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Show AMERICAN WOMEN'S VOICES.' A Young- English Diplumat's Remarks. INJURIOUS ELOCUTIONARY PRACTICE. Americans Have a Penchaut for Siiout-Cliuiatic Siiout-Cliuiatic Influences. (.'..n-M.-n.l.l.-.li-eii-M.ii, ha.-o.vu- cau-d hv a iviuaik ..I a . iii,- diplomat U-luii-- ! iii' tu tile Lnii-h ii-!it-i ies cumini.-ii hi. . lh aiii tlKU In- wa. i,,iK'h struck with (he facial and ti.-ieal lot-hlleS of ; Aniei iraii wuin.-ii. hut lliat his sense of . Liie lianii"lil.tl- w;l- j:UTed ilell they j .-jn !.!. -K!!i,l:-lioTtii-n".i iiitoiiaiiuu id ' j mii.-it.-al. low. ji 1 1 1 i. tic, winle thatuf j j the iypif.,1 dau-liler of Aineiiea is liih. ! som. ul,a hai-li, and n.t grateful.'' lie added that in rensv the Amcriean i ! winnan is nuiiv attraclive than her lin.nh-l) si-ier; hut lh:it the latteris mure i u;.'. reeal'le in on vermilion. 'J 1 nou.irhuN t the dehate which this 1 candor has .-larted tlieir i.s no denial of ' the assertion that American women's voices are often disagreeable and Unit lin;;lih women's in tonal ion is more i melodious, lint there is no iroper ell'ort to fet at the cause of the iliilVrence. There is an error' in adinittin that the dill'erence is due to higher pitch in tliis country than in Knland. Any one who has heard lniih women speaking with ! total 6elf-uneuiisciousnes3 in their own i homes knows tliat they run to quite aa high a noLe as women of any other country; coun-try; and that, in proportion as the spirit is amiable, the voice rises us naturally in the gamut as the thermometer ascends when the icy fellers loosen thy mercury. Jiiss Terry's voice is perfectly natural on the btage, and when she is not tragic it is in a hih key. Sonlag was nn(ed for talking aa "ilutes lisp and nightingales warble," and both are at their beat in uign pucn. The trouble lies not in the pitch, but in tho quality of voice. When Lear said of Cordelia, "Her voice was over soft, gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman," it was quality, not pitch, he correctly described. When l'etruchio says of Katlierine, in "Taming of the j Shrew, " 1 'Think you a little din can I daunt mine curb?" he describes again the 1 oll'ensi ven ess in woman's voice, its noisi- ness, not its pitch. Chaucer knew that : "small voices, sweet en tuned," were j "the sweetest melody he ever heard;" . and once again it is quality, not pitch, that is referred to. It is undeniable that ; in the American air all voices are more or less roughened by the catarrhal mala-i mala-i dies, more disagreeable than dangerous. I We can count too easily the singers we have produced; and the moment a voice : is discovered there is feverish anxiety to get it out of tho country before our winds crack it in the throat. Few siug-: siug-: era born or bred in Europe return, unless , in extraordinary cases of great laryngeal i pliability, with as even or suave a tonal-: tonal-: ily as they bring out here, j The voices that are bred among us we I do our best to destroy for musical qual-i qual-i ity in either singing or speaking by the I elocutionary antics of our schools. In England, except among those who are latterly patrons of the public primary j ! schools, tuition outside the home in i : childhood is all hut unknown. The gov-! gov-! erness is a tradition as immoval ' as the house of lords or the judges' wigs. The children study and recite in an ordinary room. The "low' voice is naturally and sweetly developed, because the lining of the throat is not scraped by voice forcing. ! When singing lessons begin the special timbre of each voice is carefully watched ; and as rapidly as indications suffice, it is given the proper education for its natural natu-ral register, be 'that high, low or medium, j Meanwhile we have forty children in a I large schoolroom; the teacher arranges i them in a row at the rear, and stands 1 herself at the front of the apartment, i and the child who reads loudest is the highest in order of merit. It is considered con-sidered particularly commendable if the entire class can read in concert louder than any other entire class in all the com- petitive schools competing for the ruin i of individual voice quality. The same unscientific course is followed in music. All sing the same register for years; all are urged toslioutand "holler" in school. When they are of an age to make battlo with the climate in its ugly moods they can already say, as Falstall did to the I chief iustice. and more trulv: "For mv voice, I have lost it with holloaing and singing of anthems." Doubtless, too, mental composure has much to do with the quality of the voice. The eager of both sexes will shout or scream. As the best con versers are also the best listeners, the quality of voice wiiicb goes so far to make a good con-verser con-verser is instinctively low and sympathetic. sympa-thetic. The English girl learns in infancy in-fancy that she is to speak only when snoken to; that she is to reflect before speaking, and when she speaks is to say as little as possible that will antagonize her lords and masters. The American girl is accustomed from childhood to speak on everything; to exercise spontaneity, spon-taneity, if not independence; and the vices resulting from the abuse of the good ideas herein involved are loud voice, harsh quality, and speech, followed by reflection, re-flection, perhaps, but rarely preceded by it. American girls, as a rule, are poor listeners. A dozen of them will speak all together, and tho highest pitch is often reached in a competition to coerce attention. atten-tion. Aside from climatic influence, not easil' overcome, whose effects, however, can be mitigated, the disagreeable quality in American women's voices is due tc irrational throat gymnastics in childhood, and to deficient mental composure in maturity. Chicago Time3. |