you say, you can multiply many times the facility you gain in oral composition.

VOCABULARY

Familiarizing pupils with new words is essentially the work of primary grades; but inasmuch as pupils never cease to meet strange words, it is evident that some attention should be given to this phase of reading wherever the subject is taught.

Acquiring New Words Depends upon Individual Effort.A competent teacher by his example, by precept and by encouragement, can often help a pupil to enlarge his vocabulary; but he cannot do the work alone. The pupil must be untiring in his use of a dictionary, looking up the pronunciation and meaning of words that are new to him. An excellent scheme is to place such words in a notebook, indicating their pronunciation and jotting down brief definitions. By reviewing these words occasionally, the pupil will find that many of them have become familiar to him and do not need more attention.

Our Two Vocabularies.-Every person has two vocabularies: one that he uses in conversation, writing, or perhaps in some form of public speaking; and a second and larger vocabulary that he comprehends when listening to a speaker or reader, or when reading himself. To become proficient in conversation or in public speaking, this vocabulary of use must be enlarged until it more nearly includes the vocabulary of comprehension. The pupil can do this for himself, by making it a point to use every day in conversation, certain words from his notebook.

Study of Synonyms, Antonyms. Another source of great profit to a student desiring to become skillful in the use of words, is a careful study of synonyms, antonyms and Eng

lish idioms. A knowledge of synonyms will give a finer perception of the exact significance of words, and greater discrimination in their use. For example; one should know that there is a distinction between the words generation and age. Generation means the mass of persons living at one period; while age refers to a period of time, is a broader term and may include many generations. The words are used properly in the following quotations.

"In the fourth generation they shall come hither again." Genesis. "No age will come, in which the American Revolution will appear less than it is one of the greatest events in human history." Webster.

Thoughtful consideration of antonyms will give a sense of fitness in selecting words for contrasting ideas, balanced sentences and sometimes for parallel constructions. For instance one should have sufficient sense of fitness in the use of words to realize that the word commencement is not as appropriate to use as the antonym of the word ending, as beginning is. How would commencement sound in the sentence, “I am the beginning and the ending, the first and the last"?

Study of Idioms.-Familiarity with English idioms gives a grasp of the content of many phrases in current use, which otherwise would be meaningless. To the foreigner especially, our idioms are most perplexing. Having learned and used a common word, he is astonished when he finds in some phrase the same word with no possibility of its ordinary significance. The following are illustrations of English idiomatic usage. One cannot be said to have a good command of spoken English, unless he can understand and use such phrases.

"Luck doesn't express it-you're in clover, knee-deep." Howells. "I will speak daggers to her; but will use none." Shakespeare.

"My brother will come by stage next Wednesday week." Dickens. "I dropped in to say 'How are you'?" Cooper.

You caught a cold last night and it's worse to-night.

"He was still the most interesting of men and of clergymenplaying first fiddle in all societies." Craik.

"A fig for your bill of fare; show me your bill of company." Swift.

"I had finished my education. So I left Paris, and went home to rest on my oars." Reade.

"The first dawn of comfort came to him in swearing to himself that he would stand by that boy through thick and thin, and cheer him, and help him, and bear his burdens." Hughes.

"If Mr. Dillon had said that such an outrage as this was nothing but the turning of the tables on the atrocities of the penal code, we should not have blamed him." Spectator.

"Nay, very likely Mrs. Bute Crawley thought her act was quite meritorious, and plumed herself upon her resolute manner of performing it." "Thackeray.

A Small Vocabulary Limits Progress in Oral English.— If a pupil is lazy and will not consult a dictionary, give attention to the explanations of words by his classmates and teacher, or question his elders regarding the meaning of words, he cannot expect to read intelligently. He will betray his ignorance by hesitating over words and mispronouncing them. If he guesses at a pronunciation and happens to get it right, the empty tone with which he utters it, will tell the alert listener that he gets no thought from it. To become a good talker or a public speaker will be still more hopeless for such a pupil, because appropriate words are necessary for the clear expression of ideas. A good command of words must be worked for; it never comes by inspiration.

GRASP OF THE SUBJECT

Thought Processes in Reading Aloud Stimulate Thought in Spoken English. It is almost superfluous to state what has already been suggested, that learning to find the deeper meaning in a paragraph or stanza of literature for the purpose of better oral reading, has a tendency to increase the vigor of one's thinking when he is speaking his own thoughts. This is one more argument in favor of oral reading as training for skill in conversation or public speaking.

Secret of Vigorous Thought Before an Audience.-In listening to various public speakers, we often wonder at the ease with which they think while standing before an audience; especially is this true, when we hear a man speak well who has been called upon unexpectedly. We should remember, however, that it is an impossibility for a man to talk eloquently upon a subject that he does not understand; and that the speaker whose flow of thought we admire, is really only thinking and telling the audience what he has previously said wholly or in part to some other audience, or, at least, has thought out more or less thoroughly at different times. It is true that some people have much more tact than others in weaving together an extemporaneous address, but tact cannot be relied upon to make successful speeches. It is ample preparation, alone, that gives a speaker perfect command of his thoughts before an audience, and no great speech was ever made without it. Alexander Hamilton once remarked, "Men give me credit for genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly." And Webster confessed that it was the experience of twenty years that enabled him to make his reply to Hayne.

EMOTIONAL ELEMENTS IN ORAL ENGLISH

EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION

Emotional Expression Universally Understood. It is always a high compliment to a reader or speaker when his auditors say of him, "That man feels what he says." Genuine feeling or emotion on the part of a speaker brings an immediate response from his audience, for feeling is a subtle and universal language. There can be no substitute for it in delivery. Learning and affectation have scorned it, and tried to supplant it, but have always failed.

The Experience of Actors.-It is true that some actors who mimic the outward appearances of emotion, declare they feel no emotion at all. But Mr. William Archer, in his book entitled, "The Anatomy of Acting," states that emotions master the actor whenever he plays well; and Forbes Robertson says, "I suffer from fatigue in proportion to the amount of emotion I have been called upon to go through, and not from physical exertion." We are led to conclude, then, that a speaker with little feeling, or one who believes that he gains self-control and dignity by suppressing his feelings, cannot become truly effective with audiences.

The Relation of Feeling to Imagination.-Many people have taken it for granted that there can be no feeling without imagination. This is not necessarily true. For in the case of a child hearing or even repeating the words of a nursery rhyme, he may have little or no appreciation of the thought content and no mental pictures in his imagination, but the sound of the words, the rhythm and the rhyme arouse