in a broader
sense than this. To emphasize a word is not merely to put a special
stress of the voice upon that word. Such an attack might only make the
word conspicuous and so defeat the aim of true emphasis. True emphasis
is the art of voicing the words in a phrase so that they shall assume a
right relation to one another and, so related, best suggest the thought
of which they are the symbols. I do not emphasize one word in a phrase
and not the others. I simply vary my stress upon each word, in order to
gain the proper perspective for the whole sentence. Just so, in a
picture, I make one object stand out, and others fall into the
background, by drawing or painting them in proper relation to one
another. I may use any or all of the "elements of vocal expression" to
give that proper relation of values to the words in a single phrase. I
may pause, change my pitch, vary my inflection, and alter my
tone-color, in order to give a single word its full value. Let us try
experiments in emphasis with some isolated sentences before analyzing
the longer passage. Here is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's beautifully
wrought periods:

"Every man has a sane spot somewhere."

Let us vary, vocally, the relative values of the words in this sentence,
and study the effect upon the character of the thought. Let us look upon
the statement as a theme for discussion. With a pause before the second
word, "man," a lift of the voice on that word, a whimsical turn of the
tone, and a significant inflection, we may convert an innocent statement
of fact into an incendiary question for debate on the comparative sanity
of the sexes. A plea for endless faith and charity becomes a back-handed
criticism of women. Now let us read the sentence, giving it its true
meaning. "Every man has a sane spot somewhere." Let your voice make of
the statement a plea, by dwelling a bit on the first word and again on
the last word. Hyphenate the first two words (they really stand for one
idea). Compound also the words "sane" and "spot." Lift them as a single
word above the rest of the sentence. Now put "somewhere" a little higher
still above the level of the rest of the sentence. So, only, have we the
true import of this group of words:

some

where.

sane-spot

Every-

man has a

Analyze the rest of these sentences from Stevenson in the sam