From "Enigmas of Life."-Greg.

"When the portals of this world have been passed, when time and sense have been left behind, and this "body of death" has dropped away from the liberated soul, everything which clouded the perceptions, which dulled the vision, which drugged the conscience, while on earth, will be cleared off like a morning mist. We shall see all things as they really are ourselves and our sins among the number. No other punishment, whether retributive or purgatorial, will be needed. Naked truth, unfilmed eyes, will do all that the most righteous vengeance could desire. Every now and then we have a glimpse of such perceptions while on earth. Times come to all of us when the passions, by some casual influence or some sobering shock, have been wholly lulled to rest, when all disordered emotions have drunk repose

'From the cool cisterns of the midnight air,' and when, for a few brief and ineffectual instants, the temptations which have led us astray, the pleasures for which we have bartered away the future, the desires to which we have sacrificed our peace, appear to us in all their wretched folly and miserable meanness. From our feelings then we may form a faint imagination of what our feelings will be hereafter, when this occasional and imperfect glimpse shall have become a perpetual flood of light, irradiating all the darkest places of our earthly pathway, piercing through all veils, scattering all delusions, burning up all sophistries; when the sensual man, all desires and appetites now utterly extinct, shall stand amazed and horror-struck at the low promptings to which he once yielded himself up in such ignominious slavery, and shall sink in loathing and shame from the reflected image of his own animal brutality; when the hard, grasping, sordid man, come now into a world where wealth can purchase nothing, where gold has no splendors and luxury no meaning, shall be almost unable to com

prehend how he could ever have valued such unreal goods; when the malignant, the passionate, the cruel man, everything which called forth his vices now swept away with the former existence, shall appear to himself as he appeared to others upon earth, shall hate himself as others hated him upon earth. We shall see, judge, feel about all things there perfectly and constantly, as we saw, judged, and felt about them partially in our rare better and saner moments here. We shall think that we must have been mad if we did not too well know that we had been willful. Every urgent appetite, every boiling passion, every wild ambition, which obscured and confused our reason here below, will have been burnt away in the valley of the shadow of death; every subtle sophistry with which we blinded or excused ourselves on earth will have vanished before the clear glance of a disembodied spirit; nothing will intervene between us and the truth. Stripped of all the disguising drapery of honeyed words and false refractions, we shall see ourselves as we are; we shall judge ourselves as God has always judged us. Our lost or misused opportunities; our forfeited birthright; our glorious possibility, ineffable in its glory; our awful actuality, ineffable in its awfulness; the nature which God gave us, the nature we have made ourselves; the destiny for which He designed us, the destiny to which we have doomed ourselves-all these things will grow and fasten on our thoughts till the contemplation must terminate in madness, were not madness a mercy belonging to the world of flesh alone.”

In closing this discussion upon manner, the student will realize, as in other parts of this treatise, the extreme difficulty of describing sound, and defects of manner, by the use of words alone. But it is hoped that some thought has been awakened, in connection with this topic, which may be found serviceable. If it shall assist in self-criticism, it will serve as a test by which the speaker can recognize

the elements of his own effectiveness, or show reason for the want of it, should it be lacking. If, for instance, after reviewing the topic of "life," and reading experimentally the illustrative extracts under that head, he can satisfy himself that he possesses what will be reasonably required of this animating effect; and if he will pursue a similar course under all the divisions of the present topic, he will find that he has at hand elements which will guide him in the formation of an expressive manner. The object is, of course, to hold the mirror up to nature," and, in the light of such reflection, the speaker may, in his study, properly thus catechise himself: "Have I sufficient animation? Am I impressively forcible? Is my style cordial enough? And am I so far pleasing as a speaker that I can say that there is nothing repellant in my manner?”

CHAPTER II.

GESTURE.

The public speaker should remember that everything pertaining to his voice, action, posture, or dress, relates immediately to expression. The embattlements of the pulpit do not protect him from this. Even if the body be almost hidden from view, the effect of the right bearing is still apparent in the carriage of the shoulders, the chest, and the head; and there is the language of facial expression, and the graphic gesture of the hand. Speech is to be made not only audible, but also visible in action. To disregard any of these effects, or to convert that which was meant to be expressively communicative into positive subversion of its appointed use (whether it follows from the perversions of bad habit or of false taste), this is to be at variance with Nature, and needlessly to impair the speaker's

power. Let him then remember that, as a communicative creature, he is to make his voice and his action naturally, effectively, and appropriately expressive.

The precise degree of power in expression will, of course, be greatly varied, according to the temperament of the individual. To some, reticence is as natural as utterance to others, and stillness of body to one as incessant action to another. But just as the inexpressive man is to learn the art of expression, so is the inactive speaker to learn the habit of action. In any case, the action should be expressive, even reserved action may be made so, and every posture, every look, every gesture, should mean something, and should be made to enforce or convey the precise meaning which the speaker intends, and no other.

The Position of the Body.-It should be easily balanced on one foot or the other, seldom on both alike, except for sturdy resistance or some similar action. The body expresses repose of thought or feeling when the position is. retired; when thrown forward, activity and energy is the language of the attitude. No one position should be assumed as a habit, as the tranquillity of the retired position would, if long sustained, betray a want of earnestness, and the forward position, if habitually taken, would show an earnestness which does not comport with more quiet expression. Again, the retired position, for repose, if carried too far back, produces the effect of hauteur in the bearing. The erect posture is preferable to any other, for the reason that it recognizes propriety and self-respect rather than the negligence and indifference of lounging and slouching attitudes. The chest should be carried square to the audience, and no "cold shoulder" should be turned to them. The lungs should be well filled, not merely as an aid to expression, but also as characteristic of manly and dignified bearing.

Carriage of the head has much to do with the impression produced in public speaking. To be expressive and

communicative, it should be held erect for all dignified and impressive effect; and for all earnest expression it inclines forward. A stiff carriage of the head and neck gives a post-like appearance to this part of the body, while too much vibration detracts from the dignity and force of the erect bearing. Some speakers have the unfortunate habit of beating time with the head, by which they mark emphatic passages. This, in frequent repetition, gives a bobbing effect, which is only ridiculous. An occasional vibration of the head in earnestness is natural, but the wabbling or bowing of the head is no more expressive than the china image of the mandarin.

The Expression of the Face.-Every speaker in the pulpit is supposed to be superior to the mere vanity of "looking pretty." He should be equally careful, if he can possibly avoid the imputation, not to look ugly. The author has known speakers who were not themselves conscious of these defects, displaying them very offensively to their congregations by the nervous habit of facial distortion. One clergyman, who is inclined to anything but simpering in character or in rhetorical expression, wears a nervous smirk upon his countenance whether speaking of the joys of his faith or the torments of the doomed; another, by distortion of his features, would give a strange hearer the mistaken impression that he was either very unhappy whenever he proclaimed his message, or was in a state of bodily pain, which ought to excuse him from the work. If the eye and the face and the body all agree in the expression of the feeling at the moment conveyed, harmony of effect and unity of impression are the result. But, where the expressive powers do not work in unison or in harmony, the power of expression is necessarily impaired.

The Arm.-In the action of the arm, the speaker, in his practice, should remember that the simple habit of moving the arm freely, forcibly, and with wide sweeps, will, in a short time, make it easy for him, if he is inclined to in