



Produced by Charlene Taylor, Josephine Paolucci, Marilynda
Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net.







RECITATIONS

FOR THE SOCIAL CIRCLE.

SELECTED AND ORIGINAL.

[Illustration]

BY

JAMES CLARENCE HARVEY.

PUBLISHED BY
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD.

LOUIS KLOPSCH, Proprietor,
BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK.


Copyright, 1896.
BY LOUIS KLOPSCH.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE.


In reading and recitation, the general tendency is to overdo. The quiet
reserve force, which can be made apparent in the voice, will reach the
heart and stir the soul when gesture and ranting fail. "Be bold! Be not too
bold" should be the watchwords of the reciter. Self-possession, with a
nervousness arising from an earnest desire to please, is the keynote to
success. Never gesticulate if you can help it. When a gesture asserts
itself to such an extent that you have made it before you realize it, be
sure it was effective and graceful.

It is a noble ambition to wish to sway the hearts and minds of others by
the subtle modulations of the voice, and only he who feels the force of
what he utters can hope to accomplish his end. The thought of the author
must be pursued and overtaken. The sentiments between the lines must be
enlisted before the voice will lend itself, in all its glorious power, to
the tones that thrill and the music that charms.

It is not always necessary to search for something your audience has never
heard. It is far better to reveal hidden thought and new life in selections
which are familiar. The hackneyed recitation, if rendered better than ever
before, will win more applause than a fresh bit carelessly studied.

Above all, use judgment in selection. The stout lady of fifty-two should
avoid "Marco Bozarris" and "The Elf Child," and the young lady just home
from boarding-school should not attempt the ponderous utterances of a Roman
gladiator.

Care in selection; fidelity in study; wisdom in the choice of occasion;
modesty in delivery; earnestness of manner and sincerity of feeling
throughout, must win at last. If you make failures, trace them to a lack in
some one or more of these requisites and, by experience, learn to avoid a
recurrence. Orators, like poets, are "born not made," but even the born
speaker will fail at times unless these laws are considered and observed.
Always render an author's lines as he wrote them. The chances are ten to
one that every word carries its burden of thought, even though you may not
have discerned it. Err on the conservative side if in doubt.
Over-enthusiasm is less easily pardoned.

Never select dialect verses or stories unless you have the unusual gift
necessary to give them the piquancy and zest which attends a good
imitation. Ask a dozen friends for an honest opinion on the subject and
draw an average from their criticisms to guide you in your choice of
selections. Don't lose your temper over a severe criticism. Search
carefully through your list of abilities and see if there is not, perhaps,
some foundation for kindly suggestion. It is often a great assistance, in
memorizing the work of another, to make a written copy, but attention
should be given to the making of a perfect copy, properly punctuated.

Use the eye in memorizing.

Oftentimes a mental picture of a page will recall a line which for an
instant seems about to escape you. Use the ear as well and study the effect
of various modulations of voice as you rehearse in private.

Above all, use the best of your intelligence, earnestly, in studying and
applying the thousand little nothings that in the aggregate make the
perfect reader.




CONTENTS.


                                                                      PAGE.

A Dream of the Universe. By Jean Paul Richter,                           95

A Friend of the