you look so mushed. Why, you couldn't ha' been fiveand-twenty when you come into these parts, eh?

Then the author adds:

Silas started a little at the change to a questioning tone.-Ibid.

In some of the following illustrations the authors speak of the emotion as well as the Motive; but you should take care to discriminate between them. The emotion affects the quality of your voice while Motive affects the tune. Although the passage be emotional its motive might be differently interpreted were it not for the authors' comment.

The next three excerpts are from Ruskin's King of the Golden River:

"How did he get in?" roared Schwartz.

"My dear brother," said Gluck, deprecatingly, "he was so very wet!"

"Who are you, sir?" demanded Schwartz, turning upon him.

"Wouldn't it, sir?" said Gluck, very mildly and submissively indeed.

"No," said the dwarf, conclusively. wouldn't."

"No, it

She disappears under the shed where the fat cattle have already hastened, and soon her voice is heard, as she caressingly talks with the cow buffalo.

"Won't you stand still!--There, there, now! there, old lady!"-TOLSTOI: The Cossacks.

(If it were not for "caressingly," how different would your melody be on "Won't you stand still!”)

"You are most kind, sir," he said with mock politeness. "But madame, my wife, has not done well to interest a stranger in this affair."-DAVIS: There Were Ninety and Nine.

"It does the boots and shoes," the Gryphon replied very solemnly.

Alice was thoroughly puzzled. "Does the boots and shoes!" she repeated in a wondering tone.-CARROLL: Alice in Wonderland.

The following are from George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss:

"It wasn't," said Tom, loudly and peremptorily. "You give me the halfpenny: I've won it fair."

"Well," said Mr. Riley, in an admonitory patronizing tone, as he patted Maggie on the head, “I advise you to put by the 'History of the Devil,' and read some prettier book. Have you no prettier books?"

"Oh, I say nothing," said Mrs. Glegg, sarcastically. "My advice has never been asked, and I don't give it."

"Well, I don't know what fault you've got to find wi' me, Mr. Tulliver," said Mr. Moss, deprecatingly: "I know there isn't a day-laborer works harder."

"My little lady, where are you going to?" the gypsy said, in a tone of coaxing deference.

"I don't want to wear a bonnet," Maggie said; “I'd rather wear a red handkerchief like yours" (looking at her friend by her side). "My hair was quite long till yesterday, when I cut it off; but I dare say it will grow again very soon," she added apologetically, thinking the gypsies had a strong prejudice in favor of long hair.

Mr. Glegg paused from his porridge and looked upnot with any new amazement, but simply with that quiet, habitual wonder with which we regard constant mysteries.

"Why, Mrs. G., what have I done now?"

"Done now, Mr. Glegg? done now? sorry for you."

I'm

"Don't lower yourself with using coarse language to me, Mr. Glegg! It makes you look very small, though you can't see yourself," said Mrs. Glegg, in a tone of energetic compassion. "A man in your place should set an example, and talk more sensible."

"Yes; but will you listen to sense?" retorted Mr. Glegg, sharply.

"Go, go!" said Mr. Tulliver, reprovingly, "you mustn't say so. You must learn what your master tells you. He knows what it's right for you to learn.”

"And you don't mind that?" said Tom, with strong curiosity.

"No, no, Maggie," said Tom, in his most coaxing tone, "it's something you'll like ever so."

CHAPTER IX

CENTRAL IDEA

We have learned that speech tune depends on Motive; but if we listen a little more closely to the melody we shall find there is a certain word or words in every group standing out prominently above all others. Observe this in one of the groups we have had:

Hath a dog money?

And this is true in all groups: there is a center around which the thought revolves. When Shylock retorts, "Hath a dog money?" it is the "dog" which is, as it were, in the center of his thoughts, but if he were discussing the features of a dog he might say, "and a dog hath eyes, ears, and mouth, but hath a dog money?" In that case the centers would be "eyes,” "ears," "mouth," and particularly "money."

Motive and Central Idea have much in common. One can almost say that if we get the right Motive the Central Idea will take care of itself. But this is not by any means always true. Motive deals with continuity, assertion, question, doubt, etc., but one can assert or question concerning the wrong Central Idea. For instance: the elder brother of the prodigal son is annoyed that his father should kill the fatted

calf in honor of the return of the prodigal, who has come home only after squandering all his money; and the elder son, who has stayed at home and saved his money, says angrily to the father:

Lo, these many years do I serve thee and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but when this thy son came, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou killedst for him the fatted calf.

Now as to the Motive there can be no doubt: note the assertiveness in almost every sentence of the elder son's remarks to the old father. But what of the Central Idea within that motive? (There are many words here that stand out prominently, but for our present purpose we confine ourselves to two.) How have you read the lines? Let the class debate on these two interpretations:

(1) and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends;

(2) and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.

The Motive is the same in both cases, but what a great difference in the Central Ideas!

Count slowly, mechanically, and assertively from one to ten:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

In saying these numbers you have no motive but assertion in counting from one to ten. If you were looking forward to the end after each numeral you would