The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood
As if they were changed into blocks of wood,
Unable to move a step or cry

To the children merrily skipping by—
And could only follow with the eye

That joyous crowd at the Piper's back.
The Mayor sent east, west, north, and south
To offer the Piper by word of mouth,
Wherever it was man's lot to find him,
Silver and gold to his heart's content,
If he'd only return the way he went,
And bring the children behind him.

-BROWNING: The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

(Nothing in the text of the first paragraph demands a rise or a fall of the voice at the end of each of the first six lines. So long as you have a reason you can use either; but after the sixth line there is no choice.

I prefer though I don't insist that you should— to keep the sense open at the end of lines 11 and 12, but I think it is almost imperative to close it at "tumbling." But what will you do with all the "rats" and, particularly, why? And suppose you decide to close on the "rats," be careful of "wives." Further, there are interesting catches in many other lines, where you will have opportunity to test your knowledge of closure at commas; for instance, line 24, at "dumb"; line 25, at "wood."

But remember, finally, that while it is all a question of interpretation, there must be a reason for all you do.)

CHAPTER III

GROUP VALUES

SUBORDINATION

Here on this beach a hundred years ago,
Three children of three houses, Annie Lee,
The prettiest little damsel in the port,
And Phillip Ray, the miller's only son,
And Enoch Arden, a rough sailor's lad,
Made orphan by a winter shipwreck, play'd
Among the waste and lumber of the shore.

-TENNYSON: Enoch Arden.

If we omit from the above lines all but the main idea, the sentence reads:

Here on this beach a hundred years ago,
Three children of three houses

play'd

Among the waste and lumber of the shore.

In other words, the most important features of the picture are the three children playing on the shore. Let us now insert their names, and we have:

Here on this beach a hundred years ago,
Three children of three houses, Annie Lee,

You observe that the names "Annie Lee," "Phillip Ray," and "Enoch Arden" are explanatory of the group "three children of three houses." They are, therefore, subordinate to the main idea; they are for the moment of secondary value. The author, after giving us the names of each of the children, adds another subordinate group of explanation: Annie Lee is the prettiest little damsel in the port; Phillip Ray is the miller's only son; and Enoch Arden is the rough sailor's lad, made orphan by a winter's shipwreck. Here, then, are groups of three distinct values, or degrees of importance. The most important is the statement that a hundred years ago three children played on the shore; the next important group gives the name of each child; and the least important gives the description of each child. entire sentence might be printed as on p. 74.

The

If all sentences were printed as we have printed the one from Enoch Arden we should have little trouble with subordinate values; but since they are not, we must train ourselves to recognize different degrees of thought values as they appear in the ordinary way in type. All type looks alike, one might say; the most important word or group has no greater prominence than the least necessary; and for this reason we must be the more careful in studying the printed page.

What adds to the difficulty is that the sentence becomes longer as subordinate groups are added, and the strain of concentration becomes greater and greater as (1) the subordinate group gets longer; or as (2) there is more than one successive subordinate group;

If you read this aloud (supplying the missing words represented by the dotted lines) and try to make clear
the picture as you now see it, you will notice that your voice, without any effort on your part, brings out the
different degrees of subordination.

or as (3) there are groups which themselves are subordinate to other subordinate groups.

In the passage from Enoch Arden were found illustrations of all three phases of the problem. First, the subordinate main group, from "Annie Lee" to "sailor's lad," is very long; secondly, "Annie Lee," "Phillip Ray," and "Enoch Arden" are subordinate to "children"; and, thirdly, each of these subordinate nouns is followed by another subordinate group.

All

Now, when it comes to reading this sentence aloud you must keep in mind continually the main idea and strive to make the listener see it, and you may be certain the vocal expression will take care of itself. our lives we have been expressing subordinate ideas with little or no thought of what the voice was doing, and if you will get the thought, make it your very own, and read it aloud as though it were your own, you may be confident the vocal expression will be adequate. Test this in these fairly simple passages:

Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone-too nervous to bear witnesses-to take the pudding up, and bring it in.-DICKENS: A Christmas Carol.

In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered-flushed but smiling proudly-with the pudding like a speckled cannon ball, so hard and so firm, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.-Ibid.

Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears!

Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres?

-COLERIDGE: The Ancient Mariner.