f may finally yield to a graceful and gentle
form of expression. It is not probable that we shall ever give due
attention to the cultivation of the human voice for speaking, reading,
and singing. This is an invaluable accomplishment in man. Many of us
have listened to New England's most distinguished living orator, and
felt that well-known lines from the English poets derived new power, if
not actual inspiration, from the classic tones in which the words were
uttered.

A cultivated voice in woman is at once the evidence and the means of
moral power. As the moral sensibilities of the girl are more acute than
those of the boy, so the moral power of the woman is greater than that
of the man. Many young women are educating themselves for the business
of teaching; and I can commend nothing more important, after the proper
ordering of one's own life, than the discreet and careful training of
the voice. It is itself a power. It demands sympathy before the
suffering or its cause is revealed by articulate speech; its tones awe
assemblies, and command silence before the speaker announces his views;
and the rebellious and disorderly, whether in the school, around the
rostrum, or on the field, bow in submission beneath the authority of its
majestic cadences. It is hardly possible to imagine a good school, and
very rare to see one, where this power is wanting in the teacher. Women
are often called to take charge of schools where there are lads and
youth destitute of that culture which would lead them to yield respect
and consequent obedience. Physical force in these cases is not usually
to be thought of; but nature has vouchsafed to woman such a degree of
moral power, of which in the school the voice is the best expression, as
often to fully compensate for her weakness in other respects.

It is unnecessary to commend reading as an art and an accomplishment;
but good readers are so rare among us, that we cannot too strongly urge
teachers to qualify themselves for the great work. I say _great work_,
because everything else is comparatively easy to the teacher, and
comparatively unimportant to the pupil. Grammar is merely an element of
reading. It should be introduced as soon as the child's reasoning
faculties are in any degree developed, and presented by the living
voice, without the aid of books. The alphabet should be taught in
connection with exercises for strengthening and modulating the voice,
and the elementary sounds of the le