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the bud that breathed the yet infolded perfume of sweet but undefined hopes, that coming years would ripen to fruition. His remorseless foot has fallen beside this hearthstone and lo! the dread footprint has hollowed The baby is dead.

a little grave.

The tiny image, white as sculptured Parian, lies yonder in its snowy casket, draped in spotless fabrics, and wreathed in funeral flowers. The mother bends with anguished eyes over the still, small effigy of her last hope, but the baby is not there. Out of her arms, out of life, something has gone that will not return. The sealed lids will not uplift from happy sleep, the wondering eyes will search her face no more. The little restless hands lie still and pulseless, frozen into eternal quiet, their silken touches, vague and aimless as the kisses of the south wind, will steal into her bosom to soothe her weariness and assuage her grief, no more. She realizes this, and with all the live, pulsating grief of newly-bereaved motherhood, she leans above the dainty coffin, and slow, scalding tears, wrung from the very fibres of her bruised life, drop one by one on the unconscious face.

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And the days lengthen, and the nights fall, and the years roll on. She keeps the key to baby's casket in her bosom the memory of her rosebud far within her breast and life, for her, is never again quite what it used to be ere baby died.

(BROWN: The Baby is Dead)

KING DAVID MOURNS FOR ABSALOM

The waters slept. Night's silvery veil hung low
On Jordan's bosom, and the eddies curled

Their glassy rings beneath it, like the still,

Unbroken beating of the sleeper's pulse.

The reeds bent down the stream; the willow leaves,
With a soft cheek upon the lulling tide,

Forgot the lifting winds; and the long stems,
Whose flowers the water, like a gentle nurse,
Bears on its bosom, quietly gave way,
And leaned, in graceful attitudes, to rest.

How strikingly the course of nature tells,
By its light heed of human suffering,
That it was fashioned for a happier world!

King David's limbs were weary.

He had fled

From far Jerusalem; and now he stood
With his faint people, for a little rest
Upon the shores of Jordan. The light wind
Of morn was stirring, and he bared his brow
To its refreshing breath; for he had worn
The mourner's covering, and had not felt
That he could see his people until now.

They gathered round him on the fresh green bank,
And spoke their kindly words; and, as the sun
Rose up in heaven, he knelt among them there,
And bowed his head upon his hands to pray.

Oh! when the heart is full - when bitter thoughts
Come crowding thickly up for utterance,
And the poor, common words of courtesy
Are such a very mockery-how much
The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer!

(WILLIS: Absalom)

THE DAYS THAT ARE NO MORE

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last that reddens over one

That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

As sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes

The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hapless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more!

(TENNYSON: The Princess)

CHAPTER XIII

RATE (IN WORDS AND SENTENCES)

In addition to quality, force, and pitch, every sound has a certain duration in time. When several sounds are uttered in succession, the term rate, instead of duration, is used to designate the time element. Broadly classified, rate of speaking may be considered as moderate (normal), rapid, or slow. A skillful and discriminating use of these ranges is a signal help in delivery. The changes in pitch and force already presented are sufficient to provide for the expression of normal interest and for the distinction of ordinary relative values. Therefore, a moderate rate is used most of the time. But if the speaker desires to create an impression of emotional intensity, excitement, or rapid action, a fast rate is much more suggestive to his audience. If, on the contrary, he wishes to give unusual weight, or emphasis to an idea or part of an idea, or if he has occasion to suggest great size or slow action, a more deliberate than normal rate is most fitting. Furthermore, the student should not overlook the fact that a changing rate is an aid to pitch and force variation in the avoidance of monotony. And, of course, an appreciable change of rate may be made in any one raterange without passing into one of the others; i. e., there are various degrees of normal, of slow, and of rapid rate. For more detailed consideration of the time ele

ment, it will be advantageous to study its application to words and sentences, and later to whole sections of an address.

Rate Applied to Single Words

The time occupied in speaking any word may vary considerably, from an utterance which is abrupt to one which is slowly drawn out. This possibility is due to the fact that the vowels, especially the long vowels, and the continuant consonants may all be indefinitely prolonged or shortened in quantity, as may also the breaks between syllables. From this it is obvious that words which are composed mainly of short vowels and explosive consonants, such as quick, brisk, chuck, and pick, lend themselves readily to rapid utterance. On the contrary, words comprising long vowels and continuants, such as allay, lean, file, moan, and use, invite slow utterance. Moreover, words of many syllables, such as occupation, prohibition, and manufacture, are more adaptable to slow delivery than are words of about the same length but of fewer syllables, such as blackboard, playground, and throughout, owing to the possibility of retarding at the breaks between syllables. Speakers may well bear in mind, both in composition and delivery, this varied capacity in words. Of course, in the case of extempore speaking not much choice for purposes of rate is to be expected, but it is desirable to realize that a single well-chosen and aptly spoken word can produce a marked effect. For example, supposing a person is talking about a plan which has been carefully worked out, when one day something went wrong and "click the whole thing fell through. The failure was due to procrastination." The word "click,"

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