make one man do the work of ten; the result must
eventually be the utter collapse of the one man from over-activity, and
loss of power in the ten men because of muscles unused. Clergyman's
sore throat is almost always explainable in this way; and there are
many laymen with constant trouble in the throat from no cause except
the misuse of its muscles in talking. "The old philosopher said the
seat of the soul was in the diaphragm. However that may be, the word
begins there, soul and body; but you squeeze the life out of it in your
throat, and so your words are born dead!" was the most expressive
exclamation of an able trainer of the voice.

Few of us feel that we can take the time or exercise the care for the
proper training of our voices; and such training is not made a
prominent feature, as it should be, in all American schools. Indeed, if
it were, we would have to begin with the teachers; for the typical
teacher's voice, especially in our public schools, coming from
unnecessary nervous strain is something frightful. In a large
school-room a teacher can be heard, and more impressively heard, in
common conversational tones; for then it is her mind that is felt more
than her body. But the teacher's voice mounts the scale of shrillness
and force just in proportion as her nervous fatigue increases; and
often a true enthusiasm expresses itself--or, more correctly, hides
itself--in a sharp, loud voice, when it would be far more effective in
its power with the pupils if the voice were kept quiet. If we cannot
give time or money to the best development of our voices, we can grow
sensitive to the shrill, unpleasant tones, and by a constant preaching
of "lower your voices," "speak more quietly," from the teacher to
herself, and then to her pupils, from mother to child, and from every
woman to her own voice, the standard American voice would change,
greatly to the national advantage.

I never shall forget the restful pleasure of hearing a teacher call the
roll in a large schoolroom as quietly as she would speak to a child in
a closet, and every girl answering in the same soft and pleasant way.
The effect even of that daily roll-call could not have been small in
its counteracting influence on the shrill American tone.

Watch two people in an argument, as the excitement increases the voice
rises. In such a case one of the best and surest ways to govern your
temper is to lower your voice. Indeed the nervous system and the voice
a