r
the prostrate skater. If we produce painful instead of pleasing sounds
with our instrument, we shall not persist in a merciless process of tone
production; but we shall proceed to study diligently the laws governing
the control of the instrument until we have mastered its technique and
made it an agent of harmonious intercourse. We shall take the first
steps with a conscious purpose, the purpose to make our speech worthy of
its great social and human function.

Then in this spirit I invite you "to plunge." I furnish as the material
for your experiment these sentences:

DISCUSSION OF DIRECT APPEAL

Do you ask me, then, what is this Puritan principle?

The Puritan principle in its essence is simply individual
freedom!--CURTIS.

Mind your own business with your absolute will and soul, but see
that it is a good business first.--RUSKIN.

Back to the bridge and show your teeth again,
Back to the bridge and show to God your eyes!--MACKAYE.

What news, and quickly!--MACKAYE.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal
to your tasks.--PHILLIPS BROOKS.

Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home. Is this a
holiday?--SHAKESPEARE.

And so, gentlemen, at this hour we are not Republicans, we are not
Democrats, we are Americans!--CURTIS.

I shall not discuss the interpretation of these sentences with you. I
shall not interpret them for you. Such discussion and interpretation is
your part in this study. But you are not to discuss them with a pencil
on paper; you are to interpret them with your voice to another mind.

Let us stop here and consider together for a few moments this act which
we call Vocal Interpretation (which might be more simply designated as
Reading Aloud), and with which these first studies are concerned. What
does it mean to vocally interpret a piece of literature--a poem, a play,
a bit of prose; a paragraph, a sentence, or even a single word? It means
that you, the interpreter, must transfer the thought contained in that
word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph from the printed page to the mind
of an auditor. It means that you must take the thought out of the safety
vault and put it into circulation. That is your problem, and it presents
three factors. You cannot slight any one of these factors and expect to
successfully solve your problem. These factors are: your author's
thought, your own voice, and your a