AN ORATOR'S VOICE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 30, 6 February 1899, Page 6

AN ORATOR'S VOICE.

'In tbe church,' says Eme^s, his essay on eloquence, T caltyy|s a good reader who can read^easft M poetry into any hymn in th& W* book."' The test is a severe one'fj^ there are hymns which are \van^ both in sense and poetry. The €s £? ist doubtless intended to call atfeO tion to that charm of good VQf oe |g| enchains attention and indica|«^ rare sensibility in the reader. "X voice, like the face, betrays th#.Mto| and disposition, and soon 'indfejg what is the range of the spefijg mind. Many people have no ■W.fg music, but everyone has an e&is£ skilful reading.' Mr Emerson insists that thevoiasu a delicate index of the state of r^3 and mentions an eminent, pr^y who said to him that he leam^:^ the first tones of his voice on a §ijj^ morning whether he was to wffl successful day in preaching. |S | The preacher's reliance upt^ k. condition of his vocal cords rec^Jkju fact that the Greek orators took p^ 'in training their voices, and te Whitefield said his best sermon j^! the one he best spoke. An old woman, whose pastor haS died, on being asked how sj)e ; liM the new minister, answered; ;wg| good preacher, but he can'tjijnlSS o- po-tamia' as our blessed oiifjfflE terdid!'

The . old woman had hegn tomed to a well-toned voice. ~rn

John Quincy Adams was said 'tp'fcj so good a reader that no man, i^ time, could read the Bible with j^v powerful effect. Mr Emerson, heard the ex-President speakwKSi fine voice was broken by age,^fffijthat 'the wonders he could \wfim with that cracked and dis'Qb|3i«itorgan showed what power might Wm belonged.to it in early manhood.'; j The Virginians to whom1 Wem Archibald Alexander preached, |S of him as the 'silver-tongued olsJ(£i and told how he held an audfenca spell-bound by the caresses $,;.'|jj speech, though many of them rej^ctedf the Calvinism of the sermon. They w rere like listeners to a slitttn who can so pour out her voice $4 ta make any words glorious. They|m§ little for the words, but much;fof||j music of the silver-toned voice. ■■.ss_' afterwards the students of JranraS Theological Seminary used to yranJer at what Alexander achieved^y'Jiat voice, though broken by age,*Sudpt obedient as an organ of expression. The lesson is plain. Everyone;|iifl would speak to the public should train himself so that his voice shi} attract and not repel.