a link so strong that all the storms of
earth might not break it asunder spirits congenial, whose hearta
through life have throbbed in unison with our own ! Oh, when death
shall still this heart, I would not ask for aught more sacred to hallow
my dust than the tear of an old friend. May my funeral dirge be
chanted by the old friends I love so fondly, who have not yet passed
away to the spirit's bright home !
FIRST SECTION 27
THIS selection should Tbe spoken In a low and tender
tone. The rate Is slow ; force, moderate, Increasing
toward the climax ; quality, pure ; pitch, medium.
Notice especially the four divisions of the piece, as;
marked "by the four words songs, paths, house, friends.
In the first line the word " old " should be so emph^
sized, together with the word " songs," as to make il
prominent, and these two words should be spoken ver^
nearly on the same key as the first three words.
In the second division the word " old " drops more-
into the background, and " paths " is the emphatic
word. This is according to the principle that "words-
introducing new thoughts require especial emphasis'" >
a principle that can not be too carefully stored In the-
memory. The word " paths " should also be spoken in a
somewhat higher key than was " songs." " Give me the
old house ! " Here, to mark another step in the progress -
of the thought, " house " must be spoken a trifle higher
than "paths" was. But when we come to the con-
cluding division, "friends" should be spoken in a de-
cidedly lower tone, to show that the climax is reached.
It should be spoken also with deep feeling. The whole?
merit of your speaking will turn on the manner in whicK
you give these four sentences : give me the old songs^
paths, house, friends.
Be sure not to say exquisite for exquisite.
28 PIECES TO SPEAK
PI
THE BLACK HORSE AND HIS RIDER.
CHARLES SHEPPARD.
IT was the 7th of October, 1777. Horatio Gates stood before his
lent, gazing steadfastly upon the two armies, now arrayed in order of
battle. It was a clear, bracing day, mellow with the richness of au-
tumn. The sky was cloudless ; the foliage of the woods source tinged
with purple and gold; the buckwheat m yonder fields frobtened iiito
snowy ripeness. But the tread of legions shook the ground ; from
every bush shot the glimmer of the rifle-barrel; on OVLVV hill&ide
blazed the sharpened bayonet. Suddenly, Gates and his oiricers were
startled. Along the height on which they stood, ca-nc u rider, upon n
black horse, rushing toward tli3 distant battle. There wu* soi.iethln^
in the appearance of this horde and his rider that struck I hem with
surprise. Look ! he draws his sword, the sharp blade quivers, through
the air he points to the distant battle, and lo 1 he is gone <zoiio
through those clouds, while his shout echoes over the plains. \\ her-
ever that black horse and his rider went, there followed victory. At
last, toward the sotting of the sun, the crisis of the eoiiillct came.
That fortress yonder, on Bemis's Heights, mu&t be won or the Amer-
ican cause is lost! That cliff is too steep that death is too ceiiairi.
The officers can not persuade the men to advance. The Americans
have lost tlio field. Even Morgan, that iron m-m among iron men,
leans on his rifle and despairs of the field. But look yonder I hi this
moment when all is dismay and horror, here crashing on, comes the
black horse and his rider! That rider bends u;on his stei'd, his fren-
zied face covered with sweat and dust and blood; he lays his hand
upon that bold rifleman's shoulder, and, as though living fire had
been poured into his veins, he seizes his rifle and starts toward the
rock. And now look ! now hold your breath, as the black ptced
crashes up that steep cliff. That steed quiver,-; ! ho totters ! he fulls 1
Nol no! Skill on, still up the cliff, still on toward the fortress. The
rider turns his face and shouts, " Come on, men of Quebec ! come on ! IJ
That call is needless. Already the bold rillenieu are on the rock,
Now British cannon pour your fires, and lay your dead in tens and
twenties on the rock. Now, reel-coat hirelings, shout your bnttlc-cry
if you can! For look! there in the gate of the fortress, *H the smoke
-clears away, stands the black horse and his rider. That steed falls
dead, pierced by a hundred balls ; but Ins rider, as the British cry for
quarter, lifts up his voice and shouts afar to Horatio (Sates waiting
yonder in his tent, " Saratoga is won 1 "
PIKST SECTION
THIS selection Is a stirring account of one of the
daring exploits of Benedict Arnold, before he stained
his name "by treason. Stung by being refused a com-
mand., he rushed to the "battle., and., wherever he could
get soldiers to follow him, lie led the way to victory*
The battle here described was one of the most Important
and decisive In the Revolutionary war.
Begin quietly ; the description of the clear October
day should be given In a graceful, airy style, yet with
a hint, in tone and modulation, of something grand and
unexpected to follow.
From the words " Suddenly, Gates," etc., to " Lo !
he is gone," speak rapidly. Rapid utterance is again
required from the words " But, look yonder," to " stands
the black horse and his rider." The last three words.
must be uttered with the utmost power, joyfulness, and
clearness of tone.
PIECES TO SPEAK
THE THREE HORSEMEN,
[TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.]
THREE horsemen halted the inn before,
'Three horsemen entered the oaken door,
And loudly called for the welcome cheer
'That was wont to greet the traveler here.
" Good woman," they cried, as the hostess came,
A buxom, rosy, portly old dame,
*' Good woman, how's your wine and beer?
And how's your little daughter dear ? "
" My house is ever supplied with cheer,
But my daughter lieth upon her bier."
A shadow over the horsemen fell ;
Each wrapped in thoughts he could never tell ;
And silently one by one they crept
To the darkened room where the maiden slept
The golden hair was rippling low
Over a forehead pure as snow,
And the little hands so closely pressed
Clasping a cross to the pulseless breast
" I loved thee ere the death-chill lay
On thee, sweet child," and one turned away ;
"I would have loved thee," the second said,
" Hadst thou learned to love rne, and lived to wed.
"I loved thee always, I love thee now,"
The third one cried as he kissed her brow ;
" In the heavens to come our souls shall wed
I have loved thee living, T love thee dead ! "
Then silently out from the open door
'Three horsemen went to return no more,
FIRST SECTION 31
THE contrasts of feeling in this little gem are de-
cided, and must be carefully indicated by the voice.
The three horsemen, as they ride gleefully up to the
inn, have 110 thought that the bright face which has
been their chief though unconfessed attraction is no
longer watching for them. They call out to the hostess
in rough, hearty tones, " How's your wine and beer?"
The good dame, instead of replying with her accus-
tomed laugh of welcome, sadly says that, while of course
she still supplies travelers with food and drink, her little
daughter is dead. Then a " shadow over the horsemen
fell," and they gently step into the next room where
the maiden slept. The first speaks quietly but without
much emotion, the second with more feeling, and the
third with intense passion.
32 PIECES TO SPEAK
M
DISCOVERIES OF GALILEO.
EDWARD EVERETT.
THERE are occasions in life in which a great mind lives years of
rapb enjoyment in a moment. I can fancy the emotions of Galileo,
when, first raising the newly constructed telescope to the heavens, he
saw fulfilled the grand prophecy of Copernicus, and beheld the planet
Yenus crescent like the moon.
It was such another moment as that, when the immortal printers of
Mentz and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible into their
hands, the work of their divine art ; like that, when Columbus, through
the gray dawn of the 12th of October, 1-192, beheld the shores of San
Salvador ; like that, when the law of gravitation first revealed itself to
the intellect of Newton ; like that, when Franklin paw, by the stiffening
fibers of the hempen cord of his kite, that he held the lightning in his
grasp ; like that, when Levcrrier received back from Berlin the tidings
that the predicted planet was found.
Yes, noble Galileo, thou art right, "It DOES move." Bigots may
make thee recant it, but it moves, nevertheless. Yes, the earth moves,
and the planets move, and the mighty waters move, and the great
sweeping tides of air move, and the empires of men move, and the
world of thought moves, ever onward and upward, to higher facts and
bolder theories. The Inquisition may seal thy lips, but they can no
more stop the progress of the great truth propounded by Copernicus,
and demonstrated by thee, than they can stop the revolving earth.
Close, now, venerable sage, that sightless, tearful eye ; it has seen
what man never before saw ; it has seen enough. Hang up that poor
little spy-glass; it has done its work. Not Herschel nor Rossc have,
comparatively, done more. Franciscans and Dominicans deride thy
discoveries now, but the time will come when, from two hundred ob-
servatories in Europe and America, the glorious artillery of science
shall nightly assault the skies; but they shall gain no conquests in
those glittering fields before which thine shall be forgotten.
Best in peace, great Columbus of the heavens like him scorned,
persecuted, broken-hearted! in other ages, in distant ho
when the votaries of science, with solemn acts of consecration,
dedicate their stately edifices to the cause of knowledge and truth, thy
?"* "Mil be mentioned with honor.
FIRST SECTION 33.
THE planets shine, like our moon, by light reflected
from the sun. Venus, "being very "bright and compara-
tively near us, can fee quite easily observed. With a
telescope Venus is seen to pass through changes like the
moon I. e. ? she appears first in the shape of a crescent
or new moon ? and Increases to a circle.
Galileo was the first to see this, though, as intimated
In the text. It had been predicted "by Copernicus.
There is not space here to say anything of Newton,
Franklin, and Leverricr, bat you should study about
them, at least enough to understand these allusions, "be-
fore attempting to speak the declamation.
" The glorious artillery of science," means telescopes.
Say " Columbus 5? not Clumbus.
Galile'o, San Salvado'r.
34 PIECES TO SPEAK
THE FLIGHT OF XERXES.
I SAW him on the battle-eve,
When like a king he bore him
Proud hosts in glittering helm and greave,
And prouder chiefs before him ;
The warrior, and the warrior's deeds,
The morrow and the morrow's meeds,
No daunting thoughts came o'er him ;
He looked around him, and his eye
Defiance flashed to earth and sky.
He looked on oceanits broad breast
Was covered with his fleet ;
On earth and saw from east- to west
His bannered millions meet ;
While rock and glen and cave and coast
Shook with the war-cry of that host,
The thunder of their feet !
He heard the imperial echoes ring-
He heard, and felt himself a king !
I saw him next alone : nor camp
Nor chief his steps attended ;
Nor banner blazed, nor courser's tramp
With war-cries proudly blended.
He stood alone, whom fortune high
So lately seemed to deify ;
He who with Heaven contended
Fled like a fugitive and slave !
Behind, the foe ; before, the wave,
He stood fleet, army, treasure, gone
Alone, and in despair !
But wave and wind swept ruthless on,
For they were monarchs there ;
And Xerxes, in a single bark,
Where late his thousand ships were dark,
Must all their fury dare,
What a revenge a trophy, this
For thee, immortal Salamis 1
FIRST SECTION 35
THE last two verses present a striking contrast with
the first two. Naturally, then, the first two should Tbe
uttered in a clear, triumphant tone ; the last two in a
subdued and saddened manner.
Helm = helmet. Greave armor for the legs. The
morrow's meeds = "the expected trophies of to-mor-
row."
Be careful not to let the voice fall after the word
" contended." There is a slight pause there, but not a
full stop. Long pauses must be made after "behind"
and "before."
Salamis was the name of the place near which Xerxes
was finally defeated by the Greeks.
Say " glittering " not glittrin.
36 PIECES TO SPEAK
[N]
THE NATIONAL FLAG.
CHARLES SUMNER.
THECK Is the national flag. Ho must be cold, indeed, who can look
upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of coimtry. If he
be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship and country Itself with
all its endearments. Who, as he sees it, can think of a State merely ?
Whose eyes, once fastened upon its radiant trophies, can fail to recog-
nize the image of the whole nation ? It has been called a "iloatiiig
piece of poetry," and yet I know not if it have an intrinsic beauty be-
yond other ensigns. Its highest beauty is in what it symbolizes. It
is because it represents all, that all gaze at it with de^lit and rever-
ence. It is a piece of bunting lifted in the air, but it speaks sublimely,
and every part has a voice. Its stripes of alternate red and white pro-
claim the original union of thirteen States to maintain the Declaration
of Independence. Its stars of white on a field of blue proclaim that
union of States constituting our national constellation, which receives a
new star with every new State. The two together signify union, past
and present. The very colors have a language which was officially
recognized by our fathers. White is for purity, red for valor, blue for
justice; and all together bunting, stripes, stars, and colorrt blu/ing
in the sky, make the flag of our country to be cherished by all our
hearts, to be upheld by all our hands.
FIEST SECTION 87
THE general tenor of tills speech Is earnestly patri-
otic. Charles Sumner was a man who felt what he
spoke. He did not string words together merely to
make eloquent periods. He spoke to persuade men and
make them feel as he felt. If you wish to speak It well,
you must read It carefully^ and come yourself to feel as
he did. Imagine to yourself the flag "rippling In the
"breeze." Remember the almost exultant snap with
which its rippling ends, as a strong gust snatches It for
a moment.
Then think of the deep significance of our flagj and
if you do not feel a warm love for it, and a desire to
Inspire others with a like feeling, you had better choose
another selection. There are a few words about whose
distinct articulation a word of caution is necessary.
Do not say "He mus* be cold/' for "He must," etc. ;
"an 9 country Itself," for "am?" ; "Mghiss," for
"highest"; "reverunts," for "reverence"; "ev'ry,"
for " every " ; " awlternate," for " alternate " ; or " con-
stullation," for " constellation."
Speak the piece very slowly, and with a round, strong
voice.
38 PIECES TO SPEAK
[0]
A CHRISTMAS CHANT.
ALFRED DOMMET.
IT was the calm and silent night !
Seven hundred years and fifty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might,
And now was queen of land and sea.
No sound was heard of clashing wars-
Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain;
Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars,
Held undisturbed their ancient reign
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago !
'Twas in the calm and silent night !
The senator of haughty Rome
Impatient, urged his chariot's flight
From lordly revel rolling home ;
Triumphal arches, gleaming, swell
His breast with thoughts of boundless sway ;
What recked the Roman what befell
A paltry province far away
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago ?
Oh, strange indifference ! low and high
Drowsed over common joys and cares ;
The earth was still, but knew not why ;
The world was listening unawares.
How calm a moment may precede
One that shall thrill the world for ever !
To that still moment none would heed,
Man's doom was linked no more to sever-
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago !
It is the calm and silent night !
A thousant bells ring out, and throw
Their joyous peals abroad, and smite
The darkness, charmed and holy now t
The night that erst no name had worn,
To it a happy name is given :
For in that stable lay new-born
The peaceful Prince of earth and heaven
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago !
FIUST SECTION 39
ROME was founded in the year 753 E. o., and, be-
fore the birth of Christ, time was reckoned from that
epoch.
The birth of the Savior occurred at a period of al-
most universal peace.
Judea was at that time a " paltry province " of Rome.
The thought of the piece is, that at a moment when
men were heedless of it, and in a place remote and
unknown, there quietly transpired the grandest event
in human history. "Now, however, (Jhristmas-night is-
known and honored the world around.
Speak the first verse in an impressive, slow, and
quiet manner the second in a bolder way, the third
again in a lower tone, and the fourth in a joyful and
animated style.
40 PIECES TO SPEAK.
THE KNIGHT'S TOAST.
THE feast is o'er I Now brimming wine
In lordly cup is seen to shine
Before each eager guest ;
And silence fills the crowded hall
As deep as when the herald's call
Thrills in the loyal breast.
Then, one by one, each guest sprang up ?
And drained in turn the brimming cup,
And named the loved one's name ;
And each, as hand on high he raised,
His lady's grace oj beauty praised,
Her constancy and fame.
'St. Loon raised his kindling eye,
And lifts the sparkling cup on high ;
" I drink to one" he said,
" Whose image never may depart,
Deep graven on this grateful heart,
Till memory be dead ;
u To one whoso love for me shall last
When lighter passions long have passed-
So holy 'tis and true ;
To one whose love hath longer dn r elt,
More deeply fixed, more keenly felt,
Than any pledged by you."
Each guest upstarted at the word,
And laid a hand upon his sword,
With fury-flashing eye ;
And Stanley said, u We crave the name,
Proud knight, of this most peerless dame,
Whose love you count so high,"
St. Leon paused, as if he would
Not breathe her name in careless mood,
Thus lightly, to another ;
Then bent his noble head as though
To give that word the reverence due,
And gently said, " My mother ! "
PIKST SECTION
BKIMMING- WIETE that is, wine that comes up to the
brim.
HERALD an officer who carried messages.
CRAVE to ask earnestly ; to beg.
PEERLESS without an equal.
The piece should be spoken with gradually increas-
ing animation, until the last verse is reached.
A long pause before this verse may be made effec-
tive ; then change to a low and tender tone of voice,
and SDeak the words slowly, tenderly, reverently.
Avoid a sing-song tone of voice. There is especial
need of this caution in poems of this sort.
42 PIECES TO SPEAK
10]
A CRY FOR LIFE.
REV. W. W. HARDING.
ABOVE us the cold, silent stars are marching on in their God-marked
and boundless paths ; we look up to them and point out to each other
the home of the Ursa Major the great track of the wandering Seven
the glittering belt of Orion, and the dim glory of the Milky Way ;
and we wonder and pass on, and think of them no more. But, while
the resonances of ray voice are falling on your ears, there are thou-
sands looking up, not at the mighty grandeur of the constellations
but up, up, far beyond stars, systems, and universes, up into the realm
of the Infinite One, and seeking through their blinding tears to catch a
glimpse of his merciful countenance.
We can hear, even now, the wild wails of the storm-wind, and the
moan of its wintry music, and our hearts instinctively sink in echo to
its wailing ; but, up through the drear darkness of this pitiless night,
there are wails of woe ascending to the ears of God, compared with
which this storm-wind is as a summer zephyr.
We look out upon the desolate earth, trodden by the mighty feet.
of the storm, and we bow our heads and laugh at the desolation, for
we know that the summer will come again and the earth will then echo
the symbols of our joy. But, there are hearts to-night looking out
upon the earth, nay, upon life, upon life trodden desolate by the re-
morseless feet of many a storm, and they bow their heads and weep
u For the summer sheen, of a day that is gone,
That will never come'back again."
Oh, think not that life is for ever and to all a holiday, for souls arer
everywhere ceaselessly and earnestly wrestling with the terrors of ago^
nizing destiny. We can not, perhaps, hear the sound of these strug-
gles, but (rod's quick ear discovers them ! We may not see them, but
angels standing on the high watch-towers of the Eternal can. They
find no place on the page of earth's battles, but in the record of the
divine they far outshine the glory of him who, having bathed the
world with blood, flaunts toward the skies bis banners of pride.
Oh, struggle on, ye agonized souls, strive on ! Faint not, nor- grow
ye weary of the fight. Strive on! Let the mad, phantom-chasing
world laugh, dance, and hurry as it will. Strive ye on ! Bow your
heads, if need be, to the terrors of the storm, but do it bravely. Every
tear wrung from your eyes by the weight of your sorrows shall be a
jewel in the crown of your triumph. Heed not the darkness nor the
tempest, for a measureless day and a cloudless sun are promised you.
Look up look up, even through your streaming agony, and behold
in faith the light in the eternal windows for you, and, drear though the
way may be, remember that in the great chart it is written, " Lo 1 I am
with you alway, even to the end of the world."
FIRST SECTION
THIS is a piece of great beauty and power. The*
rising inflection is needed on the words major, seven y
Orion, pass on, ears, constellations, universes, night, God,,
earth, storm, gone, home, window-light, lost, unf orgiven,,
and others which require no mention. These are men-
tioned because there is a tendency to drop the voice too?
often, and much power is lost by so doing.
The piece rises toward the end into a very fine cli-
max, and may be rendered very striking and impressive
by one who thoroughly enters into the spirit of it.
It will require all of your manhood to speak it prop-
erly.
44 PIECES TO SPEAK
GREAT LIVES IMPERISHABLE.
EDWARD EVERETT.
To be cold and breathless to feel not and speak not this is not
the end of existence to the men who have breathed their spirits into
the institutions of their country, who have stamped their characters
on the pillars of the age, who have poured their hearts' blood into the
^channels of the public prosperity. Tell me, ye who tread the sods of
yon sacred height, is Warren dead ? Can you not still see him, not
pale and prostrate, the blood of his gallant heart pouring out of his
ghastly wound, but moving resplendent over the field of honor, with
the rose of heaven upon his cheek, and the fire of liberty in his eye ?
Tell me, ye who make your pious pilgrimage to the shades of Vernon,
is Washington, indeed, shut up in that cold and narrow house ? That
which made these men, and men like these, can not die. The hand
that traced the charter of Independence is, indeed, motionless; the
eloquent lips that sustained it are hushed; but the lofty spirits that
conceived, resolved, and maintained it, and which alone, to such men,
*' make it life to live," these can not expire :
" These shall resist the empire of decay,
When time is o'er, and worlds have passed away ;
Cold in the dust the perished heart may lie,
But that which warmed it once can never die."
FIRST SECTION
THIS famous extract Is so instinct with eloquence
that one can hardly fail of speaking it eloquently.
Study about Warren. Bead of his bravery and patri-
otism of his unselfish daring, and his sudden death.
If you know nothing of "Warren who he was or what
he did you will not succeed in uttering with much
feeling the noble sentence, " Tell me, ye who tread the
sods of yon sacred height, is Warren dead ? " Find
out what height is meant. Whose hand "traced the
charter of Independence " ? Whose were the " eloquent
lips " that sustained it ?
46 PIECES TO SPEAK
IS]
OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN,
O THOU that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers f
whence are thy beams, O Sun 9 thy everlasting light ? Thou coined
forth in thy awful beauty; the stars hide themselves in the sky ; the
rooon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself
movest alone : who can be a companion of thy course ?
The oaks of the mountains fall ; the mountains themselves decay
with years ; the ocean shrinks and grows again ; the moon herac-If is
lost in the heavens ; but thou art for ever the same, rejoicing in the
brightness of thy course.
When the world is dark with tempests, when thunders roll and
lightnings fly, thou lookest in thy beauty from the cloudd, and laughest
at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain ; for he beholds thy
.beams no more, whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or
thou trernblest at the gates of the west.
But thou art, perhaps, like me, for a season ; thy years will have
.an end. Thou wilt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the voice of the
morning. Exult, then, O Sun, in the strength of thy youth age is
dark and unlovely: it is like the glimmering light of the moon when it
.shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the lulls, the blast of
the north is on the plains, the traveler shrinks in the midst of hid
JourDey.
FIKST SECTION 47
OSSIAN'S address to the sun is admitted to this col-
lection, as it gives ns one of the best opportunities for
practicing what is called the " orotund " voice that
is, the fullest and deepest tone which can be produced.
Speak very slowly, very distinctly, and with the,
greatest volume of voice at your command.
There is also an undertone of deep sadness which
runs through the piece, and which deepens in pathos
toward the end.
Study the extract thoroughly, until the thought is
very clear in your mind.
48 PIECES TO SPEAK
[T]
ROOM AT THE TOP.
GEORGE BEANSON.
Do you follow the plow as a matter of choice ?
Bo you sow ? Do you reap ? Do you mow ?
When the harvest-time comes, does it make you rejoice?
Are you blest with rewards as you go ?
Do you often say fail when your neighbors succeed ?
Are you crowded by failures ? Then stop.
Study why thus it is. To climb high is your need
There is plenty of room at the top.
Do you stand at the forge from the morn till the night ?
And give shape to the sharp-ringing steel ?
Does the world, at all times, seem to be with you right?
Or the pangs of grim want do you feel ?
Your profession is good ; the fault is in you.
If it seems there's no place for your shop
If others climb high, you must higher aim, too ;
There is plenty of room at the top.
Do you move in the circles of science and art?
Do positions of honor you fill?
Do the noblest of schools train your mind and your heart
To do your life-calling with skill ?
Do the good and the wise seek to make you their guest ?
Or do they from their lists your name drop ?
Climb high, if you want the position that's best
There is plenty of room at the top.
If you toil with your hands, with your mind, with your heart,
If you strive for a name that will live,
You must bend to the work. You must choose the good part :
The best aims a coronet give,
lave a life that is true, leave all grossness below,
On the rounds of life's ladder ne'er stop,
Heaven's bells ring above you, and seraph feet glow
There is glory undimmed at the top.
FIRST SECTION
THE danger most carefully to be avoided in deliver-
ing this poem is the tendency to fall into a sing-song
manner. As you read it over, observe how naturally
you emphasize tbe last word in each line. You say :
" Do you. follow the plow as a matter of choice ?
Do you sow, do you reap, do you mow? "
And, indeed, in a few of the lines this is correct ; but
in the fourth line, for instance, it would be ridiculous.
The danger is greater in this than in many similar
pieces, because most of the sentences end with the line.
When several stanzas end with the same line, there
is danger of monotony in the manner of speaking that
line ; vary the accent. First, " There is plenty of room
at the top"; then, "There is plenty of room at the
top." Vary also the inflection, occasionally ending with
a rising instead of a falling inflection.
Do not say " harviss-time," " ringin'," " 'ands," or
" stee-ul."
You should increase in force and energy at the close.
50 PIECES TO SPEAK
A]
LITTLE WHITE LILY.
G. MACDONAl'D.
LITTLE white Lily
Sat by a stone,
Drooping and waiting
Till tbe sun shone.
Little white Lily
Sunshine has fed ;
Little white Lily
Is lifting her head.
Little white Lily
Said: "It 5s good;
Little white Lily
Has clothing and food."
Little white Lily
Dressed like a bride !
Shining with whiteness,
And crowned beside!
. Little white Lily
Droopeth with pain^
Waiting and waiting
For the wet rain.
Little white Lily
Holdeth her cup ;
. Rain is fast falling
And filling it up.
Little white Lily
Smells very sweet ;
On her head sunshine,
Eain at her feet.
" Thanks to the sunshine,
Thanks to the rain !
Little white Lily
Is happy again,"
SECOND SECTION 51
THIS piece is a very good one for a little girl of
seven or eight years. If it is to be spoken at an ex-
amination, she may be simply dressed in white, and
hold a day-lily in her hand, or, if that be out of season,
a spray of lily-of-the-valley.
It must be spoken quietly ajid modestly.
In the last line of verse two, " crowned " should be
made into two syllables and pronounced " crown-ed.' ?
Say whiteness, not whiteniss.
52 PIECES TO S3PSA35:
[Bl
THE KITTEN AND THE FALLING LEAVES.
WOKDSWORTH.
SEE the kitten on the wall,
Sporting with the leaves that fall.
"Withered leaves, one, two, and three,
From the lofty elder tree !
Through the calm and frosty air
Of this morning bright and fair,
Eddying round and round they sink,
Softly, slowly. . , .
But the kitten how she starts,
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!
First at one, and then its fellow.
Just as light, and just as yellow.
There are many now now one
Now they stop, and there are none.
"With a tiger leap, half way
Now she meets the coming prey;
!Lets it go as fast, and then
Has it in her power again.
SECOND SECTION 53
To speak this piece well, you must play that you see
the kitten on the top of a garden- wall. Play that the
wall is at your right hand. You may begin Tby pointing
where you imagine the kitten to be, and saying : " See!
the kitten on the wall ! " Say this, if you can, so as to
make all the scholars look where you point. Think of
the withered leaves falling, one by one, from the lofty
elder-tree. When you are speaking of the tree, look up
as if you saw the leaves come whirling or eddying
down. You can move your hand in slow circles to
show how the leaves go round. When you come to
the words " But the kitten," speak them with a start,
crouch yourself just a little, stretch your hand out,
slowly at first, and as you say " Dart," dart it out
swiftly. Do not stop after " darts/' but go right on
*' darts first at one," etc.
14 PIECES TO SPEAK
[0]
THE WIND.
E. 0. STEDMAN.
WHICH is the wind that brings the cold ?
The north wind, Freddy; and all the snow;
And the sheep will scamper into the fold,
When the North begins to blow.
Which is the wind that brings the heat?
The south wind, Katy ; and corn will grow,
And cherries redden for you to eat,
When the South begins to blow.
Which is the wind that brings the rain ?
The east wind, Tommy; and farmers know
That cowa come shivering up the lane,
When the East begins to blow.
Which is the wind that brings the flowers?
The west wind, Bessie ; and soft and low;
The birdies sing in the summer hours,
When the West begins to blow.
SECOND SECTION 55
THIS may very well be spoken by five little boys and
girls. Let one give all the answers, and each of the
others ask one question. Or it may be spoken by four
children, in this way : Let " Freddy " ask the first
question, and then let the other three answer him in
chorus ; then let one of them ask the second question,
and the others will answer in chorus as before. This is
perhaps the prettiest way.
Or, of course, one boy or girl may speak it alone.
PIECES TO SPEAK
SHUT THE DOOR.
GOOD TIMES,
GODFREY Gordon Gustavus Gore-
No doubt you have heard the name before
Was a boy who never would shut a door !
The wind might whistle, the wind might roar,
And teeth be aching and throats be sore,
But still he never would shut the door,
His father would beg, his mother implore,
" Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,
We really wish you would shut the door ! "
When he walked forth the folks would roar,
" Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,
Why don't you think to shut the door ? "
They rigged out a shutter with sail and oar,
And threatened to pack off Gustavus Gore
On a voyage of penance to Singapore.
But he begged for mercy, and said, "No more!
Pray do^not send me to Singapore
On a shutter, and then I will shut the door ! "
" You will ? " said parents ; <( then keep on shore !
But mind you do ! For the plague is sore
Of a fellow that never will shut the door-
Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gorel"
SECOND SECTION 57
SPEAK this In a lively and gay manner. Much of
the fun of it depends on the way In which you speak
the 'boy's name. Say it very distinctly and very slow-
ly, pausing after each of the names, " Godfrey Gordon
Gustavus Gore," and speak the last name, G-ore,
louder and more plainly than the rest.
In the last line of verse one, say, " A boy who
never would shut a door."
In the next verse, say, " Still he never would shut
a door."
In the next, " We really wish you would shut the
door."
In the next, " Why don't you think to shut
the DOOR ! "
In the verse next to the last, say, " And then I will
shut the door."
Singapore is a town of Farther India.
58 PIECES TO SPEAK
pq
MUSIC.
E. H. MILLEK.
HAVE you heard the waters singing,
Little May,
Where the willows greeu are leaning
O'er their way ?
Do you know how low and sweet,
O'er the pebbles at their feet,
Are the words the waves repeat,
Night and day ?
Have you heard the robins singing,
Little one,
Where the rosy day is breaking
When 'tis done?
Have you heard the wooing breeze,
In the blpssom'd orchard trees,
nd the drowsy hum of bees
In the sun ?
All the earth is full of music,
Little May ;
Bird and bee and water singing
On its way,
Let their silver voices fall
On thy heart with happy call :
" Praise the Lord, who loveth all,
Night and day."
SECOND SECTION
THIS pretty selection will give excellent practice in
the rising inflection.
The voice should rise 011 the words singing, May,
way, pebbles, feet, waves, day, robins, one, done, breeze^
orchard, bees, and sun.
Let the voice fall, in the last verse, on full, way,,
call, and day.
Let each verse be spoken with a musical and flowing-
tone ; let your voice ripple along like the brook.
In the last of the second verse, speak the wordg
" Drowsy hum of bees " so as to imitate that sound.
tg PIECES TO SPEAK
[F]
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING.
LORD HOUGIITON,
A FAIR little girl sat under a tree,
Sewing, as long as her eyes could see;
Then she smoothed her work and folded it right,
And said, " Dear work, good night, good night ! "
Such a number of rooks flew over her head,
Crying, " Caw ! caw ! " on their way to bed ;
She said, as she watched their curious flight,
" Little black things, good night, good night ! "
The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed,
The sheep's bleat ! bleat ! came over the road,
All seeming to say, with a quiet delight,
" Good little girl, good night, good night ! "
She did not say to the sun, i( Good night ! "
Though she saw him there, like a ball of light ;
For she knew, he had God's time to keep
All over the world, and never could sleep.
The tall pink fox-glove bowed his head,
The violets curl-sied and went to bed;
And good liille Lucy tied up her hair,
And said, on her knees, her favorite prayer.
And, while on her pillow she softly ky>
She knew nothing more, till again it wa^ day;
And all things said to the beautiful sun,
"Good morning! good morning! our woik'is begun 1"
SECOND SECTION 61
A BBTGHT little girl can make this piece very pleas-
ing.
There is a chance for quite an amount of action and.
imitation.
In line second speak the words very slowly, so a&
to give the idea of length of time, " S-e-w-ing as
l-o-n~g as her eyes could see." You may imitate the*
action of smoothing the work and folding it, and then
looking down at it, say gently: "Dear work, good
night, good night."
In speaking the second verse, you may make the
"'* Caw ! caw ! " as much like a crow does as you please,,,
Jut gently.
In verse four, emphasize sun, " She did not say to
the sun, ' Good night ! ' "
Speak the last line with great animation.
; PIECES TO SPEAK
Ml '
THE VIOLET,
DOWN in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew;
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head,
As if to hide from view.
And yet it was a lovely flower,
Its colors bright and fair ;
It might have graced a rosy bower,
Instead of hiding there,
Yet there it was content to bloom,
In modest tints array 'd;
And there gave out a sweet perfume,
Within the silent shade.
Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility,
SECOND SECTION
THERE is little to Tbe said about "how to speak this
dainty little poem. Speak slowly, plainly, and gently,
and you can hardly fail to speak it well.
Be careful not to say " voilet " or " vi-let " for " vi-
o-let."
Do not say " green un shady " for " green and
shady."
Do not say "silunt " for " silent."
In the last verse, emphasize " I." " That I may
also learn," etc.
64 PIECES TO SPEAK
[HI
LITTLE STREAMS.
LITTLE streams are light and shadow ;
Flowing through the pasture meadow,
Flowing by the green way-side,
Through the forest dim and wide,
Through the hamlet still and small
By the cottage, by the hall,
By the ruin'd abbey still ;
Turning here and there a mill,
Bearing tribute to the river
Little streams, I love you ever.
Summer music is there flowing-
Flowering plants in them are growing-
Happy life is in them all,
Creatures innocent and small ;
Little biids come down to drink,
Fearless of their leafy brink ;
Noble trees beside them grow,
Glooming them with branches low;
And between, the sunshine, glancing
In their little waves, is dancing.
Little streams have flowers as many,
Beautiful and fair as any ;
Arrow-head with eye of jet ;
And the watenviolet.
And, in places deep and stilly,
Marble-like, the water-lily.
Here upon their flowery bank
In the old time, pilgrims drank
Here have seen, as now, pass by,
King-fisher, and dragon-fly ;
Those bright things that have their dwelling
Where the little streams are welling.
SECOND SECTION
WHERE do the little streams flow ? What kind of
forest is spoken of ? A " hamlet " is a small village.
An " abbey " is a kind of church where holy men live
and worship. What do the little streams turn now and
then ? What do the little streams carry into the river ?
What music is flowing in the little streams ? " Gloom-
ing " means " shading."
What color is jet ? What are pilgrims ? Did they
use to see king-fishers and dragon-flies pass by as we do
now?
"Welling" means "bubbling up." Say "flowing,"
not "flowin"'; "turning," not " turnin' "; and in all such
words, "ing," not "in."
66 PIECES TO SPEAK
[I]
THE KITTEN AND THE MOOSE.
ONCE there was a little Kitty,
Whiter than the snow ;
In a barn she used to play,
Long time ago.
In a barn a little mousie
Ran to and fro ;
For she heard the Kitty coming,
Longtime ago.
Two black eyes had little Kitty,
And they spied the little mousie,
Longtime ago.
Pour soft paws had little Kitty,
Paws soft as dough,
And they caught the littje mousie,
Long time ago.
Nine pearl teeth- had little Kitty,
All in a row ;
And they bit the little mousie,
Longtime ago.
When the teeth bit little mousie,
Mousie she cried "Oh!"
But she got away from Kitty,
Long time ago.
SECOND SECTION 67
QUESTIONS. 1. Of what color was the kitten? 2.
Where did she use to play ? 3. What did the little
mouse do when she heard the kitten coining ? 4. What
kind of eyes had the kitten ? 5. What happened to the
mouse ? 6. What did the kitten do to the mouse when
she caught her ? 7. How many teeth had she? 8. Did
she kill the mouse ? 9. What line rhymes with " Whiter
than the snow " f
The sloe is a sort of shrub which grows in England;
its berries give a black stain, and are used in making a
black dye; the flowers of the sloe are snowy white.
All of the poem except the last two lines should be
spoken in a sad tone, as if something bad were going to
happen to the little mouse.
Pause after " She cried * Oh ! ' " and then, with smil-
ing face, say quickly and in a gay and happy tone, " But
she got away from Kitty, long time ago."
68 PIECES TO SPEAK
fj]
THE LION AND THE MOUSE.
ONE very hot day, a great lion, quite tired -with hunting for his
prey, *wcnt under the shade of a large tree, and lay down to sleep. A
little mouse came out of her hole in the tree behind, and ran over his
back, waking him just as he was dozing off to sleep.
The great animal put out one of his paws and taught the mouse,
who, nearly dead with fright, begged for mercy ; and the noble lion
was so kind as to let her run off.
Not long after this the lion was one night hunting for his supper
in the woods, when he was caught in a net spread for him by the hunt-
ers. Not being able to get out of it, he set up a loud and dreadful
roar. The mouse heard the noise, and, thinking it might be the voice 3
of her kind friend, she ran to the place, telling him to keep still and
she would try to set him free. So the mouse set to \u>rk with her
little sharp teeth, and soon gnawed the strings and knot* of the net T
So that the lion got up, and, having shaken, himself, , walked away,
thinking to himself, "If I had not been so kind as to spnre the life of
that little mouse, I might have lain under the net until my focn came
and put an end to my life." This fable was written to tench u** that,
however great we may now be, we may, one day, perhaps, stand in
need of help from the most humble.
SECOND SECTION 69
THIS little fable is given for practice in simple talk-
ing. There is danger, in speaking, of falling into a
" sing-song " voice.
Speak this piece just as if you were telling the story
to your brother or any little friend. Speak quite slow-
ly, and be careful to pronounce each word plainly. Do
not let the last words of a sentence be spoken so low
that it is hard to hear them. Look right in the eyes of
those who hear you.
Ask your teacher how to pronounce soon, mouse,
and out.
Say "hot," not "hawt," and "long," not "lawng."
Sound the h in "humble," do not say " 'unable."
70 PIECES TO SPEAK
THE GOLDEN RULE.
CHILDREN, do you love each other ?
Are you always kind and true?
Do you always $o to others
As you'd have them do to you ?
Are you gentle to each other ?
Are you careful, day by day,
Not to give offense by actions,
Or by anything you say ?
Little children, love each other,
Never give another pain ;
If your brother speak in anger,
Answer not in wrath again.
Be not selfish to each other,
Never mar another's rest ;
Strive to make each other happy,
Aixd you will yourselves be blest
SECOND SECTION 71
THIS little piece is very shore, but is beautiful.
Think what -it means as you speak it. Try to say it in
such a way as to show that you really mean it. Talk
right to your school-mates. Do not hurry at all. "Walk
slowly to your place on the floor. . Wait a moment
until every one is listening-. Make your bow slowly.
Then wait a moment before you begin. This will make
every one eager to hear what you are going to say.
Say " children " just as your mother would if she were
going to speak to you all. Then wait a moment again,
till they all look up. Then ask them, " Do you love
each other ? "
The piece needs to be spoken very slowly and dis-
tinctly.
PIECES TO SPEAK
LOST!
THE chill November day was done,
The dry old leaves were flying ;
When, mingled with the roaring wind,
I heard a small voice crying.
And, shiv-er-ing at the corner, stood
A child of four or over ;
No cloak nor hat her small, soft arms
And wind-blown curls to cover.
With one wee 1 hand she pushed them back,
She slipped in mine the other ;
Half scared, half trustingly, she said,
a Oh, please, I want my mother ! "
" Tell me your street and number, pet ;
Don't cry, I'll take you to it."
Sobbing, she answered : " I forget ;
The organ made me do it.
" He came and played at Miller's steps,
The monkey took the money ;
And so I followed down the street,
That monkey was so funny.
I've walked about a hundred /wwrs,
From one street to another ;
The monkey's gone, I've lost my flowers
Oh, please, I want niy mother ! "
The sky grew stormy ; people passed,
All muffled, homeward faring;
" You'll, have to spend the night with me,"
I said, at last, de-spair-ing.
I tied her kerchief round her neck
" What ribbon's this, ray blossom ? "
" Why ! don't you know ? " she smiling tisked,
And drew it from her bosom.
A card with number, street, and name :
My eyes, astonished, met it ;
" For, n said the little one, *' you see
I might sometimes forget it
And so I wear a little thing
That tells you all about it ;
For mother says she's very sure
I would get lost without it,"
SECOND SECTION 73
IT would help you to understand this little poem
better, if you would write the story of the little girl
in your own words, before learning the verses.
What time of the year was it ? What sort of a day ?
How old was the little girl ? Was she warmly dressed ?
What did she say ? Did she remember her street
and number ? (In cities the houses are all numbered.)
How did she get lost ? How long did it seem to her
that she had been walking? What was found about
her neck ?
" Muffled " means " wrapped up." " Faring " means
*< walking."
If you can imitate a little girl's way of talking when
she is tired and frightened, it will be a good plan to do
so.
74 PIECES TO SPEAK
[M] . ,
THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL
A FabU.
B. W. EMERSON,
THE mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the* latter " Little Prig 1 *
Bun replied :
" You are doubtless very big,
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in. together
To make up a year,
And a sphere ;
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If Pm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I'll not deny you-make
A very pretty squirrel-track.
Talents differ ; all is well and wisely put :
If I can not carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut."
SECOND SECTION
A " prig " is a person who pretends to be of muclt
more consequence than he really is.
" Bun " is a playful name for the squirrel.
A " sphere " means here a " world."
" To occupy my place " means sc To do my Tbest as;
a squirrel."
By a "squirrel-track" .Bun means "a track for
squirrels to run on."
" Talent " means " power to do something."
Speak this piece as if you were talking to some one.
Do not pause at the end of the first line.
Make a long pause after " replied."
Say "occupy," not "okipy," and "talents," not
"talunts."
76 PIECES TO SPEAK
THE SENSES,
SAY, what is it, Eyes, ye see?
Shade and sunshine, flower and tree ;
Running waters, swift and clear,
And the harvest of the year :
These we see, aud for the sight
Bless the Giver, infinite.
Tell me, Ears, what ye have heard ?
Many and many a singing bird ;
Winds within the tree-tops going,
Rapid rivers strongly flowing ;
Awful thunder, ocean strong,
And the kindly human tongue:
These, and more, an entrance find
To the chambers of the Mind,
Tell me, busy Hands, I pray,
What ye're doing through the day?
Ever working, never still,
We are servants to the Will.
Busy Hands, whatever ye do,
Still keep peace and love in view.
SECOKB SECTION 77
THIS may be spoken as a dialogue "between four lit-
tle girls, or one may speak it alone. If four speak it y
one will ask the questions,, and one will answer for the
Eyes, one for the Ears, and one for the Hands.
If one speaks it alone, she should pause after each,
question, and then give the answer in a different tone.
In asking the first question, say, "Say what is it*
Eyes, ye see ? "
In asking the second question, say, " Tell me, Ears,,,
what ye have heard? "
Do not say " doin' " for " doing" ; " an" for " and";
or "harvis" for " harvest."
78 PIECES TO SPEAK
[0]
THE FIELD-MOUSE,
WHERE the acorn tumbles down,
Where the ash-fcree sheds its berry,
With your fur so soft and brown,
With your eyes so soft and merry,
Scarcely moving the long grass,
Field-mouse, I can see you pass.
Little thing, in what dark den
Lie you all the winter sleeping,
Till warm weather comes again ?
Then once more I see you peeping
Round about the tall tree-roots,
Nibbling at their fallen fruits.
Field-mouse, field-mouse, do not go
Where the farmer stacks his treasure;
Find the nut Hut falls below,
Eat the acorn at your pleasure ;
But you must not eat the grain
He has reared with so much pain.
Underneath the tall oak's shadow ;
Pretty, quiet, harmless thing,
Play about the sunny meadow ;
Keep away from corn and house
None will harm you, little mouse.
SECOND SECTION
is of more importance in speaking than
the proper observance of pauses. These must not be
made where you see commas and other points of punc-
tuation only, but wherever the sense of the piece is
made clearer by them. In this selection, these pauses
are marked by spaces left between words. For exam-
ple : in the third line of verse one, stop a moment af-
ter the word " fur " ; in the next line, after " eyes " ;
in the last line, after " mouse," and so on.
Pausing after a word is one way of -making it em-
phatic that is, of making" people notice it.
3?IECES TO SPBAK
A SPRING MORNING.
LADY FLORA HASTINGS.
GET up, little sister, the morning is bright,
And the birds are all singing to welcome the light ;
The buds are all opejiing the dew's on the flower ;
If you shake but a branch, see, there falls quite a shower.
By the side of their mothers, look, under the trees,
How the young lambs are skipping about as they please ;
And by all those rings ou the water, I know
The fishes are merrily swimming below.
Get up, for when all things are merry and glad,
Good children should never be lazy and sad ;
For God gives us daylight, dear sister, that we
May rejoice like the lark, arid may work like the bee.
SECOND SECTION 81
SPEAK tMs just as if you were actually calling your
little sister to wake up and take a morning walk with
you. Speak kindly, and in a sprightly, happy tone.
In verse two, speak the word " look " with much
earnestness, and point to one side or other, where you
must imagine that you see lambs at play.
In the same verse, be careful not to pause after the
word "know." Say, "By all those rings on the water,
I know the fishes are swimming," etc.
In like manner, in the last verse, avoid stopping at
the end of the line next to the last. Do not say, " Dear
sister that we," but, " That we may rejoice," etc.
82 PIECES TO SPEAK
[Q]
AUTUMN.
GOLDEN autumn conies again.
With its storms of wind and rain,
With its fields of yellow grain.
Trees bend down with plum and pear,
Rosy apples scent the air,
Nuts are ripening everywhere.
Flocks of sparrows downward fly
From their hawthorn perch on high,
Pecking each one greedily.
Though the summer flowers are dead ?
Still the poppy rears its head,
Glowing gayly all in red.
Still the daisy, large and white,
Shining like a star at night,
In the hedge-row twinkles bright.
Still the foxglove's crimson bell,
And the fera-leaves in the dell,
Autumn's parting beauty tell.
Purple sunsets, crimson leaves,
Fruit and flowers and golden sheaves,
Autumn gives us, ere she leaves.
SECOND SECTION 83
ALTHOUGH a again " in the first line is made to
rhyme with " rain " in the next line, you must pro-
nounce it "agen."
When a word brings with it a new idea (that is, one
which has not been before given in the piece which you
are speaking), you must emphasize it. According to
this rule, you will emphasize " plum," " pear," " apples,"
and " nuts," in the second verse.
When two thoughts are contrasted, the words which
mark the contrast must be emphasized. Thus, " It is
not ffreen y but red" Let the voice rise on the first
thought, and fall on the second. It is not green, but
red.
So in verses four and five say, " Though the sum-
mer flowers are dead, still the poppy rears its head,
glowing gayly all in red."
84 PIECES TO SPEAK
F&1
THE RAIN-LESSON,
MRS. SIGOURNEY.
" MOTHER, it rains ! " and tears like rain fell down.
" little daughter ! see, the plants rejoice ;
The rose-buds blush, and in your garden-bed
The drooping violets look so gladly up,
Blessing our God for rain. He knows what's best.'
"Yes, mother, He knows everything; and so
He surely knows there's but one afternoon
In all the week that I can have from school ;
And 'tis the third that Tve had leave to go
And play with Mary, if it did not rain,
And gather wild flowers in her father's grove
And now it rains again."
The mother took
The mourner on her knee, and kissed away
The blinding grief. And then she told her tales
Of the great Eastern deserts parched and dry,
And how the traveler 'mid the burning sands
Watches for rain-clouds with a fainting gaze;
And showed her pictures of the caravan,
And the poor camel with his outstretched neck
Longing for water.
And she told her, too,
Of the sad mother in the wilderness,
And the spent water-bottle how she laid
Her darling son among the shrubs to die,
Bowing her head down that she might not see
The agony of the long death from thirst ;
And how the blessed angel, when she prayed,
Showed her a crystal well to save her child.
And other stories from the Book of God
Breathed that kind teacher to the listening one,
And then they sang a hymn ; and, full of joy,
She thanked her mother for the pleasant time,
And for her tender lessons.
So, that night,
Amid her simple prayer, they heard her say
Words of sweet praise to Him whose mercy gives
The blessed rain : " For now I know, God,
What nleases Thee is beat."
SECOND SECTION 85
IN the first two verses of this beautiful poem, two
persons are speaking a little girl, who is somewhat
inclined to fret; and her mother, who kindly teaches her
that she ought not to feel displeased by the rain. Your
voice should change from a child's fretful tone to the
mother's sweet and patient manner.
When the child speaks the second time, the fretful-
ness has all vanished, and nothing but sadness is left.
The rest of the piece should be spoken very smoothly,
and with few breaks.
In the last verse, when the child speaks in her prayer,
her sorrow, too, is fled, and the tone should be happy
and peaceful.
PIECES TO SPEAK
THE LIGHTHOUSE.
H. W. LONGFELLOW,
THE rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
And on its outer point, some miles away,
The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
Not one alone ! from each projecting cape
And perilous reef along the ocean's verge
Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape,
Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge,
Like the great giant Christopher, it stands
Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave,
Wading far out among the rocks and sands
The night-o'ertaken mariner to save.
The startled waves leap over it ; the storm
Smites it with all the scourges of the rain,
ind steadily against its solid form
Press the great shoulders of the hurricane,
nd the great ships sail outward and return,
Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells,
find, ever joyful as they see it burn,
They wave their silent welcomes and farewells.
They come forth from the darkness, and their sails
Gleam for a moment only, in the blaze,
And eager faces, as the light unveils,
Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze.
" Sail on ! " it says, " sail on, ye stately ships !
And with your floating bridge the ocean span ;
Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse,
Be yours tojbring man nearer unto man,"
SECOND SECTION 87
THIS selection is more difficult than the others in
the same envelope, but it can be mastered by a bright
girl or boy of ten or twelve. A few explanations are,
perhaps, needed.
" Massive " means " heavy and solid " ; " masonry "
means " stonework " ; " perilous " is " dangerous " ;
"verge" is another word for "edge"; "tempestuous
waves" are "stormy waves"; "vanish" means "to
go out of sight " ; and " eclipse " means " darkness,"
or "hiding of a light."
Ask your teacher for an explanation of the last line
of verse one, and for the story of the giant Christopher.
In the last verse, " Be mine " means " Let it be my
business."
The last verse should be spoken with much earnest-
ness and strength.
88 PIECES TO SPEAK
ra
THE FAIRY dOEEN,
COMB follow, follow me,
You fairy elves that be
Which circle on the green,
Gome follow Mab your queen,
Hand in hand let's dance around,
Tor this place is fairy-ground,
When mortals are at rest,
And snoring in their nest,
Unheard and unespied
Through key-holes we do glide;
Over tables, stools, and shelves,
We trip it with our fairy elves,
The grasshopper, gnat, and fly,
Serve for our minstrelsy ;
Grace said, we dance awhile,
And so the time beguile ;
And if the moon doth hide her head,
The glow-worm lights us home to bed,
On tops of dewy grass
So nimbly do we pass,
The young and tender stalk
Ne'er bends when we do walk :
Yet in the morning may be seen
Where we the night before have been.
SECOND SECTION
THIS selection is a fairy song. There are a few hard
words in it. " Elves " are " fairies " ; " circle " means
"to dance around in a ring" ; "mortals" are "men,"
and when they are fast asleep the fairies glide about
through key-holes ; " unespied " means " unseen " ; " we
trip it" means "we dance"; "minstrelsy" means here
"musicians"; "beguile" means "pass away pleasant-
ly;" "nimbly" means "quickly."
The piece should be spoken quite rapidly, and in a
very gay and lively manner.
The " Fairy Queen " has been set to music, and, if a
little girl should learn to sing it, it would have a fine
effect among other recitations of a more sober kind.
90 PIECES TO SPEAK
A LECTURE ON RORNET-OLOGY.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : The animal to which I invite your atten-
tion on this occasion is the hornet. The word hornet is not derived
from the Greek root " ornith." That is a different kind of bird.
The hornet is an inflammable buzzer. He is sudden in his impres-
sions, and hasty in his conclusions or end.
Hornets are long-lived. I do not know precisely how long their
lives are ; but I can state from observation that any crittur who is
mad all the time, and stings every chance he can get, generally outlives
all his neighbors.
The hornet has a long, black-and-yellow body, divided in the mid-
dle by a waist-spot. But the physical importance of this insect lies at
the terminus of his sub-urb, in the shape of a javelin.
There hasn't been a hornet yet that was made in vain.
As to his courage, I will state, for the benefit of those who have
not had a chance to pursue the study of homet-ology, that one single
hornet who feels well can break up a large camp-meeting.
The hornet is own cousin to the was- sip.
The only way to arrive at the exact fighting weight of a hornet is
casually to approach the business end of his sub-urb.
I have stated that a portion of the hornet's anatomy is yellow. It
is a striking fact that when a yellow hornet hits a man with his jave-
lin, a tendency to yell " oh ! " is at once perceived in the man.
The same is true of the was-sip.
Hornets build their nests of paper, without any windows. They
have but one place of admission into the family circle.
The rest is cut up into just as many bedrooms as there are hornets.
I have never desired to enter the family circle. I never considered
it conducive to vigor.
Hornets build their nests wherever they take a notion to, and they
are seldom disturbed. For what would it profit a man to kill ninety-
and-nine hornets and have the hundredth one hit him with his javelin ?
THIRD SECTION
HINTS ON DELIVERY.
THIS lecture may be made very effective by
a large picture of a hornet painted and hung in front
of the audience.
Any boy can prepare such a picture* It should foe
about two feet long. Then the lecturer takes his place,,
pointer in hand, and remarks that he regrets his inabil-
ity to present to his audience living specimens of hi
subject, but that, with the help of this diagram, he
hopes to illustrate his observations.
The piece should be spoken slowly, and in a rather
hitching manner, something as follows : " Ladies and
gentlemen : The animal to which I invite your
attention on this occasion is the hornet."
The utmost gravity, and even solemnity, must "be
maintained by the speaker.
PIECES TO SPEAK
II.
QUAKERDOM.
CHARLES G. HALPINE.
(A Formal Call.)
THROUGH her forced, abnormal quiet
Flashed the soul of frolic riot,
And a most malicious laughter lighted up
Her downcast eyes ,
Yet in vain I tried each topic,
Ranged from polar climes to tropic-
Every commonplace I started met with
Yes or No replies.
For her mother, stiff and stately,
As if starched and ironed lately,
Sat erect, with rigid elbows bedded
Thus in curving palms.
There she sat on guard before us,
And, in words precise, decorous,
And most calm, reviewed the weather,
And recited several psalms.
When the butler, bowing lowly,
Uttered clearly, stiffly, slowly,
" Madam, please, the gardener wants you."
" Heaven," I thought, " has heard my prayer."
" Pardon me," she grandly uttered.
Bowing low, I gladly muttered,
4 ' Surely, madam " ; and, relieved, I turned
To scan the daughter's face.
Ha ! what pent-up mirth outflashes
From beneath those penciled lashes !
How the drill of Quaker custom yields to
Nature's brilliant grace 1
Brightly springs the prisoned fountain
From the side of Delphi's mountain,
When the stone that weighed upon its
Buoyant life is thrust aside ;
So the long-enforced stagnation
Of the maiden's conversation
Now imparted fivefold brilliance to
Its ever- varying tide.
Widely ranging, quickly changing,
Witty, winning ; from beginning
Unto end I listened, merely flinging
In a casual word.
THIBD SECTION 9S
II. (
Eloquent, and yet how simple !
Hand and eye and eddying dimple,
Tongue and lip together made a music
Seen as well as heard.
As when noonday woods are ringing,
All the birds of summer singing,
Suddenly there falls a silence, and
We know a serpent nigh ;
So upon the door a rattle
Stopped her animated prattle,
And the stately mother found
Us prim enough to suit her eye.
HOW TO SPEAK IT.
THE quiet humor of this selection depends on no
accessories of costume or dramatic action.
It must be delivered in a sprightly, wide-awake, and
energetic manner, varied to suit the varying sentiment
of the verses.
The speaker's manner while delivering the first stan-
za should indicate a world of suppressed frolic, which,,
though restrained, flashes out from the eyes, and finds
expression in the vivacity of the voice and gesture.
During the recitation of the next stanza, on the con-
trary, be as "stiff arid stately" as possible, showing
by your own manner your conception of the Quaker
mother.
Make a sharp transition in manner in stanza four at
the word " Ha ! " from a sedate and demure bearing
to an attitude of eager attention and of excited pleas-
ure. Let the utterance be rapid, but clear, joyous, and.
distinct, increasing to its climax in the following stanza.
Make a decided pause before commencing the last
stanza, and speak the first two lines smoothly and flu-
ently. Stop abruptly with the word " Suddenl} 7 "," and
indicate alarm by your manner and half -whispered in-
tonation. Close the recitation in a "prim and stately 5 *
style.
'94 PIECES TO SPEAK
III,
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.
BEHOLD the mansion reared by dsedal Jack !
See the malt stored in many a plethoric sack.
In the proud cirque of Ivan's bivouac !
Mark how the rats' felonious fangs invade
The golden stores iu John's pavilion laid !
Anon, with velvet foot and Tarquin strides,
Subtle grimalkin to his quarry slides
Grimalkin grim that slew the fierce rodent
Whose tooth insidious Johan's sackcloth rent.
Here walks forlorn the damsel, crowned with rue.
Lactiferous spoils from vaccine dugs who drew
Of that corniculate beast whose tortuous horn
Tossed to the clouds, in fierce, vindictive scorn,
The harrowing hound, whose braggart bark and stir
Arched the lithe spine and reared the indignant fur
Of puss, that, with vcrminicidal claw,
Struck the weird rat, in whose insatiate maw
Lay reeking malt that erst in Ivan's courts we saw.
Lo ! here with hirsute honors doffed, succinct
Of saponaceous locks, the priest who linked
In Hymen's golden bands the torn unthrift,
Whose means exiguous stared from many a rift,
Even as he kissed the virgin, all forlorn,
Who milked the cow with implicated horn
Who, in fine wrath, the canine torturer skied
That dared to vex the insidious muricide
Who let the auroral effluence through the pelt
Of the sly rat that robbed the palace Jack had built.
The loud, cantankerous Shanghai comes at last,
Whose shouts aroused the shorn ecclesiast
Who sealed the vows of Heaven's sacrament
To him who, robed in garments indigent,
Esosculates the damsel lachrymose,
The emulgator of that horned brute morose
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
THIHD SECTION 95
HIFTS.
IP this declamation could be illustrated by pictures
of the house, the sack of malt, the rat, etc., it would be
irresistible. Of course, the pictures need not be by
Landseer ; but they might be introduced as being
" after Landseer."
Ivan and Johan are equivalent to John or Jack.
Cirque, pronounced, sirk.
Grimalkin, pronounced gri-mdXJcin.
" Verminicidal " = vermin-killing.
" Hirsute honors doffed " = shaven.
" Succinct of saponaceous locks " = shorn.
" Muricide " = rat-killer.
" Auroral effluence through the pelt " = daylight
through the skin.
" Exosculates " = kisses.
" Lachrymose " = all forlorn (weeping).
" Emulgator " = milker.
Much of 'the force of this piece will depend on the
thoroughness with which it is committed to memory.
To glibly glide along without hesitating at these
awkward polysyllables will in itself provoke peals of
laughter from your audience. Speak as if these words
were your daily companions. This will require patience.
PIECES TO SPEAK
IY.
FISHING.
ONE morning when Spring was in her teens
A mom to a poet's wishing,
All tinted in delicate pinks and greens-
Miss Bessie and I went fishing.
I in my rough and easy clothes,
With my face at the sunshine's mercy ;
She with her hat tipped down to her nose,
And her nose tipped vice versa,
I with my rod, my reel, and my hooks,
And a hamper for luncheon recesses ;
She with the bait of her comely looks,
And the seine of her golden tresses.
So we sat down on the sunny dike,
Where the white pond-lilies teeter ;
And I went to fishing like quaint old Ike,
And she like Simon Peter.
All the noon I lay in the light of her eyes,
And dreamily watched and waited ;
But the fish were cunning and would not rise.
And the baiter alone was baited.
And when the time for departure came,
The bag was as flat as a flounder ;
But Bessie had neatly hooked her game,
A hundred-and-eighty pounder.
THIKD SECTION 9T
JNOIE.
the contrast running through, these verses:
between the manner of Miss Bessie's fishing and that
of the hero. The voice must indicate this contrast by
the inflection and emphasis of the words " I " and "she. 5 *
" Quaint old Ike " a reference to " Izaak Walton
the angling philosopher.
" Itike Simon JPeter" I. e., fishing for men.
98 PIECES TO SPEAK
V.
AN IRISH LETTER,
Tullymucclescrag, Parish of Ballyraggett, near Ballyslughgatliey,
Sunday (God bless us), 1864.
J[Y DEAR NEPHEW I haven't sent ye a letther since the last time I
wrote to ye, bekase we have moved from our former place of living,
and I didn't know where a letther would find ye ; but I now with pleas-
ure take up me pin to inform ye of the death of yer own living uncle,
Ned Fitzpatrick, who died very suddenly last week afther a lingering
illness of sis months. The poor fellow was in violent convulsions the
whole time of his sickness, lying perfectly quiet, speechless, all the
while talking incoherently, and crying for wather. I had no opportu-
nity of informing ye of his death sooner, except I wrote to ye by the
last post, which same went off two days before he died ; and then ye
would have postage to pay. Pm at a loss to tell what his death was
occasioned by, but I fear it was by his last sickness, for he was niver
well ten days togither during the whole time of his confinement, and I
believe his death was brought about by his aitin' too much of rabbit
stuffed with pais and gravy, or pais and gravy stuffed with rabbit ; but,
be that as it may, when he brathed his last, the docther gave up all
hope of his recovery, I needn't tell ye anything about his age, for ye
well know that in March next he would have been just seventy-five
years old lacking ten months, and, had he lived till that time, would
have been just six months dead. His property now devolves to his
next of kin, which all died some time ago, so that I expect it will be
divided between us ; and ye know his property, which was very large,
was sold to pay his debts, and the remainder he lost at a horse-race ;
but it was the opinion of iverybody at the time that he would have
won the race if the baste he run against hadn't been too fast for him.
Yer old sweetheart sinds her love unknownst to ye. When Jary
McGhee arrives in America, ax him for this letther, and if he don't
bring it from amongst the rest, tell him it's the one that spakes about
yer uncle's death, and saled in black.
I remain yer affectionate ould grandmother,
BEIDGET O'HOOLEGOIN.
P. S, Don't write till you resave this.
N. B. When yez come to this place, stop, and don't rade any more
until my next.
Direct to Larry O'Hoolegoin, late of the town of Tullymucclescrag,
parish of Ballyraggett, near Ballyslughgathcy, County of Kilkenny,
Ireland.
THIRD SECTION
DIRECTIONS.
THIS letter should be copied on a slieet of foolscap
paper and folded in some odd manner. Then it should
be inclosed in a mamoioth envelope, well covered "with
red seals.
The reader should come on the stage as if in haste
from the post-office ; break the seals open the letter to
its fullest extent, and read it. It must be read slowly
for the most part, but it will be well to rattle off one or
two of the longest sentences rapidly for variety. Of
course, the reader will now and then hesitate before a
humorous word, as if unable to decipher Mrs. O'Hoole-
goin's chirography.
100 PIECES TO SPEAK
VI.
HOW THE YANKEE ANSWERED THE ENGLISHMEN.
ON the plains of New Jersey, one hot summer day,
Two Englishmen, snug in a stage-coach, were airing ;
A Yankee, who happened to travel that way,
Took a seat by their side, and sat wondering and staring.
Brimful of importance (like every true Briton,
Who thinks that the Lion can outfly the Eagle),
These cockneys found nothing their optics could hit on
That began to compare with their island so regal.
Compared with the English, our horses were colts
Our oxen were goats, and a sheep but a lamb,
And the people (poor blockheads) such pitiful dolts
Mere Hottentot children, contrasted with them.
Our mountains were valleys ; our apples were cherries ;
_0ur rivers were drains ; and our turkeys were wrens ;
And the Englishmen sighed, " Oh, what small huckleberries ! "
As they saw some ripe pumpkins just over the fence.
Just then a black cloud in the west was ascending ;
The lightning flashed forth with a terrible glare ;
While nearer and nearer, a tempest portending,
The thunder re-echoed and rolled through the air.
An oak by the wayside fell down with a crashing ;
The lightning knocked horses and Englishmen flat.
" There ! hang you ! " the Yankee exclaimed his eyes flashing,,
" Do you have better thwider in England than that ? "
THIRD SECTION 101
SUGGESTIONS.
A NARRATIVE like this needs to be spoken with the
utmost distinctness and deliberation. You should inti-
mate \j the tones of your voice, from, the beginning,
that something of a humorous nature maybe expected ;
though you should preserve the strictest gravity your-
self. In the first stanza, make prominent the words
New Jersey, Englishmen, stage-coach, Yankee, wonder-
ing, and staring.
Prolong the word " wondering " to express the
thought. Speak quietly and low.
In the second stanza, imitate the pompous manner
of the Englishmen. In the third stanza make the con-
trast decided between Jiorses and colts, oxen and goats,
etc. Throughout the whole piece the voice is continu-
ally rising and falling, and this is therefore an excellent
selection for drill in modulation.
When you come to the fifth stanza, make it as dra-
matic as you please. " Just then a black cloud in the
west was ascending ! The lightning -flashed forth with
a terrible glare ! " Let the thunder fairly roll, and as-
sist it by voice and gesture.
The climax is reached in the last stanza ; and you
must rise to the occasion, your manner growing more
and more animated, your gesticulation bolder, your voice
louder, till you end, with great force, " Do you have
better THUNDER in England than that ? "
102 PIECES TO SPEAK
VII.
PAT AND THE PIG.
WE have read of a Pat so financially flat,
That he had neither money nor meat,
And when hungry and thin it was whispered by sin
That he ought to steal something to eat.
So he went to the sty of a widow near by,
And he gazed on the tenant poor soul !
" Arrah, now thin," said he, " what a trate that'll be ! "
And the pig of the widow he stole.
In a feast he rejoiced then confessed to a priest ;
For in spite of the pork and the lard,
There was something within that was sharp as a pin,
For his conscience was pricking him hard.
And the priest to him said, " You must not go to bed
Till you pay for the pig you have taken,
And thus, though you stole, you may still save your soul,,
And will also be saving your bacon."
Then " Presarve us ! " said Pat, " I can niver do that
Not the ghost of a penny have I
And I'm writched indade, if silver it nade,
Any pace for me conscience to buy."
Then in sorrow he cried, and the priest he replied,
*' Only think how you'll tremble with fear,
When the Judge you shall meet, at the great judgment-seat.
And the widow you plundered while here."
" Will the widow be there? " whispered Pat with a stare ;
" And the pig ? by me soul, is it thrue ? "
" They will surely be there," said the priest, " I declare,
And, Patrick ! what then will you do ? "
" Many thanks," answered Pat, " for telling me that ;
May the blessings upon you be big !
On that sittleniint-day to the widow I'll say,
' Mrs. Flanigan, here is your pig ! ' "
THIRD SECTION 10&
HINTS ON DELIVERY.
THE suggestions for No. VI apply almost equally
here. This selection is closely analogous to that in
style. Emphasize, in the first verse, money r , meat, liun-
gry, thin, and steal. Be careful not to emphasize sin or
eat. Much of the humor of the piece depends on your
ability to imitate the Irish brogue. Speak the fourth
verse in a dignified and stern manner.
The fifth must be delivered in a manner indicative
of the greatest alarm and consternation. After the first
word, " Then," you may give a sudden start, and throw
up your hands in surprise. The last line of the verse
speak very disconsolately.
The sixth stanza, of course, is like the fourth in
manner and tone. Now Patrick catches a straw of
hope, and, clasping his hands with intense eagerness,
exclaims almost joyously, " Will the widow be there ? J?
The priest, not liking his sudden transition from
sadness to unreasonable elation, replies still more sternly,
" They will surely be there," etc.
Then Patrick divulges the secret of his exultation,
and explains with much delight his plan for escaping
punishment. Accompany the words " Many thanks "
with a profound bow and "salaam" raise your arm
aloft as you say, " On that sittlemint-day." Make an-
other profound salute on the words " Mrs. Flanigan "
followed by a gesture to the right, indicating the where-
abouts of the long-lost animal.
104 PIECES TO SPEAK
VIII.
A RHYME OF THE TIME,
Miss Pallas Eudora^ Blurky
She didn't know chicken from turkey ;
High Spanish and Greek she could fluently speak,
But her knowledge of poultry was murky.
She could tell the great-uncle of Moses,
And the dates of the Wars of the Roses,
And the reasons of things why the Indians wore rings
In their red, aboriginal noses !
Why Shakespeare was wrong in his grammar,
And the meaning of Emerson's " Brahma " ;
And she went chipping rocks with a little black box
And a small geological hammer.
She had views upon co-education,
And the principal needs of the nation ;
And her glasses were blue, and the number she knew
Of the stars in each high constellation.
And she wrote in a handwriting clerky,
And she talked with an emphasis jerky,
And she painted on tiles in the sweetest of styles ;
But she didn't know chicken from turkey I
THIRD 8ECTIOK JQ5
106 PIECES TO SPEAK
IX.
THE SMACK IN SCHOOL
J. W. PALMER.
A DISTEICT school, not far away,
Mid Berkshire hills, one winter's day
Was humming with its wonted noise
Of threescore mingled girls and boys ;
Some few upon their tasks intent,
But more on furtive mischief bent,
The while the master's downward look
Was fastened on a copy-book,
"When suddenly, behind his back,
Rose sharp and clear a rousing smack,
As 'twere a battery of bliss
Let off in one tremendous kiss.
" What's that ? " the startled master cries;
"That, thir," a little imp replies,
" Wath William Willith, if you pleathe,
I thaw him kith Thuthanna Peathe ! "
With frown to make a statue thrill,
The master thundered, " Hither, Will ! "
Will hung his head in fear and shame,
And to the awful presence came.
With smile suppressed and birch upraised.
The threat'ner faltered : " I'm amazed
That you, my biggest pupil, should
Be guilty of an act so rude !
Before the whole set school, to boot
What evil genius put you to't ? "
"'Twas she herself, sir," sobbed the lad,
" I didn't mean to be so bad ;
But when Susannah shook her curls,
And whispered I was 'f raid of girls,
And dassent kiss a baby's doll,
I couldn't stand it, sir, at all,
But up and kissed her on the spot !
I know boo-hoo ! I ought to not,
But somehow from her looks boo-hoo !
I thought she kind o' wished me to ! "
THIRD SECTION 107
SUGGESTIONS.
SEE suggestions with No. VI. T'Jtie first eight lines,
should be spoken in a smoothly fluent manner, with no
unnecessary pauses, and in a quiet, natural tone of voice.
This must be abruptly broken in the ninth line. Pause*
sharply after the word " suddenly," as if listening.
Again, after "back." Repeat the next line very dis~
tinctly and slowly, bringing out the word " smack 7>
with emphasis. The climax is reached on the word.
"kiss."
" What's that ? " Speak suddenly, and as if in an-
gry surprise.
The reply is lisped out in a half -frightened manner^
but with a little undertone of merriment. When Will-
iam's explanation commences, you must begin to sob s
very gently at first, but more and more violently as you
proceed, until you break entirely down in the third line
from the end, and conclude in a violent fit of weeping-
aloud. You must be especially careful that your words*
are plainly spoken all this time. The whole effect of
tKe piece depends on how well you can imitate a cry-
ing boy.
108 PIECES TO
THE AMERICAN EAGLE.
ME. PRESIDENT : The . eagle is a noble bird. The eagle is a noble
'bird, Mr. President. Mr. President, the eagle is a noble bird.
With one foot firmly planted on the summit of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and the other cooled alternately in the foaming waves of the
Atlantic Ocean and the placid bosom of the Pacific Sea the eagle,
Mr. President, is a noble bird.
His eye is undazzled by the full radiance of the noonday sun, and
unterrified by the pale glory of the moon.
When clouds of war have darkened our national horizon, and angry
flashes of vindictive hate have shot from their murky depths when
the thunders of contention have rolled over our heads, and the gloom
of anarchy has threatened to inshroud us in eternal night, then the
song of the American eagle has risen clear and tremulous above the
roar of cannon and the " clash of resounding arms " and, Mr. Presi-
dent the eagle is a noble bird !
When peace has spread her wings of silver over the land, when
the smoke a the conflict has cleared away, and the sun once more has
hone forth in glory, then have we ever beheld our national bird, still
.sitting, with one foot firmly planted on the crest of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and the other clasping in Its curving claws the olive-branch of
reconciliation.
The eagle is a noble bird. The eagle is a noble bird, Mr. Presi-
dent.
Mr. President, the eagle is a noble bird..
THIBD SECTION 109
HINTS.
THE fun of this selection lies in its absolute non-
sense. This must be contrasted sharply with a most,
serious manner on the part of the speaker. You must
speak each sentence as if it were of weighty import..
Pause, after the address to the president, to indicate-
that something important is to follow. When all are
attentive, say solemnly and with a wide outstretching'
of both arms, " The eagle is a noble bird ! " Then pause
again. Repeat the same manner and gesture in the
two following sentences.
The orotund tone of voice should be used through-
out.
This piece may also be spoken in a broken, hesitat-
ing, frightened manner, to illustrate the first attempt of
some timid speaker or schoolboy, and will be found
very funny in that way.
110 PIECES TO SPEAK
XL
BILLY'S FIRST AND LAST DRINK OF LAGER.
['* Poy Pilly " was the adopted son of Father Zende, an eccentric Teuton, who
was much shocked one day at seeing the boy in a lager-beer saloon, taking off a
foaming glass of lager. He bade the boy go home, but said nothing about the mat-
ter till evening. After tea, Zende seated himself at the table, and placed before
liim a variety of queer things, whereon Silly looked with curiosity J
" KOMMEN zie hier, Pilly ! '* cried Christian. " Vy vast du in te
peer-shops te tay, hem ? Vy drinks peer, mem poy ? "
" Oh ohbecause it's good," said Billy, boldly.
" No, Pilly, it vast not gate to dein mout. I did see neffer so pig
vaces als didst make, Pilly. Pilly, you dinks it will dast gate py-ant-py,
and it ees like a man to trinks, atx 7 so you trmks. Now, Pilly, eef it is
gute, haf it ; ef it ees likes ein man, trinks, Pilly. I vill not hinders
you vrom vat ees gute ant manly, mein shilt ; but trinks at home, dakos
your trink pure, Pilly, and lets me pays vor it. Kom, racin poy ! You
likes peer. Veil, kom, open dein mout, heir I haf all te peer stuff
simons pure vrom te schops, mein poy. Koin, opens dein mout, ant I
vill puts it een "
Billy drew near, but kept his mouth close shut. Said Zende : " Don
you makes me madt, Pilly ! Opens dein mout ! "
Thus exhorted, Billy opened his mouth, and Christian put a small
bit of alum in it. Billy drew up his face, but boys can stand alum.
After a little, Christian cried, " Opens dein mout, peer ist not all
alums ! " And he dropped in a bit of aloes. This was worse. Billy
winced. Again, " Opens dein mout ! " The least morsel of red pepper,
now, from a knife-point ; but Billy howled.
" Vat I not likes dein peer ! " said Zende. " Opens deiu mout ! "
Just touched now with a knife-point dipped in oil of turpentine. Billy
began to cry. " Opens dein mout ; dein peer is not hafs mate yet,
Pilly ! " And Billy's tongue got the least dusting of lime, and potash,
and saleratus. -Billy now cried loudly. " Opens dein mout ! " Un-
lucky Billy ! This time about a gram of liquorice, hop-pollen, and
saltpeter.
" Looks, Pilly ! Here iat some arsenic, and some strychnine ; dese
pelongs in te peer. Opens dein mout ! "
" I can't, I can't ! " roared Billy. " Arsenic and strychnine are to
kill rats ! I shall die ! oh ! oh ! oh ! do you want to kill me, Father
.Zende ! "
" Kills him ; joost py ein leetle peer ! all gute and pure ! He dells
me he likes peer, and eet ees manly to trinks eet, and ven I gives hcem
te peer he cries I kills eem ! So, Pilly, heir is water ; dere ist mooch
water in peer trinks dat ! "
Billy drank the water eagerly. Zende went on : " Ant, dere is
mooch alcohol in peer. Heir ! opens dein mout ! " and he dropped four
THIRD SECTION HI
XL (Continued)
drops of raw spirit carefully on his tongue. Billy went dancing about
the room, and then ran for more water.
" Kommen zie heir, dein peer 1st not done, Pilly," shouted Christian;
and, seizing him, he put the cork of an ammonia-bottle to his lips, then
a drop of honey, a taste of sugar, a drop of molasses, a drop of gall ;
then^ "Pilly ! heir is more of dein peer ! Heir ist jalap, copperas, sul-
phuric acid, acetic acid, and nux vomica : opens dein mout ! "
" Oh, no, no ! " mourned Billy. " Let me go ! I hate beer ! I'll
never drink any more ! I'll never go in that shop again ; I'll be a good
boy I'll sign the pledge. Oh, let me be ! I can't eat those things !
I'll die. My mouth tastes awful, now. Oh. take 'em away. Father
Zende!" *'
"Dakes em avay ! dakes avay dein goot peer ! " cried the old man,,
innocently, " ven I hafs paid vor eet, ant mem Pilly can trinks eet pure
at his home, likes ein shentilman ! Vy, poy, dese ist te maklns of peer,
ant you no likes dem ? All deae honey, ant sugar, ant vater, poy ? "
NOTES.
ANYBODY, who can catch the rich German brogue,
will have a rare opportunity of convulsing his audience
with this piece.
It would add to the effect to have the speaker dressed
in an old study-gown, with a long Dutch pipe in the
side of his mouth, and a tall peaked cap on his head.
Let him be seated by a table having various little boxes
and glasses on it. Have a small and intelligent boy to
take the part of " Pilly," and taste the various sub-
stances. Of course, "Pilly" makes all sorts of wry
faces, and struggles to get away from the rigorous treat-
ment of good Father Zende.
Shilt = child, and is pronounced shllt.
112 PIECES TO SPBAK
XII.
THE FIRST BANJO.
Go way, fiddle 1 folks is ticed o' hearin' you a-squeakin',
Keep silence fur yo' betters don't you heah de banjo speakin' ?
About de 'possum's tail she's gwine to lecter ladies, listen !
About de ha'r what isn't dar, an 5 why de ha'r is missin' :
"Bar's gwine to be a oberflow," said Noah, lookin' solemn
For Noah tuk the " Herald," an' he read de ribber column
An' so he sot his hands to work a-cl'arin' timber-patches,
An' 'lowed he's gwine to build a boat to beat de steameh " Natchez.'* 1
Ol' Noah kep' a-nailin', an' a-chippin', an' a-sawin' ;
An' all do wicked neighbors kep' a-laughin' an' a-pshawin' ;
But Noah didn't min' 'em knowin' whut wuz gwine to happen :
An' forty days an' forty nights de rain it kep' a-drappin'.
Now, Noah had done cotched a lot ob eb'ry sort o* beas'es
Ob all de shows a-trabbelin', it beat 'em all to pieces !
He had a Morgan colt, an' seb'ral head o' Jarsey cattle
An' druv 'em 'board de Ark as soon's he heered de thunder rattle.
De Ark she kep' a-sailin', an' a-sailin', an! a-sailin j ;
De lion got his dander up, an' like to bruk de palin'
De sarpints hissed de painters yelled tell, what wid all de fussing
You cVdn't hardly heah de mate a-bossin* 'roun' an' cussin'.
Now, Ham, de only nigger whut wuz runnin' on de packet,
Got lonesome in de barber-shop, an' couldn't stan' de racket ;
An' so, for to amuse he-se'f, he steamed some wood an' bent it 9
An' soon he had a banjo made de fust dat wuz invented.
THIRD SECTION 113
XII. (Continued.}
He wet de ledder, stretched it on ; made bridge, an' screws, an 7 apron \
An' fitted in a proper neck 'twuz berry long an* tap'rin' ;
He tuk some tin, an' twisted him a thimble for to ring it ;
An' den de mighty question riz, how wuz he gwine to string it ?
De 'possum had as fine a tail as dis dat I's a-singin' ;
De ha'rs so long, an' thick, an' strong, des fit for banjo-stringm' ;
Dat nigger shaved 'em off as short as wash-day-dinner graces ;
An' sorted ob 'em by de size, from little E's to basses.
He strung her, tuned her, struck a jig twuz " Nebber min' de Wed-
der " ~
She soun' like forty-lebben bands a-playin' all togedder ;
Some went to pattin', some to dancin' ; Noah called de figgers
An' Ham he sot an' knocked de tune, de happiest ob niggers !
Now, sence dat time it's mighty strange dere's not de slightes*
Bhowin*
Ob any ha'r at all upon de 'possum's tail a-growin 5 .
114 PIECES TO SPEAK
XIII.
THE PANORAMA.
LADIES AND GINTLEMEN : In the foreground over there ye'll observe
Vinegar Hill, and shud ye be goin' boy that way some day, yer moight
be fatigued, and if yer are yer'll find at the fut o' the hill a nate little
cot kept boy a man named McOarty, who boy the way is a foine lad.
I see by the hasp on the door that McCarty's out, or I'd tak yez in
an' introduce yer.
(Move the crank, James. Music be the bagpipes, Larry.)
Ladies and gintleroen, we have now arrived at another beautiful
shpot situated about thirteen an' a half moiles this side o 1 Corruk. This
is a grate place for shportsmen, an' phile shtoppin' thare onct, the
followin' tilt of a conversation occurred betwixt Mr. Muldooney and
mesilf :
I says to him "Waiter ! " says I, " Mully, my dear," says I, " will you
have the kindness to fetch me in the mustard ? " an' he was a long
time bringin' it, and I opportuned him. for kapin' me waitin' ; an' says
he to me, says he, " Mr. McOune " (that's me), " Mr. McCune," says he,
" I notice that yer ate a grate deal o' mustard wid yer mate." " I,
do," says I. Says he, "I notice," he says, "that yees take a grate deal
of mate wid yer mustard." (Move the crank, James. Music be the
bagpipes, Larry.)
Ladies and gintlemen, before I close my panarrammer I'll show you
wan more picture.
While travelin' in the United States some years ago, I took the
cars for Chin-chin-natty, Shtate of Ohio, on me way from Montreal and
Que-bec-que in Ganady, down the River Saint Larry-o-rnae, till a place
called Buff-lo, till I came to a place cilebrated for its great fall of
wather and named Niagara.
While passin 7 by the falls wan evemV, I overheard the followin*
remarks pass between a lady and gintleman : Says he to her, says he,
"Mary Ann," says he, " casht yer eyes up on that lidge of rocks and
consider that vast body of wather a-rushin' down over that pricipice.
Isn't that a foine curiosity ? "
" I know dhat," says she, " but fou'dent it be a grather curiosity ef
they'd all turn around and pass back again ? "
(James, turn the crank. Larry, give us " Home, Swate Home.")
While Larry gives us " Home, Swate Home," I will show ye the
cook gatherin' shticks for the evenin' male. Nothin' is more sugges-
tive of home than the fire on the harth-shtone.
Here she is, bending over after a shmall bit of a fagot, to bile the
peratees.
(James, wind up the canviss. No more o' them bagpipes, Larry.)
i
THIKB SECTION 115
HINTS FOE DELIVERY.
WHILE this selection will prove sufficiently humor-
ous under any circumstances, its effect might be much
heightened if a rude panorama or moving picture were
extemporized to accompany it. Procure several yards
of cheap cotton cloth and two large rollers. (Two
kegs could easily be fitted on axles.) On the
\" canvas" let the hill and little cot be roughly
outlined with colored crayon. The second pic-
1 ture is of an inn frequented by sportsmen, and
may be like the accompanying sketch. Let the
lecturer explain that this is the inn. The hunter
has just entered, and the barrel of his gun, which
is over his shoulder, may be seen entering the
door. His dog has passed entirely within, ex-
cepting his tail, which appears below.
For the third picture, " Niagara," a few lines will suf-
fice as follows :
For the final scene, this simple illustration will prove
irresistible. The lecturer will explain
how the old lady is bending over the
other way.
A jew's-harp will do for bagpipes.
116 PIECES TO SPEAK
XIV.
THE AGED STRANGER,
"I WAS with Grant," the stranger said.
Said the farmer, " Say no more,
But rest thee here at my cottage-porch,
For thy feet are weary and sore."
" I was with Grant." the stranger said.
Said the farmer, "Nay, no more ;
I prithee sit at my frugal board,
And eat of my humble store.
"How fares my boy, my soldier boy,
Of the old Ninth Army Corps ?
I warrant, he bore him gallantly
In the smoke and the battle's roar ! "
" I knew him not," sajd the aged man,
" And, as I remarked before,
I was with Grant" " Nay, nay, I know,"
Said the farmer, " say no more.
"He, fell in battle I see, alas!
ThouMst smooth these tidings o'er ;
Nay, speak the truth, whate'er it be,
Though it rend my bosom's core !
" How fell he with his face to the foe,
Upholding the flag he bore ?
Oh, say not that my boy disgraced
The uniform that he wore ! "
" I can not tell," said the aged man,
"And should have remarked before
That I was with Grant, in Illinois,
Some three years before the war."
Then the farmer spake him never a word,
But he beat with his fist full sore
That aged man, who had worked for Grant
Some three years before the war.
THIRD SECTION 117
SUGGESTIONS.
IF the last selection depended largely on dramatic
surroundings for its effect, this poem must rely mainly
on the elocutionary skill of the speaker. The farmer is
thinking only of his long-lost hoy. His voice is full of
emotion.
There must be no suggestion to the audience hy
tone or face that there is to he anything of a humorous
nature in the whole piece. The laugh is caused by the
sudden and unexpected turn in the last stanza. Speak
the piece, therefore, with deep feeling, which increases
in intensity till it finds its climax in the sixth stanza,
" Oh, say not that my boy disgraced the uniform that
he wore ! "
The next verse, repeat in a somewhat sullen, dogged
manner ; the last with much spirit.
118 PIECES TO SPEAK
XV.
TO THE SEXTON.
A appeal for are to the sextant of the old brick mectiri * -house.
SEXTANT of the meetin' -house, wich sweeps,
And dusts, or Is supposed too ! and makes fires,
And lites the gas, and sumtirnes leaves a screw loose,
In wich case it smells orf ul worse than lamp-ile ;
And wrings the Bel, and toles it when men dyes,
To the grief of survivin' pardners, and sweeps paths ;
And for the ser vases gets $100 per annum,
Wich them that thinks dear let 'em try it ;
Gettin' up before starlite in all wethers, and
Kindlin' fiers when the wether is as cold
As zero, and like as not green wood for kindlers ;
1 wouldn't be hired to do it for no some
But, o Sextant, there are one commodity
Wich's more than gold, wich don't cost nothin',
Worth more than anything except the sole of Mann !
I mean pewer are, Sextant, i mean pewer Are !
O it is so plenty out o' doors, so plenty it don't
No what on airth tew dew with itself, but flies
About scatterin' leaves and blowin' off men's hats,
But, o Sextant, in our Church it's scarce as piety ;
Scarce as bank bills when agints beg for missions,
Wich sum says is pretty often ('tain't nothin' to me,
Wat I give ain't nothin' to nobody). But, o Sextant
U shut 500 men, wimmen, and children,
Specially the latter, up in a tite place,
But every 1 on 'em breathes in and out and out and in,,
THIRD SECTION 119
XV. ( Continued.}
Say 50 times a minnlt, or 1 million and breaths an hour ;
Now how long will a church full of are last at that rate ?
1 ask you. Say 15 minnits ; and then wats to be did ?
O sextant, don't you know our lungs is belluses
To blow the fier of life and keep it from
Goiii* out ; and how can belluses blow without wind ?
And ain't wind are ? I put it to your conscience.
Are is the same to us as milk to babes,
Or water is to fish, or pendulums to clox,
Or little julls unto an omepath,
Or boys to girls. Are is for xis to breathe.
What signifies who preaches if I can't breathe ?
Wat's Pol ? Wat's Pollus, to sinners who are ded ?
Ded for want of breath. Why, Sextant, when we
Dye, it's only coz we can't breathe no more that's all.
And now, o Sextant, let me beg- of you
2 let a little are into our church.
(Fewer are is sertin proper for the pews.)
It ain't much trouble Only make a hole
And the are will come in of itself.
It loves to come in whare it can git warm,
And o how it will rouse the people up,
And sperrit up the preacher, and stop garps,
And yawns and figgets as effectooal
As wind on the dry Boans the ProflSt tells of.
120 PIECES TO SPBAK.
XVI.
THE LOST HEIR.
LOUD ! oh, dear ! my heart will break ; I shall go stick, stark, star-
ing wild !
Haa ever a one seen anything about the streets like a crying, lost-
looking child ?
The last time as ever I see him, poor thing, waa with my own, blessed,
motherly eyes, sitting as good as gold in the gutter, a-playing at
making little dirt-pies.
1 wonder he left the court, where he was better off than all the
other young boys, with two bricks, an old shoe, nine oyster-shells,
and a dead kitten, by way of toys.
La, bless you, good folks ! mind your own consarns, and don't be
making a mob in the street.
O Sergeant McFarlane ! You haven't come across my poor, little boy,
have you, in your beat ?
He'd a very good jacket, for certain, for I bought it myself for a shil-
ling one day in Rag Fair.
And his trousers, considering not very much patched and red plush,
they was once his father's best pair.
He 7 d a goodish sort of a hat, if the crown was sewed in, and not quite
so much jagged at the brim.
With one shoe on, and the other shoe is a boot, and not a fit, and
you'll know by that if it's him.
And then he has got such dear, winning ways, but oh ! I never, never
shall see him no more !
Oh, dear! to think of losing him just after missing him back from
Death's door !
Billy ! Where are you, Billy, I say ? Come, Billy, come home to your
best of mothers.
I'm scared when I think of them cabrolaya, they drive so, they'd run
over their own sisters and brothers.
Oh ! I'd give the whole wide world, if the world was mine, to clap my
two longing eyes on his little face.
For he's my darlin' of darlin'a, and if he don't soon come back, you'll
see me drop stone-dead on the place.
I only wish I'd got him safe in these two motherly arms, and wouldn't
I hug him and kiss him !
Lawk ! I never knew what a precious he was but a child don't not
feel like a child till you miss him
Why, there he is ! ^Punch and Judy hunting the young wretch, it's that
Billy as sartin as sin !
But let me get him home, with a good grip of his hair, and I'm blest
if he shall have a whole bone in his skin {
THIRD SECTION
SUGGESTIONS.
THIS extravagantly laughable poem, deserves your
"best effort. It is well adapted to a dramatic speaker,
* It must be spoken with, utter self -abandon. It should
be given with a rich brogue.
The voice at times rises almost to a shriek, at others
it sinks to a mournful wail.
It is full of sudden transitions, as when the mother
suddenly breaks off from her lamentations and turns
fiercely upon the bystanders with " La ! bless you, good
folks, mind your own consarns ! " and, again, when she
turns imploringly to Sergeant McFarlane ; but most of
all when her motherly anxiety changes to hot indigna-
tion as she discovers her truant boy safe and sound.
This is one of the few declamations which are to be
spoken rapidly.
122 PIECES TO SPEAK
XYII.
THE COURTIN',
GOD makes sech nights, all white an' still
Fur'z you can look or listen,
Moonshine an' snow on field an' hill,
All silence an' all glisten.
Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown
An' peeked in thru' the winder,
An' there sot Huldy all alone,
'ith no one nigh to hender.
The very room, coz she was in,
Seemed warm from floor to ceiling
An' she looked full ez rosy agia
Ez the apples she was peelin'.
Twas kia' o' kingdom-come to look
On sech a blessed cretur,
A dog rose blushin' to a brook
Ain't modester nor sweeter.
He'd sparked it with full twenty gals,
Hed squired 'em, danced 'em, druv 'em,,
Fust this one, an' then thet, by spells-
All is, he couldn't love 'em.
But long o' her his veins 'ould run
All crinkly like curled maple,
The side she breshed felt full o' sun
Ez a south slope in Ap'il,
She thought no Vice hed sech a swing-
Ez hisn in the choir ;
My! when he made Ole Hundred ring>
She knowed the Lord was nigher.
An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer,
"When her new meetin'-bunnet
Pelt somehow thru' its crown a pair
0' blue eyes sot upon it.
THIRD SECTION 123'
XVII. (Continued.}
He kin' o' 1'itered on the mat.
Some doubtfle o' the sekle,
His heart kep' goin' pity-pat,
But hern went pity Zckle.
An' jit she gin her cheer a jerk
Ez though she wished him furder,
An' on her apples kep' to work,
Parin' away like murder.
" You want to see my Pa, I s'pose ? "
" Wai .... no .... I come dasignin' . , e n
" To see my Ma ? She's sprinklin' clo'es
Agin to-morrer's i'nin'."
He stood a spell on one foot fust,
Then stood a spell on t' other,
An' on which one he felt the wust
He couldn't ha' told yo nuther.
Says he, " I'd better call agin" ;
Says she, "Think likely, Mister ":
Thet last word pricked him like a pin,,
An' .... wal, he up an' kist her.
When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips,
Huldy sot pale ez ashes,
All kin' o' smily roun' the lips
An' teary roun' the lashes.
The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued 1
Too tight for all expressing
Tell mother see how metters stood,
An' gin 'em both her blessin'.
think that any suggestions regarding the deliv-
ery of this selection would be superfluous. Any boy
with the slightest grain of sentiment can not fail of
rendering it with true pathos, if he will only be per-
fectly natural.
PIECES TO SPEAK
XVIII.
ECHO.
1 ASKED of Echo, t'other day,
Whose words are few and often funny,
What to a novice she could say
Of courtship, love, and matrimony ;
Quoth Echo, plainly, "Matter-o'-money."
Whom shonld I marry ? Should it be
A dashing damsel, gay and pert,
A pattern of inconstancy,
Or selfish, mercenary flirt ?
Quoth Echo sharply, " Nary flirt ! "
What if, aweary of the strife
That long has lured the dear deceiver,
She promise to amend her life
And sin no more ; shall I believe her?
Quoth Echo, very promptly, "Leave her!"
But if some maiden with a heart
On me should venture to bestow it,
Pray should I act the wiser part
To take the treasure, or forego it ?
Quoth Echo, with decision, " Go it ! "
But what if, seemingly afraid
To bind her fate in Hymen's fetter,
She vow she means to die a maid,
In answer to my loving letter ?
Quoth Echo, rather coolly, " Let her !
JButif some maid with beauty blest,
As pure and fair as Heaven can make her,
Will share my labor and my rest,
Till envious death shall overtake her ?
Quoth Echo, sotto voce, " Take her ! "
THIKD SECTION 135
PAUSE In each stanza, before Echo's reply, and ut-
ter that, in the same tone though not so loud as the
words with which it rhymes.
126 PIECES TO SPEAK
XIX.
ZWEI LAGER.
PER night vas dark as any ding,
Ven at my door two vellers ring,
Und say, vcn I asked who vas dherc,
41 Git up und git " und den dey schvear
"Zwei lager."
I says : " Tis late ; shust leaf mine house,
Und don'd be making such a towse ! "
Dey only lauft me in der face,
Und say, " Pring oudt, ' Old Schweitzer-kase,'
Zwei lager."
I told dem dot der beer vas oudt ;
But dose two shaps set oup a slioudt,
Und said no matter if 'twas late,
Dot dey moost haf " Put on der schlate,
Zwci lager."
4i Oh ! go avay, dot is goot poys,"
Mine moder says, " und schtop der noise."
But schtill dem vellers yelt avay,
Und dis vas all dot dey vould say
"Zwei lager."
" Vot makes yon gome," mine daughter said,
"- Ven beoples all vas in deir ped ?
Schust gome to-morrow, ven you're dry."
But dem two plackguards still did cry,
"Zwei lager."
TH1BD SECTION 127
XIX. (Continued.}
4t Vot means you by sooeh dings as dese ?
1 go und calls for der boleese,"
Says Uncle Hans, who iifs next door;
Dey only yelt more as pefore-
" Zwei lager."
w You schust holdt on a leedle vile,"
Says mine Katrina, mit a scbmile ;
" I fix dose shaps, you pet my life,
So dey don'd ask of Pfeiflfer's vife
'Zwei lager.' 7 '
Den righd avay she got a peese
Of goot und shtrong old Limburg sheese ?
Und put it schust outside der door;
Und den ve didn't hear no more
"Zwei lager I"
128 PIECES TO SPEAK
XX.
PIANO-MUSIC,
jPiEST a soft and gentle tinkle,
Gentle as the rain-drop's sprinkle,
Then a stop,
Fingers drop.
Now begins a merry trill,
Like a cricket in a mill ;
Now a short, uneasy motion,
Like a ripple on the ocean.
See the fingers dance about,
Hear the notes come tripping out ;
How they mingle in the tingle
Of the everlasting jingle,
Like to hailstones on a shingle,
Or the ding-dong, dangle-dingle
Of a sheep-bell ! Double, single,
Now they come in wilder gushes,
Up and down the player rushes,
Now the keys begin to clatter
Like the music of a platter
When the maid is stirring batter.
O'er the music comes a change,
Every tone is wild and strange :
Listen to the lofty tumbling,
Hear the mumbling, fumbling, jumbling,
Like the rumbling and the grumbling
Of the thunder from its slumbering
Just awaking. Now it's taking
To the quaking, like a fever-and-ague shakin|
Heads are aching, something's breaking-
Goodness gracious ! Ain't it wondrous,
Rolling round above and under us,
Like old Vulcan's stroke so thunderous ?
Now 'tis louder, but the powder
Will be all exploded soon ;
For the only way to do,
When the music's nearly through,
Is to muster all your muscle for a bang,
Striking twenty notes together with a clang;
Hit the treble with a twang,
Give the bass an awful whang,
And close the whole performance
With a slam bang whang !
THIBD SECTION 129*
HINTS.
LET the voice follow the sense. First soft and gen-
tle, then staccato^ then merrily tripping over the words.
In fact, each line of the poem contains full directions for
its own delivery. The more rapid the flow of words r
the more clear and particular must be your articulation.
If the piece is well rendered, it will produce a most
striking and ludicrous imitation of operatic piano-play-
ing.
D I A L_O G U
INTRODUCTION.
of these dialogues requires unusual costume. Of
course, the effect produced by such dialogues as " The Grid-
iron " and "Joseph II and the Grenadier " would he heightened
if Pat were to wear a gay waistcoat and have a short clay-
pipe in his mouth, and if the Emperor should have, under an
outer cloak, a rich suit becoming- his rank, which might be dis-
played at /the denouement; and a dressing-gown and slippers
would help distinguish the students in Kos. Ill, V, and IX.
But the absence of costume will not be felt if the speakers enter
into their parts with spirit.
The most common fault with boys who speak dialogues is
a sort of stiffness. They are apt to speak as if they were re-
citing a lesson.
Try, as far as possible, to forget that you are speaking
words which you have learned. Imagine yourselves, for the
time, to be the persons whom you represent. At least, imag-
ine that you are speaking your own sentiments, and speak as if
you were talking.
Be careful, however, to speak so loudly and distinctly that
all may hear. Nothing is so tame as a mumbled dialogue.
Let jour movements and attitudes be natural. Watch two
boys as they talk together. Notice their earnest gesticulations,
their careless positions, their easy motions. Imitate them as
you speak. Do not stand stiffly in one place, nor even so still
as if declaiming.
In ISTo. I, for example, Charles and Frank may come walk-
ing easily into the room ; Charles may drop into a convenient
chair, while Frank may lean against the window. When
Charles asks what book his companion has, Frank may take it
from under his arm and toss it to him. Charles, in replying,
may slap the book down on the table by way of emphasis.
He need not feel obliged to look at Frank every moment, but
may stand, now looking out of the window, then looking over
Frank's shoulder at the book, and again throw himself into a
chair, and if he likes tip it back.
In a word, in this and the other dialogues, le natural. Do
not feel obliged, always, to answer your companion instantly.
Take time, occasionally, as if to consider what you had better
say to him. At other times, especially if you are to contradict
him, speak suddenly and sharply.
For the rest, we must refer you to the general directions
for speaking, which accompany Nos. I and II of " PIECES TO
SPEAK."
FOtTBTH SECTION 131
I.
WHAT IS THE USE OF LATIN?
[SOESTE A School-room. Enter CHAELES and FKANK.]
C. Well, old fellow I how does it seem to be back at school
again ?
F. I don't know. I should not object to a little more vaca-
tion say five or six years! But I suppose, after we get down
to our steady work, Christmas will be here before we know it.
C. "What book is that?
I 1 . This ? This is old Kaiser ! *
0. I thought you were going to drop Latin if I would.
F. So I was, but father has persuaded me to stick to it. He
says I will like it after a while.
C. All right! "For those that like that sort of thing, I
.suppose it is about the sort of thing they like ! "
F. Much of the finest poetry and oratory is written in Latin.
O. (sarcastically). Yes! Here's a specimen (reading): U A
certain woman had a lien, which laid for her eaeh day a golden
egg. So she carved her, in the expectation of a gallinaceous
gold-mine, 'but found nothing within, same what it is customary
to find in hens " / How is that for poetry?
F. Nonsense, Charlie! You know as well as I that that is
only the Latin primer. A young Roman wouldn't find any-
thing so sensible as that in an English primer !
C. "What do you mean ?
P. (dramatically). " Ann has a tin fiox. The pig is in
the-^p^n. Will the pig write with the pen?" .How
is that for English literature? You might as well judge Shake-
speare and Milton by that stuff, as Yirgil and Cicero by the
fables in your Reader.
67. That's true enough. But what can you do with Latin,
anyway ?
F. Father says that's not the question.
O. What is the question, then ?
F. What will Latin do with me ?
G. What will it do ? Give a fellow a headache ?
7P That depends on the fellow, and what he studies.
* Pronounced Kl-zer.
32 PIECES TO SPEAK
I. ( Continued.)
C. How so?
F. Some fellows study the wrong verbs.
G. Are there headache verbs ?
F. So father says.
0. What are they ?
F. The principal parts of some boys' learning are :
mand'izo, I stuff myself ; puzzle-ire, I drink too much ; Snooze-
ivi, I slept too late ; and Flurikum, to know nothing.
0. (laughing). There's something in that ! I believe very
few of us are hurt by hard study. But you haven't told me yet
what Latin will do for a boy.
F. I can tell better after I try it ; but, for one thing, it will
help him understand his own language. It was only this morn-
ing that I noticed the word malaria. Mains, bad, and aerj air
bad air.
G. Good enough 1 And there's restaurant. Res, a thing,
and taurus, a bull. Restaurant, a bully thing.
F. Oh, drop your jokes ! Another thing Latin will do, is
to give a fellow the power of close attention, and a nice use of
words.
O. What else?
F. Good for the memory.
0. What else ?
F. There are a great many Latin quotations in books and
papers.
0. That's so, and one hates to skip them. Only the other
day I read that a Yassar girl exclaimed, " Hic-hcee-hoc ; Tiug-
us hug-its hug-us" I had to skip it. I didn't know what
it meant !
F. Another thing we've begun the study, and I hate to
back down.
0. So do I. I believe in stick-tuition myself.
F. More than all, I have faith in father's judgment.
G. My father wants me to keep on, too.
F. I wish you would. Let's keep together !
G. Well, I'll musa-muscB on it, and on the whole 1 think I
)rill do-i, do-isti, do it ! [.Exeunt.
FOURTH SECTION 133
II.
MARK TWAIN AND A REPORTER.
EEPOETEE. Hoping it'a no harm, I've come to interview you.
MARK TWAIN. Come to what?
"Interview you."
"Ah! I see. Yes yes. Um! Yes yes" (going to the
"bookcase and looking in a dictionary), u How do you spell it? "
"Spell what?"
" Interview. 1 '
" I-n, in, t-e-r, ter, inter "
' Then you speU it with an If "
"Why, certainly!" *
a Oh, that is what took me so long ! "
" Why, my dear sir, what did you propose to spell it with? "
" Well, I I I hardly know. I had the Unabridged ; and
I was ciphering around in the back end, hoping I might tree
her among the pictures. But it's a very old edition."
" Why, my friend, they wouldn't have a picture of it in
even the latest e My dear sir, I beg jour pardon, I mean
no harm in the world; but you do not look as as intelligent
as I had expected you would. Ko harm I mean no harm at
All."
U 0h, don't mention it! It "has often been said, and by
people who would not flatter, that I am quite remarkable in
that way. Yes yes: they always speak of it with rapture."
"lean easily imagine it. But about this intarviftw. Yon
134 PIECES TO SPEAK
II. ( Con tinned. )
know it is the custom, now, to interview any man who has-
become notorious."
"Indeed! I had not heard of it before. It must be very
interesting. "What do you do it with ? "
"Ah, well well well this is disheartening. It ought to
be done with a club, in some cases; but customarily it consists
in the interviewer asking questions, and the interviewed an-
swering them. It is all the rage now. Will you let me ask
you certain questions calculated to bring out the salient points
of your public and private history ? "
"Oh, with pleasure with pleasure! I have a very bad
memory ; but I hope you will not mind that. That is to say,
it is an irregular memory singularly irregular. Sometimes
it goes in a gallop, and then again it will be as much as a fort-
night passing a given point. This is a great grief to me."
" Oh ! it is no matter, so you will try to do the best you
can."
" I will. I will put my whole mind on it."
Question. How old are you ?
Answer. Nineteen in June.
Q. When did you begin to write?
A. In 1836.
Q. Why, how could that be, if you are only nineteen now ?
A. I don't know. It does seem curious, somehow.
Q. It does, indeed. Whom do you consider the most re-
markable man you ever met ?
A. Aaron Burr.
FOURTH SECTION 135-
II. ( Continued.)
Q. But you never could have met Aaron Burr, if you are
only nineteen years
A. J$Tow, if you know more about me than I do, what do
you ask me for ?
Q. Let me ask about something else. What was the date
of your birth?
A. Monday, October 31, 1693.
Q. What ! Impossible ! That would make you a hundred
and eighty years old. How do you account for that?
A. I don't account for it at all.
Q. But you said at first you were only nineteen, and now
you make yourself out to be one hundred and eighty. It is an
awful discrepancy.
A. Why, have you noticed that ? (shaMng hands). Many
a time it has seemed to me like a discrepancy ; but somehow I
couldn't make up my mind. How quick you notice a thing!
Q. Thank you for the compliment, t as far as it goes. Had
you, or have you, any brothers or sisters ?
A. Eh 1 I I I think so yes but I don't remember.
Q. Well, that is the most extraordinary statement I ever
heard.
A. Why, what makes you think that?
Q. How could I think otherwise ? Why, look here ! Who
is this a picture of, on the wall? Isn't that a brother of yours?
A. Oh, yes, yes, yes! Now you remind me of it, that was
a brother of mine. That's William Bill we called him. Poor
old Bill!
136 PIECES TO SPEAK
II. (Continued.)
Q. Why, is lie dead, then ?
A. Aht well, I suppose so. We never could tell. There
was a great mystery about it.
Q. That is sad, very sad. He disappeared, then?
A. Well, yes, in a sort of general way. We buried him.
Q. Bwried him ! Buried him without knowing whether he
was dead or not ?
A. Oh, no ! Not that. He was dead enough.
Q. Well, I confess that I can't understand this. If you
buried him, and you knew he was dead
A. No, no ! We only thought he was.
Q. Oh, I see ! He came to life again?
A. Not at all!
Q. Well, I never heard anything like this. Somebody was
dead. Somebody was buried. Now, where was the mystery ?
A. Ah, that's just it! That's it exactly! You see we were
twins, and we got mixed in the bath-tub when we were only
two weeks old, and one of us was drowned. But we didn't
know which. Some think it was Bill ; some think it was I.
<?. Well, that is remarkable. What do you think ?
A. Goodness knows! I would give whole worlds to knW.
This solemn, this awful mystery has cast a gloom over my
whole life. But I will tell you a secret now, which I never
have revealed to any creature before. One of us had a peculiar
mark on the back of his left hand ; that was /. That child
<was the one that was drowned.
[Exeunt*
FOURTH SECTION 187
III.
THE GRIDIRON.
[The CAPTAIN, PATRICK, and the FBENOEMAN.]
Patriot;. Well, Captain, whereabouts in the wide world are
we ? Is it Koosia, Proosia, or Jarmant Oceant ?
Captain. Tut! you fool, it's France.
Pat. Tare an' onns ! do you tell me so ? And how do you
know it's France, Captain dear?
Gapt. Because we were on the coast of the Bay of Biscay
when the vessel was wrecked.
Pat. Troth, I was thinkin' so myself. And now, Captain,
jewel, it is I that wishes we had a gridiron.
Gapt. "Why, Patrick, what puts the notion of a gridiron
into your head ?
Pat. Because I'm starving with hunger, Captain dear.
Copt. Surely, you, do not intend to eat a gridiron, do you?
Pat. Ate a gridiron ! bad luck to it ! No. But, if we hacf*
& gridiron, we could dress a beefsteak.
Gapt. Yes; but where's the beefsteak, Patrick?
Pat. Sure, couldn't we cut it off the pork ?
Gapt. I never thought of that. You are a clever fellow,
Patrick (laughing).
Pat. There's many a thrue word said in joke, Captain. And
188 PIECES TO SPEAK
III. ( Continued.}
now, if you'll go and get the bit of pork that we saved from
the wrack, I'll go to the house there beyant, and ax some of
them to lind me the loan of a gridiron.
Oapt. But, Patrick, this is France, and they are all foreigners
here.
Pat. Well, and how do you know but I am as good a furri-
ner myself as any o' them?
Capt. What do you mean, Patrick ?
Pat. Parley voo frongsay ?
Capt. Oh, you understand Trench, then, is it?
Pat. Troth, you may say that, Captain dear.
Capt. Well, Patrick, success to you. Be civil to the foreign-
ers, and I will be back with the pork in a minute. (He goes out.)
Pat. Ay, sure enough, I'll be civil to them. Indade, and
here comes munseer himself, quite convaynient. (As the FBENOH-
MAN enters, PATBIOK taTces off his Tiat, and, making a low ~bow,
*ays:) I beg your pardon for the liberty I take, but it's only
J>eing in disthress in regard of ateing, that I make bowld to
trouble ye ; and, if you could lind me the loan of a gridiron,
I'd be intirely obleeged to ye.
Frenchman (staring at him). Comment !
Pat. Indade, it's thrue for you. I'm tatthered to paces, and
look quare enough ; but it's by rason of the storm, that dhruv
us ashore jist here, and we're all starvin'.
h. Je ni'y t
FOURTH SECTION 189
III. ( Continued.)
Pat. Oh I not at all ! by no means ! We have plenty of meat
ourselves, and we'll dhress it, if you'd be plased jist to lind us
the loan of a gridiron, sir (making a low 'bow).
French, (staring at him> lut not understanding a word}.
Pat. I beg pardon, sir ; may be I'm undher a mistake, but
I thought I was in France, sir. Parley voo frongsay?
French. Oui, monsieur.
Pat. Then, would you lind me the loan of a gridiron, if you
plase? (The FEENOHMAIT stares more than ever, as if anxious to
understand.) I know it's a liberty I take, sir ; but it's only in
the regard of being cast away ; and, if you plase, sir, parley
voo frongsay?
French. Oui, monsieur; out
Pat. Then would you lind me the loan of a gridiron, sir r
and you'll obleege me.
French. Monsieur, pardon, monsieur
Pat. (angrily). By my sowl, if it was you was in disthress,
and if it was to owld Ireland you came, it's not only the grid-
iron they'd give you, if you axed it, but something to put on it
too. Can't you understand your own language ? ( Very slowly :)
Parley voo frongsay munseer ?
French. Oui, monsieur; oui, monsieur, mais
Pat. Then lind me the loan of a gridiron, I say.
French, (bowing and scraping). Monsieur, je ne 1'entend-
Pat. Phoo 1 I don't want a tongs, at all at all. Can't you
listen to rason ?
140 PIECES TO SPEAK
III. (Continued.}
French. Oui, oui, monsieur; certainement, naais
Pat. Then lind me the loan of a gridiron ! (The FKEN
shakes his head, as if to say fie does not understand ; hut PAT-
RICK, thinking Tie means it as a refusal, says in a passion .*) Troth,
if you were in my counthry, it's not that-a-way they'd use you.
(The FRENCHMAN puts Ms hand on his heart, and tries to egress
compassion in his countenance.} Well, I'll give you one chance
more, you owld thafe ! Bad luck to you ! do you understand
your mother-tongue? Parley voo frongsay? (eery loudly par-
ley voo frongsay ?
Frenoh* Oui, monsieur; oui, oui.
Pat. Then, will you lind me the loan of a gridiron? (The
FRENCHMAN shakes his head, as if he did not understand; and
PATRICK says vehemently ;) The "back of my hand and the sowl
of my fut to yon ! May you want a gridiron yourself, yet !
and, wherever I go, it's high and low, rich and poor, shall hear
of your foine Frinch manners.
FOURTH SECTION 141
IV.
CHOOSING A DECLAMATION.
, sitting at a table strewed with 'booTcs. A Icnoek,*]
Harry (starting to his feet). Come in. (Enter TOM.) Hallo,
Tom ! you're just the fellow I want to see.
Tom. What is the trouble ?
H. I have to speak next Friday, and I can t find a decent
piece in the whole library.
T. How is " Henry of Navarre " ?
H. That's too recent ! I want an old one one that has the
sanction of long use.
T. Well, there's something in that ! (Picks up a ~book and
turns the leaves.} How's this ? (reads) :
" Jist after the war, in the year '48
The year that the bies was all scattered and bate " /
H, Oh, kt Shamus O'Brien " ! That's not bad. But look ai
the length of it ! I couldn't learn it in sixteen weeks.
T. "Hohenlinden."
H. (dramatically):
" On Linden, when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay th 1 untrodden snow,
And darlc as winter was eheflow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.
" But Linden saw another sight,
When the drum beat at dead of night.
Commanding fires of death to light
The darkness of her scenery."
T. What's that " liberty or death" thing? Oh, yes! (tragi-
cally) ;
" Our chains are forged ! Their clanking may 'be heard on
the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable, and let it come ! I
repeat it, sir, let it come ! I Tcnow not what course others may
pursue, hut, as for me, gwe me liberty or give me death /"
jST. And as for me, give me less foolishness, or give me a
rest 1 I might as well speak
" There came a burst of thunder-sound
The boy, oh ! where was he ?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments slretvedthe sea
142 PIECES TO SPEAK
I Y. ( Continue^
T. Speak Wolsey's soliloquy :
" Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness"
H. (angrily). I say, farewell, a long farewell, to all your
nonsense! I want something modern new lively; something
the fellows haven't heard more than four million times; some-
thing
T. Be cool, dear friend, and let who will be angry, "What
sort of a declamation do you want prose or poetry?
H. (shortly). I don't care anything decent.
T. (coolly). " Marco Bozzaris "?
H. (snappishly). Marco Bo-fiddle-stick !
T. "Spartacus"?
H. No ! nor any other gentleman !
T. " The 'breaking waves dashed high n f
H. (with contempt). No !
T. Well, you are hard to suit. You'd better give me one.
H. Are you going to speak too ?
T. Such is the solemn fact.
H. "Why didn't you say so before ?
T. I didn't have an opportunity.
H. Well, I've an idea.
T. Is it possible ?
H. No insinuations, old fellow 1 ( Let's speak a dialogue.
T. All right only they are harder to find than declamations.
H. (dramatically). Thomas! thou sayest true! 'Tis even
as thou representest ! Yet, let us not despair. Though dia-
logues be few, and though we can not find, it may be, one pat
to our present purpose, yet we'll
T. Methinks I do divine thy meaning! If we can not find
the thing we wish, we'll
Both (striking hands). We'll make one !
H. That's the idea, precisely.
T. Well, the plan is good enough, but where's the subject?
H. Why not write out this little conversation which has but
even now transpired betwixt us ?
T. A happy thought 1
H. We'll book it I [Exeunt
FOUBTH SECTION 143
V.
GOOD MANNERS.
SCENE I.
George. Fred, did you ever notice how few people there are
who have good manners?
Fred. So. I think most of my acquaintances are quite
polite.
George. I don't believe you can name three persons who
will pass through one day without committing a breach of eti-
quette.
Fred. Nonsense!
George. Well, name one.
Fred. I can do it myself. There are a great many more
folks who have good manners than there are who speak good
English.
George. I beg to differ! I never use bad grammar, but
there are many little points of good-breeding which I might
overlook.
Fred. I'll tell you what I'll do with you. I'll keep account
for the next three days of every incorrect expression that you
may use.
G-eorge. And I'll keep a record of each time you are guilty
of an act of inetiquetticality.
Fred. Yes, and if my list of faults in your speech is not
longer than your list of my acts of rudeness, I'll give you apples
enough to make it so. An apple for each inetiquetticality as
you barbarously term it.
G-eorge. That's not polite there's one for you.
Fred. Neither is u inetiquetticality " good English. So
there's one for you.
George. Well, let's wait our three days, and then we'll see.
Fred. All right, and I will agree to give you pears enough
to make my list of your inelegancies longer than your list of
my errors in language 1
II.
[Both boys have papers covered with notes.]
Fred. Hallo, Greorge !
George. How are you, Fred ?
Fred. First-rate. How about our wager?
George. You've lost your apples !
144 PIECES TO SPEAK
V. (Continued.)
Fred. I wouldn't trade them for your pears, yet!
George (showing his paper). How's that for a list?
Fred, (showing his). How's that for another?
George. Mine is the longest.
Fred. We'll see! Read your first, then I'll read my first;
your second, and my second; and so on; and the one who has
to stop first is "beaten.
George. That's fair enough, only you read first.
Fred. All right. How is this for the first gun? Day before
yesterday, when you were in the arithmetic class, you said, U I
done that example."
George. You put your knife in your mouth at breakfast,
yesterday.
Fred. You said, "Every boy ought to use their own books. n
George. What's the matter with that ?
Fred. His own, is better.
George. You didn't take your hat off when "we passed those
ladies this morning.
Fred. I didn't know them.
George, /did, and you were with me.
Fred. You said, " I 'hain't got none."
George. Pshaw ! I knew better than that !
Fred. So much the worse.
George. Your shoes aren't blacked !
Fred. You said, "Darn it!"
George. Your cuffs are soiled !
Fred. You said, u I never did no such tiling."
George. I didn't, neither!
Fred, (laughing). There you go again, "Didn't, neither!"
George. You're getting impudent.
Fred. You can't talk straight.
George. I talk straighter than you act.
Fred. No, you don't! How many more inetiquetticalitieff
have you got down on that paper?
George (looMng). No more. How many more blunders
have you of mine?
Fred. None.
George. Then we're tied. Let's shake hands across the
" bloody chasm." IVe enough to do to correct my English,
without fighting you.
Fred, (taking^ his hand). And my politeness would hardly
be refined by losing my temper with you. [Exeunt*
FOURTH SECTION 14&
VI.
EXAMINATION OF A CANDIDATE FOR POSITION AS
TEACHER.
Candidate. This is Mr. Harrison, I believe ?
Examiner. Yes ; and you, I believe, are thinking of taking a
school among us, are you not ?
G. Yes, sir.
Ex. Taught some, I suppose ?
G. Five years,
Ex. Ever been to Normal School ?
G. Oh, yes, sir.
Ex. Well, we will proceed with the examination, if you
please.
0. Certainly.
Ex, First, a few words in spelling. Spell salary.
C. S-al-a-r-y.
Ex. By the way, what is the salary of our Governor ?
C. I don't know.
Ex. Ah ! Ho w many ounces are there in a pound avoir-
dupois ?
C. Sixteen.
Ex. Bight ; and can you tell me how many wings a house-
fly has ?
G. I never noticed four, I think.
Ex. Hardly, I believe but no matter. In which direction
does the Nile flow ?
G. Northerly direction, and empties into the Mediterranean
Sea.
Ex. And in which direction do apple-seeds point as they
grow ; up to the stem or down to the blossom ?
G. I have never noticed, sir.
Ex. Hm 1 You can name the capital of Ecuador, probably?
O. Quito.
Ex. Quite so 1 And can you give me the names of the dif-
ferent pieces of wood in this door ?
C. There are panels and panels and panels
146 PIECES TO SPEAK
VI. (Continued.)
JEfe. Yes, panels, and front stile and back stile, and top rail
and bottom rail, and lock rail, and but perhaps I could hardly
expect you to know things so common. You may tell me how
many feet in a mile.
0. Five thousand two hundred and eighty.
JEx. And how many spokes in the front wheel of a buggy ?
(7. I have no idea thirty ?
Me. You will be interested to count at some time. Can
you tell the difference between the rotation and revolution of
the earth?
0. Oh, yes, sir. The earth rotates on its axis and revolves
about the sun.
fix. Exactly ; and what is the difference between poison-
ivy and Virginia creeper ?
C. I don't know.
-Efe. Between a bug and a beetle ?
O. I can not tell.
JEfc* How many cubic feet of fresh air does each of your
pupils need in six hours ?
0. I never learned that,
JBSc. 'How many of your pupils have you found to be short-
sighted ?
. I never asked them.
jEfc. What gymnastic exercises do you prefer in school ?
0. I have never tried any.
Ms. Can you keep your scholars quiet ?
O. Yes, sir, so that you can hear a pin drop.
jE&. Can you keep them happy f
C. I never thought of that.
Ms. "Well, I think we do not need to examine you further.
I find that you are thoroughly posted in a good deal of book-
knowledge which is of no particular value, but that you have
never learned to use your eyes so as to observe the things about
you ; and you seem to have thought more about keeping a quiet
room than of having healthy, sound, and happy children in it.
I am sorry, but we can't engage you.
FOURTH SECTION 147
VII.
JOSEPH II AND THE GRENADIER.
(In the following dialogue, two chairs placed near each other on the
platform may represent tfie coach.)
[TO BE BEAD BEFORE THE DIALOG-HE BEGINS.]
The Emperor Joseph II of Austria, was very fond of seeking
for adventures. One morning, dressed as a private citizen, Tie
got into a public conveyance, and told the driver to taJce him
through the town. The cab having ~been obstructed ly some carts,
a soldier came up to the disguised monarch and said :
Soldier. Comrade, will you give me a lift?
Emperor, G-ladly ; jump up quickly, for I am in a hurry.
Sold, (taking a seat by the Emperor}. Ah ! you are a fine
fellow; you only want mustaches to look like a soldier. Tell
me, now (tapping his royal neighbor on the shoulder], are you a
good hand at guessing ?
Emp. Maybe I am. Try.
Sold. Well, then, friend, give your whole mind to it, and
tell me what I ate this morning for breakfast.
Emp. Sauerkraut, and a cup of coffee.
Sold. Better than that.
Emp. A slice of ham, then.
Sold. Better than that.
Emp. Then it must have been a sausage, with a glass of
wine after it to help digestion.
148 PIECES TO SPJ.AK
VII. ( Continued.)
Sold, Better than that. But, friend, yon will never be able
to guess : I breakfasted off a pheasant killed in the Emperor's
park. "What do you think of that ?
Emp. I think that very extraordinary indeed. Had you
not told me, I should never have guessed it, Fow it is my
turn, grenadier. I will put your sharpness to the proof. Tell
me who I am, and what rank I hold in the army?
Sold. "Well, I should have taken you for an ensign ; but you
are not well enough dressed to be an officer.
JZmp, Better than that.
Sold. You are a lieutenant^ perhaps*
Emp. Better than that,
Sold. A captain, then.
JEmp. Better than that.
Sold. Why 5 then, you must be a general.
Emp. Better than that.
Sold, (very much esecited, and taking off Ms cap). I beg a
thousand pardons of your Excellency ; you are a field-marshal
of the empire. (He tries to get out of the cab.)
Emp* Better than that.
Sold. Pardon, sire, you are the Emperor I am a lost man I
(He jumps out of the cab. The Emperor , delighted with the
adventure, and laughing heartily, throws him a purse.)
Map. Take that, soldier, in proof that you have lost nothing I
FOUKTII SECTION 149
Till.
DARIUS GREEN PARODIED.
[ScENE A small room; WILLIAM seated at a table writing furwu^y,
Sheets of paper scattered on tliefooT Enter JOHN.]
John. I hope I don't disturb you.
William (starting). How are you, Jack ? Glad to see you.
Sit down and make yourself at home.
J. (sitting down). Thanks. What are you doing writing a
new history of Eome ?
W. (gathering papers hastily). Just scribbling a little.
J~, A little ! I should be pleased to know what you call a
great deal ? What is it a composition ?
W. Curiosity, thy name is John ! It's poetry.
JT. What on earth ever started you to writing poetry Who
is she ?
W. (laughing). You've come nearer to it than you thought!
There is a woman in it.
J". (rising). Then it's about time for me to get my dinner.
Any man that'll sit around all the morning making verses to a
girl, I have my opinion of him !
W. I didn't say to a girl.
J. What did you say ?
TF. I said there was a woman in it. Sit down a minute,
.and I'll tell you the whole business, if you won't say anything
to the boys.
J. All right. Go ahead !
W. Well, there isn't much to tell. I have to speak a decla-
mation in our literary society next Wednesday eyening, and
IVe been for a week grubbing up that old " Darius Green."
It's queer, but not one of the fellows here lias ever seen it.
J. How do you know ?
150 PIECES TO SPEAK
VIII. ( Continued.)
W. I found out.
J. Well, they've heard it. Didn't Miss Wellman read it in
the hall last evening ?
W. Yes, and that's just the point they hadn't heard it
before.
/. Well?
W. It is not well. She is going to visit our rooms Wednes-
day evening, by special invitation, and of course I'm not going
to speak one of her favorite pieces in presence of an elocution-
teacher !
J. It would look a little brazen.
W. So I thought, and I'm trying to write a parody on
"Darius Green," to speak instead bringing in my own present
case, attempting to fly oratorically, and coming down in a
manner only equaled in aggravation by u the way Darius lit"
See?
J. !N"ot a bad idea ; but can you do it ?
W. I have it done after a fashion, all but the last verse,
J. Let's hear it.
W. (reading).
" If ever there lived a Yankee lad,
Wise or otherwise, good or bad "
J That's just like "Darius Green" that won't do.
W. I want them all to think at first that I am saying Darius.
J. Oh ! all right. Go on.
W,
" good or bad,
Who, seeing a lady rise and spout
The identical piece he'd just picked out
To speak in the club-room, didn't get mad,
And wear a countenance long and sad,
And ejaculate utterance short and bad "
FOUI11H SECTION 151
YIII. (.Continued.)
J. " Ejaculate utterance" is ridiculous.
W. Who's doing this ? If you interrupt me a thousand times
more, and then a thousand times after that, I'll stop reading 1
"Where was I ?
" short and bad
If you know any one, young or old,
Who wouldn't feel decidedly sold,
All I can say is that's a sign
He can not appreciate feelings like mine.
My head was still aching from application
To learning a wonderful declamation,
Which I had been lucky enough to glean
From the faded page of an old magazine
' Our Young Folks ' entitled ' Darius Green ' "
J. Which, the "Young Folks," or the page?
W. The declamation, of course. I'll skip a page now, to pay
for that interruption. I go on to fcell how
" I said to myself, ' I'll tell you what
There won't be a fellow in all the lot
Who's seen this piece that I have got ;
So it's bound to take,
And 'twill make them shake
Their sides till they fairly ache ;
And when I come to that merry roar,
Bursting out from the old barn-door,
They'll just roll over on the floor. 7 "
Then comes a long account of my labor in learning the
thing, till
"I had by heart
The greater part
Of this wonderful piece of poefcic art"
J. Well, what next?
W. Oh, you are growing interested, are you ? Well, then I
152 PIECES TO SPEAK
VIII . ( Con t inued.)
tell of the coming of Miss "What's-her-name to give public
readings.
/. And how she rose to spout the identical piece you'd just
picked out ?
W. Precisely :
" On that sorrowful night
There fell a blight
On all of my hopes and wishes bright ;
For the reader, after reading a few
Of such selections as every one knew,
Said, * Now I will give you Darius Green,
And his wonderful trip in a flying-machine ! T "
/. Is that tfce end ?
W. It is the last I have, but it seems as if it wasn't quit
finished.
J. Why don't yon tell how you felt?
W. I felt too much like swearing, I guess.
/. Give me the pen. ( Writes a moment or two.) How's this ?
" There was one expression, and only one,
In all that poem, that would have done
To express my feelings when she begun"
'W. Hold on ! Begun isn't good English.
/. Did you never hear of poetic license? Where was I?
" Would have done
To express my feelings when she begun
(And that she omitted) ;
And that was what, as they entered the barn,
Sol, the little one, said* By dam ! "
[Exeunt,
FOURTH SECTION 153
IX.
IT'S A POOR RULE THAT WONT WORK BOTH WAYS,
[This miniature farce may be made very amusing. In the first scene
LEOPOLD should be sitting at a table writing / books around him. He lools
up from his papers and opens the dialogue. JOHN goes to the other end
of the stage, where Mr. MARCUS is sitting, reading. In the next scene Mr.
MARCUS is trying to ready but shivers. He turns to THOMAS, who is trying
io blow a fire with his own breath, and sends him for a pair of bellows.
The same boy may personate both JOHN and THOMAS.]
SOESTE I.
Leopold. John!
John. Sir?
Z. Is Mr. Marcus in his room ?
J. I'll see, sir. (Starts for Mr. MS a door.)
L. Hold on !
J. On to what, sir ?
L. Wait a minute !
J. (coming bade). Yes, sir.
L. Where were you going ?
J. To see if Mr. Marcus was in, sir.
L., Stupid fellow! why didn't you wait for your message?
Glo to Mr. Marcus's room
/. Yes, sir.
L. And if he is there, ask him to lend me " Livingstone's
Travels in Africa."
J. How can they do that, sir?
L. Do what, John?
e/1 How can stones be living and traveling in Africa?
Z. Idiot ! Bo your errand.
J. (knocks at Mr. MJs door. Opened ly Mr. M.) Is Mr
Marcus in ?
154 PIECES TO SPEAK
IX. (Continued. }
Mr. M. That is my name.
J. My master sends me to beg you will lend Mm a Living-
stone's Travels in Africa."
Mr. M. Tell Mr. Leopold ^that I make it a rule never to lend
my books; but, if he will take the trouble to come to my room,
he can read Livingstone as long as he likes.
J. (returns to his master). Mr. Marcus is in his room, sir.
L. Oh! he is, is he? Well, where's the book?
J. Mr. Marcus says, sir, that he makes it a rule never to lend
his books ; bnt, if you will take tbe trouble to go to his room,
you may read as long as you like.
Z. Indeed ! He is very kind.
SCENE II. (A week
Mr. Marcus. Thomas !
Thomas. Yes, sir !
Mr. M. What are you doing?
T. Trying to start a fire, sir.
Mr. M. Why are you so long about it?
T. The chimney doesn't seem to draw well, sir.
Mr. M. G-o and ask Mr. Leopold to lend me his bellows to
blow my fire. You will never be able to start one without
them, I am sure. (Thomas Tcnocks at Mr. Leopol&s door.
Opened f>y Mr. L.)
T. Is this Mr. l^eopold?
Mr. L. That is my name.
T. Mr. Leopold, your friend Mr. Marcus has sent me to beg
the loan of a bellows to blow the fire.
Mr. L. I am very sorry. Grive my compliments to Mr. Mar-
cus, and tell him I make it a rule never to lend my bellows ;
but, if he will give himself the trouble of coming into my rodm,
he is welcome to blow my fire as long as he likes. [JSfaeunt.
FOTJBTH SECTION 155
X.
DOES IT PAY TO SMOKE?
[JOHN and JAMES walking together. JOHN takes two cigars from his
pocket, proceeds to light a match, avid offers one cigar to JAMES.]
John. Have a cigar ?
James. No, I thank you. I don't smoke.
John, Think it's wicked ?
James. No, but I don't think it pays.
John. Think it unhealthy ?
James. Well, I believe that's one of the points in which
" doctors disagree," But I don't like the taste of tobacco.
John. Neither does any one at first.
James. Well, I don't care to force myself to like cigars,
^hich will do me no good, and are at best expensive.
John. Thei-e's lots of comfort in a good cigar.
James. Yes, but after ten. years of smoking, what will you
ave to show for it ?
John. To show for it ?
James. That's what I said.
John, What do you mean?
James. I'll tell you. Do you remember our talk the othei
day?
John, uertaimy about what we wish to do by and by.
156 PIECES TO SPEAK
X. ( Continued.)
James. Yes. You know we were each going to have n f.ij?
house and grounds.
John. Yes, and horses and carriages, and all that sort of
thing. Old fellow, it's one of my favorite dreams.
James. Exactly so. Now, my boy, don't >ou see what sort
of an establishment you're going to have if you don't curtail a
little in your cigars and beer and theatre-going, and all that ?
John. What sort of an establishment ?
James. Yes what sort of an establishment. I can tell you,
if you want to know.
John. Well, drive ahead ; you're rather amusing.
James. In the first place, you'll have to build a house ; and
the only material under the sun, that / know of, out of which
you can build one, is old cigar-boxes.
John. Cedar of Lebanon !
James. I know; but tlie planks and timbers would hardly
stand one of our northwesters, with the mercury at zero. Then,
for chimneys you could have old pipe-stems.
John. Picturesque, at least.
James. Decidedly. You could also shingle your domicile
with reserved-seat tickets.
John. N"eat, if not gaudy.
James. Yes, and quite soluble in water. Your windows, of
beer-bottle glass, might be a trifle opaque ; but you could make
stylish curtains out of your flashy and innumerable neckties.
FOUBTH SECTION 157
2. ( Continued)
John. Happy thought !
James. Good enough joke, so far. And you will probably
have enough cigar-ashes to make a respectable walk around
your premises ; but when you come to furnishing your house,
and providing for your table, how will it be ? You will hardly
relish a dinner of cigar-stubs and burned matches, even if eked
out with an entree of old corks and tin-foil.
John. There's something in that !
James. There's truth in it. I'm not arguing this question,
you perceive, from any religious or moral or even hygienic
standpoint, but merely on the ground of policy. You now
spend every cent of your income, and I leave it to you if I
haven't made a fair inventory of everything you have left to
show for it.
John. You might allow me a few shade- trees, produced by
sticking some of my numerous canes in the soil of my estate I
James. Yes, and possibly a permanent perfume for your
breath, and a mine of dentist's gold in your dental cavities,
and
John. Well, I know smoking and all that sort of thing don't
pay; but, when a fellow gets into the habit, he feels the need
of it.
James. You mean he gets so that he can't stop when he
wants to.
John* No, not exactly. I can stop this minute if I have a
nind to.
258 PIBCBS TO SPEAK
X. ( Continued.)
James. You can't do it.
John. I've sworn off lots of times.
James. That's just it lots of times. You can't stop for good
John. Yes, I can, if I make up my mind.
James, If you hadn't the habit now, would you begin again?
John. No, sir !
James. Why not ?
John. 'Cause I'd be better off without it.
James. Why don't you stop, then ?
John. I can, if I make up my mind to.
James. Just the point. You cartt make up your mind. So
there you have my reasons for not smoking. I don't like to-
bacco, and I can't afford to force myself to get up a craving for
something that is very expensive utterly useless disgusting
to my mother and sisters possibly injurious, and certainly hard
to break away from unless I see better reason than I do now.
Oan you show me any? Do you advise me to learn to smoke?
John. No, sir. If you haven't begun, don't you do it.
James. Did you ever hear an old smoker advise a young
man to begin ?
John. ISTo, I never did. They all say, " It won't pay."
FOURTH SECTION 159
XL
SQUIRE THORNHILL'S ARGUMENT.
Squire TTiomMll. May this glass suffocate me, but a fine
girl is worth all the priestcraft in the creation ! For what are
tithes and tricks but an imposition all a confounded impos-
ture? and I can prove it!
Moses. I wish you would, and I think I should be able to
answer you,
Squire T. Very well, sir ; if you are for a cool argument
upon that subject, I am ready to accept the challenge. And
first, whether are you for managing it analogically or dialogi-
cally ?
Moses. I am for managing it rationally.
Squire T. Good again ! and firstly, of the first, I hope you'll
not deny that whatever is, is. If you don't grant me that, I
can go no further.
Moses. Why, I think I may grant that, aud make the best
of it.
Squire T. I hope, too, you'll grant that a part is less than
the whole.
Moses. I grant that too; it is but just and reasonable.
Squire T. I hope you will not deny that the thre,e angles of
A triangle are equal to two right ones.
Moses. Nothing can be plainer.
Squire T. (rapidfy and forctbty). Tery well! the premises
160 PIECES TO SPEAK
XI. ( Continued.}
being thus settled, I proceed to observe that the concatenation
of self -existences, proceeding in a reciprocal 'duplicate ratio,
naturally produces a problematical dialogism, which in some
measure proves that the essence of spirituality may be referred
to the second predicable
Moses. Hold, hold! I deny that! Do you think I can thus
tamely submit to your heterodox doctrines ?
Squire T. (in a rage). What! not submit? Answer me
one plain question : Bo you think Aristotle right when he say&
that relatives are related ?
Moses. Undoubtedly.
Squire T. If so, then, answer me directly to what I pro-
pose : Whether do you judge the analytical investigation of the
first part of ray enthyraen deficient secundum quoad, or quoad
minus f and give me your reasons, I say, directly!
Moses. I protest I don't comprehend the force of your rea-
soning ; but, if it be reduced to one simple proposition, I fancy
it may then have an answer.
figuire 71 Oh, sir, I am your most humble servant. I find
you want me to furnish you with argument and intellect too !
No, sir! There, I protest, you are too hard for me !
[Exeunt.
FOURTH SECTION 161
XII.
THE SHOEMAKER'S CABINET.
(Explanation, to ~be read, ~by the teacher ~before the dialogue.)
[ The following dialogue actually took place a -few years since between
THOMAS EDWARD, a poor shoemaker of Scotland, and a gentleman of
Aberdeen. Mr. EDWARD had, by wonderful perseverance and economy,
collected a large and valuable cabinet of rare specimens of natural his-
tory. This cabinet was on exhibition in Aberdeen, and the gentleman
who speaks could hardly believe that EDWARD had collected all the speci-
mens alone. The book from, which the dialogue is taken^ " A Scotch,
Naturalist^ by SAMUEL SMILES, is of unusual interest.']
Visitor. Well, Mr. Edward, how are you getting on?
Mr. Edward. Very poorly.
V. And no wonder.
Mr. K Why so 9
V. (very loud). Why so ? Because the people here don't be-
lieve in such a thing.
Mr. E. But if they would only come and see!
V. Come ? That's the very thing. It seems they'll not come.
Ton are quite a stranger here. You should have had some per-
sons of high standing in the city to take you under their patron-
age say the professors of both colleges. Oh, you needn't
shake your head ! It would have been much better.
Mr. 22. I never considered myself in a position to ask such
a favor.
V. You'll not succeed until you do.
Mr. K In that case, then, I never will succeed.
V. You are too unbending. You say that the whole of this
collection is entirely the work of your own hands ?
Mr. 22. Yes, except the game-birds which I bought. As to
the others, I procured the whole of them myself preserved
them and cased them, just as you see them.
F. And you had to work for your living all that time?
Mr. JS. Yes, and for the living of my family.
V, Then you have a family?
168 PIECES TO SPEAK
XII. ( Continued.)
Mr. K A wife and five children.
V. The devil !
Mr. JEJ. No, sir ; I said children.
F. Ah, yes. I beg your pardon ; hut how is it possible that
you have done this thing ?
Mr. E. By never losing a single minute, or part of a minute,
that I could by any means improve.
V. Well, I never heard of such a thing, and I never read of
such a thing,
Mr. E. I never thought that I was doing anything that any
one else might not have done.
V. Had you been an out-door worker, I would not have
thought so much, about it. Even then, it would have been sur-
prising. But having to work from morning till night in a shoe-
maker's shop, where these things can neither be seen nor found
the thing is perfectly inconceivable ! I'll give my oath that,
so far as Aberdeen is concerned, there is not a single working-
man who could, by himself, have done anything of the sort.
Now, how under the sun did you manage ?
Mr. K I've told you already ; but I'll tell you again. My
chief school was the earth, and my principal teacher was Nature,
What I have done has been done by economizing every farthing
of money and every moment of time.
F. Do you mean to say thai, you had no education, and no
money but what you worked for ?
Mr. K I do, and
F Confounded nonsense !
Mr. E. Allow me to proceed. It is not always those who
have the most money and the best education that do tlie most
work, either in natural history or in anything else.
F. Oh, yes; that's all very well ! But (looldng at Ms watch)
I find I must go. I'll call again, for I am determined to be at
the bottom of this affair,
[Exit. After Urn, exit Mr. j
FIFTH SECTION 163
THE ANTI-SLANG SOCIETY
Susan. Hey-o, Lucy!
Lucy. Hi-o, Susan 1
8. Will you join?
L. Yes. What is it ?
& Guess.
L. Secret society?
8. No.
L. Temperance crusade f
8. No.
Z. Whist-club?
8. No.
L. Missionary association?
8. No.
X. Well what is it ? I'll join anything that you will, if ifc
doesn't cost too much ; but I can't imagine what sort of an or*
ganization you are organizing. It isn't a cooking-club, is it ?
8. No. It is an anti-slang society !
L. My goodness !
8. You'd better join, I think.
X. I said I would, didn't I? But can't you say, your
* fi goodness " ?
164 PIECES TO SPEAK
I. (Continued.)
& Gracious, no ! That's awful slang.
L. How about " gracious " and " awful " ?
S. Well I suppose they are bad, too ; but we haven't be-
gun yet,
L. When will you begin ?
8. This evening.
Z. What started you all on this tack ?
8. Oh ! I don't know. Mary G-leason was the first, I believe.
She's been making a list of expressions that we girls use, and
you would be perfectly paralyzed to see it !
L. Mary Gleason needn't say anything ! She can give any
of us points on slang.
S. So she says ; and that is the very reason she is going to-
stop.
L. Have you any definite plan ?
S. Yes ; we are going to have a one-cent fine for eacli con-
viction of using a slang expression ; and when we get five dol-
lars in the treasury
L. Five dollars goodness gracious me ! You'll never get
five dollars from one-cent fines till the great day 1
"We would have a superdanglous start toward it if we
could charge for that little speech 1
L. That's true enough. Why, what an awful no terrible
no what a fearful I mean, what a very Dad habit it is. J
FIFTH SECTION 165
I. ( Continued.)
had no idea I used sncli a frightful lot that is so ^m/many
slaag words !
8. (Laughing). Well I hope to scream if that isn't a
speech ! It breaks me all up !
L. Say, Sue you're just doing that on purpose, I'll bet a
cookie,
8. Ton my word, I didn't think of it until it was out of my
mouth.
L. There you are again! Really, Sue do you suppose
the other girls are as bad as we ?
8. Don't you doubt it ! Why, it's utterly utter quite too
iiorri , distressing, I mean,
L. It will take a month o' Sundays to correct this habit.
8. Well, I should smile ; but there is all the more need of
"beginning at once.
L. That is true; for sure as my Really, Sue this is>
growing serious I'll be on hand at eight o'clock.
SCENE 2, Two Months later.
Susan. Good-afternoon, Lucy.
Lucy. Good-afternoon.
3. That was an excellent meeting last evening.
Z. It was, indeed. Were you not surprised to find our
treasury so full ?
166 PIECES TO SPEAK
L (Continued.)
8. I was, and humiliated as well. For I know that I have
contributed my fall share toward that $18.73.
X. I think one thing deserved special notice.
S. What was that ?
Z. "Why, the receipts for the first week were double the
total amount paid during the last three weeks.
S. "Was that so?
D, Yes ; and that shows pretty plainly that slang is not a
necessity, does it not ?
8. Yes ; for, if a one-cent fine has produced such results in
so short a time, it is evident that the use of slang words was
merely a lazy expedient.
L, Lazy? How so?
S. Simply because it is so much easier to say " splendid "
for everything which pleases us, and "awful" for the oppo-
site, than it is to select each time an appropriate adjective.
Z. I hadn't thought of it in that light ; but I see that it is so.
I have often to hesitate now for the right word.
8. Yes; so do I but when I find it I feel a genuine satis*
faction.
Z. So do I ; and I am convinced that slang is quite useless,
and decidedly unladylike,
[Ifcwnt.
FIFTH SECTION 167
II.
SONG OF THE WATERS.
Child.
SBIT, bright sun, what dost thou here,
Lingering over the waters clear,
Shooting thy rays o'er the ocean bright,
Till every wave is a starry height?
Sun.
I am changing the wave to a vapor rare,
At the touch of my power it rises in air ;
Then, rushing along, to the clouds gives birth,
For I am the chemist of all the earth.
Child.
Clouds, dark clouds, by the fierce wind's might
Driven along like an arrow's flight,
"What do ye in the distance scan,
What is your message from God to man ?
Clouds.
"We have heard the cry of the thirsty soil,
We have come to the help of the sons of toil
The parched-up earth shall freshen again,
For we bear in our bosom the blessed rain.
168 PIECES TO SPEAK
II. ( Continued.)
Child.
Springs, bright springs, as your drops o'erflow.
What bright path do your waters show?
Where do you wander, and what is your guide
To choose your path as you onward glide?
Springs.
We never can err in the path we make,
For the slope of the land is the guide we take;
Wherever it points, we follow the way,
For the earth's gravitation the streams obey.
OMUL
Kivers, broad rivers, that swell as you glide,
With tributes of waters on every side,
Till you bear the proud vessels that whifcen your crest,
Say, what is your mission and where do you rest ?
Rimers.
We are floating the treasures of golden ore,
We are bringing the bread to the hungry poor.
Soon in the broad ocean our rest shall be,
For "all the rivers run into the sea."
All in Concert.
"All the rivers run into the sea, and yet the sea is not fall;
into the place from whence the rivers came, thither shall they
return."
FIFTH SECTION 169
III.
MUSIC.
Clam. Do you know what Jane Sterling says ?
Bessie. No. What does Jane Sterling say?
G, She says her father says that all this music in our
schools is folly. Our time might much better be given to more
arithmetic and grammar, but, as for singing or playing the
piano, it is a waste of time, and worse.
JB. Well, Mr. Sterling Is one of the committee. I wonder
if he is going to try to get music taken out of the course ?
G, I suppose so. Jane says he is, and she hopes he will
succeed.
B. She never could sing, anyway, hut I do hope he will not
succeed. It seems to me that our singing class is the very
best part of our school.
G. Suppose we get up a petition to have music retained ?
B. Do you suppose the girls would sign it?
G. Yes, and the boys too. We all love music too much to
lose this chance of learning.
B. But our opinions on the subject couldn't have any influ-
ence with a committee-man. He knows so much more than
we children I
G. That's so, but all the teachers would sign the petition.
B, Perhaps so ; but I've been thinking that we might look
up the opinions of some noted men on the subject of music, and
embody them in the petition, as a sort of preamble.
0. That's a good idea let's do it.
B. Very well. You find as many as you can, and I will do
the same. Then we will read them over together, and combine
them.
(7. Will you write the petition?
B. Oh, we'll write It together.
170 PIECES TO SPEAK
III. (Continued.)
SCEETE 2.
0. Have you found any " opinions " ?
B. So many ! (Holding up a paper closely written.)
0. And I have these.
B. Suppose we read them out ?
G. "Well, read yours first.
B. Bovee says: "Music is the fourth great material want
of our natures. First food, then raiment, then shelter, then
music."
G. I found this from Martin Luther : "Music is one of the
most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us."
B. The last words of Mirabeau were, " Let me die to the
sounds of delicious music."
G. "Music, of all the liberal arts, is that to which the legis-
lator ought to give the greatest encouragement."
JB. Who said that?
0. Napoleon.
B. That's a good one. Here is one from Shakespeare:
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved
with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems,
and spoils."
0. It is Auerhach who says, " Music washes away from the
soul the dust of every-day life."
B. Here is the testimony of Horace Walpole, a man whom
you would hardly suspect of saying it: "Had I children, my
utmost endeavors would be to make them musicians."
G. AY ell, I should think we had enough recommendations
here to prove, at least, that music is not nonsense.
B. At any rate, we will try the effect of these added to the
petition of the teachers.
[Exeunt.
FIFTH SECTION 171
IV.
MEMORY-TRICKS.
Polly. I believe I have the worst memory in the world.
Nelly. I should be willing to exchange with you.
Polly. You don't mean it ! I thought you never forgot any-
thing.
Nelly. I have very hard work to remember.
Polly. Bnt you do remember. How do you manage it?
Nelly, I am learning how to study. There are a good many
tricks about remembering, I find.
Polly. Tell me.
Nelly. Well, what is it you find so slippery this morning ?
Polly. This list of exceptions in gender in the fourth declen-
sion [reads], "Acus, coins, domus, manus, porticus, tribus" I
never can learn that. How did you get it ?
Nelly. I studied out the meanings of the words. Just tell
me the meanings, and I'll show you a trick.
Polly. Well, there's a needle and a distaff, and a house and
a hand, a portico and a tribe,
Nelly. Once there was a Koman matron (that's feminine, you
know), and she was the most worthy woman in all the tribe.
She used to sit on. the portico of her house, with her distaff or
needle in her hand, and there ! you've learned them all. See if
you haven't.
Polly. I have, for a fact; that's quite a scheme. But you
can't always do as well as that !
Nelly. $To, not always.
Polly. What do you do about these names in geography ?
Nelly. Oh, I know a fine trick about learning them. I find
out their meaning and derivation, and then make up a little
story.
Polly. How so?
Nelly. Well, you know, down in Central America there is^a
Mosquito Coast, and I always remember th.at Cape Gracios is
north of it, by imagining that the sailors coasting by there were
so annoyed by the mosquitoes that when they rounded the cape
172 PIECES TO SPEAK
IV. ( Continued.)
and met a fresli "breeze they named the cape in gratitude for
their escape.
Polly. Ho w perfectly ridiculous!
Welly. I know it; but, I don't forget it, all the same. Then,
when I was studying Europe, I always thought it odd that Tur-
key was just below Hungary, and Greece just under Turkey.
Polly. But, Nellie, that is pure nonsense!
Nelly. True, and I don't allow myself to use such tricks if I
can find better helps to memory. I prefer to find the real deri-
vation of names, and why they were given.
Polly. For instance
Nelly. All the "News," for instance New York, and New
Jersey, and New Zealand, and New Bedford, and Nova Scotia,
and Nova Zembla. In such cases I look out the old York and
old Jersey, etc., and so remember both at once. It is much
easier to remember two connected facts or names than one
alone.
Polly. That's odd. Do you do the same in botany?
Nelly. Oh, yes ! most of all. There's colt's-foofc " Tussi-
lago farfara." That means something about driving off ^ a
cough; and then I had a tussle with it, and have to "go far for
it," so that makes " tussle I go far for it " !
Polly. I should think you did go very far for it. You really
must not be so idiotic !
Nelly. I know it. I don't do it on purpose ; but, if it pops
Into my head, I can't help it, can I ?
Polly. I suppose not, but I'd try. Give us a sensible exam-
ple.
Nelly. Well, " Mitella diphylla." Those words mean "A
little bishop's cap with two leaves," and that is exactly what the
flower, or at least the seed-vessel, looks like. I never forget it.
Polly. That is pretty.
Nelly. u ApTiyllon uniflorum " mean one flower and no leaves.
Polly. I catch your idea, but I don't understand your Latin
very well. However, I shall remember iny "Acus, colus, 1 ' at
any rate !
2 [Exeunt.
FIFTH SECTION 173
Y,
UNDER THE HOLLY-BOUGH,
OHAELES MACKAY.
First Girl.
YE who have scorned each other,
Or injured friend or brother,
In this fast-fading year ;
Ye who, by word or deed,
Have made a kind heart bleed,
Oome, gather here !
Second Girl.
Let sinned against and sinning
Forget then* strife's beginning,
And join in friendship now;
Be links no longer broken,
Be sweet forgiveness spoken,
Under the holly-bough !
First Girl
Ye, who have loved each other,
Sister and friend and brother,
In this fast-fading year,
Mother and sire and child,
Young man and maiden mild,
Come, gather here!
PIECES TO SPEAK
V. (Continued)
Second Girl,
And let your hearts grow fonder
As memory shall ponder
Each past unbroken vow !
Old loves and younger wooing
Are sweet in the reviewing
Under the holly-bough 1
First Girl,
Ye who have nourished sadness
Estranged from hope and gladness,
In this fast-fading year ;
Ye, with overburdened mind,
Made aliens from your kind,
Come, gather here !
JBoth in Concert.
Let not the useless sorrow
Pursue you night and morrow ;
If e'er you hoped, hope now
Take heart ; unclond your faces,
And join in our embraces,
Under the holly-bough I
FIFTH SECTION 175
VI.
FINE FEATHERS.
SCENE 1.
Mary. Kate, have you seen the new scholar ?
Jate. Ko ; what is she like ?
Jf. She's awf ally queer, / think.
K How so ?
M. "Well, in the first place, she wears her hair put straight
back, without the sign of a curl or a crimp or a friz.
K That is cheerful !
M. Then, her shoes are fearfully countrified. The soles are
as broad as a pancake, and the heels are no higher than a cara-
mel.
J5T. Oh, dear ! are we to be bored by another strong-minded
individual? Probably she can't afford anything stylish. I
wonder if she will expect to come right in with the rest of us
girls just as if she belonged
if, I don't know what she will expect, but I know very well
that she can't do that, whether she expects to or whether she
doesn't, I don't intend to have much to say to her, for one.
K, For I. Of course, I shall answer a civil question, and
all that ; but, gracious me ! why can't that sort of person stay
where she belongs?
SCENE 2. A Week later.
JT. Well, Mame, I guess Sister Ana e-Maria- Jane is begin-
ning to learn her place ; don't you ?
176 PIECES TO SPEAK
VI. ( Continued.)
JSf. It isn't our fault if she isn't.
JT. I don't know but we've treated her rather meanly ; but,
then, " we must draw the line somewhere ! "
M. And we draw it on going with girls that persist in mak-
ing such spectacles of themselves as to wear flat-bottomed shoes,
and bald foreheads, and ancestral gowns.
HL. It is odd, though, what fine manners Annie has.
M. Like enoiigh she has been lady's-maid some time or
other. It's easy enough to pick up a veneer of fine manners.
JT. But she does get her lessons well ; I'll say that for her.
M. She's probably going to support herself by teaching 1 , or
being governess, or something. She 1 !! have to work for her
living, I am sure.
IT. Do you think she notices that we snub her ?
Jf. Notice it ? I tell you, she is not so green as not to notice
it and feel it, too. I saw her eyes flash last evening when I
sailed by her. They snapped like the electricity in cat's fur !
SCENE 3. A
JT. We have done it this time!
M. Yes, and it is good enough for us. "We treated her aw-
fully, and I am glad that she has paid us back.
J!u "Who would ever have suspected that that demure little
unfrizzed and low-heeled maiden had a fortune in her own
name ?
Jf. I know it ! I half believe she masqueraded around in
2
FIFTH SECTION 177
VI. (Continued.)
those plain garments just to find out what sort of girls we all
were !
JT. "Well, she succeeded, if that was her plan. But didn't
she look stunning last Friday evening when she hlossomed out
in that white-satin dress ?
M. And those diamond ear-rings !
K. And those silk stockings !
M. And that killing coiffure !
K. And those satin slippers ! I tell you, there has never
been a girl in this institution of learning dressed in one quarter
the style which our " country cousin 1 ' showed that evening!
M. I know it ; and then, Kate, how nohly she treats us just
as if we had never been mean to her at all !
K. She heaped some pretty hot coals on my head.
M. Well, I have learned one lesson that I shall never forget/
and that is, not to look down on a girl because she is poor.
JT. And I have learned another, and that is, that a rich girl
may be just as gentle and sweet as a poor one, and may be just
as happy in plain, sensible clothes as if she wore her expensive
dresses all the time.
M. That is true. Don't you know how Annie put away her
rich gown, and appeared next morning in her plain dress and
strong shoes ?
JT. Yes ; and I believe now that she wears them so as not
to attract attention, and so as not to cause any feelings of dis-
contentment among less wealthy girls.
^78 PIECES TO SPEAK
VI. ( Continued.')
M. The fact is, whether a girl is rich or whether she is
poor, it is the girl and her character that we must consider,
after all. " Fine feathers do not make fine birds."
JT. You. are entirely right, Mary ; and, though I might not
have believed it last week, I now say with Burns :
" Is there for honest poverty
Wha hangs his head and a' that ?
The coward slave we pasa him by,
And dare be puir for a' that
For a' that and a' that,
Our tgils obscure and a' that ;
The rank is but the guinea stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that.'*
FIFTH SECTION 179
VII.
CHURCH-RAFFLES.
[Lizzie, seated with some crotchet-icorJc in her hands enter
Mary.}
Mary. What are you making, Lizzie?
Lizzie (holding it up). An Afghan. See, it is nearly finished.
Think it is pretty ?
If. Very, but what an amount of work there is in it !
L. That is so, but I have done it at odd moments, you know,
It is for the church-fair.
Jfef. How much will it bring?
L. We are going to sell it by shares. It ought to bring fifty
dollars that way.
If. Do you mean that you are going to have a raffle ?
L. Well, yes I suppose it might be called that. How many
shares will you take? They are only fifty cents each.
M. I am not sure that I believe in church-raffles. I am sure
I do not, on the whole.
L, Pshaw ! It is all for the "good cause,' 1 you know.
M. I'know it, but it is a lottery, all the same.
L. Why, no it isn't ; you clon't pay your money to get the
Afghan, you give it to the church; yon don't feel badly if you
don't draw anything, for you meant to give so much money
anyway.
M. Then what is the idea of having any raffle at all? I
can give my money just as well without taking a chance for the
blanket.
L. Yes, you can, but perhaps you will not.
M. Then the chance of winning is an inducement to give?
L. Exactly.
M. Then would I be giving from a right motive?
L. You give to frelp the church, and the chance of getting
the blanket is only an extra reason.
M. No ; I give my money for the sake of winning the Af-
ghan, and the aid I may give the church is a false excuse to my
conscience if I win, and a sham source of consolation if I lose.
QQ PIECES TO SPBAE.
YIL (Continued.)
L. I do not believe you would care the least bit whether
you got the Afghan or not. It is only a pleasant way of giving.
M. Well, perhaps I would not. I can afford to pay for sev-
eral shares, and, as you say, I should be willing to give so much
to the cause. But I know there are a good many who buy
shares solely with the hope of gaining the Afghan. There is Mrs.
Brown, for instance. She really can not afford to give more
than a dollar for this fair, but she has bought ten shares, and
she is as nervous as a cat. She says she just knows she won't
get the Afghan. It is always her luck.
L. Is that so ?
M. Yes, and more than that, I never knew a church raffle
which did not leave hard feeling in some one's mind.
L. How so ?
M. Oh, either they quarrel with Fate, or they say the raffle
isn't fairly conducted, or something like that.
L. I never thought of that before, but I believe you are
more than half right.
M, Another thing raffling is against the ]aw, and I don't
think the church ought to set the example of lawlessness.
L. ^Neither do I.
M. More than that church-fairs are coming to be consid-
ered as swindling concerns, vhere you pay a great deal for a
very little, and this raffling business does not help their repu-
tation.
L. It does seem strange that dishonesty and religion should
be associated.
M, Yes and, Lizzie, let us have this fair an honest and an
honorable one.
L. We will. We'll have a fair fair. We won't charge
more than things are worth, and we won't have any raffle, or
grab-bag, or guess-cake, or fish-pond, or any other form of lot-
tery or swindle.
M. How would it do to ha\e a gift-table? A place where
those who wish to help the church can simply give what they
wish, without the pretense of buying something they don't
want for ten times what it is worth ?
L, A good thought. Let us try it.
FIFTH SECTION 181
VIII
THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS,
LUCY LAECOM.
Pint Girl
How are you so cheerful,
Gentle Edith Lane?
Be It bright or cloudy,
Fall of dew or rain,
In that lonely schoolhouse
Patiently you stay
Teaching simple children
All the live-long day.
Second G-irl.
" Teaching simple children " ?
I am simple, too :
So we learn together
Lessons plain as true,
From this thumb-worn Bible,
Full of love's best lore ;
Or, to read another,
Just unlatch the door !
First Girl
Have you then no sorrow,
Smiling Edith Lane ?
Where the barberry's coral
Battles on the pane,
182 PIECES TO SPEAK
-ym. (Continued.)
Where in endless yellow
Autumn flowers I see,
"Working for a living
Were a woe to me.
Second G-irl.
" Working for a living " ?
May no worse befall !
Love is always busy;
God works over all.
Life is worth the earning,
For its daily cheer,
Shared with those who love me^
In yon cottage dear.
If you can, fair lady,
Go and be a drone 1
Leave me with the children,
Dear as if my own.
Leave me to the humming
Of my little hive,
Glad to earn a living,
Glad to be alive.
FIFTH SECTION 1Q3
IX.
GOOD AND NOT STUPID.
Helen. Good-afternoon, Kate.
JTate. Good-afternoon.
H. Do I interrupt you ?
JT. Not at all ; I have finished my lessons. Sit down,
E. Thank you, I will. Kate, I've made an important dis-
covery.
JT. Have you ? Is it in science ?
H. Possibly it may come under that head.
JT. In botany?
K No.
K Geology?
H. No, not in natural science.
JT. What then?
H. Moral philosophy I
JT. (LaugUng). Pardon me, Katebut the thought of yaw
making a philosophical discovery, you kno^v, is funny.
H. (Good-naturedly). So it is, I admit.
K Well, are you willing to communicate what you have
found out ?
H, Oh, yes I I have discovered that it is possible for a per-
son to be good and at the same time not stupid.
K Have you?
184 PIECES TO SPBAK
IX. ( Continued.)
H. Yes, and, if you don't believe it, I am prepared to prove
it by examples.
K. I believe it.
H. You do not appear surprised.
1C. Not at all. I never doubted it,
H. Real good, I mean.
K. (Smiling). Yes, really good.
-ET. And not the least "bit stupid.
X. Certainly not.
H. Well, / never believed it before : I always thought if a
girl was right up and down good kept all the little rules, actu-
ally studied in study-hours, you know, reported every little ex-
ception scrupulously, and all tbat that she must be lacking in
something.
JT. In what ?
H. Oh, I don't know exactly, but I had a notion that she
wouldn't be good company ; tbat she would not be wide-awake,
that she wouldn't be what the boys call a "good fellow"!
Don't you know ?
JT. Yes, I think I understand you. I used to have much the
same notion, but I have learned that I was utterly mistaken,
H. I haven't got so far as that I have discovered my
mistake in one instance only.
R. You will learn it, by the time you reach senior year.
You will find that your dashing girls, who use slang, and affect
a great deal of style, and neglect their lessons, and think it
FIFTH SECTION 185
IX. ( Continued.)
brilliant to be impudent, and equivocate in their reports, neper
make good and true friends even to each other.
27". Are you sure ?
jT. Perfectly. They are all the time growing jealous of
you; they love you well enough as long as it helps them in
some way to be friendly, but they drop you as soon as they
need you no longer.
H. But the "good" girls haven't half so much spirit, or so
keen a sense of honor as these wilder ones.
K. (Smiling). They do not resent a wrong done themselves
so fiercely, I admit and, perhaps, they may not detect dis-
honorable motives in others so quickly, but they are far less
apt to give offense and they surely act more honorably even
if they have less to say about honor.
H. How so?
K. "Well, take Sally Brown, for instance. She is one of
your reckless girls. (It is no slander, for she is proud of it.)
How does she show her fine sense of honor ?
H. Why, when the French teacher came quietly behind her
during examination, and caught her looking into a translation
behind her desk, don't you remember how her eyes flashed,
and how she said afterward how mean and dishonorable it was
^o come stealing on one in that cat-like way ?
JT. Yes, but surely, Helen, you do not consider it more hon-
orable for a pupil to smuggle a translation into her desk, and
peer slyly into it, with the hope of stealing the prize away from
186 PIECES TO SPEAK
IX, ( Continued.)
earnest students, than for a teacher to guard the fairness of the
examination, even by such quiet vigilance as you mention ?
H. I hadn't thought of it just in that way, bat, now you
mention it, it is perfectly evident that the girl was far more dis-
honorable.
K. Yes, she alone was at fault. And you will be surprised
to hear girls who do the most sneaky sorts of things tinding
most fault with their teachers if they use the least shrewdness
in detecting them. A girl will steal in stocking- feet from her
room to the pantry at midnight, and, if the teacher come be-
hind her in slippers, she will call her dishonest for not clatter-
ing along in boots !
H. (Laughing). That's so. And I have known girls cheat
about their lessons, write dates underneath the hems of their
aprons, and all that, and then call a teacher unjust for giving
them a low mark.
K. Yes, this sort of criticism, coming from girls who are
themselves mean and dishonest, is the most utter nonsense.
They consider it meaner to tell of a mean act than to do it.
There is no pleasure in being with them.
H. They are selfish, that is the amount of it.
K. Yes, but the time is fast coming when it will no longer be
considered u smart " to cheat, or lie, or steal. Tho good girls
are becoming popular.
FIFTH SECTION 187
X.
BIRDS OF PASSAGE.
[Let one young lady represent the birds and the other the ques-
tioner.]
First Girl.
BIBDS, joyous birds of the wandering wing-,
Whence is it ye coine with the flowers of spring?
Second Girl.
We come from the shores of the green old Nile,
From the land where the roses of Sharon smile,
From the palms that wave through the Indian sky,
From the myrrh- trees of glowing Araby,
And each worn wing hath regained its home,
Under peasant's roof-tree or monarch's dome.
First Girl.
And what have ye found in the monarch's dome
Since last ye traversed the blue sea's foam ?
Second Girl.
We have found a change, we have found a pall,
And a gloom overshadowing the banquet-hall;
And a mark on the floor as if life-drops spilt :
Naught looks the same, save the nest we built.
188 PIECES TO SPEAK
X, (Continued.)
First Girl.
Oh! joyous bird, it hath still been so ;
Through the halls of kings doth the tempest go I
But the huts of the hamlet lie still and deep,
And the hills o'er their quiet a vigil keep.
Say, what have ye found in the peasant's cot,
Since last ye parted from that sweet spot ?
Second
A change we have found there and many a change !
Faces, and footsteps, and all things strange !
Gone are the heads of the silvery hair,
And the young that were, have a brow of care ;
And the place is hushed where the children played :
Naught looks the same, save the nest we made !
First Girl.
Sad is your tale of the beautiful earth,
Birds that o'ersweep it, in power and mirth!
Yet through the wastes of the trackless air
Ye have a guide, and shall we despair ?
Ye over desert and deep have passed,
So may we reach our bright home at last.
FIFTH SECTION 1S0
XI.
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE POETS.
ELLEN O. PECK.
Lucy. Oh, girls! have you made your selections yet? You
know, we are to have them to recite to-morrow afternoon.
Clara. Yes. I have chosen, from Longfellow, the good old
poem so familiar to us all, u The Psalm of Life." 1 always
liked it. These two stanzas contain the thought I most love:
" Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time
" Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again."
Nettie. I have chosen, from sweet Alice Gary, her "Inva-
lid's Plea," because I love her, and because, too, I have seen
the very view she saw when she wrote this poem. It is in
Derby, Yermont. The bay-window where she sat to write
looked almost sacred to me :
" Summer ! my beautiful, beautiful Summer,
I look in thy face and I long so to live."
Wasn't it sad that she did not live to see another sum-
mer?
190 PIECES TO SPEAK
XI. (Continued.)
Mabel. Yes, Nettie, too sad for me to think of. I have
chosen from Phoebe Gary. Not what you would have chosen,
I know, " Nearer Home," or " Seeing the Invisibles," but the
parody on "Maud Muller," beginning:
" Kate Ketchum, on a winter's night,
Went to a party, dressed in white."
What can be truer than this ?
" Of all hard things to bear and grin,
The hardest is, knowing you're taken in."
Mary. I find nothing like what our dear Whittier gives us,
and have chosen " The Eternal Goodness." Aunt Martha loves
it so much, and repeats it so often, I can render it much better
than one I have never heard another recite. Auntie repeats
things in such a lovely way, too. She says this poem is a great
comfort to her. When we are any of us borrowing trouble,
you should hear her say :
"I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies."
Or
"I know not where Ills islands lift
Their frouded palms in air,
I only know I cau not drift
Beyond His love and care."
FIFTH SECTION 191
XI. (Continued,.')
Anna. That's beautiful ; mine is from Will Carlson, u Over
the Hill to the Poor-house." I can say it just like an old
woman. Hear me (in a cracked voice) :
* ( Over the hill to the poor-house, I'm trudging my weary way,
I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray ;
I, wh,o am smart and chipper, for airthe years I've told,
As many another woman that's only half as old."
[The girls laugh.']
Dora. I have learned Bryant's " Thanatopsis." It is a fa-
vorite with papa, and he wished me to learn it. It is wonder-
ful. The last of it is :
" So live that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
Fannie. I took the " Song of the Suds," in Miss Alcott's
u Little Women," You know, Jo sent it to her father. Mother
said I was just fit for a good little house'wife, and that would
do for me ; and so
11 Queen of my tub, I merrily sing
While the white foam rises high,
And sturdily wash and rinse and wring.
92 PIECES TO SPEAK
XL (Continued.)
And fasten the clothes to dry ;
Then out in the free fresh air they swing
Under the sunny sky."
Grace. I have chosen, from Lowell, a sweet little stanza on
u Longing ":
" Ah ! let us hope that to our praise
Good God not only reckons
The moments when we tread His ways,
But when the spirit beckons
That some slight good is also wrought
Beyond self-satisfaction,
When w r e are simply good in thought,
Howe'er we fail in action."
Helen. My choice is of doing rather than longing ; of action
rather than feeling. It is from Holland :
" I hold the thing to be grandly true
That a noble deed is a step toward God,
Lifting the soul from the common sod
To a purer air and a broader view."
Lucy. "Well, you have all decided, and among the hundreds
left out is Dr. Holmes, and I will go to him for my selection :
"Have you heard of the wonderful one-horse shay,
That was built in such a logical way ?
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then, of a sudden, it Ah ! but stay,
I'll tell you what happened " [Bell
When I see you later /
4
THE S CHO OL JB ULLETIX P US LI C A TIO2TS.
The Hamilton Declamation Quarterly
Edited by Professors Oren Root and Brainard G. Smith. Per Year $1.00.
Single copies 30 cts. This is a collection of pieces not simply compiled but
edited for use, after the style that has made Hamilton College famous as a
school of oratory. The following index to Yol. I, now published in cloth at
$1 00, will show the freshness and variety of subjects. The parts may be
had at 30 cts. each. No. 1 reaches to page 95, No. 2 to page 177, No. 3 to
page 264, No. 4 to page 337.
A Native Humorist, K. A. Sawyer.334
American Citizenship, C, Haley.. 148
American. The Typical, Grady... 63
Americanism, True, C. E. Smith. 269
Bat tie of Gettysburg-, G.W. Curtis J222
Begrimming and the End, The 345
Bells of the Mission, San Gabriel.210
Blizzard, The, M. Quad 70
Call of the Country, S. W. Foss..302
Charge of the Black Regiment... 312
Chas. Simmer, Geo. Wm. Curtis.. 281
" Chinese " Gordon, 87
Christmas Gale, The, Nora Perry.205
Christinas Heralds, Etta Fierce.. 263
Conemaugli, Eliz. Stuart Phelps.146
Congressional Eloquence 171
Covenanters, The, W. M. Taylor.232
Cnspus Attacks, Boyle O'Reilly.. 39
gynicism Danger of Journalist. 294
anielO' Conn ell, W. Phillips, 32,123
Deathin a Canyon 101
Death of Israel Ben Olliel 252
Defense of the Inn thai 278
Downfall of Judaism, The 190
Easfcer JEve at Kerak-Moab 174
Eloquence of the Re volution.... 201
JEndingof Slavery, S.M'Kclway.300
Enemy of the Eepublic, The 321
Eugene Field, a Native Huraorist.334
Fable for Tax-Payers 194
Fact, Power of a, II "M.Thompson. 153
Fort Infernal, M. W. Stryker .... 59
Greek Literature, David Swing.. 65
JECero in Gray, Henry W. Grady..829
Hero's Last Salute, H. Porter 275
Heroes, The Nation's, C. Allison. 104
Heroism on the "Trenton " 84
How a Church Bell was Bung 287
How the Guns were Saved 327
Immortality 169
Introduction, Brainard G. Smith. 5
Ironsides, The, M. W. Stryker.... 114
John Ericsson, H. C. Eobmson... 75
Johnstown Flood, A Story of the.143
Jonathan and Diedrieh 49
"La Gascogne," Landing from... 81
Life, Henry George 256
Life and Death, Ira C. Cabell....l40
Lincoln, The Nomination of 163
Lincoln's Return Home 272
Loveliest Eose in the World 380
Markets of the World, T. B. Reed.216
Martin Luther, Andre wD. White. 132
Monmouth, Wager Bradford 150
Murder of Lincoln, W. Whitman.183
National Song, The 130
Negro Vote in the South 127
Night and Twilight, S. Crockett. 73
Object of Prohibition, H. Johnson.197
Old-Fashioned Choir, B.F.Taylor 240
Oriental Woe in America 307
Outlook, The, Benjamin Kidd... .249
Over-Protected Farmers 213
Plant a Tree, Lucy Larcom 69
Poetry of War, F. W. Robertson. 25
Political Duties, J. Ellen Foster.. 157
Portent of the Fall of Jerusalem. 315
Puritan, The English, G.W.Curtis.136
Eeiffn of Terror, R. J. Burdette. . 55
Kehgion True, H. W. Beecher....ll7
Eevolutions, Wendell Phillips. ... 330
Rodolph andhisKniff, E. Field... 160
Romance of Natuie, Thompson. 32
Bussian Nihilism, W. Phillips.... 41
Saint Crispin's Day 220
Sea, The, H oward Duffield 242
Self -Reliance, E. W. Emerson. . . .319
Sentimentality i. The Law 45
Sigh from the Slums, A, Punch... 102
Simon Obeles, F. M, Crawford.. .237
Somebody's Boy 324
Southern Negro, Plea for the,.... 92
Standard of our Nation, The 258
Sunrise Comes To-morrow 90
Supremacy of Ideas, The 52
Tetuan, Killing the Governor 120
The Dead Christ, Jean P. Richter.297
The Last Review, H D. Ganse...33&
The River, Eugene Field 303
The Tramp 207
Then and Now. Wm. P. Breed. . 36
True Americanism, C. E. Smith.. 26
True Greatness, R. D. Hitchcock. 57
Uncle Ezra's Story 168
Victory of the Bairns, S. Crockett 290
Wandering of Humanity, Alden.284
Wendell Phillips, J. B. O'Reilly... Ill
Workingman 's Enemies, The 107
3, W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, No Y
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This was compiled as an aid in
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ROOT and BBAINARD G. SMITH. Cloth, lOnio, pp. 337. $1.00.
This is a collection of pieces for speaking, not simply compiled, but
edited for use, after the stjle that has made Hamilton College famous as a
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4. Memory /Selections. By CHARLES NOBTHBND. 24 manilla cards in a,
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5. The Table is Set. A Comedy for Schools, from the German of Ben-
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Nothing is in greater demand than little pla^ s for school entertainments,
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These are as follows. A Merry Christmas; The Cricket on the Hearth;
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Manuals of Parliamentary Eules,
1 Manual of Parliamentary Practice. By W. H. GOEB. Cloth, 16mo,
pp. 112, 50 cts.
It is an excellent compendium. N. Y. World.
Ill form aiid arrangement this is a model of its Mud. Teaclm tf World.
This is a little book that it was well to make. * * * Perhaps the best
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a handy book to go with and stay by the parliamentarian or presiding officer.
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While it is true that the rules of procedure in modern deliberative as-
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It gives more information, in smaller space, in more convenient form,
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Senator Stewart says, "It is the entire subject in a nutshell, and will save
laborious research through volumes of parliamentary law, for which few
have the leisure or the means at hand."
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Helps toward Correct Speech.
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2. Orthoepy Jtfade Easy. A Royal Road to Correct Pronunciation. By
M. W. HALL. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 103. 75 cts.
Everyone remembers the queer shibboleths of culture in the paragraph
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*' Dr. Hoose's ' Studies in Articulation * is the most useful manual of the
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Wa BARDEEB, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y.
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This is the first of a series of books for supplementary reading:, and will
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This is perhaps the mort amusing and appropriate play for a school-ex-
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Helps in Physical Culture
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" An interesting manual which not
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It suggests the principles of the Delsarte
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" It is certainly a most practical little book, more than usually interest-
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This system is used in more American cities than any other. It con-
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4. The Song Gymnast. Cloth, small 4to, pp. 110, 50 cts.
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I commenced last Sunday to read Roderick Hume. I finished it before
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177. Price $1 00.
9. The Tree of Mythology. By CHAKLES DuB. Mrms. Cloth, Svo, pp. 281.
Price $3.00.
The best popular work on mythology we have in English. TTn. JSeview.
. "W. BAKDEEIN", Publisher, Syracuse, 38". Y.
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In his introduction to the American edition of this book, Dr. W. T. HARRIS
says : " In this book we hav<3 the rare opportunity of seeing our Educational
System as it appears to one of our large-minded cousins from the opposite
side of the world. * * * In Yiew of this trend of educational manage-
ment, the very intelligent criticism of Mr. Grasby will he read with profit
by all our teachers and school directors."
8. State Education for the People in America, Europe^ India, and Aus-
tralia. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 176, $1.25.
This volume contains a series of papers prepared to show what are to-
day the characteristic features of the school systems of the principal nations
of the world. The articles are prepared by experts, and the titles are as fol-
lows : 1. Ancient Civilization and Modern Education in India ; 2. Elemen-
tary Education in England ; 3. State Education in Scotland ; 4. National
Education in Ireland ; 5. English and Continental Systems Compared ; 6,
United States and English Systems Compared ; 7. Education in Canada and
Australia ; 8. Commercial Education ; 9. Education and Status of Women ;
10. Technical Instruction and Payment by Results ; 11. The English Code of
1890. The whole is followed by a biographical summary and conclusion,
and the volume is indispensable to the student of education.
$. Prussian ScJiools through American Eyes. By JAMES RUSSELL PAH-
SONS, JR. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 91. $1.00.
This small volume is the most complete and satisfactory account of
Prussian elementary education now accessible to American teachers, and
ought to be* carefully studied. Wt$. Journal of E&n
U. French Schools through American JEyes* By JAMES RUSSELL PAR-
SONS, JR. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 130. Illustrated. $1.00.
5. ffistory of the Burgh Schools of Scotland. By JAMES GKANT. Cloth,
8vo, pp. 571. $3.00.
The importance in educational development of the school system of
Scotland is universally recognized, and this is the standard history.
6. The History of the High School of Edinburgh. By WILLIAM STSVEN,
D.D. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 610. $2.00. A companion volume to the last,
7. History of the Schools of Syracuse, 2T. Y. By EDWABD SMITH. Cloth,
8vo, pp. 347. With 85 portraits, and 30 pictures of buildings. $3.00.
8. Schools^ iSchool-booltS) and School-masters. A contribution to the His-
tory of Educational Development in Great Britain. By W. CABBW HAZLITT.
Cloth, ISmo, pp. 300 $2.00. A charming volume
9. JRodericfc Hume! the Story of a New York Teacher. By C. W. BABUEEN.
16mo, pp. 319, Cloth, $1.85 ; Manilla, 50 cts.
10. A Day in my Life ; or Every day Experiences at Eton, Cloth, 16mo,
pp. 184. SI 00. An interesting description of English schoollife.
d Publisher, Syracuse, 2St Y.
136851
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