I turned in my saddle and made its girth tight, The following selection, from its mental vivacity, will serve as an excellent illustration of quick movement : 2. To a Skylark.—Shelley. Hail to thee, blithe spirit, Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it, In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. The deep blue thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. 3. "Every difficulty, and every trial, that occurs in your path is a fresh opportunity presented by his kindness of improving the happiness after which he hath taught you to aspire. By every hardship which you sustain in the wilderness you secure an additional portion of the promised land. What though the combat be severe? A kingdom, an everlasting kingdom, is the prize of victory. Look forward to the triumph which awaits you, and your courage will revive. Fight the good fight, finish your course, keep the faith there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give unto you at that day. What though, in the navigation of life, you have sometimes to encounter the war of elements? What though the winds rage, though the waters roar, and danger threatens around? Behold at a distance the mountains appear. Your friends are impatient for your arrival; already the feast is prepared, and the rage of the storm shall serve only to waft you sooner to the haven of rest. No tempests assail those blissful regions which approach to view-all is peaceful and serene; there you shall enjoy eternal comfort, and the recollection of the hardships which you now encounter shall heighten the felicity of better days." CHAPTER XI. PAUSES. ONE means of separating the various divisions of thought in a sentence or paragraph is by proper rests, or pauses. Words which express one idea are thus set apart by themselves, and the ear instinctively associates this classification of language with the relations of a single thought. The length of the pause is decided by the impressiveness of the thought we are striving to convey, or the emphasis we would give to one expression over another, by resting in preparation, or pausing after the emphatic idea, in order that it may be duly received. All impressive and emphatic effect is especially dependent upon this element of expression. This may be seen by observing closely the natural result of pausing when a teacher would impress the memory, or emphasize a thought, or when a parent would give explanatory instruction or administer earnest rebuke to his child. To run the words together, without these natural separations by pausing, is very much like the old style of printing without spacing between the words. There are few things in utterance which render the effect so puerile and expressionless as the disregard of these natural cessations of voice at the appropriate intervals. For this implies that the mind is not working consciously and intently, and is very much like the unmeaning sameness of a child's voice, in syllabication, while learning to read. But the right use of the pause implies not merely the intelligent appreciation of the thought expressed, but the determination to impress it on others. It pertains to mastery, in the effect of expression, by deliberate self-control, and by the utterance of the clearly defined conception of the idea. A speaker who is impelled by nervousness or excitement omits the rests which should impart an air of deliberation and thoughtfulness to the style, and reveals thereby a weakness, in being controlled by surrounding circumstances, rather than by what he intends to express. It will be found, by attentive study and observation, that a pause preceding, as well as following, the emphatic word, gives great character to the expression. It implies, in such a case, the deliberate intention of maintaining the truth which is asserted, and assuming all the responsibility which such an assertion may imply-e. g., in the passage: "I maintain that the assertion is willfully and maliciously false," to give the word "false" with the strongest emphatic effect necessitates a pause before and after "willfully" and "maliciously," and that a pause preceding "false" be added to the pause following "maliciously," so as to double the time of the rest given after the word "willfully." The same impressive effect is frequently heard where there is solemnity of feeling to be conveyed. As: "There is one sure refuge for the oppressed, one sure resting-place for the weary-the grave." To disregard the pause preceding the words "the grave" annuls the sense, but is still more destructive to anything like solemn emotion. There are few mechanical rules which can avail much to guide the voice in pausing, for it depends largely on every change of thought and feeling. The old-time direction of regarding the points of punctuation, as if primarily ar ranged for the elocutionary expression of the thought, has, fortunately, given way to something more sensible and reliable. It would undoubtedly be very convenient in reading if some system of punctuation could be devised to guide the rests of the voice in length and frequency, according to the intention of the author. This, however, would be complicated, and is impracticable. The use of the points of punctuation is for the grammatical arrangement of words, and not necessarily for distinctions of thought, or emphasis of feeling. This does not forbid a frequent coincidence of the pauses of the voice with the points of punctuation, but they are used in the text for another purpose, and frequently can not be observed in reading without subverting the sense. Moreover, the pause of the voice at completed sense, and, consequently, at a period, would be varied in its length according to the varieties of feeling. Under the influence of excited feeling, a pause of this sort would be very brief, while the reverse would be true if impressive thought or deep and solemn emotion were to be conveyed. There are also frequent pauses, some of them in the utterance of depth of feeling, and many of them very long, when no grammatical point can be found. Aproper introduction of pauses, to mark the natural divisions of the discourse, rests the ear and assists the memory. Even the pause preceding the discourse has much to do with the commanding effect of delivery. It implies a just regard of the solemnity of the office of declaring spiritual and momentous truth, and mastery of the occasion. Like other effects which are appropriate in their proper places, excessive use of this element of power becomes a defect. For let what might be termed the preparative pauses of a discourse be carried the slightest fraction of a second too far, and the effect not only loses all solemnity, but becomes positively ludicrous. The Pause at the Introductory Words "saying," "say," and "said."-At the end of the Exhortation for Daily Prayer we have the expression, "Wherefore I pray and be seech you to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace, saying—” In the American book the word "saying" is punctuated with a dash after the word, which would seem to imply that the pause belongs properly here, at the end of the exhortation, and that the word should be uttered before kneeling. The opinion is expressed with great deference to those who prefer to utter it as immediately introductory to the Confession. But, if the English book be examined, it will be noted that, in the earlier prayer-books of 1552, 1559, 1604, and 1662, the phrase was originally "saying after me.", printed with a period, which would seem to render it inappropriate as an immediate introduction to the Confession. And, according to the last English standard, the same phrase is used" saying after me;"-printed with a semicolon. These are the reasons why it seems fitting to use the word saying" as a part of the Exhortation, and not simply as an introduction to the Confession. 66 In the Thanksgiving of the Baptismal Service, there being no rubric for change of posture, the expression, "Let us faithfully and devoutly give thanks unto Him, and say," is followed by a comma, which would seem to place it with the Exhortation, rather than with the Thanksgiving after it. In the Preface to the Decalogue, the deliberate emphasis on the word "said," in the expression, "God spake these words and said," with the pause following, gives weight to the thought of the Divine authority in the proclamation of the Law. The whole moral effect of the extract below depends upon the gradually retarded movement, and the pause preceding and following "His" in the last line. Pause. "I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our in completeness Round our restlessness His rest." |