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EXERCISE.

A DAY AT SEA.-N. P. WILLIS.

[In this exercise, the class may point out the examples which illustrate the rule, and tell where the falling inflection occurs.]

1. THE day has passed more pleasantly than usual. The man at the helm cried, “A sail,” while we were at brèakfast; and we gradually overtook a large ship, standing on the same course, with every sail sèt.

2. We were passing half a mile to leeward, when she put up her helm and ran down to us, hoisting the English flàg. We raised the "star-spangled banner" in answer, and "hove tò"; and she came dashing along our quarter, heaving most majestically to the sea, till she was near enough to speak us without a trumpet.

3. Her fore-deck was covered with sailors, dressed all alike and very neatly; and around the gangway stood a large group of officers in uniform; the eldest of whom, a noble-looking man with gray hair, hailed and answered us.

4. She was a man-of-war, sailing as a king's packet between Halifax and Falmouth,† and had been out from the former port nineteen days. After the usual courtesies had passed, she bore away a little, and then kept on her course again, the two vessels in company at the distance of half a pistol-shòt.

5. I rarely have seen a more beautiful sight. The fine effect of a ship under sail is entirely lost to one on board; and it is only at sea, and under circumstances like these, that it can be observed.

6. The power of the swell, lifting that huge body as lightly as an egg-shell on its bosom, and tossing it sometimes half out

*Hal'i-fax, a city and the capital of Nova Scotia, is situated on Chebucto Bay. The harbor of Halifax is one of the best in America: a thousand ships may ride in it in safety.

Falmouth, a seaport town of England, is situated at the mouth of the river Fal. The town consists principally of one street, running nearly a mile along the coast.

of the water without the slightest apparent effort, is astònishing. I sat on deck watching her with undiminished interest for hours.

7. Apart from the spectacle, the feeling of companionship, meeting human beings in the middle of the ocean after so long a deprivation of society, was delightful; for we had passed five days without seeing a sail, and nearly three weeks, unspoken from land.

8. Our brig was the fastest sailor of the two; but our captain took in some of his canvas for company's sake. All the afternoon we heard her half-hour bells, the boatswain's whistle, and the orders of the officers of the deck; and I could distinguish very well, with a glass, the expression of the faces, watching our own really beautiful vessel as she skimmed over the water like a bird.

9. We parted at sunset, the man-of-war making northerly for her port, and we stretching south for the coast of France. I watched her till she went over the horizon; and I felt as if we had lost friends when the night closed in, and we were once more "alone on the wide, wide sea."

QUESTIONS.-What is required of the class in this exercise? Which is the first example marked? On what word does the falling inflection occur in this example? Why? Which is the next example marked? &c., &c. Point out some examples which are not marked, and tell where the falling inflection is required. What and where is Halifax? What is said of Falmouth?

SECTION IX.

CIRCUMFLEX.

THE CIRCUMFLEX is the union of the rising and falling inflections on the same syllable or word, producing a slight undulation, or wave of the voice.

QUESTION.-What is the circumflex?

We apprehend that the circumflex occurs much more frequently than.is usually supposed, as will be seen by the following examples, under Contrast and Comparison. Examples like these are regarded by many elocutionists as taking opposite inflections; one clause having the rising, and the other the falling. But the circumflex, instead of the rising inflection, is undoubtedly the one which is more generally heard in contrast with the falling, in all such examples.

RULE 9. The circumflex is used in language of irony, condition, contrast, comparison, &c., and in peculiarly significant expressions.

EXAMPLES
Irony.

1. No doubt but he is free from ambition. 2. A pretty fellow you are, I must confess.

3. Boasting traitor! of course you would protect your country!

Condition.

1. If every one would mend himself, we should all be mended. 2. Unless the laws are executed on the great, they will not be obeyed.

3. Though he were rich as Croesus,* yet he ought to obey the laws.

4. Though I give all my goods to feed the poòr, yet have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Contrast.

1. Knowledge is not obtained in a moment.

2. Peculiarities are easily acquired; but it is very difficult to eràdicate them.

QUESTIONS. - What is said of the circumflex? How are the examples under Contrast and Comparison regarded by many élocutionists? What is more generally heard in contrast with the falling inflection, in examples of this kind? What is the rule for the use of the circumflex? Read the examples of Irony. Point out the words on which the circumflex occurs. Pronounce them separately, with the circumflex movement of the voice. Read the examples under Contrast. Point out the words which are marked. Pronounce them sepa

rately, with the required movement of the voice, &c., &c. of Crœsus?

What is said

* Cro'sus, the last king of Lydia, in Asia Minor. He lived in the sixth sentury before Christ, and was renowned for his immense wealth.

3. Some men talk like wise men, but àct like fools.

4. We can not pluck thorns from another's bosom, without planting roses in our òwn.

Comparison.

1. Never refuse a good offer in hopes of a better one.

2. Always distinguish between apparent truths and real ones. 3. Better be upright with poverty, than depraved with abundance. 4. It is better to do and not pròmise, than to promise and not perfōrm.

EXERCISE.

MEN'S RIGHTS.-TODD.

[The reader may point out the examples in this exercise where the circumflex occurs, and tell the class, or the kind, to which each one belongs.]

1. You are aware that the ladies, dear sõuls, have just been holding a most important Convention, at which they had resolutions, speeches, addresses, and appeals, in abundance, but no prayers. There were eloquence, wit, sharp and pointed rebuke, and thrilling disclosures of unsuspected facts, -all on the subject of Woman's Rights.

2. There was a Rev. Miss, besides doctoresses and the like; and they seemed to unite in one deep lamentation over the wrongs, oppressions, and slavery of woman in these United States. I read the newspapers containing full reports of this convention, and rubbed my eyes, trying to get them wide open; for I had hitherto supposed that the ladies of this country were held in high esteem, and were treated so tenderly that they had no wish to complain.

3. Alas, alas! I find they are bowed down and trampled upon; and there is not one drop of misery in the most galling slavery, which our ladies have not tasted; not one word in the recital of the wrongs of Egyptian bondage,* that can not apply to them. So they tell us.

*Egyptian bondage, a bondage the most rigorous and unreasonable, which was inflicted upon the Israelites for several centuries by the hard-hearted kings of Egypt,

4. Well, I sat and thought it over, till my soul was moved; and with sorrow I thought what a cruel creature I had been, all my life, to my wife, daughters, and sisters! To be sure, I have always given my poor earnings into my wife's hands to spend for the family; because I knew she could do it better than I; and I have given my daughters the best education possible, and far better than I had.

5. But what then? Are they not oppressed? Don't they have to use a side-saddle, while I don't? Don't they have to carry a muff, and sit under the buffalo, in a cold day, while Ĩ have the privilege of driving? When the snow is deep, don't they have to wait till I can dig paths?

6. Ah me! and is there nothing to be said on the other side? Suppose we carry the war into the enemy's camp a little, and speak of our sufferings and grievances. Can we not excite sympathy if we speak of our unredressed wrongs?

7. Now I propose to call a Man's Convention in some important place, say Matildatown, and to have a meeting of the greatest and best, the wisest and the boldest, and see if we can not emancipate ourselves from this thralldom.

8. What do I propose? What a question! Why, sir, I would have a cavalcade of butchers as long as Maiden Lane;* and I would let them tell how they had been compelled to do the dirty, disagreeable work of killing calves and pigs, sheep and oxen, and then dressing and cutting and carrying them to the door, and feeling very thankful if dear woman would just come out to the cart, and point, with her jeweled finger, at the piece she would like for the table!

9. I would have a long line of coal-diggers come up from the deep mines where they live, two miles from daylight, and never see the bright heavens but once a week; and they should come with their little lamps in their caps, and all covered with coal-dust! No, they would not come; they could n't be spared long enough.

* Maiden Lane, the name of a street in the city of New York.

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