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Show if Woman's Page i, The Unruly Voice Foreigners Say Our Voices Arc Unpleasant Un-pleasant to Listen to Be Careful of Your Discordant Tones and Remember Often a Soft Tone Carries Farther Than a Shrill One Study Your Smile The Joy of Green in the Winter Plants for the House. !. Ill THE UNRULY VOICE "jmbf- Aro our volceB as unpleasant to '""TaMll; "flaten to as foreigners say? I fear $&SM tho majority are. Go Into any of the ''y-fH ' afternoon tea rooms and you find f,raB beautiful women, splendidly dreesed, 2SBbB but listen to their voices shrill or nasal Instead of tho softly modulated T-.'vvgifl tones of the gentlewoman. I wonder 'fsO what Is "wrong. Do they never hear tho sonnd of their own voices or is9 , those of their companions? Any re-'fyw re-'fyw fined woman -would notice the dls-JrsT dls-JrsT cordant tones at once. The young girls are even more. Their voices are not only unmusical, but their speech Is almost unintelligible. unintelligi-ble. They shriek and gesticulate like go many mad people. I noticed a group of young girls -seated around it tea table one afternoon. Their clothes proclaimed their -wealth, their voices and manners their breeding. One of the group was telling an adventure ad-venture of the previous day. I, with others of her enforced audience, longed long-ed for tho days of pantomlne. That story without words might have been funny. With words It was an car-spllttlng, car-spllttlng, nerve-racking process to all In tho vicinity. Another took up tho ball of conversation. She was, If anything, -worse; her voice was one of those mixtures of a snarl and a ; whine. What sort of schools had I these girls attended? Fashlonnble ones, I feel sure, from snatches of their conversation. Mothers, look well to the voices of your children, and don't forget to hearken to your own. In this noisy age. It seems, everything must be loud to make any impression. Whistles Whis-tles must shriek at .any and every hour of the night. Noise Is a good 4 thing probably In a boiler shop; it , proves that tho wheels of industry are whirling, but so few ot us work In boilor shops after all. Be careful of your voice. Do not strain It by useless shrieks. When you speak lower instead of raising the tone, and by all means remember remem-ber to speak distinctly. Remember often a Boft tone carries farther than a shrill one. At least there' Ib modesty and refinement in a soft, low speaking voice. SMILEI Smiling, you know. Is not to be confounded with smirking, nor laughing laugh-ing with giggling. Put your smile and laugh to the test. With your mirror before you, start the smile by pursing the lips Just the merest trifle. Then let all the movement to ripple along to the corners of the mouth, at tho same time permitting the eyerf to express sympathy. Never forget that a smile 1b the expression rather than actual movement of the HpB. As for the laugh, that, too, requires observation. As one grows older unless un-less great care is taken to keep tho voice oven and soft, the tones become be-come short and harsh, and then the laiigh is unpleasant. If you are a close observer, let your own ears be critic of your laugh, Just as the mirror mir-ror criticises your smile. Laugh then, but note how the voice Is pitched, whether it Is too high or too low, whether It be clear and liquid, or coarse and shrill. Practicing Prac-ticing trilling Is good for the voice, after you have found the pitch with "Ha" instead of "La." Anyone will tell you how a sweet, properly pitched voice charms, and no doubtfyou have often felt such charm j'ourself. Some women, oven after they have passed middle age, have a sweet, childlike ring to their voices, and a softness of tone that is delightful. THE JOY O' GREEN IN WINTER Some women cannot exist without a bit of cheerful growing green in the room through the shut-In winter season; and there Is a real sugges- tton of restfulncfis to the soul that Iovob tho out-of-doors In a pot of growing ferns or a Jar ot Wandering Jew, placed In a window or on the writing desk. Wandering Jew grows steadily and flourishes apace oven when Its roots nro set In water only. Planted In earth It will send out Its delicate trailers and make a curtain of living green In no time at all. Mountain laurel, gathered during a late autumn excursion to tho woods, if placed in a jug containing water, will keep green and fresh all winter. Hemlock, and pine will not keep in heated rooms, but soon dry up and drop to pieces. Hardy forns, if watered wa-tered rightly should not dry up or dlo before Easter time. Ferns must not be sprinkled from above, nor should water be poured over the earth in which they are planted. Set the receptacle in a basin or tub of water, allowing the water to Tlse just over the level of the dirt. After a ten minutes' soaking the plant will have absorbed water enough to last it 4S hours. |
