8. Hath a dog money? Is it possible A cur can lend three thousand ducats? 9. A man who is in the daily use of ardent spirits, if he does not become a drunkard, is in danger of losing his health and character. [NOTE. Read the above in such a manner as to render the man's becoming a drunkard necessary to preserve his health, and then read it as the speaker probably intended it should be understood.] 10. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew! Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip, A Daniel still I say; a second Daniel ! I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. 11. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, 12. And Brutus is an honorable man. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And, sure, he is an honorable man. 13. And this man is now become a god! 14. Rich in some dozen paltry villages! Strong in a hundred spearmen! Only great in that strange spell, — A name. 15. My father's trade? Why, blockhead, are you mad? My father, sir, did never stoop so low,— He was a gentleman, I'd have you know. 16. What! shear a wolf? a prowling wolf? 17. The dog would have died if they hadn't cut off his head. 165. MELODY. 1. Melody (Gr. sweet song) is a succession of pleasing tones having but a limited compass above or below the initial notę. 2. Melody is one of the most valuable elements the speaker may employ in attracting and retaining the attention of an audience. 3. The element is employed in those rhythmical compositions, whether prose or poetry, expressing pathos, tranquil pleasure, and peaceful repose. 4. To cultivate melodious tones, practice frequently upon such words as calm, name, mine, thine, wailing, gone, moaning, mound, home, throne, wandering, etc., with pure tone, subdued force, median stress, and long quantity, imparting to your utterance a rich What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! 2. ["Those Evening Bells." Thomas Moore.] Those evening bells, those evening bells! Of youth and home and that sweet time And so 'twill be when I am gone: And sing your praise, sweet evening bells. 166. SLUR. 1. Slur is a smooth, rapid, subdued movement of voice over certain words, phrases and clauses of less importance than others with which they stand associated. 2. The object of Slur is to bring out the principal thought of a passage as contained in the leading clause by a subdued force and rapid movement over the subordinate, or auxiliary clauses. 167. LAW OF USE. The Slur is applied to passages expressing contrast, repetition, explanation, modifications of persons, things, time, place, cause, manner and degree, and all parenthetical expressions. 168. Examples: [The Slurred passages are printed in Italic letters and should be read more rapidly and with lower pitch and less force than the rest.] 1. The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. 2. It is a common thing, in speaking of the sea, to call it a waste of waters." 3. If, like a desert itself, the ocean makes all the other wildernesses of the earth to bud and blossom as a rose, it ought not to be termed a waste. 4. That boy was well trained who when asked why he did not pocket some pears, for nobody was there to see, replied, “Yes, there was somebody; I was there to see myself, and I don't intend ever to see myself do a dishonest thing." 5. Bring into subjection while the task is easy, all the powers God has given you. 6. I see you have trudged half a score of miles today, and, like a wise man, have passed by the taverns and stopped at the running brooks and well-curbs. 7. As to common things (geography, history, phi losophy, and all that), thank my stars, I have got through with them all! 169. EMPHASIS. 1. Emphasis is that peculiar utterance of words, phrases and clauses which renders them especially prominent or significant. 2. The importance of Emphasis in determining the meaning of a sentence may be inferred from an examination of the following sentence, which by placing the Emphasis upon the marked words, is capable of expressing six different meanings: 1. John did not say you bought that book; Henry said so. 2. John did not say you bought that book; he wrote it. 3. John did not say you bought that book; but that your sister bought it. 4. John did not say you bought that book; but that you found it. 5. John did not say you bought thut book; but this book. 6. John did not say you bought that book; it was your slate. The following anecdote, related by Sheridan in his "Art of Speaking," will illustrate the value of a knowledge of the principles of Emphasis to those occupying public positions : "A clergyman's curate, having occasion to read in the church our Savior's sayings to the disciples, Luke xxiv: 26, |