ne, reinforced in all the chambers of
the head, passes into the mouth, and is there moulded by the
juxtaposition of the organs of speech (lips, teeth, tongue) into the
word, the single, monosyllabic word, Yes or No, which frames the
thought. Now, once more, with closed eyes, sense the process and hold
the sensation, but do not speak the word. Now, still once more, and this
time, speak. Alas! did we say we were "makers of music"? Is this
harmony,--this harsh, hard, breathy, strident note? What is the trouble?

First of all, fundamental to all, and beyond a doubt the secret of the
dissonance, you did not breathe before you spoke or as you spoke. I
mean, really breathe. And that is the first point to be attacked.
Breathe, breathe, breathe! you must learn how to breathe; you must get
your pump, your diaphragm, into working order, you must master it, you
must control it, you must not fetter it, you must give it a free chance
to do its work. If you are a man, you have probably at least been fair
in not tying down your pump; you have not incased yourself in steel
bands and drawn them so tight that your diaphragm could not descend and
perform its office. Yes, and if you are the athletic girl of to-day, you
have probably learned the delight and benefit of free muscular action.
But you may still be suffering from the effect of your mother's crime in
this direction. It may have sent you into the world with weakened
muscles in control of the great pumping-station upon which must depend
the beauty of your voice.

But whatever the condition or the cause, it must, if wrong, be made
right. We must learn to breathe properly, freely, naturally. (Do not
confuse _naturally_ and "habitually." In this connection these terms are
opposites rather than synonyms.) To breathe naturally we must do away
with all constriction. We must choose between the alleged beauty of a
disproportionately small waist and the charm of a beautiful and
alluring voice. We cannot have both. Then, off with tight corsets! Thank
Heaven! they are the exception and not the rule to-day. Please note that
I distinctly do not say, "Off with corsets," but only "Off with
_ill-fitting_ corsets," for which tight is but another name. I believe,
to digress a moment, with our present method of dress, a properly fitted
corset is an absolute necessity, except in the rare instances where a
perfectly proportioned and slender figure is also under the control of
firm, well-trained muscles