in social circles. But perhaps of more immediate importance is the fact that the student who reads well derives vastly more enjoyment from the study of literature than one who has not this ability.

A Set of Rules Unnecessary. We do not need to study a set of rules in order to learn to read well; all that we need is to learn to read as we talk. If we raise our voices in reading because some one tells us to do so, we are mere machines instead of human beings. The machine moves when some force is applied from without; the human being moves because of life within.

Dr. S. S. Curry defines the art of reading aloud as "the art of turning cold, monotonous print into the living movement of conversation." It is quite evident that we do not need a rule to tell us when to raise or lower the voice in conversation. We modulate our voices unconsciously in accordance with our thoughts and feelings. We are using daily in our conversation all the inflections and qualities of tone which are necessary in our reading. If we ask a question which demands "yes" or "no" for an answer, we use the rising inflection: for example, "Did you go to town?" If we ask a question which demands some other kind of an answer, we use the falling inflection: for example, "Why did you go to town?" The quality of tone which we use is affected by our feelings. If we should hear voices in an adjoining room, even though we could not see the faces or distinguish the words, we should know, by the quality of the tone, whether the speakers were gay or sad, friendly or angry.

One Rule Only. - Professor S. H. Clark of the University of Chicago gives but one rule to his students of reading: "Get the thought; hold the thought; give the

thought." When we examine this rule closely, we find that it expresses exactly what one does in conversation. Let us take an example of a conversation which would require deep thought. If a boy should try to explain a problem in algebra to a friend, he would get an understanding of the problem himself before he began to explain it; he would hold that understanding in his mind while he was explaining it; and he would desire to give that understanding to his friend. Let us take an example of a conversation which would require the use of the imagination. If a boy wished to describe to his brother how Tom made a home run, he would be obliged first to get a mind picture of Tom making a home run by going to the game; he would then hold the picture in his mind while describing it; and he would desire to give the same mental picture to his brother. Again, let us take an example of a bit of conversation which would express feeling. If a girl should say to her mother, "I think that Mary is the nicest girl in our class," she must have had a feeling of admiration before she spoke; she would hold the feeling while she spoke; and she would desire to give that feeling of admiration to her mother.

We see, then, that a good reader is merely an interpreter, or a "go-between," revealing to his hearers the thought or emotion of the author. The reason that we are not all good readers is that we see only words on the page and do not follow Professor Clark's rule.

I. How To GET THE THOUGHT

Necessity of Study. In order to get the thought, we must study the selection which we expect to read aloud. Even an experienced reader cannot render a selection

perfectly at sight. The best actors spend many hours in studying the meaning and in trying to get the spirit of the lines which they recite.

General Study. Our study should be, at first, of a general nature. We should seek to get the main thought of the whole selection. Before we can do this, it will be necessary to look up all doubtful words in the dictionary and to search for the meaning of historical allusions. We should next try to get the atmosphere or pervading spirit of the whole. Some knowledge of the life of the author will often assist us in this matter, as will also the circumstances under which the thought was first written or delivered. After having made these researches, we should test the strength of our grasp upon the author's thought by condensing the idea of each paragraph into a sentence expressed in our own words. This test should be used in the study of poetry as well as of prose. We shall not always be able, however, to express each stanza in a separate sentence, for it sometimes requires two or more stanzas or parts of stanzas to express a single thought. Phrasing. We should follow this general study by a special study of each sentence. In the first place, we should give particular attention to phrasing. This is a term applied to the division of a sentence into thoughtgroups. Notice that there are five thought-groups in the following sentence, and that each group adds one more detail to our picture of the situation: "When war broke out between Spain and the United States,/it was very necessary/to communicate quickly/with the leader of the insurgents."

If we were telling this story in conversation, we should naturally pause between these thought-groups. Some

pauses, it is true, would be longer than others. The pause after "United States" would probably be the longest, while that after "quickly" would be the shortest. In general, the greater the break in the thought, the longer the pause.

Although pauses often occur at punctuation marks, these signs cannot be depended upon as reliable guides in the division of sentences into thought-groups, for punctuation is used primarily to indicate grammatical structure. For instance, in the sentence given above the pauses occur at three points where there are no punctuation marks. On the other hand, in the sentence, "He is a bright, pretty little child," a pause after pretty would be quite unnatural, although it is followed by a The character of the thought, and that only, should determine for us the position and length of the pauses.

comma.

A reader who "minds his pauses " is said to have good phrasing. The term is used also in music, where it means the grouping of tones into musical phrases, or thoughts. If one is to have good expression either in reading or in music, he must first of all have good phrasing.

Emphasis. In the second place, we must decide what is more important and what is less important in each sentence. If the mind really grasps the relative importance of words or thought-groups, the voice will express that importance by what is called emphasis.

Let us first consider the relative importance of words. Read, for example, the following simple conversations. Notice that the same five words, "I saw your father today," are found in the last line of each conversation, but that in each case a different word is emphasized.

CONVERSATION I

John: "Did you see my father to-day, Mary?"
Mary: "No, I did not, John."

Teacher: "I saw your father to-day, John."

CONVERSATION II

John: "Did you talk with my father to-day, Mary?"
Mary: "No, but I saw your father to-day, John."

CONVERSATION III

John: "Did you see my father to-day, Miss Blank?"
Teacher: "No, John, but I saw your father to-day, Mary."

CONVERSATION IV

John: "Did you see my mother to-day, Miss Blank?"
Teacher: "No, but I saw your father to-day, John."

CONVERSATION V

John: "Did you see my father yesterday, Mary?"
Mary: "No, but I saw your father to-day, John."

In reading these conversations, you have probably found that, when you wished to emphasize a word, or make it important, you raised the pitch of your voice on that word. If the word had more than one syllable, the rise in pitch occurred on the accented syllable. Should you translate one of these conversations into German, French, Spanish, or any other language which you are studying, you would find the same to be true in a foreign tongue; that is, although the word order might be changed, the voice would stress the accented syllable of the important word. Sometimes the emphasis is distributed over several words; as, for example, in the sentence,