ly with its
character. Thus the terrific roar of the lion, and the soft cooing of the
dove, correspond exactly with their respective dispositions; while the
rough and powerful bellow of the bull, the fierce yell of the tiger, the
coarse guttural moan of the hyena, and the swinish grunt, the sweet
warblings of birds, in contrast with the raven's croak, and owl's hoot,
each corresponds perfectly with their respective characteristics. And this
law holds equally true of man--that the human intonations are as superior
to brutal as human character exceeds animal. Accordingly, the
peculiarities of every human being are expressed in his voice, and mode of
speaking. Coarse-grained and powerfully animal organizations have a
coarse, harsh, and grating voice, while in exact proportion as persons
become refined, and elevated mentally, will their tones of voice become
correspondingly refined and perfected. We little realize how much of
character we infer from this source. Thus, some female friends are
visiting me transiently. A male friend, staying with me, enters the room,
is seen by my female company, and his walks, dress, manners, etc., closely
scrutinized, yet says nothing, and retires, leaving a comparatively
indistinct impression as to his character upon my female visitors,
whereas, if he simply said yes or no, the mere SOUND of his voice
communicates to their minds most of his character, and serves to fix
distinctly upon their minds clear and correct general ideas of his
mentality.

The barbarous races use the guttural sounds, more than the civilized. Thus
Indians talk more down the throat than white men, and thus of those men
who are lower or higher in the human scale. Those whose voices are clear
and distinct have clear minds, while those who only half form their words,
or are heard indistinctly, say by deaf persons, are mentally obtuse. Those
who have sharp, shrill intonations have correspondingly intense feelings,
and equal sharpness both of anger and kindness, as is exemplified by every
scold in the world; whereas those with smooth, or sweet voices have
corresponding evenness and goodness of character. Yet contradictory as it
may seem, these same persons not unfrequently combine both sharpness and
softness of voice, and such always combine them in character. There is
also the intellectual, the moral, the animal, the selfish, the benignant,
the mirthful, the devout, the love, and many other intonations, each
accompanying c