Practice Book.

by Leland Powers.

IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

My grat.i.tude to publishers who have generously permitted the reprinting of copyrighted selections, I would here publicly express. To Little, Brown & Company I am indebted for the use of the extract called "Eloquence," which is taken from a discourse by Daniel Webster; to Small, Maynard & Company for the poem "A Conservative," taken from a volume by Mrs. Gilman, ent.i.tled "In This Our World;" to the Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company for the poems by Mr. Burton; and to Longmans, Green & Company for the extracts from the works of John Ruskin. The selections from Sill and Emerson are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton, Mifflin & Company, publishers of their works.

The quotations under the headings "Exercises for Elemental Vocal Expression" and "Exercises for Transition," with a few exceptions, are taken from "The Sixth Reader," by the late Lewis B. Monroe, and are here reprinted through the courtesy of the American Book Company.

LELAND POWERS.

CHAPTER I.

VITALITY.

MIND ACTIVITIES DOMINATED BY A CONSCIOUSNESS OF _Power, Largeness, Freedom, Animation, Movement_.

1. "Ho! strike the flag-Staff deep, Sir Knight--ho! scatter flowers, fair maids: Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute--ho! gallants, draw your blades."

2. "Awake, Sir King, the gates unspar!

Rise up and ride both fast and far!

The sea flows over bolt and bar."

3. "I would call upon all the true sons of New England to co-operate with the laws of man and the justice of heaven."

4. "Robert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane, And Volmond, emperor of Allemaine, Apparelled in magnificent attire, With retinue of many a knight and squire, On St. John's eve at vespers proudly sat, And heard the priest chant the Magnificat."

5. "Then the master, With a gesture of command, Waved his hand; And at the word, Loud and sudden there was heard All around them and below The sound of hammers, blow on blow, Knocking away the sh.o.r.es and spurs.

And see! she stirs!

She starts,--she moves,--she seems to feel The thrill of life along her keel, And, spurning with her foot the ground, With one exulting, joyous bound, She leaps into the ocean's arms!"

6. "Under his spurning feet, the road Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed, And the landscape sped away behind, Like an ocean flying before the wind."

7. "The wind, one morning sprang up from sleep, Saying, 'Now for a frolic! now for a leap!

Now for a madcap galloping chase!

I'll make a commotion in every place!'"

8. "O hark! O hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going!

O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!"

9. "It is done!

Clang of bell and roar of gun!

Send the tidings up and down.

How the belfries rock and reel!

How the great guns, peal on peal, Fling the joy from town to town!"

10. "O sacred forms, how proud you look!

How high you lift your heads into the sky!

How huge you are, how mighty and how free!

Ye are the things that tower, that shine; whose smile Makes glad--whose frown is terrible; whose forms, Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear Of awe divine."

CHAPTER II.

MENTALITY.

MIND ACTIVITIES DOMINATED BY A CONSCIOUSNESS OF _Reflection_ OR _Processes_ OF _Thought, Clearness, Definiteness_.

1. "Beyond the street a tower,--beyond the tower a moon,--beyond the moon a star,--beyond the Star, what?"

2. "Once more: speak clearly, if you speak at all; Carve every word before you let it fall; Don't, like a lecturer or dramatic star, Try overhard to roll the British R; Do put your accents in the proper spot; Don't--let me beg you--don't say 'How?' for 'What?'

And when you stick on conversation's burrs, Don't strew the pathway with those dreadful urs."

3. "To be, or not to be; that is the question:-- Whether 'tis n.o.bler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune; Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep,-- No more:"