THE SKETCHER

Otago Witness, Issue 3987, 12 August 1930, Page 63

THE SKETCHER

An interesting quarterly of English rural life is the Countryman, published by J. W. Robertson Scott at Idbury, Kingham, Oxford. In a department called “The Farm House Muse” we find this charming poem:

THE CHANT OF THE COWS.

The musing moon looked down upon the farm; (So bright she beamed, the chagrined stars' In sorrow hid their heads. And first she spied the cudding cows Who chanted as they chewed, Of the ancient jest and old-world law; How’ milksop men for ever sweat and swear And labour all their lives for cows’ content : And this they sang. The song of all the beasts — "All day we graze and grow, Fulfilling the appointed lives of kine; We work; we fatten; We give milk and meat; Our offsprings and our passions we submit. And all around is man and man’s inventions, His creations, machinations; Man with his eyes and voice; Man with his stick; His cords, cajoleries, caressings; And, above all, his purposed powerful will. His voice . . . He swears And we are frightened and obey; Endears and we are soothed And trust our very lives into his keeping; And our hearts. " All but our souls Which he has never known that we possess. All day we bend our necks in meek submission And tolerate the tyranny of man; For we await the night. The night is ours. Unfettered all our thoughts and feelings then; Above the paltry ways and means of man We soar beyond his petty domination. ” Madly’, amazingly, foolishly frolicsome Onr purposeless play begins. The secrets of the sparkling stars we share; The wise content of the amusing moon; We have the cutting frost for our com : panion; The balmy nights of June for our de light. Our jokes are cracked with God, And Time is our playmate. “ What do we care that we should die ? We fatten in content. For what is Time . . . and Life? Prosperity or ease, and care and forethought ? Above, beyond, outside, ahead We stand remote from these. The day for man; Let him be master of the day and Fate, For us the fateful night.” Only the dog, his soul enslaved to Day, Crowded a complaining, incoherent “Nay!” —W. K. W., in the Countryman. ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. By J. Melrose Clark. There are comparatively few people alive to-day who possess the gift of oratory to the same extent, for example, as the late Earl of Rosebery did: although there arc many good platform speakers, and their numbers are steadily increasing. The difference between an orator and a good platform speaker is that the former may be described as being born with an “ eloquent tongue,” while the latter is evolved by careful training and experience. The orator of the Rosebery type is the genius of speaking, and is an exception, but there are many who attain the reputation of being good platform speakers. It is my purpose, in this article, to assist any readers who may be desirous of being able to speak in public. In these days there exists enormous scope for the exercise of this art, social life being honeycombed w-ith many societies and clubs, wdiilc in church life also there are innumerable meetings of various kinds. So that wdiile very few people may aspire to the heights of oratory, all can do perhaps more practical and useful work on the lower levels of speaking. From every point of view it is a decided advantage to be able to speak in public, and there have been numerous instances where progress in life has been retarded because of the inability of the speaker to stand before a “ sea of faces.” Apart altogether from any material advantage to be derived from speaking in public, there is the pleasure and satis-

faction of being able to sway the opinions of men and women by the persuasive powers of the voice, and to win their support for the speaker’s particular cause. Furthermore nothing increases one’s prestige and personality more than the art of speaking in public.

The complete mastery of the voice is essential before speaking in public can be a real success* Many readers may feel that their voices are not strong enough for this, but it is really distinctness of utterance rather than volume of voice that is the main essential for successful platform speaking in the first instance. The continual speaking in public, with tones slightly heightened above conversational pitch, and just loud enough to let each person in the audience hear the words distinctly, tends in itself to strengthen the speaking voice. - If the reader’s voice is very weak a simple voice producing exercise should be undertaken in the following manner: — For a little time each day hum on the lowest chest tones first, and after the low notes are formed practise higher notes. Close lips together with teeth well apart. The vibration caused by the humming sound should be felt on the chest and lips only, and not in the mouth, either centre or throat. When the “ hum ” is set going practise with vowels. First “ hum ” in the lowest chest tone, then break out into the vowels—ah, a, ee, and oh—taking each one separately, and return to the “ hum ” all at the one .time. Thus—“ hum-a-hum,” and so on. The exercise should strengthen the weakest voices and at the same time add strength and timbre to even the strongest ones.

Most people perhaps find the greatest obstacle to speaking in public to be that of “ nerves.” There are several ways in which beginners may defeat this terror:—(l) Learn the subject off by heart. (2) Upon rising to speak, approach the front of the platform in a slow, deliberate manner, and take several deep breaths through the nostrils only (for platform work), and not the mouth. Deep breathing relieves nervous tension. (3) Never look straight at the audience, but turn the head first from one-side to the other of the company, allowing the eyes to rest upon chosen objects about a foot above the heads of the people. Where a gallery contains part of the audience, the same idea should be carried out. (4) Be so much lost in your subject as to forget that the audience exists, as a critical force at any rate, and ignore interruptions which are out of order. (5) Form the habit of wearing a pleasant expression, which will not only add attractiveness but will also hide any trace of nervousness which may persist. These rules also apply in the case of recitation work.

An aid to success in platform speaking is a good style, in connection with which the following essentials are necessary:—

1. The choice of a good standard of English, which should be maintained even when the speaker is in a humorous or angry vein. Just as in other things in life where the best will outlast the shoddy, so, in speaking, the polished style will leave a greater and more lasting impression upon an audience in the long run than the loose-sentenced, tub-thump-ing method, and it will also increase the personality of the speaker. 2. Avoid useless gestures, and use the hands to push home a point at the proper time. Objects on the speaker’s right will, of course, be indicated by the right arm, and objects on the left by the left arm. In a word actions should be timed to suit the-words, and used ingly3. Make frequent pauses in the course of the speech or address. This will allow for correct breathing and tend to hold the attention of the audience.

4. The correct use of punctuation marks. Avoid the sing-song delivery at commas, and turn the tone slightly upwards. At periods lower the voice perceptibly, and raise it again at the beginning of sentences. Question marks should have a short and a long rise in tone. Trivial questions should have the former and important ones the latter. The exclamation mark is rather difficult to sound correctly, but if a slight pause is made on the previous word the sound will be easier to get. For example: —•“ I never thought that of you! ” A slight pause on “ of ” will help to get the “ you ” away properly and double the time should be given to all words excaimed upon. The speaker should distinguish between words in quotation marks and those in brackets or dashes. The former should be slightly higher in tone and slower in utterance, while the latter should be slightly lower in tone and quicker in utterance. Finally, the subject matter should be made as interesting as possible by the inclusion of short and to-the-point anec-

dotes, together with a variation of the tones of the voice throughout the delivery. My last word of advice to the readers, of this paper is to persevere. Attractive speakers, like Rome, are not built in a day, and for the encouragement of backward speakers let me add that Demosthenes, the greatest orator of all time, and recognised as the *“ father of oratory,” had a stuttering in his speech as well as a facial contortion to overcome before he attained fame as an orator and demonstrated his speaking genius. —Weekly Scotsman.

I JUST STAY HOME.

Down at the docks I love to stray And watch the ships that sail away For Liverpool and Singapore, For Rio, Shanghai, Nome And every other foreign shore, And yet—l just stay home. The liners and the tramps depart And I go with ’em, in my heart, Across the seas to ports that gleam Under the blue sky’s dome. To travel to them is my dream, And yet—l just stay home. Sometimes I think that I will sail Out on that heaving ocean trail, But deep inside of me I know I’ll never get to roam, I watch the steamers come and go, But me—l just stay home. For I’m the timid sort of guy To watch the ships and sit and sigh Anu dream about the course they take Across the ocean foam— And never, never make the break ■But just stay home! —Berton Braley, in Adventure.

THOSE TIRESOME TEENS.

Is seventeen really the sweetest age and are the days of our extreme youth “ the happiest days of our lives,” as our elders assure us ? I doubt it. A well-known writer has wisely observed : “ In the ‘ teens ’ we are nearly always a trial to ourselves and other people. Derived from ‘ teen ’ —sorrow, I suppose.” In the teens you feel as if you had as many arms as the octopus and at least as many feet as the centipede, more especially when it comes to a question of “ putting your foot in it ” ! In the teens you are struggling to find yourself, and being constantly found out ! "r You don’t know- how to use a lobster pick, or what to do with the cherry in your first cocktail. You don’t know whether to part your hair on the left or the right, or whether powder blue or can de nil is really your colour. And, worst of all, poor little In-Your-Teene, you don’t know what you will learn in your twenties, that none of these things really matter a row of beans ! Nobody is going to cut you dead il you do use the wrong fork, and believe me (you won’t, though), they have long forgotten that unfortunate episode when your suspender gave way so suddenly and publicly at the Brown-Jones’s garden party.

Then there is that oft-recurring question of the boy friend. Are you too young, at 15, to know the meaning of Love ?

Mother, father, aunts, pastors, and masters generally, say you are. In view you cry, you quote Juliet, who was only 14, dash it all, or to come nearer home, you quote great-grand mamma who eloped with great-grand papa in a postchaise on her sixteenth birthday. Nobody understands, nobody cares ! Dark thoughts fill your mind. Nobody in the world has ever been so misunderstood, so unhappy before. Dear tearful teens, if only people were honest, everybody has been misunderstood and unhappy !

They may have forgotten, they may not admit it, but there is no one who hasn’t passed through that awkward time when they are a nuisance to themselves and everybody else. Too thin or too fat, too talkative or too quiet, and as for keeping that schoolgirl complexion, how many of us, if we are really truthful, want to ?

The complexion of the twenties is generally much more worth keeping, just as sweet, and twenty is usually a much happier age than bashful fifteen. Don’t be disappointed if your teens don’t prove all they have been cracked up to be by forgetful elders. The twenties will certainly bring you that happines the tiresome teens so often lack. — Women’s Weekly.

POPLARS.

They are the hillside monarchs, these Lombardy poplar trees. Above the lower reaches of the shade, They wear their coronals of light—- • Cool silver in the fiercest noon— And in the audience chamber of the night, Where courtier aspens go arrayed In all the velvet darkness of the glade, They only wear the fillet of the moon. They are the guardians of the street, Standing, from head to feet In armour burnished by the wind that strays In higher ethers and leaves free lhe branches of a wider girth On every motionless and lowlier tree. While sheltering from the treacherous ways They give their hearts to thrushes, that shall praise A lyric throne above the listening earth. So being royal, shall they bear The fury of the air— These, that for guests, had little sinking things. When armies of the winds assail And all the batteries of the sky Release the shattering charges of the hail. For these that touched the lyric wings Of life have yet the dauntless hearts of kings And show at need how wounded monarchs die. —Mary Brent Whiteside, in Harper’s.

DON’T LOOK BACK.

The other evening I was watching a boy and girl saying “ Good-night.” They were at that wonderful stage when both realise that friendship is drifting into something a great deal sweeter and happier. She turned and left him, and he stoodgazing after her as though she were the only woman in the world. And then she spoilt it all by making the unforgivable mistake o£—looking back ! The spell was broken ! The boy flushed a little, lifted his hat, and moved away. He didn’t want to look after her any more. Don’t look back—once you have said “Good-night.” Let him see you walk out of sight. He will remember you longer. He will appreciate you more. You make yourself a little too eager, a little too cheap, if you look back. * ¥ ¥ Don’t look back, when you have said “ Good-bye.” It may be to a friend, or a lover, ot, even, an undesirable companion. If you are convinced that it really is “ Good-bye,” then just walk away bravely with your head held high. I Don’t look back—on old times that can never come again. New times will be so much better and brighter and more successful. Don’t look back—at Paul when you are just beginning to fall in love with Jaek. You may fall between two stools. Don’t look back—when you have your hand on the plough, when yon have taken up some new enterprise. It shows lack of confidence if you hesitate or falter. Don’t look back—on youth the day you realise that youth is slipping from you. Every age has its eharm. Otherwise people over 30 would be unbearablv miserable. And they are not ! Look around and see for yourself. Don’t look back—when you have conquered some habit or some failing. That is fatal. Learn to forgive yourself—and then forget it. Don’t look back—when - you have made that one important step in your life that either leads to marriage or a career. Carry on I The men and women who have conquered the world are those who have never stopped to look baek. They know that the path ahead is the only one to take. The explorer, the Atlantic flyer, the woman holding down a worth-while job—all these dare not look baek, or thev would never reach Their goal. Memories are good, but memories, after all, are only experiences that we have collected in the past. There arc other experiences waiting. Perhaps life won’t be quite so rosy, but nothing stands still. We shall pass the bad patches quickly enough if we only hurry and don’t stop to gaze wistfully on what has been. —Home Chat.

THE TALL CITY.

Many greeds collided here, and learned by bruising The folly of their scars. Now they are choosing To lift white shoulders towards the broken sky. And from each black tongue rolls a twisted cry That high winds bleach into a minor vice; Here sin becomes a virtue at a price And from the stone piles and unholy din Arises Beauty with a haughty chin. —A. M. Sullivan, in “ Progression.”

MAKING YOURSELF UGLY.

We train a child not to suck its thumb because the thumb with persistent sucking may become swollen and, worse, the mouth may be drawn out of shape. Likewise we discourage a child from frowning or standing perpetually at ease, because these habits may mean premature

lines and unevenly balanced hips or boulders. It is important that a child should be cured of such habits, but many adults seem to entirely forget that childhood is not by any means the only period for habit forming. Actually, in childhood a habit stands a better chance of cure and correction than it does later on, for a child, though living intensely in the moment, . forgets easily once ’it is in? tcrested in something else. A grown-up will not forget so easily. All sorts of habits, good or bad, are acquired in later years, and these all stand a good chance of becoming deep? rooted, since grown-ups, being grownup, for the most part go uncorrected, unless some well-meaning friend or anxious-to-hurt enemy ventures to tell the truth. An old or middle-aged face invariably has a tale of habits to tell; a habit of mind, a habit of good or bad temper, a habit of discontent, a habit of avoiding oeep thought. Naturally a lined face is often more interesting in later years than a very well-preserved face. The face of a person who has obviously avoided the heights and depths of life trequently lacks character, but the heights and depths do not mean bouts of temper or an uncontrolled method of life. * ¥ if. Apart from these deeper and more important habits it is interesting to note the many little facial mannerisms which make or mar a face. A natural, sweet expression is one thing and a too expressive face is another. Many women, bearing the importance of expression well in mind, consciously or unconsciously quite overdo the expression, especially when they are out to impress! There is nothing more charming than a naturally vivacious face, but an older woman, particularly, must be careful to see that her vivacity does not develop into an orgy of mannerisms. I ’ n ’ omen > for instance, have a habit of opening and shutting their eves dnu” i talkl n g ; Othe r s *? as P or Pause unduly long between their sentences. Men and women alike blink and screw up then faces. Others frown perpetually, stick out a chin or a lower lip. Women however, are on the whole worse offenders than men, because men are generally less self-conscious than women, and their habits, if sometimes cruder seem to be more naturally a part of themseh es.—Answers.

AN AWFUL RESPONSIBILITY.

I am the captain of my soul • I rule it with stern joy ■ yet I think I had more fun. When I was a cabin boy. —Keith Preston, in an exchange.

A PIG’S WHISPER.

Any dictionary of slang will tell you that a pig’s whisper” is schoolboy whiter”’ the IOUd ’ ° r ear - s P litti 4, Anyone who has suffered from a “ pi<* whisperer” will agree that thev hive been very aptly named ! The victims of this horrible vice proceed on the assumption that the rest of the populace are all deaf, and that a bus, a lift, a teaship, or a theatre are the most suitable places to tell you, in detail about their illnesses, domestic troubles, and love affairs, with a running comment on the hats, shoes, and probable moral characters of the rest of the company. * ¥ “ I said I thought it was perfectly disgraceful, and I should certainly speak to the grocer’s boy,” she will shriek above the orchestra. “O, my dear, do look at that woman’s hat. ‘ How too awful ! No, not there, in the third row, second from the left. I suppose she thinks she looks like Gladys Cooper. More like a performing monkev, if von ask me !” • j By this time, your own face and that of the wretched woman who must have heard every word, have become the colour of a pillar-box, but your companion, nothing daunted, says airily: • “Heard? Nonsense, dear, she’s much too far away; besides, I was only whisWell, as I was saying, poor Valeries terribly worried. Jim’s been most peculiar lately, and, of course, dritfk is in the family. And the other day—of course this is quite between our.selves —she found out that ” * * # An uneasy squirm from you cuts hci short again, and she says quite irritably : “ But I’ve told you that no one can hear. Really, darling, you should try no( to be so self-conscious. I might be bellow* ing the place down instead of speaking in a whisper.” But, alas, “ a pig’s whisper ” is invariably louder than ordinary talking, and you endure agonies, while she “ whispers ” to you (and the rest of the people in the tube lift), that “ Harker’s have just got in those winter-weight combinations you were trying to get,” and “w'hile I remember, I’ve found the address of the chiropodist you wanted.” “ The doctor told me it ' was undoubtedly caused by a floating kidney, and that the only thing I could do mercifully the roar of the train censors a small portion of the narrative. Truly, “the loud, or ear-splitting whisper” is a pig’s whisper indeed ! — An exchange.