The last twelve lines express the thought: I found that truth and beauty are parts of one great, perfect whole. I breathed it, I felt it through every pore.

The eleventh line is not restrictive, for the poet is not comparing the bright sky with a dark and gloomy one. Give this line with a full tone. The partial close may come at the end of the first, second, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, thirteenth and fourteenth lines, and the bend after "spoke" in the fourth, after "wreath" in the fifth, and after "saw" in the twelfth line. But to avoid so many falls at the end of the lines, the bend may come after "sky" in the tenth line. Defer emphasis from "pine-cones" to "acorns" in the ninth line. In the twelfth line, emphasis falls theoretically on "Again," "saw," "again." It would be proper here and in the next line to arrange the emphasis thus: Again I saw, again I heard the rolling river, the morning bird." The emphasis on "river" may be omitted. It is proper to emphasize "beauty" and also "stole" in the fourteenth line, and to suppress the emphasis on 'senses," but, to prevent too much repetition of falls at the end of the lines, suppress the emphasis on "stole;" to avoid jerkiness, that on" beauty," especially as this word has already been emphasized.

66

A GREYPORT LEGEND, 1797.

BY BRET HARTE.

They ran through the streets of the seaport town,

They peered from the decks of the ships where they lay;
The cold sea fog that came whitening down

Was never as cold or white as they.

"Ho, Starbuck and Pickney and Tenterden !

Run for your shallops, gather your men,

Scatter your boats on the lower bay."

Give the first two lines with spirit, the second in lower pitch, the third and fourth slowly and in still lower pitch. Make the last three lines dramatic; personating the rough seaman with loud voice, very fast as if calling to a distance; rise from the beginning of the third line; with each clause rise a little higher. Defer the bend from "Starbuck" and "Pickney to "Tenterden."

Good cause for fear! In the thick mid-day
The hulk that lay by the rotten pier,
Filled with children in happy play,
Parted its moorings and drifted clear.
Drifted clear beyond reach or call,—
Thirteen children there were in all,-
All adrift in the lower bay!

Give this stanza in an intense, agitated tone. In the last five lines there should be tremor in the voice. Prolong "clear" in the fifth line. In the last line "all" should be given with the bend; the partial close comes on "adrift." The sixth line is paren

thetical.

Said a hard-faced skipper, "God help us all!
She will not float till the turning tide!"
Said his wife," my darling will hear my call,
Whether in sea or heaven she bide."

And she lifted a quavering voice and high,
Wild and strange as a sea bird's cry,

Till they shuddered and wondered at her side.

Personate the skipper and his wife. In the first line, "God help us all" should be given rapidly, almost like an ejaculation; the second line should be given more despairingly, as it is an expression of fear that the ship would sink before they could reach her. With the fifth line rise in pitch; with the next, still higher, suggesting half-insanity. In the last line, descend in pitch: give color of terror and wonder.

The fog drove down on each laboring crew,

Veiled each from each and the sky and shore;
There was not a sound but the breath they drew,

And the lap of water and creak of our;

And they felt the breath of the downs, fresh blown

O'er leagues of clover and cold gray stone.

But not from the lips that had gone before.

In the second line "each," "sky," "shore," are all emphasized, because each idea is distinguished from the rest. The last line descends in pitch; it should be given with the waving slide. The tone should be soft and sad.

They come no more. But they tell the tale

That, when fogs are thick on the harbor reef,
The mackerel-fishers shorten sail,

For the signal they know will bring relief,—
For the voices of children, still at play
In phantom hulk that drifts alway
Through channels whose waters never fail.
Give the last three lines with feeling, in a soft tone.

It is but a foolish shipman's tale,

A theme for a poet's idle page,

But still when the mists of doubt prevail.
And we lie becalmed by the shores of Age.
We hear from the misty troubled shore
The voice of the children gone before,
Drawing the soul to its anchorage.

In the sixth line, it is better not to defer emphasis from "children to the restrictive clause "gone before," because the first expresses the most important thought in the poem.

THE RISING IN 1776.

BY T. BUCHANAN READ.

Out of the North the wild news came,
Far flashing on its wings of flame,
Swift as the boreal light which flies
At midnight through the startled skies,
And there was tumult in the air,

The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat,
And through the wide land everywhere
The answering tread of hurrying feet;
While the first oath of Freedom's gun
Came on the blast from Lexington;
And Concord, roused, no longer tame,
Forgot her old baptismal name,
Made bare her patriot arm of power

And swelled the discord of the hour.

There is no emphasis on "North” in the first line, there being no discrimination as to where the news came from. No emphasis is

needed on "news," as that something has been already said about it is presupposed. The bend comes after the first line; in the second, "wings of flame" may refer to beacon-lights, that perhaps started the news, or it may mean only swift as flame. With "flame" the voice may fall, partly for variety, partly because monotony should be avoided when depicting hurry or startled feeling. In the fourth line, emphasis may be deferred to "skies," but the effect would not be as good, a succession of falls here being monotonous. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth lines should be lower in pitch; there should be a hush in the voice, as if to listen. The names of different places, when used as in the tenth and eleventh lines, are not generally emphasized. In this case, however, emphasis may come on "Concord," because of the antithesis (not a happy one, by the way, between a place and a quality) with "discord" in the fourteenth line, although it is better to defer it to the latter. If both words were emphasized, the effect would be unpleasant to the ear.

Within its shade of elm and oak,

The church of Berkley Manor stood,
There Sunday found the rural folk,

And some esteemed of gentle blood.

In vain their feet with loitering tread

Passed 'mid the graves where rank is naught;

All could not read the lesson taught

In that republic of the dead.

"All" im

The last four lines express the thought that those of gentle blood could not see the leveling tendency of the graveyard. plies that some (probably of the poor) could see this. phasis on "read," stronger on "all" in the seventh line.

How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk,
The vale with peace and sunshine full

Where all the happy people walk,

Decked in their homespun flax and wool!

Slight em

Where youth's gay hats with blossoms bloom;

And every maid with simple art,

Wears on her breast, like her own heart,

A bud whose depths are all perfume;

While every garment's gentle stir

Is breathing rose and lavender.

All through the third stanza keep the tones soft and gentle. The partial close comes at the end of the first, fourth, fifth and eighth lines. Emphasis may fall on "bud," but it is better to defer it to "perfume." If emphasis falls on "garment's" in the ninth line, it is because the poet has done speaking of the persons, and now wants to say that their very clothes were fragrant. Every garment" is perhaps only another way of saying, every girl. If so, 'garment" should not be emphasized.

The pastor came; his snowy locks

Hallowed his brow of thought and care;
And calmly, as shepherds lead their flocks,
He led into the house of prayer.
The pastor rose: the prayer was strong;
The psalm was warrior David's song;
The text, a few short words of might,—
"The Lord of hosts shall arm the right !"

There should be a good deal of verve in this stanza. In the third and fourth lines there is antithesis between "shepherds " and " He." Emphasis may come on both, but it is better to defer it to the latter. Very strong emphasis in the last line.

He spoke of wrongs too long endured,
Of sacred rights to be secured;
Then from his patriot tongue of flame
The startling words for Freedom came.
The stirring sentences he spake
Compelled the heart to glow or quake,
And rising on his theme's broad wing,
And grasping in his nervous hand
The imaginary battle-brand,
In face of death he dared to fling
Defiance to a tyrant king.

This stanza should be given with a great deal of spirit, all emphasis should be strong. Emphasis might fall on both " wrongs" in the first, and "rights" in the second line, but the effect would be jerky, as it would be to emphasize both "endured" and "secured." In the tenth, strong emphasis should fall on “death,” and very strong on "Defiance" in the eleventh line. The first two lines should both