From Words.

I have knowr a word more gentle
Than the breath of summer air;
In a listening heart it nestled,
And it lived forever there.
Not the beating of its prison
Stirred it ever, night or day,
Only with the heart's last throbbing
Could it fade away.

Words are mighty, words are living;
Serpents with their venomous stings,
Or bright angels crowding round us,
Vith heaven's light upon their wings:
Every word has its own spirit,
True or false, that never dies;
Every word man's lips have uttered
Echoes in God's skies.

Adelaide A. Procter.

The First Attitude is only the enlargement of the first position. The feet should be separated some distance, thus giving a firmer basis. A rest and change from this attitude is made by advancing the left foot and throwing the weight of the body on the right. The first attitude is used while giving utterance to grandeur, heroism, and strong oratorical thought. As an example on which to practice, an excerpt from the speech of Hon. J. R. Chandler on the Know Nothing Movement is here inserted.

"If, Mr. Chairman, I had not long been a member of this House, I might startle at the risk of presenting myself as the professor of a creed evil spoken of. But I know the House is composed of gentlemen. I stand here alone in defence of my faith, but I stand in the Congress of the nation. I stand for truth and my soul is undaunted."

In the Second Position, the Excited, the left foot is advanced and most of the weight is thrown on the ball. The right heel is entirely off the floor, and the ball of the right foot, touching the floor, balances the body. The left leg is slightly bent at the knee. A rest is taken by reversing the position, bringing the right foot to the front, etc. The body is inclined forward as if about to take a step. The Excited Position is assumed in any speech implying earnest appeal and solicitude, and, also, as "Practical Elocution" says: "When the speaker is impelled by some emotion which causes him to step forward towards his audience, as if to get nearer to them that he may impart, with more power and emotion, that which he utters.

Examples.

From Romeo and Juliet. Act II.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Shakespeare.

From Leonore.

But see! what throng, with song and gong
Moves by, as croaks the raven hoarse!
Hark! funeral song! Hark! knelling dong!
They sing, "Let's here inter the corpse!"
And nearer draws that mourning throng,
And bearing hearse and bier along,
With hollow hymn outgurgled like

Low reptile groanings from a dyke.

"Entomb your dead when midnight wanes,
With knell, and bell, and funeral wail!
Now homeward to her dim domains

I hear my bride-so, comrades, hail!"

J. C. Mangan.

From The Ghost's Petition.

"There's a footstep coming; look out and see.".
"The leaves are falling, the wind is calling;
No one cometh across the lea.".

"There's a footstep coming: O sister look.”-
"The ripple flashes, the white foam dashes;
No one cometh across the brook."

C. G. Rossetti.

From The White Sail.

A wraith of smoke, fast-driven against a flame
Yon by the crimsoning east the dark ship moved,
Her herald noises strangely borne ashore:
'Joy, joy!' and interlinked: ‘O joy, O joy,
Athens our mother! joy to all thy gates!'
And thunderous firm acclaim of minstrelsy,
Laughter, and antheming, and salvos wild
Outran the racing prow.

L. I. Guiney.

The Second Attitude differs from the second position in extension and also in the position of the feet. The left is extended as in the second position, but the right does not balance on the bail. It is planted firmly on the floor. The whole body leans forward as in the Excited position, and the muscles are rigid, forming straight lines and angles rather than curves. This attitude may also be reversed. It is correctly used in defiant threatening and very emphatic thought.

Examples.

From The Merchant of Venice. Act III.

Salarino. Why I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh: what's that good for?

Shylock. (Emphatic.) To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute; and it shallt go hard, but I will better the instruction.-Shakespeare.

From The Collegians.

"Talk not to me, sir," she said, "of your regret or your reluctance. You have already done your worst to fix a stigma on our name and a torture in our memories. For months, for weeks, and days, my son spoke with you, laughed with you, and walked freely and openly among you, and then you laid no hand upon his shoulder. You waited for his wedding-day to raise your lying cry of murder; you waited to see how many hearts you might crush together at a blow. You have done the worst of evil in your power; you have dismayed our guests, scattered terror amid our festival, and made the remembrance of this night, which should have been a happy one, a thought of gloom and shame."

"My duty," murmured the magistrate, "obliged me to sacrifice-"}

"Complete your duty, then,"said the mother haughtily, and do not speak of your personal regrets. If justice and my son are foes, what place do you fill between them? You mistake your calling, Mr. Magistrate; you have no personal feelings in this transaction. You are a servant of the law, and, as a servant, act."-Gerald Griffin.

You came to act a part and well have acted!
The sleek smooth-faced palmer, unrepining
At a snug berth. Some patience is good pay
For five years' shelter, clothing, food and alms.
Where is the beggar that can't bear a taunt,
Aye, or a blow, for one coin? But five years'
Living upon the sweat of others' brows,
Must be a beggar's paradise!

Eusebius.

Shame! shame!

Proc. Aye, shame enough! that a young sturdy

vagrant

Should eat the bread of honest, toiling folk.
Shame, that he should be sitting all day,

As if at home, within another's house

Instead of putting out his strength to interest,
And drawing food from his strong, sinewy arm.
Can I who bear the burden of this house,
With patience see a lazy parasite
Feed on its fatness? suck its very blood?—
Now, hear my answer: under just reproach,
Scorn well deserved, blows well merited,
You may have wisely bent-not low enough
By one good fathom, for my deep disdain.

Cardinal Wiseman.

From Macbeth. Act V.

Macduff.

Tyrant, show thy face!

If thou liest slain and with no stroke of mine,

My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms

Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge,

I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this clatter, one of greatest note

Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.

Shakespeare.