se and
excellence in the working of their delicate mechanism much practice is
necessary. The pupil should persistently read aloud. A practice of this
sort, watchfully pursued, with a reasonable degree of self-discipline in
the correction or avoidance of errors, is helpful not alone in obtaining
a mastery of the reading art, and in mental culture,--it is equally
beneficial as a physical exercise. It will, however, be much more
efficacious of good, both of mind and of body, if pursued in accordance
with those principles of voice culture and of vocal interpretation,
which experience and special study have established.

But only a small proportion of all the reading that is done, is oral
reading. It is _silent_ reading that is universally employed as an
instrument of study, of business, of amusement. As a rule, however, very
little provision is made for the acquirement of a facility in silent
reading; this, it is thought, will result as a by-product of the regular
training in oral reading. Almost the reverse of this is true. Ease and
flexibility of articulation, quickness in catching the drift of ideas,
and readiness in varying the tones of the voice in the utterance of
words so as impressively to portray their latent sentiment,--all this is
possible with those alone to whom difficult word-forms, complex
sentence-structures, and the infinite variety and play of thought and
emotion, are more or less familiar through such a wide range of reading
as only the silent prosecution of it makes possible.

The art of oral reading, however, though not so generally needful as
silent reading, is still of great importance to everyone in respect of
its practical utility simply,--though few of those whose duty it is to
read aloud in public, do so either with accuracy or grace; as an
accomplishment which may be used to give pleasure to others, it is, when
perfectly possessed, not excelled by any other; so that as an
acquisition which puts one in a position of vantage either for
benefitting one's self or for bestowing delight or benefit upon others,
it is worth every necessary struggle for its attainment.

One of the most valuable results of oral reading when systematically
pursued as a school study, is the effect which it has in improving the
tones of the voice for ordinary conversation and discourse, and in
securing some measure of orthoepy as a fixed habit of utterance.
Conversational speech is notoriously slovenly. The sonority of our