Show The Voice of the Bred Weil-Bred Well Woman By Florence Howe Hall Halt One of oC the elementary laws of good manners prescribes that we shall practice practice practice tice self control as M has been already said Cultivated society goes a a. step farther farther far far- ther and demands demands' of ot us personal refine refine- ment Americans AmerIcans' understand this Ver very verj well so 50 far tar as dress and outward appearance appearance appearance appear appear- ance go fO Thero There is ht perhaps no other nation nation nation na na- tion that pays so much attention to dress dree a as we do Our countrywomen are admired In Europe for their well made inada clothes as well wel as for their o own n good looks But when they open their lips to Lo speak alas all is Js changed The harsh nasal na a tones Jar most roost unpleasantly on the car ear The truth is III is w we VoC do not pay proper attention at at- to the wa way In which we speak We Wc do aim at distinctness of utterance Speech should above all be Intelligible nn and American endeavor always atas to he be understood This la is an excellent thing so 50 far as It goes Joell but bul it does not go o far enough Why should we e be more slovenly ly hy In speech 11 than we ITS are In In dress The woman who has her han hands s manicured mani mant- cured her hair and face massaged but who utterly neglects the tho cultivation of her voice has not a proper appreciation of oC values as the artists Ita say She should take lessons In or In voice cul- cul culture culture cul cul- ture lure and she dIe should KhouM have h for a a. text In her boudoir th the lines Her voice olce was ever soft ort Gentle and low lov- lovan an ex excellent thin thing In woman When n we WI h hear ar Englishmen Eng or Frenchmen Frenchmen Frenchmen French French- men talk It is evident that th they y have base a aI ai i respect and admiration for their own I language They tr try to pronounce it 80 so that it will 1 sound well tt Th They seem le m to toun un understand nd instinctively that thal beauty of speech ch Is III as 31 great A pleasure to the ho car ear carI ap as a a. beautiful b object Is to the tho e eye e. e If tr th the American woman Is III wise she he I I does not adopt British p peculiarities of ot Intonation 8 and accent Nor o does lI s. s nhe sh endeavor to make her vocabulary agree with that of ot the En English lI h. h She understand under- under stand that standS that out our common language has developed along different lines in the two countries Apothecary and Lawyer er are old Shakespearean words quite as good if not better than the modern modem British chemist and barrister The endeavor to make mako oneself heard above the tho din of traffic and conversation Is la In part responsible for tor ou our national harshness of utterance At an tea where the voices s of the tho women soar higher and higher till thc they almost reach the screaming point In the vein v effort eort to make themselves heard the result Is disastrous The habit of oC calling up and md downstairs is 15 also very bad for the voice Well Veil bred English people sometimes sometime converse In tones so o low 10 a as to be he scarce ly iy audible except to a single listener 1 I do not think we Wf are likely to follow the tho fashion which seems t to us nn exaggeration era tion of ot a 11 good thing It should remind us however howe to avoid talking so loud that eV every ry one In the neighborhood has the tho benefit of oC our remarks remark How ort often n In in ou our railway trains do w we wp hear people ople whose tiresome com conversation creation forces itself on on our weary and unwilling oars ear 1 It Is not good form to Hp ak In a Ii loud penetrating pene pene- voice In In public conveyances |