THE TELL-TALE HUMAN VOICE.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1753, 28 May 1886, Page 6

THE TELL-TALE HUMAN VOICE.

Nothing betrays so mnch as the voice, save perhaps the eyes, but they can be lowered, and so far the expression hidden. In moments of emotion no skill can hide the fact of disturbed feeling, though a strong will and habit of self-control can steady the voice when else it would be failing and tremulous. Certain voices grate on the nerves and set our teeth on edge, and others are just as calming as they are irritating, quieting, or like a composing draught. A good voice, calm in tone and musical in quality, is one of the essentials for a physician — the " bed-side voice," which is nothing if it is not sympathetic by constitution. Whatever its original quality may be, the orator's voice bears the unmistakable stamp of art and becomes artificiality ; as such it may be admirable — telling in a crowd, impressive in address, but overwhelming and chilling at home, partly because it is always conscious and never self-forgetting. An orator's voice, with its careful intonation and accurate accent, would be as much out of place beside a sickbed as a brocaded silk for the kitchen girl. The voice is much more indicative of the state of mind than many people know or allow. One of the first symptoms of failing brain power is indistinct or confused utterance ; no idiot has a clear or melodious voice ; the harsh scream of mania is poverbial, and no person of prompt and decisive thought was ever kuown to hesitate and stutter. A thick, loose, fluffy voice does not belong to the crisp character of mind which does tbe most active work, and when a keenwitted man drawls and lets his words drip instead of bringing them out in the sharp incisive way that ought to be natural to him, there is a flaw somewhere.