BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 fienrg M. Sage 
 
 1891 -- 
 
 4.;2 0451 1 2,343 j m 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PE 64.B43A37 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027321029 
 
ALEXANDER MELVILLE BELL 
 
VlexxYNdeu Mklville Bell 
 
 WITH ^■KA(:^U^^■TS ^ rt-n- 
 
 \ FUEL'S NOT i: -BOOK 
 
Alexander Melville Bell 
 
 WITH FRAGMENTS FROM 
 
 A PUPIL'S NOTE-BOOK 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 SCHOOL OF EXPRESSION 
 BOSTON 
 
AT COLONIAL BEACH 
 
 ^n fSUmoviam 
 
 HERE the great Potomac pauses 
 As it meets the commg sea. 
 And the mocking bird and robin 
 
 Greet the spring from bush and tree. 
 Here again we sit and hsten 
 
 To thy loved Colonial shore, 
 While we hear thy voice still mingle 
 With its music evermore. 
 
 Farthest West and East remotest 
 
 With their laurel crowns have come 
 Here to join the praise of thousands 
 
 Who without thee would be dumb. 
 All thy words to us are richer 
 
 And thy work far greater grown ; 
 But thyself more truly livest, 
 
 Thou hast reached the great unknown. 
 
 As the broad Potomac widens 
 
 When it meets the broader sea. 
 Thou hast met Life's wider Ocean, 
 
 Thy great heart at last is free. 
 Still we feel thy joyous spirit, 
 
 Take thy courage as our own. 
 Send a happy cheer to greet thee 
 
 At thy place beside the throne. 
 
 S. S. CUBRY. 
 
^le):antier JEeltJiUe Bell 
 
 HE foremost of all teachers of 
 speech-science and the use of 
 the voice, Alexander MelviUe 
 Bell, passed on to the major- 
 ity, where vision is clearer and 
 anguage more perfect, the 7th of August, 
 1905, in Washington, at the home of his 
 son. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. 
 
 Teachers of every method of elocution- 
 ary training had long recognized Profes- 
 sor BeU as leader of the profession. His 
 studies, discussions, and discoveries have 
 thrown Ught upon every department of 
 phonological science and use of the voice 
 in speaking. Every teacher of voice or 
 of speech has been directly or indirectly 
 influenced by him. He dignified the pro- 
 fession of teaching speech. He sent forth 
 his ideas and discoveries in the broadest 
 and truest scientific spirit. Without any 
 ambitious personal aim, he endeavored to 
 7 
 
aid all, independent of any hope of finan- 
 cial gain. 
 
 Professor BeU's first book was pub- 
 lished in 1845. During his long hfe he 
 printed in aU forty-eight works. A mere 
 glance at the titles of these show how 
 wide was the range of his investigations, 
 and how various were the needs he sought 
 to meet, from " Visible Speech " to his 
 little book on stammering; from his 
 " Universal Alphabetics " to his " Em- 
 phasized Literature and Sermon Read- 
 ing"; from his "Principles of Elocution" 
 to his " Visible Speech Reader " ; from 
 his " Sounds and their Relations " to his 
 " Steno-Phonography." 
 
 Sixty years after the printing of his 
 first book, when I saw him for the last 
 time, he looked into my face and inquired 
 about my work, and showed all the in- 
 terest of a young man in every step that 
 was being taken. To the last, he was 
 investigating and preparing something 
 that would make his great work simpler 
 and clearer to his feUowmen. 
 
 To me Professor Bell was one of the 
 great teachers of the world. So many- 
 sided was he that it is difficult to speak 
 of him in terms which will not be re- 
 garded by the stranger as exaggerated, 
 8 
 
while so deep is the impression made by 
 his life and work upon my heart that I 
 feel almost as if I were writing a tribute 
 to my father. 
 
 He had an intense desire to remedy 
 every defect of speech, to find the real 
 cause of every impediment, and his high- 
 est pleasure was found in the recognition 
 of some peculiar element in expression 
 or the effect of some simple exercise in 
 remedying a fault. 
 
 The accuracy of his ear was to me 
 something marvellous. I have known but 
 one who had an ear equal to his own; and 
 that was Dr. Graham Bell, his son. 
 
 It was not, however, mere accuracy of 
 ear that gave him his great critical power. 
 He had the deepest insight into needs, 
 and judged a pupil from many points of 
 view. 
 
 In addition, he possessed marvellous 
 flexibUity of voice and skill to indicate 
 and to illustrate every peculiarity? and 
 to crown aU, his perseverance and patience 
 in endeavoring to lead students to over- 
 come their faults have rarely, if ever, been 
 equalled. 
 
 He was entirely without professional 
 jealousy; he rejoiced at successful work, 
 no matter who did it or in what de- 
 9 
 
partment it was accomplished. When 
 anything came to his attention which 
 indicated selfishness or a lack of sincer- 
 ity, he was deeply pained. To the last 
 he showed great interest in every effort 
 to advance, elevate, or in any way dignify 
 any department of teaching speech. 
 
 Of all my teachers, nmnbering fifty or 
 sixty in different parts of the world, he 
 has perhaps had the greatest influence 
 over me. His joyous and magnetic per- 
 sonahty, his intense earnestness, his un- 
 erring accuracy, depth of insight, broad 
 sympathy, generous scientific spirit, love 
 of truth, and perfect frankness were 
 sources of profound inspiration not only 
 to me, but to all who studied with him. 
 
 At every turning-point in the manifold 
 complexities regarding the work I have 
 endeavored to carry on, his advice was, 
 as far as possible, the first to be sought, 
 and his counsel was weighed against that 
 of aU others. 
 
 Whenever I piiblished a new book I 
 awaited his criticisms with eagerness. No 
 word spoken by any one, whether of ap- 
 proval or of adverse criticism, — and he 
 frankly gave me both, — had so much 
 weight as his. The fact that his point 
 of view often differed from my own 
 10 
 
made his coiinsel the more valuable. For 
 over a quarter of a century I never wrote 
 to him without receiving a response to 
 aU my questions. 
 
 His love for the truth transcended all 
 else in his nature. When I endeavored 
 to explain my own views or the results 
 of my studies, or if I expressed a doubt 
 regarding any particular point, I never 
 saw any one more teachable, more simple 
 and childlike. He could look at a subject 
 from a point of view entirely different 
 from his own. 
 
 For example, I could not agree with 
 him on the subject of Rhythm. He said 
 to me once, during one of my first les- 
 sons Mdth Mm: "Beware of rhythm. It 
 is delusive, and any attention to it wiQ 
 result in a fault. It leads a reader to go 
 up and down with no regard to the mean- 
 ing of a passage. It produces sing-song. 
 Pupils wUl be sure to have too much, 
 hence disregard it as far as possible." 
 
 I contended, however, that there was 
 a natural rhythm as weU as an artificial 
 rhythm, and that if rhythm were regarded 
 as belonging only to song, or to the con- 
 tinuous flow of sound, or to an alterna- 
 tion of strong and weak pulsations of tone, 
 he was right, but if we recognized it as 
 11 
 
an alternation between silence and speech, 
 between the taking and the giving of an 
 idea, then rhythm was one of the greatest 
 aids in vocal expression, something that 
 must be developed, and that natural 
 rhythm furnished the best means of cor- 
 recting the artificial rhythm expressed in 
 sing-song. He smiled at this and said: 
 " Perhaps you are right. Go ahead, — 
 I would not interfere in the least with 
 your convictions. 
 
 »> 
 
 12 
 
ilLEXANDER MeLVILLE BeLL waS 
 
 born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 
 March 1, 1819. His father, 
 Alexander Bell, was a distin- 
 guished elocuftionist who be- 
 gan his work in Edinburgh, but later 
 taught in London until his death in 1865. 
 
 For about twenty-five years Alexander 
 BeU was head of elocution in London. 
 His son, Alexander MelviUe BeU, was 
 leader of aU speech-instruction in Edin- 
 burgh, as was his other son, David 
 Charles BeU, in Dublin, Ireland. 
 
 In answer to one of my letters to Pro- 
 fessor MelviUe BeU, in which I asked him 
 regarding books on Elocution, and es- 
 peciaUy regarding those in the British 
 Museum, he wrote among other things:, 
 "From 1840 to 1843, when I was pre- 
 paring for an independent professional 
 career, I sought to supplement the " fam- 
 ily knowledge " which I possessed by the 
 study of aU the books I could find by 
 predecessors in the profession. But so 
 far as I could discover, there did not then 
 exist in print any complete directory on 
 13 
 
the subject. The processes of articulation 
 did not seem to have been practically 
 treated by any author. I was thus led 
 by original investigation from my own 
 organs and those of my pupils. I can- 
 not, therefore, direct you to any works 
 of earlier date containing more than hints 
 and general observations. . . . You will 
 have no difficulty in getting access to the 
 Oxford libraries or to the great hbrary 
 of the British Museum. I was for several 
 years a reader in the latter." 
 
 This letter dropped an indirect hint as 
 to the thoroughness of Professor Bell's 
 studies at that early age of twenty. In 
 fact, he discovered, at the age of twenty- 
 three, new facts regarding articulation. 
 
 To the last, Professor Bell was a very 
 earnest and thorough student. 
 
 " You ought to keep better hours and 
 take better care of yourself," he once said 
 to his son. Dr. Graham BeU. 
 
 "Yes; what time did you retire last 
 night, father? " 
 
 " Oh, I went to bed at two o'clock," 
 answered his father. 
 
 "Well, I quit work," replied his son, 
 " and retired only two hours later." 
 
 A Scottish clergyman, and an intimate 
 friend of Professor Bell, Rev. David 
 14 
 
Macrea, has given an account of the 
 great discovery of Visible Speech: 
 
 " I happened to be at his house on the memo- 
 rable night when, busy in his den, there flashed 
 upon him the idea of a physiological alphabet 
 which would furnish to the eye a complete guide 
 to the production of any oral sound by showing 
 in the very forms of the letter the position and 
 action of the organs of speech which its produc- 
 tion required. It was the end toward which years 
 of thought and study had been bringing him, but 
 all the same, it came upon him like a sudden 
 revelation, as a landscape might flash upon the 
 vision of a man emerging from a forest. He took 
 me into his den to tell me about it, and all that 
 evening I could detect signs in his eye and voice 
 of the exultation he was trying to suppress." 
 
 Professor Bell first taught his Visible 
 Speech to his sons, and later gave a pubUc 
 demonstration before many educators. 
 
 He began his work of teaching in Edin- 
 burgh by giving instruction to classes in 
 connection with the University and New 
 College. After the death of his father, 
 Professor Bell removed to London, where 
 he received the appointment of Lecturer 
 in University College. He remained in 
 London until 1870, when, after the loss 
 of two of his sons, he determined, on 
 account of the delicacy of the health of 
 15 
 
his only remaining child, Alexander 
 Graham Bell, to remove to America. He 
 came to Canada by the advice of friends, 
 and settled at Tutelo Heights, near 
 Brantford. He had previously visited 
 the United States, and had already given 
 three courses of lectures, two of these 
 dehvered at different times before the 
 LoweU Institute, Boston. 
 
 It was here, at Tutelo Heights, that 
 Dr. Graham Bell, with his long hours 
 spent in outdoor air, was restored to 
 health. Here, too, is the old pole upon 
 which his first experiments for the tele- 
 phone were conducted. On this pole, 
 which is often visited by strangers, will 
 be found tacked up various notices and 
 advertisements. One of clothes-wire was 
 found recently stuck on the pole, stat- 
 ing that a large supply had been re- 
 ceived by a certain dealer. " There is no 
 danger," it stated, " of the supply being 
 exhausted, as was the case when Dr. 
 Graham Bell bought up aU the clothes- 
 wire in the town for his experiments on 
 the telephone." 
 
 Dr. Graham BeU was so improved in 
 
 health that he accepted a position in the 
 
 Faculty of Boston University School of 
 
 Oratory at the opening of that institu- 
 
 16 
 
tion in 1873. It was my great privilege, 
 when I was a student in Boston Univer- 
 sitj^ to hear, in the autumn of 1873, his 
 opening lecture. 
 
 It was this lecture that first aroused me 
 to the possibihties of the science of voice, 
 and gave me an outlook and an inspira- 
 tion which have lived with me during the 
 thirty-three years that have passed since 
 that hour. 
 
 After the telephone was discovered, 
 perfected, and patented. Dr. Alexander 
 Graham Bell removed to Washington, 
 D. C, The attachment among the mem- 
 bers of the BeU family was unusually 
 strong. Dr. Graham Bell's love for his 
 father was something very rare indeed. 
 
 It gave the son great pleasure to teU 
 his father, once at Ashville, N. C, that 
 a gentleman had taken them for two 
 brothers travelhng together. The genial 
 humor and the happy relation of father 
 and son afford one of the most beautiful 
 pictures in the world to those who saw 
 them. 
 
 They were once riding together when 
 the son said: 
 
 " Father, the discovery of visible speech 
 was far more important than the discovery 
 of the telephone." 
 
 17 
 
The old gentleman quietly took his cigar 
 from his mouth and said: 
 
 " Well, Alex, there was not so much 
 money in it." 
 
 It is not surprising that such affection 
 caused the son to persuade his father to 
 remove from Canada to Washington. 
 
 The discovery of the telephone took 
 place while I was a student of Dr. 
 Graham Bell. My studies were inter- 
 rupted, greafly to my regret. A few 
 months after his father's removal to 
 Washington I met the father for the 
 first time, and took my first course of 
 studies with Professor BeU. Twenty-five 
 years have passed since that July morn- 
 ing when I took my first lesson. But a 
 quarter of a century has only deepened 
 the impression made upon me by that 
 great personality. 
 
 18 
 
ROFESSOE Bell Avill be known 
 to coming generations on ac- 
 count of his great discovery 
 of visible speech. To us who 
 studied with him, great as 
 this achievement is, his methods of teach- 
 ing and his deep insight are as great, if 
 not greater than any of his achievements ; 
 and above all towers his great personality. 
 But the name of a great teacher, as the 
 name of a great actor, is written in water. 
 His life flows into the lives of those he 
 taught. Even his published method will 
 be unread and forgotten. Yet what class 
 of men yield a greater influence? 
 
 To those he taught, Professor Bell is 
 the great teacher. To the world, however, 
 he will be known as an author, as a 
 scientist, as the discoverer of a method 
 by which speech could be recorded and 
 scientificafly taught even to the deaf. 
 
 His discovery of the simple method of 
 recording and studying the elements of 
 speech profoundly moved the few who 
 knew enough of the nature of language 
 to appreciate it. 
 
 19 
 
Alexander J. Ellis, of the British Philo- 
 logical Society, who gave his whole life 
 to the investigation of the problem of 
 speech, said of this discovery: 
 
 " I have full and distinct recollection of the 
 labors of Amman, Du Kempelen, Johannes MuUer, 
 K. M. Rapp, C. R. Lepsius, E. Brucke, S. S. 
 Haldeman, and Max Miiller. To those I may 
 add my own works of more or less pretension and 
 value. ... I feel called upon to declare that 
 until Mr. Melville Bell unfolded to me his care- 
 ful, elaborate, yet simple and complete system, 
 I had no knowledge of alphabetics as a science. 
 . . . Alphabetics as a science, so far as I have 
 been able to ascertain, — and I have looked for 
 it far and wide, — did not exist. ... I am afi-aid 
 my language may seem exaggerated, and yet I 
 have endeavored to moderate my tone, and have 
 purposely abstained from giving full expression to 
 the high satisfaction I have derived from my in- 
 sight into the theory and practice of Mr. Melville 
 Bell's 'Visible Speech,' as it is rightly named." 
 
 I met Dr. Alexander J. Ellis in his 
 study, in London, in 1880, and can never 
 forget his words of appreciation of Pro- 
 fessor Bell. They fully accorded with 
 this printed statement. He could not 
 agree with Professor BeU regarding aU 
 of his vowels. For example, he said he 
 could not see the compound character of 
 the " long I," especially the back-of-the- 
 20 
 
tongue character of its beginning. This 
 seemed most strange to me, for there is no 
 point clearer to my ear in Professor Bell's 
 insight into the nature of speech than his 
 analysis of this common diphthong. 
 
 What is Professor Bell's Visible Speech ? 
 All who read this little brochure will of 
 course be familiar with it, but if any one 
 happens to read it over who has not mas- 
 tered visible speech, he should at once 
 procure of the Volta Bureau one of Pro- 
 fessor Bell's books, and give it enough 
 time not only to realize what it is, but to 
 get the insight which its mastery gives into 
 the sounds, not only of his own, but also 
 of other languages. 
 
 Professor BeU called the results of his \ 
 discovery a universal alphabet, and this 
 it is. Instead of making artificial signs 
 that have no relation whatever to speech, 
 he took lines that were a delicate sugges- 
 tion of the organs that produce the ele- 
 ment. For example, a curve bending 
 forward in the same direction as the lip 
 stands for the Hps; a curve with the 
 bend downward stands for the tip of the 
 tongue; a curve with the bend upward, 
 for the top of the tongue; and a curve 
 with the bend backward, for the back of 
 the tongue. Two parallel lines represent 
 21 
 
the tone passage, A straight black hne 
 is the sign for voice, it being a picture 
 of the glottis in the act of producing a 
 tone. He had also other marks to stand 
 for unusual elements. 
 
 " P," for example, was a curve for- 
 ward; the ends of it extended backwards, 
 and as " P " is closed there would be a 
 light mark across the line standing for 
 the tone passage. " B " would only differ 
 in having the sign for voice inserted in 
 the centre. 
 
 The voice sign for vowels is made per- 
 pendicular, and the part of the tongue 
 indicated by a dot placed before when 
 it is a front-of-the-tongue vowel, behind, 
 when a back-of-the-tongue vowel, and 
 both before and behind when it is a 
 middle-of-the-tongue vowel. The dots 
 are also placed at the summit when the 
 part of the tongue primarily concerned 
 in the vowel is high, and low when the 
 tongue is low, — at both ends because it 
 looks better when the part of the tongue 
 is in a central position. 
 
 There are certain vowels which have the 
 tongue not only high, but widened. This 
 is represented by the dot being given with 
 an open mark like a curve instead of a 
 dot. The vowels also which are modified 
 22 
 
by the lips have a little mark across the 
 centre to indicate a modification by mak- 
 ing the passage small at the lip. 
 
 These elements can accordingly record 
 thirty-six vowel positions, to say nothing 
 of compounds or combinations of these. 
 Only about one-half of these possible 
 vowels are found in normal English, but 
 Professor Bell had such control of his 
 tongue and lips that he could soimd all 
 these thirty-six possible vowels. 
 
 This simple plan enables any one to 
 observe speech with his eye as Avell as ear; 
 hence the name Visible Speech. Every 
 one who studies it discovers with some 
 surprise the peculiar nature of speech. 
 Eye and ear are so co-ordinated by its 
 aid that speech can be understood and 
 reahzed in one-third of the time usually 
 required. 
 
 Such a plan gives not only an objective 
 record, which is accurate, and which en- 
 sures a more adequate grasp of the nature 
 of speech, but it secures accuracy of ear 
 and the use of the eye to note just what 
 is done in uttering any element. Accord- 
 ingly, to one studying a foreign language, 
 the method is equal to the addition of at 
 least one other sense, enabling him to 
 master the peculiar sounds in any lan- 
 23 
 
guage in a far shorter time than by the 
 ordinary method. 
 
 For more than a century many reforms 
 of the English language have been sug- 
 gested, but the trouble with aU such re- 
 forms, including the latest, which has been 
 patronized by Mr. Carnegie, is a failure 
 to recognize the fact that while we have 
 from forty-four to forty-eight sounds in 
 the English language (I think forty- 
 eight, though most people discriminate 
 only about forty-two or forty- four), yet 
 for these elemental sounds we have less 
 than half that number of letters. Of our 
 twenty-six letters " X " stands for " ks " 
 or " gz," and has no sound of its own; 
 " c " is only " s " or " k "; " j " is " dzh "; 
 "q" is a "k" and a breath "w"; and 
 even " h " is only a breath which has no 
 shape of its own. Pronounciag with two 
 or three vowels we find it only breath; 
 the shape is the following vowel. But 
 including " h," we have but twenty-two 
 letters to stand for the complex elemen- 
 tary sounds of the English language. 
 
 No amount of simplifying spelling can 
 ever remedy this original defect. Over 
 one hundred years ago Benjamin Frank- 
 lin suggested the leaving out of letters 
 that have no sounds (he made the mis- 
 24 
 
take of including " w " in this list) and 
 adding eight or ten more letters. He 
 failed to recognize the number of sounds 
 in the language by tY^elve or fifteen. 
 But in this he is hardly an exception to 
 the scholars even of our own time. In 
 fact, his plan was far more practical than 
 has recently been proposed. 
 
 In any reform in the Enghsh lan- 
 guage we meet the difficulty of not hav- 
 ing enough signs, and also a failure on 
 the part of even scholars to recognize the 
 sounds of the language, and only by a 
 method hke Professor Bell's can a person 
 be led to discriminate the elements. 
 
 The difficulty in Enghsh is deeper than 
 its speUing. We have no ideal language 
 in the world. Among all the achieve- 
 ments of human genius, it is strange that 
 the number of incongruities and oddities 
 of human dialects have not, untU recent 
 years, awakened endeavors to develop an 
 ideal language. 
 
 Professor BeU discovered, not only for 
 Enghsh but for all languages, a universal 
 alphabet, which is applicable to all for the 
 purpose of recording their elements, and 
 by far the most perfect that has ever 
 been suggested. His Visible Speech will 
 not be superseded by Esperanto or a per- 
 25 
 
feet language which is yet to be invented. 
 His field is totally different. His is a 
 method of recording all languages, and 
 will apply to the crudest language as well 
 as to the most perfect and ideal language 
 that can be invented. This indicates the 
 superiority of his method of recording 
 sounds. 
 
 26 
 
REAT as has been the appre- 
 ciation of Professor Bell's 
 work for mankind, the value 
 of his discoveries and achieve- 
 ments has been only partially 
 realized. When he made his great dis- 
 covery of visible speech, he generously 
 offered to the British government all 
 copyright or claim to the universal al- 
 phabet. He pleaded for an " authorized 
 investigation," but no attention was paid 
 to his request or to his great work, and 
 consequently he failed to obtain a hear- 
 ing. In the Preface to his Visible 
 Speech, " The Science of Universal Al- 
 phabetics," issued in 1867, a single ques- 
 tion seems to us to have come from his 
 throbbing heart full of the realization of 
 the possibilities of Visible Speech to edu- 
 cation and human progress : " Does not 
 the fact that an offer of such a nature 
 failed to obtain a hearing indicate a 
 national want, the want, namely, of some 
 functionary whose business it is to in- 
 vestigate new measures of any kind 
 which might be presented for the benefit 
 of society? " 
 
 27 
 
What a transformation might have 
 been made in the knowledge of our lan- 
 guage, in the methods of improving 
 speech, had there been any recognition 
 of this great discovery! 
 
 A French gentleman who has made no 
 discovery which can for a moment be 
 compared with those of Professor BeU, is 
 now receiving assistance from the French 
 government. If Professor BeU had been 
 born on French soil the recognition of 
 the nature and importance of his work 
 would have been far more speedy than 
 that accorded to him by the slow Anglo- 
 Saxon. 
 
 One of the first applications of Pro- 
 fessor Bell's discovery was the aid it 
 rendered to the establishment of a truly 
 scientific method of teaching speech to 
 the deaf. 
 
 Many attempts to teach the deaf to 
 speak had been made before Professor 
 BeU's discovery of visible speech, but the 
 work was very imperfect and unscientific. 
 Even after Professor Bell's discovery, for 
 a long time many sneered at the idea of 
 speech being taught to those who had been 
 born deaf. I remember an article by a 
 prominent gentleman proving to his sat- 
 isfaction the impossibility of it. This was 
 28 
 
written less than thirty years ago. Pro- 
 fessor Bell had all these prejudices to 
 meet. Those who trained the first mutes 
 to speak met with difficulties which only 
 a few can appreciate. 
 
 These difficulties were not so great in 
 getting the tongue and the vocal organs 
 of the mute to act properly, as to over- 
 coming prejudice. 
 
 The weird music of Helen Keller moves 
 me almost to tears ; and I always feel that 
 her words are the supremest monument to 
 Professor Bell. 
 
 29 
 
HE application of his work to 
 the teaching of speech to the 
 deaf has been discussed fre- 
 quently by those who know 
 its complex history and its 
 many difficulties, — those who are actively 
 engaged in the philanthropic work of 
 teaching the deaf in different institutions 
 throughout the country; and I leave to 
 them the task of doing justice to this 
 department of his labors. 
 
 It is my object to call attention to the 
 service of Professor Bell to general edu- 
 cation. In fact, I sometimes feel that 
 the universal acceptance of his work for 
 developing speech by deaf mutes has 
 overshadowed its broader helpfulness in 
 general education, in the study of foreign 
 languages, and as a means of realizing 
 the real elements of speech, and of im- 
 proving the voice and the utterance of 
 one's own language. 
 
 Many seem to regard the application 
 
 of visible speech to the teaching of speech 
 
 to the deaf as its only use, and as the real 
 
 life-work of Professor Bell. Far be it 
 
 30 
 
from me to undervalue in the least the 
 importance of this work; but I wish to 
 show that this is not the only application 
 of visible speech or the only service of 
 Professor Bell to mankind. 
 
 How strange it seems that only in 
 the schools of far-off Japan do we find 
 even an approximate official recognition 
 of the true value of Professor Bell's 
 visible speech in the study not only of 
 foreign languages, but of the native 
 tongue. 
 
 Among the many notices of Professor 
 Bell and his work which have appeared 
 in different parts of the world, I choose 
 this from the " Trade Sun," of Tokyo. 
 It was written by Professor Ezawa, As- 
 sistant Minister of Education, and trans- 
 lated for me by Mr. K. Sakatsimae, M.A. : 
 
 "Alexander Melville Bell, the great educator, 
 author, and scientist, died at Washington, D. C, 
 August 7, 1905, at the home of his son, Alexander 
 Graham Bell. 
 
 "Alexander Melville Bell was eighty-six years 
 old when he died. He was taken sick at his 
 summer home at Colonial Beach, Virginia. A 
 great many physicians were summoned to his bed, 
 but there was no recovery. Professor Bell is 
 well-known all over the civilized world on account 
 of his invention of Visible Speech, by which the 
 deaf and dumb, or those who have lost their hear- 
 
 31 
 
ing from disease, and consequently their voice, 
 could speak and understand the words of others. 
 
 " Alexander Melville Bell was not an American. 
 He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, March 1, 
 1819. His father, Alexander Bell, was a teacher 
 of elocution who distinguished himself in the 
 science of language. His son, Alexander Graham 
 Bell, has done a great work for human progress, 
 by his invention of the telephone, which has been 
 a great blessing to all mankind. 
 
 " When Alexander MelviUe Bell was very young 
 he already showed his talent for elocution. When 
 he was twenty-three years old he invented a new 
 theory of articulation. Afterward he studied in 
 Edinburgh University, and taught there about 
 thirty years, during which time he invented 
 Visible Speech. In 1865, when his father died, 
 he came to London and endeavored to secure a 
 wider recognition of his Visible Speech. In 1868 
 he came to Boston and lectured several times 
 before the Lowell Institute, by which he became 
 well-known among Americans. Because he thought 
 that by coming to America he might have greater 
 opportunities for his Visible Speech, he emigrated 
 to America, and in 1881 he moved to Washington. 
 
 " He wrote a great many books concerning 
 elocution and articulation. His last work was 
 written in 1898. Thus his authorship continued 
 from 1845 to 1898, by which we can see that he 
 gave his whole life and energy and devotion to 
 the science of speech. Throughout the civilized 
 world he is considered the greatest authority in 
 this department of knowledge and education. 
 
 " Not only was he well-known as a scientist, 
 
 32 
 
but also as a philanthropist. He was a member 
 of a great many charitable associations, and about 
 eleven years ago he gave up his summer home to 
 the orphans and sick people, that they might 
 spend the summer by the seashore," 
 
 The writer of this article, who from his 
 position as Assistant Minister of Educa- 
 tion in Japan is high in the counsels of 
 the great empire, concludes with words 
 which show that his compliments are 
 founded upon knowledge and personal 
 experience : 
 
 " When I was young I studied Visible Speech 
 with Dr. Graham Bell, in Boston, and from that 
 time until now I have been studying it continually 
 and have found it a great aid in instructing our 
 people in the mastery not only of other languages, 
 but their own. I regai-d Visible Speech as a great 
 gift to the race, and honor Professor Alexander 
 Melville BeU who discovered it. I felt deep 
 sorrow when I heard the news of his death, so I 
 write this short sketch of his life to show my 
 appreciation and recognition of this great man, 
 whose life has been a blessing to mankind." 
 
 33 
 
HE power of Professor Bell's 
 visible speech to aid others 
 beside deaf mutes may be 
 illustrated by its helpfulness 
 to missionaries. About a 
 year ago twenty-five missionaries, sent 
 out by a single religious denomination, 
 departed on one steamer for their work. 
 I estimated that every one of these mis- 
 sionaries might have saved a year of hard 
 work, to say nothing of the consequent 
 gain in efficiency, if they had received 
 even a month or two of training in Pro- 
 fessor Bell's Visible Speech. 
 
 Many of these missionaries were going 
 to China to speak in a language where 
 one syllable, by various modulations of 
 the voice, can be turned into a long sen- 
 tence. " Ba," for example, by being 
 given diif erent inflexions, without chang- 
 ing the pronunciation, can be made to 
 mean, " The princesses gave the prince 
 a box on the ear." 
 
 Even in the Japanese language there 
 
 are certain words which may be spoken in 
 
 a way to suggest a total difference in 
 
 meaning. These discriminations are so 
 
 34 
 
delicate as to be wholly lost to an Ameri- 
 can with a poor ear. 
 
 A Japanese gentleman of culture once 
 told me a story of his boyhood. A group 
 of Japanese boys, of which he was one, en- 
 tered the chapel of a missionary. Imag- 
 ine the feehngs of the boys when the 
 missionary pounded out every word with- 
 out any regard to the dehcate elements of 
 Japanese emphasis, and the shock that 
 came to them when he tried to say, " May 
 the blessing of God rest upon you," and 
 really to the Japanese ear said, " May 
 the blessing of paper rest upon you," the 
 difference between God and paper being 
 the quantity or inflexion of the last vowel 
 of the word kame. 
 
 The very next day these Japanese boys 
 were again agitated by another mis- 
 pronounciation of this word. Though 
 the missionary had been many years in 
 the country, after his short address he 
 made a short prayer, and this time, in 
 pronouncing the same word, he spoke it 
 not in the way to mean paper, but turtle, 
 and instead of saying "almighty God," 
 he really said " ahnighty turtle." 
 
 The gentleman continued: "We boys 
 could hardly refrain from showing amuse- 
 ment, but we looked up at the master of 
 35 
 
our school, who sat on the platform with 
 an imperturbable countenance. He did 
 not show the least outward recognition 
 that anything out of the ordinary was 
 happening, and with an effort we sup- 
 pressed our laughter." 
 
 The Japanese are notedly polite, and 
 they rarely reveal their feelings at such 
 blunders, which are very common, nor do 
 they often explain such mistakes to for- 
 eigners. In fact, with our imperfect ears 
 and poor command over the organs of 
 speech, they have found it almost useless. 
 
 Persons without an accurate ear can 
 never learn to speak either Chinese or 
 Japanese adequately. Certainly they can 
 never preach effectively in such a lan- 
 guage. Medical examiners and experts are 
 called upon to test whether a person can 
 endure the climate of some particular re- 
 gion to which one of the missionary boards 
 may wish to send him; but who ever heard 
 of a missionary society asking Professor 
 Bell to examine a company of mission- 
 aries to ascertain whether they would be 
 able to learn Chinese or Japanese, or what 
 language they could most easily master. 
 Such a thing was never done, and yet he 
 could have told with more precision than 
 could the doctor, regarding health, whether 
 36 
 
such persons might not after two or three 
 years have to be sent back, at much loss 
 to the Missionary Board and with great 
 personal grief at their failure, or be trans- 
 ferred to another field, from total inabil- 
 ity to learn the language through lack of 
 the faculty of accurately distinguishing 
 modulations of sound. 
 
 Visible Speech gives a scientific basis 
 for observation, thus supplementing the 
 ear by the eye. By its aid the missionary 
 can master any language in much less 
 time than he can without being trained by 
 this scientific method. 
 
 Mrs. Curry, who was a pupil of Dr. 
 Graham Bell, trained a missionary to 
 China, who was able to preach in Chinese 
 in six months. This seems incredible to 
 those who know the great difficulties in 
 the way, but the technical training of this 
 able student developed his ear and his 
 power of observation in relation to the 
 subtleties and methods of speaking and 
 modulations of tone and was certainly an 
 important aid to him, if not the means 
 of his success. 
 
 One with the least understanding of the 
 
 marvellous helpfulness of Visible Speech 
 
 would sympathize with my feeling when 
 
 I say I contemplated the twenty-five mis- 
 
 37 
 
sionaries mentioned above, with all their 
 enthusiasm and earnestness, not with ex- 
 ultation, but with sorrow; because I knew 
 from years of observation and experience 
 that twenty-five thousand dollars at least 
 could have been saved to the missionary 
 society if these missionaries had mastered 
 Visible Speech. What is of more impor- 
 tance, many individuals in that group of 
 earnest missionaries could thus have been 
 saved from disappointment and failure, 
 and their enthusiasm might have received 
 intelligent direction, to the infinite gain 
 of the cause they represented, — a gain 
 which cannot be estimated in money. 
 
 I once ventured to speak to the secre- 
 tary of a missionary society upon the 
 subject, but my words fell upon deaf 
 ears. He seemed to think that he had 
 some elocutionary enthusiast to deal with 
 who did not know what he was talking 
 about. 
 
 Do you ask how such assistance as that 
 could be rendered? A little study of the 
 nature of Professor Bell's Visible Speech, 
 of the simple experiments which were 
 made forty years ago, would convince 
 any one of the truth of what I assert. 
 
 I once saw an illustration of the ac- 
 curacy of the record which can be made 
 38 
 
by an expert in Visible Speech. Two 
 Japanese gentlemen were in the audience. 
 One of these gentlemen went outside of 
 the hall with an expert in Visible Speech. 
 Then the other Japanese gentleman arose 
 and gave a sentence in his own language, 
 not known to his friend who had gone 
 out, and translated it for us. It was 
 simply, " It is a beautiful day." Another 
 expert in Visible Speech wrote upon the 
 blackboard the Visible- Speech symbols of 
 the words in Japanese, though he did not 
 understand the Japanese language. Then 
 the other two gentlemen returned to the 
 room, and the other Visible- Speech expert, 
 who had not been in the room, and who 
 also did not know the Japanese language, 
 gave aloud the sounds represented on the 
 board, and the Japanese gentleman who 
 had accompanied him translated them. 
 The variation was such as was natural in 
 translation. Instead of saying, " It is a 
 beautiful day," he said, " It is a fine 
 day." 
 
 39 
 
[VER fifty years ago Profes- 
 sor Bell called attention to 
 the unscientific methods of 
 training stammerers. Those 
 who knew him can imagine 
 the enthusiasm and sincere earnestness 
 with which he penned these words: 
 
 " A full consideration of the subject 
 and a wide experience with all varieties of 
 the impediment lead to the settled con- 
 viction that stammering is a habit only, — 
 the formation of which may be entirely 
 prevented by precautionary training in 
 childhood; the growth of which may be 
 easily checked before it is aggravated by 
 the excitements of school; and the up- 
 rooting of which may be accomplished 
 at any stage by intelligent care and 
 perseverance. 
 
 "The stammerer's difficulty is: where 
 to turn for effective assistance. Certainly 
 not to any pretender who veils his method 
 in convenient secrecy, nor to any who pro- 
 fess to ' charm ' away the impediment, or 
 to eifect a cure in a single lesson; not to 
 any whose ' system ' involves drawling, 
 singing, sniffling, whistling, stamping, 
 40 
 
beating time, — all of which expedients 
 have constituted the ' curative ' means of 
 various charlatans ; not to any who bridle 
 the mouth with mechanical appliances, — 
 forks on the tongue, tubes between the 
 lips, bands over the larynx, pebbles in the 
 mouth, etc. The habit of stammering can 
 be counteracted only by the cultivation of 
 a habit of correct speaking founded on 
 the apphcation of natural principles. Re- 
 specting these there is no mystery except 
 what arises from the httle attention that 
 has been paid to the science of speech. 
 
 " Instruction must be sought from 
 teachers whose professional position is a 
 guarantee against deception. If no en- 
 couragement were given by too credulous 
 stammerers to the craft of unqualified 
 ' professors,' respectable teachers would 
 prepare themselves by special study for 
 this important department of work, and 
 the stammerer's perplexity to find trust- 
 worthy skill would be at an end." 
 
 In this way Professor Bell laid the 
 foundation for a scientific treatment of 
 stammerers. Why has there never been 
 estabUshed a school for these unfortu- 
 nates, — a school with an endowment, not 
 upon a mere commercial basis, one with 
 as great facilities as schools for the blind 
 41 
 
or for the deaf and dumb or for other 
 special cases? Why do schools still flour- 
 ish which are practising methods enumer- 
 ated here that were condemned as mere 
 tricks, and of no genuine assistance? 
 Why did a benevolent community fail to 
 respond to his call? 
 
 The power of Visible Speech to aid mis- 
 sionaries and stammerers affords only two 
 illustrations of the many appKcations of 
 Professor Bell's discovery in education 
 and in the amelioration of the race. 
 
 42 
 
ROFEssoR Bell's struggle to 
 make his Visible Speech 
 known, and to aid all de- 
 partments of language teach- 
 ing, vodal training, and the 
 correction of vocal and speech defects, 
 made him my most sympathetic helper and 
 adviser during my twenty-five years of en- 
 deavor to secure endowment for a technical 
 school that would deal with all the prob- 
 lems whose solution he had initiated, and to 
 the estabhshment of the methods to which 
 he gave his hf e. His heart was still warm 
 with his youthful enthusiasm. " I am glad 
 to learn," he wrote me in 1887, " that the 
 School of Expression is making good prog- 
 ress. . . . You must come to Washington 
 and plead the cause in person. I can only 
 say that I shall be very happy if I can in 
 any way be of assistance to you and I am 
 sure my son wiU be also." 
 
 During his whole hfe he never for a 
 moment lost faith in what right methods 
 of vocal and speech training could do for 
 men, and his commoivsense and good 
 judgment recognized also the cause of 
 our slow progress. 
 
 43 
 
The little response I have met with has 
 made me competent to sympathize with 
 the long years of struggle and endeavor 
 to get the Enghsh government to realize 
 the possibihties of Visible Speech. In his 
 own words possibly is found the explana- 
 tion of the lack of interest which is almost 
 universal regarding the importance of 
 such a department: "It arises from the 
 little attention that has been paid to the 
 science of speech." 
 
 After the splendid endowment given by 
 Andrew Carnegie, — of ten million dol- 
 lars to encourage scientific investigations, 
 — I wrote to Professor Bell that I 
 thought I might have a chance to get 
 some assistance in our investigations in 
 the hght of new discoveries in the motor 
 centres and the new psychology; he re- 
 sponded at once with the following letter 
 of endorsement to the President of the 
 Carnegie Institution: 
 
 " I desire to call your attention to the 
 case of Dr. S. S. Curry, which seems to 
 be precisely such as was contemplated by 
 Mr. Carnegie in founding his munificent 
 educational endowments. 
 
 " Dr. Curry has long been a distin- 
 guished student and teacher of the art of 
 speech. He has published much on the 
 44 
 
subject, and has still much to add if he 
 could be aided in publication. 
 
 " May I hope that you will commend 
 Dr. Curry's work to Mr. Carnegie as 
 deserving of pecuniary assistance." 
 
 One of the last letters he wrote in the 
 interest of the School of Expression was 
 addressed to the Treasurer of the Cor- 
 poration of the School, Hon. N. J. Rust, 
 approving the efforts that the members 
 of the Corporation were putting forth for 
 the further endowment of the School. 
 
 " My deab, Sir, — I desire to express 
 to you my sense of the importance to 
 the whole country of the ' School of Ex- 
 pression,' so ably conducted by Dr. S. S. 
 Curry. This institution has earned the 
 right to the most favorable consideration 
 by its distinguished work during many 
 years of struggle. Such an institution 
 should not be dependent on casual sources 
 of income, but should be sustained by an 
 adequate Endowment Fund. The stu- 
 dents of the School of Expression are 
 now to be found in every State of the 
 Union, exerting a refining influence on 
 National speech. The parent School is 
 thus worthy of National recognition in 
 the forms suggested. 
 45 
 
" Suirely some man of wealth will be 
 found who will delight in associating 
 his name with such an instnmient of 
 pubhc good. The whole Enghsh-speak- 
 ing people of the United States will join 
 in honoring the man who will dedicate 
 his fortune to this object. He will, at 
 the same time, be the means of raising 
 up an endless succession of orators to 
 worthily celebrate his enlightened muni- 
 ficence from age to age. 
 
 " Where is this man of wealth? 
 
 " I suggest that an appeal be issued by 
 you, as Treasurer of the School of Ex- 
 pression, untU happily the man shall be 
 found. 
 
 " With best wishes, I am, yours very 
 truly, 
 
 AxEx. Melvilm: Bell." 
 
 One of the most joyous and unexpected 
 events of my life occurred when Profes- 
 sor Bell, in celebration of one of his birth- 
 days, sent a check to me for the work of 
 the School, and with it 
 
 " Words of so sweet breath composed. 
 As made the things more rich." 
 
 " I send this," he wrote, " as a testi- 
 monial of my appreciation of your efforts 
 
to establish the study of the spoken word 
 on a scientific basis." 
 
 Over the grave of my beloved master, 
 I have no desire to enlarge upon my own 
 efforts, and speak of these only to show 
 to those who know nothing of the diffi- 
 culties to be encountered how hard Pro- 
 fessor Bell labored and what obstacles he 
 met. This occasioned his kind words to 
 me. He presented one of the greatest 
 discoveries of the age to the attention 
 of the English-speaking world, and the 
 English government had no official 
 whose function it was to investigate his 
 discovery. 
 
 I can never forget the trembling lip, 
 the quivering face, and the tear that came 
 into the eye of the late Rev. William R. 
 Alger when, in the course of a lecture 
 at the School of Expression, he poured 
 forth this tribute to Professor Bell: 
 
 " Hearing and speaking go together. The 
 dumb are dumb only because they are deaf, and 
 in these unfortunates, by teaching the vicarious 
 eye to perform the office of the disabled ear,, the 
 tongue is at the same time taught to speak. 
 One of the divinest miracles of the nineteenth 
 century — a great, constant scientific miracle of 
 genius and beneficence, — is the Science and Art 
 of Visible Speech constructed by Professor Alex- 
 ander Melville Bell, for the ennobling transforma- 
 47 
 
tion and rescue of deaf-mutes from their disability. 
 . . . From land to land around the world thou- 
 sands of such afflicted persons learn to read the 
 silent forms of the lips, and simultaneously cease 
 to be deaf and begin to be eloquent ! Well may 
 the author of such a world-wide miracle of bene- 
 ficence afford, in his grand old age, to walk the 
 streets unnoticed and unnamed while the news- 
 papers are blazoning the portraits, and frantic 
 crowds shrieking the honors of the champions of 
 brawn and muscle." 
 
 These words, by one who gave much of 
 his life to the investigation of the prob- 
 lems of speech, who journeyed to Paris 
 to study with Delsarte, and studied every 
 method he could hear of, and who died 
 in the same year with Professor BeU, were 
 spoken out of a full realization of the 
 sad lack of insight into speaking in 
 modern times. Those who thmk that the 
 words went too far do not know the true 
 significance of Professor BeU's work, or 
 do not realize the great misfortune that 
 loss of speech entails. 
 
 Professor Butcher, in his book entitled 
 " Some Aspects of the Greek Genius," 
 has said that the great difference be- 
 tween education among the Greeks and 
 that in our own time is their emphasis of 
 the spoken word and our emphasis of the 
 written. 
 
 48 
 
Here we find a key to the difficulties 
 under which teachers of speech labor. 
 The whole attention of educational in- 
 stitutions in modern times is given to 
 writing and to print. The library is the 
 temple which is worshipped on the modern 
 coUege campus. Libraries certainly have 
 their place, but why should we not some- 
 times feel, with old Socrates and all the 
 Greeks, the importance of hving speech? 
 
 I once heard Dr. Graham Bell, at the 
 time of his first public exhibition of the 
 telephone, declare that while science had 
 been directed chiefly to Ught in the past 
 fifty years, in the next fifty it would 
 be turned more, he thought, to soimd. 
 That was over thirty years ago. The 
 turning of attention towards sound, in 
 the living voice of the living man, 
 seems to have been slower than Dr. 
 Bell expected. 
 
 If Professor Melville BeU had made his 
 discoveries in other departments of sci- 
 ence, I feel assured that he would have 
 reaped a great reward. The whole world 
 would have risen to do him honor. But 
 as it is, he never received even an hon- 
 orary academic degree, so far as I know, 
 from any university. I spoke of this 
 once to an official of a university, but 
 49 
 
it seemed to strike him with surprise. 
 To my astonishment, he knew little 
 about the character of Professor BeU's 
 work. 
 
 The School of Expression once paid 
 him the highest honor in its power and 
 conferred upon him a diploma of honor, 
 endeavoring to express in a few words that 
 which all lovers of true work in speaking 
 desired to convey to him. It was aU 
 that we as an institution could do, and 
 the words spoken on that occasion by 
 Rev. George W. Shimi, D.D., the Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Trustees, wiU long 
 be remembered by those who listened to 
 them: 
 
 " No institution can confer honors upon one who 
 has made for himself so illustrious a name as has 
 Professor Alexander Melville Bell ; but the School 
 of Expression, of which he was the ftdend and 
 benefactor, can make a grateful recognition of his 
 great services to the cause of the sciences and arts 
 associated with speaking. He stands especially 
 near this School, he was the teacher of our leader 
 and the chief adviser in all the plans in the found- 
 ing of this institution. Every official and student 
 of the School feel the close relation we bear to 
 him and recognize that we honor ourselves in con- 
 ferring upon him the highest honors we can give. 
 It becomes therefore, my pleasure, on behalf of 
 the trustees and faculty of the School of Expres- 
 50 
 
sion to recognize the great benefits which Profes- 
 sor Bell has brought to the world, and to confer 
 upon him the diploma of honor, as a simple 
 acknowledgment of his discoveries and distin- 
 guished services to mankind." 
 
 61 
 
I HILE I studied the principles 
 of Visible Speech under his 
 personal direction, and should 
 like to speak upon points 
 which he thought important 
 regarding these, and which I think 
 teachers have failed to reahze, or which 
 have been to my mind overlooked in 
 visible-speech teaching in the deaf-mute 
 schools, stUl I leave the consideration of 
 this department of his work, and shall 
 endeavor to say a few words regarding 
 his ideas and methods of improving and 
 developing natural reading. The primary 
 aim of my studying with him was more 
 to receive help for myself in subjects 
 other than Visible Speech. 
 
 I recorded in a fragmentary way the 
 hints given at some of his lessons. These 
 were written out after the lesson, as in 
 the rapid whirl of his illustrations, and of 
 my endeavors to give right interpretation 
 to passages, note-taking was impossible. 
 It was my custom when alone to endeavor 
 to practise the exercises and to meditate 
 over the principles which had been sug- 
 gested, and to keep more or less of a 
 52 
 
record of what had been said. At the 
 close of one lesson I find that I enumer- 
 ated nineteen distinct criticisms which 
 were given me during a single hour of 
 instruction. Of course some one wiU say 
 that I was an unusually hard case. This 
 may be true enough, and still the nature 
 of these suggestions proves the greatness 
 of the master. His keenness of insight, 
 his quickness to detect the least that was 
 abnormal or could be better, his enthu- 
 siasm, and the definiteness of his methods, 
 as well as his patience and perseverance, 
 were simply marvellous. 
 
 The work of a teacher of a subject so 
 subjective and difficult as Vocal Training 
 or Dehvery can hardly be indicated in 
 print. The sudden suggestion, the con- 
 stant varying of the point of view, the 
 giving of a clause incorrectly or with the 
 exaggeration of a fault in order to awaken 
 the student to a realization of his own 
 mistakes, the endeavor to awaken the 
 student's consciousness of himself, or of 
 the real meaning of his mannerisms, of 
 his failures to present a truth correctly, 
 of the fact that he has not received the 
 right impression from a passage, or that 
 his impression has no effect upon his de- 
 livery, — how can a teacher's method of 
 53 
 
dealing with such subtle psychological 
 problems be even hinted at in cold type? 
 The look, the inflexion, the dehcate hint, 
 the peculiar touch upon a word, the illus- 
 tration, the criticism, — in short, the liv- 
 ing spirit of the truly great teacher who 
 is called upon, as in Vocal Expression, to 
 read the heart of his student and to make 
 clear to the pupil himself his own fail- 
 ures to reveal his best self, can never be 
 recorded. 
 
 It is for this reason that Delivery — the 
 right use of the voice, articulation, correct 
 methods of breathing, faults of inflexion, 
 and all the subtleties of Vocal Expres- 
 sion — must be taught by a living teacher. 
 Printed words can give only a remote hint; 
 and those who boast " I have never studied 
 with any one," may have knowledge in 
 this direction or that, but I have never 
 known one who did not have serious man- 
 nerisms and failures of which he was 
 wholly unconscious. 
 
 This is not because Vocal Expression 
 can ever be taught by imitation. Pro- 
 fessor Bell, of aU teachers I have ever 
 known, was free from instruction by im- 
 itation. He would read sentences in all 
 possible ways to awaken the student's dull 
 perceptions. After reading a clause in 
 54 
 
a peculiar way he would require the stu- 
 dent to read it in the same way, tut it 
 was not necessarily the correct way that 
 he presented. He was exercising the 
 student's ear, seeking to produce an im- 
 pression, even a sub-conscious impression, 
 upon the student in relation to his breath- 
 ing, voice, or speech. He was trying to 
 make the student conscious of the nature 
 of some fault or of some mode of 
 expression. 
 
 55 
 
OW can I give a picture of 
 my old master as he sat be- 
 fore me a quarter of a cen- 
 tury ago, with the searching 
 look of those kindly eyes, 
 open to the perception of every fault of 
 breathing, with that quick ear to detect 
 the slightest mistake in articulation or 
 melody, with that great mind ahve to 
 every failure to perceive the depth of 
 meaning! How can that subtle voice, 
 that marvellous ear, that deep insight into 
 the subtlest action of the mind, that power 
 to reproduce every possible shade of cor- 
 rect and incorrect action in speech, — how 
 can such a picture, such sacred memories, 
 be even remotely hinted at in words? 
 
 As the best means of introducing this 
 great Master to those who never had the 
 privilege of meeting or knowing this em- 
 bodiment of all a teacher should be, and 
 also of awaking the memories of those 
 who, like myself, sat at his feet and 
 shared the great blessing of his instruc- 
 tion, I shall try to record a few random 
 phrases from my old note-book, endeavor- 
 56 
 
ing, in some cases, to supplement from 
 memory his words and suggestions made 
 twenty-five years ago. 
 
 The hasty notes of a student are 
 rarely correct; they are mere hints; only 
 now and then do they contain a direct 
 quotation. 
 
 If these pencil marks constitute an 
 imperfect record, what can be said of the 
 memory after the lapse of twenty-five 
 years? After the numerous eff'orts to 
 interpret the same passage, under many 
 circumstances, are not later realizations of 
 its meaning apt to blend with what was 
 said by the teacher? 
 
 Notwithstanding these difficulties, I 
 make the attempt, and while the record 
 may be imperfect, the original impres- 
 sions were so deep that no later experi- 
 ences could obliterate them, and to one 
 who will use his imagination, and who 
 understands the peculiar character of 
 Vocal Expression, these hints may sug- 
 gest something of his remarkable power 
 and method. 
 
 Some of the more strictly personal 
 suggestions are omitted, and as far as 
 possible, those of a general character, 
 apphcable to all, have been chosen. 
 
 Professor Bell was the greatest teacher 
 57 
 
of Emphasis I ever knew. He had rare 
 insight into the meaning of an author, 
 and also that true teaching intuition, or 
 perhaps it should be called dramatic in- 
 stinct, which enabled him to realize the 
 student's imperfect mental grasp and its 
 cause. Not only this, but he would sud- 
 denly spring upon him unexpected 
 meanings, refer immediately to analo- 
 gous passages in other forms of litera- 
 ture, and illustrate the power of an 
 inflexion to convey definite meanings. 
 He would also suggest various faults in 
 order to awaken by opposition and con- 
 trast the right conception. 
 
 His power of analysis is illustrated in 
 his different books, published by the 
 Volta Bureau, Washington, D. C, espe- 
 cially in "'Principles of Elocution" and 
 " Emphasized Liturgy," which furnish 
 most important aids to every one desiring 
 to understand the peculiar value of Em- 
 phasis in Vocal Expression. 
 
 Fine, however, as his written words are, 
 they cannot reproduce the hving voice of 
 the teacher, or his marvellous flexibility 
 of miud, or adaptation to the student. 
 His method of teaching, his illustrative 
 and suggestive tones, his waiting for the 
 student's understanding of what is meant, 
 58 
 
even his observation, to know whether the 
 student's ear caught delicate discrimina- 
 tions and inflexions, could never be re- 
 corded in type. 
 
 I have often wished that he had written 
 more of such analyses of poems and pas- 
 sages; and it would help materially to the 
 understanding of this difficult subject if 
 his pupUs would reproduce from their 
 remembrance suggestions of his regard- 
 ing difficult passages of hterature. My 
 notes are imperfect. In printing them, 
 I have simply done what I wish might 
 be done by other pupils of our master. 
 
 59 
 
SELECT first from my notes 
 some points in Portia's 
 speech on mercy, contained 
 in the fourth act of 
 Shakespeare's " Merchant 
 of Venice," to illustrate his insight 
 and discrimination into the meaning of 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 The quality of mercy is not strain'd ; 
 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 
 Upon the place beneath ; it is twice bless'd ; 
 
 It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes; 
 
 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes 
 
 The thronfed monarch better than his crown : 
 
 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
 
 The attribute to awe and majesty. 
 
 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings : 
 
 But mercy is above this sceptred sway ; 
 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings : 
 
 It is an attribute of God himself : 
 
 And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 
 
 When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
 
 Though justice be thy plea, consider this, — 
 
 That in the course of justice, none of us 
 
 Should see salvation ; we do pray for mercy ; 
 
 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
 
 The deeds of mercy. 
 
 " It hlesseth him that gives, and him 
 that takes." I have heard public readers, 
 60 
 
and even illustrious actresses, render this 
 line with the emphasis upon " takes," or 
 at least with as much emphasis upon 
 " takes " as upon " gives." Professor 
 Bell said that the only emphatic word was 
 "gives." What is Portia's purpose? She 
 has Shylock in mind, and would naturally 
 accentuate the sentence in such a way as 
 to indicate to him emphatically that mercy 
 would prove a blessing to himself. Stress 
 placed upon " takes " emphasizes the 
 blessing that would go to Antonio. Such 
 emphasis is unnecessary, as it is implied 
 in the very nature of the case. Moreover, 
 to emphasize " takes " is to defeat Portia's 
 object. Shylock is not in an attitude of 
 mind to bless Antonio. Readers empha- 
 size " takes " because they foUow the suc- 
 cession of clauses, and hence lose the real 
 point of the passage. Emphasis should 
 express the thought, and not foUow the 
 sequence of words. The only point of the 
 sentence is found in " gives " ; what fol- 
 lows is a natural inference. 
 
 Again, in the same speech. Professor 
 BeU emphasized " rain," not " heaven." 
 Rain always comes from heaven. Is it 
 necessary to assert the fact? If, however, 
 you have the additional thought in mind 
 that " heaven " means " God," and that 
 61 
 
mercy comes from God, you may put an 
 additional emphasis upon "heaven," but 
 not otherwise. 
 
 Put your emphasis on the second 
 "mightiest," not on "in." Why? Be- 
 cause emphasis on " in " suggests that the 
 second " mightiest " is employed in the 
 same sense as the &st " mightiest." Em- 
 phasis on the second " mightiest " implies 
 that the word is now used in a new sense, 
 and this is the case. 
 
 Do not give too much force to 
 " sceptre," whose meaning is almost the 
 same as " crown." A peculiar rising in- 
 flexion may be given to the word, which 
 wiU assert its identity with " crown." 
 
 The word " God " should receive a fall- 
 ing inflexion, and " himself " the same 
 inflexion. To give a rising inflexion to 
 " God " and a falling inflexion to " him- 
 self," as many do, is to render the clause 
 meaningless. 
 
 Give strong emphasis to " prayer," and 
 to " render," not to " deeds." To em- 
 phasize " deeds " implies that prayer is 
 only words, and this weakens the force 
 of the passage. The. true antithesis is 
 between " praying for mercy " and " ren- 
 dering it." Hence, "render," according 
 to Professor Bell, " is the emphatic word. 
 62 
 
ANY other illustrations of 
 Professor Bell's insight and 
 careful discrimination could 
 be given. I present only a 
 few examples. Note the 
 comments on the following passage from 
 Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey": 
 
 " Therefore am I still 
 A lover of the meadows and the woods, 
 And mountains ; and of all that we behold 
 From this green earth ; of all the mighty world 
 Of eye, and ear, — both what they half create. 
 And what perceive." 
 
 What is the emphatic word in the 
 second clause? Generally the word 
 " earth " is accentuated by students as 
 the central idea. This suggests that this 
 clause is a summary of the preceding. 
 Professor Bell thought that this was 
 wrong. If Wordsworth had meant this 
 he would have used " on," not " from," 
 " this green earth." Accordingly, he 
 emphasized " from " in a way to sug- 
 gest clouds, sky, and stars. The first 
 clause, according to him, referred to ob- 
 jects on the earth, and the second to 
 objects seen from the earth. 
 63 
 
In response to the suggestion that this 
 might be too ingenious, he said: "Whether 
 true or not it afford^ a striking illustra- 
 tion of the power of emphasis. There 
 can be no doubt that emphasis on ' from ' 
 suggests this meaning." This illustra- 
 tion shows Professor Bell's spirit. He 
 was not anxious to give the student his 
 interpretations, but to awaken insight into 
 the nature of the emphasis or to cause 
 a student to realize the peculiar force of 
 a phrase or of a sentence, and especially 
 of a modulation of the voice. No student 
 was asked to accept his opinions blindly. 
 The student must perceive correctly the 
 peculiar nature of a given emphasis, and 
 thus become a law unto himself in reveal- 
 ing his own interpretations. If the Pro- 
 fessor's view was not accepted he simply 
 smUed, required the student to render the 
 clause in both ways, and asked him for 
 a statement of the difference. 
 
 The poem just mentioned contained 
 another difficulty regarding proper em- 
 phasis, which is found in the following 
 passage : 
 
 " These beauteous forms, 
 Through a long absence, have not been to me 
 As is a landscape to a blind man's eye ; 
 But oft. in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din 
 64 - 
 
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them 
 In hours of weariness, sensations sweet. 
 Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart ; 
 And passing even into my purer mind. 
 With tranquil restoration : — feelings too 
 Of unremembered pleasure : such, perhaps. 
 As have no slight or trivial influence 
 On that best portion of a good man's life. 
 His little, nameless, unremembered acts 
 Of kindness and of love." 
 
 We have here " unremembered " twice 
 in the same sentence. Professor Bell, in 
 the jSrst "unremembered," emphasized the 
 syllable " un," because in the previous 
 lines the " remembered pleasures " are 
 recognized, those which are " felt in the 
 blood," the " heart," and in the " purer 
 mind " ; that is, not in the feelings, but 
 in abstract thinking. In the first "un- 
 remembered " the author passes over to 
 the unconscious influence of natural ob- 
 jects, to those emotions the sources of 
 which are unknown. By this emphasis 
 Professor BeU brought out the real an- 
 tithesis and meaning of the passage. The 
 second " unremembered " is used in a 
 general sense, and is not emphatic. 
 
 The following lines from Goldsmith's 
 " Village Preacher," an extract from his 
 "Deserted Village," illustrates one par- 
 ticular point in Professor Bell's method 
 65 
 
of teaching emphasis upon which he laid 
 great stress. 
 
 " His house was known to all the vagrant train : 
 He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain ; 
 The long-remembered beggar was his guest. 
 Whose beard, descending, swept his aged breast." 
 
 To him " long-remembered " was very 
 emphatic because the idea of " beggar " 
 was implied in " vagrant train " ; but 
 this was an unusual beggar, a beggar 
 that was well known to be a beggar. 
 Emphasis must bring out the specific 
 point of a clause. This emphasis gives 
 the specific value and force of Gold- 
 smith's words. To emphasize " beggar " 
 results from a careless drift or indefinite 
 mental action, which is often found in 
 ordinary reading. 
 
 The discussion of this passage reminds 
 me of the great humor of Professor Bell 
 in teaching. " Be sure," he said once, 
 " not to omit the ' d ' in ' beard ' (last line 
 above), otherwise you will have ' beer de- 
 scending,' a very different idea. 
 
 " Many meanings may be given by the 
 manner of repeating: ' Half a league, 
 half a league,' in Tennyson's ' Charge of 
 the Light Brigade.' For instance, we 
 may so read the words as to represent 
 66 
 
the galloping of the horses. Second, we 
 may so give the words as to suggest in- 
 crease of intensity. Third, we may so 
 give the words as to suggest the sense 
 of continuity in the midst of danger. 
 
 " Even in the most explosive speech of 
 a passionate character, such as that of 
 Cassius, there must be an effort at self- 
 control. Every man makes some effort 
 to command his passion. 
 
 " In Hood's ' Bridge of Sighs ' do not 
 read ' One more unfortunate ' continu- 
 ously; otherwise, 'more' may be so 
 spoken as to qualify ' unfortunate.' 
 Pause after ' more.' 
 
 " In the same way, do not make ' pure ' 
 quahfy ' womanly.' ' Pure ' should be 
 given with a falling inflexion, and then 
 the word ' womanly ' added, after a 
 pause, with another emphatic falling in- 
 flexion. This suggests ' all that is left 
 of her now is pure, nay more, even 
 womanly.' Would not this require a 
 comma after 'pure'?" 
 
 Professor BeU had a peculiar way of 
 
 reading another passage in this same 
 
 poem. In giving the words " sisterly, 
 
 fatherly, motherly feelings had changed." 
 
 67 
 
He made an abrupt pause after " moth- 
 erly," as if the whole thought was too 
 much, and after this pause " feelings " 
 was given with a strong falling inflexion. 
 
 " Two words connected by ' and ' must 
 be given as two ideas, not as one. 
 
 " When Cassius said to Brutus, ' You 
 have condemned and noted Lucius Pella,' 
 he meant two things. Shakespeare does 
 not multiply words without ideas, as poor 
 writers do. To give a rising inflexion to 
 ' condemned ' and a falling inflexion to 
 ' noted ' loses the force of Shakespeare's 
 fine discrimination of words. Both should 
 receive a firm falling inflexion. ' Noted ' 
 has the longer inflexion, which indicates 
 that Cassius blames Brutus not only for 
 condemning Lucius Pella, but for pub- 
 licly exhibiting him as an example." 
 
 68 
 
UCH suggestive sentences as 
 follow on the next few pages 
 would possibly be more in- 
 teresting to the general reader 
 if I could give the exact pas- 
 sage he was discussing. The principles 
 involved, however, have innumerable ap- 
 phcations and are very general. A mo- 
 ment's thought will bring up illustrations 
 or sentences from good authors to which 
 the principle applies which will make them 
 far more important as food for medita- 
 tion. The application of a principle by 
 ourselves always gives added force. 
 
 Emphasis is the focusing of thought. 
 
 There are three causes of emphasis, 
 which may also give rise to three degrees 
 of emphasis: 
 
 First, emphasis is caused by the "differ- 
 ential of the thought; " that is, the word 
 containing the new idea is emphatic. 
 
 Second, any word when contrasted with 
 a preceding word is emphatic. 
 
 Third, a phrase or word may be em- 
 phasized to suggest a more intense mean- 
 ing or an unexpressed contrast. 
 69 
 
Strong emphasis requires a pause either 
 before or after the word. 
 
 Two emphatic words can never be 
 brought together without a pause be- 
 tween them. 
 
 Antithesis must always be given with 
 reference to what precedes, never to what 
 follows. Sometimes a contrast is implied 
 in a word, but this is suggestive emphasis. 
 
 The giving of a strong, salient inflexion 
 to a word in such a way as to suggest 
 a contrasted but unexpressed idea is not 
 common, but very important. 
 
 There may be such a thing as a positive 
 negative. We often very earnestly affirm 
 a negative statement. 
 
 Nine out of ten emphatic words have a 
 falling inflexion. Whoever asserts nearly 
 always uses the falling inflexion. 
 
 Let the voice climb, as up a ladder, .to 
 the emphatic word, give this a sahent 
 falhng inflexion, and then come down 
 while making the successive words a 
 ladder of descent. 
 
 70 
 
Never allow the voice *to go up and 
 then come down, or down and then up 
 in the same clause, or before reaching the 
 emphatic word, or in a subordinate clause, 
 or before the emphatic part of a sentence. 
 
 Poor readers often make a falling in- 
 flexion on an emphatic word, and imme- 
 diately contradict it by a rising inflexion 
 on the subordinate words. 
 
 Stop completely after a falling in- 
 flexion, and then, after a long pause, add 
 the quahfying words with the same in- 
 flexion on a lower pitch. 
 
 Many persons give unemphatic words 
 on a monotone, without inflexion. Train 
 the ear to great sensitiveness, so that this 
 fault is readily recognized, and practise 
 giving a definite inflexion to every word 
 in a sentence. 
 
 The turn of a compound inflexion 
 should always be on the accented vowel. 
 
 To get a compound rise, put a " not " 
 before the word, also think a threat. 
 
 To get a compound fall, place "but" 
 before the word. 
 
 71 
 
The grammar of Delivery is funda- 
 mental and first needs attention. 
 
 In reading remember that a sentence 
 has a subject, a predicate, and circum- 
 stantial clauses. All these must be dis- 
 tinguished by the voice. 
 
 The leading emphasis ought not to fall 
 upon the circumstantial clauses, and never 
 does if a passage is well written. In rare 
 cases, however, antithesis may cause strong 
 emphasis in a circumstantial clause; but 
 this does not prevent emphasis on subject 
 and predicate. 
 
 In order to develop consciousness of the 
 force of grammar as it applies to the voice, 
 give at first reading only subjects and 
 predicates. Then ask questions for the 
 auxiliary clauses, reading the subordinate 
 clauses as answers to the questions. 
 
 Ask a student, as to each idea, when, 
 where, how, and why, and lead him to give 
 the right value to different parts. 
 
 Modulate clauses and show their rela- 
 tions to the central ideas they modify. 
 
 Always give the true. value of conjunc- 
 tions and words showing connection. 
 Be careful of all conjunctions which 
 
 72 
 
connect clauses, — especially of disjunc- 
 tive conjunctions. A pause is nearly al- 
 ways required after them. 
 
 Always pause after " though " and 
 " but." 
 
 Clauses which do not introduce a new 
 idea, but are meant to qualify others, 
 must always be made subordinate. 
 
 Separate words which belong to a pre- 
 ceding emphatic word from those which 
 apply to the following one. 
 
 Inserted clauses must always be cut off 
 from the rest of the sentence. 
 
 Melody in speech consists chiejfly in 
 giving the words the rising inflexion, in 
 climbing a kind of ladder, so to speak, 
 until the emphatic word is reached. This 
 is given a salient falling inflexion from a 
 very high pitch, and then the following 
 subordinate words, if there are such, have 
 the same inflexion, but short, and on a 
 lower pitch. When the emphatic word is 
 given a long rising inflexion it is rendered 
 on a low key, and the subordinate words 
 receive the same inflexion on a higher 
 pitch. 
 
 One of the greatest faults in speaking 
 is the rurming of words together. Make 
 73 
 
persons who have this fault separate words 
 and clauses from each other in reading. 
 Persevere with this expedient until they 
 reahze the relation of specific words and 
 phrases to each other. 
 
 Read only one idea at a time. Do not 
 try to read the whole line or sentence, but 
 give each idea successively. Presenting 
 each thought in natural succession will 
 bring repose and power. 
 
 Never read a passage as if you could 
 see far ahead of you and had everything 
 that you were going to say already " cut 
 and dried." 
 
 Speakers often seem to take pride in 
 indicating that what they say is thoroughly 
 prepared. This eliminates the modulation 
 of the voice. 
 
 Every idea must be thought at the 
 moment. This is the whole secret of good 
 reading. You know nothing about what 
 is coming. Refuse to know anything ex- 
 cept the idea with which you are now 
 concerned. 
 
 Give every idea as if it justt-at this 
 moment occurred to the mind. 
 
 74 
 
The running of one idea into another 
 produces a plaintive effect in reading. 
 
 The meaningless drift of the voice up- 
 ward and downward, without relation to 
 emphatic words, is one of the worst faults. 
 With many speakers and actors it vitiates 
 any interpretation of the thought of a 
 passage. 
 
 Take up pieces that you never saw 
 before. Break them up into individual 
 ideas. Give a definite iiiflexion and force 
 to each phrase. 
 
 In order to correct the defect of the 
 running of words and ideas together or 
 the giving of clauses in a drift, cut off 
 each clause and phrase by a long pause 
 when you read, as if you were following 
 the voice of another, and waiting for him 
 to repeat the words before you express 
 them. This wiU give you time to breathe, 
 wiU tend to break up monotony, and wiU 
 cause you to think before speaking. 
 
 One who breathes too seldom, or runs 
 words together, should read with longer 
 pauses. 
 
 Give every passage the greatest possible 
 variety. Break it up into parts, some 
 
 75 
 
clauses on a low pitch, and some on a 
 high pitch, some rapidly, and some slowly. 
 
 Never allow yourself to get into a 
 thoughtless drift. 
 
 The music of speech consists not in 
 prolonged tones, but in their variety. 
 
 It is good practice for pupils to reahze 
 caref uUy and mark the emphasis of strong 
 passages with the meaning implied or sug- 
 gested; and then to read them accentu- 
 ating the emphasis as much as possible. 
 
 Never mark inflexions if such marking 
 makes the reader mechanical. In such 
 a case mark only the emphatic words. 
 Trust to cultivated instinct in giving right 
 inflexions. 
 
 Always feel sure that you can mark 
 every word in a piece if necessary, and 
 make your reading more definite. 
 
 Read passages which have been marked, 
 but only as a means of developing the 
 power to make inflexions control the 
 breathing or the voice, or train the ear. 
 
 Readers and speakers often suffer from 
 sore throat simply on account of breath- 
 ing too seldom. 
 
 76 
 
To correct this tendency, read an ani- 
 mated passage, definitely presenting each 
 clause, breathing for every phrase. 
 
 The practice for holding a f uU breath 
 accustoms the chest to greater expansion, 
 and is a helpful exercise, but it ought not 
 to be too much exaggerated. 
 
 I have never had but one pupU able to 
 reach ninety seconds in prolonging tones. 
 
 One Italian singing teacher, who pro- 
 duced great results in voice training, used 
 " a " as in " awe " in training the voice. 
 He said that this gave the greatest open- 
 ness to the back of the throat. But most 
 teachers use " ah." 
 
 The voice can be trained by the careful 
 reading of animated passages, and by 
 marking weU the separation of phrases 
 and the relation of clauses. 
 
 Try to consider the chest as an immov- 
 able box. Then be generous with your 
 breath. Then the diaphragm must move. 
 
 If you breathe too seldom, hold the chest 
 up actively, and do not interfere or con- 
 strict your breathing. 
 
 Passionate expression increases the 
 number of breaths. Breathing after an 
 
 77 
 
exclamation makes it passionate; for 
 example, breathing after " O " in the 
 following: 
 
 " O precious hours, O golden prime ! " 
 
 The vocal organs must always separate 
 after a consonant. Final consonants part 
 into an open position, initial consonants 
 into the following vowel. 
 
 During an emphatic clause the separa- 
 tion of the organs in the final consonant 
 is always heard. 
 
 Put the accent upon the root syllable of 
 the word. 
 
 Be careful of a final " d." 
 
 Do not lose the " t " in such words as 
 " acts," and other words where the com- 
 bination " cts " is found. Students should 
 work carefully on this combination, for 
 agility of the tongue. To omit the " t " 
 is very apt to cause confusion. A young 
 man in Aberdeen University made the 
 astonishing prayer " that all differences 
 of sex might disappear." He meant 
 sects. 
 
 The explosive action of consonants is 
 an important part of passionate utterance. 
 78 
 
When producing exclamations with 
 great indignation, as, for example, " I 
 had rather be a dog I" the "d" and the 
 " g " should be given with great decision. 
 If the final consonant recoils suddenly, 
 passion is suggested. 
 
 Do not omit the " y " element in " suit." 
 The omission of this element in such words 
 is an indication of lack of culture. So in 
 " assumed." 
 
 In some persons passionate utterance is 
 more apt to be nasal than normal speech. 
 NasaHty in this case seems to be caused 
 by exaggerated movements of the face. 
 
 Fragments such as these give, of course, 
 only a few aspects of Professor BeU's 
 teaching. One element I may possibly 
 have unduly emphasized, since it was this 
 aspect of his work that was one of the 
 helps to me in my studies to grasp the 
 psychological basis of Dehvery. But 
 though, what I have given may be one- 
 sided and reflect almost as much of the 
 pupil as of the instructor, for this very 
 reason it may indicate Professor BeU's 
 power as a teacher. 
 
 79 
 
N a former page, I said that 
 to his pupils, Professor Bell 
 was greater as a teacher than 
 the stranger will suspect from 
 his printed books, as clear, 
 simple, and forcible as these are. But 
 to all who knew him, he was still greater 
 as a man. 
 
 It is very difficult to convey any ade- 
 quate conception of the impression of his 
 noble personahty which lingers and will 
 live forever in the hearts of all who knew 
 him. How can any one suggest his dig- 
 nity and repose, his never varying sym- 
 pathy, his geniality and kindliness, his 
 constant cheerfulness and childlike joy. 
 
 A beautiful picture of his character is 
 given us in the words of his most intimate 
 friend during the last twenty-five years 
 of his life, Hon. John Hitz, Superin- 
 tendent of the Volta Bureau. Mr. Hitz 
 was in constant touch with him, and can 
 speak with authority: 
 
 "The filial devotion accorded Professor Bell by 
 
 his immediate family was simply ideal, of a nature 
 
 so perfectly exemplary and beautiful, that any 
 
 attempt to speak of his family relations truthfully 
 
 80 
 
would be invading the sanctity of a model home. 
 All who have been privileged to be near him 
 could not otherwise than become deeply sensible 
 of the ennobling and refining influence of his 
 wholesome personality. To sit at his board, and 
 occasionally enjoy the elocutionary "bouts" be- 
 tween him and his accomplished brother, in which, 
 at times, they were joined by his equally gifted 
 son, as they bantered each other with recitations 
 from Shakespeare, or other favorite dramatists 
 and authors, not infrequently dialectic and in 
 Gaelic, wa^ an intellectual treat few mortals can 
 ever have enjoyed with such recognized elocution- 
 ary masters as principals. The humor, prompt 
 retorts, and fire that at such times would fly from 
 one to another was something akin to an array 
 of batteries emitting electric sparks, and would 
 baflle accurate portrayal. 
 
 It can truthfully be said of Professor Bell that 
 a kindlier face than his has seldom been seen, 
 especially among so-called more thoughtftil scien- 
 tists. His optimism constantly made itself 
 manifest by the evident delight he showed in 
 embracing every possible opportunity in giving 
 delight to others. The rare faculty of " making 
 the best of everything" seemed spontaneous with 
 him. While positive in his conceptions of the 
 beautiful and true, uncharitable criticism seemed 
 foreign to him. His mind seemed utterly free 
 from malice, and bent on doing all the good he 
 could. His sphere was one of marked content 
 and radiant good-will. Although often earnest 
 in mien, no one has ever been heard to say that 
 they saw Mr. Bell really angered. Rage was 
 foreign to his nature. He could calmly look 
 81 
 
upon a furious storm, admire the force of wind 
 and wave, and it seemed to harbor no ten'or to 
 him. Scenes of unruffled wave, where steamer and 
 sailing craft silently passed along on their errands 
 of service to fellow-men, such as greeted him from 
 his seat on the enbankment in front of his resi- 
 dence at Colonial Beach, were equally if not 
 more to his liking than the commotion of antag- 
 onizing elements. By nature he was averse to the 
 boisterous, and courted rather scenes of silence 
 and gentleness. To see him ensconsed in his chair 
 on the well shaded vine-clad veranda of his river- 
 side home, at times reading and smoking, or 
 watching the brooding, ever chattering sparrows 
 he had encouraged to build their nests along the 
 inner eaves, was to see incarnated content upon 
 his countenance. 
 
 Always fond of domestic animals, in later years 
 he more especially liked to keep pets, and loved 
 to feed his dogs, birds, and fishes himself. ' In his 
 city den or studio, he could while away hours 
 patiently analyzing the speech of his parrot, and 
 determining the notes of his canaries and mock- 
 ing-birds, or marvelling at the ceaseless and grace- 
 ful evolutions of the fishes in his aquarium. 
 These pets, together with flowers of all kinds, not 
 only afforded him congenial companionship and 
 diversion, but also a constant, delightfully inter- 
 esting study." 
 
 82 
 
T WAS on the banks of the 
 Potomac that I first saw his 
 face. It was near the Poto- 
 mac that he patiently sought 
 to reveal to me my imperfec- 
 tions, stimulated me to work, and enabled 
 me to feel his exalted and impersonal 
 earnestness for the improvement of Eng- 
 lish speech. How easy it is to let the 
 imagination pass down the stream and 
 see the picture painted for us here by his 
 most intimate friend! 
 
 The sparrows will come again and buUd 
 their nests around the porch of the home 
 at Colonial Beach. They wiU chatter and 
 look for one who fed them and enjoyed 
 their twitter, but the chair will be vacant. 
 The broad Potomac wiU sweep on to the 
 ocean, and the scene he so much loved wUl 
 stiU change its hues in the morning and 
 evening sunUght. Year after year the 
 thrushes wiU come and sing to the opening 
 flowers; but they will not see the happy 
 face that once greeted them. Yet, though 
 the voice we so much loved is silent, that 
 great soul, with its high ideals and aspira- 
 tions, its broad charity and love, is not 
 83 
 
dead, but living, in a higher, broader 
 sphere. His work will be carried on, and 
 unborn generations will recognize him as 
 the leader in his day and generation of 
 vocal science, the one who estabhshed 
 speech upon a broad scientific basis. 
 
 Those who honored and loved him will 
 picture him in the beautiful surroundings 
 of his summer cottage at Colonial Beach, 
 and as we look out from his vine-clad 
 veranda over the river which was the de- 
 light of his last years, with the change of 
 only a few words our fellings are well 
 expressed by Wordsworth's Sonnet on 
 the River Duddon called " After-thought," 
 written in memory of his sister: 
 
 I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide. 
 As being passed away. — Vain sjTnpathies ! 
 For, backward, Duddon, as I cast my eyes, 
 I see what was, and is, and will abide ; 
 Still glides the Stream, and shall forever glide ; 
 The Form remains, the Function never dies ; 
 While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise. 
 We Men, who in our morn of youth defied 
 The elements, must vanish ; — be it so ! 
 Enough, if something from our hands have power 
 To live, and act, and serve the future hour ; 
 And if, as toward the silent tomb we go. 
 Through love, through hope, and faith's transcen- 
 dent dower, 
 We feel that we are greater than we know. 
 
 84