BODILY EXERCISE AND PURE AIR.

There are no two things more necessary to physical health, energy, and endurance than bodily exercise and pure air. A strong, clear, resonant voice is never found associated with a weak or sickly body. It is impossible to strengthen, deepen, or to increase the compass of the voice, or the energy and impressiveness of delivery, except by strengthening the body. He, then, who would increase his vocal power and his effectiveness in declamation or in public discourse, must take much bodily exercise.

Students of every class, and all persons engaged in sedentary pursuits, can keep the body strong by exercising in a pure atmosphere, ten minutes at a time, three times a day. To obtain the benefits resulting from athletic exercises, it is not necessary that you should have a well appointed gymnasium in which to practice. Free gymnastics, or gymnastic exercises without apparatus, will serve the needs of all but those who desire to acquire remarkable muscular power or great athletic skill. There are but few exercises with apparatus that may not be almost as profitably practiced without apparatus. By executing the movements of the woodman, when chopping, the same muscles are brought into action and in the same way as if chopping with an ax; you can tax your muscles almost as much by lifting at an imaginary weight as if practicing upon the health-lift, and can expend as much strength pulling at an imaginary rope as a real one.

The best time to take exercise is when you are reminded by your feelings that you need it. The greater the number of muscles that are brought into play in any exercise, the greater will be the benefit derived from it if it be energetically practiced. Quick and vigorous exercises, such as running, jumping, boxing, fencing, etc., increase the action of the lungs, and cause rapid breathing. They should be practiced with moderation at first, but the rapidity and

energy of the movements ought to be increased with every repetition. In prolonged, sustained, muscular exertion, as in heavy lifting, in pushing and in pulling, the lungs must be filled just as the effort is about to be made, and the breath held hard until it is ended. In exercises of this class, tax your strength and endurance to the utmost. Any unpleasant feeling that you may experience while putting forth the effort will pass away the moment the effort ceases. Whatever exercise you engage in, practice it with energy, and continue it until you perspire freely-the more freely the better-and immediately after the exercise wash your face, hands, and wrists in cold water; it will refresh you, and almost entirely remove your liability to take cold.

Commence with any of the following exercises, and as soon as you become tired with one take another. By varying the exercises you rest the muscles that are tired, and bring into action others that were at rest. Keep the head erect, the chest expanded, and the body straight. Do not practice any thing in a careless, awkward manner, but endeavor to do every thing that you attempt, gracefully and well. A course of training in free and light gymnastics is the very best preparation that a student can have for exercises in action, gesture, and dramatic expression.

GYMNASTIC EXERCISES.

1. Strike out vigorously from the shoulder, with clenched fist, several times in succession, first with the right hand, then with the left; then alternate, delivering a blow with one hand, then with the other: energize the entire muscular system, and spring on tip-toe the moment the blow is delivered; instantly afterwards relax the muscles, and let the heels come to the ground.

2. Raise the hands above the head, keep the arms and the knees straight, then bend slowly downward from the

hips until the hands touch the feet, in which position remain for a few moments, then return slowly to the first position. Repeat the movement as often as you can do it without suffering.

3. Extend the arms at full length in front, on a level with the shoulder, the palms of the hands touching, then throw the arms forcibly backwards, so that the backs of the hands are brought as near together as possible.

4. Swing the arms in a circle; begin by moving the arms from the sides upward, directly to the front, then by the sides of the head backward and downward, behind, as far back as possible. The movement should be quick and vigorous, and when the arms come down, spring up on tip-toe, with the knees straight, and the trunk erect.

5. Miscellaneous Exercises.-Imitate as perfectly as you can the motions of the head, trunk, and limbs of a person engaged in turning a large grindstone, or ringing a very large bell, in chopping with an ax, working with a sledgehammer or a heavy maul, or with a cross-cut saw; when pulling at a rope, lifting on a health-lift machine, or moving in any other way; in swimming, in pitching a ball, throwing a lance, in boxing, fencing, or any other athletic exercise.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS OF READING AND ELOCUTION.

1. The teacher who is unable to explain readily, clearly, and fully whatever it may be necessary for him to explain to his pupils concerning the subjects on which they are receiving instruction from him, or who is incapable of doing in a creditable manner that which it is his duty to teach his pupils how to do, is incompetent to fill his position. To teach art successfully, the teacher must have a critical and practical knowledge of the art.

2. Present whatever you undertake to explain to your pupils in the fewest words consistent with clearness, and in the simplest manner. Prepare your lessons thoroughly beforehand, then you will be able to talk directly to the point.

3. Good methods, to the teacher who understands how to use them, are invaluable; but to those who do not, they are no better than the worst.

4. The teacher who is conscious of his inability to teach any branch successfully will not be likely to excite in the minds of his pupils a great degree of interest in the subject by any thing that he says or does.

5. Instruction in elocution must commence with plain and simple explanations—not with tedious and obscure explanations and minute verbal distinctions.

6. The teacher of elocution must be able to explain what should be done, why it should be done, and must also be able to show how it should be done.

7. Instead of poems and impassioned dramatic extracts, let the beginner make his selections entirely from prose: such passages as are easy and familiar, pure in sentiment and style, and so interesting that he can fully enter into the spirit. If he is old enough, let him write off his piece, and read it over again and again, until the language becomes in a manner his own, and let him listen with careful attention to the tones of his voice, and decide as well as his taste and understanding can aid him, whether they are natural and convey the exact meaning in the best manner or not.

8. All students of elocution should be subjected to a thorough course of discipline in vocal gymnastics. They ought to be exercised frequently in the rising and the falling slides in all their modulations, and on all those intonations of the voice which express feeling and definite meaning; they must find out for themselves how these elements of expression should be applied in all other examples except those given for illustration.

9. Attention should be given to the manner in which pupils habitually speak when they ask or answer questions, and to the way they speak when engaged in reading or elocutionary exercises. Whatever benefit pupils may derive from the regular reading or elocutionary exercises is likely to be lost by careless and faulty utterance at all other times.

10. "As we sow, so shall we reap," is not more true in a moral than it is in a material sense. If the teacher evinces a lack of interest, and is careless about his work, his pupils will become careless and indifferent. If, on the other hand, he is capable and deeply interested in his work, he will seldom fail to awaken interest in them.

11. Encourage your pupils to write out their thoughts: this will stimulate to original thought and expression. A new thought must be fully apprehended and appreciated before it can be applied.

12. We must know the subject we wish to teach. We must know what has to be done in order to teach it successfully, and we must be able to do whatever it may be necessary to do to teach it well.

13. Reduce every subject to its simplest form one difficulty at a time is enough for any one. Proceed step by step. Be thorough: the measure of benefit derived is not in proportion to the amount of instruction given, but to the amount that is understood and appreciated.

14. The teacher of elocution must always be prepared to exemplify, by his own reading, any sentence or passage in the lesson assigned to his pupils. It is impossible to teach them how to read well without frequent illustration and example.

15. Do not attempt too much, but whatever you commence continue until the pupil understands it. If a great many ideas are presented in one lesson, they will not be distinctly remembered, much less digested.

16. Tell your pupils only that which it is most important for them to know, and which they could not find out with

K. N. E.-10.