7. DARIUS GREEN AND HIS FLYING MACHINE.

[Secrecy. Forcible whisper and half-whisper.]

And one by one, through a hole in the wall,
In under the dusty barn they crawl,
Dressed in their Sunday garments all;
And a very astonishing sight was that,
When each in his cobwebbed coat and hat
Came up through the floor like an ancient rat.
And there they hid;

And Reuben slid

The fastenings back, and the door undid.

Keep dark!" said he,

"While I squint an' see what the' is to see." "Hush!" Reuben said,

"He's up in the shed!

He's opened the winder-I see his head!
He stretches it out, an' pokes it about,
Lookin' to see 'f the coast is clear,
An' nobody near;-

Guess he don' o' who 's hid in here!
He's riggin' a spring-board over the sill!
Stop laffin', Solomon! Burke, keep still!
He's a-climbing out now-Of all the things!
What's he got on? I van, it's wings!

An' that 't other thing? I vum, it's a tail!
An' there he sets like a hawk on a rail!

Steppin' careful, he travels the length

Of his spring-board, and teeters to try its strength. Now he stretches his wings, like a monstrous bat; Peeks over his shoulder, this way an' that,

Fer to see 'f there's any one passin' by;

But there's on'y a ca'f an' a goslin' nigh.
Flop-flop-an' plump

To the ground with a thump,
Flutterin' and flounderin' all in a lump."

TROWBRIDGE.

SPECIAL ASPIRATE DRILL.

[In pronouncing the following words having the combination hw, the aspiration is often very feebly given or not given at all. Sound the hw with marked force.]

[Keep the lungs well filled with air and exhaust the breath upon

The guttural, or throat, quality is the harsh, grating, rasping utterance to which the voice tends in the expression of hatred, contempt, revenge, and loathing. It is often combined with aspirated quality in the expression of extreme impatience or disgust, intense rage, and extreme contempt.

EXAMPLES.

1. OTHELLO.

Oh, that the slave had forty thousand lives,
My great revenge had stomach for them all.

You shall die, base dog! and that before
Yon cloud has passed over the sun!

Signior Antonio, many a time and óft,
On the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my úsances;
Still have I bórne it with a patient shrúg,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe:
You call me misbeliever, cût-throat, dôg,
And spit upon my Jewish gàberdine,

And all for use of that which is mine dwn.
Well, then, it now appears, you need mý hèlp.
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say,
"Shylock, we would have moneys;" you say sò;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold; môneys is your sùit.
What should I say to you? Should I not say,
"Hath a dog money? is it possible

A cur can lend thrée thousand dúcats?" or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath, and whispering humbleness,

Say this:

“Fair sír, you spát on me on Wednesday lást ;
You spurned me such a day; another time
You called me-dôg; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you-thus much-mòneys."

V. THE FALSETTO.

The falsetto is the thin, sharp, high-pitched tone produced when the voice breaks, or gets above its natural compass. It is used by men when they imitate the voices of women and children. It is the tone suitable for the expression of old age, sickness, feebleness, pain, and helpless terror.

1. "My child! my child!" with sobs and tears,
She shrieked upon his callous ears.

2. "Billy-where are you, Billy, I say? Come, Billy, come home to your best of mothers!"

3. And even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried, "Hurrah!"

4. Mr. Orator Puff had two tones in his voice,

The one squeaking thus, and the other down so; In each sentence he uttered he gave you your choice; For one half was B alt, and the rest G below. Oh oh! Orator Puff,

One voice for an orator's surely enough!.

"Oh! save!" he exclaimed, in his he-and-she tones, 'Help me out! help me out! I have broken my bones!" "Help you out!" said a stranger, who passed, "what a bother!

Why, there's two of you there; can't you help one another?"

Oh! oh! Orator Puff,

One voice for an orator's surely enough!.

When the voice slides through the interval of a semitone only, it gives the plaintive tones expressive of sadness, grief, or pathetic entreaty. If the inflection runs through the interval of a tone and a half-a minor third in music-it becomes more plaintive, and marks a stronger degree of pathos or sadness; and when the inflection extends into the minor fifth, it denotes still stronger pathetic feeling.

The semitone, then, is the plaintive tone in reading, corresponding to the minor key in music. It should be used delicately, for, in excess, it runs into the whine, or becomes the affectation of cant.

SEMITONE DRILL.

1. Sound the vocals, ā, ē, ī, ō, u, three times, on the interval between C and C sharp; then on the minor third; then on the minor fifth.

2. Count from one to twenty on the same notes as above.

EXAMPLES OF SEMITONE.

1. O come in life, or come in death,

O lost! my love, Elizabeth.

2. For I am poor and miserably old.

3. How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father and will say to him,